NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Anxiety in Multiple Sclerosis: An Exploration of Experiences and Supports.
No full textPurpose: A high percentage of people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) experience anxiety, which can negatively impact quality of life. Despite this, anxiety in PwMS remains under researched. This review aims to identify associates of anxiety in PwMS that are amenable to change, with a view to informing the development of interventions in the area. Materials and method: The following databases were searched for studies investigating anxiety in PwMS from 2015-2021: PsycINFO, PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science. The search consisted of keywords relating to MS and fear, anxiety or worry. Once screening was complete by two reviewers, a narrative synthesis was used to analyse the data, with the MMAT used for quality appraisal. Results: Of the 3117 unique abstracts screened, 39 studies met the criteria for inclusion. Evidence was found linking anxiety in PwMS to several modifiable factors broadly categorized as either psychological, social or lifestyle factors. Perceptions of self and one’s ability to cope/adjust to MS emerged as important psychological factors. Physical activity and social support from friends were also linked with improved anxiety outcomes. Conclusion: Anxiety in PwMS is linked to a number of modifiable factors. Findings may help inform the development of rehabilitation interventions to decrease anxiety in MS
Unearthing the Transformative Power of Literacy Pedagogies: A Comparative Contextual Analysis of African and Irish Footsteps to Enhance Mozambican Adult Literacy Programmes.
No full textThis Master's thesis explores into the unique educational landscapes of Ireland and Mozambique through a comparative analysis of literacy programs in both nations to promote active citizenship. While Mozambique, in its developmental journey, stands in contrast to Ireland, both are ex-colonized countries with educational systems positioned in different historical contexts and levels of development. Despite these, a shared commitment to global educational objectives, as outlined in UNICEF's 17 Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the goal of providing quality education for all, unites these two nations.
Through the lens of a Mozambican educator studying in Ireland, this study seeks to explore the transformative potential of adult literacy in enhancing critical thinking skills among citizens, enabling them to actively engage in addressing community challenges such as poverty and injustices. Drawing inspiration from historical insights and contemporary trends in adult education, the thesis highlights the pivotal role of literacy education in combating social inequalities and empowering communities towards social transformations beyond basic literacy skills.
Aligned with the philosophies of influential figures like Paulo Freire and pan-African pioneers like Julius Nyerere and Luis Cabral, the research also underscores the intricate connection between education, politics, and citizenship, emphasizing the need to address systemic issues impeding education and employment opportunities within Mozambican communities. By re-evaluating the concept of active citizenship and drawing from the wisdom of scholars like Marshal, Gaventa, and Gramsci, this study aims to spark a renaissance in community engagement and literacy education, urging individuals to play an active role in reshaping their societal features
Empowering Adult Educators: Consideration of How We Can Create Sustainable Communities of Practice for Critical Reflection to Develop Transformative Teaching Practices.
No full textThis research explores how critical reflection in community of practices can drive transformative learning, promoting personal development and fostering socially just practices.
The research question 'Empowering Adult Educators: Consideration of How We Can Create Sustainable Communities of Practice for Critical Reflection to Develop Transformative Teaching Practices,' was investigated using Participatory Action Research through collaborative enquiry as part of a CoP. The aim is to co-create knowledge, critically reflecting on our practices leading to action for change.
The cyclical nature of action research was structured around Stephen Brookfield’s four lenses of critical reflection: student feedback, colleagues’ perspectives, personal reflections, and educational theories. The literature review covered theories from prominent scholars like John Dewey, Donald Schon, Stephen Brookfield, Jan Fooks, Jack Mezirow, Paulo Freire, Lave and Wenger, and Barbara Larrivee, focusing on differentiating critical reflection from general reflection and its role in transformative learning.
The study concluded the value of critical reflection for personal and professional growth and development. Effective professional development requires a supporting culture and relevant and engaging strategies. Vital to the success of this is flexible organisational policies. Recommendations include encouraging the understanding of critical reflection through structured models for reflection. Fostering a culture of critical reflection within the work environment through the implementation of communities of practice and professional development programs.
