Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding The Interplay Between Immigrant Nascent Entrepreneurship And Cross-Cultural Adaptation, Lucia Walsh, Thomas M. Cooney

Articles

Purpose – All entrepreneurs face challenges during their venture start-up process, but immigrant entrepreneurs face additional and distinctive challenges due to their contextual newness. This paper focuses on understanding the intertwined journeys of nascent entrepreneurship and cross-cultural adaptation of immigrants in a small Western European country where immigrant entrepreneurship is still a relatively new phenomenon.

Design/methodology/approach – The induction-driven, 18-month longitudinal empirical inquiry focused on six early-stage nascent entrepreneurs. Qualitative methods included participant observation during an enterprise program, qualitative interviews and ongoing informal communication.

Findings – The data uncovered the interplay between the nascent immigrant entrepreneurship and crosscultural adaptation. This …

Constructing The ‘Public Interest’: (De)Legitimizing The Acquisition Of Aer Lingus By Iag, Joseph K. Fitzgerald

Articles

This article assesses how the ‘Public Interest’ was used to (de)legitimize the acquisition of a national airline. It does this by adopting a case study approach that analyses the acquisition of Aer Lingus by International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG). This acquisition is part of a broader trend of international consolidation that the aviation industry has experienced in recent years. The article also critiques whether the ‘Public Interest’ was constructed on valid grounds. Its analysis found that the public interest was constructed as the continuance of routes between Irish airports and London Heathrow as a means for Ireland to maintain international …

Entrepreneurial Competencies In Action: Online Fundraising Initiatives By University Students, Thomas M. Cooney, Martina Brophy

Articles

It has been argued that entrepreneurship educators are inclined to let students learn in a safe controlled environment, with no pressure except to pass the module. Students working in groups of three were given 12 weeks (Target 1) to develop a fundraising initiative, work with various stakeholders, and execute their online fundraising initiative to meet a target goal of €2000 (Target 2) per group. Employing approaches such as Effectuation, Lean Start-Up and the Business Model Canvas, a self-directed learning approach ensured students were able to take ownership of their learning journey with the lecturer acting as coach or facilitator. The …

Evaluation Of Selenomethionine Entrapped In Nanoparticles For Oral Supplementation Using In Vitro, Ex Vivo And In Vivo Models, Shane Forde, Giuliana Vozza, David J. Brayden, Jesus Maria Frias, Sinead M. Ryan

Articles

Selenium methionine (Se Met) is an essential micronutrient required for normal body function and is associated with additional health benefits. However, oral administration of Se Met can be challenging due to its purported narrow therapeutic index, low oral bioavailability, and high susceptibility to oxidation. To address these issues, Se Met was entrapped in z e i n-coated nanoparticles made from chitosan using an ionic gelation formulation. The high stability of both the Se Met and s e l e n o methionine nanoparticles (Se Met-NPs) was established using cultured human intestinal and liver epithelial cells, rat liver homogenates, and rat …

The Lagrangian Formulation For Wave Motion With A Shear Current And Surface Tension, Conor Curtin, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

The Lagrangian formulation for the irrotational wave motion is straightforward and follows from a Lagrangian functional which is the difference between the kinetic and the potential energy of the system. In the case of fluid with constant vorticity, which arises for example when a shear current is present, the separation of the energy into kinetic and potential is not at all obvious and neither is the Lagrangian formulation of the problem. Nevertheless, we use the known Hamiltonian formulation of the problem in this case to obtain the Lagrangian density function, and utilising the Euler-Lagrange equations we proceed to derive some …

Biomolecules From Macroalgae-Nutritional Profile And Bioactives For Novel Food Product Development, Laura E. Healy, Xianglu Zhu, Milica Pojić, Carl Sullivan, Uma Tiwari, James Curtin, Brijesh K Tiwari

Articles

Seaweed is in the spotlight as a promising source of nutrition for humans as the search for sustainable food production systems continues. Seaweed has a well-documented rich nutritional profile containing compounds such as polyphenols, carotenoids and polysaccharides as well as proteins, fatty acids and minerals. Seaweed processing for the extraction of functional ingredients such as alginate, agar, and carrageenan is well-established. Novel pretreatments such as ultrasound assisted extraction or high-pressure processing can be incorporated to more efficiently extract these targeted ingredients. The scope of products that can be created using seaweed are wide ranging: from bread and noodles to yoghurt …

