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Sample records for irish sea deglaciation

  1. The Irish glaciated margin: processes and environments of deglaciation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarron, Stephen; Monteys, Xavier; Scott, Gill

    2015-04-01

    High resolution bathymetric data for Donegal Bay and parts of the western Irish Continental Shelf have become available in recent years due to the Irish National Seabed Survey [INSS] (2000-2009). Relative to onshore glacigenic landform preservation and visibility on the shelf and on the floor of Donegal Bay is excellent. Here we describe some of the the data, paying particular attention to the area close to the north Mayo coastline. We discuss inferred connections between well exposed and age constrained glacial geology along the coastal fringe and the submarine evidence of deglcial processes and timing. It is argued that the sediment and landform assemblage within the Bay is derived from multiple, lobate extensions of the last British Irish Ice Sheet into the Donegal Bay topographic low from source areas to the southeast (north Mayo) and east/northeast (Sligo and Donegal/Fermanagh) during overall deglaciation (Termination 1).

  2. Improved age constraints for the retreat of the Irish Sea Ice Stream

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smedley, Rachel; Chiverrell, Richard; Duller, Geoff; Scourse, James; Small, David; Fabel, Derek; Burke, Matthew; Clarke, Chris; McCarroll, Danny; McCarron, Stephen; O'Cofaigh, Colm; Roberts, David

    2016-04-01

    BRITICE-CHRONO is a large (> 45 researchers) consortium project working to provide an extensive geochronological dataset constraining the rate of retreat of a number of ice streams of the British-Irish Ice Sheet following the Last Glacial Maximum. When complete, the large empirical dataset produced by BRITICE-CHRONO will be integrated into model simulations to better understand the behaviour of the British-Irish Ice Sheet in response to past climate change, and provide an analogue for contemporary ice sheets. A major feature of the British-Irish Ice Sheet was the dynamic Irish Sea Ice Stream, which drained a large proportion of the ice sheet and extended to the proposed southern limit of glaciation upon the Isles of Scilly (Scourse, 1991). This study will focus on a large suite of terrestrial samples that were collected along a transect of the Irish Sea basin, covering the line of ice retreat from the Isles of Scilly (50°N) in the south, to the Isle of Man (54°N) in the north; a distance of 500 km. Ages are determined for both the eastern and western margins of the Irish Sea using single-grain luminescence dating (39 samples) and terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide dating (10 samples). A Bayesian sequence model is then used in combination with the prior information determined for deglaciation to integrate the geochronological datasets, and assess retreat rates for the Irish Sea Ice Stream. Scourse, J.D., 1991. Late Pleistocene stratigraphy and palaeobotany of the Isles of Scilly. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B334, 405 - 448.

  3. Coralgal reef morphology records punctuated sea-level rise during the last deglaciation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khanna, Pankaj; Droxler, André W; Nittrouer, Jeffrey A; Tunnell, John W; Shirley, Thomas C

    2017-10-19

    Coralgal reefs preserve the signatures of sea-level fluctuations over Earth's history, in particular since the Last Glacial Maximum 20,000 years ago, and are used in this study to indicate that punctuated sea-level rise events are more common than previously observed during the last deglaciation. Recognizing the nature of past sea-level rises (i.e., gradual or stepwise) during deglaciation is critical for informing models that predict future vertical behavior of global oceans. Here we present high-resolution bathymetric and seismic sonar data sets of 10 morphologically similar drowned reefs that grew during the last deglaciation and spread 120 km apart along the south Texas shelf edge. Herein, six commonly observed terrace levels are interpreted to be generated by several punctuated sea-level rise events forcing the reefs to shrink and backstep through time. These systematic and common terraces are interpreted to record punctuated sea-level rise events over timescales of decades to centuries during the last deglaciation, previously recognized only during the late Holocene.

  4. Modelling travel and residence times in the eastern Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dabrowski, T.; Hartnett, M.

    2008-01-01

    The Irish Sea, which lies between 51 deg. N-56 deg. N and 2 deg. 50'W-7 deg. W, provides a sheltered environment to exploit valuable fisheries resource. Anthropogenic activity is a real threat to its water quality. The majority of freshwater input down rivers flows into the eastern Irish Sea. The structure of the water circulation was not well understood during the planning of Sellafield nuclear plant outfall site in the eastern Irish Sea. A three-dimensional primitive equation numerical model was applied to the Irish Sea to simulate both barotropic and baroclinic circulation within the region. High accuracy was achieved with regard to the prediction of both tidal circulation and surface and nearbed water temperatures across the region. The model properly represented the Western Irish Sea Gyre, induced by thermal stratification and not known during planning Sellafield. Passive tracer simulations based on the developed hydrodynamic model were used to deliver residence times of the eastern Irish Sea region for various times of the year as well as travel times from the Sellafield outfall site to various locations within the Irish Sea. The results indicate a strong seasonal variability of travel times from Sellafield to the examined locations. Travel time to the Clyde Sea is the shortest for the autumnal tracer release (90 days); it takes almost a year for the tracer to arrive at the same location if it is released in January. Travel times from Sellafield to Dublin Bay fall within the range of 180-360 days. The average residence time of the entire eastern Irish Sea is around 7 months. The areas surrounding the Isle of Man are initially flushed due to a predominant northward flow; a backwater is formed in Liverpool Bay. Thus, elevated tracer concentrations are predicted in Liverpool Bay in the case of accidental spills at the Sellafield outfall site

  5. Accumulation of technetium-99 in the Irish Sea?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leonard, Kinson S.; McCubbin, David; Bonfield, Rachel; McDonald, Paul; Service, Matthew; Conney, Stuart

    2004-01-01

    An assessment has been carried out to determine the impact of continued 99 Tc discharges into the Irish Sea from the nuclear fuels reprocessing plant at Sellafield. Samples of surface and bottom seawater and sediment have been collected from the Irish Sea and analysed for 99 Tc. The information has been used, together with supporting data, to determine the effect of summer stratification upon the seawater concentrations and to evaluate whether sediments provide a sink for 99 Tc. Hydrographic data provide clear evidence of thermal stratification of waters above the muddy sediment in the western Irish Sea. Surface water contained higher 99 Tc concentrations than bottom water, and concentrations were inversely related to water salinity. This inverse relationship was not observed in the eastern Irish Sea close to Sellafield. 99 Tc activities in surficial sediments were greatest (>20 Bq/kg) at sites closest to the Cumbrian coastline. Activity, from equivalent sampling sites, remained similar between surveys carried out in 1995 and 1998. The muted response of the seabed sediments, to fluctuations in the Sellafield discharges, compared with the water column is to be expected given that they reflect the integrated radionuclide discharge history

  6. Final deglaciation of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet and implications for the Holocene global sea-level budget

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuzzone, Joshua K.; Clark, Peter U.; Carlson, Anders E.; Ullman, David J.; Rinterknecht, Vincent R.; Milne, Glenn A.; Lunkka, Juha-Pekka; Wohlfarth, Barbara; Marcott, Shaun A.; Caffee, Marc

    2016-08-01

    The last deglaciation of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) from ∼ 21, 000 to 13,000 yr ago is well-constrained by several hundred 10Be and 14C ages. The subsequent retreat history, however, is established primarily from minimum-limiting 14C ages and incomplete Baltic-Sea varve records, leaving a substantial fraction of final SIS retreat history poorly constrained. Here we develop a high-resolution chronology for the final deglaciation of the SIS based on 79 10Be cosmogenic exposure dates sampled along three transects spanning southern to northern Sweden and Finland. Combining this new chronology with existing 10Be ages on deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum shows that rates of SIS margin retreat were strongly influenced by deglacial millennial-scale climate variability and its effect on surface mass balance, with regional modulation of retreat associated with dynamical controls. Ice-volume estimates constrained by our new chronology suggest that the SIS contributed ∼ 8 m sea-level equivalent to global sea-level rise between ∼14.5 ka and 10 ka. Final deglaciation was largely complete by ∼10.5 ka, with highest rates of sea-level rise occurring during the Bølling-Allerød, a 50% decrease during the Younger Dryas, and a rapid increase during the early Holocene. Combining our SIS volume estimates with estimated contributions from other remaining Northern Hemisphere ice sheets suggests that the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) contributed 14.4 ± 5.9 m to global sea-level rise since ∼13 ka. This new constraint supports those studies that indicate that an ice volume of 15 m or more of equivalent sea-level rise was lost from the AIS during the last deglaciation.

  7. Currents in the Eastern Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howarth, M.J.

    1983-01-01

    Low level radioactive waste is discharged from the nuclear re-processing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria. Its movement away from the discharge point is determined by the Irish Sea's dynamics, both for the soluble compounds and for those compounds which become attached to the sediment. Near Sellafield the tidal currents are weak and parallel to the shore, becoming stronger east/west to the north and south of the Isle of Man. Wind driven currents near Sellafield are predominantly north-westward, strongest near the coast, and oppose the other low frequency currents. Hence, the soluble effluent will initially be dispersed parallel to the shore by the weak tidal currents, moving episodically, southeastward during weak winds and northwestward during storms. Eventually it will leave the Irish Sea, flowing northward through the North Channel. (author)

  8. Deglacial climate modulated by the storage and release of Arctic sea ice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Condron, A.; Coletti, A. J.; Bradley, R. S.

    2017-12-01

    Periods of abrupt climate cooling during the last deglaciation (20 - 8 kyr ago) are often attributed to glacial outburst floods slowing the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC). Here, we present results from a series of climate model simulations showing that the episodic break-up and mobilization of thick, perennial, Arctic sea ice during this time would have released considerable volumes of freshwater directly to the Nordic Seas, where processes regulating large-scale climate occur. Massive sea ice export events to the North Atlantic are generated whenever the transport of sea ice is enhanced, either by changes in atmospheric circulation, rising sea level submerging the Bering land bridge, or glacial outburst floods draining into the Arctic Ocean from the Mackenzie River. We find that the volumes of freshwater released to the Nordic Seas are similar to, or larger than, those estimated to have come from terrestrial outburst floods, including the discharge at the onset of the Younger Dryas. Our results provide the first evidence that the storage and release of Arctic sea ice helped drive deglacial climate change by modulating the strength of the AMOC.

  9. Reconciling the sea level record of the last deglaciation with the δ18O spectra from deep sea cores

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bard, Edouard; Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY; Arnold, Maurice; Duplessy, J.-C.

    1991-01-01

    In this paper we use the oxygen isotope record as a transient tracer to study palaeoceanography during the last deglaciation. By using 14 C and 18 O data obtained on four deep sea sediment cores, we show the presence of a measurable lag between the deglacial δ 18 O signal observed in the deep Atlantic and the deep Indo-Pacific oceans. Our study confirms that the major meltwater discharge occurred via the North Atlantic and that the thermohaline circulation was operating during the deglacial transition. (Author)

  10. The contribution of radioactivity in the Irish Sea to the radiation exposure of the Irish population during 1982-'83

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cunningham, J.D.; O'Grady, J.

