NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Life history and the Irish immigrant experience in Post-War England
No full textIt is always welcome to find a new book featuring oral histories with the Irish in Britain, a community that has experienced continued but differing waves of new migrants into its cohort in the post-Second World War period. Capturing such experiences, as Hazley has in this book, is essential and contributes not only to the history of the Irish in Britain but also to British history in explicitly acknowledging the role immigrants have played in that country in modern times. Such insights are particularly relevant to highlight and explore in post-Brexit Britain where ahistorical, nationalist narratives have abounded which erase the valued contribution immigrants from the Empire and beyond have made to such valued institutions as the National Health Service, to give just one example that is explored in the Conclusion. In the Acknowledgements, Hazley describes the interviews as ‘source material of incomparable richness’ (p. xiii) and this is a fitting description of the value of oral history to modern social histories regardless of theme or focus
Principles of SARS-CoV-2 glycosylation
No full textThe structure and post-translational processing of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein (S) is intimately associated with the function of the virus and of sterilising vaccines. The surface of the S protein is extensively modified by glycans, and their biosynthesis is driven by both the wider cellular context, and importantly, the underlining protein structure and local glycan density. Comparison of virally derived S protein with both recombinantly derived and adenovirally induced proteins, reveal hotspots of protein-directed glycosylation that drive conserved glycosylation motifs. Molecular dynamics simulations revealed that, while the S surface is extensively shielded by N-glycans, it presents regions vulnerable to neutralising antibodies. Furthermore, glycans have been shown to influence the accessibility of the receptor binding domain and the binding to the cellular receptor. The emerging picture is one of unifying, principles of S protein glycosylation and an intimate role of glycosylation in immunogen structure and efficacy
Conceptualising smart cities
No full textThe central premise of Soe et al’s paper, ‘Institutionalising Smart City Research and Innovation’, is that the notion of a smart city remains unclear, with several definitions existing within the literature, and that one way to determine the parameters of smart cities is to examine the foci and approach of research groups globally who study and contribute to the smart city agenda. However, in charting the work of 50 or so institutes and centres, the authors conclude that there is ‘a mismatch between conceptualisation of smart city and actual smart city research’ (p. 128). In other words, the framing of smart cities within the literature does not align with how centres and institutes approach and contribute to smart cities. Having reached such a conclusion, the solution to this mismatch is not clear. Presumably, the definition of smart cities needs to change to match that held by research centres and institutes, or they need to alter their focus to align more closely with the predominant delineation of smart cities. Regardless, examining how research centres and institutes frame and approach smart cities does not appear to be a good means of defining them. The key questions then, which are not examined or answered in the paper, is why does this mismatch exist, and what would be a better way of determining what constitutes a smart city? The latter assumes that the conceptualisation requires a non-fuzzy definition, which is also a question worth considering
Cognitive Screening Instruments for Older Adults with Low Educational and Literacy Levels: A Systematic Review
No full textThis study presents a systematic review on existing cognitive screening tools for mild cognitive impairment and dementia in populations with low education and literacy levels. Cochrane Library, PubMed and LILACS databases were examined for studies including adults aged 50 years old or older with low educational level. 61 articles were included. Despite its frequent use, studies on Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) revealed that educational level biased the score obtained, regardless of other factors. Separately, the Informant Questionnaire on Cognitive Decline in the Elderly, the Fototest, or the Eurotest, appear to minimize the effect of education and literacy. MMSE is unreliable for individuals with low literacy. Tasks involving reading, writing, arithmetics, drawing, praxis, visuospatial, and visuoconstructive skills have a greater educational bias than naming, orientation, or memory. An adequate determination of educational level and validation of instruments in populations with heterogeneous levels of literacy requires further research
Family stories as resources for a decolonial culturally responsive pedagogy
No full textEngagement with family stories, religious and community practices
can change a teacher’s conception of thought. We propose teaching
as thinking-with the world and teaching as thinking-with others.
These terms draw on the philosophy of new materialist thinkers in
expressing the ontological impacts of context and materiality. We
explore the relationship between teaching and thinking as a
distributed and engaged practice by investigating family stories as
an avenue for teachers to pedagogically engage with student’s lived
experiences. We work with students as valued contributors to the
learning environment, irrespective of academic achievements. We
argue that engaging with family and faith stories as constitutional
of thinking about, and doing, pedagogy can challenge the
persistent racism. We are interested in experiential ways of knowing
and modes of paying attention to the social and emotional learning
that takes place as part of a pedagogic culture of care
Waiving intellectual property rights: Boom or bust for medical innovation?
