WIT Research Day 2011 Book of Abstracts

2

WIT Research Day 2011 Book of Abstracts

Table of Contents

FOREWARD ....................................................................................................................................................... 7

ORGANISING COMMITTEE ........................................................................................................................ 9

STAFF ABSTRACTS ..................................................................................................................................... 10

MR LIAM DOYLE.................................................................................................................................................... 11

THE ROLE OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT .................................................................................. 11

MS MARY FENTON ................................................................................................................................................ 13

GRADUATE ENTERPRISE PROGRAMMES: PERSPECTIVES OF GRADUATE ENTREPRENEURS ............................................................. 13

MS ANNE GRAHAM .............................................................................................................................................. 14

FINDING THE RED THREAD” THE ROLE OF THE LEARNING SPACE IN TRANSFORMATIVE LEARNING IN EXECUTIVE EDUCATION .............. 14

DR RICHARD HAYES .............................................................................................................................................. 16

CLIFFORD ODETS AND THE THEATRE OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION ............................................................................................ 16

DR JIM LAWLOR .................................................................................................................................................... 17

COMPETITIVE ACTIVITIES IN NEW TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRIES .................................................................................................. 17

MS CIARA LOSTY AND DR MARIA MURPHY GRIFFIN ............................................................................................. 19

EXERCISE SELF-EFFICACY IN TRAINEE GARDAÍ FOLLOWING AN E-COUNSELLING INTERVENTION .................................................... 19

MS KATE MADDEN ................................................................................................................................................ 21

THE EDUCATIONAL MERITS OF INCORPORATING A SERVICE-LEARNING COMPONENT IN THE NURSING CURRICULUM ........................... 21

DR PANAGIOTIS MANESIOTIS, DR QENDRESA OSMANI, DR PETER MCLOUGHLIN ................................................. 23

PLASTIC ANTIBODIES FOR ISOLATION AND PURIFICATION OF PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOUNDS ........................................................ 23

MR T J MCDONALD ............................................................................................................................................... 24

EXCITEING IRISH COMMUNITIES: A 4 LENS MODEL TO SUPPORT THE USE OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY FOR

IRISH VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS .................................................................................................................................. 24

DR COLETTE MOLONEY, MS ANGELA BUCKLEY, MS DEIRDRE MCDONALD, MS LISA MORRISSEY AND MS ALISON

SLATTERY .............................................................................................................................................................. 26

‘THE PAPER WITNESS’: THE ANALYSIS OF IRISH MUSIC MANUSCRIPTS AS INFORMATION SOURCES ............................................... 26

DR DOMINIC MURPHY .......................................................................................................................................... 28

OPTICAL FIBRE MANIPULATIONS ENABLING STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNOLOGIES........................................................................ 28

MR EOGHAN O’ DONOGHUE ................................................................................................................................. 30

FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS: A POWERFUL TOOL FOR INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT .................................................. 30

MS MAEVE O’ GRADY ........................................................................................................................................... 32

THE ROLE OF AFFECTIVE EQUALITY IN COMMUNITY EDUCATION ............................................................................................. 32

3


MS CORINNE POWER O’MAHONY, DR. FELICITY KELLIHER AND MS MARGARET SKELLY ....................................... 34

MAKING SENSE OF LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE: FACILITATING REFLECTIVE PRACTICE IN AN UNDERGRADUATE WORK PLACEMENT

PROGRAMME ................................................................................................................................................................ 34

DR JOSEPH O’MAHONY, ........................................................................................................................................ 36

ENVIRONMENTAL NANOTECHNOLOGY - ENERGY HARVESTING AND SENSOR TECHNOLOGIES ......................................................... 36

MR LIAM O’SHEA AND MR TOM WEMYSS ............................................................................................................ 37

NANO-POSITIONING RESEARCH IN WIT ............................................................................................................................. 37

DR J. MARTÍN SERRANO........................................................................................................................................ 39

MANAGEMENT OF MONITORING SERVICES IN THE CLOUD ..................................................................................................... 39

TELECOMMUNICATIONS SOFTWARE & SYSTEMS GROUP ....................................................................................................... 39

STUDENT ABSTRACTS ............................................................................................................................... 42

MR VICTOR ADEBAYO ........................................................................................................................................... 43

INWARD FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENTS AS CATALYSTS FOR GROWTH IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY .................... 43

MR BERNARD BUTLER ........................................................................................................................................... 45

A FRAMEWORK TO MEASURE SERVER PERFORMANCE WHEN EVALUATING ACCESS CONTROL POLICIES IN ICT SYSTEMS ........................ 45

MR STEFAN GABRIEL BUZOIANU, M.C. WALSH, G.E. GARDINER, M.C. REA, R.P. ROSS AND P.G. LAWLOR ............ 47

EFFECT OF FEEDING GENETICALLY MODIFIED BT (MON810) MAIZE TO PIGS FROM 12 DAYS POST-WEANING FOR 110 DAYS ON SERUM

AND URINE BIOCHEMISTRY .............................................................................................................................................. 47

MR BRIAN CAFFREY .............................................................................................................................................. 48

AN INVESTIGATION INTO HUMAN-CENTRED PEER-SUPPORT EDUCATION SYSTEMS THROUGH ICT AND NEW MEDIA FOR STUDENTS WITH

SPECIFIC LEARNING DIFFICULTIES ...................................................................................................................................... 48

MS KATIE CAGNEY ................................................................................................................................................ 49

CONTINUITY AND CHANGE: NARRATIVES FROM INSIDE MODERN IRISH FAMILIES ......................................................................... 49

MR SHIBO CAI AND DR JOSEPH O’ MAHONY ........................................................................................................ 50

LOW COST SENSOR BASED ON THE QUARTZ TUNING FORK ..................................................................................................... 50

MR RAYMOND CARROLL ....................................................................................................................................... 51

APPLICATION OF GENETIC ALGORITHM TO MAXIMISE CLEAN ENERGY USAGE FOR DATA CENTRES ................................................. 51

MS TRACEY COADY ............................................................................................................................................... 52

BIOTRANSFORMATIONS USING NITRILE HYDROLYSING ENZYMES FOR STEREOSELECTIVE ORGANIC SYNTHESIS ..................................... 52

MR PADRAIG CULLEN............................................................................................................................................ 54

A METHOD FOR PRODUCING ATOMICALLY SHARP FORCE SENSORS FOR USE IN A NOVEL PHOTOCONDUCTIVE ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPE

.................................................................................................................................................................................. 54

MR NIALL DONNELLY ............................................................................................................................................ 56

INTEGRATION OF OPENCL AND OPENMPI TO PROVIDE DISTRIBUTED SUPERCOMPUTING ............................................................ 56

MR AHMED ELMESIRY AND DR DMITRI BOTVICH ................................................................................................. 57

MAINTAINING USER PRIVACY IN LOCATION AWARE MOBILE SERVICES .................................................................................... 57

4


MR LAURENCE FITZHENRY, DR PANAGIOTIS MANESIOTIS, DR PATRICK DUGGAN AND DR PETER MCLOUGHLIN . 58

SYNTHETIC MOLECULAR RECEPTORS FOR STEROID SENSING AND RELEASE ................................................................................ 58

MS MARGARET FITZPATRICK ................................................................................................................................ 59

DECONSTRUCTING THE KNOWLEDGE CONCEPT FOR KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER EFFICIENCY ............................................................. 59

MS DEIRDRE FLEMING .......................................................................................................................................... 61

TOWARDS A FRAMEWORK OF UNDERSTANDING RESTORING ACTIONS DURING THE STAGES OF DISSOLUTION IN INTER-ORGANISATIONAL

RELATIONSHIPS ............................................................................................................................................................. 61

MR JOHN FLYNN ................................................................................................................................................... 63

DEVELOPMENT OF A WIND ENERGY PREDICTION TOOL ........................................................................................................... 63

MR PEARSE FLYNN ................................................................................................................................................ 65

THE ROLE OF INTRINSIC RESIDUAL STRESSES IN THE WEAR PERFORMANCE OF PVD TOOL COATINGS ................................................ 65

MR KORBINIAN FRANK, DR MATTHIAS ROECKL AND DR TOM PFEIFER ................................................................. 66

OPTIMIZING DYNAMIC COMPOSITION OF BAYESIAN NETWORKS FOR CONTEXT SENSING AND INFERENCE ....................................... 66

MR LEIGH GRIFFIN, MR EAMONN DE LEASTAR AND DR DMITRI BOTVICH ............................................................ 67

ENGINEERING A SCALABLE GROUP MANAGEMENT COMPONENT FOR OPEN FEDERATED SOCIAL NETWORKING ............................... 67

MS KATIE HAMM .................................................................................................................................................. 68

DESIGNING AND ANALYSING TOURISM SERVICE SYSTEMS - BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN FRONT AND BACKSTAGE ACTIVITIES ............... 68

MS CLARE HAYES .................................................................................................................................................. 70

THE AMALGAMATION OF ACUTE PSYCHIATRIC SERVICES IN THE SOUTH-EAST OF IRELAND: A RETROSPECTIVE STUDY ........................ 70

MS AOIFE HENNESSY AND DR PAUL BARRY .......................................................................................................... 72

A MIMO CALCULATION INVOLVING NARAYANA TRIANGLES AND RIORDAN ARRAYS .................................................................... 72

MR STEPAN IVANOV, DR DMITRI BOTVICH AND DR SASITHARAN BALASUBRAMANIAM ..................................... 73

JOINT THROUGHPUT AND PACKET LOSS PROBABILITY ANALYSIS OF IEEE 802.11 NETWORKS ........................................................ 73

MS ANNE MARIE IVERS ......................................................................................................................................... 74

HOW DOES A NETWORK INFLUENCE MARKET ORIENTATION CAPABILITY? ................................................................................ 74

MS ANITA KEALY ................................................................................................................................................... 75

IS IMPLEMENTATION AND KEY SUCCESS FACTORS IN LARGE SCALE TELEMEDICINE PROJECTS IN POST-CONFLICT REGIONS: A GROUNDED

THEORY CASE STUDY IN KOSOVO...................................................................................................................................... 75

MR ARTHUR KEARNEY .......................................................................................................................................... 77

MANAGERIAL INNOVATION: A STUDY OF MANAGERIAL CAPABILITY FOR INNOVATION IN TOURISM MICRO FIRMS ............................... 77

MS MAEVE KENNEALY, DR PEADAR LAWLOR AND DR ELEANOR OWENS .............................................................. 79

DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL SOLID BIOFUEL – USING SOLID PIG MANURE ................................................................................... 79

MS LISA KIRWAN, MR BARRY LAMBE AND DR PAULA CARROLL ........................................................................... 81

USING A COMMUNITY BASED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY (PA) PROGRAMME AS A STRATEGY TO ENGAGE VULNERABLE MEN TO IMPROVE THEIR

HEALTH AND WELLBEING ................................................................................................................................................. 81

5


MS MARIA LUZ PRIETO, L. O’SULLIVAN, S.P. TAN, P. DUGGAN, P. MCLOUGHLIN, H. HUGHES, P.G. LAWLOR AND

G.E. GARDINER ..................................................................................................................................................... 82

ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITY OF MARINE BACTERIA ISOLATED FROM SEAWEEDS, SAND AND SEAWATER ................................................ 82

MS GEMMA MCCARTHY, DR PEADAR G. LAWLOR, DR MONSTERRAT GUTIERREZ AND DR GILLIAN E. GARDINER 83

REMOVAL OF SALMONELLA AND INDICATOR MICRO-ORGANISMS IN INTEGRATED CONSTRUCTED WETLANDS TREATING AGRICULTURAL

WASTEWATER ............................................................................................................................................................... 83

MR CHRISTOPHER MCAULIFFE .............................................................................................................................. 84

RICHARD HENEBRY (1863-1916): ‘THE FORGOTTEN VOICE’ ............................................................................................... 84

MS ANNE MCDONNELL ......................................................................................................................................... 85

FORGING A PATH FOR ABSTINENCE FROM HEROIN; A GROUNDED THEORY OF DETOXIFICATION-SEEKING AMONG HEROIN USERS IN

SOUTH EAST IRELAND .................................................................................................................................................... 85

MS ANDREA MCNAMARA ..................................................................................................................................... 87

TO INVESTIGATE THE ROLE OF COUNTRY CHARACTERISTICS IN THE AVAILABILITY OF FINANCE FOR IRISH SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED

ENTERPRISES ................................................................................................................................................................ 87

MS ELENA MIHAILESCU, DR JAMES HUMPHREYS, DR EDDY FITZGERALD, DR IMELDA CASEY, DR PAUL MURPHY,

DR ANDY BOLAND AND DR JOHN UPTON ............................................................................................................. 89

DAIRYMAN PROJECT - DELIVERING ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY AND PROSPERITY BY IMPROVING UTILIZATION OF RESOURCES ON DAIRY

FARMS ........................................................................................................................................................................ 89

MR JULIEN MINNERAUD, DR SASITHARAN BALASUBRAMANIAM AND ................................................................. 91

DR DMITRI BOTVICH ............................................................................................................................................. 91

PARAMETERISED GRADIENT BASED ROUTING WITH QOE MONITORING FOR MULTIPLE IPTV PROVIDERS ....................................... 91

MS ANNETTE MURPHY ......................................................................................................................................... 92

AN EXPLORATION OF THE PERCEPTIONS OF PREGNANT WOMEN AND THEIR CARE PROVIDERS REGARDING THE PROVISION OF ANTENATAL

CARE SERVICES .............................................................................................................................................................. 92

MR NOEL MURRAY ............................................................................................................................................... 93

THE SYMPHONY OF MANAGING A TOURISM DESTINATION EXPERIENCE ................................................................................... 93

MS MAGDALENA NECPALOVA, DR I.A. CASEY, DR E. FITZGERALD AND ................................................................. 95

DR J. HUMPHREYS ................................................................................................................................................ 95

CHANGES IN SOIL ORGANIC C IN A CLAY-LOAM SOIL UNDER PERMANENT AND CULTIVATED GRASSLAND IN RELATION TO GHG BUDGET . 95

MR JOHN ORGAN ................................................................................................................................................. 97

A SOCIO-TECHNICAL STUDY OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS RISKS ............................................................................................... 97

MS ROISIN O’ SHEA ............................................................................................................................................... 99

JUDICIAL SEPARATION AND DIVORCE IN THE CIRCUIT COURT .................................................................................................. 99

MS JENNIFER PATTERSON ....................................................................................................................................101

BULLYING, COMMUNICATIONS MEDIA AND ADOLESCENCE IN CONTEMPORARY IRISH SOCIETY ................................................... 101

6


MR. PAUL PHELAN1, 2

, DR. BILL KEOGH2, DR. EDDY FITZGERALD

2, DR. IMELDA CASEY

2 AND DR. JAMES

HUMPHREYS1 .......................................................................................................................................................103

PREDICTING N-FIXATION IN GRASS-CLOVER PASTURES......................................................................................................... 103

MS SHIAU PIN TAN, DR LAURIE O´SULLIVAN, MS MARIA LUZ PRIETO, DR GILLIAN E. GARDINER, DR PAT DUGGAN,

DR PEADAR G. LAWLOR, DR PETER MCLOUGHLIN AND DR HELEN HUGHES .........................................................105

ISOLATION AND CHARACTERISATION OF ANTIBACTERIAL PHYTOCHEMICALS FROM GREEN AND RED SEAWEEDS HARVESTED FROM THE IRISH

COASTLINE ................................................................................................................................................................. 105

MR YIYANG SUN AND DR JOSEPH O’ MAHONEY ..................................................................................................106

A NOVEL NANOHOLE BIOSENSOR .................................................................................................................................... 106

MR DANIEL TIEMANN ..........................................................................................................................................107

INVESTIGATION OF ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS WITH SCANNING PROBE MICROSCOPY ......................................................... 107

MR RENTAO WANG AND MR KEN DEEVY.............................................................................................................109

RECONFIGURABLE ADAPTIVE WIRELESS SENSOR NODE ....................................................................................................... 109

MR RUNXIN WANG AND MR ERIC ROBSON ........................................................................................................110

FCA ON SNA – SOCIAL NETWORK ANALYSIS .................................................................................................................... 110

MS ALICE WEI TAN ...............................................................................................................................................111

E-TANDEM LANGUAGE LEARNING OF CHINESE AND ENGLISH: SOME CHALLENGES AND RECOMMENDATIONS ................................ 111

MR DONG YANG AND DR JOSEPH O’ MAHONEY ..................................................................................................112

DEVELOPMENT OF HYBRID SPM SYSTEM USING A QUARTZ CRYSTAL TUNING FORK .................................................................... 112

MR LIU YAO .........................................................................................................................................................114

A LOW-COST, PRECISE BEAM DIRECTION CONTROLLER FOR PHASED ARRAY ANTENNAS ............................................................... 114

MR JOE YAQIANG LIU AND DR PAUL O’LEARY .....................................................................................................116

NOVEL DIELECTRIC ANALYSIS OF HIGH PERMITTIVITY POWDERS AND LIQUIDS ............................................................................ 116

MR MENGJI YU ....................................................................................................................................................117

E-COMMERCE DEVELOPMENT IN CHINA: A COMPARISON BETWEEN LOCAL AND FOREIGN INVESTMENT IN CHINA'S E-COMMERCE SECTOR

................................................................................................................................................................................ 117

7


Foreward

Welcome to the book of abstracts compiled from the presentations made by staff and

students during the WIT Research Day 2011. The last 10 years have been a period

of transformation within the third level research community and in particular

within the Institute of Technology sector. Waterford Institute of Technology‘s

Institutional Strategy recognises the special role it has in the economic, social and

cultural development of the South East region and beyond. The tradition of

excellence in teaching is well established in the Institute with its graduates in key

leadership roles in industry and public services. At the heart of the WIT culture is

the spirit of innovation and responsiveness to the needs of its stakeholders.

The emergence of the knowledge economy and the subsequent requirement for

Ireland to reposition itself up the economic value chain has placed important

challenges on third level educational establishments. Responding to these

challenges regionally and nationally the Institute has established itself as a research

led institution. Its research community is networked with leading research groups

not only in Ireland but across the 5 Continents. This has led to the creation of a

dynamic 4th level education environment with approximately 180 research students

registered for Masters or PhD‘s. The community of academic researchers,

postdoctoral fellows and postgraduate students is a truly multicultural community

with students and staff from around the world. Our research work is published in

some of the world leading journals and presented at leading international

conferences. This ensures that the outcomes of our research activities are

benchmarked against the best in the world. Our ability to innovate our research to

create new products and services directly benefits industry. We have established a

strong relationship with leading industries within the region which is contributing

to the creation of high quality sustainable employment within the region. A key

benefit of the links to industry is the training which is received by our postgraduate

students. The combination of academic rigour and industry collaboration means that

our graduates are ―industry ready‖.

This publication is intended to provide the external community with a broad

overview of the type and scope of research that is carried out in Waterford Institute

of Technology. As you will see when browsing the publication the Institute has an

active research community across all of its schools – Business, Education,

Engineering, Health Science, Humanities and Science. The publication is not

intended to cover all research areas or to provide an in-depth description of the

research topics presented but rather a flavour of the topics researched by the

Institute, which were presented at WIT Research Day 2011. We hope that it will be

helpful to members of the public, industry and potential graduate students to locate

topics of interest. Furthermore, detailed information may be obtained from the

researchers themselves or from the Research Support Unit.

8


I certainly hope that it will be a start of a dialogue between us, the Institute

research community and you, our stakeholders.

We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the authors who contributed

abstracts and to all those who participated in the Research Day. We also wish to

express our heartfelt thanks to the Organising Committee Members for their

substantial contributions to the Research Day. We are very grateful to all the people

who have worked hard in preparing the Research Day and making the event

successful.

We would like to express our gratitude to our keynote speaker Professor Frances

Ruane, Director of the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) who delivered

a timely and undoubtedly very interesting debate on examining Ireland‘s research

and innovation funding models and policies of the past two decades. Finally, we

would also like to thank Dr. Mícheál Ó Foghlú, Executive Director Research,

Telecommunications Software & Systems Group for his insights into Research

Funding Policy.

Dr Willie Donnelly,

Chair of WIT Research Day Organising Committee,

Head of Research and Innovation,

Waterford Institute of Technology.

9


Organising Committee

Dr. Willie Donnelly, Research and Innovation

Ms. Kathryn Kiely, Research and Innovation

Ms. Susie Cullinane, Research and Innovation

Ms. Eimear Fitzpatrick, Research and Innovation

Ms. Martha McIlvenny, Research and Innovation

Ms. Siobhan Harkin, Research and Innovation

Ms. Mary Mosse, School of Business

Ms. Niamh Owens, School of Business

Dr. Jane Russell-O‘Connor, School of Education

Dr. Joe O‘ Mahony, School of Engineering

Mr. Eoghan O‘Donoghue, School of Engineering

Dr. Niamh Murphy, School of Health Sciences

Dr. Louise Murphy, School of Health Sciences

Dr. Colette Moloney, School of Humanities

Mr. John Sheppard, School of Science

Dr. Sarah Hudson, School of Science

Dr. Helen Hughes, School of Science

Dr. Chamil Kulatunga, School of Science

10


Staff Abstracts

11


Mr Liam Doyle

The role of Information Systems in Supply Chain Management Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics

Email: [email protected]

Abstract:

The traditional concern of supply chain management has been the movement of

materials from original source to the point of final consumption. In addition to the

downstream flow of materials, modern supply chain management is also concerned

with other flows such as the upstream flow of reverse logistics and the flow of funds

through the supply chain. Supply chain management seeks to carry out supply chain

activities in an efficient and effective manner. In order to do so, organisations must

recognise the need to streamline not only their internal processes but also the

processes that link to their trading partners.

