Digital Commons Network^™

The Efficacy Of Warm Compresses In The Treatment Of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction And Demodex Folliculorum Blepharitis, Orla Murphy, Veronica O'Dwyer, Aoife Lloyd-Mckernan

Articles

Purpose: To investigate and compare the effect of warm compresses on meibomian gland dysfunction and Demodex folliculorum blepharitis.

Methods: Forty-two subjects (13 males, 29 females; mean age of 56.45 years) enrolled and completed the two-month warm compress treatment study. Three warm compress therapies were compared: Warm face cloth, MGDRx EyeBag® and OPTASETM Moist Heat Mask. Subjects attended for four visits: baseline, two weeks, four weeks, and eight weeks. Subjective symptoms, osmolarity, non-invasive tear break-up time, ocular surface staining, Schirmer I test, meibum expressibility and clarity, and eyelash manipulation and epilation to assess for the presence of Demodex folliculorum, …

Phenotypic And Functional Characteristics Of Exosomes Derived From Irradiated Mouse Organs And Their Role In The Mechanisms Driving Non-Targeted Effects, Seda Tuncay Cagatay, Ammar Mayah, Mariateresa Mancuso, Paola Giardullo, Simonetta Pazzaglia, Anna Saran, Amuthachelvi Daniel, Damian Traynor, Aidan Meade, Fiona Lyng, Soile Tapio Tapio, Munira Kadhim Munira Kadhim

Articles

No abstract provided.

Prediction Of Pathological Response To Neo‐Adjuvant Chemoradiotherapy For Oesophageal Cancer Using Vibrational Spectroscopy, Thi Nguyet Que Nguyen, Adrian Maguire, Catherine Mooney, Naomi Jackson, Niamh Lynam-Lennon, Vicki Weldon, Cian Muldoon, Aoife Maguire, Dermot O'Toole, Narayanasamy Ravi, John V. Reynolds, Jacintha O'Sullivan, Aidan Meade

Articles

No abstract provided.

Synchrotron Microct Reveals The Potential Of The Dual Contrast Technique For Quantitative Assessment Of Human Articular Cartilage Composition, Miitu K.M. Honkanen, Annina E.A. Saukko, Mikael J. Turunen, Rubina Shaikh, Mithilesh Prakash, Goran Lovric, Antti Joukainen, Heikki Kröger, Mark W. Grinstaff, Juha Töyräs

Articles

Dual contrast micro computed tomography (CT) shows potential for detecting articular cartilage degeneration. However, the performance of conventional CT systems is limited by beam hardening, low image resolution (full-body CT), and long acquisition times (conventional microCT). Therefore, to reveal the full potential of the dual contrast technique for imaging cartilage composition we employ the technique using synchrotron microCT. We hypothesize that the above-mentioned limitations are overcome with synchrotron microCT utilizing monochromatic X-ray beam and fast image acquisition. Human osteochondral samples (n = 41, four cadavers) were immersed in a contrast agent solution containing two agents (cationic CA4+ and non-ionic gadoteridol) …

The Dangers Of Disclosure: How Hiv Laws Harm Domestic Violence Survivors, Courtney K. Cross

Articles

No abstract provided.

Gender-Related Differences In Flood Risk Perception And Behaviours Among Private Groundwater Users In The Republic Of Ireland, Cillian P. Mcdowell, Luisa Andrade, Eoin O'Neill, Kevin O'Malley, Jean O'Dwyer, Paul Hynds

Articles

Extreme weather events including flooding can have severe personal, infrastructural, and economic consequences, with recent evidence pointing to surface flooding as a pathway for the microbial contamination of private groundwater supplies. There is a pressing need for increasingly focused information and awareness campaigns to highlight the risks posed by extreme weather events and appropriate subsequent post-event actions. To date, little is known about the presence, directionality or magnitude of gender-related differences regarding flood risk awareness and behaviour among private groundwater users, a particularly susceptible sub-population due to an overarching paucity of infrastructural regulation across many regions. The current study investigated …

