National University of Ireland, Maynooth
MURAL - Maynooth University Research Archive LibraryNot a member yet
18981 research outputs found
Sort by
On the wind-driven European shelf sea-level variability and the associated oceanic circulation
Full text linkThe shelf to the west of Ireland, France and the United Kingdom is a region where currents and sea level respond to the wind activity in a remarkable manner throughout a range of timescales. Using altimetry-obtained measurements and a wind reanalysis, we demonstrate in the present contribution how the sub-annual sea-level variability can be understood as a response to the wind action. The winds drive water towards (away from)
the coastline through Ekman transport, yielding sea-level changes coherent along and across the shelf and with maximum amplitude at the coast. The alignment of the winds with the isobaths determines the magnitude of sea-level changes. To investigate the impacts of these changes on the circulation variability, we bring together a comprehensive dataset of 30+ in-situ observations of recent current changes. Using these measurements, we
show that sub-annual changes in the shelf-edge circulation from the Goban Spur to the Faroe-Shetland Channel arise from the geostrophic adjustment to shelf sea-level variations induced by the Ekman-driven accumulation of water towards the coastline. Our analysis suggests that the along-isobath current generated through this
mechanism are primarily found over the shelf, only impinge on the upper slope, and do not affect the circulation above greater depth (>500 m). Nonetheless, important slope circulations such as the Rockall Slope Current are substantially influenced on their shoreward side by this simple geostrophic adjustment process. Because sea-level changes co-vary over large distances on the shelf, there also is remarkable along-isobath coherence in the associated current changes but we warn against concluding this is evidence for the continuity of an‘European Slope Current’ circumnavigating the European slope from Portugal to Norway
Learning from making and doing: taking the makerspaces to the next level at Maynooth University
Full text linkWhat do you do when you already have one makerspace that is well-used and popular? Answer – create an even better one! And then start thinking about what other types of content need to be created and embark on a Media Lab to complement this. This is exactly the journey that Maynooth University is currently embarking on.
From its launch in 2015, the Makerspace developed a well-used 3D printing service which continued up until the pandemic when it had to be put on hold as a library-based service. The recommencement of the service in 2022 coincided with staff moving on and recruitment of new staff giving the impetus to take the services to another level. This has led to a successful bid to create a new, more ambitious makerspace, and as well as opening up new opportunities, the most significant of these to date being the collaboration with the Media Studies department and other interested parties to launch a Media Lab.
Building on their experience the team have been able to make the case for good locations for both the new Makerspace and Media Lab, putting their ‘lessons learned’ to good use.
Extensive and imaginative use of social media channels has helped to embed the Makerspace within the university conscience and opened up avenues for collaboration. Through the Makerspace, the library has been able to offer creative and practical support to an expanding portfolio of research projects across the university as well as being an active supporter in undergraduate recruitment
Edward Baker Littlehales: The evolution of military governance and the demise of the military under-secretary 1801-1819.
Full text linkEdward Baker Littlehales arrived in Ireland in 1798, beginning a career which would not see
him depart until 1819. His tenure would see him witness and act in a variety of significant
historical events in Ireland, including the 1798 rebellion, the passing of the Act of Union,
Emmet's rebellion, as well as the recurrent threat of invasion from France. From 1801 to
1819 he worked in Dublin Castle as military under-secretary, one ofthe more senior members
of the administration. Despite this he remains an understudied figure in Irish history.
Drawing from primary sources, including Littlehales' personal papers, military and
governmental records, and contemporary correspondence, this study reconstructs Littlehales'
career trajectory as under-secretary and his contributions to military governance and
administration between 1801 and his retirement in 1819. The research situates Littlehales
within the broader context oflrish military and administrative history, highlighting the
centrality of his role in shaping military policy in post-union Ireland. Littlehales' length of
service offers a unique prism through which to view the attempts to implement and normalise
the Act of Union.
