National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Maynooth University ePrints and eTheses ArchiveNot a member yet
18158 research outputs found
Sort by
Optimal control of wave cycloidal rotors with passively morphing foils: An analytical and numerical study
No full textIn this paper we perform an analytical and numerical study of the performance of a wave cycloidal rotor in irregular waves, with passively morphing foils and variable rotational velocity control. The performance is measured in two ways: Mechanical power, and fatigue damage in a sample stress hot spot located at the fixed end of the hydrofoils. We consider different strategies seeking to both maximise power extraction and reduce fatigue damage. To maximise power, we consider both constant and variable rotational speed. To mitigate fatigue damage, we consider, for the first time, morphing foils in the context of a wave cycloidal rotor. By testing these control strategies in isolation and in combination, and with the aid of high performance computations, we find that variable rotational speed, in combination with morphing foils, offers the best compromise to enhance power production with a reduced structural penalty on the sample stress hot spot. Hence, in this work, we demonstrate that novel control strategies, such as those proposed in this work, can hold the key in reducing the levelised cost of energy and accelerate the commercialisation of the next generation of lift-based wave energy converters
The Relationship Between Maximum Lower Limb Strength & Power, and GPS Acceleration Speed in Elite U20 Gaelic Football Athletes
No full textPrevious research indicates positive relationships between high levels of lower limb strength and power, and acceleration sprint velocity in team sport athletes. This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the relationship between lower limb absolute and relative strength, countermovement jump (CMJ) height, and Global Positioning System (GPS) recorded 20m acceleration sprint velocity in elite male U-20 Gaelic football athletes. Nineteen athletes (19.0 ± 0.5 years; 81.1 ± 5.5 kg; 182 ± 6.2 cm) from the same elite U-20 squad participated in this study during an in-season period. Subjects performed a >95% 1RM box squat, a 20m sprint test, and a CMJ test. Relative maximum lower limb strength (r = 0.54, 95% CI [0.11 to 0.8]; p < 0.05) and CMJ height (r = 0.66, 95% CI [0.29 to 0.86]; p < 0.001) showed strong correlations with 20m sprint velocity. A multiple linear regression analysis demonstrated that lower limb maximum relative strength and CMJ height significantly predicted 20m sprint velocity (Adjusted R2 = 0.51, F (2, 16) = 6.29, p < 0.05). These findings provide evidence for the importance of elite under-age Gaelic football athletes acquiring high levels of lower limb strength and power characteristics to enhance acceleration sprint performance
Procrastination, depressive symptomatology, and loneliness in later life
No full textObjectives: Procrastination is an almost universal behaviour and yet little research to date has focused on procrastination among older adults. The purpose of this study was to explore the potential asso-ciation between age and procrastination, and the potential mediating roles of depressive symptom-atology and loneliness.Method: Structural equation modelling was applied to data from 1309 participants (aged 29–92) from two waves United States Health and Retirement Study (2016–2020). Within the model, sex, education, marital status, and job status were added as covariates.Results: There was no statistically significant direct effect between age and procrastination (β = 0.06, p = 0.106). However, an indirect effect was present via depressive symptomatology (β = −0.40, p < 0.001). No mediating effect of loneliness was observed (β = − 0.01, p = 0.371). Subsequent analysis revealed that the symptoms, fatigue, loneliness, and lack of motivation significantly predicted procrastination.Conclusion: While age was not directly associated with procrastination, increasing age was associated with a decreased likelihood of depressive symptomatology, which was in turn associated with an increased likelihood of procrastination. Such findings indicates that age demonstrates no association with procrastination because of the suppressing effect of depressive symptomatology
Shadow Education Uptake in Ireland: Inequalities and Wellbeing in a High-Stakes Context
No full textThis paper assesses the role of shadow education (SE), i.e., orga-nised learning activities outside formal schooling, in the lives of secondary school students of different social backgrounds and in different school settings, in a high-stakes context. It draws on multilevel analysis of longitudinal Growing Up in Ireland data, alongside narratives from in-depth case study research in 10 schools. Framed within a social reproduction approach, we show how access to SE as an educational resource is socially stratified, accessible to those with greater levels of family resources, and those attending schools with higher socio- economic student intakes. SE is viewed as an investment, particularly among students with average and above average levels of prior attainment, while high attaining students are less likely to use SE. Perhaps reflecting the normalisation of SE in the Irish context, students do not directly link engagement in such tuition to their socio-emotional wellbeing
Associations between sleep problems in children with ADHD and parental insomnia and ADHD symptoms
No full textSleep problems are common in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children’s sleep problem may influence, and be influenced by, parents’ sleep problems as well as parents’ ADHD symptoms. In the current study we examined the associations of parent-rated sleep quality and sleep timing of pre-adolescent children with parental insomnia symptoms, parental ADHD symptoms and dysfunctional attitudes and beliefs about sleep in a convenience sample recruited by advertisement (N = 120). Childhood sleep problems were common in the sample, with 82% of children exceeding the threshold for the presence of a paediatric sleep disorder. Children’s sleep quality showed minimal association with their sleep timing and chronotype. Parental insomnia symptoms, ADHD symptoms and dysfunctional beliefs and attitudes about sleep all associated with their children’s sleep quality, and with the sleep subdomains of sleep anxiety and parasomnias. In multiple regression analysis only parental insomnia score was a significant predictor of children’s sleep quality. Children’s bedtimes, wake times, sleep duration, chronotype or social jetlag did not associate with parents’ ADHD or insomnia symptoms. Sleep quality was significantly poorer in children whose parents scored as both consistent for adult ADHD and probable for insomnia disorder compared to parents who scored as either ADHD consistent or insomnia probable, or those who parents scored as neither. We discuss the putative nature of the relationships between sleep quality of children with ADHD and parental ADHD and insomnia symptoms, and suggest that clinicians consider parental sleep when attending to children with ADHD
