National University of Ireland, Maynooth
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Estimating the proportion of modern contraceptives supplied by the public and private sectors using a Bayesian hierarchical penalized spline model
Get PDFQuantifying 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 However, many low- and middle-income countries quantify contraceptive supply using out-of-date Demographic Health Surveys.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, penalized-spline 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
A critical edition of the poems and the Rosc in Airec Menman Uraird Maic Coisse
Get PDFThis thesis is a critical edition of the poems and the rosc found in the Middle Irish tale Airec Menman Uraird maic Coisse ‘The Strategem of Urard mac Coisse’. The tale tells of how the poet Urard mac Coisse seeks compensation from Domnall mac Muirchertaig, the tenth-century king of Tara, after the ransacking of his home by Domnall’s kinsmen. Since the poet does not want to directly accuse the king’s relatives of the crime, he invents an allegorical in-tale titled Orcain Cathrach Maíl Milscothaigh ‘The Plundering of Máel Milscothach’s Fort’. After the recounting of the tale which includes the reciting of four poems and a rosc, the king comes to understand, via an angel, that Máel Milscothach is actually Urard mac Coisse. The poet is then given full restitution. The tale is found in three manuscripts: Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Rawlinson B 512; Dublin, Royal Irish Academy MS 23 N 10; and London, British Library MS Harleian 5280. The tale has yet to be edited and translated in its entirety; consequently, this thesis partially fills this gap in knowledge via a critical edition of the poems and the rosc.
Chapter 1 provides a literary background to the tale and discusses the following themes: the identity of Urard mac Coisse, the Tale-Lists, the role and skills of a fili ‘poet’, hospitality, allegory and etymology. Chapter 2 presents the critical edition of the poems and the rosc, completed with textual notes and translation. A discussion of the manuscripts, the language and dating of the text as well as editorial policies is included. This thesis provides a critically restored and normalised text based on the three extant manuscripts and discusses issues faced when editing a Middle Irish text
Carbon collusion: Cooperation, competition, and climate obstruction in the global oil and gas extraction network
Get PDFWhile publicly-available datasets often document how much fossil fuel is extracted within oil-producing countries, they do not generally indicate who is responsible. To address this gap, we constructed the Global Oil and Gas Extraction Network, a dataset containing the extraction sites of the 26 largest oil and gas companies, and the quantities extracted annually from 2014 to 2018, accounting for 67% of total production. Using this dataset, we present a first-of-its-kind network analysis of global oil and gas extraction. We find fifty-eight percent of operations involved joint ownership across companies, demonstrating growing interdependence after industry-wide losses in 2016. Countries in which National Oil Companies (NOCs) were active were less likely to host Hybrid state-investor companies, and even less likely to host Investor-Owned Companies (IOCs), while certain Hybrids and IOCs tended to operate in the same countries; both trends became more pronounced between 2014 and 2018. Reflecting colonial legacies, the seven Big Oil companies, headquartered in either the US or Europe, extracted oil and gas from the most countries. These findings reveal a complex global network of strategically aligned actors, indicative of tacit and explicit transnational industry-state collusion to obstruct climate policies. These findings additionally underscore the need for comprehensive data to support a managed fossil fuel phaseout
Access to Justice: Legal Pathways to Justice for the Rights of People in Prison.
Get PDFNotwithstanding the notable public interest cases that advance the rights of
disadvantaged groups in Ireland,
and the positive impact that some prison law cases
have had, the rights of people in prison remain under litigated. Previous research by
IPRT identified that there is a need for an increase in public interest litigation to advance
the rights of people in prison in Ireland. Using mixed method research methodologies
(doctrinal research and 26 semi-structured interviews), this report identifies and
examines the barriers and issues that arise in public interest prison law in order to shed
light on this topic and to identify areas for reform.
