An assessment of lateral flow immunoassay testing and gas chromatography mass spectrometry as methods for the detection of five Drugs of abuse in forensic bloodstains

Being able to detect if drugs were used in the commission of a crime, and if so what drugs, is of great importance. For many cases these tests can be carried out on an intimate blood or urine sample (one recovered directly from the subject in question), however this may not always be the case. In cases where a dried bloodstain is the only source of biological material, identifying the presence of drugs affecting an individual at the time of stain deposition has not been well studied. Towards this goal, two methods of detection of drugs of abuse in dried bloodstains were evaluated: lateral flow immunoassay test cards and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Stains were created using certified drug-free blood spiked with analytes of interest, and were then extracted and introduced into each testing method. Both methods proved effective for the detection of one or two of the five chosen analytes (amphetamine, cocaine, morphine 3-ß-D-glucuronide, phencyclidine and 11-nor-Δ9-tetrahydracannabinol), even after 24 hours of drying at room temperature. With further method optimization and more thorough method development, these methods may, in the future, be effectively used for drug detection in forensic stains. However, neither method evaluated in this study was able to detect all of the drugs tested

A strong Dixmier-Moeglin equivalence for quantum Schubert cells and an open problem for quantum Plücker coordinates

In this thesis, the algebras of primary interest are the quantum Schubert cells and the quantum Grassmannians, both of which are known to satisfy a condition on primitive ideals known as the Dixmier-Moeglin equivalence. A stronger version of the Dixmier-Moeglin equivalence is introduced - a version which deals with all prime ideals of an algebra rather than just the primitive ideals. Quantum Schubert cells are shown to satisfy the strong Dixmier-Moeglin equivalence. Until now, given a torus-invariant prime ideal of the quantum Grassmannian, one could not decide which quantum Plücker coordinates it contains. Presented here is a graph-theoretic method for answering this question. This may be useful for providing a full description of the inclusions between the torus-invariant prime ideals of the quantum Grassmannian and may lead to a proof that quantum Grassmannians satisfy the strong Dixmier-Moeglin equivalence

PANEL RESEARCH ON POVERTY IN IRELAND. ESRI Working Paper No. 14, October 1989

This paper attempts to describe the major research project on Poverty and related issues on which we at the ESRI have been working for the past four years. This project forms part of the EC-funded co-ordinated Research Project on Poverty which Professor Deleeck, the co-ordinator, has discussed in the previous paper. I trust that my description of the Irish experiences. both positive and negative, with this type of inquiry will help to elucidate the contribution which such studies can make to our understanding of poverty in Europe today and suggest guidelines for the conduct of such research in the future. I hope that my comments will complement those of Professor Deleeck by sketching the overall approach to the analysis of poverty adopted by one of the countries involved

Initiation and Implementation of a Training Management Package for the East Timor Defence Force

This study reviewed the four specific literature areas; the Kings College Study; reviewing the cornerstone of East Timor's national strategy and security requirements, the Army Training System (ATS) and Army Needs Assessment model, the Office of Defence Force Development (ODFD), Force Development Plan (FOP) and the Logistic Contractor's (LC) Concept of Operations. These areas are linked and had an effect on the overall design of the study and its aim to develop an effective methodology for raising, training and sustaining the Logistic Support mechanisms for the East Timor Defence Force (ETDF). Further supplementation was gained from the following civilian sources; The Concept of Program in Adult Education, by A. Thomas, Needs and Needs Assessment in Continuing Professional Education, by B. Brennan, A State of the Art Methodology for Vocational Training by C. Campbell, The Politics of Responsibility: A Theory of Program Planning Practice of Adult Education, by R. Cervero and A. Wilson and the Development and Validation of an Instrument to Measure Adult Educators' Power and Influence: Tactics in Program Planning Practice, by Yang, B, Cervero, R.M, Valentine, T. and Benson, J. These literature areas revealed similarities within relevant civilian doctrine or areas of study and added balance to this dissertation. The author then deployed on three Tours of Duty (TOD) within East Timor, analyzing, interviewing and collating data. The TOD's fulfilled specific, whilst interrelated, activities; firstly a Reconnaissance TOD, ascertaining the depth and breadth of donor support required, secondly a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) TOD ascertaining the specific trade skill sets required to fulfill donor nation obligations, and lastly, a U.N. TOD with the U.N. Transitional Authority in East Timor (UNTAET) as the Logistic Advisor (LA) within the Office of Defence Force Development (ODFD), developing, initiating and instigating the Logistic Support mechanisms. Three hypotheses were investigated within this dissertation; Hypothesis One, the ETDF does not possess the corporate knowledge or personnel skill-sets required to undertake logistic management and delivery. Hypothesis Two, the ETDF has operated for twenty-five years as a guerilla army and has no formal awareness of the requirements, strategically, tactically, logistically or financially of how to operate as an conventional armed force. Hypothesis Three, the ETDF has no formal training infrastructure and has limited numeracy and literacy skillsets amongst its soldiers. A qualitative, experimental approach involving six case studies was utilized

