1522 research outputs found
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Exploiting the In-Network Capabilities of Multicast to Discover Proximate IPTV Channels
Get PDFIPTV has become the next generation of television due, in part, to its ability to support features that have been lacking in conventional broadcasting—for example, end-user interactivity, personalisation and localisation. Providers are also searching for the most efficient delivery methods to provide the greatest amount of contents at the lowest cost. At present IPTV uses IP multicast to deliver live TV channels in an over-provisioned walled-garden network due to issues of deploying multicast and QoS challenges in the public Internet. However, IPTV is likely to shift into some parts of the public Internet in the future as a managed service. Multicast routing is performed on a per-session destination-address basis so each router maintains a table of all of the multicast addresses to which the content is being forwarded. We exploit this information to discover and join the in-progress channels of geographically proximate users and to create a new incentivised premium service in future IPTV networks called ProxyTV. This approach is expected to minimise network bandwidth requirements as it enables ISPs to optimise bandwidth on their edge networks. This becomes increasingly significant as TV content consumes more and more bandwidth, especially with the onset of HD and 3D capabilities. In this paper, we have presented in detail the concept with the results of a survey and an analysis of network traffic to justify the proposed approach
Microsoft LiveLabs Pivot: A Future Direction for Library Search?
Get PDFMicrosoft Live Labs Pivot heralds a new paradigm for search, combining two separate behaviours – browsing and searching – and thus transforming the very nature of web search. When Waterford put its entire collection on Pivot, it began exploring what this means for both library users and managers
The investigation of germanium based compounds, transition metals and isoflavones within foods
Get PDFThe body of work here looks not only at how germanium was present in foods but also the ascertainment of chelation behaviour of germanium compounds and also transition metals with flavonoids. The chelation of germanium with flavonoids, or particularly isoflavones, is a completely novel area and gave some interesting results for chelation with isoflavones with transition metals, an area of research that was completely underexploited until recently. (refer to appendix 1) The Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis of foodstuffs for the presence germanium sesquioxide in food and soil and assigning interference bands from biomolecules that can hinder its’ detection were carried out. Results found that the IR band from the carbon oxygen network (C-O-C) band in cellulose can interfere with determination of the germanium oxygen network (Ge-O-Ge) band from germanium sesquioxide. This interference hindered the detection of germanium sesquioxide in a food sample matrix. The Si-O band from silicates present in soil interfered with the determination of the Ge-O-Ge band also. The interferences found in this study make the detection of germanium sesquioxide difficult using FTIR spectroscopy. Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) of Cu, Pb, Fe and Ge in soil and food samples showed the variances of content of these elements in a biological matrix. The Ge levels in soil and food were 46.54 - 117.84 μg/g and 1.65 - 642.60 μg/g respectively. Fe, Pb and Cu levels in soil were 16062.03 - 21151.35 μg/g, 32.14 - 247.11 μg/g and 26.98 - 93.21 μg/g respectively. The soil samples are not significantly contaminated in relation to these elements and were within acceptable content limits. Fe, Pb and Cu levels in food were 11.88 - 841.75 μg/g, 0.95 -15.50 μg/g and 2.72 - 18.76 μg/g respectively. The Pb levels in food were mainly quite low and did not pose any hazard to human health. The iron and copper levels were found to be within acceptable nutritional parameters. UV/Vis spectroscopy of isoflavone metal chelates revealed that biochanin A and gensitein chelated with both Cu(II) and Fe(III). Daidzein did not chelate with any of the studied metals. None of the studied isoflavones chelated with Ge(IV) compounds, germanium dioxide or germanium sesquioxide. The Metal/Ligand (M/L)stoichiometries of Fe(III) chelates with genistein and biochanin A were 1:2 and 2:1 from pH of 4.0-9.0. The Metal/Ligand (M/L) stoichiometries of Cu(II) isoflavone chelates with genistein and biochanin A were 1:2, 2:1 and 2:3 at a pH of 4.0-9.0. The copper and iron chelates were synthesised and characterised by elemental analysis, FTIR, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), proton NMR spectroscopy and electrospray ionisation mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). These studies indicated a 1:2 M/L stoichiometry and suggested the isoflavones bind with the metals at the 4-keto and the 5-OH site. The NMR results were inconclusive with noisy signals observed for the iron chelates and no shifting in the proton peaks themselves. 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) inhibition assays showed that copper isoflavone chelates have higher antioxidant activity than free isoflavones while the iron isoflavone chelates showed pro-oxidant activity compared to the free isoflavone. Synergistic DPPH studies with 0.02 mM ascorbic acid revealed copper chelates exhibit reduced antioxidant activity versus free isoflavones whereas the iron chelates showed lower pro-oxidant activity except at a concentrationof 1.0 mM
Learning by doing: redesigning the learning support programme at WIT Libraries poster presented at LILAC (Library Information Literacy Annual Conference)
Get PDFCREATING SUPERIOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES FOR THE SMALL TOURISM FIRM THROUGH CAPITALISING ON THE FIRM-LEVEL DYNAMIC CAPABILITY OF INNOVATIVENESS
Get PDFExtending the dynamic-capability perspective into the study of firm-level innovativeness, this paper proposes a conceptual model that explains how small tourism firms can increase competitiveness through capitalising upon the firm-level dynamic capability of innovativeness. While prior strategic management literature has extensively studied the positive effects of dynamic capabilities on firm performance and competitiveness (e.g., Eisenhardt and Martin, 2000), very little significant research of this kind has been specifically conducted in the small tourism firm and innovativeness context. This is primarily because tourism firms are generally considered to be less innovative. Although this mindset is changing (Hjalager, 2002), academic research in this area still remains underdeveloped.