The research underscores the importance of critical reflection in transforming educational practices through enhancing professional development. This will ultimately contribute to more inclusive and socially conscious teaching methodologies
Timed picture naming norms for 800 photographs of 200 objects in English
No full textThe present study presents picture-naming norms for a large set of 800 high-quality photographs of 200 natural objects and
artefacts spanning a range of categories, with four unique images per object. Participants were asked to provide a single,
most appropriate name for each image seen. We report recognition latencies for each image, and several normed variables for
the provided names: agreement, H-statistic (i.e. level of naming uncertainty), Zipf word frequency and word length. Rather
than simply focusing on a single name per image (i.e. the modal or most common name), analysis of recognition latencies
showed that it is important to consider the diversity of labels that participants may ascribe to each pictured object. The norms
therefore provide a list of candidate labels per image with weighted measures of word length and frequency per image that
incorporate all provided names, as well as modal measures based on the most common name only
A Validation of OLCI Sentinel-3 Water Products in the Baltic Sea and an Evaluation of the Effect of System Vicarious Calibration (SVC) on the Level-2 Water Products
No full textThe monitoring of coastal waters using satellite data, from sensors such as Sentinel-3 OLCI,
has become a vital tool in the management of these water environments, especially when it comes to
improving our understanding of the effects of climate change on these regions. In this study, the latest Level-2 water products derived from different OLCI Sentinel-3 processors were validated against a comprehensive in situ dataset from the NW Baltic Sea proper region through a matchup analysis.
The products validated were those of the regionally adapted Case-2 Regional Coast Colour (C2RCC)
OLCI processor (v1.0 and v2.1), as well as the latest standard Level-2 OLCI Case-2 (neural network)
products from Sentinel-3’s processing baseline, listed as follows: Baseline Collection 003 (BC003),
including “CHL_NN”, “TSM_NN”, and “ADG443_NN”. These products have not yet been validated
to such an extent in the region. Furthermore, the effect of the current EUMETSAT system vicarious
calibration (SVC) on the Level-2 water products was also validated. The results showed that the
system vicarious calibration (SVC) reduces the reliability of the Level-2 OLCI products. For example,the application of these SVC gains to the OLCI data for the regionally adapted v2.1 C2RCC products resulted in RMSD increases of 36% for “conc_tsm”; 118% for “conc_chl”; 33% for “iop_agelb”; 50% for “iop_adg”; and 10% for “kd_z90max” using a ±3 h validation window. This is the first time the effects of these SVC gains on the Level-2 OLCI water products has been isolated and quantified in the study region. The findings indicate that the current EUMETSAT SVC gains should be applied and interpreted with caution in the region of study at present. A key outcome of the paper recommends the development of a regionally specific SVC against AERONET-OC data in order to improve the Level-2 water product retrieval in the region. The results of this study are important for end users and the water authorities making use of the satellite water products in the Baltic Sea region
Adapting (to) Non-Motherhood: Ulrike Kofer’s Film What We Wanted (2020)
No full textAustria’s entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 2020 Academy Awards was a drama by director Ulrike Kofler called Was Wir Wollten (What We Wanted, 2020). Kofler’s film tells the story of a childless couple, Alice and Niklas, who decided to take a holiday to recover from yet another failed attempt to conceive via IVF. However, their plans for a restful break are disrupted by the family next door, whose beautiful children serve as a constant reminder of what is lacking in their life. The film is based on a short story by Swiss writer Peter Stamm, and this chapter focuses on how that written text was adapted for the big screen. In particular, it considers how Alice’s ambivalent stance towards motherhood, which is already present in Stamm’s narrative, is expressed in visual and cinematic form in Kofler’s film. This chapter argues that both the film and its narrative source text offer a more nuanced view of the story of childlessness and non-motherhood than that which is often presented in the media and society
Foreword: Small places, large struggles, huge stakes: why this book matters
No full textIn the mid-1990s, a tiny Indigenous people in a remote part of the great Niger Delta became
the vanguard of the global struggle against fossil fuels and ecological destruction. Perhaps
60% of the then estimated half-million Ogoni took part in the 1993 Ogoni Day: resisting
Shell’s presence in the Delta, the devastation caused to a fishing and farming community by
the poisoning of the air and the water, and the combination of exploitation and oppression
that resulted. In 1995, the military dictatorship responded with the execution of nine Ogoni
activists, most famously the writer, broadcaster and politician Ken Saro-Wiwa, and a
campaign of state terror that killed perhaps 2,000 Ogoni along with the destruction of
villages, widespread rapes and other atrocities. Today, nearly three decades on, courts around
the world are still handling lawsuits against Shell for its roles in the ecological and political
violence
How the oil and gas industry influences higher education
No full textAs the climate crisis gets worse, global fossil fuel production is growing and oil and gas companies are making record profits.
