Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Religiosity And Travel Desire On Covid-19 Vaccination Intentions, Muhammet Kesgin, Ali Selcuk Can, Dogan Gursoy, Yuksel Ekinci, Khaled Aldawodi

Articles

Despite the deadly consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccine hesitation remains a threat to public health and international travel. This study tests the effect of Muslim religiosity on belief-based attitudes (i.e., subjective norms, perceived behavioural control) and travel desire as a proxy for COVID-19 vaccination intentions. The structural model was tested using PLS-SEM with the data collected via a self-administrated survey between April and June 2021 in Saudi Arabia (N=759). Results reveal that travel desire along with belief-based attitudes influence COVID-19 vaccination intentions. Intrinsic religiosity influences individuals’ subjective norms, directly and perceived behavioural control and COVID-19 vaccination intentions indirectly through …

Ultrasound 96 Probe Device Protocol For Cancer Cell Treatment, Aisling Field, Brijesh K. Tiwari, James F. Curtin, Julie R M Mondala, Janith Wanigasekara

Articles

Ultrasound is a sound wave with frequencies ranging between 20 kHz and 20 MHz. Ultrasound is able to temporarily and repeatedly open the BBB safely and enhance chemotherapeutic delivery without adverse effects. This novel technique in drug delivery benefits from the powerful ability of ultrasound to produce cavitation activity. Cavitation is the generation and activity of gas-filled bubbles in a medium exposed to ultrasound. As the pressure wave passes through the media, gas bubbles expand at low pressure and contract at high pressure. This leads to oscillation which produces a circulating fluid flow known as microstreaming around the bubble with …

Refactoring For Reuse: An Empirical Study, Eman Abdullah Alomar, Tianjia Wang, Vaibhavi Raut, Mohamed Wiem Mkaouer, Christian D. Newman, Ali Ouni

Articles

Refactoring is the de-facto practice to optimize software health. While several studies propose refactoring strategies to optimize software design through applying design patterns and removing design defects, little is known about how developers actually refactor their code to improve its reuse. Therefore, we extract, from 1,828 open source projects, a set of refactorings that were intended to improve the software reusability. We analyze the impact of reusability refactorings on the state-of-the-art reusability metrics, and we compare the distribution of reusability refactoring types, with the distribution of the remaining mainstream refactorings. Overall, we found that the distribution of refactoring types, applied …

Evolutionary Paths To Macrolide Resistance In A Neisseria Commensal Converge On Ribosomal Genes Through Short Sequence Duplications, Jordan C. Raisman, Michael A. Fiore, Lucille Tomin, Joseph K. O. Adjei, Virginia X. Aswad, Jonathan Chu, Christina J. Domondon, Ben A. Donahue, Claudia A. Masciotti, Connor G. Mcgrath, Jo Melita, Paul A. Podbielski, Madelyn R. Schreiner, Lauren J. Trumpore, Peter C. Wengert, Emalee A. Wrightstone, André O. Hudson, Crista B. Wadsworth

Articles

Neisseria commensals are an indisputable source of resistance for their pathogenic relatives. However, the evolutionary paths commensal species take to reduced susceptibility in this genus have been relatively underexplored. Here, we leverage in vitro selection as a powerful screen to identify the genetic adaptations that produce azithromycin resistance (� 2 μg/mL) in the Neisseria commensal, N. elongata. Across multiple lineages (n = 7/16), we find mutations that reduce susceptibility to azithromycin converge on the locus encoding the 50S ribosomal L34 protein (rpmH) and the intergenic region proximal to the 30S ribosomal S3 protein (rpsC) through short tandem duplication events. Interestingly, …

Ethnicity, Self-Knowledge And Literary Sensitivity: A Sociological Reading Of V. S. Naipaul’S First Four Novels, N. Jayaram

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Taking a cue from G. S. Ghurye’s Shakespeare on Conscience and Justice (1965) this lecture in his memory explores the role of ethnicity in shaping the selfknowledge and literary sensitivity of V. S. Naipaul. Naipaul’s life traverses three distinct cultures: the Hindu culture brought by his ancestors who came as indentured migrants to Trinidad, the Creole culture of colonial Trinidad and the emerging modern culture of western civilisation. Much of Naipaul’s self-knowledge involved his engagement with these three cultures and his experience of the interplay between colonialism and ethnicity. In his first four novels—Miguel Street, The Mystic Masseur, The Suffrage …

