NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
Not a member yet
18159 research outputs found
Sort by
Access, Disability and Mature Student Opinion on Academic Mathematics Supports
No full textIn this paper we report on the main themes which emerged from analysis of a survey of students registered with the Access, Disability and Mature Student offices at Maynooth University. The survey focussed on the students’ experiences of mathematics and the mathematics academic supports available to them. The majority of student feedback was positive, for example their engagement with the Mathematics Support Centre, improved understanding of mathematics and the influence of tutors and peers. However, some issues emerged in relation to impact on learning, such as inflexible departmental structures with fixed deadlines and a lack of student awareness of the supports available. In addition to discussing the main results, we outline how the findings will guide the future provision of such supports
The development of a HAMstring InjuRy (HAMIR) index to mitigate injury risk through innovative imaging, biomechanics, and data analytics: protocol for an observational cohort study
No full textThe etiology of hamstring strain injury (HSI) in American football is multi-factorial and understanding these risk factors is paramount to developing predictive models and guiding prevention and rehabilitation strategies. Many player-games are lost due to the lack of a clear understanding of risk factors and the absence of effective methods to minimize re-injury. This paper describes the protocol that will be followed to develop the HAMstring InjuRy (HAMIR) index risk prediction models for HSI and re-injury based on morphological, architectural, biomechanical and clinical factors in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I collegiate football players.
Methods
A 3-year, prospective study will be conducted involving collegiate football student-athletes at four institutions. Enrolled participants will complete preseason assessments of eccentric hamstring strength, on-field sprinting biomechanics and muscle–tendon volumes using magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI). Athletic trainers will monitor injuries and exposure for the duration of the study. Participants who sustain an HSI will undergo a clinical assessment at the time of injury along with MRI examinations. Following completion of structured rehabilitation and return to unrestricted sport participation, clinical assessments, MRI examinations and sprinting biomechanics will be repeated. Injury recurrence will be monitored through a 6-month follow-up period. HAMIR index prediction models for index HSI injury and re-injury will be constructed.
Discussion
The most appropriate strategies for reducing risk of HSI are likely multi-factorial and depend on risk factors unique to each athlete. This study will be the largest-of-its-kind (1200 player-years) to gather detailed information on index and recurrent HSI, and will be the first study to simultaneously investigate the effect of morphological, biomechanical and clinical variables on risk of HSI in collegiate football athletes. The quantitative HAMIR index will be formulated to identify an athlete’s propensity for HSI, and more importantly, identify targets for injury mitigation, thereby reducing the global burden of HSI in high-level American football players.
Trial Registration The trial is prospectively registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05343052; April 22, 2022)
Gender Differences in the Psychosocial Functioning of Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic
No full textThe COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected family life, increasing parental stress around health, job losses, reduced salaries, and maintaining domestic life in lockdown and social isolation. The transition to home-schooling and remote work with school and workplace closures caused additional stressors as families began living, working, and educating in one place. This research aims to understand the relationship between the pandemic and parental stress, focusing on family well-being and established characteristics of the family unit that may cause some family members to experience the adverse consequences of the pandemic in more or less profound ways, especially mothers. Previous research shows that mothers carry more family responsibilities than fathers and can experience higher stress levels. This study employed a quantitative cross-sectional online survey to extend our understanding of the interaction between home-schooling, work and home life, and stress levels in a group of 364 parents. In total, 232 mothers and 132 fathers completed the survey. Results revealed mothers were 10 times more likely to be responsible for home-schooling than fathers, and 44% of mothers felt they had no help with home-schooling and were generally more stressed than fathers. These results show that lack of support, managing home-schooling, and being a mother predicted increased stress. 10% of mothers reported leaving their jobs due to pressure added by home-schooling. This study broadens the understanding of the pandemic’s impact on gender imbalances in family responsibilities. It emphasises the need for extra consideration for the impact on mothers as we emerge from this pandemic
No longer a ‘collateral consequence’: Imprisonment and the reframing of citizenship
No full textThis article examines the impact of imprisonment on citizenship. It identifies how civil, political and social rights are circumscribed with a sentence of imprisonment, and scrutinizes to what extent citizenship is limited for prisoners. Drawing on recent developments in England and Wales, it contends that citizenship has been eroded, not as a ‘collateral consequence’ of imprisonment, but rather as a determined penal policy. The boundaries of punishment have become blurred, moving from criminal justice institutions, and extending towards what is termed civil and political penality. Finally, it argues that, because citizenship in prison is inevitably framed around the differences between freedom and captivity, prisoners respond to the constraints of imprisonment through alternative ways of expressing their citizenship
Exploring the internal dynamics of the Transnistrian separatist movement, 1989-1992
No full textDespite remaining de-facto independent for the past three decades, we only have a limited
understanding of the circumstances that led to the creation of the Transnistrian Moldavian
Republic (T.M.R.). There are several established facts: the Transnistrian separatist movement
was initially led by industrial elites, such as factory directors from the region’s largest
enterprises, and de-facto independence was only secured following direct military
intervention from Russia. Beyond this, however, our understanding of the origins of the
T.M.R. is somewhat limited. Questions such as how the separatists took control of the entire
region, not just the de-facto capital, or how local ethnic Moldovans responded to the
secession movement remain unaddressed.