Investigation Of The Chemical Composition Of Plasma-Treated Water By Midiplexc And Its Antimicrobial Effect On L. Monocytogenes And Pseudomonas Fluorescens Monospecies Suspension Cultures, Oliver Handorf, Harald Below, Uta Schnabel, Katharina Riedel

Articles

Plasma -generated compounds conceived by microwave -induced plasma (MidiPLexc) were physicochemically investigated in their molecular compositions. Therefore, plasma -treated water (PTW) was generated by treatment with the MidiPLexc within a 1 l glass bottle for a pre -treatment time of 100 s, 300 s and 900 s. The PTW was further investigated in its composition of reactive oxygen/nitrogen species. For this purpose, the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration of the PTW was determined electrochemically using chronoamperometry, and the anionic components were determined using ion chromatography. As a result, H2O2 concentrations of up to 720 mg l−1 , nitrite concentrations of 1600 …

Stacked Volume Holographic Gratings For Extending The Operational Wavelength Range In Led And Solar Applications, Sanjay Keshri, Julia Marín-Sáez, Izabela Naydenova, Kevin Murphy, Jesús Atencia, Daniel Chemisana, Sean Garner, María-Victoria Collados, Suzanne Martin

Articles

A novel stacking procedure is presented for volume phase holographic gratings (VPHGs) recorded in photopolymer material using Corning Willow Glass as a flexible substrate in order to achieve broader angular and spectral selectivity in a diffractive device with high efficiency for solar and LED applications. For the first time to our knowledge, we have shown a device designed for use with a white LED that has the same input and output angles and high efficiency when illuminated by different wavelengths. In this paper, two VPHGs were designed, experimentally recorded, and tested when illuminated at normal incidence. The experimental approach is …

What Do Professional Drivers Think About Their Profession? An Examination Of Factors Contributing To The Driver Shortage, Chao Ji Hyland, Declan Allen

Articles

A shortage of qualified and available professional drivers in the Freight, Transport, Distribution and Logistics (FTDL) sector is becoming an area of increasing concern in Ireland, and across the European mainland. This paper applies a two-stage research approach to address the issues causing the driver shortage and to analyse contributing factors. The findings reveal that remuneration and salaries are detrimental to recruitment and retention. While driver wellbeing in terms of physical and mental health is a major issue, little support is provided for training and education. There is a relationship between a driver’s age group and job satisfaction, and between …

Data Mining Raman Microspectroscopic Responses Of Cells To Drugs In Vitro Using Multivariate Curve Resolution-Alternating Least Squares, David Perezguaita, Guillermo Quintas, Zeineb Farhane, Roma Tauler, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Raman microspectroscopy is gaining popularity for the analysis of time-dependent biological processes such as drug uptake and cellular response. It is a label-free technique which acquires signals from a large variety of components, including cell biomolecules and exogenous compounds such as drugs and nanoparticles, and is commonly employed for in vitro analysis of cells and cell populations with no labelling or staining required. By monitoring the changes to the Raman spectra of the cell as a result of a perturbing agent (e.g. exposure to a drug or toxic agent), one can study the associated changes in cell biochemistry involved in …

Potential Of Raman Spectroscopy For The Analysis Of Plasma/Serum In The Liquid State: Recent Advances, Drishya Rajan Parachalil, Jennifer Mcintyre, Hugh Byrne

Articles

There is compelling evidence in the literature to support the application of Raman spectroscopy for analysis of bodily fluids in their native liquid state. Naturally, the strategies described in the literature for Raman spectroscopic analysis of liquid samples have advantages and disadvantages. Herein, recent advances in the analysis of plasma/serum in the liquid state are reviewed. The potential advantages of Raman analysis in the liquid form over the commonly employed infrared absorption analysis in the dried droplet form are initially highlighted. Improvements in measurement protocols based on inverted microscopic geometries, clinically adaptable substrates, data preprocessing and analysis, and applications for …

