Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Affecting Susceptibility Of Goats To Coccidia, Yaser Ahmed

Theses

Natural Resistance Associate Macrophages Protein one (NRAMP1) gene encodes a transmembrane protein that regulates divalent cation transport that hinders intracellular pathogen proliferation. The objective of this study was to determine how NRAMP1 expression and other factors may be associated with coccidia infections in goats. Clinically healthy Boer, Spanish, and Spanish-Boer cross goats (N=140) from the NCA&T Small ruminant unit were used. The FAMACHA© score, body condition score, body weight, and age were recorded. Fecal samples were evaluated for the levels of haemonchus eggs and coccidia oocytes using McMaster slides. Blood samples were evaluated for packed cell volume and …

The Effects Of Polyphenol Rich Peanut Skin Diets On Weight Gain, Lipid Profile, And Blood Chemistry In Rats, Erika Robinson Hayes

Theses

Peanut skin is a by-product of the peanut processing industry that is typically disposed. However, peanut skin contains significant amounts of protein, lipids, dietary fiber and is rich in antioxidants such as phenolics. The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate the overall impact of peanut skin consumption on the growth of young lab rats; (2) investigate the effects of peanut skin consumption on blood plasma cholesterol profile in laboratory rats; and (3) evaluate the effect of peanut skin consumption on the functions of major animal organs by measuring the changes of related biomarkers and gross pathology. Twenty five …

Emission Enhancement Through Dual Donor Sensitization And Photo-Luminescine Properties Of Europium(Iii)And Terbium(Iii) -Terpyridine -Tetracyanoplatinate Complexes, Nuquie Glekeh Beedoe

Theses

Luminescence studies were conducted on tetracyanoplatinate complexes that contain up to four different ligands simultaneously, resulting in very complex structural features. Most of the complexes of (terpy)-Eu-platinum tetra cyanide complexes (terpy = terpyridine) crystallize with low one-, and two-dimensional structural types. The effects of anion variation on the intermolecular energy transfer (IET) mechanism are discussed in detail. Temperature dependent luminescence studies were also conducted on terbium based compounds that contain different ligands resulting in complex structural features. The system also displays dual donor feature where both the organic ligand (terpyridine) and the platinum tetracyanide (TCP) metal complex act as donors. …

A Computer Simulation Based Evaluation Of Port Emergency Preparedness And Response Evacuation Plans For Predictable Natural Disasters, Maurice Antoine Jackson

Theses

Given the approach of a hurricane, U.S. port decision makers are required to follow a set of policies and procedures to evacuate the infrastructure. The effectiveness of such policies can determine the level of damage that the port will experience and have implications on its recovery time. Therefore, the objective of this research is to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of port emergency response and evacuation plans to predictable natural disasters, such as hurricanes. In this research, a computer-based simulation is built to capture a complex port environment in the normal operations and during the hurricane response procedure. Due to …

Neurorehabilitation Of The Hand Using The Cybergrasp[Tm] And Mirror Image, Amy Frances Boos

Theses

In recent years, researchers have explored the use of a mirror image as a means of rehabilitation for individuals suffering from hemiparesis. Through neuroimaging and functional testing, neurological improvement has been demonstrated in those that engage in mirror therapy. Bilateral training, or simultaneous movement of both sides of the body, has also been studied as a treatment method to improve function after cerebral vascular accident. The development of robotic systems to assist movement of the human body has played a major role in the fabrication of bilateral training devices.

In this experiment, the CyberGrasp™ robotic exoskeleton was used to assist …

Material And Energy Flow Analysis Of The Irish Construction Sector, Rachel Woodward

Theses

A national flow model for concrete was developed using the framework of material and energy flow analysis. Using this framework, the Irish concrete material and energy cycles for the year 2007 were constructed by firstly analysing the material life cycle of concrete which consists of the three phases of production (including extraction of raw materials and manufacture of cement), usage into stock (ready-mix and other concrete products), and waste management. In this year, approximately 35Mt of raw materials were extracted to produce both 5Mt of cement and 33Mt of concrete, with 4.5Mt of cement going into the production of concrete. …

Composition - Structure - Property Relationships In Strontium / Zinc Doped Glass-Ceramics., Mark Looney

Theses

Calcium silicate ceramics are amongst a group of ceramic materials currently utilised as bone graft materials. However, current calcium silicate grafts offer little therapeutic potential and poor mechanical properties. The objective of this project was to examine the composition-structure-property relationships arising from the incorporation of therapeutic ions of strontium (Sr) and zinc (Zn) into calcium silicate glass-ceramics (GC) in order to allow for healthy bone regeneration and antibacterial efficacy. Five compositions were studied with varying mole fractions of Sr and Zn. The GC’s were characterised using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), x-ray diffraction (XRD) at room and ascending temperatures, x-ray tomography …

Design Of A Smart System For Monitoring Concrete Curing And Structural Health, William Quinn

Theses

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a rapidly growing sector of the construction industry. Automated monitoring methods arc mainly limited to global monitoring and the application of local monitoring methods has not gained widespread application due to the fact that currently technology requires that the systems are wired to data acquisition devices. This thesis presents a fully embeddable wireless sensor node for the local monitoring of structural concrete. It presents the first reported wireless embedded system implementation of the electromechanical impedance method using both resonant and antiresonant sensors for this purpose.

