Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Sure 2019 Undergraduate Science Conference Booklet, Sure Network

Group Reports

The Second Annual Science Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Conferences (SURE 2019) took place on 27th September 2019 in Institute of Technology, Carlow, Technological University Dublin and Institute of Technology, Sligo. The simultaneous conferences had a total of 23 oral presentations and 67 poster presentations, and were attended by over 450 students, academic staff, professional body and industry representatives.

The aims of the conference were to:

• Provide current students with an opportunity to gain an understanding of the work which has been undertaken by recent graduates, and the career opportunities that exist for graduates in Scientific disciplines.
• Provide recent graduates with …

Integration Of Technology In The Chemistry Classroom And Laboratory, Barry J. Ryan

Books/Book Chapters/ Proceedings

The role of technology in the chemistry classroom and laboratory continues to evolve, with mainstream applications such as pre-lecture/laboratory resources being supplemented by technological innovations such as immersive reality. Although the range is vast, care must be taken to select appropriate and pedagogically aligned technologies to enable learning.

In this chapter a model for the appropriate selection and application of technology enabled learning in chemistry is developed and explored in the context of two case-studies. This model, LEAPTech, is based on ten years of personal experience, informed by evidence and underpinned by the scholarly literature. This model will serve as …

Air Quality Modelling For Ireland, Aoife Donnelly, Bruce Misstear, Brian Broderick

Reports

Air pollution is the primary environmental cause of premature death in the EU (European Commission, 2013) and the most problematic pollutants across Europe have consistently been oxides of nitrogen (e.g. nitrogen dioxide (NO₂)), particulate matter (e.g. PM₁₀, PM_2.5) and ozone (O₃). While measurements form an important aspect of air quality assessment, on their own they are unlikely to be sufficient to provide an accurate spatial and temporal description of the pollutant concentrations for exposure assessment and moreover they cannot provide information regarding future air quality. Annex XVI of 2008/50/EC requires member states …

Urban Aerobiological Risk Mapping Of Ornamental Trees Using A New Index Based On Lidar And Kriging: A Case Study Of Plane Trees, Raúl Pecero-Casimiro, Santiago Fernández-Rodríguez, Rafael Tormo-Molina, Alejandro Monroy-Colín, Inmaculada Silva-Palacios, Juan Pedro Cortés-Pérez, Ángela Gonzalo-Garijo, J. M. Maya-Manzano

Articles

Ornamental trees bring benefits for human health, including reducing urban pollution. However, some species, such as plane trees (Platanus sp.), produce allergenic pollen. Consequently, urban maps are a valuable tool for allergic patients and allergists, but they often fail to include variables that contribute to the “building downwash effect”, such as the width and shape of streets and the height of buildings. Other factors that directly influence pollen dispersion (slopes and other geographical features) also have not traditionally been discussed. The LiDAR (Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging) technique enables one to consider these variables with high accuracy. This work proposes …

On The Use Of Vibrational Spectroscopy And Scanning Electron Microscopy To Study Phenolic Extractability Of Cooperage Byproducts In Wine, Berta Baca‑Bocanegra, Julio Nogales‑Bueno, Brian Gorey, Francisco José Heredia, Hugh Byrne, José Miguel Hernández‑Hierro

Articles

Wood is an important source of phenolic compounds, which can be transferred to wine during aging process, improving its properties, from an organoleptic point of view. Therefore, understanding and optimizing the extractability of phenolic compounds from wood are crucial in the oenological field. The structural composition of oak wood samples has been evaluated using Raman and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared (ATR–FTIR) spectroscopies, and their main spectral features have been linked to phenolic compound extractabilities, as measured by classic chemical analyses. To support the analysis, microscopic images of the samples were also recorded using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The …

Thermostable Phytase In Feed And Fuel Industries, Ushasree Mrudula Vasudevan, Amit Jaiswal, Shyam Krishna, Ashok Pandey

Articles

Phytase with wide ranging biochemical properties has long been utilized in a multitude of industries, even so, thermostability plays a crucial factor in choosing the right phytase in a few of the sectors. Mesophilic phytases are not considered to be a viable option in the feed industry owing to its limited stability in the required feed processing temperature. In the recent past, inclusion of thermostable phytase in fuel ethanol production from starch based raw material has been demonstrated with economic benefits. Therefore, considerable emphasis has been placed on using complementary approaches such as mining of extremophilic microbial wealth, encapsulation and …

Rapid Analysis Of Magnesium In Infant Formula Powder Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, Maria Markiewicz-Keszycka, Ming Zhao, Xavier Cama-Moncunill, Toufic El Arnaout, Dana Becker, Colm O'Donnell, P. J. Cullen, Carl Sullivan, Maria Piedad Casado-Gavalda

Articles

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was investigated to determine magnesium (Mg) content in infant formula powder. To predict Mg content in the range established by the Codex Alimentarius, a partial least squares regression (PLSR) model was developed using a calibration data set (n = 30) based on full cross-validation and validated using an independent validation data set (n = 21). The prediction model performance was evaluated using the regression coefficients of determination (Rcv2 = 0.94 and Rp2 = 0.85) with the root mean square errors on cross-validation and prediction (RMSECV = 60 mg kg−1 and RMSEP = 80 mg kg−1). The …

Relationship Of Ndvi And Oak (Quercus)Pollen Including A Predictive Model In The Sw Mediterranean Region, Rocío González-Naharro, Elia Quirós, Santiago Fernández-Rodríguez, Inmaculada Silva-Palacios, J. M. Maya-Manzano, Rafael Tormo-Molina, Raúl Pecero-Casimiro, Alejandro Monroy-Colin, Ángela Gonzalo-Garijo

Articles

Techniques of remote sensing are being used to develop phenological studies. Our goal is to study the correlation among the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) related with oak trees included in three set data polygons (15, 25 and 50 km to aerobiological sampling point as NDVI-15, 25 and 50), and oak (Quercus) daily average pollen counts from 1994 to 2013. The study was developed in the SW Mediterranean region with continuous pollen recording within the mean pollen season of each studied year. These pollen concentrations were compared with NDVI values in the locations containing the vegetation under a study based …

Spheroid-3d And Monolayer-2d Intestinal Electrochemical Biosensor For Toxicity/Viability Testing: Applications In Drug Screening, Food Safety, And Environmental Pollutant Analysis, Evangelia Flampouri, Shahzad Imar, Kieran O'Connell, Baljit Singh

Articles

The rise of three-dimensional cell culture systems that provide in vivo-like environments for pharmaco-toxicological models has prompted the need for simple and robust viability assays suitable for complex cell architectural structures. This study addresses that challenge with the development of an in vitro enzyme based electrochemical sensor for viability/cytotoxicity assessment of two-dimensional (2D) monolayer and three-dimensional (3D) spheroid culture formats. The biosensor measures the cell viability/toxicity via electrochemical monitoring of the enzymatic activity of nonspecific esterases of viable cells, through the hydrolysis of 1-naphthyl acetate to 1-naphthol. The proposed sensor demonstrated strong correlation (r = 0.979) with viable …