Digital Commons Network^™

All-Cause, Cardiovascular, And Respiratory Mortality And Wildfire-Related Ozone: A Multicountry Two-Stage Time Series Analysis, Multi-Country Multi-City (Mcc) Collaborative Network, Patrick Goodman

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Background: Wildfire activity is an important source of tropospheric ozone (O3) pollution. However, no study to date has systematically examined the associations of wildfire-related O3 exposure with mortality globally. Methods: We did a multicountry two-stage time series analysis. From the Multi-City Multi-Country (MCC) Collaborative Research Network, data on daily all-cause, cardiovascular, and respiratory deaths were obtained from 749 locations in 43 countries or areas, representing overlapping periods from Jan 1, 2000, to Dec 31, 2016. We estimated the daily concentration of wildfire-related O3 in study locations using a chemical transport model, and then calibrated and downscaled O3 estimates to a …

The Multi-Country Multi-City Collaborative Research Network An International Research Consortium Investigating Environment, Climate, And Health, Multi-Country Multi-City (Mcc) Collaborative Network, Patrick Goodman

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Research on the health risks of environmental factors and climate change requires epidemiological evidence on associated health risks at a global scale. Multi-center studies offer an excellent framework for this purpose, but they present various methodological and logistical problems. This contribution illustrates the experience of the Multi-Country Multi-City Collaborative Research Network, an international collaboration working on a global research program on the associations between environmental stressors, climate, and health in a multi-center setting. The article illustrates the collaborative scheme based on mutual contribution and data and method sharing, describes the collection of a huge multi-location database, summarizes published research findings …

Regional Variation In The Role Of Humidity On City-Level Heat-Related Mortality, Multi-Country Multi-City (Mcc) Collaborative Network, Patrick Goodman

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The rising humid heat is regarded as a severe threat to human survivability, but the proper integration of humid heat into heat-health alerts is still being explored. Using state-of-the-art epidemiological and climatological datasets, we examined the association between multiple heat stress indicators (HSIs) and daily human mortality in 739 cities worldwide. Notable differences were observed in the long-term trends and timing of heat events detected by HSIs. Air temperature (Tair) predicts heat-related mortality well in cities with a robust negative Tair-relative humidity correlation (CT-RH). However, in cities with near-zero or weak positive CT-RH, HSIs considering humidity provide enhanced predictive power …

Global, Regional, And National Burden Of Mortality Associated With Cold Spells During 2000–19: A Three-Stage Modelling Study, Multi-Country Multi-City (Mcc) Collaborative Network, Patrick Goodman

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Background: Exposure to cold spells is associated with mortality. However, little is known about the global mortality burden of cold spells. Methods: A three-stage meta-analytical method was used to estimate the global mortality burden associated with cold spells by means of a time series dataset of 1960 locations across 59 countries (or regions). First, we fitted the location-specific, cold spell-related mortality associations using a quasi-Poisson regression with a distributed lag non-linear model with a lag period of up to 21 days. Second, we built a multivariate meta-regression model between location-specific associations and seven predictors. Finally, we predicted the global grid-specific …

Towards An Iot-Enabled Digital Earth For Sdgs: The Data Quality Challenge, M. S. B. Syed, Paula Kelly, Paul Stacey, Damon Berry

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No abstract provided.

Sm-Fplf: Link-State Prediction For Software-Defined Dcn Power Optimization, Mohammed Nsaif, Gergely Kovasznai, Ali Malik, Ruairí De Fréin

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Efficient monitoring systems that optimize resource allocation, reduce energy usage through machine learning and flow aggregation routing techniques, are needed due to the escalating power consumption of data center networks, which, as has been recently reported, account for up to eight percent of global energy consumption, posing environmental operational concerns. We propose a software-defined data-center monitoring algorithm that reduces power consumption by: 1) using a GPU implementation of a Stacked Long Short-Term Memory Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) model for link utilization prediction, thus reducing monitoring overhead; and 2) utilizing a flow aggregation routing algorithm with feedback from online, OpenFlow-powered monitoring …

Dynamic Thermal Effect In A Hollow Core Microbottle Resonator, Zhe Wang, Zhuochen Wang, Anuradha Rout, Rayhan Habib Jibon, Anand V. R, Fangfang Wei, Qiang Wu, Yuliya Semenova, Northumbria University

