NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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'A Joycean Smutmonger': Echoes of Joyce in Máirtín Ó Cadhain's Rural Modernism
No full textThe abstract is included in the text
Code-Red: Young People and their Exposure to Gambling Marketing through Media and Sport on the island of Ireland
No full textAcademics from Maynooth University and Ulster University have spent two years examining the exposure of young people on the island of Ireland to gambling marketing content while consuming their favourite sports on television and social media.
The project found that young people who lived on both sides of the border in Ireland were exposed to extremely high levels of gambling marketing when consuming some national and international sporting events. Young people are accessing this content on television but increasingly, and repeatedly over time, via social media on their mobile phones.
The research also found that gambling marketing saturation varies considerably across sports, channels and platforms. Gambling marketing was most prevalent in certain sports but was available both on television and social media at all times of the day.
It is clear that current gambling regulations and approaches in both jurisdictions are ineffective in limiting the exposure of young people to gambling marketing, and its frequency, when sports and media organisations are willing to carry them. Further, the health and community benefits of sport are seriously undermined if those sports are reliant on gambling marketing or gambling revenues.
The report concludes with a number of policy recommendations. The research was funded by the Irish government’s North-South Research Programme
Experimental assessment of combined sliding mode & moment-based control (SM2C) for arrays of wave energy conversion systems
No full textMotivated by the lack of comprehensive experimental implementation and assessment of the potential benefit that can be achieved with energy-maximising optimal control solutions for arrays of wave energy converters (WECs), we present, in this paper, the development, design, experimental implementation, and performance appraisal, of optimal moment-based control for arrays of WEC systems. Both centralised and decentralised controllers are evaluated. Four different WEC array layout configurations are considered, with up to three 1:20 scale prototypes of the Wavestar WEC system operating simultaneously within the basin, subject to a variety of sea state conditions. In particular, the proposed controller, termed sliding-mode-moment-based controller SM
C, is composed of a receding-horizon moment-based reference generation process, and a subsequent proportional–integral–derivative-like continuous sliding mode tracking controller. This composite control structure is implemented and assessed experimentally, providing a detailed analysis of key performance metrics. We show that the proposed SM
C strategy is able to maximise energy absorption for all the considered WEC array layouts, with up to 2.8 times energy improvement when compared to the benchmark controller case. The findings of this experimental study show tangible proof of the performance enhancement that can be achieved in real arrays of WEC systems with the use of appropriate control technology, demonstrating not only the feasibility of the proposed SM
C strategy in itself, but the key role that control systems have to play in the pathway towards effective exploitation of the yet largely untapped wave energy resource
Draft genome sequence of the fungal biocontrol agent, Bacillus velezensis Kos
No full textHere, we report the draft genome sequence of Bacillus velezensis strain Kos,isolated from casing soil used during Agaricus bisporus cultivation in Dublin, Ireland. B.velezensis Kos exhibits a suppressive ability toward Cladobotryum mycophilum, Trichoderma aggressivum, and Lecanicillium fungicola, which are common threats to A. bisporusproduction, cultivation, and quality
Utilising proteomics-derived data to identify novel biomarker signatures in Multiple Myeloma.
