An exploration of the professional development needs of agricultural teachers in their role as educators

Agricultural education plays a fundamental role in developing the future generation of young farmers. Over the past number of years, agriculture has undergone significant change with regard to production and consideration for the landscape and the environment within which farming communities reside. Conversely, education has experienced paradigm shifts relating to education programme delivery, instructional techniques, and the role of the teacher within the educational context. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the professional development needs of the agricultural educators involved in the delivery of vocational agricultural education and training programmes to the future generation of young farmers. Much research has been conducted regarding learners’ needs, the importance of vocational education and training programmes, and the learner experience within the vocational education and training sphere, however, little is known about the teachers’ experience in the delivery of such programmes. In addressing this intellectual gap, the thesis employs a mixed methods research paradigm consisting of three distinct research phases. The first phase employs an explanatory sequential mixed methods research design process to identify the specific professional development needs of the agricultural teaching population within the vocational education and training sector. The second phase furthers conceptual understanding of agricultural teacher professional development needs through the use of an exploratory sequential mixed methods research design to develop a professional development tool appropriate to the needs of the agricultural teaching population. Finally, the third research phase contributes a nuanced understanding of the primary and secondary motivators influencing young peoples’ further educational choice through the use of an in-depth exploratory research design. Findings from each phase in the data collection process are documented in the form of academic peer-reviewed paper publications developed based on findings within this thesis. In conclusion, this thesis contributes to theoretical and conceptual understandings of the study phenomenon relating to agricultural teacher professional development needs. The influence of policy, both nationally and internationally, are considered throughout the thesis given the effect of young farmer intervention on agricultural education programmes and the recruitment of agricultural teachers within the vocational education and training context.Teagas

Development of a multiplex assay to determine the expression of mitochondrial genes in human skeletal muscle

Skeletal muscle is an important endocrine tissue demonstrating plasticity in response to external stimuli, including exercise and nutrition. Mitochondrial biogenesis is a common hallmark of adaptations to aerobic exercise training. Furthermore, altered expression of several genes implicated in the regulation of mitochondrial biogenesis, substrate oxidation and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) biosynthesis following acute exercise underpins longer-term muscle metabolic adaptations. Gene expression is typically measured using real-time quantitative PCR platforms. However, interest has developed in the design of multiplex gene expression assays (GeXP) using the GenomeLab GeXP™ genetic analysis system, which can simultaneously quantify gene expression of multiple targets, holding distinct advantages in terms of throughput, limiting technical error, cost effectiveness, and quantifying gene coexpression. This study describes the development of a custom-designed GeXP assay incorporating the measurement of proposed regulators of mitochondrial biogenesis, substrate oxidation, and NAD+ biosynthetic capacity in human skeletal muscle and characterises the resting gene expression (overnight fasted and non-exercised) signature within a group of young, healthy, recreationally active males. The design of GeXP-based assays provides the capacity to more accurately characterise the regulation of a targeted group of genes with specific regulatory functions, a potentially advantageous development for future investigations of the regulation of muscle metabolism by exercise and/or nutrition

Calculation of Critical Speed from Raw Training Data in Recreational Marathon Runners

ntroduction. Critical speed (CS) represents the highest intensity at which a physiological steady state may be reached. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether estimations of CS obtained from raw training data can predict performance and pacing in marathons. Methods. We investigated running activities logged into an online fitness platform by >25,000 runners prior to big-city marathons. Each activity contained time, distance, and elevation every 100 m. We computed grade-adjusted pacing and the fastest pace recorded for a set of target distances (400, 800, 1000, 1500, 3000, 5000 m). CS was determined as the slope of the distance-time relationship using all combinations of, at least, three target distances. Results. The relationship between distance and time was linear, irrespective of the target distances used (pooled mean ± standard deviation: R2 = 0.9999±0.0001). T he estimated values of CS from all models were not different (3.74±0.08 m∙s-1), and all models correlated with marathon performance (R2 = 0.672±0.036, error = 8.01±0.51%). CS from the model including 400, 800 and 5000 m best predicted performance (R2 = 0.695, error = 7.67%), and was used in further analysis. Runners completed the marathon at 84.8±13.6% CS, with faster runners competing at speeds closer to CS (93.0 % CS for 150 min marathon times vs. 78.9% CS for 360 min marathon times). Runners who completed the first half of the marathon at >94% of their CS, and particularly faster than CS, were more likely slowdown by more than 25% in the second half of race. Conclusion. This study suggests that estimations of CS from raw training data can successfully predict marathon performance and provide useful pacing information.Science Foundation IrelandInsight Research Centr

Speech Quality Factors for Traditional and Neural-Based Low Bit Rate Vocoders

International Conference on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX), Dublin, Ireland, 26-28 May 2020This study compares the performances of different algorithms for coding speech at low bit rates. In addition to widely deployed traditional vocoders, a selection of recently developed generative-model-based coders at different bit rates are contrasted. Performance analysis of the coded speech is evaluated for different quality aspects: accuracy of pitch periods estimation, the word error rates for automatic speech recognition, and the influence of speaker gender and coding delays. A number of performance metrics of speech samples taken from a publicly available database were compared with subjective scores. Results from subjective quality assessment do not correlate well with existing full reference speech quality metrics. The results provide valuable insights into aspects of the speech signal that will be used to develop a novel metric to accurately predict speech quality from generative-model-based coders.Science Foundation IrelandInsight Research Centr

How Deep is Your Encoder: An Analysis of Features Descriptors for an Autoencoder-Based Audio-Visual Quality Metric