In conclusion, Edward Baker Littlehales emerges from this research as a key architect
of post-union administration in Ireland. This dissertation not only recovers the significance of
his contributions but also provides a framework for analysing the evolution of administrative
practices in the context of broader historical developments. Importantly, the critical role of
personality in these administrative practices is given due consideration
Fostering Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities in the European Union Through Funding: ‘I Was Told There’d Be Cake’
Full text link: I. Introduction. II. Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities in the CRPD: A Frame and a Benchmark. 1. The Key Features of the CRPD. 2. The Right of Persons with Disabilities to Participate in Cultural Life in the CRPD. III. Methodology. 1. A Socio-Legal Approach. 2. Methods. IV. Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities at the Intersection between EU Disability and Cultural Policies. 1. Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities in the EU Disability Acquis. 2. Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities in EU Cultural Policies. V. Fostering Cultural Participation through EU Funding: The Role of the Creative Europe Programme. 1. Supporting Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities through EU Funding to the Cultural and Creative Sectors. 2. Supporting Cultural Participation of Persons with Disabilities through Creative Europe. 2.1. Good Practices, Tangible Advancements and Potential. 2.2. Weaknesses and Flaws. VI. Concluding Remarks
The double intervention of world-centred education: Introduction to a book symposium
Full text linkIn 2022, I published a book with the title World-Centred Education: A View for the Present. In the book, a case is made for putting the world in the centre of educational attention. In this paper, I introduce a book symposium which consists of three papers in which the authors reflect on the significance of the idea of world-centred education and develop it further with reference to their own expertise and scholarship
Fast Centralized Model Predictive Control for Wave Energy Converter Arrays Based on Rollout
Full text linkCentralized control of wave energy converter (WEC) arrays for grid-scale generation can achieve higher energy production than decentralized (independent) control, due to its capability of fully exploiting mutual radiation effects. However, the state-of-the-art centralized model predictive control (CMPC) is significantly more computationally challenging than decentralized MPC (DMPC), since the number of control moves to be optimized grows in proportion to the number of WECs. In this paper, a fast CMPC controller is proposed, whose idea is to optimize only the first few control moves while rolling out future system trajectories using a fixed controller. A linear, two-degree-of-freedom (2-DoF) controller with a sea-state-dependent control coefficient tuning strategy is further proposed to serve as the rollout controller. It is shown that the proposed rollout-based CMPC (R-CMPC) can maintain almost the same energy production as conventional CMPC under a wide range of sea states, while significantly reducing the optimization dimension (in the studied case, by a factor of 6), enabling ultra-fast online computation (about 40 times faster than conventional CMPC)
Loess provenance in the westernmost part of the lower Danube Basin, Serbia: Geochemical insights from the Velika Vrbica fluvial–eolian section
Full text linkOur study examined the chemical composition of fluvial and eolian sediments at the Velika Vrbica multisection, located on the bank of the Danube River in eastern Serbia, within the westernmost part of the lower Danube (Dacian) Basin. The multisection comprises two discrete sections: an older 2.7 m thick fluvial section, and a younger 11.2 m thick loess-paleosol sequence (LPS). These are exposed along the sides of a gully incised into a Danube River terrace that is covered by loess. Using luminescence dating, litho- and pedo-stratigraphy, and weathering proxies, we conclude that the fluvial section formed during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6, and the overlying loess spans semi-continuously from late MIS 6 to the present. In order to use only elemental ratios unaffected by weathering and grain-size sorting, and thus serving as reliable provenance proxies, we introduce a novel statistical parameter – the path adherence coefficient (PAC). Along with the PAC, we also employ the well-established R2 on geochemical data from the fluvial sediments. We identified Zr/Al2O3 and TiO2/Al2O3 ratios as the most reliable provenance proxies, enabling us to discern temporal variations in sediment provenance at the Velika Vrbica LPS. The fine-grained portions of the LPS exhibit a significantly different provenance than that of the Danube River sediments. This difference is attributed to the transport of fine, loessial material over long distances, incorporating multiple sediment sources (likely originating from the Carpathians), from beyond the Danube River alluvium, into the loess. In contrast, the coarser, sand-rich sediment within the Velika Vrbica LPS section, which formed during MIS 2, has a more local provenance, having been derived almost exclusively from Danube River alluvium
The Decline of Greece’s Syriza: Moderation, Factionalism, Oligarchization, and Weak Popular Counterpower
Full text linkMass antineoliberal protests in Greece that challenged the long-standing two-party system and austerity policies associated with both major parties (PASOK and New Democracy) were followed by the emergence of challenger party Syriza. Data gathered during interviews with figures from Syriza as well as other leftist parties and activists highlight, however, that the outsider-to-insider party-building process culminated in a delegitimized and fragile Syriza. The electoral strategy of Syriza leaders in conjunction with opposition pressures encouraged a moderation of the party’s brand. To pursue such moderation required insulating the leadership clique from radical voices via degenerative factionalism and oligarchization processes. Moreover, weak popular sector organizations were unable to counter the moderation-factionalism-oligarchization process. The culmination of the party-building process saw a Syriza that lacked a coherent brand or any societal connections, leaving it vulnerable to replacement in the party system
The acute impact of resistance exercise training on cardiovascular parameters in trained and untrained adults with high blood pressure
Full text linkIndividuals with elevated blood pressure or stage 1 hypertension (ES1H) are recommended to engage in lifestyle modifications, including resistance exercise training (RT), to reduce blood pressure. Twenty-five adults (age = 51.4 ± 5.2 y; 15F/10 M) with ES1H who had either recently completed 9 weeks of 3 days/week RT intervention (TR; n = 12) or a non-exercise control period (UT; n = 13) completed the study. All participants had their peripheral and central systolic (SBP and cSBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP and cDBP), flow-mediated dilation (FMD), carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, c-reactive protein (CRP), cardiovagal baroreflex sensitivity (BRS), resting cardiac output, resting total peripheral resistance, and heart rate variability measures including low-frequency power, high-frequency power, and root mean square of the successive differences (lnRMSSD) collected before (T1), 20–24 h after (T2), and 72-h (T3) after a single RT session. Compared to UT, TR experienced reductions in FMD from T1 to T2 (mean change: − 2.51 ± 0.55%; p = 0.012) but were protected against reductions in BRS, which was significantly lower in UT at T2 (− 1.76 ± 1.47 ms/mmHg; p = 0.019). CRP was significantly elevated in both groups at T2 compared to T1 (+ 0.61 ± 0.29 mg/L; p = 0.037), whereas DBP (+ 3.19 ± 1.6 mmHg; p = 0.003) and lnRMSSD (− 0.29 ± 0.07 ms; p = 0.015) were significantly different at T3 compared to T1. There were no other significant effects observed. Trained individuals may experience impairments in endothelial function but be protected from impairments in cardiovagal BRS during the 24 h following a resistance exercise session performed in accordance with exercise guidelines for individuals with ES1H