Digital Commons Network^™

Stability Analysis Of Einstein's Universe In Loop Quantum Cosmology, Eamon Mccaughey

Articles

A stability analysis of Einstein’s universe in both classical General Relativity and semiclassical Loop Quantum Cosmology regimes is presented. The stability properties of the General Relativity model are significantly altered due to Loop Quantum Gravity corrections. Comparisons between both dynamical systems are considered on the basis of these modifications. The Loop Quantum Cosmology solutions are restricted to an open universe model (k = -1) and represent a cyclic universe. The integrals of motion for both systems are found and their Hamiltonian structure determined.

Formation Of P-N Junctions In Nanoparticle Cerium Oxide Electrolytic Cells Displaying Memristive Switching Behaviour, Rafaela Cristina De Carvalho, Tony Betts, John Cassidy

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A macro-scale metal–semiconductor–metal device comprising CeO₂ nanoparticles cast from a suspension of cerium dioxide formed by a novel synthetic method was fabricated. Thin CeO₂ films of 40 nm thickness placed between panels of aluminium and/or copper displayed memristive-like resistive switching behaviour upon the application of potential sweeps ranging between −0.6 V and 0.6 V. A mechanism is proposed based on the notion that an electrolytic cell operates under such conditions with the initial formation of p and n-type regions within the central semiconductive thin film. Evidence is presented for the existence of numerous point defects in these nanosized …

An Ammonia Sensor Using An Unadorned Bromocresol Layer, John Cassidy, Caoimhe Ní Néill, Merve Akdağ, Tony Betts

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Bromocresol Purple,(BCP) cast onto an acetate sheet, was used to sense ammonia. This simple layer responded reversibly to a low concentration ( 15 ppm) of ammonia in the presence of water vapour. The BCP solution was spincoated on an acetate sheet from a solution in dichloromethane. This layer was exposed to nitrogen and NH3/H2O vapour in quick succession. The colour change occurred from yellow to purple rapidly in the solid state. The λmax for the neutral ( acid) form of the BCP was found to be 435 nm and the λmax for the dianion ( base form) of the BCP …

Producing Urban Aerobiological Risk Map For Cupressaceae Family In The Sw Iberian Peninsula From Lidar Technology, Raúl Pecero‐Casimiro, Santiago Fernández‐Rodríguez, Rafael Tormo‐Molina, Inmaculada Silva‐Palacios, Ángela Gonzalo‐Garijo, Alejandro Monroy‐Colín, Juan Francisco Coloma, José María Maya‐Manzano

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Given the rise in the global population and the consequently high levels of pollution, urban green areas, such as those that include plants in the Cupressaceae family, are suitable to reduce the pollution levels, improving the air quality. However, some species with ornamental value are also very allergenic species whose planting should be regulated and their pollen production reduced by suitable pruning. The Aerobiological Index to create Risk maps for
Ornamental Trees (AIROT), in its previous version, already included parameters that other indexes did not consider, such as the width of the streets, the height of buildings and the geographical …

Determination Of Integrity, Stability And Density Of The Dna Layers Immobilised At Glassy Carbon And Gold Electrodes Using Ferrocyanide, John Colleran, Anna Banasiak

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The technique chosen to immobilise DNA onto electrodes can determine the density and stability of the resultant immobilised layer. DNA‐modified electrodes were prepared using four common DNA immobilisation methods and characterised using ferrocyanide. The negatively charged DNA strands should repel ferrocyanide anions. The DNA layers created using adsorption at glassy carbon electrodes were unstable, while those created through chemisorption of thiol‐modified DNA onto gold electrodes were repeatable and stable, and returned, on average, 94 % repulsion of the probe. The presented results show how the immobilisation protocol, and DNA type, affects the stability, repeatability, and integrity of resultant DNA layers.

