Digital Commons Network^™

Double Deadbeat Plus Repetitive Control Scheme For Microgrid System, Sreedhar Madichetty, Malabika Basu, Sukumar Mishra, Josep M. Guerrero

Articles

Parallel connection of converters is a convenient choice when system capacity is to be increased. Parallel-connected voltage source converters, especially neutral point clamped converters, are one of the best choices for its range. However, with the parallel connectivity, the converter possesses a circulating current in its legs, which consequently threatens the safe operation of the system. To alleviate this circulating current problem, in this paper, a double deadbeat (DD) plus repetitive control (RC) scheme is proposed. The RC scheme is employed to mitigate the circulating currents and the DD loop control scheme is employed to achieve a high operating bandwidth …

Predicted Temperature-Increase-Induced Global Health Burden And Its Regional Variability, Jae Young Lee, Ho Kim, Antonio Gasparrini, Ben Armstrong, Michelle L. Bell, Franceso Sera, Eric Lavingne, Rosana Abrutzky, Shilu Tong, Micheline De Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coelho, Paulo Hilario Nascimento Saldiva, Patricia Matus Correa, Nicolas Valdes Ortega, Haidong Kan, Samule Osorio Garcia, Jan Kysely, Ales Urban, Hans Orru, Ene Indermitte, Jouni J.K. Jaakkola, Niilo R.I. Ryti, Mathilde Pascal, Patrick J. Goodman, Ariana Zeka, Paolo Michelozzi, Matteo Scortichini, Masahiro Hashizume, Yasushi Honda, Magali Hurtado, Julio Cruz, Xerxes Seposo, Balthazar Nunes, Joao Paulo Teixeira, Aurelio Tobias, Carmen Iniguez, Bertil Forsberg, Christofer Astrom, Ana Maria Vicedo-Cabrera, Martina S. Ragettli, Yeu-Liang Leon Guo, Bing-Yu Chen, Antonella Zanobetti, Joel Schwartz, Tran Ngoc Dang, Dung Do Van, Fetemeh Mayvaneh, Ala Overcenco, Shanshan Li, Yuming Guo

Articles

An increase in the global health burden of temperature was projected for 459 locations in 28 countries worldwide under four representative concentration pathway scenarios until 2099. We determined that the amount of temperature increase for each 100 ppm increase in global CO2 concentrations is nearly constant, regardless of climate scenarios. The overall average temperature increase during 2010–2099 is largest in Canada (1.16 °C/100 ppm) and Finland (1.14 °C/100 ppm), while it is smallest in Ireland (0.62 °C/100 ppm) and Argentina (0.63 °C/100 ppm). In addition, for each 1 °C temperature increase, the amount of excess mortality is increased largely in …

Bigger Versus Similar: Selecting A Background Corpus For First Story Detection Based On Distributional Similarity, Fei Wang, Robert J. Ross, John D. Kelleher

Articles

The current state of the art for First Story Detection (FSD) are nearest neighbourbased models with traditional term vector representations; however, one challenge faced by FSD models is that the document representation is usually defined by the vocabulary and term frequency from a background corpus. Consequently, the ideal background corpus should arguably be both large-scale to ensure adequate term coverage, and similar to the target domain in terms of the language distribution. However, given these two factors cannot always be mutually satisfied, in this paper we examine whether the distributional similarity of common terms is more important than the scale …

Cs1: How Will They Do? How Can We Help? A Decade Of Research And Practice, Keith Quille, Susan Bergin

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Background and Context: Computer Science attrition rates (in the western world) are very concerning, with a large number of students failing to progress each year. It is well acknowledged that a significant factor of this attrition, is the students’ difficulty to master the introductory programming module, often referred to as CS1.

Objective: The objective of this article is to describe the evolution of a prediction model named PreSS (Predict Student Success) over a 13-year period (2005–2018).

