Response to the review of the white paper on Irish aid. The urbanisation of poverty: drawing on the skills and techniques of spatial planning to support the aid programme

Submission on behalf of UCC to the Government Consultation on the White paper on Irish Ai

We Never Did This: A Framework for Measuring Novelty of Tasks in Mathematics Textbooks

Textbooks are an important resource in Irish mathematics classrooms, which can have both a positive and negative impact on teaching and learning. The Project Maths initiative is prompting teachers and students to cross boundaries and interact with mathematics in ways that had not been considered previously. Publishers have produced new texts in response to the expectations of the revised curriculum and the changed needs of the classroom. This paper presents a framework to consider the degree of novelty presented in tasks found in mathematics textbooks. Novelty is something that has been referred to, yet not addressed directly, in existing frameworks for the analysis of mathematical tasks. A particular strength of our framework is that it takes into account the experience of the solver, as opposed to just focusing on how a task has been structured. Sections of textbooks currently being used in Irish classrooms at second level have been analysed using this framework and the results indicate that while all textbooks incorporate a significant level of novelty, there is still room for more novel tasks to be included

A consideration of familiarity in Irish mathematics examinations

In this paper, we focus on the idea of familiarity and the differing levels of it that are apparent in Irish mathematics end of school state examination questions. We provide the results of an analysis of recent Higher Level and Ordinary Level Leaving Certificate mathematics examinations in terms of familiarity. Our findings do not indicate any particular recurring pattern evident in the levels of familiarity measured but generally not more than 20% of marks are allocated to unfamiliar questions

Mapping the Diffuse Universe: Integral Field Spectroscopy of Galaxy Environments

The population of galaxies we see today is the result of billions of years of gas inflows, outflows, mergers, and feedback. To develop any holistic picture of the origin and evolution of galaxies, we thus need to understand their environments. The circumgalactic and intergalactic media (CGM and IGM) - the gas around and between galaxies, respectively - represent a large part of this environment. However, this gas is extremely faint and thus difficult to observe, and only recently have we been able to image it directly. This thesis presents instrumental and observational work focused on revealing galaxy environments in the early universe. Chapter 1 presents a brief history of our understanding of galaxies and an overview of our current picture of galaxy formation, including the role played by galaxy environments. In particular, it focuses on presenting the evolution of baryonic structures within a cosmological density field dominated by dark matter. Chapter 2 presents instrumental work on the Keck Cosmic Web Imager (KCWI, Morrissey et al. 2018), a new integral field spectrograph (IFS) for the Keck-2 10m telescope designed to study faint, extended emission. As an introduction, I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of integral field spectroscopy for the application of studying galaxy environments, as well as an overview of the prototype instrument - the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager (PCWI, Matuszewski et al. 2010). This chapter focuses primarily on engineering work during the development and testing of KCWI, though I conclude with a brief comparison of PCWI and KCWI performance in measuring the CGM around a high-redshift QSO. Chapter 3 presents the development of a software package designed to extract and analyze faint, extended emission in PCWI and KCWI data: CWITools. Although software is often an afterthought in astronomical and observational work, it is likely to become a primary barrier to conducting large IFS surveys of the CGM and IGM. This semi-automated analysis pipeline is presented and released publicly to empower future PCWI and KCWI studies. Chapter 4 presents the FLASHES (Fluorescent Lyman-α Structures in High-z Environments) pilot survey, published as O'Sullivan et al. 2020. The FLASHES pilot survey is an IFS study of extended HI Lyman-α emission in the environments of 48 z = 2.3 - 3.0 QSOs. The FLASHES Survey is the core project of this thesis, enabled by the instrumentation in Chapter 2 and the analysis pipeline developed in Chapter 3. The pilot survey represents the first statistically significant (N ≳ 30) sample of direct CGM observations in its redshift range. As such, it provides the first direct constraints on the 2D morphology, surface brightness profiles, and spatially resolved kinematics of the CGM during this period. Chapter 5 presents the first FLASHES follow-up study; deep IFS observations targeting extended Lyα 1216Å, NV 1240Å, CIV 1549Å, and HeII 1640Å emission from a subset of FLASHES pilot targets (O'Sullivan et al., in prep). Emission from metals in the CGM is expected to be an order of magnitude or more fainter than its Lyα, yet is a crucial ingredient in understanding the composition of the gas. Detecting this emission still requires multiple hours on 10m class telescopes. As such, large surveys of the multi-phase CGM remain extremely difficult to conduct. In this chapter, I present detections and upper limits of CGM metal emission around 8 FLASHES targets. Chapter 6 presents engineering work on FIREBall-2 (the Faint Intergalactic Redshifted Emission Balloon, second generation), a high-altitude UV telescope and IFS targeting CGM emission in the low-redshift universe (z ≃ 0.7). FIREBall-2 is an ambitious project deploying a novel, electron-multiplying CCD designed to achieve ≳ 50% quantum efficiency in the UV. This technology represents an order of magnitude increase in sensitivity from the microchannel plates used in the GALEX space telescope. FIREBall-2 serves as both an observational project in its own right, studying the low-z CGM, and a pathfinder mission for future UV space missions. Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes the contributions from this thesis and present a brief outlook on a few topics related to observations of galaxy environments.</p

