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The influence of model quality on self-other mate choice copying
No full textWe explored, through two experiments, the influence of model quality and gender on mate choice copying (MCC) behavior for oneself and for others. In the first experiment, we used a 3 (decision-making role: self, stranger, close friend) × 2 (gender: male, female) between-subjects design. The phenomenon of MCC was only found in females. There was no significant difference between making decisions for oneself and for close friends, but there was a significant difference between making decisions for oneself and for strangers. In the second experiment, we used a 2 (model quality: higher, lower) × 3 (decision-making role: self, stranger, close friend) × 2 (gender: male, female) mixed experimental design. Results showed an MCC effect under the condition of high-quality models for both males and females, but no MCC effect for low quality models, either for males or females. Again, there was no significant difference between making decisions for oneself and for close friends, but there was a significant difference between making decisions for oneself and for strangers. These results reveal that context is important for the manifestation of MCC behavior: both women and men are influenced by the choices of high quality models, but ignore the behavior of low quality models
Development of an analytical model for a cyclorotor wave energy device
No full textWe present a new analytical model for a
horizontal axis cyclorotor-based wave energy converter
(WEC). A number of cyclorotor-based WEC concepts and
models, with different numbers of hydrofoils, have previously been studied. Our model is derived for a horizontal
cyclorotor with 2 hydrofoils. The governing equations are
optimised and converted to the polar coordinate system.
The mechanical model is based on Newton’s second law
for rotation. Rotation is considered in two-dimensional
potential flow, for both monochromatic and panchromatic
waves, including waves generated by the rotating rotor, and
viscous losses. The developed model is very convenient
for modelling, analysis and control design for a cyclorotor
based WEC.
The authors of this work have derived new, exact,
analytic functions for the free surface perturbation and
induced fluid velocity field caused by hydrofoil rotation.
These new formulae significantly decrease the model calculation time, compared to previous models, and increase
the accuracy of the results. We present the results of free
rotation simulations for the rotor in monochromatic and
panchromatic waves obtained with the use of the newly
derived equations
Using the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) to Examine Implicit Beauty Bias in the Context of Employability
No full textAttractiveness bias has been well-documented in social domains, however, an investigation into the attractiveness-bias effect on employability has not been conducted using implicit measures. In Study 1 (N = 24) the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) and a number of explicit measures (e.g., self-report questionnaires) were used to investigate the attractiveness-bias effect
on employability using stimuli of high and low attractiveness. Results from Study 1 indicated that there was a significant bias in the direction of attractive-employable on explicit and implicit measures. In Study 2, (N = 52) these measures were used to investigate the attractiveness-bias effect on employability using stimuli of high and medium attractiveness. Results from Study 2 indicated that there was a significant bias in the direction of attractive-employable on explicit measures and a significant bias in the direction of attractive-employable and medium-attractive-unemployable on implicit measures. There was no effect of participant gender on D-scores for either study. Findings are discussed in relation to previous research and implications for the use of implicit measurement to measure attractiveness bias in the domain of employability
Practical strategies in geriatric mental health: Cases and approaches
No full textBook Review
Dunn, L. B., & Cassidy-Eagle, E. L. (2020). Practical strategies in geriatric mental health: Cases and approaches. Washington, DC: American
Psychiatric Association. 512 pp. 60 (e-book) ISBN: 13 9781615372577.
Reviewed by: Unai Diaz-Orueta, Maynooth University, Kildare, Irelan
From neglect to threat: feminist responses to right wing populism in the European Union
No full textThis article explores the response of a European Union (EU) feminist
civil society organization (CSO) the European Women’s Lobby (EWL)
to right wing populist opposition (RWP) to gender equality in
Europe. RWP forces rely on gender politics to advance their
projects co-opting ideas used by feminists at the same time
vilifying feminist idea and actors. Feminist oppositions to RWP are
as such complicated by how RWP forces co-opt constructions of
gender justice and the proximity between RWP and feminist
critiques of economic governance, austerity and EU integration.