Re-Thinking The Coronavirus Pandemic As A Policy Punctuation: Covid-19 As A Path-Clearing Policy Accelerator, John Hogan, Michael Patrick Howlett, Mary P. Murphy

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This article joins with others in this special issue to examine the evolution of our understanding of how the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic impacted policy ideas and routines across a wide variety of sectors of government activity. Did policy ideas and routines transform as a result of the pandemic or were they merely a continuation of the status quo ante? If they did transform, are the transformations temporary in nature or likely to lead to significant, deep and permanent reform to existing policy paths and trajectories? As this article sets out, the literature on policy punctuations has evolved and helps …

Plasma Induced Reactive Oxygen Species-Dependent Cytotoxicity In Glioblastoma 3d Tumourspheres, Janith Wanigasekara, Carlos Barcia, Patrick J. Cullen, Brijesh Tiwari, James F. Curtin

Articles

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of a pin‐to‐plate cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) on U‐251 MG three‐dimensional (3D) glioblastoma spheroids under different conditions. 3D tumorspheres showed higher resistance to the CAP treatment compared to 2D monolayer cells. A single CAP treatment was able to induce cytotoxicity, while multiple CAP treatments augmented this effect. CAP was also able to induce cytotoxicity throughout the tumoursphere, and we identified that reactive oxygen species(ROS) plays a major role, while H2O2plays a partial role in CAP‐induced cytotoxicity in tumour-spheres. We conclude that ROS‐dependent cytotoxicity is induced uniformly throughout glioblastoma and epidermoid …

Active Packaging Film Based On Poly Lactide-Poly (Butylene Adipate-Co-Terephthalate) Blends Incorporated With Tannic Acid And Gallic Acid For The Prolonged Shelf Life Of Cherry Tomato, Shubham Sharma, Kalpani Perera, Dileswar Pradhan, Brendan Duffy, Amit Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

The antimicrobial property is the key feature of active packaging. Biological macromolecules such as tannic and gallic acids are naturally found in plants such as tea, fruits, berries, and grapes. The incorporation of tannic acid (TA) and gallic acid (GA) in the biodegradable polymer blend Poly Lactide-Poly (Butylene Adipate-Co-Terephthalate) (PLA-PBAT) was used in this study to assess the potential of active packaging. TA and GA (10 wt%) composite films showed a 65%–66% increase in the UV barrier property. The tensile strength value increased after the incorporation of TA and GA (10 wt%), respectively. Overall, 1.67 and 2.2 log reductions in …

Analysis Of Human Gait Cycle With Body Equilibrium Based On Leg Orientation, Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Abdullah Tayyab, Muhammad Hammad Shahid, Usama Arif, Mohsin Islam Tiwana, Umar Shahbaz Khan, Waqar Shahid Qureshi

Articles

Gait analysis identifies the posture during movement in order to provide the correct actions for a normal gait. A person's gait may differ from others and can be recognized by specific patterns. Healthy individuals exhibit normal gait patterns, while lower limb amputees exhibit abnormal gait patterns. To better understand the pitfalls of gait, it is imperative to develop systems capable of capturing the gait patterns of healthy individuals. The main objective of this research was to introduce a new concept in gait analysis by computing the static and dynamic equilibrium in a real-world environment. A relationship was also presented among …

Human Gait Recognition Subject To Different Covariate Factors In A Multi-View Environment, Asif Asif, Mohsin I. Tiwana, Umar S. Khan, Muhammad W. Ahmad, Waqar Shahid Qureshi, Javaid Iqbal Javaid Iqbal

Articles

Human gait recognition system identifies individuals based on their biometric traits. A human’s biometric features can be grouped into physiologic or behavioral traits. Biometric traits, such as the face [1], ears [2], iris [3], finger prints, passwords, and tokens, require highly accurate recognition and a well-controlled human interaction to be effective. In contrast, behavioral traits such as voice, signature, and gait do not require any human interaction and can be collected in a hidden and non-invasive mode with a camera system at a low resolution. In comparison with other physiological traits, one of the main advantages of gait analysis is …

Gender Equality In Higher Education And Research, Rodrigo Rosa, Sara Clavero

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No abstract provided.

