The socio-demographic profile of hanging suicides in Ireland from 1980 to 2005

This paper provides a comparison of the socio-demographic profile of hanging suicides and suicides by other means in Ireland from January 1st 1980 to December 31st 2005. Data on 9674 suicides occurring in that time frame was provided by the Central Statistics Office of Ireland (CSO). 4031 (42%) of these deaths involved suicide by ‘hanging, suffocation or strangulation’ (HSS), with the remainder being suicides by other means. Binary logistic regressions were used to examine six potential risk factors for suicide across the two groups: Gender, marital status, employment in the agricultural sectors, residential location (urban/rural) and age were entered in Block 1 of the analysis, with year of death (pre 1994 vs. post 1994) added in a second block. Results indicate that those dying through hangings were statistically more likely to be male (OR = 3.1, 95% CI = 2.8–3.5), single (OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.2–1.4), rural-dwelling (OR = 1.1, 95% CI = 1.0–1.2), agri-employed (OR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.1–1.4) and to have died since 1994 (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 2.1–2.5). The magnitude of the group effect was moderate for all but the gender and time period comparisons. Hanging suicide victims (m = 37.7, sd = 16.7) were also significantly younger than other suicide victims (mean = 42.72, sd = 16.7), although the size of the effect was small (r = .16). Overall the six variables explained 6% of the variance in the criterion variable

Chasing a Rainbow?: Victimisation and the Gay and Lesbian Community in Ireland

In recent years it has become widely recognised that the gay, lesbian and bisexual community in Ireland experiences a disturbing amount of anti-gay crime. This said, with the exception of a few largely exploratory studies, there is a complete absence of high quality research that examines these experiences in Ireland and we have been forced to formulate our response on a vague notion that it is a problem rather than a truly informed appreciation of its extent. This paper argues in favour of such research, and suggests the form it might take based on a review of findings from international studies and the methodological barriers they have encountered

Effectiveness of Real-time Business Intelligence on Enterprise Performance Management: a Systematic Literature Review

The purpose of the systematic literature review is to better understand how a real-time business intelligence can enhance an enterprise performance management (EPM) solution. The various processes and methodologies of EPM along with its integration with real-time business intelligence is studied in this paper. Many studies focus on the role of real-time analytics in organizations, but there are very few that focus on the linkage between real-time business intelligence and enterprise performance management. This Master of Science thesis aims to address that gap. The review is conducted by comparing and synthesizing research studies done in this area. The findings prove that real-time business intelligence is beneficial enough to implement to monitor enterprise performance since faster and better decision making on business processes is enabled. With the emergence of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms, there is a bright scope for automated decision making and performing actions. This could help reduce the third and impeding latency type in business intelligence which is decision/action latency. The literature review also suggests that there is more research needed linking real-time business intelligence and enterprise performance management. In conclusion, this review’s findings have shown that real-time business intelligence when integrated with enterprise performance management solutions can help the business gain competitive advantage after careful consideration of the purpose and effects of implementation

Drug use amongst lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young adults in Ireland.

This study, commissioned by BeLonG to Youth Project and the Department of Community, Rural & Gaeltacht Affairs, examines drug use amongst Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender youth in Ireland. The review includes levels of drug use, consequences of drug use, methodology, findings, polydrug use, alcohol and drug taking, discussion and recommendations

Pre-deployment programmes for building resilience in military and frontline emergency service personnel

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Intervention). The objectives are as follows: To assess the effectiveness of pre-deployment programmes for building resilience in military and front-line emergency service personnel

Experimental study and analysis of lubricants dispersed with nano Cu and TiO2 in a four-stroke two wheeler

The present investigation summarizes detailed experimental studies with standard lubricants of commercial quality known as Racer-4 of Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (India) dispersed with different mass concentrations of nanoparticles of Cu and TiO2. The test bench is fabricated with a four-stroke Hero-Honda motorbike hydraulically loaded at the rear wheel with proper instrumentation to record the fuel consumption, the load on the rear wheel, and the linear velocity. The whole range of data obtained on a stationery bike is subjected to regression analysis to arrive at various relationships between fuel consumption as a function of brake power, linear velocity, and percentage mass concentration of nanoparticles in the lubricant. The empirical relation correlates with the observed data with reasonable accuracy. Further, extension of the analysis by developing a mathematical model has revealed a definite improvement in brake thermal efficiency which ultimately affects the fuel economy by diminishing frictional power in the system with the introduction of nanoparticles into the lubricant. The performance of the engine seems to be better with nano Cu-Racer-4 combination than the one with nano TiO2

