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
Aligning heritage conservation and climate mitigation through adaptive reuse
No full textThis thematic issue explores the role of heritage conservation in climate mitigation and adaptation by examining the convergences between retrofitting heritage buildings, the circular economy, urban revitalisation, sustainable communities, and sense of place. The diverse contributions focus on the place of heritage in circular economy policies, retrofitting, and climate adaptation. Collectively, the articles set out the contribution of heritage conservation as a resource for economic growth, employment, and social cohesion, and as a form of climate action by diverse actors at different scales in the low‐carbon transition
Mapping apotheosis: What does a comparative analysis of Pausanias' depictions of apotheosis accounts reveal about the formulaic structure, cultural significance, and archaeological visibility of hero-worship across time?
No full textThis thesis, Mapping Apotheosis: What Does a Comparative Analysis of Pausanias’ Apotheosis Accounts Reveal About the Formulaic Structure, Cultural Significance, and Archaeological Visibility of Hero Worship Across Time?, investigates the phenomenon of apotheosis in ancient Greek religion through a comparative analysis of Pausanias’ Description of Greece. It argues that Pausanias presents divine elevation not as isolated mythic events but as a patterned and evolving process negotiated through narrative, ritual, and spatial expression. By analysing his accounts alongside earlier literary and archaeological evidence, the study establishes a structural framework, the “Divine Formula”, which identifies recurring motifs through which mortals become divine: crisis, divine intervention, and posthumous elevation.
Five case studies of apotheosis form the core of this analysis: Hyacinthus, Melicertes and Ino, Castor and Polydeuces, Trophonius, and Amphiaraus. Each represents a distinct mode of transformation, from erotic grief and familial sacrifice to chthonic descent and prophetic revelation. In Pausanias’ portrayal of Hyacinthus, architectural integration of tomb and altar at Amyclae manifests a theology of mourning transfigured into worship. The apotheosis of Melicertes and Ino reveal the sea as a liminal site of purification and rebirth, where maternal tragedy is sanctified through maritime cult. The Dioscuri embody fraternal devotion and cosmic balance, their alternating immortality reflecting both theological duality and the perpetuation of heroic identity through cult. In the cases of Trophonius and Amphiaraus, descent rather than ascent becomes the vector of divinisation; their transformation through chthonic architecture and oracle practice demonstrates how space, ritual, and theology coalesced to perpetuate divine presence.
Through close literary comparison with sources such as Homer, Pindar, Apollodorus, and Ovid, and correlation with archaeological evidence from Amyclae, Isthmia, Lebadeia, and Oropos, this study demonstrates how Pausanias reinterprets inherited myths to construct a coherent theology of apotheosis suited to the religious landscape of Greece in the Second Century. His selective synthesis of myth and monument reveals a dynamic understanding of divinity, one rooted in human experience, local cult, and the continual dialogue between memory and material form. Ultimately, this thesis contributes a new analytical vocabulary for understanding Greek hero cults, showing that apotheosis, in Pausanias’ vision, is not a singular ascent to godhood but a ritualised continuum where mortal virtue, space, and story converge to define the divine
Spider venom potency exhibits phylogenetic prey specificity but does not trade-off with body size or silk use in prey capture
No full textSpiders employ a diverse range of predator traits, including potent venoms, complex silk-hunting strategies and mechanical strength coupled with larger body sizes to capture prey. This trait diversity, along with the quantifiable nature of venom potency, makes spiders an excellent group to study evolutionary trade-offs. Yet, comparative approaches have been historically confounded by the use of atypical prey models to measure venom potency. Here, we account for such confounding issues by incorporating the phylogenetic similarity between a spider’s diet and the species used to measure its venom potency. Using a phylogenetic comparative analysis of 75 spider species to test how diet, silk use in prey capture and body size drive venom yield and potency (LD50), we show that spider venoms are generally more potent against models more closely related to their natural prey, reflecting prey-specific patterns. Despite predictions, we find no trade-offs among body size, silk use and venom potency. We find that venom yield scales sublinearly with size, reflecting the 0.75 allometric scaling predicted by metabolic theory, suggesting that venom is metabolically expensive in spiders. Our approach demonstrates how contemporary comparative approaches can be applied to historic venom potency measures to test fundamental evolutionary patterns in predator traits.K.L. was funded by an Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship (GOIPG/2020/961)
Carbapenem resistance and hypervirulence in enterobacterales: A genomic and phylogenetic analysis of clinical and environmental isolates in Ireland
No full textAntimicrobial resistance is one of the most important global public health challenges of the 21st century. Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) in particular pose a significant threat due to their rapid spread and limited treatment options. Infections caused by CPE are associated with very high mortality rates, especially among hospitalised patients. However, understanding of the mobile genetic elements (MGE) responsible for transmission of these genes and the convergence of multiple resistance genes and virulence determinants on single plasmids remains poorly understood, especially in an Irish context.
