NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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The First Thing We Do, Let’s Kill All the Lawyers…Workplace Discipline and Legal Representation
No full textThe Irish Supreme Court’s decision in McKelvey v Iarnród Éireann/ Irish Rail enters into the ongoing discussion of the ‘legalisation’ of workplace dispute resolution
The impact of the earlySTEM program on teacher and student outcomes: The role of teachers’ involvement in the program development.
No full textThis research aimed to investigate and compare teachers‘ conceptualizations of their students‘ and their own outcomes of our earlySTEM program at the K4 level in two distinct roles: practitioners only and practitioners and program developers jointly. The study group included 66 teachers, 26 of whom had actively contributed to the development of the earlySTEM program. Teachers in both roles were supported by teacher guides, student books and workshops throughout the 8-month long academic year. Data was collected at the end of the academic year through an open-ended survey. The program developer teachers identified more student outcomes under more diverse categories while the practitioner teachers mainly concentrated on cognitive outcomes and limited their conceptualizations to the national curriculum. In addition, the program developer teachers valued their involvement in the program development process and expressed more diverse professional outcomes referring to different types of teacher knowledge
Coverage Analysis for UAV-Assisted Cellular Networks in Rural Areas
No full textDespite enhancement in rural areas is one of the main requirements in next generations of
wireless networks (i.e., 5G and 6G), the low expected profit prevents telecommunication providers from
investing in such sparsely populated areas. Hence, cost efficient alternatives are required for extending
the cellular infrastructure to these regions. A concrete mathematical model that characterizes and clearly
captures the aforementioned problem might be a key-enabler for studying the efficiency of any potential
solution. Unfortunately, the commonly used mathematical tools that model large scale wireless networks
are not designed to capture the unfairness, in terms of cellular coverage, suffered by exurban and rural
areas. In big cities, in fact, cellular deployment is essentially capacity driven and thus cellular base station
densities are maximum in the town centers and decline when getting far from them. In this paper, a new
stochastic geometry-based model is implemented in order to show the coverage spatial variation among
urban, suburban, and exurban settlements. Indeed, by implementing inhomogeneous Poisson point processes
(PPPs) it is possible to study the performance metrics in a realistic scenario where terrestrial base stations
(TBSs) are clustered around the urban center while outer aerial base stations (ABSs) are uniformly distributed
outside an urban exclusion zone. Based on this, our simulation results can quantify the improvement, in
terms of coverage probability, that even a surprisingly low density of ABSs can bring to peripheral regions
depending on the extension of the exclusion zone, enabling us to draw insightful considerations
Sterically Stabilized End-On Superoxocopper(II) Complexes and Mechanistic Insights into Their Reactivity with O–H, N–H, and C–H Substrates
No full textInstability of end-on superoxocopper(II) complexes, with respect to conversion to peroxo-bridged dicopper(II) complexes, has largely constrained their study to very low temperatures. This limits their kinetic capacity to oxidize substrates. In response, we have developed a series of bulky ligands, Ar3-TMPA (Ar = tpb, dpb, dtbpb), and used them to support copper(I) complexes that react with O2 to yield [CuII(η1-O2•–)(Ar3-TMPA)]+ species, which are stable against dimerization at all temperatures. Binding of O2 saturates at subambient temperatures and can be reversed by warming. The onset of oxygenation for the Ar = tpb and dpb systems is observed at 25 °C, and all three [CuII(η1-O2•–)(Ar3-TMPA)]+ complexes are stable against self-decay at temperatures of ≤−20 °C. This provides a wide temperature window for study of these complexes, which was exploited by performing extensive reaction kinetics measurements for [CuII(η1-O2•–)(tpb3-TMPA)]+ using a broad range of O–H, N–H, and C–H bond substrates. This includes correlation of second order rate constants (k2) versus oxidation potentials (Eox) for a range of phenols, construction of Eyring plots, and temperature-dependent kinetic isotope effect (KIE) measurements. The data obtained indicate that reaction with all substrates proceeds via H atom transfer (HAT), reaction with the phenols proceeds with significant charge transfer, and full tunneling of both H and D atoms occurs in the case of 1,2-diphenylhydrazine and 4-methoxy-2,6-di-tert-butylphenol. Oxidation of C–H bonds proved to be kinetically challenging, and whereas [CuII(η1-O2•–)(tpb3-TMPA)]+ can oxidize moderately strong O–H and N–H bonds, it is only able to oxidize very weak C–H bonds
Click Pt(IV)-Carbohydrates Pro-Drugs for Treatment of Osteosarcoma
No full textThe selectivity vs. cancer cells has always been a major challenge for chemotherapeutic agents and in particular for cisplatin, one of the most important anticancer drugs for the treatment of several types of tumors. One strategy to overtake this challenge is to modify the coordination sphere of the metallic center with specific vectors whose receptors are overexpressed in the tumoral cell membrane, such as monosaccharides. In this paper, we report the synthesis of four novel glyco-modified Pt(IV) pro-drugs, based on cisplatin scaffold, and their biological activity against osteosarcoma (OS), a malignant tumor affecting in particular adolescents and young adults. The sugar moiety and the Pt
scaffold are linked exploiting the Copper Azide Alkyne Cycloaddition (CUAAC) reaction, which has become the flagship of click chemistry due to its versatility and mild conditions. Cytotoxicity and drug uptake on three different OS cell lines as well as CSCs (Cancer Stem Cell) are describe
G-protein-coupled receptors as therapeutic targets for glioblastoma