Phenology Of Cupressaceae Urban Infrastructure Related To Its Pollen Content And Meteorological Variables, A. Monroy-Colín, J. M. Maya-Manzano, I. Silva-Palacios, R. Tormo-Molina, R. Pecero-Casimiro, Á. Gonzalo-Garijo, S. Fernández-Rodríguez

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Cupressaceae pollen is one of the major airborne allergens of the Mediterranean region and in other regions around the world. Pollen production of these species causes considerable allergic problems during winter, being this type of pollen the most abundant in this period of the year. This work aims to relate phenology, meteorology and airborne pollen records in these species. Aerobiological sampling was carried out in Badajoz (SW Spain) from 2016 to 2018 using Hirst-type volumetric sampler. Pollination phenology was studied in 50 specimens, ten of Cupressus macrocarpa, ten of Cupressus arizonica, 15 of Cupressus sempervirens and 15 of …

Hysplit As An Environmental Impact Assessment Tool To Study The Data Discrepancies Between Olea Europaea Airborne Pollen Records And Its Phenology In Sw Spain, Alejandro Monroy-Colín, J. M. Maya-Manzano, Rafael Tormo-Molina, Raúl Pecero-Casimiro, María Ángeles Gonzalo-Garijo, Santiago Fernández-Rodríguez

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The olive tree (Olea europaea) is a native evergreen tree in the Mediterranean region, being one of the most important causes of seasonal respiratory allergies in Mediterranean countries. This work aims to relate flowering phenology, source tree distribution, meteorology, and airborne pollen records for this species and to analyse the possible arrival of air masses from distant areas during days when differences between the phenological and pollen peaks. Aerobiological sampling was carried out in Badajoz (SW Spain) for 4 years (2016–2019) using a Hirst volumetric sampler. Trees were geolocalized in the city and surrounding areas. The pollination phenology of 15 …

Biopharmaceutical Revolution In Saudi Arabia: Progress And Development, Rihana Alzahran, Elaine Harris

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Purpose This paper aimed to analyze the situation of the biopharmaceutical industry in Saudi Arabia to improve the situation in a way that achieves high levels of development similar to those in Europe, the United States of America (USA), and Japan. Methods To achieve the objective of the study, the authors surveyed 18 out of 21 Saudi pharmaceutical companies that have received licensing for manufacturing from the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) to diagnose the situation of manufacturing in relation to biopharmaceuticals. An interview with SFDA officials was carried out as a supplement to the survey. Results Findings revealed …

Microrna Analysis Of Atm-Deficient Cells Indicate Pten And Ccdn1 As Potential Biomarkers Of Radiation Response, Jane Bryant, Lisa White, Natasha Coen, Laura Shields, Brendan Mcclean, Aidan Meade, Fiona Lyng, Orla L. Howe

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Genetic and epigenetic profile changes associated with individual radiation sensitivity are well documented and have led to enhanced understanding of the mechanisms of the radiation-induced DNA damage response. However, the search continues to identify reliable biomarkers of individual radiation sensitivity. Herein, we report on a multi-biomarker approach using traditional cytogenetic biomarkers, DNA damage biomarkers and transcriptional microRNA (miR) biomarkers coupled with their potential gene targets to identify radiosensitivity in ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM)-deficient lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCL); ATM-proficient cell lines were used as controls. Cells were 0.05 and 0.5 Gy irradiated, using a linear accelerator, with sham-irradiated cells as controls. At …

Blockchain And Insurance: A Review For Operations And Regulation, Richard Brophy

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The purpose of this paper is to examine the operational and regulatory positions of the employment of Blockchain in the insurance industry. Blockchain technology has attracted wide interest from various stakeholders. Many theorists are predicting that this technology will disrupt financial services, including insurance. As stated that the development of blockchain is dependent on regulatory acceptance of this technology, it is essential to establish the current state of play with regard to the application and use of blockchain from a commercial and regulatory standpoints.