    1984-03-01

    This report presents an estimate of the exposure of members of the Irish public during the period of May 1982 to June 1983 due to the consumption of fish and shellfish, the most important route by which exposure of the Irish public can occur from radioactivity, in particular radiocaesium, in the Irish Sea. Radiation exposure from other pathways, such as external radiation, is neglegible. The results are examined in terms of the dose limits recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection and the basic radiation safety standards of the European Community. The results show a small decrease on the levels of recent years and indicate a decreasing trend probably reflecting the reduction in the quantity of radiocaesium being discharged annually from Sellafield. The monitoring programme enables the radioactivity levels of the Irish Sea to be kept under review and will be continued to enable trends to be identified. (author)

  11. Seemingly divergent sea surface temperature proxy records in the central Mediterranean during the last deglaciation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M.-A. Sicre

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Sea surface temperatures (SSTs were reconstructed over the last 25 000 yr using alkenone paleothermometry and planktonic foraminifera assemblages from two cores of the central Mediterranean Sea: the MD04-2797 core (Siculo–Tunisian channel and the MD90-917 core (South Adriatic Sea. Comparison of the centennial scale structure of the two temperature signals during the last deglaciation period reveals significant differences in timing and amplitude. We suggest that seasonal changes likely account for seemingly proxy record divergences during abrupt transitions from glacial to interglacial climates and for the apparent short duration of the Younger Dryas (YD depicted by the alkenone time series, a feature that has already been stressed in earlier studies on the Mediterranean deglaciation.

  12. Windscale experiment. A study of Windscale's pollution of the Irish Sea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Blackith, R

    1984-01-01

    The discharge of radioactive waste into the Irish Sea from the Windscale reprocessing plant in Cumbria is discussed from an Irish viewpoint. A history of accidents at the plant is reviewed, and past, present and future levels of discharge to the environment are outlined. The effect on the Irish population of discharges to the marine environment is evaluated by consideration of the food chain and the exposure pathways to man, in particular the concentration of radioactive caesium and plutonium in the flesh of fish in the Irish Sea. The general health effects attributed to radiation exposures are given, and a cluster of Downs Syndrome babies born to mothers who were at the same school in Co. Louth is attributed to increased exposure during the 1957 fire at the Windscale plant. The author concludes that, because of military implications and the need for plutonium for nulcear weapons, the reprocessing plant will continue to operate, but with greatly reduced levels of discharges permitted.

  13. Irish Ice Sheet dynamics during deglaciation of the central Irish Midlands: Evidence of ice streaming and surging from airborne LiDAR

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delaney, Catherine A.; McCarron, Stephen; Davis, Stephen

    2018-04-01

    High resolution digital terrain models (DTMs) generated from airborne LiDAR data and supplemented by field evidence are used to map glacial landform assemblages dating from the last glaciation (Midlandian glaciation; OI stages 2-3) in the central Irish Midlands. The DTMs reveal previously unrecognised low-amplitude landforms, including crevasse-squeeze ridges and mega-scale glacial lineations overprinted by conduit fills leading to ice-marginal subaqueous deposits. We interpret this landform assemblage as evidence for surging behaviour during ice recession. The data indicate that two separate phases of accelerated ice flow were followed by ice sheet stagnation during overall deglaciation. The second surge event was followed by a subglacial outburst flood, forming an intricate esker and crevasse-fill network. The data provide the first clear evidence that ice flow direction was eastward along the eastern watershed of the Shannon River basin, at odds with previous models, and raise the possibility that an ice stream existed in this area. Our work demonstrates the potential for airborne LiDAR surveys to produce detailed paleoglaciological reconstructions and to enhance our understanding of complex palaeo-ice sheet dynamics.

  14. Evolution of the Eurasian Ice Sheets during the Last Deglaciation (25-10 kyr)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hughes, A. L. C.; Gyllencreutz, R.; Mangerud, J.; Svendsen, J. I.; Lohne, Ø. S.

    2014-12-01

    Both the timing of maximum extent and subsequent pace of retreat of the interconnected Eurasian (British-Irish, Scandinavian, Svalbard-Barents-Kara Sea) Ice Sheets were spatially variable likely reflecting contrasts in response to forcing mechanisms, geographical settings and glacial dynamics both between individual ice sheets and ice-sheet sectors. For example the maximum limit along the western continental shelf edge was reached up to 3,000 years earlier than the maximum, mainly terrestrial, limits in the east. We present new time-slice reconstructions of the ice-sheet evolution through the last deglaciation based on a compiled chronology of over 5,000 dates and published ice-margin positions. Ice-sheet margins are depicted every 1,000 years (25-10 kyr) and include uncertainty estimates (represented by maximum, minimum and most-credible lines). The new ice-sheet scale reconstructions summarise and provide the means for direct comparison of the empirical geological record against simulations of the deglacial ice-sheet evolution from numerical and isostatic ice-sheet modelling and the timing of abrupt events observed in deglacial climate and ocean records. The reconstruction process has identified both instances of conflicting evidence and gaps in the geological record that should be a focus for future studies. This work is part of an on-going project to reconstruct the changing limits of the Eurasian Ice Sheets through the last glacial cycle (www.uib.no/project/dated).

  15. Speciation and bioavailability of plutonium and americium in the Irish Sea and other marine ecosystems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vives i Batlle, J.

    1993-12-01

    Since the late 1960s, the Irish Sea has become a repository for a variety of radio-elements originating mainly in discharges from the British Nuclear Fuels (BNF) plc. Sellafield reprocessing complex located on the Cumbrian coast. In particular, transuranium nuclides such as plutonium, americium and curium (the main constituents of the α-emitting discharges) have become incorporated into every marine compartment by a variety of mechanisms, many of which are not well understood. Although extensive studies have been carried out in the near-field (eastern Irish Sea, especially in the vicinity of the discharge point and collateral muddy sediments), comparatively little had been done to assess the long-term behaviour and bioavailability of plutonium and americium in the far-field, e.g., the western Irish Sea, prior to the present study. In this dissertation, the results of an extensive research programme, undertaken in order to improve and refine our understanding of the behaviour of plutonium and americium in the marine environment, are presented. Specifically, the thesis details the results of (and conclusions deduced from) a series of experiments in which the physical and chemical speciation, colloidal association, mobility and bioavailability of plutonium and americium were examined in diverse environments including the Irish Sea and the Mediterranean. (author)

  16. Slow Warming of the Northern South China Sea during the Last Deglaciation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomoya Shintani

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available We have generated a record of alkenone sea surface temperatures (SSTs during the last 28000 years from Core MD97-2146 for the northern South China Sea (SCS. The SST record showed a typical pattern for change in the northern SCS SST. The SST during the LGM was ~25 C, this decreased to ~24 C to 17 ka, increased to ~25.5 C to 14.5 ka, decreased again to ~24.5 C to 11.8 ka, increased gradually to ~27 C to 6 ka, and then increased more gradually to reach ~27.5 C at present. The SST difference ( SSTNSCS = SSTMD97-2146 - SSTMD97-2141 between Cores MD97-2146 (the northern SCS; this study and MD97-2141 (the Sulu Sea; Rosenthal et al. 2003 was used to characterize the SST changes in the northern SCS relative to changes in the adjacent WTPregion. The SSTNSCS decreased from 21 to 11.8 ka and increased after 11.8 ka, indicating slower warming of the northern SCS during the last deglaciation than that of the adjacent western tropical Pacific region.We infer that the slow warming of the northern SCS was principally a result of stronger winter monsoon during the last deglaciation and early Holocene. In addition, the cool water inflow through the Taiwan Strait after 13 ka and the warm water inflow through the Sunda Shelf after 11 ka could influence the SST in the northern SCS.

  17. Abrupt changes of intermediate water properties on the northeastern slope of the Bering Sea during the last glacial and deglacial period

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rella, Stephan F.; Tada, Ryuji; Nagashima, Kana; Ikehara, Minoru; Itaki, Takuya; Ohkushi, Ken'ichi; Sakamoto, Tatsuhiko; Harada, Naomi; Uchida, Masao

    2012-09-01

    Millennial-scale variability in the behavior of North Pacific Intermediate Water during the last glacial and deglacial period, and its association with Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles and Heinrich events, are examined based on benthic foraminiferal oxygen and carbon isotopes (δ18Obf and δ13Cbf) and %CaCO3 using a sediment core recovered from the northeastern slope of the Bering Sea. A suite of positive δ18Obf excursions at intermediate depths of the Bering Sea, which seem at least in part associated with increases in the δ18Obf gradients between the Bering and Okhotsk Seas, suggest the Bering Sea as a proximate source of intermediate water during several severe stadial episodes in the last glacial and deglacial period. Absence of such δ18Obf gradients during periods of high surface productivity in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas, which we correlate to D-O interstadials, suggests a reduction in intermediate water production in the Bering Sea and subsequent introduction of nutrient-rich deep waters from the North Pacific into intermediate depths of the Bering Sea. We argue that a reorganization of atmospheric circulation in the high-latitude North Pacific during severe cold episodes in the last glacial and deglacial period created favorable conditions for brine rejection in the northeastern Bering Sea. The resulting salinity increase in the cold surface waters could have initiated intermediate (and deep) water formation that spread out to the North Pacific.

  18. The East Irish Sea Basin - from caterpillar to butterfly, a thirty-year metamorphosis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Colter, V.S.

    1997-12-31

    In the thirty years since the award of the first licenses, the East Irish Sea Basin has emerged as a significant hydrocarbon province. This paper first lists some of the occasionally almost arbitrary events that led to the first success in the basin, the discovery of the Morecambe Field, in 1974. An attempt is made to review progress over those thirty years in certain topics, namely (1) stratigraphy, (2) structure, (3) sedimentology, (4) diagenesis `The `Platy Illite problem`; and others, (5) uplift and inversion, (6) hydrocarbon sources and types, (7) East Irish Sea Basin analogues. The paper concludes by summarizing the current state of knowledge. (author)

  19. Coupled wave and surge modelling for the eastern Irish Sea and implications for model wind-stress

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Jennifer M.; Wolf, Judith

    2009-05-01

    We revisit the surge of November 1977, a storm event which caused damage on the Sefton coast in NW England. A hindcast has been made with a coupled surge-tide-wave model, to investigate whether a wave-dependent surface drag is necessary for accurate surge prediction, and also if this can be represented by an optimised Charnock parameter. The Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory Coastal Modelling System-Wave Model (POLCOMS-WAM) has been used to model combined tides, surges, waves and wave-current interaction in the Irish Sea on a 1.85 km grid. This period has been previously thoroughly studied, e.g. Jones and Davies [Jones, J.E., Davies, A.M., 1998. Storm surge computations for the Irish Sea using a three-dimensional numerical model including wave-current interaction. Continental Shelf Research 18(2), 201-251] and we build upon this previous work to validate the POLCOMS-WAM model to test the accuracy of surge elevation predictions in the study area. A one-way nested approach has been set up from larger scale models to the Irish Sea model. It was demonstrated that (as expected) swell from the North Atlantic does not have a significant impact in the eastern Irish Sea. To capture the external surge generated outside of the Irish Sea a (1/9° by 1/6°) model extending beyond the continental shelf edge was run using the POLCOMS model for tide and surge. The model results were compared with tide gauge observations around the eastern Irish Sea. The model was tested with different wind-stress formulations including Smith and Banke [Smith, S.D., Banke, E.G., 1975. Variation of the surface drag coefficient with wind speed. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorology Society, 101(429), 665-673] and Charnock [Charnock, H., 1955. Wind-stress on a water surface. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 81(350), 639-640]. In order to get a single parameterisation that works with wave-coupling, the wave-derived surface roughness length has been imposed in the surge model

  20. Aspects of the biology of Mya arenaria and Ensis spp. (Mollusca; Bivalvia) in the Irish Sea and adjacent areas

    OpenAIRE

    Cross, Maud E.

    2014-01-01

    This study was undertaken to investigate the general biology, including the reproductive cycle and health status, of two clam taxa in Irish waters, with particular reference to the Irish Sea area. Monthly samples of the soft shell clam, Mya arenaria, were collected from Bannow Bay, Co. Wexford, Ireland, for sixteen months, and of the razor clam, Ensis spp. from the Skerries region (Irish Sea) between June 2010 and September 2011. In 2010, M. arenaria in Bannow Bay matured over the summer mont...

