Digital Commons Network^™

The Cultural Economy Of Dublin, Ellen Hazelkorn, Colm Murphy

Books/Book chapters

This article examines the growth between 1990 to 2000 of the interactive media industry in the Dublin area. In this period it became a world leader in the development of electronic leading companies. The article assesses the role the state played in the development of this cluster.

The Adaptive Advantage Of Symbolic Theft Over Sensorimotor Toil: Grounding Language In Perceptual Categories, A Cangelosi, S Harnad

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Using neural nets to simulate learning and the genetic algorithm to simulate evolution in a toy world of mushrooms and mushroom-foragers, we place two ways of acquiring categories into direct competition with one another: In (1) "sensorimotor toil,” new categories are acquired through real-time, feedbackcorrected, trial and error experience in sorting them. In (2) "symbolic theft,” new categories are acquired by hearsay from propositions – boolean combinations of symbols describing them. In competition, symbolic theft always beats sensorimotor toil. We hypothesize that this is the basis of the adaptive advantage of language. Entry-level categories must still be learned by toil, …

A Rawlsian Approach To Solving The Problem Of Genetic Discrimination In Toxic Workplaces, Robert A. Bohrer

San Diego Law Review

The Human Genome Project (HGP) may well be the beginning of a technological leap that rivals the advent of the Industrial Age.2 The principal goal of the project is to map and fully sequence3

the twenty- four chromosomes that contain the complete genetic contents of a

normal human cell. The human genome consists of twenty-two pairs of chromosomes plus the X and Y chromosomes that determine gender.4 As would be expected for such a technologically adventurous undertaking, the HGP has been accompanied by a substantial outpouring of concern about the ethical, legal, and social issues that will arise from this …

Does Technological Enhancement Of Human Traits Threaten Human Equality And Democracy?, Michael H. Shapiro

San Diego Law Review

This Article outlines some of the moral, legal, and general policy difficulties that societies and individuals will face if technological enhancements via germ line and somatic mechanisms become possible. It identifies and analyzes some of the conceptual structures necessary to explain the nature of these difficulties, suggests some alternative basic scenarios—such as greater or lesser scarcity of technological enhancement resources, impacts on how we perceive each other, and different remediation patterns—and then maps and reverse maps the projected technological developments against the value and legal structures. This Article also describes and comments on what may seem to be, from our …

Reasonable Expectations And The Erosion Of Privacy, Shaun B. Spencer

San Diego Law Review

This Article examines how the prevailing legal conception of privacy facilitates the erosion of privacy. The law generally measures privacy by reference to society’s reasonable expectation of privacy. If we think of the universe of legally private matters as a sphere, the sphere will contract or (at least in theory) expand in accordance with changing social expectations. This expectation-driven conception of privacy in effect establishes a privacy marketplace, analogous in both a literal and metaphorical sense to a marketplace of ideas. In this marketplace, societal expectations of privacy fluctuate in response to changing social practices. For this reason, privacy is …

The Purloined Personality: Consumer Profiling In Financial Services

San Diego Law Review

Although almost every sector of the U.S. economy practices consumer profiling,perhaps the most substantive challenge to consumer privacy is found in the activities surrounding the use and disclosure of consumer transaction data by the financial services industry. For that reason, this Comment focuses exclusively on consumer profiling in the context of the financial services sector, defined as banks, credit card issuers, brokerages, and insurance companies.

Unbuckling The “Chemical Straitjacket”: The Legal Significance Of Recent Advances In The Pharmacological Treatment Of Psychosis, Douglas Mossman

San Diego Law Review

The

pharmacotherapeutic properties of antipsychotic medications— their actions, therapeutic uses, benefits, adverse effects, contraindications, and risks—are quintessentially medical topics, even when the situations and contexts in which doctors prescribe or recommend their use raise legal questions. Frequently, however, the legal database (that is, published opinions, legislation, regulation, and law review articles) is the principal or sole information source cited and consulted by lawyers, judges, and scholars who write about these drugs and make decisions concerning the persons that may have to take them. What often results is the perpetuation of mistaken, outdated, distorted, biased, contradictory,

or just plain foolish ideas …

Liberty Not Fully Evolved?: The Case Of Rodney Levake And The Right Of Public School Teachers To Criticize Darwinism, Francis J. Beckwith