Collaboration among supply chain partners enables the supply chain to better meet

the needs of the final customer. Collaborative practices act to make the supply chain

more competitive by reducing costs and adding extra value thereby increasing the

profitability of the supply chain participants. Collaboration is seen in practice in a

number of approaches to supply chain management. Vendor managed inventory

(VMI), collaborative planning forecasting and replenishment (CPFR) just-in-time

(JIT) and efficient customer response (ECR) are some of approaches to collaboration

that have brought benefits to supply chains in a number of industries. There has

also been an increasing awareness of the need to adopt an appropriate approach to

supply chain strategy. Companies have adopted lean or agile approaches, or an

appropriate combination of both, to support their supply chain strategy. In many

cases companies have moved from the traditional push based model, where goods

are produced in the hope the hope that demand will arise, to the pull based model

where goods are produced in response to demand.

Regardless of the supply chain strategy adopted or the supply chain practices

employed, the efficient and effective operation of supply chains requires the sharing

of information. Pull based models require the sharing of demand information among

supply chain participants. Push based models require the sharing of forecasts.

Collaborative approaches require information such as demand and stock levels to be

shared. The requirement for sharing of information requires the flow of information

between the supply chain partners.

mailto:[email protected]

12


This flow of information is therefore another supply chain flow in addition to the

flow of materials and the flow of funds. An information flow facility can be

constructed through the use of information and communication technology (ICT).

Traditionally, technologies such as electronic data interchange (EDI) were used for

sharing information among trading partners. These technologies were often

expensive and confined to larger trading partners. The expansion of e-commerce

technologies, based on the Internet platform, has transformed inter-organisational

exchange of information. The lower costs associated with these technologies have

opened the power of ICT to a much greater range of users. The increased

functionality of modern technologies allows increasingly powerful applications. The

ubiquitous nature of the Internet enables information to be shared among trading

partners regardless of location. Together these features allow organizations of all

sizes to participate in trade with supply chain partners on a global basis in an

efficient and cost effective manner.

The nature of information systems available to support supply chains are examined

and the usage of supply chain systems by Irish companies is reported.

Keywords: Supply Chain Management, Information Systems, Technology Adoption,

Electronic Commerce, Business Process Design.

13


Ms Mary Fenton

Graduate Enterprise Programmes: Perspectives of Graduate

Entrepreneurs Department of Adult and Continuing Education


Abstract

Stimulating entrepreneurship is a key economic and societal challenge to which

Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) have much to contribute. In addition to their

traditional roles of teaching and research, HEIs play a strategic role in adding value

to their regional economy by supporting and developing campus enterprise. This

third mission of HEIs is manifested in such initiatives as entrepreneurship

education; the supply of entrepreneurial talent to create new businesses to generate

employment and wealth; campus incubation; and the commercialisation of R&D. Of

these, entrepreneurship education has become a panacea for generating employment

and prosperity, however, there is little empirical evidence to support the assumption

that entrepreneurship education can generate better outcomes of entrepreneurial

activity. There is a lacuna of research exploring entrepreneurs‘ perspectives of

graduate enterprise programmes, which this research seeks to address. By

examining entrepreneurs‘ perspectives of the benefits and limitations of a graduate

enterprise programme, this research examines if participants have actually achieved

sustainable entrepreneurial outcomes vis a vis graduate entrepreneurs who did not

participate in such a programme.

Using the South East Enterprise Platform Programme as a case-study, this research

provides a comprehensive analysis of the needs of graduate entrepreneurs at the

crucial start-up phase of their business and identifies what supports HEIs can

provide to them through graduate entrepreneurship programmes. This research is

timely given the government‘s priority of supporting the development of high-

growth, export-oriented indigenous enterprise to rejuvenate the Irish economy. It

contributes to the field of entrepreneurship education by providing (i) a synthesis of

entrepreneurs‘ perspectives of a graduate enterprise programme and (ii)

recommendations to HEIs, education and enterprise policy makers for

enhancements to graduate enterprise supports/programmes. In addition, this

research identifies areas worthy of further research to advance significantly the field

of graduate entrepreneurship education.

Keywords: Graduate Entrepreneurship Education.


14


Ms Anne Graham

Finding the Red Thread” The Role of the Learning Space in Transformative

Learning in Executive Education Department of Adult and Continuing Education


Abstract:

Achieving an Executive MBA presents candidates with certain challenges –

undertaking the study, completion of assignments and course requirements,

maintaining a work-life balance in addition to experiencing personal change and

development in many instances. Business schools should be clear about what

‗business they are in‘ and work to identify what the adult learners educational

objectives and expectations are from their proposed programme of study. A

narrowing of the gap between the two sets of expectations would reduce the noise

and confusion in the teaching-learning environment of unmet expectations on both

sides.

This case study is about the development of a framework for transformative learning

in executive education in a Scandinavian context. Transformative learning as a

theme emerged from the practical experience of the author as a facilitator and

academic responsible for an organisation development (OD) project in a business

school in Scandinavia. This OD project focused on consolidating and enhancing an

existing leader development programme (LDP) within an executive masters in

business administration (EMBA) teaching-learning environment (TLE). It was

during the research project, in conversations, interviews, discussion groups,

workshops and archival data that students explicitly referred to the learning space

of the LDP as being instrumental in its impact on their overall learning experience.

Hence, transformative learning as a phenomenon emerging out of practice and its

relation to the learning space of the LDP became the subject of this investigation.

Contributions to knowledge from this research study relate generally to adult

education and to the tradition of critical reflection. A particular contribution is to the

area of transformative learning and the development of a framework for creating a

distinctive learning space in executive education. A related contribution is in the

identification of the key role of the learning team coupled with a range of

components that must be employed within the learning space. Here, trusted

relationships among members of the learning team are essential to the development

of dialogue, critical reflection and profound discourse. Facilitation of the learning

team toward enhancing its performance is necessary to support a learning space

where the opportunity for transformative learning can occur.


15


Keywords: Transformative Learning, Executive Education, Learning Space,

Enhancing Teaching-Learning Environments, Critical Reflection, Trusted

Relationships, Learning Teams.

16


Dr Richard Hayes

Clifford Odets and the Theatre of the Great Depression Department of Languages, Tourism and Hospitality


Abstract:

The first performance of Clifford Odets‘s play Waiting for Lefty in March 1935 was

declared ―the birth cry of the thirties‖. At the height of the American Depression,

Odets—and the Group Theatre with which he was identified—came to be seen as a

means by which American youth ―had found its voice‖. This paper will examine the

play, Waiting for Lefty, in the context of the Depression, and will consider the

relationship between works of art and social crisis. In so doing the paper will seek to

identify some questions applicable to the current Irish economic and social situation.

Odets, from being celebrated as the great hope for the American theatre, came to be

derided as the ultimate sell-out. While Odets had some success in the theatre after

Waiting for Lefty, he found fame and fortune in Hollywood where he went in 1936 to

write movies (while there, he wrote movies like The General Died at Dawn and None

but the Lonely Heart, as well as contributing to The Sweet Smell of Success and

many others). The paper will also consider the life and work of Odets after Waiting

for Lefty, in particular this seeming seduction by Hollywood: the one-time golden boy

of the theatre of protest ended up writing vehicles for Elvis Presley and television

screenplays. Odets‘s career dramatises the tensions that exist in culture between

seemingly High Art and popular entertainment, as well as providing an illustration

of the seeming compromises involved for anyone who comes into contact with the

Hollywood ―Dream Factory‖. The paper will consider the relationship between art

and morality and in so doing raise larger questions about the moral responses

demanded to wealth, privilege and, most of all, talent.

Keywords: Literature, Film, Drama, Culture.


17


Dr Jim Lawlor

Competitive Activities in New Technology Industries Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

The impact of new technologies on incumbent industries has been a focus of research

for decades. Schumpeter (1942/1976) coined the phrase ‗creative destruction‘ to

describe it, while more recently Christensen (1997) used the term ‗disruptive

technology‘ in a similar sense. But other contributors (e.g. Itami and Numagami,

1992; Myers, Sumpter, Walsh and Kirchhoff, 2002; Hopkins et al., 2007) have

addressed a more fundamental issue, which is that new technology competition is

different to ‗normal‘ competition, with Porter, early on, explicitly stating that it

‗change[s] the competitive rules of the game‘ (Porter, 1983, p3). This presentation

considers the nature of competition in new technology industries, focusing on the

competitive dynamics evident as stent technology was introduced, rather than solely

on the technology‘s impact on an incumbent.

Despite broad acceptance that new technology competition is unique, and that it

possesses a large potential to engender change, few contributions specifically

address the nature of new technology competition, and how the change it is

associated with comes to be. These questions are of particular interest due to the

need to grow Ireland‘s indigenous export base and to benefit from sustained

investment in science, technology and innovation at national level (National

Competitiveness Council, 2010). Understanding the nature of competition in new

technology industries provides innovators with an insight into the types of

challenges they may face as they attempt to introduce their new technologies.

Findings indicate that distinctive parallel strategies were present in the stent

industry as the technology was being introduced: one between direct competitors;

another between the industry and the incumbents. Legal activities within new

technology competition are revealed to be substantially more influential than has

been previously recognised. Their nature, extent and scale as stents were

introduced, was very dramatic. Alliances, acquisitions and the management of

relationships between new technology firms and other actors were central to the

competitive environment, and an extreme ruthlessness is evident within these

relationships.

Keywords: Competitive strategy; new technology; innovation; technological change.


18


References:

Christensen, C.M. 1997. The Innovators' Dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail.

Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Hopkins, M.M., P.A. Martin, P. Nightingale, A. Kraft, S. Mahdi. 2007. The myth of the biotech revolution:

An assessment of technological, clinical and organizational change. Research Policy 36(4): 566-589.

Itami, H., T. Numagami. 1992. Dynamic interaction between strategy and technology. Strategic

Management Journal 13: 119-135.

Myers, D., C. Sumpter, S.T. Walsh, B. Kirchhoff. 2002. Guest Editorial A Practitioner's View: Evolutionary

Stages of Disruptive Technologies. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management 49(4): 322-329.

National Competitiveness Council, 2010. Annual Competitiveness Report 2010 Volume 2: Ireland’s

Competitiveness Challenge.

Porter, M.E. 1983. The Technological Dimension of Competitive Strategy. In Research on Technological

Innovation, Management and Policy. Rosenbloom, R.S., Greenwich: JAI Press. 1: 1-33.

Schumpeter, J. 1942/1976. Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy. London, Allen and Unwin.

19


Ms Ciara Losty and Dr Maria Murphy Griffin

Exercise Self-Efficacy in Trainee Gardaí

following an E-Counselling Intervention Department of Health Sport and Exercise Science


Abstract:

Background

An Garda Síochána has focused recent attention on the rising inactivity levels and

difficulties in maintaining a healthy lifestyle that is prevalent in today‘s society and

is mirrored in its employees. Successfully adopting an exercise regimen requires

confidence in one's ability to engage in exercise, also referred to as exercise self-

efficacy. Exercise e-counselling was identified as the most effective and innovative

intervention to reach trainee Gardaí and develop their exercise self-efficacy while in

the Garda College, Templemore, and in their Garda stations nationwide. The

primary research questions examined the effects of e-counselling on exercise self-

efficacy (McAuley, 1993), stress (Reeder et al, 1973) and self-esteem (Rosenberg,

1989). The secondary research questions focused on supporting areas of interest,

including additional outcome measures (blood pressure, body composition and

estimated VO2max) and other categorical variables.

Methods

The intervention group consisted of 274 participants. The control group consisted of

234 participants. Therefore there were 508 participants in total in this study, 343

(67.5%) males and 165 (32.5%) females. All participants were trainee Gardaí. The

intervention lasted 11 months and consisted of generic exercise self-efficacy

structured e-mails to the intervention group once a week and an interactive website

was developed. Participants were encouraged to reply to generic e-mails for one-to-

one e-counselling. Participants were tested at pre- and post-intervention for changes

in exercise self-efficacy, stress and self-esteem, as well as a battery of physiological

measures. An evaluation questionnaire was also completed following intervention.


20


Results

There was no significant effect found for exercise self-efficacy as a result of the

intervention. Female self-efficacy to overcome barriers decreased even more than

males over time (total mean score decreased from 54.76 to 42.91 for females and

from 54.4 to 51.4 for males).

Stress scores were maintained within the intervention group (p = 0.478) and

increased significantly in the control group (p = 0.017). There were a number of

significant physiological changes. 88% of the participants who engaged with the e-

counselling were males.

Conclusions

In relation to specifically increasing the trainee Gardaí self-efficacy to exercise, it

was shown that e-counselling and generic exercise self-efficacy structured e-mails do

not seem to be enough to maintain or increase exercise self-efficacy or physiological

outcomes. E-mails and Internet perceptions were, however, positive, which may

have implications for future study design. Male trainee Gardaí were shown to

engage more frequently with e-counselling.

Keywords: Exercise self-efficacy, An Garda Síochána, e-counselling.

21


Ms Kate Madden

The educational merits of incorporating a service-learning component in

the Nursing Curriculum Department of Health Sport and Exercise Science


Abstract:

Context and Background

Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful

community service in the curriculum to enrich the learning experience, teach civic

responsibility, while providing a tangible benefit for the community. The ‗Save a

Life‘ programme was designed to engage nursing students with a community

service-learning experience by teaching emergency Basic Life Support (BLS) in

schools. Eight undergraduate nursing students underwent a service-learning

placement delivering the ‗Save a Life‘ programme in 3 Post-Primary schools as part

of their community practice placement.

Aim of the Study

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the ‗Save a Life‘

programme to teach emergency Basic Life Support in Post-Primary schools and

establish the educational merits of incorporating a service-learning component in

the nursing curriculum.

Research Methodology

The study used a sequential mixed methods design, encompassing two phases.

Phase one used a pre- and post-test to evaluate the impact of the ‗Save a Life‘

programme on transition year students‘ (n = 100) and teachers‘ (n = 59) BLS

knowledge, skills and attitudes. Phase two of the study used focus groups to

illuminate nursing students‘ (n = 8) experiences of undertaking the service-learning

placement.

Key findings and Conclusions

The pre- and post-test training scores indicate that the ‗Save a Life programme‘

impacted positively on students‘ and teachers‘ BLS knowledge, skills and attitudes

(p < .05). Nursing students reported positive learning outcomes from the service-

learning experience.


22


The key categories that emerged from focus groups were enhanced skills acquisition,

conceptualisation of health, importance of the ‗chain of survival‘ in saving lives and

empowerment. Service-learning is an effective pedagogical approach that can be

incorporated into undergraduate nursing programmes. The service-learning

placement enhanced nursing students‘ cognitive, psychomotor and affective

development, which are fundamental to professional nursing practice. The findings

inform the potential contribution of service-learning in developing nursing students‘

competence, confidence and preparedness for nursing practice.

Relevance and Implications

This study has particular relevance and implications for nurse educators who seek to

develop curricula that will prepare nurses with the knowledge, skills and attributes

necessary to meet projected health care needs. It will be of interest to lecturers who

support innovative pedagogy and are engaging with communities to improve higher

education. The findings have implications for people who strive to improve

bystander resuscitation in Ireland, and advocate cardiopulmonary resuscitation

training in communities to improve the chance of survival for victims of cardiac

arrest.

Keywords: Service-learning, Experiential learning, Innovative pedagogy, Bystander

cardiopulmonary resuscitation, Basic Life Support.

23


Dr Panagiotis Manesiotis, Dr Qendresa Osmani, Dr Peter McLoughlin

Plastic Antibodies for isolation and purification of pharmaceutical

compounds Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract:

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are synthetic polymeric materials, prepared

by polymerisation of an appropriate functional monomer in the presence of a

template (e.g. pharmaceutical, food component or environmental pollutant) and

excess of a cross-linking monomer, resulting in cavities within the matrix of the

polymer that are capable of selective and reversible binding of the targeted analyte,

hence the term ―plastic antibody‖ has been used to describe them. MIPs have been

utilised in a variety of analytical applications, including chiral stationary phases for

chromatography, solid phase extractions and sensing. Successful imprinting is based

on the strength of template – functional monomer interactions in the pre-

polymerisation phase, as an increased population of solution complexes will lead to a

larger number of high fidelity binding sites. In order to shift the equilibrium towards

template – functional monomer complexation, an excess of the functional monomer

is commonly used, leading to random distribution of functionality throughout the

polymer matrix, thus promoting non-specific binding to the imprinted phase. Here

we report the synthesis of polymers imprinted with S-ibuprofen, a non-steroidal

anti-inflammatory drug, prepared by stoichiometric non-covalent imprinting, using

4-methyl-2-acrylamidopyridine as the functional monomer. The resulting polymers

were characterised using Solid State NMR, N2 sorption porosimetry, SEM and

particle size analysis. Polymer particles were packed into HPLC columns whereby

rapid, near-baseline enantio-separation of rac-ibuprofen was achieved, while the

polymers were able to discriminate between the template and other structurally

related compounds. The number of binding sites and binding constants were

calculated using frontal chromatography. Furthermore, a colour difference between

imprinted and blank polymers, attributed to the binding event and observable by

naked-eye and UV light inspection, suggests potential application of the materials as

sensing elements. Such materials can be used for rapid, inexpensive purification of

pharmaceuticals, ensuring their suitability for use in drug formulations and

minimise the risk posed to public health by undesired enantiomers.

Keywords: Molecularly Imprinted Polymers.


24


Mr T J McDonald

EXCITEing Irish Communities: A 4 lens model to support the use of

Information and Communications Technology for Irish Voluntary

Organisations Department of Computing Mathematics and Physics


Abstract:

The value of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as a management

facilitator, which can help deliver improvements in efficiency, effectiveness and

competitive advantage is well established. It is also clear that in these respects ICT

is of value to both the private and the public sector. However, there are other parts

of society that have yet to derive the potential benefits of ICT. These include both

formal and informal groups of people who have a common connection, interest,

friendship or bond, who wish to satisfy their needs and enhance their ability to

interact. These are commonly known as voluntary organisations.

Community based voluntary organisations have emerged as a special area of

interest to academics and Information System (IS) practitioners and their

importance has also been recognised by Governments at National levels in many

countries. These Local Voluntary Organisations (LVOs) can be based on community,

political, sporting, recreational, religious or civil needs. LVOs are an integral part of

modern Irish life; they contribute to delivering a higher quality of life and when

looked at through various lenses, they may be seen as also facilitating information

dispersion, knowledge acquisition, employment creation and service provision, and

play an important role in integrating individuals and communities.

In recent times, the term Community Informatics (CI) has emerged as an IS field of

study. Community Informatics can be viewed as an interdisciplinary approach to

community development that utilises ICTs to enable community processes and helps

communities realise their full ICT potential (Loader and Keeble, 2001). According to

Gurstein (2007) CI represents an evolutionary advance on traditional systems

development by combining ICTs with the dynamism and adaptability of life as lived

in civil communities. Community Informatics as a field of study and in practice has

been described by Gurstein (2008) as systematically approaching IS with a

‗community‘ focus.


25


This research investigates the development a Community Informatics (CI) model to

support the use of ICT by Irish communities and their LVOs.The proposed CI model

should recognise the uniqueness and diversity of each LVO and its members, in

terms of knowledge, experiences and needs and provide a mechanism to improve

them through appropriate ICTs.

This diversity dictates that a special focus with specific lenses is required for a CI

model; which will enable greater participation by people in identifying

organisational ICT requirements, by utilizing participatory design approaches. A CI

model will establish planning, support and management processes that will make

Irish LVOs directly responsible for their own ICT future. This is one of the pervasive

concerns for Irish LVOs, who wish to use ICT to improve their operation and

empower their members.

Keywords: Community Informatics, Voluntary Organisations, ICT.

26


Dr Colette Moloney, Ms Angela Buckley, Ms Deirdre McDonald, Ms Lisa

Morrissey and Ms Alison Slattery

‘The Paper Witness’: The Analysis of Irish Music Manuscripts as

Information Sources Department of Applied Arts


Abstract: The notion of collecting Irish music is not a new one, but historically the main waves

of collection appear to have coincided with periods when Irish music was at a low

ebb. Edward Bunting (1773-1843) collected the remnants of a Gaelic harp tradition

in 1792 and there was a proliferation of collectors such as George Petrie (1790-1866)

associated with the Society for the Preservation and Publication of Irish Music,

active in the period 1840-1850, immediately after the ravages of the famine had

disseminated Irish music. These eighteenth and nineteenth century collectors were

invariably trained in the European art music tradition and were selective in the

material that they collected, at the very least restricting their collections to what

they saw as truly Irish items. Patrick Weston Joyce (1827-1910) and Richard

Henebry (1863-1916), both traditional musicians, were active as collectors of Irish

Music at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, still collecting post-

famine material. An increased facility in music notation amongst traditional

musicians and a decline in Irish music led to a wave of private music collections by

traditional musicians in the 1930s, the same decade that also saw the formation of

the Irish Folklore Commission.

A number of the music manuscripts used by these collectors are still extant in

libraries and archives, both in Ireland and abroad. In many cases these manuscript

collections are incomplete, disorganised and often scattered in different repositories.

In addition, many of the collections are large and most collectors shared their

sources, contributed material to one another‘s collections, and even lent, or gifted,

their entire collections to their fellow collectors. In recent times research in Irish

music at WIT has concentrated on analysing the main pre-1910 manuscript

collections of Irish music. These include the collections of Edward Bunting (1773-

1843); Philip Carolan (1839-1910); Henry Hudson (1798-1889); George Noble

Plunkett (1851–1948); John Edward Pigot (1822-1871); Patrick Weston Joyce (1827-

1910) and Richard Henebry (1863-1916). The proposed paper will discuss the

methodology used in the study: primarily historical research, musical analysis,

palaeography and the consideration of textual and non-textual information.


27


While the research into each of these manuscripts is valuable and unique in its own

right, it is the resultant critical mass and opportunity to see how the individual

collections inter-relate and the comprehensive view of Irish music which emerges

that is particularly valuable in the WIT study.