This thesis investigates the genomic characteristics and dissemination pathways of CPE in Ireland, with a specific focus on the MGE involved in the spread of carbapenem and aminoglycoside resistance, as well as the emerging convergence with hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae. To achieve this, whole genome sequencing (WGS) incorporating both short and long read technologies was employed to characterise isolates from human samples, the hospital environment and natural water sources between 2018 and 2023.
The first study examined the relationship and dissemination pathways of CPE within a defined geographical region. To identify and compare the MGE carrying carbapenemase genes across different ecological niches and bacterial genera, a total of thirty-nine isolates were analysed. These isolates were collected from hospital patients, the hospital environment and local natural water sources (river and seawater) between 2018 and 2020. These isolates carried blaKPC-2 (n = 6), blaNDM-5 (n = 12) and blaOXA-48 (n = 21). Carbapenemase genes were plasmid-borne in 95% of isolates with blaOXA-48 almost exclusively associated with a highly conserved, ~63 kb IncL plasmid. The blaKPC-2 and blaNDM-5 genes were typically located on large multi-replicon IncF plasmids. Conserved genomic regions were observed surrounding the carbapenemase genes and were similar across different plasmids and the chromosome. These findings highlight the role of MGE, such as plasmids and transposons, in the transmission of carbapenemase genes across different ecological niches and genera.
The second study investigated the molecular epidemiology of isolates co-carrying the carbapenemase gene blaNDM alongside 16S rRNA methyltransferases (16S-RMTases), which confer a pan-aminoglycoside resistant phenotype. Fifty-eight isolates collected between 2019 and 2023, co-carrying blaNDM and 16S-RMTase genes were analysed. Short read sequencing was carried out on all isolates and long-read sequencing was carried out on a subset (n = 27). MOB-recon was used to predict plasmid derived contigs from draft assemblies. A strong association between blaNDM-1 and armA and blaNDM-5 and rmtB1 was observed. Several clusters of closely related plasmids carrying both blaNDM and 16S-RMTase genes were identified across multiple healthcare facilities and species, suggesting plasmid mediated dissemination.
The final study investigated the emergence of hypervirulence in Ireland and its convergence with carbapenemase resistance. Ninety K. pneumoniae isolates obtained from screening swabs (n = 59), invasive infections (n = 18), non-invasive sites (n = 12) and the hospital environment (n = 1), were sequenced. All isolates were genomically hypervirulent and 82% of isolates carried a carbapenemase gene (blaOXA-48/blaOXA-181/blaNDM-1). While all isolates were closely related with similar resistance and virulence profiles, two distinct clusters were detected. In vivo murine systemic infection models demonstrated equivalent virulence in isolates from infection and from asymptomatic carriage, suggesting that colonisation may serve as a reservoir for invasive disease.
Collectively, these studies highlight the diversity of plasmids carrying carbapenemase genes, often in combination with other clinically relevant resistance genes. While carriage of blaOXA-48 was largely associated with a single conserved 63 kb plasmid carrying blaOXA-48 alone, blaKPC and blaNDM were found on a more diverse array of IncF, IncM and IncC plasmids. The identification of conserved plasmid backbones across species and in multiple ecological niches highlights the adaptability and persistence of these MGE. Furthermore, the convergence of AMR and hypervirulence determinants on the same plasmids represents a serious emerging threat, particularly in the absence of standardised screening for hypervirulent K. pneumoniae.
