The Family in Modern Northern Irish Drama

The purpose of this thesis is to show the plight of the family in Northern Ireland. The four plays which are the subject of this study--Within Two Shadows by Wilson John Haire, The Flats By John Boyd, Nightfall to Belfast by Patrick Galvin, and The Death of Humpty Dumpty by J. Graham Reid--deal with this innocent faction and highlight three principal effects of the troubles on their family lives. First, the families suffer internal division. They are alienated by religious/political differences which are as inseparable in these dramas as they are in Northern Irish life. Socialist doctrine opposes Christian doctrine; Catholicism opposes Protestantism, and both are opposed by those who see no place at all for religion in Northern Ireland\u27s recovery efforts. Similarly interlocked are the divisions formed by education and age. The educated young sharply contrast with the old and more conservative family members--in their positions towards the current strife as well as in their hopes for the future. Second, the families in these plays suffer as victims of the violent events in which they have become entangled. These events take the form of attacks on family members or their homes which often lead to outright murders. Finally, these families suffer the physical and emotional damage which is the aftermath of the senseless discord in Northern Irish life

The Family in Modern Northern Irish Drama

The purpose of this thesis is to show the plight of the family in Northern Ireland. The four plays which are the subject of this study--Within Two Shadows by Wilson John Haire, The Flats By John Boyd, Nightfall to Belfast by Patrick Galvin, and The Death of Humpty Dumpty by J. Graham Reid--deal with this innocent faction and highlight three principal effects of the troubles on their family lives. First, the families suffer internal division. They are alienated by religious/political differences which are as inseparable in these dramas as they are in Northern Irish life. Socialist doctrine opposes Christian doctrine; Catholicism opposes Protestantism, and both are opposed by those who see no place at all for religion in Northern Ireland\u27s recovery efforts. Similarly interlocked are the divisions formed by education and age. The educated young sharply contrast with the old and more conservative family members--in their positions towards the current strife as well as in their hopes for the future. Second, the families in these plays suffer as victims of the violent events in which they have become entangled. These events take the form of attacks on family members or their homes which often lead to outright murders. Finally, these families suffer the physical and emotional damage which is the aftermath of the senseless discord in Northern Irish life

Buddy-motivational interviewing (buddy-MI) to Increase Physical Activity in Community Settings: Results of a Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial

This article describes the implementation and evaluation of a novel buddy-Motivational Interviewing intervention intended to help apparently healthy but relatively sedentary adults to adopt and maintain regular physical activity for health and fitness. This intervention is an adaptation of Motivational Interviewing which adds client-selected motivational-buddies who can provide in-session input as well as ongoing out-of-session support focused on strengthening client’s motivation for and movement toward their physical activity goals. A pragmatic parallel-group randomised controlled trial with 12-month follow-up was implemented to test the intervention. The trial demonstrated that buddy-MI was feasible and could be delivered with equivalent fidelity to standard MI and both groups demonstrated statistically significant changes across a range of behavioural and health-status outcomes. Moreover, the experimental group participants generally ‘outperformed’ the control group participants as shown by the consistent trends observed over three repeated measures out to 12-months (although these between-group differences were statistically non-significant). Qualitative data indicated participant acceptance of the programme as well as providing initial evidence of positive collateral health effects (‘ripple effects’ whereby buddies changed their behaviours also). Consideration for further development, evaluation and applications are also discussed

Buddy-Motivational Interviewing (buddy-MI) to Increase Physical Activity in Community Settings: Study Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomised Controlled Trial

This article describes the development and evaluation of a novel buddy-motivational interviewing intervention intended to help apparently healthy but relatively sedentary adults to adopt and maintain regular physical activity for health and fitness. Many people experience great difficulty in initiating physical activity (“the getting going problem”) and behavioural regression is common (“the keeping it going problem”). Typically there is a rather large gap between what people know to be healthy and what they actually do. This intervention is an adaptation of motivational interviewing in that it adds client-selected motivational-buddies who can provide in-session input as well as ongoing out-of-session support focused on strengthening clients’ motivation for and movement toward their physical activity goals. A pragmatic parallel group randomised controlled trial with 12-month follow-up aims to deliver and assess the effectiveness of the intervention in a format that could realistically be implemented within primary care, workplaces, schools or other similar setting. The study is due to report clinical effectiveness findings in 2014

Proton Elastic Scattering and Neutron Distribution of Unstable Nuclei

We study theoretically how we can determine the neutron density distributions of unstable nuclei from proton elastic scattering. We apply the relativistic impulse model to study the sensitivities of the observables to the density distributionswhich are expressed in Woods-Saxon form. We find that the both radius and diffuseness of densities can be determined from restricted elastic scattering data in principle. We think this result is helpful to design future experiments.Comment: 22 pages, 9 ps figures, Late

Polycystic Kidney Disease:The Cyst-ematic Destruction of Renal Function

Polycystic kidney disease is the most common genetic, life-threatening disease, affecting more than 12.5 million people worldwide. Fluid-filled renal cysts that eventually destroy renal tissue and renal function altogether are characteristic of polycystic kidney disease. The autosomal dominant form of the disease which is also the most common form, ADPKD, is linked to mutations in the genes PKD1 and PKD2. The complete normal function of PKD1 and PKD2 is unknown, but most research suggests that they play some role in cell signaling and controlling the cell cycle. The diseased phenotype is thought to be caused by mutations in these genes that cause misregulation of the cell cycle leading to proliferation. The recessive form of polycystic kidney disease, ARPKD, is triggered by a mutation in the gene PKHD1 and is manifested more severely than the dominant form. ARPKD has not been as widely studied as ADPKD because it affects fewer people than the dominant form of the disease. Currently, there is no treatment for any of the forms of PKD, though some studies have shown some promise in effectively attenuating renal cystic growth