San Diego Law Review

In 2001, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reviewed the case of Rodney LeVake, a public school teacher who sought to enhance his school

district’s required science curriculum by suggesting to students alternative viewpoints inconsistent with that curriculum. This case, LeVake v. Independent School District, should be of great interest to legal theorists. Its holding, and the reasoning on which it is based, may serve as a Socratic provocation regarding the extent to which public school teachers have constitutional academic freedom (apart from statutory requirements or permission) to voluntarily include criticisms of and alternatives to evolutionary theory.

Into Contract’S Undiscovered Country: A Defense Of Browse-Wrap Licenses

San Diego Law Review

The Internet is important not only because of its popularity, but also because of its power for innovation. The Internet has caused an explosion of new services and innovative types of commerce. The Internet has also changed the contours of the marketplace, creating a connected economy in which anyone with a computer and a phone line can do business directly with a maker of goods anywhere in the world and at any time. The Internet has even changed consumers themselves, empowering them with unlimited information about products. The Internet has also changed the relationship that consumers have with products created …

Violence, Video Games, And A Voice Of Reason: Judge Posner To The Defense Of Kids' Culture And The First Amendment, Clay Calvert

San Diego Law Review

"We are in the world of kids' popular culture. But it is not lightly to be suppressed."' So wrote Judge Richard A. Posner on behalf of a unanimous three judge panel for the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2001 in striking down, on First Amendment grounds, an Indianapolis ordinance that blocked minors' access to video games depicting violence. Judge Posner's erudite opinion could not have come at a more important time-a time when the entertainment industries in the United States seemingly are under government siege and when the media blame game is peaking. The judge's cogent reasoning and …

Internet Gambling: Should Fantasy Sports Leagues Be Prohibited?

San Diego Law Review

This Comment will examine fantasy sports leagues as a form of gambling. Part II considers various federal restrictions on gambling. State perspectives on gambling are addressed in Part III. Policy arguments are presented in Part IV, and practical issues are explored in Part V. Part VI concludes that Internet fantasy sports leagues violate gambling prohibitions. Finally, the Appendix sets out the gambling laws of each state.

Ethnography And The Idealized Accounts Of Science In Law, David S. Caudill

San Diego Law Review

n Part I, I confirm the idealizations of science in law and their implications for legal scholarship and practice. In Part II, I describe the ethnographic method used by science studies scholars, with reference to my own ethnographic analysis of interviews with three neuroscientists. I conclude Part II by identifying various social aspects of science that comprise a complex picture of scientific activity. In Part ill, I discuss the implications of ethnomethodology for trial practice, including deposition analysis, Daubert-type hearings, cross-examination techniques, and drafting jury instructions. Part IV addresses anticipated criticisms of my arguments.

California's Duty Of Confidentiality: Is It Time For A Life-Threatening Criminal Act Exception?, Kevin E. Mohr

San Diego Law Review

In August 2001, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association (ABA) voted in favor of a revision to the duty of confidentiality contained in the ABA's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, a set of ethics rules that has been adopted in some form by over forty states. Specifically, the House voted to broaden the exception in Model Rule 1.6 that permits a lawyer to reveal confidential information of the client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes

necessary to prevent likely death or substantial bodily harrn.

It is

uncertain whether that vote will have any effect on the …

Feminist Legal Writing, Kathryn M. Stanchi

San Diego Law Review

Because feminist legal advocates must use legal writing to persuade

their audience and push for change in the law, they must confront the dilemma of whether to follow legal writing conventions and risk altering or losing their feminist message or whether to break from convention and risk losing the legal audience. Feminist legal scholarship, in many different ways, has made great progress in dealing with this dilemma. The focus of this Article, however, is on several pieces of feminist legal scholarship that have confronted the dilemma by pushing the bounds of conventional legal language and legal writing. These pieces, by …

Public Defender's Conundrum: Signaling Professionalism And Quality In The Absence Of Price, Robert J. Aalberts, Thomas Boyt, Lorne H. Seidman

San Diego Law Review

This Essay, the result of an

extensive empirical study in the state of Nevada, attempts to ascertain factors among criminal defendants that may predict how they perceive a level of quality and satisfaction with their lawyers as service providers, as well as policy proposals for improving the perceptions of public defenders.

