Digital Commons Network^™

Dual Frequency Dual Circularly-Polarised Patch Antenna With Wide Beamwidth, Xiulong Bao, Max Ammann

Articles

A dual-frequency dual-circularly polarised patch antenna with wide beamwidth is proposed. The two-layer structure comprises circular patches with offset circular slots connected to rectangular slots. They provide orthogonal perturbations realising RHCP and LHCP for the lower and upper bands, respectively. The wide beamwidth is realised by extending the substrate beyond the groundplane. Measurements show a maximum beamwidth of 180deg and gains of 3.9 and 0.5 dBic for zenith and 10deg elevation, respectively, for the upper band. The measured beamwidth for the low band is 130deg with a maximum gain of 3.9 and -0.7 dBic for zenith and 10deg elevation, respectively. …

Ratiometric Wavelength Monitor Based On Singlemode-Multimode-Singlemode Fiber Structure, Agus Hatta, Gerald Farrell, Qian Wang, Ginu Rajan, Pengfei Wang, Yuliya Semenova

Articles

An all-fiber ratiometric wavelength monitor for optical wavelength measurement is proposed and is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Two edge filters with opposite slope spectral responses based on singlemode-multimode-singlemode (SMS) fiber structures are developed. A ratiometric wavelength measurement system employing the developed SMS edge filters demonstrates a high discrimination range of 20.41 dB and a potential wavelength measurement resolution of 10 pm over a wavelength range from 1530 to 1560 nm.

Development Of Neuro-Fuzzy Models To Account For Temporal And Spatial Variations In A Lumped Rainfall-Runoff Model, Ahmed Nasr, Michael Bruen

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For many good and practical reasons, lumped rainfall-runoff models are widely used to represent a catchment‟s response to rainfall. However, they have some acknowledged limitation, some of which are addressed here using a neuro-fuzzy model to combine, in an optimal way, a number of lumped-sub-models. For instance, to address temporal variation, one of the sub-models in the combination may perform well under flood conditions and another under drier conditions and the neuro- fuzzy system would combine their outputs for each time-step in a manner depending on the prevailing conditions. Similarly to address spatial variation, one of the sub-models may perform …

The New Engineer: Between Employability And Social Responsibility, Eddie Conlon

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The reasons behind the demand for what is sometimes called the New Engineer are critically examined and it is argued that a focus on employability alone is not sufficient to prepare socially responsible engineers. By examining issues around work organisation and sustainability it is proposed that engineers need to understand the wider social context in which they work. It is argued that the focus of ethics education should be broadened to focus on the social structure and the way it both enables and constrains socially responsible conduct. There is a call to refocus engineers’ attitudes towards the systems of regulation …

Supply Chain Management Diffusion Among Firms In The Republic Of Ireland, Edward Sweeney, Claudia-Maria Wagner, Bernd Huber

Articles

The changing business environment has sharpened the focus on the need for robust approaches to supply chain management (SCM) and the improvement of supply chain capability and performance. This is particularly the case in Ireland, which has the natural disadvantage of a location peripheral to significant markets and sources of raw materials which results in relatively high transport and distribution costs. Therefore, in order to gain insights into current levels of diffusion of SCM, a survey was conducted among 776 firms in the Republic of Ireland. The empirical results suggest that there is a need for more widespread adoption of …

Luminescent Solar Concentrators: A Review Of Recent Results, Wilfrid G.J.H.M. Van Sark, Keith W.J. Barnham, Lenneke H. Slooff, Amanda J. Chatten, Andreas Buchtemann, Andreas Meyer, Sarah Mccormack, Rolf Koole, Daniel J. Farrell, Rahul Bose, Evert E. Bende, Antonius R. Burgers, Tristram Budel, Jana Quilitz, Manus Kennedy, Toby Meyer, C. De Mello Donega, Andries Meijerink

Articles

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) generally consist of transparent polymer sheets doped with luminescent species. Incident sunlight is absorbed by the luminescent species and emitted with high quantum efficiency, such that emitted light is trapped in the sheet and travels to the edges where it can be collected by solar cells. LSCs offer potentially lower cost per Wp. This paper reviews results mainly obtained within the framework of the Fullspectrum project. Two modeling approaches are presented, i.e., a thermodynamic and a ray-trace one, as well as experimental results, with a focus on LSC stability.

