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Numerical investigation of the structural behaviour of adhesive free connections utilising modified wood
No full textAn investigation was carried out to examine the potential to use modified wood as a replacement for
metallic connections in timber structures. In recent years, there have been several studies examining the potential to utilise
modified wood to improve the performance of engineered wood products. This study describes the development of finite
element models validated against a series of experimental tests on spliced beam-beam timber connections. The spliced
beams are formed using compressed wood (CW) dowels and slotted-in CW plates providing an all-timber solution. A
parametric study is utilised to optimise the design of spliced beam-beam timber connections utilising CW plates and
dowels. The parameters studied were dowel arrangement, plate length, plate thickness, beam width and depth. The results
indicate that connections using CW dowels and plates can be successfully modelled using finite element (FE) software.
An optimised design has been developed to improve stiffness and moment rotation capacity of the connection system.The study had been conducted within the framework of
the project “Towards Adhesive Free Timber Buildings -
AFTB” at the College of Engineering and Informatics,
National University of Ireland Galway, Ireland. The
AFTB project is funded by Interreg North-West Europe
via the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF
Contributions of working memory and sustained attention to children’s reading achievement: A commonality analysis approach
No full textWe used commonality analysis to explore the unique and overlapping contributions of two closely related executive functions, working memory and sustained attention, to the prediction of children’s reading achievement, over and above age and verbal IQ. Children aged 8–10 years (N = 104) completed measures of working memory capacity, sustained attention capacity, verbal IQ and reading achievement (operationalised as word reading and reading comprehension). We found that working memory capacity explained relatively more unique variance in word reading than in reading comprehension. Working memory capacity also predicted reading achievement through shared variance. In contrast, the capacity to sustain attention did not explain any substantial unique variance in either word reading or reading comprehension. The variance sustained attention capacity explained in reading achievement, albeit small in magnitude, was almost
completely from overlapping variance with other predictors. These findings highlight the
importance of understanding how executive function components differentially relate to aspects of reading achievement and provide initial evidence that any meaningful contribution sustained attention capacity makes to reading achievement is via shared variance
Perception and use of timber in construction: A case study of Ireland and the UK
No full textA survey was carried out to examine the perception of timber in construction among industry stakeholders
within northwest Europe. The survey received responses from 17 countries in total. The total results of all respondents
are presented along with results specifically from Ireland and the United Kingdom to examine differences in these regions
in relation to the perception of timber as a construction material, the barriers impeding its use, and the educational needs
and requirements of industry stakeholders. The use of timber in construction in these regions has arguably lagged behind
the rest of Europe. A large proportion of participants (97.3%) expressed an interest in learning more about the benefits of
timber in construction and highlighted topics of interest to them in their respective professions. The key findings from the
survey have identified the educational needs and requirements of the industry and will inform future training courses/
material to support the increased use of timber in construction.The authors would like to thank the respondents for taking
the time to contribute to this survey. This work was
developed within the WoodProps Programme funded by
the Forest Sector Development Division of the
Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland
Barriers and facilitators to implementing community-based physical activity interventions: a qualitative systematic review
No full textBackground: Over the past decade several physical activity (PA) interventions have been shown to be efficacious in a controlled research setting, however there is a continued lack of evidence for how to successfully implement these PA interventions in real-world settings such as the community. This review aims to explore the barriers and facilitators that affect the implementation of community-based PA interventions and make recommendations to
improve implementation from the included studies. Methods: A systematic literature search of EBSCOhost, Scopus, PUBMED and Web of Science was conducted to
identify articles that reported qualitative data on the implementation factors of community-based interventions where PA was a primary outcome. Data were extracted using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) as a guide. Implementation factors and recommendations were then mapped onto the 5 domains of the CFIR and synthesised thematically. Results: From 495 articles, a total of 13 eligible studies were identified, with 6 studies using a mixed methods approach, and 7 reporting qualitative methods only. There were 82 implementation factors identified, including 37 barriers and 45 facilitators, and a further 26 recommendations from the papers across all 5 domains of the CFIR. More barriers than facilitators were identified within the CFIR domain inner setting, in contrast to all other domains where facilitator numbers outweighed barriers.