  1. Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cronin, Thomas M.; O'Regan, Matt; Pearce, Christof; Gemery, Laura; Toomey, Michael; Semiletov, Igor; Jakobsson, Martin

    2017-09-01

    Deglacial (12.8-10.7 ka) sea level history on the East Siberian continental shelf and upper continental slope was reconstructed using new geophysical records and sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition. The focus of this study is two cores from Herald Canyon, piston core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1 (4-PC1) and multicore SWERUS-L2-4-MC1 (4-MC1), and a gravity core from an East Siberian Sea transect, SWERUS-L2-20-GC1 (20-GC1). Cores 4-PC1 and 20-GC were taken at 120 and 115 m of modern water depth, respectively, only a few meters above the global last glacial maximum (LGM; ˜ 24 kiloannum or ka) minimum sea level of ˜ 125-130 meters below sea level (m b.s.l.). Using calibrated radiocarbon ages mainly on molluscs for chronology and the ecology of benthic foraminifera and ostracode species to estimate paleodepths, the data reveal a dominance of river-proximal species during the early part of the Younger Dryas event (YD, Greenland Stadial GS-1) followed by a rise in river-intermediate species in the late Younger Dryas or the early Holocene (Preboreal) period. A rapid relative sea level rise beginning at roughly 11.4 to 10.8 ka ( ˜ 400 cm of core depth) is indicated by a sharp faunal change and unconformity or condensed zone of sedimentation. Regional sea level at this time was about 108 m b.s.l. at the 4-PC1 site and 102 m b.s.l. at 20-GC1. Regional sea level near the end of the YD was up to 42-47 m lower than predicted by geophysical models corrected for glacio-isostatic adjustment. This discrepancy could be explained by delayed isostatic adjustment caused by a greater volume and/or geographical extent of glacial-age land ice and/or ice shelves in the western Arctic Ocean and adjacent Siberian land areas.

  2. The place of the Irish Sea oil and gas industryin the economy of the region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stoney, P.J.M.

    1995-01-01

    The economies of two areas close to the Irish Sea, Morecambe Bay and Liverpool Bay, are compared in order to illustrate the effect of the Irish Sea oil and gas industry on these regions. Capital investment projects connected with those industries during the construction and operational lifetime periods are considered in terms of direct, indirect and induced effects. Mathematical modelling is used to provide a conceptual basis for making inferences about the possible size of oil and gas industry effects on local economies. Information on employment in various regions and sectors of industry, including forecasts of future profitability are given. (UK)

  3. Glacigenic landforms and sediments of the Western Irish Shelf

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCarron, Stephen; Monteys, Xavier; Toms, Lee

    2013-04-01

    Vibrocoring of possible glacigenic landforms identified from high resolution bathymetric coverage of the Irish Shelf by the Irish National Seabed Survey (INSS) has provided several clusters of short (<3m) cores that, due to a regional post-glacial erosional event, comprise last glacial age stratigraphies. In addition, new shallow seismic data and sedimentological information from across the Western Irish Shelf provide new insights into aspects of the nature, timing and pattern of shelf occupation by grounded lobate extensions of the last Irish Ice Sheet. Restricted chronological control of deglacial sequences in several cores indicates that northern parts of the western mid-shelf (south of a prominent outer Donegal Bay ridge) were ice free by ~24 ka B.P., and that ice had also probably retreated from outer shelf positions (as far west as the Porcupine Bank) at or before this time.

  4. Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cronin, Thomas M.; O'Regan, Matt; Pearce, Christof; Gemery, Laura; Toomey, Michael; Semiletov, Igor

    2017-01-01

    Deglacial (12.8–10.7 ka) sea level history on the East Siberian continental shelf and upper continental slope was reconstructed using new geophysical records and sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition. The focus of this study is two cores from Herald Canyon, piston core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1 (4-PC1) and multicore SWERUS-L2-4-MC1 (4-MC1), and a gravity core from an East Siberian Sea transect, SWERUS-L2-20-GC1 (20-GC1). Cores 4-PC1 and 20-GC were taken at 120 and 115 m of modern water depth, respectively, only a few meters above the global last glacial maximum (LGM;  ∼  24 kiloannum or ka) minimum sea level of  ∼  125–130 meters below sea level (m b.s.l.). Using calibrated radiocarbon ages mainly on molluscs for chronology and the ecology of benthic foraminifera and ostracode species to estimate paleodepths, the data reveal a dominance of river-proximal species during the early part of the Younger Dryas event (YD, Greenland Stadial GS-1) followed by a rise in river-intermediate species in the late Younger Dryas or the early Holocene (Preboreal) period. A rapid relative sea level rise beginning at roughly 11.4 to 10.8 ka ( ∼  400 cm of core depth) is indicated by a sharp faunal change and unconformity or condensed zone of sedimentation. Regional sea level at this time was about 108 m b.s.l. at the 4-PC1 site and 102 m b.s.l. at 20-GC1. Regional sea level near the end of the YD was up to 42–47 m lower than predicted by geophysical models corrected for glacio-isostatic adjustment. This discrepancy could be explained by delayed isostatic adjustment caused by a greater volume and/or geographical extent of glacial-age land ice and/or ice shelves in the western Arctic Ocean and adjacent Siberian land areas.

  5. Deglacial sea level history of the East Siberian Sea and Chukchi Sea margins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. M. Cronin

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Deglacial (12.8–10.7 ka sea level history on the East Siberian continental shelf and upper continental slope was reconstructed using new geophysical records and sediment cores taken during Leg 2 of the 2014 SWERUS-C3 expedition. The focus of this study is two cores from Herald Canyon, piston core SWERUS-L2-4-PC1 (4-PC1 and multicore SWERUS-L2-4-MC1 (4-MC1, and a gravity core from an East Siberian Sea transect, SWERUS-L2-20-GC1 (20-GC1. Cores 4-PC1 and 20-GC were taken at 120 and 115 m of modern water depth, respectively, only a few meters above the global last glacial maximum (LGM;  ∼  24 kiloannum or ka minimum sea level of  ∼  125–130 meters below sea level (m b.s.l.. Using calibrated radiocarbon ages mainly on molluscs for chronology and the ecology of benthic foraminifera and ostracode species to estimate paleodepths, the data reveal a dominance of river-proximal species during the early part of the Younger Dryas event (YD, Greenland Stadial GS-1 followed by a rise in river-intermediate species in the late Younger Dryas or the early Holocene (Preboreal period. A rapid relative sea level rise beginning at roughly 11.4 to 10.8 ka ( ∼  400 cm of core depth is indicated by a sharp faunal change and unconformity or condensed zone of sedimentation. Regional sea level at this time was about 108 m b.s.l. at the 4-PC1 site and 102 m b.s.l. at 20-GC1. Regional sea level near the end of the YD was up to 42–47 m lower than predicted by geophysical models corrected for glacio-isostatic adjustment. This discrepancy could be explained by delayed isostatic adjustment caused by a greater volume and/or geographical extent of glacial-age land ice and/or ice shelves in the western Arctic Ocean and adjacent Siberian land areas.

  6. Implications of 36Cl exposure ages from Skye, northwest Scotland for the timing of ice stream deglaciation and deglacial ice dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Small, David; Rinterknecht, Vincent; Austin, William E. N.; Bates, Richard; Benn, Douglas I.; Scourse, James D.; Bourlès, Didier L.; Hibbert, Fiona D.

    2016-10-01

    Geochronological constraints on the deglaciation of former marine based ice streams provide information on the rates and modes by which marine based ice sheets have responded to external forcing factors such as climate change. This paper presents new 36Cl cosmic ray exposure dating from boulders located on two moraines (Glen Brittle and Loch Scavaig) in southern Skye, northwest Scotland. Ages from the Glen Brittle moraines constrain deglaciation of a major marine terminating ice stream, the Barra-Donegal Ice Stream that drained the former British-Irish Ice Sheet, depending on choice of production method and scaling model this occurred 19.9 ± 1.5-17.6 ± 1.3 ka ago. We compare this timing of deglaciation to existing geochronological data and changes in a variety of potential forcing factors constrained through proxy records and numerical models to determine what deglaciation age is most consistent with existing evidence. Another small section of moraine, the Scavaig moraine, is traced offshore through multibeam swath-bathymetry and interpreted as delimiting a later stillstand/readvance stage following ice stream deglaciation. Additional cosmic ray exposure dating from the onshore portion of this moraine indicate that it was deposited 16.3 ± 1.3-15.2 ± 0.9 ka ago. When calculated using the most up-to-date scaling scheme this time of deposition is, within uncertainty, the same as the timing of a widely identified readvance, the Wester Ross Readvance, observed elsewhere in northwest Scotland. This extends the area over which this readvance has potentially occurred, reinforcing the view that it was climatically forced.

  7. The availability of plutonium and americium in Irish Sea sediments for re-dissolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, P.; Vives i Batlle, J.; Bousher, A.; Whittall, A.; Chambers, N.

    2001-01-01

    The availability of plutonium and americium, for re-dissolution from offshore sediments into Irish Sea water, has been examined. Sediments collected from the mud-patch near the Cumbrian coast were characterized in terms of spatial location, particle size, partitioning of radionuclides with respect to physico-chemical bonds and availability of actinides for release into seawater. Sequential extraction investigations revealed that plutonium was predominantly associated with strongly bound sesquioxide and organic complex fractions. Americium was associated mainly with the organic complex fraction, but a significant fraction was in carbonate form. Sediment/water re-dissolution experiments with and without stirring were compared to simulate the effect of disturbing bed sediment. After 1 week, neither set of re-dissolution data provided significant trends between dissolved activity and time. Stirred systems appeared to release 2.5 times more plutonium and americium into seawater than unstirred systems. Measured 239,240Pu and 241Am distribution coefficients (K d values) were both typically approximately 10 5 l kg -1 . 241Am K d values are an order of magnitude lower than previously reported for the north-eastern Irish Sea, but similar to western Irish Sea values. Overall, the fractions of plutonium and americium available for re-dissolution from bed sediment are very low at <0.1%, with proportionally more plutonium being released than americium. These findings lend further support for the extrapolation of laboratory-derived information to environmental conditions

  8. Plutonium transport to and deposition and immobility in Irish Sea intertidal sediments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Aston, S R; Stanners, D A [Lancaster Univ. (UK)

    1981-02-12

    The results are presented of an investigation of plutonium in intertidal sediments of the Irish Sea, contaminated with radioactive wastes from the Windscale reprocessing facility. The deposition characteristics and lack of vertical migration of /sup 238/Pu and /sup 239/ and /sup 240/Pu are discussed.

  9. Application of CAFE-I to the Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thompson, F.L.; Onishi, Y.

    1983-08-01

    The two-dimensional (vertically-averaged) hydrodynamic model, CAFE, has been applied to the Irish Sea as part of a study to simulate radionuclide transport with sediment-radionuclide interactions for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The flow circulation pattern simulated by CAFE shows good agreement with flow patterns described in the literature. The model results were evaluated by comparing simulated current ellipses at 5 points in the grid with measured current ellipses generated from velocity data collected during April 1968. The computed and measured phases of the maximum flood and ebb currents were also compared

  10. Radiocarbon dating of Irish Sea sediments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kershaw, P. J.

    1986-09-01

    Radiocarbon dating has been carried out on three cores from areas of muddy sediments in the N. Irish Sea to estimate rates of sediment accumulation. 14C age profiles of the two eastern basin cores revealed a near-constant age from the sediment surface to the base of the core (12 500±1000 years bp). The 14C age profile of the western basin core revealed a zone of apparent mixing to a depth of 55 cm, underlain by a zone of constant sedimentation rate (0·018 cm y -1) to 160 cm. These data are discussed in relation both to previously reported sedimentological studies of the area and to the authorised discharges of low-level radioactive waste from the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant.

