Digital Commons Network^™

Consumer Reactions To Alcohol Advertising Health Warnings In Ireland: An Experimental Research Study, Vania Filipova

Doctoral

Introduction and Aims As part of several measures to inform consumers about the health risks of alcohol and reduce alcohol consumption, the Irish Government signed into law the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018, with Section 13 requiring the implementation of multiple health warnings in all alcohol ads. While health warnings on product labels have been subject to intensive political discussion and academic research, health warnings in alcohol ads have received little attention and empirical support. This doctoral dissertation investigates whether health warnings in alcohol ads can promote cognitive and affective reactions in consumers. Furthermore, this thesis also examines whether the …

Heritage Requires Citizens’ Knowledge: The Cost Place-Making Action And Responsible Research, Heike Oevermann, Ayse Erek, Carola Hein, Conor Horan, Kata Krasznahorkai, Ida Sofie Gøtzsche Lange, Edmond Manahasa, Marijke Martin, Marluci Menezes, Matej Nikšič, Paulina Polko, Juli Székely, Simone Tappert, Pekka Tuominen

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

This chapter reflects on responsible science with an eye toward concrete research practice. To this end, we briefly introduce the RRI paradigm (Responsible Research and Innovation) and then highlight seven EU research projects in the context of a transnational COST Action project. This COST Action will investigate how placemaking activities, like public art, civil urban design, and local knowledge production, reshape and reinvent public space, and improve citizens’ involvement in urban planning and urban design, especially in the context of heritage sites. The chapter introduces heritage case studies that either contrast, differentiate, and add to existing knowledge and practices in …

Peripheral: Women's Imprisonment In Twentieth Century Ireland, Christina Quinlan

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

No abstract provided.

A Neural Network-Based Model For Lower Limb Continuous Estimation Against The Disturbance Of Uncertainty, Wanting Li, Keping Liu, Zhongbo Sun, C Li, Yuanyuan Chai, Jian Gu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

In this paper, a novel prediction model is proposed to estimate human continuous motion intention using a fuzzy wavelet neural network (FWNN) and a zeroing neural network (ZNN). During walking, seven channel surface electromyography (sEMG) signals and motion data of hip and knee are collected, and two signals are selected and processed from the seven muscles based on physiological and correlation analysis. Then, FWNN is built as an intention recognition model, with sEMG signals as input and physical hip and knee information as output. Meanwhile, ZNN is exploited into the FWNN model, forming a hybrid model to eliminate the prediction …

High-Quality Reconstruction Of China’S Natural Streamflow, Chiyuan Miao, Jiaojiao Gou, Bojie Fu, Qiuhong Tang, Q Duan, Z Chen, Huimin Lei, J Chen, J Guo, Alistair G.L. Borthwick, Wenfeng Ding, X Duan, Yungang Li, Dongxian Kong, X Guo, Jingwen Wu

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Continuous-Flow Synthesis Of Mesoporous Sba-15, Christopher M.A. Parlett, Hamidreza Arandiyan, Lee J. Durndell, Mark A. Isaacs, Antonio Torres Lopez, Roong J. Wong, Karen Wilson, Adam F. Lee

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

No abstract provided.

Correct Generation Of The Bound Set-Down For Surface Gravity Wave Groups In Laboratory Experiments Of Intermediate To Shallow Depth, William Mortimer, Alison Raby, Alessandro Antonini, Deborah Greaves, Den Bremer T Van

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Drone-Based Large-Scale Particle Image Velocimetry Applied To Tidal Stream Energy Resource Assessment, Iain Fairley, Benjamin J. Williamson, Jason Mcilvenny, Nicholas King, Ian Masters, Matthew Lewis, Simon Neill, David Glasby, Daniel Coles, Ben Powell, Keith Naylor, Max Robinson, Dominic E. Reeve

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Resource quantification is vital in developing a tidal stream energy site but challenging in high energy areas. Drone-based large-scale particle image velocimetry (LSPIV) may provide a novel, low cost, low risk approach that improves spatial coverage compared to ADCP methods. For the first time, this study quantifies performance of the technique for tidal stream resource assessment, using three sites. Videos of the sea surface were captured while concurrent validation data were obtained (ADCP and surface drifters). Currents were estimated from the videos using LSPIV software. Variation in accuracy was attributed to wind, site geometry and current velocity. Root mean square …

