Digital Commons Network^™

Study Of The Microbial Diversity And Antimicrobial Properties Of Irish Edible Brown Seaweeds, Shilpi Gupta, Gaurav Rajauria, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam

Articles

Brown Irish edible seaweeds, Himanthalia elongata, Laminaria sachharina and Laminaria digitata, were evaluated for the microbiota in raw and heat processed form. Raw seaweeds showed complete absence of aerobic mesophiles, halophiles, yeasts and molds. However, heating at 85 C for 15 min resulted in spore germination. Bacterial counts as high as 107 were observed for aerobic mesophiles and halophiles. Heating above 95 C for 15 min resulted in complete inactivation of surface microflora. Bacteria belonging to Bacillaceae, Paenibacillaceae, Moraxellaceae and Enterobacteriaceae family were identified by 16S rRNA sequencing. In vitro antimicrobial activity of the methanolic extracts of the seaweed on …

Growth And Kinetics Of Lactobacillus Plantarum In The Fermentation Of Edible Irish Brown Seaweeds, Shilpi Gupta, Nissreen Abu-Ghannam, Amalia G.M. Scannell

Articles

The aim of the present study was to see the applicability of using brown edible seaweeds as a sole source of nutrition for the growth of lactic acid bacteria. Growth kinetics of lactic acid bacteria (LAB; Lactobacillus plantarum) was studied using three species of edible Irish brown seaweeds Himanthalia elongata, Laminaria digitata and Laminaria saccharina. As part of the screening process, growth of the LAB was carried out on raw and heat treated forms of seaweeds. The seaweed species in their raw state could not support the growth of L. plantarum. Heat treatment resulted in almost 4 times increase in …

Pk/Pd Modelling Of Comb-Shaped Pegylated Salmon Calcitonin Conjugates Of Differing Molecular Weights, Sinead Ryan, Jesus Maria Frias, David H. Haddleton, David J. Brayden

Articles

Salmon calcitonin (sCT) was conjugated via cysteine-1 to novel combed-shaped end-functionalised poly(PEG) methyl ether methacrylate) (sCT-P) comb-shaped polymers, to yield conjugates of total molecular weights (MW) inclusive of sCT: 6.5, 9.5, 23 and 40 kDa. The conjugates were characterised by HPLC and their in vitro and in vivo bioactivity was measured by cAMP assay on human T47D cells and following intravenous (i.v.) injection to rats, respectively. Stability against endopeptidases, rat serum and liver homogenates was assessed. There were linear and exponential relationships between conjugate MW with potency and efficacy respectively, however the largest MW conjugate still retained 70% of E …

Purification And Properties Of Amycolatopsis Mediterranei Dsm 43304 Lipase And Its Potential In Flavour Ester Synthesis, Dharmendra Dheeman, Gary Henehan, Jesus Maria Frias

Articles

An extracellular thermostable lipase from Amycolatopsis mediterranei DSM 43304 has been purified to homogeneity using ammonium sulphate precipitation followed by anion exchange chromatography and hydrophobic interaction chromatography. This protocol resulted in 398 fold purification with 36% final recovery. The purified A. mediterranei DSM 43304 lipase (AML) has an apparent molecular mass of 33 kDa. The N-terminal sequence, AANPYERGPDPTTASIEATR, showed highest similarity to a lipase from Streptomyces exfoliatus. The values of and for p-nitrophenyl palmitate (p-NPP) under optimal temperature (60°C) and pH (8.0) conditions were 0.10 ± 0.01 mM and 2.53 ± 0.06 mmol/minmg, respectively. The purified …

Ozone Inactivation Of Acid Stressed Listeria Monocytogenes And Listeria Innocua In Orange Juice Using A Bubble Column, Sonal Patil, Vasilis Valdramidis, Jesus Maria Frias, Patrick J. Cullen, Paula Bourke