Carbon nanotube electroactive polymer materials: opportunities and challenges

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) with macroscopically ordered structures (e.g., aligned or patterned mats, fibers, and sheets) and associated large surface areas have proven promising as new CNT electroactive polymer materials (CNT-EAPs) for the development of advanced chemical and biological sensors. The functionalization of CNTs with many biological species to gain specific surface characteristics and to facilitate electron transfer to and from them for chemical- and bio-sensing applications is an area of intense research activity. Mechanical actuation generated by CNT-EAPs is another exciting electroactive function provided by these versatile materials. Controlled mechanical deformation for actuation has been demonstrated in CNT mats, fibers, sheets, and individual nanotubes. This article summarizes the current status and technological challenges for the development of electrochemical sensors and electromechanical actuators based on carbon nanotube electroactive materials

Chemically specifi C multiscale modeling of clay-polymer nanocomposites reveals intercalation dynamics, tactoid self-assembly and emergent materials properties

A quantitative description is presented of the dynamical process of polymer intercalation into clay tactoids and the ensuing aggregation of polymerentangled tactoids into larger structures, obtaining various characteristics of these nanocomposites, including clay-layer spacings, out-of-plane clay-sheet bending energies, X-ray diffractograms, and materials properties. This model of clay-polymer interactions is based on a three-level approach, which uses quantum mechanical and atomistic descriptions to derive a coarse-grained yet chemically specifi c representation that can resolve processes on hitherto inaccessible length and time scales. The approach is applied to study collections of clay mineral tactoids interacting with two synthetic polymers, poly(ethylene glycol) and poly(vinyl alcohol). The controlled behavior of layered materials in a polymer matrix is centrally important for many engineering and manufacturing applications. This approach opens up a route to computing the properties of complex soft materials based on knowledge of their chemical composition, molecular structure, and processing conditions.This work was funded in part by the EU FP7 MAPPER project (grant number RI-261507) and the Qatar National Research Fund (grant number 09–260–1–048). Supercomputing time was provided by PRACE on JUGENE (project PRA044), the Hartree Centre (Daresbury Laboratory) on BlueJoule and BlueWonder via the CGCLAY project, and on HECToR and ARCHER, the UK national supercomputing facility at the University of Edinburgh, via EPSRC through grants EP/F00521/1, EP/E045111/1, EP/I017763/1 and the UK Consortium on Mesoscopic Engineering Sciences (EP/L00030X/1). The authors are grateful to Professor Julian Evans for stimulating discussions during the course of this project. Data-storage and management services were provided by EUDAT (grant number 283304)

Low inductance gas switching.

The laser trigger switch (LTS) is a key component in ZR-type pulsed power systems. In ZR, the pulse rise time through the LTS is > 200 ns and additional stages of pulse compression are required to achieve the desired <100 ns rise time. The inductance of the LTS ({approx}500nH) in large part determines the energy transfer time through the switch and there is much to be gained in improving system performance and reducing system costs by reducing this inductance. The current path through the cascade section of the ZR LTS is at a diameter of {approx} 6-inches which is certainly not optimal from an inductance point of view. The LTS connects components of much greater diameter (typically 4-5 feet). In this LDRD the viability of switch concepts in which the diameter of cascade section is greatly increased have been investigated. The key technical question to be answered was, will the desired multi-channel behavior be maintained in a cascade section of larger diameter. This LDRD proceeded in 2 distinct phases. The original plan for the LDRD was to develop a promising switch concept and then design, build, and test a moderate scale switch which would demonstrate the key features of the concept. In phase I, a switch concept which meet all electrical design criteria and had a calculated inductance of 150 nH was developed. A 1.5 MV test switch was designed and fabrication was initiated. The LDRD was then redirected due to budgetary concerns. The fabrication of the switch was halted and the focus of the LDRD was shifted to small scale experiments designed to answer the key technical question concerning multi-channel behavior. In phase II, the Multi-channel switch test bed (MCST) was designed and constructed. The purpose of MCST was to provide a versatile, fast turn around facility for the study the multi-channel electrical breakdown behavior of a ZR type cascade switch gap in a parameter space near that of a ZR LTS. Parameter scans on source impedance, gap tilt, gap spacing and electrode diameter were conducted

Highly conductive carbon nanotube-graphene hybrid yarn

An efficient procedure for the fabrication of highly conductive carbon nanotube/graphene hybrid yarns has been developed. To start, arrays of vertically aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) are converted into indefinitely long MWNT sheets by drawing. Graphene flakes are then deposited onto the MWNT sheets by electrospinning to form a composite structure that is transformed into yarn filaments by twisting. The process is scalable for yarn fabrication on an industrial scale. Prepared materials are characterized by electron microscopy, electrical, mechanical, and electrochemical measurements. It is found that the electrical conductivity of the composite MWNT-graphene yarns is over 900 S/cm. This value is 400% and 1250% higher than electrical conductivity of pristine MWNT yarns or graphene paper, respectively. The increase in conductivity is asssociated with the increase of the density of states near the Fermi level by a factor of 100 and a decrease in the hopping distance by an order of magnitude induced by grapene flakes. It is found also that the MWNT-graphene yarn has a strong electrochemical response with specific capacitance in excess of 111 Fg-1. This value is 425% higher than the capacitance of pristine MWNT yarn. Such substantial improvements of key properties of the hybrid material can be associated with the synergy of MWNT and graphene layers in the yarn structure. Prepared hybrid yarns can benefit such applications as high-performance supercapacitors, batteries, high current capable cables, and artificial muscles