From Toxic Industries to Green Extractivism: Rural Environmental Struggles, Multinational Corporations and Ireland’s Postcolonial Ecological Regime

In this article, we analyse the political ecology of Ireland’s industrial landscape in the current era of digital capitalism, which has been posited as the primary engine of an oncoming “green” eco-modernisation via smart technologies. As our research has found over the past several years (see Bresnihan and Brodie 2021a, 2021b, 2023), far from representing benevolent contributors to the planetary transition away from fossil fuels, digital corporations are poised to become primary beneficiaries by funnelling accumulation through green transition strategies into and through their proprietary infrastructures. In what follows, we unravel the ways in which this does not represent a necessarily new development in Ireland, but rather a historical and continuous transition within Irish environmental governance that facilitates the accumulation strategies of multinational companies via a model of foreign direct investment (FDI)-led state development. In so doing, the Irish state not only participates in these activities as they implicate Irish territory within these global extractive regimes, it also enrols Irish land, labour and infrastructure into them in geographically uneven ways. But, at the same time, there have been a multitude of historical and contemporary examples of civil society objection and outright popular resistance to this development model, representing points of friction at which environmental contradictions are negotiated and contested across local communities and the state in often ambivalent way

Effect of Drought Stress on the Physiology and Early Growth of Seven Senegalia senegal (L.) Britton Provenances

Decline of Senegalia senegal (Acacia senegal) in its natural range has been observed and attributed mainly to harsh environmental conditions such as frequent drought occurrences. The objective of this study is to assess the effect of water stress on growth, biomass allocation and photosynthetic capacity in Senegalia senegal seedlings. Seeds were collected from seven provenances in Senegal and grown under greenhouse conditions in a randomized complete block design with 5 replications. Seedlings were subjected to three cyclic droughts by watering them when average soil moisture content dropped to 4.7%, 2.7%, and 2.1% during the first, second, and third dry down cycles, respectively. With the exception of net photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance and transpiration at the second and third dry down cycles, no drought by provenance interaction was found for any trait measured. Ngane provenance had a lower root/shoot ratio and allometric analysis revealed that Ngane allocated less biomass to roots than shoots. Ngane developed superior growth traits and biomass production, despite similar net photosynthetic rate with other provenances before treatments started. Overall, drought stress significantly reduced biomass, stem height, diameter and leaf gas exchange. Total biomass was reduced by 28.5%, whereas root/shoot ratio was increased by 25% compared to control. Significant interaction on leaf gas exchanges at the second and third dry down cycles reveals different sensitivity levels to drought among provenances with the Ranerou provenance exhibiting no decline in leaf gas exchange. No significant difference of stomatal limitation among genotypes was found, which is indicative of the complex process of photosynthesis and the need for extended times scales for measurements to better depict physiological sensitivity of Senegalia senegal to drought

How can we research social movements? An introduction

This 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

Los Vínculos entre el Partido y la Base, la Movilización Contestataria y las “Tensiones Creativas” en Bolivia

The abstract is included in the text

Circadian Variation in the Response to Vaccination: A Systematic Review and Evidence Appraisal

Molecular timing mechanisms known as circadian clocks drive endogenous 24h rhythmicity in most physiological functions, including innate and adaptive immunity. Consequently, the response to immune challenge such as vaccination might depend on the time of day of exposure. This study assessed whether the time-of-day of vaccination (TODV) is associated with the subsequent immune and clinical response by conducting a systematic review of previous studies. The Cochrane Library, Pubmed, Google, Medline and Embase were searched for studies that reported time-of-day of vaccination and immune and clinical outcomes, yielding 3,114 studies; 23 of which met the inclusion criteria. The global SARS-CoV-2 vaccination programme facilitated investigation of TODV and almost half of the studies included reported data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic. There was considerable heterogeneity in the demography of participants and type of vaccine and most studies were biased by failure to account for immune status prior to vaccination, self-selection of vaccination time, or confounding factors such as sleep, chronotype and shiftwork. The optimum TODV was concluded to be afternoon (five studies), morning (five studies), morning and afternoon (1 study), midday (1 study) and morning or late afternoon (1 study) with the remining 10 studies reporting no effect. Further research is required to understand the relationship between TODV and subsequent immune outcome, and whether any clinical benefit outweighs the potential effect of this intervention on vaccine uptake

