CONSUMPTION AND HOUSE PRICES IN IRELAND, Quarterly Economic Commentary Autumn 2007

We examine the link between private consumption and housing wealth in Ireland. We find that until very recently the marginal propensity to consume out of housing wealth was essentially zero. This is in marked contrast to the recent evidence for other OECD countries. The evidence is robust to changes in statistical methodology. Thus we can conclude that the recent consumption growth was not financed by borrowing against housing wealth. This suggests that any decline in house prices would not cut consumption significantly

Colloidal, tribological and sensory properties of oral nutritional supplements

This study aims to evaluate the physicochemical and sensory properties of oral nutritional supplements (ONSs). High physical stability was measured in ONSs with mean particle sizes <0.33 !m and viscosity >19.3 mPa·s. ONSs formulated with dairy-soy protein mixtures displayed low friction coefficients, whereas ONSs containing dairy proteins alone had high friction coefficient values in the boundary regime. Sensory analysis revealed low to medium liking across the products and the highest preference was found in samples with the highest perceived 'sweetness', 'vanilla aroma' and 'thickness'. The results will underpin the formulation of novel ONSs with good physical stability and sensory acceptability

Altered mitochondrial function and energy metabolism is associated with a radioresistant phenotype in oesophageal adenocarcinoma

Neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) is increasingly the standard of care for locally advanced oesophageal cancer. A complete pathological response to CRT is associated with a favourable outcome. Radiation therapy is important for local tumour control, however, radioresistance remains a substantial clinical problem. We hypothesise that alterations in mitochondrial function and energy metabolism are involved in the radioresistance of oesophageal adenocarcinoma (OAC). To investigate this, we used an established isogenic cell line model of radioresistant OAC. Radioresistant cells (OE33 R) demonstrated significantly increased levels of random mitochondrial mutations, which were coupled with alterations in mitochondrial function, size, morphology and gene expression, supporting a role for mitochondrial dysfunction in the radioresistance of this model. OE33 R cells also demonstrated altered bioenergetics, demonstrating significantly increased intracellular ATP levels, which was attributed to enhanced mitochondrial respiration. Radioresistant cells also demonstrated metabolic plasticity, efficiently switching between the glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation energy metabolism pathways, which were accompanied by enhanced clonogenic survival. This data was supported in vivo, in pre-treatment OAC tumour tissue. Tumour ATP5B expression, a marker of oxidative phosphorylation, was significantly increased in patients who subsequently had a poor pathological response to neoadjuvant CRT. This suggests for the first time, a role for specific mitochondrial alterations and metabolic remodelling in the radioresistance of OAC

The Impact of Parental Income and Education on the Schooling of their Children

This paper addresses the intergenerational transmission of education and investigates the extent to which early school leaving (at age 16) may be due to variations in parental background. An important contribution of the paper is to distinguish between the causal effects of parental income and parental education levels. Least squares estimation reveals conventional results - weak effects of income (when the child is 16), stronger effects of maternal education than paternal, and stronger effects on sons than daughters. We find that the education effects remain significant even when household income is included. However, when we use instrumental variable methods to simultaneously account for the endogeneity of parental education and paternal income, only maternal education remains significant (for daughters only) and becomes stronger. These estimates are consistent to various set of instruments. The impact of paternal income varies between specifications but become insignificant in our preferred specification. Our results provide limited evidence that policies alleviating income constraints at age 16 can alter schooling decisions but that policies increasing permanent income would lead to increased participation (especially for daughters). There is also evidence of intergenerational transmissions of education choice from mothers to daughters

Analysis of P-b centers at the Si(111)/SiO2 interface following rapid thermal annealing

In this work, an experimental study of defects at the Si(111)/SiO2 interface following rapid thermal annealing (RTA) in a nitrogen ambient at 1040 degreesC is presented. From a combined analysis using electron spin resonance and quasistatic capacitance-voltage characterization, the dominant defects observed at the Si(111)/SiO2 interface following an inert ambient RTA process are identified unequivocally as the P-b signal (interfacial Si-3=Si-.) for the oxidized Si(111) orientation. Furthermore, the P-b density inferred from electron spin resonance (7.8+/-1)x10(12) cm(-2), is in good agreement with the electrically active interface state density (6.7+/-1.7)x10(12) cm(-2) determined from analysis of the quasistatic capacitance-voltage response

The Impact of Parental Income and Education on the Schooling of their Children

This paper addresses the intergenerational transmission of education and investigates the extent to which early school leaving (at age 16) may be due to variations in parental background. An important contribution of the paper is to distinguish between the causal effects of parental income and parental education levels. Least squares estimation reveals conventional results - weak effects of income (when the child is 16), stronger effects of maternal education than paternal, and stronger effects on sons than daughters. We find that the education effects remain significant even when household income is included. However, when we use instrumental variable methods to simultaneously account for the endogeneity of parental education and paternal income, only maternal education remains significant (for daughters only) and becomes stronger. These estimates are consistent to various set of instruments. The impact of paternal income varies between specifications but become insignificant in our preferred specification. Our results provide limited evidence that policies alleviating income constraints at age 16 can alter schooling decisions but that policies increasing permanent income would lead to increased participation (especially for daughters). There is also evidence of intergenerational transmissions of education choice from mothers to daughters.

