Research@THEA (Technological Higher Education Association)
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Diel variation in CO2 flux is substantial in many lakes
No full textLakes play a significant role in the global carbon cycle, acting as sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2). In situ measurements of CO2 flux (FCO2) from lakes have generally been collected during daylight, despite indications of significant diel variability. This introduces bias when scaling up to whole-lake annual aquatic carbon budgets. We conducted an international sampling program to ascertain the extent of diel variation in FCO2 across lakes. We sampled 21 lakes over 41 campaigns and measured FCO2 at 4-h intervals over a full diel cycle. Rates of FCO2 ranged from −3.16 to 4.39 mmol m−2 h−1. Integrated over a day, FCO2 ranged from −381.68 to 878.49 mg C m−2 d−1 (mean = 76.54) across campaigns. We identified three characteristic diel patterns in FCO2 related to trophic status and show that for half of the campaigns, daily flux estimates were biased by > 50% if based on a single (daytime) measurement.ye
Spatio-temporal distribution and abundance of the lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula) in the Celtic Seas Ecoregion varies by sex; and the extent of sperm storage in the female chrondrichthyans
Full text linkMost chondrichthyans occupy higher trophic levels in their selected habitats, and as such, provide essential ecosystem services, such as removal of weak or sick prey items from the ecosystem, population control of prey species and helping to maintain biodiversity and a healthy ecosystem. However, over the last three decades elasmobranch populations have decreased markedly, with some species populations, such as the oceanic white tip (Carcharhinus longimanus; Poey, 1861) decreasing by as much as 90%. Factors contributing to this decrease are loss of natural habitat, incidental capture in non-targeted fisheries (bycatch) and over-exploitation in targeted and illegal fisheries. Understanding a species’ distribution, biology and particularly, its reproductive modes, is a key component for efficient management. The storage of spermatozoa is utilised by many terrestrial and marine species including many species of elasmobranchs. To assess the prevalence of such storage amongst elasmobranchs, the oviducal glands from 29 species of elasmobranchs from the northeast Atlantic and Northern Indian Ocean were examined for the presence of spermatozoa. Spermatozoa were observed in six species. Some instances suggested incidental occurrence due to the location of the spermatozoa, likely due to recent copulation prior to capture. Spermatozoa were most commonly found in specimens from the Family Triakidae. Spermatozoa were observed in mature, pregnant and post-partum females, suggesting that
spermatozoa are stored over an extended period, with upwards of 50% of the samples for some species containing stored spermatozoa. Understanding a species’ distribution and spatial range is key to effective management. The CSE is a large, highly productive region located in the north-eastern Atlantic and is a key area for European fisheries. The lesser spotted dogfish (Scyliorhinus canicula) is a common, ecologically important small demersal-dwelling catshark that occurs in the northeast Atlantic, north African coast and Mediterranean Sea and is frequently bycaught in fisheries. For this reason, this species was chosen to examine the temporal changes in distribution and abundance, using fisheries data from independent fishery data collected within the CSE. Species distribution and occurrence was analysed using the Vector Autoregressive Spatio-Temporal (VAST) package. Two separate models, one sex-aggregated and a sex-specific model with four maturity categories (juvenile male, juvenile female, adult male and adult female) were investigated. From the sex aggregated analysis, notable increases in density and biomass were observed beginning in 2000. Similar increases were observed in the sex-specific model; however, adult female density and biomass were notably lower and increased less than adult males. A similar sex specific trend was observed in length frequencies, with a larger decrease in size of large mature females and an increase in the size of large mature males. Correlation of occurrence
for each maturity category was analysed and it was found that juveniles tend to occur together in equal ratios. For females, mature females tended to occur more inshore than juvenile females. A similar trend was observed for juvenile and adult males. Mature males dominated inshore areas when compared to females resulting in a sex ratio of 3:1. From the analyse of the sex-aggregated
model, an increase in population size was observed, driven markedly by increases in the abundance of males, and large
differences in sex-specific distributions between males and females post maturation. Additional research is required to further
understand the distribution and population dynamics of lesser spotted dogfish, in particular the factors driving the
male dominated increases in population size.n
TU-NET: A Strategic Alliance for Open Research: Libraries and Research-associated Offices Collaborating to Support Open Research /
Full text link"Where is RMA Going? The Future of RMA in a Rapidly Changing World"New challenges for RMAs are appearing every day across the research ecosystem and RMAs are expected to adapt and absorb. Artificial intelligence, academic freedom and integrity, Open Research, education and innovation, professionalisation and broadening of the profession, EDI, these and many others are transforming the ‘traditional’ role of the RMA.n
Quo vadis - development of a novel peatland-based recirculating aquaculture mutli-trophic pond system (RAMPS) in the Irish midlands with a global orientation.