Crowdsourcing Platform For Qoe Evaluation For Cloud Multimedia Services, A Laghari, Hui He, Asiya Khan, R Laghari, Shoulin Yin, Jiachi Wang

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

This paper presents a novel web-based crowdsourcing platform for the assessment of the subjective and objective quality of experience (QoE) of the video service in the cloud-server environment. The user has the option to enter subjective QoE data for video service by filling out a web questionnaire. The objective QoE data of the cloud-server, network condition, and the user device is automatically captured by the crowdsourcing platform. Our proposed system collects both objective and subjective QoE simultaneously in real-time. The paper presents the key technologies used in the development of the platform and describes the functional requirements and design ideas …

Investigation Of Wave-Driven Hydroelastic Interactions Using Numerical And Physical Modelling Approaches, S. A. Brown, N. Xie, M. R. Hann, D. M. Greaves

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

Wave-driven hydroelasticity is of great importance to a wide range of applications within offshore and coastal engineering. Harnessing the benefits of hydroelasticity or minimising its impacts, depending on the application, has recently led to substantial investment in research effort in this field. However, the complex and strongly-coupled nature of the problem generally make the impacts very case specific, highlighting the importance of accurate numerical tools for assessing the impact on a case-by-case basis. Therefore, this study aims to provide novel experimental data to assist with the development of a coupled numerical methodology for simulating fully nonlinear hydroelastic interactions with highly-flexible …

A Worked Example Of Braun And Clarke’S Approach To Refexive Thematic Analysis, David Byrne

Articles

Since the publication of their inaugural paper on the topic in 2006, Braun and Clarke’s approach has arguably become one of the most thoroughly delineated methods of conducting thematic analysis (TA). However, confusion persists as to how to implement this specifc approach to TA appropriately. The authors themselves have identifed that many researchers who purport to adhere to this approach—and who reference their work as such—fail to adhere fully to the principles of ‘refexive thematic analysis’ (RTA). Over the course of numerous publications, Braun and Clarke have elaborated signifcantly upon the constitution of RTA and attempted to clarify numerous misconceptions …

Volume 31, Number 3, Winter 2022-23, Office Of Communications, Illinois Wesleyan University

Illinois Wesleyan University Magazine, 2018-present

VOLUME 31 | NUMBER 3 | Winter 2022-23

ON OUR COVER: Toni Tortorella ’21 sports the mark from the surgery that cured her cancer as a symbol of health advocacy and the support she received from family, friends, faculty and staff.

14 Guardian Angel When IWU nursing student and community leader Toni Tortorella ’21 was diagnosed with cancer, her family at home and school advocated for her health and her academic success. Now she’s a nurse at the hospital that cured her.

18 A Love Letter to IWU After a summer of storytelling about what makes Illinois Wesleyan a unique …

Wavecat Wave Energy Converter: Performance And Wave Field Interaction, James Allen

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Wave Energy Converters (WECs) have been shown to offer a promising option for power generation. The WaveCat is a moored WEC design which uses wave overtopping discharge into a variable v-shaped hull, to generate electricity through low head turbines. Physical model tests of the WaveCat WEC were carried out at the University of Plymouth COAST Laboratory to determine the device reflection, transmission and absorption coefficients. 60° and 30° wedge angles were tested, where wedge angle is the angle between the two hulls. Motion response of the WaveCat model was also quantified. The device heave and pitch motions were simulated using …

Self-Perceived Loneliness And Depression During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Two-Wave Replication Study, Alessandro Carollo, Andrea Bizzego, Giulio Gabrieli, Keri Ka Yee Wong, Adrian Raine, Gianluca Esposito

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The global Covid-19 pandemic has forced countries to impose strict lockdown restrictions and mandatory stay-at-home orders with varying impacts on individual’s health. Combining a data-driven machine learning paradigm and a statistical approach, our previous paper documented a U-shaped pattern in levels of self-perceived loneliness in both the UK and Greek populations during the first lockdown (17 April to 17 July 2020). The current paper aimed to test the robustness of these results by focusing on data from the first and second lockdown waves in the UK. We tested a) the impact of the chosen model on the identification of the …

Dataset Of Parent-Child Hyperscanning Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Recordings, Andrea Bizzego, Giulio Gabrieli, Atiqah Azhari, Mengyu Lim, Gianluca Esposito