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Dynamic thermal wavelength shift in hollow core microbottle resonators has been experimentally demonstrated using the frequency-detuning method. A linewidth broadening phenomenon is observed when the tunable laser is swept from a shorter wavelength to a longer wavelength. The thermal effect in the microbottles with various diameters as a function of the power and sweep frequency of the tunable laser has been studied and analyzed. In addition, the effect of thermal broadening on multiple WGM resonances within the spectrum has been observed, demonstrating that broadening of the linewidth of the first WGM resonance suppresses the subsequent WGM resonances during the up-scanning …

Addressing The Complexity Of Spatial Teaching: A Narrative Review Of Barriers And Enablers, Ergi Bufasi, Ting Jun Lin, Ursa Benedicic, Marten Westerhof, Rohit Mishra, Dace Namsone, Inese Dudareva, Sheryl Sorby, Lena Gumaelius, Remke M. Klapwijk, Jeroen Spandaw, Brian Bowe, Colm O'Kane, Gavin Duffy, Marianna Pagkratidou, Jeffrey Buckley

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Extensive research has established that spatial ability is a crucial factor for achieving success in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). However, challenges that educators encounter while teaching spatial skills remain uncertain. The purpose of this study is to develop a research framework that examines the interrelationships, barriers, and enablers amongst various educational components, including schools, teachers, students, classrooms, and training programs, that are encountered when teaching for spatial ability development. A thorough examination of international research, in combination with a detailed review of the primary Science and Mathematics curricula in Ireland, Latvia, Sweden, and the Netherlands, is undertaken to …

A Rapid On-Site Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification Technology As An Early Warning System For The Detection Of Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia Coli In Water, Zina Alfahl, Sean Biggins, Owen Higgins, Alexandra Chueiri, Terry J. Smith, Dearbháile Morris, Jean O'Dwyer, Paul D. Hynds, Liam P. Burke, Louise O'Connor

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Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) is an important waterborne pathogen capable of causing serious gastrointestinal infections with potentially fatal complications, including haemolytic–uremic syndrome. All STEC serogroups harbour genes that encode at least one Shiga toxin (stx1 and/or stx2), which constitute the primary virulence factors of STEC. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) enables rapid real-time pathogen detection with a high degree of specificity and sensitivity. The aim of this study was to develop and validate an on-site portable diagnostics workstation employing LAMP technology to permit rapid real-time STEC detection in environmental water samples. Water samples (n=28) were collected from groundwater wells (n=13), …

Textural Characterisation Of Wheat–Oat Breads Using A Combination Of Quantitative Descriptive Analysis And Partial Napping Profiling Techniques, Mahmoud Said Rashed, Shivani Pathania, Eimear Gallagher, Jesus M. Frias, Ciara Mcdonagh, Emily Crofton

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The aim of this study was to determine the textural sensory profile of wheat breads developed using oat flour at different substitution levels (10%, 30%, and 50%) and particle sizes (<224, 250–280, 280–500, 500–600 μm). A trained descriptive panel evaluated the wheat–oat breads using quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) (n = 8) and partial napping (PN) (n = 12) sensory techniques. The QDA results showed that the textural properties of the breads were significantly affected by oat flour at different substitution and particle size levels (P < 0.001). The attributes crumb ‘denseness' and ‘stickiness' discriminated most frequently across samples, while crumb ‘chewiness' and ‘dryness' discriminated the least. Principal component analysis (PCA) illustrated that in PC1 (59%) crumb ‘denseness' was positively correlated with crumb ‘hardness' and ‘graininess', while ‘stickiness' was negatively correlated with crumb ‘graininess'. The application of clustering techniques on QDA data showed that breads with 10% oat flour were differentiated based on particle size; however, as the substitution level of oat flour increased, the substitution level of oat flour used in formulations exceeded the effect of particle size. In terms of PN, panellists identified four distinct groups of wheat–oat breads, indicating that wheat breads with 10% oat flour and <224 μm, 280–500 μm and whole oat flour had similar textural properties to the control wheat bread sample. The texture of wheat breads substituted with 50% oat flour were very different to the control. The results of this study suggest that in addition to the effect of substitution level, fractionation of oat flour may have application in the production of wheat bread formulations with different textural profiles. The findings also emphasise the importance of considering clustering techniques when evaluating complex samples for new product development applications.

