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Prevention Of Staphylococcus Epidermidis Biofilm Formation Using A Low-Temperature Processed Silver-Doped Phenyltriethoxysilane Sol–Gel Coating, Niall Stobie, Brendan Duffy, Declan Mccormack, John Colreavy, Martha Hidalgo, Patrick Mchale, Steven Hinder

Articles

Sol–gel coatings which elute bioactive silver ions are presented as a potential solution to the problem of biofilm formation on indwelling surfaces. There is evidence that high-temperature processing of such materials can lead to diffusion of silver away from the coating surface, reducing the amount of available silver. In this study, we report the biofilm inhibition of a Staphylococcus epidermidis biofilm using a low-temperature processed silver-doped phenyltriethoxysilane sol–gel coating. The incorporation of a silver salt into a sol–gel matrix resulted in an initial high release of silver in de-ionised water and physiological buffered saline (PBS), followed by a lower sustained …

Practical Sensor For Measurement Of Nitrogen, Dusan Popovic, Vladimir Milosavljevic, Steven Daniels

Articles

This paper presents a method for precise measurement of atomic and molecular nitrogen in an oxygen-nitrogen dc plasma. This is achieved by monitoring the intensities of the atomic nitrogen spectral line at 821.6 nm and the molecular nitrogen bandhead at 337.1 nm, relative to the atomic oxygen spectral line at 844.7 nm. Oxygen is one of the most frequently used gases for surface chemical treatment, including deposition and etching, therefore the ability to measure and control the process and chemical composition of the process is essential. To validate this oxygen actimometry method for N2-xO2 (where x varies from 0 to …

A Cosmic Ray Current-Driven Instability In Partially Ionised Media, Brian Reville, John Kirk, Peter Duffy, Stephen O'Sullivan

Articles

We investigate the growth of hydromagnetic waves driven by streaming cosmic rays in the precursor environment of a supernova remnant shock. It is known that transverse waves propagating parallel to the mean magnetic field are unstable to anisotropies in the cosmic ray distribution, and may provide a mechanism to substantially amplify the ambient magnetic field. We quantify the extent to which temperature and ionisation fractions modify this picture. Using a kinetic description of the plasma we derive the dispersion relation for a collisionless thermal plasma with a streaming cosmic ray current. Fluid equations are then used to discuss the effects …

An Investigation Of Introductory Physics Students’ Approaches To Problem Solving, Laura Walsh, Robert Howard, Brian Bowe

Articles

This paper outlines ongoing research investigating students’ approaches to quantitative and qualitative problem solving in physics. This is an empirical study, which was conducted using a phenomenographic approach to analyse and interpret data from individual semi-structured interviews with students from introductory physics courses. The result of the study thus far is a preliminary set of hierarchical categories that describe the students’ problem-solving approaches when faced with various physics problems. The findings from the research presented here indicate that many introductory students in higher education do not approach problem solving in a strategic manner and many do not try to link …

A Three‐Dimensional Numerical Method For Modelling Weakly Ionized Plasmas, Stephen O'Sullivan, Turlough Downes

Articles

Astrophysical fluids under the influence of magnetic fields are often subjected to single- or two-fluid approximations. In the case of weakly ionized plasmas, however, this can be inappropriate due to distinct responses from the multiple constituent species to both collisional and non-collisional forces. As a result, in dense molecular clouds and protostellar accretion discs, for instance, the conductivity of the plasma may be highly anisotropic leading to phenomena such as Hall and ambipolar diffusion strongly influencing the dynamics.

An Approach To Unification Using A Linear Systems Model For The Propagation Of Broad-Band Signals, Jonathan Blackledge

Articles

We review the inhomogeneous scalar Helmholtz equation in three-dimensions and the scattering of scalar wavefields from a scatterer of compact support. An asymptotic solution is then considered representing the effect of the frequency approaching zero when a ‘wavefield’ reduces to a ‘field’. The characteristics of ultra-low frequency Helmholtz scattering are then considered and the physical significance discussed of a model that is based on the scattering of Helmholtz wavefields over a broad frequency spectrum. This is equivalent to using a linear systems approach for modelling the propagation, interaction and detection of broad-band signals and provides an approach to the classification …

A Novel Processing Route For The Production Of Nanoparticulate Zinc Oxide Using An Isophthalate Precursor, Grainne Duffy, Declan Mccormack, Suresh Pillai

Articles

Zinc oxide nanoparticles have been processed from a novel isophthalate precursor. In contrast to those processed from an oxalate precursor, this material exhibits three-dimensional, non-directional aggregation behaviour.

Such non-directional aggregation of uniaxial crystallites may allow for the production of structures with a higher proportion of catalytically active surfaces than can be prepared through conventional sol–gel methods. XRD,

FTIR, TEM and SEM were used to characterize the synthesized materials.

