wit research matters - waterford institute of technology

ISSUE 3WINTER 04|05

Partneringwith ChineseAcademy ofScience

Partneringwith ChineseAcademy ofScience

Research SupportResearch FundingResearch Training

WIT RESEARCH MATTERS 11/1/05 12:26

R E S E A R C H M A T T E R S – I S S U E 3 – W I N T E R 0 4 | 0 52

EditorialWelcome to theWinter 04/05 editionof research matters.In this the third issuewe include a greaternumber of articles,which is testament tothe rapid growth inhigh quality researchat WIT.Feedback on thepublication to datehas been verypositive both fromwithin the WIT research community and fromexternal partners such as development agencies and industry.Many of the Institute’s leading researchgroups have strong industry links through jointresearch projects. Our aim in the school ofresearch and innovation is to increase thislevel of collaboration in 2005.We are planning a number of workshops forthe coming year, which will be designed toprovide technology briefings for industry andto showcase the outputs from the Institute’sresearch activity. It is seen as a step towardspromoting greater research and developmentco-operation between industry and WIT. TheInstitute has a strong track record inleveraging government and European fundingfor co-operative research and developmentprojects with industry and other externalpartners. We plan to substantially increase thenumber of such projects in the coming year.The Institute’s commitment to co-operationwith industry will be substantially enhancedby the creation of its Enterprise Irelandsponsored Innovation Centre, which is to beestablished as a joint research and innovationbuilding on WIT’s Carriganore campus. We willreport further on this in later issues ofresearch matters. If you have any queries onthis issue of research matters or on academicindustry co-operation please feel free to emailme at [email protected]

Kathryn KielyExternal Services Manager

Kathryn Kiely, External Services Manager

Contents

WIT partners with Chinese Academy of Science

School of Business - exploring relationships and

networks......

Business Postgraduate Association.....

Designing the next generation of vehicle control

systems......

Materials Characterisation and Processing

Group researches dynamics of magnetic

nanoparticles......

Optics Research Group granted funding to

research photonic crystal fibres......

The Construction IT Alliance (CITA) - a model for

collaboration between education and industry...

Centre for Social and Family Research......

Visit of Danish wood energy expert establishes

network of research links......

Careers services research demonstrates

importance of transferable skills ......

WIT lecturer presents research at Medical

Devices conference in Minnesota......

WIT project included in EU Framework

Programme success stories......

CALMAST exploring obstacles to learning

Science......

Recent developments in practice-based/led

research in art and design......

Research in chronic fatigue syndrome......

South East scores high on computers

but low on broadband access......

Record number participates in South East

Enterprise Platform Programme......

Institute selects new Research Council......

Research Methods course for

Postgraduate Students......

Profile of a Researcher - Dr. Ing Tom Pfeifer......

Recent WIT publications......

Research Matters is published three times a year by the School ofResearch & Innovation in Waterford Institute of Technology.

Please address any comments or suggestions that you may have on this publication to Kathryn Kiely, External Services Manager.

Email: [email protected].

Edited by Margaret Grene

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R E S E A R C H M A T T E R S – I S S U E 3 – W I N T E R 0 4 | 0 5 3

WIT partners with Chinese Academy ofScienceIn June of this year Dr. CatherineO'Reilly, Dr Pat Duggan, an organicchemist who works in Catherine'sgroup and John Doran a PhD studentalso working in the group visited theInstitute of Chemistry at the ChineseAcademy of Science (ICCAS) in Beijingto develop research collaborationwith Professor Mei-Xiang.The collaboration is funded jointly, bythe Science Foundation of Ireland(SFI), with matching funding from theChinese government. The joint projectis focussed on the use of themicrobes and enzymes isolated from recombinant clones for biotransformations.

Biotransformations, the process of usingmicrobes or purified enzymes to makenew compounds, have many advantagesover traditional chemical methods. Firstly

they can make compounds not easilyavailable by traditional methods.Furthermore they havean economic and environmental advantage as they canreduce the need forcostly organic solvents. For this reason pharmaceuticalcompanies are actively researching bio-transformations as aroute to producing phar-maceutical drugs.

Stereochemical controlis another key advantage of biotrans-formations. Some organ-ic molecules are what isknown as 'handed', inthat they have right and

left versions called enantiomers. Enzymes,such as the amidase, central to the workof the Biocatalysis research group led byDr. O’Reilly at WIT, produce only one enantiomer of the product whereas traditional chemical methods produce amixture of both enantiomers. Usually onlyone of the enantiomers is pharmaceutically useful, the other beingeither inactive or even toxic. An often-quoted example is thalidomide, whichwas prescribed for morning sickness during pregnancy in the early sixties,where one enantiomer was therapeuticbut the other enantiomer produced someappalling birth defects. For this reasonpharmaceutical companies are actively

researching the use of microbial and enzymatic catalysts to produce pure enantiomers of new drug products.

As part of the collaboration on this jointproject John Doran a PhD student in Dr.O’Reilly's group spent three months con-ducting his research in Prof. Wang's labo-ratory at ICCAS, working along side post-graduate students and using the opportu-nity to carry out biotransformations witha purified amidase enzyme that he tookto China. Another postgraduate studentfrom WIT will visit the Chinese laboratorynext year. Prof. Wang will visit WIT andsome of his group will work in Dr.O’Reilly’s laboratory.

Dr. O’Reilly's connection with Prof. Wanggoes back to her time in SunderlandUniversity in the U.K. As a molecular biologist Catherine's main research interest is in the genetics of microbes.Prof. Wang is an organic chemist and hasworked on the use of microbes for bio-transformations exploiting the enzymes inthese microbes as chemical catalysts. Themicrobes studied by Dr. O’Reilly's groupwere isolated from industrial sites inSunderland and have developed enzymesto metabolise industrial waste based oncyanide and related compounds callednitriles. Prof. Wang uses these microbes to

convert nitriles to useful organic products.The research area has two strands themolecular biology involving expression ofthe genes and the isolation of the pureenzymes and the chemical applicationusing the enzymes for biotransformation.The two research groups are complemen-tary and offer enormous potential for synergic collaboration. As a result of thevisit a number of possible areas for futurecollaboration have been identified and areunder preparation at present.

ICCAS located in Beijing is a key researchinstitute in China. It has a number ofresearch divisions including some eliteChinese Academy of Science (CAS) laboratories in areas such as nanotechnology and photochemistry.

The biggest division is polymer physicsand chemistry with 20 professors. Theorganic division, which the WIT team visited, specialises in molecular recognition, selective synthesis and bioor-ganic chemistry. Students at the instituteare all post-graduate at PhD level. TheWIT team also visited the Beijing Instituteof Technology (BIT), a leading Chineseuniversity and discussed cooperation inrelation to staff and student exchangeprogrammes. WIT signed a cooperativeagreement with the Beijing Institute in2001

According to Dr.O’Reilly, "a visit toChina is an excitingexperience with its culture and wonderfulfood. Prof Wang andhis colleagues treatedus with great hospitality and we arevery grateful for hisgenerosity."

Development is progressing at a staggering rate inChina and it was clearto the WIT team that key research areasare being targeted for development.China is interested in establishing collaborative links with the west and asan English speaking country Ireland hasan advantage."Our visit was very fruitful with respect tothe research collaboration and also veryenjoyable. There are many opportunitiesthere for anyone wishing to establish linkswith Chinese researchers", says Dr.O’Reilly.