The EWL work to counter RWP frameworks but are tied to EU
imperatives, weakened by austerity and a neglect of gender
equality at EU level. Social movement concepts of framing theory
are applied to the EWL response to reveal counter framing
directed to EU elites, underlining how illiberal threats to gender
equality are emblematic of a deeper crisis facing European
democracies and as such deserving of a robust and well-resourced defence. Frame saving aims to re-politicise gender
equality as an EU ideal and feminism as a project for the common
good. RWP opposition to gender equality creates a discursive
opportunity for the EWL to claim relevance as a vanguard of
progressive anti-populist values in Europe
The Molecular Signatures of Adaptive Plasticity in Parasitic Nematodes
No full textEntomopathogenic nematodes (EPN; Steinernema spp. and Heterorhabditis spp.) are
parasites which kill and reproduce within insects. The infective juvenile (IJ) is a
developmentally arrested, nonfeeding, stress tolerant stage which forages in the soil for
new insects to infect. IJs carry symbiotic bacteria which aid killing the insect and converts
the host’s tissues to a nutritive liquid which the EPN can consume. EPN are promising
biocontrol agents for the control of insect pests and are also model organisms for the study
of parasitism. The objective of this project was to characterise the plasticity of IJ
behaviour, and to investigate some of the associated molecular processes. There are two
broad components: firstly, the identification of molecules (ascarosides) externally secreted
by IJs and their effects on dispersal, and secondly changes in behaviour and stress
tolerance of IJs over time during storage at different temperatures, and associated changes
in the proteome.
When the host cadaver becomes overcrowded, there is a build-up of signals which
encourage newly formed IJs to disperse, thus reducing competition between the many IJs
arising from the same cadaver. Among these chemicals are members of a class of
pheromones, ascarosides, which have profound effects on IJ behaviour and development.
Whether or not these IJs continue producing ascarosides into the surrounding medium, the
composition of the mixture, the abundance of these pheromones and whether they affect
the behaviour of conspecifics and heterospecifics was investigated. The IJs of four EPN
species, Steinernema carpocapsae, Steinernema longicaudum, Steinernema feltiae, and
Heterorhabditis megidis, were collected and stored in water at 5000 IJs/ml. The worm
conditioned water was analysed with LC-MS/MS after storage in 20°C for specific
timepoints. Various ascarosides were detected, generally increasing in abundance the
longer the IJs were stored in the water, indicating that these IJs secrete ascarosides
consistently after emergence from the host. The composition of ascarosides detected was
species specific however the most abundant ascaroside detected in all species was Ascr#9,
similar to many other insect-associated species. The worm-conditioned water from both
conspecifics and heterospecifics was shown to induce dispersal behaviour in each of the
species in agar plate assays. The species-specificity and complexity of ascaroside
secretion, despite the similar effects on dispersal, implies that it has other ecological or
biological functions.
The second part of the thesis investigates the effects of time and temperature on stress
tolerance, behaviour (chemotaxis) and the proteome of S. carpocapsae and H. megidis IJs.
Previously it has been shown that conditioning IJs in low temperatures (<10°C) enhances
not only their freezing tolerance, but their tolerance to other abiotic stressors. This cross
tolerance is presumed to be due to the accumulation of non-specific protectants within the
IJs. The IJs of H. megidis and S. carpocapsae were stored in 20°C and 9°C for up to 12
weeks, and at specific timepoints, assays were performed, and their proteins were extracted
and analysed via LC-MS/MS.
More proteins were detected within S. carpocapsae IJs (2422) than in H. megidis IJs
(1582). The S. carpocapsae proteome was more strongly affected by low temperature
storage (9°C), whereas the H. megidis proteome changed over time in a similar manner,
less influenced by the ambient temperature. Compared to freshly emerged IJs, the highest
abundance proteins detected within S. carpocapsae IJs at 20°C were proteins related to the
cytoskeleton, cell signalling, and infection proteins such as proteases, protease inhibitors
and a chitinase. The proteins that were detected at the highest abundance after conditioning
at 9°C were late embryogenesis abundant proteins, heat shock proteins, and proteins
related to stress tolerance. The proteins which were decreased in abundance to the greatest
extent after conditioning at 20°C and 9°C were those related to the cytoskeleton and stress
related proteins. The highest abundance proteins detected in H. megidis after conditioning
in both 20°C and in 9°C were those related to the cytoskeleton, cell signalling, and carbon
metabolism. The proteins decreased to the greatest extent after conditioning the IJs in 20°C
and 9°C were those related to metabolism, heat shock proteins and ribosomal proteins.
