NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
Not a member yet
18159 research outputs found
Sort by
Turning machines: a simple algorithmic model for molecular robotics
No full textMolecular robotics is challenging, so it seems best to keep it simple. We consider an abstract molecular robotics model based on simple folding instructions that execute asynchronously. Turning Machines are a simple 1D to 2D folding model, also easily generalisable to 2D to 3D folding. A Turning Machine starts out as a line of connected monomers in the discrete plane, each with an associated turning number. A monomer turns relative to its neighbours, executing a unit-distance translation that drags other monomers along with it, and through collective motion the initial set of monomers eventually folds into a programmed shape. We provide a suite of tools for reasoning about Turning Machines by fully characterising their ability to execute line rotations: executing an almost-full line rotation of 5 π / 3 radians is possible, yet a full 2 π rotation is impossible. Furthermore, line rotations up to 5 π / 3 are executed efficiently, in O ( log n ) expected time in our continuous time Markov chain time model. We then show that such line-rotations represent a fundamental primitive in the model, by using them to efficiently and asynchronously fold shapes. In particular, arbitrarily large zig-zag-rastered squares and zig-zag paths are foldable, as are y -monotone shapes albeit with error (bounded by perimeter length). Finally, we give shapes that despite having paths that traverse all their points, are in fact impossible to fold, as well as techniques for folding certain classes of (scaled) shapes without error. Our approach relies on careful geometric-based analyses of the feats possible and impossible by a very simple robotic system, and pushes conceptional hardness towards mathematical analysis and away from molecular implementation
Make me good…just not yet? The (potential) impact of the Adequate Minimum Wage Directive.
No full textThe Adequate Minimum Wage Directive has proven to be one of the most contentious pieces of EU labour legislation, with a variety of opinion on what impact the Directive may have, its significance, and its implications for labour relations regulation across the EU. This contribution focuses on the implications of the Directive for collective bargaining coverage in the EU, and takes a broadly optimistic view of what the impact of the Directive might be by using the example of Ireland as a case study. Ireland is one of the countries with a relatively low collective bargaining coverage rate, where measures will be required to promote collective bargaining. However, more broadly, the Irish journey in recent years seems to mirror that of the EU Institutions. From an emphasis on austerity measures and pressures to de-regulate following the financial crisis, allied with judicial decision-making which seemed to favour economic rights over social rights, to a “paradigm shift” of a (re)emphasis on social Europe, and on collective rights. The paper looks at the impact the Directive (pre-transposition) has already had in terms of social dialogue and collective bargaining, before turning to consider some of the transposition challenges. In the concluding section, the paper reflects on some lessons that might be of wider application across the Member States
Psychiatric Illness and Clinical Negligence: When Can “Secondary Victims” Successfully Claim for Damages? Recent Developments from the United Kingdom
No full textOn January 11, 2024, the United Kingdom (U.K.) Supreme Court rendered its judgment in Paul v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust , restricting the circumstances in which “secondary victims” can successfully claim for damages in clinical negligence cases. This ruling has provided welcome clarity regarding the scope of negligently caused “pure” psychiatric illness claims, but the judgment may well prove controversial. In this article, I trace the facts and opinion from the majority and also discuss an important dissenting opinion. I then reflect on what the ruling means for psychiatric illness claims by secondary victims, and more broadly on the implications for clinical negligence law. I suggest that while much-needed clarity has been injected in this area of the law, it is difficult, reading the majority of the Supreme Court’s emphasis on the restricted scope of a medical practitioner’s duty, to envision a scenario in which secondary victim could ever succeed in a clinical negligence context
Achieving Procedural Parity in Managing Access to Genomic and Related Health Data: A Global Survey of Data Access Committee Members
No full textData access committees (DACs) are critical players in the data sharing ecosystem. DACs review requests for access to data held in one or more repositories and where specific constraints determine how the data may be used and by whom. Our team surveyed DAC members affiliated with genomic data repositories worldwide to understand standard processes and procedures, operational metrics, bottlenecks, and efficiencies, as well as their perspectives on possible improvements to quality review. We found that DAC operations and systemic issues were common across repositories globally. In general, DAC members endeavored to achieve an appropriate balance of review efficiency, quality, and compliance. Our results suggest a similarly proportionate path forward that helps DACs pursue mutual improvements to efficiency and compliance without sacrificing review quality
On (not) becoming machine: countering algorithmic thinking through digital performance art
No full textRegular engagement with technologies through habit enables these to infiltrate our lives as we are constituted through our machines. This provocation underpins the digital performance art works Ghost Work and Friction , which involve creative repurposing of everyday digital technologies as poetic operations, presenting an embodiment of algorithms that engages with their performativity. The execution of these performance algorithms are interventions into data collection, crafting feminist fabulations in the algorithmic empire of what Couldry and Mejias refer to as data colonialism. Using methods of data feminism in conjunction with Hui's philosophy of technology, these performances cultivate aesthetic experiences that are multifaceted instances of data visceralization. Ghost work and Friction use artistic idioms thick with meaning, reflexively engaging with processes of contingency and recursivity present in human-technological relations. The resulting digital performances are aesthetic experiences that are affective and ambivalent, introducing alternative logics to hegemonic algorithmic thinking that emphasizes extraction and optimization
A Digital Model for the Prologue Voltage Control Filter
No full textThe Prologue polyphonic synthesizer features a voltage control filter (VCF) employing an
original topology. This paper examines its circuit and extracts a flowchart, which yields a set