Bridging The Gap: Determinants Of Consumers' Willingness To Pay For Environmentally Friendly Packages Of Leafy Greens, Carissa Dieli, Anushree Priyadarshini, Robert Ludgate, Lorraine Foley

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Government and corporate policies have mandated a reduction in plastic packaging to combat issues of waste and climate change. This move towards sustainable packaging alternatives in the fresh food sector will increase costs for consumers. Much of the present research finds consumers are willing to pay more for sustainability, but their willingness to pay (WTP) does not align with real-world purchases, representing an attitude–behaviour gap. To combat this gap, it is posited that consumers' current purchasing- and sustainability-related behaviours will meaningfully correlate with their WTP and bridge the attitude–behaviour gap. This research used an online survey (n = 476) to …

A Comprehensive Review Of Cured Meat Products In The Irish Market: Opportunities For Reformulation And Processing, Jan Roland G. Molina, Jesús M. Frías-Celayeta, Declan J. Bolton, Cristina Botinestean

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No abstract provided.

Influence Of Seasonality And Public-Health Interventions On The Covid-19 Pandemic In Northern Europe, Gerry A. Quinn, Michael Connolly, Norman E. Fenton, Steven J. Hatfill, Paul Hynds, Coilín Óhaiseadha, Karol Sikora, Willie Soon, Ronan Connolly

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Background: Most government efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic revolved around non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) and vaccination. However, many respiratory diseases show distinctive seasonal trends. In this manuscript, we examined the contribution of these three factors to the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Pearson correlation coefficients and time-lagged analysis were used to examine the relationship between NPIs, vaccinations and seasonality (using the average incidence of endemic human beta-coronaviruses in Sweden over a 10-year period as a proxy) and the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic as tracked by deaths; cases; hospitalisations; intensive care unit occupancy and testing positivity rates in six …

Development Of A “Big Data” Groundwater Microbial Contamination Index And Spatial Comparisons With Enteric Infection Rates In Southern Ontario, Ioan Petculescu, Paul Hynds, R. Stephen Brown, Martin Boudou, Kevin Mcdermott, Anna Majury

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Big data have become increasingly important for policymakers and scientists but have yet to be employed for the development of spatially specific groundwater contamination indices or protecting human and environmental health. The current study sought to develop a series of indices via analyses of three variables: Non-E. coli coliform (NEC) concentration, E. coli concentration, and the calculated NEC:E. coli concentration ratio. A large microbial water quality dataset comprising 1,104,094 samples collected from 292,638 Ontarian wells between 2010 and 2021 was used. Getis-Ord Gi* (Gi*), Local Moran's I (LMI), and space-time scanning were employed for index development based on identified cluster …

Ireland, Intellectual Property And The Political Economy Of Information Monopolies, Kenneth W. Murphy

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Ireland’s policies towards US-owned global digital intermediaries (Big Tech) have emerged as an international political issue and received global media attention. So far, political and media focus has been on the impact of Ireland’s tax policies on the revenue-raising ability of other European states and perceptions of light touch regulation of those corporations based in the Republic. The current paper will focus on how Ireland’s switch to a focus on capital allowances for the sizeable American tech corporations has enabled the latter to sustain their dominance in the digital transition through incentivizing and subsidizing their switch to assetization as a …

Enhancing Inclusive Entrepreneurial Activity Through Community Engagement Led By Higher Education Institutions, Emma O'Brien, Thomas M. Cooney

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Purpose: While supporting entrepreneurship through government intervention has become a global phenomenon, the OECD (2021) has identified that several communities (including women, youth, seniors, unemployed and immigrants) remain under-represented in terms of entrepreneurial activity. Inclusive entrepreneurship policies seek to enhance economic and social inclusion and emphasise the significant contribution that people from within these communities could make to local and regional development if appropriate support was offered. The purpose of this study is to examine how higher education institutions (HEIs) can co-create inclusive entrepreneurial training initiatives with local communities that support economic and social inclusion. Design/methodology/approach: This in-depth qualitative study …

Navigating Gendered Spaces: A Feminist Phenomenological Exploration Of Women Entrepreneurs Lived Experiences Within Government Support Agencies, Edicleia Oliveira, Serge Basini, Thomas M. Cooney

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Purpose: This article explores women entrepreneurs' lived experiences in their interactions with government enterprise support agencies. It investigates the relationship between gendering and Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO), as a normative orientation adopted at the institutional level and justified by an economic rationale. It also explores how women entrepreneurs articulate their experiences through embodied metaphors and image schemas, shedding light on how they navigate the institutional entrepreneurial space. Design/methodology/approach: This study is framed within the concept of Phenomenological Orientation as conceptualised in feminist phenomenology. It applies Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, a qualitative methodology focused on interpreting accounts of first-person lived experiences of a …

