Digital Commons Network^™

Prevalence And Incidence Of Nonmotor Symptoms In Individuals With And Without Parkinson’S Disease, Mariam Paracha, Konnor Herbst, Karl Kieburtz, Charles S. Venuto

Articles

Background

The prevalence ratio (PR) and incidence rate ratio (IRR) of nonmotor symptoms (NMS) were calculated for early Parkinson's disease (PD) versus non-PD from 2 observational studies.

Methods

NMS were assessed through the self-reported Non-Motor Symptom Questionnaire in the online Fox Insight study and through self- and clinician-rated scales in the Parkinson's Progression Marker Initiative (PPMI) study. Age- and sex-adjusted/matched PR and IRR were estimated for each NMS by PD status using Poisson regression.

Results

Most NMS occurred more frequently in PD. Among 15,194 Fox Insight participants, sexual dysfunction had the largest adjusted PR (12.4 [95% CI, 6.9–22.2]) and dysgeusia/hyposmia …

“It's So Normal, And … Meaningful.” Playing With Narrative, Artifacts, And Cultural Difference In Florence, Dheepa Sundaram, Owen Gottlieb

Articles

This article considers how player interactions with religious and ethnic markers, create

a globalized game space in the mobile game Florence (2018). Florence is a multiaward-

winning interactive novella game with story-integrated minigames that weave

play experiences into the narrative. The game, in part, explores love, loss, and

rejuvenation as relatable experiences. Simultaneously, the game produces a unique

experience for each player, as they can refract the game narrative through their own

cultural, identitarian lens. The game assumes the shared cultural space of the player,

the player-character (PC), and the non-player-character (NPC) while blurring the

boundaries between each of these …

Validating And Testing An Agent-Based Model For The Spread Of Covid-19 In Ireland, Elizabeth Hunter, John D. Kelleher

Articles

Agent-based models can be used to better understand the impacts of lifting restrictions or implementing interventions during a pandemic. However, agent-based models are computationally expensive, and running a model of a large population can result in a simulation taking too long to run for the model to be a useful analysis tool during a public health crisis. To reduce computing time and power while running a detailed agent-based model for the spread of COVID-19 in the Republic of Ireland, we introduce a scaling factor that equates 1 agent to 100 people in the population. We present the results from model …

Understanding The Assumptions Of An Seir Compartmental Model Using Agentization And A Complexity Hierarchy, Elizabeth Hunter, John D. Kelleher

Articles

Equation-based and agent-based models are popular methods in understanding disease dynamics. Although there are many types of equation-based models, the most common is the SIR compartmental model that assumes homogeneous mixing and populations. One way to understand the effects of these assumptions is by agentization. Equation-based models can be agentized by creating a simple agent-based model that replicates the results of the equationbased model, then by adding complexity to these agentized models it is possible to break the assumptions of homogeneous mixing and populations and test how breaking these assumptions results in different outputs. We report a set of experiments …

Understanding The Interplay Between Immigrant Nascent Entrepreneurship And Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Lucia Walsh, Thomas M. Cooney

Articles

Purpose

All entrepreneurs face challenges during their venture start-up process, but immigrant entrepreneurs face additional and distinctive challenges due to their contextual newness. This paper focuses on understanding the intertwined journeys of nascent entrepreneurship and cross-cultural adaptation of immigrants in a small Western European country where immigrant entrepreneurship is still a relatively new phenomenon.

Design/methodology/approach

The induction-driven, 18-month longitudinal empirical inquiry focused on six early-stage nascent entrepreneurs. Qualitative methods included participant observation during an enterprise program, qualitative interviews and ongoing informal communication.

Findings

The data uncovered the interplay between the nascent immigrant entrepreneurship and cross-cultural adaptation. This led to the …

The Psychology Of Taxing Capital Income: Evidence From A Survey Experiment On The Realization Rule, Zachary Liscow, Edward G. Fox

Articles

We conduct the first survey experiment to understand public attitudes about the capital gains realization rules. These rules requires that assets usually must be sold before gains on them are taxed and thus makes taxing capital income much harder. We have three main findings. First, respondents strongly prefer to wait to tax gains on stocks until sale: 75% to 25%. But the flip side is that there is surprisingly strong support for taxing gains on assets at sale or transfer, including at death, in areas where current law never taxes those gains. Second, these stated views change only modestly when …

A Physical Layer Security (Pls) Approach Through Address Fed Mapping Crest Factor Reduction Applicable For 5g/6g Signals, Somayeh Mohammady, David Malone Prof.