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

The term “hyperscanning” refers to the simultaneous recording of multiple individuals’ brain activity. As a methodology, hyperscanning allows the investigation of brain-to-brain synchrony. Despite being a promising technique, there is a limited number of publicly available functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) hyperscanning recordings. In this paper, we report a dataset of fNIRS recordings from the prefrontal cortical (PFC) activity of 33 mother-child dyads and 29 father-child dyads. Data was recorded while the parent-child dyads participated in an experiment with two sessions: a passive video attention task and a free play session. Dyadic metadata, parental psychological traits, behavioural annotations of the play …

Harmonising The Human Biobanking Consent Process: An Irish Experience, Lydia O'Sullivan, Tomás P. Carroll, Niamh Clarke, Sarah Cooper, Ann Cullen, Laura Gorman, Billy Mccann, Blánaid Mee, Nicola Miller, Verena Murphy, Máiréad Murray, Jackie O'Leary, Sharon O'Toole, Emma Snapes, Suzanne Bracken

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Biobanks are repositories of human biological samples and data. They are an important component of clinical research in many disease areas and often represent the first step toward innovative treatments. For biobanks to operate, researchers need human participants to give their samples and associated health data. In Ireland, research participants must provide their freely given informed consent for their samples and data to be taken and used for research purposes. Biobank staff are responsible for communicating the relevant information to participants prior to obtaining their consent, and this communication process is supported by the Participant Information Leaflets and Informed Consent …

An Il1rl1 Genetic Variant Lowers Soluble St2 Levels And The Risk Effects Of Apoe-Ε4 In Female Patients With Alzheimer’S Disease, Yuanbing Jiang, Xiaopu Zhou, Hiu Yi Wong, Li Ouyang, Fanny C. F. Ip, Vicky M. N. Chau, Shun-Fat Lau, Wei Wu, Daniel Y. K. Wong, Heukjin Seo, Wing-Yu Fu, Nicole C. H. Lai, Yuewen Chen, Yu Chen, Estella P.S. Tong, Alzheimer’S Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, Vincent C. T. Mok, Timothy C. Y. Kwok, Kin Y. Mok, Maryam Shoai, Benoit Lehallier, Patricia Morán Losada, Eleanor O'Brien, Tenielle Porter, Simon Laws, John Hardy, Tony Wyss-Coray, Colin L. Masters, Amy K.Y. Fu, Nancy Y. Ip

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Changes in the levels of circulating proteins are associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), whereas their pathogenic roles in AD are unclear. Here, we identified soluble ST2 (sST2), a decoy receptor of interleukin-33–ST2 signaling, as a new disease-causing factor in AD. Increased circulating sST2 level is associated with more severe pathological changes in female individuals with AD. Genome-wide association analysis and CRISPR–Cas9 genome editing identified rs1921622, a genetic variant in an enhancer element of IL1RL1, which downregulates gene and protein levels of sST2. Mendelian randomization analysis using genetic variants, including rs1921622, demonstrated that decreased sST2 levels lower AD …

Changes To The Gut Microbiome In Young Children Showing Early Behavioral Signs Of Autism, Jacquelyn Jones, Stacey N. Reinke, Mahsa Mousavi-Derazmahalleh, Debra J. Palmer, Claus T. Christophersen

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The human gut microbiome has increasingly been associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is a neurological developmental disorder, characterized by impairments to social interaction. The ability of the gut microbiota to signal across the gut-brain-microbiota axis with metabolites, including short-chain fatty acids, impacts brain health and has been identified to play a role in the gastrointestinal and developmental symptoms affecting autistic children. The fecal microbiome of older children with ASD has repeatedly shown particular shifts in the bacterial and fungal microbial community, which are significantly different from age-matched neurotypical controls, but it is still unclear whether these characteristic shifts …

Environmental Health Responses To Covid 19 In Western Australia: Lessons For The Future, Jacques Oosthuizen, Melissa Stoneham, Toni Hannelly, Edmore Masaka, Giverny Dodds, Victor Andrich

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The COVID-19 pandemic tested the health system of Western Australia (WA) and the relatively new overarching legislative framework that guided the state-wide public health response to the pandemic. This study aimed to evaluate the experiences and roles of environmental health officers (EHOs) in WA during the management of COVID-19 and to identify any policy changes that are needed to facilitate the rapid deployment of EHOs during a future public health crisis. An online survey with 78 respondents was administered and analysis was both qualitative and quantitative. It was found that participants believed there was inadequate resourcing, workforce shortages, increased workloads, …

