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Children’s unscheduled primary and emergency care in Ireland: a multimethod approach to understanding decision making, trends, outcomes and parental perspectives (CUPID): project protocol
No full textIntroduction: The aim of this project is to determine the patterns, decision-making processes and parental preferences associated with unscheduled paediatric healthcare utilisation in Ireland. Unscheduled paediatric healthcare is outpatient care provided within primary care settings by general practitioners (GPs), emergency departments (EDs) located in paediatric and general hospitals, and out-of-hours services provided by cooperatives of GPs operating on a regional basis. This project will take a multimethod approach to analysing the utilisation of unscheduled paediatric healthcare nationally within the context of a significant change to the provision of healthcare for young children in Ireland-the introduction of free at the point of delivery GP care for all children aged under 6.
Methods and analysis: A multimethod approach consisting of three work packages will be employed. Using patient-level data, work package 1 will describe patterns of attendance at primary care, out-of-hours medical services and at EDs. Applying a difference-in-difference methodology, the impact of the introduction of free GP care for children under 6 on attendance will be assessed. Work package 2 will explore geospatial trends of attendance at EDs, identifying disparities in ED attendance by local area and demographic characteristics. Work package 3 will employ two discrete choice experiments to examine parental preferences for unscheduled paediatric healthcare and GP decision making when referring a child to the ED. The insights gained by each of the work packages individually and collectively will inform evidence-based health policy for the organisation of paediatric care and resource allocation.
Ethics and dissemination: Ethical approval for this research has been granted by University College Dublin, The Irish College of General Practitioners and the five participating hospitals. Results will be disseminated via publication in peer-reviewed journals, national and international conferences, and to relevant stakeholders and interest groups
Interacting Anyons in One and Two Dimensions: Strong Zero Modes in Anyon Chains and Non-Abelian Anyons on a Torus
No full textThe work in this thesis is split into two distinct parts. The first focuses on
the identification and construction of strong zero modes in non-abelian anyon
chains. We show a Tambara-Yamagami chain is equivalent to a Zn chiral
clock model. We then present numerical evidence for a strong zero mode in
an SU(2)4 anyon chain. By rewriting the chain as an XXZ spin chain, we
construct the zero mode explicitly in terms of spin operators. Finally, we
write the zero mode in the diagrammatic formalism of anyons.
In the second part, we construct a hopping model of non-abelian anyons
on a torus. We demonstrate that that the model possesses a translational
symmetry around each non-trivial torus loop. By calculating the level spacing
statistics of the model, we show that the model is non-integrable for Fibonacci
anyons, Ising anyons and abelian anyons. Lastly, we carry out the groundwork
for a future project. We add local interactions between the anyons to the
Hamiltonian. We then calculate the entanglement spectrum of a ground state
of the system after cutting the torus into two cylindrical pieces. The low lying
states of this spectrum have a linear dispersion relation for several systems we
examined, suggesting the entanglement spectrum is described by a conformal
field theory spectrum
Beyond the Courtroom Door: Exploring the Feasibility of Child Protection Mediation in Ireland
No full textIn recent years, the Irish child protection and welfare system has witnessed an unprecedented
level of increase in legislative and policy development. However, one area that remains
relatively unexplored in Ireland is the use of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, such
as mediation, in child protection proceedings. By contrast, in other jurisdictions, such as in
the United States of America and Canada, the incorporation of mediation within the child
protection system has increasingly been advocated as a genuine alternative to wholly
adversarial proceedings. Child protection mediation can provide parties with the opportunity
to improve family communication, reduce high levels of conflict, avoid excessive litigation
and reach a personalised agreement in the best interests of the child. Unfortunately, in
Ireland, child protection mediation has not heretofore been fully explored or researched and
a determination of its value in the protection of child safety and welfare has not been reached.
Therefore, building on existing research regarding alternative dispute resolution processes,
this thesis set out to explore the feasibility of child protection mediation in Ireland and the
extent to which is could aid child safety and welfare.