Articles

Orange juice inoculated with Listeria monocytogenes strains ATCC 7644, NCTC 11994 and Listeria innocua NCTC 11288 (10⁶ CFU/ml) as challenge microorganisms was treated with direct ozone at 0.098mg/min/ml for different time periods (0-8 min) using an ozone bubble column. Ozone treatment of mild acid stressed and mild acid stress-habituated (pH 5.5) cells of L. monocytogenes resulted in higher inactivation times compared to control non-acid stressed cells. Additionally acid stressed cells habituated in orange juice (ATCC 7644 & NCTC 11288), showed higher inactivation times during ozonation by comparison with the control as well as the mild-acid stressed cells. Overall the …

Influence Of Cultivation Conditions On The Production Of A Thermostable Extracellular Lipase From Amycolatopsis Mediterranei Dsm 43304, Dharmdendra Dheeman, Jesus Maria Frias, Gary Henehan

Articles

Among several lipase producing actinomycete strains screened, Amycolatopsis mediterranei DSM 43304 was found to produce a thermostable, extracellular lipase. Culture condition and nutrient source modification studies involving carbon sources, nitrogen sources, incubation temperature and medium pH were carried out. Lipase activity of 1.37 ± 0.103 IU/ml of culture medium was obtained in 96 h at 28 °C and pH 7.5 using linseed oil and fructose as carbon sources and a combination of phytone peptone and yeast extract (5:1) as nitrogen sources. In optimal culture conditions the lipase activity was enhanced 12-fold with a 2-fold increase in lipase specific activity. The …

Effect Of Ultrasonic Processing On Food Enzymes Of Industrial Importance, Paula Bourke, Brijesh Tiwari, Colm O Donnell, Patrick J. Cullen

Articles

In the last decade power ultrasound has emerged as an alternative processing option to conventional thermal approaches for pasteurisation and sterilisation of food products. While sonication alone is not adequate for inactivation of various spoilage and harmful enzymes present in food, ultrasound in combination with mild heat treatment and/or pressure has shown potential for both enzyme and pathogen inactivation. Numerous studies have investigated ultrasound for inactivating enzymes such as pectinmethylesterase, polyphenoloxidases and peroxidases responsible for deterioration of fruit & vegetable juice and various enzymes pertinent to milk quality. The efficacy of ultrasound for the inactivation of enzymes in food is …

Quality And Safety Assessment During The Ozonation Of Cloudy Apple Juice, Sonal Patil, B. Torres, Brijesh Tiwari, Hilda Wingaard, Paula Bourke, Patrick J. Cullen, C. O'Donnell, Vasilis Valdramidis

Articles

Traditionally, ozone processing within the food industry has focused on solid foods by either gaseous treatment or washing with ozonated water. However, with the FDA’s approval of ozone as a direct additive to food, the potential for liquid applications has emerged. This study investigates the effect of ozone processing on microbial inactivation (E. coli ATCC 25922 and NCTC 12900), and quality parameters (colour, phenolic content) of apple juice. Apple juice samples were ozonated at room temperature (20±1.5^oC) with an ozone concentration of 0.048 mg O₃ min^-1 ml^-1 and treatment time of 0 to 10 …

Implementation Of The Dit-Achiev Model For Sustainable Tourism Destination Management: Killarney, Ireland, A Case Study, Kevin Griffin, Maeve Morrissey, Sheila Flanagan

Conference papers

The DIT-ACHIEV Model is a model of sustainable tourism indicators developed in a previous research project undertaken by the School of Hospitality Management and Tourism, Dublin Institute of Technology. The indicators represent six fields of interest – Administration, Community, Heritage, Infrastructure, Enterprise and Visitor (Flanagan et al, 2007). This current research addresses the implementation of the DIT- ACHIEV model in an Irish tourism destination, with the objective to assess whether it can be implemented by the local community in any tourism destination.