Full text linkDevelopment of peatland-based, recirculating freshwater aquaculture that is efficient and economically viable
presents considerable benefits for society including supporting communities transitioning to low-carbon economies.
This case study constitutes the first peatland-based process that uses fish cultivation waste to produce
duckweed and microalgae biomass which are potential sources of high-value proteins, bioactives and further
products that can be extracted using a biorefinery approach. The novel site has successfully supported freshwater
aquaculture production using an effective circularity model and highlighted the potential of supporting new
innovation such as biorefining bioactives from some 2000 indigenous peatland microalgae species for potentially
beneficial health and adjacent applications. Additionally, it has demonstrated the appropriateness of digital
transformation such as connecting on site monitoring with living-laboratory analysis. This paper details the
challenges of food security given the impact of climate variance on open ecosystem performance. The findings of
this case study inform key strategic polices governing food sustainability, bioeconomy and climate action from a
bottom-up perspective. Key technical bottlenecks are discussed. Future research will consider efficiencies in
biomass production and value-streams for new business innovations, including use of appropriate digital technologies
though integrated multi-actor HUB framework enabling precision paludiculture for end-to-end monitoring,
sustainable products/services and bespoke trainingye
Development of cellulose-supported Pd-nanocatalyst for the heck coupling and michael addition reactions
Full text linkThe development of reusable, bio-resource based nanocatalysts with high turnover numbers (TONs) is essential for increased sustainability in the chemical sector. Herein, cellulose-supported bio-resourced poly(hydroxamic acid) is employed as a ligand in the synthesis of a palladium nanocomposite (PdNc-PHA) that exhibits higher TONs that previously reported similar systems for the Mizoroki-Heck and Michael addition reactions. The PdNc-PHA catalyst was characterised using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDX), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) analyses. Results showed that the PdNc-PHA catalyst exhibits excellent durability and high catalytic activity in the Mizoroki-Heck and Michael addition reactions, leading to high yields of the desired corresponding products. The Mizoroki-Heck reaction of aryl/heteroaryl chlorides with olefins resulted in the production of cross-coupled products, while the Michael addition reaction of phenol/thiophenol and aliphatic cyclic/alicyclic amines with a variety of olefins synthesised the corresponding O-, S-, and N-alkylated products. The recycle and reusability of the catalyst were tested using 4-nitrochlorobenzene and butyl acrylate. The results demonstrated that the catalyst maintained its catalytic activity effectively for up to ten cycles without any noticeable loss in performance. This research represents a promising strategy for efficient catalysis based on bio-waste as a wealth material.ye
Thermochromic Polymers in Food Packaging: A Comprehensive Systematic Review and Patent Landscape Analysis
No full textThis study addresses the gap in research on the application of thermochromic polymers (TPs) in food packaging and their potential for real-time temperature monitoring, aiding in the assessment of food quality and shelf-life. TPs exhibit a visible color change in response to temperature variations. A comprehensive systematic review (SR) across multiple engineering peer-review databases using predefined terms was conducted. Additionally, international patent databases were investigated using the same predefined terms. Independent experts reviewed the methodology to identify and address potential biases. A total of 288 eligible articles and 922 patents were identified. After a duplicate selection and extraction process according to the inclusion criteria, four related full-text publications were selected from the initial 288 articles, and five relevant patents were selected from the 922 patents. The qualitative review suggests that TPs hold significant promise as food packaging materials due to their unique physical properties. The study concludes that TPs offer valuable properties for the food packaging industry, meriting further investigation to exploit their benefits fully.ye
Development of a novel recirculatory multitrophic peatland system for the production of high-value bio-based products at scale embracing zero waste and pollution principles to unlock sustainable development goals
Full text linkThis case study describes the novel development and demonstration of commercial, green, bio-based products using a peatland based recirculating integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) system in the Irish Midlands. This site enables the transition from traditional peat harvesting for energy generation towards alternative sustainable employment. The system effectively addresses sustainable in-land freshwater aquaculture development. It also demonstrates value-chain products at scale for new feeds arising from the fish waste-stream by exploiting cascades from the fish culture waste-stream (bio-fertiliser) for cultivating duckweed and macroalgae. These plants can then be bio-refined and valorised to produce new products. The system also provides a circular demonstrator site that will facilitate industry and entrepreneurs to develop and test new innovations and ideas. By providing this open-access site to support companies in testing, financial constraints such as access to specialist equipment and technical expertise will be off-set thus enabling entrepreneurs and industry to develop new commercial products at scale. Additionally, the outputs from this system will help address and inform several United Nations sustainable development goals.ye
