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Development of Novel Transdermal Drug Delivery Technologies for Therapeutic Peptides
Get PDFThe enormously rich chemical and biological diversity of peptides makes them extremely exciting targets as therapeutic entities. Delivery of these biologically active drugs is limited, however, to mainly parenteral intravenous injection or infusion which limits their potential, particularly for the treatment of less severe conditions. Transdermal drug delivery is an attractive proposition given that it represents a non-invasive means of administering pharmaceuticals. The highly effective barrier properties provided by the stratum corneum (SC), however, limits the application of transdermal delivery to relatively small, lipophilic molecules. A dissolving microneedle system was developed using a combination of biocompatible polymers and stabilising sugars. In order to avoid loss of drug activity, the formulation process was carried out in aqueous solutions and at ambient temperatures. A variety of characterisation techniques were carried out and, with the aid of statistical analysis, an optimum polymer/sugar formulation was selected. Further characterisation work was carried out to examine needle strength, needle sharpness, drug diffusion within the array matrix, skin penetration and the stability of a model peptide, polymyxin B, encapsulated in the formulation. Franz diffusion cells were then used to carry out in vitro diffusion studies utilising porcine skin. These studies demonstrated that the microneedle system successfully delivered the peptide drug-load without loss of activity. In addition, 2 synthesised analogues of existing therapeutic peptides were also incorporated into the microneedle arrays and subsequently delivered through porcine skin to examine the effectiveness of the microneedle system to deliver peptides of various sizes and chemical properties. Finally, a sustained drug release system based on the dissolving microneedle formulation was investigated which incorporated drug loaded polylactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) particles into the PVP/trehalose microneedles. These arrays were subsequently characterised and skin diffusion testing carried out to determine the ability of the microneedles to deliver the particles through porcine skin. Drug release studies were also carried out to examine the release profile of polymyxin B encapsulated in the PLGA particles
Developing Scholarly Collaboration through Fulbright Programs
Get PDFElizabeth M. Pope, Department of Lifelong Education, Administration and Policy, University of Georgia; Kathleen P. deMarrais, Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy, University of Georgia; Anne G. Cagney, School of Lifelong Learning and Education, Waterford Institute of Technology; Nancy D. Moore, Department of Health and Exercise Sciences, Truman State University.
This research was supported in part by grants from the Irish Research Council’s “New Foundations” program.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Elizabeth M. Pope, Department of Lifelong Education, Administration, and Policy, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. Email: [email protected]
Abstract
The demand for collaborative research is growing and many institutions and organizations encourage the creation of national and international partnerships. Faculty granted with a Fulbright award have an opportunity for international collaboration. The Fulbright program facilitates an international exchange of students and scholars and seeks to promote shared knowledge and mutual understanding. While personal narratives as well as several studies describe increased cultural awareness, little is known about the impact of the Fulbright experience on international collaboration. This qualitative interview study sought to understand if or how the Fulbright experience facilitated the creation of research partnerships and how Fulbright scholars’ learning and development were supported while abroad. Findings show having a pre-existing network, transitionary and social support, and professional opportunities because of their scholarly network impact the Fulbright scholar’s learning and development. Findings enhance current understandings of international research partnerships and Fulbright’s role in facilitating their creation, illustrating how these partnerships influence a scholar’s research and teaching agendas
Riordan Arrays, Elliptic Functions and their Applications
Get PDFRiordan arrays have been used as a powerful tool for solving applied algebraic
and enumerative combinatorial problems from a number of different settings in
pure and applied mathematics. This thesis establishes relationships between
elliptic functions and Riordan arrays leading to new classes of Riordan arrays
which here are called elliptic Riordan arrays. These elliptic Riordan arrays were
found in many cases to be useful constructs in generating combinatorially and
algebraically significant sequences based on their corresponding trigonometric
and hyperbolic forms. In addition, in some cases the elliptic Riordan arrays
presented interesting structural patterns that were further investigated. By exploring
elliptic Riordan arrays more closely with respect to other fields, several
new applications of Riordan arrays associated with physics and engineering are
illustrated. Furthermore, other non-elliptic type Riordan arrays having important
applications are also presented based on the connection established in the
thesis between Riordan arrays and the analytic solutions to some of the families
of the Sturm-Liouville differential equations
An Exploration of how a Continuous Improvement Initiative Surfaces Social Exchange Dynamics and Consequently Employee Engagement
Get PDFThis research seeks to explore whether a continuous improvement initiative can create a process of social exchange which is conducive to stimulating employee engagement. It is the researcher’s contention that when organisations engage their employees in continuous improvement activity, it provides an environment which creates a process of reciprocity through social exchange between the employee and their manager, which in turn stimulates employee engagement. The research aim for this study is, ‘To explore whether a continuous improvement initiative could potentially create a process of social exchange which is conducive to stimulating employee engagement’. The study took place in Lake Region Medical, an Integer Company based in the South East of Ireland where the author is employed as Continuous Improvement Director. Preliminary interviews with twenty members of the company’s team leader and manager groups were carried out in March 2016 using an interview template underpinned by the critical incident technique. A second round of interviews took place in July 2016, and a short third round of clarification interviews were undertaken in August 2016. Thematic analysis was employed with the aid of NVivo 10 qualitative analysis software. This study has empirically substantiated Saks (2006) suggestion that employee engagement can be better understood in terms of social exchange by demonstrating that social exchange is intrinsically tied to how employee engagement is created, and also by identifying that continuous improvement is a major catalyst to stimulating social exchange and employee engagement dynamics. The study also identified how the continuous improvement process can be a positive and fulfilling experience for employees by highlighting the psycho-social dimensions of the process
