Digital Commons Network^™

An Open-Data-Driven Agent-Based Model To Simulate Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Elizabeth Hunter, Brian Mac Namee, John D. Kelleher

Articles

Agent-based models are a tool that can be used to better understand the dynamics of an infectious disease outbreak. An infectious disease outbreak is influenced by many factors including vaccination or immunity levels, population density, and the age structure of the population. We hypothesize that these factors along with interactions of factors and the actions of individuals would lead to outbreaks of different size and severity even in two towns that appear similar on paper. Thus, it is necessary to implement a model that is able to capture these interactions and the actions of individuals. Using openly available data we …

Lawyer As Soothsayer: Exploring The Important Role Of Outcome Prediction In The Practice Of Law, Mark K. Osbeck

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Outcome prediction has always been an important part of practicing law. Clients rely heavily on their attorneys to provide accurate assessments of the potential legal consequences they face when making important decisions (such as whether to accept a plea bargain, or risk a conviction on a much more serious offense at trial). And yet, notwithstanding its enormous importance to the practice of law (and notwithstanding the handsome legal fees it commands), outcome prediction in the law remains a very imprecise endeavor. The reason for this inaccuracy is that the three principal tools lawyers have traditionally relied on to facilitate outcome …

Measuring Housing And Population Densities In Dublin City & County, Paul J. Lawlor Mr, Max Mcgovern, Hugo Fitzpatrick, Carl Wessels

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A key strategic objective of Irelands national land use plan (known as the National Planning Framework) is to accommodate a significant increase in population in Irish cities in more concentrated settlement patterns and at higher residential densities. This is to be achieved by requiring 50% of new residential developments to be located in infill and brownfield locations in cities such as Dublin. This paper explores the implications of this policy by examining existing housing and population density in Dublin using CSO data and mapping tools to measure densities throughout the City and County. A ranking of areas with the highest …

The Changing Face Of Pester Power, Margaret-Anne Lawlor

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No abstract provided.

Creating Holistic Engineers To Solve The Grand Challenges Of The Future, Una Beagon

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Una Beagon writes that continued growth in construction depends on third level Institutions securing a talent pipeline of Civil & Structural Engineers with suitable skill sets to bring about, maintain and operate large multidisciplinary projects.

Stimulating Interethnic Contact In Kosovo: The Role Of Social Identity Complexity And Distinctiveness Threat, Edona Maloku, Belle Derks, Colette Van Laar, Naomi Ellemers

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The positive effects of intergroup contact on prejudice reduction have been widely validated by now. However, the potential of contact for intergroup relations is only available when there is readiness to have contact with outgroup members to begin with. In two correlational studies with the main ethnic groups in postconflict Kosovo, Albanian majority (Study 1, N = 221) and Serb minority (Study 2, N = 110), we examine how social identity complexity mechanism and distinctiveness threat contribute to predicting more readiness to have contact with outgroup members. As the establishment of a new national identity unfolds, we show that while …

Pineapple Poetry - Studying Literature Through A Food Studies Lens, Anke Klitzing

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In his essay 'A Winter Feast', literature professor Paul Schmidt unveils the layers of meaning that Pushkin wove into the description of a New Year’s feast in Eugene Onegin. But unusually, Schmidt continues his essay making the jump from literary criticism to food studies by musing on the various items on the menu without reference to Onegin, but rather to the cultural and philosophical context of food, bringing in such varied references as Brillat-Savarin and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Studying food writing through the lens of literary criticism allows us to penetrate the social and symbolic meanings of food more deeply, while …

Solvent Stable Microbial Lipases: Current Understanding And Biotechnological Applications, Barry Ryan, Priyanka Priyanka, Yeqi Tan, Gemma K Kinsella, Gary T. Henehan

Articles

Objective: This review examines on our current understanding of microbial lipase solvent tolerance, with a specific focus on the molecular strategies employed to improve lipase stability in a non-aqueous environment.

Results: It provides an overview of known solvent tolerant lipases and of approaches to improving solvent stability such as; enhancing stabilising interactions, modification of residue flexibility and surface charge alteration. It shows that judicious selection of lipase source supplemented by appropriate enzyme stabilisation, can lead to a wide application spectrum for lipases.

Conclusion: Organic solvent stable lipases are, and will continue to be, versatile and adaptable biocatalytic workhorses commonly employed …

The Pope And The Capital Juror, Aliza Plener Cover

Articles

In a significant change to Catholic Church doctrine, Pope Francis recently declared that capital punishment is impermissible under all circumstances. Counterintuitively, the Pope’s pronouncement might make capital punishment less popular but more prevalent in the United States. This Essay anticipates this possible dynamic and, in so doing, explores how “death qualification” of capital juries can insulate the administration of the death penalty when community morality evolves away from capital punishment.

