Optimization of SPE and LC-MS/MS methods for the determination of antibiotic concentration in environmental samples

In 2015, an estimated 11,134.97 tonnes of antibiotics were consumed by humans in 59 countries. This figure is projected to increase to 128 billion doses by 2030. Antibiotics that are not fully metabolised by the organism end up in wastewater treatment plants. Conventional wastewater treatment plants cannot completely remove antibiotics, which remain in anaerobic treated effluents (ATEs). ATEs themselves lead to the occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes due to their interaction with microbes in treatment facilities. This establishes a clear link between antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance, which causes over 700,000 deaths per year. Thus, it is necessary to accurately measure antibiotic levels in the environment, but the precision of existing methods is limited by the occurrence of matrix effects. Matrix effects are an increase (ion enhancement) or decrease (ion suppression) in the response of the target analyte. Due to this, matrix effects can dramatically alter the performance of an analytical method. The aim of this work was to determine and measure the presence and concentration of antibiotics in water using Solid Phase Liquid Extraction (SPE) and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS). SPE was performed using Oasis HLB 200 µg cartridges, and the retained analyte was eluted with acetonitrile and reconstituted in a 10:10:80 methanol:acetonitrile:water solution. LC-MS/MS analysis was completed using an Agilent HPLC instrument with a 1290 Infinity II LC multi-sampler and temperature-regulated sample tray and column compartment. The columns used were a Zorbax eclipse plus C18 2.1 x 50 mm 1.8 μm LC column and a Zorbax eclipse plus C18, 2.1 x 5 mm, 1.8 μm UHPLC guard column at 30 ̊C. A 6470A triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer with electrospray ionisation (Agilent Technologies) was used for detection. Helium was used as a collision gas and N2 as a nebulising and desolvation gas. Data was collected using MassHunter software. The antibiotic sulfamethoxazole (SMX) was detected in each of the investigated surface water bodies in Ireland. The highest detected concentration was 3.2 ng/L showing a matrix effect of 321% (6.33% matrix effect SD). At present, there is no method developed for the detection of antibiotics that is not subjected to inaccuracies due to matrix effects. The developed optimised method allows for the precise and accurate detection of antibiotics in water samples, by decreasing the occurrence of matrix effects to improve sensitivity

Climate Obstruction in Ireland: The Contested Transformation of an Agricultural Economy

The Republic of Ireland is considered a climate leader-having passed ambitious climate plans, including the Fossil Fuel Divestment Act (2018)-and a climate laggard, as policy implementation has been weak failing to effectively reduce emissions. This chapter reviews the nuanced landscape of climate obstruction in Ireland describing the evolution of climate policies and outlining the role of news media in platforming climate contrarians as well as climate denial and delay discourses. It also provides a sectoral analysis of climate obstruction paying attention to the energy and transport sectors, and the discursive strategies used by the agri-food sector. This review suggests that transformative change is stymied by the country's long colonial history of economic and ecological exploitation, implementation challenges due to inertia and a long planning process, its reliance on foreign direct investment, and the political power of rural culture and the agri-food sector

Event Camera-Based Eye Motion Analysis: A Survey

Neuromorphic vision sensors, commonly referred to as Event Cameras (ECs), have gained prominence as a field of research in Computer Vision. This popularity stems from the numerous unique characteristics including High Dynamic Range, High Temporal Resolution, and Low Latency. Of particular interest is their temporal resolution, which proves ideal for human monitoring applications. Capturing rapid facial movements and eye gaze can be effectively achieved with ECs. Recent studies involving the use of ECs for object detection and tracking have demonstrated success in tasks involving Eye Motion Analysis such as Eye tracking, Blink detection, Gaze estimation and Pupil tracking. The objective of this study is to provide a comprehensive review of the current research in the aforementioned tasks, focusing on the potential utilization of ECs for future tasks involving rapid eye motion detection, such as detection and classification of saccades. We highlight studies that may serve as a foundation for undertaking such a task, such as pupil tracking and gaze estimation. We also highlight in our review some common challenges encountered such as the availability of datasets and review some of the methods used in solving this problem. Finally, we discuss some limitations of this field of research and conclude with future directions including real-world applications and potential research directions

