Digital Commons Network^™

Efficient Strategies For Robust Constrained Model Predictive Control, Marcin Tomasz Cychowski

Theses

Practical difficulties associated with the implementation of stabilizing robust model predictive control (MPC) laws are well known. The algorithms typically rely on the solution of the so-called min-max optimization problem. All such algorithms display a large online computational burden and often suffer excessive conservativeness. In this thesis, two original algorithms will be developed that address the conservativeness and complexity issues in min-max MPC.

The first algorithm is a min-max MPC based on the concept of closed-loop prediction. The synthesis procedure is realized using linear matrix inequalities and thus the implementation of the closed-loop min-max MPC control law can be performed …

The Analysis And Characterisation Of Rotavirus And Norovirus Circulating In The South Of Ireland, Norma Reidy

Theses

On average more than 3,000 cases of rotavirus diarrhea are detected annually amongst Irish children less than 3 years of age. Rotavirus disease occurs mainly during the winter months, with peak infections detected from February to April. The symptoms of disease are diarrhea and dehydration, with 80% of patients requiring hospitalisation, The mean duration of hospitalisation is 3-4 days, with an average cost per day of €409. Eighteen percent of infections were detected in infants less than 6 months of age, suggesting inadequate maternal derived protection from existing strains, or the existence of novel strains in Ireland with little or …

Dynamic Route Management Strategies For Mobile Ad Hoc Networks., Susan Rea

Theses

A Mobile ad hoc network is a collection of wireless mobile nodes forming a dynamic autonomous network without the aid of a fixed infrastructure. Due to the unpredictable nature of node movement the network topology changes frequently. As a consequence of the limited transmission range of the wireless network interfaces, multiple hops may be necessary for data trafficking between nodes in the network, thus requiring nodes to act as both a router and a host. Ad hoc networks when compared with traditional wireless networks have advantages such as, independence of fixed infrastructure such as access points and base stations, ease …

Ultra Wide Band Radar For People Location And Tracking, Julien Le Kernec

Theses

The development of the UWB radar for people location and tracking was motivated by the need for a location and tracking system that performs well indoor. The objectives of the project are:

1. Conduct literature surveys of Ultra Wide Band and Location & Tracking.

2. Determine which UWB pulse is the most suitable for the UWB radar.

3. Design the concept of the UWB radar based on the literature reviews and the UWB pulse chosen.

4. Build an UWB radar prototype.

5. Measurement and Evaluation of the prototype.

This thesis introduces UWB key historical developments and properties; but also, its …

An Investigation Into The Factors Affecting The Retention And Achievement Of Computing Students Attending Institutes Of Technology In Ireland, (Volumes 1), Carol O Shea

Theses

This research is a longitudinal case study of a cohort of five hundred and seventy-eight students attending computing courses at seven Institutes of Technology in Ireland. The investigation charts the progress of this cohort of students throughout the four-year duration of their programme from the time they commenced their course in 2001 to their graduation in 2005. The central aim of this research is to investigate the factors contributing to the achievement and retention of these students as they progress through their course. Relationships and patterns of association between attainment on the course and students’ prior educational, socio-economic and demographic …

A Low Noise Amplifier For An Ultra Wideband Receiver, Tomasz Waliwander

Theses

The Ultra Wideband Technology, although derives from the early works on time-domain electromagnetics, only recently attracted the attention of the research and industrial institutions, mainly thanks to establishing a proper frequency mask by Federal Communication Commission. The FCC regulations allocate the immense 3.1 - 10.6 GHz microwave band that has never been accessible in a one segment before.

The intrinsic features of the UWB radio such as low power, immunity to multipath fading and eavesdropping, high 3D resolution capability and ability of'seeing' through the solid obstacles with addition to achievable very high data rates, makes it very attractive for many …

"An Analysis Of Fresh Water Rivers As An Alternative Source Of Energy In Remote Areas Of Ireland”, Gerard Brendan Fitzgerald

Theses

Ireland has become overly dependent on oil imports and is now very vulnerable to price increases and oil supply shortages. Coupled with this, demand for electricity has grown rapidly in recent years, the electricity market structure has changed, environment protection is of greater importance, and overall the need for renewable energy powered electricity generation has increased. Wind powered electricity generation facilities play an important role in Ireland’s renewable energy portfolio but other methods of power generation are necessary to complement this variable and unpredictable resource. Hydroelectricity is a well-established method of power generation capable of fulfilling this role. Large-scale hydropower …

Solvent Targeting, Avoidance And Recovery Trials (Start), Kealan Allen

Theses

Solvent is the largest-volume raw material used at Janssen Pharmaceutical (Ire) Ltd. Over 2.2 million m³ were used in 2004. The top 13 solvents make up 99% of this amount. There are two main uses for solvent on site, processing and cleaning. Processing uses 55% of the total solvent used on site, cleaning uses the remainder.