The methodology used to implement the model is based on recommendations by Goodey (1995) and Denman (2006). Goodey …

Critical Success Factors And Performance Management And Measurement: A Hospitality Context, Detta Melia

Conference papers

This paper reports on research carried out in the hotel sector of the Irish hospitality industry on critical success factors and their impact on performance management and measurement. The paper outlines the industry context and reviews the literature on critical success factors. This literature presents a discussion of the concept of critical success factors (CSFs) in the context of performance measurement and the hospitality industry, which are considered necessary for organisational prosperity because of the impact they have on the organisation’s potential performance. Critical success factors are those factors capable of providing the greatest competitive leverage upon which resources should …

Can We Be 'Friends'? Social Networking And Student Engagement In An Academic Environment, Mary O'Rawe

Conference papers

Students’ methods of engagement in third level education are very different to those of a decade ago (Cloete, de Villiers & Roodt 2009). There are a number of factors impacting on these changes in students’ profiles, expectations and willingness to engage. One of these factors which is addressed by the author is the way in which students now use social networking tools to engage and communicate. Popular new technologies such as wikis, blogs and podcasts are now being used for academic purposes. But what are the roles of such tools? Do they merely aid staff-student communication and student-student communication, do …

Volume 12, 2010, Ellen Hazelkorn, Nora French, Wolfgang Truetzschler

Issues

No abstract provided.

Dit Graduate Exhibition Show Of The School Of Art, Design And Printing 2010, Dublin Institute Of Technology

DIT Publications

Exhibition committee staff Kieran Corcoran Peter Jones Paul White Robert Tully Neville Knott John Short Brenda Dermody Clare Bell Brenda Duggan Annette Buckley Pat Muldowny Joe Hanly Exhibition commitee student representatives Lucy Clarke Margaret Flynn Kate Geoghegan Gavin Gogarty Fiona O'Keeffe Cian McKenna Becky O'Hara Catalogue concept and design Paul Woods - www.paultheillustrator.com Maeve Keane - www.andstudio.ie Photography by Gillian Buckley. Typeset in DIN 9pt and 24pt. Printed on 140gsm Revive 50/50 by Future Print, Dublin. DIT Graduate Exhibition 2010

Consequences Of Work-Family Balance And Comparisons With Work-Family And Family-Work Conflict, Sasha Marie Burnett

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The American work environment is quite different than it was just a few decades ago. Researchers, popular media, and employers alike have wondered how the changing labor environment is affecting employees. Participants in this study (N = 171) were 18 years of age or older, employed full-time and had at least one dependent child living at home. Of interest in this study was how well three measures of the work-family interface were able to predict five work-related consequences that would be of interest to employers. Work-family balance predicted both job satisfaction and intentions to quit, work-family conflict predicted job tension/strain …

Regional Differences In Jurors’ Attitudes And Knowledge, Heather M. Caspers

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Dynamic social impact theory (DSIT; Latane, 1996) suggests that social influence leads to four phenomena: clustering (regional differences in attitudes), correlation (emergent relationships between attitudes), consolidation (reduction in attitude variance), and continuing diversity (whereby minority opinions persist). These phenomena have been shown in a variety of settings (Harton & Bourgeois, 2004; Harton & Bullock, 2007), but geographic clustering in attitudes about crime have not been examined. These attitudes have the potential to affect a verdict in a trial if a defendant has a change of venue to a different area of the state or the country. Two datasets, the National …

Asymptotic Properties Of Markov Modulated Sequences With Fast And Slow Time Scales, Son Luu Nguyen

Wayne State University Dissertations

In this dissertation we investigate asymptotic properties of Markov modulated random processes having two-time scales. The model contains a number of mixing sequences modulated by a switching process that is a discrete-time Markov chain. The motivation of our study stems from applications in manufacturing systems, communication networks, and economic systems, in which regime-switching models are used.

This thesis focuses on asymptotic properties of the Markov modulated processes under suitable scaling. Our main effort focuses on obtaining weak convergence and strong approximation results.

