The future direction of on-farm irrigation technologies and practice research

The Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures mission is to facilitate cooperative research and training networks and programs which continuously improve irrigation policy, tools, practices and processes. This paper provides an introduction to the current and planned research activities within the CRCIF with a particular focus on the tools and practices of relevance to improving on-farm water use efficiency. A key focus of this research is the delivery of research outcomes via toolkits which enhance the irrigation sector's ability to measure, monitor and manage the water balance at the field and farm scales, improve the precision of in-field irrigation applications and maximize agronomic responses to irrigation

The gut microbiome: Relationships with disease and opportunities for therapy.

Over the past decade, our view of human-associated microbes has expanded beyond that of a few species toward an appreciation of the diverse and niche-specialized microbial communities that develop in the human host with chronological age. The largest reservoir of microbes exists in the distal gastrointestinal tract, both in the lumen, where microbes facilitate primary and secondary metabolism, and on mucosal surfaces, where they interact with host immune cell populations. While local microbial-driven immunomodulation in the gut is well described, more recent studies have demonstrated a role for the gut microbiome in influencing remote organs and mucosal and hematopoietic immune function. Unsurprisingly, therefore, perturbation to the composition and function of the gut microbiota has been associated with chronic diseases ranging from gastrointestinal inflammatory and metabolic conditions to neurological, cardiovascular, and respiratory illnesses. Considerable effort is currently focused on understanding the natural history of microbiome development in humans in the context of health outcomes, in parallel with improving our knowledge of microbiome-host molecular interactions. These efforts ultimately aim to develop effective approaches to rehabilitate perturbed human microbial ecosystems as a means to restore health or prevent disease. This review details the role of the gut microbiome in modulating host health with a focus on immunomodulation and discusses strategies for manipulating the gut microbiome for the management or prevention of chronic inflammatory conditions

A best choice among asset pricing models? The conditional CAPM in Australia.

We use Australian data to test the Conditional CAPM (Jagannathan and Wang, 1996). Our results are generally supportive: the model performs well compared with a number of competing asset pricing models. In contrast to Jagannathan and Wang’s study, however, we find that the inclusion of the market for human capital does not ‘save’ the concept of the time-independent market beta (it remains insignificant). We find support for the role of a “small-minus-big” factor (Fama and French, 1993) in pricing the cross-section of returns and find grounds to disagree with Jagannathan and Wang’s argument that this factor proxies for misspecified market risk

The CMIP6 Data Request (DREQ, version 01.00.31)

The data request of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) defines all the quantities from CMIP6 simulations that should be archived. This includes both quantities of general interest needed from most of the CMIP6-endorsed model intercomparison projects (MIPs) and quantities that are more specialized and only of interest to a single endorsed MIP. The complexity of the data request has increased from the early days of model intercomparisons, as has the data volume. In contrast with CMIP5, CMIP6 requires distinct sets of highly tailored variables to be saved from each of the more than 200 experiments. This places new demands on the data request information base and leads to a new requirement for development of software that facilitates automated interrogation of the request and retrieval of its technical specifications. The building blocks and structure of the CMIP6 Data Request (DREQ), which have been constructed to meet these challenges, are described in this paper

Challenges in quantifying changes in the global water cycle

Human influences have likely already impacted the large-scale water cycle but natural variability and observational uncertainty are substantial. It is essential to maintain and improve observational capabilities to better characterize changes. Understanding observed changes to the global water cycle is key to predicting future climate changes and their impacts. While many datasets document crucial variables such as precipitation, ocean salinity, runoff, and humidity, most are uncertain for determining long-term changes. In situ networks provide long time-series over land but are sparse in many regions, particularly the tropics. Satellite and reanalysis datasets provide global coverage, but their long-term stability is lacking. However, comparisons of changes among related variables can give insights into the robustness of observed changes. For example, ocean salinity, interpreted with an understanding of ocean processes, can help cross-validate precipitation. Observational evidence for human influences on the water cycle is emerging, but uncertainties resulting from internal variability and observational errors are too large to determine whether the observed and simulated changes are consistent. Improvements to the in situ and satellite observing networks that monitor the changing water cycle are required, yet continued data coverage is threatened by funding reductions. Uncertainty both in the role of anthropogenic aerosols, and due to large climate variability presently limits confidence in attribution of observed changes

Co-reductive fabrication of carbon nanodots with high quantum yield for bioimaging of bacteria

A simple and straightforward synthetic approach for carbon nanodots (C-dots) is proposed. The strategy is based on a one-step hydrothermal chemical reduction with thiourea and urea, leading to high quantum yield C-dots. The obtained C-dots are well-dispersed with a uniform size and a graphite-like structure. A synergistic reduction mechanism was investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The findings show that using both thiourea and urea during the one-pot synthesis enhances the luminescence of the generated C-dots. Moreover, the prepared C-dots have a high distribution of functional groups on their surface. In this work, C-dots proved to be a suitable nanomaterial for imaging of bacteria and exhibit potential for application in bioimaging thanks to their low cytotoxicity

Maynooth - towards a community profile 1750-1911

The thesis is about communities in Maynooth from the mid-eighteenth-century to the early twentieth-century. It looks at the worker within the community and focuses on three areas of the town - Carton demesne, Maynooth town itself and the seminary of St. Patrick’s College Maynooth. Employer-employee relationships, job descriptions, status, wage levels, length of service, gender ratios, recruitment and mobility are explored particularly in relation to the servants and workers of Carton demesne and those of St. Patrick’s College. A profile o f Maynooth town emerges through an examination of its population, housing, property ownership and economic and social activity. Change over time and the nature and level of interaction between three employment loci is explored. Certain groups or ‘communities of interest’ emerge, some of which operate on separate levels to others. They are the servants of Carton demesne and those of St. Patrick’s College who are not of the locality and who are bound by rules and regulations. However these groups are indirectly linked to the wider community by co-workers from the locality who enter and leave these separate worlds on a daily basis, such as the labourers from the Duke of Leinster’s cottages. The community of Maynooth town to some extent forms a central community that feeds into that of Carton demesne and St. Patrick’s College and at the same time it is shaped by their influential presence. It also endeavours to operate independently of them sometimes to greater or lesser degree of success over the period

Civic Engagement: Sharing library knowledge, collections and expertise with local artists. A project in part fulfillment of PGDHE

NUI Maynooth Teaching and Learning Showcase 2011/1