Prof. Mei-Xiang Wang, John Doran, Dr. Catherine O’Reillyand Dr. Pat Duggan at the ICCAS Institute, Beijing

The microbesstudied by theBiocatalysisResearch Grouphave two important potential applications,bioremediationand biotransfor-mation.Bioremediationuses clonedspecies to treatcontaminatedindustrial siteswhere themicrobes breakdown the pollu-tants helpingclean up these oldsites.

Biotransformation,the other potential application of themicrobes studiedby the BiocatalysisResearch Group,uses thesemicrobes or puri-fied enzymes tomake new compounds, someof which havepotential forpharmaceutical applications.

Members of the Biocatalysis Research Group at workin their laboratory at WIT.

For more information contact:Dr. Catherine O'Reilly ([email protected]) or Dr. Pat Duggan ([email protected])



WIT’s School of Business - exploring thedynamics of relationships and networksDr. Thomas O'Toole is Head of WIT’sBusiness School. As well as beingactively involved in the promotionof research in WIT, Tom is also anactive researcher in his own right.The generic subject domain of hisresearch is in business strategy andmarketing.

Tom's core research area is in inter-organisational relationship governance. This involves the study of themanagement of linkages and connectionsacross independent organisations. Withinthis, Tom is particularly interested in howbilateral relationships are governed."These can be described," he says, "asclose, co-involved, high trust relation-ships." Tom has three PhD students in hisresearch area and the link between eachof these projects is the study of relation-ships using a dynamic interaction world-view. This approach characterises all ofTom's work and hence provides what hecalls "the rules of engagement" for hisresearch team.Mary Holden, who was awarded aGovernment of Ireland Scholarship, iscompleting her PhD in the field of relationship communication. In particularshe is focussing on the effect of relationship communication on the development of relationship norms,moderated by interpersonal relationshipbehaviours. Mary's work is being completed using structural equation modelling and she is the first in Europe toinvestigate this neglected area of study.Pat Lynch is researching the underlyingdynamics of the user-manufacturer interface in the early stages of new product development. He has completed anational study on user involvement innew product development.

Pat is also the chairperson of the BusinessPostgraduate Society. (See below)Ray Griffin, lectures in international business in DIT, and is engaged in doctoral research that examines how subsidiaries of multinationals create strategy given their relationship with theirheadquarters. He is using a story tellingmethodology to complete his work and isbeing provided with some additional helpon the project from Prof. JulianBirkinshaw of the London BusinessSchool, who is a world authority on international business strategy.

Tom's research students have been published in international peer reviewed conferences and journals. Being part of alarger international research group in thearea is a key part of the activity of thegroup. Tom is also involved in additionalprojects as part of the group's overallwork.In 2002, Tom published a book entitled

Strategic Market Relationships - fromstrategy to implementation (John Wiley:2002), with Prof. Bill Donaldson ofAberdeen Business School. His researchhas been published in over twenty-fivepeer reviewed journals and internationalconferences.

This research has been funded at strandsone and three of the Technology SectorResearch strands with Tom as leadresearcher. The Strand One projects arecomplete and the Strand Three project hasformed the nucleus of the centre for management research in healthcare andin healthcare economics now led by Drs.Denis Harrington and Sheila O'Donohoe.This group has four PhD students, oneresearch assistant, one masters byresearch and three dissertation studentsnow completing projects in the centre,along with a number of other projectsincluding one with Memorial University ofNewfoundland with which WIT BusinessSchool has an exchange agreement.

One aspect to Tom's research work is anapplied orientation to practice. In 2001 hewas part of a Government appointed taskforce, which produced a report entitledStrategy Waterford Vision 2011 linkingWaterford and its partners and he continues to be involved in regionaldevelopment groups and to contributeopinion in this area. Indeed, he is alsoinvolved in entrepreneurship research andinitiatives that are developing in parallelwith the development of a research centrein entrepreneurship in WIT BusinessSchool. This group, with Tom's involve-ment, has attracted significant funding forboth entrepreneurship training andresearch.For more information contact:Dr. Tom O’Toole ([email protected])

In September 2002, supported by the Business School, theBusiness Postgraduate Association was established with the goalof creating a postgraduate community that supports its membersboth academically and socially. Since its inception the associationhas held 22 master classes in research and attracted some of theworld's most renowned academics to speak on topics rangingfrom philosophical matters, to conducting literature reviews, tomethodological issues. This year the association has lined upsome exceptional speakers such as Professor Richard Lynch fromMiddlesex University, London. Professor Lynch addressed thetopic of the Strategy Case Seminar. Other speakers includeMichael J. Baker, Professor Emeritus who provided his insights onthe topic of getting published. Besides supporting its members

academically, the association is also active in creating a socialcommunity amongst business postgraduates and staff."Postgraduate studies are difficult and people can feel very iso-lated. By developing a social community we create the vehicle bywhich postgraduates can express ideas, share knowledge andprovide support for one another academically" says Pat Lynch,one of the founding members of the association.In conjunction with the WIT Alumni office, the association hasalso initiated an alumnus within the Business School and it isplanned that reunions of past Business graduates will take placeannually.

Business Postgraduate Association - building a community of postgraduate students

For more information contact: Darrin Taylor([email protected]) or Pat Lynch ([email protected]).



Postgraduate research in automotive control systems hastaken place at WIT since the year2000 under the supervision ofBrendan Jackman. A considerablelevel of expertise in automotivediagnostics, real-time control systems, embedded vehicle hardware and networks has beenbuilt up over the years. Research iscurrently focused on applyingknowledge-based and mathematical optimisation techniques to automotive software and electronic systems.Current research activities includethe development of fuzzy logiccontrol strategies for power steering systems, intelligent cardiagnostic systems, vehicle powermanagement systems and vehicledistributed software optimisation.

The next generation of cars will use by-wire systems to control vehicle functionssuch as steering and braking. These newsystems will replace hydraulic andmechanical links with electrical wires. Sofor example, instead of having amechanical linkage between the steeringwheel and the road wheels, the driverwill provide a steering input to a

computer using a steering wheel or joy-

stick. The computer will then providedirect full authority control over the roadwheels using electric motors. This newcontrol technique will provide increasedsafety by having the control computertake the overall vehicle conditions, suchas speed and lateral acceleration (spin),into account when deciding how much steering effort to apply. Hybrid steeringsystems such as BMW's Active FrontSteering (AFS) system currently providesuch features but they include a backuphydraulic control system in addition tothe computer control system.

To completely remove the hydraulic system, the computer system must beutterly reliable or fault-tolerant, toensure a high level of safety. New hardware and software design techniques are required when developingsuch fault-tolerant vehicle control systems. Fault-tolerant design techniquesare used in the aviation industry, but theautomotive industry has an additionalcost constraint on the components used.

