Digital Commons Network^™

Smart Cities At Play: Technology And Emerging Forms Of Playfulness, Konstantinos Papangelis, Michael Saker, Catherine Jones

Articles

Editorial. No abstract is available.

Study Of The Effect Of Methyldiethanolamine Initiator On The Recording Properties Of Acrylamide Based Photopolymer, Brian Rogers, Izabela Naydenova, Suzanne Martin

Articles

The use of Holographic Optical Elements (HOEs) in applications, such as in light shaping and redirection, requires certain characteristics such as a high Diffraction Efficiency, low angular selectivity and stability against UV damage. In order to maximize the performance of the HOEs, photosensitive materials are needed that have been optimised for the characteristics that are of particular importance in that application. At the core of the performance of these devices is the refractive index modulation created during holographic recording. Typically, a higher refractive index modulation will enable greater light Diffraction Efficiency and also operation with thinner devices, which in turn …

Assessing The Correlation Of Microscopy-Based And Volumetry-Based Measurements For Resin Swelling In A Range Of Potential Greener Solvents For Spps, Jordan K. Magtaan, Marc Devocelle, Fintan Kelleher

Articles

The degree of resin swelling in a particular solvent system is one of the critical parameters for SPPS, and for solid phase synthesis, in general. Methods used for measuring the degree of resin swelling include microscopy-based and volumetry-based methods. This study describes, and compares, the use of both methods for a number of commercially available resins commonly used in SPPS, with a range of solvents which have been identified in the literature as “greener” than DCM, DMF and NMP. The results were analysed by statistical methods and a significant correlation between the two distinct methods has been demonstrated for the …

Corporate Law And The Myth Of Efficient Market Control, William Wilson Bratton, Simone M. Sepe

Articles

In recent times, there has been an unprecedented shift in power from managers to shareholders, a shift that realizes the long-held theoretical aspiration of market control of the corporation. This Article subjects the market control paradigm to comprehensive economic examination and finds it wanting.

The market control paradigm relies on a narrow economic model that focuses on one problem only: management agency costs. With the rise of shareholder power, we need a wider lens that also takes in market prices, investor incentives, and information asymmetries. General equilibrium (GE) theory provides that lens. Several lessons follow from reference to this higher-order …

Capturing The City’S Heritage On-The-Go: Design Requirements For Mobile Crowdsourced Cultural Heritage, Bas Hannewijk, Federica Lucia Vinella, Vassilis-Javed Khan, Ioanna Lykourentzou, Konstantinos Papangelis, Judith Masthoff

Articles

Intangible Cultural Heritage is at a continuous risk of extinction. Where historical artefacts engine the machinery of intercontinental mass-tourism, socio-technical changes are reshaping the anthropomorphic landscapes everywhere on the globe, at an unprecedented rate. There is an increasing urge to tap into the hidden semantics and the anecdotes surrounding people, memories and places. The vast cultural knowledge made of testimony, oral history and traditions constitutes a rich cultural ontology tying together human beings, times, and situations. Altogether, these complex, multidimensional features make the task of data-mapping of intangible cultural heritage a problem of sustainability and preservation. This paper addresses a …

Three-Phase Hydrodynamic Simulation And Experimental Validation Of An Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor, Camila D' Bastiani, Jéferson Luis Alba, Gabriel Tomazzoni Mazzarotto, Severino Rodrigues De Farias Neto, Anthony Reynolds, David Kennedy, Lademir Luiz Beal

Articles

This research focuses on performing multiphase solid/liquid/gas CFD simulations of a UASB reactor in order to obtain a validated model that provides a clearer understanding of the hydrodynamic behaviour of the three phases in UASB reactors. Eulerian–Eulerian, laminar, three-dimensional, multiphase simulations are carried out using Fluent 16.2. The liquid phase velocity and flow profile are validated through PIV experiments. A liquid mean velocity difference of 8.45% is found between the experimental and numerical results, thus validating the CFD model. Shadowgraphy is applied successfully to validate the biogas phase velocity and bubble size. Based on the hydrodynamic analysis results, the reactor …