of analog filter equations. From these, the authors were able to develop a transfer function to
describe its ideal linear time-invariant form. Then a linear digital version of the filter to validate
the analysis was put forward. Noting that the filter operation within the synthesizer is fairly
nonlinear, modifications yielding a nonlinear model of the VCF are proposed. These were
compared with the outputs of the original analog filter, and it was found that they approximate
them consistently
Examining Overshadowing and Blocking in Human Spatial Learning using a Virtual Water Maze
No full textSpatial navigation and learning have been previously investigated in animal and human studies with two major theories dominating the literature, associative learning theory (Pearce, 2009) and cognitive mapping theory (O Keefe & Nadel, 1978). Cue competition is a key feature of associative learning theory. Overshadowing and blocking are two cue competition effects which have featured in previous animal and human studies. The role of landmarks has been examined in animal studies using the Morris water maze (Morris, 1984). This task requires animals to navigate around a circular pool of water and locate a hidden platform. Animals use cues in the environment to learn the hidden platform's location over a series of trials. NavWell (Commins et al., 2020) is a virtual Morris Water Maze task developed by the Commins Lab to study human spatial behaviour and learning. This thesis examined overshadowing and blocking in healthy young human participants using NavWell. In experiment 1 (overshadowing), landmarks positioned near the goal controlled searching behaviour more than the distal landmarks demonstrating an overshadowing effect. Additionally, distal landmarks appeared to have been ignored suggesting that participants use a strategy requiring the least effort when learning. In experiment 2 (blocking), a single landmark learned in phase 1 did not interfere with learning of a novel landmark introduced in phase 2 and as such, a blocking effect did not occur. As cues were equidistant and proximity was not a factor, all cues were treated equally by participants and integrated into a cognitive map. Evidence for an associative account of learning (experiment 1), support for a cognitive mapping-based approach to learning (experiment 2) and the influence of proximal cues were discussed
Foreign national prisoners, discrimination and race relations in Irish prisons
No full textRecent reports have highlighted the discriminatory treatment endured by foreign national prisoners (FNPs) in particular Irish prisons, but one key voice has been relatively absent from the discourse to date – the perspectives of the prisoners themselves. This article aims to complement these “top-down” perspectives with a comprehensive “bottom-up” analysis rooted in the experiences of 82 FNPs and explore the extent to which they were subject to racism, discrimination and differential treatment by prison staff and fellow inmates across eight Irish prisons. The article begins by outlining the methodology of the qualitative study. It then presents our findings in two parts. The first part focuses on FNPs’ personal views of their relationships with staff in Irish prisons. The second part explores the extent to which these FNPs interact with Irish prisoners and prisoners from other jurisdictions. The article reveals that forming relationships with staff and fellow inmates is challenging for certain FNPs due to racial prejudice, language barriers and segregation based on nationality
The burning armchair: can jurisprudence be advanced by experiment?
No full textIs the field of general jurisprudence catching up – or is it simply getting distracted? Whereas legal philosophy has always featured claims about the content of the folk concept of law, it is only in the last few years that it has begun to self-consciously test those claims. Kenneth Himma’s recent review of this effort in Jurisprudence is a milestone: it reveals X-Jur as having progressed to the point of attracting broader philosophical attention, and it challenges X-Jur’s practitioners to persuade those not already convinced of the potential of alternatives to the analytic method. I take Himma’s critique as an opportunity to sketch some preliminaries for a theory of experimental jurisprudence, considering, in turn, the nature of jurisprudential truth, the role of expertise, and how empirical data might best be interpreted to help adjudicate claims about the content of the folk concept. I conclude with a brief discussion of the field’s future
A Qualitative Study of Women’s Long-Term Experience of Trauma More Than Ten Years After Exiting Domestic Abuse
No full textCoercive control is a global phenomenon that has a serious impact on victims’ mental,
physical, sexual, and financial wellbeing. The aim of this study was to explore
qualitatively the long-term impacts on women who had left coercive control
relationships more than ten years previously. It was carried out to extend the empirical
understanding about the ongoing role coercive control continues to have in women’s
lives years after they exited those relationships and thereby open the possibilities for
policy and procedural changes to prevent long-term harm. Initially a review of the
literature demonstrated that this specific area had hitherto received scant attention.
Initially this entailed a review coercive control through a feminist and trauma focused
lens to support the study of coercive control in both the private and the public domains
and the impact of the dominant hegemonies through a feminist analysis of patriarchy.
Ethical approval was acquired and a loosely-structured interview schedule was used
for in-depth interviews with seven women who fitted the study criteria. This was
thematically explored in three phases: the relationship; breaking free and their current
lives. The key findings illustrate that the women who experienced coercive control
continue to live with the trauma they experienced with the perpetrators and that it
continues to significantly affect the women’s lives physically, psychologically and
financially. Furthermore, it emerged that the effects of their help-seeking encounters
within the public domain, especially within the judicial and financial sectors,
reactivated and exacerbated the traumas they experienced within the private sphere.
Moreover, they indicated that in their experience public discourse pertaining to
coercive control continues to blame and shame the victim resulting in their only
sharing their experiences of the abuse they experienced with a small trusted group of
friends. It is evident that significant research has taken place leading to substantial
policies in relation to coercive control. However, this study demonstrates that it is
imperative that hegemonic patriarchal discourse that the participants encountered be
addressed for victims of coercive control, and women in general, to ensure a safe
egalitarian society