Access to Research at National University of Ireland, Galway
Research at National University of Ireland, GalwayNot a member yet
15712 research outputs found
Sort by
Gender and sexuality in Ireland: How the past informs the present-day approach to consent
No full textLegal realism suggests that law does not act within a vacuum. Rather, the law itself and the implementation and interpretation of the law originates from existing social interests and public policy. More concisely, this school of thought suggests that it is not law and society that work in tandem with each other to achieve legislative and societal advancement. Rather, it is law in society, meaning legislation can only be implemented and interpreted through the scope of societal understanding. Under this framework, this research traces the evolution of Ireland’s collective consciousness around gender and sexuality from the late 19th century to the present, positioning national identity as a driving force behind cultural beliefs, social policy, and legal development. Drawing on theorists such as Habermas, Foucault, and Durkheim, it employs a socio-legal methodology to examine how entrenched cultural narratives shape not only the formation of laws, but also their interpretation and application throughout Irish history, reaffirming the notion law in society. Contemporary societal understandings of consent serves as a present day case study to illustrate how these cultural dynamics continue to influence legal implementation and interpretation. By foregrounding the role of Ireland’s collective consciousness in shaping legal evolution, the study of proposes a feminist revitalisation of Durkheim’s Division of Labour model, where it will be demonstrated that true solidarity, and thus effective reform, requires a reconciliation between past and present cultural values
Structural integrity of composite tidal turbine blades
No full textThe global push for affordable, sustainable energy has accelerated the deployment of renewable technologies, with tidal stream energy emerging as a promising option due to its predictability and low environmental impact. Over the past two decades, significant strides have been made in developing commercially viable tidal stream power projects, advancing global sustainability objectives. By the end of 2023, Europe had deployed 30.5 MW of tidal stream technology, primarily through small and medium-sized enterprises. However, with only 1% of the 1000 GW of potential energy in shallow waters utilised, a vast opportunity for growth remains untapped.
The efficiency and durability of tidal stream energy systems, in particular the turbine blades, are critical to their success. These blades are designed with a hydrodynamic profile that optimises energy capture but are subjected to severe cyclic fatigue due to tidal loads and water-induced degradation, making their structural integrity a key aspect of the technology. Therefore, this study aims to overcome these challenges by developing advanced methodologies, cutting-edge measurement tools, and modern testing strategies for the structural assessment of tidal turbine blades in line with industry standards, including DNV-ST-0164 and IEC TS 62600-3. Through a prototype testing program conducted as a case study under controlled conditions at the Large Structures Testing Laboratory at the University of Galway, this research focused to mitigate risks in a novel helical shape tidal turbine foil design and validate its long term reliability.
One of the key approaches of this study is the use of advanced measurement tools and techniques to enhance the testing and validation process of tidal turbine blades. Therefore, to facilitate structural testing of the selected tidal turbine foil, advanced instrumentations were employed, including laser scanning vibrometers, digital image correlation systems, infrared thermal cameras, fibre Bragg grating systems, and laser displacement sensors. These technologies not only improved the precision and reliability of data recording but also accelerated data processing compared to conventional methods. Furthermore, a novel unbalanced rotating mass system was used to expedite fatigue testing, achieving a record-setting application of more than 1.3 million fatigue cycles on a single tidal turbine foil. This new approach significantly accelerated the fatigue testing process, while increasing the reliability and effectiveness of data recording and post processing.
A finite element (FE) model was developed and validated the experimental results, revealing a consistent strain distribution with static testing data along the spanwise direction of the tidal foil. This underscores the potential of FE modelling to replicate physical testing methods in future studies, reducing dependence on expensive physical testing while ensuring accurate structural assessments. At the same time, a new knowledge base was developed to highlight the operating guidelines of using advanced measuring tools for enhancing the reliability, quality and accuracy of data recording and processing.