Entrepreneurship As Collective Action: The Next Frontier., Cyrine Ben-Hafaïedh, Claire Champenois, Thomas M. Cooney, Leon Schjoedt

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Collective action in entrepreneurship is lacking in the extant literature. Despite entrepreneurship research progressively moves away from the focus of a lone heroic entrepreneur, scholars have yet to absorb the full potential of entrepreneurship as collective action. Also missing is a collective stance on key entrepreneurship concepts such as opportunity discovery or construction and entrepreneurial agency. Accordingly, this article reviews and critiques five articles that constitute this Special Issue seeking to establish ‘entrepreneurship as collective action’ as the next frontier of entrepreneurship theory development. The articles in this Special Issue each investigate a specific instance of collective action in entrepreneurship. …

Regulating More?: Comparing Ireland's Original And Amended Lobbying Legislation, John Hogan

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This paper compares the amendments introduced by the Regulation of Lobbying and Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) (Amendment) Act 2023 with the original regulations of the Regulation of Lobbying Act 2015. The study was conducted using the Hired Guns Method for assessing the robustness of lobbying legislation, developed by the Centre for Public Integrity (CPI), allowing findings to be compared with lobbying regulations internationally. The 2015 legislation was introduced after years of tribunals, scandals, unfulfilled political promises, and economic crisis, in an effort to increase the public's trust in politicians, representative institutions, democracy and the wider bureaucracy. The 2023 Amendment came …

Framing A Feminist Phenomenological Inquiry Into The Lived Experiences Of Women Entrepreneurs, Edicleia Oliveira, Serge Basini, Thomas M. Cooney

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Purpose: This article aims to explore the potential of feminist phenomenology as a conceptual framework for advancing women's entrepreneurship research and the suitability of interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) to the proposed framework. Design/methodology/approach: The article critically examines the current state of women's entrepreneurship research regarding the institutional context and highlights the benefits of a shift towards feminist phenomenology. Findings: The prevailing disembodied and gender-neutral portrayal of entrepreneurship has resulted in an equivocal understanding of women's entrepreneurship and perpetuated a male-biased discourse within research and practice. By adopting a feminist phenomenological approach, this article argues for the importance of considering the …

A Review On Machine Learning Methods For Customer Churn Prediction And Recommendations For Business Practitioners, Awais Manzoor, M. Atif Qureshi, Etain Kidney, Luca Longo

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Due to market deregulation and globalisation, competitive environments in various sectors continuously evolve, leading to increased customer churn. Effectively anticipating and mitigating customer churn is vital for businesses to retain their customer base and sustain business growth. This research scrutinizes 212 published articles from 2015 to 2023, delving into customer churn prediction using machine learning methods. Distinctive in its scope, this work covers key stages of churn prediction models comprehensively, contrary to published reviews, which focus on some aspects of churn prediction, such as model development, feature engineering and model evaluation using traditional machine learning-based evaluation metrics. The review emphasises …

The Motherhood Penalty In The United Kingdom: An Unconditional Quantile Regression Analysis, Abhijit Sharma, Stefano Grillini, Richard Woodward

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No abstract provided.

Investigating The Potential For Students To Contribute To Climate Data Rescue: Introducing The Climate Data Rescue Africa Project (Clidar‐Africa), Simon Noone, C. D'Arcy, S. Donegan, W. Durkan, B. Essel, K. Healion, H. Hersbach, S. Madden, Jack Marshall, L. Mcconnell, I. Mensah, N. Scroxton, S. Thiesen, Peter Thorne

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The majority of available climate data in global digital archives consist of data only from the 1940s or 1950s onwards, and many of these series have gaps and/or are available for only a subset of the variables which were actually observed. However, there exist billions of historical weather observations from the 1700s, 1800s, and early 1900s that are still in hard‐copy form and are at risk of being lost forever due to deterioration. An assessment of changes in climate extremes in several IPCC regions was not possible in IPCC AR6 WGI owing, in many cases, to the lack of available …

An Analysis Of The Public Participation Processes Employed For An Urban Greenway Project, Maeve O'Connell

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The purpose of this study is to examine the public participation mechanisms employed for a proposed new infrastructure project. Public participation is a core characteristic of a contemporary democratic society as policy makers are increasingly encouraged to engage with citizens for learning and legitimacy. Participation is a loose concept with many forms and interpretations. This study explores the key characteristics of public participation formats, challenges to and the criteria for success. This analysis is then applied to the proposed local infrastructure consultation process. An additional survey is designed and its role in the public participation process is assessed. The processes …

