Digital Commons Network^™

Medical Training Of Seafarers: International Maritime Health Foundation (Imhf) Expert Panel Consensus Statement, Nebojša Nikolić, Jon Magnus Haga, Jens Tülsner, Per Otto Årland, Alf Magne Horneland, Bill Kavanagh, Klaus Seidenstucker, Spike Briggs, Inger Lund-Kordahl, Cecilia Simolin Pernilla

Articles

Background: Medical emergencies and on-going medical conditions on board may seriously impair seafarers’ health and safety, and also negatively impact on future work prospects for seafarers. When a seafarer gets ill or injured on a ship, medical treatment often relies on the competences on his colleagues on board. The aim of this project was to establish a consensus-based minimum standard for medical education for seafarers, in order to ensure competency for adequate management of ill-health on board.

Materials and methods: International Maritime Health Foundation (IMHF) conducted a workshop on medical training of seafarers. A research-based approach to gain consensus on …

Current Topics In Technology-Enabled Stroke Rehabilitation And Reintegration: A Scoping Review And Content Analysis, Katryna Cisek

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Background. There is a worldwide health crisis stemming from the rising incidence of various debilitating chronic diseases, with stroke as a leading contributor. Chronic stroke management encompasses rehabilitation and reintegration, and can require decades of personalized medicine and care. Information technology (IT) tools have the potential to support individuals managing chronic stroke symptoms. Objectives. This scoping review identifies prevalent topics and concepts in research literature on IT technology for stroke rehabilitation and reintegration, utilizing content analysis, based on topic modelling techniques from natural language processing to identify gaps in this literature. Eligibility Criteria. Our methodological search initially identified over 14,000 …

Laser Light As An Emerging Method For Sustainable Food Processing, Packaging, And Testing, Prasad Chavan, Rahul Yadav, Pallavi Sharma, Amit Jaiswal

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In this review article, we systematically investigated the diverse applications of laser technology within the sphere of food processing, encompassing techniques such as laser ablation, microbial inactivation, state-of-the-art food packaging, and non-destructive testing. With a detailed exploration, we assess the utility of laser ablation for the removal of surface contaminants from foodstuffs, while also noting the potential financial and safety implications of its implementation on an industrial scale. Microbial inactivation by laser shows promise for reducing the microbial load on food surfaces, although concerns have been raised about potential damage to the physio characteristics of some fruits. Laser-based packaging techniques, …

Effect Of Ultrasound-Assisted Thin Bed Drying For Retaining The Quality Of Red Bell Pepper And Compare The Predictive Ability Of The Mathematical Model With Artificial Neural Network, Raju Sasikumar, Irengbam Barun Mangang, Kamchampati Vivek, Amit K. Jaiswal

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Red bell peppers (Capsicum ann. L.) are low in calories and high in nutrients, including vitamins A and C. Various factors such as weight loss, senescence, and microbial influence affect their quality during storage. To address this, the present study aims to preserve and retain the quality of red bell peppers using ultrasound-assisted thin-bed drying. The results were analyzed using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) for more accurate prediction of variables involved in the process. Variations in moisture ratio and moisture content during drying were calculated and predicted. The Mid. model provided satisfactory curve fitting at an air velocity of …

Electromechanical Coupling In Collagen Measured Under Increasing Relative Humidity, Arwa Bazaid, Fengyuan Zhang, Qiancheng Zhang, Sabine Neumayer, Denise Denning, Stefan Habelitz, Ana Marina Ferreira, Brian J. Rodriguez

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The functional role of collagen piezoelectricity has been under debate since the discovery of piezoelectricity in bone in 1957. The possibility that piezoelectricity plays a role in bone remodelling has generated interest in the investigation of this effect in relevant physiological conditions; however, there are conflicting reports as to whether collagen is piezoelectric in a humid environment. In macroscale measurements, the piezoelectricity in hydrated tendon has been shown to be insignificant compared to dehydrated tendon, whereas, at the nanoscale, the piezoelectric effect has been observed in both dry and wet bone using piezo response force microscopy (PFM). In this work, …

