NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Thinking social movement learning, again: Choudry, Freire and the conversation between popular education and social movements
No full textDisciplinary pressures within academia often produce specialised and one-sided accounts of complex social processes. Convincing accounts of popular education regularly acknowledge the importance of social movements but without theorising them adequately–and vice versa. This one-sidedness is compounded by a widespread tendency to generalise from often highly specific institutional and political contexts, as though all movements learned in the same way across space and time and popular education’s role in fostering this learning is simple. Unchecked, this leads to the reification of ‘critical’ theory and the reduction and flattening of emancipatory practices to methods or even predefined goals. This paper constructs a dialogue between the work of Choudry, Freire and other authors in both fields, aimed at both celebrating and problematising their contribution to learning from our struggles. By developing a conversation between them, we want to explore how their insights might be usefully integrated for contemporary social movements
Northern Ireland 25 years after the Good Friday Agreement: an introduction to the special issue
No full textIn this introduction, we set up a theme that runs through the special issue. There are, we suggest, two dominant readings of the Northern Irish peace process–one ‘liberal, ’the other ‘nationalist’–that see the region in the process of becoming amulticultural (neo)liberal democracy, albeit in different constitutional settings. The teleogical nature of the seperspectives means, however, that they fail to grasp what is perhaps the most essential characteristic of contemporary Northern Irish society, namely its liminality. If we are to understand the true nature of post-conflict Northern Ireland, it is imperative, we contest, to grasp its quintessential‘inbetweenness
Access and Provision of CAR-T Therapies in Ireland for Cancer Care: The Current & Future Landscape, Opportunities and Challenges: Legal, Ethical and Broader Policy Considerations
No full textThis research was conducted as part of the Irish Research Council funded, ‘Patients’
Access to Advanced Cancer Therapies: Ethics and Equity of Access’ (PAACT) project.
It aims to examine and map the current framework in Ireland for the provision of
Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell therapy (hereafter ‘CAR-T therapy’) and to examine
sustainable pathways to develop and provide access to such therapies in future. CART therapy is a type of immunotherapy which aims to use cells from a patient’s own
immune system as part of the therapy. In simple terms, as part of the treatment,
immune cells called T-cells are removed from the patient’s body, then outside the body
these cells are modified so that they can target and kill cancer cells effectively. The
modified T-cells are then reinfused or put back into the patient’s body to treat the
cancer. When this therapy is successful, in some cases it has led to cancer going into
remission – where such patients were previously terminally ill with no other viable
potential treatment options. There are side effects associated with CAR-T therapies,
including some which can prove fatal. However, clinical teams have developed
strategies to try to minimise these risks, and to optimise management of such side
effects. Nonetheless, ethical issues can arise in such contexts.
CAR-T therapies were approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for use in
Europe in 2018. The provision of CAR-T therapies commenced in Ireland in 2021 for
adult patients and in 2022 for paediatric patients in certain clinical contexts. Before
this, patients based in Ireland (for whom such therapies were clinically indicated)
needed to travel abroad to obtain CAR-T therapies. Currently several different CAR-T
therapies have regulatory approval in Europe and are approved to treat certain types
of haematological (blood) cancers such as lymphoma, leukaemia and myeloma, in
specific contexts. Research in the field suggests they may have potential to treat other
types of cancers, and other conditions in future. Accordingly, the numbers of patients
who may benefit from such therapies may increase over time.
However, there are remaining challenges for patients in accessing CAR-T therapies
in Ireland. There are also challenges to providing CAR-T therapies within national
public health systems, including the high costs of such therapies currently, and other
legal, ethical, regulatory, resourcing, and infrastructural issues around increasing the
development and provision of CAR-T therapies at a national level.