Method: This article ties together, the PreSS prediction model; pilot studies; a longitudinal, multi-institutional re-validation and replication …

Lawyer As Soothsayer: Exploring The Important Role Of Outcome Prediction In The Practice Of Law, Mark K. Osbeck

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Outcome prediction has always been an important part of practicing law. Clients rely heavily on their attorneys to provide accurate assessments of the potential legal consequences they face when making important decisions (such as whether to accept a plea bargain, or risk a conviction on a much more serious offense at trial). And yet, notwithstanding its enormous importance to the practice of law (and notwithstanding the handsome legal fees it commands), outcome prediction in the law remains a very imprecise endeavor. The reason for this inaccuracy is that the three principal tools lawyers have traditionally relied on to facilitate outcome …

Solvent Stable Microbial Lipases: Current Understanding And Biotechnological Applications, Barry Ryan, Priyanka Priyanka, Yeqi Tan, Gemma K Kinsella, Gary T. Henehan

Articles

Objective: This review examines on our current understanding of microbial lipase solvent tolerance, with a specific focus on the molecular strategies employed to improve lipase stability in a non-aqueous environment.

Results: It provides an overview of known solvent tolerant lipases and of approaches to improving solvent stability such as; enhancing stabilising interactions, modification of residue flexibility and surface charge alteration. It shows that judicious selection of lipase source supplemented by appropriate enzyme stabilisation, can lead to a wide application spectrum for lipases.

Conclusion: Organic solvent stable lipases are, and will continue to be, versatile and adaptable biocatalytic workhorses commonly employed …

Antitrust Remedies For Labor Market Power, Suresh Naidu, Eric A. Posner, E. Glen Weyl

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No abstract provided.

Arrows In Biology: Lack Of Clarity And Consistency Points To Confusion For Learners, Leslie Kate Wright, Jordan J. Cardenas, Phyllis Liang, Dina L. Newman

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In this article, we begin to unpack the phenomenon of representational competence by ex¬ploring how arrow symbols are used in introductory biology textbook figures. Out of 1214 figures in an introductory biology textbook, 632 (52%) of them contained arrows that were used to represent many different concepts or processes. Analysis of these figures revealed little correlation between arrow style and meaning. A more focused study of 86 figures containing 230 arrows from a second textbook showed the same pattern of inconsistency. Interviews with undergraduates confirmed that arrows in selected textbook figures were confusing and did not readily convey the information …

The Goldilocks Approach: A Review Of Employing Design Of Experiments In Prokaryotic Recombinant Protein Production, Barry Ryan, Albert Uhoraningoga, Gemma K. Kinsella, Gary T. .. Henehan

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The production of high yields of soluble recombinant protein is one of the main objectives of protein biotechnology. Several factors, such as expression system, vector, host, media composition and induction conditions can influence recombinant protein yield. Identifying the most important factors for optimum protein expression may involve significant investment of time and considerable cost. To address this problem statistical models, such as Design of Experiments (DoE), have been used to optimise recombinant protein production. This review explores the application of DoE in the production of recombinant proteins, focusing on prokaryotic expression systems with a specific emphasis on media composition and …

A Comparison Of Agent-Based Models And Equation Based Models For Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Elizabeth Hunter, Brian Mac Namee, John D. Kelleher

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There are two main methods that are used to model the spread of an infectious disease: agent-based modelling and equation based modelling. In this paper, we compare the results from an example implementation of each method, and show that although the agent-based model takes longer to setup and run, it provides additional information that is not available when using an equation based model. Specifically, the ability of the agent-based model to capture heterogeneous mixing and agent interactions enables it to give a better overall view of an outbreak. We compare the performance of both models by simulating a measles outbreak …

On The Exactitude Of Big Data: La Bêtise And Artificial Intelligence, Noel Fitzpatrick, John D. Kelleher

Articles

This article revisits the question of ‘la bêtise’ or stupidity in the era of Artificial Intelligence driven by Big Data, it extends on the questions posed by Gille Deleuze and more recently by Bernard Stiegler. However, the framework for revisiting the question of la bêtise will be through the lens of contemporary computer science, in particular the development of data science as a mode of analysis, sometimes, misinterpreted as a mode of intelligence. In particular, this article will argue that with the advent of forms of hype (sometimes referred to as the hype cycle) in relation to big data and …

Regeneration Of Aged Dmf For Use In Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis, Jordan K. Magtaan, Marc Devocelle, Fintan Kelleher

Articles

DMF, which is still the most commonly used solvent for Fmoc-SPPS, has the potential for degradation over time on exposure to air (and water vapour) and storage, to give dimethylamine and formic acid impurities. In particular, dimethylamine can lead to unwanted deprotection of the Fmoc group during for example the initial loading of Fmoc amino acids in SPPS, which leads reduced calculated loading values. We have found that treatment of such aged DMF by simple sparging with an inert gas (N₂), or vacuum sonication, can regenerate the DMF in order to restore loading levels back to those found …

