National University of Ireland, Maynooth
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Towards a National Security Strategy for Ireland
Full text linkThis thesis examines what Ireland can learn from countries of similar population size in Europe as
it attempts to form its long-awaited National Security Strategy. It focuses on what steps or missteps
have been taken by Denmark and Finland at Defence Policy level, identifying threats, enabling
themselves to counter them, and how involved society is in the protection of the state.
Despite recognition of the need for a National Security Strategy for many years, there is not a sense
of urgency in creating one. As the war in Ukraine is over three years old, and old alliances Europe
had with the US are unstable, there is a new gravity to this lack of such a strategy. A National
Security Strategy is there to provide guidance to political policy makers when considering this
important area. At the same time, we, as a country, tend to compare ourselves with the UK when
we should be comparing ourselves to countries our own size.
The methodology is a mixed comparative analysis of Ireland, Denmark and Finland in terms of
historical contexts, threat analysis and current defence policies, and how society interacts with the
military in the three countries. This has been added to with in depth interviews with a Finnish
Brigadier General, Head of Personnel with the Finnish Defence Forces, and author of an analysis
of the Comprehensive Security Model, and a second interview with a member of the Royal Danish
Defence College.
The findings are that for society to become more involved in the protection of the state, there must
be an awareness of contemporary threats to the country, and what they could mean to everyday
life if some of those threats are carried out
Stochastic Geometry-Based Analysis of Cell-Free Massive MIMO Systems With Aerial Users
Full text linkCell-free massive multiple-input-multiple-output (CF-mMIMO) systems are promising deployment paradigms for next-generation networks. They comprise a large number of base stations (BSs) and simultaneously serve all users over the same time and frequency resources. We analyze the performance of integrating aerial users, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), into this novel system. Specifically, we consider a CF-mMIMO network containing both ground and aerial users and study the influence of system parameters on the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and rate coverage performance. Additionally, we use tools from stochastic geometry to capture the spatial randomness of users and BSs and compare the performance of the CF-mMIMO system to that of traditional small cell systems. Given the improvement of dedicated antennas, such as up-tilted/down-tilted antennas, on the performance of small cell systems, we include the up-tilted/down-tilted antenna model in this work and analyze the omnidirectional antenna model as a special case. We derive both the exact expressions and dominant-signal-based approximations for SINR and rate coverage. Our numerical results demonstrate that the CF-mMIMO system exhibits better performance at low values of SINR and rate thresholds and higher minimum achievable SINR compared to the small cell system. Furthermore, we observe that users benefit dramatically from increasing altitudes and establishing line-of-sight (LoS) channels with BSs
Introducing ‘miniRECgap’ R package for simple gap-filling of missing eddy covariance CO2 flux measurements with classic nonlinear environmental response functions via GUI-supported R-scripts (case-study: In-sample gap-filling with ‘miniRECgap’ vs. MDS and an optimised shallow ANN in a ‘challenging’ peatland ecosystem)
Full text linkNumerous tools/software exist to gap-fill missing eddy covariance (EC) data, with varying performance depending on study-site dynamics. Disturbed ecosystems like former cutaway-peatlands may be challenging for gap-filling. Researchers using gap-filling spreadsheets may benefit from transitioning to R, but may face challenges if they lack programming skills. To address these, we introduce ‘miniRECgap’, a user-friendly tool in R for effortless gap-filling of EC carbon dioxide flux data using well-known temperature- and light-response functions. ‘miniRECgap’ can model net ecosystem exchange (NEE) via GUI-supported scripts with only five code-lines and minimal inputs. A case-study on one ‘classic’ (forest) and one ‘challenging’ (rehabilitating cutaway-peatland) ecosystem indicated that standard gap-filling (MDS) performed better for the ‘classic’, but not for the ‘challenging’ ecosystem (MDS R2 = 0.24; ‘miniRECgap’ R2 = 0.57). For the rehabilitating-peatland, an optimised shallow Artificial Neural Network outperformed other two approaches (R2 = 0.68). These findings demonstrate the importance of NEE gap-filling for assessing ecosystem-level carbon-dynamics, important for rehabilitating-peatlands
The HIDDEN Toolkit Tackling Ethical Concerns in Migration Research
Full text linkMigration is a global phenomenon and regarded as a global challenge both within and outside
the European Union. According to the International Organization for Migration (2024), there
were over 281 million international migrants in 2020, representing 3.6% of the world’s total
population. Of these, 135 million were women, 146 million were men, and 28 million were
children. But migration is not confined to crossing international borders: many people also
migrate within their countries. While many migrate by choice, migration is also frequently
driven by harsh realities such as persecution, conflict, and human rights violations. Forcibly
displaced people are particularly vulnerable, with 122.6 million displaced globally as of mid2024. This includes 68.3 million internally displaced people, 37.9 million refugees, 8 million
asylum-seekers, and 5.8 million people in need of international protection (UNHCR, 2024).