The research adopted a triangulated research methodology approach through the use of
surveys, semi-structured interviews and structured observations. The thesis analysed data
from three research phases: Phase 1 examined child protection mediation with national
stakeholders and the Irish judiciary; Phase 2 examined systems operating in certain
jurisdictions of the United States of America and Canada, in which child protection mediation
is increasingly recognised as an invaluable mechanism; and Phase 3 determined the extent to
which alternative dispute resolution mechanisms are currently being used in child welfare
and protection disputes in Ireland. The key finding from the study was that the
implementation of child protection mediation in Ireland could aid child welfare and improve
the quality of decision-making in child protection cases. However, this thesis is not advocating
that child protection mediation should be used in all child protection cases and, therefore, it
should not be seen as a panacea. Rather, this thesis presents the reasoned, evidence-based
argument for considering the use of mediation, in certain aspects of child protection
proceedings
Clustering Single-Cell Electropherograms by Genotype Through Unsupervised Machine Learning
No full textCells can be linked to the person who produced them by examining the information
contained within their DNA. The challenge that a forensic analyst faces is to question
whether a collection of cells obtained from a crime scene supports the hypothesis that a
person of interest was present. The primary challenge is that cell samples collected at
crime scenes typically contain material from an unknown number of genetic sources in an
unknown mixture ratio. The standard genetic measurement protocol used in crime labs
produces a single, combined signal for the entire collection of cells. If there are a small
number of contributors, cells are in good condition, and the mixture ratio is not overly
imbalanced, armed with this measurement, informative inference is possible for a trier of
fact. If, however, the sample is complex, containing more than three genetic sources, or if
the mixture ratio is highly imbalanced, or if genetic information within cells is degraded,
the ability to confidently extract meaning from the measured signal is impaired. In high
profile work published in the late 1990s it was demonstrated that genotype information
could be extracted from individual cells. When used in a forensics context, single-cell
methods offer a potential solution to the complex mixture problem by providing genetic
information per-cell rather than solely for the whole collection. Advances in those mea-
surement methods mean that single cell technologies may soon be practicable in crime
labs. Significant challenges on the interpretation of the signals that result, however, re-
main. Instead of having a single high dimensional signal to assess, the trier of fact now
has one for each cell. In the present thesis we take one step towards enabling the res-
olution of the complex mixture problem by proposing and assessing two methodologies
that would facilitate the downstream analysis of genetic signal from a collection of single
cells. Our goal is to query whether it is possible to use unsupervised machine learning to
accurately and efficiently gather single cell signals into groups by genotype. If possible,
it would greatly reduce the computational complexity of the evaluation of evidence and
improve its accuracy. The results in this thesis suggest that this approach is viable and
advances the potential of this societally important technology
Climate Change Policy Narratives and Pastoralism in the Horn of Africa: New Concerns, Old Arguments?
No full textWhile there is a growing body of knowledge on the effects of climatic and other forms of change on pastoralism in Africa, less is known about how recent policy responses and development interventions in the name of climate change and pastoral area development are shaped by certain discourses and narratives and by political interests. This is important because the simplifications that are often a characteristic of environmental policy narratives can fail to acknowledge the politicised nature of many environmental problems in local contexts. The pastoral drylands are no exception as claims to land and other resources remain contested by different actors.
Through content and discourse analyses of national policies, supplemented by interviews with key informants, this research examines the discourses and narratives around pastoralism found within contemporary policy in Ethiopia and Kenya, the interests of actors and actor-networks shaping those narratives, and their consequences for pastoralism.
The findings reveal that while concerns around climate change and calls for strengthening resilience of dryland communities have given a new impetus to pastoral development, old narratives that depict pastoral areas as unproductive and in need of modernisation remain deeply embedded in policy making. These open up spaces for the state, investors, and local elites to extend control over natural resources previously managed under customary institutions. The resultant climate policy solutions and dryland investments are, in turn, leading to new patterns of social differentiation and vulnerability among pastoralists. While providing some level of climate-risk preparedness, climate adaptation and resilience-building interventions on their own are insufficient to meet the needs of pastoralist communities. I argue that the extent and nature of dynamic change in the drylands of the HoA calls for political responses that address social inequities and power imbalances, that safeguard pastoralist’s resource rights, and that allow for more inclusive forms of governance
Emerging out of the “blur”: exploration, evaluation and significance of 3D N-glycans’ structure through molecular dynamic studies
No full textGlycosylation is the most abundant and diverse post-translational modification of proteins, contributing
to protein folding, trafficking, structural stability and dynamics, and function. Complex N-glycans are
a class of glycans found in eukaryotes, sharing a common pentasaccharide core structure. The
functionalization of the arms and the branching patterns are specific to different species, while the
complexity of the cellular biosynthetic pathways contribute to the broad variety and to the heterogeneity
of N-glycan sequences. By understanding at an atomistic level of detail the structural implications of
glycan sequence, we can relate the glycan sequence to its function in a given glycoprotein environment.
With this ultimate goal in mind I conducted, through conventional and enhanced molecular dynamics
(MD) methods, a series of systematic studies of mammalian, plant and invertebrate glycosylation
patterns, in order to characterize the intrinsic 3D architecture of different sets of commonly found and
synthetic (non-natural) glycan structures. From these results, we were able to disentangle the
complexity of N-glycans structure and dynamics through a new 3D representation, which describes N-
glycans not only in terms of the monosaccharides sequence, but that also includes anomeric
configurations and linkage specificity. Within this framework, we defined N-glycans as structured by
specific groups of monosaccharide units, named “glycoblocks”. This formulation incorporates 3D
structural information and uniquely dictates the overall conformational landscape of any given N -
glycan.
With this expanded viewpoint of sequence-to-structure dependencies in complex N-glycans, we applie d
this knowledge to glycoproteins, where variation of glycan composition affects its functiona l
capabilities. In the two cases presented in this thesis, we determined how changes in the sequence of
the N-glycans in the Fc region of IgG1 antibodies affect its effector function, and discovered for the
first time a unique functional role of the glycan shield in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. In both cases,
we observed that the conformational equilibria of complex N-glycans change to promote conformers
that can accommodate interactions with the glycoprotein environment, but this adaption does not
interfere with the intrinsic 3D glycan architecture, shifting a paradigm commonly assumed in structural
biology, where the protein dictates the glycan conformation by actively morphing it.