Research, training and consultancy in theapplication of software and electronics toautomotive systems are provided byJackman and his research team, whichcomprises supervisors David Power andGavin Walsh, and postgraduates AnilaMjeda, Padhric Devlin, Pat McInerney,

Donal Morrissey, Eamonn McDonnell,Richard Butler, Fergal Keating and JasonChadwick.The international reputation ofthe team has been strengthened recentlywith the announcement of a collaborative research project with TRWAutomotive UK, the world's leading supplier of automotive safety systems.Jason Chadwick from the team will workwith TRW over the next two years todevelop new techniques for the designand development of fault-tolerant vehiclecontrol systems. TRW will use the WITresearch as part of a technology demonstrator for showcasing the nextgeneration of TRW control systems to carmanufacturers.

The awarding of this project to WIT is theresult of two year's collaboration withTRW, and in particular a successful visitto TRW headquarters last June by theresearchers and supervisors to make presentations to senior TRW technicalstaff.

The team is also undertaking relatedresearch on time-triggered networks incollaboration with Ford.

Designing the next generation of vehiclecontrol systems

For more information contact: Brendan Jackman ([email protected])

Participants in the successful visit to TRW headquarters in Solihull in June 2004 were from left :Richard Butler, Anila Mjeda, Brendan Jackman, Fergal Keating, Gavin Walsh, Donal Morrissey and Eamonn McDonnell.


The Optics Research Group (ORG)was successful in winning funding,under Enterprise-Ireland'sInternational CollaborationScheme, for a proposal whichinvolved joining an existing collaboration between theUniversity of Bath and Heriot-WattUniversity, Edinburgh in the field ofphotonic crystal fibres. Thesefibres, originally invented by thescientists at Bath, are recognisedas one of the most exciting developments in fibre optics in thepast five years.

The proposed research investigates dispersion in these fibres, and itsexploitation in the application of thefibres as advanced photonic sensors. Thework represents the first Irish activity inthis field.

In the first part of the work, one of thegroup's postgraduate researchers, JohnRothwell, undertook an intensive three-month period of research at Heriot-Watt from July to September.

Two other postgraduates of ORG also registered significant achievements in recentmonths. In September, Dominic Murphybecame the first postgraduate research stu-dent in the group to gain a PhD degree. Histhesis, for which Dr. Kenneth Weir of ImperialCollege, London acted as external examinerwas titled Low-Coherence OpticalInterferometry based on Phase Recovery.Since completing the experimental component of his thesis with the group in2001, Dr Murphy has worked with theSumicem Corporation in Limerick and withBlazePhotonics at Bath. He is currentlyResearch Fellow with the LightwaveTechnology Research Centre at the Universityof Limerick.

Kieran O'Mahoney, the most recent postgraduate research student to join thegroup, won first prize for his presentation onFourier Transform SpectroscopicDemodulation of Fibre Bragg Grating SensorArrays in the physics category at the NationalInstitute of Technology Science andComputing Research Colloquium, hosted atWIT in June 2004.


Materials Characterisation and ProcessingGroup researches dynamics of interactingmagnetic nanoparticlesMagnetic materials are a multibillion Euro global industry.Magnetic particles are the buildingblocks of many materials includingmagnetic memories (e.g. hard disks,floppy disks, audio and videotapes), as well as transformers andpermanent magnets. They are usedalso for magnetically targeted drugdelivery and more recently in magnetic random access memory(MRAM).Dr P J Cregg, Lecturer in ElectronicEngineering and member of the MaterialsCharacterisation and Processing (MCP)group at WIT has recently returned fromcareer break, during which time he under-took research in the Department ofEngineering Sciences at the ÅngströmLaboratory, Uppsala University, Sweden.

This was enabled through a Senior VisitingFellowship from the Royal Irish Academy.At Uppsala, he worked on the Dynamicsof interacting magnetic nanoparticles withProf. Peter Svedlindh and Dr José L García-Palacios, who was on a research visit fromUniversity of Zaragoza, Spain.Drs. Cregg and García-Palacios are developing a model for the behaviour ofmagnetic particles, to include the interac-tions between the particles. This researchis a culmination of their respective out-puts in the area which includes their PhDsand over 15 journal publications. Theirrecent results are expected to appear

shortly in a letter to Europhysics Letters orApplied Physics Letters, followed by a fullreport in Physical Review B.

Optics Research Group granted funding toresearch photonic crystal fibres

Members of ORG in the Optics ResearchLaboratory, from Left: Kieran O’Mahoney,John Rothwell, Dónal Flavin and Dr. Mohammad Alhourani.

Dr. Cregg recently published a paperentitled A variational approach to therelaxation of single domain magneticparticles based on Brown's model. Thework was enabled through an EC fund-ed Marie-Curie Fellowship at Queen'sUniversity Belfast. The paper appearedin a special issue of the Journal ofMolecular Liquids covering the proceed-ings of an international meeting at theRoyal Irish Academy, which focussed onDiffusion and Relaxation in DisorderedFractal Systems with contributions fromIreland, Northern Ireland, France,Denmark, Spain, Sweden, USA & theRussian Federation.

For more information contact: Dónal Flavin ([email protected]). or visit www.wit.ie/research/org


The formation of CITA in 2001 andits subsequent development tookplace mainly through a unique partnership arrangement betweentwo of the leading Architecture,Engineering and Construction (AEC)Education providers in Ireland;Waterford Institute of Technology(WIT) and Dublin Institute ofTechnology (DIT).

Dr. Ken Thomaswho is the Head ofDepartment ofBuildingTechnology at WITis one of the twoDirectors of CITAand is also a member of theBoard ofManagement. Partof the strategy inthe formation andinitial developmentof CITA was toactively target theleading participants in theIrish AEC industry.These participantsplay a very influential role andit is recognisedthat they are key tothe improved useof IT in the industryin the short tomedium term.

Working towards aclear set of objectives, whichinclude informingthe Irish construction sector

of relevant IT developments and establishing best practice in the use of ITin the sector; two of the more importantsets of CITA activities are bi-annual Members' Meetings and the SpecialInterest Groups (SIGs). The Members'Meetings have been crucial in the development of CITA. These meetings aresignificant milestones as they have provided opportunities for the members tolisten to leading experts on relevant up-to-date issues. More importantly perhaps,they provide an opportunity for the members to discuss these issues in anopen and relatively informal manner. CITAdepends a great deal on the network ofSpecial Interest Groups (SIGs) formed bymembers. There are seven Special InterestGroups at the moment and this includes aMaterials Procurement group and aneTendering group, which is particularly relevant in light of national policy to movepublic sector spending online. Membersare encouraged to get involved in developing new interest groups or by joining established groups. It is intended

that the findings of these groups will bepublished and will encourage furtherresearch.

In July 2004 there were one hundred andfour member organisations in the IrishAEC industry who had joined CITA.Member organisationsinclude constructionfirms, designers,consultants,product suppliers,specialist contractors, ITsuppliers,professional institutions, legal,education andgovernment bodies. The needfor maintaining amulti-disciplinarymembership toCITA is vital as itwas recognisedfrom the outset that many of the factorshindering effective IT use in the industryrelate to poor integration. A strong anddiverse membership should also meanthat CITA will be able to help shape thesuccessful development and implementation of future IT innovations inthe industry. The work of CITA in promoting the exploitation of informationand communication technologies by theIrish construction industry has beenendorsed by government, the influentialForum for the Construction Industry (FCI)and all the relevant professional bodies.


The Construction IT Alliance (CITA):a model for collaboration between education and industry

The specific objectives of CITAare:

To inform the Irish construction sectorof relevant IT developments.

