NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Fault management in wave energy systems: Diagnosis, prognosis, and fault-tolerant control
No full textWave energy converters (WECs) are a promising technology to contribute to the mix of renewable energies in
the pursuit of a cleaner energy future. However, the demanding environment in which WECs operate presents
a challenge from reliability and economic perspectives. There is a high likelihood of fault occurrence on WEC
components, especially in offshore locations. While the control technology field can enhance energy extraction
from WECs, any fault compromises the performance of the system and, in the worst case, can halt energy
production, directly impacting revenue generation. Dealing with unexpected faults leads to more frequent
maintenance operations, resulting in higher operational expenses. Similarly, strengthening WEC components
to withstand harsh conditions comes with increased capital costs. Thus, fault management becomes crucial,
whether it involves avoiding operation and maintenance (O&M) entirely or transitioning O&M to planned
activities through a fault management mechanism (condition monitoring, fault-tolerant control, etc.), whereby
the WEC maintains a certain level of system performance (or prevents emergency shutdown), eliminating
the necessity for immediate intervention while still generating energy. In this regard, this study explores
WEC components that are most likely to fail, also comprehensively covering WEC fault diagnosis, prognosis,
condition monitoring and fault-tolerant control methods covered in the literature. Additionally, unexplored
possibilities are pointed out, and future directions are suggested
Is there a global-business-subculture effect on gender differences? A multisociety analysis of subordinate influence ethics behaviors
No full textWhile business studies on gender have increased, they continue to adopt traditional approaches with limited samples drawn from general populations (e.g., students and teachers). In contrast, we investigate gender differences with our focus solely on business professionals. Specifically, we study 40 societies using the four dimensions of subordinate influence ethics (SIE) behaviors: pro-organizational behaviors, image-management behaviors, self-serving behaviors, and maliciously intended behaviors. We employed crossvergence theory as our theoretical foundation, with its two competing forces, sociocultural (gender differences) and business-ideological (no gender differences), which translates to a global-business-subculture effect. We found no gender differences for three of the four SIE behaviors and minimal differences for the fourth for our sample of business professionals. Thus, our findings differ significantly from those of previous general-population samples. We also tested for societal-level moderating effects of collectivism and individualism using the business values dimensions (BVD) measure. Our individualism findings, the primary values dimension associated with business success, in conjunction with findings from other studies, support our nonsignificant SIE differences findings. In sum, the truly minimal gender differences that we found provide strong support for the perspective that there is a global-business-subculture effect. Our findings also suggest that ethical differences between genders are minimal across the global workforce. We discuss the implications for international business
Sharing our Stories: From Sierra Leone to Maynooth: Victoria Ballah shares her story…
No full textI’m from Hastings – a town about 16 kilometres
from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. I was
born in 1997. My mother died when I was seven,
leaving me and my two sisters, Olive and Catherine,
and my brother Maclean, in the care of my father.
Because I was the youngest, I was sent to live with
my aunt nearby. Much later, when I was in fi rst year at
University, I moved back to live with my father, but sadly
he died in 2019, when I was in my fi nal year. My father
was from the Limba, one of the oldest ethnic groups in
Sierra Leone. They live in the north and north west. My
mother was a Krio. The Krio are descendants of freed
slaves and some of her ancestors were Nigerian. My
dad was an Anglican, my mother a Methodist. I grew
up Methodist and went to a local non-denominational
primary school in Hastings and attended the Annie
Walsh Secondary School from 2010
A Darker Shade of Green: The Twisted Roots of the Irish Banjo
No full textTraversing the intervening period between Hans Sloane’s documentation of early banjos in
Jamaica in 1688 and the introduction of a later version of the same instrument to the blackface minstrel show by Irish American blackface minstrel entertainers in the 1830s and 1840s, A
Darker Shade of Green: The Twisted Roots of the Irish Banjo investigates the profound, and
often troubling, transformation of performance practices and associated sociopolitical discourses connected with the early banjo through the instrument’s intersection with Irishness in the Atlantic world. Combining extensive archival research in America, England, Ireland,
and in repositories online, with a rich historicisation of banjo performance repertoire and