Development of a Field Screening Technique and Identification of Blast Resistance in Finger Millet Core Collection

Effective management of blast disease in finger millet can best be achieved through host-plant resistance. In this study, field screening technique was developed and core collection evaluated to identify sources of resistance to blast. The field screening technique involved: use of systematic susceptible checks after every four test rows, artificial spray inoculation at pre-flowering stage with an aqueous conidial suspension (1×105 spores ml−1) of Magnaporthe grisea fm strain multiplied on oatmeal agar medium at 27±1ºC for 10 days, and maintaining high humidity and leaf wetness through sprinkler irrigation twice a day for 4 weeks following inoculation. Neck blast was recorded on a 1–5 scale and finger blast as severity percentage on all the tillers of selected 10 plants in a row at physiological maturity. The finger millet core collection consisting of 622 accessions was evaluated for neck and finger blast resistance. Among the core collection, 402 accessions were found resistant to neck blast, 436 to finger blast and 372 had combined resistance to both the diseases. Blast resistant accessions belonged to one wild and four cultivated races of finger millet that originated from 19 countries indicating the wide geographical diversity among resistant accessions. Most of the accessions from Asian origin were susceptible to neck and finger blasts while, those from African origin were resistant. A significant strong positive correlation (r = 0.85, P<0.0001) was found between neck blast and finger blast ratings. Core collection accessions with stable resistance to blast would be useful for finger millet breeding programs

Resistance to blast (Magnaporthe grisea) in a mini-core collection of finger millet germplasm

Blast caused by Pyricularia grisea [teleomorph: Magnaporthe grisea] is an economically important and widespread disease of finger millet in the world. Host resistance is the most economical and effective means of combating this disease as finger millet is predominantly grown by resource-poor and marginal farmers. At the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), we evaluated a finger millet mini-core collection of 80 germplasm accessions (about 1 % of the total germplasm collection representing major trait variability) for blast resistance both in the field and greenhouse. Field evaluation was done using a refined screening technique that included new improved rating scales for leaf, neck and finger infection. Sixty six of the 80 accessions showed combined resistance to leaf, neck and finger blast in two seasons (2009 and 2010) of field screening. A highly significant and positive correlation was found between neck and finger blast ratings (r = 0.92), whereas small but significant correlations were found between leaf blast and neck blast (r = 0.25) and between leaf blast and finger blast (r = 0.30). These accessions were also screened for leaf blast resistance in the greenhouse by artificial inoculation of seedlings to confirm field observations. Fifty-eight of the 80 accessions were resistant to leaf blast in the greenhouse screen as well. These resistant accessions represented one wild (africana) and four cultivated races (vulgaris, plana, elongate and compacta) of finger millet that originated from 13 countries in Asia and Africa and exhibited considerable diversity for agronomic traits, such as maturity period, plant height and panicle type. These blast resistant accessions from the mini-core collection would be useful in finger millet disease resistance breeding programs

Evaluation of genetic diversity in Magnaporthe grisea populations adapted to finger millet using simple sequence repeats (SSRs) markers

Finger millet blast caused by Magnaporthe grisea (anamorph: Pyricularia grisea) is a great threat to finger millet production worldwide. Genetic diversity and population structure of 72 M. grisea isolates collected from finger millet (56), foxtail millet (6), pearl millet (7) and rice (3) from major crop growing areas in India was studied using 24 SSR markers. None of the SSRs detected polymorphism in the M. grisea isolates from pearl millet. Seventeen SSR markers were polymorphic in the 65 non pearl millet isolates and detected 105 alleles, of which one was rare, 83 common, 9 frequent and 12 most frequent. A model-based population structure analysis of the genomic data identified two distinct populations with varying levels of ancestral admixtures among the 65 M. grisea isolates. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) indicated that 52% of the total variation among the isolates used in this study was due to differences between the pathogen populations adapted to different hosts, 42% was due to differences in the isolates from the same host, and the remaining 6% due to heterozygosity within isolates. High genetic variability present in M. grisea isolates calls for the continuous monitoring of M. grisea populations anticipating blast resistance breakdown in finger millet cultivars grown in India