To establish and disseminate best practice in the use ofIT in the Irish construction sector.

To encourage ITrelated research and training collaborationbetween the Irishacademic sector andthe leading firms inthe Irish construc-tion sector.

To establish and maintain links with relevant nationaland international organisations.

To encourage thestrategic use of IT bythe leading firms inthe Irish construction sector.

The Special InterestGroups that are cur-rently in operationare:

MaterialsProcurement

Layering convention for CADdrawings

Website development

Collaboration Tools

eTendering

Object Modelling

Education andResearch.

For more information contact: Dr. Ken Thomas ([email protected])or visit the CITA website atwww.cita.ie.

ECPPM CONFERENCE IN ISTANBUL

Dr. Ken Thomas attended the European Conference on Productand Process Modelling in the Building and Construction Industry(ECPPM 2004) in Istanbul in September this year and deliveredthe keynote paper to the ITC@EDU Workshop. The title of thispaper was Integration, Isolation and IT Education for animproved Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC)Industry. Dr. Thomas also chaired a 'Knowledge Management'session and was a Panel Member for the discussion on'Construction IT Body of Knowledge in the light of BolognaProcess'. Approximately 140 delegates from around the worldattended.

John Wall presented his paper on e-Learning and PedagogicalChallenges in Construction Mangement: Bridging the Gapbetween Adademia and Industry at the ARCOM Conference inEdinburgh on September 1st. There were various themesthroughout the conference including Economics and Strategy;Project Management and Risk; Design and Design Management;Marketing and Inter-Organizational Relations; InformationTechnology and Visualization; Learning and Innovation; LawContracts and Procurement; Productivity and Planning; Facilitiesand Maintenance Management and Sustainability and EcoSystems. Over 120 delegates from the U.K. U.S., Mainland Europeand Australia attended the three-day conference.



The Centre for Social andFamily Research was established in 2003 withinthe Department of AppliedArts at WIT. Launched in2003 by Director of WIT,Professor Kieran Byrnewith a guest lecture byThomas Moore, worldrenowned author of Careof the Soul, the centrebrings together the teaching and researchstrengths of members ofstaff and postgraduate students from social studies and law.

Since then, other guest speakers haveincluded, Professor Michael Kimmel, StateUniversity New York, renowned author onmen's lives and masculinities.

The centre's core objective is to conductapplied social research which will criticallyaddress current debates in Irish social policy and make a contribution to thedevelopment of policy.

Practice minded and committed to thepursuit of social care and social justice,the centre seeks to develop collaborativeresearch projects within the South Eastregion, nationally and internationally.

Since its establishment the centre haswon a number of national research

commissions. These include, StrengtheningFamilies Through Fathers, commissionedby the Department of Social and FamilyAffairs and published in November 2004;Men, Sex and Crisis Pregnancy, commis-sioned by the Crisis Pregnancy Agency;and Investigating the impact on childrenof witnessing domestic violence - natureand adequacy of child centred services,commissioned by the National Children'sOffice. The centre has also been awardedfour postgraduate research scholarshipsunder the Technological Sector Research:Strand I Post-graduate R&D SkillsProgramme. These awards include, Astudy of shared parenting in post-nuclearIrish families, Racism in contemporary

Ireland, Fathering fromprisons and An analysis ofvictims of crime inWaterford City.

Key to the centre's successin attracting research funding is the collaborationbetween disciplines withinthe department and jointresearch projects withresearchers from otherinstitutions.

The centre is committed toenhancing good workingrelationships between theInstitute and a variety ofstate and voluntary

agencies and cultivating links with community groups.

In addition to funded research, the centrehas a wide range of research interestsand activities , including; men,masculinities and fatherhood, child pro-tection, race and ethnicity, parenting, fos-ter care, social care training and professional supervision, drama, culture &ethnicity, domestic violence and powerrelations.

Centre for Social and Family Research

From Left: Fergus Hogan; Dr. Willie Donnelly; Professor Michael Kimmell; Director of WIT,Professor Kieran R. Byrne; Dr. Michael Howlett; Walter O’Leary and Jonathan Culleton.

This autumn a working visit fromDanish Wood Energy Expert, Mr.Pieter D. Kofman was hosted by WITForestry and supported by COFORD,the National Council for ForestResearch and Development.

Wood energy has been identified as a sustainable renewable resource thatshould be developed to contribute toIreland's national carbon emission abatement strategy, aiding sustainablerural development and expansion of theforest industry. With this in mind theobjective of the working visit was toallow Dr. Kofman, who has over 20 year'sexperience researching forest harvestingfor wood energy, to share this experiencewith the Irish forestry sector. Through indi-vidual and group meetings Pieter identified opportunities for the develop-ment of wood energy supply strategies inIreland.

Key elements of the work programme

included meeting all the main industryand research people involved in woodenergy, identifying problems and potentials in harvesting wood for energyin Ireland and carrying out a literaturereview of relevant Irish and internationalwork. To this end, Pieter met with sixteencompanies and organisations and attended a two-day conference in Cork onWood Energy, arranged by SustainableEnergy Ireland.

The main output of Pieter's visit was areport on recommendations for developing suitable wood energy harvesting systems in Ireland. The visithad the broader benefit of giving a widerange of interested parties in Irelandaccess to Pieter's expertise and networkof international industry and researchlinks. WIT has benefited from Pieter's visitby gaining direct access to his expertiseand international network of research andindustry links. The Institute can use

Pieter's visit as an opportunity to liaisewith Irish interested parties and identifyspecific areas of applied research anddevelopment where WIT may form partnerships. Pieter returned to Ireland inNovember for one week to demonstratesome innovative Danish technology inwood energy harvesting. This demonstration took place on a number ofprivate forest plantations supplied byGlanbia’s Forestry DevelopmentAssociation. WIT forestry students wereinvolved in the demonstration organisation and collected and analysedfield data on the equipment and site.Pieter presented the findings of his working visit at a seminar arranged tocoincide with the machine demonstration.Over 150 people from the forestry,agriculture and energy sectors attendedthe seminar.For more information contact Tom Kent([email protected])

Visit of Danish wood energy expert establishes network of research links

The centre is co-ordinated by Maire O'Reilly ([email protected]), Fergus Hogan([email protected]) and Jonathon Culleton([email protected]).



Careers Services research demonstratesimportance of transferable skillsAccording to a project focussing onthe transferable skills in third-levelmodern languages curricula, not allstudents are aware of the importanceof the transferable skills they acquireduring their time in third-level education.

Angela Collins, WIT Careers Advisor,together with her colleagues in the TrinityCollege Dublin (TCD) and Dublin CityUniversity (DCU) Careers Services, hasbeen working on this research projectsince January 2003. The project has beenfunded through the HEA's StrategicInitiatives Scheme (formerly TargetedInitiatives Scheme) for two years. Thefunding received has enabled the institu-tions to jointly conduct research to identi-fy the transferable or "soft" skills, suchas, communications, time management,decision-making and problem-solving,which are important for students toacquire while in third-level education. Thisis a truly innovative project, as it is thefirst time that such extensive primaryresearch has been conducted in Ireland onthe topic. The project will also investigatethe most effective ways of integratingthese skills into an academic curriculum.

