SAFEGUARDING AMATEUR ATHLETES AN EXAMINATION OF PLAYER WELFARE AMONG SENIOR INTER-COUNTY GAELIC PLAYERS. RESEARCH SERIES NUMBER 99 December 2019

Following the publication of research into the commitments required of male Gaelic players to play senior inter-county, and knock-on effects of inter-county commitment (Kelly et al., 2018), the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and Gaelic Players Association (GPA) established a working group to make an in-depth analysis of the report’s findings. One of the decisions taken by the working group was that further research was required to examine a range of issues that emerged from the original study. These included in particular: (i) the education and (ii) the professional career experiences of senior inter-county players, (iii) their engagement in risky behaviours (e.g. alcohol consumption), (iv) supplement usage, (v) players’ views on both provided and required supports, and (vi) what they would change about their experience of playing inter-county and the inter-county set-up

A Search Theory of Dowry

Dowries have traditionally been viewed in economics as arising from a supply imbalance of the marriage market which disadvantages women. In this thesis, a different cause is proposed. Dowries are modelled as arising from an intertemporal bargaining process in a frictional search market, with differential aging in favour of men. This extends the insights of the standard model and is able to explain several puzzling stylised facts. Most notably, dowries may occur when there are more men than women in the market, and dowry and brideprice can coexist in the same market. The model is extended to include heterogeneous males of different quality

A comparison of two low grade heat recovery options

Low grade heat (LGH) recovery is one way of increasing industrial energy efficiency and reducing associated greenhouse gas emissions. The organic rankine cycle (ORC) and condensing boilers are two options that can be used to recover low grade heat (<250 °C). This paper assesses the lifecycle greenhouse gas reduction impacts and discounted payback periods associated with both technologies. Generation of electricity through the operation of the ORC saves approximately 11 kt of CO2 annually, but the high carbon intensity of the coking process means this has a negligible influence (<1 %) on the overall process lifecycle impacts. However, if the electricity generated offsets the external purchasing of electricity this results in favourable economic payback periods of between 3 and 6 years. The operation of a condensing boiler within a woodchip boiler reduces the fuel required to achieve an increased thermal output. The thermal efficiency gains reduce the lifecycle impacts by between 11 and 21%., and reflect payback periods as low as 1.5 to 2 years, depending on the condenser type and wood supply chain. The two case studies are used to highlight the difficulty in identifying LGH recovery solutions that satisfy multiple environmental, economic and wider objectives

Application of an expanded sequestration estimate to the domestic energy footprint of the Republic of Ireland

peer-reviewedThe need for global comparability has led to the recent standardization of ecological footprint methods. The use of global averages and necessary methodological assumptions has questioned the ability of the ecological footprint to represent local or national specific concerns. This paper attempts to incorporate greater national relevancy by expanding the sequestration estimate used to calculate the annual carbon footprint of domestic Irish energy use. This includes expanding existing study boundaries to include additional carbon pools such as the litter, dead and soil pools. This generated an overall estimate of 4.38 tonnes of carbon per hectare per year (t C/ha/yr), resulting in an ecological footprint estimate of 0.49 hectares per capita (ha/cap) The method employed in this paper also incorporated the potential role of grassland as a carbon sink. The caveat that the resultant value is dependent on the choice of study boundary is discussed. Including the lateral movement of carbon embodied in farm products (effectively placing the boundary around the farm gate) reduces the estimate of grassland carbon sequestration by approximately 44% to 1.82 t C/ha/yr. When a footprint calculated using an overall sequestration estimate (based on the distribution of Irish grassland and forestry) is translated into global hectares (gha), the standardized value is reduced by 35%

Biomimetic design for an under-actuated leg exoskeleton for load-carrying augmentation

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-81).Metabolic studies have shown that there is a metabolic cost associated with carrying a load (Griffin et al, 2003). Further studies have shown that by applying forward propulsive forces a person can walk with a reduced metabolic rate (Farley & McMahon, 1992 and Gottschall & Kram, 2003). Previous work on exoskeleton design has not considered the passive dynamics of walking and has focused on fully actuated systems that are inefficient and heavy. In this thesis, an under-actuated exoskeleton is presented that runs parallel to the human leg. The exoskeleton component design is based on the kinematics and kinetics of human walking. The joint components of the exoskeleton in the sagittal plane consist of a force-controllable actuator at the hip, a variable-damper mechanism at the knee and a passive spring at the ankle. A state-machine control strategy is written based on joint angle and ground-exoskeleton force sensing. Positive, non-conservative power is added at the hip during the walking cycle to help propel the mass of the human and payload forward. At the knee, the damper mechanism is turned on at heel strike as the exoskeleton leg is loaded and turned off during terminal stance to allow knee flexion.(cont.) The spring at the ankle engages in controlled dorsiflexion to store energy that is later released to assist in powered plantarflexion. Kinetic and metabolic data are recorded from human subjects wearing the exoskeleton with a 751b payload. These data are compared to data recorded from subjects walking without the exoskeleton. It is demonstrated that the exoskeleton does transfer loads to the ground with a 90% and higher load transfer depending on the phase of gait. Further, exoskeleton wearers report that the exoskeleton greatly reduces the stress on the shoulders and back. However, although a significant fraction of the payload is transferred through the exoskeleton structure, the exoskeleton is found to increase metabolic economy by 74%. By comparing distinct exoskeleton configurations, the relative effect of each exoskeleton component is determined. Metabolic data show that the variable-damper knee and ankle spring mechanisms increase metabolism by only 32%, whereas a non-actuated exoskeleton (no motor, variable-damper, or spring) increases walking metabolism by 62%. These results highlight the benefit of ankle elastic energy storage and knee variable-damping in exoskeleton design, and further the need for a lighter, more efficient hip actuator.by Conor James Walsh.S.M

COVID-19 and emergency department attendances in Irish public hospitals. ESRI QEC Special Article May 2020.