No full textMultiple myeloma (MM) is characterized by the clonal expansion of plasma cells in the bone marrow that results in end-organ damage, including hypercalcemia, renal dysfunction, infection, anemia, and bone disease. Despite the introduction of novel therapeutics, MM remains an incurable disease mainly due to repeated relapses and resistance to current chemotherapies. The development of extramedullary multiple myeloma (EMM), an aggressive form of MM associated with the colonisation of soft tissues or organs by myeloma cells, is associated with a poor prognosis. There remains a critical unmet need for effective treatments for patients with refractory disease and aggressive extramedullary disease. Given the potential of predictive biomarker panels to optimise treatment regimens, a phosphoproteomic analysis based on ex vivo drug responses to a selection of drug classes was performed. Results showed an increased abundance of proteins and phosphoproteins associated with cell adhesion and a decreased abundance of proteins and phosphoproteins associated with protein translation in multi-drug resistant myeloma cells based on ex vivo drug response. Furthermore, a proteomic analysis of MM patient plasma stratified based on ex vivo drug responses identified circulating proteins, including interleukin-15, as potential predictive biomarkers of drug response. Using label-free mass spectrometry, distinct alterations in the proteomic profile of bone marrow mononuclear cells from EMM patients compared to MM patients were identified. Bioinformatic analysis revealed an increased abundance of proteins linked to a poor prognosis in MM, and potential cellular mechanisms, including leukocyte transendothelial migration, associated with EMM. Proteomic and metabolomic evaluation of plasma samples from MM patients with and without extramedullary spread confirmed a distinct phenotypic change in EMM patients. Three proteins, namely, vascular cell adhesion molecule 1, hepatocyte growth factor activator, and pigment epithelium derived factor, were verified as promising biomarkers of EMM. Overall, this thesis provides novel insights into aggressive phenotypes of MM and identifies promising biomarkers for future validation studies
WHOSE CLIMATE-PROOF CITY? A river-led, catchment-based critical assessment of climate justice in South Dublin.
No full textThe expansion of urban green and climate policy of the last decades in many regions
of the world has been increasingly called out for dramatically reinforcing existing
urban inequities. Many urban justice scholars have documented how these
inequities are produced through non-inclusive procedural and epistemic governance:
a tight control over who makes decisions and who produces knowledge in urban
green and climate development results in further unjust urban environmental
arrangements.
Building on these findings, the present PhD research project assesses how climate
inequities unfold in South Dublin: it asks whose environmental concerns and
knowledges count in the making of the climate-proof city. Taking as a starting point
one South Dublin river, the river Poddle, it critically assesses four climate change
adaptation and mitigation projects to be implemented in its catchment and involving
a wide range of public and private stakeholders: a planned flood alleviation scheme,
an Amazon data centre powered district heating scheme, two inner-city redensification
initiatives and, finally, a combined river greening and sustainable food
production project.
Grounded in a qualitative, inductive methodology approach and drawing on main
feminist epistemologies assumptions, the collection and assessment of data
pertaining to the four climate projects are conducted through three research
methods: walking with the river Poddle, semi-structured interviews and discourse
analysis. Findings are consistent with the existing literature on the neoliberalization
of urban environmental governance: all four climate projects are found to be heavily
private actor, private market driven and as such leading to intensified social and
environmental inequities. The privatization of climate governance is largely
facilitated by state and local government tight control over decision-making and
knowledge production processes. In contrast, the present research project outlines
ways to locate and challenge the produced inequities through fairer human and
more-than-human spatial-epistemic arrangements
Echoes of Exploitation: Gender Dynamics and Unravelling the Complex Re-integration Landscape of Sex-trafficking Among Women from The Permeable Borders of Central and Eastern Europe
No full textThis thesis explores the gender dynamics influencing the re-integration of female victims of sex-trafficking (VOST) in Central and East European (CEE) states. It examines how these dynamics hinder the return of VOST to their communities and shape their post-trafficking experiences and recovery. Through a qualitative analysis of case studies across CEE, the research identifies mental health, stigma, victim-blaming, patriarchy and gender-based violence (GBV), family structures and community values, and gendered labour markets as key barriers to re-integration. These findings provide insight into how deeply entrenched gender norms and cultural expectations exacerbate recovery challenges. The thesis argues that interpersonal, familial, societal, and socio-economic struggles further marginalise women, sometimes leading to re-trafficking. It concludes that these complex, gender-specific dynamics necessitate a nuanced, gender-sensitive approach to re-integration, calling for the establishment of tailored support networks and systems
“I don't think I can help you anymore.” Sex workers' experiences of accessing mental health services in Ireland