John Bull’s Other Ireland: Manchester-Irish Identities and a Generation of Performance

This thesis provides an auto-ethnographically informed ‘making strange’ of the mise-en-scène of Irish working class domesticity in the North West of England as it was lived during the 1960s, 1970s and into the 1980s. The liminality of being a child of migrant parents is considered and the interstices of experience and identity in and of England and Ireland, Englishness and Irishness are explored. The first chapter of the thesis draws the reader into the initial frame of reference, the personal childhood ethnography that inspired this wider study, and considers Bhabha’s ‘shadow of the nation’ falling ‘on the condition of exile’ as one context for the development of individual identities. The second chapter examines the ways in which a performance studies approach provides a useful method for interrogating matters of place, personhood and citizenship whilst the third chapter introduces performance theory as a mechanism for exploring the ways in which quotidian and cultural performance have been harnessed as tools of negotiation. These are sometimes resistant, sometimes affirmative and sometimes celebratory acts in the construction of new identities. Ongoing performances reveal the embodied histories of individual performers, shaped in part by culture and memory, masking and unmasking to both construct and reveal layered identities. The fourth chapter, provides the most obvious example of traditional fieldwork, and draws on interview extracts to provide key insights into aspects of the diasporic context, identifying and analyzing the many rehearsal and performance opportunities provided by growing up in Irish households in England, where identities were initially formed, informed, and performed. Bridging the distinction between autoethnography, performance ethnography and the ethnography of performance, this chapter engages in discussion with a range of contributors defamiliarising the domestic mise-en-scène whilst simultaneously recognizing a commonality of experience. These interviews are themselves a celebration of Irish identity performance and form an important bridge between the theoretical framework explored in the opening chapters and the subsequent case studies. The final section of the thesis searches out a mirroring of these processes in the construction of theatrical and mediatised performance – providing opportunities to both utilize and observe performance ethnography and the ethnography of performance. It is suggested that Terry Christian provides an affirmative yet angry celebration in a complex performed response to a complex mise-en-scène. A new reading of Steve Coogan’s work then suggests three modes of performance: first, Coogan the outsider satirises British mores; second, Coogan plays sophisticated games of revealing and masking multiple versions of self; third, a searching and ultimately serious engagement with his engagement with Ireland. The application of a performance theory perspective, in the context of this fraction of the Irish diaspora, reveals a playful and generous spirited approach to complex and serious matters of identity and place in the world – to the ways in which lives are led and meanings made through and for the generation of performance

Milk production of Holstein-Friesian cows of divergent Economic Breeding Index evaluated under seasonal pasture-based management

