Digital Commons Network^™

Gpr21 Inhibition Increases Glucose-Uptake In Hepg2 Cells, Gemma K. Kinsella, Stefania Cannito, Valentina Bordano, John C. Stephens, Arianna C. Rosa, Gianluca Miglio, Valeria Guaschino, Valeria Iannaccone, John B.C. Findlay, Elisa Benetti

Articles

GPR21 is a constitutively active, orphan, G-protein-coupled receptor, with in vivo studies suggesting its involvement in the modulation of insulin sensitivity. However, its precise contribution is not fully understood. As the liver is both a major target of insulin signalling and critically involved in glucose metabolism, the aim of this study was to examine the role of GPR21 in the regulation of glucose uptake and production in human hepatocytes. In particular, HepG2 cells, which express GPR21, were adopted as cellular models. Compared with untreated cells, a significant increase in glucose uptake was measured in cells treated with siRNA to downregulate …

Why Are You Here? Modeling Illicit Massage Business Location Characteristics With Machine Learning, Anna White, Seth Guikema, Bridgette Carr

Articles

Illicit massage businesses are a venue for sex and labor trafficking in the United States. Though many of their locations are made publicly available through online advertising, little is known about why they choose to locate where they do. In this work, we use inferential modeling to better understand the spatial distribution of illicit massage businesses within the U.S. Based on addresses web-scraped weekly from online advertisements over 6 months, we modeled illicit massage business prevalence at the census tract and county levels. We used publicly available data to characterize census tracts and counties, finding that the state in which …

Contract Schemas, Roseanna Sommers

Articles

This review draws on the notion of “contract schemas” to characterize what ordinary people think is happening when they enter into contractual arrangements. It proposes that contracts are schematically represented as written documents filled with impenetrable text containing hidden strings, which are routinely signed without comprehension. This cognitive template, activated whenever people encounter objects with these characteristic features, confers certain default assumptions, associations, and expectancies. A review of the literature suggests that contract schemas supply (a) the assumption that terms will be enforced as written, (b) the feeling that one is obligated to perform, and (c) the sense that one …

Biodegradable Nanocomposite Multifunctional Packaging Film For Fruits, Kalpani Y. Perera, Shubham Sharma, Dileswar Pradhan, Amit Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

Biopolymers have been used in food packaging in recent years due to high pollution rates and decreased biodegradation of synthetic polymers. Chitosan (CH) and Sodium alginate (SA) are both biodegradable biopolymers with excellent film forming capability. TiO2 nanoparticles have high mechanical strength, degradation ability and antimicrobial properties, which are beneficial in food packaging. The aim of the current work is to develop the biodegradable multifunctional nanocomposite film for fruit (i.e., Pear) packaging applications. Bionanocomposite film was prepared by solvent casting method using CH-SA and various concentrations of TiO2. The multifunctional properties such as UV barrier, thermal, water retention, mechanical, chemical, …

Perspectives On Computing Ethics: A Multi-Stakeholder Analysis, Damian Gordon, Ioannis Stavrakakis, Paul J. Gibson, Brendan Tierney, Anna Becevel, Andrea Curley, Michael Collins, William O'Mahony, Dympna O'Sullivan

Articles

Purpose:

Computing ethics represents a long established, yet rapidly evolving, discipline that grows in complexity and scope on a near-daily basis. Therefore, to help understand some of that scope it is essential to incorporate a range of perspectives, from a range of stakeholders, on current and emerging ethical challenges associated with computer technology. This study aims to achieve this by using, a three-pronged, stakeholder analysis of Computer Science academics, ICT industry professionals, and citizen groups was undertaken to explore what they consider to be crucial computing ethics concerns. The overlap between these stakeholder groups are explored, as well as whether …

Optimal Placement Of Fuses And Switches In Active Distribution Networks Using Value-Based Minlp, N. Gholizadeh, S.H. Hosseinian, M. Abedi, Hamed Nafisi, P. Siano