Criminal Justice, Inc., John Rappaport

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No abstract provided.

Sitaraman’S Mistaken Case For The Middle-Class Constitution, Richard A. Epstein

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No abstract provided.

Longitudinal Analysis Of Information Security Incident Spillover Effects, Justin M. Pelletier

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When a company is hacked, market participants take notice. This has been observed consistently for at least a decade, mostly through calculating abnormal returns of individual corporate stocks after a company’s information security incident an-nouncement. Some researchers have found that information security incidents have had a decreasing effect on stock price over time. Their reports suggest that breach related stock price impacts have become increasingly shallow and short-lived. This has led some information security economists to suggest that market forces are not enough to incentivize sufficient cor-porate investment to information security. They argue that further regulation is necessary to remedy …

Antitrust Remedies For Labor Market Power, Suresh Naidu, Eric A. Posner, E. Glen Weyl

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No abstract provided.

The Bankruptcy Partition, Douglas G. Baird, Anthony Casey, Randal C. Picker

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No abstract provided.

The Jurisprudence Of Anti-Erosion, Tom Ginsburg

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No abstract provided.

The Keyes Of Constitutional Law, Justin Driver

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No abstract provided.

Treaties And Human Rights: The Role Of Long-Term Trends, Adam S. Chilton, Eric A. Posner

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No abstract provided.

Arrows In Biology: Lack Of Clarity And Consistency Points To Confusion For Learners, Leslie Kate Wright, Jordan J. Cardenas, Phyllis Liang, Dina L. Newman

Articles

In this article, we begin to unpack the phenomenon of representational competence by ex¬ploring how arrow symbols are used in introductory biology textbook figures. Out of 1214 figures in an introductory biology textbook, 632 (52%) of them contained arrows that were used to represent many different concepts or processes. Analysis of these figures revealed little correlation between arrow style and meaning. A more focused study of 86 figures containing 230 arrows from a second textbook showed the same pattern of inconsistency. Interviews with undergraduates confirmed that arrows in selected textbook figures were confusing and did not readily convey the information …

The Goldilocks Approach: A Review Of Employing Design Of Experiments In Prokaryotic Recombinant Protein Production, Barry Ryan, Albert Uhoraningoga, Gemma K. Kinsella, Gary T. .. Henehan

Articles

The production of high yields of soluble recombinant protein is one of the main objectives of protein biotechnology. Several factors, such as expression system, vector, host, media composition and induction conditions can influence recombinant protein yield. Identifying the most important factors for optimum protein expression may involve significant investment of time and considerable cost. To address this problem statistical models, such as Design of Experiments (DoE), have been used to optimise recombinant protein production. This review explores the application of DoE in the production of recombinant proteins, focusing on prokaryotic expression systems with a specific emphasis on media composition and …

Comment On 'Judicial Compensation And Performance', J.J. Prescott

Articles

The most significant challenges to better understanding judicial behavior are lack of data and the absence of plausible exogenous variation in judicial environments. The random assignment of judges to cases has admittedly been helpful in gaining traction on the effects of judicial decisions (e.g., Dobbie, Goldin, and Yang 2018). Yet developing a full empirical account of “what judges maximize” (Posner 1993) would require a setting in which judges are randomly subjected to a wide variety of (real-world) environments with different costs, constraints, and rewards. This prospect remains pie in the sky, but that does not mean that we have not …

A Comparison Of Agent-Based Models And Equation Based Models For Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Elizabeth Hunter, Brian Mac Namee, John D. Kelleher

Articles

There are two main methods that are used to model the spread of an infectious disease: agent-based modelling and equation based modelling. In this paper, we compare the results from an example implementation of each method, and show that although the agent-based model takes longer to setup and run, it provides additional information that is not available when using an equation based model. Specifically, the ability of the agent-based model to capture heterogeneous mixing and agent interactions enables it to give a better overall view of an outbreak. We compare the performance of both models by simulating a measles outbreak …

On The Exactitude Of Big Data: La Bêtise And Artificial Intelligence, Noel Fitzpatrick, John D. Kelleher

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This article revisits the question of ‘la bêtise’ or stupidity in the era of Artificial Intelligence driven by Big Data, it extends on the questions posed by Gille Deleuze and more recently by Bernard Stiegler. However, the framework for revisiting the question of la bêtise will be through the lens of contemporary computer science, in particular the development of data science as a mode of analysis, sometimes, misinterpreted as a mode of intelligence. In particular, this article will argue that with the advent of forms of hype (sometimes referred to as the hype cycle) in relation to big data and …