peer-reviewedThe objective of this study was to validate the effect of genetic improvement using the Irish genetic merit index, the Economic Breeding Index (EBI), on total lactation performance and lactation profiles for milk yield, milk solids yield (fat plus protein; kg), and milk fat, protein, and lactose content within 3 pasture-based feeding treatments (FT) and to investigate whether an interaction exists between genetic group (GG) of Holstein-Friesian and pasture-based FT. The 2 GG were (1) extremely high EBI representative of the top 5% nationally (referred to as the elite group) and (2) representative of the national average EBI (referred to as the NA group). Cows from each GG were randomly allocated each year to 1 of 3 pasture-based FT: control, lower grass allowance, and high concentrate. The effects of GG, FT, year, parity, and the interaction between GG and FT adjusted for calving day of year on milk and milk solids (fat plus protein; kg) production across lactation were studied using mixed models. Cow was nested within GG to account for repeated cow records across years. The overall and stage of lactation-specific responses to concentrate supplementation (high concentrate vs. control) and reduced pasture allowance (lower grass allowance vs. control) were tested. Profiles of daily milk yield, milk solids yield, and milk fat, protein, and lactose content for each week of lactation for the elite and NA groups within each FT and for each parity group within the elite and NA groups were generated. Phenotypic performance was regressed against individual cow genetic potential based on predicted transmitting ability. The NA cows produced the highest milk yield. Milk fat and protein content was higher for the elite group and consequently yield of solids-corrected milk was similar, whereas yield of milk solids tended to be higher for the elite group compared with the NA group. Milk lactose content did not differ between GG. Responses to concentrate supplementation or reduced pasture allowance did not differ between GG. Milk production profiles illustrated that elite cows maintained higher production but with lower persistency than NA cows. Regression of phenotypic performance against predicted transmitting ability illustrated that performance was broadly in line with expectation. The results illustrate that the superiority of high-EBI cattle is consistent across diverse pasture-based FT. The results also highlight the success of the EBI to deliver production performance in line with the national breeding objective: lower milk volume with higher fat and protein content

Car-Park Management using Wireless Sensor Networks

A complete wireless sensor network solution for car-park management is presented in this paper. The system architecture and design are first detailed, followed by a description of the current working implementation, which is based on our DSYS25z sensing nodes. Results of a series of real experimental tests regarding connectivity, sensing and network performance are then discussed. The analysis of link characteristics in the car park scenario shows unexpected reliability patterns which have a strong influence on MAC and routing protocol design. Two unexpected link reliability patterns are identified and documented. First, the presence of the objects (cars) being sensed can cause significant interference and degradation in communication performance. Second, link quality has a high temporal correlation but a low spatial correlation. From these observations we conclude that a) the construction and maintenance of a fixed topology is not useful and b) spatial rather than temporal message replicates can improve transport reliability

Painful Reasons: Representationalism as a Theory of Pain

It is widely thought that functionalism and the qualia theory are better positioned to accommodate the ‘affective’ aspect of pain phenomenology than representationalism. In this paper, we attempt to overturn this opinion by raising problems for both functionalism and the qualia theory on this score. With regard to functionalism, we argue that it gets the order of explanation wrong: pain experience gives rise to the effects it does because it hurts, and not the other way around. With regard to the qualia theory, we argue that it fails to capture the sense in which pain 's affective phenomenology rationalises various bodily-directed beliefs, desires, and behaviours. Representationalism, in contrast, escapes both of these problems: it gets the order of explanation right and it explains how pain 's affective phenomenology can rationalise bodily-directed beliefs, desires, and behaviours. For this reason, we argue that representationalism has a significant advantage in the debates about pain 's affective phenomenology. We end the paper by examining objections, including the question of what representationalists should say about so-called ‘disassociation cases’, such as pain asymboli

Pancreatic insulinoma co-existing with gastric GIST in the absence of neurofibromatosis-1

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) frequently occur in patients with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF-1). It has been reported that GIST may co-exist with pancreatic endocrine tumors but this has only been in association with NF-1.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 76 year old woman presented with a 12 month history of hypoglycaemia symptoms. Abdominal CT scan demonstrated a 13 mm insulinoma localized in the tail of her pancreas. She was commenced on diazoxide and later underwent surgery for enucleation of insulinoma when a small (< 1 cm) incidental tumour was discovered on her stomach wall which was identified as GIST.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This is the first case report of a pancreatic insulinoma co-existing with a GIST in a patient without NF-1. In addition, we make the first report of rapidly growing cystic GIST recurrence following resection of a primary GIST tumour.</p

A Generic Algorithm for Mid-call Audio Codec Switching

We present and evaluate an algorithm that performs in-call selection of the most appropriate audio codec given prevailing conditions on the network path between the endpoints of a voice call. We have studied the behaviour of different codecs under varying network conditions, in doing so deriving the impairment factors for non-ITU-T codecs so that the E-model can be used to assess voice call quality for them. Moreover, we have studied the drawbacks of codec switching from the end user perception point of view; our switching algorithm seeks to minimise this impact. We have tested our algorithm on different packages that contain a selection of the most commonly used codecs: G.711, SILK, ILBC, GSM and SPEEX. Our results show that in many typical network scenarios, our switching codecs mid-call algorithm results in better Quality of Experience (QoE) than would have been achieved had the initial codec been used throughout the call