Remote Sensing: A New Tool For Automobile Inspection And Maintenance, Donald H. Stedman

Fuel Efficiency Automobile Test Publications

Federally-mandated emissions testing of automobiles in Colorado has decreased emissions, albeit much less than predicted. Recent breakthroughs in manufacturing low emitting vehicles and in remote sensing of a moving car’s exhaust could enable Colorado to phase out or drastically increase the efficiency of treadmill-style testing centers. Remote sensing technology now allows a piece of equipment small enough to fit in a van to assess the mass of pollutants per gallon of fuel emitted by a passing car. Once an emissions scofflaw is identified, a number of options exist:

· immediate pullover and ticketing by a police officer;

· a “smart …

Multiple And Symbol Operators: The Battle For Market Leadership In The Irish Grocery Market, Edmund O'Callaghan, Mary Wilcox

Case Studies

The Irish grocery retailing market, one of the most competitive in Europe, has undergone a metamorphosis in recent years. The demise of many small grocers, an increased concentration of multiples and the galvanization of the independent sector through symbol group participation has intensified competitive rivalry. The two largest multiples ie. Tesco Ireland and Dunnes Stores continually vie for number one position nationally. In recent years, Musgrave have galvanised the independent sector and are now in a position to challenge the top multiples for the prized pole position in the market. Recent results show that sales were up 15% vear-on-year, on …

Investigation Into The Control Of An Upper-Limb Myoelectric Prosthesis, Steven Michael Roberts

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis presents research that extends current knowledge in the area of upper-limb prosthesis design and control. A study of myoelectric signals (MES)'s using both NHS and other equipment has resulted in identification of the signal source and transmission/detection issues. A globally comprehensive and up to date survey of myoelectric research has revealed new and long-term research paths. This thesis challenges the old model in interpreting the MES signals by providing and collecting evidence to suggest a new approach to future investigation. The historical description of a stochastic, non-deterministic MES has been shown by this research to be incomplete. An …

Dynamic Characterisation Of The Head-Media Interface In Hard Disk Drives Using Novel Sensor Systems, Glen Alan Tunstall

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Hard disk drives function perfectly satisfactorily when used in a stable environment, but in certain applications they are subjected to shock and vibration. During the work reported in this thesis it has been found that when typical hard disk drives are subjected lo vibration, data transfer failure is found to be significant at frequencies between 440Hz and 700Hz, at an extreme, failing at only Ig of sinusoidal vibration. These failures can largely be attributed to two key components: the suspension arm and the hard disk. At non-critical frequencies of vibration the typical hard disk drive can reliably transfer data whilst …

Pitch Estimation For Noisy Speech, Azar Khurshid

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

In this dissertation a biologically plausible system of pitch estimation is proposed. The system is designed from the bottom up to be robust to challenging noise conditions. This robustness to the presence of noise in the signal is achieved by developing a new representation of the speech signal, based on the operation of damped harmonic oscillators, and temporal mode analysis of their output. This resulting representation is shown to possess qualities which are not degraded in presence of noise. A harmonic grouping based system is used to estimate the pitch frequency. A detailed statistical analysis is performed on the system, …

Digital Watermarking For Compact Discs And Their Effect On The Error Correction System, Kay Rydyger

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

A new technique, based on current compact disc technology, to image the transparent surface of a compact disc, or additionally the reflective information layer, has been designed, implemented and evaluated. This technique (image capture technique) has been tested and successfully applied to the detection of mechanically introduced compact disc watermarks and biometrical information with a resolution of 1.6um x l4um. Software has been written which, when used with the image capture technique, recognises a compact disc based on its error distribution. The software detects digital watermarks which cause either laser signal distortions or decoding error events. Watermarks serve as secure …