The experience of many Careers Serviceshas been that students on modern language programmes tend to be lessconfident on graduation than some oftheir more vocationally-oriented colleagues. The fact that graduates fromthese programmes enter a diverse rangeof occupations, in which many are notrequired to use their language skills,increases the necessity for these studentsto become aware of the transferability ofother skills they have acquired.

The research in WIT was conducted withfour key stakeholder groups - graduateemployers, and modern language academic staff, students and graduates.The results of this make interesting reading and the main findings for thecombined WIT cohort are listed in columnthree.

The WIT Careers Service was supported byDr. Don O’Neill, Dr. Rosanna Molloy andDr. Carmel Coyne from the Department ofApplied Arts.

The full reports from this research can beviewed at www.skillsproject.tcd.ie.

WIT Lecturer presents research at Medical DevicesConference in MinnesotaMr. Conall Doran, Lecturer in the Department of Engineering Technology, recently presented a paper entitled A Modelof the Failure Process of Skin During Cutting at an ASM International (American Society for Metals) organised conference on Materials and Processes for Medical Devices in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The paper, which was co-authored by Dr. Brendan McCormack of IT Sligo and Mr. Andrew Macey of Sligo GeneralHospital, presented results of Conall's research into defining the sharpness of medical cutting tools, such as scalpels.This paper explored how a sharp cutting blade can be used to measure the fracture toughness of a biomaterial, in thiscase skin, and how the sharpness of the cutting blade will affect the fracture toughness measured.

This research is being carried out in conjunction with IT Sligo as part of a larger project investigating the concept ofsharpness of cutting tools, which is currently ill defined. While much work has been done in researching the process ofcutting for industrial applications, such as machining, very little work has been done in investigating the process ofcutting for medical applications. A deeper understanding of what is meant by sharpness will allow the development ofmore effective cutting tools for surgery and improving healing after surgical procedures.

From Left: Ms. Muireann Ni Dhuigneain; Careers Advisor DCU, Deputy Olwyn Enright T.D. Fine Gael Spokesperson onEducation and Science; Rhona Sherry, Project Manager; Orlaith Tunney, Careers Advisor TCD; Angela Collins, CareersAdvisor WIT.

MAIN FINDINGSA) Transferable skills are the third mostimportant factor when seeking employment, after enthusiasm for theposition and personal qualities, andahead of a good academic record.B) The transferable skills regarded asmost important are: oral communication,time management, team work,presentation skills and IT skills.

C) Of these skills, only time managementis regarded as quite poorly developed.

D) The majority of respondents (85%)agreed that transferable skills are moreimportant than specialist knowledge in awork environment.

E) Almost half of the responding graduates (45%) were not using theirlanguage skills at the time they were surveyed.

For more information contact:Angela Collins ([email protected])

For more information contact:Conall Doran ([email protected])


The Minister for Trade and Commerce, Mr.Michael Ahern, T.D., recently, launched abooklet describing the success of Irishparticipants in the EU Framework pro-gramme for Research & TechnologicalDevelopment. This book, published byEnterprise Ireland, highlights achieve-ments of Ireland's research community -in industry, research institutes and thirdlevel colleges.

Speaking at the launch, Minister Ahernsaid, "The European Union's FrameworkProgrammes for Research andTechnological Development have providedopportunities to Irish companies, researchinstitutes, universities and colleges to par-ticipate in high-quality research with theircounterparts in Europe. It has had knock-on benefits in the provision of technologytransfer opportunities." The Programmeshave been a crucially important source offunding in supporting the growth of theIrish research base, and have helped toincrease the knowledge and credibility ofthe Irish research community. In so doing,they have helped create a well-qualified,

technologically aware workforce.

"This publication clearly shows that Irishresearchers have built a solid reputationfor good research. The examples set outin this book are representative of themany hundreds of successful researchprojects, which, over the years, can claiman honoured place on the Europeanstage", Minister Ahern concluded.

Case studies outlined in the book include:Aughinish Alumina Ltd, Trinity CollegeDublin, Engineering Solutions Ltd, BiotrinInternational, NTERA Ltd, GEM PlasticsLtd, SIFCO Turbine Components Ltd, LakeCommunications & Waterford Institute ofTechnology and the National Universitiesof Cork, Dublin and Galway.

Lake Communications & theTelecommunications Software & SystemsGroup (TSSG) at Waterford Institute ofTechnology are the two Irish partners onthe Sixth Framework 14.7 million europroject Daidalos (Designing AdvancedNetwork Interfaces for the Delivery andAdministration of Location Independent,Optimised Personal Services).

Micheál ó Foghlú, Research Director atthe TSSG, who was an invited speaker atthe launch event, described the work ofLAKE Communications and the TSSG as"building real scenario-based end-to-endservices using IPv6 on multiple fixed andwireless access networks".

"The scope of the project is large, and theextensive network of nearly 50 partnersenabled by EU funding is what makes thispossible", he says.

Dr. Sheila Donegan and Eoin Gill of CALMAST have recently secured fundingthrough the EU Socrates programme for apan-European project entitled GrowingInterest in The Development of TeachingScience.

The lead institute for this project is thePole Universitaire de Lorraine, Nancy,France and other partners includeUniversity of Bradford, UK; EDUCONSULT,Belgium; Amitie, Italy; Faculty of Science,Helsinki and the National Institute of Public Education, Hungary.

The aim of the project is to investigate how science is perceivedamong second level students, and to investigate the numbersstudying science, engineering and technology courses at thirdlevel.

Importantly the project will explore the obstacles to learning science in second level and how science is taught in the different countries.

Ideas and results will be shared throughconferences and research papers.

The study will investigate the reaction,perception and preparedness of primaryschools to the introduction of science andthe work is based around a questionnairefor both students and teachers, respec-tively.

Questions are constructed in such as wayas to determine whether age and gender

profiles have any bearing on peoples’ perceptions of science.

Target schools include a mix of urban, rural, mixed and singlesex schools.


WIT project included in EU FrameworkProgramme success stories

Calmast researching obstacles to learning scienceSince its foundation the Centre for the Advancement of Learning of Maths, Science andTechnology (CALMAST) has organised numerous science events for schools, both primaryand secondary. Recently, CALMAST has broadened its activities into the field of activeresearch in Irish schools in response to the introduction of science as part of the newprimary curriculum.

For more information contact:Dr. Sheila Donegan or Eoin Gill ([email protected] or [email protected]) orvisit www.wit.ie/set

For more information contact:Mícheál Ó Foghlú ([email protected])

Director of Research at the TSSG,Mícheál Ó Foghlú


Dr. Peter Jordan of WIT recently delivered a research paper to the AllIreland Society for Higher Education (AISHE) Conference, Trinity College,Dublin. This paper summarises the state of the art in practice based/ledresearch in art and design.

Practice based/led research in art and design itself has a fairly shorthistory having originated and developed over the last twenty years.Initially described as practise based research, more recently the conceptof practice led research has been mooted, in which the primacy of written over visual text is challenged.

The paper addresses a number of the AISHE conference themes, in particular, those of scholarship, diversity, Bologna and assessment criteria. In terms of scholarship, reference is made to significant issuessuch as the definition of core characteristics and regulatory requirements for practice based/led research.

