NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Enough is Enough, or More is More? Testing the Influence of Foraminiferal Count Size on Reconstructions of Paleo-Marsh Elevation
No full textSalt-marsh foraminifera are sea-level proxies used to quantitatively reconstruct Holocene paleo-marsh elevations (PME) and subsequently relative sea level (RSL). The reliability of these reconstructions is partly dependent upon counting enough foraminifera to accurately characterize assemblages, while counting fewer tests allows more samples to be processed. We test the influence of count size on PME reconstructions by repeatedly subsampling foraminiferal assemblages preserved in a core of salt-marsh peat (from Newfoundland, Canada) with unusually large counts (up to 1595). Application of a single, weighted-averaging transfer function developed from a regional-scale modern training set to these ecologically-plausible simulated assemblages generated PME reconstructions at count sizes of 10–700. Reconstructed PMEs stabilize at counts sizes greater than ∼50 and counts exceeding ∼250 tests show little return for the additional time invested. The absence of some rare taxa in low counts is unlikely to markedly influence results from weighted-averaging transfer functions. Subsampling of modern foraminifera indicates that cross-validated transfer function performance shows only modest improvement when more than ∼40 foraminifera are counted. Studies seeking to understand multi-meter and millennial scale RSL trends should count more than ∼50 tests. The precision sought by studies aiming to resolve decimeter- and decadal-scale RSL variability is best achieved with counts greater than ∼75. In most studies seeking to reconstruct PME, effort is more productively allocated by counting relatively fewer foraminifera in more core samples than in counting large numbers of individuals. Target count sizes of 100–300 in existing studies are likely conservative and robust. Given the low diversity of salt-marsh foraminiferal assemblages, our results are likely applicable throughout and beyond north eastern North America
The ordinariness of struggle and exclusion: a view from across the north–south urban ‘divide’
No full textComparative literature on subaltern urbanism neglects inequalities among the poor that
mimic exclusionary processes to which they have been subjected, what we call ‘scalar imitation’. Using Robinson’s ‘launching’ tactic towards ‘generative comparison’, we identify and
explain the evolution of class differentiation within a resettlement colony in Delhi’s periphery, reference ‘glimpses’ of similar processes in literature on subaltern urbanism, and
discuss epistemological underpinnings of our analysis. We revise ‘local uniqueness’, which
Massey developed early in her career, and adhere to her later topological sensibilities and
Foucault’s ‘ascending analysis’. We conclude by highlighting the blurring of worlding and
place making processes
Neoliberalism, accounting, and the transformation of subjectivities in social work: A study on the implementation of personal budgets.
No full textThis study examines, through the case of Personal Budgets in England, the role of accounting in transforming the subjectivities of social workers through a Foucauldian lens. The findings show how accounting can reshape the subjectivities of social workers serving as intermediaries responsible for the frontline implementation of neoliberal reforms. It does so through an empirical demonstration on how accounting harnesses an individual's autonomy and responsibility to nurture “productive” relationships between citizens and the state. Furthermore, the findings also highlight the vulnerability of social workers’ subjectivities from the installation of an accounting infrastructure with multiple capabilities. This study contributes to a more nuanced understanding of how neoliberal policies transform subjectivities in social work and adds to the literature on accounting's biopolitical role in the reconstitution of such subjectivities. It also addresses the relative neglect of studies examining the role of accounting in neoliberal transformations of social work that, despite its significance for an ageing society and its attendant consequences for public finances, receives far less attention than healthcare reforms
Quasi-Static Pull-in: an Instability in Electrostatic Actuators
No full textWe identify a new instability in electrostatic actuators dubbed quasi-static pull-in. We report
experimental evidence of the instability and study its characteristics in two types of micro actuators
operating in ambient air. We found that the underlying mechanism is a fast-slow dynamic interaction
between slowly-varying electrostatic excitation and fast resonator response that instigate large non-resonant oscillatory orbits and eventually disappears in a global Shilnikov bifurcation. Based on these
findings, we formulate and present a new taxonomy of pull-in instabilities in electrostatic actuators