Storage of IJs at low temperatures prolongs their survival. S. carpocapsae IJs exhibited
increased molecular chaperones over time, and to a greater extent in 9°C. The H. megidis
IJs exhibited decreased abundance of proteins associated with translation over time. These
two responses may represent a species-specific response to proteostatic collapse as the IJs
age. Proteostatic collapse is one of the consequences of aging in cells and likely a
contributing factor to nematode longevity, as misfolded and damaged proteins and toxic
aggregations of proteins begin to accumulate within the cells. Similarly, as nematodes
age, reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulate. Both species demonstrated an increase in
abundance of proteins which enhance ROS tolerance, and to a greater extent in 9°C.
Storage of EPN IJs in low temperatures also affects various behaviours such as dispersal,
infectivity, and response to host volatiles. If these behaviours are adversely affected, then
cold storage of nematodes will be a trade-off between longevity of the nematodes in
storage and the efficacy of these parasites when applied to the field as biocontrol agents.
After conditioning at 20°C, IJs of both species were attracted to hexanol, methyl salicylate
and acetone, and were repelled by prenol (an odour associated with infected hosts). The
chemotaxis responses of H. megidis to each odorant was enhanced after storage in 9°C,
becoming more strongly attracted or repelled to each odour than after storage at 20°C. S.
carpocapsae IJs tended to act in the opposite manner after exposure to low temperatures,
becoming repelled by attractants and strongly attracted to the repellent, prenol. Storage of
H. megidis IJs at temperatures below the culture temperature of 20°C resulted in IJs with a
gradual change in chemotaxis from 9°C to 12°C to 15°C, whereas S. carpocapsae showed
a binary response, as all temperatures below culture temperature tested resulted in IJs with
similar responses.
To investigate whether IJs retain these altered chemotaxis responses following a return to
culture temperature, and how long a period of cold it takes to induce them, IJs from both
species were stored at 9°C for brief periods, 3 hours, 1 day and 1 week, and were
transferred to 20°C for the duration of the experiment (3 weeks). At the 3-week timepoint,
all of the conditioned IJs were exposed to a strong attractant or a strong repellent, and their
responses were compared to that of IJs which were stored at 9°C or 20°C for the full 3
weeks. H. megidis did not retain cold-altered chemotaxis responses after transfer to 20°C,
while S. carpocapsae IJs stored at 9°C and transferred to 20°C after just 3 hours retained
their altered chemotaxis responses for 3 weeks.
Storage at 9°C for a week enhanced the freezing (-10°C for 6 hours) and desiccation (75%
relative humidity) tolerance of S. carpocapsae IJs, and this enhanced stress tolerance was
retained by those IJs which were transferred to 20°C when tested after 2 weeks at the
temperature.
I next explored whether the cold-induced changes in the S. carpocapsae proteome were
also maintained following return to 20°C, as was found for behaviour and stress tolerance.
IJs which were stored at 9°C for the full 3 weeks, and those stored for just for 1 week and
then transferred to 20°C for 2 weeks had similar proteomes and were both different to that
of IJs stored at 20°C for the full 3 weeks. The first two groups displayed hundredfold
increases in the abundance of many molecular chaperones when compared to IJs that were
stored at 20°C for the full duration. Conversely, the highest abundance protein in the IJs
stored at 20°C for 3 weeks relative to the IJs stored at 9°C was a chitinase, implicated in
many roles in nematodes including fungal defence and infection.
The plasticity of EPN IJs enables them to adapt to diverse and changing environments.