Recognition of diversity between subject areas and methodologiesmust allow for the recognition of a specific mode of research appropriate to the practice of art and design. The precise formulation ofthis mode has proved to be problematic as indicated by the findings ofthe 1996 Helsinki Conference, titled No guru, No method. Recent literature on the subject however, for example, On the Move, publishedby the European League of Institutes of the Arts, suggests the gradualrecognition of a new culture in Doctoral Fine Art and evolution towardspractice led research in higher arts education.

Progress in the above has been aided by the Bologna process, whichrequires a more unified Europe-wide approach to education in art anddesign as in other fields.

Professor Trudie Chalder, Chairof Cognitive-BehaviouralPsychotherapy at Guy's, StThomas' and King's MedicalSchool, King's College London,was the guest speaker at theDepartment of Nursing'smonthly academic seminar.Professor Chalder spoke onpast and current research inthe area of chronic fatigue syndrome and issues confronting researchers whenengaging in areas of sensitivityand controversy. She highlighted that currentresearch evidence supports aprogramme of treatment thatincludes graded exercise andcognitive-behavioural interventions to promote activity instead of reinforcing

fatigue thinking and behaviourby advising patients to rest.However, whilst this clinicalapproach was highly successfulin terms of patient outcome, itoften did not fit in with theirconceptualisation of their prob-lem and could be frownedupon by self-help groups. Theseminar was well attended,both by academic staff fromWIT and clinical staff from theSouth Eastern Health Boardand lively discussion of theissues raised ensued. ProfessorChalder is currently engaged ina major six-year national studyof a range of interventions inthe treatment of fatigue in theUK.


Research in the area ofChronic Fatigue Syndrome

For more information contactDr John Wells ([email protected])

For more information contact:Dr. Peter Jordan ([email protected])

PhD graduates from the School of Science, October 2004, from left include: Dr. Rebecca O’Mahoney; Dr. Dominic Murphy; Dr. Audrey Hearne; Dr. Orla Cahill;Dr. Tadhg ó hEalaithe (HETAC); Dr. Pádraigin Harnedy and Director of WIT, Professor Kieran R. Byrne

WIT represented at InternationalManufacturing ConferenceThe 21th International Manufacturing Conference (IMC-21), entitledServicing Manufacturing was hosted by University of Limerick during the first week in September 2004. The delegates attendngcame from educational and research institutes in 14 countries and atotal of 94 papers were presented during the 3 day conference.Three papers were presented by WIT staff and postgraduate stu-dents from the School of Engineering. These papers are listed onpages 14 and 15. WIT will host the twenty-fourth InternationalManufacturhing Conference in September 2007.

Recent developments inpractice based / led researchin art and design



South East scores high on computers butlow on broadband accessAn international survey on the use ofinformation technology has revealed thatthe south east of Ireland, with one of thehighest levels of computer usage in busi-ness, has one of the lowest levels of accessto broadband.

The South East Information Society Strategy(SEISS) group held a one-day workshop last monthin Kilkenny at which the results of an internationalsurvey on the impact of the Information Society onseven regions in Europe were announced. FrankMcCarthy, Project Manager, outlined the work ofSENSITIC, a project funded by the INTERREG IIIBAtlantic Programme, which gauges the impact ofthe Information Society in seven regions of Europe,including south-east Ireland.“Progress achieved by the Information Societywithin these seven regions in six sectors - citizen-ship, enterprise, governance, education, tourismand culture - was measured," he said. "The resultsof this research pointed to significant differences between theregions, particularly in the enterprise sector.”

Indeed the south-east region demonstrated some very interestingresults. For example, 88 per cent of businesses surveyed usedcomputers, the second highest number in the regions examinedand 67 per cent of the businesses surveyed had Internet access,again the second highest in all of the regions. Yet only 19 percent of these businesses had access to broadband, the secondlowest percentage in all of the regions.

"The south-east region is also the second largest user of E-com-merce of all the regions and actually comes in at the top of thescale with regard to the percentage of enterprises with anInternet site. The SENSITIC report points to inadequate cover bybroadband networks, preventing regions like Carmarthenshire(Wales) and south east Ireland from deriving full benefits fromtheir ICT-related services," added Mr. McCarthy.

SEISS has been primarily responsible for the flagship 18 millioneuro SERPANT South-East Broadband Project - a unique approachto the rollout of broadband in six municipal area networks inClonmel, Dungarvan, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford.What this means in practical terms is that businesses in these

towns and cities can now have access to the Internet faster,always and in the long term, cheaper; allowing them to competewith any similar business anywhere in the world from the samestarting block.

"The SERPANT municipal broadband network has levelled theplaying field for businesses in the towns and cities of the south-east region. And now SEISS is turning its attention to the demon-strated need for broadband in the rural areas," said Mr.McCarthy.

Frank McCarthy, SEISS Project Manager and Gerry Conheady, Chairman, SEISSSteering Committee at the Workshop in Kilkenny

The SEISS programme has been primarily responsible for theattraction of over 19.2million euro of project funding to thesouth east region. Projects currently funded and underway bySEISS cover the areas of wireless broadband, eProcurementand other aspects of Information and CommunicationsTechnology (ICT).

For more information contact:Frank McCarthy ([email protected]) or visit www.seiss.ie

The number of south east entrepreneurs currentlyparticipating in the South East Enterprise PlatformProgramme (SEEPP) has reached twenty two, thehighest number since the programme began in 1997.

The latest cohort of ten entrepreneurs commenced the programme in recent weeks, joining the twelve existing participants, who have been on board since Summer 2004.

Representing a broad cross section of industries including IT,Engineering and Animal Nutrition and bringing with them awealth of experience and knowledge in their various fields, theentrepreneurs have been attending training workshops covering topics such as Innovation and Creativity,

Entrepreneurship and Leadership, Market Definition, Financingyour Business, Intellectual Property Rights and BusinessPlanning. Training is broken into three distinct modules and willcontinue throughout the one-year programme.

Commenting on the positive results achieved by the participants to date, Programme Manager Eugene Crehan stated that “the programme is proud to be associated with the contribution these business people are making to the southeast’s industry base as a whole.”

Record number of entrepreneurs participates in Enterprise Programme

For more information contact:[email protected] or visit the SEEPP website at www.seepp.ie



W I T R E S E A R C H I N F O C U S

Institute selects new Research CouncilA Research Council has been estab-lished at WIT composed of activeresearchers from within the Instituteand a panel of suitable externalexperts. Dr Willie Donnelly, Head ofResearch & Innovation will chair theCouncil.

The main role and responsibilities ofthe Council include formulation andongoing review of the Institute’sstrategic research policy; identificationof appropriate research areas of activi-ty; identification of impediments toprogress and the drawing together of

the research portfolio within theInstitute to provide for leadership.

Four internationally respected external aca-demic members including Professor JohnDavies of Anglia Polytechnic University willsupport the work of the Research Council.

The Research Council comprises the followingstaff members:

Dr Willie Donnelly (Chair)

Dr Jean Clark

Dr Sheila Donegan

Mr Donal Flavin

Dr Denis Harrington

Dr Michael Howlett

Dr Peter Jordan

Dr Venie Martin

Dr John O’Dwyer

Dr John Wells

For more information contact:

Dr Willie Donnelly

[email protected]

For more information contact:Dr. Willie [email protected]

Research Methods coursefor postgraduate studentsThe Research Methods course for postgraduatestudents provides essential training in researchmethodology for all postgraduate students inWIT and aims to foster a thriving postgraduateenvironment and community.