Conclusions: This review identified many facilitators and barriers of implementing physical activity interventions in the community. A key finding of this review was the impact of implementation strategies on successful implementation of community PA interventions. From the evidence, it was clear that many barriers to implementation could have been negated or reduced by an implementation plan in which several strategies are
embedded. The findings of this review also suggest more attention to individual’ skills and involvement is needed to improve self-efficacy and knowledge. The role of individuals across all organisational levels, from providers to leaders, can impact on the implementation of an intervention and its succes
Measuring motivation among close-to-community health workers: developing the CTC Provider Motivational Indicator Scale across six countries
No full textBackground: Close-to-community (CTC) health service providers are a cost-effective and important resource in the promotion of and increasing access to health services. However, many CTC provider programmes suffer from high rates of de-motivation and attrition due to inadequate support systems. Recent literature has identified the lack of rigorous approaches towards measuring and monitoring motivation among CTC providers as an important gap. Building on scales used in previous studies, we set out to develop a short, simple-to-administer scale to monitor and measure indicators of CTC provider motivation across CTC programmes implemented in six countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Indonesia, and Bangladesh. Methods: We used focus group discussions (n = 18) and interviews (n = 106) conducted with CTC providers across all six countries, applying thematic analysis techniques to identify key determinants of motivation across these contexts. These themes were then used to carry out a systematic search of the literature, to identify existing scales or questionnaires developed for the measurement of these themes. A composite 24-item scale was then administered to CTC providers (n = 695) across the six countries. Survey responses were subsequently randomly assigned to one of two datasets: the first for scale refinement, using exploratory techniques, and the second for factorial validation. Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to both datasets. Results: Results suggest a 12-item, four-factor structure, measuring community commitment, organisational commitment, job satisfaction, and work conscientiousness as common indicators of motivation among CTC providers across the six countries. Conclusions: Consistent with previous studies, findings support the inclusion of job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and work conscientiousness within the CTC Provider Motivation Indicator Scale. In addition, findings further supported the addition of a fourth, community commitment, sub-scale. Practical applications of the revised scale, including how it can be applied to monitor motivation levels within CTC provider programming, are discussed.European Commission - Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)UKRI Medical Research Counci
Ageing: Not only an age-related issue
No full textDevelopments in the last century have led to an unprecedented increase in life expectancy. These changes open opportunities for humans to grow and develop in healthy and adaptive ways, adding life to years as well as years to life. There are also challenges, however - as we live longer, a greater number of people will experience chronic illness and disability, often linked to lifestyle factors. The current paper advances an argument that there are fundamental biological sex differences which, sometimes directly and sometime mediated by lifestyle factors, underpin the marked differences in morbidity and mortality that we find between the sexes. Furthermore, we argue that it is necessary to consider sex as a key factor in research on healthy ageing, allowing for the possibility that different patterns exist between males and females, and that therefore different approaches and interventions are required to optimise healthy ageing in both sexes
Low prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 detected in symptomatic children admitted to hospital
No full textAims
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) originated in Wuhan, China in 2019
and is responsible for the condition known as COVID-19. COVID-19 was first reported in Ireland in
February 2020 with University Hospital Limerick’s (UHL) first paediatric case reported on 4th March
2020. Studies have shown clinical manifestations of children’s cases are generally less severe than
those of adults.
UHL serves a catchment population of approximately 100,000 children. We aimed to describe the
clinical presentation, and prevalence of SARS-CoV-2, in children requiring inpatient hospitalization
during the initial phase of the pandemic in Ireland.