The extant manuscript collections contain a selection of tunes and settings which

have now vanished from the popular repertory both locally and nationally. The vast

majority of the tunes, and indeed many of the tune-types, which the manuscripts

contain are no longer found in the aural repertory.

The current research therefore helps to establish the provenance of manuscripts,

give an understanding of their construction, contents and inter-relativity, and

thereby provides a snapshot of the music in rural Ireland at a particular point in

time.

Keywords: Musicology, culture, palaeography, Irish studies and history.

28


Dr Dominic Murphy

Optical Fibre Manipulations Enabling State-of-the-Art Technologies Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics


Abstract:

Since the pioneering work of Charles K. Kao and co-workers in the 1960s to reduce

transmission losses in silica optical fibres, the optical fibre has become ubiquitous.

As a low-loss photonic conduit, optical fibres have revolutionised

telecommunications, providing the means to transmit large amounts of data, voice

and video information. In the world of sensing, fibre gratings, for example, have

been employed for structural health monitoring, environment monitoring and

exploration including temperature sensing [1]. Side-polished and tapered fibres are

used as substrate platforms in biological and chemical sensing applications. Optical

fibres have also been used to image internal organs as a means of providing medical

diagnoses and for minimally invasive and laser surgeries where treatments have

been delivered more effectively to reduce levels of trauma and expedite healing

times. Optical fibres have been continually developed and manipulated over the

decades in terms of physical design, chemical composition and post-processing

techniques. Developments have resulted in enhanced performance in established

areas of deployment and have provided new functionalities that have been exploited

across ever-increasing application spaces. One key example includes the erbium

doped fibre for all-optical amplification, indeed there is continuing work to realise

practical all-optical regeneration of long-haul signals [2]. Another key example is the

invention of photonic crystal and microstructured optical fibres [3] that have

provided mechanisms for: octave-spanning frequency comb generation; photonic

bandgap guidance; and photonic gas microcells [4].

As technological challenges continue to emerge and as barriers arise with existing

technologies, new optical fibre designs combined with optical fibre processing

techniques are enabling next generation functionalities for state-of-the-art

technologies. Biological and chemical sensing applications, for example, are taking

advantage of microstructured fibres that facilitate the intimate interaction between

core guided light and biological and chemical fluids that fill the surrounding holes

for monitoring and detection [5]. In Astrophotonics, multi-core fibres (MCFs) are

postprocessed and combined with existing fibres to form optical circuits that enable

the observation of distant galaxies using ground-based instrumentation [6, 7].


29


Multi-core fibres are also being engineered to enable higher communication

bandwidths, through spatial division multiplexing, as a potential solution to the

imminent capacity crunch in telecommunications networks. Finally, as high-speed,

high-density optical buses, multi-core fibres provide an attractive platform to enable

Exascale Computing, the next generation of high-performance super-computers,

operating within the constraints of tightly confined spaces and low power budgets.

Keywords: Optical Fibres and Components, Spectrometry, Fourier Processing.

References

1. Murphy, D.F. , Flavin, D.A., “Statically scanned single and tandem low-coherence interferometers”,

Measurement Science and Technology OFS-20 stacks.iop.org/MST/21/094031, (Special Issue) 2010.

2. Cuenot, B., Ellis, A., Healy, N., Murphy, D.F., Hussey, C.D., “Optical regeneration of WDM signals using

quasi continuous filtering”, 8th ICTON, (Nottingham, UK), (Invited) 2006.

3. Birks, T.A., Kakarantzas, G., Russell, P.St.J., Murphy, D.F., “Photonic crystal fibre devices”, SPIE

Proc.,4943, pp.142 – 151, (Brugge, Belgium), (Invited) 2002.

4. Wheeler, N.V., Grogan, M.D.W., Wang, Y.Y., Murphy, D.F., Birks, T.A., Benabid, F., “Large-core photonic

microcells for coherent optics and laser metrology”, Photonics West (San Francisco), (Invited) 2011.

5. Murphy, D.F. , Monro, T.M., “Micro-structured soft glass optical fibres for next generation chemical and

biological sensing”, Night Vision and Photonics Technology (Adelaide, Australia), (Invited) 2010.

6. Birks, T.A., Diez, A., Cruz, J.L., Leon-Saval, S.G., Murphy, D.F., “Fibres are looking up: optical fibre

transition structures in astrophotonics”, Frontiers in Optics (Rochester, New York), (Invited) 2010.

7. Birks, T.A., Mangan, B.J., Diez, A., Cruz, J.L., Leon-Saval, S.G., Bland-Hawthorn, J., Murphy, D.F.,

“Multicore optical fibres for astrophotonics”, CLEO Europe (Munich), (Invited), 2011.

30


Mr Eoghan O’ Donoghue

Finite Element Analysis: A powerful tool for Industrial Research and

Development Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

Finite Element Analysis or FEA is a powerful research and development as well as

failure analysis tool. FEA consists of a computer model of a component or design

that is stressed and analyzed for specific results. It is used in new product design,

and existing product refinement. FEA allows detailed visualization of where

structures bend or twist, and indicates the distribution of stresses and

displacements. FEA allows entire designs to be constructed, refined, and optimized

before the design is manufactured. It provides a means to minimise the costly

prototyping phase of a project by allowing the limitations of a prospective design be

explored within a virtual environment. Potential issues can then be addressed with

design modifications resulting in a greatly optimised design. A new design concept

may be modelled to determine its real world behaviour under various load

environments, and may therefore be refined prior to the creation of drawings. It is

also useful in minimizing weight, materials, and costs. Once a detailed CAD model

has been developed, FEA can analyze the design in detail, saving time and money by

reducing the number of prototypes required. A variety of specializations under the

umbrella of the mechanical engineering discipline (such as aeronautical,

biomechanical, and automotive industries) commonly use integrated FEA in design

and development of their products. SEAM is able to verify a proposed design will be

able to perform to the client's specifications prior to manufacturing or construction.

Modifying an existing product or structure FEA is utilized to qualify the product or

structure for a new service condition. This potent design tool has significantly

improved both the standard of engineering designs and the methodology of the

design process in many industrial applications.

SEAM has commercial ANSYS FEA mechanical package and is applying it to a

number of customer projects as well as in house development activities. Some

notable customer tasks are the analysis of cable fixtures for the electricity supply

network, the development of a superior drill-head for mining industry and the

optimised manufacture of contact lens. SEAM is also perusing projects related to the

acoustic and thermal modelling of structures fabricated from materials from

renewable sources. In the biomedical sector SEAM is using FEA to analysis novel

implants and materials for the interpositional arthroplasty of the knee joint.


31


The introduction of FEA has substantially decreased the time to take products from

concept to the production line. It is primarily through improved initial prototype

designs using FEA that testing and development have been accelerated. In

summary, benefits of FEA include increased accuracy, enhanced design and better

insight into critical design parameters, virtual prototyping, fewer hardware

prototypes, a faster and less expensive design cycle, increased productivity, and

increased revenue. In this presentation some of these topics will be explored.

Keywords: Finite Element Analysis, virtual prototyping, design optimisation,

failure analysis.

32


Ms Maeve O’ Grady

The Role of Affective Equality in Community Education Department of Adult & Continuing Education


Abstract: Community education is a field of adult education that overlaps with the field of

community development. It aims to engage the most excluded of groups in a process

that builds self-confidence and community activism. It is inspired by Paulo Freire‘s

(1970) analysis that education is always political: it either results in learners fitting

into the social and political system (domestication), or becoming able to change it

(liberation).

Other research exists about the processes essential to liberatory education that are

common to popular education globally (Walters and Manicom 1996, Connolly 2008),

and current research in Ireland (Bailey 2011) is concerned with identifying the

outcomes of community education for participants. This research is concerned

mainly with identifying habitus changes (Bourdieu 2001) in participants, the

dispositional shifts that are preconditions for active participation in wider society, or

what Lynch describes as solidarity work (Lynch et al 2009). Bourdieu takes a very

pessimistic view of the forces of domination and subordination in culture, especially

those based on gender, and claims that habitus cannot be shifted by cognitive

approaches.

The research asks the question: to what extent a learning culture enables a learner

gain and practice a greater sense of agency. Does a women-only culture have any

effect on participants? Using the methodology of institutional ethnography,

fieldwork was carried out for a period of six weeks in a community education

organization. A major finding is the extent to which participants speak in terms of

feelings. This contrasts with formal education‘s privileging of cognitive

developmental processes. Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger and Tarule‘s (1997) Women‘s

Ways of Knowing identify five major perspectives on knowing: Silence, Received

Knowledge, Subjective Knowledge, Procedural Knowledge, and Constructed

Knowledge (Belenky et al 1997 p.15). (The final stage is similar to that identified by

William Perry‘s (1970) study of undergraduate learners).


33


The women involved in the organisation‘s programmes show movement, or a shift in

habitus, from the Silent stage to that of Subjective Knowing. Participants‘ talk of

feelings does not mean that this is therapeutic education, as warned against by

Ecclestone and Hayes (2009): it is however an indicator that participation is having

a therapeutic effect, especially on their perceptions of themselves as learners. Their

relationship to knowledge and knowing is changing.

The concept of Nurturing Capital (Lynch et al 2009) explains the relationship

between receiving sufficient nurturing care and the ability to develop the self,

connect with others, and work in solidarity with others. Affective equality means

that the role of feelings and care should be seen as a vital element in adult education

and development work generally.

Keywords: Institutional ethnography, habitus, field of practice, community

education.

References:

1. Bailey, N. (2011) More than just a course – researching DES funded community education, Dublin AONTAS.

2. Belenky, M.F., Clinchy, B., Goldberger,N., Tarule, J. (1997)Women’s Ways of Knowing: the development of self, voice and mind, 10th edition, Basic Books.

3. Pierre Bourdieu (2001) Masculine Domination, Cambridge, Polity Press.

4. Connolly, B. (2008) Adult Learning in Groups, Maidenhead, Open University Press.

5. Ecclestone, K. and Hayes, D. (2009) The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education, London, Routledge.

6. Freire, P. (1970)Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Harmondsworth, Penguin.

7. Lynch, K., Baker, J. and Lyons, M. (2009) Affective Equality: Love, Care and Injustice,

Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.

8. Walters, S. and Manicom, L. (1996) (eds) Gender in Popular Education: methods for empowerment, London, Zed Books.

34


Ms Corinne Power O’Mahony, Dr. Felicity Kelliher and Ms Margaret Skelly

Making sense of learning from experience: Facilitating reflective practice

in an undergraduate work placement programme Department of Management and Organisation


Abstract:

There is growing interest in how students ‗learn‘ from actual experience and how

this learning can be combined with curriculum learning to help develop reflective

skills in graduates (Cunliffe, 2004; Francis and Cowen, 2008; Olsson et al., 2008).

While work placement programmes are now commonplace in business degree

programmes (Ayman et al., 2003; Elmuti, 2004; Hess, 2007; Starkey and Tempest,

2005), educators have struggled with how reflective skill enhancement can be

achieved among undergraduates partaking in such programmes, and how practice-

theory links can be strengthened when a student is in an experiential learning

mode. This paper explores the concept of the learning moment in an undergraduate

placement programme. For the purposes of this paper, the learning moment is

defined as that moment where students ―make sense of learning from experience‖

(Freisner and Hart, 2005: 118).

The paper begins by examining the literature relating to individual skills required in

the reflective process, including log production, which can help students to identify

and conceptualise the learning moment in context. It goes on to discuss

undergraduate challenges when identifying and expressing learning moments in an

experiential learning cycle. The authors adopt an action research methodology, and

observe student placements in their capacity as programme leader and academic

faculty members. The programme discussed in this paper forms part of a ‗flexible

term‘ carried out in the third year of a four year honours business degree

programme.

The observed students are placed in either a teaching role or a community-based

work environment as part of the ‗flexible term‘, and are supported by an educational

programme completed in parallel with the student placement.

Each student maintains a reflective log for the duration of the programme which

have been assessed by the authors based on pre-established criteria relating to the

experiential learning process (Kolb, 1976, 1984), providing insight into the learning

moment in context.


35


Presentation to a general audience:

We will outline the recorded results relating to this action research study and will

offer our key reflections and recommendations in relation to reflective skill

enhancement in undergraduate placement programmes, based on our multi-year

experience observing this programme in action.

Keywords: Applied Learning, Education, Reflective practice.

36


Dr Joseph O’Mahony,

Environmental Nanotechnology - Energy harvesting and sensor

technologies Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

The Nanotechnology Research Group at WIT provides interdisciplinary research

opportunities for Engineering and Science graduates. Focusing on key areas of

activity the group blends expertise in Chemical and Life Sciences with expertise in

Engineering and Physics to develop novel solar harvesting and sensor technologies.

Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) plays a key part in the daily activities of the

research group. While the group possesses some commercial SPM instruments

much effort goes into the in-house design and fabrication of customised instruments

for nanoscale characterisation. This presentation will outline to a general audience

an overview of our activities with a particular emphasis on environmental

nanotechnology. The talk will highlight some of our research into low cost

mechanical sensors for environmental monitoring and demonstrate the potential

sensitivity of these sensors. More sophisticated label free biosensor technologies will

be discussed, these technologies range from sophisticated molecular counting

methods to the detection of the extraordinary optical transmission of light through

nanosized apertures. Finally the talk will conclude with a discussion of photovoltaic

energy harvesting technologies with an emphasis on printable solar technologies and

the potential for solar energy in Ireland.


37


Mr Liam O’Shea and Mr Tom Wemyss

Nano-Positioning Research in WIT Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

Nano-positioning is a significant challenge that is the subject of research at both

national and international levels. While the positioning of an instrument at

nanometre accuracy is feasible, and there are several commercial nanopositioning

‗stages‘ available, the tracing of a 3-D contour, with nanometre precision, presents a

considerable engineering challenge. This presentation describes a series of related

projects designed to lead to the construction of a laboratory instrument to achieve

this.

Nano-positioning has been a focus of substantial work within the AMT group in WIT

in recent years. Two recent projects focused on in-process automation of

measurement. One designed a quality measurement system, while the other

established a measurement and control system for the manufacture of ball-bearings.

These projects were undertaken with industrial partners and established a

knowledge base and range of skills in the area of in-process measurement and

control. This work was followed by a project in the implementation and operational

valuation of a high-precision measurement-centred control system for a high volume

manufacturer, which was completed in 2010. Parallel to these projects a PhD

student has progressed work in the area of positioning with nanometre resolution in

a noisy environment.

At this point the factors influencing the functionality of a nano-positioning

instrument have been investigated, the instrument has been designed and the key

core components have been fabricated. The next stage of this work focuses on the

construction and calibration of a nano-positioning instrument, which can trace a

contour in three dimensions.

Several challenges are anticipated, including the ‗straightforward‘ challenges of

precision placement and alignment of the component parts of the instrument. It is

also expected that constructing the instrument will reveal difficulties associated

with mechanical construction of nano-precision instruments. Error management,

limiting the impact of environmental factors and control are also issues which will

need to be managed.


38


Completing this work will facilitate further nano-positioning work such as: its

application to ‗micro-gripping‘ in the AMT group‘s flexible manufacturing and

assembly system; its application to aspects of related AMT research, such as sensor

positioning in microfluidics slides; micro- and nano-positioning applications within

industry, and further complex nano-positioning challenges.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, nano-positioning, control.

39


Dr J. Martín Serrano

Management of Monitoring Services in the Cloud

Telecommunications Software & Systems Group

Email:[email protected]

Abstract:

Cloud computing has become a prominent and at the same time promising business

area leading to the further specialization and proliferation of the ICT market. The

major activity in cloud computing is focused in the design of software solutions

supporting multiple services with the minimum investment in infrastructure. At the

outset, it offers reduced cost of operation for the clients when a shared infrastructure

can make statistical gains in regard of resource utilization. Furthermore cloud

computing offers capabilities for better adaptation to changing business and IT

operations following strategic objectives, and it could even have the prospect of

providing improved features when it comes to resilience and robustness of the

performance of applications.

An emerging alternative to solve cloud computing decision control, from a

management perspective is the use of formal languages as a tool for information

exchange between the diverse data and information systems participating in cloud

service provisioning. These formal languages rely on an inference plane [1][2]. By

using semantic decision support, and enriched monitoring information management

decision support is enabled and facilitated. As a result of using semantics a more

complete control of service management operations can be offered, hence a more

integrated management, which responds to business objectives. This semantically-

enabled decision support gives better control in the management of resources,

devices, networks, systems and services, thereby promoting the management of the

cloud with formal information models [3].

We are addressing the needs to manage the cloud when policies are being used as

the mechanism to represent and contain Description Logic (DL) to operate

operational rules. For example, the SWRL language [4][5] can be used to formalize a

policy language to build up a collection of model representations with the necessary

semantic richness and formalisms to represent and integrate the heterogeneous

information present in cloud management operations. This approach relies on the

fact that high level infrastructure representations do not use resources when they

are not being required to support or deploy services [6][7]. Thus with high-level

instructions the cloud infrastructure can be managed in a more dynamic and optimal

way.

40


We can identify several cloud usage patterns [8] based on bandwidth, storage, and

server instances over time. Constant usage over time is typical for internal

applications with small variations in usage. Cyclic internal loads are typical for

batch and data processing of internal data.

Highly predictable cyclic external loads are characteristic of web servers such as

news, sports, whereas spiked external loads are seen on web pages with suddenly

popular content (c.f. ―slashdotted‖). Spiked internal load are characteristic of

internal one-time data processing and analysis, while steady growth over time is

seen on startup web pages.

The cloud paradigm enables applications to scale-up and scale-down on demand, and

to more easily adapt to the usage patterns as outlined above. Depending on a

number or type of requests, the application can change its configuration to satisfy

given service criteria and at the same time optimise resource utilisation and reduce

the costs. Similarly clients - which can run on a cloud as well - can reconfigure

themselves based on application availability and service levels required.

We address on-demand scalability and scalability prediction of a service by

computing a performance model of the architecture as a composition of performance

models of individual components. Exact component‘s performance modelling is very

difficult to achieve since it depends on a various variables such as available memory,

CPU, system bus speed, and caches. Instead of exact performance model we use an

estimated model calculated from monitoring data.

In this talk we address a number of research challenges for cloud computing. It is

not intended to be an exhaustive list of research challenges in this emerging area,

but rather to introduce important issues with respect to improving cloud

management, and which we aim to investigate as part of the SFI FAME project.

Figure 1 depicts these trends based on well identified cloud demands [9].

41


Figure1. Summary of challenges in Cloud Computing

REFERENCES

[1] Strassner, J., Ó Foghlú, M., Donnelly, W. Agoulmine, N. “Beyond the Knowledge Plane: An Inference

Plane to Support the Next Generation Internet”, IEEE GIIS 2007, 2-6 July, 2007.

[2] Serrano, J.M. Strassner, J. and ÓFoghlú, M. “A Formal Approach for the Inference Plane Supporting

Integrated Management.

Tasks in the Future Internet“ 1st IFIP/IEEE ManFI International Workshop, In conjunction with 11th

IFIP/IEEE IM2009, 1-5 June 2009, at Long Island, NY, USA.

[3] Blumenthal, M., Clark, D. “Rethinking the design of the Internet: the end to end arguments vs. the

brave new world”, ACM Transactions on Internet Technology, Vol. 1, No. 1, Aug. 2001.

[4] Bijan, P. et al. ”Cautiously Approaching SWRL”. 2006

http://www.mindswap.org/papers/CautiousSWRL.pdf.

[5] Mei, J., Boley, H. "Interpreting SWRL Rules in RDF Graphs". Electronic Notes in Theoretical

Computer Science (Elsevier) (151): 53–69. 2006.

[6] Neiger, G., Santoni, A., Leung, F., Rodgers D. and Uhlig, R.. “Intel Virtualization Technology:

Software-only virtualization with the IA-32 and Itanium architectures”, Intel Technology Journal, Volume

10 Issue 03, August 2006.

[7] Cisco, VMWare. “DMZ Virtualization using VMware vSphere 4 and the Cisco Nexus” 2009

www.vmware.com/files/pdf/dmz-vsphere-nexus-wp.pdf.

[8] Host your web site in the cloud, Jeff Barr, Sitepoint, 2010, ISBN 978-0-9805768-3-2.

[9] The Real Meaning of Cloud Security Revealed, Online access Monday, May 04, 2009.

http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2009/05/04/the-real-meaning-of-cloud-security-

revealed.aspx.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/dmz-vsphere-nexus-wp.pdf

http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2009/05/04/the-real-meaning-of-cloud-security-revealed.aspx

http://devcentral.f5.com/weblogs/macvittie/archive/2009/05/04/the-real-meaning-of-cloud-security-revealed.aspx

42


Student Abstracts

43


Mr Victor Adebayo

Inward foreign direct investments as catalysts for growth in developing

countries: an empirical study Department of Management and Organisation


Abstract: Over the last three decades there has been an exponential growth and an

increasingly competitive market for global foreign direct investments (FDI). Global

FDI net inflows have continued to rise consistently since the late 1970s. Current

projections estimate that FDI inflows will increase to $1.5 trillion in 2011 and $2

trillion in 2012 (UNCTAD WIR Report 2010).

Although most of the global FDI goes to the developed economies, mainly the triad of

Japan, the European Union and the United States of America, FDI levels to

developing countries especially Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) have increased since the

early 1980s. Between 2000 and 2008, FDI to SSA have increased nine fold ―from $9.7

billion to $87 billion: (UNCTAD WIR Report various editions)‖. Many developing

countries have incorporated inward FDI as a vital component in their strategy for

economic growth. Indeed, most SSA African countries have in recent times made

attempts to improve their business climate to attract FDI, but there are still factors

that continue to inhibit inward FDI such as political instability, poor macro-

economic environments and a low level of human capital development.

