NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Theta oscillatory power decreases in humans are associated with spatial learning in a virtual water maze task
No full textTheta oscillations (4–8 Hz) in humans play a role in navigation processes, including spatial encoding, retrieval and sensorimotor integration. Increased theta power at frontal and parietal midline regions is known to contribute to successful navigation. However, the dynamics of cortical theta and its role in spatial learning are not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate theta oscillations via electroencephalogram (EEG) during spatial learning in a virtual water maze. Participants were separated into a learning group ( n = 25) who learned the location of a hidden goal across 12 trials, or a time‐matched non‐learning group (n = 25) who were required to simply navigate the same arena, but without a goal. We compared all trials, at two phases of learning, the trial start and the goal approach. We also compared the first six trials with the last six trials within‐groups. The learning group showed reduced low‐frequency theta power at the frontal and parietal midline during the start phase and largely reduced theta combined with a short increase at both midlines during the goal‐approach phase. These patterns were not found in the non‐learning group, who instead displayed extensive increases in low‐frequency oscillations at both regions during the trial start and at the parietal midline during goal approach. Our results support the theory that theta plays a crucial role in spatial encoding during exploration, as opposed to sensorimotor integration. We suggest our findings provide evidence for a link between learning and a reduction of theta oscillations in humans
Introduction: The Sokol Movement between State and Society in Interwar East Central and Southeastern Europe
No full textThis special issue is the result of the three year-long collaboration between the contributors and a larger group of scholars on the topic of Sokol and analogous organizations and phenomena mainly in East Central Europe in the modern era. Our goal was to examine such organizations from multiple perspectives, including the history of political thought, the history of knowledge production, military history, art history, youth history, urban history, the history of religion, history of sports, as well as the history of medicine and eugenics. To that end, we organized three events whereby we identified key themes and workshopped the contributions to the prospective special issue, as well as situated our findings within broader disciplinary and theoretical frameworks
Paradoxes of the Czechoslovak Sokol Association in the Interwar Period
No full textThe article addresses some of the paradoxes of the interwar Czechoslovak Sokol Association. It shows how after 1918 Sokol historiography experienced a boom following national independence: a proliferation of accounts of the Sokol movement’s history to date told in largest part by the leadership of the association itself. These accounts re-narrated the history of the movement so that it became well-adjusted to the new culture of victory of the interwar state, positing throughout a separation between nation and empire and a struggle in which the former, aided by Sokol mobilization, was sure to emerge victorious. The article asks that we read this historiography ‘against the grain’, showing that the actual relationship of Sokol to late-Habsburg civil society was protean and shifting, and only re-cast as unswervingly adversarial in the post-1918 period. The second part of the article looks at the participation of Sokol members and leadership in the war in Slovakia (1919), presented in interwar historiography and commemoration as a culminating moment in Sokol’s participation in the national liberation of Czechs and Slovaks. In fact, there is a compelling case to be made that Sokol’s role in fighting and violence at this time also shows the ongoing contestation and conflict associated with the creation of Czechoslovakia. The article shows that re-narrating the history of the Habsburg period and the war itself to emphasize the voluntarist contribution of groups such as Sokol was an important part of establishing and maintaining the legitimacy of the interwar state
War exposure, posttraumatic stress disorder, and complex posttraumatic stress disorder among parents living in Ukraine during the Russian war
No full textBackground
High rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been documented in war-affected populations. The prevalence of Complex PTSD (CPTSD) has never been assessed in an active war zone. Here, we provide initial data on war-related experiences, and prevalence rates of ICD-11 PTSD and CPTSD in a large sample of adults in Ukraine during the Russian war. We also examined how war-related stressors, PTSD, and CPTSD were associated with age, sex, and living location in Ukraine.
Method
Self-report data were gathered from a nationwide sample of 2004 adult parents of children under 18 from the general population of Ukraine approximately 6 months after Russia's invasion.