Zinc oxide particles synthesized by using isophthalic acid (C6H4-1,3-(COOH)2) are found to be slightly smaller than the previously reported materials prepared through chelation with oxalic acid (H2C2O2・2H2O).

Growth Substrate Induced Functional Changes Elucidated By Ftir And Raman Spectroscopy In In-Vitro Cultured Human Keratinocytes., Aidan Meade, Fiona Lyng, Peter Knief, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Non-invasive measurements of cellular function in in-vitro cultured cell lines using vibrational spectroscopy require the use of spectroscopic substrates such as quartz, ZnSe and MirrIR etc. These substrates are generally dissimilar to the original in-vivo extracellular environment of a given cell line and are often tolerated poorly by cultured cell lines resulting in morphological and functional changes in the cell. The present study demonstrates various correlations between vibrational spectroscopic analyses and biochemical analyses in the evaluation of the interaction of a normal human epithelial keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) with MirrIR and quartz substrates coated with fibronectin, laminin and gelatin. The …

A Systematic Study Of The Effects Of Naphthalene And Anthracene Substitution On The Properties Of Ppv Derivative Conjugated Systems, Patrick Lynch, Luke O'Neill, David Bradley, Hugh Byrne, Mary Mcnamara

Articles

The systematic synthesis of poly(phenylvinylene) (PPV) derivatives by the Wittig-Horner reaction is reported. The phenyl units of the PPV structure are methodically substituted by naphthyl and anthryl units to form a homologous series of structures. The 2,6 attachment of the vinylene linkage on the anthryl ring provides novel structures that have not been reported before due to their synthetic inaccessibility. The introduction of naphthyl units results in a hypsochromatic shift in the absorption and emission spectra, while the introduction of anthryl units leads to a bathochromatic shift relative to the naphthalene structures. The observed structural variation of the spectroscopic properties …

Spectroscopic Characterisation Of Novel Polycyclic Aromatic Polymers, Luke O'Neill, Patrick Lynch, Mary Mcnamara, Hugh Byrne

Articles

A series of novel polyphenylenevinylene (PPV) derivative polymers were studied by absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopies. The effect of the sequential introduction of polycyclic aromatic ring substituents into the delocalized backbone was examined with relation to hypsochromatic and bathochromatic shifting. While the replacement of the phenyl units by naphthyl units results in a substantial hypsochromic shift of both the absorption and emission spectra, their subsequent substitution by anthryl units results in a bathochromic shift. The system is modeled according to, and is found to be consistent with, a previous study of donor-acceptor polyenes of varying length. The electronic structure of the …

Vibrational Characterisation And Fluorescence Optimisation Of Polycyclic Polymers, Luke O'Neill, Patrick Lynch, Mary Mcnamara, Hugh Byrne

Articles

A systematic series of polycyclic novel polymers was studied by Raman spectroscopy. The effect of the sequential introduction of polycyclic aromatic ring substituents into the delocalized backbone was examined in relation to the variation of the relative ring breathing and stretching as well as the vinyl stretch frequencies. Replacement of the phenyl units by higher order acene moieties such as naphthyl and anthryl results in a shift of the characteristic stretching frequencies, and analysis of the vinyl stretch leads to the confirmation that higher order acene substitution into the delocalized backbone substantially weakens the vinyl bond. Semiquantitative integrated Raman analysis …

Silver Doped Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials For Enhanced Visible Light Photocatalysis, Michael Seery, Reena George, Suresh Pillai, Patrick Floris

Articles

This paper presents a systematic study on two different preparation methods for titanium dioxide with silver. The silver can be incorporated by irradiating the reaction mixture during preparation to reduce silver ion to silver metal or by direct calcination of the sol–gel material to decompose silver nitrate to silver. Of the two methods, we found the latter produces a more effective photocatalytic material (6–50% improvement in catalytic efficiency), which is attributed to the fact that the silver is homogeneously dispersed throughout the material. The efficiency of the materials were examined using a Q-Sun solar simulator (visible light) and in Dublin …

Diffusion And Fractional Diffusion Based Models For Multiple Light Scattering And Image Analysis, Jonathan Blackledge

Articles

This paper considers a fractional light diffusion model as an approach to characterizing the case when intermediate scattering processes are present, i.e. the scattering regime is neither strong nor weak. In order to introduce the basis for this approach, we revisit the elements of formal scattering theory and the classical diffusion problem in terms of solutions to the inhomogeneous wave and diffusion equations respectively. We then address the significance of these equations in terms of a random walk model for multiple scattering. This leads to the proposition of a fractional diffusion equation for modelling intermediate strength scattering that is based …

On Cosmall Abelian Groups, Brendan Goldsmith, O. Kolman

Articles

It is a well-known homological fact that every Abelian group G has the property that Hom(G,−) commutes with direct products. Here we investigate the ‘dual’ property: an Abelian group G is said to be cosmall if Hom(−,G) commutes with direct products. We show that cosmall groups are cotorsion-free and that no group of cardinality less than a strongly compact cardinal can be cosmall. In particular, if there is a proper class of strongly compact cardinals, then there are no cosmall groups.