There have been several studies done on the effects of FDI on the host country, most

of the empirical research does not differentiate between developed and developing

countries (Borensztein et al 1998; Olofsdotter, 1998; de-Mello, 1999; Carkovic and

Levine, 2002; Chloe, 2003; Bengoa and Sanchez-Robles, 2003) leading to incorrect

inferences being drawn( B. Blonigen and M.Wang, 2004).

This study will examine if there is causality between FDI carried out in developing

countries and economic growth. An empirical study of 12 SSA developing countries-

specifically in SSA countries using comparable measures of institutional, economic

and political milieu will be undertaken. The effects of FDI on SSA is under

researched , this study will contribute to our understanding and explanation of the

impact of FDI on economic growth in developing countries in the context of SSA

countries.


44


As is standard in FDI-growth literature, the dependent variable will be the average

annual GDP growth rate. Data will be sourced from UNCTAD World Investment

Reports (various editions), World Bank data, World development indicators, IMF

and the individual country‘s‘ national statistics body. The number of countries

selected for this study, and the variables that were chosen for the regression were

determined by data availability and based on the fact that most of FDI inflows into

SSA are largely concentrated in these countries.

This study will be of interest to policy makers especially in developing countries in

their efforts to attract foreign direct investments. It will also be of interest to

multinational corporations in the formulation and implementation of market entry

strategies to developing countries.

Keywords: Foreign direct investment, developing countries, economic growth.

45


Mr Bernard Butler

A framework to measure server performance when evaluating access

control policies in ICT systems Telecommunications Software & Systems Group


Abstract:

Access control is an essential part of a secure ICT system. It protects the privacy,

confidentiality and integrity of data stored on or transferred between ICT systems.

Defining access control policies, and designing the infrastructure to support these

policies, is non-trivial. The problem is compounded by the drive toward ever more

fine-grained access control requirements, resulting in more complex policies that

need to be evaluated for each access request. Researchers have recently turned their

attention to the access control performance as this is a growing problem. This in

turn has drawn attention to deep questions over how to represent and reason over

complex rule bases; this is a rich area for study.

As rationale, we note that major suppliers of hardware and software that provides

and depends upon access control (such as Cisco) approached TSSG and requested

asked us to study the problem and share our recommendations with them.

Our chosen methodology is to build a software testbed in which to perform

experiments. That is, in our experiments most of the likely factors influencing

performance are controlled and can be varied singly or in groups as needed. Our

experiments are also repeatable so the results can be verified by others, and can be

included in larger studies because the experimental conditions are known explicitly.

The key to achieving these objectives is that we have built a generalised

environment in which specific software components, policies, request profiles, etc.,

can be inserted. The software components participating in the experiments are

insulated from the generic environment by adapter components that ensure

experimental conditions are not biased in favour of particular components.

Our experiments have compared two open source Policy Decision Points (PDPs) and

measured timings show marked differences in their behaviour. The best known has

quite variable performance – some access requests take much longer to decide than

others. The alternative has much reduced variability and generally more favourable

performance characteristics.


46


We ran simulations based on these service time measurements and discovered that

the less well-known alternative has higher effective throughput. Thus performance

prediction, in limited circumstances, is possible.

Our results to date have been encouraging and have led to two papers being

accepted for conferences. Our next steps are to gain greater control of more factors,

and thereby to implement more comprehensive and realistic domain models to make

stronger performance predictions and hence derive recommendations for better PDP

performance.

Keywords: Access control, Policy evaluation, Server performance.

47


Mr Stefan Gabriel Buzoianu, M.C. Walsh, G.E. Gardiner, M.C. Rea, R.P. Ross

and P.G. Lawlor

Effect of feeding genetically modified Bt (MON810) maize to pigs from 12

days post-weaning for 110 days on serum and urine biochemistry Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract:

Perceived health risks are among the main reasons for low acceptability of

genetically modified (GM) feed ingredients. The aim of this study was to evaluate

the effect of feeding GM maize to pigs from 12 d post-weaning to slaughter for 110

days on health as assessed by serum and urine biochemistry. Seventy-two entire

male pigs (10.7 ± 1.9 kg live weight) were blocked by weight and litter and randomly

assigned to one of four treatments (d 0); T1- non-GM maize (nGMm) in diet to d 110;

T2- GM maize (GMm) in diet to d 110; T3- nGMm in diet for 30 d followed by GMm

to d 110; T4- GMm in diet for 30 d followed by nGMm to d 110. Serum collected on d

0, 30, 60, 100 and 110 (n=10/trt) was analysed for liver and kidney health indicators

(alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), γ-glutamyl

transferase, alkaline phosphatase, total protein (TP), urea (SU) and creatinine (SC).

Creatinine and protein were measured in urine collected on d 110 to further assess

kidney health. Urine data were analyzed as a one-factor ANOVA using the GLM

procedure of SAS. For all other parameters, data were analyzed as repeated

measures with the MIXED procedure of SAS with baseline (d 0) values included as a

covariate in the model. For serum biochemistry, d 0 values were used as a covariate

in the model. On d 30, SU was lower for T3 compared to T1, T2 and T4 (2.9 vs 3.9,

4.7 and 4.2 mmol/L, respectively; SEM=0.37; P=0.03). On d 110, there was a higher

concentration of SC in pigs fed T3 and T4 compared to T1 and T2 (181.5 and 177.6 vs

163.9 and 155.9 µmol/L; SEM=5.63; P=0.001). Serum TP was lower on d 110 in pigs

fed T4 compared to T1, T2 and T3 (57 vs 60.5, 59.3, 61.1 g/L; SEM=1.62; P=0.02). On

d 110, serum AST tended to be lower in pigs fed T2 compared to T1 (37.2 vs 53.5

U/L; SEM=4.01; P=0.06). Although statistically significant differences were found,

values remained within the normal ranges for pigs of similar age and weight. No

parameter was consistently affected throughout the study; therefore changes

detected are unlikely to be of clinical importance. This study shows no adverse

effects of feeding Bt GMm to pigs between weaning and slaughter on serum or urine

biochemistry and should help to assure consumers as to the safety of Bt maize.

Keywords: Genetically modified, pigs, health, clinical biochemistry.


48


Mr Brian Caffrey

An investigation into human-centred peer-support education systems

through ICT and new media for students with Specific Learning Difficulties Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics


Abstract:

Often referred to as a Learning Disability or Disorder, Specific Learning Difficulties

(SLD) are ‗a diverse group of conditions that cause significant difficulties in

perceiving, processing and/or producing auditory, visual and/or spatial information.‘

(TCD, 2010) An SLD is not an intellectual or general learning difficulty: students

with SLDs are of average or higher intelligence that are prevented from performing

to the full extent of their capabilities by conditions outside of their control. The

conditions cover a wide range of issues, such as Dyslexia and the Autism Spectrum

Disorders. People living with SLDs tend to suffer from related stigma, both self- and

externally-generated. In an information-heavy setting, students with SLDs are at a

natural disadvantage, academically, technically and professionally. With the drive to

create a knowledge-based economy and the growth of social media, these students

are at risk of being left even further behind.

The overall research objective then is the development of actionable education

frameworks, self-sustaining peer-support networks and independent learning

strategies through ICT for students with SLDs and similar non-traditional third

level populations. Since priority must at all times remain on furthering the growth

of the students rather than the hardware or software, the most effective recourse in

working towards joint optimisation of both individual performance and system usage

would be to follow the approach and principles of socio-technical systems. This will

be examined through the domains of integration, communication and imagination,

operating initially on a social and academic level, but with a view to moving towards

applied and professional expression of same. In addition to the enhancement of

academic performance, the research aims to aid in the development of student

familiarity and proficiency with ICT, reduce the stigma of SLDs, and promote their

resilience and retention. While designed with Third Level and Adult Education

institutes in mind, it also bears the potential to be adapted for Second Level

Education.

As this research is ongoing at present, final results and findings are pending.

Keywords: ICT, SLD Peer-Support Networks.


49


Ms Katie Cagney

Continuity and Change: narratives from inside modern Irish families Department of Applied Arts


Abstract: This research focuses on families in modern Ireland. Families are becoming

increasingly diverse, and family forms have changed dramatically recently, there are

significant increases in the number of separated and blended families (Fahey 2010)

While there has been a number of quantitative studies on childhood recently,

(National Longitudinal Study of Children 2009, Barnardos 2007), there has been

little in- depth sociological enquiry about what it feels like to spend time in a family

(Corsaro 1997). Family represents a constructed quality of human interaction or an

active process rather than an object of detached social investigation (Morgan, 1999).

This qualitative study explores what life is like in Irish families today and places

special emphasis on listening to the voices of children in the family. This inclusion of

children‘s voices in the research process recognises current trends in sociology to

‗rediscover‘ childhood (Corsaro 1998). Within the new sociology of childhood, children

are seen as competent social actors able to contribute their views to the research

(Green and Hogan 2005). Joint story telling is an important part of the culture of

each family, it is how families organise their experiences and make them

meaningful. This study, therefore, explores which aspects of spending time together

are most significant for families and how families spend time together and what

spaces they use; sitting around the kitchen table or chatting while commuting (Urry

2007) Furthermore one of the main aims of the research is to discover whether

certain rituals and routines are unique to each family, or share common themes with

other families (Fiese 2006). Twelve families were interviewed, forty five participants

in total both children and adults. Sensitive ethical considerations about interviewing

children were considered, and all children were interviewed with their consent and

their guardian‘s consent. Each family was interviewed together in their own homes.

This naturalistic setting facilitated the construction of family stories by the

participants, a key focus of this research. The interviews were recorded and

transcribed with the families‘ consent and these transcripts are currently being

analysed. It is anticipated that this study will make an important contribution to the

development of family policy and professional practice in the area of children and

families. In addition emergent themes of time spent together in families will be

useful in socio political debates concerning the rights of children and work life

balance debates in Irish social and working society.

Keywords: Sociology of the family, routines, time, space, narrative.


50


Mr Shibo Cai and Dr Joseph O’ Mahony

Low cost sensor based on the Quartz Tuning Fork Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

The quartz crystal tuning fork shows great potential as a mechanical mass sensor.

Recent work demonstrated that a change in resonance frequency could be used to

measure mass changes in the low nanogramme range [1,2]. This method of mass

detection relied on the use of sophisticated electronics and lock-in detection

techniques to determine changes in resonance frequency following loading of the fork

with polystyrene beads. This poster will outline a novel approach to mass detection

that circumvents the requirement for sensitive and expensive electronics to produce

a truly low cost method of mass sensing. In principle the fork can be connected in a

self oscillating circuit such that the fork will oscillate at its resonance frequency.

Breaking the feedback in the self oscillating circuit allows the recording of the

damping coefficient of the tuning fork. The applications of Fourier techniques allow

the resonance frequency to be determined. The method provides a direct low cost

measurement of the changes in quality factor and resonance frequency. We will

present early stage results from this work and will discuss how the technique may

be used to fabricate low cost sensors for biomedical and environmental application

through the integration of molecularly imprinted media with the arms of the tuning

fork.

References:

[1] Xiaodi Su, Changchun Dai, Jian Zhang, Sean J. O‘Shea, Quartz Tuning Fork

Biosensor, Biosensors and Bioelectrics 17 (2002) 111 -117.

[2] Hugh Butler, Joseph O‘Mahony, the development of Quartz Crystal Tuning

Fork Nanosensors.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, Quartz Tuning Fork, Sensor.


51


Mr Raymond Carroll

Application of Genetic Algorithm to Maximise Clean Energy usage for Data

Centres Telecommunications Software & Systems Group


Abstract:

Following the huge growth in usage over the last 10 years, the Internet has become

a critical business and social tool. In the future however, this popularity will

continue to rise, with the Internet evolving into a full scale distributed service

platform, offering a plethora of services from communications to business,

entertainment and much more. These services will be more dynamic and

sophisticated providing a range of complex capabilities. However, this dynamic

service environment will lead to overwhelming management problems if not dealt

with adequately. At the same time, society is now acutely aware of the significant

energy burden the communications industry is becoming. The data centres housing

these services are seeing their energy consumption increase proportionally, now

leading researchers to actively search for solutions to improve the energy efficiency

of data centres.

With these two trends in mind we propose a biologically-inspired service framework

that supports services intelligently solving a number of management problems. In

particular we use this framework to address the new, emerging problem of a

sustainable future internet. We propose a green solution that makes data centres

and services prioritise the usage of clean, renewable energy sources. The solution

allows data centres to share information regarding renewable energy and cooling, in

order to exploit variance between different countries energy and temperature

profiles by moving services between data centres. We then employ an evolutionary

genetic-algorithm to find the optimal placement of these services on the data centres

in terms of maximising renewable energy usage.

Keywords: Biologically Inspired Mechanisms, Service Management, Green IT.


52


Ms Tracey Coady

Biotransformations using nitrile hydrolysing enzymes for stereoselective

organic synthesis Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract:

Pharmaceutical research and manufacturing is increasingly turning to biotechnology

for new efficient routes to complex targets. Biocatalysis is rapidly evolving in organic

synthesis, the historic backbone of the pharmaceutical industry, offering advantages

for green technology and stereoselective control. Ireland is a major player in the

global pharmaceutical industry and Government policy is to grow

pharma/biopharma RandD to protect the sector. Research in this area will generate

novel green technology with key industrial applications and industrial

collaborations.

Nitriles and carboxylic acids are widely used as intermediates in the fine chemical

industry due to their versatility of transformations. Biotransformation of nitriles,

either through a direct conversion from a nitrile to a carboxylic acid catalysed by a

nitrilase or through the nitrile hydratase catalysed hydration of a nitrile followed by

the amide hydrolysis catalysed by the amidase, have become the effective and

environmentally benign methods for the production of carboxylic acids and their amide

derivatives (2).

NHase amidaseCH

CN

R

X Racemate

COOH

R

X (S)-Acid

X

CONH2

R

(R)-Amide

Nitrilase

This lead to the following research questions:

1. Do any of the available novel bacterial isolates possess interesting

biocatalytic activity.

2. Can the bacterial isolates be used for the production of enantiomerically pure

pharmaceutical actives and intermediates.


53


The 256 nitrile-metabolising bacterial isolates within the PMBRC were isolated and

studied for different streams of work. The initial work in the laboratory ensured that

fresh, working cultures and duplicate archives stocks of all isolates were generated

and maintained to serve the duration of this project. The isolates were grown in rich

medium (LB broth) and stored in duplicate, using microtitre-based high-throughput

growth techniques. The bacterial isolates were first subjected to toxicity studies with

the nitriles of interest. By attempting to grow the different isolates in rich medium

in the presence of the relevant nitrile, any isolates that are sensitive to the nitrile

and cannot grow in its presence can be determined. The biocatalytic activities of the

isolate library were then tested with a selection of pharmaceutically important

nitriles as detailed below: 3-hydroxyglutaronitrile, 3-hydroxybutyronitrile and 3-

hydroxy-3-phenylpropionitrile as these enantiopure -hydroxycarboxylic acids and

their derivatives are important precursors for the synthesis of natural products and

pharmaceuticals (for example: - hydroxycarboxylic esters may be to prepare

intermediates of β-lactam antibiotics).

Currently work is underway to develop methods by which the biotransformation

may be monitored using a range of various techniques, including high performance

liquid chromatography (HPLC) to monitor the conversion from nitrile to acid, chiral

HPLC to measure enantioselectivity, gas chromatography to measure those

substrates which may not be monitored by ultraviolet detectors. Following screening

for conversion and enantioselectivity, the substrates will be modified by the addition

of substituents to enhance enantioselectivity.

Keywords: Green.

54


Mr Padraig Cullen

A method for producing atomically sharp force sensors for use in a novel

photoconductive atomic force microscope Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

The motivation behind this project is to design, manufacture and test a novel atomic

force microscope (AFM). In doing so I hope to achieve a multifunctional instrument

which will aid in the development, production and testing of organic photovoltaic

solar cells (OPVs). The novel AFM is required to operate in AFM, STM (scanning

tunnelling microscope) and photoconductive AFM mode (pcAFM). Traditionally

efficiency measurements of OPVs were based on macroscopic area measurements

however these measurements cannot be truly related to the nano-scale properties of

the device. Crosstalk between the sample illumination source and the laser feedback

system used in traditional AFM can make experimentation difficult resulting in

inaccurate results and frequent tip crashes.

A Quartz Crystal tuning fork equipped with an atomically sharp gold tip will act as

the force sensor within the novel AFM. Tuning forks are used as they have an

extremely high quality factor, they are mass produced for use in wrist watches

which make them extremely cheap and they can be electrically driven to oscillate at

their resonant frequency. When the oscillating tuning fork and tip assembly

approaches the sample under test, surface forces acting on the tip modify the

resonance frequency of the tuning fork. Control of the tip sample distance as the tip

is scanned across the sample surface maintains the oscillation of the tuning fork.

Recording of the tip sample distance control signal provides a map of the underlying

surface. The sensitivity and resolution of the AFM will depend on the properties of

the tip attached to the tuning fork. Producing atomically sharp tips is an extremely

difficult process, more specifically the transfer of the etched tip to the tuning fork.

To over-come this problem a variation of the ―Double Lamelle Drop-off Technique‖

[1] of tip etching has been developed. This method allows the electrochemical etching

of 20 micron gold wire attached in parallel to one of the tines of the tuning fork. In

this method the gold wire which extends beyond the tine of the fork is passed

through a platinum ring and a drop of CaCl electrolyte solution is added to form a

meniscus around the ring producing an electrolytic cell, a current is applied and

etching commences.


55


Preliminary testing confirms the production of reasonably sharp tips with a

relatively small mass which was unobtainable using previous methods. This is

largely attributed to the elimination of human interaction with the tip post etching.

AC and DC etching of the gold wire can be optimised to provide atomically sharp

probes for AFM measurements.

This poster will provide an early stage assessment of the new technique for high

quality tip etching.

References:

M. Kulawik, M. Nowicki, G. Thielsch, L. Cramer, Review of scientific Instruments, Vol 74 Num

2 1027-1030.

56


Mr Niall Donnelly

Integration of OpenCL and OpenMPI to Provide Distributed

Supercomputing Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics


Abstract: Moore's Law defines that the number of transistors on a processor increases every

18 months. Increased application performance resulted from increasing the number

of transistors on the chip and increasing the clock frequency. Sequential code would

execute faster without any changes to code design. The failure of processor

manufacturers to increase clock frequency has led to the emergence of lower clocked

chips with multiple identical processing cores. Parallel programming is now required

to realise increased application performance in future. This issue of multi-core

processing has evolved with emergence of new heterogeneous processing

architectures. Architectures such as graphics processing units (GPUs from different

vendors), IBM Cell Broadband Engine (CBE) etc. implement non-standard

programming models, requiring specialised algorithm development in order to gain

efficiency. This creates challenges in terms of software portability, optimisation and

maintainability. The Open Compute Language (OpenCL) specification was

introduced by Khronos with the aim of addressing this problem. OpenCL defines a

single programming model that can be implemented on any device supporting the

specification. Devices that support the OpenCL specification implement separate

compilers for OpenCL that optimise for their respective architecture.

Parallel programming models can be used to implement computational patterns.

Examples of computational patterns include structured/unstructured grids for

approximating solutions to differential equations arising from the study of natural

phenomena (fluid flow, structural analysis, heat transfer etc.), state machines to

model the interaction of complex systems, graph traversal algorithms to search for

optimal paths in graphs etc.

The focus of this research is to examine the implementation of computational

patterns on heterogeneous processing architectures using OpenCL. Relative device

performance characteristics, including memory, clock speed and OpenCL specific

characteristics will be examined to develop performance metrics for a device. The

aim is to use the performance metrics of the devices as a basis to develop an

optimisation algorithm. This algorithm has the aim of efficiently distributing the

workload related to the computational pattern involved. A programmer will be able

to define a problem using computational patterns and execute it on a number of

heterogeneous processing architectures.


57


Mr Ahmed ElMesiry and Dr Dmitri Botvich

Maintaining User Privacy in Location Aware Mobile Services Telecommunications Software & Systems Group


Abstract:

Mobile contexts of use vary a lot, and may even be continuously changing during

use. The context is much more than location, but it difficult to identify. Location

information is becoming an integral part of different mobile devices. Current mobile

services can be enhanced with location-aware features, thus providing the user with

a smooth transition towards context-aware services. Services on mobile devices have

large potential due to the very personal and intimate nature of the devices and high

targeting possibilities. Potential application fields can be found in areas such as

travel information, shopping, entertainment, taxi services and advertising. Most of

the service providers (sellers) consider location aware technology a high yield

revenue stream.

One major concern about consumers‘ adoption with these new services lies in privacy

concerns of the users of these services. In most cases, the privacy issues prevent

people from fully embracing these services. Location disclosure due to insider

attacks at the service provider side is a privacy concern for most of the consumers,

where an employee of the service provider compromises the confidentiality and

integrity of the collected data. A Common requirement for privacy aware consumers

is to detect nearby services without revealing their private position. Existing

solutions for this problem rely primarily upon the use of heavily cryptography

protocols, and as a consequence more computing resources are required (e.g.

processing power and bandwidth).

In this poster, we investigate the privacy issues faced by people in sharing their

location information on location aware mobile services (LAMS). We propose an

approach for protecting privacy in location LAMS, the proposed approach provides a

secure data collection schema that sanitizes the data prior to transmission to LAMS.

By adjusting only two parameters, the user is able to choose to increase resources

consumption efficiency or privacy level. This sanitization schema allows the user to

make sure that the data do not leave his/her system until it is properly secured. We

build a prototype for this approach and discuss parameters influences. We run

experiments to test the efficiency of our approach and present the impact of

parameters variations.

Keywords: Privacy; Databases.


58


Mr Laurence Fitzhenry, Dr Panagiotis Manesiotis, Dr Patrick Duggan and

Dr Peter McLoughlin

Synthetic Molecular Receptors for Steroid Sensing and Release Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract:

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are materials that contain sites or cavities,

which are receptive to a specific molecule or group of molecules. This recognitive

ability is designed into the polymer by the preparation of the polymer in the

presence of the target molecule.

