NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Developing and evaluating online COVID-centric advance care planning training and information resources for nursing staff and family members in nursing homes: the necessary discussions study protocol
No full textBackground: Nursing home residents are typically older adults with high levels of chronic illness and impairment.
As such, they are particularly susceptible to severe complications and mortality from COVID-19. Since all nursing
home residents are at increased risk, nursing home care staff need to know what residents would want to happen
should they become infected with COVID-19. This study aims to develop and evaluate advance care planning (ACP)
COVID-centric online training and information resources for nursing home staff and family members of residents, to
improve care at the end of life during a COVID-19 outbreak. Based on the findings we will develop implementation
guidelines for nursing homes to ensure wider impact and application during the pandemic and beyond.
Methods: The content of the training and information resources will be based on a rapid review of literature and
guidance on ACP in the context of COVID-19 and consultation with the study expert reference group. An
integrated communications company will then work alongside the research team to design the online training and
information resources. To evaluate the resources, we will employ a multiple case study design where a nursing
home (defined as an institutional setting in which nursing care is provided to older adults on-site 24 h a day) will
be the unit of analysis or ‘case’. The RE-AIM (reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, maintenance)
framework will guide the evaluation of implementation of the training and information resources. We will recruit
and interview staff and family members from between 6 and 9 nursing homes across Northern Ireland, England
and Scotland and gather quantitative data from a feedback survey included in the training and information
resources
1,8-Naphthalimide based fluorescent sensors for enzymes
No full textFluorescent probes have long been valuable tools in the study of biological systems. With the ever-expanding range of known enzymatic biomarkers for disease, it has never been more important to develop synthetically facile, sensitive, selective, and robust methods for the detection of these analytes. The 1,8-naphthalimide fluorophore presents an ideal scaffold on which to design a range of fluorescent probes for an unknowable diversity of biomarkers. With tuneable photophysical properties, synthetic versatility, photostability and a large Stokes shift, the 1,8-naphthalimide has, and continues to be, exploited for the detection of a wide range of enzymatic conversions. This review will outline the recent progress towards the design and synthesis of 1,8-naphthalimide fluorophores for the detection of selected enzymatic conversions
What are the Implications for Working-class Adult Learners within the structures of Higher Education?
No full textThis thesis sets out to explore the experiences of students within higher education in terms of
‘implications’ by where the values placed on success within the grading process has ill effects.
The values placed on students can be found within common meritocratic discourses that are
heavily infiltrated within the system, where ‘successful achievement’ is psychologically
constructed around hierarchal status. Such internally built constructs have its foundations
within middle class aspirations, where the grading system determines ‘crossing over to the
other side’ for working class students, that is, the greener side. Where achievement to reach
this side lies in a competitive structure that ‘operates’ on individual performance for a market
orientated economy. The heavily weighted values placed on working class students to achieve
to such aspirations have ‘voiced’ their implications of competing in such structures within
higher education. Where educational policies and discourses that governs these operations are
having serious ill effects for some working-class students. Although, the education system
professes a sense of overall human wellbeing and a prosperous life through the perception of
social mobility, the findings within this research would suggest otherwise, where social,
emotional, and psychological damage has occurred for some working-class students. Where
such operational structures are embedded with unequal practices, which will be emphasised in
this research. This study has attempted to unveil the real and honest truth through the
experiences of these students to highlight concerning issues for working class backgrounds
who enter in the realms of the dominant structure that is highly middle class led. This thesis
can only work off its limitations, sadly, where all findings cannot be included. This study
involves only three participants and therefore cannot give a general perspective. Additionally,
and in support to these findings, a statistical account will be offered to further support such
issues. The themes that have concerningly arose within these findings would require further
exploration in order to address a transformation within policy agendas and ideologies where
the use of such discourse of ‘working hard and you will succeed’ are at the core of such ill
effects
Geography of Heart: Home and Belonging in the light of Adult and Community Education
No full text…‘I am comforted by the knowledge that I could die here. This is the
way I imagine the end’ claims hooks (2009, p. 6) who has been the main
inspiration for this personally professional academic journey in search of
home and a sense of true belonging in the context of adult and community
education. Being an adult educator myself, it made sense to use adult
education as the setting for my research; however, firstly, adult education
is concerned with issues of belonging – particularly regarding community
education which offers an opportunity to look at claims of whether it
encourages grounding-as-belonging or inspires mobility. Therefore, linking personal with
professional, employing qualitative research with elements of an autoethnographic approach
and semi-structured interviews, the data has been collected, the findings have been derived and
compared in relation to reviewed literature and the most significant discoveries have been
summarised: although finding or creating home – our final destination - can take a lifetime or
just a glimpse of a moment, there is no single definition when it comes to describing it. The
concept is perceived individually and uniquely by everyone and can consist of many elements:
people, places, familiarity, feelings and a sense of ownership. Alternatively, the notion of self-acceptance and finding home within yourself is a significant factor in the journey of happiness
and contentment. Furthermore, comparing the notions of home and belonging, it is evident that
two ideas interconnect but also vary at the same time. While the thought of home may
incorporate a number of essential elements, the fluid concept of belonging revolves around
aspects of family or community. Finally, the multi-dimensional nature of adult and community
education plays a role which can be liberating, grounding or even both at the same time, where
liberating is perceived deeper than just an act of physical freedom and grounding revolves
around a number of positive ideas such as a sense of purpose, security, self-love and belonging
Arguments for a post-pandemic Public Employment Eco System in Ireland
No full textThe past was a different country, and the future will be different too. The
Covid-19 pandemic has brought in its wake massive unemployment, shifting
attention away from pre-pandemic labour market challenges. More labour
market turbulence can be expected in the context of the fourth industrial
revolution, digitalisation and automation, as well as climate-change-related
transitions. In this context of such acute uncertainty, flexible, adaptable public
employment institutions are a core requirement. Concerned with institution
building, this paper explores how to maximise synergies in existing Public
Employment Services (PES) while developing an ecosystem that can utilise all
other available resources across public, private and not-for-profit national and
local institutions. The political context for policy and institutional reform is a
centralised, relatively small and open state which demonstrates some capacity
to learn from previous crises and institutional reforms to tackle
unemployment. The concept of a Strategic Action Field is used to deepen our
understanding of the structure and agency dynamics underlying PES reform in
the context of quasi-markets. A more systematic approach to institutional
reform is needed that values a diversity of actors – this is visualised as a Public
Employment Eco System (PEES) embedded in processes of network
governance and collaborative innovation
On the Approximation of Moments for Nonlinear Systems
No full textModel reduction by moment-matching relies upon the
availability of the so-called moment. If the system is nonlinear,
the computation of moments depends on an underlying specific
invariance equation, which can be difficult or impossible to solve.