The de-risking process of tidal turbine blades is complex, time-consuming, and costly. Therefore, developing efficient, cost-effective methods to predict their structural integrity and lifespan is essential. Within this framework, this study focused to formulate two novel approaches for developing vulnerability curves for tidal turbine blades and considered one approach as a case study. This method applied Miner’s rule to evaluate damage accumulation and estimate the remaining life expectancy of blades during operational stages. Moreover, the strategy for developing a vulnerability curve involved combining FE analysis, fatigue testing results of accelerated aged glass fibre powder epoxy composite materials, and loading conditions derived from the open source AeroDyn program within the FAST software package. Additionally, the process further highlights the parameters required to improve the quality and reliability of vulnerability curves for future applications, ensuring these methodologies grow alongside advancements in tidal turbine blade design and materials science for marine structures.
By integrating modern measurement techniques, innovative testing strategies, and FE modelling, this research streamlines the de-risking process for tidal turbine blades, reducing costs and time while ensuring structural reliability. The strategy of combining FE modelling with fatigue testing of accelerated aged composite materials to develop vulnerability curves facilitates the prediction of the lifespan of tidal turbine blades during the operational phases. By contributing to lower levelised costs of energy, these innovations support the growth of tidal energy projects and align with the UN Sustainable Development Goal of "Affordable and Clean Energy." As the sector grows, these methodologies will drive further innovation and the broader adoption of tidal energy as a sustainable power source
Mechanotherapies for Type 1 diabetes: Using actuatable medical implants to understand and modulate the foreign body response
No full textType 1 diabetes is a chronic, lifelong condition for which there is no cure. The disease is characterised by autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells, rendering them unable to produce insulin. This leads to hyperglycaemia, which can have fatal consequences if untreated. Management of the condition currently necessitates stringent glycaemic control via blood glucose monitoring and insulin therapy which can be burdensome for the patient and result in sub-optimal glycaemic control. Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion sets, or insulin pumps, have greatly improved therapeutic outcomes for type 1 diabetes patients in recent years. However these devices have a short lifespan and must be replaced approximately every three days, in large part due to device occlusion as a result of the foreign body response. The foreign body response is the body’s defence mechanism towards an implanted object and results in the deposition of a dense, hypopermable, fibrotic capsule around the implant. In the case of insulin infusion sets, the presence of a fibrotic capsule can impede the diffusion of insulin out of the device and intro the surrounding tissue. An alternative therapy for the treatment of type 1 diabetes is the transplantation of insulin producing cells – derived either from cadaveric donors or differentiated from allogenic stem cells – to replace the patient’s dysfunctional beta cell population. Whilst this approach has shown promise, current protocols require co-administration of a harsh immunosuppression regimen to prevent allogenic rejection of the transplanted cells. Immunosuppressive medications are associated with a wide range of side effects, the risks of which often exceed the disease associated risks meaning this is a non-viable treatment option for many patients. To eliminate the need for immunosuppressive medication, there is interest in transplanting insulin producing cells within an immune isolating barrier known as a macroencapsulation device. Macroencapsulation devices house transplanted cells within a semi-permeable membrane which permits the exchange of glucose, insulin, and essential nutrients required for cell survival and function, whilst preventing the infiltration of harmful immune cells. However, the presence of this membrane poses a diffusion barrier between the cells and the host environment, limiting molecular exchange and compromising cell viability. This is exacerbated by formation of a fibrotic capsule which further impedes diffusion of essential molecules, ultimately leading to cell hypoxia. A potential means to modulate the deposition of this fibrotic capsule is to mechanically actuate the implant, which perturbs the local tissue environment and thus interferes with the production of fibrotic tissue. The first study of this thesis (Chapter 3) investigated the effect of intermittent actuation of an implanted insulin delivery device on fibrotic capsule formation and drug delivery kinetics. The device was implanted subcutaneously in mice for up to eight weeks, with five minutes of actuation performed twice daily. This study found that after eight weeks of intermittent actuation, insulin transport was non-significantly different from baseline (three days post implantation) levels, in contrast with non-actuated control devices which had significantly reduced performance and had become functionally redundant at eight weeks. A number of cellular and biological