Colour Doppler Spatial Resolution Performance Testing, Jacinta Browne, Ian Brown, Peter Hoskins, Amanda Watson, Alex Elliott

Articles

No abstract available

A New Approach To The Toxicity Testing Of Carbon-Based Nanomaterials: The Clonogenic Assay, Eva Herzog, Alan Casey, Fiona Lyng, Gordon Chambers, Hugh Byrne, Maria Davoren

Articles

The cellular toxicity of three types of carbon nanoparticles, namely HiPco® single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), arc dischargeSWCNTand Printex 90 carbon black nanoparticles,was studied on three different cell models including the human alveolar carcinoma epithelial cell line (A549), the normal human bronchial epithelial cell line (BEAS-2B) and the human keratinocyte cell line (HaCaT) using the clonogenic assay. Carbon nanomaterials are known to interact with colorimetric indicator dyes frequently used in cytotoxicity assays. By employing the clonogenic assay, any such interactions could be avoided, allowing a more reliable method for the in vitro toxicity assessment of carbon-based nanoparticles. It could be shown …

A Novel Tio2 / Pvc Layer For Use In A Photoelectrochemical Cell, Faiza Touati, John Cassidy, Kevin Mcguigan

Articles

A novel method of coating titanium dioxide on a glassy carbon electrode as a polyvinylchloride composite , is described. On illumination , there is an enhanced voltammetric current at this TiO2/PVC composite in aqueous formic acid solution. This electrode is used as the basis of a formic acid fuel cell where oxygen is reduced at a platinum cathode. The system yields 100 cm-2 for 0.01 mol dm-3 HCOOH in 0.1 mol dm-3 NaOH under illumination from a 150 W xenon lamp. The current without illumination is 0.5 cm-2.

An Experiment Using A Simple Photoassisted Fuel Cell Designed To Remediate Simulated Wastewater, John Cassidy, Faisa Touati, Kevin Mcguigan

Articles

Work in photochemistry work peaked in the 1980’s where there was the prospect of using sunlight shining on suspensions of titanium dioxide in order to catalytically cleave water into hydrogen and oxygen [1-5]. In this way a clean and efficient method of producing hydrogen as a fuel was envisaged. However, there was a requirement to use a rather high energy light to achieve the splitting and it was not as efficient with visible light[5]. Doped TiO2 layers have been used in a three electrode system for formic acid degradation[6]. In this work, the system uses an electrode coated with TiO2 …

Improved Nitrate Sensing Using Ion Selective Electrodes Based On Urea–Calixarene Ionophores, Benjamin Schazmann, Dermot Diamond

Articles

Urea–calix[4]arenes 1 and 2 were synthesised and incorporated into ISE membranes for assessment as sensors for inorganic anions in water. 1 revealed a strong response to all anions following the Hofmeister selectivity order. For ISEs of 2, the response to a portion of the anion series was suppressed, increasing the margin of selectivity of nitrate over chloride, a common interferant of nitrate in fresh and marine water samples. The performance of ISEs containing 2 was compared to commercially available alkylammonium nitrate ion-exchange salts used for nitrate sensing. Our ISEs performed favourably in terms of sensitivity, linear range and LOD performing …

A Note On Clean Abelian Groups, Brendan Goldsmith, P. Vamos

Articles

Nicholson defined a ring to be clean if every element is the sum of a unit and an idempotent. A module is clean if its endomorphism algebra is clean. We show that torsion-complete Abelian p-groups are clean and characterize the clean groups among the class of totally projective p-groups. An example is given of a clean p-group which is neither totally projective nor torsion- complete

Some Transitivity Results For Torsion Abelian Groups, Brendan Goldsmith, Lutz Strungmann

Articles

We introduce a new class of fully transitive and transitive Abelian p-groups and study the new concept of weak transitivity which is the missing link between full transitivity and transitivity.

