NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
Not a member yet
18159 research outputs found
Sort by
The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in Northern Ireland under the Windsor Framework
No full textThis article analyses the ways in and extent to which the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) continues to operate in Northern Ireland after Brexit. It shows that, primarily through article 2 of the Windsor Framework and article 4 of the Withdrawal Agreement, the CFR retains considerable force in Northern Ireland, even though it has been removed from the statute books in the rest of the United Kingdom (UK). This retention is legally significant as the CFR gives rise to stronger individual remedies and protects a broader range of fundamental rights than any other instrument in UK law, including the Human Rights Act 1998. The article contributes to litigation and human rights policy in Northern Ireland a) by explaining the added value of the CFR for individuals and b) by setting out the legal tests that must be met for the CFR’s application, under both EU law and Brexit legislation
The relationship between gratitude and cardiovascular responses to stress.
No full textRecent research has begun to highlight the potential for gratitude (trait, state, and interventions) to buffer against the negative effects of cardiovascular responses to stress. This thesis extends this research by examining the impact of trait gratitude on the risk of suffering acute myocardial infarction, the effects of state gratitude on cardiovascular reactivity and recovery, and the efficacy of a gratitude intervention in modulating cardiovascular reactivity. It presents three empirical studies addressing these objectives, thus providing new insights into the intersection of positive psychology and cardiovascular health. Study One’s key novel finding is that there is an indirect inverse relationship between trait gratitude and the risk of acute myocardial infarction, mediated by heart rate reactivity. Study Two is the first study to suggest that state gratitude impacts both cardiovascular reactivity and recovery, further extending research on the relationship between gratitude and cardiovascular stress responses. Study Three makes use of a randomised controlled trial design, showing that a brief intervention can reduce cardiovascular stress reactivity. These studies constitute novel explorations of the longitudinal relationship between trait gratitude and risk of acute myocardial infarction, the protective relationship between state gratitude and cardiovascular recovery, and it also provides the first study to demonstrate the influence of a brief gratitude intervention on cardiovascular reactivity. These empirical analyses suggest a modest but significant relationship between gratitude and cardiovascular stress responses that is ultimately cardio-protective
Regeneration through Collaboration
No full textGenerational renewal and succession planning must tackle the challenge of aging farmer populations. Collaborative farming may be a solution, but requires greater research and planning from policymakers
Iron Is Critical for Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cell Metabolism and Effector Functions
No full textMucosal-Associated Invariant T (MAIT) cells are a population of innate T cells that play a critical role in host protection against bacterial and viral pathogens. Upon activation, MAIT cells can rapidly respond via both TCR-dependent and -independent mechanisms, resulting in robust cytokine production. The metabolic and nutritional requirements for optimal MAIT cell effector responses are still emerging. Iron is an important micronutrient and is essential for cellular fitness, in particular cellular metabolism. Iron is also critical for many pathogenic microbes, including those that activate MAIT cells. However, iron has not been investigated with respect to MAIT cell metabolic or functional responses. In this study, we show that human MAIT cells require exogenous iron, transported via CD71 for optimal metabolic activity in MAIT cells, including their production of ATP. We demonstrate that restricting iron availability by either chelating environmental iron or blocking CD71 on MAIT cells results in impaired cytokine production and proliferation. These data collectively highlight the importance of a CD71-iron axis for human MAIT cell metabolism and functionality, an axis that may have implications in conditions where iron availability is limited
Rethinking and Advancing a ‘Bottom-up’ Approach to Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities as Key to Realising Inclusive Equality
No full textDebates about cultural participation of persons with disabilities within legal and socio-legal scholarship and within disability studies tend to remain disconnected. This article brings legal analysis and other academic disciplines into a critical dialogue. It sheds light on how the right to cultural participation is understood from the bottom up, building on a study carried out across Europe. Participants in this study perceived opportunities to participate in, and to contribute to, arts and culture in ways that are consistent with the human rights approach to disability as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and as central to the concept of inclusive equality. Cultural participation was also understood as intrinsic to the humanity of all people, as vital to inclusion in mainstream life, as capable of communicating experiences or identities not otherwise represented, and as potentially transformative of art-forms and ultimately, of society
State of the Climate 2024. Update for COP29
No full textThe World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is proud to be a sponsor of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) and to be able to support the production of this report. WMO is a specialized agency of the United Nations and is its authoritative voice for weather, water and climate. It sponsors and implements an integrated suite of programmes which cover all aspects of climate research, observations, assessment, modelling and services.
The WMO has produced a State of the Global Climate report every year since 1993 to provide an annual summary and update of key climate indicators. These reports complement the more detailed, less frequent synthesis provided by the IPCC’s Assessment Reports. Since 2016 WMO has also been reporting preliminary findings on key climate indicators to inform the UNFCCC Conference of Parties (COP) before the end of each year. In July 2024, an international workshop organized by WMO and kindly hosted by the Deutscher Wetterdienst in Germany, agreed to a more condensed format, focusing on key messages for policymakers' needs at COP. The State of the Climate Update 2024 for COP29 highlights preliminary headline climate indicators consolidating the most up-to-date datasets available at the time of writing, along with examples of extreme events and progress in climate actions.
The headlines in the State of the Climate Update 2024 give cause for great concern. Greenhouse gas concentrations continue to steadily rise, driving further long-term temperature increases, highlighting the rapid changes in our climate system in the space of a single generation. We are on track for 2024 to be the hottest year on record joining 2023 as the two hottest years on record. Ocean heat content values continued an upward trend in 2023 and 2024, contributing to other changes in the climate system such as sea level rise and fueling intense storms. Antarctic and Arctic sea ice extent in 2024 have both been well below average.
