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Informed consent for capacity assessment
No full textIn this paper we examine the role of informed consent to capacity assessment, focussing primarily on the two jurisdictions of England and Wales, and Ireland. We argue that in both jurisdictions, a capacity assessment should be regarded as a distinct intervention, separate from the ‘original’ intervention at issue, and that specific informed consent to the assessment should generally be sought in advance. As part of this, we consider what information should be provided so as to ensure informed consent. Having established a baseline requirement for informed consent, we also recognise that informed consent to assessment will not always be possible, either because the person is unable to understand the information about assessment or because the person refuses to be assessed and so, in the final part of the article, we explore how to proceed when informed consent is either not possible or not forthcoming, including an analysis of the implications of the statutory presumption of capacity
Isolation, biological activity and synthesis of the natural product ellipticine and related pyridocarbazoles
No full textThe tetracyclic natural product ellipticine (5,11-dimethyl-6H-pyrido[4,3-b]carbazole) was first isolated from the plant material of Ochrosia elliptica Labill in 1959. Woodward et al. reported the first synthesis of ellipticine later the same year, and this was followed by many different synthetic strategies in subsequent decades. Investigation of the biological activity of ellipticines uncovered potent anti-cancer properties and several ellipticine derivatives have been the subject of clinical trials. The ellipticine family of compounds exert their biological activity via several modes of action, the most well established of which are intercalation with DNA and topoisomerase II inhibition. In recent times other modes of action have been revealed, including kinase inhibition, interaction with p53 transcription factor, bio-oxidation and adduct formation. The scope of this review covers key features of the biological activity of ellipticine, with emphasis on new modes of action, followed by synthetic routes to ellipticine, including key early syntheses of pyrido[4,3-b]carbazoles and comprehensive coverage of the literature since the late 1980s, along with more recent syntheses of ellipticine analogues and substituted ellipticines
A tale of three transitions: a year in the life of electricity systems transformation narratives in the Irish media
No full textBackground: This paper focuses on discourses of transition in the electricity system in the Irish print media, with particular attention to both the framing and the scalar referents of the debate. We characterise some of the key contextual drivers for system transformation and suggest that too sharp a distinction between existing electricity infrastructure and systems of the future forecloses the possibility of social learning. Our central question research question is: What lessons can emergent techno-optimistic solutions to electricity system transitions learn from contemporary infrastructure controversies? Using a reconstruction based on print media coverage over a 12-month period in Ireland, we present three contrasting short stories to suggest that there are some commonalities that might provide cues and clues for promoting solutions for transitions to a low-carbon economy and society.
Methods: We divide our methods section into a discussion of theory and methods. In the theory part, we explore the literatures on sustainable electricity transitions, critical infrastructures and social acceptability of energy solutions. In the methods part, we begin from the assertion that storylines help constitute reality allowing constellations of actors to coalesce around certain narratives. We outline the methodological approach to the reconstruction of mediated narratives based on three short stories of electricity system transformations in Ireland.
Results: The three short stories recounted here, the future is smart; blurred lines; and policy versus place, show how narratives of economic recovery and economic growth risk occlude sustainable electricity system transition narratives, generating conflict rather than consensus on the decarbonisation of the Irish economy and society.