Slow Flow Between Concentric Cones, O. Hall, C. P. Hills, A. D. Gilbert

Articles

This paper considers the low-Reynolds-number flow of an incompressible fluid contained in the gap between two coaxial cones with coincident apices and bounded by a spherical lid. The two cones and the lid are allowed to rotate independently about their common axis, generating a swirling motion. The swirl induces a secondary, meridional circulation through inertial effects. For specific configurations complex eigenmodes representing an infinite sequence of eddies, analogous to those found in two-dimensional corner flows and some three-dimensional geometries, form a component of this secondary circulation. When the cones rotate these eigenmodes, arising from the geometry, compete with the forced …

Krylov Subspaces From Bilinear Representations Of Nonlinear Systems, Marissa Condon, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

For efficient simulation of state-of-the-art dynamical systems as arise in all aspects of engineering, the development of reduced-order models is of paramount importance. While linear reduction techniques have received considerable study, increasingly nonlinear model reduction is becoming a significant field of interest. From a circuits and systems viewpoint, systems involving micromachined devices or systems involving mixed technologies necessitate the development of reduced-order nonlinear models. From a control systems viewpoint, the design of controllers for nonlinear systems is greatly facilitated by nonlinear model reduction strategies. To this end, the paper proposes two novel model-reduction strategies for nonlinear systems. The first involves …

Reissner–Nordstrom Expansion, Emil Prodanov, Rossen Ivanov, Vesselin Gueorguiev

Articles

We propose a classical mechanism for the cosmic expansion during the radiation-dominated era, assuming the Universe as a two-component gas. The first component is the ultra-relativistic “standard” fraction described by an equation of state of an ideal quantum gas of massless particles. The second component consist of superheavy charged particles and their interaction with the “standard” fraction drives the expansion. This interaction is described by the Reissner–Nordstr¨om metric purely geometrically — the superheavy charged particles are modeled as zero-dimensional naked singularities which exhibit gravitational repulsion. The radius of a repulsive sphere, surrounding a naked singularity of charge Q, is inversely …

Use Of The Mitsunobu Reaction In The Synthesis Of Orthogonally Protected A,B-Diaminopropionic Acids, Fintan Kelleher, Keith Ó Proinsias

Articles

Orthogonally protected a,b-diaminopropionic acids have been synthesised in good yields by the reaction of N-trityl L-serine esters with N-substituted sulfonamides under Mitsunobu reaction conditions (DEAD, PPh₃, THF). The best isolated yields were obtained when N-Boc p-toluenesulfonamide was used as the nitrogen nucleophile precursor in the Mitsunobu reaction. Subsequently, the N-trityl group was efficiently replaced with the more stable allyloxycarbonyl (alloc) group.

Generalised Fourier Transform For The Camassa-Holm Hierarchy, Adrian Constantin, Vladimir Gerdjikov, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

The squared eigenfunctions of the spectral problem associated to the Camassa-Holm equation represent a complete basis of functions, which helps to describe the Inverse Scattering Transform for the Camassa-Holm hierarchy as a Generalised Fourier transform. The main result of this work is the derivation of the completeness relation for the squared solutions of the Camassa-Holm spectral problem. We show that all the fundamental properties of the Camassa-Holm equation such as the integrals of motion, the description of the equations of the whole hierarchy and their Hamiltonian structures can be naturally expressed making use of the completeness relation and the recursion …

Shellability Of Noncrossing Partition Lattices, Colum Watt, Thomas Brady, Christos Athanasiadis

Articles

We give a case-free proof that the lattice of noncrossing partitions associated to any finite real reflection group is EL-shellable. Shellability of these lattices was open for the groups of type $D_n$ and those of exceptional type and rank at least three.

Torsion-Free Groups And Modules With The Involution Property, Brendan Goldsmith, C. Meehan, S.L. Wallutis

Articles

An Abelian group or module is said to have the involution property if every endomorphism is the sum of two automorphisms, one of which is an involution. We investigate this property for completely decomposable torsion-free Abelian groups and modules over the ring of -adic integers.

On Cosmall Abelian Groups, Brendan Goldsmith, O. Kolman

Articles

It is a well-known homological fact that every Abelian groupGhas the property that Hom(G,−)com-mutes with direct products. Here we investigate the ‘dual’ property: an Abelian groupGis said to be cosmallif Hom(−,G)commutes with direct products. We show that cosmall groups are cotorsion-free and that nogroup of cardinality less than a strongly compact cardinal can be cosmall. In particular, if there is a properclass of strongly compact cardinals, then there are no cosmall group

Phenomenographic Study Of Students’ Problem Solving Approaches In Physics, Laura Walsh, Robert Howard, Brian Bowe

Articles

This paper describes ongoing research investigating student approaches to quantitative and qualitative problem solving in physics. This empirical study was conducted using a phenomenographic approach to analyze data from individual semistructured problem solving interviews with 22 introductory college physics students. The main result of the study is a hierarchical set of categories that describe the students’ problem solving approaches in the context of introductory physics.