Research@THEA (Technological Higher Education Association)
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Development of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)-rich yoghurt using Tetragenococcus halophilus strain KBC isolated from a commercial soy sauce moromi
No full textγ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) has been increasingly incorporated in fermented foods to
generate "Superfood". Recently, soy sauce moromi has been proven to contain a microbial
strain that can produce an immunostimulatory compound, GABA. In this research,
Tetragenococcus halophilus strain KBC (THSKBC) was utilised to ferment milk and
enhance GABA production in simplified yoghurt fermentation. Yoghurt fermentation was
performed on milk inoculated with THSKBC (F1), yoghurt starter (F2), and THSKBC and
yoghurt starter (F3), respectively. The fermentation period of F1 was averaged at 21 hrs
compared to both F2 and F3, which was complete after 8 hrs. A spectral HPLC analysis
verified that the GABA content of three formulations and yoghurt produced from F3 had
the highest GABA concentration of 205.17 mg/L (p <0.05) compared to F1 and F2, which
were 78.95 mg/L and 70.31 mg/L, respectively. Thirty panellists were selected for sensory
analysis to assess the appearance, colour, odour, taste, texture, and overall acceptability of
GABA-yoghurts. The general acceptance of GABA-yoghurts shows F1 and F2 are
insignificant (p > 0.05), but F3 was significantly different from commercial yoghurt (p <
0.05). Therefore, this study proved the potential of THSKBC isolated from soy sauce
moromi in fermenting milk for GABA-rich yoghurt as future food.ye
A novel star-shaped Schiff base compound: synthesis, properties and application in w-LEDs
Get PDFA novel star-shaped Schiff base compound (3) was designed, synthesized and characterized. The thermal stability of 3 was measured. The photophysical properties and solvent effects of 3 were investigated and further analyzed by density functional theory (DFT). The LEDs of 3 were made, and white light was obtained. The results indicate that as-synthesized compound 3 has high thermal stability, favorable fluorescence emission in both solution and the solid states (i.e. dual-state luminescence), in addition, the solid of 3 may be used for white light-emitting diodes (w-LEDs) due to its favorable fluorescence emission and high thermal stability
Transformative Learning in a Transformed Learning Environment
Get PDFCovid-19 presented a number of unforeseen issues for full-time mature students’ transformative learning experiences. The key question being explored in this research is whether mature students achieved transformative learning, given the unanticipated transfer of much of their college learning experience to an on-line environment, as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This research is based on a detailed exploration of the learning experiences of 104 full-time mature students from two Institutes of Technology in Ireland. By using reflective accounts, which were structured using Mezirow’s 10 phases of transformative learning, respondents were able to describe their views, insights, opinions and experiences. Based on the information elicited from respondents, a number of themes were identified, namely, personal circumstances, career, qualifications, personal growth, and confidence, all of which provided significant evidence of the achievement of transformative learning among the full-time mature student respondents in this research.ye
SoK: context and risk aware access control for zero trust systems
Get PDFEvolving computing technologies such as cloud, edge computing, and the Internet of )ings (IoT) are creating a more complex,
dispersed, and dynamic enterprise operational environment. New security enterprise architectures such as those based on the
concept of Zero Trust (ZT) are emerging to meet the challenges posed by these changes. ZT systems treat internal and external
networks as untrusted and subject both to the same security checking and control to prevent data breaches and limit internal
lateral movement. Context awareness is a notion from the field of ubiquitous computing that is used to capture and react to the
situation of an entity, based on the dynamics of a particular application or system context. )e idea has been incorporated into
several access control models. However, the overlap between context-aware access control and zero-trust security has not been
fully explored. In this SoK, we conduct a systematic examination of ZT, context awareness, and risk-based access control to
explore the critical elements of each and to identify areas of overlap and synergy to enhance the operation and deployment of
ZT system
Student-Led Seminar: International Destination Management
Get PDFTitle of assessment strategy
The Group Active Learning Strategy chosen for this
assignment was group presentations through a studentled
seminar (See Appendix 1) as Ryan (2021; 58), Plastow,
Spiliotopoulou and Prior (2010; 402) suggest that group
work and assessment is now a well-established pedagogical
approach across disciplines in higher education. The
lecturer used group presentations (student-led seminar) for
this module (International Destination Management) on the
B.A. (Honours) in Business Studies with Travel and Tourism
Management programme which was designed to evaluate
and critically assess the key issues which impacted the global
travel and tourism industry. This was a 3rd Year module and
there were 32 students in the group. The lecturer had the
students for 6 hours per week in Semester 1(a 2-hour and
1-hour lecture and 3 x 1-hour tutorials).