New ESRI research published today, 22 May, shows that emergency department (ED) attendances in Ireland fell sharply at the onset of COVID-19 outbreak in Ireland. The average number of daily emergency department attendances at the end of March 2020 was approximately half what it was at the beginning of March. Similar reductions were seen across each region of the country. The reductions were substantial across all age groups, with particularly high reductions amongst younger age groups. There was even a decline in the number of attendances classified as very urgent/immediate. The fall in these more serious cases was 27%, compared to a 32% decline in less urgent attendances

Nathaniel Hawthorne and his biblical contexts

The majority of criticism and scholarship devoted to the fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne takes for granted the relationship between Hawthorne and the Bible, focusing instead upon theology and philosophy. This work proposes that the Bible was an important and pervasive influence in Hawthorne\u27s fiction. The Bible provides Hawthorne with numerous resources for both his artistic and moral concerns. At a basic level the Bible provides a popular platform that allows Hawthorne to immediately connect with his contemporary audience who were intimately familiar with the Bible. More importantly, though, are the vast examples and perspectives of the human condition and human experience found in the Bible. The historical aspect of the Bible gave depth to Hawthorne\u27s creativity. The moral aspect of the Bible provided themes and ideas around which Hawthorne could craft his own stories. Ultimately the central position of the Bible in the Western tradition offers Hawthorne a touchstone from which to pursue his artistry as did his favorite authors: John Bunyan, John Milton. and Edmund Spenser. This work provides a sustained study of the biblical contexts of Nathaniel Hawthorne\u27s fiction. I begin by establishing Hawthorne\u27s familiarity with and reverence for the Bible. I then explore the connections between a selection of his characters and the biblical figures they are named after. Next, I explore the focused parallels and analogues between specific works of fiction and specific figures and events taken from the Bible. Finally, I explore the broader biblical themes derived from the story of the Fall, which captivated Hawthorne and appears throughout numerous of his works. This study provides a focused and substantial exploration of the biblical contexts of Hawthorne\u27s fiction. Through these biblical contexts one can gain additional insight to Hawthorne\u27s artistic and moral concerns as expressed in his writing

Image-guided robots for dot-matrix tumor ablation

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 203-208).Advances in medical imaging now provides detailed images of solid tumors inside the body and miniaturized energy delivery systems enable tumor destruction through local heating powered by a thin electrode. However, the use of thermal ablation as a first line of treatment is limited due to the difficulty in accurately matching a desired treatment and a limited region of active heating around an electrode. The purpose of this research is to identify and quantify the current limitations of image-guided interventional procedures and subsequently develop a procedure and devices to enable accurate and efficient execution of image-based interventional plans and thus ablation of a tumor of any shape with minimal damage to surrounding tissue. Current limitations of probe placement for ablation therapy were determined by a detailed retrospective study of 50 representative CT-guided procedures. On average, 21 CT scans were performed for a given procedure (range 11-38), with the majority devoted to needle orientation and insertion (mean number of scans was 54%) and trajectory planning (mean number of scans was 19%). A regression analysis yielded that smaller and deeper lesions were associated with a higher number of CT scans for needle orientation and insertion; highlighting the difficulty in targeting. Another challenge identified was repositioning the instrument distal tip within tissue. The first robot is a patient-mounted device that aligns an instrument along a desired trajectory via two motor-actuated concentric, crossed, and partially nested hoops. A carriage rides in the hoops and grips and inserts an instrument via a two degree-of-freedom friction drive. An imagebased point-and-click user interface relates appropriate clicks on the medical images to robot commands. Mounting directly on the patient provides a sufficiently stable and safe platform for actuation and eliminates the need to compensate for chest motion; thereby reducing the cost and complexity compared to other devices. Phantom experiments in a realistic clinical setting demonstrated a mean targeting accuracy of 3.5 mm with an average of five CT scans. The second robot is for repositioning the distal tip of a medical instrument to adjacent points within tissue. The steering mechanism is based on the concept of substantially straightening a pre-curved Nitinol stylet by retracting it into a concentric outer cannula, and re-deploying it at different axial and rotational cannula positions. The proximal end of the cannula is attached to the distal end of a screw-spline that enables it to be translated and rotated with respect to the casing. Translation of the stylet relative to the cannula is achieved with a second concentric, nested smaller diameter screw that is constrained to rotate with the cannula. The robot mechanism is compatible with the CT images, light enough to be supported on a patient's chest or attached to standard stereotactic frames. Targeting experiments in a gelatin phantom demonstrated a mean targeting error of 1.8 mm between the stylet tip and that predicted with a kinematic model. Ultimately, these types of systems are envisioned being used together as part of a highly dexterous patient-mounted positioning platform that can accurately perform ablation of large and irregularly shaped tumors inside medical imaging machines - offering the potential to replace expensive and traumatic surgeries with minimally invasive out-patient procedures.by Conor James Walsh.Ph.D