NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Schools need more robust and vigilant governance
No full textShocking revelations about the abuse of children in schools generate waves of anxiety and concern throughout
society. They prompt particular questions for parents, educators and policymakers. "Is/was my child safe in that
school?" cuts to the heart of our desire to ensure children can grow and flourish in caring environments. Questions
for those in positions of management, leadership and teaching in schools include: "Do the policies and procedures
we have in place actually work to the good of the students?" and "Are such policies evaluated regularly,
systematically and with transparency?
The influence of complexity, chance and change on the career crafting strategies of SIEs
No full textPurpose: Externalities influence the career trajectories of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) and their respective career crafting. This study aims to explore the international career crafting of SIEs (encompassing their proactive career reflection and construction), taking the combined external influences of complexity, chance and change into consideration. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employ a qualitative (interpretative) approach, combining career crafting and the chaos theory of careers (CTC) to further understand, from an individual standpoint, the impact of externalities on the career crafting strategies of 24 SIEs who have relocated within the European Union. Findings: The authors show that SIEs' proactively craft their careers to varying degrees and with varying frequency. The CTC – incorporating complexity, chance and change – allows for a more nuanced understanding of SIEs' career crafting. Originality/value: This paper applies the concept of career crafting to an international context, exploring the impact of externalities on SIEs' careers. In this way, the authors combine two previously separate theories, extend the application of career crafting to an international career context and emphasise the role of temporality and the whole-life view of career in SIEs’ career crafting approach
Validation of a control-oriented point vortex model for a cyclorotor-based wave energy device
No full textRecently conducted analytical assessment of the potential performance of cyclorotor wave energy converters (WECs) have shown that such devices offer the best wave absorption behaviour, if energy capture can be optimised through suitable control. Such claims require additional investigation. This article is dedicated to validation of the control-oriented point vortex model of cyclorotor WECs against numerical and experimental assessments conducted by various research groups. The validation is conducted in terms of the traditional metrics for cyclorotor WECs: (a) cancellation of incoming waves; (b) generation of lift and drag forces (c) mechanical power generation.
It is shown that the point vortex model generally confirms the previously conducted analytical assessment of device performance. However, accounting for the influence of the hydrofoil induced wakes decreases performance estimates to some extent. It is also shown that, overall, wave cancellation metrics are more optimistic than actual shaft power generation.
Analysis of the lift and drag coefficients, which were derived from experimental data, reveal a range of hydrodynamic and mechanic effects which could influence actual device performance. It has been shown that, due to the complexity of hydrodynamic effects, lift and drag coefficients for the control-oriented model should be considered not only as functions of the Reynolds number and angle of attack, but also related to submergence of the foils and direction of their rotation with respect to the free surface. This method allows us to achieve the best validation against experimental results in terms of generation of tangential and radial forces
A Decision-level Multi-sensor Data Fusion approach to Land Cover Classification
No full textIn recent years there has been an increased demand for frequently updated Land Cover
Classification (LCC) products. With ever greater numbers of Earth Observation (EO)
and Remote Sensing (RS) platforms capturing data, the combined utilisation of data
from multiple platforms has the potential to improve both the accuracy and frequency
of LCC product updates through a process known as sensor fusion. This thesis examines
how the fusion of RS sensors with diverse imaging characteristics can overcome challenges
encountered when generating an annual LCC product. To undertake this examination,
the technical specifications for the Second Generation Corine Land Cover (CLC+) Backbone raster product and its application on the island of Ireland is used as a case study
for evaluating the use of mono-platform and sensor-fused RS datasets for LCC. A review
of Machine Learning (ML) techniques in this thesis highlighted key factors crucial to
achieving high-accuracy classification along with the proposal of a high-accuracy rapid
inference Light Fully Convolutional Neural Network (LFCNN) architecture. This review
also highlighted challenges when performing LCC on the island of Ireland, such as frequent cloud cover that can reduce the availability of optical satellite data, preventing
the widespread use of high-accuracy multi-temporal ML classification. In this thesis, the
application of a decision-level fusion approach is demonstrated as a means of mitigating
the issue of frequent cloud cover and ensuring full classification coverage while also increasing classification accuracy. The versatility of a decision-level fusion approach was
further demonstrated through the fusion of aerial and satellite RS data to improve LCC
in complex non-homogeneous regions such as urban environments. The findings of this
research have direct implications not only for performing LCC on the island of Ireland but
throughout Europe and beyond, with clear recommendations provided for the generation
of LCC products using EO and RS data
Joint Uplink and Downlink EMF Exposure: Performance Analysis and Design Insights
No full textInstalling more base stations (BSs) into the existing cellular infrastructure is an essential way to provide greater network capacity and higher data rates in the 5th-generation cellular networks (5G). However, a non-negligible amount of the population is concerned that such network densification will generate a notable increase in exposure to electric and magnetic fields (EMF) over the territory. In this paper, we analyze the downlink, uplink, and joint downlink&uplink exposure induced by the radiation from BSs and personal user equipment (UE), respectively, in terms of the received power density and exposure index. In our analysis, we consider the EMF restrictions set by the regulatory authorities such as the minimum distance between restricted areas (e.g., schools and hospitals) and BSs, and the maximum permitted exposure. Exploiting tools from stochastic geometry, mathematical expressions for the coverage probability and statistical EMF exposure are derived and validated. Tuning the system parameters such as the BS density and the minimum distance from a BS to restricted areas, we show a trade-off between reducing the population’s exposure to EMF and enhancing the network coverage performance. Then, we formulate optimization problems to maximize the performance of the EMF-aware cellular network while ensuring that the EMF exposure complies with the standard regulation limits with high probability. For instance, the exposure from BSs is two orders of magnitude less than the maximum permissible level when the density of BSs is less than 20BSs/km2
Geometric and General Relativistic Techniques for Non-relativistic Quantum Systems.