practices in the colonial West Indies and in antebellum America, critical biographical case studies of individuals and communities connected with the banjo during these periods are complemented with a parallel analysis of the creolized roots of the early blackface minstrel performance repertoire in eighteenth century Anglo-American musical theatre and in African
American banjo/fiddle tunes. Against the rather white-washed treatment both men have received up to now, in the study I identify blackface minstrel banjo-players Joel Walker
Sweeney and Dan Emmett to have both played important roles in aligning the banjo with a new–and profoundly influential–kind of overt racial mockery in antebellum print media and
popular culture. Setting the historical trajectory of the study within a wider frame of reference that begins in the seventeenth century period in which the African and Irish diaspora first came into extensive contact with one another in the Americas I argue that a retracing of the Irish
ancestry of blackface minstrel performers in antebellum America, and Irish slave owners and
planters in the colonial West Indies can serve as a decolonial praxis that that acknowledges the role that these and other members of the Irish diaspora played in the history of settler
colonialism and plantation slavery in this region. Key research questions animating the study
include: what the banjo’s history can tell us about race, music and power in American history
and what the story of historical banjo performance can tell us about the creation of identity for
the African and Irish diaspora in Atlantic world
ERC PatentsInHumans: Year 2 Report
No full textBuilding upon work in year 1, a key part of the research in year 2 focused on
developing deeper understandings of the potential bioethical issues posed by
patents over technologies related to how we treat, use and modify the human
body. Research was conducted to develop a deeper understanding of scope of
the ‘bioethical’ implications which can arise in such contexts, and how
‘bioethics’ as a term is defined within the project. Relatedly, Prof McMahon
developed further her research refining the five-category taxonomy used within
the project of patentable ‘technologies’ related to how we treat, use or modify
the human body, namely: 1) patentable ‘technologies’ that are derived from the
body such as isolated human genes which are patentable in Europe; 2)
patentable ‘technologies’ which comprise of tools acting on the body, such as
tools used in diagnostic or surgical processes; 3) patentable ‘technologies’ that
are chemical substances created outside the body but which treat the body,
such as medicines; 4) patentable ‘technologies’ that are integrated with the
body, such as elements of medical devices; and 5) ‘technologies’ which are
intended to be used in ways that can enhance the human body, or alter the
creation of future human life. The research led to refining of category 5, as
although some technologies within categories 4 and 5 may overlap (such as
where technologies have dual uses), for the purposes of category 5 the project
is interested in the distinct bioethical implications posed by patents over
technologies which are intended to be used in ways which could enhance the
body in significant ways, or technologies that are intended to be used to
create/change human life, such as in the assisted human reproductive or gene
editing contexts
The Directive on the European Disability Card and European Parking Card: Promoting Disability Rights and Making the EU “More than a Market”?
No full textThe recent adoption of the Directive on the European Disability Card and the European Parking Card has been heralded as a significant step forward in advancing the rights of persons with disabilities to move freely and enjoy a range of services across the European Union (EU) on an equal basis with others. Yet, this Directive only concerns disability benefits and special conditions in access to services outside the perimeter of social security and social assistance, which raises questions as to whether the envisaged cards truly address the main hurdles encountered by disabled persons in moving across the EU. This article, further having outlined the trajectory that led to the enactment of the Directive, critically discusses its key tenets, and interrogates its strengths and limits in advancing disability rights. On the basis of this analysis, but zooming out of the discrete disability perspective, this article concludes with some reflections on what this Directive tells us about the EU’s longstanding commitment, recently reiterated in the Letta Report, to be “much more than a market”
The psychological complex in contemporary education policy