Label-Free Quantification Of Nanoencapsulated Piperonyl Esters In Cosmetic Hydrogels Using Raman Spectroscopy, Suha Elderderi, Franck Bonnier, Xavier Perse, Hugh Byrne, Florent Yvergnaux, Igor Chourpa, Abdalla A. Elbashir, Emilie Munnier

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Raman spectroscopy is a well-established technique for the molecular characterisation of samples and does not require extensive pre-analytical processing for complex cosmetic products. As an illustration of its potential, this study investigates the quantitative performance of Raman spectroscopy coupled with partial least squares regression (PLSR) for the analysis of Alginate nanoencapsulated Piperonyl Esters (ANC-PE) incorporated into a hydrogel. A total of 96 ANC-PE samples covering a 0.4% w/w–8.3% w/w PE concentration range have been prepared and analysed. Despite the complex formulation of the sample, the spectral features of the PE can be detected and used to quantify the concentrations. Using …

Influence Of Physical And Mechanical Parameters On Cavitation Erosion And Antifouling Behaviour Of Multilayer Silica-Based Hybrid Sol–Gel Coatings On Aluminium Alloys, Manasa Hegde, Marta Mroczkowska, Joseph Mohan, Adriana Cunha Neves, Yvonne Kavanagh, Brendan Duffy, Edmond F. Tobin

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Sol–gel coatings can provide anti-fouling and erosion resistance while being safe to use in the marine environment. MAPTMS/ZPO multilayer coatings deposited on the AA2024-T3 aluminium surface using the dip-coating method at three different thicknesses (2, 4, and 6 m) are investigated in this work. The coatings are characterised in terms of physical and mechanical properties, and these properties are investigated in comparison to previously obtained cavitation erosion resistance levels of the coatings. Additionally, the efficiency of the coatings against biofouling was assessed using Phaeodactylum tricornutum, a marine diatom. The influence of the formation of organic–inorganic hybrid materials (OIHMs) from the …

Towards An Inclusive And Representative Academic Landscape, Linn Leppert, Katalin Solymosi, Yvonne Galligan

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This article is a summary of a panel discussion entitled ‘Towards an inclusive and representative academic landscape’, held at the Building Bridges Meeting of Academia Europaea and the Young Academy of Europe on 26 October 2022. The panellists were Professor Yvonne Galligan, director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of Comparative Politics at the Technological University Dublin, Dr Katalin Solymosi, plant biologist, assistant professor at Eötvös Loránd University and vice-chair of the Young Academy of Europe, and Professor Stephen Curry, Assistant Provost for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and Professor of Structural Biology at Imperial College London. Dr Linn Leppert, …

Estimate Tourism Model Choice For Pilgrim In The Way Of St. James: The Portuguese Way, Rosa Conde, Ana Pinto Borges, Isabel Neira Gómez, Elvira Viera

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The purpose of this study is to examine how the characteristics of the pilgrims and the attributes of travel influence the choose of the Portuguese. It is important to understand the choices tourists make. This study identifies the factors that influence the tourists’ choice of way. The analysis is based on the official statistics of the Portuguese Way of Santiago between 2003 and 2020.

The study provides several important findings concerning tourism’s model choice. Understanding the tourists’ modal choice behavior help public and private organizations to develop appropriate marketing strategies.

The probit model is used to model a relationship between …

Cavitation Erosion And Corrosion Resistance Of Hydrophobic Sol-Gel Coatings On Aluminium Alloy, Manasa Hegde, Joseph Mohan, Muhammad Qasim Mushtaq Warraich, Yvonne Kavanagh, Brendan Duffy, Edmond F. Tobin

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Cavitation erosion and erosion-corrosion are the popular failure modes of hydronautics components namely propellers, valves, turbines etc which occurs due to mechanical destructions and electrochemical corrosion. Erosion corrosion is caused due to surge in the number of solid particles affecting the surfaces whereas cavitation erosion is caused due to steady collapse of cavities or bubbles. Aluminium alloys are widely used in marine renewable industries owing to its high strength, light weight and good corrosion resistance. Despite that, cavitation and erosion-corrosion are the limiting factors for these alloys. The aim of the present work is to produce a coating system capable …

Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Response To Vitamin D Supplementation Using Different Lipid Delivery Systems In Middle-Aged And Older Adults: A Randomised Controlled Trial, Aisling F. Mccourt, Steven L. Mulrooney, Graham O'Neill, E. Dolores O'Riordan, Aifric M. O'Sullivan

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Food fortification improves vitamin D intakes but is not yet mandated in many countries. Combining vitamin D with different dietary lipids altered vitamin D absorption in in vitro and postprandial studies. This randomised, placebo-controlled trial examined the effect of the lipid composition of a vitamin D-fortified dairy drink on change in 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations. Sixty-three healthy adults aged 50+ years were randomised to one of the following for 4 weeks: vitamin D-fortified olive oil dairy drink, vitamin D-fortified coconut oil dairy drink, vitamin D supplement or placebo control dairy drink. All vitamin D groups received 20 µg of vitamin …

Enhanced Fractional Adaptive Processing Paradigm For Power Signal Estimation, Naveed Ishtiaq Chaudhary, Zeshan Aslam Khan, Muhammad Asif Zahoor Raja, Iqra Ishtiaq Chaudhary

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Fractional calculus tools have been exploited to effectively model variety of engineering, physics and applied sciences problems. The concept of fractional derivative has been incorporated in the optimization process of least mean square (LMS) iterative adaptive method. This study exploits the recently introduced enhanced fractional derivative based LMS (EFDLMS) for parameter estimation of power signal formed by the combination of different sinusoids. The EFDLMS addresses the issue of fractional extreme points and provides faster convergence speed. The performance of EFDLMS is evaluated in detail by taking different levels of noise in the composite sinusoidal signal as well as considering various …

Three-Dimensional (3d) In Vitro Cell Culture Protocols To Enhance Glioblastoma Research, Janith Wanigasekara, Lara Carroll, Patrick J. Cullen, Brijesh K. Tiwari, James Curtin

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Three-dimensional (3D) cell culture models can help bridge the gap between in vitro cell cultures and in vivo responses by more accurately simulating the natural in vivo environment, shape, tissue stiffness, stressors, gradients and cellular response while avoiding the costs and ethical concerns associated with animal models. The inclusion of the third dimension in 3D cell culture influences the spatial organization of cell surface receptors that interact with other cells and imposes physical restrictions on cells in compared to Two-dimensional (2D) cell cultures. Spheroids’ distinctive cyto-architecture mimics in vivo cellular structure, gene expression, metabolism, proliferation, oxygenation, nutrition absorption, waste excretion, …

Design, Synthesis And Biological Evaluation Of A Novel Bioactive Indane Scaffold 2-(Diphenylmethylene)C-2,3-Dihydro-1h-Inden-1-One With Potential Anticancer Activity, Tao Zhang, Vilmar Bandero, Claire Corcoran, Ismael Obaidi, Manuel Ruether, John O'Brien, Lorraine O'Driscoll, Neil Frankish, Helen Sheridan

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Over the past decades, designing of privileged structures has emerged as a useful approach to the discovery and optimisation of novel biologically active molecules, and many have been successfully exploited across and within different target families. Examples include indole, quinolone, isoquinoline, benzofuran and chromone, etc. In the current study, we focus on synthesising a novel hybrid scaffold constituting naturally occurring benzophenone (14) and indanone (22) ring systems, leading to a general structure of 2-(diphenylmethylene)-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-one (23). It was hypothesised this new hybrid system would provide enhanced anti-cancer activity owing to the presence of the common features associated with the tubulin binding …

Enhanced Gene Transfection Efficacy And Safety Through Granular Hydrogel Mediated Gene Delivery Process, Jing Zhang, Zhonglei He, Yinghao Li, Yu Shen, Guanfu Wu, Laura Power, Rijian Song, Ming Zeng, Xianqing Wang, Irene Lara Sáez, Sigen A, Qian Xu, James Curtin, Ziyi Yu, Wenxin Wang