Vacuum Polarization For Varying Quantum Scalar Field Parameters In Schwarzschild–Anti–De Sitter Spacetime, Cormac Breen, Peter Taylor

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Equipped with new powerful and efficient methods for computing quantum expectation values in static-spherically symmetric spacetimes in arbitrary dimensions, we perform an in-depth investigation of how the quantum vacuum polarization varies with the parameters in the theory. In particular, we compute and compare the vacuum polarization for a quantum scalar field in the Schwarzschild–anti–de Sitter black hole spacetime for a range of values of the field mass and field coupling constant as well as the black hole mass and number of spacetime dimensions. In addition, a new approximation for the vacuum polarization in asymptotically anti–de Sitter black hole spacetimes is …

Assessment For Project-Based Courses, James R. Fugate

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A project-based course is where students engage in a series of projects, which help lead students to a defined level of skill as specified in the course goals. Unlike a traditional lecture course where students are given examinations to assess the level of student knowledge and understanding, a project-based course may not include any formal examination. The assessment of student progress is often based on the quality of course projects. For this research, students in project-based courses were given a formal exam at the end of the course. The objective of the exam was to determine if there was a …

Exchanging Personal Health Data With Electronic Health Records: A Standardized Information Model For Patient Generated Health Data And Observations Of Daily Living, Panagiotis Plastiras, Dympna O'Sullivan

Articles

Objective: The development of a middleware information model to facilitate better interoperability between Personal and Electronic Health Record systems in order to allow exchange of Patient Generated Health Data and Observations of Daily Leaving between patients and providers in order to encourage patient self-management.

Materials and methods: An information model based on HL7 standards for interoperability has been extended to support PGHD and ODL data types. The new information models uses HL7 CDA to represent data, is instantiated as a Protégé ontology and uses a set of mapping rules to transfer data between Personal and Electronic Health Record …

Raman Spectroscopy Detects Biochemical Changes Due To Different Cell Culture Environments In Live Cells In Vitro, Mahmoud Gargotti, Esen Efeoglu, Hugh Byrne, Alan Casey

Articles

The in vitro cell culture environment can impact on cell biochemistry and cell cycle. The manifestation of such substrate-induced changes in cell cycle in the Raman microspectroscopic profiles of cell cultures is investigated at the level of nucleolus, nucleus and cytoplasm. HeLa immortalised human cervical cells and HaCaT dermal cells were cultured on three different substrates, conventional polystyrene cell culture dishes, CaF2 slides as a commonly used Raman substrate, and glass slides coated with Collagen Rat Tail, as a mimic of the extra cellular matrix (ECM) environment. A cell cycle study, based on percentage DNA content, as determined using Propidium …

Physical Models Can Provide Superior Learning Opportunities Beyond The Benefits Of Active Engagements, Dina L. Newman, Megan Stefkovich, Catherine Clasen, Margaret A. Franzen, Leslie Kate Wright

Articles

The essence of molecular biology education lies in understanding of gene expression, with subtopics including the central dogma processes, such as transcription and translation. While these concepts are core to the discipline, they are also notoriously difficult for students to learn, probably because they cannot be directly observed. While nearly all active learning strategies have been shown to improve learning compared with passive lectures, little has been done to compare different types of active learning. We hypothesized that physical models of central dogma processes would be especially helpful for learning, because they provide a resource that students can see, touch, …

Using A Socioeconomic Segregation Burn-In Model To Initialise An Agent-Based Model For Infectious Diseases, Elizabeth Hunter, Brian Mac Namee, John D. Kelleher

Articles

Socioeconomic status can have an important effect on health. In this paper we: (i) propose using house price data as a publicly available proxy for socioeconomic status to examine neighbourhood socioeconomic status at a more fine grained resolution than is available in Irish Central Statistics Office data; (ii) use a dissimilarity index to demonstrate and measure the existence of socioeconomic clustering at a neighbourhood level; (iii) demonstrate that using a standard ABM initialisation process based on CSO small area data results in ABMs systematically underestimating the socioeconomic clustering in Irish neighbourhoods; (iv) demonstrate that ABM models are better calibrated towards …