Covid-19 Vaccine Race–The Shadow Of Political And Multinational Interests, Daniel Rajmil, Lucía Morales, Toni Aira

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The COVID-19 pandemic caused global disruption in 2020, throwing the world into an unprecedented health crisis with unpredicted socio-economic consequences. Strikingly, politicians and supranational organizations failed to collaborate and coordinate a united global response. In light of this, this research study explores how the vaccine race may have been used as a weapon of political communication, constantly influenced by international relations and economic interests. This study analyses the US response to the COVID-19 pandemic and how the vaccine development was used to support Trump's political discourse to gain international political leadership amidst the electoral campaign to become reelected. The core …

Behavioral, Cognitive And Emotional Determinants Of Getting Vaccinated For Covid-19 And The Mediating Role Of Institutional Trust Among Young Adults In Cyprus, Pinelopi Konstantinou, Maria Kyprianidou, Andria Christodoulou, Louise Mchugh, Marios Constantinou, Eleni Epiphaniou, Nigel Vahey, Christiana Nicolaou, Nicos Middleton, Maria Karekla, Angelos P. Kassianos

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Background: Vaccination uptake is a complex behavior, influenced by numerous factors. Behavioral science theories are commonly used to explain the psychosocial determinants of an individual's health behavior. This study examined the behavioural, cognitive, and emotional determinants of COVID-19 vaccination intention based on well-established theoretical models: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behaviour (COM-B) and the Health Belief Model (HBM). Additionally, it examined the mediating role of institutional trust in the relationship between determinants of these models and vaccination intentions. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from January to May 2022, where university students in Cyprus completed an …

The Forthcoming General Election In The Republic Of Ireland: Winds Of (Left-Wing) Change Or Plus Ça Change?, Chris O'Ralaigh

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The forthcoming general election will be the most consequential electoral contest for the Republic of Ireland in a century. The polity is situated in truly novel territory with the potential for an historic first: the incoming of a Sinn Féin-led, left-wing government. Any such government would portend change in the North of Ireland, symbolising a critical juncture on the path towards the ending of partition. Analysing electoral and ideological shifts across the post-2008 period, this article examines the immediate prospects for the coming to power of a left-wing government and an historic first in Irish politics.

A Multi-Life Cycle Assessment Of External Wall Insulation Strategies In An Irish Domestic Retrofit, Sara Carrigan, Patrick Daly, Alberta Congeduti

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European Union (EU) policy and initiatives are driving both building renovation and the uptake of low-embodied carbon and circular design in the construction sector. The European Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast (2021) introduces global warming potential (GWP) methodology, and the future state will likely be embodied carbon targets for which life cycle assessment (LCA) of buildings will be required. External wall insulation (EWI) will have an important role to play in meeting targets. In this context, this paper compares the carbon emission payoff of three alternative EWI strategies that address conventional, low-carbon and circular solutions to EWI respectively, in …

Biobased Construction From Agricultural Crops: Paper 2 - Supply Chain Dynamics Of European Case Studies, Patrick Daly, Paula G. Barril

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Energy security, economics and environmental factors are key drivers toward greater energy efficiency, decarbonisation and circularisation of the building sector.

Bio-based construction provides a potential low carbon and circular strategy toward these aims, as these materials can sequester carbon, are derived from renewable and nontoxic sources and can be re circulated in either technical or bio cycles.

This innovative research undertakes a state of play into select agri-crop biobased construction materials, products and systems across Europe focusing on their supply chain types and dynamics.

The research is based on a multi case study applying a range of mainly qualitative research …

Competency-Based Training Within The Prison System: Enhancing The Likelihood Of Entrepreneurial Activity Upon Release, Martina Brophy, Ana Pérez-Luño, Thomas M. Cooney

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Recidivism rates across the world remain high, and one of the key reasons for this situation is that people leaving the prison system have great difficulty in securing employment. Addressing this issue must be explored from a broad perspective, but one potential career option that is under-explored is self-employment, with few entrepreneurship programmes available within prison systems. This study explores a competency-based approach to training, examining the knowledge, skills, and behaviours needed to enhance the prospects of persons with lived experience of prison becoming entrepreneurs. Using thematic analysis on ten in-depth interviews, this article identifies three categories of competency (generic,specific, …