Quantification Of Low-Content Encapsulated Active Cosmetic Ingredients In Complex Semi-Solid Formulations By Means Of Attenuated Total Reflectance-Infrared Spectroscopy, Franck Bonnier, Lynda Miloudi, Sandra Henry, Dominique Bertrand, Clovis Tauber, Xavier Perse, Florent Yvergnaux, Hugh Byrne, Igor Chourpa, Emilie Munnier

Articles

Attenuated total reflectance-infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy is a robust tool for molecular characterisation of matter. Applied to semi-solid formulations, it enables rapid and reliable data collection without pre-analytical requirements. Based on nano-encapsulated Omegalight®, a skin-lightening active cosmetic ingredient (ACI), incorporated in a hydrogel, it is first demonstrated that, despite the high water content and the chemical complexity of the samples (i.e. number of ingredients), the spectral features of the ACI can be detected and monitored. Secondly, with a total of 105 samples divided into a training set (n = 60) and an unknown set (n = 45) covering a …

Exploiting Fourier Transform Infrared And Raman Microspectroscopies On Cancer Stem Cells From Oral Squamous Cells Carcinoma: New Evidence Of Acquired Csplatin Chemoresistance, Valentina Notarstefano, Simona Sabbatini, Chiaro Pro, Alessia Belloni, Giulia Orilisi, Corrado Rubini, Hugh Byrne, Lisa Vaccari, Elisabetta Giorgini

Articles

Oral Squamous Cells Carcinoma (OSCC) is characterised by the risk of recurrence and the onset of a refractoriness response to chemotherapy drugs. These phenomena have been recently related to a subpopulation of Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs), which have either an innate or acquired drug resistance, triggered by chemotherapy treatments. In this light, to precisely target chemotherapy regimens, it is essential to improve knowledge on CSCs, with a particular focus on their molecular features. In this work, a subpopulation of CSCs, isolated by tumour sphere formation from primary OSCC cells, were treated with cisplatin for 16, 24 and 48 hours and …

Prevalence Of Illicit Tobacco Use And Tobacco Tax Avoidance In Pregnancy, Brendan P. Mcdonnell, Robert Mccausland, Sheila Keogan, Luke Clancy, Carmen Regan

Articles

Background Smoking during pregnancy is associated with adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. Tobacco tax avoidance and tax evasion undermine the effectiveness of tobacco tax policies, resulting in cheaper prices for smokers and increased tobacco usage. Aims The purpose of this study was to explore the purchasing habits of pregnant smokers with regard to tobacco expenditure and
use of illicit tobacco. Methods Prospective cohort study. Face to face interviews were conducted with 90 attendees (age range 18–42 years; mean age
28 years) of a smoking cessation antenatal clinic in a large Irish tertiary level maternity hospital. Information regarding smoking habits, quantity …

Named Entity Recognition Based On A Graph Structure, David Muñoz, Fernando Pérez Téllez, David Pinto

Articles

The identification of indirect relationships between texts from different sources makes the task of text mining useful when the goal is to obtain the most valuable information from a set of texts. That is why in the field of information retrieval the correct recognition of named entities plays an important role when extracting valuable information in large amounts of text. Therefore, it is important to propose techniques that improve the NER classifiers in order to achieve the correct recognition of named entities. In this work, a graph structure for storage and enrichment of named entities is proposed. It makes use …

Use Of Confocal Raman Microscopy To Characterise Ethyl Cyanoacrylate Adhesive Depth Curing, Kevin Raheem, John Cassidy, Tony Betts, Bernard Ryan

Articles

In situ spatial temporal measurement of monomer conversion during adhesive bondline curing remains a challenging area. The aim of this work was to demonstrate the effectiveness of using confocal Raman microscopy in a specially configured experimental set-up, as a versatile tool for measuring monomer concentration changes as a function of both time and adhesive bond depth during ethyl cyanoacrylate polymerisation. This also allowed monitoring of the extent of polymerisation at the adhesive substrate interface independently of the bulk bondline polymerisation region. Key kinetic parameters such as inhibition time tlag, rate of reaction Rmax and extent of reaction [at]max were obtained …

Blockchain And Insurance: A Review For Operations And Regulation, Richard Brophy

Articles

The purpose of this paper is to examine the operational and regulatory positions of the employment of Blockchain in the insurance industry. Blockchain technology has attracted wide interest from various stakeholders. Many theorists are predicting that this technology will disrupt financial services, including insurance. As stated that the development of blockchain is dependent on regulatory acceptance of this technology, it is essential to establish the current state of play with regard to the application and use of blockchain from a commercial and regulatory standpoints.