Application Of The Fractal Market Hypothesis For Modelling Macroeconomic Time Series, Jonathan Blackledge

Articles

This paper explores the conceptual background to financial time series analysis and financial signal processing in terms of the Efficient Market Hypothesis. By revisiting the principal conventional approaches to market analysis and the reasoning associated with them, we develop a Fractal Market Hypothesis that is based on the application of non-stationary fractional dynamics using an operator of the type
∂² / ∂x² − σ^q(t) * ∂ ^q(t)/ ∂t^q(t)

where σ⁻¹ is the fractional diffusivity and q is the Fourier dimension which, for the topology considered, (i.e. the one-dimensional case) is related to the Fractal …

Foreword Interruptions And Intersections: Journeys To The Center Of The Americas, Francisco Valdes

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No abstract provided.

Enabling Location-Based Services In Data Centers, Krishna Kant, Neha Udar, R. Viswanathan

Articles

In this article, we explore services and capabilities that can be enabled by the localization of various assets in a data center or IT environment. We also describe the underlying location estimation method and the protocol to enable localization. Finally, we present a management framework for these services and present a few case studies to assess benefits of location-based services in data centers.

Jurisdictional Resequencing And Restraint The Jurisprudence Of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Heather Elliott

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is well known for her restrained jurisprudence, and yet one line of her opinions has been criticized as “substantially illegitimate.” Ruhrgas AG v. Marathon Oil Co. and Sinochem International Co. v. Malaysia International Shipping Corp. both involve “jurisdictional resequencing,” which in certain circumstances permits a federal court to decide a threshold jurisdictional question, such as forum non conveniens, before it resolves the question of subject-matter jurisdiction. Because jurisdictional resequencing allows courts to decide questions when they may in fact lack subject-matter jurisdiction, at least one critic has said this doctrine is “close to the line that …

Establishing Relations Between Law And Other Forms Of Thought And Language, James Boyd White

Articles

The law does not, and could not, exist in an intellectual or linguistic vacuum. No one believes that the law is or should be impervious to other languages, other bodies of knowledge. In this sense the argument about the 'autonomy' of law is an empty one: law cannot be, should not be, perfectly autonomous, unconnected with any other system of thought and expression; yet it plainly has it own identity as a discourse, it own intellectual and linguistic habits, which it is our task as lawyers to understand and develop. It follows that an essential topic of legal thought is …

Noncompliance, Nonenforcement, Nonproblem? Rethinking The Anticommons In Biomedical Research, Rebecca S. Eisenberg

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A decade ago the biomedical research community was sounding alarm bells about the impact of intellectual property (IP) rights on the ability of scientists to do their work. Controversies and delays in negotiating terms of access to patented mice and genes, databases of scientific information, and tangible research materials all pointed toward the same conclusion: that IP claims were undermining traditional sharing norms to the detriment of science. Michael Heller and I highlighted one dimension of this concern: that too many IP rights in "upstream" research results could paradoxically restrict "downstream" research and product development by making it too costly …

When American Small Business Hot The Jackpot: Taxes, Politics And The History Of Organizational Choice In The 1950'S, Mirit Eyal-Cohen

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No abstract provided.

An Object-Oriented Natural Language Expert System, Kenneth Staffan, Henry Etlinger

Articles

This paper highlights the design and implementation of a prototype object-oriented Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS). There were two main goals for the prototype. One was to create a small tutoring system which fit into the niche of current commercially available systems, while exhibiting some of the more intelligent features found in larger custom systems. The other was to experiment with an object-oriented model, design approach, and implementation for such a system. A masking technique for pattern matching is one of the key paradigms driving the intelligent diagnosis. The prototype provides a means for practicing sentence construction, by checking a student's …

Towards Flow Cytometry Data Clustering On Graphics Processing Units, Jeremy Espenshade, Doug Roberts, James Cavenaugh

Articles

Like many modern techniques for scientific analysis, flow cytometry produces massive amounts of data that must be analyzed and clustered intelligently to be useful. Current manual binning techniques are cumbersome and limited in both the quality and quantity of analyses produced. To address the quality of results, a new framework applying two different sets of clustering algorithms and inference methods are implemented. The two methods investigated are fuzzy c-means and minimum description length inference and k-medoids with BIC. These approaches lend themselves to large scale parallel processing. To address the computational demands, the Nvidia CUDA framework and Tesla architecture are …

Simplified Explanation Of Pneumatic Tire Behavior, George Sutherland

Articles

This paper develops a simple model for the behavior of a pneumatic tire when vertically loaded. The model is based on the behavior of a thick-skinned spherical membrane (like a basketball) being compressed between two flat plates. The model is reasonably accurate for bicycle, motorcycle, truck, general purpose, and early model automobile tires which all have a circular cross-section. However modern automobile tires have a wide aspect ratio when unloaded, have unloaded line contact with the ground across the tread width, and have relatively stiff sidewalls that contribute to the tire’s load carrying capability (and in the case of run-flat …