International Conference on Quality of Multimedia Experience (QoMEX), Athlone, Ireland (held online due to coronavirus outbreak), 26-28 May 2020The development of audio-visual quality assessment models poses a number of challenges in order to obtain accurate predictions. One of these challenges is the modelling of the complex interaction that audio and visual stimuli have and how this interaction is interpreted by human users. The No-Reference Audio-Visual Quality Metric Based on a Deep Autoencoder (NAViDAd) deals with this problem from a machine learning perspective. The metric receives two sets of audio and video features descriptors and produces a low-dimensional set of features used to predict the audio-visual quality. A basic implementation of NAViDAd was able to produce accurate predictions tested with a range of different audio-visual databases. The current work performs an ablation study on the base architecture of the metric. Several modules are removed or re-trained using different configurations to have a better understanding of the metric functionality. The results presented in this study provided important feedback that allows us to understand the real capacity of the metric\u27s architecture and eventually develop a much better audio-visual quality metric.Science Foundation IrelandInsight Research CentreConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfico eTecnol ogico (CNPq)Coordenacao de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal de Nıvel Superior (CAPES)Fundacao de Apoio aPesquisa do Distrito Federal (FAPDF)University of Brasılia (UnB)2020-12-15 JG: external PDF cover page remove

Is there a new climate politics? Emergency, Engagement and Justice,

Addressing climate change globally requires significant transformations of production and consumption systems. The language around climate action has shifted tangibly over the last five years to reflect this. Indeed, thousands of local governments, national governments, universities and scientists have declared a climate emergency. Some commentators argue that the emergency framing conveys a new and more appropriate level of urgency needed to respond to climate challenges; to create a social tipping point in the fight against climate change. Others are concerned to move on from such emergency rhetoric to urgent action. Beyond emergency declarations, new spaces of, and places for, engagement with climate change are emerging. The public square, the exhibition hall, the law courts, and the investors? forum are just some of the arenas where climate change politics are now being negotiated. Emergent governing mechanisms are being utilised, from citizens? assemblies to ecocide lawsuits. New social movements from Extinction Rebellion to Fridays For Future demonstrate heightened concern and willingness to undertake civil disobedience and protest against climate inaction. Yet questions remain which are addressed in this thematic issue: Are these discourses and spaces of engagement manifestations of a radical new climate politics? And if these are new climate politics, do they mark a shift of gear in current discourses with the potential to effect transformative climate action and support a just transition to a decarbonised world

High-frequency return and volatility spillovers among cryptocurrencies

We examine the high-frequency return and volatility of major cryptocurrencies and reveal that spillovers among them exist. Our analysis shows that return and volatility clustering structures are distinct among different cryptocurrencies, suggesting that return and volatility might have different spillover patterns. Further investigation via minimal spanning trees points out that BTC, LTC and ETH are the most relevant cryptocurrencies in general, serving as connection hubs for linking many other cryptocurrencies. However, their role is challenged lately, potentially due to the increased usage of other cryptocurrencies in tim

Identity processes and eating disorder symptoms during university adjustment: a cross-sectional study

Background: Young people with eating disorders (EDs) and ED symptoms are at risk during university adjustment, suggesting a need to protect their health. The social identity approach proposes that people’s social connections – and the identity-related behaviour they derive from them – are important for promoting positive health outcomes. However, there is a limited understanding as to how meaningful everyday connections, supported by affiliative identities, may act to reduce ED symptoms during a life transition. Methods: Two hundred eighty-one first year university students with an ED or ED symptoms completed an online survey during the first month of university. Participants completed self-reported measures of affiliative identity, social support, injunctive norms and ED symptoms. Path analysis was used to test a hypothesised mediated model, whereby affiliative identity has a significant indirect relation with ED symptoms via social support and injunctive norms. Results: Results support the hypothesised model. We show that affiliative identity predicts lower self-reported ED symptoms, because of its relation with social support and injunctive norms. Conclusions: The findings imply that affiliative identities have a positive impact on ED symptoms during university adjustment, because the social support derived from affiliative identity is associated with how people perceive norms around disordered eating. Our discussion emphasises the possibility of identity processes being a social cure for those at risk of ED symptoms

Dark field and coherent anti-stokes raman (DF-CARS) imaging of cell uptake of core-shell, magnetic-plasmonic nanoparticles

Magnetic-plasmonic, Fe3O4 -Au, core-shell nanoparticles are popular in many applications, most notably in therapeutics and diagnostics, and thus, the imaging of these nanostructures in biological samples is of high importance. These nanostructures are typically imaged in biological material by dark field scatter imaging, which requires an even distribution of nanostructures in the sample and, therefore, high nanoparticle doses, potentially leading to toxicology issues. Herein, we explore the nonlinear optical properties of magnetic nanoparticles coated with various thicknesses of gold using the open aperture z-scan technique to determine the nonlinear optical properties and moreover, predict the efficacy of the nanostructures in nonlinear imaging. We find that the magnetic nanoparticles coated with gold nano seeds and thinner gold shells (ca. 4 nm) show the largest nonlinear absorption coefficient β and imaginary part of the third-order susceptibility Im χ(3), suggesting that these nanostructures would be suitable contrast agents. Next, we combine laser dark field microscopy and epi-detected coherent anti-Stokes Raman (CARS) microscopy to image the uptake of magnetic-plasmonic nanoparticles in human pancreatic cancer cells. We show the epi-detected CARS technique is suitable for imaging of the magnetic-plasmonic nanoparticles without requiring a dense distribution of nanoparticles. This technique achieves superior nanoparticle contrasting over both epi-detected backscatter imaging and transmission dark field imaging, while also attaining label-free chemical contrasting of the cell. Lastly, we show the high biocompatibility of the Fe3O4 nanoparticles with ca. 4-nm thick Au shell at concentrations of 10–100 µg