Pretrial Detention In The Time Of Covid-19, Jenny E. Carroll

Articles

COVID-19 has shone a light on the preexisting flaws in the criminal justice system. This Essay focuses on one of the challenges the criminal justice system faces in light of COVID-19: that of a pretrial detention system that falls more harshly on poor and minority defendants, swells local jail populations, is fraught with bias, produces unnecessarily high rates of detention, and carries a myriad of downstream consequences, both for the accused and the community at large. Long before the first confirmed case, United States' jails were particularly susceptible to contagions. The COVID-19 crisis exacerbates this problem creating an acute threat …

Coordinating Community Reintegration Services For Deporatable Alien Defendants: A Moral And Financial Imperative, Amy F. Kimpel

Articles

No abstract provided.

Knowledge Management In The Pharmaceutical Industry: Between Academic Research And Industry Regulations, Ahmed Ramy, Mohamed Af Ragab, Amr Arisha

Articles

The pharmaceutical sector is one of the pillars of the world’s economy. A significant proportion of its value lies in intellectual assets generated through continuous innovation and lengthy development cycles within a strictly regulated environment. The purpose of this paper is to address the gap between knowledge management (KM) as an expanding academic discipline in the pharmaceutical industry and at the same time a growing regulatory expectation. A systematic review of 137 refereed KM articles revealed six empirical research themes in the pharmaceutical industry. In a subsequent step, the discovered themes and subthemes were compared with the extant regulatory expectations …

A Brief History Of Whiskey Adulteration And The Role Of Spectroscopy Combined With Chemometrics In The Detection Of Modern Whiskey Fraud, Mary Deasy, Aoife C. Power, Sinead Currivan, Sive Geoghegan, Daniel Cozzolino

Articles

Food fraud and adulteration is a major concern in terms of economic and public health. Multivariate methods combined with spectroscopic techniques have shown promise as novel an analytical strategy for addressing issues related to food fraud that cannot be solved by the analysis of one variable, particularly in complex matrices such distilled beverages. This review describes and discusses different aspects of whisky production, and recent developments of laboratory, in field and high throughput analysis. In particular, recent applications detailing the use of vibrational spectroscopy techniques combined with data analytical methods used to distinguish between brand and origin of whisky to …

A Catalogue Of Locus Algorithm Pointings For Optimal Differential Photometry For 23,779 Quasars, Oisın Creaner, Kevin Nolan, David Grennan, Niall Smith, Eugene Hickey

Articles

This paper presents a catalogue of optimised pointings for differential photometry of23,779 quasars extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Catalogue and ascore for each indicating the quality of the Field of View (FoV) associated with thatpointing. Observation of millimagnitude variability on a timescale of minutes typicallyrequires differential observations with reference to an ensemble of reference stars. Foroptimal performance, these reference stars should have similar colour and magnitudeto the target quasar. In addition, the greatest quantity and quality of suitable refer-ence stars may be found by using a telescope pointing which offsets the target objectfrom the centre of the …

The Performance Effect Of Scheduled Carbohydrate And Caffeine Intake During Simulated Team Sport Match-Play, John Keane, Aidan Shovlin, Simon Devenney, Shane Malone, Damien Young, Giuseppe Coratella, Kieran Collins, Marcus Shortall