Waste solvent forms the majority of the hazardous waste produced at Janssen. Three treatment options exist at present for this waste: incineration, recovery for reuse and energy recovery. All of the hazardous waste produced on site must be exported for these treatment options, …

Next Generation Heterogenous Telemetry Modules, Pierce Brady

Theses

Remote monitoring is used in many applications within the scientific, industrial and commercial communities. These applications can range from the simple monitoring of wind farm generators to the complex behavioural monitoring of a local fox habitat to the simple but extremely urgent monitoring of water depth for a flood prone river. Each application of remote monitoring requires different aspects of the remote monitoring device, but typically, not all these applications can be implemented, as the technologies required for their construction are extremely large, expensive, energy inefficient, slow and do not meet the constraints for the given application.

However with the …

Quantification Of Mrna Expression Of Her2/Neu, Estrogen Receptors Eralpha And Erbeta, And Progesterone Receptor Using Real-Time Reverse Transcription Pcr In Small Tumor Biopsies, In Human Breast Cancer, Evonne Marie. Mc Cabe

Theses

Early detection is an effective means of reducing cancer mortality. Early detection greatly improves treatment options and the chances for successful treatment. The prognosis for patients with breast cancer is determined by well-established biological features associated with biological aggressiveness, histological grade, tumour size, and nodal involvement. Breast cancer results from multiple genetic abnormalities, and cellular differentiation, tumour growth, and metastatic potential are the end result of these changes. Identification of molecular changes is of considerable value in enhancing the accuracy of prognostic indices, and more importantly, it may indicate various changes as putative targets for therapy. In recent years a …

Disappearing User Interface In Ubiquitous Computing: A Pointing And Gesture Sensing System Using An Ultrasonic And Radio Frequency Location Technology, Stephania Yimana Kigadye

Theses

Weiser’s [1] vision of ubiquitous computing presents a different paradigm of computing which attempts to push computers into the background towards invisibility. Therefore “new concepts for human-computer interaction have to be developed when envisioning ubiquitous computing scenarios [1]. Instead of a single screen-based user interface (UI), humans will interact with a number of devices that are distributed and interconnected. These eomputers range from highly personal and mobile applianees to systems that are integrated in everyday environments and are more or less invisible.”[7] As this project suggests, a disappearing user interface in ubiquitous computing can be designed as a gesture recognition …

Evolutionary Algorithms For Production Scheduling, Pio Fenton

Theses

The permutation with repetition representation is a powerful representation primarily used in the GA-JSSP domain. Recently, attention has shifted from this representation for simple GA and towards JSSP resolution using messy GA. This work returns to the permutation with repetition representation for simple GA with the intention of exploring some previously unexplored aspects. A new 1-point crossover operator is introduced which is shown to be more successful than the current standard operator for this representation. A technique known as morphogenic computation is employed with this representation for the first time and a thorough analysis of its performance is presented. While …

Enhancing Science Education Through Engaging Visual Content, David Kavanagh

Theses

In recent years a decline in the number of Irish students choosing to study science, at second level and on into third level, has become potentially harmful to the desired creation of a science-based knowledge economy. A primary contributing factor towards this decline is a lack of interest in the subject within the classroom, as was established by The Task Force on the Physical Sciences in 2002.

The primary aim of this Masters research is to investigate the role of visualisation in making the study of science more accessible and engaging to students to counter this decline. To this end …

Electronic Mathematics, Aidan O'Donoghue

Theses

Recent times have seen an explosion in the use of interactive technologies in the delivery of learning content to students in all educational sectors in Ireland. This expansion has led to the creation of modem day phenomenons such as global and ‘teacherless’ classrooms.

