NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
Not a member yet
18159 research outputs found
Sort by
Review: Revisiting Dispersions. Celtic and Germanic ca. 400 BC‒ca. 400 AD.
No full textRevisiting Dispersions. Celtic and Germanic ca. 400 BC – ca. 400
AD. Proceedings of the International Interdisciplinary Conference
held at Dolenjski muzej, Novo mesto, Slovenia. October 12–14,
2018. Edited by T. L. Markey, Luka Repanšek (The Journal of
Indo-European Studies, Monograph 67). Washington, D.C.:
Institute for the Study of Man 2020. Pages xiii + 219 with 29
figures and tables. ISBN 978-0-9845353-7-8. ISBN 978-0-
9845353-8-5. Hardcover: 78.00
Are societal-level values still relevant measures in the twenty-first century businessworld? A 39-society analysis
No full textSince the days of Hofstede (1980), cross-cultural comparisons of countries based on
societal-level work values have been a norm. This approach has been represented
more recently in Ronen and Shenkar’s (2013) 11 clusters of country cultures. However, more contemporary research found within-country heterogeneity of values/
behaviors is substantial and growing exponentially across today’s twenty-first century businessworld. We investigated, across a sample of 39 societies, whether work
values variance within societies was greater than work values variance across societies, and whether individual work values differences contributed more to predictions
of behavioral performance criteria than the society in which the individuals lived.
Both sets of analyses addressed how work values conceived at societal-levels are relevant in understanding the twenty-first century businessworld. Our findings revealed
first that there was substantial within-society values heterogeneity, which resulted
in the failure to replicate Ronen and Shanker’s (2013) societal cluster aggregations.
Second, we found individual-level values contributed significantly to the prediction
of employees’ behaviors, while societal-level values contributed substantially less.
These findings strongly suggest that cross-cultural studies of work values predictive power are most relevant when conducted at the individual-level. Finally, we also
make available for future investigators a 51-society database containing 11,780 individual-level records
Impact of connected health interventions on psychological wellbeing and quality of life in patients with cancer: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
No full textObjective
Connected health technologies have the potential to improve access to cancer care and support and reduce costs. We aimed to assess the impacts of interventions delivered using connected health technologies on psychological and quality of life (QoL) outcomes in people living with and beyond cancer.
Methods
PUBMED, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and EMBASE were searched using terms relating to (i) cancer, (ii) connected health, and (iii) QoL/psychological wellbeing. Studies were included if they evaluated interventions using connected health technologies and assessed psychological and/or QoL outcomes for adults at any stage of cancer treatment or survivorship.
Results
Thirty-seven studies met the inclusion criteria with a total of 8956 participants. Connected health technologies included web-based applications (n = 24), smart applications (n = 12), and wearable devices (n = 1). Studies were heterogeneous in terms of intervention components. We identified five clusters: (i) Psychosocial support and rehabilitation, (ii) psychoeducation and information support, (iii) symptom monitoring, reporting and self-management, (iv) peer and social support, and (v) health coaching and physical activity training. Due to heterogeneity of outcome measures, the meta-analysis included only seven RCTs; pooled mean estimates showed connected health interventions were moderately effective in reducing symptoms of depression (SMD: −0.226, 95% CI −0.303/−0.149) and anxiety (SMD: −0.188, 95% CI: 0.279/−0.0963) compared with usual care.
Conclusion
While the considerable heterogeneity observed highlights the need for more rigorous studies to improve reproducibility and efficiency, results suggest that connected health interventions have the potential to improve psychological wellbeing and QoL outcomes in people living with and beyond cancer
DR-VNet: Retinal Vessel Segmentation via Dense Residual UNet
No full textAccurate retinal vessel segmentation is an important task
for many computer-aided diagnosis systems. Yet, it is still a challenging problem due to the complex vessel structures of an eye. Numerous
vessel segmentation methods have been proposed recently, however more
research is needed to deal with poor segmentation of thin and tiny vessels.