Theorising political legitimisation: From stasis to processes

Legitimacy remains a key concept in political sociology, and perhaps even more so in lay understandings of political processes and structures, as evidenced by conflict over territories and regimes around the world. However, the concept suffers from a rather static representation, and even when addressed in processual form, in terms of specific moments in the process, such as conditions favouring legitimacy or its effects. Building from an Eliasian perspective, we argue for a more processual concept of legitimisation to encompass the dynamic social networks (figurations) that constitute the more unintentional context for deliberate legitimation claims. As networks expand and intensify, processes of legitimisation incorporate changing and more diverse bases for legitimacy claims, as well as a greater variety of such claims and counterclaims. As the power relations between contending groups change, legitimation practices become part of the integrating functions of the state, shaping figurations and the social habitus

To Join or Not to Join? Understanding the Succession Intentions of Next-generation Family Business Members

Looking towards 2030 and beyond, Irish businesses must address the interlocking challenges of transitioning to a low-carbon economy, embracing digital transformation, and absorbing external shocks and higher operational costs resulting from global insecurity. Given their continued prominence in the Irish economy, family businesses will have a leading role to play in remaining strong when faced with the financial uncertainties, and unexpected shocks that these trends will bring. The NCFB led this timely all-island university partnership, recruiting almost 400 next-generation family business students to give the pursuit of succession in turbulent times a contemporary voice. We found that succession aspirations are healthy across the island of Ireland, and the shaping of next-generation intentions regarding educational choices, sustainability, emotional well-being and socio-emotional wealth has a vital role to play in the realisation of these aspirations. With its rich and novel set of findings and recommendations, this report aims to better inform Irish Government and European Union policy positions on family business succession

Students’ scaling of axes when constructing qualitative graphs that represent a physics scenario

We have studied how first-year university science students construct graphs based on hypothetical qualitative physics scenarios. We gave students a questionnaire that asked them to complete two Cartesian graphs in one of three different scenarios (a ball rolling down a track, a beaker being filled with water, the resistance between different points on a metal bar) given as a written piece of text accompanied by a diagram of a hypothetical experiment that included three evenly spaced points on the set-up. Two of the three points were also indicated on the position axis of the partially drawn graph. We found that students can find it hard to translate equal spatial intervals in the experiment to a line graph. We found that most students either did not explain why they put the third point on the graph where they did, or did not plot the point at all. Some students drew unequal intervals on the position axis to indicate unequal time or resistance intervals. The difficulties became more prevalent as the levels of abstraction increased. Our findings suggest that constructing a scale on a qualitative graph requires significant mental effort from the students

The Effect of Hormonal Contraceptive Use on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy, Power and Strength Adaptations to Resistance Exercise Training: A Systematic Review and Multilevel Meta-analysis

Background: Resistance exercise training is widely used by general and athletic populations to increase skeletal muscle hypertrophy, power and strength. Endogenous sex hormones influence various bodily functions, including possibly exercise performance, and may influence adaptive changes in response to exercise training. Hormonal contraceptive (HC) use modulates the profile of endogenous sex hormones, and therefore, there is increasing interest in the impact, if any, of HC use on adaptive responses to resistance exercise training. Objective: Our aim is to provide a quantitative synthesis of the effect of HC use on skeletal muscle hypertrophy, power and strength adaptations in response to resistance exercise training. Methods: A systematic review with meta-analysis was conducted on experimental studies which directly compared skeletal muscle hypertrophy, power and strength adaptations following resistance exercise training in hormonal contraceptive users and non-users conducted before July 2023. The search using the online databases PUBMED, SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, Embase and other supplementary search strategies yielded 4669 articles, with 8 articles (54 effects and 325 participants) meeting the inclusion criteria. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed using the “Tool for the assessment of study quality and reporting in exercise”. Results: All included studies investigated the influence of oral contraceptive pills (OCP), with no study including participants using other forms of HC. The articles were analysed using a meta-analytic multilevel maximum likelihood estimator model. The results indicate that OCP use does not have a significant effect on hypertrophy [0.01, 95% confidence interval (CI) [− 0.11, 0.13], t = 0.14, p = 0.90), power (− 0.04, 95% CI [− 0.93, 0.84], t = − 0.29, p = 0.80) or strength (0.10, 95% CI [− 0.08, 0.28], t = 1.48, p = 0.20). Discussion: Based on the present analysis, there is no evidence-based rationale to advocate for or against the use of OCPs in females partaking in resistance exercise training to increase hypertrophy, power and/or strength. Rather, an individualised approach considering an individual’s response to OCPs, their reasons for use and menstrual cycle history may be more appropriate. Registration: The review protocol was registered on PROSPERO (ID number and hyperlink: CRD42022365677)

