Independent Local Radio: How Local?

1988 marked a new era in Irish broadcasting history. Up until then independent broadcasting services consisted of unlicenced and unregulated pirate radio stations. The 1988 Radio and Television Act created the Independent Radio and Television Commission, giving It powers to establish and supervise legal and independent local radio. By the end of 1991, twenty one such local stations were In operation. In deciding who would be awarded local radio franchises, the 1988 Act Instructed the IRTC to take Into consideration a range of criteria. Judging from the guide which the IRTC provided for applicants and the nature of the questioning at the hearings which preceded final selection of franchise holders, It would appear that the criterion relating to \u27good economic principles\u27 was regarded as most significant. Indeed most of the questions at the hearings related to the market analysis which prospective candidates were expected to provide. The IRTC\u27s guide was much less concerned with production plans and actual programming. The main stipulation regarding programming in the 1988 Act itself was that twenty per cent of programming be given over to news and current affairs. Regulations regarding Impartiality and censorship were to be similar to those covering RTE. While the contracts between the lRTC and the licence-holders allow the former to set out certain rules regarding the quality, range and type of programmes broadcast no such rules have been issued to date. The 1988 Act does mention the desirability of having a diversity of programming, catering for minority and local Interests. However such considerations are mentioned as criteria for selecting llcencees, but not as regulations to which successful applicants must adhere

Imagination Tool: Accessible AI Image Generation Software to Support Child Ideation and Creative Expression

Despite the rising popularity in image AI generation systems, key open questions remain as to both (1) how to design such systems for use by children, and (2) what roles generative AI may play in contexts in which media creation is not the end goal, but is rather used to support other human endeavours such as communication and ideation. We describe a new AI image generation tool, designed to support children engaging in creative ideation, expression, and visually communicating their ideas—in particular, their visions for the future. We describe key aspects of the system’s implementation, including ensuring the system produces child-safe and task-appropriate images, and mechanisms for supporting children in ideation. This work can thus inform researchers in computational creativity who aim to address safety and usability of systems for children

Vacuolating cytotoxin and variants in Atg16L1 that disrupt autophagy promote Helicobacter pylori infection in humans

Peer reviewedPreprin

A Genome-Wide Association Study of Diabetic Kidney Disease in Subjects With Type 2 Diabetes

dentification of sequence variants robustly associated with predisposition to diabetic kidney disease (DKD) has the potential to provide insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms responsible. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of DKD in type 2 diabetes (T2D) using eight complementary dichotomous and quantitative DKD phenotypes: the principal dichotomous analysis involved 5,717 T2D subjects, 3,345 with DKD. Promising association signals were evaluated in up to 26,827 subjects with T2D (12,710 with DKD). A combined T1D+T2D GWAS was performed using complementary data available for subjects with T1D, which, with replication samples, involved up to 40,340 subjects with diabetes (18,582 with DKD). Analysis of specific DKD phenotypes identified a novel signal near GABRR1 (rs9942471, P = 4.5 x 10(-8)) associated with microalbuminuria in European T2D case subjects. However, no replication of this signal was observed in Asian subjects with T2D or in the equivalent T1D analysis. There was only limited support, in this substantially enlarged analysis, for association at previously reported DKD signals, except for those at UMOD and PRKAG2, both associated with estimated glomerular filtration rate. We conclude that, despite challenges in addressing phenotypic heterogeneity, access to increased sample sizes will continue to provide more robust inference regarding risk variant discovery for DKD.Peer reviewe

Molecular mechanisms of cell death: recommendations of the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death 2018.

Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field

Full STEAM ahead, but who has the map? – A PRISMA systematic review on the incorporation of interdisciplinary learning into schools

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics or &quot;STEM&quot; focused pedagogy has been influenced changes in education for decades. Responding to the need for interdisciplinary skilled workforces, the STEM approach has been revised firstly to reflect the incorporation of Arts, (STEAM) and, more recently, to place stronger emphasis on cross-disciplinary connections. However, there is little empirical evidence to drive the development of a practical model for classroom implementation. This systematic review aims to consolidate existing empirical evidence on the incorporation of interdisciplinary learning via a STEM/STEAM approach in high-school environments using a PRISMA review scaffolding. The review identified ninety-nine articles that addressed interdisciplinary learning. However, the majority of them were excluded due to the lack of empirical evidence for such improvements, resulting in only eleven studies being included in the final synthesis. This suggests that more research is required prior to wide-scale implementation within high school education systems. &nbsp;Of those that met the selection criteria, the overarching theme was that improved outcomes were best achieved via either a real-world project-based or problem-based learning pedagogy with the use of community and industry support. However, due to the low number of studies found to fit the criteria, it is recommended that further research is conducted to provide greater empirical evidence to support this finding.</jats:p

The transition to internationally traded services in Irelands emergence as a successful European region

peer-reviewe

Placing Ireland\u27s transition to a knowledge economy within a global context

Throughout most of the 20th century the Republic of Ireland suffered from persistently high unemployment and chronic emigration and as a result employment creation drove industrial policy. During a period of rapid growth in the 1990s, Ireland achieved near full employment and the focus of industrial policy shifted from employment creation to actual development. This chapter demonstrates how a combination of endogenous and exogenous factors and conditions contributed to Ireland’s emerging knowledge economy. It argues that while Ireland is not on par with the world’s most advanced technology districts, there is nevertheless evidence that a solid foundation necessary to support more knowledge-driven activities is now in plac