‘After the Celtic Tiger’, Irish Social Science Platform Conference

The four National University of Ireland Universities have offered a diploma in rural development to adults experienced in, or concerned about rural development since 1996. The diploma initiative arose from a government report on the needs for education and training for the development of rural areas. The universities acted upon the Creedon Report (1993) and offered a 60 credit two-year distance learning diploma in 11 separate themed modules. Over 400 people have completed this diploma since 1996 and have gone on to impact on their local communities, develop careers, develop enterprises, and impact on rural development policy. By 2004 the universities were able to launch a follow on degree. This degree completed by distance learning in two years, (following the diploma), has graduated almost 80 people in the last four years. This paper draws on research completed by two graduates of this degree. These graduates, with support from a summer research programme within NUI Maynooth, sought to qualitatively and quantitatively enumerate the impact of the degree on the professional and non-professional lives of the people who completed this course. Taking a sample the researchers designed and administered questionnaires and convened focus groups. The outcomes show a significant impact of this education. The respondents enumerate the strengths and weaknesses of this type of education for mature students and for rural development education. They also report career progression, community impact, and greater involvement in aspects of development among the graduates. The outcome of this research shows that this type of education has significant impact on personal confidence, competence in developing innovative solutions to need, and a greater capacity to participate. Presently there are significant challenges to development. These challenges are exacerbated in remoter rural areas. They are especially challenging to those who do not have the skills and the knowledge to engage with a post-modern economy. The outcome of this research is important as a contribution to our planning for how we can educate into disadvantaged communities rather than taking the most ambitious people out of their communities for education

Determination of the Distribution of the Resident Inshore and Offshore Migratory Cod Populations Around Shetland (IVa) and Westwards into VIa

The current genetic analysis alludes to finer scale structuring of Atlantic cod stocks in the IVa and VIa stock units than had previously been reported by Heath et al. (2014). Consistent with previous studies of maturation, cod from Viking sampled in 2014 matured at a later age and larger size than other areas, providing a phenotypic population marker.  During spawning time there was no indication that the Viking group extended beyond the > 100 m waters of the northern North Sea. Indeed, the new genetic and maturity evidence suggests that Shetland coastal cod (ShIE) appear to extend into waters > 100 m east of Shetland.  The possible separation of cod from Scottish inshore waters from those offshore is also reminiscent of the inshore-offshore division seen in the northern North Sea.  There is some indication of mixing of populations outside the breeding season in the genetic analysis as well as the observation of large immature cod present in west coast samples.  The present study has considerably expanded our understanding of the Viking cod from northern IVa and when combined with the studies by Poulsen et al. (2011) and Heath et al. (2014), provides a good indication of population extent at spawning time and suggests a split around 0030 W

Machine translation for language learners

Machine Translation (MT) has been controversial in second and foreign language learning, but the strategic integration of MT might be beneficial to language learning in certain contexts. In this chapter we discuss the conditions in which MT can be useful in language learning, set out digital alternatives to MT, and provide examples of how MT can support language learners

Prospectus, March 8, 1977

FACULTY MEETS, DISCUSS CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS; Experienced workers needed for handicapped individuals; Convocations presents \u27Camelot\u27 and Bob Nash; Health Fair Mar. 8.9; Veterans scholarships: Springfield meet necessary for veterans; Eligible students must petition to graduate; Metric workshop still being offered; Letters to the editor: Stop waste at PC, Students may lose scholarships; Dumping ground?: Some problems of community schools told; Reader\u27s Theatre team takes two seconds; Congress amends GI Bill: Veterans dropping courses may owe gov\u27t money; Mid-Semester Course Listing; Women\u27s studies to be expanded; 8-week courses offered; Jazz downs Wee Beasties to face Bilalians in IM semifinals today; Beginning March 12: \u27Star Trek\u27 on Channel 12; Julie Harris portrays Emily Dickinson; Th...th...that\u27s not all folks: Clampett gives cartoon history; Grant awarded to Parkland for food sanitation classes, lunch programs; PC hosts area high school math contest; Classifieds; Women travel to Nationals in Overland Park; Track team to State; Memorable tournament played in wrong courthttps://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1977/1024/thumbnail.jp

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at s√=7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pTpT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HTHT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb−1. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pTpT distributions of the leading jets at high pTpT values, the distributions of the HTHT at high-HTHT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.Funded by SCOAP

Auditory artificial grammar learning in macaque and marmoset monkeys.

