National University of Ireland, Maynooth
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Chasing Paddy and finding Hope in a Hostile Place. An autoethnographic study of my experience of a lecturer in mental health nursing.
No full textChasing Paddy and finding Hope in a hostile place is a story about the role of a mental health nursing lecturer in Ireland. It is an autoethnographic exploration of current practice and the daily dramas and dilemmas of working within the hostilities of higher education in Ireland.
This research surfaces the challenges and difficulties encountered by many mental health educators as their practice has changed enormously over the past number of years and continues to be shaped by changes in nursing and education policy. Such policy changes have negatively impacted the occupational and professional positioning of the role locally and internationally. In Ireland there is an absence of research in this area and this thesis is an attempt to shine a light on the way in which educator practice is being shaped by the impact of neoliberalism within the mental health and higher education sectors.
This work is structured over the five years it took me to complete this doctoral programme and starts at year 1, at the beginning of term and follows this course throughout. The start of the academic year anchors this research and presents an opportunity to unpack some of the complexities of mental health nurse educator practice.
Adopting an autoethnographic approach, in which the researcher becomes the researched, this work presents a series of stories about people who have impacted my educator practice and help to shine a spotlight on issues of professional identity, the nature of mental health work, occupational positioning and the multiple influences on current pedagogical practice.
The role of a mental health educator involves the educational preparation of students to become registered mental health nurses and so this research transcends mental health, nursing, and education. Navigating these areas involves is a complex and messy task and the addition of carefully crafted characters aid this process enormously. These characters are composites, drawn from a sociological imagination and are situated at various points which transcends almost forty years of nursing practice. The central character is Paddy who helps craft an intertwined, layered story of self and others which provides the main backdrop for this story.
Underpinned a social constructionist lens this work explores the lives of the characters in the research and interprets lived lives emotively and critically.
Autoethnography is the research approach which guides the researcher through sensitive, soulful, and searching questions allowing for author vulnerability, self-expression, critical reflexivity, and scholarly creativity.
Such creativity allows this work to be presented in a nontraditional way. The importance of author positioning which is central to autoethnography is represented in the non-conventional, performative, and sometimes fragmented means of writing seen throughout this research. This fragmentation is often evident in the back-and-forth nature of the work, moving from present to past, to present, to future, to present and never settling. The use of various tenses helps to draw the reader into experiences but not confine them to a particular era, signifying the ongoing, messy, evolving, and infinite nature of this work. This facilitates expressions of uncertainty, questioning and ambiguity which is incorporated in many diverse and interpretative ways of knowing. The performative nature of the study invites the reader to follow a story with many different elements each attending to different sensibilities.
An important feature in this study is the representation of voice, that of the author and that of others which sometimes appears in differing guises in this work. The use of capital letters, commas, inverted commas, singular inverted commas instead of the traditional double, short punchy dialogue, pauses, white spaces, incomplete sentences, neologisms added to the purposeful disruption to narrative flow and aesthetic nicety. Carving out a place for the characters to represent their own textual narrative necessitated a departure from the artificiality of conventional academic writing with the use of imperfect dialogue, unsavory language, and words which are common parlance within mental health. Reader sensitivity underpins this research throughout as the reader can interpret their own meaning from the stories therein.
This study is an important one because it draws attention to mental health nurse education in Ireland. Much of the referenced work about this area of concern emanates from the UK and Australia and the study attempts to locate the problem and its particular situation within an Irish context. It is insider research, which is a departure from traditional forms of enquiry in mental health nursing and one where the author is fully present and accountable standing behind each word written. It has helped me to understand my practice, its limitations, and possibilities both from an educator and activist perspective
Some notes on the necessity of autonomous educational practice and two concerns
No full textThis article suggests a sophistical autonomous practice in response to Platonian Aristotelian
philosophy’s domination over education. It shows the dangers of empty education in which education is reduced to schooling the perfect citizen in the image of a perfect state. An example is
given in which schooling in empty education is reduced to a tool for authoritarian capitalism
inscribed in the formation of the State to increase profit while undermining a democratic society.