The Biological Responses Of Vitamin K2: A Comprehensive Review, Quanxiang Yan, Tao Zhang, Christine O'Connor, James W. Barlow, John Walsh, Gaia Scalabrino, Feng Xu, Helan Sheridan

Articles

Vitamin K1 (VitK1) and Vitamin K2 (VitK2), two important naturally occurring micronutrients in the VitK family, found, respectively, in green leafy plants and algae (VitK1) and animal and fermented foods (VitK2). The present review explores the multiple biological functions of VitK2 from recently published in vitro and in vivo studies, including promotion of osteogenesis, prevention of calcification, relief of menopausal symptoms, enhancement of mitochondrial energy release, hepato-and neuro-protective effects, and possible use in treatment of coronavirus disease. The mechanisms of action associated with these biological effects are also explored. Overall, the findings presented here suggest that VitK, especially VitK2, is …

Effect Of Process Variables And Ingredients On Controlled Protein Network Creation In High-Moisture Plant-Based Meat Alternatives, Animesh Singh Sengar, Michael Beyrer, Ciara Mcdonagh, Uma Tiwari, Shivani Pathania

Articles

The market has observed a rapid increase in the demand for plant-based foods as an alternative to animal meat products. Technologies such as high-moisture extrusion (HME) have the potential to develop anisotropic structures using alternative protein ingredients. This article discusses the different possible mechanisms responsible for structure formation and the effect of extrusion process parameters and outlines the recent advances in the long cooling dies (LCDs) used for meat alternative development. The role of different protein ingredients and the impact of combining them with other biopolymers were also evaluated. The underlying mechanism behind anisotropic structure formation during HME is a …

The Partial Success Of Judge Frankel’S Sentencing Commission, Fifty Years On, Richard Frase

Articles

Judge Marvin Frankel’s writings in the early 1970s inspired the creation of sentencing guidelines commissions and guidelines rules in twenty-two state and federal jurisdictions. By the late 1970s Frankel’s tentative proposals had been substantially filled out by other writers and reformers; the two most common guidelines models were adopted by Minnesota (1980) and Pennsylvania (1982). The federal guidelines (1987) have been justly criticized, but most state guidelines have been accepted by judges and other practitioners and observers. This sentencing reform model has also been endorsed by the American Bar Association and the American Law Institute. This essay tells the story …

Burdens Of Proof In Establishing Negligence: A Comparative Law And Economics Analysis, Francesco Parisi, Giampaolo Frezza

Articles

Inherent in any judicial system is the need to allocate the burden of proof on one party. Within the realm of negligence torts, that burden is traditionally placed on the plaintiff, meaning that the plaintiff must bring forth sufficient evidence to establish negligence by the defendant. In effect, this is a legal presumption of non-negligence in favor of the defendant. In some jurisdictions for specific torts, defendants are, instead, presumed negligent, therefore requiring defendants to come forth with sufficient evidence to prove their due diligence. In this paper, we discuss the legal origins and effects of these differences in a …

Liability Or No Liability? Promoting Safety By Shifting Accident Losses Onto Third Parties, Francesco Parisi

Articles

In a recent article, Guerra et al. considered the problem of liability for accidents caused by the activity of robots, proposing a novel liability regime, which they referred to as ‘manufacturer’s residual liability.’ Under this regime, injurers (robot operators) and victims are liable for accidents due to their negligence (hence, they are incentivised to act diligently), and third-party robot manufacturers bear all remaining accident losses, even when the accident is not caused by a defect or malfunction of the robot. In this article, I explore the possibility of extending this framework of liability to other tort scenarios. I refer to …

Platinum Nanoparticles Inhibit Intracellular Ros Generation And Protect Against Cold Atmospheric Plasma-Induced Cytotoxicity, Sebnem Gunes, Zhonglei He, David Van Acken, Renee Malone, Patrick Cullen, James Curtin

Articles

Platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) have been investigated for their antioxidant abilities in a range of biological and other applications. The ability to reduce off-target cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) cytotoxicity would be useful in Plasma Medicine; however, little has been published to date about the ability of PtNPs to reduce or inhibit the effects of CAP. Here we investigate whether PtNPs can protect against CAP-induced cytotoxicity in cancerous and non-cancerous cell lines. PtNPs were shown to dramatically reduce intracellular reactive species (RONS) production in U-251 MG cells. However, RONS generation was unaffected by PtNPs in medium without cells. PtNPs protect …