When Law Calls, Does Science Answer? A Survey Of Distinguished Scientists & Engineers, Shari Seidman Diamond, Richard O. Lempert

Articles

Sound legal decision-making frequently requires the assistance of scientists and engineers. The survey we conducted with the cooperation of the American Academy examines the views of the legal system held by some of the nation’s most distinguished scientists and engineers, what motivates them to participate or to refuse to assist in lawsuits when asked, and their assessment of their experiences when they do participate. The survey reveals that a majority of the responding scientists and engineers will agree to participate when asked, and when they turn down requests, the most common reasons are lack of time and absence of relevant …

Ideating Mobile Health Behavioral Support For Compliance To Therapy For Patients With Chronic Disease: A Case Study Of Atrial Fibrillation Management, Mor Peleg, Wojtek Michalowski, Szymon Wilk, Enea Parimbelli, Silvia Bonaccio, Dympna O'Sullivan, Martin Michalowski, Silvana Quaglini, Marc Carrier

Articles

Poor patient compliance to therapy results in a worsening condition that often increases healthcare costs. In the MobiGuide project, we developed an evidence-based clinical decision-support system that delivered personalized reminders and recommendations to patients, helping to achieve higher therapy compliance. Yet compliance could still be improved and therefore building on the MobiGuide project experience, we designed a new component called the Motivational Patient Assistant (MPA) that is integrated within the MobiGuide architecture to further improve compliance. This component draws from psychological theories to provide behavioral support to improve patient engagement and thereby increasing patients' compliance. Behavior modification interventions are delivered …

Discordant Alternans Mechanism For Initiation Of Ventricular Fibrillation In Vitro, Laura M. Muñoz, Anna R.M. Gelzer, Flavio H. Fenton, Wei Qian, Weiye Lin, Robert F. Gilmour Jr, Niels F. Otani

Articles

Background: Ventricular tachyarrhythmias are often preceded by short sequences of premature ventricular complexes. In a previous study, a restitution-based computational model predicted which sequences of stimulated premature complexes were most likely to induce ventricular fibrillation in canines in vivo. However, the underlying mechanism, based on discordant-alternans dynamics, could not be verified in that study. The current study seeks to elucidate the mechanism by determining whether the spatiotemporal evolution of action potentials and initiation of ventricular fibrillation in in vitro experiments are consistent with model predictions. Methods and Results: Optical mapping voltage signals from canine right-ventricular tissue (n=9) were obtained simultaneously …

The Persistence Of The Probabilistic Perspective, Richard D. Friedman

Articles

The publication now of an essay written by Craig Callen nearly a decade ago is cause for wistful celebration. Even while we are reminded how suddenly and prematurely Craig’s life ended, it is good to have one more academic contribution from him, especially because it is marked by the erudition, thoroughness, gentleness, and humor that characterized him.

On The Nonexistence Of Some Generalized Folkman Numbers, Xiaodong Xu, Meilian Liang, Stanislaw Radziszowski

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For an undirected simple graph $G$, we write $G \rightarrow (H_1, H_2)^v$ if and only if for every red-blue coloring of its vertices there exists a red $H_1$ or a blue $H_2$. The generalized vertex Folkman number $F_v(H_1, H_2; H)$ is defined as the smallest integer $n$ for which there exists an $H$-free graph $G$ of order $n$ such that $G \rightarrow (H_1, H_2)^v$. The generalized edge Folkman numbers $F_e(H_1, H_2; H)$ are defined similarly, when colorings of the edges are considered. We show that $F_e(K_{k+1},K_{k+1};K_{k+2}-e)$ and $F_v(K_k,K_k;K_{k+1}-e)$ are well defined for $k \geq 3$. We prove the nonexistence of …

Serialised Holography For Brand Protection And Authentication, Dinesh Vather, Izabela Naydenova, Dervil Cody, Monika Zawadzka, Suzanne Martin, Emilia Mihaylova, Stephen Curran, Paul Duffy, Josune Portillo, Daniel Connell, Stephen Mcdonnell, Vincent Toal

Articles

The problems presented by counterfeit products and documentation are discussed. Limitations of existing holograms for anti-counterfeit applications are described. We describe the advantages of full holographic serialisation and the requirements in terms of materials and techniques for mass production of true serialised holograms. These requirements having been met, we report for the first time the mass production of fully serialised holograms. The novelty of approach consists of the direct use of product manufacturer’s information as the object in a holographic recording system along with a self-processing photopolymer and modular optical system to facilitate mass production of truly serialised volume holograms. …