Articles

The aim of the current investigation was to identify the effects of scheduled carbohydrate (CHO) and caffeine (CAF) supplementation on simulated team sport match-play performance. Ten male hurling players completed three hurling match-play simulation protocols (HSP) performed 7 days apart in a double-blind, randomized design. Supplementation included CHO, CHO + CAF, and placebo (PLA). In a randomized order, participants ingested either a 6% CHO solution, a PLA solution of similar taste, or a combined intake of 6% CHO solution + 200 mg CAF capsule. At specific time points (Pre-0 min; half time (HT)-30 min; full time (FT)-60 min), participants completed …

Comparing Tagging Suggestion Models On Discrete Corpora, Bojan Bozic, Andre Rios, Sarah Jane Delany

Articles

This paper aims to investigate the methods for the prediction of tags on a textual corpus that describes diverse data sets based on short messages; as an example, the authors demonstrate the usage of methods based on hotel staff inputs in a ticketing system as well as the publicly available StackOverflow corpus. The aim is to improve the tagging process and find the most suitable method for suggesting tags for a new text entry.

Analysis Of Automatic Annotations Of Real Video Surveillance Images, Diana Guevara Flores, Fernando Pérez Téllez, David Pinto Avendaño

Articles

The results of the analysis of the automatic annotations of real video surveillance sequences are presented. The annotations of the frames of surveillance sequences of the parking lot of a university campus are generated. The purpose of the analysis is to evaluate the quality of the descriptions and analyze the correspondence between the semantic content of the images and the corresponding annotation. To perform the tests, a fixed camera was placed in the campus parking lot and video sequences of about 20 minutes were obtained, later each frame was annotated individually and a text repository with all the annotations was …

Association Between Eccentric Knee Flexor Strength And Hamstring Injury Risk In 185 Elite Gaelic Football Players, Mark Roe, Eamonn Delahunt, Malachy Mchugh, Conor Gissane, Shane Malone, Kieran Collins, Catherine Blake

Articles

Hamstring strains are the most common time-loss injury in elite Gaelic football affecting over 20% of players per season. Thus, there is a need to identify factors contributing to the onset of hamstring injuries in order to inform injury risk management strategies. The current study investigated whether eccentric knee flexor strength and between-limb imbalances were associated with increased risk of sustaining a timeloss hamstring injury in elite Gaelic football players. A total of 185 elite male players (26.9 ± 2.7 years, 86.4 ± 6.2 kg, 183.4 ± 5.6) were prospectively followed for 12 weeks from the day of testing. Injury …

After Ice: A New Humane & Effective Immigration Enforcement Paradigm, Peter L. Markowitz

Articles

In recent years, as the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency's ("ICE') brutal tactics have devasted communities across the nation, a growing chorus of activists and policymakers have begun calling for the agency to be abolished. Abolish ICE advocates have made a compelling case for the irredeemable deficiencies of ICE; they have exposed the core injustices that lay at the heart of our current enforcement scheme, and they have proposed specific and thoughtful changes that are both defensible and achievable. However, these changes tend to focus on a negative vision of what we need to eliminate in our current enforcement …

The Commonality Of Causation, Sergio J. Campos

Articles

This essay, a version of which was given as the inaugural Goldman Endowed Lecture at Ohio Northern University School ofLaw, discusses the treatment of causation in class actions, multidistrict litigation, and similar collective litigation. Causation is a ubiquitous element of civil claims, and typically it is treated as an individual element of a claim because it is dependent on the circumstances of each individual claimant. Even if the conduct at issue in litigation is "common, " or the same, for a group of claimants, whether that conduct caused harm to a specific claimant will depend on the unique circumstances of …

Trade's Security Exceptionalism, Kathleen Claussen

Articles

At the core of U.S. trade law is an under-studied structural dichotomy. On the one hand, well-established statutory authorities enable the President to eliminate trade barriers through negotiations with U.S. trading partners. On the other hand, different, lesser-known authorities allow the President to erect trade barriers on an exceptional basis where necessary for U.S. economic security. Rather than thinking of free trade as a source of or tool for economic security as political theorists long have, our law codifies these authorities as though they are in contrast to one another-allowing departures from the free trade norm when security so demands. …

The State Qui Tam To Enforce Employment Law, Andrew Elmore

Articles

No abstract provided.