This report examines the literature in the field and aims to provide an overview of the
current landscape for the provision of CAR-T therapies for patients based in the
Republic of Ireland (hereafter Ireland), it also outlines some of the main potential
challenges for patients in accessing such therapies, and at a health systems level in
providing CAR-T therapies. It concludes by offering ten main recommendations which
aim to promote a deeper multi-disciplinary conversation around the provision of CART therapies in Ireland to address the main legal, ethical and broader policy challenges
in this area, and to create further sustainable pathways to increase the development
and provision of CAR-T therapies in Ireland in future
Dubourg, Geminiani and the Violin Concerto in D Major: A Misattribution
No full textMatthew Dubourg (1703–1767) is today mostly remembered as the virtuoso violinist who led the band of musicians for the premiere of Handel's oratorio Messiah in Dublin in April 1742. He was a child prodigy – contemporary reports reveal that he was performing publicly at the age of eleven – and pupil of Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762), with whom he maintained a lifelong friendship. In 1728 Dubourg was made Master of the State Musick in Ireland following the death of Johann Sigismund Cousser (1660–1727), who had held the position since 1716. Geminiani, who had first been offered the position, declined it on account of being a Roman Catholic (other theories for Geminiani's refusal are advanced in Enrico Careri, Francesco Geminiani (1687–1762) (Oxford: Clarendon, 1993), 21). Dubourg's position as Master required him to compose odes to celebrate the birthdays of the British monarchs in Dublin. Surviving poetry, newspaper reports and music suggest that he composed an unbroken series of two odes per year until his death. Dubourg's other compositions survive in various eighteenth-century manuscripts and publications. These include dances – minuets, jigs and ‘Dubourg's Maggott’, for instance – some songs and his ‘graces’ for Corelli's Op. 5 violin sonatas (on the last see Neal Zaslaw, ‘Ornaments for Corelli's Violin Sonatas, Op. 5’, Early Music 24/1 (1996), 95–116, and Robert E. Seletsky, ‘18th-Century Variations for Corelli's Sonatas, Op. 5’, Early Music 24/1 (1996), 119–130). Dubourg's most popular work was undoubtedly his variations on the traditional Irish song ‘Eibhlín a Rún’, first published for harpsichord in 1746 (Select Minuets, collected from the Castle Balls, and the Publick Assemblies in Dublin. Composed by the best Masters . . . to which is added Eleena Roon by Mr. Dubourgh, set to the Harpsichord with his Variations (Dublin: William Mainwaring), held at The National Library of Ireland, Dublin (IRL-Dn), Add. Mus. 9013). This publication was advertised in The Dublin Journal for 27–30 December 1746
Issues of ubiquitous music archaeology: Shared knowledge, simulation, terseness, and ambiguity in early computer music
No full textThe reconstruction of tools and artworks belonging to the origins of music computing unveils the dynamics of distributed knowledge underlying some of the major breakthroughs that took place during the analogue-digital transition of the 1950s and 1960s. We document the implementation of two musical replicas, the Computer Suite for Little Boy and For Ann (Rising) . Our archaeological ubiquitous-music methods yield fresh insights on both convergences and contradictions implicit in the creation of cutting-edge technologies, pointing to design qualities such as terseness and ambiguity. Through new renditions of historically significant artefacts, enabled by the recovery of artistic first-hand sources and of one of the early computer music environments, MUSIC V, we explore the emergence of exploratory simulations of new musical worlds
Secondary Use of Personal Health Data: When Is It “Further Processing” Under the GDPR, and What Are the Implications for Data Controllers?
No full textContemporary biomedical research heavily relies on secondary use of personal health data that were obtained in a different clinical or research setting. Under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR ), data controllers processing personal data must comply with the principle of purpose limitation, which restricts further processing of personal data beyond the purpose for which the data were initially collected. However, “further processing” is not explicitly defined, resulting in considerable interpretive ambiguities as to whether “secondary use” of data by researchers constitutes “further processing” under the GDPR . This ambiguity is problematic as it exposes researchers to potential non-compliance risks. In this article, we analyse the term “further processing” within the meaning of the GDPR , elucidate important aspects in which it differs from “secondary use”, and discuss the implications for data controllers’ GDPR compliance obligations. Subsequently, we contextualise this analysis within a broader discussion of regulating scientific research under the GDPR
Bi-Level Coordinated Power System Restoration Model Considering the Support of Multiple Flexible Resources
No full textWhen power systems encounter outages and largescale blackouts, system restoration is critical and should be carried
out with dedicated schemes. In this past, most studies divided
the power system restoration into three stages (i.e., black-start
zone partitioning, network reconfiguration, and load restoration)
and deal with them separately. After that, few studies considering the three stages together were emerging while the support of
multiple flexible resources, i.e., renewable energy source (RES),
electric vehicle system (EVS) and energy storage system (ESS),
were not considered comprehensively. Therefore, a bi-level coordinated power system restoration (BiCPSR) model is proposed in
this work considering the support of multiple flexible resources.
