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The Economic Reality and All-Consuming Critiques
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Critique as a Modern Social Phenomeno
Cell-derived Microparticles as Part of Multimarker Strategies to Improve Vascular Risk Prediction
Get PDFCandidate biomarkers should possess some of the following characteristics: identify individuals with disease, distinguish disease stage and monitor changes in health with treatment. There is increasing interest in the potential of cell-derived microparticles to act as sensitive biomarkers of vascular health status. Cell-derived microparticles (MP) are small (0.1-1.0 μm) plasma membrane derived vesicles shed into circulating blood by most cells, including platelets and endothelial cells. They may act not only as biomarkers but also mediators of vascular disease transferring biological agents that mediate inflammation, coagulation and vascular remodelling.
In a series of studies, we have demonstrated that;
1. A number of small methodological studies undertaken suggest that flow cytometry can enumerate MP reproducibly but that variability can occur during sample processing through the double centrifugation protocol. Day to day biological variation also exists.
2. Annexin V+ MP (mainly of platelet origin) were higher in carotid artery disease cases compared to age-matched controls and added to predictive ability in a multivariable model.
3. CD31+CD41- endothelial MP (EMP) were higher in carotid artery patients with unstable plaques, classified post-surgery by immunohistochemistry. CD31+CD41- EMP, but not any subset of platelet MP, added to predictive ability in multivariable models to predict unstable plaques.
3. CD31+CD41- EMP in addition to other soluble markers were lower following a low carbohydrate diet that involved moderate reductions in body weight and waist circumference, with the effect size (Cohen’s d) greatest for CD31+CD41- EMP.
4. Other cellular vascular biomarkers were investigated, specifically endothelial progenitor cells and platelet monocyte aggregates but were not useful as biomarkers. A number of protein vascular biomarkers showed potential both in predicting disease and monitoring changes in health status, specifically the acute phase protein serum amyloid A.
Despite the methodological difficulties that exist when enumerating MP, various subsets have shown potential as stand-alone biomarkers and in multivariable models. Future studies are justified including studies to examine the ability of MP to predict asymptomatic carotid artery disease and prospective studies to determine the prognostic ability
A Critical Evaluation Of The Potential Of Liberation Theology To Renew The Irish Church Today
Get PDFThis dissertation examines the model of Church promoted in Liberation Theology with a view to anticipating the possibilities this unique ecclesial vision presents to the Catholic Church in Ireland. This branch of theology has its origins in the efforts of communities of the poor across Latin America to break free from the stranglehold of poverty and create a more equitable social order that reflects their needs and aspirations. Liberation Theology interprets the oppressive societal conditions that the poor have to endure in light of the liberating power of the Gospel message and provides the stimulus for those once consigned to the margins of society to become a collective force for change in the world. This thesis provides a probing analysis of the core theological convictions that underscore the activities of the ‘Communidades Ecclesiales de Base’ and reflects on the potential of this paradigm of Church to reverberate beyond the time and place of its genesis and generate a new momentum into the mission of the Church throughout the world. The aim of this dissertation is two-fold; to provide greater theological legitimacy to each defining feature of a Base Christian Community and to ascertain a deeper insight into how this dynamic of Church can be adapted to an Irish context. This dissertation is structured in accordance with the stated aims and the focus moves from determining the theological basis to this model of Christian community to examining how this ecclesiological vision can give renewed meaning and purpose to the activity of the Church in Ireland today. The Literature Review is integral to the process of establishing a theological framework against which the activities of a Base Christian Community can be more clearly understood. The research then widens the lens of theological inquiry to encompass the views of Western progressivist theologians and Irish social justice activists on the themes explored in the literature review. Theological inquiry throughout this dissertation develops in correspondence with rather than in isolation from the distinctive dynamics of these communities. The inquiry identifies the recurring patterns that exist between these diverse theological perspectives and illustrates how they combine to further consolidate the identity of a Base Christian Community. The research then explores how this paradigm of Church can be integrated into an Irish context. To achieve this, the researcher follows 3 distinct methodological routes; case studies with Irish social justice activists who call for a radical new departure for the iv Catholic Church in Ireland at this time, ethnographic research among members of Base Christian Communities here who have experienced first-hand the appeal of this emerging ecclesial dynamic and Action Research with a team of participants in Waterford who reflect on the process of initiating a Base Christian Community in the city. The goal of this phase of the inquiry is to give further clarity to the distinctive dynamics of a Base Christian Community and to devise specific strategies to advance the promotion of this model of Church in Ireland today. This research is built on the premise