An Action Research Project to Design, Implement and Manage an Enterprise Social Network for Knowledge Sharing in Virtual Communities of Practice in Higher Education
Get PDFHigher education institutions (HEIs) are knowledge intensive environments by nature. However, the management of organisational knowledge and the promotion of staff knowledge sharing is largely neglected in these institutions. This study examines how enterprise social networks can enable staff knowledge sharing in communities of practice in that context. The study is framed as an Action Research project, covering three cycles over a 12 month period from September 2015 to August 2016. During the Diagnosing phase, a conceptual model was developed for empirical testing. Data was collected through three focus groups and 30 semi-structured interviews, and this was supplemented by content analysis and reflective journaling. The findings support the conceptual model and provide insight into the antecedents necessary for the creation of an enterprise social network enabled knowledge sharing environment, the motivators for and barriers to participation, and the perceived organisational and individual benefits of increased staff knowledge sharing activity. The findings indicate that the barriers to participation are influenced by the prevalent organisation structure and culture, and a divide between faculty and other staff. However, individual benefits that accrue from participation may influence greater participation, and organisational benefits that accrue may influence organisational strategies that drive change in structure and culture to promote the development of the knowledge sharing environment. A number of findings have practical implications for the management of higher education institutions, such as the evidence of a divide between faculty and other staff, and the perceived existence of an organisational culture that inhibits staff communication, interaction and collaboration. In general, the study findings provide an opportunity for educationalists to better understand the scope and impact of employing social media platforms for knowledge sharing. This study adds to the growing body of work on organisational implementations of social media, and should be of interest to practitioners and researchers undertaking similar projects
Cooperative in-network computation in energy harvesting device clouds
Get PDFThe Internet of Things paradigm is creating an environment where the big data originators will be located at the edge of the
Internet. Accordingly, data analytic infrastructure is also being relocated to the network edges, to fulfill the philosophy of data
gravity, under the umbrella of Fog Computing. The extreme edge of the hierarchical infrastructure consists of sensor devices that
constitute the Wireless Sensor Networks. The role of these devices has evolved tremendously over the past few years owing to
significant improvements in their design and computational capabilities. Sensor devices, today, are not only capable of performing
sense and send tasks but also certain kinds of in-network processing. As such, triple optimization of sensing, computing and
communication tasks is required to facilitate the implementation of data analytics on the sensor devices. A sensor node may
optimally partition a computation task, for instance, and o�oad sub-tasks to cooperative neighbouring nodes for parallel execution
to, in turn, optimize the network resources. This approach is crucial, especially, for energy harvesting sensor devices where the
energy profile and, therefore, the computation capability of each device di�ers depending on the node location and time of day.
Accordingly, future in-network computing must capture the energy harvesting information of sensor nodes to jointly optimize the
computation and communication within the network. In this paper, we present a theoretical model for computation o�oading in
micro-solar powered energy harvesting sensor devices. Optimum data partitioning to minimize the total energy consumption has
been discussed based on the energy harvesting status of sensor nodes for di�erent scenarios. The simulation results show that our
model reduced both energy losses and waste due to energy conversion and overflows respectively compared to a data partitioning
algorithm that o�oads computation tasks without taking the energy harvesting status of nodes into consideration. Our approach
also improves energy balance of a WSN which is an important factor for its long-term autonomous operation
A Procedure for Measuring and Validating a Construct of Service Innovation Capability Maturity
Get PDFService organisation success is not the result of discrete service innovations and should be attributed to the capability underpinning the repeated and continuous generation of these outputs, labelled service innovation capability (Pöppelbuß et al., 2011; Lillis et al., 2015; Nada and Ali, 2015; Hariandja, 2016). However, this capability is poorly understood and there is no mechanism available to organisations for evaluating their performance or identifying areas of strength or weakness (Hogan et al., 2011). This is a consequence of inadequate systematic effort devoted to methodological issues in this domain, where existing measures fail to follow established procedures in their development or measure the effectiveness, or maturity, of this capability (Tuominen and Anttila, 2006; Kohler et al., 2013). In response, this paper nominates a solution, describing comprehensive, best practice guidelines for the development and validation of a measure of the maturity of service innovation capability (MacKenzie et al., 2011)
Investigation and subsequent manipulation of the intestinal microbiota of pigs, with a view to optimising feed efficiency
Get PDFThe objectives of this thesis were (1) to explore a possible link between the intestinal
microbiota and feed efficiency (FE) in pigs and (2) to investigate microbiotamodulating
strategies to improve FE. Two studies were conducted in pigs ranked on
divergence in residual feed intake (RFI; a metric for FE); one in Ireland only and one
across three geographical locations. Microbial diversity, composition and potential
functionality were assessed in faecal and digesta samples, using high-throughput 16S
rRNA gene sequencing. In both studies, RFI-associated microbes were identified, albeit
most at low relative abundance, with increases in bacterial taxa associated with
improved metabolism and health found in low RFI (highly efficient) pigs. These
bacterial taxa could potentially be exploited in the future as biomarkers for FE, targets
for nutritional strategies, or probiotics, to improve FE. However, no FE-associated
microbial taxon was common to all geographical locations, highlighting the influence of
rearing environment on the intestinal microbiome. Manipulation of the microbiome
with a view to improving FE was investigated in two studies. Firstly, faecal microbiota
transplantation (FMT) was performed in pregnant sows and/or their offspring.