The research study I have undertaken is to determine if students perform to the same standard when learning through an interactive educational software application as opposed to a more traditional setting of learning ’through’ a teacher in a classroom. The application being developed for this study enables students to learn the ordinary level leaving certificate mathematics course …

Development Of A Service-Oriented Communication Platform For Heterogeneous Voice Over Ip Networks., Aisling O'Driscoll

Theses

As broadband services have become more widespread in recent years due to a variety of government initiatives and the establishment of Wireless Internet Service Providers, user requirements have evolved and the market has become more competitive. Whilst this is beneficial for consumers it means that Internet Service Providers must offer a more diverse range of services coupled with standard broadband packages to distinguish themselves from their competitors, generate new revenue and strengthen their competitive advantage. Therefore many providers are looking to Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs) to provide communication platforms, enabling services such as Voice over IP (VoIP) along with other …

Zero Effluent Stretch Target (Zest), Orla O'Connor

Theses

The goals of this project were to assess the viability of avoiding water use and of “cascading” water uses, i.e. using outlet water from one process in another activity, possibly with some purification, including the upgrading of the final effluent stream for internal reuse. Water use has been inventoried at FMC Biopolymer, Cork. Avoidance and reduction measures were identified that could reduce water consumption from 49m /hr to 19 m /hr (a reduction in excess of 60%), with an annual saving in excess of €350,000. These projects were assessed for feasibility and implementation. Potential streams that could be subject to …

Molecular Epidemiology Of Antibiotic Resistant Salmonella Enterica Strains From Different Animal And Human Sources In Ireland, David George Lee

Theses

In this study, 176 isolates of Salmonella were collected from different laboratories in Ireland. All isolates were confirmed to be of the genus Salmonella by performing bacteriological and biochemical tests. Briefly, all isolates were cultured onto XLD agar after which pure cultures were verified and stocked at this institute. Definitive identification was carried out using the API 20-E system and a separate urease test was also performed on all isolates. After confirmation of the genus, all isolates were prepared for antibiotic susceptibility testing and r-types were determined using sixteen antibiotics. Depending on the antibiotic resistance profiles, isolates were selected for …

The Development Of Functional Food Ingredients From Yeast Cell Wall Beta Glucans, Susan Keogh

Theses

The intracellular contents of spent yeast can be used to produce flavours and flavour enhancers. However there still remains after this process, a significant quantity of cell wall material, which makes up 20-25% of the dry weight of yeast biomass. A major component of the yeast cell wall is the polysaccharide P-glucan. This project involved the investigation of the extraction and characterisation of p-glucan as well as its evaluation as a functional food ingredient. A preparation of spent yeast p-glucan was obtained from two types of spent yeast species, Saccharomyces cervisiae (brewers yeast) and Kluyveromyces marxianus (dairy yeast) obtained from …

System Identification Of A Pasteurisation Process: A Comparison Of Direct And Indirect Methods, Niel Canty

Theses

The primary focus of this research is to identify a linear model for a direct steam injection (DSI) pasteurisation process which is a component of a large-scale pilot evaporation process widely used in the dairy industry. The pasteurisation process has been identified as a key component of the evaporation process. The author believes that no previously published work has focused on identifying models for a DSI pasteurisation process which makes this work an original contribution to the area. The pasteurisation process can be modelled as a single-input, single-output (SISO) process with a measurable disturbance. Thus two transfer functions were required …

An Empirical Study Of The Importance Of The American Tourist To Ireland: An Emotional, Connectional, And Motivational Context, Angela Wright

Theses

This study examines the place and importance of the American tourist within the Irish tourism industry. The research explores in detail the many facets of the relationship existing between this client sector and the island of Ireland. This study responds to the expressed concerns of the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, John O’Donoghue, T.D., and relevant industry leaders in Ireland, that the tourism sector is under-researched.

This study affirms that the American tourist contributes more per capita to the Irish tourism industry than any other tourist. The essential importance of tourism to the economy of Ireland is proven by …

Linux Based Pda Gateway For Wireless Sensor Networks, Áine Mccarthy

Theses

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the development and deployment of intelligent sensors and their use with a plethora of networking protocol technologies. Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) can be used to monitor the environment, objects in the environment and the interaction of these objects with each other. Examples include environment and habitat monitoring, structural monitoring, disaster management and emergency response. The deployment of such large-scale WSN possess many challenges, the most important being scalability, portability, fault tolerance, adaptability and ubiquitous connectivity. There also exist many challenges when trying to establish communication with WSN. WSN can function as a …