NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Recommendations on developing an on-road fitness-to-drive route and test that incorporates an assessment for higher cognitive functioning
No full textThe purpose of this study was to provide an outline of the process of developing an on-road driving test route and rating form. Comprehensive evaluation of medical fitness to drive should comprise of an off-road and an on-road assessment. Much research attention has focussed on the off-road phase of assessment, while there is less standardisation evident in the completion and measurement of the on-road phase of fitness-to-drive assessment.
Design/methodology/approach
A scholarship of practice approach was used to inform the development of an on-road test route and an associated generic on-road assessment tool that was guided by research evidence and best practice recommendations.
Findings
A step-by-step guide, outlining seven recommended phases in the development of an on-road route for the assessment of fitness to drive that aligns with best practice recommendations, was developed. A preliminary generic on-road assessment tool (the Maynooth–Trinity Driving Test) that includes higher-order cognition alongside element of strategic, tactical and operational driving ability was developed and piloted alongside the newly developed on-road test route.
Originality/value
This paper offers an overview of an approach to developing evidence-based on-road test routes and an associated generic assessment tool that may assist occupational therapists and on-road driving assessors establish a standard practice for testing on-road behaviour as part of a comprehensive approach to evaluate fitness to drive
Invisible barriers: how gender and class intersect to impact upon science participation in Irish secondary schools
No full textWomen are under-represented in science fields; this poses a significant challenge considering the emerging digital revolution. The intersectionality theory suggests that women whose social identities intersect across gender and class have distinct experiences; affecting their science aspirations. This research examined gender and class intersections, measuring science experiences and aspirations of working-class girls versus those who are not. A total of 421 female students (ages 15–18) from Irish secondary schools answered questions about their science experiences and views. The findings revealed that working-class girls displayed lower levels of confidence and interest in pursuing science; additionally, they felt that their ability in science was lower than other students. These findings provide highlight the impact of gender and class on science aspirations, showing the value of considering intersectionality when addressing unequal participation in science. Science interventions should consider the intersectional layers of disadvantage which can affect young women's science aspirations
Locating the Backstage of Victorian Religion: Spaces of Irish Catholicism
No full textThis introduction to the ‘Spaces of Irish Catholicism’ Roundtable argues that applying the concept of ‘space’ to nineteenth-century Irish Catholicism has the potential to offer significant new insights to our understandings of Irish Catholicism and the lives of ordinary Irish Catholics, but also to Victorian Studies and religious history more generally. In particular, it contends that the nature of Irish Catholicism in the later nineteenth century was such that examining its many different spaces offers a valuable means of enacting Peter Andersson’s plea to uncover the ‘backstage’ of the Victorian period. In describing the eight diverse papers that comprise the Roundtable, the introduction argues that a previously identified dichotomy between the ‘poetics of space’ and the ‘politics of space’ within the religious realm may need to be rethought
Nye fortællinger om digitale seksuelle overgreb (Rewriting Victimhood: Stories of digital sexual assault)
No full textOmtale af Signe Uldbjerg: Rewriting Victimhood: Stories of digital sexual assaul
The uses of Irishness in the narratives of Bulfin, Walsh and Delaney. A study on Irish diasporic narratives in the context of twentieth century Argentine literature.
No full textThis thesis is centred on the exploration and critical reading of fictions that were produced
within the Irish diasporic community in Argentina in the period 1900-1994, and that take
Ireland or Irishness as their theme. The aim is, firstly, to identify the uses of cultural markers
of Irishness in these narratives and, secondly, to critically evaluate them in the context of
prevailing Argentine literary and cultural traditions, with a view to assessing how they
challenge hegemonic perceptions of Argentine national identity. I selected three collections of
short stories for this work: Tales of the Pampas (William Bulfin, 1900), Los irlandeses
(Rodolfo Walsh, 2007), and Tréboles del sur (Juan José Delaney, 1994). Although some of the
stories in these collections have been studied before, it has usually been from a migration and
diaspora studies perspective, particularly in the case of Bulfin and Delaney. Studies on Walsh
have tended to focus on his contributions to crime fiction and investigative journalism. This
study offers a fresh, Argentina-oriented approach to these writers, by contextualising them
against the backdrop of social, political and cultural developments in Argentina. My argument
is rooted in the contention that these diasporic narratives are just as much a part of the Argentine
literary tradition as those written by ‘native’ Argentinians such as Sarmiento, Mitre, or
Hernández. By focusing on elements such as the description of landscape, the figure of the
local vis-à-vis the foreigner, and the representation of power and authority present in these
fictions, I aim to establish a connection between these discourses and more overtly political
nation-building narratives, seeing both as the result of a national call for the creation of an
Argentine, national literatur
Novel Biotinylated Cu(II)-Phenanthroline Complexes: 2D and 3D Cytotoxic Activity and Mechanistic Insight
No full textThe interest in the use of copper as a metal scaffold for the development of novel chemotherapeutics has considerably grown in recent years. This is mainly due to the relatively lower toxicity of copper complexes with respect to platinum drugs (i.e., cisplatin), the different mechanisms of action, and the cheaper cost. In the last decades, hundreds of copper-based complexes were developed and screened as anticancer agents, with the antesignanus of all compounds being copper bis-phenanthroline [Cu(phen)2]2+ developed by D.S. Sigman in the late 1990s. In particular, copper(phen) derivatives have been shown high interest in their capacity to interact with DNA by nucleobase intercalation. Here, we report the synthesis and chemical characterization of four novel copper(II) complexes functionalised with phenanthroline derivatives containing biotin. Biotin, also known as Vitamin B7, is involved in a series of metabolic processes, and its receptors are often overexpressed in many tumour cells. A detailed biological analysis including cytotoxicity in 2D and 3D, cellular drug uptake, DNA interaction, and morphological studies are discussed
