Digital Commons Network^™

Case Study: Transition To A Vegan Diet In An Elite Male Gaelic Football Player, Daniel Davey, Shane Malone, Brendan Egan

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Vegan diets are increasingly of interest to athletes, but require a well-planned approach in order to mitigate the risk of potential adverse effects on nutrient intakes, and consequently performance. This case study reports the process of an elite male Gaelic football player (age 25 years; height, 1.88 m; body mass, 87.8 kg; lean body mass, 73.26 kg; body fat, 11.3%) transitioning from an omnivorous diet to a vegan diet at the beginning of a competitive season. The report encompasses key considerations in the planning and provision of nutrition support in this context, in addition to iterations needed based on challenges …

Fedoram: A Federated Oblivious Ram Scheme, Alexandre Pujol, Liam Murphy, Christina Thorpe

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Instant messaging (IM) applications, even with end-to-end encryption enabled, pose privacy issues due to metadata and pattern leakage. Our goal is to develop a model for a privacy preserving IM application, by designing an IM application that focuses on hiding metadata and discussion patterns. To solve the issue of privacy preservation through the obfuscation of metadata, cryptographic constructions like Oblivious Random Access Machines (ORAM) have been proposed in recent years. However, although they completely hide the user access patterns, they incur high computational costs, often resulting in excessively slow performance in practice. We propose a new federated model, FedORAM, which …

A New Adaptive Frame Aggregation Method For Downlink Wlan Mu-Mimo Channels, Lem Lem Kassa, Mark Davis, Jingye Cai, Jianhua Deng

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Accommodating the heterogeneous traffic demand among streams in the downlink MU-MIMO channel is among the challenges that affect the transmission efficiency since users in the channel do not always have the same traffic demand. Consequently, it is feasible to adjust the frame size to maximize the system throughput. The existing adaptive aggregation solutions do not consider the effects of different traffic scenarios and they use a Poison traffic model which is inadequate to represent the real network traffic scenarios, thus leading to suboptimal solutions. In this study, we propose some adaptive aggregation strategies which employ a novel dynamic adaptive aggregation …

Chefs’ Perspectives Of Failures In Foodservice Kitchens, Part 1: A Phenomenological Exploration Of The Concepts, Types, And Causes Of Food Production Failure, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire, Jj Healy, Mohamed Fawzi Afiffi

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Customers visit restaurants for varying reasons ranging from utilitarian – to satisfy hunger – to hedonistic – displaying cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1984) more recently theorized as culinary capital (Naccarato & Lebesco, 2012). Restaurants are even more significant in the new ‘experience economy’ (Pine & Gilmore, 1998) where lunch or dinner are conceptualized as ‘meal experiences.’ There is widespread acceptance of the pivotal role (about 33% of tourist spend) that food now plays in the tourism product of any country (Quigley et al., 2019).

Finding Opportunities And Challenges In A Custodial Partnership, Matthew J. Gorzalski

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No abstract provided.

From Protecting Water Quality To Protecting States’ Rights: Fifty Years Of Supreme Court Clean Water Act Statutory Interpretation, Stephen M. Johnson

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In 1972, a bipartisan Congress enacted the Clean Water Act “to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation’s waters.” Almost fifty years have passed since Congress enacted the law, and during that time, the Supreme Court has played a significant role in the administration and evolution of the law. Since the dawn of the environmental era in the 1970s, the Supreme Court has heard more cases involving the Clean Water Act than any other environmental law. However, the manner in which the Court has analyzed the law has changed substantially over the last half century. …

A Multi‑Level Review Of Engineering Ethics Education: Towards A Socio‑Technical Orientation Of Engineering Education For Ethics, Diana Adela Martin, Eddie Conlon, Brian Bowe

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This paper aims to review the empirical and theoretical research on engineering ethics education, by focusing on the challenges reported in the literature. The analysis is conducted at four levels of the engineering education system. First, the individual level is dedicated to findings about teaching practices reported by instructors. Second, the institutional level brings together findings about the implementation and presence of ethics within engineering programmes. Third, the level of policy situates findings about engineering ethics education in the context of accreditation. Finally, there is the level of the culture of engineering education. The multi-level analysis allows us to address …

