NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Between Past and Present: Age, Period, and Cohort Effects on Changing Values in Lithuania
No full textThis study examines the changes in Schwartz’s higher-order-value dimensions in Lithuanians over time. We analyze cross-sectional repeated survey data, with a sample of 11,199 respondents from six waves of the European Social Survey (ESS) during the years 2010–2020. Time-lag and cross-sectional analyses revealed age and period effects on self-enhancement and self-transcendence, and age, period, and cohort effects on openness to change and conservation. A comparison of political generations shows that the youngest cohort (independent EU generation) is more conservative, more self-transcending, less open to change, and less self-enhancing over time, in contrast to other generations. The Soviet legacy generations follow a different trajectory of openness to change and conservation than the Stalin and Independent EU generations, suggesting that historical context and current period effects are strong, and that the youngest political generation is particularly sensitive to societal-level disruptions. It is plausible that forces related to rapid societal change, for example, a decline in the working-age population after the collapse of the Soviet Union and, more recently, during the period of the study due to mass emigration, have left a generation trapped between scarcity and modernity
Dance as a Powerful Tool to Advance Disability Inclusion: Reflections from an Interdisciplinary Collaboration
No full textThis article discusses the collaboration between the academic socio-legal project DANCING, funded by the European Research Council, and the inclusive dance company Stopgap Dance Company (Stopgap). DANCING, among other objectives, aimed to identify barriers and facilitators to cultural participation experienced by disabled people. In pursuing this objective, DANCING established a partnership with Stopgap aimed at the creation of a choreographic piece in which accessibility measures, intended to facilitate the participation of dancers with disabilities and the enjoyment of the choreography by audience with and without disabilities, were intrinsic to the creative process. By presenting findings of qualitative research conducted with Stopgap and audience, it explores how inclusivity and accessibility were experienced by both performers and spectators. This article focuses on three interlinked themes, which elucidate processes, challenges, and outcomes of engaging in inclusive dance at a professional level. In doing so, this article situates at the intersection of disability and dance research and endeavours to provide a theoretical and practical bedrock for future dance projects wishing to adopt more inclusive processes. Further, this article aims to contribute to broader scholarship in the field of arts that positions disability as a cultural identity worth celebrating
Now You’re Talking... Old Irish Towards a conversational approach to teaching Old Irish
No full textThis thesis explores the possibilities of developing communicative approaches to the
teaching of Old Irish to absolute beginners, also providing possible options to
implement this practice. After an analysis of the communicative approaches applied to
the teaching of Latin and Ancient Greek since the Renaissance (Chapter 1), the focus is
switched to the Old Irish learning materials published since the first full description of
the language (second half of the 19th century), which are reviewed one by one in
Chapter 2. In Chapter 3, I introduce my own project for an Old Irish textbook based on
the conversational approach and explain its main principles. Chapter 4 is instead
focused on advanced beginners and their serious need for ‘bridge texts’, that is, reading
texts that facilitate and foster the transition from the textbook to original literature. I will
also discuss the option of producing such texts by translating existing literary works and
the issues that this kind of translation may raise. Chapter 5 provides materials that
exemplify my endeavours towards innovative approaches to Old Irish language
teaching
Geographical Refinement of Nitrogen Fertiliser Management in Irish Grasslands: A Model Based Assessment
No full textPlant available nitrogen (N), commonly applied in agricultural soils through the use of inorganic
and organic fertilisers, when surpasses the N requirement to maintain a targeted crop yield, is
lost from the soil into the environment where it has negative impacts, including – climate
change, ozone layer depletion, air and ground water pollution, eutrophication of water bodies,
acidification of soil and water etc. The ‘4R of Nutrient Stewardship’ (4RNS), promotes the
application of fertilisers at the right time, right place, right rate and from the right source - to
meet a targeted yield, seeking to prevent surplus N supply. Process-oriented biogeochemical
models can help to investigate and identify the potential of incorporating spatially explicit
information into N management plans to achieve 4RNS objectives, enabling simulated yield and
N loss via different pathways to be estimated, while explicitly accounting for soil and
atmospheric variables, management and their impact on nutrient dynamics. In this research we
investigate the scope of the DNDC (DeNitrification DeComposition) model to inform more
geographically refined N management plans, for intensively managed Irish grasslands that are
currently managed by aspatial N management strategies at farm and national level. A score of
20 % or less relative deviation of estimated annual yield and N loss was used as a benchmark of
deciding reliability of model performance, while tools like mean absolute error, root mean
square error and correlation was applied to compare the model performance at a daily scale
with respect to existing studies, as required. Our study showed that the DNDC model reliably