Workers’ Perspectives on State-Constructed Vulnerability to Labour Exploitation: Experiences of Migrant Fishers in Ireland
No full textThis article examines migrant workers’ experiences of state-constructed vulnerability to labour exploitation, through the case study of non-European Economic Area (EEA) migrant fishers in Ireland. It draws on the findings of interviews with 24 migrant fishers, together with information obtained from public bodies and legal analysis. Building on the work of Mantouvalou, Zou, and others, we demonstrate that the Irish legal and policy framework – most importantly, immigration law – places migrant fishers in a position of ‘hyper-dependency’ and ‘hyper-precarity’ in their work relations. We outline how this state-constructed vulnerability to labour exploitation is experienced in practice through an in-depth account of the interviewees’ experiences of working conditions; immigration status; and racism and discrimination at work. In particular, the interviews reveal the work permit scheme for non-EEA fishers to be a powerful structure of exploitation, within which workers have little bargaining power and protective employment mechanisms are rendered ineffective
Private religion as resistance in Ann Seghers’ der prozess der Jeanne D’Arc Xu Rouen 1431 (1937) and Bertolt Brecht’s 1952 stage adaptation
No full textThis article will examine the representation of religion in Anna Seghers’ radio play Der Prozess der Jeanne d’Arc zu Rouen 1431 (1937) and Bertolt Brecht’s subsequent adaptation of this text for the stage (1952). While religiosity is central to the identity of the medieval heroine, Seghers chooses to communicate this feature to modern audiences in a ‘lacunary’ way that sees Jeanne refusing to elaborate on the details of her belief throughout the play. The protagonist’s faith creates a distance from contemporary listeners and spectators as well as from characters within the text, but when absolute commitment to her private belief results in Jeanne’s execution, this moves the people at large to rebel against their oppressors. Thus Seghers’ Jeanne emerges as a figure of political resistance who draws on her private faith to bring about social change. In Brecht, the voices that move Jeanne to withstand oppressive forces are revealed to be those of the people rather than an expression of the divine. For Seghers and Brecht, the twentieth-century relevance of Jeanne’s characteristic religiosity, depicted differently by each author, lies in the political transformation which it can inspire both within the text and outside it
Defenders of the Homeland: How Croatian 1990s Veterans Kept the Dominant War Narrative Alive
No full textComing out of the break-up of Yugoslavia, Croatian mythmakers transformed the 1990s
armed conflict – Homeland War – into a central state and nation-building political myth. As a
straightforward and sanitised narrative of the armed conflict between Croatian forces and
joint forces of Serb rebels and Yugoslav forces, this myth downplays unpleasant facets of the
war so that it could serve the nation-building process. While using archival and media
sources, the thesis sheds light on a somewhat ignored role of Croatian veterans of the 1990s
war – called defenders – in creating and grounding that myth. Alongside the political elites,
veterans helped construct and kept the dominant narrative alive for decades, transforming it
into an official one in 2000. Often using mnemonic battles to fight political opponents and
authorities, veteran associations re-produced the dominant narrative, emphasising their role in
the ‘creation of the state’. By doing do, veteran associations and groups used these mnemonic
battles to secure better welfare, funding for their organisations or their position in society as
the main memory entrepreneurs and veto players. While their contentious behaviour was
most intense when centre-left governments were in power, the thesis evaluated the
relationship between veteran associations and conservative forces, offering a more nuanced
analysis of the phenomena. Finally, the thesis evaluates the role of veteran associations and
groups in Croatia’s contemporary nationalism, including propensity to ethnonationalist and
far-right ideology, as they took part in culture wars. The thesis demonstrates how veteran
associations profoundly affected reconciliation in Croatian society
New insights into the complex metallo-metabolite nexus in Aspergillus fumigatus Vol. 1
No full textAspergillus fumigatus is a human pathogen which causes serious disease in
immunosuppressed, immunocompromised, and COVID-19 patients. It is a global
concern for health and research is required to discover and optimise new management
and treatment options for A. fumigatus infections. Essential metal homeostasis is a
promising area of interest in managing fungal infection and exploiting natural products
may generate new antifungal treatments. Secondary metabolite gliotoxin production
and toxicity in A. fumigatus is intrinsically linked to zinc availability. The gene
deletion mutant ΔgliTΔgtmA which lacks both the self-protective GliT and negative
regulator of biosynthesis GtmA is hypersensitive to exogenous gliotoxin. This growth
inhibition is overcome by zinc addition. Gliotoxin biosynthesis is abrogated by zinc
availability, and partially restored by exogenous gliotoxin exposure. Deletion of gtmA
results in altered zinc sensing in A. fumigatus, as seen by continued gliotoxin
production in zinc replete conditions and altered proteomic response. The zinc-finger
transcription factor GliZ is required for gli cluster activation and gliotoxin
biosynthesis. Transient expression of GliZ fusion proteins under the endogenous
promoter was overcome using a TET-On induction system. Doxycycline induction of
tagged GliZ results in de novo gliotoxin biosynthesis and fusion protein detection in
Sabouraud Dextrose media, which is non-permissive for gliotoxin biosynthesis. GliZ�HA abundance is increased in both gliotoxin and zinc presence, revealing an
uncoupling of gli cluster transcription from zinc dependency. Oxidoreductase GliT is
identified as a GliZ interacting protein uniquely after gliotoxin exposure. Plant derived
natural product celastrol has many physiological effects. A. fumigatus is found to be
susceptible to celastrol mediated growth inhibition. There is an altered response of A.
fumigatus to celastrol depending on the availability of essential metals zinc and iron.
In conclusion, the work presented in this thesis highlights the importance of metal�metabolite interactions in a pathogenic fungus and opens new avenues for
investigation