These findings reinforce the importance of a coordinated One Health approach utilising enhanced genomic surveillance across environmental, clinical and public health sectors to monitor and control the ongoing threat of antimicrobial resistance.Research Ireland Centre for Research Training in Genomics Data Science grant number 18/CRT/621
A European curriculum on mentoring for social inclusion
No full textThis curriculum on social mentoring is the result of a collaboration of a diverse group of academics, practitioners and students from around the world and was developed and facilitated as part of the Erasmus Plus Project “Mentoring for Social Inclusion in Europe: Sharing Knowledge and Building Capacity” (Ment4EU). At the time of the development and implementation of this program, it was the first such initiative in higher education in Europe
An ontology-based approach to digital learning: Supporting learners’ manual web-based semantic annotation and dynamic graph-based knowledge visualisation of argumentation in multiple philosophical texts
No full textThis thesis presents a methodological and technical process for modelling and semantically annotating argumentation and intertextuality in multiple philosophical texts. This process supports novices of philosophy to analyse and comprehend argumentation in relation to specific philosophical topics. While a variety of tools and formal knowledge representation models (ontologies) already exist for supporting argumentation in a natural language text on the Web, those initiatives, to the best of my knowledge, do not capture the conceptual division between abstract propositions, abstract arguments and their expressions in texts. The thesis illustrates the benefit of enabling the formal representation of this conceptual division. It does so by enabling the semantic annotation of texts which share or refer to the same arguments and propositions and the analysis of all instances of their occurrence and of their relations with their textual expressions. To facilitate this task, the OntoSophia ontology, and the prototypical ArguNest text annotation and visualisation tool were developed. These enable learners to create annotations and access their annotations in the form of a knowledge graph. The graph supports navigation, a data-led reading of philosophical views and offers a conceptual summary of learners’ cognitive processes while analysing multiple argumentative texts. This approach is actualised with a case study, by demonstrating a representation task which aims to describe the main propositions, arguments and quoted elements of two English women philosophers, Mary Astell and Damaris Masham – critics of the philosopher John Norris – in three philosophical texts related to the topic of divine and human love in the late seventeenth century. This was a time in which Enlightenment discourse was emerging. Lastly, to evaluate the effectiveness of the framework and its suitability for its context of use with its target users, i.e. learners, novices of philosophy, an initial mixed methods user-based evaluation (quantitative and qualitative data) was conducted in January 2020 with a total of 26 undergraduate students reading for Philosophy and English at the University of Galway. The evaluation provided a comprehensive understanding of the effectiveness of the scaffolding method of ArguNest in supporting the annotation of multiple philosophical argumentative texts. As such this thesis offers an informed framework for future research in this interdisciplinary field
Next generation hosts for protein recognition, assembly and more
No full textThis Perspective describes an apparent transition in the design and function of synthetic receptors for proteins. It is shown that the original receptor design, geared toward protein recognition, lends itself also to receptor self-assembly and concomitant protein assembly. While evidence for this effect has lain somewhat dormant for two decades, numerous recent examples raise interesting possibilities for innovation in protein binding, encapsulation, and crystal engineering. In a bid to inspire future research and collaboration, I speculate on new receptor designs. Considering current developments with nanocarbon hosts, anionic variants might facilitate protein assembly and the bottom-up fabrication of hybrid materials.I acknowledge University of Galway, Research Ireland and SOLEIL synchrotron for support
Ephemerality as temporal convergence of stability and transformation: Advancing concepts of time and temporality for information systems research
No full textThis thesis delineates ephemerality as a distinct temporal perspective and a new conceptual tool for information systems (IS) research. The research is structured around four key PhD research papers.
The first key paper introduces Zygmunt Bauman’s sociological lens of liquid modernity, outlines core liquid-modern principles, and applies the principles to Covid-19-related IS contexts.
The second paper shifts research focus from liquid modernity to ephemerality, a concept closely aligned with liquid-modern themes of fluidity, transience, and change. Through interdisciplinary review of six key disciplines - including philosophy, information systems, sociology, and organisation studies - the second key paper develops this study’s first iteration of a conceptual framework for ephemerality.
The third paper strengthens the framework’s philosophical rationale by drawing on seminal processual texts. It also introduces digital trace data as an illustrative IS context for understanding ephemerality.
The final key paper articulates the third and definitive thesis iteration of the ephemerality framework. Its applicability is then illustrated through analysis of a social media digital trace data case study, which examines a Covid-19 conspiracy theory that briefly went viral during the pandemic.