Assessing The Sustainability Implications Of Autonomous Vehicles: Recommendations For Research Community Practice, Eric Williams, Vivekananda Das, Andrew Fisher

Articles

Autonomous vehicles (AV) are poised to induce disruptive changes, with significant implications for the economy, the environment, and society. This article reviews prior research on AVs and society, and articulates future needs. Research to assess future societal change induced by AVs has grown dramatically in recent years. The critical challenge in assessing the societal implications of AVs is forecasting how consumers and businesses will use them. Researchers are predicting the future use of AVs by consumers through stated preference surveys, finding analogs in current behaviors, utility optimization models, and/or staging empirical “AV-equivalent” experiments. While progress is being made, it is …

Does Capital Bear The U.S. Corporate Tax After All? New Evidence From Corporate Tax Returns, Edward Fox

Articles

This article uses U.S. corporate tax return data to assess how government revenue would have changed if, over the period 1957–2013, corporations had been subject to a hypothetical corporate cash flow tax—that is, a tax allowing for the immediate deduction of investments in long-lived assets like equipment and structures—rather than the corporate tax regime actually in effect. Holding taxpayer behavior fixed, the data indicate actual corporate tax revenue over the most recent period (1995–2013) differed little from that under the hypothetical cash flow tax. This result has three important implications. First, capital owners appear to bear a large fraction of …

The Relationship Between Serum Zinc Levels And Myopia, Niamh Burke, John Butler, Daniel Ian Flitcroft, James Loughman

Articles

Clinical significance: Myopia is inherently associated with eye growth and thereby possibly amenable to nutritional influence. However, little attention has been given to possible die- tary influences. This study demonstrates that serum zinc does not play a role in myopia development. Background: Myopia is inherently associated with eye growth and thereby possibly amena- ble to nutritional influence. A number of Asian studies have reported lower levels of serum zinc in myopic children. This study was designed to assess the relationship between serum zinc and myopia in the Korean population – using a subsample of participants from nation- ally representative data.

Failed Power Domination On Graphs, Abraham Glasser, Bonnie Jacob, Emily Lederman, Stanislaw Radziszowski

Articles

Let G be a simple graph with vertex set V and edge set E, and let S ⊆ V . The sets Pi (S), i ≥ 0, of vertices monitored by S at the i th step are given by P0(S) = N[S] and Pi+1(S) = Pi (S) {w : {w} = N[v]\Pi (S) for some v ∈ Pi (S)}. If there exists j such that Pj (S) = V , then S is called a power dominating set, PDS, of G. Otherwise, S is a failed power dominating set, FPDS. The power domination number of a simple graph G, …

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning: A Model For A New Judicial System?, Paula C. Arias

Articles

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are a result not only of technological advances but also of the exploitation of information or data, which has led to its expansion into almost all aspects of modern life, including law and its practice. Due to the benefits of these technologies, such as efficiency, objectivity, and transparency, the trend is towards the integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in the judicial system. Integration that is advocated at all levels and, today, has been achieved mostly under the implementation of tools to assist the exercise of the judiciary. The «success» of this integration has …

Can Ethanol Affect The Cell Structure - A Dynamic Molecular And Raman Spectroscopy Study, Luis Felipe Carvalho, Laurita Dos Santos, Kate O'Callaghan, Franck Bonnier, Steven Flint, Fiona Lyng, Hugh Byrne

Articles

The role that tobacco consumption plays in the etiology of oral cancer carcinogenesis, and of alcohol consumption acting as a co-factor, have been well established. However, in recent years, the contribution of alcohol consumption alone to oral cancer has been proposed. In fact, a high percentage of patients who develop oral cancer have both habits (tobacco and alcohol consumption), and other small patient groups only consume alcohol or do not have any other identifiable bad habits. In the present study, we demonstrate for the first time, using a combination of dynamic molecular modelling and Raman spectroscopy, that ethanol has a …

Higher Order Correlations In A Levitated Nanoparticle Phonon Laser, Kewen Xiao, Robert M. Pettit, Wenchao Ge, Long H. Nguyen, Siamak Dadras, A. Nick Vamivakas, Mishkatul Bhattacharya