Articles

Contingency conditions in distribution networks create financial losses for different parts of the system including electricity customers, electricity retailers, distributed generation (DG) units, etc. Therefore, protective device allocation methods have been introduced in recent years to enhance the reliability of the power system. In this study, a new formulation is proposed to find the optimal places of sectionalizing switches and fuses while taking the financial loss of both electricity customers and DG units into account. The current method has the flexibility to consider DG effect on any location of the network and its islanded operation in case of contingencies. Moreover, …

Punnett Square Or Protein Production? The Expert-Novice Divide For Conceptions Of Genes And Gene Expression, Dina L. Newman, Aeowynn Coakley, Aidan Link, Korinne Mills, Leslie Kate Wright

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Concepts of molecular biology and genetics are difficult for many biology undergraduate students to master yet are crucial for deep understanding of how life works. By asking students to draw their ideas, we attempted to uncover the mental models about genes and gene expression held by biology students (n = 23) and experts (n = 18) using semistructured interviews. A large divide was identified between novice and expert conceptions. While experts typically drew box-and-line representations and thought about genes as regions of DNA that were used to encode products, students typically drew whole chromosomes rather than focusing on gene structure …

Seaweed Polysaccharide In Food Contact Materials (Active Packaging, Intelligent Packaging, Edible Films, And Coatings), Kalpani Y. Perera, Shubham Sharma, Amit K. Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

Food contact materials (FCMs) are materials that come in contact with food products such as food packaging which play a significant role in the food quality and safety. Plastic, which is a major food packaging material, harms the eco-system, wildlife, and the environment. As a result, numerous researches have been in progress on alternative polymers, which has similar properties as plastic but is also environmentally friendly (biodegradable). In recent years, the utilization of seaweed polysaccharides has piqued interest due to its biodegradability, non-toxicity, antioxidant capabilities, and excellent film formation ability. However, it has a number of drawbacks such as low …

Dynamic Stochastic Joint Expansion Planning Of Power Systems, Natural Gas Networks, And Electrical And Natural Gas Storage, Arash Gholami, Hamed Nafisi, H. Askarian A., Ali Jahanbani Ardakani

Articles

Over the last decades, electricity generation from natural gas has substantially increased, mostly driven by low natural gas prices due to fracturing and lower extraction costs. The geographic distance between natural gas resources and load centers calls for a holistic tool for joint expansion of power systems and natural gas networks. In this paper, a Dynamic Stochastic Joint Expansion Planning (DSJEP) of power systems and natural gas networks is proposed to minimize the investment and operational costs of power and natural gas systems. Electrical and natural gas storage (ENGS) are considered as an option for decision-makers in the DSJEP problem. …

The Promise And Limits Of Lawfulness: Inequality, Law, And The Techlash, Salomé Viljoen

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In response to widespread skepticism about the recent rise of “tech ethics”, many critics have called for legal reform instead. In contrast with the “ethics response”, critics consider the “lawfulness response” more capable of disciplining the excesses of the technology industry. In fact, both are simultaneously vulnerable to industry capture and capable of advancing a more democratic egalitarian agenda for the information economy. Both ethics and law offer a terrain of contestation, rather than a predetermined set of commitments by which to achieve more democratic and egalitarian technological production. In advancing this argument, the essay focuses on two misunderstandings common …

Reallocating Redevelopment Risk, Michael C. Pollack

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Scores of cities across the country face devastating financial crises, and the COVID-19 pandemic has brought even more to the brink. But economically distressed municipalities have few places to turn for help. Saddled by rising unemployment, weak tax bases, and state law limitations on deficit spending and debt assumption, they generally cannot spend their way out. And as conditions deteriorate, mobile capital and labor move to greener pastures, further hollowing out the cities they leave behind. With state and federal lifelines tenuous at best, offers by large developers to redevelop an area of the city can thus appear to be …

Sediqa: Sound Emitting Document Image Quality Assessment In A Reading Aid For The Visually Impaired, Jane Courtney

Articles

For visually impaired people (VIPs), the ability to convert text to sound can mean a new level of independence or the simple joy of a good book. With significant advances in optical character recognition (OCR) in recent years, a number of reading aids are appearing on the market. These reading aids convert images captured by a camera to text which can then be read aloud. However, all of these reading aids suffer from a key issue—the user must be able to visually target the text and capture an image of sufficient quality for the OCR algorithm to function—no small task …