Application Of Stiffness/Strength Corrector And Cellular Automata In Predicting Response Of Laterally Loaded Masonry Panels, Guang Chun Zhou

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This research has introduced a new concept, "stiffness/strength corrector", which more accurately models variation in masonry properties at various locations (zones) within a masonry wall panel. Derivation of these correctors was based on a closer mapping of the laboratory experimental results to those obtained from a non-linear finite element analysis of full-scale masonry panels subjected to a uniformly distributed lateral load. In this research only one panel, which was tested in a previous research, was used as the "base panel" and correctors for new panels with and without openings with various boundary conditions were derived by matching similar regions and …

A Pre-Transfer Assessment Framework For International Technology Transfer, Stephen Hobbs

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The demands off managing in an international operating environment has changed considerably over the past 20 years due to developments in global markets. Multinational enterprises face fierce international competition and are now tasked not only with developing effective competitive capabilities but also with maximising the knowledge and expertise developed in one part of the organisation by transferring it to another. This work has investigated the position of multinational enterprises in the developing global market and through a broad and thorough review of current literature, identified a gap in the knowledge -a tool for helping the assessment of the transfer of …

A Generic Network And System Management Framework, Martin Hans Knahl

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Networks and distributed systems have formed the basis of an ongoing communications revolution that has led to the genesis of a wide variety of services. The constantly increasing size and complexity of these systems does not come without problems. In some organisations, the deployment of Information Technology has reached a state where the benefits from downsizing and rightsizing by adding new services are undermined by the effort required to keep the system running. Management of networks and distributed systems in general has a straightforward goal: to provide a productive environment in which work can be performed effectively. The work required …

Evaluation Of Lntelligent Medical Systems, Julian Bernard Tilbury

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

This thesis presents novel, robust, analytic and algorithmic methods for calculating Bayesian posterior intervals of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves and confusion matrices used for the evaluation of intelligent medical systems tested with small amounts of data. Intelligent medical systems are potentially important in encapsulating rare and valuable medical expertise and making it more widely available. The evaluation of intelligent medical systems must make sure that such systems are safe and cost effective. To ensure systems are safe and perform at expert level they must be tested against human experts. Human experts are rare and busy which often severely restricts …

The Development Of A Novel Suspension Arm With 2-Dimensional Actuation, For Use In Advanced Hard Disk Drives, Chibesa Chilumbu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

As magnetic computer disks are developed to ever-greater data storage densities, the accuracy required for head positioning is moving beyond the accuracy provided by present technology using single-stage voice-coil motors in hard disk drives. This thesis details work to develop a novel active suspension arm with 2-dimensional actuation for use in advanced hard disk drives. The arm developed is capable of high-bandwidth data tracking as well as precision head flying height control motion. High-bandwidth data tracking is facilitated by the use of piezoelectric stack actuator, positioned closer to the head. The suspension arm is also capable of motion in the …

The Development Of Party Systems And The Determinants Of Partisan Voting In English Local Government Elections 1973-1998, Lawrence Ware

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

This thesis takes a quantitative approach to the study of the development of party systems in English local government following its reorganisation in the early 1970s. Aggregate data, including local election results and census information, are used to identify the determinants of partisan support and the subsequent effects upon variations in local party systems. The study develops the first major classification of local party systems between 1973 and 1998, focussing principally upon factors accounting for variations in the evolution of such systems. This study provides the first clear evidence that the operation of local electoral systems contributes towards the production …

The Process Of Design Is Almost Like Writing An Essay, Susan Orr, Margo Blythman

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

Addressing Racial Diversity In A Writing Center: Stories And Lessons From Two Beginners, Nancy Barron, Nancy Grimm

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

Guilt-Free Tutoring: Rethinking How We Tutor Non-Native-English-Speaking Students, Susan Blau, John Hall, Sarah Sparks

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.