Entrepreneuring After 50: The Liminal Identity Transitions Of Older Emergent Entrepreneurs, Lucia Garcia-Lorenzo, Lucia Sell-Trujillo, Paul Donnelly

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Entrepreneurship has been proposed as a solution to extending working lives. However, little is known about how older (50+) entrepreneurs manage their personal transitions into entrepreneurship. In this paper, we propose to use a liminal identity work perspective to explore the identity paradoxes that older entrepreneurs experience during their transition into entrepreneurship and how they manage it. We use a qualitative study conducted over 14 months in the United Kingdom. Our analysis shows how older entrepreneurs confront identity paradoxes, interruptions and identity polarization in their attempts to shift from older identities and activity patterns into new ones. The entrepreneurs who …

Exploring The Relationship Between Immigrant Enclave Theory And Transnational Diaspora Entrepreneurial Opportunity Formation, Osa Godwin Osaghae Dr, Thomas M. Cooney

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Immigrant Enclave Theory (IET) investigates the concentration and localisation of immigrants in a specific geographic area. Some IET studies have highlighted the resilience of these communities and described such enclaves as sources of mutual support, collective political power and beneficial social relationships. Other studies have examined the influence of IET on immigrant entrepreneurial activity within these geographic areas, although some of these studies have highlighted IET as a contributor to low profit margin businesses due to over-representation of immigrant enterprises within the same sector and geographic locality. This article considers the potential for Transnational Diaspora Entrepreneurship (TDE) as an alternative …

Payday, Yonathan A. Arbel

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Legislation lags behind technology all too often. While trillions of dollars are exchanged in online transactions-safely, cheaply, and instantaneously-workers still must wait two weeks to a month to receive payments from their employers. In the modern economy, workers are effectively lending money to their employers, as they wait for earned wages to be paid.

The same worker who taps a credit card to pay for groceries in semiautomated checkout lines depends on dated payroll systems that only transfer payments on a "payday." Workers, especially those living paycheck-to-paycheck, are hard-pressed to meet their daily needs and turn to expensive, short-term credit …

The International Law Commission's First Draft Convention On Crimes Against Humanity: Codification, Progressive Development, Or Both?, Charles C. Jalloh

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In 2017, the International Law Commission ("ILC") which was established by the UN General Assembly in 1947 to assist States with the promotion of (1) the progressive development of international law and (2) its codification, adopted on first reading a draft convention on crimes against humanity which it transmitted to States for comments. The draft convention seeks to help fill the present gap in the law of international crimes since States criminalized genocide in 1948 and war crimes in 1949, but missed the opportunity to do so for crimes against humanity. This Article examines the first reading text, as submitted …

Challenging Racial Injustice In The Criminalization Of Homelessness In The United States: A Human Rights Approach, David Berris, Joseph Candelaria, Tamar Ezer, Lily Frances Fontenot

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The criminalization of homelessness in the United States perpetuates a cycle of racial injustice and violates fundamental human rights. Longstanding discrimination in housing and law enforcement have resulted in disproportionate homelessness among Black Americans. Thus, laws and policies that criminalize life-sustaining behaviors, such as sleeping, in public further exacerbate racial disparities, punishing people for homelessness rather than addressing root causes. Criminalization results in fines that people cannot pay and criminal records, driving employment and housing out of reach and circulating individuals from the street to the criminal justice system and back. The criminalization of homelessness also directly violates international human …

Safety, Crisis, And Criminal Law, Jenny E. Carroll

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No abstract provided.

Modulation Of Medical Condition Likelihood By Patient History Similarity, Jonathan Turner, Dympna O'Sullivan, Jon Bird

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Introduction: We describe an analysis that modulates the simple population prevalence derived likelihood of a particular condition occurring in an individual by matching the individual with other individuals with similar clinical histories and determining the prevalence of the condition within the matched group.