Individual And Combined Antioxidant Activity Of Spices And Spice Phenolics, Mohammad Hossain, Lubna Ahmed, Anna Belen Martin-Diana, Nigel P. Bruton, Catherine Barry-Ryan

Articles

The present study investigated the interaction effects (additive, synergistic, and antagonistic) of different groups of spices, their constituent phenolic compounds, and synthetic antioxidants on the total phenol (TP) content and antioxidant activity, as measured by the ferric-reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) of the mixtures. The results showed that there was an additive effect in all the groups studied, except for the group containing turmeric or curcumin. The groups containing turmeric or curcumin showed a moderate synergistic effect. Among the groups of spices, the highest summated TP (50.6 mg GAE/mL) and FRAP (106.2 mg Trolox/mL) values were observed in the group containing …

Workplace Accident Analysis In The Algerian Oil And Gas Industry, Hamza Zerrouki

Articles

A total of 42,032 workplace accidents were reported in 2021 by the Algerian National Social Insurance Fund for Salaried Workers in Algeria, of which 38,225 were accidents within the workplace and 3807 were related to traffic accidents or other reasons. Most of these accidents were recorded in the building and construction field, followed by the oil and gas company exploration and drilling, which comes at the forefront of the Sonatrach company. This study aims to analyze accidents in the workplace using quantitative and qualitative methods to determine the corresponding causes. Our study was carried out in collaboration with Sonatrach in …

Mealybug Vectors: A Review Of Their Transmission Of Plant Viruses And Their Management Strategies, Abdul Razak Ahmed, Samuel Obeng Apori, Abdul Aziz Karim

Articles

Mealybugs cause mechanical damage and diseases to plants. Through their feeding activities, they reduce the yield, quality and productivity of crops. This review discusses mealybug vectors of plant viruses, the economic losses they cause, mealybug species and their hosts. Among the numerous mealybug species, Planococcus species are the most effective vector of plant viruses, transmitting many Ampeloviruses. Diverse methods for the control and regulation of mealybugs are also discussed. Physical, cultural and biological control methods are labor-intensive but environmentally friendly compared to chemical methods. However, chlorpyrifos are one the active ingredients of insecticides effective against several mealybug species. Using plant …

Optimizing Human Performance To Enhance Safety: A Case Study In An Automotive Plant, Maria Chiara Leva, Michaela Demichela, Carlos Albarran Morillo, Franco Modaffari, Lorenzo Comberti

Articles

Human factors play a relevant role in the dynamic work environments of the manufacturing sector in terms of production efficiency, safety, and sustainable performance. This is particularly relevant in assembly lines where humans are widely employed alongside automated and robotic agents. In this situation, operators’ ability to adapt to different levels of task complexity and variability in each workstation has a strong impact on the safety, reliability, and efficiency of the overall production process. This paper presents an application of a theoretical and empirical method used to assess the matching of different workers to various workstations based on a quantified …

Recovery Of Protein From Industrial Hemp Waste (Cannabis Sativa, L.) Using High-Pressure Processing And Ultrasound Technologies, Eduarda M. Cabral

Articles

Hemp seeds are currently used mainly for oil extraction, generating waste that could be potentially exploited further as a source of proteins and other bio-actives. This study aims to valorise hemp waste (Cannabis sativa, L.) from previous oil extraction as a source of protein by analysing the effect of high-pressure processing (HPP) pre-treatments (0–600 MP a; 4–8 min) combined with conventional or ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) methods on protein recovery/purity, amino acid composition, and protein structure. Overall, maximum protein recovery (62%) was achieved with HPP (200 MP a, 8 min) with UAE. The highest protein purity (76%) was achieved with HPP …

Physicochemical, Technofunctional, In Vitro Antioxidant, And In Situ Muscle Protein Synthesis Properties Of A Sprat (Sprattus Sprattus) Protein Hydrolysate, Niloofar Shekoohi, Azza Silotry Naik, Miryam Amigo Benevent, Padraigin A. Harnedy-Rothwell, Brian P. Carson, Richard J. Fitzgerald

Articles

This study characterized the physicochemical, technofunctional, and in vitro antioxidant properties along with the AA profile and score of a sprat protein enzymatic hydrolysate (SPH). Furthermore, the impact of the SPH on the growth, proliferation, and muscle protein synthesis (MPS) in skeletal muscle (C2C12) myotubes was examined. The SPH displayed good solubility and emulsion stabilization properties containing all essential and non-essential AAs. Limited additional hydrolysis was observed following in vitro-simulated gastrointestinal digestion (SGID) of the SPH. The SGID-treated SPH (SPH-SGID) displayed in vitro oxygen radical antioxidant capacity (ORAC) activity (549.42 μmol TE/g sample) and the ability to reduce (68%) reactive …