The first section of this thesis examines the feasibility of …

Miniature Embedded Module For Prognostic Health Monitoring (Phm) Of Electronic Systems, Liam Moore

Theses

Sensing systems for reliability prognostics are used extensively in life- and mission- critical electronics systems. They allow monitoring of reliability stresses in real time and scheduling of preventative maintenance before system failure. However, reliability prognostics systems are, in general, large and expensive and cannot be used in lower cost, small sized or portable products.

This thesis presents a sensing module for reliability prognostics which is only 1cm in volume and uses only commercial off-the-shelf components. In its 1cm package, the module combines all the necessary elements to act as an embedded prognostic sensor system for multi axial strain, vibration, humidity …

An Examination Of Irish Females Attitudes Towards Nanotechnology Claims Used In Advertising Appeals By The Cosmetics Industry, Deirdre Kelleher

Theses

Cosmetics advertising exert an image of hope and belief to consumers in that these products will dramatically make them look younger and change their lives. Much criticism has been drawn to cosmetic claims based on nanotechnology. Do they work? Are they safe? Do the cosmetic companies use false claims?

Today, the media is saturated with advertisements that promote cosmetic products. The cosmetics industry is becoming more and more advanced due to the use of nanotechnology. Cosmetic advertisements are so common that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. Celebrity endorsers are being utilised by cosmetic companies to promote …

Assistive Technology: Effects Of Training On Education Assistants' Perceptions Of Themselves As Users And Facilitators Of Assistive Technology And Consequent Transfer Of Skills To The Classroom Environment, Dianne J. Chambers

Theses

With the increasing use of Education Assistant Special Needs (EASN) to support students with special needs in regular settings, it is important to consider the tools and knowledge that they bring to the role. The use of assistive technology (AT) as a support for students with special needs in Australia and globally is becoming more prevalent as the technology becomes increasingly affordable and more widely available. Consequently, it is important that the staff who are most likely to be working closely with these students are competent and confident in the use of AT. The purpose of this research was to …

Revenge Of The Sunrise Shift, Susan Weich

Theses

This novella is a fictional account of a journalist's struggle with her own integrity as it relates to her job covering the crime beat and as a victim of a brutal crime. The story explores how Kendra Hall's attack changes her perspective of the people she covers on a daily basis and resurrects a lesson about justice taught to her by her police detective grandfather, who caused her to go into a career in police reporting in the first place. When Hall realizes that the assault isn't over, she must face a series of decisions that have repercussions for her …

Establishing Parameters For Problem Difficulty In Permutation-Based Genetic Algorithms, Adam Nogaj

Theses

This thesis examines the performance of genetic algorithm (GA) crossover techniques within two problems: n-queens with poison (NQWP) and processor scheduling (PS). Each problem was analyzed at sizes of 32, 64, and 128, referring to number of queens to be placed and number of single-time-unit processes to be scheduled, respectively. The specific crossover techniques studied were cycle crossover, order crossover, partially mapped crossover, merging crossover, and one-point, two-point, and uniform signature representation crossover, in addition to various greedy approaches. In conjunction with tests that vary crossover techniques, experimentation was performed to determine what percentage of problem constraints (poisoned squares for …

New Medium Of Advertising In The Future Use Of Interactive Installation, Hao Huang

Theses

Interactive installation is good at communicating as an advertising medium because in the age of information overload, the traditional advertising medium is far from communicating with consumers efficiently, "eye catching" is no longer enough, advertising calls for effective experience communicating. Bringing experience to consumers, involving them in the process of delivering information will be effective ways of communicating and a preferred way of getting information by today's information consumers. In my thesis I will study the use of interactive installation as an advertising medium, farther more, and how we can use interactive installation to communicate with consumers better than traditional …

The Impact Of Celebrity Endorsement On Public Relations And The Consumer, Berenice Geraghty

Theses

Celebrity culture and endorsement has become a huge part of public relations today. Therefore it has become a core tactic within public relations campaigns and is becoming increasingly important as a method for building a long standing relationship with the consumer. The aim of this research study is to discover if celebrity endorsement makes an impact within public relations campaigns - why it is selected as a public relations tactic and how companies select celebrities to go with particular campaigns. The study also aims to discover how celebrity endorsement affects the consumer.