Results
All participants were exposed to at least one war-related stressor, and the mean number of exposures was 9.07 (range = 1–26). Additionally, 25.9% (95% CI = 23.9%, 27.8%) met diagnostic requirements for PTSD and 14.6% (95% CI = 12.9%, 16.0%) met requirements for CPTSD. There was evidence of a strong dose–response relationship between war-related stressors and meeting criteria for PTSD and CPTSD. Participants who had the highest exposure to war-related stressors were significantly more likely to meet the requirements for PTSD (OR = 4.20; 95% CI = 2.96–5.95) and CPTSD (OR = 8.12; 95% CI = 5.11–12.91) compared to the least exposed.
Conclusions
Humanitarian responses to the mental health needs of the Ukrainian population will need to take account of posttraumatic stress reactions. Education in diagnosing and treating PTSD/CPTSD, especially in the situation of a significant lack of human resources and continuing displacement of the population, is necessary
Irish Ocean Climate and Ecosystem Status Report 2023. Chapter 8. Land Ocean Aquatic Continuum.
No full textThis report is intended to summarise the
current trends in Ireland’s ocean climate. Use
has been made of archived marine data held by
a range of organisations to elucidate some of
the key trends observed in phenomena such as
atmospheric changes, ocean warming, sea level
rise, acidification, plankton and fish distributions
and abundance, and seabirds. The report aims to
summarise the key findings and recommendations
in each of these areas as a guide to climate
adaptation policy and for the public. It builds on the
previous Ocean Climate & Ecosystem Status Report
published in 2010.
The report examines the recently published
literature in each of the topic areas and combines
this in many cases with analysis of new data sets
including long-term time series to identify trends
in essential ocean variables in Irish waters. In
some cases, model projections of the likely future
state of the atmosphere and ocean are presented
under different climate emission scenarios
Recognising diverse learning rhythms, relationships and temporalities in adult literacy learning
No full textBased on research completed between 2018 and 2022 in the Republic of
Ireland, this article examines how the distinctive ethos and relational
pedagogy of adult literacy education have been impacted by broader
changes in the field and wider society, with significant impact on its
capacity to support learners. The learner-centred ethos, ways of working
and webs of relationality between literacy learners and staff are increasingly squeezed by rising pressures from the broader socio-political context which promotes a neoliberal view of education for individual
improvement and employability. Drawing on Freirean critical education
and relational pedagogy, the consequences of this are considered in the
three interconnected themes of i) the learner-centred ethos in adult
literacy, ii) learner identities and relationships of learning, iii) creative
and responsive pedagogies of literacy
Flea-ing Clutter: Consuming, Containing and Casting Out in a Dublin Flea-Market
No full textThis research investigates the circulatory networks second-hand goods flow along as they move unilaterally between spaces that connect the home to broader social and cultural spaces and practices. Representing over four years of ethnographic investigation, I focus on the Dublin Flea Market, charting its founding in 2008 through its later loss due to the redevelopment of Newmarket Square in 2018.
In Newmarket, I trace the lived experiences of traders who operate within and around the markets, identifying how the flea market acts as an important node in the circulation of material objects as they travel between the trader's stalls, homes, bins, and other channels of acquisition and divestment. I follow these circuits of flea market objects, questioning how changing cultural conceptions about second-hand, consumer ethics and re-use have influenced consumer trends displayed at such sites. How do the traders of second-hand items construct narratives of value around these material objects?
Finally, I question how practices of procuring and divesting material goods at second-hand markets impact domestic practices of home-making, decluttering and discarding. To understand this, I build on existing ethnographies of second-hand and alternative markets and contemporary debates in consumption studies, which emphasise the importance of the quotidian, everyday, oft-deemed superficial material belongings and practices of home-making. Whilst much of this scholarship has focused on how we make ourselves and construct our identities via consumption, I focus on how the continual acts of divestment, decluttering and curation that traders engage in personally and professionally can be considered a means of value-making for the material objects and the traders themselves.