Isolation Intervals Of The Real Roots Of The Parametric Cubic Equation, Emil Prodanov

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The isolation intervals of the real roots of the real symbolic monic cubic polynomial $p(x) = x^3 + a x^2 + b x + c$ are found in terms of simple functions of the coefficients of the polynomial (such as: $-a$, $-a/3$, $-c/b$, $\pm \sqrt{-b}$, when $b$ is negative), and the roots of some auxiliary quadratic equations whose coefficients are also simple functions of the coefficients of the cubic. All possible cases are presented with clear and very detailed diagrams. It is very easy to identify which of these diagrams is the relevant one for any given cubic equation and …

The Acute Effect Of Magnesium Supplementation On Endothelial Function: A Randomized Cross-Over Pilot Study, Catriona Murphy, Jennifer A. Byrne, Jennifer Keogh, Michelle Headland, Peter M. Clifton

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: Magnesium (Mg) deficiency might be a catalyst in the process of endothelial dysfunction, an early event in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to determine the acute effect of an oral Mg supplement as compared to control on endothelial function assessed by flow-mediated dilatation (FMD). Nineteen participants (39 years, body mass index (BMI) 22.9 kg/m2 ) completed this randomized cross-over study. Blood pressure (BP) and FMD were measured and blood samples were taken before participants drank 200 mL water, with or without an over the counter Mg supplement (450 mg and 300 mg for men …

Experimental Analysis Of Fabricated Synthetic Midthoracic Paediatric Spine As Compared To The Porcine Spine Based On Range Of Motion (Rom), Nor Amalina Muhayudin, Khairul Salleh Basaruddin, Ruslizam Daud, Fiona Mcevoy

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The present study is aimed at investigating the mechanical behaviour of fabricated synthetic midthoracic paediatric spine based on range of motion (ROM) as compared to porcine spine as the biological specimen. The main interest was to ensure that the fabricated synthetic model could mimic the biological specimen behaviour. The synthetic paediatric spine was designed as a 200% scaled-up model to fit into the Bionix Servohydraulic spine simulator. Biomechanical tests were conducted to measure the ROM and nonlinearity of sigmoidal curves at six degrees of freedom (DOF) with moments at ±4 Nm before the specimens failed. Results were compared with the …

Quantifying The Training And Match-Play External And Internal Load Of Elite Gaelic Football Players, Shane Malone, Kieran Collins, Allistair Mcrobert, Dominic Doran

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The current investigation quantified the training and match-play load of elite Gaelic football players across a two-season period using global positioning system technology (GPS), rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and sessional rating of perceived exertion (sRPE). Total weekly workload variables were collected across GPS, RPE, and sRPE across thirty-six elite Gaelic footballers (mean ± SD, age: 26 ± 5 years; height: 177 ± 8 cm; mass: 81 ± 7 kg) from one elite squad during a two-season observational period. External training load variables included: Total distance (m), High speed running (m; ≥ 17.1 km·h −1 ), Sprint distance (m; 22 …

A Comparison Of Anthropometric And Performance Profiles Between Elite And Sub-Elite Hurling Players, John Keane, Shane Malone, Ciaran Keogh, Damian Young, Guiseppe Coratella, Kieran Collins

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The aim of the current study was to identify the specific differences in anthropometric and performance profiles between elite and sub-elite hurling players with respect to position and level of play. One hundred and thirty-seven (n = 137) hurlers at the elite (n = 61) and sub-elite (n = 76) level completed a series of anthropometric [height, body mass, the sum of seven skinfolds, adipose tissue percentage estimates (%AT), fat-free mass estimations (FFM)) and performance ((countermovement jump height (CMJ), CMJ peak power (CMJ PP), CMJ relative peak power (CMJ RPP), acceleration (5, 10 and 20 m), and yo-yo intermittent recovery …

A Tactical Periodisation Model For Gaelic Football, Shane Mangan, Kieran Collins, Con Burns, Cian O Neill Phd