No full textThis thesis explores the application of diferential geometric and general relativistic
techniques to deepen our understanding of quantum mechanical systems.
We focus on three systems, employing these mathematical frameworks to uncover
subtle features within each. First, we examine Unruh radiation in the
context of an accelerated two-state atom, determining transition frequencies
for a variety of accelerated trajectories via first-order perturbation theory. For
harmonic motion of the atom in a vacuum, we derive transition rates with
potential experimental realizations. Next, we investigate the quantum Hall
effect in a spherical geometry using the Dirac operator for non-interacting
fermions in a background magnetic field generated by a Wu-Yang monopole.
The Atiyah-Singer index theorem constrains the degeneracy of the ground
state, and the fractional quantum Hall effect is studied using the composite
fermion model, where Dirac strings associated with the monopole field supply
the statistical gauge field vortices. A unique, gapped ground state emerges,
yielding fractions of the form v = 1
2k+1 for large particle numbers. Finally, we
examine the AdS/CMT correspondence through a bulk fermionic field in an
RN-AdS4 background (with a U(1) gauge field), dual to a boundary fermionic
operator. Spherical and planar event horizon geometries are discussed, with
the temperature of the RN black hole identified with that of the dual system
on the boundary. By numerically solving for the spectral functions of the dual
theory, for a spherical event horizon at zero temperature, we identify a shift
in the Fermi surface from that which arises in the planar case. Preliminary
evidence of a phase transition emerges upon examining these spectral functions,
again for the spherical horizon, at non-zero temperature
Enhancing Access to Digital Culture for Vulnerable Groups: The Role of Public Authorities in Breaking Down Barriers
No full textThis article discusses which barriers hamper access to, and participation in, cultural life for members of vulnerable groups, in particular persons belonging to old and new minorities and persons with disabilities in the context of digitization. It then examines what role public authorities can play in addressing and dismantling these barriers. The article adopts a bottom-up approach, in that it is based on a qualitative study, which gives voice to vulnerable groups. The qualitative research involved interviews with different organisations representing, or working with, vulnerable groups in 12 European Union Member States (Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Malta and Spain). In that regard, the article approaches vulnerability from a distinct conceptual standpoint, identifying vulnerability as a condition caused by structural barriers. On the whole, the article shows that, while digitization of cultural content, goods and services, offers increased opportunities for culture to be democratised and for its consumption by wider and more varied audiences to be enhanced, it also engenders structural barriers and creates additional challenges. Furthermore, while digitisation has ensured more diverse representation in cultural content, vulnerable groups still face stereotypical and negative portrayals within mainstream cultural content. The thematic analysis of the qualitative interviews also captures different dimensions of access to digital cultural and supports the identification of effective policy measures to bridge the ‘digital divide’ and assist in the fulfilment of cultural rights of vulnerable groups
The effects of temperature on prosocial and antisocial behaviour: A review and meta-analysis
No full textResearch from the social sciences suggests an association between higher temperatures and
increases in antisocial behaviours, including aggressive, violent, or sabotaging behaviours, and
represents a heat-facilitates-aggression perspective. More recently, studies have shown that
higher temperature experiences may also be linked to increases in prosocial behaviours, such as
altruistic, sharing, or cooperative behaviours, representing a warmth-primes-prosociality view.
However, across both literatures, there have been inconsistent findings and failures to replicate
key theoretical predictions, leaving the status of temperature-behaviour links unclear. Here we
review the literature and conduct meta-analyses of available empirical studies that have either
prosocial (e.g., monetary reward, gift giving, helping behaviour) or antisocial (self-rewarding,
retaliation, sabotaging behaviour) behavioural outcome variables, with temperature as an
independent variable. In an omnibus multivariate analysis (total N = 4577) with 80 effect sizes,
we found that there was no reliable effect of temperature on the behavioural outcomes measured.
Further, we find little support for either the warmth-primes-prosociality view or the heat-
facilitates-aggression view. There were no reliable effects if we consider separately the type of
behavioural outcome (prosocial or antisocial), different types of temperature experience (haptic
or ambient), or potential interactions with the experimental social context (positive, neutral or
negative). We discuss how these findings affect the status of existing theoretical perspectives,
and provide specific suggestions advancing research in this area
Brief Report: Evaluating the Diagnostic Yield of Commercial Gene Panels in Autism
No full textAutism is a prevalent neurodevelopmental condition, highly heterogenous in both genotype and phenotype. This communication adds to existing discussion of the heterogeneity of clinical sequencing tests, "gene panels", marketed for application in autism. We evaluate the clinical utility of available gene panels based on existing genetic evidence. We determine that diagnostic yields of these gene panels range from 0.22% to 10.02% and gene selection for the panels is variable in relevance, here measured as percentage overlap with SFARI Gene and ranging from 15.15% to 100%. We conclude that gene panels marketed for use in autism are currently of limited clinical utility, and that sequencing with greater coverage may be more appropriate
Estimating modern contraceptive supply shares at national and subnational administration levels using Demographic and Health Survey data, with an application to the calculation of estimated modern contraceptive use.
No full textQuantifying the public/private-sector supply of contraceptive methods within countries
is vital for effective and sustainable family-planning delivery. However, many low- and
middle-income countries quantify contraceptive supply using out-of-date Demographic
Health Surveys. As an alternative, we propose using a Bayesian, hierarchical, penalizedspline
model, with survey input, to produce annual estimates and projections of contraceptive
supply-share outcomes. Our approach shares information across countries,
accounts for survey observational errors and produces probabilistic projections informed
by past changes in supply shares, as well as correlations between supply-share changes
across different contraceptive methods. Results may be used to evaluate family-planning
program effectiveness and stability