Unveiling Malicious Network Flows Using Benford’s Law
No full textThe increasing proliferation of cyber-attacks threatening the security of computer networks has driven the development of more effective methods for identifying malicious network flows. The inclusion of statistical laws, such as Benford’s Law, and distance functions, applied to the first digits of network flow metadata, such as IP addresses or packet sizes, facilitates the detection of abnormal patterns in the digits. These techniques also allow for quantifying discrepancies between expected and suspicious flows, significantly enhancing the accuracy and speed of threat detection. This paper introduces a novel method for identifying and analyzing anomalies within computer networks. It integrates Benford’s Law into the analysis process and incorporates a range of distance functions, namely the Mean Absolute Deviation (MAD), the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test (KS), and the Kullback–Leibler divergence (KL), which serve as dispersion measures for quantifying the extent of anomalies detected in network flows. Benford’s Law is recognized for its effectiveness in identifying anomalous patterns, especially in detecting irregularities in the first digit of the data. In addition, Bayes’ Theorem was implemented in conjunction with the distance functions to enhance the detection of malicious traffic flows. Bayes’ Theorem provides a probabilistic perspective on whether a traffic flow is malicious or benign. This approach is characterized by its flexibility in incorporating new evidence, allowing the model to adapt to emerging malicious behavior patterns as they arise. Meanwhile, the distance functions offer a quantitative assessment, measuring specific differences between traffic flows, such as frequency, packet size, time between packets, and other relevant metadata. Integrating these techniques has increased the model’s sensitivity in detecting malicious flows, reducing the number of false positives and negatives, and enhancing the resolution and effectiveness of traffic analysis. Furthermore, these techniques expedite decisions regarding the nature of traffic flows based on a solid statistical foundation and provide a better understanding of the characteristics that define these flows, contributing to the comprehension of attack vectors and aiding in preventing future intrusions. The effectiveness and applicability of this joint method have been demonstrated through experiments with the CICIDS2017 public dataset, which was explicitly designed to simulate real scenarios and provide valuable information to security professionals when analyzing computer networks. The proposed methodology opens up new perspectives in investigating and detecting anomalies and intrusions in computer networks, which are often attributed to cyber-attacks. This development culminates in creating a promising model that stands out for its effectiveness and speed, accurately identifying possible intrusions with an F1 of nearly (Formula presented.), a recall of (Formula presented.), and an accuracy of (Formula presented.).ye
FIRST® LEGO® League Challenge. Presenting: SUBMERGED℠. Teacher Guide for Ireland.
No full textThis Teacher Guide for the SUBMERGED
Challenge season aims to support Irish
post-primary teachers and education
leaders by demonstrating how FIRST
LEGO League Challenge can be aligned
with Junior Cycle and Transition Year
Curricula. Through FIRST LEGO League
Challenge post-primary learners can:
• Engage in hands-on authentic
problem-solving experiences
• Be immersed in holistic integrated
STEM learning experiences
• Be challenged to push the boundaries
of how they think and engage with
their world and those around them.ye
Evaluation of a School-Based Attention Training Program for Improving Sustained Attention
Full text linkThis study evaluated the impact of a theory-driven cognitive attention training program, Keeping Score!, in improving students' sustained attention capacity. Training was based on sustained updating. Students engaged this process by mentally keeping score during an interactive game of table tennis without external aids. Students (9–11 years) were assigned to a 6-week training program (n = 18) or an active control (n = 18). Assessments of sustained attention/working memory and parent ratings of executive function were completed at pretraining, post-training, and 6-week follow-up. We found no evidence to support the efficacy of training (i.e., there was no statistically significant time × group interaction effects for any outcome). Overall, these findings add to the mixed body of literature supporting the efficacy of cognitive attention training for improving children's attentional capacity. One possibility for why the training program was unsuccessful is perhaps that cognitive attention training may not be sufficient for enhancing sustained attention. © 2023 The Authors. Mind, Brain, and Education published by International Mind, Brain, and Education Society and Wiley Periodicals LLC.ye