Risks Of Excess Iodine Intake In Ghana: Current Situation, Challenges, And Lessons For The Future, Brenda A.Z. Abu, Wilna Oldewage‐Theron,, Richmond N.O. Aryeetey

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In Ghana, iodine deficiency was first reported in 1994 among 33% of the population. A nationwide Universal Salt Iodization (USI) program plus other complementary interventions were subsequently implemented as a response. Our paper reviews the current risks of excess iodine status in Ghana and identifies policy and research gaps. A mixed methods review of 12 policies and institutional reports and 13 peer‐reviewed articles was complemented with consultations with 23 key informants (salt producers and distributors, food processors, regulatory agency officials, and healthcare providers) purposively sampled between May and August 2017. The findings show a strong policy environment indicated by regulations …

Diet-Induced Insulin Resistance Elevates Hippocampal Glutamate As Well As Vglut1 And Gfap Expression In Aβpp/Ps1 Mice., Erin R Hascup, Sarah O Broderick, Mary K Russell, Yimin Fang, Andrzej Bartke, Heather A Boger, Kevin N Hascup

Articles

The symptomologies of Alzheimer's disease (AD) develop over decades suggesting modifiable lifestyle factors may contribute to disease pathogenesis. In humans, hyperinsulinemia associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus increases the risk for developing AD and both diseases share similar age-related etiologies including amyloidogenesis. Since we have demonstrated that soluble Aβ₄₂ elicits glutamate release, we wanted to understand how diet-induced insulin resistance alters hippocampal glutamate dynamics, which are important for memory formation and consolidation. Eight to twelve-week-old C57BL/6J and AβPP/PS1 mice were placed on either a low-fat diet or high-fat diet (HFD) for 8 months. A HFD led to significant weight …

Food Safety Knowledge And Practices Among Saudi Mothers, Wafa O. Ayaz, Anushree Priyadarshini, Amit Jaiswal

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This study examines food safety knowledge and practices of mothers in Saudi Arabia. A total of 979 respondents participated in the study and completed a questionnaire that accessed their knowledge of food storage, food handling, usage and maintenance of kitchen facilities, personal hygiene and food poisoning. Results showed that mothers in Saudi Arabia had moderate knowledge of food storage (passing rate 64.9%) and usage and maintenance of kitchen facilities (passing rate 66.5%). While they had good knowledge of personal hygiene (passing rate 83.8%) and food poisoning (passing rate 78.5%), their knowledge with regard to food handling was poor (passing rate …

Electroósmosis: Un Método Para Mejorar El Suelo, Yenni Mariana Ramírez Mazo, Juan Pablo Osorio, Sergio Agudelo Florez

Articles

El suelo, ese que pisamos, recorremos, sobre el que construimos nuestras casas, escuelas, calles… ese en el que nos dicen que pongamos los pies cuando estamos algo distraídos, es más que simplemente tierra.

Regeneration Of Aged Dmf For Use In Solid-Phase Peptide Synthesis, Jordan K. Magtaan, Marc Devocelle, Fintan Kelleher

Articles

DMF, which is still the most commonly used solvent for Fmoc-SPPS, has the potential for degradation over time on exposure to air (and water vapour) and storage, to give dimethylamine and formic acid impurities. In particular, dimethylamine can lead to unwanted deprotection of the Fmoc group during for example the initial loading of Fmoc amino acids in SPPS, which leads reduced calculated loading values. We have found that treatment of such aged DMF by simple sparging with an inert gas (N₂), or vacuum sonication, can regenerate the DMF in order to restore loading levels back to those found …

Arguing With Friends, William Baude, Ryan D. Doerfler

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No abstract provided.

Compelled Subsidies And The First Amendment, William Baude, Eugene Volokh

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No abstract provided.

Vacuum Polarization For Varying Quantum Scalar Field Parameters In Schwarzschild–Anti–De Sitter Spacetime, Cormac Breen, Peter Taylor

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Equipped with new powerful and efficient methods for computing quantum expectation values in static-spherically symmetric spacetimes in arbitrary dimensions, we perform an in-depth investigation of how the quantum vacuum polarization varies with the parameters in the theory. In particular, we compute and compare the vacuum polarization for a quantum scalar field in the Schwarzschild–anti–de Sitter black hole spacetime for a range of values of the field mass and field coupling constant as well as the black hole mass and number of spacetime dimensions. In addition, a new approximation for the vacuum polarization in asymptotically anti–de Sitter black hole spacetimes is …