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Tactical Periodisation is a training methodology, originally developed for soccer, that focuses primarily on the systems of play that a team intends to use in competition. It has been popularised by successful European coaches and subsequently has been proposed as a model to follow for other sports such as rugby union and tennis in more recent times. Gaelic football is an amateur sport that has similarities to soccer and rugby union. To date no training periodisation model has been proposed for Gaelic football. The aim of this article was to present a Tactical Periodisation model for Gaelic football, taking the …

Running Your Best Triathlon Race, Naroa Etxebarria, Jackson Wright, David Pyne, Christian Mesquida, Hamish Jeacocke

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Negative or evenly paced racing strategies often lead to more favorable performance outcomes for endurance athletes. However, casual inspection of race split times and observational studies both indicate that elite triathletes competing in Olympic-distance triathlon typically implement a positive pacing strategy during the last of the 3 disciplines, the 10-km run. To address this apparent contradiction, the authors examined data from 14 International Triathlon Union elite races over 3 consecutive years involving a total of 725 male athletes. Analyses of race results confirm that triathletes typically implement a positive running pace strategy, running the first lap of the standard 4-lap …

Developing A Framework For Professional Practice In Applied Performance Analysis, Denise Martin, Peter G. O'Donohoghue, Jonathan Bradley, Denise Mcgrath

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Applied performance analysts are increasingly seen as sports science professionals; however, there is no accepted framework for professional practice. The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a framework for professional practice in applied performance analysis (PA) which identifies the components of practice and the expertise underpinning it.

A six-step framework analysis was conducted: (1) An initial conceptual framework was devised based on well-accepted components of applied practice; (2) A systematic review identified 90 papers relating to applied PA practice; (3) Papers were coded to the initial framework and additional themes recorded; (4) Themes were analysed and synthesised …

Reimagining Irish Food Ways For The Twenty-First Century, Mairtin Mac Con Iomaire, Lillis Laoire

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Food and drink are fundamental to life, and apart from costume, they are among the most noticeable markers of cultural otherness within intercultural encounters.1 There is a current global interest in foods that are artisanal, local, traditional, seasonal and sustainable, and that tell a cultural story, as witnessed by the popularity of the Nordic Food Movement, or the 2021 Netflix series High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America.2 In 2019, the Royal Irish Academy published A History of Ireland in 100 Words, which had a special chapter on ‘Food and Feasting’ highlighting the importance of bread, milk, …

An Exploratory Study Of Food Traditions Associated With Imbolg (St. Brigid’S Day) From The Irish Schools’ Folklore Collection, Caitriona Niphilibin, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire

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This study explores the food traditions of Imbolg or St. Brigid’s Day (1st February), one of the quarter days of the Irish calendar year, which heralds the awakening of spring. Imbolg is comparable to Christmas eve, in that celebratory potato dishes such as colcannon or ‘poundies’ and boxty are consumed. Throughout the Schools’ Collection (6,000 copybooks filled with folklore collected by over 50,000 children), a rich food history where customs, superstitions, divinations and a mixing of the pagan and Christian traditions is evident. Four main themes: ‘Dishes’, ‘Brigid’s Crosses’, ‘Biddy Boys and Brídeogs’ and ‘Brigid, miracles and religion’ were identified, …

Psychological Impairment And Extreme Weather Event (Ewe) Exposure, 1980–2020: A Global Pooled Analysis Integrating Mental Health And Well-Being Metrics, C. Chique, P. Hynds, M.M. Nyhan, S. Lambert, Martin Boudou, J. O'Dwyer

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Extreme Weather Events (EWEs) impose a substantial health and socio-economic burden on exposed populations. Projected impacts on public health, based on increasing EWE frequencies since the 1950s, alongside evidence of human-mediated climatic change represents a growing concern. To date, the impacts of EWEs on mental health remain ambiguous, largely due to the inherent complexities in linking extreme weather phenomena with psychological status. This exploratory investigation provides a new empirical and global perspective on the psychological toll of EWEs by exclusively focusing on psychological morbidity among individuals exposed to such events. Morbidity data collated from a range of existing psychological and …

Genetic Background Of Antimicrobial Resistance In Multiantimicrobial-Resistant Escherichia Coli Isolates From Feces Of Healthy Broiler Chickens In Tunisia, Mohamed Salah Abbassi, Hajer Kilani, Islem Abid, Yolanda Sáenz, Paul Hynds, Sana Lengliz, Noureddine Ben Chehida, Ilhem Boutiba-Ben Boubaker