While the powerful influence of the fossil fuel industry’s lobbying on climate policy is increasingly acknowledged, our new research also shows how oil and gas companies are influencing universities.
We are researchers with combined expertise on just energy transitions and climate justice and the university (the title of Jennie Stephens’s forthcoming book). With international colleagues we undertook the first comprehensive review of academic and civil society investigations into fossil fuel industries’ ties to higher education in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
In all four countries, the research shows multiple ways oil and gas companies have been investing in universities
Electroanalytical Methods for Forensic Evaluation of Firearm Generated Evidence
No full textFirearm related violence is a cause for concern in an ever-turbulent world. In this thesis, innovative electrochemical approaches to forensic evaluation of firearm generated evidence is presented using a two-prong approach. Firstly, development of an electroanalytical method for the detection of characteristic compounds found within the organic fraction of firearms residue (OFAR) was explored. This involved electrochemical analysis of diphenylamine (DPA) and ethyl centralite (EC) in both organic and aqueous supporting electrolytes revealing the formation of secondary products at the electrodes surface such as diphenylurea and primary amine degradation products. A novel sensing approach followed with the aid of magnetic nanoparticles of magnetite (MNPs) formed using controlled electrooxidation and chemical co-precipitation processes. Quantitative analysis using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) revealed limits of detection (LODs) and quantification (LOQs) for EC and DPA at 4.39 ± 0.28 and 14.6 ± 0.95 μM and 3.51 ± 0.15 and 11.7 ± 0.47 μM respectively with sensitivities of 0.0637 ± 0.0044 and 0.0801 ± 0.0034 μA.μM-1. The method was applied to unburnt ammunition and real FAR samples while data from custom-designed screen-printed electrodes (SPE) highlighted the feasibility of onsite OFAR determination. Secondly, the deposition of conducting/redox active polymers for visualising latent finger-marks on brass ammunition casings was explored. This aspect exploited the electrodeposition of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (EDOT), thionine Acetate (Th), neutral red (NR), and their mixtures at a range of transducers including sheet and cartridge brass. EDOT-Th emerged consistently as the most effective combination, revealing latent finger-marks at the highest level of detail (level 3), including pores within the ridges, on brass sheets using a rapid (120 s) and low-potential (0.1 V) approach. Successful visualisation of groomed latent finger-marks was achieved following exposure to temperatures of 700 °C and up to 16-month room temperature aging, with evidence for a robust methodology suitable for forensic practice. Bespoke electrochemical cells designed to facilitate the use of ammunition casings as working electrodes produced exceptional results via CV, resulting in pristine visualised latent finger-marks of grade 4 with visible level 3 features. Overall, the research advances the state of the art with respect to electroanalytical tools for OFAR measurement of signature analytes with the potential for extension to multiplexed operation
Control co-design for wave energy farms: Optimisation of array layout and mooring configuration in a realistic wave climate
No full textThis paper presents a novel Control Co-Design (CCD) methodology aimed at economically optimising the
layout of wave energy converter (WEC) arrays. CCD ensures the synergy of optimised WEC and array
parameters with the final control strategy, resulting in a comprehensive and efficient design of the array.
By integrating a spectral-based control strategy into the array layout design, this study pursues the twin
objectives of maximising energy absorption while reducing costs. To prove the performance of the proposed
CCD methodology, an application case is proposed where the inter-device distance, alignment, and mooring
configuration of a five-device array, considering realistic wave scenarios, are optimised. Energy capture and
system cost evaluations are conducted, with results emphasising the significance of incorporating advanced
control strategies in the design phase to improve energy absorption and reduce costs. With the application
case, the study demonstrates that the optimal layout of a WEC array considering economic factors may differ
from the optimal from purely technical factors, such as energy absorption, in the analysed cas