Articles

The privacy and security of 5G/6G infrastructures are receiving great attention together with power consumption and efficiency. Here, Physical Layer Security (PLS) is considered and a technique named Address Fed Mapping (AFM) is proposed which not only enhances the physical layer security, but also reduces the effect of high Peak to Average Power Ratio (PAPR), which results in efficiency improvement in OFDM based signals used in beyond 5G and 6G. The AFM is designed based on the idea of randomly generated signals, modifying the original signal to reduce PAPR. Instead of a typical randomization algorithm, a unique key is generated …

A Computational Approach To Evaluating Curricular Alignment To The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Philippe Lemarchand, Mick Mckeever, Cormac Macmahon, Philip Owende

Articles

The United Nations (UN) considers universities to be key actors in the pursuit of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Yet, efforts to evaluate the embeddedness of the SDGs in university curricula tend to rely on manual analyses of curriculum documents for keywords contained in sustainability lexica, with little consideration for the diverse contexts of such keywords. The efficacy of these efforts, relying on expert co-elicitation in both subject-matter contexts and sustainability, suffers from drawbacks associated with keyword searches, such as limited coverage of key concepts, difficulty in extracting intended meaning and potential for greenwashing through “keyword stuffing.” This paper presents …

Physiognomic Artificial Intelligence, Luke Stark, Jevan Hutson

Articles

The reanimation of the pseudosciences of physiognomy and phrenology at scale through computer vision and machine learning is a matter of urgent concern. This Article—which contributes to critical data studies, consumer protection law, biometric privacy law, and antidiscrimination law—endeavors to conceptualize and problematize physiognomic artificial intelligence (“AI”) and offer policy recommendations for state and federal lawmakers to forestall its proliferation.

Physiognomic AI, as this Article contends, is the practice of using computer software and related systems to infer or create hierarchies of an individual’s body composition, protected class status, perceived character, capabilities, and future social outcomes based on their physical …

Product Liability Action: A Tooth To Strengthen Consumer Protection, Ashok R. Patil

Articles

As the world shifts to technological advancements, the advent of e-commerce marks its peak, particularly in India, where it has been earmarked as the fastest growing market with an annual growth rate of 51%. While these developments are an important part of globalization, a few challenges come along. Issues like unfair contracts, privacy, data protection, faulty goods, refund or return remained unaddressed as the earlier existing Consumer Protection Act, 1986 did not elucidate on the same. Given the above, the Law Commission of India had recommended that a separate law be enacted for better consumer protection. Based on the recommendations …

Book Review Of ‘Women, Peace And Security And International Law’, Christine Chinkin, Cambridge University Press, Akhila Basalalli

Articles

The social neutrality and gender disregard of mainstream international law have motivated the pioneering works of Christine Chinkin in addressing the gender disparity, for instance, the book ‘The Boundaries of International Law: A Feminist Analysis’ co-authored with Hilary Charlesworth. The book ‘Women, Peace and Security and International Law’ by Chinkin is an updated and detailed version of the lecture delivered in the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law in October 2016 as a part of the Lauterpacht lecture series. It was subsequently published by Cambridge Publishers in 2022.

Accessdesign: An Inclusive Co-Design Toolkit For The Creation Of Accessible Digital Tools., Claudia Fernandez-Rivera, Sarah Boland, Eamon Aswad, John Gilligan, Dympna O'Sullivan, Emma Murphy

Articles

Existing toolkits and resources to support co-design are not always accessible to designers and co-designers with disabilities. In this paper we present a study based on an innovative co-design programme, in collaboration with St John of God Community Services, where 3rd year computer science students work with service users with intellectual disabilities to create digital applications together. We conducted a series of co-design focus group sessions involving the service users who were previously involved in the co-design collaboration with SJOG Services and TU Dublin. The data collected during these design sessions has been integrated to form an accessible design toolkit …

Potential Psychoactive Effects Of Microalgal Bioactive Compounds For The Case Of Sleep And Mood Regulation: Opportunities And Challenges, Bozena Mccarthy, Graham O’Neill Dr, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam Prof.

Articles

Sleep deficiency is now considered an emerging global epidemic associated with many serious health problems, and a major cause of financial and social burdens. Sleep and mental health are closely connected, further exacerbating the negative impact of sleep deficiency on overall health and well-being. A major drawback of conventional treatments is the wide range of undesirable side-effects typically associated with benzodiazepines and antidepressants, which can be more debilitating than the initial disorder. It is therefore valuable to explore the efficiency of other remedies for complementarity and synergism with existing conventional treatments, leading to possible reduction in undesirable side-effects. This review …

Uncovering Inclusivity Gaps In Design Pedagogy Through The Digital Design Marginalization Framework, Jaisie Sin, Cosmin Munteanu, Michael Nixon, Velian Pandeliev, Garreth W. Tigwell, Kristen Shinohara, Anthony Tang, Steve Szigeti