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Multiantimicrobial-resistant Escherichia coli isolates are a global human health problem causing increasing morbidity and mortality. Genes encoding antimicrobial resistance are mainly harbored on mobile genetic elements (MGEs) such as transposons and plasmids as well as integrons, which enhance their rapid spread. The aim of this study was to characterize 83 multiantimicrobial-resistant E. coli isolates recovered from healthy broiler chickens. Among 78 tetracycline-resistant isolates, the tetA, tetB, and tetC genes were detected in 59 (75.6%), 14 (17.9%), and one (1.2%) isolates, respectively. The sul1, sul2, and sul3 genes were detected 31 (46.2%), 16 (23.8%), and 6 (8.9%) isolates, respectively, among 67 …

Spatiotemporal Dynamics Of Sporadic Shiga Toxin–Producing Escherichia Coli Enteritis, Ireland, 2013–2017, Eiimear Cleary, Patricia Garvey, Paul Mckeown, Jean O'Dwyer, Coilin Oh Aiseadha, Paul Mckeown, Paul Hynds

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The Republic of Ireland regularly reports the highest annual crude incidence rates of Shiga toxin–producing Escherichia coli (STEC) enteritis in the European Union, ≈10 times the average. We investigated spatiotemporal patterns of STEC enteritis in Ireland using multiple statistical tools. Overall, we georeferenced 2,755 cases of infection during January 2013–December 2017; we found >1 case notified in 2,340 (12.6%) of 18,641 Census Small Areas. We encountered the highest case numbers in children 0–5 years of age (n = 1,101, 39.6%) and associated with serogroups O26 (n = 800, 29%) and O157 (n = 638, 23.2%). Overall, we identified 17 space-time …

Spatiotemporal Epidemiology Of Cryptosporidiosis In The Republic Of Ireland, 2008–2017: Development Of A Space–Time “Cluster Recurrence” Index, Martin Boudou

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Approximately 1.5 million individuals in Ontario are supplied by private water wells (private groundwater supplies). Unlike municipal supplies, private well water quality remains unregulated, with owners responsible for testing, treating, and maintaining their own water supplies. The COVID-19 global pandemic and associated non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) have impacted many environmental (e.g., surface water and air quality) and human (e.g., healthcare, transportation) systems over the past 15-months (January 2020 to March 2021). To date, the impact of these interventions on private groundwater systems remains largely unknown. Accordingly, the current study aimed to investigate the impact of a province-wide COVID-19 lockdown (late-March 2020) …

Towards An Improved Understanding Of Biogeochemical Processes Across Surface-Groundwater Interactions In Intermittent Rivers And Ephemeral Streams, Lluís Gómez-Gener

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Surface-groundwater interactions in intermittent rivers and ephemeral streams (IRES), waterways which do not flow year-round, are spatially and temporally dynamic because of alternations between flowing, non-flowing and dry hydrological states. Interactions between surface and groundwater often create mixing zones with distinct redox gradients, potentially driving high rates of carbon and nutrient cycling. Yet a complete understanding of how underlying biogeochemical processes across surface-groundwater flowpaths in IRES differ among various hydrological states remains elusive. Here, we present a conceptual framework relating spatial and temporal hydrological variability in surface water-groundwater interactions to biogeochemical processing hotspots in IRES. We combine a review of …

Application Of Big-Data For Epidemiological Studies Of Refractive Error, James Loughman

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To examine whether data sourced from electronic medical records (EMR) and a large industrial spectacle lens manufacturing database can estimate refractive error distribution within large populations as an alternative to typical population surveys of refractive error.