factors could be attributed to this outcome, including that actuation of the device resulted in a significantly reduced the number of inflammatory cells at the implant site (reduction in neutrophils at day five, and reduction in myofibroblasts after two weeks), significantly reduced capsule thickness after two weeks, a significant increase in capsular collagen coherency after eight weeks, in addition to reducing tissue infiltrate present in the device after eight weeks. The combination of these factors facilitated improved insulin diffusion out of the device and into the surrounding tissue to facilitate glucose uptake. Leading from this work, the next study of this thesis (Chapter 4) further investigated the mechanism of action underlying actuation mediated modulation of fibrotic capsule formation using a custom in vitro model. In this study, a human myofibroblast cells (WPMY-1 cell line) were seeded onto actuatable reservoirs, which were actuated for five minutes every 12 hours. This study found that intermittent actuation significantly reduced collagen production by these cells (after nine and 14 days), significantly reduced pro-inflammatory cytokine production (transforming growth factor-β1 after four, nine, and 14 days and interleukin-1β after four and nine days), whilst also upregulating the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 after 14 days. Using analytical and computational models to predict the strain and fluid flow levels that elicited these anti-fibrotic responses, this chapter begins to establish design parameters for the design of actuatable implantable cell encapsulation devices that can modulate the foreign body response. These design parameters were then used to inform the design of a novel actuatable macroencapsulation device (Chapter 5). Previous iterations of our actuatable implants have never been used for cell encapsulation. This actuatable macroencapsulation device was conceptualised on the premise that intermittent actuation of implantable drug delivery device (described in Chapter 3) can improve the diffusion kinetics in the local implant environment, which may also promote exchange of essential nutrients required for encapsulated cells to survive and function. Chapter 5 describes the design, manufacture and mechanical characterisation of an actuatable macroencapsulation device, in addition to the evaluation of cell encapsulation materials to support the viability and function of encapsulated cells. A murine mesenchymal cell line previously transfected with either Firefly or Gaussia luciferase was used to evaluate the longitudinal viability and function of the cells respectively. The macroporous, gelatin based scaffold material ‘Spongostan™’ (Johnson & Johnson) was found to support optimal cell viability and function. Actuatable macroencapsulation devices containing cells encapsulated in a Spongostan™ scaffold were then actuated for 10 minutes every 24 hours for the study duration of 13 days at an actuation magnitude that has previously demonstrated immunomodulatory effects (Chapters 3 and 4). Longitudinal bioluminescent imaging indicated that actuation did not compromise the viability of the encapsulated cells. Finally, a preclinical model (C57BL/6 mice) was established to evaluate the performance of the new actuatable macroencapsulation device in vivo, and an initial pilot study was conducted to evaluate the survival of encapsulated cells and understand the local and systemic immune response to the device. Bioluminescent imaging was used to non-invasively monitor the viability of cells encapsulated within the device which was implanted subcutaneously. Longitudinal blood sampling and flow cytometry methods were used to assess immune cell populations in the blood, and ex vivo tissue analysis was performed to evaluate formation of the fibrotic capsule around the implant. Collectively, the research presented in this thesis investigates how intermittent actuation of medical implants can be used to modulate the host foreign body response, and uses a combination of in silico, in vitro, and in vivo methods to design, develop, and evaluate the first actuatable macroencapsulation device. Findings from this thesis will inform further development of the device, which may have the potential to overcome critical limitations of current macroencapsulation approaches
Artificial intelligence as an enabler of agri-food supply chain resilience
No full textSupply chain organisations have endured increasing levels of pressure in recent years due to unprecedented levels of uncertainty. These issues are exacerbated for agri-food supply chain (AFSC) organisations, as they are faced with meeting demanding food production targets (United Nations, 2022), while combating issues such as limited farmland, reduction of natural resources, and climate change (Spanaki et al., 2021). While disruptions are costly for all supply chain organisations due to the perishable nature of agri-food products, disruptions pose a significant concern for AFSC organisations as disruptive events cause products to edge closer to expiry, adding to unintentional food loss and cost of production. Hence, developing the capability to minimise the impact of disruptive events is crucial for AFSC organisations. Therefore, this doctoral research aims to examine the potential of AI as an enabler of AFSC resilience. Five research questions were outlined to achieve this overarching research objective, which was achieved through four studies.