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Although gene therapy has made great achievements in both laboratory research and clinical translation, there are still challenges such as limited control of drug pharmacokinetics, acute toxicity, poor tissue retention, insufficient efficacy, and inconsistent clinical translation. Herein, a gene therapy gel is formulated by directly redispersing polyplex nanoparticles into granular hydrogels without any gelation pre-treatment, which provides great convenience for storage, dosing and administration. In vitro studies have shown that use of granular hydrogels can regulate the gene drug release, reduce dose dependent toxicity and help improve transfection efficacy. Moreover, the developed gene therapy gel is easy to operate and …

Numeracy-Meets: An Innovative Professional Development Model For Adult Numeracy Practitioners In Ireland, Mark Prendergast, Annette Forster, Niamh O'Meara, Kathy O'Sullivan, Fiona Faulkner

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Despite the clear and obvious need for adults to be proficient in numeracy, international studies suggest that many continue to struggle in this area. In Ireland, one of the main challenges continues to be the availability of effective adult numeracy education. This is a diverse sector, and little is known about the varied provision of adult numeracy courses and of those who teach on them. Recent research has highlighted an unmet demand for the professional development of adult numeracy practitioners with many looking for opportunities to network and further develop their practice. This study aimed to design, implement and evaluate …

Tio2-Mwcnt Nanohybrid: Cytotoxicity, Protein Corona Formation And Cellular Internalisation In Rtg-2 Fish Cell Line, Gabriela Helena Da Silva, Lidiane Silva Franqui, Marcelo A. De Farias, Vera Lucia S.S. De Castro, Hugh Byrne, Diego S.T. Martinez, Regina T.R. Monteiro, Alan Casey

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Titanium dioxide nanoparticles-multiwalled carbon nanotubes (TiO2-MWCNT) nanohydrid has an enhanced photocatalytic activity across the visible light with promising applications in environmental remediation, solar energy devices and antimicrobial technologies. However, it is necessary to evaluate the toxicological effects of TiO2-MWCNT towards safe and sustainable development of nanohybrids. In this work, we studied the cytotoxicity, protein corona formation and cellular internalisation of TiO2-MWCNT on fibroblasts derived from gonadal rainbow trout tissue (RTG-2) for the first time. This nanohydrid did not show any toxicity effect on RTG-2 cells up to 100 mg L-1 after 24 h of exposure as monitored by alamar blue, …

Rapid Detection Of Sars-Cov-2 Nucleocapsid Protein By A Label-Free Biosensor Based On Optical Fiber Cylindrical Micro-Resonator, Ru-Lei Xia, Bin Liu, Yingying Hu, Juan Liu, Yue Fu, Xing-Dao He, Ping Lu, Yingying Hu, Gerald Farrell

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The current global outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to be a severe threat to human health. Rapid, low-cost, and accurate antigen detection methods are very important for disease diagnosis. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) nucleocapsid protein (N-Protein) is often used as the diagnostic and screening for coronavirus detection. To this end, we propose and experimentally validate a highly sensitive whispering gallery mode (WGM) optical cylindrical micro-resonator (CMR) for bio immunoassay detection. To study the biokinetic process of immunoassay, the surface of the WGM micro-resonator is functionalized with N-Protein monoclonal antibody (N-Protein-m Ab), which led to the specific detection …

Characterization Of Food Chain Clostridioides Difficile Isolates In Terms Of Ribotype And Antimicrobial Resistance, Pilar Marcos, Aoife Doyle, Paul Whyte, Thomas R. Rogers, Maire Mcelroy, Seamus Fanning, Jesus Maria Frias, Declan Bolton

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The aim of this study was to characterize C. difficile isolates from the farm, abattoir, and retail outlets in Ireland in terms of ribotype and antibiotic resistance (vancomycin, erythromycin, metronidazole, moxifloxacin, clindamycin, and rifampicin) using PCR and E-test methods, respectively. The most common ribotype in all stages of the food chain (including retail foods) was 078 and a variant (RT078/4). Less commonly reported (014/0, 002/1, 049, and 205) and novel (RT530, 547, and 683) ribotypes were also detected, but at lower frequencies. Approximately 72% (26/36 tested) of the isolates tested were resistant to at least one antibiotic, with the majority …