No full textThis paper is based on a study funded by the National Office for Suicide Prevention (NOSP), exploring sex worker mental health through a qualitative study of eighteen sex workers living and working in the Republic of Ireland and with participants from service provider organizations. This paper utilizes and adapts the concept of minority stress to explain how it is the social world that contributes to difficulties in managing mental health, not just for the LGBTQ+ community but explicitly for sex workers, through intersectional stigma and discrimination. Ireland introduced the Criminal Law Amendment Act (2017) based on the Nordic model of client criminalization, which sought to prose-cute those that purchase sex while reducing the legal culpability of sex workers. The paper explores how the mental health of sex workers living and working under the law is impacted and the difficulties negotiating access to mental health services once participants dis-close their sex work
Exploring the Motivations for and Modes of Academic Engagement among Irish Academic Researchers: A Qualitative Investigation
No full textGovernment and research funding bodies have increasingly emphasized the societal impact of research prompting the need for increased engagement between academic researchers and non-academic external partners. There are numerous benefits that this academic engagement brings to the collaborating partners. Such benefits include facilitating advancement in research, providing researchers access to resources, and the provision of opportunities for post-graduate student mentoring by industry partitioners. Increased levels of academic engagement also offer researchers opportunities to generate new scientific research ideas and questions, exploit new research opportunities, or even test research theories and findings that are aimed towards solving practical problems outside the academic domain. Academic engagement with external non-academic partners, while beneficial, also incurs costs and typically remains at the discretion of the individual researcher. The increasing demand for additional engagement with non-academic partners may increase pressure on academics as such interactions add to their research and teaching responsibilities. This thesis investigates why and how academics engage with non-academic collaborators, applying self-determination theory to explore their motivations and modes of interaction. Using snowball sampling technique, the study conducted nineteen qualitative interviews with academic researchers from diverse fields—social sciences, physical sciences, life sciences, engineering, medicine, and humanities—across several public universities in Ireland. The selection of interviewees was based on careful representation of both male and female researchers who are at different stages of their career, in different disciplines, and either currently are, or have been, actively engaged with non-academic external partners. The findings indicate that motivations and modes of engagement between academic researchers and non-academic partners are shaped by a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, intertwined with personal, organizational, and policy-related institutional elements. The thesis argues for tailored strategies that consider these diverse motivations and contextual dynamics to enhance interactions within Ireland’s innovation ecosystem. Although this study has limitations, it outlines areas for further research and offers significant theoretical, managerial, and policy implications by enhancing understanding of academic researchers’ engagement behaviours
An investigation into how distributed creative communities engage in the creative process through a quantitative and qualitative analysis of Twitch Plays Pokémon’s narratives.
No full textThe aim of this thesis is to examine Twitch Plays Pokémon as an example of an online community engaged in distributed creative practice and to explore their creative process and the ways in which they understood the narratives that emerged from their creativity. How online communities engage in the creative process, and how individuals interpret their community’s creative work are important to understand, as internet communities have become increasingly prominent in people’s lives and artistic development.
Twitch Plays Pokémon (TPP) was a digital community that played the game Pokémon Red online in 2014, and during the sixteen days of play, they developed fiction and narratives to rationalise the events of their play in a distributed creative process. Through analysing these narratives and examining the development of particular elements over time, this thesis aims to further our understanding of the social processes of creativity and how individuals interact with a broader creative community when faced with conflicts. To reinforce the qualitative analysis provided in this thesis quantitative analysis of the corpus of comments from Twitch chat and Reddit highlight trends within the data.
This thesis makes use of theories of distributed creativity (Sawyer and DeZutter, 2009), the role of conflict in creativity (Rank, 1989), the narreme1 (Hills, 2002) to form the creative engine model to explain the distributed creative process. Narremes are combined with the concept of hyperdiegetic narratives where much of the narrative is formed by the reader (Bronwen Thomas, 2011) to explain how individuals understand the creative work of their community. Through this analysis, this thesis identifies a simple creative process that shows how a narrative emerges as well as how individuals understand the broad and contradictory interpretations. The creative model may aid in studies of other distributed creative groups, and the narremes interaction with hyperdiegetic narratives provides a model for understanding how an individual forms a complete narrative from the creative work of a distributed creative community