Articles

Designers play a key role in the design of inclusive and socially conscious interfaces. Thus, it is imperative for designers to be thoughtful of the ethical and social implications of design. However, gaps in the foundational training that designers receive (e.g., as university students) can negatively impact their ability to consider the social implications of their design practice. This can result in consequences such as digital marginalization, which, as defined by the Digital Design Marginalization (DDM) framework, is the “pushing away”, whether intentional or not, of a defined group of users from a digital or online service or system, where …

Addressing Ethical Issues In The Design Of Smart Home Technology For Older Adults And People With Disabilities., Jonathan Turner, Dympna O'Sullivan, Damian Gordon, Yannis Stavrakakis, Brian Keegan, Emma Murphy

Articles

Unique ethical, privacy and safety implications arise for people who are reliant on home-based smart technology due to health conditions or disabilities. In this paper we highlight a need for a reflective, inclusive ethical framework that encompasses the life cycle of smart home technology. We present key ethical considerations for smart home technology for older adults and people with disabilities and argue for ethical frameworks which combine these key considerations with existing models of design and development.

The Biological Activity Of Tea Tree Oil And Hemp Seed Oil, Lakatos Lakatos, Samuel Obeng Apori, Julie Dunne, Furong Tian

Articles

The interest in hemp seed oil (HSO) and tea tree oil (TTO) in the medical and food industries is increasing. The current study compares their bioactivity to other plant oils, mainly focusing on hemp seed oils (HSOs) with various cannabidiol (CBD) contents. A DPPH assay was employed to evaluate the antioxidant activity. The antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella enteritidis was evaluated using time–kill, minimum inhibition concentration (MIC), and Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion methods. Tea tree oil showed significantly higher antimicrobial activity against S. enteritidis compared to E. coli and S. aureus (p < 0.05). The antioxitant activity range (lowest to highest) was sesame < vetiver < rosehip < tea tree < organic hemp < pure hemp < 5% CBD < vitamin C. Tea tree oil and 5% CBD showed antioxidant activity at IC50 of 64.45 μg/mL and 11.21 μg/mL, respectively. The opposing antimicrobial and antioxidant results for TTO and HSO indicate that these activities arise from different components within the oil compositions.

Load-Adjusted Prediction For Proactive Resource Management And Video Server Demand Profiling, Obinna Izima, Ruairí De Fréin

Articles

To lower costs associated with providing cloud resources, a network manager would like to estimate how busy the servers will be in the near future. This is a necessary input in deciding whether to scale up or down computing requirements. We formulate the problem of estimating cloud computational requirements as an integrated framework comprising of a learning and an action stage. In the learning stage, we use Machine Learning (ML) models to predict the video Quality of Delivery (QoD) metric for cloud-hosted servers and use the knowledge gained from the process to make resource management decisions during the action stage. …

Co-Design To Support Engagement In Activities Of Daily Living And Meaningful Activities For People Living With Dementia, Michael Wilson, Julie Doyle, Ann Marron, Jonathan Turner, Ciaran Nugent, Dympna O'Sullivan

Articles

Dementia is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative illness, which can lead to significant difficulties in a person’s capacity to perform activities of daily living and engage in meaningful activities. The Smart Dementia Care project aims to establish an understanding of how best to design digital tools that persons with dementia and their carers will find useful and usable for care planning and goal setting. This paper discusses the first phase of this project and describes how co-design is being used to support engagement in activities of daily living and meaningful activities for people living with the early stages of dementia, …

Developing A Customised Note By Note Prototype Recipe Which Can Be 3d Printed, Roisin Burke, Pauline Danaher

Articles

Note by Note (NbN) cooking and 3D food printing individually and in combination allow for the creation of customized foods. A NbN recipe was developed and printed using a Procusini 3.0, 3D food printer. The recipe was adapted from a commercial powdered pastry dough recipe, to create two versions of a prototype food, containing in each case a different plant-based protein, i.e., soya (Glycine max L.) or hemp (Cannabis sativa). The printed foods were identical in shape and had a crisp consistency following cooking. They had different colours and contained different proteins in the amounts of 10.3 % of soya …

Understanding Color Associations And Their Effects On Expectations Of Drugs’ Efficacies, Rema M. Amawi, Michael J. Murdoch

Articles

Colors influence our daily perceptions and expectations that manifest in a variety of ways. This research has three main objectives: to demonstrate the relationship between the colors of pills and their expected efficacies, to test this effect on a wide variety of demographics, thereby demonstrating their influence on choices made by participants. Finally, to understand the reasoning behind the choices made by participants, and the color associations exhibited. The results of a series of surveys showed clear similarities and differences across various demographics. The strongest and most consistent color associations were those of white with pain relief and red with …