  11. Irish Sea Marine Aggregate Initiative (IMAGIN) Technical Synthesis Report

    OpenAIRE

    Sutton, G.

    2008-01-01

    The Irish Sea Marine Aggregates Initiative (IMAGIN) is a collaborative project between Ireland and Wales focused on the sustainable management of marine aggregate resources. IMAGIN was a 2-year project with a total budget of €1.1 million. IMAGIN was part funded (66%) under the Ireland/Wales Inter Regional (INTERREG) IIIA Community Initiative Programme 2000-2006. The remaining project budget was met by contributions from partner organisations (19%) and aggregate companies – CEMEX, Lagan Ltd., ...

  12. Sedimentation Studies relevant to low-level radioactive effluent dispersal in the Irish Sea. Part 1. Radionuclides in marine sediments

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, T J; Parker, W R; Kirby, R

    1980-01-01

    This report examines the discharge of various radionuclides into the Irish Sea with particular reference to the interaction between the radionuclides and the sediments. A review of the relevant literature has revealed a variety of possible interaction mechanisms which are sensitive to many environmental parameters. It is concluded that the particular mechanism and any potential for remobilisation are dependent on the unique conditions existing at a particular site. The precise nature of the interaction in the Irish Sea and the remobilisation potential of the various radionuclides are poorly known. Measurements of radionuclide distributions have previously been used to infer rates of sedimentary processes. The assumptions underlying these interpretations are considered and it is shown that a large amount of information on the sedimentological regime of a given area is required before confident interpretations of radionuclide distributions can be made. This background material is only partially available for the Irish Sea.

  13. Deglacial remobilization of permafrost carbon to sediments along the East Siberian Arctic Seas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martens, J.; Wild, B.; Bröder, L.; Andersson, A.; Pearce, C.; O'Regan, M.; Jakobsson, M.; Tesi, T.; Muschitiello, F.; Sköld, M.; Semiletov, I. P.; Dudarev, O.; Gustafsson, O.

    2017-12-01

    Current climate change is expected to thaw large quantities of permafrost carbon (PF-C) and expose it to degradation which emits greenhouse gases (i.e. CO2 and CH4). Warming causes a gradual deepening of the seasonally thawed active layer surface of permafrost soils, but also the abrupt collapse of deeper Ice Complex Deposits (ICD), especially along Siberian coastlines. It was recently hypothesized that past warming already induced large-scale permafrost degradation after the last glacial, which ultimately amplified climate forcing. We here assess the mobilization of PF-C to East Siberian Arctic Sea sediments during these warming periods. We perform source apportionment using bulk carbon isotopes (ΔΔ14C, δ13C) together with terrestrial biomarkers (CuO-derived lignin phenols) as indicators for PF-C transfer. We apply these techniques to sediment cores (SWERUS-L2) from the Chukchi Sea (4-PC1) and the southern Lomonosov Ridge (31-PC1). We found that PF-C fluxes during the Bølling-Allerød warming (14.7 to 12.7 cal ka BP), the Younger Dryas cooling (12.7 to 11.7 cal ka BP) and the early Holocene warming (until 11 cal ka BP) were overall higher than mid and late Holocene fluxes. In the Chukchi Sea, PF-C burial was 2x higher during the deglaciation (7.2 g m-2 a-1) than in the mid and late Holocene (3.6 g m-2 a-1), and ICD were the dominant source of PF-C (79.1%). Smaller fractions originated from the active layer (9.1%) and marine sources (11.7%). We conclude that thermo-erosion of ICD released large amounts of PF-C to the Chukchi Sea, likely driven by climate warming and the deglacial sea level rise. This contrasts to earlier analyses of Laptev Sea sediments where active layer material from river transport dominated the carbon flux. Preliminary data on lignin phenol concentrations of Lomonosov Ridge sediments suggest that the postglacial remobilization of PF-C was one order of magnitude higher (10x) than during both the preceding glacial and the subsequent Holocene

  14. The west African mangrove: an indicator of sea-level fluctuations and regional climate changes during the last deglaciation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lezine, A.M.

    1996-01-01

    The review of modern and late Quaternary pollen data recording the mangrove evolution in West Africa shows that littoral and deep-sea sediments have registered different signals. The first one gives evidence for past sea-level variations from ca. 12,000 B.P. to ca. 5,000 B.P. The second one records the first widespread response of tropical forest ecosystems to the last deglaciation step and enhanced monsoonal rains at ca. 9,500 B.P. (authors)

  15. The Existence and Use of Benefit Segments in the Irish Sea Ferry Market

    OpenAIRE

    Matear, Sheelagh Maureen

    1991-01-01

    In the last thirty years segmentation has been recognised as a fundamental concept in the understanding of a market. This research undertakes a benefit segmentation of the passenger and freight, sea and air transport markets between Great Britain and Ireland (both Northern Ireland and Eire). In so doing, two areas which have been under-researched are addressed; segmentation in a transport market and the Irish sea passenger and freight market. The dominant features of the ...

  16. Effects of complex hydrodynamic processes on the horizontal and vertical distribution of Tc-99 in the Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olbert, Agnieszka I.; Hartnett, Michael; Dabrowski, Tomasz; Kelleher, Kevin

    2010-01-01

    The increased discharge of Tc-99 from the Sellafield plant following the commissioning of the Enhance Actinide Removal Plant in 1994 was reflected in higher Tc-99 activity concentrations over much of the Irish Sea. The presence of this radionuclide in the marine environment is of concern not only because of its long half life but also high bio-concentration factor in commercially valuable species, such Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) and common lobster (Homarus gammarus). Accurate predictions of the transport, and spatial and temporal distributions of Tc-99 in the Irish Sea have important environmental and commercial implications. In this study, transport of the Tc-99 material was simulated in order to develop an increased understanding of long-term horizontal and vertical distributions. In particular, impact of seasonal hydrodynamic features such as the summer stratification on the surface-to-bottom Tc-99 ratio was of interest. Also, material retention mechanisms within the western Irish Sea were explored and flushing rates under various release conditions and meteorological forcing were estimated. The results show that highest vertical gradients are observed between June and July in the deepest regions of the North Channel and the western Irish Sea where radionuclide-rich saline-poor water overlays radionuclide-poor saline-rich Atlantic water masses. Strong correlation between top-to-bottom ratio of Tc-99 and strength of stratification was found. Flushing studies demonstrate that as the stratification intensifies, residence times within the western Irish Sea increase. In stratified waters of the gyre Tc-99 material is flushed out from the upper layer much quicker than from the bottom zone. The research also shows that in the gyre the biologically active upper layers above the thermocline are likely to contain higher concentrations than the near-bed region. Long-term horizontal and vertical distributions as determined in this study provide a basis for

  17. Effects of complex hydrodynamic processes on the horizontal and vertical distribution of Tc-99 in the Irish Sea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Olbert, Agnieszka I., E-mail: indiana.olbert@nuigalway.ie [Civil Engineering Department, Environmental Change Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland); Hartnett, Michael; Dabrowski, Tomasz [Civil Engineering Department, Environmental Change Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway (Ireland); Kelleher, Kevin [Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland, 3 Clonskeagh Square, Clonskeagh Road, Dublin 14 (Ireland)

    2010-12-01

    The increased discharge of Tc-99 from the Sellafield plant following the commissioning of the Enhance Actinide Removal Plant in 1994 was reflected in higher Tc-99 activity concentrations over much of the Irish Sea. The presence of this radionuclide in the marine environment is of concern not only because of its long half life but also high bio-concentration factor in commercially valuable species, such Norway lobster (Nephrops norvegicus) and common lobster (Homarus gammarus). Accurate predictions of the transport, and spatial and temporal distributions of Tc-99 in the Irish Sea have important environmental and commercial implications. In this study, transport of the Tc-99 material was simulated in order to develop an increased understanding of long-term horizontal and vertical distributions. In particular, impact of seasonal hydrodynamic features such as the summer stratification on the surface-to-bottom Tc-99 ratio was of interest. Also, material retention mechanisms within the western Irish Sea were explored and flushing rates under various release conditions and meteorological forcing were estimated. The results show that highest vertical gradients are observed between June and July in the deepest regions of the North Channel and the western Irish Sea where radionuclide-rich saline-poor water overlays radionuclide-poor saline-rich Atlantic water masses. Strong correlation between top-to-bottom ratio of Tc-99 and strength of stratification was found. Flushing studies demonstrate that as the stratification intensifies, residence times within the western Irish Sea increase. In stratified waters of the gyre Tc-99 material is flushed out from the upper layer much quicker than from the bottom zone. The research also shows that in the gyre the biologically active upper layers above the thermocline are likely to contain higher concentrations than the near-bed region. Long-term horizontal and vertical distributions as determined in this study provide a basis for

  18. The role of near-shore industrial waste releases in the dispersion of radionuclides in the NE Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamilton, E.I.

    1999-01-01

    Over the past 27 years, through the use of autoradiographic methods combined with field observations and laboratory studies, I have concluded that the behaviour and distribution of the α-active actinide radionuclides in the estuarine and marine sediments of the NE Irish Sea are significantly influenced by the releases of other non-radioactive industrial wastes. Since the 1700s, the various industrial activities in the Cumbrian coastal region have included: haematite mining, diverse non-ferric metal extraction industries, coal mining and a large number of blast furnaces for the manufacture of iron. More recently (1954-92), the Albright and Wilson phosphoric acid factory at Whitehaven, Cumbria, has discharged large quantities of phosphogypsum slurries into the NE Irish Sea. Iron wastes and slag products, together with phosphogypsum and its associated by-products containing the rare earth elements, are extremely reactive towards the actinides. These wastes are now slowly being removed from the region by natural processes following the rapid decline of heavy industry in the area. These wastes have been present since BNFL first started to discharge radionuclides into the NE Irish Sea and have not, so far, been considered in any models for the dispersion of radionuclides in the region. It is shown that sediments of the NE Irish Sea and local estuaries contain a significant part of the actinide content as coatings on two iron minerals, magnetite and haematite; there is also a significant diffuse distribution associated with hydrated iron oxides attached to quartz grains. However, not all magnetite and haematite grains from a given site show α-activity. Relative to the intensity of the α-activity of the constituent minerals in sediments, the two iron minerals can be regarded as hot particles and are associated with a further set of far more intense hot particles that either may be totally derived from BNFL Sellafield or may also include a contribution from the Albright

  19. The radiological impact of Sellafield on coastal communities around the Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barr, H.M.; Howorth, J.M.

    1993-11-01

    The inhabitants of coastal regions bordering the Irish Sea may be exposed to radionuclides, of Sellafield origin, through a variety of pathways. An assessment of the magnitude of these doses and the regional differences is presented in this report. The assessment has considered exposures arising from the seafood, beach, intertidal and sea-spray transfer pathways. The spatial differences in the doses received through each pathway and the future evolution of the doses are determined by the predicted difference in the behaviour of individual radionuclides in the Irish Sea. Difference in the degree to which radionuclides adsorb onto sediments give rise to characteristic patterns in which 137 Cs is more uniformly distributed than the actinides and in which 137 Cs responds to the decreasing discharge rate from Sellafield more readily than the actinides. Thus, pathways in which the dose depends on the concentrations of 137 Cs, such as external irradiation over beaches, show smaller regional differences than do pathways whose dose depends on the concentrations of actinides, such as the ingestion of molluscs. The 137 Cs-controlled pathways are predicted to decline in the future in response to discharge rates much more rapidly than the actinide-controlled pathways which are subject to the influence of remobilisation processes. (Author)

  20. Plutonium in intertidal coastal and estuarine sediments in the Northern Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aston, S.R.; Assinder, D.J.; Kelly, M.