Articles

We present theoretical and experimental investigations of higher order correlations of mechanical motion in the recently demonstrated optical tweezer phonon laser, consisting of a silica nanosphere trapped in vacuum by a tightly focused optical beam [R. M. Pettit et al., Nature Photonics 13, 402 (2019)]. The nanoparticle phonon number probability distribution is modeled with the master equation formalism in order to study its evolution across the lasing threshold. Up to fourth-order equal-time correlation functions are then derived from the probability distribution. Subsequently, the master equation is transformed into a nonlinear quantum Langevin equation for the trapped particle’s position. This equation …

Beyond Reasonable Doubt: A Proposal For Undecidedness Blocking In Abstract Argumentation, Pierpaolo Dondio, Luca Longo

Articles

In Dung’s abstract semantics, the label undecided is always propagated from the attacker to the attacked argument, unless the latter is also attacked by an accepted argument. In this work we propose undecidedness blocking abstract argumentation semantics where the undecided label is confined to the strong connected component where it was generated and it is not propagated to the other parts of the argumentation graph. We show how undecidedness blocking is a fundamental reasoning pattern absent in abstract argumentation but present in similar fashion in the ambiguity blocking semantics of Defeasible logic, in the beyond reasonable doubt legal principle or …

Preface To The Special Issue On Advances In Argumentation In Artificial Intelligence, Pierpaolo Dondio, Luca Longo, Stefano Bistarelli

Articles

Now at the forefront of automated reasoning, argumentation has become a key research topic within Artificial Intelligence. It involves the investigation of those activities for the production and exchange of arguments, where arguments are attempts to persuade someone of something by giving reasons for accepting a particular conclusion or claim as evident. The study of argumentation has been the focus of attention of philosophers and scholars, from Aristotle and classical rhetoric to the present day. The computational study of arguments has emerged as a field of research in AI in the last two decades, mainly fuelled by the interest from …

Long Term Predictions Of Coal Fired Power Plant Data Using Evolved Recurrent Neural Networks, Travis Desell, Abdelrahman Elsaid, Zimeng Lyu, David Stadem, Shuchita Patwardhan, Steve Benson

Articles

This work presents an investigation into the ability of recurrent neural networks (RNNs) to provide long term predictions of time series data generated by coal fired power plants. While there are numerous studies which have used artificial neural networks (ANNs) to predict coal plant parameters, to the authors’ knowledge these have almost entirely been restricted to predicting values at the next time step, and not farther into the future. Using a novel neuro-evolution strategy called Evolutionary eXploration of Augmenting Memory Models (EXAMM), we evolved RNNs with advanced memory cells to predict per-minute plant parameters and per-hour boiler parameters up to …

In Their Shoes: A Structured Analysis Of Job Demands, Resources, Work Experiences, And Platform Commitment Of Crowdworkers In China, Yihong Wang, Konstantinos Papangelis, Ioanna Lykourentzou, Hai-Ning Liang, Irwyn Sadien, Evangelia Demerouti, Vassilis-Javed Khan

Articles

Despite the growing interest in crowdsourcing, this new labor model has recently received severe criticism. The most important point of this criticism is that crowdworkers are often underpaid and overworked. This severely affects job satisfaction and productivity. Although there is a growing body of evidence exploring the work experiences of crowdworkers in various countries, there have been a very limited number of studies to the best of our knowledge exploring the work experiences of Chinese crowdworkers. In this paper we aim to address this gap. Based on a framework of well-established approaches, namely the Job Demands-Resources model, the Work Design …

Analysing Gender And Institutional Change In Academia: Evaluating The Utility Of Feminist Institutionalist Approaches, Sara Clavero, Yvonne Galligan

Articles

This article explores research on gender and institutions for the purposes of informing analytical frameworks for research on institutional change with regard to gender equality in higher education. Drawing on feminist institutionalist studies that explore the relationship between gender, institutions and institutional continuity and change, the aim is to evaluate how this body of scholarship can be adapted to an analysis of the dynamics of gender equality plan implementation in universities.