In the upper level, two network topology indices that describe the
“reachability” and “shortest reachable distance” of buses in power
systems, and the restoration characteristics of generators and loads
are utilized for optimizing the start-up sequence of generators
and network reconfiguration. In the lower level, the uncertainties
of RES and EVS are considered by various scenarios and the
support of multiple flexible resources is utilized cooperatively for
accelerating the restoration process and maximizing the restorable
load. Case studies on the revised IEEE 39-bus, WECC 179-bus and
the actual Zhejiang power systems are performed to illustrate the
basic features of the proposed model and its availability in bulk
power systems. The comparisons between the proposed model and
other models are also performed to illustrate the strengths of the
proposed model
Changes in Society and Scene: An Examination of Women in Irish Traditional Music
No full textThe main goal of this dissertation is to examine the role, status, occupation of, and attitudes
towards women in Irish traditional music. Although scholarship has developed in the area of
gender and Irish traditional music, this dissertation pays particular attention to the experiences
of women in the commercial Irish traditional music industry focusing on aspects such as image,
performance, reception, perception, sexualisation, and feminism. Identifying periods of
increased positive change and regression in both society and scene, the dissertation also aims
to investigate how behaviours and attitudes towards women in Irish society have impacted
women in Irish traditional music.
The ethnographic fieldwork focuses on the experiences of women in Irish traditional music
from c1980–2022. This includes in-depth interviews with industry professionals, case studies
on well-known bands and commercial Irish dance shows, and a quantitative and qualitative
survey with practitioners on the impact of parenthood on music industry participation. The
analysis of this data incorporates scholarship from feminist theory and illustrates the impact of
expectations and prejudices on women and other marginalised practitioners in the Irish
traditional music and dance scene, and the commercial Irish traditional music industry.
Through engaging with and being shaped by lived experiences of the scene, the dissertation
informs historical and current understandings of the experience of women in Irish traditional
music. In identifying enabling characteristics of prejudice, discrimination, harassment, and
assault, the findings thereby act as a motivation to inspire change in both the men-dominated
commercial Irish traditional music industry and wider Irish traditional music scene
Abrupt drought termination in the British-Irish Isles driven by high atmospheric vapour transport
No full textDuring protracted dry spells, there is considerable interest from water managers, media and
the public in when and how drought termination (DT) will occur. Robust answers to these
questions require better understanding of the hydroclimatic drivers of DT than currently
available. Integrated vapour transport (IVT) has been found to drive DT in western North
America, but evidence elsewhere is lacking. To evaluate this association for the British-Irish
Isles, Event Coincidence Analysis is applied to 354 catchments in the UK and Ireland over
the period 1900-2010 using ERA-20C reanalysis IVT data and 7,589 DT events extracted
from reconstructed river flow series. Linkages are identified for 53% of all DT events across
all catchments. Associations are particularly strong for catchments in western and southern
regions and in autumn and winter. In Western Scotland, 80% of autumn DTs are preceded by
high IVT, whilst in southern England more than two thirds of winter DTs follow high IVT
episodes. High IVT and DT are most strongly associated in less permeable, wetter upland
catchments of western Britain, reflecting their maritime setting and orographic enhancement
of prevailing south-westerly high IVT episodes. Although high IVT remains an important
drought-terminating mechanism further east, it less frequently results in DT. Furthermore, the
highest rates of DT occur with increasing IVT intensity, and the vast majority of the most
abrupt DTs only occur following top decile IVT and under strongly positive North Atlantic
Oscillation (NAO) conditions. Since IVT and NAO forecasts may be more skillful than those
for rainfall which underpin current forecasting systems, incorporating these findings into such
systems has potential to underpin enhanced forecasting of DTs. This could help to mitigate
impacts of abrupt recoveries from drought including water quality issues and managing
compound drought-flood hazards concurrently
Higher vegetation sensitivity to meteorological drought in autumn than spring across European biomes
No full textEurope has experienced severe drought events in recent decades, posing challenges to
understand vegetation responses due to diverse vegetation distribution, varying growth
stages, different drought characteristics, and concurrent hydroclimatic factors. To analyze
vegetation response to meteorological drought, we employed multiple vegetation indicators
across European biomes. Our findings reveal that vegetation sensitivity to drought increases
as the canopy develops throughout the year, with sensitivities from −0.01 in spring to 0.28 in
autumn and drought-susceptible areas from 18.5 to 57.8% in Europe. Soil water shortage
exacerbates vegetation-drought sensitivity temporally, while its spatial impact is limited.
Vegetation-drought sensitivity strongly correlates with vapor pressure deficit and partially
with atmospheric CO2 concentration. These results highlight the spatiotemporal variations in
vegetation-drought sensitivities and the influence of hydroclimatic factors. The findings
enhance our understanding of vegetation response to drought and the impact of concurrent
hydroclimatic factors, providing valuable sub-seasonal information for water management
and drought preparedness