Accessible And Inclusive Cities: Exposing Design And Leadership Challenges For Bunbury And Geelong, Adam Johnson, Richard Tucker, Hing-Wah Chau, Elmira Jamei

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

This article compares research identifying the systemic barriers to disability access and inclusion in two regional Australian cities, and discusses some of the leadership and design challenges that will need to be addressed by government and industry to embed universal design principles within the planning, development, and redevelopment of urban infrastructure. In Geelong, Victoria, given the often-opaque decision-making dynamics at play in the urban planning and development of cities, the disability community sought a more holistic and consultative approach to addressing access and inclusion. Systems-thinking for a collective impact approach was used to generate recommendations for action around improving universal …

Airway Morphology And Its Influence On Osa Severity And Surgical Intervention: A Retrospective Study, Fabiana Petrykowski, Raymond Lam, Richard Lewis, Syed Mohammed Shamsul Islam, Mithran Goonewardene

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Introduction: The aim was to assess the relationship between airway morphology and surgical intervention in a cohort of patients presenting with increased body mass index (BMI) and a confirmed diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). A secondary aim was to revisit the relationship between morphology and OSA severity. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of pre-operative maxillofacial 3D-CT scans of thirty-two patients with a confirmed diagnosis of OSA who received treatment from an ear nose and throat specialist (ENT). Lateral cephalograms were imported into Quick Ceph Studio (Quick Ceph Systems Inc, San Diego, CA, USA) after which linear and angular …

Tox And Detox: Are Teens' Smartphone Use And Non-Use Practices Fully Fungible?, Lelia Green, Debra Dudek, Lynne Cohen, Kjartan Ólafsson, Elisabeth Staksrud, Carmen Louise Jacques, Kelly Jaunzems

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The public sphere includes a range of credible discourses asserting that a proportion of teenagers (“teens”) has an unhealthy dependence upon continuous connection with media devices, and especially smartphones. A review of media discourse (Jaunzems et al.) in Australia, and a critical review of public discourse in Australia and Belgium (Zaman et al.), reveal both positive and negative commentary around screentime. Despite the “emotionally laden, opposing views” expressed in the media, there appears to be a groundswell of concern around young people’s dependence upon digital devices (Zaman et al. 120). Concerns about ‘addiction’ to and dependency on digital media first …

Disruptive Technologies In Smart Farming: An Expanded View With Sentiment Analysis, Sargam Yadav, Abhishek Kaushik, Mahak Sharma, Shubham Sharma

Articles

Smart Farming (SF) is an emerging technology in the current agricultural landscape. The aim of Smart Farming is to provide tools for various agricultural and farming operations to improve yield by reducing cost, waste, and required manpower. SF is a data-driven approach that can mitigate losses that occur due to extreme weather conditions and calamities. The influx of data from various sensors, and the introduction of information communication technologies (ICTs) in the field of farming has accelerated the implementation of disruptive technologies (DTs) such as machine learning and big data. Application of these predictive and innovative tools in agriculture is …

Development Of Modular And Adaptive Laboratory Set-Up For Neuroergonomic And Human-Robot Interaction Research, Marija Savkovic, Carlo Caiazzo, Marko Djapan, Arso M. Vukic´ Evi, Milos Pusica, Ivan Macˇ Užic

Articles

The industry increasingly insists on academic cooperation to solve the identified problems such as workers' performance, wellbeing, job satisfaction, and injuries. It causes an unsafe and unpleasant working environment that directly impacts the quality of the product, workers' productivity, and effectiveness. This study aimed to give a specialized solution for tests and explore possible solutions to the given problem in neuroergonomics and human-robot interaction. The designed modular and adaptive laboratory model of the industrial assembly workstation represents the laboratory infrastructure for conducting advanced research in the field of ergonomics, neuroergonomics, and human-robot interaction. It meets the operator's anatomical, anthropometric, physiological, …

Viscoelastic And Electromagnetic Materials With Nonlinear Memory, Claudio Giorgi, John Murrough Golden

Articles

A method is presented for generating free energies relating to nonlinear constitutive equations with memory from known free energies associated with hereditary linear theories. Some applications to viscoelastic solids and hereditary electrical conductors are presented. These new free energies are then used to obtain estimates for nonlinear integro-differential evolution problems describing the behavior of nonlinear plasmas with memory.