Methods: We have taken clinical event codes and dates from anonymised longitudinal primary care records for 25,979 patients with 749,053 recorded clinical events. Using a nearest neighbour approach, for each patient, the likelihood of a condition occurring was adjusted from the population prevalence to the prevalence of the condition within those patients with the closest …

Tracing Sources Of Natural Organic Matter, Trihalomethanes And Metals In Groundwater From A Karst Region, Connie O'Driscoll, Eoin Mcgillicuddy, Peter Croot, Pamela Bartley, John Mcmyler, Jerome Sheahan, Liam Morrison

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Groundwater offers an important source for drinking water around the world; however, groundwater quality is under increasing pressure and is particularly vulnerable in karst areas. Total organic carbon (TOC) is significantly related to groundwater quality and when not removed by water treatment processes can give rise to the formation of disinfection by-products trihalomethanes (THMs) above the level of compliance. This study investigated the source of organic matter giving rise to the THM exceedances in a groundwater supply in a karst area. Results highlighted that source water for this groundwater supply was prone to surface water infiltration linked to rainfall events; …

The Unconstitutionality Of Government Propaganda, Caroline Mala Corbin

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Government propaganda-the government's deliberate dissemination of false claims on matters of public interest-has increasingly become a source of concern in the United States. Not only does the current presidential administration disseminate propaganda at a rate unprecedented in the modern era, so that Americans now live in an age of government-created "alternative facts," but the internet and social media have made it possible to find receptive audiences with alarming speed and accuracy. This surge of government propaganda poses troubling questions for the health of our democracy, which requires political accountability and the valid consent of the governed to thrive.

Although the …

Failure To Capture: Why Business Does Not Control The Rulemaking Process, Gabriel Scheffler

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Leading figures on both the political right and the political left have concluded that the agency rulemaking process is captured: that it serves to benefit businesses, at the expense of the general public. This perception appears to be supported by recent theoretical and empirical scholarship and has prompted lawmakers to introduce various proposals to reform the federal rulemaking process.

Yet as I will demonstrate in this Article, the view of the rulemaking process as captured is unwarranted. I will show that the academic literature actually provides little guidance as to the magnitude of business influence that is, the extent to …

Trade's Security Exceptionalism, Kathleen Claussen

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At the core of U.S. trade law is an under-studied structural dichotomy. On the one hand, well-established statutory authorities enable the President to eliminate trade barriers through negotiations with U.S. trading partners. On the other hand, different, lesser-known authorities allow the President to erect trade barriers on an exceptional basis where necessary for U.S. economic security. Rather than thinking of free trade as a source of or tool for economic security as political theorists long have, our law codifies these authorities as though they are in contrast to one another-allowing departures from the free trade norm when security so demands. …

Antitrust In Attention Markets: Objections And Responses, John M. Newman

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The modern antitrust enterprise finds itself under attack. Critics complain that enforcement agencies have done nothing to stem an ever-rising tide of market concentration and corporate power. At the center of this critique lies Silicon Valley, home of a new generation of tech giants.

This symposium contribution contends that attention markets represent the largest sector of the modern economy to have gone unnoticed by antitrust regulators. If it is to fulfill its congressional mandate, the antitrust enterprise must begin paying attention to attention markets. A number of objections to this straightforward point have been raised, but each collapses under close …

The Internet As A Speech Machine And Other Myths Confounding Section 230 Reform, Mary Anne Franks, Danielle Citron

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No abstract provided.

The Capm, National Stock Market Betas, And Macroeconomic Covariates: A Global Analysis, Michael Curran, Adnan Velic

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Using global data on aggregate stock markets, this paper finds that the capital asset pricing model fares much better than suggested previously. At shorter time horizons, our results also show that the positive risk-reward relation can collapse during times of high volatility. Compared to other countries, we retrieve evidence of lower systematic risks across frontier equity portfolios. We find that countries characterized by higher levels of openness, exchange rate volatility, and larger economic size are exposed to higher systematic covariances with the world stock market. Conversely, we obtain an inverse link between international reserves and systematic risks in national equity.

Networks Of Empathy, Thomas E. Kadri

Articles

Digital abuse is on the rise. People increasingly use technology to perpetrate and exacerbate abusive conduct like stalking and harassment, manipulating digital tools to control and harm their victims. By some accounts, 95% of domestic-abuse cases involve technology, while a sizeable chunk of the U.S. population now admits to having suffered or perpetrated serious abuse online. To make matters worse, people often trivialize digital abuse or underestimate its prevalence. Even among those who do appreciate its severity, there remains ample disagreement about how to address it.