What Influences Salary: A Study Of Mis Faculty Job Offers, M. Pamela Neely, Thomas Tribunella, Zhi Tang, Clyde Eiríkur Hull

Articles

What matters when you’re negotiating a job offer? We address this and other questions using data from the Association for Information Systems (AIS) Salary Surveys on compensation, rank, publication data, and similar data associated with MIS Faculty job offers. Our study has three primary findings. First, school and individual factors influence the position and salary offered, but individual factors have a stronger impact. Second, we find the position (i.e., associate/assistant professor and teaching load) offered by schools partially mediates the relationship between school and individual factors and the starting salary. Third, the direct impact of individual factors is also influenced …

Accelerating Time To Scientific Discovery With A Grid-Enhanced Microsoft Project, Gregor Von Laszewski, Leor Dilmanian

Articles

The composition, execution, and monitoring of challenging scientific applications is often a complex affair. To cope with the issue of workflow management, several tools and frameworks have been designed and put into use. However, the entry barrier to using these tools productively is high, and may hinder the progress of many scientists, or nonexperts, that develop workflows infrequently. As part of our Cyberaide framework we enable workflow definition, execution and monitoring through the Microsoft Project software package. The motivation for this choice is that many scientists are already familiar with Microsoft Project, a project management software package that is perceived …

Templates For Innovation: A Comment On Mumford, Bedell And Hunter, John Ettlie

Articles

The authors confront the nontrivial issue of whether or not creativity and innovation can be planned, and proceed to support an affirmative answer with a well-organizated treatment of the applied research literature relevant to this topic. They outline and reference an incremental approach to this planning process at multiple level of aggregation (organization, group, and individual), and present both a state-of-the-art review and a general, normative approach to this daunting challenge.

Reviewing The Author-Function In The Age Of Wikipedia, Amit Ray, Erhardt Graeff

Articles

In "Reviewing the Author-Function in the Age of Wikipedia," Amit Ray and Erhardt Graeff examine how wiki technology challenges traditional concepts of authorship and authority in knowledge production. The authors build on poststructuralist theory, particularly Roland Barthes's "Death of the Author" and Michel Foucault's concept of the "author-function," to analyze how wikis destabilize individual authorship in favor of collaborative, community-driven content creation.

The essay argues that wikis represent a fundamental shift from the Romantic notion of the solitary author-genius to what they term the "wiki writing process"—a dynamic system where traditional roles of reader, writer, and editor blur into a …

The Impact Of Traumatic Stress And Alcohol Exposure On Youth: Implications For Lawyers, Judges, And Courts, Frank E. Vandervort

Articles

Since its inception in the late nineteenth century, the juvenile court has been concerned with the legal problems of children and their families. From the court’s earliest days, it has sought to address child abuse and neglect and juvenile delinquency as social problems that result from familial and community breakdown. Over the decades, researchers from various disciplines have provided varying explanations of how and why family systems break down, why some parents fail to nurture their children, why some physically or sexually abuse their children, and why some children become delinquent.

Genes As Tags: The Tax Implications Of Widely Available Genetic Information, Kyle D. Logue, Joel Slemrod

Articles

Advances in genetic research promise to loosen the tradeoff between progressivity and effi ciency by allowing tax liability (or transfer eligibility) to be based in part on immutable characteristics of individuals (“tags”) that are correlated with their expected lot in life. Use of genetic tags would reduce reliance on tax bases (such as income) that are subject to individual choices and, therefore, subject to ineffi cient distortion to those choices. If genetic information can be used by private employers and insurers, the case for basing tax in part on it becomes more compelling, as genetic inequalities would be exacerbated by …

Exploring Paradox In Marketing Strategy: Managing Ambiguity Towards Synthesis, Aidan O'Driscoll

Articles

The objective of this paper is to explain a conceptual framework of paradox and marketing. The paper adopts a theoretical approach. It outlines marketing’s current and limited interest in the notion of paradox and highlights the difference between a classic paradox, the tension between transactional and relational marketing, and the Contemporary Marketing Practice (CMP) research program. A future research agenda for paradox and marketing is speculated on, addressing issues such as likely domains for exploration, methodology, as well as the type of organizational structures and marketing leadership required. Finally, there is reflection on how paradox engineers a strong bridge between …

Nanocomposites For Novel Holographic Applications, Izabela Naydenova, Svetlana Mintova, Suzanne Martin, Vincent Toal

Articles

Nanozeolites incorporated into photopolymerizable holographic recording materials can be used for holographic sensing, data storage, and optical systems design.