Study 1A conducts a systematic literature review focussing on understanding the applications, challenges, and benefits of AI in supply chain research. AI and supply chain research is largely fragmented into streams based on different types of AI technologies across several supply chain contexts and through varying disciplinary perspectives. Study 1A is the first review to synthesise this fragmented body of knowledge, giving direction to both researchers and practitioners. Study 1B is a practitioner-focused paper that combines the outputs of Study 1A, in addition to data collected from 147 AFSC respondents, to provide an insight into the view of AFSC practitioners on AI applications. Study 1B extends the findings of Study 1A, giving this research a strong understanding from both literature and industry on AI's applications, challenges, and benefits in the AFSC industry. Collectively, this provides a foundation to guide the remainder of the studies conducted in this doctoral research.
In Study 2, this research provides empirical evidence on AI and SCR. Drawing on organisational information processing theory, this research provides a novel perspective to understanding how AFSCs can deploy AI-based information processing, utilising organisational mindfulness (OMIN) and organisational flexibility (OLFEX) to build resilient supply chains. Furthermore, Study 3 extends the research model proposed in Study 2 by drawing on dynamic capability theory to empirically test AI assimilation as an enabler of SCR under the moderating effect of environmental dynamism.
pg. 9
Collectively, these studies make specific and distinguishing contributions to AI and supply chain research and practice. Study 1A contributes to the accumulative building of knowledge by extending theoretical discourse about the specificities of AI for prescriptive analytics to enable SCR. Study 2 is among the first empirical studies to draw on organisational information processing theory to examine AI-based information processing for developing AFSC resilience as well as the mediation effects of OFLEX and OMIN on this relationship; therefore, addressing the lack of theoretical development and understanding how AI-enabled information processing affects SCR (Belhadi et al., 2021), particularly in the context of AFSCs. Moreover, Study 3 is among the first to draw on dynamic capability theory to examine the impact of AI assimilation on SCR as well as the mediation effects of OMIN and OLFEX on this relationship. This is a considerable contribution to AI literature, as it provides a theoretical basis and empirical evidence of the importance of organisational competencies for leveraging AI technologies to improve SCR.
In terms of practical implications, this research helps decision-makers gain a better understanding of AI and its applications, specifically, how AI can be leveraged to develop SCR. Study 1A proposed a strategic AI resilience framework to support supply chain decision- makers and enhance the use and value of prescriptive analytics as an enabler to developing a resilient supply chain. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate the important role of OMIN and OFLEX for AFSC managers seeking to use AI technologies to develop SCR. This implies that the employment of AI technologies to promote SCR requires managers to adopt the principles and practices of OMIN and OFLEX. Besides illustrating the importance of developing resilience for performing successfully in the turbulent environment that AFSCs operate in, this research also demonstrates that developing resilience can enhance AFSC performance and be a source of competitive advantage, giving further reasoning to AFSC managers to develop SCR
Impact of environmental factors on the life cycle and physiology of the green seaweed Ulva spp.
No full textSea lettuce Ulva spp., known for its worldwide distribution and remarkable growth rate, remains a largely under-exploited natural resource. Recently, this macroalga has established itself as a valuable biomass in aquaculture, thanks to its diverse applications in the food, feed, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, biofuel and bioremediation sectors. Ulva's rapid growth and high capacity to assimilate carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus make it an attractive option for use as a biological filter. This project investigated the potential of Ulva for nutrient removal in brackish waters, focusing on the impact of reduced salinity on Ulva's metabolism. It also looked at the more fundamental biology of this genus, focusing on its primary carbon metabolism and the strategies it employs to maintain its rapid growth rate. Using isotopic 13C labelling, it was demonstrated that Ulva has a unique diurnal growth pattern, with a disconnect between the building of structural compounds occurring largely in the daylight, and cell expansion growth occurring at night. Then, extensive screening was conducted to identify Ulva strains that maintain valuable metabolic content and high growth rates under low salinity conditions, alongside with the development of a fast-screening method known as the “common-garden experiment”. This approach enabled the selection of the most suitable strains for the desired conditions in a reduced period of time, in a cost-effective way. Species and even strains varied significantly in their tolerance to low salinity, highlighting the importance of genetic/natural variation. A brief exposure to low salinity enhances the biochemical composition of Ulva, notably increasing carbohydrates in certain foliose species. This variability highlights the need for careful selection of species and strains to optimize Ulva biomass valorization for specific applications. In conclusion, the results presented in this thesis have advanced fundamental scientific knowledge of Ulva biology and provided insights into the use of Ulva spp. for nutrient removal in brackish waters