Summary of teaching and learning context
The lecturer chose the cognitive learning strategy as its
main aim is to compare and contrast documented research
and literature and the students are required to ‘examine
a destination and discuss the objectives of and overall
approaches to destination planning in that destination’ (See
Appendix 1). The students were also requested to submit an
individual reflection (See Appendix 1) of their preparation for
the student-led seminar, during the actual seminar and to
reflect on the process of working in a group
The role of digital technologies in supporting and improving fishery and aquaculture across the supply chain - quo vadis?
Get PDFFish constitute important high protein products to meet the demands of an increasing global population. However, the continued depletion of wild fish stocks is leading to increased strain on the aquaculture sector in terms of sustaining the supply of fish and seafood to global markets. Despite the fact that aquaculture is more diversified than other agriculture sectors, there are significant pressures on the industry to continue innovating in order to enable sustainability including increased fish production, improved appropriate selection of species, disease mitigation, reduced wastage, preventing environmental pollution and generating more employment globally. This viewpoint article addresses how digital transformation can help support and meet expansion needs of the fisheries/aquaculture industries that includes exploiting and harnessing ICT, IoT, Cloud-edge computing, AI, machine learning, immersive technologies and blockchain. Digital technologies are bringing significant operational benefits for global food chain, improving efficiencies and productivity, reducing waste, contamination and food fraud. The focus on digital technologies has recently evolved to Industry 5.0 where AI and robotics are coupled with the human mind in order to advance human-centric solutions. This viewpoint describes the role of Quadruple helix Hub (academic-industry-government and society) in delivering a convergent holistic approach to meeting the diversity of fishery industry needs by connecting and placing fisheries centrally in a defined ecosystem of stakeholders. This includes specialist training, testing technologies, providing access to finance and fostering disruption through aquaculture accelerator initiatives such as that provided by Hatch Blue. Connecting digital Innovation Hubs trans-regionally, nationally and internationally will also help mitigate against significant risks for the fisheries and aquaculture industry including climate change, global pandemics and conflicts that can jeopardize fish and seafood production and supply chains. There is also a commensurate need to avail of digital technologies in order to increase awareness of key industry issues across the value chain, such as through social marketing. Thus, addressing key challenges by way of the global digital transformation of fishery and aquaculture industry will meet several sustainable development goals of the United Nations catered around the application of disruptive technology.ye
Building Teamwork To Engage Students
No full textThrough action research I inquired into my pedagogical
practice, where one of the research questions I asked was:
How do I build teamwork within a Software Engineering
Curriculum to engage students? (Russell, 2021).
I addressed the issue of integrating teamwork into my
practice over two academic years as I taught an Agile
Methodologies curriculum to two different cohort of students
studying for a Level 8 Bachelor of Engineering (Software)
degree. Each cohort consisted of a range of nationalities and
cultures. The majority were from Ireland and China but the
classes also comprised of students from Eastern Europe and
India.
The Scrum Team
Agile software development is a process to create software
products. A key component of this methodology is the
concept of the ‘scrum team’ (Ashmore and Runyan, 2015,
p.84) comprised of a group of 4 to 7 software engineers who
have ultimate responsibility for building a software product.