Contextualising Nanotechnology In Chemistry Education, Christine O'Connor, Hugh Hayden

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This paper will give an example of a pedagogical approach taken in integrating nanotechnology into a chemistry degree course. In recent years nanotechnology has widely become part of the course content for undergraduate chemistry and physics degree curriculum. How contextualised the delivery of the subject matter may vary. The role of contextualisation of nanotechnology in the delivery of the content is the main focus of this paper, as to date in Ireland and many other countries nanotechnology has not been integrated into many chemistry degree courses but is slowly becoming the case. An evaluative methodology of the pedagogical approach for …

Consensus Mutagenesis Reveals That Non-Helical Regions Influence Thermal Stability Of Horseradish Peroxidase., Barry Ryan, CiaráN Fagan

Articles

The enzyme horseradish peroxidase has many uses in biotechnology but a stabilized derivative would have even wider applicability. To enhance thermal stability, we applied consensus mutagenesis (used successfully with other proteins) to recombinant horseradish peroxidase and generated five single-site mutants. Unexpectedly, these mutations had greater effects on steady-state kinetics than on thermal stability. Only two mutants (T102A, T110V) marginally exceeded the wild type’s thermal stability (4% and 10% gain in half- life at 50oC respectively); the others (Q106R, Q107D, I180F) were less stable than wild type. Stability of a five-fold combination mutant matched that of Q106R, the least-stable single mutant. …

Use Of Neutral Electrolysed Water (Ew) For Quality Maintenance And Shelf-Life Extension Of Minimally Processed Lettuce, Daniel Rico, Ana Belen Martin-Diana, Catherine Barry-Ryan, Jesus Maria Frias, Gary Henehan, José Barat

Articles

Experiments were conducted to determine the effectiveness of different treatments based on the use of neutral electrolysed water (EW) on fresh-cut lettuce. EW was diluted to obtain different free chlorine concentrations (120, 60 and 12 ppm) and compared with standard washing treatment of 120 ppm chlorine solution. Shelf-life quality and safety markers were studied at the beginning and at the end of the 7-day storage at 4 ºC. The use of EW decreased the respiration rate of the samples which might be related with the observed reduction in microbial spoilage. The use of EW also increased the activity of a …

Relevance For Food Safety Of Applications Of Nanotechnology In The Food And Feed Industry, Iona Pratt, Catherine Adley, Gordon Chambers, Wayne Anderson

Articles

The application of nanotechnology in the food and feed industry offers many potential benefits for both consumers and manufacturers.The ultrafine dimensions of nanoparticles, and consequently their very large surface area, enable them to function more effectively than conventional macro-scale structures in many applications. Nanotechnology is however a relatively new area of science and the benefits and risks associated with its use in the food and feed industry are not fully understood at this time.This brings with it new challenges in ensuring the safety of food and feed that has been produced with the aid of nanotechnology. This report provides an …

Raman Spectroscopy For The Characterization Of The Polymerization Rate In An Acrylamide-Based Photopolymer, Raghavendra Jallapuram, Izabela Naydenova, Hugh Byrne, Suzanne Martin, Robert Howard, Vincent Toal

Articles

Investigations of polymerization rates in an acrylamide-based photopolymer are presented. The polymerization rate for acrylamide and methylenebisacrylamide was determined by monitoring the changes in the characteristic vibrational peaks at 1284 cm-1 and 1607 cm-1 corresponding to the bending mode of CH bond and CC double bonds of acrylamide and in the characteristic peak at 1629 cm-1 corresponding to carbon-carbon double bond of methylenebisacrylamide using Raman spectroscopy. To study the dependence of the polymerization rate on intensity and to find the dependence parameter, the polymerization rate constant was measured at different intensities. A comparison with a commercially available photopolymer shows that …

Disability, Equipment Barriers And Women’S Health: Using The Ada To Provide Meaningful Access, Elizabeth Pendo

Articles

It is well-known that people with disabilities face multiple barriers to adequate health care, including lower average incomes, disproportionate poverty, and issues with insurance coverage. This article focuses on a more fundamental barrier-one that has not been discussed in the legal literature-inaccessible medical equipment and its effect on the delivery of women's health care to millions of women with disabilities .