The Locus Algorithm: A Novel Technique For Identifying Optimised Pointings For Differential Photometry, Oisin Creaner, Kevin Nolan Mr, E. Hickey, N. Smith

Articles

Studies of the photometric variability of astronomical sources from ground-based telescopes must overcome atmospheric extinction effects. Differential photometry by reference to an ensemble of reference stars which closely match the target in terms of magnitude and colour can mitigate these effects. This Paper describes the design, implementation, and operation of a novel algorithm – The Locus Algorithm – which enables optimised differential photometry. The Algorithm is intended to identify, for a given target and observational parameters, the Field of View (FoV) which includes the target and the maximum number of reference stars similar to the target. A collection of objects …

A Global Model-Agnostic Xai Method For The Automatic Formation Of An Abstract Argumentation Framework And Its Objective Evaluation, Giulia Vilone, Luca Longo

Conference papers

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) aims to train data-driven, machine learning (ML) models possessing both high predictive accuracy and a high degree of explainability for humans. Comprehending and explaining the inferences of a model can be seen as a defeasible reasoning process which is expected to be non-monotonic meaning that a conclusion, linked to a set of premises, can be withdrawn when new information becomes available. Computational argumentation, a paradigm within Artificial Intelligence (AI), focuses on modeling defeasible reasoning. This research study explored a new way for the automatic formation of an argument-based representation of the inference process of a data-driven …

Cannabinoid And Substance Relationships Of European Congenital Anomaly Patterns: A Space-Time Panel Regression And Causal Inferential Study, Albert Stuart Reece, Gary Kenneth Hulse

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

With reports from Australia, Canada, USA, Hawaii and Colorado documenting a link between cannabis and congenital anomalies (CAs), this relationship was investigated in Europe. Data on 90 CAs were accessed from Eurocat. Tobacco and alcohol consumption and median household income data were from the World Bank. Amphetamine, cocaine and last month and daily use of cannabis from the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Cannabis herb and resin Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol concentrations were from published reports. Data were processed in R. Twelve thousand three hundred sixty CA rates were sourced across 16 nations of Europe. Nations with a higher or …

Search For Higgsinos Decaying To Two Higgs Bosons And Missing Transverse Momentum In Proton-Proton Collisions At √S = 13 Tev, The Cms Collaboration, A. Tumasyan, W. Adam, J. W. Andrejkovic, T. Bergauer, S. Chatterjee, K. Damanakis, M. Dragicevic, A. Escalante Del Valle, R. Frühwirth, M. Jeitler, N. Krammer, L. Lechner, D. Liko, I. Mikulec, P. Paulitsch, F. M. Pitters, J. Schieck, R. Schöfbeck, D. Schwarz, S. Templ, W. Waltenberger, C. E. Wulz, V. Chekhovsky, A. Litomin, V. Makarenko, M. R. Darwish, E. A. De Wolf, T. Janssen, T. Kello, A. Lelek

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Results are presented from a search for physics beyond the standard model in proton-proton collisions at s = 13 TeV in channels with two Higgs bosons, each decaying via the process H → bb ¯ , and large missing transverse momentum. The search uses a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 137 fb⁻¹ collected by the CMS experiment at the CERN LHC. The search is motivated by models of supersymmetry that predict the production of neutralinos, the neutral partners of the electroweak gauge and Higgs bosons. The observed event yields in the signal regions are found to …

Educator Handbook For Designing Inclusive Entrepreneurship Courses In Higher Education, Deirdre Mcquillan, Sylvia Gavigan, Antonio Juan Briones, Iulia Clitan, Dimitra Milioni, Vlad Muresan, Panayiota Polykarpou

Books/Book Chapters

This handbook is developed for educators in entrepreneurship within universities and other higher education institutions. The aim of the handbook is to help underrepresented student groups within their courses. It is also useful for academics who want to develop entrepreneurship courses for specific minority groups. The notion of who underrepresented entrepreneurship students are may differ across institutions and across countries. At a global level, the OECD identifies six important cohorts: women, youth, seniors, the unemployed, immigrants, and people with disabilities (OECD, 2021)