Instead, this article claims that education was introduced by the Sophists as verification of equality
and will show how education works counter to anti-educational and anti-democratic tendencies of
Platonian/Aristotelian discourses on education and schooling. The article identifies and develops a
practice of ignorance of inequality as such inequality is inscribed in machine schooling and offers a
sophistical practice instead. The article concludes by highlighting an autonomous tradition of
educational practice making practice, as evident once Platonian and Aristotelian philosophy is
refuted as saying anything meaningful about education
Reinforcement Learning and Optimal Control for Additive Manufacturing
No full textDesigning efficient closed-loop control algorithms is a key issue in Additive Manufacturing
(AM), as various aspects of the AM process require continuous monitoring and regulation,
with temperature being a particularly significant factor. Here we study closed-loop
control of a state space temperature model with a focus on both model-based and datadriven
methods. We demonstrate these approaches using a simulator of the temperature
evolution in the extruder of a Big Area Additive Manufacturing system (BAAM). We
perform an in-depth comparison of the performance of these methods using the simulator.
We find that we can learn an effective controller using solely simulated process data.
Our approach achieves parity in performance compared to model-based controllers and
so lessens the need for estimating a large number of parameters of the intricate and complicated
process model. We believe this result is an important step towards autonomous
intelligent manufacturing
Environmental constitutionalism: a transformative legal discourse
No full textEnvironmental constitutionalism – acknowledging that the environment and/or climate system are
suitable subjects for recognition and protection within constitutional texts and for vindication by national
courts – is increasingly seen as an idea ripe for development in Ireland. Momentum around environmental
constitutionalism reached a peak in March 2023 when the Citizens’ Assembly on Biodiversity Loss
recommended a referendum on inserting environmental and nature rights into Bunreacht na hÉireann. This
article explores whether constitutionalising express environmental rights and/or duties could provide a
transformative legal discourse for tackling the twin climate and biodiversity crises in Ireland
New ideas, enduring cultural barriers? An analysis of recommendations from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Restorative Justice in England and Wales
No full textRecent years have seen a variety of national and local efforts to implement restorative justice in England and Wales. Yet, despite its appearance in multiple statutes, several national action plans, its strong endorsement in the Victims’ Code of Practice, and its inclusion in the funding remit of elected Police and Crime Commissioners, restorative justice still does not occupy a mainstream position in criminal justice in England and Wales. This article explores the report from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Restorative Justice, formed in 2021 to advocate for the expansion of restorative justice. We analyse the report’s recommendations thematically, focusing on service oversight, the removal of procedural barriers, and the need for dedicated resources – in light of international research and policies. While any jurisdiction implementing restorative justice could learn much from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Restorative Justice’s proposals, criminal justice cultures remain a barrier to mainstreaming restorative justice in England and Wales
Uncertainty estimation in wave energy systems with applications in robust energy maximising control
No full textUnder control action, wave energy devices typically display nonlinear hydrodynamic behaviour, making the design of energy maximising control somewhat onerous. One solution to approach the optimal performance for nonlinear control problem under model mismatches is to employ a linear control strategy, which can be robust to linear model mismatches. However, accurate characterisation of the uncertainty in the linear model is vital, if the controller is to adequately capture the full extent of the uncertainty, while not being overly conservative due to overestimation of the uncertainty. This paper describes a procedure, employing CFD-based numerical tank experiments, to accurately produce a nominal linear empirical transfer function model, along with an accurate estimate of the uncertainty bounds in that linear model, due to hydrodynamic uncertainty. A robust control case study is provided, illustrating the nominal model estimation process, and its corresponding uncertainty set, including the complete procedure, required to generate the robust controller. Robust control results, on the fully nonlinear CFD model, are provided to demonstrate the efficacy of the modelling and control philosophy