    1985-01-01

    Surface intertidal sediments from 35 sites in the Irish Sea have been analysed for their 238 Pu and sup(239,240)Pu activities, together with an intensive study of plutonium in sediments of the Esk Estuary (NW England). The range of plutonium activities for the whole survey were 0.14-4118 and 1.3-16 026 Bq kg -1 for 238 Pu and sup(239,240)Pu, respectively. The levels of Pu activity, derived from the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing effluents, in sediments are controlled by lithological factors and the influence of transport and post-depositional processes. Grain size distribution is particularly important, the major part of plutonium activity being in the mud fraction of all sediments. The data suggest that over the Irish Sea coastline, dynamic mixing of sediment grains by reworking and resuspension and/or by dispersion in tidal currents are important in determining plutonium distributions. The exponential decrease in sediment plutonium activities away from the Sellafield source is attributed to the progressive mixing with older contaminated and uncontaminated sediments. (author)

  1. The Change in Black Sea Water Composition and Hydrology during Deglaciation from Multiproxy Reconstructions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yanchilina, A.; Ryan, W. B. F.; McManus, J. F.

    2014-12-01

    This study presents a reconstruction of changes in the water column from the last glacial into the early Holocene using stable isotope, 87Sr/86Sr, 14C, and trace element ratios from mollusks from the shelf area and ostracods from the basin of the Black Sea. The stable isotope record is compared to a thoroughly U/Th dated terrestrial stable isotope record of a nearby cave, Sofular cave in northwestern Turkey. The combination of deep, surface, and terrestrial signals gives valuable insight towards the behavior of the lake water during the deglaciation in multiple dimensions, specifically the water column stratification and hydrological dynamics. The comparison of the stable isotope records of two independent proxies allows to make inferences on the changes in the 14C reservoir of the Black Sea-Lake. Results show that during the glacial period, water from the Black Sea-Lake was outflowing to the Sea of Marmara but the ventilation of the water column was weak as old 14C was not removed and allowed to accumulate giving the lake a large 14C reservoir age. A deglacial pulse of meltwater released from the Eurasian Fennoscandian pro-glacial lakes increased ventilation of the water column. This is seen in lighter δ18O and a spike in radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr in both deep and shallow parts of the water column. The dynamic ventilation and outflow of water into the Sea of Marmara continued until the onset of the Bolling/Allerod as the radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr was almost completely flushed out in a couple hundred years time. During the Bolling/Allerod and Preboreal warming, δ18O got heavier whereas the 87Sr/86Sr stayed constant and the 14C again accumulated and contributed to an older reservoir age. The Younger Dryas period, sandwiched in between the two warming periods, shows a return to glacial conditions in the δ13C and that the water outflowed to the Sea of Marmara as the δ18O only showed a slight change towards a more heavy value.

  2. Distribution of Technetium-99 in sub-tidal sediments of the Irish Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCubbin, David; Leonard, Kinson S.; McDonald, Paul; Bonfield, Rachel; Boust, Dominique

    2006-03-01

    To date, relatively little attention has been given to the accumulation of 99Tc discharged from Sellafield in the subtidal sediments of the Irish Sea. The potential implications for secondary seafood contamination from contaminated sediment has driven the UK Food Standards Agency to commission further research into this pathway. The work reported here reviews existing data and provides new measurements of 99Tc specific activity in surface and sub-surface sediments of the Irish Sea, together with environmental Kd values. The results are used to assess the spatial and temporal evolution of 99Tc in the seabed after 8 years of enhanced Sellafield discharges (between 1994 and 2002), of the aforementioned radionuclide. The information is discussed with reference to other studies, in an attempt to infer the processes controlling 99Tc uptake and release from seabed sediments. The average environmental Kd value for 99Tc in the Irish Sea (1.9×10 3) was more than an order of magnitude greater than the presently recommended value of 10 2 [IAEA, 2004. Sediment distribution coefficients and concentration factors for biota in the marine environment. Technical Report Series No. 422, IAEA, Vienna]. Comparison with results from laboratory studies indicates that the observed distribution may represent metastable binding rather than thermodynamic equilibrium. Activities in surface sediments decreased with increasing distance from Sellafield but were also dependent upon the nature of the underlying substrate, being greater on muddy material. Preliminary measurements of grain-size distribution indicated that the observed variation in activities was probably not due to surface area effects. There is an emerging body of evidence from other studies that indicate the differences were most likely due to variations in redox regimes between the different substrates. Vertical profiles were significantly irregular, probably due to the effects of variable sediment mixing processes. Comparison of

  3. The distribution and transport of Sellafield derived 137Cs and 241Am to western Irish Sea sediments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Charlesworth, M.E.; Service, M.; Gibson, C.E.

    2006-01-01

    Sellafield derived 137 Cs and 241 Am were analysed in surficial sediments at 23 sites in the western Irish Sea. Concentrations varied between 3-175 Bq 137 Cs/kg and 1-147 Bq 241 Am/kg. There are two distinct basins in the western Irish Sea separated by an area of restricted depth and this bathymetry is reflected in the radionuclide concentrations. Highest concentrations were found in the northerly samples and substantially lower concentrations further south. This pattern of distribution can be explained by the predominantly northerly residual flow and the existence of seasonal stratification in this area of weak tides. 137 Cs/ 241 Am ratios were also highest in the northern basin, and it is suggested that this is caused by differences in the mechanisms of transport of the two elements. The direct physical migration of contaminated particles from the eastern Irish Sea is the dominant transport mechanism in the north of the study area, whereas transport in the dissolved phase is most important to the southern region. Concentrations of both elements were best correlated with the percentage <15 μm particulate fraction suggesting that particles within this range are most important for direct transport and scavenging from the soluble phase

  4. The radiological impact of Sellafield on coastal communities around the Irish Sea: a summary report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barr, H.M.; Howorth, J.M.

    1994-05-01

    The inhabitants of coastal regions bordering the Irish Sea are exposed to radionuclides, of Sellafield origin, through a variety of pathways. An assessment of the magnitude of the resulting radiation doses and the regional differences is presented in this report. The assessment has considered exposures arising from the seafood, beach and sea-spray transfer pathways. The spatial differences in the doses received through each pathway and the future evolution of the doses are determined by the predicted difference in the behaviour of individual radionuclides in the Irish Sea. Differences in the degree to which radionuclides adsorb onto sediments give rise to characteristic patterns in which 137 Cs is more uniformly distributed than the actinides and in which 137 Cs responds to the decreasing discharge rate from Sellafield more readily than the actinides. In the future, the contributions of 137 Cs to the radiological dose are predicted to decline, in response to discharge rates, much more rapidly than the contribution of the actinides which are subject to the influence of remobilisation processes. (author)

  5. Measurement of stress effects (scope for growth) and contaminant levels in mussels (Mytilus edulis) collected from the Irish Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Widdows, J; Donkin, P; Staff, F J; Matthiessen, P; Law, R J; Allen, Y T; Thain, J E; Allchin, C R; Jones, B R

    2002-05-01

    The objective of this research was to quantify the impact of pollution along the coastlines of the Irish Sea. Pollution assessment was based on the combined measurement of scope for growth (SFG), and chemical contaminants in the tissues of mussels (Mytilus edulis) collected from 38 coastal sites around the Irish Sea during June-July in 1996 and 1997. On the UK mainland coast, the SFG showed a general trend with a significant decline in water quality in the Liverpool and Morecambe Bay region. High water quality was recorded along the west coast of Wales, as well as southwest England and northwest Scotland (clean reference sites outside the Irish Sea). Along the coast of Ireland there was a similar trend with reduced SFG within the Irish Sea region. SFG was generally low north of Duncannon and then improved north of Belfast. The poor water quality on both sides of the Irish Sea is consistent with the prevailing hydrodynamics and the spatial distribution of contaminants associated with urban/ industrial development. The decline in SFG of mussels on both sides of the Irish Sea was associated with a general increase in contaminant levels in the mussels. Certain contaminants, including PAHs, TBT, sigmaDDT, Dieldrin, gamma-HCH, PCBs, and a few of the metals (Cd, Se, Ag, Pb), showed elevated concentrations. Many of these contaminants were particularly elevated in the coastal margins of Liverpool Bay, Morecambe Bay and Dublin Bay. A quantitative toxicological interpretation (QTI) of the combined tissue residue chemistry and SFG measurements indicated that at the majority of coastal sites, c. 50 to > 80% of the observed decline in SFG was due to PAHs as a result of fossil fuel combustion and oil spills. TBT levels were highest at major ports and harbours, but these concentrations only made a minor contribution to the overall reduction in SFG. At no sites were individual metals accumulated to concentrations that could cause a significant effect on SFG. The study identified

  6. Reconstructing the last Irish Ice Sheet 2: a geomorphologically-driven model of ice sheet growth, retreat and dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenwood, Sarah L.; Clark, Chris D.

    2009-12-01

    The ice sheet that once covered Ireland has a long history of investigation. Much prior work focussed on localised evidence-based reconstructions and ice-marginal dynamics and chronologies, with less attention paid to an ice sheet wide view of the first order properties of the ice sheet: centres of mass, ice divide structure, ice flow geometry and behaviour and changes thereof. In this paper we focus on the latter aspect and use our new, countrywide glacial geomorphological mapping of the Irish landscape (>39 000 landforms), and our analysis of the palaeo-glaciological significance of observed landform assemblages (article Part 1), to build an ice sheet reconstruction yielding these fundamental ice sheet properties. We present a seven stage model of ice sheet evolution, from initiation to demise, in the form of palaeo-geographic maps. An early incursion of ice from Scotland likely coalesced with local ice caps and spread in a south-westerly direction 200 km across Ireland. A semi-independent Irish Ice Sheet was then established during ice sheet growth, with a branching ice divide structure whose main axis migrated up to 140 km from the west coast towards the east. Ice stream systems converging on Donegal Bay in the west and funnelling through the North Channel and Irish Sea Basin in the east emerge as major flow components of the maximum stages of glaciation. Ice cover is reconstructed as extending to the continental shelf break. The Irish Ice Sheet became autonomous (i.e. separate from the British Ice Sheet) during deglaciation and fragmented into multiple ice masses, each decaying towards the west. Final sites of demise were likely over the mountains of Donegal, Leitrim and Connemara. Patterns of growth and decay of the ice sheet are shown to be radically different: asynchronous and asymmetric in both spatial and temporal domains. We implicate collapse of the ice stream system in the North Channel - Irish Sea Basin in driving such asymmetry, since rapid

  7. Temporal record of Pu isotopes in inter-tidal sediments from the northeastern Irish Sea

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lindahl, Patric, E-mail: patriclindahl@yahoo.com [School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom); Worsfold, Paul; Keith-Roach, Miranda [School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Drake Circus, Plymouth PL4 8AA (United Kingdom); Andersen, Morten B. [Bristol Isotope Group, School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Bristol BS8 1RJ (United Kingdom); Kershaw, Peter; Leonard, Kins [The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Lowestoft Laboratory, Pakefield Road, Suffolk NR33 0HT (United Kingdom); Choi, Min-Seok [Division of Earth and Environmental Science, Korea Basic Science Institute, 113 Gwahangno, Yusung-gu, Daejon 305-333 (Korea, Republic of); Boust, Dominique [Laboratoire de Radioecologie, Institut de Radioprotection et de Surete Nucleaire, BP 10, 50130 Cherbourg-Octeville (France); Lesueur, Patrick [University of Caen Basse Normandie, M2C UMR CNRS 6143, 14000 Caen (France)