A Validation Study For A New Erosion Model To Predict Erosive Airfoil Defouling, Arthur Rudek, David Muckenhaupt, Thomas Zitzmann, Gerald Russ, Barry Duignan

Articles

A new defouling erosion model for Lagrangian particle tracking is used to predict defouling of amor-phous, heterogeneous coatings such as those typically found in aircraft compressors. The main problem description, the mathematical formulation and the underpinning experiment of the model are presented in a previous communication by the authors. In this work, the Ansys CFX implementation of the model is described and an experiment is presented for the validation of the model. Air flows laden with a number of dry-ice particles are observed in an optically accessible stream channel containing a flat plate target. The defouling process of these particles …

Opinion-Mining On Marglish And Devanagari Comments Of Youtube Cookery Channels Using Parametric And Non-Parametric Learning Models, Sonali Shah, Abhishek Kaushik, Shubham Sharma, Janice Shah

Articles

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Mathematical Problem Solving And Procedural Skills Of Students In An Irish Higher Education Institution – A Pilot Study, Fiona Faulkner, Mark Prendergast, Cormac Breen, Michael Carr

Articles

In 2010 the Irish second level mathematics curriculum underwent a period of significant change when a new mathematics curriculum was introduced. Some preliminary research has been carried out into the impact, if any, that this mathematics curriculum is having on students mathematics performance which have suggested that students’ procedural skills are declining year on year however their problem solving skills may have improved (Treacy and Faulkner 2015). Additional research in this area also highlighted that students willingness to engage in problem solving activities may have improved (Prendergast et al 2017). However preliminary analysis on the impact of the reformed mathematics …

A Conceptual Framework For Digital Civics Pedagogy Informed By The Philosophy Of Information, Estelle Clements

Articles

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to draw on the philosophy of information, specifically the work of Luciano Floridi, to argue that digital civics must fully comprehend the implications of the digital environment, and consequently an informational ontology, to deliver to students an education that will prepare them for full participation as citizens in the infosphere.

Design/methodology/approach – Introducing this philosophy for use in education, the research discusses the ethical implications of ontological change in the digital age; informational organisms and their interconnectivity; and concepts of agency, both organic and artificial in digitally mediated civic interactions and civic …

Expectations Of Artificial Intelligence And The Performativity Of Ethics: Implications For Communication Governance, Aphra Kerr, Marguerite Barry, John D. Kelleher

Articles

This article draws on the sociology of expectations to examine the construction of expectations of ‘ethical AI’ and considers the implications of these expectations for communication governance. We first analyse a range of public documents to identify the key actors, mechanisms and issues which structure societal expectations around artificial intelligence (AI) and an emerging discourse on ethics. We then explore expectations of AI and ethics through a survey of members of the public. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings for the role of AI in communication gover- nance. We find that, despite societal expectations that we can design …

Finding Common Ground For Citizen Empowerment In The Smart City, John D. Kelleher, Aphra Kerr

Articles

Corporate smart city initiatives are just one example of the contemporary culture of surveillance. They rely on extensive information gathering systems and Big Data analysis to predict citizen behaviour and optimise city services. In this paper we argue that many smart city and social media technologies result in a paradox whereby digital inclusion for the purposes of service provision also results in marginalisation and disempowerment of citizens. Drawing upon insights garnered from a digital inclusion workshop conducted in the Galapagos islands, we propose that critically and creatively unpacking the computational techniques embedded in data services is needed as a first …

Digital Age Of Consent And Age Verification: Can They Protect Children?, Liliana Pasquale, Paola Zippo, Cliona Curley, Brian O'Neill, Marina Mongiello

Articles

Children are increasingly accessing social media content through mobile devices. Existing data protection regulations have focused on defining the digital age of consent, in order to limit collection of children’s personal data by organizations. However, children can easily bypass the mechanisms adopted by apps to verify their age, and thereby be exposed to privacy and safety threats. We conducted a study to identify how the top 10 social and communication apps among underage users apply age limits in their Terms of Use. We also assess the robustness of the mechanisms these apps put in place to verify the age of …