No full textThis paper brings together work in critical psychology and network governance to build a distinctive critique of how education policy mobilises the psychological complex to reinscribe deficit accounts of children and young people. While contemporary work in the critical analysis of the global educational policy assemblage has uncovered the undercurrents of scientism working to frame mainstream discourses, this paper excavates the manifestation of this through the ‘psy-complex’, which works to construct specific, narrow visions of possibilities and pupil subjectivities. To achieve this, the paper draws on critical psychological research to interrogate the dominance of, and position awarded to, psychology in the research report that informs the education inspection framework used by Ofsted to inspect schools in England. The discourses and assumptions produced and reproduced through this resource are of profound influence in wider constructions of, understandings of, and responses to educational contexts. We argue that the framework draws on the psy-complex to reinscribe deficit accounts of children and young people while perpetuating systemic inequities. We call for a more critical approach to research in psychology and education within which cultural, social, and historical contexts of inequality in education and childhood are deployed in explanations of educational inequalities
Numerical Analysis of Counter-Flow Converging Channels for Uniform Temperature Distribution in PV Panels to Enhance Energy Conversion Efficiency
No full textEffective thermal management is crucial for enhancing photovoltaic efficiency, especially
under high solar irradiation. Traditional water-cooling methods, including serpentine tubes and
parallel channels, face challenges like temperature inhomogeneity. Recent innovations, such as
porous cooling channels, fin turbulators, and converging geometries, improve temperature
uniformity and photoelectric conversion efficiency. While limited research exists on
converging channels, no studies have explored counter-flow converging channels for PV
cooling. This study employs Ansys Fluent 2024 R2 to assess counter-flow converging water
channels as an alternative cooling method. The impact of various convergence angles on
temperature reduction is analysed under irradiation levels from 600 W/m² to 1050 W/m²,
demonstrating significant improvements over uncooled PV panels. Findings demonstrate that
channels with larger convergence angles consistently exhibit enhanced thermal performance
compared to those with smaller angles. Under an irradiance of 600 W/m², the channel with a
1.28° convergence angle achieved a temperature reduction of 13.24 K, surpassing the 11.45 K
decrease observed in the straight channel. This disparity became more pronounced under higher
irradiance conditions, such as 1050 W/m², where the maximum convergence angle channel
achieved a temperature drop of 23.73 K, compared to 20.55 K for the straight channel.
Furthermore, increasing the convergence ratio improves temperature uniformity across the
solar cell, as indicated by lower standard deviation values at higher angles, which helps reduce
thermal stress and enhance the panel's operational stability. However, increasing the
convergence ratio also raises the pressure drop, leading to higher pumping power requirements
and operational costs. The optimal channel design must balance thermal and hydraulic
efficiency to maximize cooling effectiveness while minimizing energy consumption
Schubert’s Piano Works for Four Hands. Performative and Pedagogical Insights into a Selection of Schubert’s Piano Duets
No full textFranz Schubert’s engagement with piano duets began at the age of thirteen and continued until his untimely death in 1828. He elevated the piano duet to a new degree of sophistication, composing extensively for the medium – 34 works. He was a pioneer in this genre and no composer has rivalled his legacy since then in terms of the quantity and quality of his piano duets. There was a point in time during which the popularity of the four-hand genre rivalled that of solo piano, though many of these works were transcriptions/arrangements. Schubert’s works though were almost exclusively original piano duets. His output consists of extremely diverse genres and forms including sonatas, polonaises, marches, dances, variations, fantasies, overtures, rondos, divertissements, and a fugue. Of all his opus numbers published during his lifetime, his piano duets were second only to his Lieder in number. His artful complexity in the genre paved the path for Schumann, Brahms, and later composers to explore this area, as Schubert attracted new attention to the genre as a serious artform.
However, despite Schubert’s efforts in transcending the boundaries of the piano duet, the significance of his piano duets remains largely unexplored or at least significantly unaddressed in scholarship. Why is this? This thesis will investigate contributing factors that until now, have not been given significant attention. Much of the scholarly efforts in the nineteenth and twentieth century on Schubert were centred around his Lieder – though I argue Schubert was of a pioneer in the genre of piano duets too. More recently, scholars have begun to re-examine Schubert’s solo piano works, especially his ‘Wanderer’ Fantasy and his late piano sonatas. I posit that Schubert’s cultivation of the piano duet genre was equally authentic as his solo works and ask, why have his piano duets not been held in such a high regard? A selection of Schubert’s overlooked piano works are provided as case studies, providing performative and pedagogical perspectives. This research penetrates uncharted territory, as scholarship on Schubert’s piano duets is minimal and a more comprehensive study is due. Consequently, this thesis will bridge gaps in the reassessment of Schubert’s piano works, and it will contribute to the creation of new perspectives in Schubertian scholarship