that reflection on action can provide the gateway to knowledge, and, as such, arrives at its conclusions in consultation with people who have direct experience of these grassroots Christian communities in Ireland. The researcher, in his role as reflective practitioner, adapts the findings that emerge through this stage of the inquiry to the activities of a Base Christian Community that he is actively involved in. This dialogue between theology and the lived expression of core theological principles grounds the inquiry in the practical considerations that are integral to the growth and development of these communities in Ireland. The concluding chapter of this thesis provides a synthesis of the theological understanding that gives credence to the activities of Base Christian Communities around the world and reflects on the implications of this ecclesiological vision for the Catholic Church in Ireland today. The research indicates how the Base Christian Community provides a template for a new way of being Church in the world, one that is animated by the creative energies of the people as they discover meaningful ways of bringing the Gospel to life in their communities. The conclusions call for a new climate of dialogue and consultation between the hierarchy and the people so that those on the fringes of the traditional ecclesial paradigm become integral to the process of renewal in the Church here. The research emphasises how Christian communities synonymous with the promotion of social justice discover in their solidarity with those on the margins those very qualities needed to sustain them through each phase of their evolution. In summary, the research offers a probing appraisal of the need for a more inclusive and more compassionate model of Church and points towards the role those once sidelined in the Church can play in making this happen
Quality of Service Support for Voice over IP in Wireless Access Networks
Get PDFVoice Over IP (VoIP) is increasingly displacing traditional voice telephony
services, but the IP networks that carry the traffic are inherently
prone to delays and losses that impact the voice quality. This thesis addresses
those quality degradations with particular emphasis on wireless
networks.
The scenarios considered in the thesis focus on the two most recent wireless
access technologies, namely Long Term Evolution (LTE) andWireless
Mesh Networks (WMNs). These scenarios have in common the undesired
effects of call quality degradation when the increased traffic volume
across the network causes congestion. This thesis points out the causes of
the congestion and proposes solutions tailored specially for each wireless
access technology.
The solutions share a common concept, proposed and developed in this
thesis, namely the Intermediate Mean Opinion Score (iMOS). The MOS
is basically a call quality assessment methodology typically performed
at the end-points. The novelty of iMOS resides in the fact that accurate
call quality measurements are performed at intermediate points in the
network rather than in the end-nodes. The iMOS proposed in this thesis
uses the E-Model to estimate the quality of VoIP calls, based on network
performance indicators. Measuring the call quality at intermediate points
is driven by the operators’ intent to guarantee high levels of VoIP quality
of service.
The users’ increased need for wireless access generates an unpredicted
growth of traffic volume, which is directly reflected in the perceived VoIP
call quality. The second part of this thesis addresses this problem and
focuses on developing Call Admission Control (CAC) solutions designed
to support the quality of service for VoIP while maximizing the amount
of traffic allowed to pass through the network.
The iMOS concept and iMOS-based CAC solutions are validated through
extensive simulations of realistic deployment scenarios of LTE femtocells
and WMNs. The results highlight the existence of the call degradation
problems and the proposed solutions are shown to have the capability
of increasing the call quality and call capacity, and protecting against
congestion which causes the undesired call quality degradation
Policy Authoring and Analysis Processes for Federation Policies
Get PDFFederations are viewed as persistent agreements between organisations that enable them to share information or capabilities in a controlled manner. Policy based management techniques can be used to support federations of service providers in two ways: 1) policies alleviate the need for expensive human attention in the federation set-up and maintenance processes, and 2) policies can operate and maintain the federation in a more automated, but guided fashion requiring less manual intervention by system administrators. This thesis presents a federation policy authoring process that allows for specification and consistency analysis of federation policies that adhere to a federation model during refinement. Federation policies are refined into multiple lower-level device language implementations using model-driven language development techniques. During refinement, and as part of the policy authoring process, the consistency analysis process uses ontologies and semantic web rules to retrieve deployed policies for consistency analysis using a policy element match algorithm. The element match algorithm analyses groups of related policies to detect relationships between them; this contrasts with state-of-the-art pairwise policy analysis which is not capable of detecting all inconsistency cases. In addition, an approach to tailor policy evaluation for enterprise social networks is proposed to cater for different policy execution environments ranging from low to high risk security environments; this approach is shown to increase evaluation performance
Visual performance in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration undergoing treatment with intravitreal ranibizumab.