No full textGlioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumour in adults. Treatments include surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Despite this, the prognosis remains poor, with an impacted quality of life during treatment coupled with brain tumour recurrence; thus, new treatments are desperately needed. In this review, we focus on recent advances in G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) targets. To date, the most promising targets are the chemokine, cannabinoid, and dopamine receptors, but future work should further examine the melanocortin receptor-4 (MC4R), adhesion, lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and smoothened (Smo) receptors to initiate new drug-screening strategies and targeted delivery of safe and effective GBM therapies
Agents in a privacy-preserving world
No full textPrivacy is a fluid concept. It is both difficult to define and difficult to achieve. The large amounts of data currently available at hands of companies and administrations increase individual concerns on what is yet to be known about us. For the sake of penalisation and customisation, we often need to give up and supply information that we consider sensitive and private. Other sensitive information is inferred from information that seems harmless. Even when we explicitly require privacy and anonymity, profiling and device fingerprinting may
disclose information about us leading to reidentification. Mobile devices and the internet of things make keeping our live private still more difficult. Agent technologies can play a fundamental role to provide privacy-aware solutions. Agents are inherently suitable in the heterogeneous environment in which our devices work, and we can delegate
to them the task of protecting our privacy. Agents should be able to reason about our privacy requirements, and may collaborate (or not) with other agents to help us to achieve our privacy goals. We are presented in the connected world with multiple interests, profiles, and also through multiple agentified devices. We envision our agentified devices to collaborate among themselves and with other devices so that our privacy preferences are satisfied. We believe that this is an overlooked field. Our work intends to start shedding some light on the topic by outlining the requirements and challenges where agent technologies can provide a decisive role
Flourishing During COVID-19: Exploration of the Factors That Impacted the Wellbeing of School Leaders During the Pandemic in Ireland
No full textThe COVID-19 outbreak impacted the wellbeing of school communities worldwide. However, little is known about the factors that helped individuals maintain their wellbeing amid the pandemic. The current paper presented selected results from two surveys carried out with primary school leaders in the Republic of Ireland in relation to the factors that protected their wellbeing during the COVID-19 school closure. The first survey took place two months after the school closure (Time 1,N= 939); the second one, three months after the school re-opening (Time 2, N= 861). Participants’ wellbeing was assessed using the Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF). The findings showed that participants’ wellbeing decline from Time 1 to Time 2. Descriptive analysis showed that approximately half of the sample at both times experienced flourishing. Finally, qualitative analysis identified similarities among flourishing and non-flourishing leaders in relation to them becoming more health-conscious and seeking social connection. However, compared with flourishing leaders, non-flourishing leaders reported feeling overwhelmed and seeking help. Equally, flourishing leaders reported scheduling personal time, professional development and having a more positive outlook, which may have affected their wellbeing. Discussed are the implications of the current study that can inform the policy and practice of school leaders in Ireland and worldwide
Corporate governance, life cycle, and payout precommitment: An emerging market study
No full textWe analyze the role of firm‐level corporate governancein determining the precommitment payout policy ofemerging market firms and investigate whether there is aprecommitment life‐cycle effect. Unlike previous studiesof U.S. firms, we find evidence of precommitment onlyamong relatively well‐governed firms, which combinegood governance with large dividend payouts to share-holders and large debt‐related repayments to creditors.We also document a strong precommitment life‐cycleeffect. Firms in the growth and mature stages of their lifecycle tend to use both debt and dividends to precommit toinvestors, with an increasing proportion of dividends intotal payout measures. Our results are robust to an arrayof control variables, alternate payout proxies, marketsetting, and firm‐level corporate governance, and itaddresses potential endogeneity concerns in the sample
Cytokine-induced natural killer cell training is dependent on cellular metabolism and is defective in obesity
No full textNatural killer (NK) cells are a population of innate immune cells that can rapidly kill cancer cells and produce cytokines such as interferon-γ. A key feature of NK cells is their ability to respond without prior sensitization; however, it is now well established that NK cells can possess memory-like features. After activation with cytokines, NK cells demonstrate enhanced effector functions upon restimulation days or weeks later. This demonstrates that NK cells may be trained to be more effective killers and harnessed as more potent cancer immunotherapy agents. We have previously demonstrated that cellular metabolism is essential for NK cell responses, with NK cells upregulating both glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation upon cytokine stimulation. Limiting NK cell metabolism results in reduced cytotoxicity and cytokine production. We have also demonstrated that defective NK cell responses in obesity are linked to defective cellular metabolism. In the current study, we investigated if cellular metabolism is required during the initial period of NK cell cytokine training and if NK cells from people with obesity (PWO) can be effectively trained. We show that increased flux through glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation during the initial cytokine activation period is essential for NK cell training, as is the metabolic signaling factor Srebp. We show that NK cells from PWO, which are metabolically defective, display impaired NK cell training, which may have implications for immunotherapy in this particularly vulnerable group