Profiling Mathematical Procedural And Problem-Solving Skills Of Undergraduate Students Following A New Mathematics Curriculum, Fiona Faulkner, Mark Prendergast, Cormac Breen, Michael Carr

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In 2010 a mathematics curriculum was introduced in Irish second level schools entitled ‘Project Maths’ (PM). It aimed to refocus second level mathematics teaching and learning away from an over emphasis on procedural mathematics towards problem solving and real understanding [Department of Education and Skills (DES). (2010). Report of the Project Maths implementation support group. https://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Policy-Reports/Report-of-the-Project-Maths-Implementation-Group.pdf]. This paper aims to examine the performance of 1st year undergraduate students’ procedural and problem solving skills after the introduction of PM. A diagnostic test was developed to determine students’ skills in each area and findings demonstrated that students perform statistically significantly …

Flesh And Circuit: Rethinking Performance And Technology, Conor Mcgarrigle, E L. Putnam

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The live, embodied, material, and interactive qualities of performance have made it a notable means of exploring the creative potential of technological engagement, acting as a critical vector for revealing and resisting the technological colonisation of everyday life. The innovative collaborations of Experiments in Art and Technology (EAT) during the 1960’s with artists such as Yvonne Rainer and Robert Rauschenberg, Stelarc’s extreme body modifications, Dumb Type’s intermedia performance, and Guillermo Gomez-Pena and La Pocha Nostra’s poetic and speculative imaginings, have mapped the advances in technology and opened new creative fields to explore embodiment. However, there are still some significant oversights …

Coupled Dynamics Of Vehicle-Bridge Interaction System Using High Efficiency Method, Lu Sun, Xingzhuang Zhao

Articles

Vehicle-bridge interaction is the core for a variety of applications, including vehicle vibration, bridge vibration, bridge structural health monitoring, weight-in-motion, bridge condition inspection, and load rating. These applications give rise to a great interest in pursuing a high-efficiency method that can tackle intensive computation in the context of vehicle-bridge interaction. This paper studies the accuracy and efficiency of discretizing the beam in space as lumped masses using the flexibility method and as finite elements using the stiffness method. Computational complexity analysis is carried out along with a numerical case study to compare the accuracy and efficiency of both methods against …

Classification Of Explainable Artificial Intelligence Methods Through Their Output Formats, Giulia Vilone, Luca Longo

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Machine and deep learning have proven their utility to generate data-driven models with high accuracy and precision. However, their non-linear, complex structures are often difficult to interpret. Consequently, many scholars have developed a plethora of methods to explain their functioning and the logic of their inferences. This systematic review aimed to organise these methods into a hierarchical classification system that builds upon and extends existing taxonomies by adding a significant dimension—the output formats. The reviewed scientific papers were retrieved by conducting an initial search on Google Scholar with the keywords “explainable artificial intelligence”; “explainable machine learning”; and “interpretable machine learning”. …

The Impact Of Environmental Turbulence On The Strategic Decision-Making Process In Irish Quantity Surveying (Qs) Professional Service Firms (Psfs), Roisin Murphy Dr, Oluwasegun Seriki

Articles

Construction firms operate within a business environment characterized by uncertainty and a lack of predictability, increasing the complexity of strategic decision-making. Construction contractor firms’ strategic response to environmental turbulence is appropriately documented but evidence regarding Construction Professional Service Firms (CPSF’S) remains scarce. CPSF’s are characteristically different from contractor organizations due to the intangibility of services and high knowledge intensity. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the impact of environmental turbulence on strategic decision-making process characteristics in CPSF’s, specifically Irish Quantity Surveying (QS) practices. Using a mixed-methods research strategy, data collected over two dissimilar stages on the economic cycle …

Pandemic Transformation Of Teaching And Learning: Designing Pedagogy Using The Contents Of Instructors’ “Pedagogical Pantry,” Rather Than “Established Recipes.”, Sara Schley, Carol E. Marchetti