Get PDFRefractive index dynamics of InAs/GaAs quantum dots
Get PDFThe refractive index dynamics of an InAs/InGaAs/GaAs dots-in-a-well semiconductor optical
amplifier is calculated and compared with experimental results. The fast and slow recovery
timescales together with the behaviour with increasing injection are reproduced and explained in
terms of the density of carriers available in upper quantum dot and continuum states. Also, a
Coulomb-mediated shift of the dot susceptibility is suggested as responsible for the fast recovery of
the phas
Frank Pig Says Hello
Get PDFPatrick McCabe’s Frank Pig Says Hello is an explosively powerful, angry-poignant and ultimately heart-rending dramatisation of Frank Brady who, as a young boy and adolescent, is driven beyond the boundaries of his mental and emotional health by his inability to cope with growing up, the loss of his parents and the preservation of his damaged and fragile mental and emotional health. Emphasising the difficulties that Frank experiences, McCabe splits his eponymous character into two: an adult Frank, played, for Mill Productions, by Patrick O’Donnell, and a juvenile Frank, known as Piglet, and played by Gerard Adlum
Designing the Plane While Flying It: A Study of Teacher Training for Further Education in Ireland
No full textCreating and enhancing human capital through expanding participation in further and higher education has been identified as central to achieving Ireland’s recovery and economic renewal (Dept of the Taoiseach, 2010, 2011; Department of Education and Skills, 2011). Teachers working within adult and further education now face an increased demand to hold a professional qualification that ensures they have the interdisciplinary knowledge, skills, qualities and dispositions appropriate for work with adults in further education. (Teaching Council Act; Section 38, 2011). Therefore, the teacher education qualification (TEQ) programmes have to create a learning space that enables the development of new and different skills and perspectives. In particular, the participants must come to see that to explore and exploit their existing and future knowledge and skills, it may be necessary to reconsider their professional identity and self states.
This paper reports on the first phase of an action research project undertaken at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) focused on the teaching-learning environment of two of the first graduate and postgraduate TEQ programmes for Further Education in Ireland. More precisely, the study takes a close look at participants’ intentions, expectations and experiences; following their evolving progress over the first year of their TEQ programme. The focus of the research is to explore how to create transformative learning spaces that enhance and support the emergence of a professional identity for Irish educators within adult and adult basic education.
Literatures that inform this study include HEA, TCI and government policy and discussion papers and monographs; Entwistle (2009, 2008), Donald (2002), Land (2004, 2005, King (2005, 2009), Graham (2011), Higgins (1987), Ibarra & Petriglieri (2010) and Markus & Nurius (1986).
The WIT School of Lifelong Learning and Education is the context for this case study. Methods used included reflective statements, collaborative workshop, interviews, and document analysis.
The research results identify aspects of the learning space that impact on the students’ ability to overcome the ‘troublesome knowledge’ of disciplinary barriers; of engaging in insider inquiry; and of continuous reflection on evolving multiple self-states as teachers and researchers.
Further steps are identified for developing the TEQ programmes and also suggestions for initiatives within and between faculties in other partner institutions. The need for more research into creating professional transformative learning spaces in general is identified.
Key words: transformative learning, teaching-learning environments (TLEs), researcher self-states, insider inquiry, troublesome knowledge, ways of thinking and practicing (WTPs), professional identity