These figures highlight the scale and complexity of migration and emphasise the urgent need
to address the diverse challenges –including legal barriers, human rights concerns, and social
exclusion– that people on the move face.
This is why migration studies are vital. At the same time, we as researchers must remain
aware of the fragility and complexity of migrants’ experiences, statuses and identities, as well
as of our responsibilities and positionality. While scholarship on the ethical challenges in
migration research has grown significantly, many important questions still remain
unaddressed: questions that, in principle, emerge directly from fieldwork. To help map and
address these questions, we brought the voices of researchers and those with experience of
asylum and migration and their advocates to the forefront during a training school at
Özyeğin University, Çekmeköy Campus, Istanbul in September 2024, following the motto
nothing about us without us—an ethical principle followed by researchers to include those
being researched in a participatory model of knowledge production. This toolkit represents
the outcome of that collaboration. We hope it will help highlight some of the overlooked
ethical concerns and shed light on the paths researchers are paving to ensure ethically
responsible research, even when the concerns go beyond the formal requirements of
institutional ethical clearance and professional standards. Welcome to HIDDEN
Cosmological Structure Formation using Wave Mechanics
Full text linkThis thesis explores cosmological structure formation through the Schr¨odinger-
Poisson (SP) framework, building on the foundational work of Widrow and Kaiser
[3]. By treating dark matter as a wave-like field, the SP formalism provides a
novel perspective that addresses challenges in traditional approaches, such as the
Zel’dovich approximation’s (ZA) failure in nonlinear regimes. The main contributions
of this work lie in advancing theoretical understanding, developing computational
techniques, and applying the SP framework to foundational models of
cosmic evolution.
The thesis begins by outlining the limitations of the standard ΛCDM paradigm
and establishes the SP system as an alternative framework. A detailed study of
cosmic voids demonstrates the SP method’s ability to model void expansion beyond
shell-crossing, naturally accommodating multistreaming regions using wave
interference effects. These features circumvent the unphysical predictions of
particle-based and traditional fluid models.
A key innovation introduced in this thesis is the exploration of viscosity within
the SP framework, resulting in a novel scaling solution analogous to the Reynolds
number in classical fluid dynamics. This insight enriches our understanding of
how small-scale quantum effects influence large-scale structure formation. Furthermore,
the SP formalism is evaluated as a reconstruction tool for cosmological
initial conditions. Preliminary results show its potential to outperform standard
methods in certain scenarios, particularly in simplified power-law universes, while
maintaining competitive accuracy in ΛCDM contexts.
The findings underscore the versatility of the SP approach, not only as a
theoretical tool for understanding dark matter dynamics but also as a practical
method for reconstructing initial conditions and analysing observational data.
The thesis concludes by highlighting potential applications, including filament
dynamics, redshift-space reconstructions, and the integration of SP into future
observational pipelines, particularly in the context of upcoming surveys like Euclid
and DESI.
Through its contributions, this thesis advances both theoretical and computational
cosmology, demonstrating the promise of the Schr¨odinger-Poisson framework
as a powerful tool for exploring the complex dynamics of the universe
Reimagining Nineteenth-Century Piano Techniques from a Twenty-First-Century Perspective
Full text linkThis research reimagines a selection of nineteenth-century piano techniques,
specifically those by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Carl Czerny, Ludwig Deppe, and
Theodore Leschetizky from a twenty-first-century perspective. These historical
techniques were studied mainly through historical treatises or technique books where
instructions on physical approaches, one of the most fundamental aspects of learning
playing techniques, were focused on in detail. Through this, the resulting body and
hand postures, positions, and movements were observed, and the implications of
these researched techniques on musical aspects such as touches, tones, dynamics, and
phrasing were studied, mainly on the modern piano and briefly on historical
instruments.
In carrying out this study, musicological research served as the foundation,
while different methodologies such as autoethnography and empirical analysis were
used to extract findings from two different perspectives. A performer-based analysis
from a first-person perspective was collected through autoethnography where the
performer’s input, feedback, and observations were documented, while quantitative
data such as motion paths from a third-person perspective were obtained through
motion capture.
The nineteenth-century techniques, reimagined and assimilated into modern
piano playing, were showcased through the final recordings of performances where
changes can be observed in aspects such as clarity, touches, dynamics, and phrasing.
This thesis along with the attached demonstrations, musical examples, and
recordings extends its contribution to both historically informed and modern piano
performances. It provides an additional aspect to consider in the preparation of
historically informed performances (HIP) and opens the possibility for modern
pianists to take inspiration from historical techniques. It also helps modern pianists
understand the selected nineteenth-century techniques, and make more informed
decisions when assimilating them, while offering a potential solution to playing
historical keyboard instruments
Understanding Glycobiology through Glycans Structure and Dynamic Signatures: From Glycan Biosynthesis to Bacterial Adhesion
Full text linkComplex carbohydrates or glycans are one of the four main biomolecules essential for life.