Don’t Let Your Anxiety Stress Out Your Team

Our emotional state — such as feelings of anxiety, nervousness, and apprehension — can rub off on our team negatively impact their work performance and wellbeing. This is called emotional contagion, and it’s not uncommon. Since many workplaces have transitioned to a hybrid model, it’s imperative that, as a new manager, you pay attention to how you communicate with your teams, even in virtual settings. Be mindful of what you post online and how often you post. Your social media activity can impact your team anxiety, even when you aren’t physically present and even when you aren’t talking about work. Posting too much information at once may overwhelm your follows and significantly changing the frequency of when you regularly post may alarm them. On messaging platforms, consider the tone and content of your words. Remember that written communication can be easily misinterpreted, so always aim for clarity and honesty. Pay attention to the tone of your team member’s messages. Looking at their punctuation can be a telling indicator of anxiety. For example, when a colleague uncharacteristically starts finishing all their Slack messages with a period, it could signal that something is not quite right and that they are anxious or stressed. If you sense anxiety, address them calmly, and provide reassurance to the best of your ability. Be vulnerable. As a leader, your responsibility includes providing safe workspaces in which your employees can thrive. Displaying vulnerability is one way to foster greater trust and collaboration within your team. However, share your vulnerability in a thoughtful and measured manner so as not to alarm employees or undermine your leadership

Life beyond the physical: A Sustainable exhibition

The exhibition, 'The Second Reformation and Catholic-Protestant Relations in Pre-Famine Ireland: Bicentennial Perspectives' opened in the Russell Library on 24 October 2022. A symposium and exhibition launch took place in the Library on the bicentenary of the infamous sermon (charge) given by the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, William Magee (1766-1831) in St Patrick's Cathedral on 24 October 1822. The exhibition explored the significance and legacy of the Second Reformation of the l 820s-40s. Archbishop Magee's charge sparked religious controversy in Ireland, playing a significant role in driving the Second Reformation, including the 'Bible War'

Return values of temperature and snow loadings for 50, 100 and 120-year return periods to support building design standards in Ireland

This research produced gridded datasets and maps for use in building design standards to enhance resilience in support of climate change adaptation in Ireland. The new isothermal maps of return values of maximum and minimum air temperatures at mean sea level for 50, 100 and 120-year return periods based on the generalised extreme value distribution will be crucial to inform the design of buildings and bridges. The warming of the maximum and minimum air temperatures due to climate change has increased the intensity of the highest maximum air temperature while decreasing the intensity of the lowest extreme minimum air temperature of the new isothermal maps compared to previously published maps for a 50-year return period. Specifically, the new extreme isotherms are 32 ∘C for the maximum air temperature and −14 ∘C for the minimum air temperature, whereas the processor maps presented 30 and −16 ∘C, respectively. The geographical distribution of the isotherms for the 120-year return period range from 28 to 34 ∘C for the maximum air temperature and from −6 to −18 ∘C for the minimum air temperature. For the first time, isothermal maps of return values of the lowest 10 cm soil temperature for 50, 100 and 120-year return periods based on the generalised extreme value distribution have been produced for Ireland. The results presented here will be paramount to supporting the design of building structures. The values of the 120-year return period range from 0 to −2 ∘C. The produced maps represent the worst-case scenario in the current context of climate warming. The new maps of return values of snow loading at 100 m above mean sea level for 50, 100 and 120-year return periods based on the generalised Pareto distribution will be indispensable to support the design of buildings and civil engineering works such as roof patterns or bridges. The values of the 50-year return period map present four classes spread North-East to South-West: < 0.3, 0.3–0.4, 0.4–0.5 and 0.5–0.6 kN m−2, which is more accurate than the previously published map. It is expected that the comprehensive explanation of the methods and the rationale for the new maps presented here as being more accurate than the preceding maps will assist regulators in adopting these new maps in their own jurisdictions. Furthermore, these new maps will be of interest to a diversity of sectors, planners and policymakers to make long, lasting and climate-based sensitive decisions

‘Strikingly and stubbornly high’: Investigating the paradox of public confidence in the Irish police

While levels of public confidence in the police have declined internationally, the Republic of Ireland appears to have bucked this trend with confidence levels that remain ‘strikingly and stubbornly high’ ( Mulcahy, 2016: 275). This situation appears all the more puzzling given the wave of scandals to have hit the force in recent decades, ranging from police corruption in Donegal in the late 1990s to a more recent whistleblower scandal that has resulted in the resignation of a slew of Ministers and high-ranking officials. Such developments beg important questions as to the factors sustaining public confidence over this tumultuous period. Drawing on international and domestic data, this article aims to probe this ‘paradox’ of public confidence in the Irish police. It argues that, although confidence is high, there is more to the dynamics of confidence in the police in Ireland than this initial appraisal suggests. Indeed, it advances the Irish case as an illustration both of the dimensionality of the public confidence concept and the complexity of the pathways to trust in the police