Evaluation of the performance and complexity of water quality models for peatlands
No full textRewetting is accepted as an effective technique in restoring degraded peatlands. However, it may adversely impact water quality, particularly in nutrient-rich peatlands. The aim of this study was to review water quality models applied to peatlands, with a focus on evaluating the performance (such as stability and accuracy) and complexity of the models. In a systematic review of published studies from 01/01/2003 to 10/12/2023, out of 3618 published studies on peatlands and nutrient modelling, only 23 studies applied water quality models to predict the evolution and distribution of nutrients of peatlands by using 16 different water quality models. Out of the 23 studies, only 1 predicted the nutrient concentration and transport of a rewetted peatland. Among the 16 models evaluated, only the mixed mire water and heat (MMHW) model was capable of considering the inherent heterogeneity in peatland characteristics. The HYDRUS 1D/2D model is effective at predicting nitrogen species, despite encountering challenges in some studies due to the complex nature of the peat environment. To enhance the predictive power of water quality models, it is important to consider all the processes that can affect the concentration of nutrients in peatlands such as oxidation of carbon, the nitrogen cycle, decay/production rate for nutrients, adsorption/desorption of nutrients in the soil, and the advection of nutrients due to the influence of ground water and surface water. To date, no peatland-specific water quality model has been developed to simultaneously predict DOC, nitrogen and phosphorus in peatland ecosystems.This project is funded under the Irish EPA Research Programme 2014-2020 (Project reference number 2021-NE-1036). The EPA Research Programme is a Government of Ireland initiative funded by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment. It is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency, which has the statutory function of co-ordinating and promoting environmental research.peer-reviewe
Too important to fail: Male teachers offering care ethics to support girls’ learning. A study of secondary schools in Ghana and Ireland
No full textThe recent global pandemic (COVID-19) has exposed a care crisis in schooling, prompting reflections on common vulnerabilities, accountability, and subsequently triggering a rethink of gender equality in education. This qualitative rhizomatic inquiry with postcolonial and poststructural framing maps the trajectories of male teachers’ caring pedagogies and girls’ learning. The qualitative rhizomatic methodological approach was employed partly due to the sensitivity of the issues around male teachers and adolescents, and due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on qualitative research. The research helps to deepen our understanding of how male teachers can offer care ethics for girls’ learning in secondary schools in Ghana and Ireland. Centring the ‘how’ over the ‘what,’ resulted in data that was iterative. Thus, the analytical framework was a blend of thematic and rhizomatic analysis. Three thematic events (Power, Pedagogy, and Sexualization) were discussed as well as Relationality as the overarching event. These themes arose from multiple factors related to girls’ sociality, sports, time management, pedagogy, classroom management, and assessment.
How girls negotiate and navigate school structures and state machinery to define their education are analysed against the presence of educators and extant educational policy. While educators and policymakers value academic scores, the girls in this research feel safety is core to their wellbeing at school. Nodding's theory of care was evidenced in the male teachers’ classroom management and pedagogical practices which utilize fatherly values for girls’ learning such as Daddy’s girl/Daddy’s daughter and good fathers as portrayed in popular culture. The data also demonstrate male teachers’ use of subtle ways of offering care ethics for girls, such as diplomatic meetings on stairs and corridors and after sports games/matches. Here, care is given consciously to where it is most needed and where it can be reciprocated. The research argues that male teachers play an important role in providing care for girls' school needs
Understanding the distributional impacts of carbon taxation in EU countries
No full textCarbon taxes are needed to meet emission reduction targets and mitigate climate change but they are costly. These costs are distributed unequally across the population. Concerns over impacts on living costs and the unfair distribution of costs have led to substantial public and political opposition to carbon taxes. As a result, carbon taxes are well below the levels needed to mitigate climate change. Simultaneously, carbon taxes generate revenues that can finance policies to compensate households and make reforms distributionally just. Such revenue recycling can increase the public acceptability of carbon taxation. A key challenge is that the impact of carbon taxes on households is very heterogeneous. As a result, it is impossible to perfectly compensate households and reforms necessarily create winners and losers. Further, the carbon tax burdens and their distribution are region-and country-specific, and reforms likely lead to different outcomes across countries.