Although law can be a powerful tool to regulate digital abuse, legal responses are …

Data Mining Raman Microspectroscopic Responses Of Cells To Drugs In Vitro Using Multivariate Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares, David Perezguaita, Guillermo Quintas, Zeineb Farhane, Roma Tauler, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Raman microspectroscopy is gaining popularity for the analysis of time-dependent biological processes such as drug uptake and cellular response. It is a label-free technique which acquires signals from a large variety of components, including cell biomolecules and exogenous compounds such as drugs and nanoparticles, and is commonly employed for in vitro analysis of cells and cell populations with no labelling or staining required. By monitoring the changes to the Raman spectra of the cell as a result of a perturbing agent (e.g. exposure to a drug or toxic agent), one can study the associated changes in cell biochemistry involved in …

Who Smokes In Europe? Data From Twelve European Countries In The Tackshs Survey (2017-2018), Silvano Gallus, Alessandra Lugo, Xiaoqiu Liu, Panagiotis Behrakis, Roberto Boffi, Cristina Bosetti, Giulia Carreras, Liliane Chatenoud, Luke Clancy, Xavier Continente, Ruaraidh Dobson, Tobias Effertz, Filippos T. Filippidis, Marcela Fu, Gergana Geshanova, Giuseppe Gorini, Sheila Keogan, Hristo Ivanov, Maria J. Lopez, Angel Lopez-Nicolas, Jose Precioso, Krzysztof Przewozniak, Cornel Radu-Loghin, Ario Ruprecht, Sean Semple, Joan B. Soriano, Polina Starchenko, Marta Trapero-Bertran, Olena Tigova, Anna S. Tzortzi, Constantine Vardavas, Vergina K. Vyzikidou, Paola Colombo, Esteve Fernandez, Tackshs Project Investigators

Articles

Background: Population data on tobacco use and its determinants require continuous monitoring and careful inter-country comparison. We aimed to provide the most up-to-date estimates on tobacco smoking from a large cross-sectional survey, conducted in selected European countries.

Methods: Within the TackSHS Project, a face-to-face survey on smoking was conducted in 2017–2018 in 12 countries: Bulgaria, England, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Spain, representing around 80% of the 432 million European Union (EU) adult population. In each country, a representative sample of around 1,000 subjects aged 15 years and older was interviewed, for a total of …

The Magic And Metaphysics Of Shit :The Production Of Space And Digital Technology, David Capener

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Reading Henri Lefebvre alongside Bernard Stiegler, this paper explores the changes that have taken place to the production of space in our age of digital technology. Lefebvre sensed the radical changes taking place in society through the implementation of computational technologies. He asked a prescient question: How is this space being produced? Lefebvre was unable to foresee the significant changes to the actual mechanics of the production of space brought about by the third industrial revolution. A thinker who does do this is Bernard Stiegler who is interested in how new digital technologies change memory via tertiary mnemotechnical devices – …

Ireland, Broadcasting And The Spectrum Wars, Kenneth W Murphy

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This paper offers an overview and evaluation of Ireland’s changing media landscape through the prism of the recent policy contestation surrounding the future use of the UHF spectrum and it’s implications for the medium of television broadcasting. The article brings into focus current policy and governance developments and their interplay with market and technological change and how they are shaping a small open European state’s adaptation to the increasingly complex national/global hybrid media ecosystem. It examines the contexts surrounding the competition for spectrum resources and its implications for the role of free to air broadcasting and mobile broadband technologies in …

Mapping (In)Equity At The Polls, Brianne Gilbert, Max Dunsker

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While provisions of the 1965 federal Voting Rights Act continue to guarantee equal voting rights, a fundamental question remains: do all citizens enjoy equal access to the ballot box? Anecdotally, we know that not everyone has equal access, yet where do these differences exist spatially, are there trends, and how can students make an impact? This overarching lesson plan creates a set of lessons for students to determine a list of vote location characteristics, collect data at the polls, and analyze the data to answer these questions, opening the doors to many more questions as well. Included in the lesson …