Conclusions: Although the public discourse on smart grid technologies is very much in its infancy in Ireland, its rhetorical framing is very similar to that in both the wind farm and infrastructure controversies. The lack of attention to issues of scale, ownership, rhetorical framing and the perceived distribution and fairness of costs and benefits in these controversies could become equally problematic in the roll of smart grid strategies. Smarter green transitions in regions and cities do not depend on technological innovation alone but require social and institutional innovation to ensure constructive public engagement in sustainable electricity system transitions
Reproducing home as a space of labour: The Great Indian Kitchen and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hai
No full textIn this article, we analyse home as a site of labour through two Indian films, The Great Indian Kitchen (Jeo Baby, 2021) and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hai (Vipin Das, 2022). Produced and released in the Malayalam movie industry belonging to the South Indian State, Kerala, the two films received critical attention and generated broader discussion among Malayali audiences in the recent past. While the intricacies of gendered divisions of labour and domestic violence are documented through the day-to-day chronicles of the housewives’ lives in these films, we argue that both The Great Indian Kitchen and Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hai illustrate how home is a different entity for men and women, conceptually and practically, as a space of leisure and labour respectively. Through narrative analysis, we interpret how these two films conceive and depict the disproportionate care work of women, highlight prevailing gender discrimination in a patriarchal setting, and expose new visual sensibilities to the audience
Leveraging the potential of co-operative agri-advisory services in the transition to sustainable and landscape-based agriculture
No full textAgricultural Advisory Services (AAS) have always had a central role to play at each juncture in agricultural development and innovation. A transition to sustainable agriculture requires an agri-advisory response which draws on the agency and knowledge of the farmer(s), is more tailored to a particular local context and encourages the sharing of knowledge and experimentation across farms in a landscape. Co-operatives, as collaborative, farmer-owned and embedded entities, would seem to be well placed to play a greater role in this evolving agri-advisory space. However, there would seem to be little recognition of the current or potential role of co-operatives in agri-advice either in academic literature or policy discourse. This paper explores the current agri-advisory offering of Irish dairy co-operatives and their potential to offer an enhanced collaborative and landscape-based offering. It concludes that many of the elements are in place for such an approach but there is a greater need to leverage this potential, appreciate the benefits and enable a more farmer-centred and tailored agri-advisory orientation in co-operatives
High-performance photodetectors based on the 2d sias/sns2 heterojunction
No full textConstructing 2D heterojunctions with high performance is the critical solution for the optoelectronic applications of 2D materials. This work reports on the studies on the preparation of high-quality van der Waals SiAs single crystals and high-performance photodetectors based on the 2D SiAs/SnS2 heterojunction. The crystals are grown using the chemical vapor transport (CVT) method and then the bulk crystals are exfoliated to a few layers. Raman spectroscopic characterization shows that the low wavenumber peaks from interlayer vibrations shift significantly along with SiAs' thickness. In addition, when van der Waals heterojunctions of p-type SiAs/n-type SnS2 are fabricated, under the source-drain voltage of -1 V-1 V, they exhibit prominent rectification characteristics, and the ratio of forwarding conduction current to reverse shutdown current is close to 102, showing a muted response of 1 A/W under excitation light of 550 nm. The light responsivity and external quantum efficiency are increased by 100 times those of SiAs photodetectors. Our experimental results enrich the research on the IVA-VA group p-type layered semiconductors
Thorner v Major (2009): Proprietary estoppel and inheritance
No full textThis chapter considers the landmark status of the House of Lords in Thorner v Major [2009] UKHL 18, understanding it as an example of story-telling in the law. The chapter explores the issues surrounding the equitable doctrine of proprietary estoppel, as it applies in particular in the context of disputes over the inheritance of farms. It also considers another proprietary estoppel story, that found in the Irish case of Naylor v Maher [2012] IEHC 408, [2018] IECA 32. In the chapter's conclusion, it is suggested that: "With the testator generally out of the way and the actual beneficiaries under the will at a remove from the main narrative, the spotlight is firmly on the claimant. Once the matter is presented to the court in the form of the claimant’s story, it quite quickly comes to seem plausible to disregard the result dictated by the law of succession. In the complex context of a story, the simple succession law idea of a single testamentary intention, expressed formally in a will, is rather limiting. It takes comparatively little to justify the conclusion that, as in Thorner, the court should take account of the testator’s actual intention, even though it was not expressed in a valid will. When they are applying equity, the rhetoric of centuries encourages judges, like God in the old proverb, to ‘temper the harsh wind to the shorn lamb’. From the point of view of a judge, it must be more fulfilling to dispense discretionary justice to the parties before the court than to feel obliged to apply, in a more mechanical way, the strict rules of succession law. However, there is a cost. Stories are inherently unpredictable
Ireland’s offshore islands: Housing needs survey
No full textThis report sets out the results of research conducted between September and December 2022 regarding the housing needs of Ireland’s offshore island communities. The research, funded by Comhdháil Oileáin na hÉireann, aimed to: understand the current housing situation and circumstances prevalent on Ireland’s offshore islands; document quantitative and qualitative data as to the nature of housing needs for island communities; explore perspectives on the barriers to housing and housing issues on the islands; and consider how housing needs and sustainability can be best met in the coming years