Global equitable access to vaccines, medicines and diagnostics for COVID-19: The role of patents as private governance
No full textIn June 2020, Gilead agreed to provide the USA with 500 000 doses of remdesivir—an antiviral drug which at that time was perceived to show promise in reducing the recovery time for patients with COVID-19. This quantity represented Gilead’s then full production capacity for July and 90% of its capacity for August and September. Similar deals are evident around access to proposed vaccines for COVID-19, and such deals are only likely to increase. These attempts to secure preferential access to medicines and vaccines, so-called vaccine/treatment nationalism, jeopardies supply of life-saving treatments and vaccines available elsewhere, and jeopardise global equitable distribution of such vaccines/treatments more generally. Much of the focus to date has been on States’ role in negotiating such deals. However, such developments also demonstrate the power patent holders have in controlling access to life-saving healthcare, determining who obtains access first and at what price. This article argues that the extent of control currently given to patent holders for COVID-19 must be questioned. This article demonstrates that patents have significant implications for healthcare acting as private governance tools over patented inventions. It is only by greater probing of patent holders’ role in delivering access to medicines, diagnostics and vaccines for COVID-19 that equitable global equitable access can be achieved
Review: Titley. Le Máirtín Coilféir. LeabhairCOMHAR. Baile Átha Cliath, 2018. Lgh 264. ISBN: 9780993494628. €20.
No full textSiar go 1966 a théann Máirtín Coilféir ag tús an leabhair seo ina bhféachann sé ‘le
teacht ar bhunfhoinsí ceapadóireachta Alan Titley’ (lch ix). Léirmheas Titley ar
An maith leat Spaigití le hÚna Ní Mhaoileoin an chéad sampla ceapadóireachta atá
aimsithe aige agus is fiú go mór an méid atá in athfhriotal aige a thabhairt anseo
arís
Is The Regulation Of Prostitution A Demand For Justice? La Réglementation de la prostitution est-elle une demande de justice?
No full textCet article aborde la demande de réglementation de la prostitution, cherchant à comprendre comment elle va au-delà des dimensions juridiques et institutionnelles de l’obtention des droits et est orientée vers une discussion sur la justice. L’étude s’est concentrée sur dix associations brésiliennes de prostituées et a été réalisée en deux étapes: a) l’analyse des messages sur les médias sociaux et des sites d’associations à propos de leurs revendications ; b) la réalisation d’entretiens semi-structurées. En conclusion, nous avons identifié trois piliers fondamentaux pour la conception d’une notion de justice qui inclue les professionnelles du sexe: a) la parité de la participation dans les interactions sociales et politiques, incluant la possibilité d’obtenir une représentation politique; b) la révision des normes injustes de reconnaissance, permettant à ces femmes d’être dignes de l’estime sociale et d’atteindre l’estime et la réalisation de soi ; c) la transformation des paradigmes qui régissent les relations de reconnaissance, responsables du développement de la précarité de la prostitution
Successful pollen dispersal modulates with flowering phase in field-hybridizing grasses
No full textGene-flow between intensively and extensively farmed grass populations is an ongoing feature of agroecological landscapes, especially in Atlantic northwestern. Europe. Adjoining population boundaries and in-field admixture of grass types via winter forage dispersal facilitates both in-field hybridisation and recruitment of immigrant seedlings. Here we examine the paternal hybridisation of one grass species (Lolium multiflorum, pollen donor) into the population of a second, fully inter-fertile, grass species (L. perenne, pollen receptor) via pollen-mediated gene-flow in an experimental field plot. Using weekly counts of successful pollination in 470 individual receptor plants based on paternity analysis in 4281 germinated F-1 seedlings, we determined the extent of evident hybridisation (hybrid progeny that show some paternal morphology) and silent hybridisation (hybrid progeny that show no paternal morphology) over the course of floral anthesis. Co-dominant morphological traits in F-1 progeny underestimated microsatellite-validated genetic hybridisation by approximately 30%, while background pollen competition dampened the overall rate of successful pollen donor pollination. Overall pollination from the donor plot followed a composite decline model. However over the course of floral anthesis the successful pollination pattern was changeable, and showed varying levels of affinity to three tested decline distribution models
High–fidelity numerical modelling of ocean wave energy converters
No full textThe exploitation of ocean wave energy as a renewable energy source is a challenging task.