estimates site-specific grass growth rate and annual yield when the correct parameterisations
for the crop phenology and local background atmospheric conditions are accounted for within
the model. The model performs well when site-specific soil and management inputs are used,
as well as for more generalised inputs - relevant for sites with limited availability of site-specific
information. However, to generate reliable annual estimates of both yield and N loss via
different pathways, it is necessary to include site-specific soil inputs including water filled pore
spaces (WFPS) at field capacity (FC) and wilting point (WP). At a daily scale, the correlation
between available measured and estimated N loss was poor. However, the errors at daily scale
and relative deviation at annual scale were lower in comparison to existing results published. A
scenario analysis showed that key environmental variables explaining spatial variation of nitrate
(NO3
-) leaching varies with the annual N application rate. Whereas the key variables relevant for
regulating annual yield and annual N loss through ammonia (NH3) volatilisation and nitrous
oxide (N2O) emissions, identified through one factor at a time sensitivity analysis (with
categorising output on the basis of sensitivity index of greater than 10 % as sensitive, between
0.1 % to 10 % as potentially sensitive and less than 0.1 % as not sensitive), relevant to develop
more simplified and robust models for site-specific N management, were – soil texture and clay
content, soil organic carbon (SOC), bulk density (BD), pH, stocking rate and annual N fertiliser
application, annual rainfall and average annual temperature. Finally, this work also sought to
identify if a robust application of DNDC is possible to reliably simulate spatial variation of grass
yield and N loss - when default inputs are used for non-mandatory soil and atmospheric
variables, while the model is parameterised for crop phenology of perennial ryegrass. This study
showed that such application is only limited for estimation of spatial variation of yield and NO3
-
leaching – while yield itself is an indicator of potential N2O emissions
Circadian Variation in the Response to Vaccination: A Systematic Review and Evidence Appraisal
No full textMolecular timing mechanisms known as circadian clocks drive endogenous 24h rhythmicity in most physiological functions, including innate and adaptive immunity. Consequently, the response to immune challenge such as vaccination might depend on the time of day of exposure. This study assessed whether the time-of-day of vaccination (TODV) is associated with the subsequent immune and clinical response by conducting a systematic review of previous studies. The Cochrane Library, Pubmed, Google, Medline and Embase were searched for studies that reported time-of-day of vaccination and immune and clinical outcomes, yielding 3,114 studies; 23 of which met the inclusion criteria. The global SARS-CoV-2 vaccination programme facilitated investigation of TODV and almost half of the studies included reported data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was considerable heterogeneity in the demography of participants and type of vaccine and most studies were biased by failure to account for immune status prior to vaccination, self-selection of vaccination time, or confounding factors such as sleep, chronotype and shiftwork. The optimum TODV was concluded to be afternoon (five studies), morning (five studies), morning and afternoon (1 study), midday (1 study) and morning or late afternoon (1 study) with the remining 10 studies reporting no effect. Further research is required to understand the relationship between TODV and subsequent immune outcome, and whether any clinical benefit outweighs the potential effect of this intervention on vaccine uptake
Cutting-edge developments in active and passive photovoltaic cooling for reduced temperature operation
No full textConsidering the substantial increase in deployment, photovoltaics are hovering to emerge as the
predominant
worldwide energy producer in the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, the operating efficiency and
endurance of photovoltaic (PV) systems are significantly stalled by the heightened operating
temperatures encountered by solar radiation. This article comprehensively analyzes novel active and
passive PV cooling techniques, encom passing their operational mechanisms, cooling efficiency,
and eventual implementations in solar devices. Extensive scholarly research has examined various
PV cooling methods and techniques to optimize system cooling and efficiency. The primary goal of
this effort is to compile a reference for future researchers and spe cialists by reviewing and
comparing the results of current investigations. The study also comprised a bibliometric analysis
that provides valuable insights into the influence of research on incorporating cooling systems
into solar systems. These insights play a decisive role in recognizing new trends and progressing
the field towards more efficient systems, hence advancing upcoming development. Furthermore, an
extensive classification and assessment of every conceivable cooling technology was furnished to
facilitate a comparison among diverse cooling methodologies. The research was structured in a
tabular manner, containing the following details for each cooling technique: solar panel type,
cooling method, cooling fluid or substance used, research category, average temperature reduction
resulting from cooling, and enhanced electrical efficiency. The study indicates that cooling
methods significantly enhance electrical efficiency, with potential increases varying from 0.28 %
to
97.6 %. Additionally, this application is assessed to decrease the solar panel's operative
temperature, ranging from 0.8 octo 39.9 oc
Legal bases for effective secondary use of health and genetic data in the EU: time for new legislative solutions to better harmonize data for cross-border sharing?