Enhancing Control Room Operator Decision Making: An Application Of Dynamic Influence Diagrams In Formaldehyde Manufacturing, Joseph Mietkiewicz, Anders L. Madsen

Articles

Intoday’s rapidly evolving industrial landscape, control room operators must grapple with an ever-growing array of tasks and respon sibilities. One major challenge facing these operators is the potential for task overload, which can lead to decision fatigue and increased reliance on cognitive biases. To address this issue, we propose the use of dynamic influence diagrams (DID) as the core of our decision support system. By monitoring the process over time and identifying anomalies, DIDs can recommend the most effective course of action based on a probabilistic assessment of future outcomes. Instead of letting the operator choose or search for the …

Effect Of ‘Peatland-Use’ Type On Culturable Microbial Groups In Irish Peatlands In The Midlands, Gouri Atapattu, Samuel Obeng Apori, Tara Battersby, Michelle Giltrap, Furong Tian

Articles

Soil microbial ecology in the Irish wetlands is still poorly understood, although it is crucial in introducing effective rewetting schemes to restore and conserve the Irish peatlands. As an initiative, peatlands with distinct land-use types (cutaway, raised semi-degraded, unimproved grassland and grassland) were collected from farms in the midlands to analyse various microbial populations. Peat was homogenized and serially diluted to culture on a range of specific and non-specific culture media. Culture isolation and microbial enumeration were performed. Gram staining and other microscopic observations of morphologically distinct microorganisms were performed, followed by isolation procedures. The numbers of total viable bacteria …

Selection Of Lactic Acid Bacteria As Biopreservation Agents And Optimization Of Their Mode Of Application For The Control Of Listeria Monocytogenes In Ready-To-Eat Cooked Meat Products, Coral Barcenilla, Alba Puente, José F. Cobo-Díaz, Elena Alexandra Alexa, Enriqueta Garcia-Gutierrez, Paula M. O'Connor, Paul D. Cotter, Montserrat González-Raurich, Mercedes López, Miguel Prieto Maradona, Avelino Álvarez-Ordóñez

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Gut Microbiota Of Broilers Reared With And Without Antibiotic Treatment, Genevieve Greene, Leonard Koolman, Paul Whyte, Catherine Burgess, Declan Bolton

Articles

The aim of this study was to examine the microbiota in broilers reared with and without antibiotics and to investigate differences between the upper, middle and lower sections of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). One of two commercial flocks was treated with an antibiotic (T) (20 mg trimethoprim and 100 mg sulfamethoxazole per ml in the drinking water for 3 days) and the other was left untreated (UT). The GIT contents of 51 treated and untreated birds were aseptically removed from the upper (U), middle (M) and lower (L) sections. These were pooled in triplicate (n = 17 per section per …

Series-Fed Omnidirectional Mm-Wave Dipole Array, Neeraj Kumar Maurya, Max Ammann, Patrick Mcevoy

Articles

THE rapid expansion in the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequency domain has completely changed the course of wireless communication. One of the most important steps to make smart cities, the Internet-of-Things (IoT), smart homes, and vehicular communication a reality is to use mm-wave frequencies for wireless applications. The rise in the number of wireless appliances has also led to a rise in data traffic [1]. The adoption of mm-wave frequencies enabled several gigahertz of bandwidth, allowing data rate and latency limits to be exceeded. The availability of a broad electromagnetic spectrum and frequency reusability are the most important characteristics of mm-wave deployment …

Pattern And Polarization Diversity Multisector Annular Antenna For Iot Applications, Abel Zandamela, Nicola Marchetti, Max Ammann, Adam Narbudowicz

Articles

This work proposes a small pattern and polarization diversity multisector annular antenna with electrical size and profile of ka = 1.2 and 0.018λ, respectively. The antenna is planar and comprises annular sectors that are fed using different ports to enable digital beamforming techniques, with efficiency and gain of up to 78% and 4.62 dBi, respectively. The cavity model analysis is used to describe the design concept and the antenna diversity. The proposed method can produce different polarization states (e.g., linearly and circularly polarized patterns) and pattern diversity characteristics covering the elevation plane. Owing to its small electrical size, low-profile and …