Bioaccumulation Of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn In Ambrosia Artemisiifolia L. In The Polluted Area By Enterprise For The Production And Processing Of Batteries, Ryzhenko Nataliia, El Amrani Abdelhak, Michelle Giltrap, Furong Tian, Volodymyr Laptev

Articles

In this paper, the concentration of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn was investigated in soil and Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. sampling from polluted cite near the enterprises for the production and processing of batteries in the city of Dnipro in Ukraine. The obtained results of the study provided to assess plants regarding bio-monitoring and phytoremediation. Although Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. is a weed that causes serious allergic reactions in humans, this species can also have a high bioaccumulative capacity regarding metals. The metals’ concentration in roots was scientifically higher than in inflorescence part. Zn and Cu had the highest …

The Dna Landscape: Development And Application Of A New Framework For Visual Communication About Dna, Leslie Kate Wright, Emalee Wrightstone, Lauren Trumpore, Julia Steele, Deanna M. Abid, Dina L. Newman

Articles

Learning molecular biology involves using visual representations to communicate ideas about largely unobservable biological processes and molecules. Genes and gene expression cannot be directly visualized, but students are expected to learn and understand these and related concepts. Theoretically, textbook illustrations should help learners master such concepts, but how are genes and other DNA-linked concepts illustrated for learners? We examined all DNA-related images found in 12 undergraduate biology textbooks to better understand what biology students encounter when learning concepts related to DNA. Our analysis revealed a wide array of DNA images that were used to design a new visual framework, the …

The Patent Medium: Toward A Network Paradigm Of The Patent System, Or Cohen Sasson

Articles

The modern patent system is conceived of as an information platform; it is evident in the common description of the patent system as a quid-pro-quo bargain: Society grants exclusive rights in exchange for information published by a patentee. But is there more to the patent system than merely informing others? Does the patent system also serve as a communication (and not only information) platform, namely, as a medium? Based on an interdisciplinary analysis of the patent system's structure and features through the lenses of communication studies, this Article suggests that it does. It demonstrates how the patent system as a …

Preface To Volume 13, Issue 2, Peter A. Carfagna

Articles

No abstract provided.

Blame The Victim: How Mistreatment By The State Is Used To Legitimize Police Violence, Tamara Rice Lave

Articles

No abstract provided.

Freedom From Speech, Mary Anne Franks

Articles

The importance of freedom of speech in a democratic society is usually taken as a given, but freedom from speech is no less important in safeguarding the values of truth, autonomy, and democracy. Freedom from speech includes both the right of the individual to not be forced to speak and the freedom to avoid the speech of others. This essay attempts to highlight the significance of freedom from speech in order to clarify the importance of the First Amendment right against compelled speech; provide an explanation for when the right of free speech yields to other rights; and offer a …

Climate Change, West Virginia V. Epa, And The Sec's Distinctive Statutory Mandate, Jill E. Fisch, George S. Georgiev, Donna M. Nagy, Cynthia A. Williams

Articles

No abstract provided.

Afterword: Latcrit At Twenty-Five And Beyond, Part Ii - Challenges And/As Opportunities: Centering "Hybridized" Advocacy Projects In Antisubordination Praxis To Connect Campuses And Communities For Material Long-Term Progress, Francisco Valdes, Steven W. Bender, Jennifer J. Hill

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Icc Reform Process And The Failure To Address The African State Concerns On The Sequencing Of Peace With Criminal Justice Under Article 53 Of The Rome Statute, Charles C. Jalloh

Articles

The relationship of African States with the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) is critical to the continued success of the ICC and the development of international criminal law. One of the main criticisms of the ICC, by some African States, has centered on the question of how best to sequence peace with justice, or justice with peace, in situations of ongoing conflict such as in Uganda and Sudan. This paper examines the history of the peace-justice clash on the African continent in the context of the 2019 Assembly of States Parties mandated process of ICC reform, taking into account the …

What Is A Metaphorical Collocation?, Jakob Patekar

Articles

In research on collocations published in English we encounter, albeit rarely, the use of the notion “metaphorical collocations”. It is interesting to note that seldom if ever are metaphorical collocations defined in any way in these studies, suggesting that researchers find the term self-explanatory. However, seeing that metaphorical collocations are an exciting area of research that is yet to draw attention from the wider community ofresearchers, the aim of this paper is to analyze the current understanding of what a metaphorical collocation is by examining the theoretical foundations as well as studies, specifically those published in English (as the language …