Intergenerational Learning As A Pedagogical Strategy In Early Childhood Education Services: Perspectives From An Irish Study, Anne Fitzpatrick, Ann Marie Halpenny

Articles

This study investigated the concept, role and potential of intergenerational learning (IGL) as a pedagogical strategy in five Irish early childhood education (ECE) services, through exploring the perspectives on IGL of educators (5), children (70) and their parents (43). Informed by socio-cultural theories of learning and aligned to key principles of IGL, a qualitative methodological approach was adopted. Data was gathered using semi-structured interviews with educators, ‘draw and talk’ strategies with children and informal written feedback with parents. Key findings demonstrated that children’s happiness, socio-emotional competences and executive functions, all key elements of successful learning and living, were strongly supported …

At War With A Silent Killer: An Ipa Study Of The Lived Experiences Of Community Pharmacists In Ireland During Covid-19, Regina Brady, Niamh Imbusch

Articles

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to give voice to the unique lived experiences of community pharmacists who continued to work in patient-facing roles throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Research objectives sought to understand how they felt about working during this time including any risks felt, why they choose to continue working, and what the post-COVID future might hold for them and their profession. Method: The study was guided by the principles of traditional interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Primary research was collated using semi-structured interviews of a small, purposively selected homogenous group of pharmacists. The research context was a …

The History And Work Of The Centre For Early Childhood Development And Education (Cecde) (2001-2008), Elizabeth Dunphy Dr, Maire Mhic Mhathuna

Articles

Growing international interest in ECEC policy in the 1990s resulted in increasing awareness of its significance for education policy in Ireland. Arising from this, in 1999, Ready to Learn: A White Paper for Early Childhood Education was published. This led to the establishment of the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE). This chapter charts in chronological order the history and work of the CECDE from its inception in 2001 until its closure in 2008. It documents the governance, structures, strategic direction and management of the Centre. It foregrounds the outputs of the Centre including research reports, international conferences …

Design And Development Of Magnetic Iron Core Gold Nanoparticle-Based Fluorescent Multiplex Assay To Detect Salmonella, Xinyi Zhao

Articles

Salmonella is a bacterial pathogen which is one of the leading causes of severe illnesses in humans. The current study involved the design and development of two methods, respectively using iron oxide nanoparticle (IONP) and iron core gold nanoparticle (ICGNP), conjugated with the Salmonella antibody and the fluorophore, 4-Methylumbelliferyl Caprylate (4-MUCAP), used as an indicator, for its selective and sensitive detection in contaminated food products. Twenty double-blind beverage samples, spiked with Salmonella enteritidis, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli, were prepared in sterile Eppendorf® tubes at room temperature. The gold layer and spikes of ICGNPs increased the surface areas. The ratio …

Formulation, Characterisation And Evaluation Of The Antihypertensive Peptides, Isoleucine-Proline-Proline And Leucine-Lysine-Proline In Chitosan Nanoparticles Coated With Zein For Oral Drug Delivery, Minna Khalid Danish, John P. Gleeson, David J. Brayden, Hugh Byrne, Jesus Maria Frias, Sinead Ryan

Articles

Isoleucine-Proline-Proline (IPP) and Leucine-Lysine-Proline (LKP) are food-derived tripeptides whose antihypertensive functions have been demonstrated in hypertensive rat models. However, peptides display low oral bioavailability due to poor intestinal epithelial permeability and instability. IPP and LKP were formulated into nanoparticles (NP) using chitosan (CL113) via ionotropic gelation and then coated with zein. Following addition of zein, a high encapsulation efficiency (EE) (>80%) was obtained for the NP. In simulated gastric fluid (SGF), 20% cumulative release of the peptides was achieved after 2 h, whereas in simulated intestinal fluid (SIF), ~90% cumulative release was observed after 6 h. Higher colloidal stability …

Hydrogel On A Smart Nanomaterial Interface To Carry Therapeutics For Digitalized Glioma Treatment, Xinyi Zhao, Bilal Javed, Furong Tian, Kangze Liu

Articles

Glioma is considered the primary brain tumor to cause brain illnesses, and it is difficult to treat and shows resistance to various routine therapeutics. The most common treatments to cure glioma are the surgical removal of tumors followed by adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The latest biocompatible interfaces have been incorporated into therapeutic modalities such as the targeted delivery of drugs using hydrogels to treat and manage brain glioma. This review illustrates the applications of the multimodal hydrogel as the carrier of therapeutics, gene therapy, therapeutic tactics, and glioma devices. The scientific articles were retrieved from 2019 to 2022 on …

Cold Plasma Technology In Food Packaging, Kalpani Perera, Jack Prendeville, Amit Jaiswal, Swarna Jaiswal