Empowering wave energy with control technology: Possibilities and pitfalls
No full textWith an increasing focus on climate action and energy security, an appropriate mix of renewable energy
technologies is imperative. Despite having considerable global potential, wave energy has still not reached a
state of maturity or economic competitiveness to have made an impact. Challenges include the high capital
and operational costs associated with deployment in the harsh ocean environment, so it is imperative that the
full energy harnessing capacity of wave energy devices, and arrays of devices in farms, is realised. To this end,
control technology has an important role to play in maximising power capture, while ensuring that physical
system constraints are respected, and control actions do not adversely affect device lifetime. Within the gamut
of control technology, a variety of tools can be brought to bear on the wave energy control problem, including
various control strategies (optimal, robust, nonlinear, etc.), data-based model identification, estimation, and
forecasting. However, the wave energy problem displays a number of unique features which challenge the
traditional application of these techniques, while also presenting a number of control ‘paradoxes’. This review
articulates the important control-related characteristics of the wave energy control problem, provides a survey
of currently applied control and control-related techniques, and gives some perspectives on the outstanding
challenges and future possibilities. The emerging area of control co-design, which is especially relevant to the
relatively immature area of wave energy system design, is also covered
An improved linear time-varying reactive hydrodynamic control for a grid-connected wave energy conversion system
No full textGenerally, a grid-connected wave energy conversion system consists of various standard stages, such as wave absorption, power take-off, and power conditioning. Each stage has a specific control objective, which may not align with the control objectives of other stages, affecting overall wave-to-grid economic performance. This study assesses a controlled grid-connected wave energy conversion system with an improved reactive hydrodynamic WEC controller, i.e. LiTe-Con+. In particular, the LiTe-Con+ adapts its constraint handling mechanism in a time-varying manner, providing improved power absorption and use of the dynamic range. Lyapunov-based nonlinear controllers are also designed for the power converters in the powertrain. The proposed system is then simulated in the MATLAB/SIMULINK environment in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme. The results show the superior performance of LiTe-Con+ compared to LiTe-Con and passive damping controllers
Mathematical Modelling of a TENG-Powered Data Buoy
No full textTriboelectric nanogenerators, or TENGs, are prominent among power take off (PTO) systems being researched for use in specifically small scale wave energy converters (WECs). The low power requirements, and modest size of data buoys, suggests TENGs as an ideal PTO for this small-scale wave energy application. However, a physics-based model of the relationship between the movement of the buoy and the performance of the onboard TENG is difficult, particularly for rolling-ball-type TENGs. This paper develops three multiple input single output system identification (SI), black-box models for a rolling-ball-type TENG. The SI models are identified, and validated, using input-output data gathered from real wave tank tests on a 1:8 Froude-scaled model of a navigation buoy. The models described in this paper, relate the TENG’s current output to the displacement, in 6 degrees of freedom (DoFs), of the buoy to which it is mounted, across a range of wave conditions. The SI models used include linear autoregressive with exogenous input (ARX), and nonlinear Kolmogorov-Gabor polynomial (KGP)
Synthesis, characterisation and antibacterial activity of novel Ga(iii) polypyridyl catecholate complexes
No full textGa(III) polypyridyl catecholate complexes of type [Ga(bipy)2(O,O)](NO3) or [Ga(phen)2(O,O)](NO3) respectively were readily synthesised on reaction of Ga(NO3)3 in methanol with 1 equivalent of catecholate ligand
(2,3-DHBA, 3,4-DHBA, 2,3,4-THBA or CafA) and then 2 equivalents of either bipy or phen. The complexes
were characterised in full including by X-ray crystallography, which established that the catecholate
ligands coordinate the Ga(III) centres in a bidentate manner via the two deprotonated hydroxy groups. All
Ga(III) complexes exhibited good in vitro antibacterial activity against the Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The complexes were inactive
against the Gram-positive pathogenic bacteria Staphylococcus aureus including against a methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain (MRSA). [Ga(bipy)2(2,3-DHBA-2H)](NO3)·1.5H2O (1) was shown to be
non toxic in vivo in larvae of Galleria mellonella at doses up to 2000 μg mL−1 and to offer protection at
doses of 100 and 250 µg mL−1 at 48 and 96 h to larvae infected with P. aeruginosa