Untangling cosmic magnetic fields: Faraday tomography at metre wavelengths with LOFAR

14 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in "The Power of Faraday Tomography" special issue of GalaxiesThe technique of Faraday tomography is a key tool for the study ofmagnetised plasmas in the new era of broadband radio-polarisation observations. In particular, observations at metre wavelengths provide significantly better Faraday depth accuracies compared to traditional centimetre-wavelength observations. However, the effect of Faraday depolarisationmakes the polarised signal very challenging to detect at metre wavelengths (MHz frequencies). In this work, Faraday tomography is used to characterise the Faraday rotation properties of polarised sources found in data from the LOFAR Two-Metre Sky Survey (LoTSS). Of the 76 extragalactic polarised sources analysed here, we find that all host a radio-loud AGN (Active Galactic Nucleus). The majority of the sources (~64%) are large FRII radio galaxies with a median projected linear size of 710 kpc and median radio luminosity at 144 MHz of 4 × 10 26 W Hz -1 (with ~13% of all sources having a linear size > 1 Mpc). In several cases, both hotspots are detected in polarisation at an angular resolution of ~20'. One such case allowed a study of intergalactic magnetic fields on scales of 3.4 Mpc. Other detected source types include an FRI radio galaxy and at least eight blazars. Most sources display simple Faraday spectra, but we highlight one blazar that displays a complex Faraday spectrum, with two close peaks in the Faraday dispersion function.Peer reviewe

Cluster analysis of wind turbine alarms for characterising and classifying stoppages

Turbine alarm systems can give useful information to remote technicians on the cause of a fault or stoppage. However, alarms are generally generated at much too high a rate to gain meaningful insight from on their own, so generally require extensive domain knowledge to interpret. By grouping together commonly occurring alarm sequences, the burden of analysis can be reduced. Instead of analysing many individual alarms that occur during a stoppage, the stoppage can be linked to a commonly occurring sequence of alarms. Hence, maintenance technicians can be given information about the shared characteristics or root causes of stoppages where that particular alarm sequence appeared in the past. This research presents a methodology to identify relevant alarms from specific turbine assemblies and group together similar alarm sequences as they appear during stoppages. Batches of sequences associated with 456 different stoppages are created, and features are extracted from these batches representing the order the alarms appeared in. The batches are grouped together using clustering techniques, and evaluated using silhouette analysis and manual inspection. Results show that almost half of all stoppages can be attributed to one of 15 different clusters of alarm sequences

Advances in targeted Alpha therapy for prostate cancer

BACKGROUND: Amongst therapeutic radiopharmaceuticals, targeted alpha therapy (TαT) can deliver potent and local radiation selectively to cancer cells as well as the tumor microenvironment and thereby control cancer while minimizing toxicity. DESIGN: In this review, we discuss the history, progress, and future potential of TαT in the treatment of prostate cancer, including dosimetry-individualized treatment planning, combinations with small-molecule therapies, and conjugation to molecules directed against antigens expressed by prostate cancer cells, such as prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) or components of the tumor microenvironment. RESULTS: A clinical proof of concept that TαT is efficacious in treating bone-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer has been demonstrated by radium-223 via improved overall survival and long-term safety/tolerability in the phase III ALSYMPCA trial. Dosimetry calculation and pharmacokinetic measurements of TαT provide the potential for optimization and individualized treatment planning for a precision medicine-based cancer management paradigm. The ability to combine TαTs with other agents, including chemotherapy, androgen receptor (AR)-targeting agents, DNA repair inhibitors, and immuno-oncology agents, is under investigation. Currently, TαTs that specifically target prostate cancer cells expressing PSMA represents a promising therapeutic approach. Both PSMA-targeted actinium-225 and thorium-227 conjugates are under investigation. CONCLUSIONS: The described clinical benefit, safety and tolerability of radium-223 and the recent progress in TαT trial development suggest that TαT occupies an important new role in prostate cancer treatment. Ongoing studies with newer dosimetry methods, PSMA targeting, and novel approaches to combination therapies should expand the utility of TαT in prostate cancer treatment