Teaching And Learning Competencies Valued By Engineering Educators: A Pilot Study, Cormac H. Macmahon, Brian Bowe, Orla Mcconnell, Fiona Cranley

Articles

At the onset of this paper, it is important to provide context by highlighting two backdrop narratives, which have prompted and guided this research project:-(i) Since 2015, The National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching & Learning in Ireland has undergone an extensive consultation process on professional development, resulting in a guiding document entitled the National Professional Development Framework (NPDF) for Staff Who Teach in Higher Education [1].(ii) The Technological University Alliance for Dublin has placed Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT), Institute of Technology Blanchardstown (ITB) and Institute of Technology Tallaght (ITT) on a merger trajectory towards technological university designation …

Safety Implications Of Plasma-Induced Effects In Living Cells – A Review Of In Vitro And In Vivo Findings, Daniela Boehm, Paula Bourke

Articles

Cold atmospheric plasma is a versatile new tool in the biomedical field with applications ranging from disinfection, wound healing and tissue regeneration to blood coagulation, and cancer treatment. Along with improved insights into the underlying physical, chemical and biological principles, plasma medicine has also made important advances in the introduction into the clinic. However, in the absence of a standard plasma ‘dose’ definition, the diversity of the field poses certain difficulties in terms of comparability of plasma devices, treatment parameters and resulting biological effects, particularly with regards to the question of what constitutes a safe plasma application. Data from various …

Performance Comparison Of Support Vector Machine, Random Forest, And Extreme Learning Machine For Intrusion Detection, Iftikhar Ahmad, Muhammad Javed Iqbal, Mohammad Basheri, Aneel Rahim

Articles

Intrusion detection is a fundamental part of security tools, such as adaptive security appliances, intrusion detection systems, intrusion prevention systems, and firewalls. Various intrusion detection techniques are used, but their performance is an issue. Intrusion detection performance depends on accuracy, which needs to improve to decrease false alarms and to increase the detection rate. To resolve concerns on performance, multilayer perceptron, support vector machine (SVM), and other techniques have been used in recent work. Such techniques indicate limitations and are not efficient for use in large data sets, such as system and network data. The intrusion detection system is used …

Advancing Raman Microspectroscopy For Cellular And Subcellular Analysis: Towards In Vitro High Content Spectralomic Analysis, Hugh Byrne, Franck Bonnier, Alan Casey, Marcus Maher, Jennifer Mcintyre, Esen Efeoglu, Zeineb Farhane

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In the confocal mode, Raman microspectroscopy can profile the biochemical content of biological cells at a subcellular level, and any changes to it by exogenous agents, such as therapeutic drugs or toxicants. As an exploration of the potential of the technique as a high content, label free analysis technique, this report reviews work to monitor the spectroscopic signatures associated with the uptake and response pathways of commercial chemotherapeutic agents and polymeric nanoparticles by human lung cells. It is demonstrated that the signatures are reproducible and characteristic of the cellular event, and can be used, for example, to identify the mode …

Implicit Bias's Failure, Samuel Bagenstos

Articles

The 2016 presidential election was a coming-out party of sorts for the concept of implicit bias-and not necessarily in a good way. In answering a question about race relations and the police during the vice-presidential debate, Mike Pence introduced the topic. Offering his explanation for why the Fraternal Order of Police had endorsed the Trump-Pence ticket, Pence said:

Multicomponent Analysis Using A Confocal Raman Microscope, Zhengyuan Tang, Sinead J. Barton, Thomas E. Ward, John P. Lowry, Michelle M. Doran, Hugh Byrne, Bryan M. Hennelly

Articles

Measuring the concentration of multiple chemical components in a low volume aqueous mixture by Raman spectroscopy has received significant interest in the literature. All of the contributions to date focus on the design of optical systems that facilitate the recording of spectra with high signal-to-noise ratio, by collecting as many Raman scattered photons as possible. In this study, the confocal Raman microscope set-up is investigated for multicomponent analysis. Partial Least Squares Regression is used to quantify physiologically relevant aqueous mixtures of glucose, lactic acid, and urea. The predicted error is 17.81 mg/dL for glucose, 10.6 mg/dL for lactic acid and …