I took action to transform my practice to enact team-work
based on the concept of the Scrum Team to:
provide students critical experience relevant to their
future careers, [and] to set problems of greater scale
and complexity than could be tackled individually, and
[which] are a vehicle for socially constructed learning.
(Neill, DeFranco and Sangwan, 2017, p.591
Ultrafast 99% Polyethylene terephthalate depolymerization into value added monomers using sequential glycolysis-hydrolysis under microwave irradiation
Get PDFEffective and efficient hybrid depolymerisation technologies are emerging as high potential sustainable routes with considerable benefits over conventional recycling methods for the achievement of circular economies for plastics. Herein, combined green and fast glycolysis-hydrolysis depolymerization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was carried out under microwave irradiation (MW) with excellent efficiencies. In MW assisted glycolysis of PET, the catalytic activity of two deep eutectic solvents (DES) based on (choline chloride-urea (DES 1)) and (choline chloride-thiourea (DES 2)) was evaluated and compared. Optimised glycolysis conditions were determined using Box Behnken Design (BBD) to attain maximum weight loss of PET, low crystallinity and increased carbonyl index of residual PET. DES volume of 4 mL, 5.5–6 mL of ethylene glycol, and 0.5 min MW irradiation time resulted in a prominent rise in PET weight loss and carbonyl index of residual PET. DES 2 showed an improved catalytic activity than that of DES 1 which is associated to its stronger interaction with EG and PET polymer chains during the course of the reaction. Residual PET obtained post glycolysis reaction was further depolymerized using MW assisted hydrolysis in the presence of weakly basic Na2CO3 and EG. Within 3-minute, the proposed sequential depolymerization technologies facilitated ≈99% conversion of PET to terephthalic acid (TPA), monohydroxyethyl terephthalate (MHET), and bis (2-hydroxyethyl) terephthalate (BHET) monomers produced at a yield of 62.79–80.66%, 17.22–34.79% and 0.54–0.59% respectively. Application on post-consumer PET sample also revealed very satisfactory results with 96.77–98.25% PET conversion and 60.98–78.10% yield of TPA.ye
Poster Presentation: Travel Operations & Geography
Get PDFPoster presentations have many advantages for novice
presenters (as with this first-year cohort) who may find
developing poster content less intimidating than writing a
report (Berg and Hicks, 2017; 461). The poster presentation
(See Appendix 1) was selected for the Travel Operations and
Geography module (on the B.A. Hons. in Business Studies with
Travel and Tourism Management programme) and it reflects
a very appropriate assessment tool to meet the overall aim of
this module which is to introduce an array of established and
emerging destinations to the student through theoretical and
practical applications. It will also provide students with an
in-depth insight into contemporary transport management
in the global travel industry. The reason for using the
poster presentation is that the author is following the key
procedures of assessment design namely trying to put her
teaching and learning into a visual content and its proposed
assessment strategy aligns with the best practice principles
of assessment which are clear to what is being assessed, work
is consistently marked to the same standard, the procedure
are relatively easy to administer, it has positive effect on
learning and teaching and it’s something that students would
use within the travel and tourism industry
Caught in Crossfire: Library "Troubles" in Northern Ireland Exacerbate Ongoing Issues
Get PDFThe Government of the United Kingdom (UK) has proposed a reduction in Arts & Humanities degrees in favour of STEMM disciplines. At the same time funding for Libraries in the UK continues to decline annually. This broader context of attack and decline is now being significantly exacerbated in Northern Ireland by an “Austerity Budget”. Libraries there will be severely hit by this budget and anticipate reduced opening hours and not purchasing any new books in the coming year. This punitive budget is designed to critically weaken services in an effort to force politicians in Northern Ireland back into a Power Sharing Government. Such an attack on libraries is inappropriate, unacceptable and will have negative long-term repercussions.ye