In doing so, the research illustrates a web of inter-connected problems that inhibit prisoner rights issues
from being addressed in a legally effective way that protects the rights of those affected. These barriers
include, and are not limited to, difficulties in accessing Civil Legal Aid (including operational barriers
within the Civil Legal Aid and Legal Aid-Custody Issues Schemes), blocks in accessing legal information
and legal representation, the general difficulty in prison law litigation, and deference to State authority
Efficient Sleep–Wake Cycle Staging via Phase–Amplitude Coupling Pattern Classification
Get PDFThe objective and automatic detection of the sleep–wake cycle (SWC) stages is essential for the investigation of its physiology and dysfunction. Here, we propose a machine learning model for the classification of SWC stages based on the measurement of synchronization between neural oscillations of different frequencies. Publicly available electrophysiological recordings of mice were analyzed for the computation of phase–amplitude couplings, which were then supplied to a multilayer perceptron (MLP). Firstly, we assessed the performance of several architectures, varying among different input choices and numbers of neurons in the hidden layer. The top performing architecture was then tested using distinct extrapolation strategies that would simulate applications in a real lab setting. Although all the different choices of input data displayed high AUC values (>0.85) for all the stages, the ones using larger input datasets performed significantly better. The top performing architecture displayed high AUC values (>0.95) for all the extrapolation strategies, even in the worst-case scenario in which the training with a single day and single animal was used to classify the rest of the data. Overall, the results using multiple performance metrics indicate that the usage of a basic MLP fed with highly descriptive features such as neural synchronization is enough to efficiently classify SWC stages
Editor’s Notes: Improvising Freedom, Rethinking Sustainability and Reflecting on the Pandemic
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Network analysis in a peer-to-peer energy trading model using blockchain and machine learning
Get PDFExisting technology like smart grid (SG) and smart meters play a significant role in meeting the everlasting demand of energy consumption, supply, and generation for peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading between different distributed prosumers. Whereas blockchain when used with P2P energy trading plays a major role in cost and security by eliminating any involvement of outsiders and third parties. However, existing works related to the blockchain with P2P energy trading are engaged in increasing the cost related to resource allocation, latency, computational processing, and large network setup. The objective of this paper is to design and develop a three-tier architecture, an analytical model, and a hybrid algorithm for network analysis in a blockchain-based P2P energy trading system using reinforcement learning (RL) and feed forward neural network (FFNN) techniques. In this model, we will examine the various parameters and tradeoffs which affect the delay, throughput, and security in P2P energy trading. This will lead to profitable P2P energy trading between different distributed prosumers. By analyzing the simulation results of the proposed model and algorithm by benchmarking with the existing state-of-the-art techniques it's clear that the proposed algorithm shows marked improvement over network latency generated results. The simulation of the model is conducted using the iFogSim simulator, Ganache with Ethereum platform, Truffle, Python editor tool, and ATOM IDE with solidity
Pitch Response Comparison of Offshore Platforms: A Lagrangian Approach
Get PDFWind energy is a renewable source considerably explored worldwide. Currently, attempts have been made to create wind farms on offshore areas, given the higher intensity and consistency of the wind resource. By doing this, conventional fixed foundation platforms become infeasible and floating structures have to be considered. One of the consequences for using these floating structures is the presence of troublesome motions, that increase mechanical stress and reduce the energy production of the wind turbine. Generally in the literature, this problem is evaluated with the use of numeric simulations, producing results for one specific case at a time. This paper proposes a classical mechanics approach, using a Lagrangian framework to describe the dynamics of pitch motion in a analytical formulation. This approach can describe the system response with a general model, instead of only numerical values, facilitating the comprehension of the most important parameters for the dynamic response
Book Review: Behavioural Economics and Regulation: The Design Process of Regulatory Nudges
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How can we research social movements? An introduction
Get PDFThis introductory chapter is written for beginning researchers, whether in movements or universities, for people from non-traditional academic backgrounds and non-native English speakers. We share some of our own complicated and messy routes to movement research. We also explain why researching social movements matters, and how it can genuinely help movements. This is the first methods handbook for movement researchers that takes a genuinely global perspective, rather than focussing on researchers and movements in the global North. Understanding movements means not being restricted to knowing about one movement or one academic discipline. The chapter introduces the book’s themes - the methodologies and politics of knowledge of movement research; different methods of data collection/analysis; and the uses of research for movements - followed by a chapter-by-chapter overview, highlighting the specific movements studied. The chapter concludes with reflections on the future of social movements research and a call for solidarity