This thesis makes a considerable contribution to the historiography of Transnistria, as well as
the field of de-facto states research, by re-examining the origins of the T.M.R. Unlike
previous studies, which tend to take the international relations approach and focus on the role
of external actors, such as Russia, or socio-economic developments in the de-facto capital,
this thesis examines the local dynamics of the conflict. Drawing on an extensive range of
archival research conducted in both Transnistria and Moldova, this thesis demonstrates how
the separatists effectively used the reforms of perestroika to seize power across the entire
region. Additionally, it highlights that while support for secession was high, it was by no
means unanimous and that many rural ethnic Moldovans actively opposed secession. Overall,
this thesis sheds new light on the origins of the Transnistrian War, showing how support for
the separatists was not always unconditional and how even ordinary people actively
supported the secession projec
The Dept. of Adult and Community Education annual Addiction Studies/Psychology Seminar and the ALL Symposium present Growing Space Recovery Community
No full textDr Mark Richardson Recover Ed and Widening Access, Recovery and Mentoring (WARM) along with a number of staff and participants from Growing Space will tell the story of this innovated mental health recovery community that has been in operation in Wales since 1992. Using adult education pedagogies and the capabilities approach to construct a theoretical framework this symposium will examine the 'interpretive gap' that reproduces the multiple intersectional barriers for engagement between the 'service user' and educational and social services and suggest a humanistic and emancipatory way to bridge this gap
Towards Responsive Squaramides: Anion Recognition, Sensing, and Transport
No full textAnions play a crucial role in both biological and environmental contexts to such
an extent where the absence or the overabundance of anions can lead to severe
health implications and environmental concerns. The recognition of the universal
significance of anions has led to an explosion of research in the field of
supramolecular chemistry, resulting in a solid foundation of the principles of
synthetic anion receptors and transporters. Indeed, synthetic anion transporters
show particular promise in medicinal chemistry where they are being developed
as new approaches for anti-cancer agents, anti-microbials and as novel Cystic
Fibrosis treatments. This thesis focuses on the use of squaramides as an anion
binding motif, where novel recognition motifs, stimuli responsive transport, and
selective anion sensing is explored.
The thesis commences with a literature review and introductory chapter
that outlines the aims and objectives of the research. Chapter 2 details the design
and synthesis of squaramides featuring an N-acyl linkage, termed ‘amido-
squaramides’. These novel compounds were investigated as potential anion
binding units via a combination of experimental and computational techniques
where it was shown that the amido-squaramides exist in the anti/syn
conformation due to the presence of an intramolecular H-bond. The receptors’
anion binding abilities were assessed and were shown to selectively bind to Cl-
via H-bond formation in a 1:1 binding mode. Finally, the receptors were found not
to display anionophoric activity at pH 7.20, but at pH 4.20, anion transport was
observed to ‘switch on’. This established amido-squaramides as pH-switchable
anion transport units.
The 3rd Chapter details attempts to synthesise tertiary squaramides,
featuring enzyme- and fluoride- responsive triggers. This chapter reports four
novel secondary amines, featuring a nitrobenzyl moiety, and triisopropylsilyl ether
moiety and also outlines several synthesis optimisation studies to obtain the
tertiary squaramides. Synthetic problems were encountered during the
experimental work that prevented successful synthesis of the target molecules,
however, it is envisaged that future work may focus on the use of metal-based
catalysis to generate the desired stimuli-responsive anion transporters.
The 4th Chapter outlines the development and application of a squaramide
based chemosensor. A small family of squaramidoquinoxalines were synthesised
via a one-step synthesis. X-ray crystallographic analysis demonstrated the
tendency of the squaramidoquinoxalines to participate in a number of
intermolecular interactions and displayed selective sensing of F- over other halide
anions, resulting in visible to the naked-eye colour change from pink-red to green
to yellow. Experimental and theoretical results suggest that the colourimetric
change is brought about by two distinct deprotonation events. The
squaramidoquinoxalines were also incorporated into test strips that allowed for
the rapid and naked-eye detection of F- in aqueous media
Eagrán de na Scéalta Béaloidis a Bhailigh Úna Ní Chualáin (1871-1929) ó Cholm Ó hIarnáin (1871-1924), Árainn
No full textIs iomaí scoláire a thug cuairt ar Oileáin Árann chun blaiseadh a fháil den saibhreas
teanga agus cultúir atá le fáil iontu. Tháinig scoláirí ón Eoraip, mar shampla, Georges
Dottin ón bhFrainc, Holger Pedersen ón Danmhairg agus Franz Nikolaus Finck ón
nGearmáin agus d’eascair neart saothar acadúil as na cuairteanna seo, mar shampla, Die
araner mundart: Ein beitrag zur erforschung des westirischen (1899) le Finck agus
Scéalta Mháirtín Neile: Bailiúchán Scéalta ó Árainn (1994) le
Munch-Pedersen/Pedersen. Is liosta le háireamh iad na daoine eile a thug cuairt ar na
hoileáin agus a bhailigh ábhar béaloidis iontu, mar shampla, Eoghan Ó Gramhnaigh,
Seosamh Ó Flannagáin agus Myles Dillon. Cuireadh cuid den ábhar seo béaloidis a
bailíodh i gcló in Irisleabhar na Gaedhilge, An Claidheamh Soluis agus Béaloideas.