The work presented in this thesis shows an alternative atomistic perspective of N-glycans structure and
dynamics, where glycans play a starring role rather than a cameo as a simple protein “decoration”, while
the knowledge and insight gained could inform the ad-hoc design and modulation of sequence-to-
structure-to-function relationships of complex N-glycans, with applications in glycoengineering and
therapeutic and diagnostic strategies
Studies of Integrable One-Dimensional Quantum Systems
No full textIn this thesis, I use the Bethe Ansatz (BA) to study various one-dimensional
models. I first go through some background on the BA (both the coordinate
and algebraic forms). I start the study by using the BA to compare bound
state occurrences between the 2-particle XXZ, Bose–Hubbard, and Fermi–
Hubbard models. In the next chapter, I introduce ‘quenches’ and use the
BA in order to calculate quench overlaps in the Lieb–Liniger model. In the
final chapter, I introduce the spatial von Neumann bipartite entanglement
entropy and use the BA in order to calculate this entropy in the Lieb–Liniger
model
Shifting the Lens on Ethical Communications in Global Development: A Focus on NGDOs in Ireland
No full textConcerns about the ways in which issues, peoples and places have been represented in global
development (GD) communications have been raised since the 1980s. Criticisms have been
levelled at media and non-governmental development organisations (NGDOs), including for their
portrayal of colonial stereotypes, ‘us’ and ‘them’ binary relationships and identities, and their
use of images of people in the ‘global South’ as undignified victims who are objects of aid. As
communications are so central to all aspects of their work, NGDO representational practices can
undermine their otherwise stated commitments to equality and solidarity, compromise their work in
the area of public engagement, and threaten public trust leading to donor fatigue. With increasing
calls for equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and the decolonisation of aid (Peace Direct, 2021),
the question of whether NGDOs are part of the problem or the solution when it comes to their
communications is coming more to the fore.
To support improved communications practice in the context of these criticisms, NGDOs have
developed and signed up to various codes of good practice. The Dóchas Code on Images and
Messages (Dóchas Code) which was agreed among NGDOs in Ireland in 2007, is one such
voluntary code. Through signing it, organisations commit to ethical communications based on the
values of dignity, equality, fairness, solidarity and justice. They also commit to a range of principles
including that their images and messages would reflect these values, that people and issues related
to GD would be represented in context, and that NGDOs would avoid stereotyping, ensure that
people could tell their own stories, and that they would conform to the highest standards of human
rights in their communications.
The ethical communications’ emphasis in the Dóchas Code is on these values and principles and
what NGDOs do through their communications across organisations in relation to them. Drawing on
the wider literature (see Section 1), in this report, ethical communications is understood to include
how values and principles are reflected in NDGO representations of people, issues and situations,
along with the practices, decision-making structures, power relations, cultures and assumptions
which underpin and relate to them.
Though many NGDOs in Ireland have become signatories to the Dóchas code since 2007, and
it has been hailed as an example for how others might support ethical GD communications, in
recent years formal resourcing of the Dóchas Code has waned, while the communications and GD
contexts have shifted rapidly. In that context, it is important to understand how NDGOs in Ireland
have responded to these changes in terms of their communications, and whether the Dóchas Code
is still relevant, up-to-date enough, or sufficient to support ethical communications’ practice now,
many years after its introduction
I'm simply the best, better than all the rest: Narcissistic leaders and corporate fundraising success
No full textWe examine the relationship between leader grandiose narcissism, composed of admiration and rivalry, and corporate fundraising success in a sample of 2377 organizational leaders. To examine a large sample of leaders, we applied a machine-learning algorithm to predict leaders' personality scores based on leaders' Twitter profiles. We found that admiration was positively related to - while rivalry was negatively related to corporate fundraising success (in '000s). Analyses also showed that leader gender does not moderate this relationship, unlike initially expected. We discuss and compare our findings to previous work on narcissism and crowdfunding
Model for predicting perception of facial action unit activation using virtual humans
No full textBlendshape facial rigs are used extensively in the industry for facial animation of virtual humans. However, storing and manipulating large numbers of facial meshes (blendshapes) is costly in terms of memory and computation for gaming applications. Blendshape rigs are comprised of sets of semantically-meaningful expressions, which govern how expressive the character will be, often based on Action Units from the Facial Action Coding System (FACS). However, the relative perceptual importance of blendshapes has not yet been investigated. Research in Psychology and Neuroscience has shown that our brains process faces differently than other objects so we postulate that the perception of facial expressions will be feature-dependent rather than based purely on the amount of movement required to make the expression. Therefore, we believe that perception of blendshape visibility will not be reliably predicted by numerical calculations of the difference between the expression and the neutral mesh. In this paper, we explore the noticeability of blendshapes under different activation levels, and present new perceptually-based models to predict perceptual importance of blendshapes. The models predict visibility based on commonly-used geometry and image-based metrics