Corticosteroids are pharmaceutically relevant compounds and the focus of this

research is the development of polymeric materials capable of selectively recognising

and differentiating between a range of structurally similar corticosteroids using the

technology of molecular imprinting. These polymers are to be employed as sensing

platforms, such as a quartz crystal microbalance, where they could selectively sense

the steroids in complex biological matrices or drug delivery platforms where the

materials could be used to enhance the targeting and release profiles of the steroids.

To this end, a number of functional polymers have been synthesised in two different

formats, bulk monolith and polymeric microspheres. Microspherical particles have a

range of advantages over bulk material, including ease of synthesis, control of

particle size and mass transfer. These polymers have been synthesised in a range of

solvents and using a number of monomers. A high degree of control has been

obtained for the synthesis of microspheres with sizes between 1-10 µm achieved.

Both bulk and microspherical polymers have been tested using High Performance

Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and have been shown to selectively recognise

steroids in aqueous solutions.

Keywords: Functional polymers, drug release, sensors.


59


Ms Margaret Fitzpatrick

Deconstructing the Knowledge Concept for Knowledge Transfer Efficiency Department of Management and Organisation


Abstract: A dominant theme that continuously appears to emerge from knowledge literature is

that, knowledge transfer must occur ―frictionlessly‖, hence the importance of

identifying major factors affecting knowledge transfer efficiency. Although

knowledge transfer has received considerable attention in recent years (Lubit, 2001)

and the major determinants affecting its efficiency have been identified (Pérez-

Nordtvedt et al, 2008), knowledge transfer is still proving problematic (Szulanski,

1996; Kwan and Cheung, 2006).

Historically, knowledge is either explicit or tacit (Connell et al, 2003), and the

literature suggests methods for transferring both types (Kwan and Cheung, 2006).

It is widely agreed that explicit knowledge is relatively easy to transfer, as it is

codified, while its counterpart tacit knowledge remains problematic to transfer

(Lubit, 2001; Stenmark, 2001; Haldin-Herrgard, 2004). For Styhre (2004), the core

of the issue is that tacit knowledge holds too many meanings as it is used as an

umbrella term to describe all types of non-codified knowledge; consequently it is ill-

defined and there is no consensus on its characteristics (Howells, 1996; Castillo,

2002; Haldin-Herrgard, 2004: Meyer and Sugiyama, 2007). There is emerging

recognition that knowledge is not polarised, as proponents of the category view of

this dichotomy believe, instead various types of knowledge exist along a graded

continuum which has explicit and tacit extremes (Kogut and Zander, 1992; Leonard

and Sensiper, 1998; Jasimuddin et al, 2005). Simply stated, an organisation needs

to identify the types of knowledge it possess before it can choose an appropriate

method of transfer (Haider, 2009). However few studies have investigated the

different types of knowledge that exist along the continuum. A rich typology of

knowledge would be beneficial in clarifying the knowledge concept (Johnson et al,

2002) and it would allow for the development of more appropriate knowledge

transfer methods, and this is the core objective of this research.

Therefore, the purpose of his study is to deconstruct the knowledge concept into

specific categories and to identify the most efficient knowledge transfer mechanism.

A synthesis of knowledge and knowledge transfer literatures is utilised in order to

investigate this studies overarching research objective.


60


Due to the significant gap in academic knowledge on this study‘s focus and the

leveraging of the aforementioned research streams, it is perceived that this study

will make a significant contribution to extant knowledge on achieving frictionless

knowledge transfer.

References:

Castillo J. (2002), “A Note on the Concept of Tacit Knowledge”, Journal of Management Inquiry,

Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 46-59.

Connell, N.A.D., Klein, J.H. and Powell, P.L. (2003), “It’s Tacit Knowledge But Not As We

Know It: Redirecting The Search For Knowledge”, Journal of Operation Research In Society, Vol

54, pp. 140-152.

Haldin-Herrgard, T. (2004), “Diving Under the Surface of Tacit Knowledge” Proceedings of the

5th European Conference on Organisational Knowledge, Learning and Capabilities, 2-3 April, pp.

1-21.

Haider, S. (2009), “The Organizational Knowledge Iceberg: An Empirical Investigation”,

Knowledge and Process Management, Vol 16, Iss. 2, pp. 74-84.

Howells, J. (1996), “Tacit Knowledge, Innovation and Technology Transfer”, Technology

Analysis and Strategic Management, Vol. 8, Iss. 2, pp. 91-106.

Jasimuddin, S.M., Klein, J.H. and Connell, C. (2005), “The Paradox of Using Tacit and Explicit

Knowledge Strategies to Face Dilemmas”, Management Decision, Vol. 43, Iss. 1, pp. 102-113.

Johnson, B., Lorenz, E., Lundvall, Bengt-Ǻke (2002), “Why All This Fuss About Codified and

Tacit Knowledge?”, Industrial and Corporate Change, Vol. 11, Iss. 2, pp. 245-262.

Kogurt, B. and Zander, U. (1992), “Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the

Replication of Technology”, Organization Science, Vol. 3, Iss. 3, pp. 383-396.

Kwan, M.M. and Cheung, P.K. (2006), “The Knowledge Transfer Process: From Field Studies to

Technology Development”, Journal of Database Management, Vol. 17, Iss. 1, pp. 16-33.

Leonard, D. and Sensiper, S. (1998), “The Role of Tacit Knowledge in Group Innovation”,

Californian Management Review, Vol. 40, Iss. 3, pp. 112-133.

Lubit, R. (2001), “Tacit Knowledge and Knowledge Management: The Keys to Sustainable

Competitive Advantage”, Organisational Dynamics, Vol. 29, Iss. 4, pp. 164 – 178.

Meyer, B. and Sugiyama, K. (2007), “The Concept of Knowledge in KM: A Dimension Model”,

Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 17.

Pérez-Nordtvedt, L., Kedia, B.L., Datta, D.K. and Rasheed, A.A. (2008) “Effectiveness and

Efficency of Cross-Border Knowledge transfer: An Empirical Investigation”, Journal of

Management Studies, Vol.45, Iss. 4, pp. 714- 744.

Stenmark, D. (2000; 2001), “Leveraging Tacit Organisational Knowledge”, Journal of

Management and Information Systems, Vol. 17, Iss. 3, pp. 9 – 23.

Styhre, A. (2004), “Rethinking Knowledge: A Bergsonian Critique of the Notion of Tacit

Knowledge”, British Journal of Management, Vol. 15, pp. 177-188.

Szulanski, G. (1996), “Exploring Internal Stickiness: Impediments to the Transfer of Best

Practice Within the Firm”, Strategic Management Journal, Vol. 17, Winter Special Issue, pp. 27-

43.

61


Ms Deirdre Fleming

Towards a framework of understanding restoring actions during the

stages of dissolution in inter-organisational relationships Department of Management and Organisation


Abstract:

The majority of inter-organisational research attention has focussed on the positives

of developing successful relationships and not on the negatives of managing them,

resulting in less attention on conceptual development and empirical evidence related

to problematic relationships facing dissolution (Holmlund and Hobbs, 2009). Indeed

the marketing literature on dissolving relationships appears disjointed with

separate studies focussing on the reasons why relationships end (Keaveney, 1995;

Perrien; Paradis and Richard, 1995) or on the processes of dissolution (Ping and

Dwyer, 1992; Halinen and Tahtinen, 2002) or on the strategies for disengagement

(Alajoutisjarvi, Moller and Tahtinen, 2000; Giller and Matear, 2001) but with scant

attention to the restoration of a relationship once it has entered the dissolving stage

(Salo, Tahtinen and Ulkuniemi, 2009; Tahtinen and Vaaland, 2006). The few studies

that exist have focused on the process of recovery (Salo et al., 2009; Tahtinen et al.

2007) or on the analysis of the attenuating factors influencing recovery (see Vaaland

and Tahtinen, 2003; Tahtinen and Vaaland, 2006), yet they have not linked recovery

actions to each stage of the dissolution process.

It is our argument that dissolution is a process rather than a single decision and

repair can occur at any stage, although it may have different objectives at different

parts of that process (Duck, 1984). Moreover, the restoration process cannot progress

if either party is confused regarding the reasons for breakdown (Halinen and

Tahtinen, 2002; Tahtinen et al., 2007). Similarly, the actions and reactions of

individuals affect the outcome of the process (Hirshman, 1970; Rusbult, 1982) by

either pushing the relationship towards dissolution or attempting to repair it.

Using a qualitative methodology through the use of multiple case studies, the

overarching aim of this study is to create an integrated framework of restoring

actions during each stage of the dissolution process but also including the factors

leading to dissolution and the responses to dissatisfaction. In pursuit of this aim this

research will involve the analysis and exploration of the actions and reactions of

individuals in order to gain a complete understanding of the total process.


62


This research attempts to close a significant gap in the literature concerning

relationship recovery by developing a holistic view of the process which has not been

undertaken to date. The study will make a theoretical contribution to the literature

thereby extending research on recovering inter-organisational relationships.

Relationship dissolution represents a huge loss both financially and psychologically

for firms.

If relationships are in disorder they run the risk of lost development and growth and

ultimately sustainability. From a managerial perspective, it is necessary to

understand the reasons how relationships can become dysfunctional and in turn

what strategies can be used to restore them. A greater understanding could help to

rebuild or maintain the relationship as a whole or in the development of future

relationships.

Keywords: Business Relationships, Dissolution, Restoration.

63


Mr John Flynn

Development of a wind energy prediction tool Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract: Wind is a bountiful source of energy, especially in Ireland. Some of the highest winds

in Europe are consistently in and around Ireland, especially in western regions.

However, wind is also extremely variable in amplitude, ranging (at any given height)

from 0 to as much as 25 metres/second. As the power in the wind has a cubic

relationship with wind speed, even minor speed fluctuations can result in significant

power variations.

The Irish national demand for electrical power is itself also variable, varying by time

of day, day in the week, time of year and weather. The amount of electrical power

generated whether from wind or conventional fossil fuels must always meet the

national demand, if electrical blackouts are to be avoided. Incorporating the volatile

source of electrical power from wind is therefore quite a challenge, a challenge that

will increase over the next nine years, as the amount of electrical power from wind is

expected to increase about fourfold from the present figures. The ability to predict

the likely wind strength is essential, especially if possible by several hours in

advance. Such advance warning allows for conventional power plants to prepare to

increase or decrease output, or, as seems likely to be at least part of the ultimate

solution in nine years time, to plan the release of stored energy (or vice versa the

storage of energy) from pumped storage facilities.

This work reports on the development of a wind prediction model, based on actual

wind data gathered over 18 months here in Waterford. The is statistically data

analysed to confirm correct measurement performance and presented in the (for

wind) conventional form of the Weibull distribution as well as monthly box plots to

confirm site specific mean, median and outlier wind velocities. The direction

information is presented in the form of a wind rose. The data is voluminous with

36,000 data points per sensor per annum (there are 4 sensors in this case and, as

mentioned earlier, 18 months of data.

The initial analysis is also useful in terms of analysing available energy for the site,

but of little value in calculating future wind values. A model is presented of a

temporal analysis of wind data so that future wind values may be predicted with

definable confidence levels.


64


The eventual computer realisation of the model is presented using the R statistical

programming language. R was chosen as it easily permits the statistical analysis of

the wind data, without discarding the time element associated with each reading.

Keywords: Wind renewable energy, Wind prediction.

65


Mr Pearse Flynn

The role of intrinsic residual stresses in the wear performance of PVD tool

coatings Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

Physical Vapour Deposition (PVD) provides a convenient method to deposit hard

wear resistant coatings onto tooling surfaces. The use of (Ti,Al)N coatings as mono

or multilayered structures has increased significantly in recent times. When a

coating is deposited onto a tool at elevated temperatures and cooled to room

temperature, the thermal expansion mismatch between coating and the tool

substrate results in thermal residual stresses.

Residual stress can be defined as ―the stress remaining inside a component or

structure once all externally applied forces have been removed‖. There are many

types of residual stresses some of which are beneficial to the normal operating

component conditions others can be detrimental. Excessively high compressive

stresses may result in de-lamination or de-cohesion of the thin PVD coating,

particularly at sharp edges resulting in the deterioration in wear resistance at

critical locations. Typical residual stress levels are on the order of 1-3GPa for a PVD

ceramic coating on a metal substrate.

Further stresses arise due to the growth of the thin film on the substrate and are

normally called intrinsic growth stresses. These are mainly due to the controllable

coating parameters used in depositing the coating or due to chemical reactions and

phase transformations occurring during the process.

The poster will introduce the issue of intrinsic growth stresses and outline the

controllable coating parameters that can be adjusted to alleviate these stresses.

Early stage X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) results will be presented to show the effects of

coating parameters on the development of intrinsic stresses in the coating. The

possibility to mitigate these stresses using stress relieving operations such as Argon

ion bombardment with bias voltages up to 200V will be discussed. Determining the

most effective point to apply this stress mediating technique is important in

developing high quality wear resistant coatings. The Argon ion impact must be

controlled so as not to detrimentally alter or contaminate coating chemistry.

Keywords: Thin film properties, Material Science.


66


Mr Korbinian Frank, Dr Matthias Roeckl and Dr Tom Pfeifer

Optimizing Dynamic Composition of Bayesian Networks for Context

Sensing and Inference Telecommunications Software & Systems Group


Abstract:

Breaking Bayesian Networks (BNs) for context inference from sensor networks into

Bayeslets is a proven approach for optimising performance in resource constraint

ubiquitous computing environments. Context inference with Bayesian Networks

faces the challenge that the related costs (inference time, memory consumption)

grow exponentially with the number of components, as it is NP hard. To minimise

evaluation time, the BN to be evaluated has to be minimised. Automatic selection

and composition of relevant Bayeslets would allow for this. Therefore, this research

investigates optimisation approaches which evaluate the added value of using a

particular Bayeslet versus its cost.

To decide whether to connect two (or more) Bayeslets, the utility of the additional

information has to be determined and compared to the costs of the connection, which

gives us a Net Expected Utility. In utility theory the term utility is defined by the

value a piece of information provides to the system. Evidently, this value strongly

depends on the usage of the information. The utility of an additional piece of

evidence can be quantified by the difference between the utility with the additional

evidence and without the additional evidence.

This work proposes two different utility functions: a probability‐based utility

function based on logarithmic growth would be equivalent to Shannon‘s Mutual

Information; a decision‐based utility function that maximizes the expected utility of

possible actions is equivalent to the Value of Information (VoI). Mutual Information

has to be normalised and the costs for integration have to be subtracted, so that the

candidates for the decision criterion are the Net Normalized Mutual Information

(NetNI) and the Net Value of Information, NetVoI. NetVoI takes into account all

available information at request time, is therefore advantageous over NetNI.

However the design of the utility function to reduce uncertainty in the target

random variable of the Bayeslet is challenging.

Keywords: Context Awareness; Inference; Bayesian Networks.


67


Mr Leigh Griffin, Mr Eamonn de Leastar and Dr Dmitri Botvich

Engineering a Scalable Group Management Component for Open Federated

Social Networking Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics


Abstract:

Group communication offers a means for resource sharing and collaboration, often

delivered through diverse technologies. One of the technologies, Instant Messaging,

traditionally took the role of a facilitating service within such communities. Driven

by a flexible XML based protocol, XMPP, instant messaging has developed

functionality to a point where it can be considered a standalone group

communication medium. The nature of the protocol allows for server to server

federation, paving the way for the development of an open-source federated social

network. End user control over the privacy and visibility of data within their social

network can be a reality. The core protocol itself contains the building blocks to

bring about this paradigm shift, but the scalability, particularly in relation to group

formation and the consumption of media based services, has yet to be achieved. This

work presents a change of design philosophy, opting to embrace asynchronous or

―non-blocking I/O‖ techniques, as a potential solution to the scalability issue.

Marrying this technique to a component based approach, allowing for the

abstraction of the group management capabilities from the core protocol, a scalable

solution is possible. The initial scalability tests show startling results and are

presented here for consideration.

Keywords: Group Communication; Group Management; XMPP; Instant Messaging;

Services.


68


Ms Katie Hamm

Designing and analysing tourism service systems - bridging the gap

between front and backstage activities Department of Management and Organisation


Abstract: Continuous growth in services has led to the development of innumerable models

and constructs measuring different facets of service systems and map processes

(Shostack, 1987; Parasuraman et al., 1988; Cronin and Taylor, 1992; Cai, Chung, Su,

2008; Spraragen and Chan, 2008). However, the models that exist provide only a

partial view of the whole service system and tend to ignore the interconnectivity

between back and front stage activities (Teboul, 2006; Kim and Kim, 2001). Indeed,

a substantial body of the existing theory has focused solely on front stage activities,

contributing to the domineering front stage mindset among tourism practitioners

(Teboul, 2006). Traditional concepts focus on the determination of quality at

customer touch points and discount the importance and support of the backstage

activities (Teboul, 2006; Kim and Kim, 2001).

Theory suggests that if practitioners can effectively and efficiently design their

service systems by bridging front and back stages, maximum system performance is

achieved (Glushko, 2009; Waring and Bishop, 2010). However, effective integration

of front and back stage activities remains a central dilemma for most tourism firms.

Drawing from the theory of Waring and Bishop (2010) and Glushko and Tabas,

(2009), difficulty stems from opposing characteristics intrinsic to the front and back

stages. These divergent characteristics can stimulate conflicts within the system

(Isaccs and Walendowski, 2001; Glushko and Tabas, 2008/2009). Without research

that delves into ways to effectively bridge the front and the back stages for

practitioners, conflicts will remain and service systems will not be operate to their

full potential.

Although numerous authors have acknowledged the benefits of bridging front and

back stage activities, scant research attention has been given to the issue (Glushko,

2009; Waring and Bishop, 2010).This significant gap in the literature has serious

consequences for practitioners as it causes them to view their service system as a

group of unrelated events, rather than a constellation of processes (Bitner et al.,

2008). Therefore benefits of service design will not materialise in practice.

Essentially this represents a ‗green field‘ for academic research.


69


Therefore the purpose of this poster is to conceptualise the current literature to

develop a holistic service design model that integrates back and front stage

activities. Due to the scarcity of research, it is perceived that our ongoing study will

contribute substantially not only to academia but also to practice in that it will allow

tourism operators to optimally deploy service processes and practices through a

systematic, critical and comprehensive examination of a systems process. The poster

will also highlight key areas warranting investigation going forward.

Keywords: Service systems, blueprinting, service design.

References

Bitner, M.J., Ostrom, A. L., Morgan, F. N. (2008), ―Service Blue printing: A Practical

Technique for Service Innovation‖ California Management Review pp.1-24.

Cai, H., Chung, J.Y., Su, H. (2008), ―Relooking at services science and services

innovation‖, SOCA, Vol.2 No.1-14.

Cronin J.J. and Taylor S.A. (1992),‖Managing Service Quality: A Re-examination

and Extension‖, The Journal of Marketing, Vol.56, No.3 pp.55-68.

Glushko, R.J, (2008) ―Designing a service science discipline‖, IBM Systems Journal,

Vol.47, no.1, pp.15-28.

Glushko, R.J, (2009), "Designing Information- Intensive Service Systems", Frontiers

in Service Conference 2009- Honolulu 2009.

Glushko, R.J., Tabas, L., (2009) ―Designing service systems by bridging the ―front

stage‖ and the ―back stage,‖ Information Systems E-Business Management, Vol:7

pp.407-27.

Goffman, E. (1959) ―The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life”, Garden City, NY:

Doubleday Anchor.

Isaccs, E., Walendowski, A. (2001)‖Designing from both Sides of the Screen,‖ Sams

Publishing: Canada.

Kim, H.W., and Kim, Y.G. (2001),‖Rationalizing the customer service process‖,

Business Process Management, Vol.7 No.2. pp.139-156.

Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A., Berry, L.L. (1988),‖SERVQUAL: A Multiple- Item

Scale for Measuring Consumer Perceptions of Service Quality‖, Journal of Retailing,

Vol.64, No.1 pp.12-40.

Shostack, G. L., (1984) ―Designing Services That Deliver‖, Harvard Business Review

No.84115.

Spraragen, S., Chan, C. (2008) ―Service Blueprinting: When Customer Satisfaction

Numbers Are Not Enough.‖ International DMI Education Conference. Design

Thinking: New Challenges for Designers, Managers and Organizations.

Teboul, J. (2006) ―Service is front stage: Positioning services for value advantage‖

Palgrave Macmillan: New York.

Waring, J.J., Bishop, S., (2010) ―Water cooler learning- Knowledge sharing at the

backstage and its contribution to patient safety‖, Journal of health Organization and

management, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 325-342.

70


Ms Clare Hayes

The Amalgamation of Acute Psychiatric Services in the South-East of

Ireland: A Retrospective study Department of Nursing


Abstract:

The study aims to explore organisational issues, which are associated with the

amalgamation of two acute psychiatric services in the South-East of Ireland.

Following a thorough investigation of the literature surrounding service mergers,

organisational issues emerge as a prominent concern. Services have engaged in

domestic and international mergers over the last few years in order to match the

macroeconomic trends operating worldwide and more recently to cope with the

current global financial crisis. The national Government policy document A Vision

for Change (2006) highlights the importance of closing all psychiatric institutions, in

an effort to enhance a community-based model of care, modernisation of mental

health infrastructure, thus reducing stigma for service users. Therefore, considering

acute psychiatric services will continue to amalgamate in the near future, complying

with the policy guidelines, organisational issues remain a priority in order to achieve

successful and efficient service mergers.