However, once economically viable, wave energy can make a significant contribution
to the global renewable energy mix and, thereby, aid the fight against climate change.
To support this action, researchers and developers devise and optimise wave energy
converters, employing complementary analysis in physical and numerical wave tanks,
as well as during open ocean trials.
Compared to physical wave tanks, numerical wave tanks provide an excellent numerical
test–bed, allowing the investigation of different device designs and scales, with the
ability to passively measure relevant variables at arbitrary locations throughout the
numerical domain.
Generally, numerical wave tanks can achieve different levels of fidelity, at different
levels of computational cost. At the lower end of the fidelity spectrum, numerical
wave tanks based on linear potential flow theory assume linear conditions (small wave
amplitudes and body motions) and are computationally efficient tools for, e.g., early
stage design. However, the linear assumptions are pushed beyond the limits of validity
when large body motions or non–linear free surface deformations occur. In contrast, at
the upper end of the fidelity spectrum, numerical wave tanks based on computational
fluid dynamics can capture all relevant hydrodynamic non–linearities and produce high
resolution data sets, but require substantially more computational resources.
Reviewing the available literature of high–fidelity numerical modelling of wave energy
converters, knowledge gaps can be identified, hampering the exploitation of the fidelity
of the computational fluids dynamics framework. Focusing on high–fidelity numerical
modelling of wave energy converters, this thesis aims to fill some of the identified gaps.
In particular, this thesis investigates the aspects of numerical wave generation and
absorption, model validation, dynamic mesh motion methods, the flow field around
devices, scaling effects, and the assessment of energy maximising controllers for wave
energy converters within computational fluid dynamics based numerical wave tanks.
Ultimately, this thesis highlights the potential of high–fidelity numerical models of
wave energy converters to support device development, but also shows the complexity
of this modelling framework. With the additional knowledge, gained through the work
presented in this thesis, steps towards truly high–fidelity, wave–to–wire, models of
wave energy converters can be taken to push devices towards commercial viability and,
ultimately, transform wave energy from an untapped energy source to a significant
contributor to the global renewable energy mix
Updated Design of the CMB Polarization Experiment Satellite LiteBIRD
No full textRecent developments of transition-edge sensors (TESs), based on extensive experience in ground-based experiments, have been making the sensor techniques mature enough for their application on future satellite cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiments. LiteBIRD is in the most advanced phase among such future satellites, targeting its launch in Japanese Fiscal Year 2027 (2027FY) with JAXA’s H3 rocket. It will accommodate more than 4000 TESs in focal planes of reflective low-frequency and refractive medium-and-high-frequency telescopes in order to detect a signature imprinted on the CMB by the primordial gravitational waves predicted in cosmic inflation. The total wide frequency coverage between 34 and 448 GHz enables us to extract such weak spiral polarization patterns through the precise subtraction of our Galaxy’s foreground emission by using spectral differences among CMB and foreground signals. Telescopes are cooled down to 5 K for suppressing thermal noise and contain polarization modulators with transmissive half-wave plates at individual apertures for separating sky polarization signals from artificial polarization and for mitigating from instrumental 1/f noise. Passive cooling by using V-grooves supports active cooling with mechanical coolers as well as adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators. Sky observations from the second Sun–Earth Lagrangian point, L2, are planned for 3 years. An international collaboration between Japan, the USA, Canada, and Europe is sharing various roles. In May 2019, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, JAXA, selected LiteBIRD as the strategic large mission No. 2