    2011-11-01

    A depth profile of {sup 239}Pu and {sup 240}Pu specific activities and isotope ratios was determined in an inter-tidal sediment core from the Esk Estuary in the northeastern Irish Sea. The study site has been impacted with plutonium through routine radionuclide discharges from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria, NW England. A pronounced sub-surface maximum of {approx} 10 kBq kg{sup -1} was observed for {sup 239+240}Pu, corresponding to the peak in Pu discharge from Sellafield in 1973, with a decreasing trend with depth down to {approx} 0.04 kBq kg{sup -1} in the deeper layers. The depth profile of {sup 239+240}Pu specific activities together with results from gamma-ray spectrometry for {sup 137}Cs and {sup 241}Am was compared with reported releases from the Sellafield plant in order to estimate a reliable sediment chronology. The upper layers (1992 onwards) showed higher {sup 239+240}Pu specific activities than would be expected from the direct input of annual Sellafield discharges, indicating that the main input of Pu is from the time-integrated contaminated mud patch of the northeastern Irish Sea. The {sup 240}Pu/{sup 239}Pu atom ratios ranged from {approx} 0.03 in the deepest layers to > 0.20 in the sub-surface layers with an activity-weighted average of 0.181. The decreasing {sup 240}Pu/{sup 239}Pu atom ratio with depth reflects the changing nature of operations at the Sellafield plant from weapons-grade Pu production to reprocessing spent nuclear fuel with higher burn-up times in the late 1950s. In addition, recent annual {sup 240}Pu/{sup 239}Pu atom ratios in winkles collected during 2003-2008 from three stations along the Cumbrian coastline showed no significant spatial or temporal differences with an overall average of 0.204, which supports the hypothesis of diluted Pu input from the contaminated mud patch. - Highlights: {yields} Depth profiles of {sup 239}Pu and {sup 240}Pu determined in a northeastern Irish Sea sediment. {yields

  8. Southern Ocean Circulation: a High Resolution Examination of the Last Deglaciation from Deep-Sea Corals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robinson, L. F.; Li, T.; Chen, T.; Burke, A.; Pegrum Haram, A.; Stewart, J.; Rae, J. W. B.; van de Flierdt, T.; Struve, T.; Wilson, D. J.

    2017-12-01

    Two decades ago it was first noted that the skeletal remains of deep-sea corals had the potential to provide absolutely dated archives of past ocean conditions. In the intervening twenty years this field has developed to the point where strategic collections and high throughput dating techniques now allow high resolution, well dated records of past deep sea behaviour to be produced. Likewise, efforts to improve understanding of biomineralisation and growth rates are leading to refinements in proxy tools useful for examining circulation, nutrient and carbon cycling, temperature and weathering processes. Deep-sea corals are particularly valuable archives in high latitude regions where radiocarbon-based age models are susceptible to large changes in surface reservoir ages. In this presentation we show new high resolution multiproxy records of the Southern Ocean (Drake Passage) made on U-Th dated corals spanning the last glacial cycle. With more than seventeen hundred reconnaissance ages, and around 200 precise isotope dilution U-Th ages, subtle changes in ocean behaviour can be identified during times of abrupt climate change. The geochemical signature of corals from the deepest sites, closest to modern day Lower Circumpolar Deep Waters, typically show a gradual shift from glacial to Holocene values during deglaciation, likely related to ventilation of the deep ocean. By contrast for the samples collected shallower in the water column (within sites currently bathed by Upper Circumpolar Deep Waters and Antarctic Intermediate and Mode Waters) the evidence points to a more complicated picture. Vertical zonation in the geochemical data suggests that periods of stratification are interspersed with mixing events within the upper 1500m of the water column. At the same time comparison to U-Th dated records from the low latitude Pacific and Atlantic points to an important role for the Southern Ocean in feeding the intermediate waters of both ocean basins throughout the

  9. Deglaciation of the Eurasian ice sheet complex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patton, Henry; Hubbard, Alun; Andreassen, Karin; Auriac, Amandine; Whitehouse, Pippa L.; Stroeven, Arjen P.; Shackleton, Calvin; Winsborrow, Monica; Heyman, Jakob; Hall, Adrian M.

    2017-08-01

    The Eurasian ice sheet complex (EISC) was the third largest ice mass during the Last Glacial Maximum with a span of over 4500 km and responsible for around 20 m of eustatic sea-level lowering. Whilst recent terrestrial and marine empirical insights have improved understanding of the chronology, pattern and rates of retreat of this vast ice sheet, a concerted attempt to model the deglaciation of the EISC honouring these new constraints is conspicuously lacking. Here, we apply a first-order, thermomechanical ice sheet model, validated against a diverse suite of empirical data, to investigate the retreat of the EISC after 23 ka BP, directly extending the work of Patton et al. (2016) who modelled the build-up to its maximum extent. Retreat of the ice sheet complex was highly asynchronous, reflecting contrasting regional sensitivities to climate forcing, oceanic influence, and internal dynamics. Most rapid retreat was experienced across the Barents Sea sector after 17.8 ka BP when this marine-based ice sheet disintegrated at a rate of ∼670 gigatonnes per year (Gt a-1) through enhanced calving and interior dynamic thinning, driven by oceanic/atmospheric warming and exacerbated by eustatic sea-level rise. From 14.9 to 12.9 ka BP the EISC lost on average 750 Gt a-1, peaking at rates >3000 Gt a-1, roughly equally partitioned between surface melt and dynamic losses, and potentially contributing up to 2.5 m to global sea-level rise during Meltwater Pulse 1A. Independent glacio-isostatic modelling constrained by an extensive inventory of relative sea-level change corroborates our ice sheet loading history of the Barents Sea sector. Subglacial conditions were predominately temperate during deglaciation, with over 6000 subglacial lakes predicted along with an extensive subglacial drainage network. Moreover, the maximum EISC and its isostatic footprint had a profound impact on the proglacial hydrological network, forming the Fleuve Manche mega-catchment which had an area of

  10. Report on the intercomparison run and certified reference material IAEA-381. Radionuclides in Irish sea water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Povinec, P.P.; Pham, M.K.; Ballestra, S.

    1999-01-01

    The accurate and precise determinations of radionuclide concentrations in marine samples are important aspects of marine radioactivity assessments and the use of radionuclides in studies of oceanographic processes. To address the problem of data quality, the IAEA Marine Environment Laboratory (MEL) in Monaco has conducted intercomparison exercises on radionuclides in marine samples for many years as part of its contribution to the IAEA's programme of Analytical Quality Control Services (AQCS). For this intercomparison exercise, the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency, Hamburg, Germany (BSH) collected sea water from the Irish Sea in 1993. IAEA-MEL distributed sample aliquots during 1995-1996 for intercomparison of anthropogenic and natural radionuclides. About 80 laboratories world-wide were approached with a questionnaire for participation. Of these, only 43 accepted the invitation because of financial constraints (the participating laboratories were asked to pay transportation expenses). As the sample was collected in the Irish Sea, elevated levels of anthropogenic radionuclides were expected due to discharges from the Sellafield reprocessing plant. Participants were informed that the expected activities for anthropogenic radionuclides would be in the ranges: 90 Sr: 50-500 Bq/kg, 137 Cs: 100-1000 Bq/kg, 239+240 Pu: 1-50Bq/kg, 241 Am: 1-50Bq/kg. This report describes the results obtained from 28 laboratories on anthropogenic and natural radionuclide determinations in sea water

  11. Certified reference material for radionuclides in fish flesh sample IAEA-414 (mixed fish from the Irish Sea and North Sea)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pham, M.K.; Sanchez-Cabeza, J.A.; Povinec, P.P.

    2006-01-01

    A certified reference material (CRM) for radionuclides in fish sample IAEA-414 (mixed fish from the Irish Sea and North Seas) is described and the results of the certification process are presented. Nine radionuclides (K-40, Cs-137, Th-232, U-234, U-235, U-238, Pu-238, Pu239+240 and Am-241) were...... ratios are also included. The CRM can be used for quality assurance/quality control of the analysis of radionuclides in fish sample, for the development and validation of analytical methods and for training purposes. The material is available from IAEA, Vienna, in 100 g units. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All...

  12. Modelling 99Tc concentrations in Fucus vesiculosus from the north-east Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nawakowski, Claire; Nicholson, Michael D.; John Kershaw, Peter; Leonard, Kinson S.

    2004-01-01

    In 1994 there were substantial increases in the quantity of 99 Tc discharged into the north-east Irish Sea from BNFL Sellafield (UK), concomitant with improvements in waste treatment procedures. As a consequence, the concentration of 99 Tc observed in seawater and biota samples, taken from the Irish Sea coastline, increased significantly. Elevated concentrations were also reported in Dutch, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Arctic waters in subsequent years. In the present study a simple numerical model was developed and applied to time-series data of 99 Tc concentrations in the brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus, collected from three UK sites in the vicinity of Sellafield (St. Bees, Heysham, Port William). The model considered site-specific scaling effects, lag times, previous discharge history and potential seasonal variation in uptake. In general, there was a good fit between predicted and observed concentrations, but the degree of uncertainty varied inversely with the frequency of sampling. We did not observe a significant seasonal variation. The modelled lag times to the three sites were consistent with transport times based on observations of the water column distribution of 99 Tc. The model was applied to a variety of discharge scenarios, reflecting current discussion on the future management of 99 Tc releases. Concentrations in Fucus reached asymptotic values in 3-10 years, depending on the scenario and sampling site under consideration

  13. 99Tc in the Irish Sea. Recent trends

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McCartney, M.; Rajendran, K.

    1997-01-01

    The increase in discharges of 99 Tc from Sellafield has resulted in an ideal opportunity to study the behaviour of this radionuclide in the aquatic environment. Results, thus far, have demonstrated that 99 Tc uptake by seaweeds collected from around the Irish Sea has followed the anticipated trend, with brown seaweeds accumulating 100-1000 times more 99 Tc than red or green algae. The large increase in discharges of 99 Tc from Sellafield in 1994 had been matched by a similar increase in the levels present in brown seaweeds, mussels and winkles for which concentration factors of 24000, 5000 and 100, respectively, have been derived. This confirms the observation that 99 Tc uptake by marine organisms in the field far exceeds that which would be expected from laboratory studies. Thus, it is concluded that, given the radiological importance of this nuclide, the provision of more accurate information on its environmental behaviour is required. (author)

  14. The effects of the Sea Empress oil spill on the plankton of the southern Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Batten, S.; Allen, R.; Wotton, C.