Hmm, You Seem Confused! Tracking Interlocutor Confusion For Situated Task-Oriented Hri, Na Li, Robert J. Ross

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Our research seeks to develop a long-lasting and high-quality en- gagement between the user and the social robot, which in turn requires a more sophisticated alignment of the user and the system than is currently commonly available. Close monitoring of inter- locutors’ states, and we argue their confusion state in particular, and adjusting dialogue policies based on this state of confusion is needed for successful joint activity. In this paper, we present an ini- tial study of a human-robot conversation scenarios using a Pepper robot to investigate the confusion states of users. A Wizard-of-Oz (WoZ) HRI experiment is illustrated in …

Evaluation Of The Photon Contributions To The Solar Energy Conversion For Organic Luminescent Down-Shifting Liquid Beam Splitters In Hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermal (Pvt) Applications Using Raytracing Monte Carlo Simulations, Kenneth Coldrick

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A hybrid photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) system combines photovoltaic (PV) and photo-thermal (PT) energy collection into a single structure, enhancing the potential to achieve greater solar energy conversion efficiencies. Such enhanced efficiencies can result in greater economic returns and could promote a larger uptake of PVT devices in cold and temperate climate countries. Through the utilization of a Monte Carlo ray-tracing model, this work provides new insights into the optical, electrical, and thermal characteristics of PVT devices. In particular, the work focuses on evaluating the behaviour of novel luminescent imidazole-phenanthroline-based working fluids that were previously experimentally investigated as liquid spectral beam splitters …

International Digital Nomads: Immigration Law Options In The United States And Abroad, Scott Titshaw

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Remote work has become common, allowing many people to choose to work anywhere with an adequate internet connection. Some are adopting a “digital nomad” lifestyle, moving with the seasons or years from place to place, including foreign locations. Yet, such international movement raises immigration and other legal issues. Many countries have adopted specific digital nomad visas and other immigration policies to encourage and regulate this trend. The United States is not one of them. Arguing that the United States should consciously plan for digital nomads, this article compares the current U.S. approach with the innovations of other countries, identifying the …

Stories That Kill: Masculinity And Capital Prosecutors' Closing Arguments, Pamela A. Wilkins

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The American death penalty is a punishment by, for, and about men: Both historically and today, most capital prosecutors are men, most capital defendants are men, and killing itself is strongly coded male. Yet despite—or perhaps because of—the overwhelming maleness of the institution of capital punishment, the subject of masculinity is largely absent from legal discourse about the death penalty. This Article addresses that gap in the legal discourse by applying the insights of masculinities theory, an offshoot of feminist theory, to capital prosecutors’ closing arguments. This Article hypothesizes that capital prosecutors’ masculinity is strongly influenced both by white Southern …

Ar/Vr Teaching-Learning Experiences In Higher Education Institutions (Hei): A Systematic Literature Review, Belen Bermejo, Carlos Juiz, David Cortes, Jeroen Oskam, Teemu Moilanen, Jouko Loijas, Praneschen Govender, Jenniifer Hussey, Alexander Lennart Schmidt, Ralf Burbach, Daniel King, Colin O'Connor, David Dunlea

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During the last few years, learning techniques have changed, both in basic education and in higher education. This change has been accompanied by new technologies such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (AR). The combination of these technologies in education has allowed a greater immersion, positively affecting the learning and teaching processes. In addition, since the COVID-19 pandemic, this trend has been growing due to the diversity of the different fields of application of these technologies, such as heterogeneity in their combination and their different experiences. It is necessary to review the state of the art to determine the …

Feature Papers In Optical Sensors 2022, Vittorio M. N. Passaro, Yuliya Semenova, Benjamin Miller

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Today, optical sensors are the subject of a very significant number of studies and applications. Many well-established technologies, including free-space optics, integrated photonics, and fiber optics approaches, have been developed in recent decades to fabricate and develop increasingly more efficient optical sensors for applications ranging from industrial control to monitoring the environment, biomedical use, and even as part of the Internet of Things.