Although RFI tended to be lower (better FE), slaughter weight was reduced by FMT,
and offspring harboured more potentially pathogenic and fewer beneficial microbes.
Secondly, inulin was fed to weaner pigs born to sows in the FMT study. No
improvements in growth were observed, but RFI was lower in inulin-fed pigs from
FMT sows, and decreases in potentially pathogenic microbes were observed. While
these findings have negative implications for the use of FMT to improve FE in pigs,
they demonstrate the considerable impact of early life intestinal microbiota on pig
growth. In conclusion, the work from this thesis demonstrates a possible link between
the intestinal microbiota and FE in pigs, but further work is needed to investigate
causality
An Exploration of the Sustainability of ‘Facilitation Skills for Health and Well-Being’ Training in the Out-of-School Sector
Get PDFYouth workers require support to develop and enhance their interpersonal skills so that they can appropriately support some of the most vulnerable young people in Irish society. ‘Facilitation Skills for Health and Well-being’ training was developed with a view to build capacity among youth workers to appropriately manage the mental and emotional health issues of young people that they meet in their daily work. The theories examined in the literature were Transformative Learning (TL) Theory, Experiential Learning (EL) Theory, Diffusions of Innovations (DIT) Theory and Sustainability. A plan for sustaining the diffusion of the training was integrated into the training model that included the a) recruitment of experienced facilitators, b) training ethos c) syllabus delivered via the experiential learning (EL) cycle in the affective domain, d) use of an appropriate residential setting for delivery, e) duration of the training f) selection process for the youth workers and their organisations and g) organisational and environmental supports for youth workers. The youth workers’ experience of the training, the factors that influenced their experience and the integration of their learning into their work practice was evaluated. Grounded theory was used to analyse and triangulate data from multiple qualitative sources including: reflective logs, interviews, vox pops and a focus group. The results showed that youth workers underwent a TL process at a deeply personal level. This learning supported them to integrate the training into their work practice in terms of their capacity to a) self-care with respect to establishing boundaries and managing themselves with colleagues and students, and b) to bring enhanced awareness and facilitation skills to their teaching to the benefit of their students. Environmental supports that aided the diffusion of the training in practice included managerial ‘buy in’ and the presence of a colleague at the training. ‘Facilitation Skills for Health and Well-being’ training has been shown to be effective to generate TL that can diffuse into practice for the benefit of staff and young people. The findings from this study are relevant to practitioners elsewhere working with vulnerable groups
A Customer Perpception Model of Relational Interfirm Buyer-Seller Interaction
Get PDFIncreased levels of complexity in today’s business world has seen a shift towards consultative sales environments where the customer evaluation of the salesperson is a key factor in success. Despite widespread acknowledgement of the important role this customer perspective plays sales performance research has traditionally focused on the salesperson perspective. While the extant literature has seen a move to a more customer orientated approach, the need still exists to better understand customer perception across the continual sales interaction. A contextual conceptualisation of customer perceived sales performance as success in social interaction and a qualitative case study methodology to support the illumination of this phenomenon in its natural contemporary setting are presented. Perceptions of warmth and competence universally recognized as predictors of success in social interaction are proposed performance indicators and are considered through the Stereotype Content Model. With a focus on star performers within a single organisation, the application of a multiple perspective interview design and template analysis strategy illuminates a comprehensive model of customer perception in relational interfirm buyer-seller interaction. This model highlights customer behavioural and emotive responses to perceptive warmth and competence combinations. In addition star performer behaviours and the role that their emotional and social competencies play in the generation, maintenance, balance and reinforcement of warmth and competence perception are illuminated. This makes relevant customer perception insight for the purpose of effective selection and development practice in consultative selling contexts. The contribution of this model extends work on the Stereotype Content Model beyond its traditional transactional application. Through its application in a relational context it has illuminated the role of relationship interdependency in the reversal of the primacy warmth judgement in comparative person perception and reveals the role of emotional and social competencies as influencers of impression management specific to the unique compensation effect that exists between the dimensions of warmth and competence. Key Words: Warmth, Competence, Stereotype Content, Person Perception, Relational, Sales Performance, Customer Orientation, Emotional and Social Competencies, Qualitative Case Stud