Wikipedia2onto: Building Concept Ontology Automatically, Experimenting With Web Image Retrieval, Huan Wang, Xing Jiang, Liang-Tien Chia, Ah-Hwee Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Given its effectiveness to better understand data, ontology has been used in various domains including artificial intelligence, biomedical informatics and library science. What we have tried to promote is the use of ontology to better understand media (in particular, images) on the World Wide Web. This paper describes our preliminary attempt to construct a large-scale multi-modality ontology, called AutoMMOnto, for web image classification. Particularly, to enable the automation of text ontology construction, we take advantage of both structural and content features of Wikipedia and formalize real world objects in terms of concepts and relationships. For visual part, we train classifiers …

The New Childbirth : An Analysis Of Planned Cesarean Sections, Loren Wilbers

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examines the experience of planned cesarean section delivery as told by six mothers who have given birth utilizing this method. The rate of planned cesarean deliveries being performed in the United States has been increasing over the past two decades. The existing literature attributes this phenomenon to mothers' fear of the pain associated with vaginal birth, desires to imitate celebrities and maintain vaginal tone, and the greed of obstetricians who push for cesarean deliveries for both convenience and financial gain. The voices of mothers themselves is lacking in the existing literature. Thus, this study draws upon a qualitative, …

Accelerated Lattice Boltzmann Method For Colloidal Suspensions Rheology And Interface Morphology, Hassan Farhat

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

ACCELERATED LATTICE BOLTZMANN MODEL FOR COLLOIDAL SUSPENSIONS RHEOLOGY AND INTERFACE MORPHOLOGY

by

HASSAN FARHAT

July 2010

Advisor: Dr. Singh Trilochan

Co-Advisor: Dr. Joon Sang Lee

Major: Mechanical Engineering

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Colloids are ubiquitous in the food, medical, cosmetic, polymer, water purification and pharmaceutical industries. Colloids thermal, mechanical and storage properties are highly dependent on their interface morphology and their rheological behavior.

Numerical methods provide a cheap and reliable virtual laboratory for the study of colloids. However efficiency is a major concern to address when using numerical methods for practical applications.

This work introduces the main building-blocks for …

Innovative Acoustic Reflection Imaging Techniques And Application To Clinical Breast Tomography, Steve Phillip Schmidt

Wayne State University Dissertations

Conventional ultrasound techniques use beam-formed, constant sound speed ray models for fast image reconstruction. However, these techniques are inadequate for the emerging new field of ultrasound tomography (UST). We present a new technique for reconstruction of reflection images from UST data. We have extended the planar Kirchhoff migration method used in geophysics, and combined it with sound speed and attenuation data obtained from the transmission signals to create reflection ultrasound images that are corrected for refractive and attenuative effects.

The resulting techniques were applied to simulated numerical phantom data, physical phantom data and in-vivo breast data obtained with an experimental …

Teleoph: A Secure Real-Time Teleophthalmology System, Yongdong Wu, Zhou Wei, Haixia Yao, Zhigang Zhao, Lek Heng Ngoh, Robert H. Deng, Shengsheng Yu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Teleophthalmology (TeleOph) is an electronic counterpart of today's face-to-face, patient-to-specialist ophthalmology system. It enables one or more ophthalmologists to remotely examine a patient's condition via a confidential and authentic communication channel. Specifically, TeleOph allows a trained nonspecialist in a primary clinic to screen the patients with digital instruments (e.g., camera, ophthalmoscope). The acquired medical data are delivered to the hospital where an ophthalmologist will review the data collected and, if required, provide further consultation for the patient through a real-time secure channel established over a public Internet network. If necessary, the ophthalmologist is able to further sample the images/video of …

Utilizing Multimedia Case Studies To Teach The Professional Side Of Project Management, Cassandra C. Elrod, Susan L. Murray, Barry B. Flachsbart, Karl E. Burgher, Drew M. Foth

Business and Information Technology Faculty Research & Creative Works

This research was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of using a LITEE multimedia case study to teaching concepts in engineering courses. The LITEE Superstar case study was implemented in an engineering Project Management course. Numerous surveys regarding student expectations, outcomes, and attitudes were collected and results are presented herein. Overall, the study provided evidence that the students felt that the LITEE case study added value to the course via the different methods of teaching material, aided in the understanding of the project selection process, and ultimately helped them be successful in their course project which was conducted for a real …

Media Literacy And Communication Rights: Ethical Individualism In The New Media Environment, Brian O'Neill