The main contribution of this thesis is the ephemerality framework. Through the concepts of mechanical repetition and creative repetition, ephemerality is characterised as simultaneously short-lived and durable. The parsimonious delineation of framework concepts and their interrelations advances IS approaches to conceptualising time and temporality, particularly in relation to digital trace data. More broadly, the framework provides IS researchers with new temporal vocabulary and a structured and actionable temporal lens for holistic analysis of IS phenomena in ephemeral sociotechnical contexts
Mechanical analysis of unidirectional glass fibre reinforced epoxy composite joints manufactured by adhesive bonding and co-curing techniques
No full textThe use of epoxy powder in composite laminate fabrication may provide an efficient and alternative solution to traditional resin infusion techniques for manufacturing thick and complex composite parts in the aerospace, automotive, and marine industries. This study demonstrates the feasibility of this technology for joining of unidirectional glass fibre-epoxy composite parts with desired mechanical strength through co-curing process. The effectiveness of co-curing techniques for joining thin and thick composite laminates were assessed and compared with adhesive joints. The challenges and parameters relating to both manufacturing methods were discussed. The results showed that co-curing bonding is an effective bonding method alongside adhesive joints. The co-curing joints showed a 49% higher shear strength than optimised adhesive joints. To further demonstrate the effectiveness of the results, one beam, with co-curing and adhesive bonding joints, was manufactured as a demonstrator of a bowfoil. The beam was then tested under four-point bend tests to characterise the flexural strength and damage propagation area. The results revealed that both bonding types withstand the ultimate loads, with the composite part failing. A finite element model was proposed, and its accuracy was verified against the test results, with an average difference of 8.9% in ultimate fibre direction strain.This project is being supported with financial contribution from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and the Marine Institute under the SEAI National Energy Research, Development & Demonstration Funding Programme 2022, Grant number 22/RDD/876, and Funding Programme 2023, Grant number 23/RDD/1019. This project is also funded by Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland, formerly Science Foundation Ireland under Grant number 22/IRDIFB/10946. For the purpose of Open Access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission
Development of natural language processing techniques and resources for Old Irish; with an application for the detection of authors in the Würzburg Glosses
No full textOld Irish is lacking in digital resources compared to even other historical European languages, and relatively few attempts have been made to apply well-established natural language processing techniques to the language. Where attempts have been made, either to create resources or apply modern computational techniques, it has become apparent that certain roadblocks exist in relation to Old Irish which do not obstruct similar efforts in other languages. These roadblocks are not clearly identified in the literature, however, this research suggests that issues relating to tokenisation, part-of-speech tagging, and associated grammatical implications are among the most significant. Little focus has been given to these factors until now, and a conclusive review detailing their impact on attempts to create digital resources for Old Irish has never been carried out. Moreover, no attempt has been made to demonstrate that removing these roadblocks can enable the successful application of established natural language processing techniques to Old Irish text.
This research addresses major factors limiting success in the digitisation of Old Irish text and the application of established natural language processing techniques to it. Moreover, it is demonstrated that these factors can be overcome. This necessitates an assessment of common practice in text digitisation and natural language processing techniques as applied to other languages, and an assessment of both the manuscript orthography and the grammatical tradition which has been built up around Old Irish. Where other languages have seen success in digitisation and natural language processing projects, the linguistic features which distinguish these languages from Old Irish are examined in an attempt to mitigate their effect on success rates when attempting such projects for Old Irish text. It is demonstrated that many of the factors limiting success rates can be alleviated by moving away from the conventions of Old Irish grammar which were formalised at the turn of the last century, at least, on a sub-surface, computational level. That is to say that it is possible to process the text in a manner which deviates from the traditional grammar of Old Irish, but still represent it to an end user in a more conventional manner.
Certain assumptions regarding the nature of written language are inherent in the formats of many of the most common frameworks for the collection of annotated digital text, and hence, are inherent in natural language processing techniques which depend upon this type of text data. Many of these assumptions, though fundamental enough to have been overlooked in some cases, are shown to be mismatched with either the orthographic reality of Old Irish text, or with the grammatical tradition of the language. A tokenisation and part-of-speech tagging standard was developed for Old Irish in an attempt to overcome these mismatched expectations of the language. In this thesis it is demonstrated that this new standard for word separation is more suitable for the digital representation of Old Irish text than any which has come before it. It is shown to enable the successful application of certain natural language processing techniques to the language for the first time, as well as enabling the creation of a machine-readable lexicon of Old Irish tokens, which has not been possible until now as a result of disagreement between scholars regarding word boundaries and subsequent inconsistencies between resources created. A case study in the suitability of this standard is detailed in which it is shown that the application of well documented author recognition techniques, with a proven track record in other languages, to the text of the Würzburg glosses enables the successful separation of the work of the three scribal hands. The results of this experiment not only demonstrate the suitability of the tokenisation and part-of-speech tagging standard applied, but also add evidence to the debate on the authorship and composition of Old Irish gloss material.University of Galway (Digital Arts and Humanities Scholarship, 2017-2019) and the Irish Research Council (Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship, GOIPG/2019/3694)