A total of twenty two sessions have been scheduledto occur between November 2004 and May 2005.Topics covered to date include an exploration of epistemology in research; the process of engagementwith the research process and values, ethics andpower in research.

Sessions resuming in January will cover such areas asthe Research Proposal; Literature Reviews;Multi-method Approaches; Writing and Presenting aResearch Dissertation and Writing for Publication. Inaddition participants will opt for one of the two mainmethodological approaches, Quantitative Methods orQualitative Methods.

The course is currently under investigation by theAcademic Council as a single subject certificate and itis possible that exemptions could be available iflearning outcomes are matched. Basic requirementsfor this certificate would include a research portfolioand a minimum of 75% attendance to include thegeneric topics and a chosen methodology option.

For more information contact:Dr. Ann Jordan ([email protected])

Topics in the Quantitative Methodological ApproachesSessions will include:

->The principles of quantitative research

->Experimental research design

->Sampling and statistics

->Questionnaire design

->Types of variable

->Methods for one variable

->Methods for two variables

->Outline of multivariate methods

->Introduction to statistical inference

->Statistics and research

->Computer applications - SPSS and Minitab

Topics in the Qualtitative Methodological ApproachesSessions will include:

->Theory and its relation to qualitative research methods

->Grounded Theory

->Phenomenology

->Ethnography

->Action research

->Case study research

->The interview as an investigative method

->Observation and the nature of observation

->Reflection and reflexivity within qualitative research

->Principles of data analysis within qualitative research

->Use of CAQDAS in qualitative analysis



Profile of a Researcher - Dr.-Ing. Tom Pfeifer

■ ■ ■ C O N F E R E N C E S ■ ■ ■

A. Betson, T. Pfeifer 2004. Combining PositioningDevices in Pervasive Computing Environments. ITSCRC2004, 8th Science and Computing ResearchColloquium, Waterford, Ireland, May 26-28, 2004.

A. Duane & P. Finnegan 2004, The Impact of EmailMonitoring on Email Systems Management. IN TheInternational Management and TechnologyConference (IMT 2004), Orlando, Florida.

A. Duane & P. Finnegan 2004, Managing Email Usage: ACross Case Analysis of Experiences with ElectronicMonitoring and Control. IN The Sixth InternationalConference on Electronic Commerce (ICEC 2004),Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands,October 2004.

B. Rousseau, P. Browne, P. Malone, & M. Ó Foghlú Userprofiling for content personalisation in informationretrieval. IN ACM SAC 2004, Nicosia, Cyprus; 14--17March 2004.

B. Rousseau, P. Browne, P. Malone, P. Foster, & V.Mendis, Personalised resource discovery searching overmultiple repository types, using user and informationprovider profiling. IN ICEIS 2004, UniversidadePortucalense, Porto - Portugal, 14-17, April 2004.

C. Doran, B. McCormack, & A.Macey 2004 A Model ofthe Failure Process of Skin During Cutting. INProceedings of the Materials and Processes forMedical Devices Conference (ASM International), 25-27 August, St. Paul, Minnesota.

C. Kulatunga, J. Kielthy, P., & M. Ó Foghlú 2004,Implementation of a Simple Bandwidth Broker forDiffServ Networks. IN IPS 2004, Dept. ofTelecommunications and Media Informatics,Budapest, Hungary Budapest, Hungary.

C. O'Dowd Smyth 2004, The indeterminacy of diasporicidentities in post-colonial Europe. IN ChangingIdentities in Europe & European Studies, FrenchInstitute, London, September 2004.

C. Ryan, B. Rousseau, C. O'Riordan, S. Vejgaard-NielsenFlexible Billing for a Personalised Mobile ServicesEnvironment. IN Proceedings of Global MobileCongress 2004: GMC04, Shanghai, China, October2004.

D. Walsh 2004 An Automated Storage/Retrieval SystemSimulation Model. Irish Simulation in Manufacturing,Services and Logistics Workshop, University ofLimerick, August 2004.

F. Kelliher, & J.B. Henderson 2004 A learning frameworkfor the small business environment. IN Proceedings ofthe Irish Academy of Management AnnualConference, Trinity College Dublin, September 2004.

J. H. Rothwell, D.F.Murphy, M.Alhourani, & D.A.Flavin2004 Dispersion Measurements across broad wave-length ranges by low-coherence interferometry. INTechnical Program of the Conference on EmergingTechnologies in Optical Sciences (ETOS 2004), p94,University College Cork, July 2004.

Recent WIT Publications

The Telecommunications Software &Systems Group (TSSG) at WIT hasgrown rapidly, from three people in1997 to nearly fifty full-time staffwith a current turnover of over ninemillion Euros. A critical mass of fund-ing from the 6th European framework(FP6), the Science Foundation ofIreland (SFI) as well as from majorindustry affords them a full scope andbreadth of research areas from basicresearch, applied research & develop-ment to the commercialisation ofresults.

This synergetic environment attracts internationally renowned scientists, such asPrincipal Investigator Dr.-Ing. Tom Pfeiferwho joined the TSSG from FraunhoferFOKUS in Germany last year.

Tom holds a Dr.-Ing. (PhD) in ComputerScience from the Technical University (TU) ofBerlin, and a Dipl.-Ing. (Masters) degree inElectrical Engineering from the TechnicalUniversity of Dresden, Germany.

In the Nineties, he worked as a teachingResearch Assistant at TU Berlin, where he

first collaborated with GMD/FraunhoferInstitute FOKUS. From there he becameProject Manager and Senior Consultant formultiple industry funded research projects inthe area of location aware computing,personal communication support and ubiquitous computing. In most recent years,while acting as visiting professor, again atTU Berlin, he became recognised internationally through his publicationrecord, and invited to join several programcommittees and editorial boards of leadingconferences and journals in his area.

In his current position as a PrincipalInvestigator and Director of Research inUbiquitous and Pervasive Computing, heleads academic activities within the TSSGand coordinates them with the applied andcommercial side of research and development. He supervises PhD andMasters students, and now represents WITwhen organising international conferencesand topical seminars, and in the acquisitionof new sources of funding.

According to Dr. Pfeifer, the concept ofSmart Spaces, a key issue in the basicresearch programme of the TSSG, recognises

the emerging trend in pervasive informationtechnology towards highly dynamic,heterogeneous computing environments.“In these environments”, says Dr. Pfeifer“users will be able to migrate seamlesslybetween their computers, their PDAs andtheir laptops”.

Dr.-Ing. Tom Pfeifer Principal Investigator andDirector of Research in Ubiquitous and PervasiveComputing at the TSSG

For more information contact:

Dr.-Ing Tom Pfeifer ([email protected])



■ ■ ■ C O N F E R E N C E S ■ ■ ■

J. Hennessy & M.Kirrane 2004. Work family border the-ory: creating a new agenda in a changing workplace. INProceedings of the Irish Academy of ManagementConference.

J. Ronan, S. Davy, P. Malone, & M. Ó Foghlú,Performance Implications of IPSec Deployment. IN IPS2004, Dept. of Telecommunications and MediaInformatics, Budapest, Hungary.

