National University of Ireland, Maynooth
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Unlocking the Ivory Tower: Exploring the Barriers to Postgraduate Education for Ireland's Older Generation.
No full textDespite the growing population of older adults in Ireland and the various initiatives by educational establishments and third-level institutions to encourage more post-retirement engagement of older adults in academic activities, the number that engages in formal postgraduate education is discouraging. Copious amounts of contemporary and worldwide research highlight numerous barriers and other factors that inhibit gerontological access to various learning activities – even at the undergraduate level. Unfortunately, none focuses specifically on the engagement of older adult learners in postgraduate study and statistics for those over retirement age are scant. Using a mixed-method approach employing both quantitative and qualitative analyses, this project sets out to identify why the participation rates of this cadre of older adults are so low and what can be done to address the situation. Findings reveal that the issues involved are multifaceted, with age being one of the major barriers responsible
Deputy Principals: A Hidden Asset in Schools?
No full textThe research team set out to explore how the position of deputy principal is perceived and
enacted in Irish primary and post-primary schools. A review of the literature, national and
international, and the views of 120 deputy principals (49 primary; 71 post-primary), through
online questionnaire responses and 10 (5 primary; 5 post-primary) one-hour interviews, shape
this report.
The literature review highlights a lack of clarity about the role of deputy principal, with
practitioners engaging in a multiplicity of tasks. The extent and range of these often depend on
the practices and preferences of the principal. Recent years have seen movement worldwide
where deputy principals increasingly share in management and leadership as well as
administration within the school. We note, however, that within the discourse of ‘distributed
leadership’, the deputy principal position is rarely discussed. Participants identify significant
job satisfaction in addition to role tensions and frustrations
Qualitative Data Collection and Archiving in the DANCING Project
No full textThis report is part of the project entitled ‘Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with
Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New
Paths – DANCING’. This project has received funding from the European Research Council
(ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant
Agreement No. 864182). This report reflects only the authors’ views and does not necessarily
reflect those of the European Union or the ERC
Exploring the Role of Pellino Proteins in Cells of the Adaptive Immune System
No full textThe innate and adaptive immune systems intertwine in mounting an effective immune response against invading pathogens. The activation of innate immune components is often a prerequisite for the initiation of the adaptive immune response. The Pellino family consists of a 3-membered family of E3 ubiquitin ligases (Pellino 1, Pellino 2, and Pellino 3) that play important roles in immunity by catalysing post-translational modification of important signalling molecules. Pellino proteins have been widely studied for their roles in innate immunity. Nevertheless, emerging reports have highlighted the potential of Pellino proteins in regulating adaptive immune system. This thesis aims to further the knowledge in this area by performing the first systematic characterisation of the role of Pellino proteins in generating adaptive immune cell populations. To this end novel genetic models were generated resulting in mice that lack individual and combination of the Pellino family. Such models allowed for the first time to investigate potential functional interactions between the Pellino family members. While Pellino 3 does not mediate the production of various T and B cell subsets, Pellino 2 has a role in CD4 and CD8 T cell activation that is dependent on age. Importantly, the findings also highlight a selective role for Pellino 1 in negatively regulating the generation of activated CD4 and CD8 T cells, as well as germinal centre B cells and plasma cells in both young (10-12 weeks old) and aged (6 months old) mice. Interestingly, Pellino 1 and Pellino 2 exhibit distinctive functional roles in mediating CD8 T cell activation as individual deficiency of Pellino 1 and Pellino 2 favours its differentiation into CD8+ effector memory (Tem) and central memory (Tcm) cells, respectively. This suggests that they might have different physiological roles in controlling cytotoxic functions of Tem cells or systemic infections through Tcm cells. It was also found that Pellino 1 negatively modulates IL-17 production in Th17 cells. The mechanistic basis to the role of Pellino 1 in controlling T cell activation and IL-17 production is also explored. The studies conclude that this regulatory function of Pellino 1 is intrinsic to T cells and not antigen presenting cells. Overall, this body of work provides novel insight into the role of Pellino proteins, particularly Pellino 1, in the adaptive immune system. It also forms a foundation for future research to elucidate the physiological role of Pellino 1 in Th17 cell differentiation and may represent a new pathway that may be open to therapeutic exploitation in the treatment of inflammatory diseases
A Control Framework for Ocean Wave Energy Conversion Systems: The Potential of Moments
No full textThe control of wave energy converters (WECs) to maximize power capture is a challenging problem. In particular, the nature of the wave excitation, which is in general panchromatic (or multi-sinusoidal), presents a reciprocating energy source that needs to be rectified through some means. In addition, the development of suitable control-oriented models is also challenging, requiring correct representation of system hydrodynamics and power take-off (PTO) components, while also lending themselves to control synthesis and real-time computational performance, along with a challenging optimal control problem. This article presents a moment-based mathematical framework for the formulation and solution of WEC control. It shows that moments are ideally suited to WEC control in terms of their ability to accurately characterize the nature of the wave excitation force (and the consequent evolutions in the system variables) while also gracefully including hydrodynamic and PTO nonlinearities as well as a natural extension to WEC arrays. Model reduction, to mold the system model into a control-friendly form, is also a feature of this framework
‘Overcoming the fear’: the story of the Irish language in a programme promoting diversity in the primary teaching profession
No full textMaynooth University’s Level 6 Think About Teaching Foundation Certificate (Foundation Cert) is a central part of a widening participation project (Turn to Teaching) which provides preparation for, and pathways into, initial teacher education (ITE). A key dimension of the Foundation Cert has been the development of an alternative Irish language curriculum which provides support and equivalence to Leaving Certificate Irish for entry to primary ITE.
