An innovative new project led by University College Cork (UCC) will use duckweed to treat wastewater, typically slurry, from beef and dairy farms. The project ‘Brainwaves’ has just received € 1.4 million in funding under the Ireland Wales 2014-2020 European Territorial Co-operation (ETC) programme.

Led by Prof Marcel Jansen of UCC’s School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Environmental Research Institute, Brainwaves will leverage the natural ability of duckweed to thrive in and purify polluted water, producing both clean water and a supply of animal feed, as duckweed is edible and high in protein.

The project will refine the method involved and focus on the commercial applications. Prof Jansen speaking at the launch of the project said, “The availability of copious amounts of cheap, chemical fertilisers can’t be taken for granted any longer, and novel techniques are required to re-use plant nutrients and enhance the environmental sustainability of modern agriculture across the board. In Europe as a whole we have duckweed as a neglected source of high quality protein, and excellent potential as a feed additive.”

Brainwaves will develop a circular economic approach to manage the thin fraction of slurry, developing technology to remediate this wastewater, to generate economically valuable feed, to recycle plant nutrients, and thus to enhance the competitiveness of the beef and dairy industry in Ireland and Wales. Brainwaves will develop native common duckweed (Lemna minor) as a novel crop for Irish and Welsh farms, by advancing technology to grow this plant on dilute slurry. Duckweeds are amongst the fastest growing plants, are tolerant of ammonium (present in slurry), and produce valuable protein that make it a promising feed-stock to replace costly soybean.

“Brainwaves is looking at diluted farmyard slurry, enormous amounts of which need to be stored” explains Professor Marcel Jansen, “There are enormous volumes of this across Ireland. Farmers must store it, so what we want to come up with are ways of using thin fraction slurry to generate value.”

Over the course of the project, farmers will be invited to view the full-scale demonstration model, and will be provided with materials and manuals to replicate on their own farms, directly contributing to both the sustainability and economic viability of the beef and dairy industry.

COVID-19 pandemic poses significant challenges for the child protection system

“We are telling people to stay at home to save lives, but for some, home is the most dangerous place to be”

An information hub of local and national resources to support families in crisis during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has been developed by the School of Law at University College Cork (UCC) together with Irish charities, civil society organisations and other service providers.

The UN Secretary General recently highlighted the risk that the pandemic poses to people living in violent homes worldwide, while An Garda Siochana launched Operation Faoisimh to protect victims of domestic abuse. The COVID-19 situation also poses significant challenges for both the enforcement of access arrangements and for the child protection system. Whilst most cases before the courts will be adjourned for the duration of the current restrictions, the courts will still hear urgent applications in family law and childcare matters, including applications for care order extensions for vulnerable children during the pandemic.

The Family Law hub, hosted on the UCC website at https://www.ucc.ie/en/covid19familylaw/ is a comprehensive public resource of up-to-date information and guidance for people seeking advice and support on family law issues, including access to justice, custody arrangements, income and maintenance, children in care, disability and carers support, and broader supports for those experiencing domestic violence. The online hub was developed by students at the UCC Family Law Clinic under the supervision of Dr Louise Crowley, Clinic Director and Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, UCC

“The most vulnerable in our society will find it hard to navigate the courts or social welfare system during the pandemic” commented Dr Crowley “The Family Law Hub at UCC brings all available resources together to assist those who urgently need information and support in a time of crisis. We are telling people to stay at home to save lives, but for some, home is the most dangerous place to be”.

In particular, the Family Law Hub contains:

A section dedicated to supports for women and men experiencing domestic violence.

Guidance and information to assist with care order extensions, family visit arrangements and home visits during the pandemic.

Useful guidance and resources from the Courts Service, Legal Aid Board, Free Legal Aid Centre and Tusla, amongst other bodies.

Dr Crowley and her students in the UCC Family Law Clinic developed the resources in collaboration with a range of organisations including Barnardos, One Family, Safe Ireland, the Legal Aid Board, the Rape Crisis Network of Ireland, the Irish Family Lawyer’s Association, the Men’s Development Network and the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI).

Commenting on the hub, Orla O’Connor, Director of NWCI, said:

“Clear, comprehensive and accessible information is crucial in these challenging times to ensure people’s rights are supported and protected. The UCC School of Law information hub is an excellent resource and the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) is very happy to endorse and support it.”

Also commenting on the hub, Mr John McDaid, Chief Executive of the Legal Aid Board said:

“The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about many challenges for Irish society, including the legal environment. At the Legal Aid Board we recognise that access to information is playing a pivotal role for people during these difficult times. This initiative by the UCC Family Law Clinic brings a wealth of information together for those having a family law problem at this time. The Family Law Hub is a comprehensive resource for those seeking to understand the sorts of issues arising during the pandemic and where they can access help, such as information, legal aid or family mediation, for those issues.”

Early warning system could be rolled out across health care sector

A remote early warning system for the detection of Covid-19 symptoms among frontline medical staff at Cork University Hospital is showing promising results. The early warning system has been developed through a software industry and healthcare partnership with University College Cork (UCC). 