To address this, we propose a new deep learning pipeline combining the
efficiency of residual dense net blocks and, residual squeeze and excitation
blocks. We validate experimentally our approach on three datasets and
show that our pipeline outperforms current state of the art techniques
on the sensitivity metric relevant to assess capture of small vessels
Gathering Storm: An Introduction to the Special Issue on Climate Change and Terrorism
No full textClimate change is a potential major driver of future terrorism. It is already recognised by many (if not most) nations as a strategic security threat, though the potential role it can play in igniting, facilitating, or exacerbating terrorist conflict has been relatively unexplored. There are, however, growing signs that climate change—either through direct or indirect impacts—should be considered as a significant macro-level driver of terrorism. It is certainly well established that the causes of terrorism can involve both large-scale geo-political processes and at the same time much more low-key individual level personal factors. Much of the traditional debate around the “root causes” of terrorism has concentrated heavily on macro-level drivers with a particular focus on factors tied to economic, political and historical forces.Footnote1 The relative importance of each factor can vary enormously depending on the perspective taken not only in research terms but also in terms of potential policy interventions. It is critical to acknowledge, however, that not all causes will be present in every case, and those that are present do not always have the same degree of impact. A cause of vital importance in one terrorist conflict might play no detectable role in others.
Given the above, it is inevitable that we face considerable challenges in our efforts to better understand the causes and their impacts. Attempts to do so have to be sophisticated in how “causes” are framed. Causes can work at different levels and it is important to take the trouble to distinguish between these. Similarly, we have to be alert to how research defines “terrorism” and the impact this then has on the data used and the conclusions reached. Only limited data is available on many key issues and care is needed in selecting relevant and reliable sources.Footnote2 While there may be obstacles to understanding, this does not mean we should abandon the search to comprehend the causes of terrorism. The issue is a critical one and the progress we have seen in recent decades already shows substantial achievements.Footnote3
Of particular interest to this special issue are how we approach terrorism’s macro-level causes. These can be seen as the big drivers of terrorist conflict and will be the main factors responsible for future terrorism. Macro-level factors normally relate to systemic conditions at the level of society, state, international relations, and/or trans-national developments.Footnote4 Examples that have traditionally been looked at include civil war or deep-rooted conflicts, invasion, and occupation by foreign military forces, bad governance and corruption, rapid modernisation or actions by hostile states. Emerging macro-level causes requiring further attention include population growth, social polarisation, migration patterns, and, of particular concern for this issue, climate change
Implementation of a pan-European ecosystem and an interoperable platform for Smart and Healthy Ageing in Europe: An Innovation Action research protocol
No full textAs life expectancy continues to increase in most EU Member States, smart technologies can help enable older people to continue living at home, despite the challenges accompanying the ageing process. The Innovation Action (IA) SHAPES 'Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in Supportive Systems' funded by the EU under the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (grant agreement number 857159) attends to these topics to support active and healthy ageing and the wellbeing of older adults. This protocol article outlines the SHAPES project's objectives and aims, methods, structure, and expected outcomes. SHAPES seeks to build, pilot, and deploy a large-scale, EU-standardised interoperable, and scalable open platform. The platform will facilitate the integration of a broad range of technological, organisational, clinical, educational, and social solutions. SHAPES emphasises that the home is much more than a house-space; it entails a sense of belonging, a place and a purpose in the community. SHAPES creates an ecosystem - a network of relevant users and stakeholders - who will work together to scale-up smart solutions. Furthermore, SHAPES will create a marketplace seeking to connect demand and supply across the home, health and care services. Finally, SHAPES will produce a set of recommendations to support key stakeholders seeking to integrate smart technologies in their care systems to mediate care delivery. Throughout, SHAPES adopts a multidisciplinary research approach to establish an empirical basis to guide the development of the platform. This includes long-term ethnographic research and a large-scale pan-European campaign to pilot the platform and its digital solutions within the context of seven distinct pilot themes. The project will thereby address the challenges of ageing societies in Europe and facilitate the integration of community-based health and social care. SHAPES will thus be a key driver for the transformation of healthcare and social care services across Europe
Publicness and commoning: Pandemic intersections and collective visions at times of crisis
No full textIn this article, we examine publicness during the pandemic, with a particular focus on the conditions it creates or constricts for engagement, solidarity and collective action. We interrogate the intensive publicness of the crisis to reflect on its assumed and established equation with progressive political possibility – transparency, accountability and democratic procedure. Theoretically, we cut into the contemporary ambiguity of publicness by putting it into conceptual dialogue with the idea of commoning, a notion that speaks to the resources and political consequences of coming together, and publicness not as coexistence and speech acts but as a domain of struggle. By considering the intersection of publicness and commoning, we aim to provide one way of thinking about how and when public revelation can be oriented towards material and political change. We propose three lines of examination: publicness without commoning; publicness with contingent commoning; and commoning without publicness
Age related increase in impairment across the life course: the use of Zomba curves to estimate assistive technology needs in Malawi
No full textPurpose
Global population growth and increasing longevity means that the need for Assistive Technology (AT) will continue to increase. The level of unmet need for AT is greatest in low-income settings. The aim of this study is to identify age-related increase in impairment and to estimate the AT needs.