The main objective of this thesis is to compare the distributional impact of a common carbon tax and various revenue recycling reforms across 6 EU countries. Understanding why and how carbon tax burdens are distributed unequally is essential for two reasons. Firstly, it supports policymakers in designing carbon taxes or devising strategies that mitigate the negative distributional outcomes of the carbon tax, thereby increasing support for higher carbon taxes in the future. Second, it supports policymakers in designing policies to compensate disproportionally affected households and mitigate impacts on purchasing power, thereby increasing political support for carbon taxation today.
The second objective of this thesis is to develop a scalable model that can simulate the distributional impact of carbon taxation and revenue recycling. This thesis develops a microsimulation tool (PRICES) that can be used to analyse the impact of a carbon tax with revenue recycling on households before they are implemented.
The central argument of this thesis is that there is no "one-size-fits-all" solution to carbon tax regressivity. The carbon tax incidence is complex and carbon taxes can be regressive for various reasons. The incidence of a carbon tax becomes increasingly complex when revenues are returned to households. This in turn results in heterogeneous distributional impacts of carbon taxation and revenue recycling across countries.
The various impacts of carbon taxation with revenue recycling arise because numerous factors shape the distributional impact of a carbon tax (some are explored in Chapter 4) and the relationship between households’ carbon tax and compensation payments is imperfect and differs across countries (as shown in Chapter 5). Policies to mitigate the regressive impact of a carbon tax (through its design) and compensate households for the carbon tax (through transfers or tax reductions) should therefore be tailored to the context.
The primary contribution of this thesis lies in its in-depth comparative analysis of heterogeneous EU countries and the development of a scalable tool that uses standardized data sources to assess the distributional outcomes of carbon taxation in and across countries. An in-depth comparative analysis allows for further nuance to common conjectures. Chapter 4 shows that the conjecture that the distributional impact of carbon taxation is determined by energy budget shares along the income distribution is only partially accurate and that other factors can be more important in explaining distributional outcomes. Chapter 5 highlights that various revenue recycling schemes, notably place-based transfers, can produce different distributional outcomes depending on the country. A further contribution of this thesis lies in the selection of countries. The selection largely covers countries in which no analyses are available and with heterogeneous average income levels, climates, population structures, and welfare states, making the comparison of impacts of common policy particularly instructive
Investigating a combinatorial approach of engineered NK cells and small molecule inhibitors for targeting aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma
No full textNon-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) are a diverse group of lymphoid malignancies, with aggressive subtypes such as Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) and Burkitt Lymphoma (BL) posing significant therapeutic challenges due to drug resistance and frequent relapse. While CAR-T cell therapies targeting tumor-associated antigens (e.g., CD19) have improved outcomes in relapsed/refractory B-cell NHLs, they face limitations including high cost, manufacturing delays, immune toxicities, and antigen escape.
Natural killer (NK) cells have emerged as a promising alternative for cellular immunotherapy. They offer several advantages: antigen-independent recognition of tumor cells, lower risk of graft-versus-host disease, reduced immune toxicities, and the feasibility of “off-the-shelf” allogeneic use. NK cells can also be engineered with chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) for enhanced specificity. However, their efficacy is often hindered by tumor cell resistance mechanisms, particularly the evasion of apoptosis.
This study aimed to enhance NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity against relapsed/refractory B-cell NHL by targeting key apoptosis pathways. An optimized protocol was developed for NK cell isolation, expansion, and cryopreservation to ensure a reliable source of viable and functional NK cells for research.
Next, a focused drug screen targeting pro-survival and anti-apoptotic pathways in NHL cells identified cellular inhibitor of apoptosis proteins 1 and 2 (cIAP1/2) as key mediators of resistance to NK cell killing. Treatment with the SMAC mimetic birinapant (TL32711) at nanomolar concentrations downregulated cIAP1/2 in BL and DLBCL cell lines, sensitizing them to NK-mediated cytotoxicity without impairing NK cell viability or function.