A Step Closer To Elastogenesis On Demand; Inducing Mature Elastic Fibre Deposition In A Natural Biomaterial Scaffold, Francisco R. Almeida-González, Arlyng González-Vázquez, Suzanne M. Mithieux, Fergal J. O'Brien, Anthony S. Weiss, Claire Brougham

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Elastic fibres play a key role in bodily functions where fatigue resistance and elastic recovery are necessary while regulating phenotype, proliferation and migration in cells. While in vivo elastic fibres are created at a late foetal stage, a major obstacle in the development of engineered tissue is that human vascular smooth muscle cells (hVSMCs), one of the principal elastogenic cells, are unable to spontaneously promote elastogenesis in vitro. Therefore, the overall aim of this study was to activate elastogenesis in vitro by hVSMCs seeded in fibrin, collagen, glycosaminoglycan (FCG) scaffolds, following the addition of recombinant human tropoelastin. This combination …

Label-Free Screening Of Biochemical Changes In Macrophage-Like Cells Following Mos2 Exposure Using Raman Micro-Spectroscopy, Caroline Moore, Andrew Harvety, Jonathan N. Coleman, Hugh Byrne, Jennifer Mcintyre

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The emergence of large scale production techniques for 2D particulate materials has dramatically increased their applications potential. Understanding the interactions of biological cells with such particulate material is therefore of paramount importance, both for toxicological assessment and potential biomedical applications. Conventional in-vitro cytological assays commonly record only a single colorimetric end-point, and do not provide an in-depth analysis of how such materials are uptaken and processed within cells. To demonstrate its potential as an alternative, label free approach, confocal Raman micro-spectroscopy has been used to profile the cellular response of macrophage-like immune cells as a result of exposure to a …

The Siebeck-Marden-Northshield Theorem And The Real Roots Of The Symbolic Cubic Equation, Emil Prodanov

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The isolation intervals of the real roots of the symbolic monic cubic polynomial x 3 ` ax2 ` bx ` c are determined, in terms of the coefficients of the polynomial, by solving the Siebeck–Marden–Northshield triangle — the equilateral triangle that projects onto the three real roots of the cubic polynomial and whose inscribed circle projects onto an interval with endpoints equal to stationary points of the polynomial.

On Newton's Rule Of Signs, Emil Prodanov

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Analysing the cubic sectors of a real polynomial of degree n, a minor modification of Newton’s Rule of signs is proposed with which stricter upper limits on the number of real roots can be found. A new necessary condition for reality of the roots of a polynomial is also proposed. Relationship between the quadratic elements of the polynomial is established through its roots and those of its derivatives. Some aspects of polynomial discriminants are also discussed.

Developing Non‑Residential Building Stock Archetypes For Lci—A German Case Study Of Office And Administration Buildings, Michael Buschka, Julian Bischoff, Christina Meier-Dotzler, Werner Lang

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To accomplish the national and international climate goals, building renovation and optimisation of their energy and resource efficiency are essential. Thus, reliable information on the building stock (BS) is necessary. Most previous building typologies are focussing on residential buildings and the operational phase. This paper shows the development of a methodology for generating non-residential building (NRB) typologies for life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) of building constructions. Hereby, archetypes of office, administration and department (OAD) buildings are developed, exemplarily for the German NRB stock.

Mind The Gap: Exploring The Challenges And Opportunities For Social Enterprise In Vietnam, Paul Umfreville, Christine Bonnin

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Social enterprise is a maturing area of activity within the development sector, and in Vietnam the sector has expanded significantly over the last thirty years, providing social services to communities and individuals experiencing socio-economic exclusion. Initially growing in a legislative vacuum, social enterprise currently appears to be flourishing following recognition by the state. However, the sector now faces new challenges as it matures. With Vietnam’s attainment of middle-income status, the international development funding previously available is now limited and the focus is on capacity and viability. Based on findings from interviews with representatives from a wide range of social enterprises …

Mapping The Light Fantastic At Newgrange, Frank Prendergast, Clare Tuffy, John Lalor, Claire Breen, Sinéad Gargan

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THE WORLD HERITAGE PROPERTY of Brú na Bóinne attracts thousands of visitors from Ireland and around the globe, many drawn by the remarkable winter solstice phenomenon, when the rising sun’s rays illuminate the burial chamber. During 2020 it became clear that public health measures to combat the global pandemic were going to preclude visitor access to the chamber of the Great Mound of Newgrange, including during the annual winter solstice celebrations. When the government agencies OPW and NMS discussed how to manage Newgrange and the solstice during the restrictions, Clare Tuffy, Manager of Visitor Services at Brú na Bóinne, suggested …