A qualitative research design was chosen as there …

Does Marketing Have An Image Problem? An Empirical Study In To The Opinion Of Marketing From The Perspective Of Business And Consumers., Tony Ferguson

Theses

In the 50 year period since the marketing concept was first introduced to business strategy, we have witnessed a shift from the post-World War 2 austerity of supply shortages, to a modern day consumerist society, where maturing markets and an excess supply of goods and services pose serious challenges, in a highly competitive business environment. As competition has intensified, businesses have endeavoured to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Billions of dollars have been invested in research to gain an insight in to what motivates a highly sophisticated and increasingly cynical consumer. These challenges have been exacerbated since 2008, by the …

Teleworking: An Examination Of The Irish Dichotomy, Deirdre Donovan

Theses

Changing demographics and labour market structures are placing increased pressure on identifying work/life balance solutions, while global competition is forcing companies to look beyond traditional solutions to search for competitive advantage. Recent rapid technology developments facilitate a strategic application of teleworking, which, in suitable organisations, would appear to alleviate both of these issues. Despite this, the limited evidence that exists in the telework literature indicates a dearth of telework in Irish companies, and recent research on the reasons for this, form a gap in the literature.

This study, therefore, empirically examines the key factors that influence the extent of telework …

Characterisation Of Bacterial Extracellular Polysaccharides (Eps) And Other Complex Carbohydrates With Prebiotic Potential, Padraigin Murphy

Theses

Prebiotics are selectively fermented ingredient that allows specific changes, both in the composition and/or activity in the gastrointestinal microbiota that confers benefits upon host well-being and health’ It is not the prebiotic by itself but rather the changes induced in microflora composition that is responsible for its effects. Several sources of prebiotic were used in this study, namely extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) originating from Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB), barley, oat. Laminaria digitata. Laminaria hyperborea and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. EPS-producing LAB were isolated from a wide variety of environmental and gastrointestinal niches. The strains were typed and classified according to their EPS-producing ability …

Fundraising In Changing Times: The Pr And Media Relations Tactics That Non Profit Organisations Use In Their Fundraising Campaigns - A Case Study Analysis, Sharon Louise Noonan

Theses

This study aims to explore the public relations (PR) tactics that non-profit organisations (NPO’s) are using in their fundraising campaigns. The two case studies that were researched were the Cork Simon Community and the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. (IGDB) The lack of current research into this topic as well as the changing nature of NPO’s and the PR industry was of great interest to the author, thus prompting the idea for this study.

The literature review defines PR, media relations and fundraising whilst providing the opinions and perspectives of professionals on the topic in question.

A qualitative research …

Exploring The Impact Of Social Media On Regional Festivals In Ireland: A Public Relations Perspective, Niamh Mccarthy

Theses

This study looks into the area of social media use in Irish festivals from a public relations perspective. The aim of the study is to provide an understanding of the effect social media is having on the regional festival industry in Ireland.

The study also accesses how social media has affected the public relations industry and reveals the predicted future of social media in Ireland. I’he study used a qualitative method of research through use of semi-structured interviews. Interviews were carried out face-to-face, online and on the telephone. All interviewees in the study had relevant experience in the social media …

Enhanced Surveillance And Characterisation Of Three Significant Gram-Positive Pathogens, Annmarie Mollaghan

Theses

Clinical microbiology has been revolutionised in recent years by the introduction of molecular biology. Traditionally, the gold standard for diagnosis in the clinical microbiology laboratory has been culture, which in some cases, is gradually being replaced by molecular detection methods, particularly where the pathogen is difficult to grow or to identify, or when the significance of an organism is dependent on the detection of specific markers of pathogenicity, such as toxins. Many fastidious bacteria which are difficult to culture and present public health implications, i.e. Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoea, can now be detected using commercial molecular assays …

The Exploitation Of Bacteriophages For The Biocontrol Of Spoilage And Pathogenic Bacteria Including Mrsa, David Kelly

Theses

This thesis describes the successful isolation and characterisation of novel phages with applications in the medical/veterinary sector and also in the food and beverage industry. This thesis begins with a comprehensive literature review on the biocontrol applications of phages which will appear as a book chapter in “Phage therapy; Current research and applications” edited by Andrzej Gorski in the Hirszfeld Institute of Immunology and Experimental therapy, Wroclaw, Poland.

