NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Map of Ogam in Ireland
No full textA distribution map of objects in the ogam script (stones and portable objects) in Ireland
Non-Textualism and the Duck Season-Rabbit Season Dramaturgical Dyad: A Response to Professor Cass Sunstein (and others)
No full textI amend one word from Professor Sunstein’s conclusion.
It is tempting to think that in the kinds of cases [and texts] that are of concern here, non-textualism is a kind of lie. It might be. But it might also be an honest mistake, a matter of sincerely thinking that you are “seeing that” [which all others see or that which is there to be objectively seen]” when you are actually “seeing as” [which is seeing only one meaning among several potential meanings which others see].” Still, it is a serious problem if a judge does not know that she is seeing as. If she is, in fact, seeing as, she should explain why that is the right way to see, and if she thinks that she is seeing that, she might see no need to offer an explanation.
To illustrate my point, I refer to how non-textualists have developed Hamilton’s Federalist No. 77 in relation to the doctrinal debate on the unitary theory of the executive and the scope of the President’s removal power. My purpose in doing so is not to settle that substantive debate—a matter about which I have no published or settled views. Rather my purpose is methodological: it is to illustrate how non-textualist commentators and their readers “see” and how they choose to support their understanding of what they “see” with historical and other legal materials
A 3D MUSE View of the Th 28 Precessing Stellar Jet
No full textProtostellar jets are an important component of star formation, acting as a window
into the inner regions of the protoplanetary disk while also impacting on the evolution
of the star-disk system and the surrounding molecular cloud. Integral field spectroscopy
(IFS) has proven a valuable tool for jet studies, as this allows three-dimensional spa-
tial and spectral information to be collected simultaneously across the extended jet.
VLT/MUSE is an exceptionally powerful IFS instrument operating in the optical and
near-infrared (NIR) band with large spatial and spectral coverage. In this thesis, we
present the analysis of MUSE observations of the jet from the Classical T Tauri Star Th
28 to explore the potential of MUSE for jet studies and to develop Python tools which
support the analysis of MUSE data. We are able to characterise the morphology and
kinematics of the Th 28 jet in detail, including six newly identified knots. A key result
from our analysis of the jet morphology is the detection of a ‘wiggling’ in the jet which
shows a clear point-symmetry between the jet lobes indicating precession. We model
the jet trajectory and show that this may be the signature of a brown dwarf compan-
ion (≤ 70 MJup) orbiting within the inner disk region. This work also investigates the
physical diagnostics of the jet using optical and NIR emission line ratios, and highlights
the asymmetric densities and excitation conditions between the two lobes of the jet, in
tandem with their asymmetric morphologies and velocities. The results of this project
to date emphasize both the potential for further work investigating the origins of the ob-
served asymmetries and precession in the Th 28 jet, and the incredible power of MUSE
to comprehensively investigate protostellar jets
Still waters run deep: The invisible life of working mothers with disabilities in Lithuania
No full textThis article explores the challenges faced by women with disabilities in combining the roles of ‘mother’ and ‘worker’ in Lithuania and reflects on the strategies mothers employed to overcome these. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with twenty women with a variety of (dis)abling conditions and diverse life experiences between 2014 and 2018. In-depth thematic analysis by qualitative research teams revealed a constant tension in women’s aspirations to have a family and work. This revealed women’s enormous personal resources which facilitated them to overcome challenges they faced in motherhood as well as seemingly insurmountable obstacles to employment. However, within the vicious circle of social and economic challenges, they fought their battles with silent compliance, which hid their experiences and potentially denied them opportunities for support. This research reveals a policy response in Lithuania that categorises disability as an individual issue to be overcome rather than a socially constructed experience. The findings indicate the need for reframing understanding at macro, as well as micro-level policy interventions. At the micro-level, sensitive forms of professional support would help mothers with disabilities to choose more pronounced strategies of coping while also maintaining their dignity and privacy. These findings provide insights into the specific situation of women in Lithuania but are also relevant to many other contexts
Geo-spatial Assessment of Inherent Smart Urban Attributes of Traditional Neighborhood-Level Communities in India
No full textCity-making is a process in which several endogenous and exogenous variables associated with socio-economic, environmental, historical, and physical parameters play a significant role. The neoliberal and market-led notion of smart cities is highly criticized by many scholars for its polarized and inequitable approach to development. The traditional communities have continued for generations and inherit a unique living and residential culture bestowing them with an inherent smartness quotient. This concept of smartness for city planning is even more critical during the present times to understand the impact of the spatial structure of existing cities to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak. Authors identify a strong need to merge the two concepts of traditional communities and urban smartness for a holistic approach to building smart communities. This study aims to assess the smart spatial attributes of the traditional neighborhood-level urban communities such as compactness, walkability, and diversity. Primary household surveys were conducted in the walled city of Alwar, Rajasthan, India. The case study reveals compactly designed residential enclaves known as mohallas with mixed land use. The indigenous spatial elements such as squares (chowks), markets (bazaars), and streets (gali) proved to be crucial community gathering places for these settlements. Such zero-level assessment of existing socio-cultural and spatial attributes may enable the appropriate integration of intelligent technologies into our urban systems. Authors recommend harnessing the untapped potential of traditional communities in culturally rich countries like India to achieve the goals of a smart community