J. Ronan, S. Davy, J. Rossebø An analysis of IPsecdeployment performance in high and low powerdevices. IN Proceedings of the 17th Nordic TeletrafficSeminar, Norway, August 2004.

J. Wall e-Learning & Pedagogical Challenges inConstruction Management: Bridging the Gap betweenAcademia and Industry IN Proceedings of the ARCOMConference, Edinburgh, Scotand, September 2004.

K. T. O'Mahoney, D.A. Flavin, L. Zhang, & I. Bennion(2004) Fourier transform-based spectral measure-ments on multiplexed fibre bragg grating arrays. INProceedings of the Second European Workshop onOptical Fibre Sensors, SPIE 5502, pp423-426,Santander, Spain.

K. Thomas. Isolation and IT Education for an improvedArchitecture Engineering and Construction (AEC)Industry. IN Proceedings of the European Conferenceon Product and Process Modelling in the Buildingand Construction Industry (ECPPM 2004), Istanbul,Turkey. 8th-10th September 2004.

M. Ó Foghlú (2004) Infrastructure Requirements forSmart Spaces and Managed Zones. IN eChallenges2004, Vienna, Austria. 27-29 October 2004. ( Winner ofBest Paper Award).

M. Sheahan, M. McCarthy, M. Mulhall, & J. Phelan(2004) Low Cost Opposed Pad Hydrostatic Linear SlideDevelopment. IN Proceedings of the 21st InternationalManufacturing Conference (IMC-21), University ofLimerick, September 2004.

N. Cullinan & J. Phelan (2004). Automation of the ToolSetting Task for Vibratory Bowl Feeders: Stage 1. INProceedings of the 21st International ManufacturingConference (IMC-21), University of Limerick,September 2004.

P. Andrés Aranda Gutiérrez, P. Malone, M. Ó Foghlú, S.Michaelis, & J. Seger. Acquisition, Modelling andVisualisation of Inter-domain Routing Data. IN IPS2004, Dept. of Telecommunications and MediaInformatics, Budapest, Hungary.

S. Ghamri-Doudane, S. van der Meer, R. O'Connor, Y.Ghamri-Doudane, & N. Agoulmine 2004. ResourcesDiscovery and Management using Policies in SmartSpaces IN HP-OVUA 2004, Open UniversityAssociation, Paris, France.

S. Hearne, J. McGibney, & A. Patel (2004) AddressingFraud Detection and Management in Next-GenerationTelecommunications Networks IN SCI 2004, Orlando,Florida. July 18-21, 2004

S. Mythen, B. O'Gorman, & H. McGrath 2004 Joining thedots - an integrative model developing SMEs in ruralIreland. IN Proceedings of the 27th Institute for SmallBusiness Affairs National Conference, Teeside, UK,November 2004.

S. Mythen, B. O'Gorman, & H. McGrath (2004) Joiningthe dots - A rural enterprise programme case study. INProceedings of the 3rd Rural EntrepreneurshipConference, University of Paisley, UK, October 2004.

S.van der Meer & B. Jennings 2004 Management ofSmart Spaces IN eChallenges 2004, Vienna, Austria. 27-29 October 2004.

T. Pfeifer 2004 Synergetic Positioning Architecture forLocation-dependent Services. 29th Annual IEEEConference on Local Computer Networks, LCN 2004,Tampa, Florida USA, November 16-18, 2004 LosAlamitos (USA): IEEE Computer Society Press, ISBN 0-7695

T. Pfeifer 2004 "Redundancy vs. Imperfect Positioningfor Context-dependent Services" Workshop onAdvanced Context Modelling, Reasoning andManagement, in conjunction with Ubicomp 2004, 6thInternational ACM Conference on UbiquitousComputing, Nottingham, England, September 7-10,2004.

T. Wemyss & J. Phelan 2004, "Movement at NanoResolution in a Noisy Environment", IN Proceedings ofthe 21st International Manufacturing Conference(IMC-21), University of Limerick, September 2004.

■ ■ ■ J O U R N A L S ■ ■ ■

A. Marsh, M. F. Broderick, S.Donegan, J.Power, &K.D.Altria (2004) Recent Advances in MEEKC.Electrophoresis 2004.

D. McElhinney, T. G. Fewer, R. Hayes, & C. O'Rourke. eds.(2003 [2004]) Erga: The Academic Journal of WaterfordInstitute of Technology 1. Ref Type: Journal (Full)

J. Clarke (2004) Public health nursing review: A criti-cal overview. Public Health Nursing, vol. 21, no. 2, pp.191-198.

K. D. Altria, M.F.Broderick, S.Donegan, & J.Power (2004)The Use of Novel Water-in-Oil Microemulsions.Microemulsion Electrokinetic Chromatography no. 25,pp. 645-652.

M. F. Broderick, S. Donegan, J. Power, & K.D. Altria(2004) Optimization and Use of Water-in-Oil MEEKC.Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis.

N. Hegarty, N.Quinlan, T.Hurley, & T.Lynch 2004 On thecat-walk: WIT Libraries learning support model.Library Management, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 293-299.

P. J. Cregg, D.S.F. Crothers, & A.W. Wickstead (2004) Avariational approach to the relaxation of singledomain magnetic particles based on Brown's model.Journal of Molecular Liquids no. 114, pp. 97-104.

S.Karlich, T.Zahariadis, B. Jennings, V.Kollias, & T.Magedanz. (2004) A Self-Adaptive ServiceProvisioning Framework for 3G+/4G MobileApplications. IEEE Wireless, IEEE WirelessCommunications Magazine.

T. G. Fewer (2003 [2004]) The day Ballybricken burned:disaster and response in early nineteenth-centuryWaterford, Ireland. Erga: The Academic Journal ofWaterford Institute of Technology. Vol. 1, pp. 10-26.

■ ■ ■ O T H E R ■ ■ ■

T. G. Fewer 2004, Langrishe, Sir Hercules, first baronet(c. 1729-1811) IN Oxford Dictionary of NationalBiography, H.C.Matthew & B.Harrison, eds., OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford.

F. Keating, G. Walsh & B. Jackman. This is the modernautomotive industry. Irish Scientist 2004 Yearbook. No.12, November 2004. ISBN 0 9546166 3 4.


All staff in the School of Research andInnovation are based on the second floorof the Information Technology Building.Contact details are as follows:

Dr. Willie Donnelly,Head of School of Research and Innovation,Office: IT 2.07Tel: 353 – 51 – 845500 orInternally ext 5500Email: [email protected]

Kathryn Kiely,Manager External Services,Office: IT 2.08Tel: 353 – 51 – 302034 orInternally ext 2034Email: [email protected]

Susie Cullinane,Projects Manager,Research Support Unit,Room IT 2.10Tel: 353 – 51 – 845503 orInternally ext 5503Email: [email protected]

Eimear Cheasty,Administrative Assistant,Research Support Unit,Room IT 2.10Tel: 353 – 51 – 845501 orInternally ext 5501Email: [email protected]

Rita Dalton,Administrative Assistant,School of Research andInnovation,Room IT 2.10Tel: 353 – 51 – 845596 orInternally ext 5596Email: [email protected]


wit research matters - waterford institute of technology

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