Subnetwork Ensembling And Data Augmentation: Effects On Calibration, A. Çağrı Demir, Simon Caton, Pierpaolo Dondio

Articles

Deep Learning models based on convolutional neural networks are known to be uncalibrated, that is, they are either overconfident or underconfident in their predictions. Safety-critical applications of neural networks, however, require models to be well-calibrated, and there are various methods in the literature to increase model performance and calibration. Subnetwork ensembling is based on the over-parametrization of modern neural networks by fitting several subnetworks into a single network to take advantage of ensembling them without additional computational costs. Data augmentation methods have also been shown to enhance model performance in terms of accuracy and calibration. However, ensembling and data augmentation …

Explaining Deep Q-Learning Experience Replay With Shapley Additive Explanations, Robert S. Sullivan, Luca Longo

Articles

Reinforcement Learning (RL) has shown promise in optimizing complex control and decision-making processes but Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) lacks interpretability, limiting its adoption in regulated sectors like manufacturing, finance, and healthcare. Difficulties arise from DRL's opaque decision-making, hindering efficiency and resource use, this issue is amplified with every advancement. While many seek to move from Experience Replay to A3C, the latter demands more resources. Despite efforts to improve Experience Replay selection strategies, there is a tendency to keep the capacity high. We investigate training a Deep Convolutional Q-learning agent across 20 Atari games intentionally reducing Experience Replay capacity from (Formula …

Gated Deep Reinforcement Learning With Red Deer Optimization For Medical Image Classification, Narayanan Ganesh, Sambandan Jayalakshmi, Rama Chandran Narayanan, Miroslav Mahdal, Hossam Zawbaa, Ali Wagdy Mohamed

Articles

The brain is one of the most important and complex organs in the body, consisting of billions of individual cells. Uncontrolled growth and expansion of aberrant cell populations within or around the brain are the main causes of brain tumors. These cells have the potential to harm healthy cells and impair brain function [1]. Tumors can be detected using medical imaging techniques, which are considered the most popular and accurate way to classify different types of cancer, and this procedure is even more crucial as it is noninvasive [2]. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is one such medical imaging technique that …

Pattern And Polarization Diversity Multisector Annular Antenna For Iot Applications, Abel Zandamela, Nicola Marchetti, Max Ammann, Adam Narbudowicz, Wroclaw University Of Science And Technology

Articles

This work proposes a small pattern and polarization diversity multisector annular antenna with electrical size and profile of ka=1.2 and 0.018λ, respectively. The antenna is planar and comprises annular sectors that are fed using different ports to enable digital beamforming techniques, with efficiency and gain of up to 78%and 4.62 dBi, respectively. The cavity model analysis is used to describe the design concept and the antenna diversity. The proposed method can produce different polarization states (e.g., linearly and circularly polarized patterns) and pattern diversity characteristics covering the elevation plane. Owing to its small electrical size, low-profile and diversity properties, the …

Adolescent Overweight And Obesity In Ireland—Trends And Sociodemographic Associations Between 1990 And 2020, Aoibhín Moore Heslin, Aisling O'Donnell, Laura Kehoe, Janette Walton, Albert Flynn, John Kearney, Breige Mcnulty

Articles

Background: Overweight and obesity in adolescence is a growing issue and can have a range of both short- and long-term consequences on health.

Objectives: To analyse trends in adolescent weight status in Ireland across a 30-year period and to examine the influence of sociodemographic factors on overweight/obesity in Irish adolescents over time.

Methods: Body composition and body mass index weight status of Irish adolescents were compared using data from three nationally representative, cross-sectional Irish national food consumption surveys from 1990, 2006 and 2020. Adjusted analysis of associations between socio-demographic factors with the risk of adolescent overweight/obesity at each time point …

Effect Of Pre-Analytical Variables On Raman And Ftir Spectral Content Of Lymphocytes, Jade F. Monaghan, Daniel Cullen, Claire Wynne, Fiona Lyng, Aidan Meade

Articles

The use of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopy (RS) for the analysis of lymphocytes in clinical applications is increasing in the field of biomedicine. The pre-analytical phase, which is the most vulnerable stage of the testing process, is where most errors and sample variance occur; however, it is unclear how pre-analytical variables affect the FTIR and Raman spectra of lymphocytes. In this study, we evaluated how pre-analytical procedures undertaken before spectroscopic analysis influence the spectral integrity of lymphocytes purified from the peripheral blood of male volunteers (n = 3). Pre-analytical variables investigated were associated with (i) sample preparation, …