Mapping restorative justice and restorative practices in criminal justice in the Republic of Ireland
No full textRestorative justice has been available in certain parts of the Republic of Ireland, and at some stages of the criminal justice process, for over two decades. Additionally, in recent years, many public- and third-sector practitioners working with offenders and victims have received training in restorative practices. However, there has never been a study mapping the use of restorative justice and practices across the country. This article analyses and contextualises the main findings from recent research that investigated the extent to which restorative justice and practices are used in Irish criminal justice. It outlines new data collected from agencies that seldom permit academic access to data, nor publish figures on these elements of their work. The findings suggest that restorative justice is used with several offence types, albeit mostly in relation to victimless offences (or otherwise in the absence of a direct victim), while accessibility remains low overall. At the same time, the growth in restorative practices training creates an opportunity to align occupational cultures with restorative principles. This study lays the groundwork for policies aiming to make restorative justice more accessible and embed a restorative culture in Irish criminal justice professions and agencies
“A Positive Statement of a Negative Thing”: Nietzschean Eternal Recurrence as Dramatic Form in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot
No full textMuch has been written in the late twentieth and early twentyfirst centuries about the pessimistic tenor of Samuel Beckett’s middleperiod plays. With specific reference to Waiting for Godot , however,
this essay draws a distinction between the pessimistic appearance of
the content that partially constitutes this text and the nature of the
formal medium through which it is realized. In short, I argue that
there is a critical disjunction between what this play says and what
this play does. Conceptually speaking, this essay is primarily concerned
with Beckett’s textual engagement with the theory of eternal recurrence, that is, the idea that all occurrences have happened innumerable times before, and will happen again, and again, in an infinitely
recurring cycle. Focusing on how Waiting for Godot developed, both
in translation and as a performance piece under the direction of its
author, I demonstrate that Beckett’s metatheatrical dramatization of
eternal recurrence explores this theory’s capacity to function as an ethical imperative in the morally nihilistic atmosphere of postHolocaust
Europe. In doing so, Beckett’s play implicates the viewer in a dramatization that is aligned with the axiological iteration of eternal recurrence that modern and contemporary scholars associate with Friedrich
Nietzsche. Indeed, it is in this sense that Waiting for Godot is, as
Beckett himself puts it, “a positive statement of a negative thing.
What Oath (If Any) Did Jacob Henry Take in 1809?: Deconstructing the Historical Myths
No full textThe story of Jacob Henry is one which has been told and retold. It has been long celebrated, as a triumph of light over darkness, and of the progress of then-emerging
American religious diversity over older traditions of parochialism and intolerance.1
Our story starts with Article 32 of the 1776 North Carolina Constitution. That provision imposed a religious test:
That no person, who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the
Protestant religion, or the divine authority either of the Old or New
Testaments, or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom and safety of the State, shall be capable of holding any office or place of
trust or profit in the civil department within this State.2
Article 32’s religious test extended to four categories of persons. It extended to
atheists—those ‘who ... deny the being of God’. It extended to non-Protestants—
those ‘who ... deny ... the truth of the Protestant religion’. It extended to non-Christians—those ‘who ... deny ... the divine authority either of the Old or New
Bridges and Barriers: An Exploration of Engagements of the Research Community with the OpenStreetMap Community
No full textThe academic community frequently engages with OpenStreetMap (OSM) as a data source and research subject, acknowledging its complex and contextual nature. However, existing literature rarely considers the position of academic research in relation to the OSM community. In this paper we explore the extent and nature of engagement between the academic research community and the larger communities in OSM. An analysis of OSM-related publications from 2016 to 2019 and seven interviews conducted with members of one research group engaged in OSM-related research are described. The literature analysis seeks to uncover general engagement patterns while the interviews are used to identify possible causal structures explaining how these patterns may emerge within the context of a specific research group. Results indicate that academic papers generally show few signs of engagement and adopt data-oriented perspectives on the OSM project and product. The interviews expose that more complex perspectives and deeper engagement exist within the research group to which the interviewees belong, e.g., engaging in OSM mapping and direct interactions based on specific points-of-contact in the OSM community. Several conclusions and recommendations emerge, most notably: that every engagement with OSM includes an interpretive act which must be acknowledged and that the academic community should act to triangulate its interpretation of the data and OSM community by diversifying their engagement. This could be achieved through channels such as more direct interactions and inviting members of the OSM community to participate in the design and evaluation of research projects and programmes