Did the expansion of free GP care impact demand for emergency department attendances? A difference-in-differences analysis. ESRI Research Bulletin 2019/01

We investigate whether the introduction of universal free General Practitioner (GP) care for children aged under 6 reduced visits by this group to Emergency Departments (EDs). In July 2015 all children in Ireland aged under 6 became eligible for free GP care. The number of those aged 0-5 years eligible for free GP care increased from 124,000 in December 2014 to 248,000 by December 2016, with over 90% of GPs with a General Medical Services (GMS) contract quickly signing up to provide free GP care to this group. Previous studies have shown that removing co-payments for GP services increases GP visit rates in both adults and children. As many services provided within EDs can also be provided by a GP, the introduction of free GP care could be expected to reduce of ED visits. This is especially true for those without a medical card, or a referral from a GP, who must pay €100 for each ED visit. We also examine whether there were changes in ED visits following a GP referral, as referrals to EDs from GPs are free of charge

Universal GP care in Ireland: Potential cost implications. ESRI Research Bulletin, 2018/05

Ireland is unusual in a European context in not providing free or heavily subsidised General Practitioner (GP) care for the total population. While medical and GP-visit cardholders are entitled to GP visits free at the point of use, those without a card must pay the full cost associated with accessing GP services. In 2016 an all-party parliamentary committee (Houses of the Oireachtas Committee on the Future of Healthcare) was established with the aim of achieving a single long-term vision for healthcare and the direction of health policy in Ireland. One of the recommendations of the committee’s final Sláintecare Report, published in May 2017, was the introduction of universal GP care, which was equated to access to GP care for all without cost. The aim of this analysis is to quantify the potential cost implications of implementing universal GP care in Ireland

Using dense Sentinel-2 time series to explore combined fire and drought impacts in eucalypt forests

Following one of the driest years on record, millions of hectares of forests in southeast Australia were burned in the 2019-20200 "Black Summer" wildfires. In addition to the areas burned, drought related canopy collapse, dieback and tree mortality was widely observed. In this paper, we present a method to map canopy damage due to drought and fire across a large area. Sentinel-2 satellite imagery was used in a monthly time series to highlight areas of forest where the Normalized Burn Ratio index was significantly below a pre-disturbance "stable" period. The stable period was defined as the 3 years prior to 2019 and the disturbance thresholds are based on bioregion specific standard deviations below pre-disturbance means. The novel methods enabled drought impacted forests to be identified, including those which were subsequently burned by wildfire. Across the 20 Mha of forests studied, 9.9 Mha (49%) fell below the disturbance threshold. Of that, 5.8 Mha was disturbed by fire and a further 4.1 Mha by drought outside of the fire extent. Within the fire extent, almost 0.9 Mha was identified as being significantly drought affected prior to being burned. An analysis of spectral recovery following substantial rainfall from February 2020 onward indicates that most of the areas impacted by both drought and fire have similar rates of recovery to those impacted only by fire. There are some areas, however, where the combined effects of the "double disturbance "appears to be hindering recovery. The methods presented here are easily transferrable and demonstrate an approach for monitoring forest disturbance at higher temporal and spatial scales than those typically used