In the event of organisation amalgamations not being carried out effectively, the

Irish health care system will suffer serious consequences in relation to improvement

of care for service users and in terms of financial value. Thus it is now evident that

finance alone will not improve the system; rather a concentrated effort must be

made in order to ensure a responsive and efficient service (Downey-Ennis and

Harrington 2002). This study would target healthcare leaders planning organisation

amalgamations and those embarking on a smaller-scale integration of services. In

addition, there are very few ―how-to‖ guides for successful organisation mergers in

the national and international literature. Therefore, this study would aim to be of

benefit to leaders, by sharing the experiences of the Waterford/Wexford mental

health service.

A case study design will be applied to best meet the requirements of the research.

The study will purposively target and recruit individuals, who have dealt with the

Waterford and Wexford amalgamation process to date. Both cases being Waterford

and Wexford will be interviewed using a semi-structured framework to gain an in-

depth understanding of the organisational issues, which have affected the merger

process.


71


Collectively, the data gathered will address the research objectives of the study as

well as contribute to the conclusions drawn from the study. Finally, the Miles and

Huberman (1984) approach to data analysis will be employed, drawing conclusions

on the organisational issues surrounding the merger process within the specified

mental health setting.

Keywords: Organisational Issues, Psychiatric Service, Amalgamation, Mergers,

Policy, Organisational Change, Organisational Culture.

72


Ms Aoife Hennessy and Dr Paul Barry

A MIMO calculation involving Narayana triangles and Riordan arrays Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics


Abstract:

Here we look at the mathematics of one application in the area of MIMO (multiple

input, multiple output) wireless communication through the combinatorics of

Riordan arrays.

Due to the ever increasing popularity of wireless communications and the increased

desire for efficient use of bandwidth, MIMO systems have become an important

research area over the past 10 years as MIMO (multi-input multi-output) channels

offer an increase in capacity compared to single - input single output channels.

We use combinatorial techniques to calculate the MIMO channel capacity. The

techniques involve Riordan arrays and the Narayana numbers. We will briefly

introduce Riordan arrays and the Narayana numbers before finally applying them in

a combinatorial evaluation of the capacity of a MIMO channel.

Keywords: A study of Integer sequences, Riordan arrays and orthogonal

polynomials.


73


Mr Stepan Ivanov, Dr Dmitri Botvich and Dr Sasitharan

Balasubramaniam

Joint throughput and packet loss probability analysis of IEEE 802.11

networks Telecommunications Software & Systems Group


Abstract:

In the recent years a growth of popularity of wireless networks has been observed.

Different studies propose using such networks to provide transmissions of data

between users, audio and video conferences. Many of such applications are sensitive

to quality of service (QoS) provided by the underlying network. However, a problem

of providing service of guaranteed quality has not been solved yet for wireless

networks. In this work QoS is considered in terms of probability for an average

packet sent through the network to be delayed more then a certain predefined

timeout. This probability is called as ``packet drop probability'' as it is presumed

that transmitting of all such packets is cancelled by the upper layers. Also QoS is

considered in terms of throughput. Thus, QoS is defined as a set of requirements,

where each node requests a connection capable of providing a certain predefined

throughput, while the connection's packet drop probability does not exceed a certain

threshold. Usually wireless networks operate according to IEEE 802.11, which

specifies protocols of physical and MAC layers.

A number of different studies have been conducted on performance of IEEE 802.11

wireless networks. However, questions of QoS control in such networks have not

received sufficient attention from the research community. This work considers

modelling of QoS of IEEE 802.11 networks defined in terms of throughput

requirements and packet loss probability limitations. Random Walk model for

packet delay is proposed. This model allows investigating influence of sizes of

packets being transmitted through the network on the QoS. Extensive simulations

confirm results obtained from the mathematical model. The study shows that

despite throughput growth, increasing size of packets sent through the network may

lead to QoS degradation in terms of packet drop probability. Thus, the study

suggests a trade-off between throughput increasing and packet drop probability

degradation to be considered in order to achieve the best possible performance.

Keywords: Computer science; wireless communications.


74


Ms Anne Marie Ivers

How does a Network influence Market Orientation Capability? Department of Management and Organisation


Abstract: Market orientation is a critical capability (Hooley et al., 1999), which reflects the

ability of the organisation to understand and respond to the needs of the market

(Kohli and Jaworski, 1990) and is primarily concerned with three core elements:

intelligence generation, intelligence dissemination and responsiveness (Kohli and

Jaworski, 1990). Surprisingly, while market orientation is dependent on market

information, the network context for the construct has been relatively ignored in the

literature. There has been some examination of networked market orientation

between firms (Elg, 2002) and more recently individual market orientation within

the firm (Lam, Krans and Ahearne, 2010), but the network as a mechanism for

market orientation has been relatively ignored. This study bridges the network and

market orientation literatures in order to provide more insight into the construct of

market orientation.

While it is intuitive to consider the effect of networks on the development and

efficacy of market orientation, as access to the market insights underpinning market

orientation (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990) depends on external linkages, there have

been very few studies examining the network context (Ritter, 2006). This study is set

within a commercialisation context from the perspective of spin-out companies

within an academic network, with the key research question aiming to investigate

the influence of the university and academic network on market orientation

capability in Irish academic spin-off companies. Studies linking organisational

capabilities and academic spin-offs are rare (Walter, Auer and Ritter, 2006). A

mixed method explanatory design is adopted (Cresswell, 2003) which incorporates a

two phase approach. Phase one involved a national survey of marketing in Irish

academic spin-out companies and Phase two, which is currently underway, involves

an in-depth case study with the aim of understanding the network influence on

market orientation. Upon completion of the study, it is envisaged that the researcher

will advise on the optimum academic network context for fostering market

orientation in academic spin out companies.

Keywords: Market Orientation, Network Management, Academic Spin-out

companies.


75


Ms Anita Kealy

IS Implementation and Key Success Factors in Large Scale Telemedicine

Projects in Post-conflict Regions: A Grounded Theory Case Study in Kosovo Department of Computing, Mathematics and Physics


Abstract:

Are post conflict situations uniquely different: Are success factors in complex, large

scale IT projects influenced by the post-conflict situation itself in post conflict

regions?

This research is a grounded theory case study of a selected case organisation.

Information Systems (IS) research in developing regions is limited, and even more so

in post-conflict developing regions. IS in post-conflict, developing regions adds

technical and behavioural issues such as infrastructure, education, funding, and

local political instability to a complicated process. From the limited research, it has

been found that success in implementation in these regions is mixed.

Grounded theory and the single case study research approach are well established

research approaches in Information Systems research (Matavire and Brown, 2008).

Grounded theory is the generation of theory from data obtained during a study, this

data can be obtained through interview, questionnaire, observation, documentation,

images etc. The researcher goes into their chosen field and collects data, until no

new information can be generated from the data (Robson, 2002; Glaser and Strauss,

1967; Strauss and Corbin, 1998). This grounded theory case study is conducted using

interview, images, video and documentation.

This study investigates an organisation which successfully implemented a large

scale telemedicine project. The telemedicine project in Kosovo is a means of

providing basic medical care and medical education to a region which is severely

under resourced. Due to the conflict in the region there was a ten year gap in

Doctors education. The facilities provided by telemedicine, such as teleconferencing

facilities, an e-library, individual units in doctors‘ surgery to consult with each other

through video link, attempts to address these issues.

What emerges from this study are a number of factors which influence the success of

the project: Conflict, Telemed Centre as an Object, External Influences, Local

Politics, Motivation for Telemed Workers, Motivation for Doctors and Leadership,

with Conflict suggested as a major factor. This has implications for understanding

IS Implementation in post-conflict, developing regions.


76


Keywords: Developing Region, Information Systems, Post Conflict, Telemedicine.

References:

Glaser, B. And Strauss, A. (1967) The Discovery of Grounded Theory. Aldine:

Chicago.

Matavire, R. and Brown, I. (2008) ―Investigating the use of "Grounded Theory" in

information systems research‖, Proceedings of the 2008 annual research conference

of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists

on IT research in developing countries: riding the wave of technology, p.139-147,

October 06-08, 2008, Wilderness, South Africa.

Robson, C. (2002) Real World Research. Blackwell: Oxford.

Strauss, A. And Corbin, J. (1998) Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and

Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. 2nd Ed. Sage: Thousand Oaks,

California.

77


Mr Arthur Kearney

Managerial innovation: a study of managerial capability for innovation in

tourism micro firms Department of Management and Organisation


Abstract:

The recent economic crisis has led to search at government level, among policy

makers and in businesses, for new strategies and innovations that might underpin

economic recovery and stimulate growth. In an Irish context it is widely argued that

tourism and small to medium enterprises will act as an engine for economic recovery

(IBEC, 2011; Innovation Ireland, 2010; CSO, 2008). Within these sectors micro

enterprises play an important role (Shaw and Williams, 2004). They account for

almost ninety percent of small to medium size enterprises in Ireland (OECD, 2000)

and over ninety percent of all Irish tourism businesses (Reinl, 2008). The academic

literature on tourism and small business research highlights both the urgent need

for strategic innovation and yet the challenges this poses for firms and their

management ((Aldebert et al. 2010; Hjalager, 2010; Shaw and Williams, 2009;

McAdam et al. 2007).

Business innovation has, historically, been widely researched across academic

disciplines. In more recent times there has been increasing interest in the

managerial processes involved in such innovation (Tidd et al. 2005; Krause, 2004).

In particular the impact of management as seen through the concepts of leadership,

inter organisational networks, creativity, and entrepreneurship have been linked to

improved management capability to innovate. Contemporaneously it has been

argued that managers and employees possess their own, often distinct, theories of

innovation (Salaman and Storey, 2002, Barnett and Storey, 2000; Zwick, 2002).

However a review of literature has shown little in the way of the development of an

integrated theory of management capability for innovation in a tourism context.

Specifically writers suggest that the managerial role in strategic innovation emerges

in different ways. Strategic innovation is argued to develop through entrepreneurial

behaviour (Sundbo et al. 2007); networking (Larson, 2009; Novelli et al. 2006;

knowledge management (Shaw and Williams, 2009; Cooper, 2006) and leadership

(Hu et al. 2009).

Generic theories of innovation are criticised for failing to account for the unique

characteristics of both the tourism industry and the small to medium enterprise

sector (Sundbo et al. 2007; McAdam et al. 2007; Scozzi et al. 2005).


78


These sectors face unique management challenges and, for this reason, offer an

opportunity both to contribute to a developing field of academic knowledge but also

to offer improved contextual knowledge to industry practitioners.

The proposed research aims to investigate if and how tourism micro firms engage

with creativity in their management capability. It will seek to evaluate the

capability of managers to innovate within the context of the micro firm and to

develop an integrative model for managerial innovation within the sector. It is

anticipated this will enable such firms to benchmark and improve their managerial

capability.

The study will use a qualitative methodology. Qualitative research will be

undertaken with managers within the micro firm sector enabling the collection of

rich data and in depth analysis. The method of in-depth interviews with managers

who act as key informants will be used, enabling investigation of the narratives

underlying managerial theories of innovation (Salaman and Storey, 2009; 2002).

It is anticipated the findings will have both academic, practitioner and policy

implications. A gap in the scholarly literature regarding what constitutes

managerial innovation and how this concept is manifest in the micro firm sector of

the tourism industry will thus be addressed. Equally the findings will have

important policy and practical implications including offering guidance on how

managerial innovation may enable the sector to contribute to economic development;

contributing to the development of tourism management learning programmes and

enabling linkages to be made between government policies in the area of innovation

and the knowledge economy and the specific potential of the tourism small to

medium enterprise sector.

Keywords: Innovation Management Tourism Micro-firm.

79


Ms Maeve Kennealy, Dr Peadar Lawlor and Dr Eleanor Owens

Development of a novel solid biofuel – using solid pig manure Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract: In Ireland, the expansion of biofuel production has steadily increased over the past

couple of decades. This increase has come about due to the almost near depletion of

fossil fuels. Most biofuels are also carbon neutral and release less green house gases

during combustion than fossil fuels. Additionally, many substances which were once

considered wastes are now being successfully converted into useful biofuels (e.g.

combustion of municipal solid waste to produce electricity). One such waste in

abundant supply is animal manure. It has been utilised as a direct fuel for centuries

and is still being used in third world countries today.

The preferred method of disposing of pig manure in Ireland is to land-spread it for

its fertiliser value. The Nitrates directive (SI 610 2010), and the gradual end to the

transitional arrangements for the application of phosphorus from pig manure means

that increased areas of suitable land are required for land spreading. Pig manure

has been used to create heat and energy by way of anaerobic digestion. However, the

use of manure as a solid fuel is in the initial stages of investigation. Mixing pig

manure and a high carbon content biomass may produce a novel solid biofuel which

could be comparable in value to other existing biofuels.

The solid fraction from separated pig manure (SRM) was composted neat and with

various biomass addendums - sawdust, woodchip, green waste and straw.

Composting the SRM should result in a reduction in moisture content as well as

promote the mixing of the SRM and the biomass addendum. Various mixtures were

composted for 56 days. The effects of this composting process on the chemical

composition of the samples will help determine the suitability of the samples as a

biofuel. The following parameters were determined: moisture, ash, gross calorific

value (GCV), net calorific value, pH, ash forming, corrosive and toxic elements.

During composting the ratio of inorganic/organic species altered, leading to an

increase in percentage ash and subsequently a decrease in GCV. The chemical

analysis from the composting experiments showed that a SRM and sawdust sample

with 6-8 hours composting time had the most suitable chemical analysis for a

biofuel. However, an allied study found that 3-7 days composting was required for

removal of microbiological pathogens.


80


GCV was determined to have a similar range to other existing biofuels, e.g. woodchip

– 18-20 MJ/kg. Initial elemental studies have shown that the samples contained

higher amounts of all the metals (K, Na, P, Fe, Cu, Cr and Cd) in comparison to the

CEN/TS 14961:2005 solid biofuels – fuel specification and classes. Further elemental

analysis of Al, Ca, Mg, Mn and Zn is being conducted. The main problem

encountered during analysis was a high ash content in the SRM containing biofuels.

Analysis of samples varying in C/N ratios is underway in an attempt to produce a

product with similar characteristics to traditional biofuels, potentially resulting in

reduced ash content.

Keywords: Biofuel, pig manure, renewable energy.

81


Ms Lisa Kirwan, Mr Barry Lambe and Dr Paula Carroll

Using a community based physical activity (PA) programme as a strategy

to engage vulnerable men to improve their health and wellbeing Department of Health Sport and Exercise Science


Abstract:

The health status of men is closely linked to economic opportunity in society and

those in the lowest socio-economic group carry the disproportionate burden of ill

health and are also less likely to participate in physical activity. In Ireland, only

48% of men engage in some form of regular PA with only 40% meeting recommended

guidelines. Therefore, PA initiatives need to be tailored specifically for vulnerable

men. An 18-week PA programme was developed as one part of a community-based

strategy to improve the health of vulnerable men. The EQ-5D Euroqol Quality of

Life and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (short version) were

administered at baseline, 6 weeks and 6 months. Qualitative observations (week 9

and 16) and interviews with both the participants (n=5) and the facilitator (week 19)

were also used to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme and the impact it had

on men‘s health.

There was no significant difference in total physical activity volume (MET–

minutes/week) and time spent sitting (P>0.05). However, there was an increase in

the mean EQ VAS (visual analogue scale) quality of life rating across the three time

points, from 61.4 at pre-intervention to 78.9 at six weeks and 81.1 at six months.

Men experienced many benefits from participation such as increasing their social

network, reducing isolation, losing weight and positive changes in their family‘s

lifestyle behaviours. Key elements that contributed to the success of the programme

included; removing all cost barriers, avoiding excessive assessments, a tangible and

structured programme, allowing time for social interaction, providing an experienced

instructor, participation of project workers, setting goals as a group and facilitating

regular feedback on the structure of the programme. Despite this, participants did

not have ownership of the programme and this threatened the long term

sustainability of the programme.

This investigation suggests that tailoring PA programmes specifically to the needs of

vulnerable men can be effective in improving their quality of life. Similar projects

should aim to empower participants by involving them in the organisation, planning

and delivery of the programme.

Keywords: Men‘s Health/Community Development.


82


Ms Maria Luz Prieto, L. O’Sullivan, S.P. Tan, P. Duggan, P. McLoughlin, H.

Hughes, P.G. Lawlor and G.E. Gardiner

Antibacterial activity of marine bacteria isolated from seaweeds, sand and

seawater Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract:

Due to the emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, there is a demand for new

antibacterial agents. Seaweed surfaces are colonised by diverse microbial

communities, which play a role in inhibition of predators and biofouling. Therefore,

seaweed-associated bacteria could potentially be exploited as a source of novel

antibacterial compounds. The objective of this study was to examine antibacterial

activity of culturable epiphytic (surface-attached) bacteria from a range of Irish

seaweeds, as well as bacteria from sand and seawater. Samples were plated on a

range of culture media and spore-forming bacteria, known for the production of

antibacterial compounds, were isolated by heating samples to 80 ºC for 15 min prior

to plating.

Initially, more than 6,000 colonies isolated from seven seaweeds, one seawater

sample and one sand sample, were screened for antibacterial activity against

Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, Listeria innocua, Bacillus subtilis and

Staphylococcus aureus using an agar overlay method. Nineteen isolates with

antibacterial activity against at least one of these indicator bacteria were isolated

and their activity was confirmed against a range of pathogenic and non-pathogenic

bacteria. All antibacterial-producing bacteria were identified as Bacillus spp. by 16S

rRNA gene sequencing, confirming the genus as an antibacterial producer. The

antibacterial compounds are currently being characterised and data demonstrating

sensitivity to proteolytic enzymes indicate that some are likely to be bacteriocins,

ribosomally synthesised antibacterial peptides. Additional studies examining heat

stability of the antibacterial compounds revealed that some retain activity following

heating to 121°C for 15 min. Overall, this study demonstrates that bacteria isolated

from seaweeds produce compounds with promising antibacterial activity against

pathogens, such as methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA), E. coli and Salmonella.

Future work will involve additional characterisation and identification of the

antibacterial compounds produced by the marine bacteria.

Keywords: Seaweed, antibacterial compounds, marine.


83


Ms Gemma McCarthy, Dr Peadar G. Lawlor, Dr Monsterrat Gutierrez and

Dr Gillian E. Gardiner

Removal of Salmonella and indicator micro-organisms in integrated

constructed wetlands treating agricultural wastewater Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the removal of pathogenic and indicator

micro-organisms in integrated constructed wetland (ICW) systems treating

agricultural wastewater. Nine ICW‘s treating piggery (3) or dairy (6) wastewater

were sampled and indicator micro-organisms were enumerated in the influent as

well as the effluent from the first, mid- and final cells. The presence/absence of

Salmonella was also determined and any Salmonella isolates recovered were

characterized. Mean counts of coliform, E. coli and Enterococcus across all nine ICW

systems were lower in the final effluent than in the effluent from Cell 1 (P<0.001).

An antibiotic susceptible isolate of Salmonella Dublin, a bovine-adapted serotype,

was isolated from the influent to one dairy ICW but was not detected in any of the

ICW cells. An antibiotic sensitive Salmonella Dublin isolate with the same

molecular fingerprint was also recovered from the Cell 1 effluent of another dairy

ICW but was absent from the influent and the mid-cell and final effluents.

Salmonella Typhimurium DT104b was detected in the liquid fraction of

anaerobically digested pig manure as well as in the effluent from the first cell and

mid-cell of an ICW treating this material, but was absent in the final effluent.

Molecular fingerprinting by pulsed field gel electrophoresis demonstrated that the

recovered isolates were highly related. However, they had different antimicrobial

resistance profiles, with some highly resistant isolates recovered. In conclusion,

counts of indicator micro-organisms were reduced significantly within ICW, with E.

coli and Enterococcus non-detectable in the final effluent. Moreover, Salmonella,

when present in the influent, was effectively removed.

Keywords: Manure, pathogens, composting, wastewater, integrated constructed

wetlands.


84


Mr Christopher McAuliffe

Richard Henebry (1863-1916): ‘The Forgotten Voice’ Department of Creative and Performing Arts


Abstract: Richard Henebry (1863-1916): ‗The Forgotten Voice‘

Richard Henebry was born in 1863 and pursued a commendable career in the study

and restoration of the Gaelic language. His involvement in the Gaelic revival

aroused his interest in recording Irish traditional music. As a traditional fiddler

himself, he was more than qualified to collect and comment on it. He was the first in

Ireland to collect sound samples ‗in the field‘, using an Edison Phonograph.

Henebry was not content to simply record the existence of the music, he also

analysed it in a new and scientific method. He examined his ‗field‘ recordings using

the latest audio and tonometric methods and technology. He also wrote two books,

Irish Music (1903), and A Handbook on Irish Music (1928). Because of his expertise

in phonology, he used some methods of phonological analysis to examine the music,

thus creating a completely new and novel approach to musicology. Although

Richard Henebry was widely respected by his contemporaries as a Gaelic scholar

and musician, he is largely forgotten today as a music collector and analyst.

The proposed poster will give an overview of the project and methodology. The

project aims to gain a detailed knowledge of the life and times of Richard Henebry

and an understanding of his motivation for collecting Irish music. In addition, it

intends to explore the nature of Irish music in Ireland at the beginning of the

twentieth century, to identify Henebry‘s sources and to gain an understanding of

Henebry‘s theories on Irish music. The poster will highlight the research completed

on the project to date and the conclusions which can be derived from this. This will

include a synopsis of the biographical detail unearthed on Richard Henebry; a brief

evaluation of the influence Captain Francis O‘Neill exerted on Henebry in the area

of Irish music; details of Henebry‘s collection work, primarily in Co. Waterford, and

the identification of his sources; details of the nature and location of the extant

Henebry recordings; and finally an overview of Henebry‘s publications and theories

on Irish music.

Keywords: Musicology, history, culture.


