Republican themes in the Irish constitutional tradition

Ostensibly, the Irish Constitution of 1937 draws philosophical inspiration from Catholic social teachings and the theory of natural law. While it enshrines rather generic concepts of democracy and popular sovereignty, it seems bereft of distinctively republican ideas, despite the republican influences of the Irish political revolution. However, this article argues that many of the central devices and institutions of the Constitution may be interpreted in a republican light.La Constitution irlandaise de 1937 s’inspire ostensiblement de l’enseignement social de l’Eglise catholique et de la théorie du droit naturel. Bien qu’elle consacre des principes généraux relativement banals en termes de démocratie et de souveraineté populaire, elle ne semble pas avoir un caractère typiquement républicain, malgré les inspirations républicaines de la révolution politique irlandaise. Toutefois, cet article affirme qu’un certain nombre de dispositifs institutionnels centraux de la Constitution peuvent être interprétés dans une perspective républicaine

École et religion, Freedom of Religion and Schools, Cultural Politics and Irish Education

Little illustrates the conflicting narratives of constitutional identity in the Republic of Ireland better than the evolving relationship of religion and public education. Since the 19th century, public education in the Republic has been devolved along denominational lines, partly as a product of resistance to the imposition of British state education. Rather than providing public education directly, the independent State has historically “provided for” free education at primary and secondary..

École et religion, Freedom of Religion and Schools, Cultural Politics and Irish Education

Little illustrates the conflicting narratives of constitutional identity in the Republic of Ireland better than the evolving relationship of religion and public education. Since the 19th century, public education in the Republic has been devolved along denominational lines, partly as a product of resistance to the imposition of British state education. Rather than providing public education directly, the independent State has historically “provided for” free education at primary and secondary..

Predictive modelling of hydraulic flows to a WWTP based on catchment rainfall data

One of the greatest influences on the volume and quality of influent flows to wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is rainfall in the drainage area. These wet weather flows (WWFs) can lead to significant environmental impacts due to sewer overflows and affect the efficiency and resource cost of treatment in WWTPs. Previous studies have considered the impacts of WWFs on the WWTP and treatment efficiency, however few have considered the impacts of WWFs on the sewer network that serve these treatment plants. This thesis investigates the influence of drainage area rainfall on the hydraulic flows through an urban drainage system in Northern Ireland using available data. The contribution of the electricity used at pumping stations in two drainage areas is calculated, assessed and compared to the electricity consumed for treatment alone. A method of predicting the increased volumetric flows due to rainfall in the drainage area using the non-linear reservoir model is also presented. Using the developed model, it is possible to predict potential flows through the network, although the quality of the results will depend on the quality of the data available. Using single point measurements of rainfall in the catchment and only data already measured by the water utility, an interquartile range of percentage errors between -10% and 14% of inlet flows was achieved for a one-day time horizon. This range increases to 2% to 48% of annual inlet flows over a four-day horizon. While these error ranges are far from desirable, with better measurement regimes and data availability the method can be refined further, and increased accuracy provided

Huisgen-based conjugation of water-soluble porphyrins to deprotected sugars: Towards mild strategies for the labelling of glycans

Fully deprotected alkynyl-functionalised mono- and oligosaccharides undergo CuAAC-based conjugation with water-soluble porphyrin azides in aqueous environments. The mild reaction conditions are fully compatible with the presence of labile glycosidic bonds. This approach provides an ideal strategy to conjugate tetrapyrroles to complex carbohydrates

Fermentation strategies for PHB production in a novel membrane bioreactor : investigating batch and fed-batch operations

Gas-transfer membranes have been successfully deployed as efficient aeration devices in wastewater treatment. There is an increasing interest in using such membrane technology in industrial biotechnology. This study proposes membrane bioreactors as a novel bioreactor setup for polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) production using Cupriavidus necator, whereby gas-transfer membranes are used for aeration. A proof-of-concept membrane bioreactor was built by combining a 50 ml centrifuge tube with hollow fiber membrane bundles. Different numbers and length of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) hollow fiber membranes were used to create membrane bundles with varying specific surface areas for oxygen transfer. In batch mode, a maximum biomass concentration of 10.3 g/L, which corresponds to a yield of 0.67 g biomass/g substrate, was achieved with 250 m2/m3 as the specific surface area of the membranes and 40 rpm as the liquid recirculation rate. Two different fed-batch modes were investigated to induce PHB production by applying nitrogen source limitation via fill-and-draw and two-step feeding strategies. A PHB level of 22% was obtained with fill-and-draw feeding by supplying 0.25 g/L NH4Cl after initial cultivation. Results indicate that membrane bioreactors are promising for C. necator cultivation, but further research is needed to enhance the PHB productivity

Impact of rainfall events on the electricity consumption of two wastewater treatment plants

Focus on the Energy/Water Nexus has led to interest and increased research activity into the relationship between water and society and understanding the energy requirement of Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) will be a key part of future development. Using wastewater treatment plant data the aim of this paper is to study the relationship between the energy requirements for Wastewater Treatment (WWT), with particular focus on the impact of Wet Weather Flows (WWFs). It has been established from the literature that the efficiency of treatment plant processes drops during these events and, should treatment works be subject to increased energy requirements during WWFs, this will have an impact on any benchmarking effort. Using linear regression, a potential link between increased flows to treatment and electricity consumption of one WWTP in Northern Ireland has been shown, while a second possible link is established between the catchment area rainfall and increased flows to treatment for two WWTPs, which was found to be consistent with previous work in the literature

A comparison of on-line and off-line bioaerosol measurements at a biowaste site

An air measurement campaign was carried out at a green-waste composting site in the South of Ireland during Spring 2016. The aim was to quantify and identify the levels of Primary Biological Aerosol Particles (PBAP) that were present using the traditional off-line, impaction/optical microscopy method alongside an on-line, spectroscopic approach termed WIBS (Wideband Integrated Bioaerosol Sensor), which can provide number concentrations, sizes and “shapes” of airborne PBAP in real-time by use of Light Induced Fluorescence (LIF). The results from the two techniques were compared in order to validate the use of the spectroscopic method for determining the releases of the wide-range of PBAP present there as a function of site activity and meteorological conditions. The seven-day monitoring period undertaken was much longer than any real-time studies that have been previously performed and allowed due comparison between weekday (working) activities at the site and weekend (closed) releases. The time-span also allowed relationships between site activities like turning, agitation or waste delivery and the WIBS data to be determined in a quantitative manner. This information cannot be obtained with the Andersen Sampling methods generally employed at green-waste management sites. Furthermore, few specific bioaerosol types other than Aspergillus fumigatus, are identified using the traditional protocols employed for site licensing purposes. Here though the co-location of WIBS with the impaction instrument made it possible to identify the real-time release behaviour of a specific plant pathogenic spore, Ustilago maydis, present after green-waste deliveries were made by a local distillery