No full textProposals to waive intellectual property rights (IPRs) on coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19)-related developments have gained considerable support among politicians, including from US President Biden, academics, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), the media, and the general public. However, there are surprisingly few reflections about the short- and long-term consequences for medical innovation, particularly the development of new drugs and vaccines. In this feature, I reflect on the consequences for innovative entrepreneurial companies, the incentives to innovate, and consequences for international knowledge flows to low- and middle-income countries. I conclude that waiving IPRs reduces opportunities for entrepreneurial companies to attract sufficient funding for developing medical innovations. Low- and middle-income countries might suffer reduced knowledge inflows in the absence of IPRs that undermine their ability to develop medical innovations
Immunoproteomic analysis of the secretome of bovine-adapted strains of Staphylococcus aureus demonstrates a strain-specific humoral response
No full textStaphylococcus aureus is a common pathogen associated with bovine intramammary infection. A number of distinct S. aureus lineages are associated with such infections although there is a dearth of knowledge regarding the major immunogenic antigens associated with each lineage and whether these antigens provide protection against heterologous strains. Identification of the major immunogenic antigens of the predominant bovine-adapted S. aureus lineages would assist in the design of effective vaccines and diagnostic tests to control intramammary infections caused by S. aureus. The aim of this study was to characterise the serum IgG response to S. aureus extracellular proteins in cows infected with strains from different lineages, as well as to identify antigenic proteins produced by these strains. Genotypic characterisation found that strain MOK124 (CC151) encoded more toxins, including the ruminant-specific leukocidin LukMF, compared to strain MOK023 (CC97). In addition, MOK124 secreted more toxins in vitro, compared to MOK023. Immunoproteomic analysis was performed using sera from cows infected with either MOK023 or MOK124. One-dimensional serum blotting revealed that cows infected with MOK023 predominantly generated a humoral response against high molecular weight proteins while cows infected with MOK124 primarily generated a humoral response against low molecular weight proteins. Two-dimensional serum blotting demonstrated that antibodies produced by an MOK023 infected cow could cross react with some of the extracellular proteins produced by MOK124 and vice versa. Mass spectrometry analysis of immunoreactive proteins identified common candidate immunogens produced by both strains, including α-hemolysin and β-hemolysin. In addition, strain-specific candidate immunogens were also identified. This study demonstrates that genes encoding important S. aureus secreted virulence factors, the production of cognate gene products, and the humoral immune response to infection is, to an extent, strain-dependent. However, the identification of some common candidate immunogens suggests that there are proteins that can be exploited for further vaccine or diagnostic research that targets S. aureus strains from a variety of lineages
How can hotels create sustainable competitive advantages? A resource-based view
No full textThe hospitality industry is facing tough competition due to new
actors (i.e. online travel agencies, comparison websites, etc.).
Furthermore, Covid-19 has made it worse with travel restrictions
and health measures. This study aims to identify the needs and
expectations of hotel guests in a post-pandemic context, and how
hotels can acquire and manage resources in a strategic way.
Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was employed to assess the
importance of 9 hotel attributes via pairwise comparison. The
data were collected from 537 guests who stayed in 3- and 4-star
hotels in Paris from April to June 2021. In addition, in-depth interviews of 19 hotel managers were conducted to gain insights into
how they are acquiring and managing their resources. Theoretical
and practical implications, and future research directions are
presented
Category production norms for 117 concrete and abstract categories
No full textWe present a database of category production (aka semantic fluency) norms collected in the UK for 117 categories (67 concrete and 50 abstract). Participants verbally named as many category members as possible within 60 seconds, resulting in a large variety of over 2000 generated member concepts. The norms feature common measures of category production (production frequency, mean ordinal rank, first-rank frequency), as well as response times for all first-named category members, and typicality ratings collected from a separate participant sample. We provide two versions of the dataset: a referential version that groups together responses that relate to the same referent (e.g., hippo, hippopotamus) and a full version that retains all original responses to enable future lexical analysis. Correlational analyses with previous norms from the USA and UK demonstrate both consistencies and differences in English-language norms over time and between geographical regions. Further exploration of the norms reveals a number of structural and psycholinguistic differences between abstract and concrete categories. The data and analyses will be of use in the fields of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, psycholinguistics, and cognitive modelling, and to any researchers interested in semantic category structure. All data, including original participant recordings, are available at https://osf.io/jgcu6/
QUBIC VI: Cryogenic half wave plate rotator, design and performance
No full textSetting an upper limit or detection of B-mode polarization imprinted by gravitational waves from Inflation is one goal of modern large angular scale cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments around the world. A great effort is being made in the deployment of many ground-based, balloon-borne and satellite experiments, using different methods to separate this faint polarized component from the incoming radiation. QUBIC exploits one of the most widely-used techniques to extract the input Stokes parameters, consisting in a rotating half-wave plate (HWP) and a linear polarizer to separate and modulate polarization components. QUBIC uses a step-by-step rotating HWP, with 15° steps, combined with a 0.4°s-1 azimuth sky scan speed. The rotation is driven by a stepper motor mounted on the cryostat outer shell to avoid heat load at internal cryogenic stages. The design of this optical element is an engineering challenge due to its large 370 mm diameter and the 8 K operation temperature that are unique features of the QUBIC experiment. We present the design for a modulator mechanism for up to 370 mm, and the first optical tests by using the prototype of QUBIC HWP (180 mm diameter). The tests and results presented in this work show that the QUBIC HWP rotator can achieve a precision of 0.15° in position by using the stepper motor and custom-made optical encoder. The rotation induces 99% (68% C.L.) and a median cross-polarization χPol of 0.12%, with 71% of detectors showing a χPol + 2σ upper limit <1%, measured using selected detectors that had the best signal-to-noise ratio