The record-breaking rainfall and flooding, rapidly intensifying tropical cyclones, deadly heat, relentless drought and raging wildfires that we have seen in different parts of the world this year are unfortunately our new reality and a foretaste of our future. We must continue to strive to limit warming as much as possible, recognizing that staying well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C remains critical to significantly reduce the risks and impacts of climate change. At the same time, we need to step up support for climate change adaptation through climate services and early warnings
Data mobilities: Rethinking the movement and circulation of digital data
No full textThe mobility of data has been variously described as data: flows, streams, journeys, threads,
transfers, exchanges, and circulation. In each case, the mobility of data is conceived as a
movement from here to there; that data moves along a chain of receivers and senders.
However, we contend that the metaphor of a data flow (or stream, journey, etc.) does not
reflect well the sharing and circulation of digital data. Rather, data replicate (copies), with the
original source retaining the data and a new source gaining it, and data proliferates
(multiplies) and diffuses across systems and sites when made openly available. As data
replicate and proliferate they are transformed through processes of data cleaning, data
wrangling, data fusion and enrichment, producing new incarnations of the source data.
Moreover, data does not replicate and diffuse alone, but with companions, such as other data
(e.g., metadata, derived data) and information (e.g., documentation, visualisations). The
replication, proliferation and diffusion of data is facilitated by seams (interface/connection points between systems) and aided by metadata, standards and protocols, and hindered by
frictions and vulnerabilities. We illustrate our argument through a case study of the planning
data ecosystem in Ireland
Place, craft and neurodiversity: re-imagining potential through education at Ruskin Mill.
No full textFor over four decades, Ruskin Mill Trust has worked with young people with special educational needs and behavioural issues who learn traditional crafts and organic farming as part of an integrated curriculum of therapeutic education, overcoming barriers to learning and re-engaging with the wider world. This accessible and inspiring book showcases how an appreciation of place, traditional crafts, farming and transformative education offers a wider route to human well-being for all. The authors outline the different fields of the “Practical Skills Therapeutic Education” method, which includes developing practical skills, learning the ecology of the farm and understanding therapeutic education, holistic care, health and self-leadership.
Taking the reader on a tour of Ruskin Mill’s many extraordinary provisions across Britain, and going deeper in conversation with its founder, Aonghus Gordon, this book is an outstanding story of creative thinking in an age of narrow focus on classrooms and written examinations, presenting a transformative perspective on education and care. Being grounded in work supporting young people with complex additional needs, it provides a rare insight into the work of one of the world’s leading charities working with neurodiversity.
With its non-specialist language, Place, Craft and Neurodiversity offers ideas and resources for work in different areas of education and therapy. It will inspire parents, educators and care workers around the globe
UNITES Project: A National Vision for the Future. A Policy Briefing Paper
No full textNational policies such as Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures (2015), First 5 – A Whole of Government Strategy for Parents and Babies (2019) and Supporting Parents: A National Model of Parenting Support Services (2022), recognise the importance of, and reflect a strong and enduring commitment to, supporting early childhood development and wellbeing through the provision of accessible, high quality and evidence-led supports. For instance, a key goal of ‘First 5’ is to develop strong and supportive families and communities, including a commitment to the development of universal parenting supports (also reiterated in the National Model of Parenting Support Services) and, importantly, in the context of the current study, an evidence-led approach to home visiting services across a continuum of need (Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), 2022). Indeed, a wealth of both national and international evidence indicates that the home environment, and therefore services provided in the home, provide a crucially important context, and support, for healthy child development and wellbeing (e.g. Bradley & Corwyn, 2008)
The experience of stigma and concealment in multiple sclerosis.
No full textDespite a growing acceptance of chronic health conditions, people with multiple sclerosis can experience
stigma. We aimed to understand the extent, nature, and predictors of stigma in multiple sclerosis (MS) and to
explore how this relates to MS concealment. A mixed-methods cross-sectional survey (n = 242), designed
with public and patient involvement, was conducted in October–November 2023. MS stigma was measured
using a nine-item scale, along with questions on stigma experiences and sources. Hierarchical regression
analysis explored sociodemographic, health, and psychosocial predictors of stigma, while reflexive thematic
analysis identified stigma experiences described. The hierarchical regression model predicted 70% of
variance in stigma scores, with stigma associated with higher loneliness (β = .38, p < .001), lower MS selfefficacy (β = −.21, p < .001), lower self-rated health (β = −.19, p < .001), female gender (β = −.16, p < .01),
progressive MS type (β = −.15, p < .01), and greater difficulty in making ends meet (β = −.13, p = .01).
Only 10% of participants had never experienced MS stigma, with themes of misunderstanding, isolation/
exclusion, unwanted inputs, accessibility struggles, medical disregard, and personal stigma described.
Higher anticipated stigma predicted higher levels of MS concealment. Overall openness of individual MS
symptoms varied, suggesting that some MS symptoms are more stigmatized than others. Findings highlight
how the experience of stigma in MS can take many different forms, with implications for MS disclosure.
While certain sociodemographic and health factors put people with multiple sclerosis at risk, interventions
that increase MS self-efficacy and reduce loneliness may also reduce stigma. Raising awareness of MS and
increasing accessibility of services offer ways in which stigma can be reduced at a societal level