Algorithm of Determining Errors of Gimballed Inertial Navigation System

This paper deals with determining errors in gimballed inertial navigation systems. One of the aims of the study is to obtain expressions for transformations between different coordinate systems and expressions describing the system kinematics. The appropriate matrices of directing cosines have been obtained. The expressions for correction of reading of accelerometers taking into consideration rotation of the Earth, motion of the moving vehicle, and Coriolis acceleration have been obtained. Features of the considered system lie in the usage of the trajectory coordinate system as a basic navigation system contrary to the geographical reference frame and the usage of the two-axis gimballed platform. The structure chart and the necessary instrumentation of the researched system are represented. The equations for the determination of methodical errors for the inertial stabilization and inertial system have been obtained. The simulation of the basic errors of the studied system has been carried out. The obtained results of the simulation show the high accuracy of the researched system

3rd Annual Meeting of the ELRA-ISCA Special Interest Group on Under-Resourced Languages, SIGUL 2024 at LREC-COLING 2024 - Workshop Proceedings

Digital game-based language learning (DGBLL) can help with the language learning process. DGBLL applications can make learning more enjoyable and engaging, but they are difficult to develop. A DBGLL app that relies on target language texts obviously needs to be able to use texts of the appropriate level for the individual learners. This implies that text classification tools should be available to DGBLL developers, who may not be familiar with the target language, in order to incorporate suitable texts into their games. While text difficulty classifiers exist for many of the most commonly spoken languages, this is not the case for under-resourced languages, such as Irish. In this paper, we explore approaches to the development of text classifiers for Irish. In the first approach to text analysis and grading, we apply linguistic analysis to assess text complexity. Features from this approach are then used in machine learning-based text classification, which explores the application of a number of machine learning algorithms to the problem. Although the development of these text classifiers is at an early stage, they show promise, particularly in a low-resourced scenario

An exploration of pedagogy and creative teaching of the listening component of the Irish post-primary senior music syllabus

This thesis investigates teachers’ creative practice in teaching the prescribed repertoire, or “set works” at Leaving Certificate level. To date, little research has been undertaken on this dimension of practice in teaching Music in Post-Primary schools in Ireland. Employing a theoretical framework located in theories of creative learning in general, and creative habits of mind in particular (Lucas, Claxton and Spenser, 2013), teachers’ creative practices in relation to the listening component of the Leaving Certificate Music syllabus were explored, focusing specifically on the study of set works, music analysis, music appreciation and listening skills. Using a sequential, mixed-methods design, the study focuses on how teachers approach the study of set works as one segment of the listening component of the Leaving Certificate Music syllabus. Signature pedagogies (Shulman, 2005) were identified as part of investigation into teaching practice. In particular, the study explores teachers’ attitudes to teaching music analysis, music appreciation and listening skills through a creativity lens. Three overarching questions guide the research: (a) What are Irish music teachers’ perspectives on creativity and creative teaching within Leaving Certificate Music? (b) What distinctive pedagogies are used by Irish Music teachers in teaching musical repertoire? And (c) How do pedagogies practiced reflect teachers’ understanding of and interconnection with creativity? Quantitative findings suggest that teachers are positively disposed towards teaching the set works using creative pedagogies but reported that they felt certain elements of the Leaving Certificate Music syllabus were uncreative and teachers were unsure if they taught the syllabus creatively. Qualitative findings reveal that teachers implement a range of signature pedagogies. Furthermore, they adopt a number of creative approaches and practices, theorised here through a habits of mind framework (Lucas et al., 2013). Such findings illuminate the framework from a music education perspective. Most importantly, the study points to the importance of understanding teachers’ signature and creative pedagogies and how such knowledge can inform future curriculum reform and music teacher professional learning