Methods
Data were examined relating to all inpatients aged 0 – 16 years admitted with a queried or
confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 from 8
th February 2020 to 8th June 2020. Emergency Department
notes and inpatient records along with laboratory and radiology records were reviewed.
Results
220 paediatric inpatients were tested by PCR for SARS-CoV-2 during this period; 101 (45.9%) were
female. Ninety-five (43.2%) were diagnosed with ‘viral illnesses’. Seven (3.2%) had laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2, with an average age of 8.1 years (range: 0.59 years to 13.77 years). There
were two Kawasaki-like illnesses admitted; both tested negative for SARS-CoV-2 on PCR. In our
SARS-CoV-2 positive cohort, there was no associated significant morbidity and no associated
mortality.
Conclusion
During the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, prevalence of confirmed SARS-CoV-2 in
symptomatic hospitalised children was low at 3.2
Hygroscopicity of marine aerosol: Closure, long term observation and cloud condensation potential
No full textMarine aerosols have a profound impact on the global climate system by scattering solar radiation and serving
as seeds for cloud formation. However, the marine aerosols in current models are still poorly represented
and lack constraints. In this work, the physico-chemical properties of marine aerosol were obtained in Mace
Head Atmospheric Research Station on the west coast of Galway, Ireland. The worked is centred by the
data obtained by humidity tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) and combined with other aerosol
measurements, e.g. aerosol mass spectrometer, scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). This work aims to
characterise marine aerosols in terms of hygroscopicity and their relevant climate impacts and consists of the
following sections:
• We demonstrate that the hygroscopicity of marine aerosols can be predicted in high temporal resolution
by using bulk PM1 chemical composition. This is the first time that the hygroscopicity of marine aerosol
has been predicted by the chemical composition that contains sea salt.
• We present a statistical analysis of a five-year dataset of hygroscopicity measurement, which is the
longest dataset of its kind to date. From this, a contrasting seasonal difference between marine and
continental aerosols has been found.
• The number concentrations of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) are predicted by using hygroscopicity
and chemical composition. The impact of common assumptions, including size-dependent hygroscopicity and mixing state are quantified.
• The sea spray aerosol is one of the most important species of marine aerosol, and the sea spray number
is crucial in determining the CCN numbers. However, the sea spray number cannot be measured by
conventional methods. As such, we have developed a method to use size-resolved hygroscopicity data to
distinguish the sea spray and other species, and we found that the conventional method underestimated
the sea spray number by up to tenfold, thus greatly overlooking their climate effects.2025-09-1
Study abroad programme participation and subsequent academic performance: evidence from administrative data
No full textThere is increasing attention on study abroad programmes in higher education. However, there is little evidence on how participation might impact students’ academic performance on return. Using administrative data from Ireland and a range of regression models and matching estimators, we find no independent association between study abroad and subsequent academic performance on average. However, we do find some evidence of heterogeneity in the relationship, notably across the performance distribution and for language students. In particular, study abroad is independently associated with better (worse) performance for higher (lower) performing students and in language subjects
Traveller Accommodation Expert Review: Prepared by an independent Expert Group on behalf of the Minister of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government
No full textThis report sets out an integrated set of recommendations intended to improve the effectiveness of the arrangements for providing accommodation for members of the Traveller community, which were established by the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998. These recommendations address four key themes: - delivery reflecting need, - planning, - capacity and resources and, - governance. The review concludes that the arrangements established by the 1998 Act have significant strengths and have enabled the delivery of significant amounts of accommodation for Travellers, but they have failed to meet the full scale of accommodation need among this community. This is evidenced by the extremely high rate of Traveller homelessness, the increase in numbers of Traveller households sharing accommodation and living in overcrowded conditions, and the uneven record of delivery of Traveller-specific accommodation among local authorities and also approved housing bodies. Therefore, it is time to overhaul the Housing (Traveller Accommodation) Act, 1998 and other relevant legislation and policies which impact on accommodation provision for Travellers.Department of Housing, Planning and Local Governmen