Mechanistically, birinapant repressed NF-κB-regulated anti-apoptotic proteins including Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, Mcl-1, and cFLIP. Direct inhibition of NF-κB, Bcl-2, or Mcl-1 similarly enhanced NHL susceptibility to NK-mediated killing, confirming the importance of these pathways. Notably, cell death was primarily driven by death ligand-receptor interactions rather than lytic granule-mediated mechanisms.
Building on these findings and prior studies highlighting the role of TRAIL (TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand) in hematological malignancies, the study further explored NK cell engineering. TRAIL or receptor-selective TRAIL variants were overexpressed on NK cells to compensate for the limited natural expression of membrane-bound TRAIL. These engineered NK cells exhibited enhanced cytotoxicity against NHL cells.
In summary, this study demonstrates that targeting anti-apoptotic pathways particularly via cIAP1/2 and NF-κB inhibition and engineering NK cells to overexpress TRAIL significantly improves NK cell-mediated killing of aggressive B-cell NHL. These strategies offer a promising avenue to overcome resistance and improve the efficacy of NK cell-based immunotherapies in relapsed or refractory NHL.Work on this project is supported by Research Ireland, formally Irish Research Council Employment-based Postgraduate Programme, grant ID. EBPPG/2021/74. The project received funding from Blood Cancer Network Ireland (14-ICS-B3042). This project has also received funding from the European Union’s Horizon2020- DISCOVER-RISE and Horizon Europe-MSCA-SE research and innovation programme under grant agreement Nos. 777995 and 101130240
An exploration of primary teachers’ experiences and perspectives regarding the promotion of religious tolerance in Catholic schools in Ireland and South Korea
No full textThis research explores and compares the experiences and perspectives of primary teachers regarding the teaching of religion in Catholic schools in Ireland and South Korea. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten teachers from each country. The findings highlight the contrasting perspectives of teachers from the two countries regarding the importance of and approach to religious education (RE) as a response to the challenges posed by pluralism. Teachers from Ireland predominantly exhibit a proactive approach, valuing diverse viewpoints and making efforts to engage in interreligious dialogue. Conversely, many teachers from South Korea demonstrate a deep appreciation for their own belief in God and prioritise the faith development of children. The comparative study highlights the importance of understanding teachers’ experiences and the ways in which they navigate the intersection of religious diversity, national policies, Catholic ethos, and their own personal faith perspectives. This qualitative study used Bråten’s model for comparative studies in RE (Bråten 2015) as a framework for design and data analysis. This model allowed for a structured comparison, ensuring that the nuances and specificities of each educational context were examined thoroughly. An interpretive paradigm is used, which focuses on understanding the world from the subjective reality of the individual. The study is therefore grounded in the teachers' own experiences and perceptions within the qualitative field of study. Given the distinct religious and educational landscapes of Ireland and Korea, the study aims to uncover both shared insights and unique differences in the teachers' experiences and approaches. This research offers insights into their experiences, understanding and perspectives on religion, spirituality, faith, and diversity, specifically in response to cultural and religious differences among students. It aims to inform and support the development of inclusive teaching practices that enhance interreligious engagement, pedagogical approaches to diversity, and a commitment to fostering openness in Irish and Korean Catholic primary schools. The study found that Irish teachers exhibit a strong desire and deep awareness of the importance of better understanding children’s diverse religious backgrounds, while Korean teachers prioritize faith development and the teaching of Catholic traditions. Both Irish and Korean teachers integrate interreligious education into their instructional practices, each shaped by their distinct faith and spiritual perspectives. Irish teachers adopt a secular approach to interreligious education, viewing spirituality as a universal aspect of human experience that transcends specific religious boundaries. In contrast, Korean teachers embed interreligious education within a Christian framework, emphasizing the teachings of Jesus, principles of ecumenism, and moral values rooted in Catholic tradition. The study is significant as it is the first in-depth comparative analysis of how the faith of Korean and Irish teachers influences their approach to teaching RE and addressing interreligious matters, an area that has not been previously explored in a comparative context. It explores fundamental principles that prompt and shape interreligious engagement, offering insights into the development of inclusive RE practices that advocate acceptance of individuals with diverse faiths and beliefs