This article presents four technical contributions related to the
theory of moment matching: first, we identify a connection between
moment-based theory and weighted residual methods. Second, we
exploit this relation to provide an approximation technique for the
computation of nonlinear moments. Third, we extend the defini-
tion of nonlinear moment to the case in which the generator is
described in explicit form. Finally, we provide an approximation
technique to compute the moments in this scenario. The results
are illustrated by means of two examples
The effects of emotion and social consensus on moral decision-making
No full textThis study investigated the influence of different emotions and social consensus on moral decision-making using a mixed 2 (emotion: positive, negative) × 2 (social consensus: high, low) experimental design. The results showed that the main effect of social consensus was significant: the moral decision-making level of participants under the condition of low social consensus was lower than that of participants under the condition of high social consensus, while no main effect of emotion emerged. Second, the results showed that emotion and social consensus have interactive effects on moral decision-making. When social consensus was high, there was no significant difference in moral decision-making between individuals with positive emotions and individuals with negative emotions. When social consensus was low, individuals with negative emotions were more likely to make immoral decisions than individuals with positive emotions. These results reveal that emotion and social consensus work together in affecting moral decision-making
Experiential Learning in the Large Classroom Using Performative Pedagogy
No full textExperiential learning (EL) is widely believed to lead to enhanced student engagement. This form of learning, however, may be difficult to implement in the large class sizes so common today. This case study describes an initiative
involving performative pedagogy using interdisciplinary teaching and learning in an undergraduate class of 150 students from a change management module in the School of Business and an ensemble performance module in the Music
Department in an Irish University. The students utilized acting, music, dance, and role-play in a large enrolment setting. Post program surveys and focus group interviews of students found that students responded positively to the
initiative. Students also rated the class as more engaging than other subjects in which they were registered. Reflective essays written by students showed evidence of deep reflection and learning and these formed the basis for our discussion of the implications of this approach for management education. Future research should examine the effects of performative learning on student performance in terminal examinations
On the feasibility of energy-maximising controllers for an Argentinian wave energy system
No full textWave energy has attracted significant attention during the past decades worldwide, due to the significant amount of
energy available in ocean waves. However, to date, wave energy
systems have not reached commercial viability. As such, appropriate control system technology is considered a key driver to
achieve commercialisation of wave energy converters (WECs). As
of today, Argentina has not taken an active part in the discussion
and development of suitable control techniques to harvest this
energy resource, despite the geographic opportunities and the
vast experience that Argentina has acquired and demonstrated
in other non-carbon-based energy sources. In the light of this, we
provide, in this paper, a feasibility assessment of three state-of-the-art control methodologies for wave energy harvesting systems,
for a WEC prototype developed in Argentina. To this end,
representative operating conditions, characteristic of the wave
resource in the coastal area of Argentina, are considered. Finally,
the performance of each controller is discussed, together with a
set of conclusions and potential directions on the fundamental
design of the WEC prototype from a control-oriented perspective
Common shock, different paths? Comparing social policy responses to COVID-19 in the UK and Ireland
No full texthe UK and Ireland responded to the rapid health and economic impacts of COVID-19 by supporting in comes through job retention and job loss instruments, However distinct policy legacies, political and institutional differences between the two countries mean critical differences in both the nature and the relative weight placed on these instruments. The UK income support package was announced in one go and centred on a generous, newly created Job Retention Scheme as well as an enhanced Universal Credit for people who became unemployed. Ireland, by contrast, created a new, more generous social security payment, the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, while a less prominent job retention scheme followed a week later. These initial decisions generated distinct policy dilemmas during a second round of policy changes, in which Ireland sought to reintegrate the more generous Pandemic Unemployment Payment into the mainstream welfare system, while UK sought to ensure that the Job Retention Scheme was only supporting retained (or“viable”) jobs. A second wave of infections in October 2020, requiring new restrictions, led both nations to make substantial retreats from resolving these core policy dilemmas