Negative Curvature Hollow Core Fiber Based All-Fiber Interferometer And Its Sensing Applications To Temperature And Strain, Dejun Liu, Wei Li, Qiang Wu, Haoyu Zhao, Fengzi Ling, Ke Tian, Changyu Shen, Fangfang Wei, Wei Han, Gerald Farrell, Yuliya Semenova, Pengfei Wang

Articles

Negative curvature hollow core fiber (NCHCF) is a promising candidate for sensing applications; however, research on NCHCF based fiber sensors starts only in the recent two years. In this work, an all-fiber interferometer based on an NCHCF structure is proposed for the first time. The interferometer was fabricated by simple fusion splicing of a short section of an NCHCF between two singlemode fibers (SMFs). Both simulation and experimental results show that multiple modes and modal interferences are excited within the NCHCF structure. Periodic transmission dips with high spectral extinction ratio (up to 30 dB) and wide free spectral range (FSR) …

Nis2 As A Broadband Saturable Absorber For Ultrafast Pulse Lasers, Pengfei Wang, Han Zhang, Yu Yin, Qiuyun Ouyang, Yujin Chen, Elfed Lewis, Gerald Farrell, Masaki Tokurakawa, Sulaiman Wadi Harun, Cong Wang, Shi Li

Articles

Nickel disulfide (NiS2) has recently been found to possess strong nonlinear saturable absorption properties. This feature is highly attractive for nonlinear photonics applications. Ultrafast pulse generation is successfully demonstrated in this article for both Ytterbium- and Erbium-doped fibre lasers using micro-fibre deposited nickel disulfide (NiS2) as a saturable absorber (SA). The fabricated SA device has a modulation depth of 23% at 1.06 μm and 30.8% at 1.55 μm. Stable dissipative soliton operation was achieved at 1064.5 nm with a pulse duration of 11.7 ps and another stable conventional soliton pulse train was also obtained at 1560.2 nm with a pulse …

Intense Mid-Infrared Emission At 3.9 Μm In Ho3+-Doped Zbya Glasses For Potential Use As A Fiber Laser, Haiyan Zhao, Ruicong Wang, Xin Wang, Shijie Jia, Yaxian Fan, Elfed Lewis, Gerald Farrell, Shunbin Wang, Pengfei Wang

Articles

Intense mid-infrared emission at 3.9 µm in Ho3+-doped ZBYA glasses with direct upper laser level (Ho3+ : 5 I5) pumping at a wavelength of 888 nm is reported for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. Spectroscopic parameters were determined using the Judd–Ofelt theory and the measured absorption spectrum. The maximum emission cross section of the Ho3+-doped ZBYA glass is estimated to be 2.7 × 10−21 cm2 at 3906 nm. Additionally, fluorescence spectra and lifetimes of ZBYA glasses with different Ho3+ ion doping concentrations were measured. The results provide theoretical and experimental basis for better selection of rare-earth-doped …

New Estimates For The Number Of Integer Polynomials With Given Discriminants, Natalia Budarina, Vasilii Bernik, Hugh O'Donnell

Articles

In this paper, we propose a new method of upper bounds for the number of integer polynomials of the fourth degree with a given discriminant. By direct calculation similar results were established by H. Davenport and D. Kaliada for polynomials of second and third degrees.

Advancement Of Predictive Modeling Of Zeta Potentials (Ζ) In Metal Oxide Nanoparticles With Correlation Intensity Index (Cii), Andrey A. Toropov, Natalia Sizochenko, Alla P. Toropova, Danuta Leszczynska, Jerzy Leszczynski

Articles

It was expected that index of the ideality of correlation (IIC) and correlation intensity index (CII) could be used as possible tools to improve the predictive power of the quantitative model for zeta potential of nanoparticles. In this paper, we test how the statistical quality of quantitative structure-activity models for zeta potentials (ζ, a common measurement that reflects surface charge and stability of nanomaterial) could be improved with the use of these two indexes. Our hypothesis was tested using the benchmark data set that consists of 87 measurements of zeta potentials in water. We used quasi-SMILES molecular representation to take …