Drawing from prior relevant work in the strategic Management, innovation, tourism, marketing, and organisational behaviour literatures over the past 50 years, the paper addresses this knowledge gap. It offers a detailed insight into the logic and theoretical underpinnings (dynamic capability) of firm-level innovativeness; and illuminates its role in securing superior competitive advantages for small tourism firms. This paper significantly contributes towards understanding how the small tourism firm can utilise its innovative capability to confer superior competitive advantages.
Keywords: Dynamic-capabilities, innovativeness, firm performance, competitiveness, small tourism firm, conceptual model
Enhancing professionalism through the Continuing Education of Micro and Small Tourism Enterprises: A Model for Programme Development
Get PDFThis paper originates in the context of growing recognition that the success of the global tourism industry will ultimately depend on the professionalism of its workforce (Edgell et al., 2008). Indeed, as far back as 1986, Baum and Reid highlighted the need for professionalism in the Irish hospitality sector. More recently, the Tourism Policy Review Group (TPRG) report (2003, p. 54) targeted the need for enhanced professionalism in the fragmented, SME-dominated Irish industry (cf. Travers et al., 2004). However, while a general consensus exists on the merits of higher levels of professionalism, and education‘s role as a key driver of the professionalisation process is undisputed, continuing education for owner/managers of micro/small businesses is problematic (Kelliher et al., 2009). While the larger tourism businesses benefit from a graduate management intake and continuing executive development, the owner of the small tourism operation is limited in their professional development and face barriers to both access to and engagement in education associated with their scale, specifically their resource poverty and the bind of the workplace (Fáilte Ireland, 2004; Morrison and Teixera, 2004). In light of the foregoing, Fáilte Ireland began a tendering process for the delivery of a degree-level programme for owner/managers of micro/small business enterprises to address this deficit, and the authors‘ tertiary institute was successful in this process. A new three-year Bachelor of Science in Small Enterprise Management (BSc), based on an andragogical philosophy and problem-based learning approach (PBL), was developed during the 2009-2010 academic year. This paper details the BSc‘s development; it will provide insights into how the particular sector-specific challenges were met through a creative and innovative programme, tailor-made to be responsive to its specific audience‘s major needs for a sense of involvement, relevance and flexibility both in content and delivery (Storey and Westhead, 1997; Moon et al., 2005).
While there is an awareness of the potential enhancement of professionalism that PBL offers (Nilsson, 2007), Strobel and Van Barneveld‘s (2009) meta-analysis of the literature highlighted a lack of consensus on the impact of PBL on learning outcomes. This paper will add to the extant literature on PBL by addressing the first stages in the operationalisation of the BSc initiative to enhance professionalism which involved substantial interaction with stakeholders (Fáilte Ireland discussions, round-table discussions and pilot study with potential students, and post pilot study interviews with participants). In addition to elaborating on the feedback to date from the pilot-study, the authors present their observations on the significance of these initial findings and the implications for the programme development team and industry stakeholders. Finally, although the BSc is specific to a particular sector, it is perceived that this paper, which reports on the first stages of a longitudinal study on the programme‘s learning impact, should provide guidelines to other educators who are responsible for the development of higher education for adult learners who are owner/managers of micro/small business enterprises
Analysis of Block-aware Peer Adaptations in Substream-based P2P
Get PDFPeer-to-Peer (P2P) video delivery using substreams supports uplink heterogeneities of the peers and hence could optimise sharing capabilities with minimum free-riding peers. Therefore, substream-based applications such as PPLive and CoolStreaming have been well accepted after successful deployments in the public Internet. In this approach, a child peer can find a parent peer for a substream independent of the other parent peers that it receives the remaining substreams. In general, there can be more than one substream between a parent and a child. The block-aware adaptation algorithm in CoolStreaming changes the parent peer for all such substreams when a child peer experiences poor performance even on one of its substreams from the parent. However, lagging of one substream in such a scenario is likely while others are not affected, when the parent receives its substreams through multiple paths. We propose a fine-grained approach (changing substream by substream) in peer adaptations to improve overlay network performance. This approach will in turn, is designed also to minimise the diversity of parents at the child peer by joining with a well-performing another parent, which is expected to curtail complexities in a network-assisted P2P framework
Piloting a dedicated information literacy programme for nursing students at Waterford Institute of Technology Libraries
Get PDFPurpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the pilot information literacy programme for undergraduate nursing students as recently developed at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) libraries. The paper outlines the background to the programme, discusses its design and delivery and summarises participating students' initial response to it.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes a broadly practical, case study approach in terms of recounting experiences of designing and delivering a dedicated information literacy programme for undergraduate nursing students at WIT.
Findings – Although the project is still at an early or pilot stage, the feedback from the undergraduate students who attended training is very positive. The fact that the programme was so well received in its first year of operation is encouraging and inspiring, going forward.
Practical implications – The paper should be of interest to anyone involved in developing information literacy programmes or in the supply of information to nursing students.
Originality/value – This paper is likely to be of practical interest to academic librarians, who are looking for a fresh approach to information literacy training for undergraduate nursing students at third level institutions of similar scale and size to WIT