The Covid-19 Remote Early Warning System (CREW) remotely identifies healthcare staff who may be developing a temperature, symptomatic of Covid-19. A quarter of all diagnosed cases of the Coronavirus in Ireland are among thehealthcare community who daily work on the front lines to assist our community. The single common variable in all cases of the Covid-19 virus is a rise in body temperature. CREW will remotely identify healthcare staff who may be developing a temperature that may be symptomatic of Covid-19 and who therefore should not present to work.

CREW is being developed in partnership between the College of Medicine and Health at University College Cork (UCC), the Cork based software consultancy 8 West, The ASSERT centre and Tyndall National Institute at UCC. The solution innovatively combines existing technologies to allow early detection of symptoms of the Coronavirus.

The Covid-19 Remote Early Warning System (CREW) consists of:

• A wearable digital thermometer sensor to measure axillary body temperature.
• A sensor platform e.g. smartphone, smartwatch or wearable IoT device running the CREW app.
• A cloud-based server running the CREW system which monitors the incoming data and generates automatic alarms if temperature thresholds are breached. 

CREW is designed and developed by 8 West Consulting based on its SafeTrx tracking and alerting software platform. Trials using frontline staff have been underway since Friday, April 3at Cork University Hospital. Five volunteers have been wearing underarm thermometers connected to smart phones, with temperature readings being sent to the monitoring platform on an hourly basis. Where a staff member’s temperature shows signs of being elevated above the norm, they are alerted to take appropriate action and self-isolate.

Initial results from the trial with volunteers at CUH have shown accurate temperature data being successfully and continually communicated via the phones to the monitoring platform. More volunteers are now to be added and wearable devices introduced to improve the data set and test the accuracy and efficacy of CREW over a longer period of time.

Professor Stephen Cusack, Recently retired Prof of Emergency Medicine (EM), UCC, Specialty Expert in EM at UCC Academy, Consultant EM at CUH commented: “CUH Emergency Department staff are delighted to have helped pioneer an innovative 24-hour monitoring device like this. We are 24 hours on the front line of care daily, and it’s good to know that efforts like this are being made to support our wellbeing 24 hours a day too.”

Commenting on the breakthrough, Professor Barry O’Reilly, Director of the ASSERT Centre, UCC and Consultant Obstetrician/Gynaecologist at CUMH, explained “This is a novel Internet of Medical Things solution created by the collaboration of the MedTech sector and ASSERT to provide a digital COVID infection screening system for front-line healthcare staff at an extremely challenging time.”

 Dr Patrick Henn, Director Research and Education at the ASSERT Centre in UCC said: “10-25 per cent of all diagnosed cases of the Coronavirus are among the healthcare community working to halt the spread of the disease. The single common variable in all cases of the Covid-19 virus is a rise in body temperature. CREW is a quarantine management platform that will hopefully allow us identify healthcare staff remotely who may be developing a temperature that may be an early sign of Covid-19 and who therefore should not present to work.’

John Murphy, CEO of 8 West Consulting who developed the solution says CREW has the potential to help not only individual medics but the wider hospital population, and the general public. “Exceptional times call for an exceptional response. This technology has been developed over the last three weeks through a huge and remarkably open effort on the part of our partners in UCC, CUH, and the team at 8 West, with technical and hardware support from Sony Network Communications Europe, Cambridge Wireless Vodafone Ireland, Huawei, Davra, BlueBridge Technologies and others.When Covid-19 struck we asked ourselves what can we do to help protect the wellbeing of healthcare workers who by the nature of their jobs are being exposed to Covid-19 on an ongoing basis? The technical community has the responsibility, and the skills to rapidly evolve and deploy a solution to support Healthcare workers, and that is what we are doing.’

CREW will available initially on iOS and Android products including phones and wearables, with other operating systems to follow. 8 West’s John Murphy says the goal of CREW is to make the solution available to as many frontline staff as possible in Ireland and around the world.

Dr Paul Galvin, Head of ICT for Health Strategic Programmes at the Tyndall National Institute said: “Tyndall is pleased to support and be part of this multidisciplinary Academic, Business and Clinical ecosystem, collaborating effectively in as a virtual team, to bring an innovative solution for real-time continuous monitoring of healthcare workers and the general population.’

How CREW Works:
A digital thermometer sensor is worn under the armpit to measure axillary body temperature. The thermometer is paired with a wearable such as the mSafety from Sony, Apple Smartwatch or Google Wear device. The body temperature readings, and other data such as heart rate, dependent on the paired wearables characteristics are sent from the wearable to a cloud-based monitoring platform. If a temperature of greater than 37.2 degrees centigrade is recorded, then the sensor platform will collect a further measurement 30 minutes later. If two subsequent elevated readings are noted, then an alert will be provided to the central monitoring console and Staff coordinator, who will then advise the staff member to self-isolate.