Cuirtear naoi scéal déag béaloidis in eagar sa saothar seo, scéalta a bhailigh Úna Ní
Chualáin (1871-1929) ó Cholm Ó hIarnáin (1871-1924), Eoghanacht, Árainn idir 1903
agus 1906. Is díol suntais é gur cosúil gurb é seo an chéad bhailiúchán suntasach de scéalta
béaloidis i nGaeilge a bhailigh bean in Oileáin Árann, nó go deimhin in Éirinn trí chéile.
Cuireadh na scéalta isteach ar chomórtas Oireachtais agus bronnadh duais ar chuid acu
sna blianta 1903, 1904 agus 1905. Tá bunleaganacha na scéalta ar coimeád i Ls. G244 i
Leabharlann Náisiúnta na hÉireann anois. Tugtar cuntas i gCaibidil 1 ar shaol Úna Ní
Chualáin agus ar shaol Choilm Uí Iarnáin. I gCaibidil 2, déantar mionchur síos – sa
Mhodh Eagarthóireachta – ar na hathruithe a cuireadh i bhfeidhm ar na scéalta, agus
déantar plé ar roinnt gnéithe eile den teanga a fheictear sa bhunlámhscríbhinn freisin.
Cuirtear leagan cóirithe na naoi scéal déag a bhailigh Úna Ní Chualáin ó Cholm Ó
hIarnáin ar fáil ansin i gCaibidil 3-21. Ar deireadh, cuirtear liosta foilseachán Úna Ní
Chualáin ar fáil
VGQ-CNN: Moving Beyond Fixed Cameras and Top-Grasps for Grasp Quality Prediction
No full textWe present the Versatile Grasp Quality Convo-
lutional Neural Network (VGQ-CNN), a grasp quality pre-
diction network for 6-DOF grasps. VGQ-CNN can be used
when evaluating grasps for objects seen from a wide range
of camera poses or mobile robots without the need to retrain
the network. By defining the grasp orientation explicitly as an
input to the network, VGQ-CNN can evaluate 6-DOF grasp
poses, moving beyond the 4-DOF grasps used in most image-
based grasp evaluation methods like GQ-CNN. To train VGQ-
CNN, we generate the new Versatile Grasp dataset (VG-dset)
containing 6-DOF grasps observed from a wide range of camera
poses. VGQ-CNN achieves a balanced accuracy of 82.1% on
our test-split while generalising to a variety of camera poses.
Meanwhile, it achieves competitive performance for overhead
cameras and top-grasps with a balanced accuracy of 74.2%
compared to GQ-CNN’s 76.6%. We also propose a modified
network architecture, Fast-VGQ-CNN, that speeds up inference
using a shared encoder architecture and can make 128 grasp
quality predictions in 12ms on a CPU. Code and data are
available at https://aucoroboticsmu.github.io/vgq-cnn
"Sometimes I'm missing the words": The rights, needs and experiences of foreign national and minority ethnic groups in the Irish penal system
No full textThe Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) is Ireland’s
leading non-governmental organisation
campaigning for the rights of everyone in
the penal system, with prison as a last resort.
IPRT is committed to reducing imprisonment
and the progressive reform of the penal
system based on evidence-led policies. IPRT
works to achieve its goals through research,
raising awareness, and building alliances.
This collaborative report with Maynooth
University School of Law and Criminology
was commissioned by IPRT, and was
generously supported by the Irish Human
Rights and Equality Commission.
The research team was led by Dr. David M.
Doyle and consisted of Dr. Avril Brandon, Dr.
Joe Garrihy, Dr. Amina Adanan and Prof. Denis
Bracken.
The research was guided by a voluntary
expert steering group, chaired by Dr. Seamus
Taylor (Maynooth University) and comprised
of Khatuna Tsintsadze (Zahid Mubarek Trust),
Dr. Lucy Michael (Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion Specialist), Bashir Otukoya (Dublin
City University) and Nuala Kelly (Pavee Point)