They play crucial roles in molecular recognition events that regulate immune responses,
cellular communications and pathogen-host interactions. Despite their importance,
characterising glycan structure and dynamics remains a significant challenge for structural
biologists due to their inherent flexibility, combinatorial complexity and structural
heterogeneity. Throughout my PhD, I used molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to
characterise glycan structures and dynamics, revealing how their conformational behaviour
dictates recognition and binding to protein receptors and enzymes, regulating processes from
glycan biosynthesis to bacterial adhesion.
Based on collaborative projects with experimental glycobiologists and microbiologists, the my
research focused on identifying the distinctive structural and dynamic features, or signatures,
of free glycan structures regulating their molecular recognition. More specifically, I analysed
multiatennary N-glycans, ABH and Lewis blood group antigens, and α(2-8)-linked polysialic
acids. The data I generated from the MD analysis of these glycan structures contributed to the
GlycoShape Glycan 3D Structure Database (https://glycoshape.org), a web-based open access
(OA) resource designed, developed and curated by our research group to advance structural
glycobiology.
Bisected N-glycan structures have been linked to specific disease states and progression. Using
comparative analysis between free biantennary and triantennary N-glycan structures, I explored
the structural consequences of N-glycan bisection, demonstrating how this modification alters
glycan architecture and disrupts interactions with key enzymes in the N-glycosylation
maturation pathway, namely B4GalT1 and FUT8, thereby preventing further functionalisation
of the antennae. My results confirm and reconcile apparently discordant experimental results,
ultimately suggesting an alternative biosynthetic pathway for the maturation of bisected Nglycan
forms. Experimental validation of such pathway is in progress through a collaboration
with Prof Daniel Kolarich and Dr Andrea Maggioni at the Institute of Biomedicine and
Glycomics, Griffith University, QLD, Australia.
To understand how glycan structure and dynamics modulates recognition, I investigated
glycan-protein interactions in the context of bacterial adhesion, focusing on Type IV pili (T4P)
of Neisseria meningitidis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae, causative agents of meningococcal
disease and gonorrhoea, respectively. My MD simulations revealed that T4P subunits form
multi-subunit carbohydrate-binding pockets, enabling high-avidity interactions with α(2-8)-
linked polysialic acids, mediated by conserved polar residues and post-translational
modifications (PTMs) such as phosphorylcholine (ChoP) and O-linked bacterial glycosylation.
Binding assays by surface plasmon resonance (SPR), I ran with guidance and support by Dr
Chris Day and Dr Freda Jen during my internship in Prof Michael Jennings laboratory at the
Institute of Biomedicine and Glycomics, Griffith University, QLD, Australia, confirmed the
Ng and NmT4P binding specificity for α(2-8)-polysialic acids motifs. Further to this, the SPR
data indicate that T4P mutants lacking bacterial glycosylation showed an increased binding
affinity, suggesting that T4P glycosylation may hinder binding possibly by restricting access
to the glycan-binding site.
Through the scope of MD simulations, my thesis provides further insight into how glycan
sequence and branching regulate their structure and dynamics which in turn can affect
biosynthetic pathways, and molecular recognition, such as in glycan-mediated bacterial
adhesion. My findings highlight the intricate relationship between glycan architecture and
function and represent a 3D template that can used to inform the design of glycan-based
diagnostics and glycomimetic therapeutics
Asymmetry and Spillover Effects in the Relationship Between Stock Markets and Mental Health: An Alternative Approach
Full text linkDespite the arguments made by prospect theory, there is a lack of studies investigating asymmetric effects in the relationship between stock markets and mental health. We use the UK based Understanding Society panel dataset between 2010 and 2023 to investigate if stock market fluctuations have an asymmetric impact on mental health, and if there are mental health spillover effects on investors' household members, providing the first paper to investigate this relationship using an asymmetric fixed effects model for panel data. We find that a decreasing stock market index has a stronger impact on mental health than an increasing one, supporting prospect theory. We also suggest that prospect theory does not hold for males in explaining the relationship between stock market fluctuations and mental health. Finally, we provide novel evidence for a mental health spillover effect of negative 52‐week returns on investors' household members
An intelligent career perspective on repatriated SIEs in born global animation companies.
Full text linkIn this qualitative study, we explore the journeys of repatriated Self-Initiated Expatriates (SIEs) and examine how their intelligent career capital fuels the ongoing development and sustainability of Born Global SMEs within the Irish animation industry sector. By utilising the intelligent career framework, we unravel the intricate narratives of these repatriated SIEs through three interconnected 'ways of knowing': understanding why they work, how they navigate their roles, and with whom they collaborate. This research highlights the significant influence of repatriates mobilising their capital in a thoughtfully chosen case study of a collective of pioneering Born Global Irish animation firms. By investigating the real-world impacts of repatriated SIEs' capital mobilisation, this study directly addresses the near absence of research on SIEs' use of repatriated capital, opening up new avenues for understanding and supporting these global professionals