Materials and Methods
We analysed secondary data from the 2018 Malawi Population and Housing Census (MPHC) based on the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) short-set of questions.
Results
Out of the 1,556,670 persons with one or more functional limitations or disabilities identified in the census, self-reported difficulties in all domains were markedly higher from age 40 and above. The proportion reporting one functional limitation is higher compared to two or more limitations, but at age 78–80 the proportion reporting two or more functional limitations increased above those reporting one functional limitation. Although 60.9% (60.7–61.0) and 63.5% (63.3–63.6) of those who reported difficulty in seeing and hearing were using glasses and hearing aids respectively, the estimated total need for glasses and hearing aids in this group was 98.9% (98.0–99.0) and 98.4% (98.3–98.5) respectively. The unmet need for glasses and hearing aids were therefore 38.1% and 34.9% respectively.
Conclusion
The differential slope of impairment curves against age is a guide to the increasing demand for AT across the life course and across different domains of functioning. Country specific analysis of impairment across age and domains is essential to understand and plan for the growing need for AT globally
Influence of intra- and inter-specific competition between egg parasitoids on the effectiveness of biological control of Euschistus heros (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)
No full textTelenomus podisi and Trissolcus basalis are two important parasitoids used as biological control agents against the brown stink bug Euschistus heros. The interaction between these parasitoid species in the field, however, can have different effects on the effectiveness of pest control, depending on the density of the species present and the conditions under which the species find their host's eggs in the field. This study aimed to analyze the effects that may arise when two parasitoid species interact directly or indirectly during foraging at E. heros egg sites. Through experimental scenarios, the effects of intra- and inter-specific competition on unparasitized and previously parasitized host eggs (i.e. simultaneous and sequential parasitism, respectively) on the parasitism rates, emergence rates and emergence patterns were evaluated. For simultaneous parasitism, high emergence rates occurred when T. podisi was the only parasitoid species present in the system. In the presence of T. basalis, the parasitism rates remained high only when T. podisi was also present, although the emergence rate was considerably reduced due to multiparasitism. In sequential parasitism, T. podisi showed higher parasitism rates and offspring emergence due to its greater ability to discriminate eggs previously parasitized by conspecifics. In this scenario, the offspring of the first parasitoid that interacted with host eggs had greater success; however, the larval competition inside the host eggs led to changes in the species emergence patterns as well as to high offspring mortality. Competition changed the emergence pattern of the parasitoid offspring, which can lead to a decoupling of the host-parasitoid dynamics synchrony, by reducing the chances of encounters between the species and consequently the effectiveness of long-term pest control
Extreme many-body scarring in a quantum spin chain via weak dynamical constraints
No full textIt has recently been established that quantum many-body scarring can prevent the thermalisation of some isolated quantum systems, starting from certain initial states. One of the first models to show this was the so-called PXP Hamiltonian, which was used to theoretically model an experiment on a chain of strongly interacting Rydberg atoms. A defining feature of the PXP Hamiltonian is a set of dynamical constraints that make certain states inaccessible to the dynamics. In this paper we construct a class of spin chain models that are parameterised by a discrete variable ℓ that controls the "strength" of a dynamical constraint. We show that by increasing ℓ the constraint becomes weaker, in the sense that fewer states are excluded from the dynamics. The PXP Hamiltonian is special case for ℓ=2. By weakening the constraint to ℓ≥4, however, we find a more extreme version of quantum scarring than in the PXP Hamiltonian, with the number of scar states growing exponentially in the system size