85


Ms Anne McDonnell

Forging a Path For Abstinence from Heroin; A Grounded Theory of

Detoxification-Seeking Among Heroin Users in South East Ireland Department of Health Sport and Exercise Science


Abstract: The need for an increase of community and residential detoxification services in

Ireland has been articulated at national and local level (Mannix, 2006; Corrigan and

O‘Gorman, 2007; Dept. Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, 2007; Doyle and

Ivanovic, 2010). This study explores detoxification-seeking among heroin users in

South East Ireland, through a classic grounded theory approach. The study

identifies that the main concern of people who are seeking detoxification from heroin

is the desire to get clean from heroin.

There are three responses to this concern, each of which is part of the process of

forging a path for abstinence from heroin. These three responses are; resolving to

stop using heroin; navigating for abstinence from heroin, and initiating abstinence

from heroin. However, not all heroin users when they are concerned with getting

clean experience each of the three afore-mentioned responses. In addition, a

completed process of forging a path for abstinence from heroin does not always end

with long-term abstinence, and is frequently compounded by relapse.

The responses of heroin users to wanting to get clean occur within a subjective

‗resource context‘. When forging a path for abstinence heroin users have varying

levels of the following complex resources; dependence knowledge; treatment

awareness; treatment access, and alliance. A supportive resource context enables a

heroin user to forge a path for abstinence safely, whereby withdrawal is managed

through a detoxification method which is not self-detox. The presence of formal and

informal alliance, as well as a collaborative approach throughout the process of

navigating enable heroin users to seek detoxification-seeking within the formal

treatment sector.

The study has implications for ensuring supportive resource contexts for heroin

users through the development of low threshold services, community-based and

residential detoxification services. The development of such services, with service

user involvement, emerge as the way forward to meet the psycho-social and health

needs of heroin users who are concerned with getting clean, and minimise the risk of

self-detoxification.


86


The grounded theory demonstrates that valuable insights are gained from studying

both treatment-seeking patterns and out of treatment experiences of trying to

become drug-free.

Keywords: Heroin, detoxification, help-seeking, service development.

Part-funded by the South East Regional Drugs Task Force.

87


Ms Andrea McNamara

To Investigate the Role of Country Characteristics in the Availability of

Finance for Irish Small and Medium Sized Enterprises Department of Accounting and Economics


Abstract: The financial capital structure of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) has

received significant attention, where the idiosyncratic nature of SME finance further

heightens interest within the field (Berger and Udell, 1998). Against this backdrop,

the availability of finance has remained the Achilles‘ heel of small and medium sized

enterprises where conventional wisdom lends credence to stringent financial

impediments (Hyytinen and Pajarinen, 2008). Alluding to the financial constraints

inherent to small and medium sized enterprises, the theoretical framework of Berger

and Udell‘s (2006) recent conceptual model underlines the proposed research,

framing the milieu of the empirical investigation. To facilitate the perusal, the role

of the financial institution structure and the role of the lending infrastructure

(Berger and Udell, 2006) within Irish SME financing are inspected. Lending

credence to the fundamental role of SMEs in an economy, reducing their ‗finance

gap‘ (Harrison and Mason 1996; Tucker and Lean, 2003) forms much of the

motivation for the research.

Dissecting the financial institutional structure into its dimensions of large versus

small banking institutions, foreign versus domestically owned banks, state owned

versus privately owned institutions and market competition (Berger and Udell,

2006), emphasis is placed on the role of foreign versus domestically owned banking

institutions. Given the paucity of studies investigating this element of the financial

institutional structure (Berger and Udell, 2006) and its relevance within the Irish

financial landscape, this reinforces the validity of the research. Furthermore, a

secondary focus will also be placed on large versus small institutions given this

dimension is evident within Ireland albeit less profound. By inspecting this tenet of

research further, lies the scope to advance the empirical contribution outside of the

US context (Di Patti and Gobbi, 2001).

Constituting the lending infrastructure, the information environment, tax and

regulatory environment, legal, judicial and bankruptcy environment and social

environment (Berger and Udell, 2006) will also be evaluated. In particular, scholars

posit a firm‘s financing behaviour is shaped not only by firm factors but

concomitantly by country specific characteristics (Fan et al, 2008).


88


Envisaging a change in paradigm, the role of country factors within SME finance

has now progressed to the forefront of research albeit this tenet of literature still

remains in its infancy stage. Given much of the existing studies focus on cross

country analysis (Hall et al, 2004; Daskalakis and Psillaki, 2008) few individual

country investigations prevail, highlighting some of the originality of the proposed

research.

Evaluating the recent conceptual model within Irish SME lending, a mixed

methodology approach is proposed. To facilitate the research questions, the research

orientation will first lend credence to a qualitative approach through the mechanism

of questionnaires and interviews followed by the utilisation of quantitative methods

to reinforce robustness. Originality of the research lies in obtaining a 360 degree

view of Irish SME lending from all key participants i.e. financial institutions,

representatives of the lending infrastructure and SMEs.

Keywords: Small Firm Financing, Country Characteristics.

89


Ms Elena Mihailescu, Dr James Humphreys, Dr Eddy Fitzgerald, Dr Imelda

Casey, Dr Paul Murphy, Dr Andy Boland and Dr John Upton

Dairyman project - Delivering environmental quality and prosperity by

improving utilization of resources on dairy farms Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract:

AIM

The objective is to assess the ecological, economic and social performance of the main

dairy regions in NWE, to analyse the needs and opportunities for improvement, and

to encourage and support key stakeholders to optimise their activities and cooperate

together. There are ten regions participating in DAIRYMAN project: Brittany (F),

Pays de la Loire (F), Nord Pas de Calais (F), Southwest of Ireland (IRL), Northern

Ireland (UK), Flanders (B), Wallonia (B), Baden-Württemberg (D) Luxembourg (LU)

and The Netherlands (NL).

WHY?

Climate and soils are excellent for dairy production and there is an extensive local

market for dairy products. Environmental sustainability is generally low: nutrient

and greenhouse gas emissions are high due to the inefficient use of fertilizers, feeds

and energy. This inhibits the ability of these densely populated areas to deliver

services such as clean water or recreational use. Poor utilisation of increasingly

expensive resources threatens the economic viability of dairy farms.

HOW?

There will be cooperation on the assessment of sustainability and needs and

opportunities for improvement and on how to improve dialogue and cooperation

between stakeholders to strengthen sustainability. Intensive interaction with

regional development programmes and projects will create synergies. Experiences

will be exchanged on the process of implementing environmental EU regulations in

regions with high livestock densities and guidelines to optimise that process will be

developed in. Therefore the key actors in policy making in the field of sustainable

agriculture (e.g. the ministries of Agriculture and Environment and regional

authorities) will be consulted and invited for regional and interregional meetings.


90


EXPECTED OUTPUTS

I will publish papers on N balance, P balance and on the economic results of 21

intensive dairy farms. Other outputs of the projects will be: list of indicators per

country for assessing the regional sustainability, management tools of nutrient

management, guidelines for adopting improved nutrient management for the

farmers and for implementing transparent environmental policies for the local

authorities.

Keywords: Environmental sustainability, N balance, P balance, economic

sustainability.

91


Mr Julien Minneraud, Dr Sasitharan Balasubramaniam and

Dr Dmitri Botvich

Parameterised Gradient Based Routing with QoE Monitoring for Multiple

IPTV Providers Telecommunications Software & Systems Group


Abstract:

Popularity of IPTV (―Internet Protocol TeleVision‖) services, such as Video on

Demand (VoD) and live streaming, has increased tremendously over the last years.

This impacts and increases complexities for managing resources of future

communication networks, in particular when they have to support multiple IPTV

providers, that offer numerous and diversified video contents. Today's techniques do

not support or adapt to this new demand, therefore resource congestions occur when

network activity increases. That impairs dramatically the Quality of Experience

(QoE) which defines the perception of the content' quality as perceived by the

endusers.

The proposed solution is the integration of a QoE monitoring mechanism to new

distributed routing protocol for underlying network that enables IPTV providers to

successfully monitors quality of their streamed contents while maximizing usage of

network resources.

The proposed solution has been evaluated by simulations that show its efficiency in

comparison to standard approaches.

Keywords: Bio-inspired; Resource management; Routing.


92


Ms Annette Murphy

An exploration of the perceptions of pregnant women and their care

providers regarding the provision of antenatal care services Department of Nursing


Abstract:

Ireland currently has the highest birth of the 27 European Union (EU) countries

(ESRI 2008). The increasing birth rates have led to an increase in demand for

maternity services. In Ireland, most maternity units follow the medical led model of

care; limiting Irish women‘s choice for their maternity care to either using private

health insurance or attending the public healthcare system. At WRH, various

different midwifery-led schemes are available for low risk pregnant women, however

according to anecdotal information volunteered by women attending the services: it

seems that a lot of low risk women are unaware of these current options for care.

The main aims of the proposed research are to improve the accessibility and

knowledge of these midwifery led schemes. It is anticipated that the findings and

results of this study will provide the framework necessary to devise an integrated

care pathway from a service and service user perspective, which will enhance the

reorganisation of maternity–led services within the current healthcare system.

It is envisaged that a mixed methods approach is utilised, using a non-experimental

design for the quantitative approach classified as an exploratory survey.

Questionnaires of low-risk women will explore their awareness levels of available

options for care and their views regarding antenatal care services. From a

qualitative perspective, approximately 10-15 semi-structured interviews of health

professionals will provide rich data on the perceptions of health professionals

regarding the provision of current antenatal care services and of the barriers

involved regarding access to care.

Participants will be recruited using a purposive sampling method for both

approaches. Data from the quantitative approach will be analysed using the SPSS

software packages and NVivo 9 will be used to analyse data following allocation into

themes using the Myles and Huberman framework. It is anticipated that the

findings and results of this study will provide the framework necessary to devise an

integrated care pathway from a service and service user perspective, which will

enhance the future reorganisation of maternity–led services within the current

healthcare system.

Keywords: Antenatal care services; low risk women; integrated care pathway;

access to care; eligibility.


93


Mr Noel Murray

The Symphony of Managing a Tourism Destination Experience Department of Management and Organisation


Abstract: Although destinations have become one of the most popular topics in tourism

research, most of these studies have focused on studying destination marketing and

image (Wang, 2008), or on relating destination performance to the characteristics of

the partners (Bramwell and Lane, 2000) or suggesting approaches to planning and

managing the destination (Dredge, 1999), and comparatively little attention has

been directed at treating tourism destinations as a strategic network (net) and how

that net is managed. The dominant perception within the literature (Prideaux and

Cooper, 2002) is that due to the fragmented nature of the industry, no single

organisation has the capability to manage the wide diversity of tourism offerings at

a destination level. Drawing on the Industrial Network Approach (Hakannson and

Ford, 2002), Strategic Management (Gulatai et al. 2000) and the Dynamic

Capabilities View (Teece et al. 1997), destinations can be viewed as strategic nets

which are intentional structures specifically designed for the purpose of creating an

integrated destination experience (Miles and Snow, 1986; Moller and Svahn, 2003).

However, the benefit to the destination of these strategic nets does not come free.

They require the development of specific organisational capabilities within the

DMO. Gadde and Hakansson (2001) conceptualise that these capabilities centre

around the hub organisation being capable of identifying and understanding market

needs and the network actors required to deliver value for tourists. From a

destination perspective, visioning capability involves an assessment of which

elements the customer requires from the integrated experience offering (Hu and

Ritchie, 1993). However simply having a visioning capability is not enough; the hub

organisation must possess a network orchestration capability in order to

strategically mobilise, coordinate and manage a group of autonomous but

interdependent stakeholders to both co-create a destination experience and

maximise individual firm performance.

In line with Moller and Svahn‘s (2003) assertion that managing a strategic net is

akin to orchestration, this study is adapting and developing the orchestral motif

within the context of an experience destination as a strategic net. The orchestral

metaphor addresses the complexity engendered in the creative process of attempting

to manage a tourism destination network.


94


Within an orchestral context, the conductor takes a musical score and interprets this

score for an orchestral setting. The conductor then orchestrates the diverse players

so that his/her interpretation of the score is achieved. Applying this to the

examination of management capabilities within a tourism destination context, this

would equate the musical score with the narrative for the destination brand. The

DMO which is responsible for destination planning must communicate this

narrative to the tourism enterprises who are the key players in the destination

network. This can be done through the network visioning capability (Moller and

Svahn, 2003). However, understanding how these capabilities are utilised by a DMO

to intentionally create an experience destination through the formation of strategic

nets has not been studied to date. Therefore, the purpose of this poster is to present

a framework outlining how a DMO intentionally conceptualises and develops a

destination experience.

Keywords: Tourism, Destination Management, Strategic Networks.

95


Ms Magdalena Necpalova, Dr I.A. Casey, Dr E. Fitzgerald and

Dr J. Humphreys

Changes in soil organic C in a clay-loam soil under permanent and

cultivated grassland in relation to GHG budget Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract: The United Framework Convention on Climate Change obliges countries, through

ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by

5% during the first commitment period compared with 1990 levels. The article 3.4

allows including C sequestered in ‗sinks‘ to meet emission targets. The aim of this

study was to investigate in permanent grassland (PG) (i) C sequestration in the soil

profile over between 2001 and 2009 (ii) changes in soil organic C (SOC) following

cultivation.

A long term study (2001-2009) was carried out on grass-clover grassland at Solohead

Research Farm, on a poorly drained clay loam soils. The experimental area (22 ha)

was divided into 4 blocks. Each block consisted of 4 paddocks. The blocks were under

typical grassland management mainly used for grazing and for silage production. In

2001, the swards were between 6 and 16 years old.

Soil sampling from the PG was carried out on 5 occasions between 2001 and 2009.

Fifteen cores per paddock were taken to a depth of 90 cm using a hydraulic auger.

Each core was subdivided into 3 depths: 0-30, 30-60 and 60-90 cm and bulked into

one composite sample at each depth within each block. In 2008 one paddock in each

block was ploughed and reseeded. The cultivated treatment (CG) was sampled as

above on 3 occasions during 2008 and 2009. Soil cores were analysed by dry

combustion using a LECO CN-2000. Soil bulk density (BD) was measured in 2001

and in 2008.

The quantities of SOC in each depth section (t ha-1) were determined using soil BD.

A one-way ANOVA (proc mixed; SAS) was used to examine the changes in SOC

under the PG over time. Linear regression (proc reg; SAS) was used to estimate the

annual change in SOC (t ha-1). The SOC (%) under PG and CG were subjected to

ANOVA (proc mixed; SAS).

The SOC (0-90 cm) increased linearly (P<0.05) between 2001 and 2009 at an annual

rate of 5.96 t ha-1. This is an equivalent to the annual sequestration of 21.8 t CO2 ha-

1. Cultivation decreased SOC (P < 0.05) in the upper 30 cm of the soil profile.


96


The difference in SOC between PG and CG represented a loss of 30.14 C t ha-1 in the

18 months after cultivation. Assuming that respiration was responsible for the loss,

cultivation resulted in an emission flux of 110.3 t CO2 ha-1. Based on direct

measurement of emissions (Li et al., 2011) and using Life Cycle assessment (Yan et

al, 2011) estimated total annual GHG emissions from Solohead Dairy Research

Farm (52 ha) to be approximately 475 t CO2 eq. These GHG emissions are less than

half of the quantity sequestered into SOC under PG (1134 t CO2)). This has

implications for the national GHG inventory and for the image (in terms of carbon

footprint) of the milk produced on the farm. Further research to better understand

the mechanism of C accumulation and mineralization in the soil at this site is

needed.

Keywords: Carbon accumulation in grassland soils.

97


Mr John Organ

A Socio-Technical Study of Information Systems Risks Department of Computing Mathematics and Physics


Abstract:

This is a provisional examination for a PhD study of the socio-technical issues that

have a bearing on the risks associated with using information systems. Traditionally

organisations have taken a purely technological approach to information systems

risk (IS risk). This is due to the traditional separation of business activities from

technology functions within organisations (Halliday et al., 1996). This resulted in an

approach to risk that was theoretically correct but deficient for the needs of an

organisation (Westerman and Hunter, 2007).

Consequently, a number of academics have developed alternative approaches to IS

risk such as Halliday et al. (1996) that proposes a business orientated approach

which emphasises protecting systems to which critical business processes depend.

Alternatively Bandyopadhyay et al. (1999) whom advocates an alternative systems

approach to information systems risk in which risks are dealt with at specific levels

within an organisation.

However effective the aforementioned approaches are, none of them enable

organisational stakeholders make sense of information systems risk. Risk aversion

must be tackled within an organisation. Management must engage and support

smart risk awareness through proper policies whereby risk management and

calculated risk are considered part of doing business (Westerman and Hunter, 2007).

Werlinger et al. (2009) argues that stakeholders often fail to realise the penalties of

not dealing effectively with IS risk. Whilst some research has been done into

alternative approaches to IS risk most still do not factor in the significant

organisational aspects of IS risk. This argument is further supported by Kemp

(2009) whom states that much of the existing research focuses on what is produced

by the different risk frameworks rather then the environment in which it operates

consequently gaps can develop between the framework and the actual security

practices undertaken.


98


Karl Weick‘s (1995) work on sensemaking provides a new sensemaking perspective

on IS risk. Sensemaking is a iterative process whereby people take in stimuli in the

form of speech, new technology or business processes producing actions which in

turn produces new stimuli starting the process again (Stapleton,2001; Seligman,

2006). An important aspect of sensemaking is the question-action orientation

whereby the stimuli cause questions to be asked which is important as often

stakeholders rush to decision rather than focus upon what question is being asked

(Stapleton, 2001). Weick (1995) argues that sensemaking is important in

organisations were ambiguity or uncertainty surrounds an event, he goes on to

argue that it is not about having access to more information but rather the

information currently known about an event may not resolve any

misunderstandings. In the context of IS risk often managers will use certain

assumptions to determine what caused a particular security incident however as has

been stated by Weick (1995) those assumptions maybe incorrect or never met

because the information currently used to support said assumptions maybe

incomplete this has a direct effect on the ability of an organisation to respond IS

risks.

Keywords: Information Systems, Information Security, Risk, Sensemaking.

99


Ms Roisin O’ Shea

Judicial Separation and Divorce in the Circuit Court Department of Applied Arts


Abstract:

Research funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences

D.I.Y. Divorce - The March of the Lay Litigant

Introduction

Organisations and groups that deal with families in crisis, and researchers and

policy makers need information on what happens in the family courts. The veil of

secrecy that still for the most part lies over Family Law proceedings, has meant that

the public cannot see justice administered publicly. This project seeks to examine

―holistically‖ the Family Law system in relation to Judicial Separation and Divorce.

Methodology

There is a necessity for research and accurate statistical and other empirical data in

this subject area, to form the basis for rational reform. The research will entail the

preparation of Reports, Judgements, Trends and Statistics, based on a

representative ―unit of time‖, (November 2008- July 2012 inclusive), selection of

applications to the Circuit Court in relation to Judicial Separation and Divorce. The

Circuit Court hears approximately 98% of all such cases.

Research finding

Our Family law system is not designed to assist the lay litigant, a significant

number of which are presenting in court without legal representation, which is

hugely problematic both for the court and the parties involved. There is a clear

pattern of financial necessity and lengthy waiting lists for Free Legal Aid, driving

the march of the lay litigant.


100


Statistics on Lay litigants presenting in court;

7/10/2008-17/12/2008 165 cases observed Cork Circuit Court

Divorce; 29% Male 24% Female

Separation 5.45% Male 7.87% Female

Other 9.09% Male 6.06% Female

4/02/09-7/05/2009 125 cases observed Dublin Circuit Court

Divorce 15.2% Male 12% Female



23/02/2010-16/03/2010 103 cases observed South Eastern Circuit

Divorce 26% Male 16.5% Female



The majority of lay litigants are husbands and Respondents to an application

by the wife.

Keywords: Family law, lay litigant, Circuit Court.

101


Ms Jennifer Patterson

Bullying, Communications Media and Adolescence in Contemporary Irish

Society Department of Applied Arts


Abstract: Historically, all new eras of modernisation bring with them both benefits and

challenges, resulting in overall changes in societal order and values (Giddens,

1990:7). Such changes are also accompanied by impacts on our behaviour, and

mutual interactions, both positive and negative. My research intends to provide a

qualitative examination of one of the more negative aspects of human behaviour;

bullying, within the context of how it is conducted by adolescents, through the

medium of communication technology. The focal point of the study will be located

primarily amid the adolescent cohort, and intends to investigate through focus

groups and in-depth interviews, just how bullying behaviour appears to have

adapted to changes within our current digital information era.

Digital technologies have acquainted society with the newest form of social reality,

namely cyber space, and more specifically; the domain of social networking sites

(SNS). In February 2010 ―…Facebook had 426.7million unique visitors …up 68pc

from the year before‖ (Cashin, 2010). This finding is suggestive that the popularity

and convenience of such SNS are no longer a mere novelty; rather they have now

become embedded into modern communication styles.

Communication technologies now offer our young people immense social possibilities

and freedom, especially from adult restriction and/or supervision. For instance

mobile phones, have now become an undeniably necessary part of most young

peoples daily arsenal. Such communication tools are beneficial in supporting social

activity that permits young people to feel connected to their peers. Evidently

however, such accessible social activities can also lend themselves to more sinister

purposes, particularly where the relevant technologies permit its users to

masquerade under the guise of anonymity, disinhibition and infinite exposure

(Kowalski et al, 2008). Technology can and is, being employed in this more negative

fashion, and as with more traditional forms of bullying, cyber bullying thrives on

secrecy. In this context though, it seems important to note that as Bouilton and

Durant remark; ―…harm faced by children on the Internet is a very human harm,

not a technological harm‖ (2008:11).


102


We need to bear in mind that what we are witnessing with cyber bullying is the

same aggressive behaviour that drives more traditional styles of bullying, but with

the potential to empower and magnify said aggression through communication

media pathways.