Artificial grammars (AG) are designed to emulate aspects of the structure of language, and AG learning (AGL) paradigms can be used to study the extent of nonhuman animals' structure-learning capabilities. However, different AG structures have been used with nonhuman animals and are difficult to compare across studies and species. We developed a simple quantitative parameter space, which we used to summarize previous nonhuman animal AGL results. This was used to highlight an under-studied AG with a forward-branching structure, designed to model certain aspects of the nondeterministic nature of word transitions in natural language and animal song. We tested whether two monkey species could learn aspects of this auditory AG. After habituating the monkeys to the AG, analysis of video recordings showed that common marmosets (New World monkeys) differentiated between well formed, correct testing sequences and those violating the AG structure based primarily on simple learning strategies. By comparison, Rhesus macaques (Old World monkeys) showed evidence for deeper levels of AGL. A novel eye-tracking approach confirmed this result in the macaques and demonstrated evidence for more complex AGL. This study provides evidence for a previously unknown level of AGL complexity in Old World monkeys that seems less evident in New World monkeys, which are more distant evolutionary relatives to humans. The findings allow for the development of both marmosets and macaques as neurobiological model systems to study different aspects of AGL at the neuronal level

Implementation Research on Community Health Workers’ Provision of Maternal and Child Health Services in Rural Liberia

OBJECTIVE: To assess changes in the use of essential maternal and child health services in Konobo, Liberia, after implementation of an enhanced community health worker (CHW) programme. METHODS: The Liberian Ministry of Health partnered with Last Mile Health, a nongovernmental organization, to implement a pilot CHW programme with enhanced recruitment, training, supervision and compensation. To assess changes in maternal and child health-care use, we conducted repeated cross-sectional cluster surveys before (2012) and after (2015) programme implementation. FINDINGS: Between 2012 and 2015, 54 CHWs, seven peer supervisors and three clinical supervisors were trained to serve a population of 12 127 people in 44 communities. The regression-adjusted percentage of children receiving care from formal care providers increased by 60.1 (95% confidence interval, CI: 51.6 to 68.7) percentage points for diarrhoea, by 30.6 (95% CI: 20.5 to 40.7) for fever and by 51.2 (95% CI: 37.9 to 64.5) for acute respiratory infection. Facility-based delivery increased by 28.2 points (95% CI: 20.3 to 36.1). Facility-based delivery and formal sector care for acute respiratory infection and diarrhoea increased more in agricultural than gold-mining communities. Receipt of one-or-more antenatal care sessions at a health facility and postnatal care within 24 hours of delivery did not change significantly. CONCLUSION: We identified significant increases in uptake of child and maternal health-care services from formal providers during the pilot CHW programme in remote rural Liberia. Clinic-based services, such as postnatal care, and services in specific settings, such as mining areas, require additional interventions to achieve optimal outcomes

Measurement of the hadronic activity in events with a Z and two jets and extraction of the cross section for the electroweak production of a Z with two jets in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FJHEP10%282013%29062.The first measurement of the electroweak production cross section of a Z boson with two jets (Zjj) in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV is presented, based on a data sample recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of 5 fb(−1). The cross section is measured for the ℓℓjj (ℓ = e, μ) final state in the kinematic region m(ℓℓ) > 50 GeV, m(jj) > 120 GeV, transverse momenta p(j)(T)>25 GeV and pseudorapidity |η(j)| < 4.0. The measurement, combining the muon and electron channels, yields σ = 154 ± 24 (stat.) ± 46 (exp. syst.) ± 27 (th. syst.) ± 3 (lum.) fb, in agreement with the theoretical cross section. The hadronic activity, in the rapidity interval between the jets, is also measured. These results establish an important foundation for the more general study of vector boson fusion processes, of relevance for Higgs boson searches and for measurements of electroweak gauge couplings and vector boson scattering

Argonaute 2 in dopamine 2 receptor–expressing neurons regulates cocaine addiction

Cocaine is a highly addictive drug that exerts its effects by increasing the levels of released dopamine in the striatum, followed by stable changes in gene transcription, mRNA translation, and metabolism within medium spiny neurons in the striatum. The multiple changes in gene and protein expression associated with cocaine addiction suggest the existence of a mechanism that facilitates a coordinated cellular response to cocaine. Here, we provide evidence for a key role of miRNAs in cocaine addiction. We show that Argonaute 2 (Ago2), which plays an important role in miRNA generation and execution of miRNA-mediated gene silencing, is involved in regulation of cocaine addiction. Deficiency of Ago2 in dopamine 2 receptor (Drd2)–expressing neurons greatly reduces the motivation to self-administer cocaine in mice. We identified a distinct group of miRNAs that is specifically regulated by Ago2 in the striatum. Comparison of miRNAs affected by Ago2 deficiency with miRNAs that are enriched and/or up-regulated in Drd2-neurons in response to cocaine identified a set of miRNAs that are likely to play a role in cocaine addiction