Articles

Cold plasma (CP) is an effective strategy to alter the limitations of biopolymer materials for food packaging applications. Biopolymers such as polysaccharides and proteins are known to be sustainable materials with excellent film-forming properties. Bio-based films can be used as an alternative to traditional plastic packaging. There are limitations to biopolymer packaging materials such as hydrophobicity, poor barrier, and thermos-mechanical properties. For this reason, biopolymers must be modified to create a packaging material with the desired applicability. CP is an effective method to enhance the functionality and interfacial features of biopolymers. It etches the film surface allowing for better adhesion …

Exploring The Concept Of The Digital Educator During Covid-19, Fernando Jimenez, Gracia Sanchez, Jose Palma, Luis Miralles-Pechuán, Juan A. Botia

Articles

T In many machine learning classification problems, datasets are usually of high dimensionality and therefore require efficient and effective methods for identifying the relative importance of their attributes, eliminating the redundant and irrelevant ones. Due to the huge size of the search space of the possible solutions, the attribute subset evaluation feature selection methods are not very suitable, so in these scenarios feature ranking methods are used. Most of the feature ranking methods described in the literature are univariate methods, which do not detect interactions between factors. In this paper, we propose two new multivariate feature ranking methods based on …

Comparison Of Vibrational Spectroscopic Techniques For Quantification Of Water In Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents, Suha Elderderi, Pierre-Yves Sacré, Laura Wils, Igor Chourpa, Abdalla A. Elbashir, Philippe Hubert, Hugh Byrne, Leslie Boudesocque-Delaye, Eric Ziemons, Franck Bonnier Franck Bonnier

Articles

Vibrational spectroscopic techniques, i.e., attenuated total reflectance infrared (ATRIR), near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and Raman spectroscopy (RS), coupled with Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR), were evaluated as cost-effective label-free and reagent-free tools to monitor water content in Levulinic Acid/L-Proline (LALP) (2:1, mol/mol) Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent (NADES). ATR-IR delivered the best outcome of Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) of Cross- Validation (CV) = 0.27% added water concentration, RMSE of Prediction (P) = 0.27% added water concentration and mean % relative error = 2.59%. Two NIRS instruments (benchtop and handheld) were also compared during the study, respectively yielding RMSECV = 0.35% …

The Refractive Error And Vision Impairment Estimation With Spectacle Data Study, Michael Moore, James Loughman, John Butler, Arne Ohlendorf, Siegfried Wahl, Daniel Ian Flitcroft

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Purpose: To investigate whether spectacle lens sales data can be used to estimate the population distribution of refractive error among patients with ametropia and hence to estimate the current and future risk of vision impairment. Design: Cross-sectional study. Participants: A total of 141 547 436 spectacle lens sales records from an international European lens manufacturer between 1998 and 2016. Methods: Anonymized patient spectacle lens sales data, including refractive error information, was provided by a major European spectacle lens manufacturer. Data from the Gutenberg Health Survey was digitized to allow comparison of a representative, population-based sample with the spectacle lens sales …

Ordinary And Extraordinary Images: Making Visible The Operations Of Stock Photography In Posters Against The Repeal Of The 8th Amendment, Ann Curran

Articles

The operations of stock photographs, as utilised by the Irish anti-abortion lobby, have not been examined before. Many of the ‘Vote No’ posters in the 2018 Irish referendum campaign on the 8th amendment maintained a visual and textual focus on foetal personhood: asking the Irish electorate to ‘love both,’ while deploying a range of stock photographs. In this article, I trace specific stock images used on anti-abortion posters against Repeal back to their online image bank sources. I make visible the role of generic or stereotypical photographs in anti-abortion messaging, in the knowledge that stock photographs often function best when …

The Privacy Paradox By Proxy: Considering Predictors Of Sharenting, Niamh Ní Bhroin, Thuy Dinh, Kira Thiel, Elisabeth Staksrud, Kjartan Ólafsson

Articles

Despite being worried that children may compromise their privacy by disclosing too much personal data online, many parents paradoxically share pictures and information about their children themselves, a practice called sharenting. In this article we utilise data from the EU Kids Online survey to investigate this paradox. We examine both how individual charac‐ teristics such as demographics and digital skills, and relational factors, including parental mediation styles, concerns about children’s privacy, and communication between parents and children influence sharenting practices. Counter‐intuitively, our findings show that parents with higher levels of digital skills are more likely to engage in sharenting. Furthermore, …

Julien Green (1900–1998): Exploring The Intersection Of Religion And Literature, Eamon Maher

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No abstract provided.