Chapters 2 to 5 encompass the technical part of the thesis work, which begins with the isolation and characterization of phages of Lactobacillus and Pediococcus which cause spoilage in the brewing industry'. …

Novel Lc-Ms Methods For The Determination Of Environmental And Food Contaminants Incorporating Analyte Confirmation Using High Resolution Ms, Michael George Cahill

Theses

The contamination of the aquatic environment with pesticides has become an emerging environmental issue because of the potential risk to human health and wildlife. Effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as an important source of micro­organic contaminants in the environment. The EC have implemented several directives for the control of pesticides in the environment including the 98/83/EEC directive establishing the concentration of pesticide allowed for human consumption, the 2000/60/EC directive set up to monitor priority pollutants that are hazardous substances in the environment and REACH ensuring these substances are registered, controlled, therefore ensuring that the industry is …

Fiber-Reinforced Calcium Sulfate Bone Cement Composites With Enhanced Bioactivity, Mechanical Properties And Controlled Biodegradability, Nuha Fathi Hussien

Theses

Hard tissues are natural composites of inorganic and organic components. The inorganic component is a basic Calcium phosphate; known as hydroxyapatite (HAp) while the organic is a natural polymer; known as collagen. The interlocking between the collagen nanofibers and the Hap nanocrystals growing on them offers the known unique mechanical stability of hard tissues. In case of partial fractures; bone or dental cements are often used. Cements such as polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) has been long used in this regard. However, this polymer is classified as a bio inert material that can be accepted by the human body without having a positive …

Extra Food Intake And Depressive Symptoms In Adolescents: Is There A Relationship?, Elizabeth Bradshaw

Theses

This pilot study explored the potential role of food on young people’s mental health. Specifically, the aim was to determine if a relationship exists between extra food intake and depressive symptoms in adolescents’ age 12-17 years. It has been documented that mental health problems in young people result from a complex interaction of risk and protective factors. Eating behaviours and food intake has been investigated in early adolescence (age 10-14), however the specific contribution of extra food on depressive symptoms in mid adolescence has not been determined.

Extra food intake and depressive symptoms were collected from girls and boys in …

Development Of A System To Optimise Water Recharge And Timber Production From Pinus Pinaster Aiton Plantations On The Gnangara Water Mound, Scott Wood

Theses

Degree Name:

Doctor of Natural Resource Management

In 1996, the Western Australian Government decided to progressively liquidate 21,000 hectares of Pinus pinaster Aiton plantations located 20 kilometres north of Perth on the Gnangara Water Mound. The decision was made for a number of reasons but one of the principal concerns was the conflict between water use and timber production. The decision to liquidate the plantation over a prescribed period while meeting a legal requirement to produce timber for a laminated veneer lumber plant provided the opportunity to integrate the large database on plantation growth and water recharge and use operational …

An Assessment Of Road Traffic Safety In Kosovo : {Presentation Given On September 6, 2011], Mentor Bislimi

Theses

During the last decade, Kosova has not developed clear and sufficient policies to improve road traffic safety. In the long term, in relation to this matter no strategies, plans, and adequate programs have been drafted. This issue is not yet a priority of Government, although there are some signs that this situation is soon to be reassessed. The lack of road information system, collision of laws, lack of the laws implementation and coordination among designated mechanisms, make this issue more complicated. Furthermore, there are many unregulated issues which are not in compliance with the EU Directives. This capstone project conduct …

Martin Griver: A Biographical Study Of A Missionary, Visionary, And Colonial Bishop In Western Australia, 1814-86, Odhran O'Brien

Theses

Brigadier Richard Holmes, biographer and military historian, has stated that he seeks the ‘character of the man’ in his biographical studies of such British political figures as Winston Churchill. In undertaking a biography of Bishop Martin Griver, I have been endeavouring to realise that same objective. The ‘search for Griver’ began on a completely physical level with an exhumation of his remains from within St Mary’s Cathedral, the place of worship that he helped design and build. In many ways, much of the knowledge about his contribution to Western Australia’s Catholic Church has been laid to rest with him—until now. …

Perspectives Of Women In Leadership Roles: Working Through The Change, Philippa Gavranich

Theses

The majority of women will experience perimenopausal symptoms (Hickey, Davis & Sturdee, 2005; MacLennan, 2009) with an estimated 20% of those experiencing severe symptoms (Hickey et al., 2005). Many of these symptoms have the potential to directly or indirectly affect work performance including hot flushes and night sweats which are experienced by 85% of perimenopausal women (Baldo, Schneider, & Slyter, 2003). Symptoms may begin several years before the cessation of menstruation and may last well into old age (MacLennan, 2009).

This research sought to explore the perceived impact of perimenopausal symptoms on women in leadership roles: how they managed symptoms; …

Sand And Skirts: A Study Of British Women In Early Colonial Fremantle, 1829-39, Toni Church

Theses

This study of Fremantle during the first decade of British settlement at Swan River investigates the trauma and triumph of its female colonists. In this outpost of empire, British women hoped for a better life, with greater economic and social freedoms, and a promising future for their families. They faced many challenges to achieve these aspirations.

On their journey to Swan River they experienced the cramped conditions on board the emigrant ships that bred disease and discontent amongst passengers. Some suffered from violence, and loss was a part of everyday life. Loss of belongings and livestock in rough seas hampered …