Composing America: Patriotism, Mythology, and Piety in the Film Scores of John Williams
No full textJohn Williams has been associated with the sound of Classical Hollywood Cinema (1933–58)
since his popular neoclassical scores of the 1970s seemed to revive the central European
tradition represented by composers such as Max Steiner and Erich Wolfgang Korngold (among
others). Alongside this popular European romantic style, however, Williams’s scores often
reference a diverse array of American musical idioms. When scoring American-centric narratives,
or specific genres, Williams seems to rely on three distinct idioms, each with their own specific
histories and associations both within and outside of their films. For westerns (The Cowboys),
Coplandesque pastoralism serves to glorify landscape and maintain a myth of the West in ways
reminiscent of Copland’s ballets of the 1940s. For political dramas (JFK) or war epics (The
Patriot) the use of dignified brass fanfares, marches, and calls summon metatextual links to
ceremony and the military to endow images with an earnestness and a patriotic air. In historical
dramas (Lincoln) a hymn-inspired vocabulary generates a sense of the reverential or noble. Taken
together, these idioms form a lingua franca of American-associated sounds, demonstrating how
Williams cultivates the musical legacies and traditions of his homeland, while referencing
European compositional practices. Three chapters investigate the histories of each of these
idioms and their manifestations across a selection of Williams-scored films. By tracing the lineage
of each idiom, exemplifying their associative rigidity, and revealing how Williams adapts them,
this thesis not only showcases Williams’s own nationalistic mode, but additionally highlights
issues arising from the pervasiveness of this style in a broader Hollywood context
Going Global? Defining, Characterising and Constructing Global Citizenship
No full textThis article shares the rationale and outcomes of a research project, titled ‘Going Global’, which was funded by the Irish Research Council’s New Foundations fund resourced by Irish Aid. The project held two regional workshops with personnel in the development and global citizenship education (GCE) fields, one in Belfast and one in Dublin. The workshops had three objectives: to gather views from participants on the meaning and content of global citizenship; to provide theoretical input to inform these discussions; and to enable participants to envisage more practice-grounded means to construct global citizenship in their work. The main finding from the project is that workshop participant attitudes to global citizenship range from the pragmatic, through the agnostic to the sceptical, but that none of these positions are mutually exclusive. Rather, it is recommended that global citizenship be treated as a provisional rather than a materially realised conceptual placeholder, enabling greater discussion and debate on the concept. Such debate should be around some key paradoxes identified by participants in this project including: the lack of a global state to guarantee rights; the perceived Eurocentricity of the concept; and depoliticised, technocratic and individualised biases in dominant conceptualisations of it. Greater conceptual exploration around such paradoxes in the sector could help tease out these positions further for professionals in the field, facilitating a deeper connection with the concept among them
Why are librarians up in arms over ebooks?
No full textOpinion: lack of available stock, high prices and onerous terms and conditions mean ebooks currently offer poor value for readers and libraries
Carbon collusion: Cooperation, competition, and climate obstruction in the global oil and gas extraction network
No full textWhile publicly-available datasets often document how much fossil fuel is extracted within oil-producing countries, they do not generally indicate who is responsible. To address this gap, we constructed the Global Oil and Gas Extraction Network, a dataset containing the extraction sites of the 26 largest oil and gas companies, and the quantities extracted annually from 2014 to 2018, accounting for 67% of total production. Using this dataset, we present a first-of-its-kind network analysis of global oil and gas extraction. We find fifty-eight percent of operations involved joint ownership across companies, demonstrating growing interdependence after industry-wide losses in 2016. Countries in which National Oil Companies (NOCs) were active were less likely to host Hybrid state-investor companies, and even less likely to host Investor-Owned Companies (IOCs), while certain Hybrids and IOCs tended to operate in the same countries; both trends became more pronounced between 2014 and 2018. Reflecting colonial legacies, the seven Big Oil companies, headquartered in either the US or Europe, extracted oil and gas from the most countries. These findings reveal a complex global network of strategically aligned actors, indicative of tacit and explicit transnational industry-state collusion to obstruct climate policies. These findings additionally underscore the need for comprehensive data to support a managed fossil fuel phaseout
A noisy-input generalized additive model for relative sea-level change along the Atlantic coast of North America
No full textWe propose a Bayesian, noisy-input, spatial–temporal generalized additive model to examine regional relative sea-level (RSL) changes over time. The model provides probabilistic estimates of component drivers of regional RSL change via the combination of a univariate spline capturing a common regional signal over time, random slopes and intercepts capturing site-specific (local), long-term linear trends and a spatial– temporal spline capturing residual, non-linear, local variations. Proxy and instrumental records of RSL and corresponding measurement errors inform the model and a noisy-input method accounts for proxy temporal uncertainties. Results highlight the decomposition of regional RSL changes over 3,000 years along North America’s Atlantic coast. The physical process glacial isostatic adjustment prevailed before 1800 CE, with anthropogenic forcing dominating after 1900 CE