    1997-07-01

    This report describes the methodology used to determine any effects of the Sea Empress oil spill on the plankton communities of the southern Irish Sea. The Continuous Plankton Recorder (CPR) survey has monitored the plankton in this area since 1970 so there is a long time series of data collected before the spill, almost 2000 samples, with which to compare the post-spill data. The analytical procedures applied and results obtained are presented and reveal that in the majority of cases no significant effects were evident. Some exceptions are also described. The results suggest that no further analysis of the plankton communities is necessary, unless other studies reveal that other marine habitats which may have an influence on the plankton of this area are continuing to display effects of the spill. There is scope for further investigation of the trends and events described in this report but this is outside the remit of the project. (author)

  15. Long-term simulation of 137Cs in the Irish Sea by using ocean environment assessment system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kobayashi, Takuya; Otosaka, Shigeyoshi; Togawa, Orihiko; Hayashi, Keisuke

    2007-01-01

    An ocean environment assessment system that forecasts the detailed migration processes of radionuclides in the ocean has been developed. This system consists of an ocean current model and a particle random-walk model. The ocean current model is the modified Princeton Ocean Model (POM). The POM calculates tidal currents by giving tide levels at the open boundary. The particle random-walk model, SEA-GEARN, calculates the radionuclides migration in the ocean. Radionuclides that exist in the ocean are modeled in three phases, such as dissolved in seawater, adsorbed with large particulate matter (LPM) and adsorbed with active bottom sediment. The adsorption and desorption processes between the dissolved and solid phases are solved with the kinetic transfer coefficients by the stochastic method. Deposition of LPM and resuspension from bottom sediment are also considered. As model validation, the system has been applied to the Irish Sea to simulate the long-term dispersion of 137 Cs actually released from the BNFL spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield in UK. Calculation results of surface dissolved 137 Cs have been compared with the observed data. The observed data are extracted from a database, Marine Information System (MARIS), which is released from the International Atomic Energy Agency's Marine Environment Laboratory (IAEA-MEL) in Monaco. The calculation well reproduces the main characteristics of migration of surface dissolved 137 Cs concentration in the Irish Sea. (author)

  16. Lead isotopes in deep-sea coral skeletons: Ground-truthing and a first deglacial Southern Ocean record

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, David J.; van de Flierdt, Tina; Adkins, Jess F.

    2017-05-01

    Past changes in seawater lead (Pb) isotopes record the temporal evolution of anthropogenic pollution, continental weathering inputs, and ocean current transport. To advance our ability to reconstruct this signature, we present methodological developments that allow us to make precise and accurate Pb isotope measurements on deep-sea coral aragonite, and apply our approach to generate the first Pb isotope record for the glacial to deglacial mid-depth Southern Ocean. Our refined methodology includes a two-step anion exchange chemistry procedure and measurement using a 207Pb-204Pb double spike on a Thermo Finnigan Triton TIMS instrument. By employing a 1012 Ω resistor (in place of a 1011 Ω resistor) to measure the low-abundance 204Pb ion beam, we improve the internal precision on 206,207,208Pb/204Pb for a 2 ng load of NIST-SRM-981 Pb from typically ∼420 ppm to ∼230 ppm (2 s.e.), and the long term external reproducibility from ∼950 ppm to ∼550 ppm (2 s.d.). Furthermore, for a typical 500 mg coral sample with low Pb concentrations (∼6-10 ppb yielding ∼3-5 ng Pb for analysis), we obtain a comparable internal precision of ∼150-250 ppm for 206,207,208Pb/204Pb, indicating a good sensitivity for tracing natural Pb sources to the oceans. Successful extraction of a seawater signal from deep-sea coral aragonite further relies on careful physical and chemical cleaning steps, which are necessary to remove anthropogenic Pb contaminants and obtain results that are consistent with ferromanganese crusts. Applying our approach to a collection of late glacial and deglacial corals (∼12-40 ka BP) from south of Tasmania at ∼1.4-1.7 km water depth, we generated the first intermediate water Pb isotope record from the Southern Ocean. That record reveals millennial timescale variability, controlled by binary mixing between two Pb sources, but no distinct glacial-interglacial Pb isotope shift. Mixing between natural endmembers is fully consistent with our data and points to

  17. A certified reference material for radionuclides in the water sample from Irish Sea (IAEA-443)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pham, M.K.; Betti, M.; Povinec, P.P.

    2011-01-01

    A new certified reference material (CRM) for radionuclides in sea water from the Irish sea (IAEA-443) is described and the results of the certification process are presented. Ten radionuclides (3H, 40K, 90Sr, 137Cs, 234U, 235U, 238U, 238Pu, 239+240Pu and 241Am) have been certified, and information...... values on massic activities with 95% confidence intervals are given for four radionuclides (230Th, 232Th, 239Pu and 240Pu). Results for less frequently reported radionuclides (99Tc, 228Th, 237Np and 241Pu) are also reported. The CRM can be used for quality assurance/quality control of the analysis...

  18. Radioactivity concentrations in fish from the Irish Sea in Becquerels per kilogram (wet)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1991-01-01

    This publication contains the statistical data for Northern Ireland for a wide range of topics from population and vital statistics, law and order, tourism to earnings and income, agriculture, food and fishing. The section on environment and climate includes data on the radioactivity concentration in fish from the Irish sea (whiting, herring, cod, dog fish, nephrops and winkles) and in seaweeds from the Northern Ireland shoreline, over the years 1982-1989. Gamma dose rates in air measured at one metre above intertidal sediments (sand and mud) are given for 1984-1989. (UK)

  19. New evidence on the sequence of deglacial warming in the tropical Indian Ocean

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Naidu, P.D.; Govil, P.

    . Quat. Sci., vol.25(7); 2010; 1138-1143 A New Evidence on Sequence of Deglacial Warming in the Tropical Indian Ocean P. Divakar Naidu 1 , Pawan Govil 1,2 1 National Institute of Oceanography, Dona Paula 403 004, Goa, India 2 National Centre... relative timing of abrupt climate warming in the tropics versus the high latitudes should be known. Therefore, the present communication is aimed to address the start of deglaciation in the Indian Ocean based on sea surface temperature (SST) derived from...

  20. Remobilisation of artificial radionuclides from the sediment of the Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunt, G.J.; Kershaw, P.J.

    1990-01-01

    The past decade has seen significant decreases in discharges of radioactivity in liquid wastes from the British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) plant at Sellafield. Concentrations of many Sellafield-derived radionuclides in the water of the Irish Sea have decreased as a result. This will result in the return of previously contaminated sediment to the sediment surface and enhanced seawater/pore-water mixing by bio-irrigation, and may be responsible for higher rates of particle exchange across the sediment-seawater interface. In these circumstances, the decrease in seawater concentrations might be expected to be accompanied by the remobilisation of sediment-bound radionuclides into the water column. We have tested this hypothesis in the Sellafield situation in two ways. First, the differences were examined between measured concentrations of radionuclides in sea water and the concentrations which are to be expected on the basis of extrapolation from the conditions of steadier discharge rates experienced in the past. Secondly, modelling studies have shown that migration of radionuclides into the water phase is likely under these conditions. (author)

  1. The distribution and remobilisation of plutonium and americium in estuaries of the eastern Irish Sea: a review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toole, J.

    1993-01-01

    The plutonium and americium components in the authorised discharges from BNFL Sellafield are rapidly removed from Irish Sea seawater onto the particulate phase. These actinides tend to be concentrated in fine sediment deposits on the Irish Sea bed and in estuaries where fine sediment accumulates. This paper focuses on these estuarine areas and brings together the available data on the levels and distributions of Pu and Am within the estuarine sediments. The results from field and laboratory experiments which have been undertaken in order to determine the degree of Pu and Am remobilisation, and the mechanism responsible, are also reviewed. These sediment-associated actinides may undergo both chemical and physical remobilisation, leading to increased dissolved concentrations in low-salinity waters and to apparent losses from the estuary on the sediment phase under certain conditions. Saltmarsh sediments are demonstrated to be the most important reservoirs for Pu and Am. The radiological significance of the levels of Pu and Am found in these and in other sediments is summarised, by comparison with GDLs. The appropriateness of GDLs for assessing the radiological significance of Pu and Am in these saltmarsh sediments is discussed. A more site-specific assessment methodology is recommended. (author)

  2. Technetium-99 in the Irish marine environment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smith, V.; Fegan, M.; Pollard, D.; Long, S.; Hayden, E.; Ryan, T.P

    2001-07-01

    Technetium-99 activity concentrations in seawater and biota from Irish coastal waters are presented. Time series measurements of {sup 99}Tc in seawater and Fucus vesiculosus from the western Irish Sea show that activity concentrations have increased in line with the increase in discharges of {sup 99}Tc from Sellafield. The peak in activity concentrations in both seawater and Fucus vesiculosus occurred in 1997 approximately two years after the peak in {sup 99}Tc discharges. The highest activity concentration recorded in Fucus vesiculosus showed a 29-fold increase over the mean concentration for the period 1988-1993. Technetium-99 activity concentrations were measured in fish, lobsters, prawns, mussels and oysters landed at major fishing ports on the east and northeast coasts of Ireland between 1996 and 1998. Concentration factors for {sup 99}Tc in the brown seaweed Fucus vesiculosus and certain species of fish, crustaceans and molluscs from the Irish Sea were estimated. In general, these concentration factors were higher than those in the literature which were derived from laboratory studies, but agreed well with values which were based on field studies. The mean committed effective doses to Irish typical and heavy seafood consumers due to {sup 99}Tc in the period 1996-1998 were 0.061 and 0.24 {mu}Sv, respectively.

  3. Observations on the redistribution of plutonium and americium in the Irish Sea sediments, 1978 to 1996: concentrations and inventories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kershaw, P.J.; Denoon, D.C.; Woodhead, D.S.

    1999-01-01

    The distribution of plutonium and americium in the sub-tidal sediments of the Irish Sea is described following major surveys in 1978, 1983, 1988 and 1995. Concentrations in surface sediments have declined near the source at Sellafield since 1988. Time-series of inter-tidal surface sediment concentrations are presented from 1977 onwards, revealing the importance of sediment reworking and transport in controlling the evolution of the environmental signal. The surface and near-surface sediments, in the eastern Irish Sea 'mud-patch', are generally well mixed with respect to Pu (α) and 241 Am distributions but show increasing variability with depth - up to 4 orders of magnitude in concentration. The inventories of 239,240 Pu and 241 Am in the sub-tidal sediments have been estimated and compared with the reported decay-corrected discharges. These amounted to 360 and 545 TBq respectively, in 1995, about 60% of the total decay-corrected discharge. Part of the unaccounted fraction may be due to unrepresentative sampling of the seabed. It is speculated that some tens of TBq of plutonium and 241 Am reside undetected in the large volumes of coarse-grained, sub-tidal and inter-tidal sediment which characterise much of the Irish Sea. This has been due to the inability of the available corers to penetrate to the base of contamination in these mobile sediments. Further observations are needed to verify and quantify the missing amount. A budget of plutonium-α and 241 Am has been estimated based on published observations in the three main compartments: water column, sub-tidal and inter-tidal sediments. This amounts to 460-540 TBq and 575-586 TBq respectively, or 64-75% and 60-61%, of the decay-corrected reported discharge. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

  4. Sedimentary environments in the south-western Barents Sea during the last deglaciation and the Holocene: a case study outside the Ingøydjupet trough

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mauro Pau

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available A lithological and foraminiferal study of newly acquired sediment cores outside the Ingøydjupet (Ingøy Deep trough has been carried out to improve constraints on the last deglacial history in the south-western Barents Sea. Three lithofacies and three foraminiferal facies were identified. The lowermost lithological unit is a diamicton interpreted as glacial till. It contains a low-abundance, ecologically mixed foraminiferal assemblage, presumably resulting from glacial reworking. Above the diamicton, a layer of ice-rafted debris (IRD, likely associated with intensive iceberg production, marks the initial destabilization of the marine-based ice sheet. At this time, ca. 15.6–15.0 Ky B.P., opportunistic foraminiferal species Nonionellina labradorica and Stainforthia spp. reached peak abundance. During the south-western Barents Sea ice-margin retreat, presumably corresponding to the Bølling interstadial, a sequence of glaciomarine laminations was deposited conformably on the layer of IRD. Sedimentation rates were apparently high (estimated about 0.4 cm per year and the foraminiferal fauna was dominated by Elphidium spp. and Cassidulina reniforme, species common for glacier-proximal environments. A hiatus at the top of the deglacial unit is likely linked to the high bottom-current activity associated with a strengthened inflow of Atlantic water masses into the Barents Sea. The uppermost lithological unit is represented by the Holocene marine sandy mud. It contains a high-abundance, high-diversity foraminiferal fauna with common cassidulinids, Cibicides spp., Epistominella pusilla and planktic species.