High-Sensitivity Vector Bend Sensor Based On A Fiber Directional Coupler Inscribed By A Femtosecond Laser, Ke Tian, Mingyuan Zhang, Chuanzhein Zhao, Huibin Li, Shilong Li, Yuxuan Jiang, Gerald Farrell, Pengfei Wang

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In this Letter, we demonstrate a high-sensitivity vector bend sensor based on a fiber directional coupler. The fiber directional coupler is composed of two parallel waveguides inscribed within a no-core fiber (NCF) by a femtosecond laser. Since the two written waveguides have closely matched refractive indices and geometries, the transmission spectrum of the fiber directional coupler possesses periodic resonant dips. Such a fiber directional coupler exhibits a good bending-dependent spectral shift response due to its asymmetric structure. Experimental results show that bending sensitivities of -97.11 nm/m-1 and 58.22 nm/m-1 are achieved for the 0° and 180° orientations in the curvature …

Efficient 2075-Nm Laser Emission From Ho3+-Doped Fluorotellurite Glass In A Compact All-Fiber Structure, Liyuan Wang, Xiaotong Zhao, Nian Lv, Niannian Xu, Zhenrui Li, Gerald Farrell, Shunbin Wang, Pengfei Wang

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In this Letter, we report an Ho3+-doped fluorotellurite glass all-fiber laser at 2075 nm. The gain fiber is pumped in-band with a 1976-nm fiber laser and connected by fusion splicing. A high-quality fusion splicing point with a loss of < 0.1 dB was obtained by finely adjusting the splicing power and offset. In addition, by optimizing the writing parameters, a third-order fiber Bragg grating (FBG) with a reflectivity of 98% was achieved at 2075 nm using the femtosecond laser direct-writing method. Using the FBG as the laser cavity mirror and a relatively short 28-cm-long home-made Ho3+-doped fluorotellurite fiber as the laser medium, a laser with a maximum unsaturated output power of 7.33 W was obtained, and the corresponding slope efficiency was as high as 93.4%. The first, to the best of our knowledge, demonstration of the fluorotellurite glass all-fiber ∼2.1-µm laser presented in this work may pave the way for a high-power 2.1-µm fiber laser with a compact structure.

The Pierce Decomposition And Pierce Embedding Of Endomorphism Rings Of Abelian P-Groups, Brendan Goldsmith, Luigi Salce

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We prove that more classes of groups than those described by Pierce have the property that the map Ψ is surjective, and we furnish examples of groups which do not have this property. Several results connecting the Pierce decomposition and the Pierce embedding of End(G) are obtained that allow one to derive general conditions on a group G which ensure that the Pierce embedding of End(G) is not surjective.

Forecasting Covid-19 Cases Using Dynamic Time Warping And Incremental Machine Learning Methods, Luis Miralles-Pechuán, Ankit Kumar, Andres L. Suarez-Cetrulo

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The investment of time and resources for developing better strategies is key to dealing with future pandemics. In this work, we recreated the situation of COVID-19 across the year 2020, when the pandemic started spreading worldwide. We conducted experiments to predict the coronavirus cases for the 50 countries with the most cases during 2020. We compared the performance of state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms, such as long-short-term memory networks, against that of online incremental machine learning algorithms. To find the best strategy, we performed experiments to test three different approaches. In the first approach (single-country), we trained each model using data …

Maintaining Connections During The Pandemic: Rural Arts Festivals And Digital Practices, Enya Moore, Bernadette Quinn

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During the COVID lockdowns of 2020/21, the transmission of live or recorded concerts grew exponentially as festival makers embraced digital technologies to a greater degree. Investigating how this digital pivot interrupted festival-making practices is now important given that online and hybrid modes will potentially be used in conjunction with in-person events in the future. This task has relevance for rural areas where digital infrastructures can be under-developed. Yet, place-based, community-organised festivals can play a significant role in sustaining local communities. In this context, we explore the recent digital programming practices of music festivals in West Cork, Ireland. Methodologically, the study …