Event Tourism, Public Policy And Socio-Cultural Development In Dublin, Bernadette Quinn, Ana Maria Fernandes Dr, Theresa Ryan Dr

Articles

In a highly globalised, competitive world, urban strategies often highlight festivals and events as activities which can attract tourists and investors, extend the tourism season and boost the economy. Event tourism as a term is now well established in the tourism lexicon, however, it is usually employed in quite a limited way that offers only partial insights into a complex phenomenon. To redress this deficit, this paper examines the case of Dublin, where for the last twenty-five years, policy-makers have been using festivals and events to boost the city’s international standing. The aim is to investigate whether policy-makers can strategically …

A Flexible Dual-Mode Pressure Sensor With Ultra-High Sensitivity Based On Bto@Mwcnts Core-Shell Nanofibers, Bangze Zhou, Chenchen Li, Yanfen Zhou, Zhanxu Liu, Xue Gao, Xueqin Wang, Liang Jiang, Mingwei Tian, Feng-Lei Zhou, Stephen Jerrams, Jianyong Yu

Articles

Wearable flexible sensors have developed rapidly in recent years because of their improved capacity to detect human motion in wide-ranging situations. In order to meet the requirements of flexibility and low detection limits, a new pressure sensor was fabricated based on electrospun barium titanate/multi-wall carbon nanotubes (BTO@MWCNTs) core-shell nanofibers coated with styrene-ethylene-butene-styrene block copolymer (SEBS). The sensor material (BTO@MWCNTs/SEBS) had a SEBS to BTO/MWCNTs mass ratio of 20:1 and exhibited an excellent piezoelectricity over a wide range of workable pressures from 1 to 50 kPa, higher output current of 56.37 nA and a superior piezoresistivity over a broad working range …

Recruiting, Retaining, And Advancing Women In Stem At An Hbcu:A Model For Institutional Transformation, Sherrice V. Allen, Anna Lee, Maya Corneille, Robin N. Coger, Margaret I. Kanipes, Stephanie Luster-Teasley, Anthony Depass

Articles

Women, especially women of color (WOC), STEM faculty are underrepresented in full professor and leadership positions and overrepresented in non-tenure track positions. It is essential to develop organizational-level approaches which foster equitable and sustainable practices that lead to the success of women STEM faculty at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The purpose of this paper is to share a model for institutional transformation focusing on recruitment, retention, and advancement of women STEM faculty. We describe our approaches, outcomes, challenges, successes, and lessons learned to serve as a model for other institutions. In order to transform our institution, we focused …

Performance Of Wlan In Downlink Mu-Mimo Channel With The Least Cost In Terms Of Increased Delay, Lemlem Kassa, Jianhua Deng, Mark Davis, Jingye Cai

Articles

To improve the performance of IEEE 802.11 wireless local area (WLAN) networks, different frame-aggregation algorithms are proposed by IEEE 802.11n/ac standards to improve the throughput performance of WLANs. However, this improvement will also have a related cost in terms of increasing delay. The traffic load generated by mixed types of applications in current modern networks demands different network performance requirements in terms of maintaining some form of an optimal trade-off between maximizing throughput and minimizing delay. However, the majority of existing researchers have only attempted to optimize either one (to maximize throughput or minimize the delay). Both the performance of …

“Old Boys' Club”: Barriers To Digital Marketing In Small B2b Firms, Justina Setkute, Sally Dibb Prof

Articles

Despite the widely acknowledged benefits of digital marketing, many B2B SMEs have been slow to adopt these practices. These firms' characteristics and ways of working mean that digital marketing as practiced in B2C or in larger firms may be unsuitable. This paper aims to increase understanding about digital marketing in B2B SMEs, by examining the barriers they face and the digital practices that work for them. A qualitative research methodology is used to focus on these previously unexplored practices in small B2B firms operating with the oil and gas industry. The study identifies the internal and external factors linked to …

Evaluating A Peer Assisted Learning Programme For Mature Access Foundation Students Undertaking Computer Programming At An Irish University, Nevan Bermingham, Frances Boylan, Barry J. Ryan

Articles

Access Foundation Programmes are a widening-participation initiative designed to encourage engagement in higher education among under-represented groups. This includes socioeconomic and educational disadvantage. Mature students in particular enrolled on these programmes experience greater difficulties making the transition to tertiary education, especially when they opt to study disciplines traditionally considered difficult. Computer programming is perceived as a traditionally difficult subject with lower pass rates and progression rates typically than other subjects.

This paper describes the first of a three-cycle action research study examining the perceived effects of a structured Peer Assisted Learning (PAL) Programme for mature students enrolled on a computer …