No full textKey points
The secondary use of health and genetic data between different actors and countries can be medically and scientifically rewarding, but it requires a solid legal framework to enable responsible cross-border and cross-sector access to such data.
From an EU data protection law standpoint, such secondary use requires a legal basis under Article 6(1) and a permission under Article 9(2) of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). However, we argue that, in practice, a suitable legal basis is not always available to all stakeholders to process health and genetic data for secondary uses.
The EU has recently proposed a European Health Data Space (EHDS), which is the first common EU ‘data space’ in a specific area to emerge from the ‘European strategy for data’. Among other aims, the EHDS seeks to provide a consistent, trustworthy, and efficient system for reusing health and genetic data for research, innovation, policy-making, and regulatory activities (ie, secondary use). Yet, the EHDS does not account for the different phases in the data reuse lifecycle in a sufficiently encompassing manner, resulting in missing or insufficient GDPR legal bases for undertaking certain crucial processing operations.
As a result of the dependency on legislative acts and the varying nature of stakeholders involved, we find that there can be significant hurdles for secondary use, and some actors can even be excluded from participation entirely. Consequently, we advocate new data protection legislative solutions to harmonize data for cross-border sharing
A Robust Demand Regulation Strategy for DERs in a Single-Controllable Active Distribution Network
No full textOver the past decade, PQ regulation schemes for a single-controllable active distribution network (ADN) using coordination among a network of virtual synchronous generators (VSGs) have been proposed. However, considering the variable nature of intermittent renewable energy sources (IRESs), coupling a cluster of IRESs with the point of common coupling (PCC) of ADN could inflict transient issues for the power management of the whole ADN. To counter these challenges, the proposed study has three main objectives: 1) To propose a modified mathematical model that represents the apparent resistance-reactance at the PCC of ADN in relation to the PQ coordination among the network of VSGs; 2) to utilize the proposed model for deriving a μ synthesis-based robust controller that overcomes the uncertainty in the moment of inertia response of all the VSGs; 3) and to present the stability and performance analysis of the proposed controller validated under model uncertainty. Validation of the proposed method and its comparison to the state-of-the-art methods in MATLAB/Simulink environment confirms that the proposed method significantly minimizes the impact of disturbances on the power management of the whole ADN
Estimating soil particle-size fractions and predicting soil texture from microwave remote sensing techniques with application in Ireland.
No full textSynthetic Aperture Radar is a low-cost alternative widely employed to estimate soil properties, especially over small map scales (i.e. large area). In contrast to deeper soil layers, topsoil is more consistent with the capability of a C-band SAR signal data (e.g., Sentinel-1) to reach the soil surface. However, few studies address the use of microwave-based sensors to estimate particle size fractions and soil texture classes (e.g., loam, sandy clay). As soil texture consists of the relative proportions of sand, silt, and clay, this soil property is compositional in nature (i.e., the sum of the components is equal to 100%), and such a constraint is not always considered in either explicitly spatial or non-spatial models. Moreover, retrieving information on soils from radar signals is a challenging task, particularly under vegetated soil conditions. This research seeks to address this challenge by employing H-alpha dual-pol decomposition over a study domain located in the Republic of Ireland, where soils are typically covered by grass/pasture. No study to date has employed this method for estimating sand, silt, and clay, or soil texture. Employing both a spatial and non-spatial framework and explicitly considering the compositional nature of soil texture, two different statistical modelling approaches – linear and tree-based – are used to derive soil estimates from Sentinel-1 data, in tandem with topographical and geophysical covariates. Five primary conclusions can be drawn from this work: (i) it is beneficial to treat soil texture as compositional data in the models employed; (ii) radar-based derivatives are not able to predict sand, silt or clay without the aid of covariates, since the models do not identify direct relationships between the backscattering coefficients (� ��0 , � ��0) and the soil particle size fractions; (iii) the non-spatial modelling approaches yield better estimates when fitted without the geophysical covariates, however, the geophysical covariates are useful in obtaining soil texture in the regression models with interactions terms; (iv) the H-alpha Dual-Pol Decomposition method provides, to a certain extent, soil information over low vegetation, and improved estimates of sand, silt and clay; and (v), the spatial models do not outperform the non-spatial models in estimating soil particle size fractions (PSF) in terms of numerical estimates, but are useful in capturing patterns and trends in the response variables. Hence, this research provides a methodological framework to inform the design of in situ soil surveys and a means to estimate soil properties over large spatial areas to generate new data products for use in hydrological, land surface, climate, and other model-based approaches that currently employ coarse global scale soil texture products. This research is also timely in light of the European and Irish policy initiatives around soils such as “A Soil Deal for Europe 2021-2030 (Mission Soil)” and “A Signpost for Soil Policy in Ireland 2021-2030”