Proteomic profiling is a useful guide for further elucidating the molecular mechanisms
behind these phenotypes, which will facilitate their use as biocontrol agents, and as models
for parasitism
Sharing our Stories: From Sierra Leone to Dublin - Binta Jalloh
No full textI was born in Sefadu, near Kono, the main diamond
and gold trading town in Sierra Leone, in 1977. My family belong to the Muslim Fulani ethnic group. We are known for our skills in caring for cows, goats and other animals, that’s how our wealth is measured. There are Fulani people – nomadic herdsmen and women – in various parts of West Africa
“And Who Will Write Me?”: Maternalizing Networks of Remembrance in Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet
No full textABSTRACT
Maggie O’Farrell’s award-winning novel Hamnet explores the
tradition that the death of Shakespeare’s son inaugurates the father’s play. Reopening Hamlet’s metaphorical grave, the novel brings its reader into the play’s imagined point of origin. It does so, this article argues, less out of an interest in Shakespeare himself or the primacy of father/son dyad than in acts of recovery that take the reader into a network of linked early modern lives. In addition to the
extraordinary vitality the novel gives to the young boy,
particular focus is placed on Agnes, its imagining of Anne
Hathaway. Drawing on the fields of motherhood studies
and memory studies, as well as Shakespeare adaptation, I
argue that Hamnet creates networks of remembrance that
are significantly maternalized. These include Hamlet and an
epigraph citing Stephen Greenblatt’s Hamnet essay, as well
as memories and stories the Hamlet tradition displaces.
Reading the novel through a series of interrelated themes –
doubles, memories and ghosts – the article explores how
O’Farrell engages with Hamlet as its inherited memory
space and announces itself as a novel interested in
maternal memories, spaces and stories. As such, the novel
provides fascinating insight into how a literary text
produces memory and invites us to remember a classic text
like Hamlet differently
Improving seasonal predictions of meteorological drought by conditioning on ENSO states
No full textUseful hindcast skill of meteorological drought, assessed with the 3-month standardized precipitation index (SPI3M), has been so far limited to one lead month (time horizon of the prediction). Here, we quadruple that lead time by demonstrating useful skill up to lead month 4.
To obtain useful hindcast skill of meteorological drought at these long lead times, we exploit well-known El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)–precipitation teleconnections through ENSO-state conditioning. We condition initialized seasonal SPI3M hindcasts, derived from the Max-Planck-Institute Earth System Model (MPI-ESM) over the period 1982–2013, on ENSO states by exploring significant agreements between two complementary analyses: hindcast skill
ENSO–composites, and observed ENSO–precipitation correlations. Such conditioned hindcast skill of meteorological drought is in MPI-ESM significant and reliable for lead months 2 to 4 in equatorial South America and southern North America during these regions’ dry ENSO phases. When a region’s dry ENSO phase is present at the initialization in autumn (ASO), predictions of meteorological drought show useful hindcast skill for the upcoming winter (DJF) in the respective region. The area of this useful hindcast skill is further enlarged in both regions when the respective region’s dry ENSO phase is already present in the antecedent summer (conditioning on ENSO states in JJA). Active ENSO events constitute windows of opportunity for drought predictions that are insufficiently covered by typical predictability analyses. For these windows, we demonstrate predictive skill at unprecedented lead times with a single model whose output is not bias corrected. This contribution exemplifies the value of ENSO-state conditioning in identifying these windows
of opportunity for regions that are arguably most affected by ENSO–precipitation teleconnections. During these regions’ dry ENSO phases, reliable predictive skill of meteorological drought is at long lead times particularly valuable and moves the frontier of meteorological drought predictions
Bodies under the Law: Feminist Artistic Practice and the Struggle to #Repealthe8th
No full textBefore the Law stands a door-keeper on guard. To this door-keeper
there comes a man from the country who begs for admittance to the
Law. But the door-keeper says that he cannot admit the man at the
moment. The man, on reflection, asks if he will be allowed, then, to
enter later. “It is possible,” answers the door-keeper, “but not at this
moment.” Since the door leading into the Law stands open as usual
and the door-keeper steps to one side, the man bends down to peer
through the entrance. When the door-keepers sees that, he laughs and
says: “If you are so strongly tempted, try to get in without my permission.
But note I am powerful. And I am only the lowest doorkeeper.
From hall to hall, keepers stand at every door, one more powerful
than the other.”
franz kafka, “before the law