Articles

How can faculty successfully shift from a physical classroom environment to creating meaningful online learning experiences in the midst of a pandemic? Using a “kitchen pantry” metaphor, this essay suggests faculty use a “what’s in my pantry?” approach, rather than trying to replicate the in-class experience and following a previously identified “recipe.” Some faculty embrace new technology options with great gusto. Others are resistant; and still others wait until they’ve seen others use it first to consider incorporating it. This model allows for different entry points of interaction, and for different levels of experimentation, reflecting individual faculty’s strengths and capabilities. …

An Overview Of Planar Flow Casting Of Thin Metallic Glasses And Its Relation To Slot Coating Of Liquid Films, Eric A. Theisen, Steven J. Weinstein

Articles

Planar flow casting (PFC) is a method that can be used to make thin, long, and wide metallic alloy foils by extruding molten liquid through a thin and wide nozzle and immediately quenching on a moving roller. The quenching rates are high enough that amorphous metallic glasses may be formed which have many desirable properties for a wide variety of applications. This paper reviews how PFC processes were developed, examines the typical operability range of PFC, and reviews the defects that commonly form. The geometrical similarities between PFC and slot coating process are apparent, and this paper highlights differences between …

An Overview Of Planar Flow Casting Of Thin Metallic Glasses And Its Relation To Slot Coating Of Liquid Films, Eric A. Theisen, Steven J. Weinstein

Articles

Planar flow casting (PFC) is a method that can be used to make thin, long, and wide metallic alloy foils by extruding molten liquid through a nozzle slot and immediately quenching on a moving roller. The quenching rates are high enough that amorphous metallic glasses may be formed that have many desirable properties for a wide variety of applications. This paper reviews how PFC processes were developed, examines the typical operability range of PFC, and reviews the defects that commonly form. The geometrical similarities between PFC and slot coating process are apparent, and this paper highlights differences between the operability …

Probabilistic Analysis Of The Active Earth Pressure On Earth Retaining Walls For C‑Φ Soils According To The Mazindrani And Ganjali Method, Julian Osorio, Juan Camilo Viviescas, Juan Pablo Osorio

Articles

The determination of the earth pressure coefficients (K) in geotechnical engineering is one of the most critical procedures in designing earth retaining walls. However, most earth pressure theories are made for either clay or sands, where the c-ϕ soils are the least analysed. In this paper, an analysis of the earth pressure for drained mixed soils based in Mazindrani and Ganjali (J Geotech Geoenviron Eng 123:110–112, 1997) theory was carried out. Earth pressure coefficients are generally used in a deterministic way and can represent designs under an inadmissible risk. Therefore, Reliability-based design arises as an essential tool to deal with …

A Health Elearning Ontology And Procedural Reasoning Approach For Developing Personalized Courses To Teach Patients About Their Medical Condition And Treatment, Martin Michalowski, Szymon Wilk, Wojtek Michalowski, Dympna O'Sullivan, Silvia Bonaccio, Enea Parimbelli, Marc Carrier, Grégoire Le Gal, Stephen Kingwell, Mor Peleg

Articles

We propose a methodological framework to support the development of personalized courses that improve patients’ understanding of their condition and prescribed treatment. Inspired by Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs), the framework uses an eLearning ontology to express domain and learner models and to create a course. We combine the ontology with a procedural reasoning approach and precompiled plans to operationalize a design across disease conditions. The resulting courses generated by the framework are personalized across four patient axes—condition and treatment, comprehension level, learning style based on the VARK (Visual, Aural, Read/write, Kinesthetic) presentation model, and the level of understanding of specific …

Biochemical Impact Of Solar Radiation Exposure On Human Keratinocytes Monitored By Raman Spectroscopy; Effects Of Cell Culture Environment, Ulises Lopez Gonzalez, Alan Casey, Hugh Byrne

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Understanding and amelioration of the effects of solar radiation exposure are critical in preventing the occurrence of skin cancer. Towards this end, many studies have been conducted in 2D cell culture models under simplified and unrealistic conditions. 3D culture models better capture the complexity of in vivo physiology, although the effects of the 3D extracellular matrix have not been well studied. Monitoring the instantaneous and resultant cellular responses to exposure, and the influence of the 3D environment, could provide an enhanced understanding of the fundamental processes of photocarcinogenesis. This work presents an analysis of the biochemical impacts of simulated solar …