Ultimately, I argue that the flea market functions as a fluid and contested space that facilitates the circularity of second-hand material goods and makes apparent the contradictions accompanying such object biographies within competing ideologies of clutter, waste, minimalism, home-making and consumption
Building confidence and trust in Ireland's National Maternity Services Workforce –What matters most and how?
No full textNational surveys on care experiences are increasingly adopted as regulatory mechanisms for improving care
quality and increasing public trust in healthcare services. Based on data collected as part of Ireland’s 2020
National Maternity Experience Survey, this study investigates care-related factors that contribute most to confidence and trust in the professional workforce (or carers) within Irish maternity services. The survey covered the
full spectrum of maternity care and received 3,206 responses which were analysed using structural equation
modelling. Results show that trust in carers may be enhanced through greater attention to the quality of
interpersonal aspects of maternity care in a few core areas. We found that factors related to dignity and respect
(β=0.270), involvement in decision-making (β=0.186), pain management (β=0.172), and communication (β=0.151)
are core determinants of confidence and trust in the professional workforce of maternity services. Perceived
quality of care in these four aspects increased on average, with the women’s age. Women under 29 rated their
experiences in these areas as significantly lower than the average. Women with a disability also rated their experiences significantly lower than average in three core areas. Our results suggest that trustworthy, equitable,
and high-quality maternity care requires ongoing development of interpersonal skills within the maternity services professional workforce particularly in caring for younger women (under 29 years) and those with a
disability
The memory and identity theory of ICD-11 complex posttraumatic stress disorder.
No full textThe 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) includes complex posttraumatic
stress disorder (CPTSD) as a separate diagnostic entity alongside posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
ICD-11 CPTSD is defined by six sets of symptoms, three that are shared with PTSD (reexperiencing in the
here and now, avoidance, and sense of current threat) and three (affective dysregulation, negative self-concept, and disturbances in relationships) representing pervasive “disturbances in self-organization”
(DSO). There is considerable evidence supporting the construct validity of ICD-11 CPTSD, but no
theoretical account of its development has thus far been presented. A theory is needed to explain several
phenomena that are especially relevant to ICD-11 CPTSD such as the role played by prolonged and repeated
trauma exposure, the functional independence between PTSD and DSO symptoms, and diagnostic
heterogeneity following trauma exposure. The memory and identity theory of ICD-11 CPTSD states
that single and multiple trauma exposure occur in a context of individual vulnerability which interact to give
rise to intrusive, sensation-based traumatic memories and negative identities which, together, produce the
PTSD and DSO symptoms that define ICD-11 CPTSD. The model emphasizes that the two major and
related causal processes of intrusive memories and negative identities exist on a continuum from
pre-reflective experience to full self-awareness. Theoretically derived implications for the assessment
and treatment of ICD-11 CPTSD are discussed, as well as areas for future research and model testing
Cationic Triarylchlorostibonium Lewis Acids
No full textOrganopnictogen cations show promise as powerful, tunable main-group Lewis acid catalysts. The synthesis, solid-state structures, and reactivity of a series of weakly coordinated triarylchlorostibonium salts [Ar3SbCl][B(C6F5)4] (Ar = Ph, 3-FC6H4, 4-FC6H4, 3,5-F2C6H3, 2,4,6-F3C6H2) are reported. The cation in each adopts a tetrahedral coordination environment of antimony, with near complete separation from the anion. Structural, computational, and reactivity studies reveal that the Lewis acidity of [Ar3SbCl]+ generally increases with increased fluorination of the Ar substituents, with a secondary quenching effect from para fluorination. [Ar3SbCl]+ is reduced to Ar3Sb in the presence of Et3SiH, and the mechanism of this reaction has been modeled computationally. Preliminary studies demonstrate that they are useful catalysts for the dimerization of 1,1-diphenylethylene and the Friedel-Crafts alkylation of benzene