Drawing on the experiences of students and staff gleaned from open ended focus groups and biographical interviews, we, as members of a community of Higher Education staff, offer, as part of the project's cycle of evaluative research, a reflexive account and analysis on the diverse outcomes, issues and aspirations emerging from the on-going development of this innovative Irish language curriculum. We also draw on the project’s quantitative data on recruitment and retention to highlight the most visible signs of the Irish language programme’s efficacy.
It is clear from both qualitative and quantitative data that the programme’s communicative and critically reflexive approach to Irish language teaching and learning plays a pivotal role in transforming many students’ relationships with the language
Combining motherhood and work in the creative industries: Mothers have the problem
No full textThis article examines film and television workers’ experience of mothering in Ireland and argues that not only are mothers constructed as a ‘problem’ in these Creative Industries workplaces because of their care work duties, but the ‘problem’ of work’s incompatibility with motherhood is presented as one to be ‘solved’ by mothers themselves. Drawing from the scholarship on motherhood in film and television work and 12 interviews with workers in the film and television Creative Industries sectors who are mothers, we undertake a thematic analysis to uncover common experiences and insights that are reflective of but depart in some ways from the literature. We identify four themes that suggest that motherhood remains Othered in film and television work and that balancing care work and motherhood remains a form of additional labour that mothers (almost exclusively) must undertake: managing pregnancy at work; maternity leave and the return to work; care for children while working; and mothers’ finding solutions
Investigating the role of miR-223 in Ulcerative colitis and Colitis-associated colorectal cancer.
No full textAberrant intestinal inflammation is a pathological feature of Ulcerative colitis (UC), and
plays a crucial role in the development of Colitis-associated colorectal cancer (CAC).
However, the mechanisms behind the role of the myeloid immune compartment in this
inflammatory process are not fully understood. miRNA-mediated gene expression regulates
numerous biological processes, with altered miRNA expression identified in both UC and
CAC. Despite this, the role of myeloid-specific microRNA’s in the inflammatory process
that underpins the continuum from UC to tumorigenesis remains unresolved.
Here, gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) on a discovery RNA seq data set from treatmentnaïve
paediatric patients with UC, revealed that there was a positively enriched signature for
myeloid inflammation among patients who were non-responsive to therapeutics.
Confirmatory analysis on an Irish validation cohort of treatment-naïve paediatric patients
with UC showed a similar inflammatory profile in mucosal biopsies via RT-PCR. Expression
of miR-223 was increased in patients with pancolitis and correlated with the expression
disease relevant inflammatory gene sets including OSM, MMP3 and IL-6.
An Azoxymethane-Dextran Sodium Sulfate (AOM/DSS) mouse model of CAC showed that
miR-223 is critical limit myeloid-driven inflammation. In this model, miR-223-/y mice
presented with significantly larger tumours and an enhanced proliferative signature.
Immunoprofiling showed that miR-223-/y mice have significantly increased colonic myeloid
immune infiltrate (neutrophils, monocytes and macrophage) following AOM/DSS. This was
accompanied by an increased inflammatory chemokine and cytokine signature for
monocytes and neutrophils. Bone marrow chimera studies demonstrated that myeloidexpressed
miR-223 is responsible for the enhanced tumor proliferation and inflammatory
response. RNA sequencing on chronic AOM/DSS samples identified several pathways that
could be contributing to the development of CAC in miR-223-/y mice, including the IL-6-IL-
17a cytokine family/STAT3 signalling.
Finally, to mechanistically understand how miR-223 regulates epithelial tumorigenesis
following myeloid inflammation, Nitric oxide signalling was identified as a major pathway
of interest. Pharmacologic inhibition, lentiviral gene knock down and colonic mouse
organoids were utilized to understand how miR-223 regulated type II interferon-NOS
signalling and its impact on epithelial stem cell function
Achieving Procedural Parity in Managing Access to Genomic and Related Health Data: A Global Survey of Data Access Committee Members
No full textData access committees (DACs) are critical players in the data sharing ecosystem. DACs review requests for access to data held in one or more repositories and where specific constraints determine how the data may be used and by whom. Our team surveyed DAC members affiliated with genomic data repositories worldwide to understand standard processes and procedures, operational metrics, bottlenecks, and efficiencies, as well as their perspectives on possible improvements to quality review. We found that DAC operations and systemic issues were common across repositories globally. In general, DAC members endeavored to achieve an appropriate balance of review efficiency, quality, and compliance. Our results suggest a similarly proportionate path forward that helps DACs pursue mutual improvements to efficiency and compliance without sacrificing review quality