The Growth & Regulatory Challenges Of Decentralized Finance, Aaron J. Wright

Articles

The article explores the rapid growth and regulatory challenges of decentralized finance (DeFi), a blockchain-based sector that replaces traditional financial intermediaries with automated smart contracts. DeFi platforms, such as decentralized exchanges (DEXes) and lending protocols, offer financial services like trading, lending, and asset management without centralized control. While DeFi promises lower costs, greater accessibility, and financial inclusion, it also raises significant regulatory questions, particularly around compliance, liability, and oversight. The article highlights the tension between DeFi's decentralized nature and the need for legal frameworks to address risks such as fraud, market manipulation, and systemic instability.

Black Transit: When Public Transportation Decision-Making Leads To Negative Economic Development, Audrey G. Mcfarlane

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No abstract provided.

Experimental Investigation Of The Performance Of A Hybrid Self-Healing System In Porous Asphalt Under Fatigue Loadings, Shi Xu, Liu Xueyan, Amir Tabakovic, Erik Schlangen

Articles

Self-healing asphalt, which is designed to achieve autonomic damage repair in asphalt pavement, offers a great life-extension prospect and therefore not only reduces pavement maintenance costs but also saves energy and reduces CO2 emissions. The combined asphalt self-healing system, incorporating both encapsulated rejuvenator and induction heating, can heal cracks with melted binder and aged binder rejuvenation, and the synergistic effect of the two technologies shows significant advantages in healing efficiency over the single self-healing method. This study explores the fatigue life extension prospect of the combined healing system in porous asphalt. To this aim, porous asphalt (PA) test specimens with …

Flying Free: A Research Overview Of Deep Learning In Drone Navigation Autonomy, Thomas Lee, Susan Mckeever, Jane Courtney

Articles

With the rise of Deep Learning approaches in computer vision applications, significant strides have been made towards vehicular autonomy. Research activity in autonomous drone navigation has increased rapidly in the past five years, and drones are moving fast towards the ultimate goal of near-complete autonomy. However, while much work in the area focuses on specific tasks in drone navigation, the contribution to the overall goal of autonomy is often not assessed, and a comprehensive overview is needed. In this work, a taxonomy of drone navigation autonomy is established by mapping the definitions of vehicular autonomy levels, as defined by the …

Overview Of Hybrid Financial Instruments And Investment Leverage Enablers For Cultural Heritage Adaptive Reuse, Tracy Pickerill

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Cultural heritage adaptive reuse investment strategies involve long-term, sometimes perpetual, investment horizons, which necessitate the integration of sustainable funding mechanisms. In order to achieve participatory circular human prosperity, the sustainable finance movement must re-evaluate investment leverage approaches including value creation models, the design of hybrid financial instruments, analytical decision-making frameworks,collaborative social enterprise structures, impact performance metrics and evolving mindsets.

In the context of this overview of financial and non-financial instruments, cultural heritage adaptive reuse activities include:

• Adaptive reuse of cultural built heritage structures

• Energy retrofit of cultural built heritage structures

• Protection and management of natural eco-systems;

• …

Pivot Points In Bivariate Linear Regression, David L. Farnsworth, Carl V. Lutzer

Articles

There are little-noticed points in the plane, which are artifacts of linear regression. The points, which are called pivot points, are the intersections of sets of regression lines. We derive the coordinates of the pivot point and explain its sources. We show how a pivot point arises in a certain notable data set, which has been analyzed often for points of high leverage. We obtain the application of pivot points that shortens calculations when updating a set of bivariate observations by adding a new point.

A Geometric Approach To Conditioning And The Search For Minimum Variance Unbiased Estimators, David L. Farnsworth, James E. Marengo

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Our purpose is twofold: to present a prototypical example of the conditioning technique to obtain the best estimator of a parameter and to show that this technique resides in the structure of an inner product space. The technique uses conditioning of an unbiased estimator on a sufficient statistic. This procedure is founded upon the conditional variance formula, which leads to an inner product space and a geometric interpretation. The example clearly illustrates the dependence on the sampling methodology. These advantages show the power and centrality of this process.