The overall objective of my study will be to establish and generate new knowledge in

the field of cyber bullying within contemporary Irish society, and seeks to contribute

significantly to academic and practitioner knowledge.

Keywords: Sociology, Social Psychology, Communications and Media.

103


Mr. Paul Phelan1, 2, Dr. Bill Keogh2, Dr. Eddy Fitzgerald2, Dr. Imelda Casey2

and Dr. James Humphreys1

Predicting N-fixation in grass-clover pastures 1Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark,

Fermoy, Co. Cork 2Department of Chemical & Life Sciences , WIT


Abstract:

Nitrogenous fertiliser use is endemic in current agricultural production. However,

environmental concerns and the escalating price of N-fertiliser over the last ten

years bring the continued viability of this practice into question. An alternative is to

increase use of biological N-fixing (BNF) plants in agriculture. Irish agriculture is

predominantly grassland-based and white clover (Trifolium repens) is widely

regarded the best-suited plant for increasing BNF in grazed-grassland. However,

quantifying the input of N to farming systems from BNF is a major research goal.

Therefore there is a demand for an effective tool to reliably estimate the BNF input

to grassland from white clover.

Previous literature indicates that BNF is closely related to the amount of clover

plant material produced. Simple linear correlation across multiple experiments

showed a significant relationship (y = 35x; R2 = 0.91; P < 0.01) where y = clover DM

(t ha-1) and x = BNF in herbage (kg N ha-1). However, this is based on data from the

main growing season (spring – late autumn) and does not take into account the

release of N fixed in roots and stolons over the winter period and subsequent uptake

by grass. A correction factor of 1.27 has been suggested to account for N fixed in

roots and stolons. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the use of the

above linear relationship for estimating BNF from white clover in Irish grassland

over winter.

From 2008 to 2009, 160 plots (each 2m × 8m) were installed on a grass-clover

pasture at Solohead research Farm, (52˚51‘N, 08˚21‘W). Various combinations of

simulated autumn grazing management factors (cutting height, cutting interval and

date of last cut) were assigned to these plots in a randomised complete block design

with 5 replications. Included in the design were grass-only plots with clover

completely.


104


Herbage dry matter (DM) production and N-content was measured at each harvest.

BNF was calculated using the total nitrogen difference method:

gggcgc DMNDMNBNF

Where N was N-content of herbage (g kg-1), DM was herbage dry-matter yield (t ha-

1), gc referred to grass-clover plots and g referred to grass-only plots.

The effect of simulated grazing management on BNF was analysed with interaction

ANOVA in SAS Proc mixed and the BNF results were compared to predicted values

from the linear equation described above using SAS Proc reg. Despite the large

variation in simulated grazing management, there was a significant positive

relationship between BNF and clover herbage DM production (R2 = 0.62; P < 0.01)

with 44 kg N fixed per tonne of white clover DM yield. When predicted BNF was

compared with actual BNF using linear regression, a high level of precision was

found (y = 98x; R2 = 0.67). It can be concluded from this study that BNF in clover-

grass pastures can be readily predicted across a wide range of management factors.

Keywords: White clover; N-fixation; grassland; agriculture; ecology.

105


Ms Shiau Pin Tan, Dr Laurie O´Sullivan, Ms Maria Luz Prieto, Dr Gillian E.

Gardiner, Dr Pat Duggan, Dr Peadar G. Lawlor, Dr Peter McLoughlin and

Dr Helen Hughes

Isolation and characterisation of antibacterial phytochemicals from green

and red seaweeds harvested from the Irish coastline Department of Chemical and Life Sciences


Abstract:

The emergence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant

Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), has resulted in a need to identify novel antibacterial

agents. Seaweeds contain a vast array of phytochemicals which are reported to have

a wide range of biological activities, including antibacterial activity. Furthermore,

seaweeds grow in relative abundance along the Irish coastline and are considered a

sustainable natural resource. The aims of this research were, firstly, to examine

antibacterial activity of extracts generated from seaweed species which are

indigenous to the South-East coast of Ireland, and secondly, to isolate and

characterise the compounds responsible for in vitro antibacterial activity. Initially,

56 extracts were generated using a range of solvents with varying polarity and these

were tested in vitro for activity against a range of pathogenic and non-pathogenic,

Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria using a disc diffusion assay.

Twenty five extracts demonstrated antibacterial activity against at least one

bacterial species and two extracts were chosen for further investigation. G2F, an

extract generated from a green seaweed species with a neutral solvent produced

inhibition zones against Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 (12 mm) and MRSA W73365

(7.5 mm). Bioactive compounds were separated from the crude extract using a

combination of bioautography, preparative thin-layer chromatography and column

chromatography. These bioactive compounds are currently being identified. In

addition, a second extract R1A, from a red seaweed species also demonstrated a

promising zone of inhibition against MRSA W73365 (18 mm) and is currently being

investigated. This study demonstrates that green and red seaweeds harvested from

the Irish coast contain compounds with promising antibacterial activity which could

potentially be used against human antibiotic-resistant organisms, such as MRSA.

Future work will involve additional characterisation and identification of the

antibacterial compounds found in the extracts displaying bioactivity.

Keywords: Seaweed, MRSA, antibacterial.


106


Mr Yiyang Sun and Dr Joseph O’ Mahoney

A novel nanohole biosensor Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract: A gold film patterned with subwavelength apertures operates as a highly sensitive

biosensor, suitable for the measurement of realtime, biospecific interactions [1]. This

method of biosensing relies on the phenomenon of the extraordinary optical

transmission of light trough apertures smaller than the wavelength of the incident

radiation [2]. The transmission of light is a plasmon resonance effect that is modified

by changes in the refractive index occurring at the surface of the gold film. In this

presentation the underlying theory of the sensor device will be explained with a

discussion of a novel multi-analyte parallel sensor arrangement that is currently

under development by the nanotechnology research group.

To achieve a parallel array of sub wavelength apertures a method employing

colloidal nanolithography is under development. Preliminary results from this

process will be presented and options for the future development of this technique

will be discussed.

References

[1] P.R.H. Stark, Allison E. Halleck, D.N. Larson, Methods 37 (2005) 37–47.

[2] W.L. Barnes, A. Dereux, T.W. Ebbesen, Nature 424 (2003) 824–830.


107


Mr Daniel Tiemann

Investigation of organic photovoltaic cells with Scanning Probe Microscopy Department of Engineering Technology

Abstract:

Photovoltaic cells are solar cells that convert light energy into electric energy. In

organic photovoltaics, polymers, organic molecules or a combination of both are used

as the photoactive material, which absorb light to provide a photo-voltage and photo-

current to a connected consumer device. Due to simpler and cheaper production

methods, polymer based photovoltaic cells offer an attractive alternative to silicon

based cells, which currently dominate the photovoltaic market. For an operating

photovoltaic cell, the energy production cost (€/kWh) relates to both its efficiency and

lifetime. A successful deployment of organic photovoltaic cells requires substantive

improvements in both key factors.

The cell efficiency depends on 1) the probability of light absorption, 2) the yield of

free charge carrier generation from the absorbed light and 3) the likeliness of these

charge carriers to reach the electrode contacts of the cell, so that charge carriers can

contribute to the photo-current of the cell. Chemical and physical changes taking

place within the cell lead to a degradation of the cell efficiency and are responsible

for finite cell lifetimes [1].

The generation of charge carriers depends on the local electronic properties of the

cell materials and the interface morphology between cell components, which can

both vary at the nanoscale. The charge transport properties and effects of

degradation processes can also vary at such scale. Therefore, the access to cell

properties at the nanoscale can provide valuable, additional information for the

optimisation of organic photovoltaic cells besides the observations obtainable from

macroscale measurements. Scanning probe microscopy related techniques based on

scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and scanning force microscopy (SFM) allow

the nanoscale investigation of organic photovoltaic cell structures [2,3].

A customised STM, developed in-house, was used for the imaging of cell interfaces at

nanoscale resolution and the nanoscale recording of I-V spectroscopy and z-V

spectroscopy of organic photovoltaic cell structures. The spectroscopy methods

allowed the extraction of local electronic and opto-electronic properties of the

investigated samples. STM, SFM and UV-Vis spectroscopy have been applied to

study the degradation effects of oxygen on polymer based photovoltaic cells.

108


References

1. M. Jørgensen, K. Norrman, and F. C. Krebs, Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 2008, 92,

686-714.

2. M. Kemerink et al., Phys. Rev. B, 2004, 70, 045202.

3. A. Alexeev, J. Loos, and M. Koetse, Ultramicroscopy, 2006, 106, 191-199.

Keywords: Scanning Probe Microscopy, Organic Photovoltaics, Conjugated

Polymers, Thin Films.

109


Mr Rentao Wang and Mr Ken Deevy

Reconfigurable Adaptive Wireless Sensor Node Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

The wireless sensor network (WSN) is a new class of network that has appeared in

the last few years. A wireless sensor network is essentially a network of spatially

distributed individual devices referred to as nodes which have the ability to sense

and/or control their environment. In the modern fast paced world in which we live,

WSNs are increasingly employed in a wide range of applications, such as home

automation, smart buildings, environmental monitoring, energy monitoring, health

monitoring, industrial process control, natural disaster detection, etc.

While WSNs are already shown to be capable of supporting and facilitating many

applications, they continue to represent a diverse and challenging research area.

Because of the large variety of sensors, a significant challenge in many applications

is how to support or integrate different types of sensors within each node of the

network to realise the specific goals of the system.

The reconfigurable adaptive wireless sensors (RAWS) research programme proposes

that a solution to this is to devise a sensor node technology that can reconfigure

itself to accommodate different sensors. This can be achieved by leveraging the self-

identification feature of recent smart sensor standards. The research will investigate

the feasibility of developing a highly capable sensor node technology with

reconfigurability, multiple sensing capabilities, and wide applicability for

deployment in low power high utility wireless sensor networks.

Keywords: Wireless Sensor Network, WSN, reconfigurable, adaptive.


110


Mr Runxin Wang and Mr Eric Robson

FCA on SNA – Social Network Analysis Telecommunications Software & Systems Group


Abstract:

Social behavior data are generated by people interacting with each other and with

services every minute of every day and accumulated into large volumes. Recent

studies have shown that the underlying networks from these datasets are complex,

however they can contain rich information which can be exploited in many

applications. Social network analysis (SNA) has attracted great attention from

networking area and data mining area where it was previously the reserve of

sociologists. Given networks with well defined relationships, networking paradigms

provide efficient mechanisms to effective walk through the networks. However,

typically social network data are not limited in the form of linked data, individuals

can be mediately connected by the events they involved or features they hold. Ming

these two mode social data composing of both individuals and events or features

requires a sophisticated data mining approach.

Mining data of complex types has been investigated in data mining community for

decades, there are many potential approaches that can be applied. Formal concept

analysis (FCA) has been reported to be a good method to extract the hidden

relations, cliques and communities from social datasets. Particularly for those two

mode social network, FCA can effectively catch the relations between persons,

relations between events and also the relations between persons and events, and

structures these relations into a Galois Lattice (a network-like mathematic

diagram). While the main issue that prevents the use of FCA across SNA

applications is due to its runtime complexity. A brute-force method that searches

every possible grouping of N objects leads to 2^n search space, which eventual

causes long term process when an input dataset is relatively large. Although many

advanced algorithms have been proposed, the runtime has not been reduced to a

satisfactory level for volume of data in most of the current databases. This research

investigates processing FCA on datasets with high dimensions and/or large scales,

where we propose a divide-and-conquer approach implemented by using a

distributed computing framework - hadoop, based on the theorems of Galois

connection. It aims to reduce the runtime of FCA process in order to enable the use

of FCA on nowadays social network data.

Keywords: Data Mining, Social Network Analysis, Formal Concept Analysis.


111


Ms Alice Wei Tan

E-tandem Language Learning of Chinese and English: Some Challenges and

Recommendations Department of Languages, Tourism and Hospitality


Abstract:

E-tandem language learning is an arrangement whereby two native speakers of

different languages communicate regularly at a distance using electronic media such

as e-mail, telephone and video conferencing with one another, each with the purpose

of learning the other‘s language. It is an underexploited but potentially a very

powerful use of computer-mediated communication in second language pedagogy

with the benefits of authentic, culturally grounded interaction. It is based on the

principles of bilingualism, reciprocity and autonomy.

The current research is an ongoing e-tandem project by e-mail between Irish

students studying Chinese as a foreign language in Ireland and Chinese students

studying English as a foreign language in China. In this project, the Irish students

are from the Ireland UCC Confucius Institute and the Chinese students are from

China Guangxi University of Technology, twelve students in each group. They

communicate on a one-to-one basis via e-mail exchanges. The languages exchanged

are Chinese and English. This project focuses on second language usage in a real

context and on increasing awareness of learners‘ own culture as well as the target

culture through interaction in e-tandem.

After a brief introduction of the background, the aim and the methodology of this

project, this poster will deal with the challenges associated with the development of

such a project. The challenges focus on recruiting appropriate participants,

establishing an online forum, designing effective task-based activities and carrying

out a pilot study of those tasks. Finally, some recommendations based on the

experience of establishing such an e-tandem project will be given. Overall this poster

presents the preliminary findings of this ongoing project which will make some

contributions to the current practice in e-tandem.

E-tandem will be significant in improving learners‘ L2 learning and intercultural

competence. This research will increase people‘s understanding and will provide

insights into the validity of e-communication as a language learning opportunity. It

will act as a gateway for real exchanges in distant languages experiences online by

adding new tandem language pairings-Chinese and English in Europe.

Keywords: Second Language and Intercultural Learning.


112


Mr Dong Yang and Dr Joseph O’ Mahoney

Development of hybrid SPM system using a quartz crystal tuning fork Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

Scanning probe microscopy is the generic name for a family of instruments that

employ a nanosized probe to generate 3-D contour maps of the surface of a sample

under investigation. The resolution of these instruments can be sub atomic in the

case of scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and scanning force microscopy (SFM).

They can also provide atomic and molecular scale spectroscopic information relating

to the sample making them exceptionally powerful instruments for nanoscale

characterisation. The requirement of a conductive sample surface limits the use of

STM; however variations in conductivity across the sample surface can provide

information about the chemical state of the surface. While SFM is more versatile

with respect to the types of sample that can be characterised, electronic information

relating to the sample surface requires the use of a metal coated probe which may

limit the resolution of the instrument due to broadening of the probe by the coating.

In addition photoconductivity and electroluminescence measurements are

complicated in SFM due to the traditional laser/ cantilever beam bounce method of

force measurement. The lack of rigidity in the SFM probe makes the technique

unsuited to z-V spectroscopy – which is easily accessible through STM.

A growing area of research interest is the study of photoconductive organic polymers

and molecules that have applications in both illumination technology and solar

electricity generation. These chemicals are responsible for advances in display

technologies such as Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) televisions and plastic

solar technologies. The nanoscale morphology of these devices is considered to play

a vital role in optimising the device efficiency. Electroluminescence and

photoconductivity information that is directly related to the local morphology of the

organic electronic device will assist researchers in gaining a better understanding

the processes involved.

Quartz crystal tuning forks have been used in scanning probe microscopy as a

sensitive force detection technique; originally they were employed to guide a sharp

fibre optic probe towards a flat surface in scanning near field optical microscopy.

Their sensitivity to lateral forces allowed the probe to be positioned to within a few

nanometers of the surface under investigation. This sensitivity was later employed

to develop low cost scanning force microscopes that generated topography

information based on a measurement of the surface frictional force.


113


While these instruments did not have the high resolution of the scanned cantilever

type instrument, they did have the advantage of eliminating the laser beam from the

system. The elimination of the laser beam from the AFM offers many advantages for

SPM techniques such as nanoscale photoconductive imaging or nanoscale

electroluminescence image.

In this paper we will discuss the merits of our novel SPM design and the electronic

control system required for the generation of topographic maps of a sample surface.

Early stage results from this work will be presented along with a outline for future

work.

Keywords: Nanotechnology, SPM ,quartz crystal tuning fork.

114


Mr Liu Yao

A low-cost, precise beam direction controller for phased array antennas Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

There are currently two main challenges in mobile personal communications: first,

with the increase in mobile users, spectrum resources are declining and second, due

to poor channel quality, the desired signal will experience loss, fading and variable

delay before reaching the receiver antenna. These two issues (declining resources in

the face of increasing demand) are the principal, contradictory challenges in the

development of mobile communication technology.

An effective means of simultaneously addressing both of these issues is to use smart

antennas, where the term smart refers to an ability to spatially select transmission

or reception angles of interest.

Currently, research on smart antenna technology has not yet reached the practical

stage, partly because of the complicated environment of electromagnetic wave

propagation in mobile communications and partly due to the user‘s mobility. It is

often difficult for smart antenna adaptive process to both capture and track the user

signal dynamically. This problem is exacerbated by the discretisation of air-space in

conventional research, so that beams jump from discrete angle to discrete angle.

This work presents the design, implementation and validation of a hardware smart

antenna platform that dramatically and cheaply reduces the jumpiness of the

antenna beam. In effect this means that while the antenna beam angles dividing the

airspace into/from the antenna is still discrete, the level of granularity is so small

that moving from one antenna beam angle to the next appears as a smooth and easy

transition.

The frequency of operation is at 2.45 GHz form an Agilent vector signal generator

and the source signal is split four ways using a Wilkinson power splitter (designed

using Agilent‘s ADS software, easily extended to 8-, 12- or 16-element). In the mean

time the phase control (for ultimately defining the beam angle) is pre-calculated and

fed to a Digital-to-Analog Convertor (DAC) from a look-up table. The DAC (AD5308)

in turn feeds the two inputs of a Quadrature Modulator (AD8346), which is

simultaneously fed by one of the signals from the power splitter. The quadrature

modulator is able to control both phase and amplitude of the signal.


115


Two types of antenna are tested, PCB patch antennas and ceramic chip antennas.

Both antenna types were initially characterised in terms of antenna lobes, using the

Two Antenna Gain method, which measured both the main and side (or grating

lobes). Validation tests of the principle were performed in WIT‘s wireless anechoic

chamber, using a Tektronix DPX spectrum analyser.

Keywords: Smart Antenna, Beam steering.

116


Mr Joe Yaqiang Liu and Dr Paul O’Leary

Novel dielectric analysis of high permittivity powders and liquids Department of Engineering Technology


Abstract:

Non destructive testing (NDT) is an important analysis technique to understand

material composition. Dielectric analysis is an NDT technique, using a probing

electromagnetic wave, which is both reflected and propagates through the material

under test (MUT). The MUT can be any insulating material, whose molecular

composition has a dipole moment that re-orientates in an applied electric field,

thereby classifying the insulating material as a dielectric. There are many such

dielectrics, the most common being water, with identifiable responses to probing

electromagnetic wavelengths at certain (material specific) frequencies. Over the past

three years test infrastructure has been developed here in WIT to probe MUTs over

a wide range of microwave frequencies (from 800MHz to 15GHz) and used to

characterise many materials, of differing shape, form (solids, liquids and powders)

and molecular composition. This work has been presented at the Royal Irish

Academy Radio Symposium and also at the European Wireless conference in Lucca,

Italy, both in 2010.

This work reports on the most recent infrastructure development, a glass tank, for

testing liquids and powders and also presents preliminary results. The materials

tested were common household cooking ingredients of salt, sugar, flour, as well as

tap water. Post processing of the measured parameters, using the free space upgrade

of the original Nicholson-Ross-Weir technique, yielded the MUT dielectric

properties. Some post processing difficulties arise, especially where the dielectric

properties are not known beforehand, meaning that the electrical length of the MUT

is unknown.

Finally, the next stage of infrastructure development is presented, to offer flexibility

and accuracy over a wider range of dielectric properties. The infrastructure is once

again a tank, albeit with the variation that it can now be varied in path width, so

that the MUT powder or liquid can be probed over varying microwave path widths.

This technique is novel and overcomes the difficulties of unknown dielectric

properties and, therefore, electrical length.

Keywords: Electromagnetic wave propagation; Dielectric analysis; Permittivity

calculation; Non destructive testing.


117


Mr Mengji Yu

E-Commerce Development in China: a comparison between local and

foreign investment in China's e-commerce sector Department of Computing Mathematics and Physics


Abstract:

My research topic is E-Commerce Development in China: a comparison between

local and foreign investment in China‘s e-commerce sector. The reason I choose this

topic is that the Chinese economic miracle has been regarded as a key factor

influencing the speed of world‘s recovery during current economic downturn. In this

circumstance, a great number of companies shift their focus to the growing Chinese

economy. Chinese online shopping market provides an enormous opportunity for

foreign e-commerce companies. In past decade the decreasing computer prices and

the increasing penetration of broadband services have led to dramatic growth of

internet population numbers in China. Until June 2009, according to China Internet

Network Information Center (CNNIC) report, the internet users in China has

reached 420 million, with an increase of 36 million compared to the end of 2009. The

popularity rate of internet has climbed to 31.8%, with an increase of 2.9% compared

to the end of 2009. In addition to this, according to iResearch (market analyst firm)

report, over 105 million of internet users now make regular purchases online. It is

also predicting that this number will double by 2011. In 2009, Chinese e-commerce

market totalled $38.5 billion with growth equivalent to about 105% increase year-on-

year. However, geographical diversity, cultural barrier and lack of understanding of

local customers‘ preferences make this market less accessible from outside world.

For instance, eBay acquired eachnet.com which had 79% market share in China‘s

customer to customer e-commerce market in 2003. At the same year, Taobao.com

was founded by parent Alibaba Group.

Today Taobao.com holds 83% customer to customer market share in China, compare

with Eachnet ebay which only holds 7% market share. The positions of two

companies are reversed. Why does this situation happen? The answer will be found

at the end of this research. At the same time, I wish the findings of this research will

serve as the guide book to those who are preparing to enter China‘s e-commerce

market.

Keywords: China's E-Commerce Market.


Documents

WIT Research Day 2011 Book of Abstracts