Articles

The dominant discourse of media literacy policy espouses an ethical individualism within the digital media environment in which the source of moral values and principles, and the basis of ethical evaluation, is the individual. In this perspective, even vulnerable citizens such as children and young people, who tend to be in the vanguard of new media adoption, are required to negotiate the risks and opportunities of the online world with diminishing degrees of institutional support from trusted information sources. Noticeably absent from this discourse is any consideration of the notion of communication rights. Examining an alternative conceptualization of media literacy …

Current Policy Developments In European Media Literacy, Brian O'Neill

Articles

In August of 2009, the European Commission issued a formal recommendation on media literacy adding to a series of initiatives underway since 2006 to build a comprehensive European media literacy policy (Commission of the European Communities 2009). Media literacy is now a well-established concept referring to the ability to critically understand and use media in a variety of contexts (see Aufderheide 1997). Recognising that the way people use media is changing and that the volume of information received is enormous, the Commission notes that all citizens need to have the ability to access, analyse and evaluate images, sounds and texts …

Beyond Europe: Launching Digital Radio In Canada And Australia, Brian O'Neill

Books/Book chapters

Eureka 147 was, as we have argued throughout this volume, a European technology designed within the very particular context of European public service broadcasting (see also Rudin 2006; O'Neill 2009). At the same time, the consortitum behind DAB technology had the ambition that Eureka 147 would become the world standard for digital radio. DAB was indeed the first such technological system to achieve standardisation at the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), and be recommended as a global standard for digital terrestrial sound broadcasting by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU).

Dislocations: Participatory Media With Refugees In Malta And Ireland, Anthony Haughey

Books/Book chapters

Malta is located in the Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Europe, a receiving country for significant inward migration. For most migrants the goal is to reach mainland Europe. However, every year a significant number of smuggler boats inadvertently drift into Maltese territorial waters often in severe distress, resulting in rescue by the Maltese Navy and an uncertain future.

Whilst working in Malta I was struck by the similarities between Ireland and Malta. Both islands’ are peripheral locations on the western and southern edges of Europe. Historically both countries have experienced significant outward migration of its citizens who live all …

Not Seeing The Joke: The Overlooked Role Of Humour In Media Production Research, Edward Brennan

Conference Papers

This paper attempts to offer a methodological contribution to media production research. By reconsidering an earlier case study, and reviewing relevant literature, it illustrates how humour can fulfill several functions in media production. Importantly, humour is a central means of performing the ‘emotional labour’ that increasingly precarious media work demands. Methodologically, the everyday joking and banter of media workers can provide an important and, heretofore, overlooked means of accessing culture, meaning, consensus and conflict in media organisations. The article argues that humour’s organisational role should be considered when designing production research.

Digital Commons @ Iwu Report, 2007-2009, Stephanie Davis-Kahl

Administrative Reports

No abstract provided.

High Crimes, Not Misdemeanors: Deterring The Production Of Unsafe Food, Rena I. Steinzor

Faculty Scholarship

In the fall of 2008, Minnesota public health officials became alarmed by an unusually high number of illnesses and deaths caused by salmonella poisoning. Federal and state regulators and the news media eventually traced the outbreak back to products supplied by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). Employees shipped batches that tested positive for salmonella from a plant with a leaking roof, mold growing on ceilings and walls, rodent infestation, filthy processing receptacles, and feathers and feces in the air filtration system. Under an agreement with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Georgia state inspectors visited the PCA plant nine …

Development Of A Cloud Solution For Smes In The Irish Construction Industry, Alan V. Hore, Alan Redmond, Roger West

Conference papers

There is a strong emerging trend within the Information Communication Technology (ICT) sector for replacing traditional packaged desktop applications with Web based, outsourced products and services. The drive for this innovative solution is its contribution to enabling software to be developed, delivered and consumed in discrete chunks (known as services) liberating the users from traditional computing and providing services accessible across a range of devices and appliances. The objective of this paper is to report on the progress towards defining this Web based service, commonly known as ‘Cloud computing’, for Small to Medium Size Enterprises (SMEs) in the Irish construction …