  5. Seasonal and tidal cycles of suspended particulates in the Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weeks, Alison.

    1989-07-01

    The distribution of suspended particulate material (SPM) in the shelf seas and the processes controlling its variation are little known. This thesis reports an exploratory study of the spatial and time dependent variability of SPM in an area of the northern Irish Sea. SPM was determined both directly by gravimetric methods and via measurements of beam attenuation. Spatial distributions were determined from grid surveys using a profiling transmissometer. In addition a six month record of beam attenuation and current velocity was obtained from a site off the north coast of Anglesey. A strong seasonal cycle of beam attenuation was observed in mixed water, with values decreasing in June, July and August which suggested a reduction in the supply of SPM during summer. In stratified water, high concentrations of SPM remained confined to the dense layer below the thermocline. A regression model was found to explain 35% of the variance in data from a 5 week time series. 70% of the variance was explained for four day time series, near spring tides. The relationship between beam attenuation and tidal flows was more marked at spring tides than at neaps. (author)

  6. IODP Expedition 310 Reconstructs Sea Level, Climatic, and Environmental Changes in the South Pacific during the Last Deglaciation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yasufumi Iryu

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available The timing and course of the last deglaciation (19,000–6,000 years BP are essential components for understanding the dynamics of large ice sheets (Lindstrom and MacAyeal, 1993 and their effects on Earth’s isostasy (Nakada and Lambeck, 1989; Lambeck, 1993; Peltier, 1994, as well as the complex relationship between freshwater fluxes to the ocean, thermohaline circulation, and, hence, global climate during the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. Moreover, the lastdeglaciation is generally seen as a possible analogue for the environmental changes and increased sea level that Earth may experience because of the greenhouse effect, related thermal expansion of oceans, and the melting of polar ice sheets.

  7. Modelling the behaviour of long-lived radionuclides in the Irish Sea - comparison of model predictions with field observations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kershaw, P.J.; Pentreath, R.J.; Gurbutt, P.A.; Woodhead, D.S.; Durance, J.A.; Camplin, W.C.

    1988-01-01

    A multi-compartmental box model of the Irish Sea has been developed to predict the distribution and radiological consequences of radionuclides discharged from the Sellafield reprocessing plant. The box structure was based on observations of radionuclide distributions in the sea bed and the water circulation was generated from extensive time-series data on 137 Cs concentrations in seawater. Measurements of naturally-occurring nuclides provided both data on the extent and rate of these processes and a means to validate the model assumptions. The model structure is briefly outlined, comparisons are made between model predictions and field observation, and some of the difficulties in making such comparisons are discussed. (author)

  8. Reconstruction of deglacial sea surface temperature in the tropical Pacific from selective analysis of a fossil coral

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Allison, N.; Finch, A.A.; Tudhope, A.W.; Newville, M.; Sutton, S.R.; Ellam, R.M. (St Andrews); (Edinburgh); (Scottish); (UC); (St Andrews)

    2010-07-13

    The Sr/Ca of coral skeletons demonstrates potential as an indicator of sea surface temperatures (SSTs). However, the glacial-interglacial SST ranges predicted from Sr/Ca of fossil corals are usually higher than from other marine proxies. We observed infilling of secondary aragonite, characterized by high Sr/Ca ratios, along intraskeletal pores of a fossil coral from Papua New Guinea that grew during the penultimate deglaciation (130 {+-} 2 ka). Selective microanalysis of unaltered areas of the fossil coral indicates that SSTs at {approx}130 ka were {le} 1 C cooler than at present in contrast with bulk measurements (combining infilled and unaltered areas) which indicate a difference of 6-7 C. The analysis of unaltered areas of fossil skeletons by microprobe techniques may offer a route to more accurate reconstruction of past SSTs.

  9. Accumulation of Sellafield-derived radiocarbon ("1"4C) in Irish Sea and West of Scotland intertidal shells and sediments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tierney, Kieran M.; Muir, Graham K.P.; Cook, Gordon T.; MacKinnon, Gillian; Howe, John A.; Heymans, Johanna J.; Xu, Sheng

    2016-01-01

    The nuclear energy industry produces radioactive waste at various stages of the fuel cycle. In the United Kingdom, spent fuel is reprocessed at the Sellafield facility in Cumbria on the North West coast of England. Waste generated at the site comprises a wide range of radionuclides including radiocarbon ("1"4C) which is disposed of in various forms including highly soluble inorganic carbon within the low level liquid radioactive effluent, via pipelines into the Irish Sea. This "1"4C is rapidly incorporated into the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) reservoir and marine calcifying organisms, e.g. molluscs, readily utilise DIC for shell formation. This study investigated a number of sites located in Irish Sea and West of Scotland intertidal zones. Results indicate "1"4C enrichment above ambient background levels in shell material at least as far as Port Appin, 265 km north of Sellafield. Of the commonly found species (blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) and common periwinkle (Littorina littorea)), mussels were found to be the most highly enriched in "1"4C due to the surface environment they inhabit and their feeding behaviour. Whole mussel shell activities appear to have been decreasing in response to reduced discharge activities since the early 2000s but in contrast, there is evidence of continuing enrichment of the carbonate sediment component due to in-situ shell erosion, as well as indications of particle transport of fine "1"4C-enriched material close to Sellafield. - Highlights: • We measure "1"4C activity in shells and sediment at sites on the UK west coast. • Mussel shell activity varies in response to average "1"4C discharges from Sellafield. • Shell activities reflect species feeding habits and ecological niche. • NE Irish Sea inorganic sediment activity will gradually increase. • Increases in sediment activity will occur at remote sites on the Scottish west coast.

  10. The radiological impact of actinides discharged to the Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunt, G.J.; Smith, B.D.

    1999-01-01

    This paper describes the radiological effects of releases of actinides to the Irish Sea from Sellafield, the major source. Exposure pathways to man since the commencement of discharges in 1952 are reviewed; the importance of actinides began to increase with increased discharges in the 1970s. With the demise of the porphyra/laverbread pathway due to transport difficulties, the pathway due to fish and shellfish consumption became critical, particularly for actinides through molluscan shellfish. A reassessment on the current basis of effective dose shows that peak exposures to the critical group of about 2 mSv yr -1 were received in the mid-1970s, about 30% of which was due to actinides. Effective doses have since reduced but the relative importance of actinides is greater, due to the interplay of discharges of radionuclides from Sellafield and their behaviour in the environment. Additive doses through sea food due to releases of natural radionuclides from the Marchon phosphate plant at Whitehaven are also considered, although the actinide component from this source has been small. Exposures due to actinides from Sellafield via other pathways are shown to be much lower than those involving sea food. Collective doses are also considered; these peaked at about 300 man-Sv to the European population (including the UK) in 1979, with only a few percent due to actinides. As in the case of critical group doses, the relative importance of actinides has increased in recent years within the decreasing total collective dose. For both critical group and collective doses, therefore, the actinide component needs to be kept under review. (Copyright (c) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. All rights reserved.)

  11. Certified reference material for radionuclides in fish flesh sample IAEA-414 (mixed fish from the Irish Sea and North Sea)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pham, M.K.; Sanchez-Cabeza, J.A.; Povinec, P.P.; Arnold, D.; Benmansour, M.; Bojanowski, R.; Carvalho, F.P.; Kim, C.K.; Esposito, M.; Gastaud, J.; Gasco, C.L.; Ham, G.J.; Hegde, A.G.; Holm, E.; Jaskierowicz, D.; Kanisch, G.; Llaurado, M.; La Rosa, J.; Lee, S.-H.; Liong Wee Kwong, L.; Le Petit, G.; Maruo, Y.; Nielsen, S.P.; Oh, J.-S.; Oregioni, B.; Palomares, J.; Pettersson, H.B.L.; Rulik, P.; Ryan, T.P.; Sato, K.; Schikowski, J.; Skwarzec, B.; Smedley, P.A.; Tarjan, S.; Vajda, N.; Wyse, E.

    2006-01-01

    A certified reference material (CRM) for radionuclides in fish sample IAEA-414 (mixed fish from the Irish Sea and North Seas) is described and the results of the certification process are presented. Nine radionuclides ( 4 K, 137 Cs, 232 Th, 234 U, 235 U, 238 U, 238 Pu, 239+24 Pu and 241 Am) were certified for this material. Information on massic activities with 95% confidence intervals is given for six other radionuclides ( 9 Sr, 21 Pb( 21 Po), 226 Ra, 239 Pu, 24 Pu 241 Pu). Less frequently reported radionuclides ( 99 Tc, 129 I, 228 Th, 23 Th and 237 Np) and information on some activity and mass ratios are also included. The CRM can be used for quality assurance/quality control of the analysis of radionuclides in fish sample, for the development and validation of analytical methods and for training purposes. The material is available from IAEA, Vienna, in 100 g units

  12. Late Quaternary deglacial history across the Larsen B embayment, Antarctica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Ara; Lee, Jae Il; Seong, Yeong Bae; Balco, Greg; Yoo, Kyu-Cheul; Yoon, Ho Il; Domack, Eugene; Rhee, Hyun Hee; Yu, Byung Yong

    2018-06-01

    We measured meteoric 10Be variation throughout a marine sediment core from the Larsen B embayment (LBE) of the Antarctic Peninsula, and collected in situ 10Be and 14C exposure ages on terrestrial glacial deposits from the northern and southern margins of the LBE. We use these data to reconstruct Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to present deglaciation and ice shelf change in the LBE. Core sedimentary facies and meteoric 10Be data show a monotonic progression from subglacial deposits to sub-ice-shelf deposits to open-marine conditions, indicating that its collapse in 2002 was unprecedented since the LGM. Exposure-age data from the southern LBE indicate 40 m of ice surface lowering between 14 and 6 ka, then little change between 6 ka and the 2002 collapse. Exposure-age data from the northern LBE show a bimodal distribution in which clusters of apparent exposure ages in the ranges 4.9-5.1 ka and 1.0-2.0 ka coexist near 50 m elevation. Based on these results, other published terrestrial and marine deglaciation ages, and a compilation of sea bed imagery, we suggest a north-to-south progression of deglaciation in the northeast Antarctic Peninsula in response to Holocene atmospheric and oceanic warming. We argue that local topography and ice configuration inherited from the LGM, in addition to climate change, are important in controlling the deglaciation history in this region.

  13. Determining Late Pleistocene to Early Holocene deglaciation of the Baltic Ice Lake through sedimentological core sample analysis of IODP Site M0064

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, A. L.; Passchier, S.

    2016-12-01

    This study investigates the deglaciation history of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) within the Baltic Sea's Hanö Bay from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene using samples from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Site M0064. The research aims to understand how the speed of deglaciation influences Baltic Ice Lake (BIL) drainage patterns and relative sea level changes on a high-resolution timescale. Glacial history of the SIS has been studied through glacial till analysis, surface exposure dating, and modeling, encompassing its most recent deglaciation 20-14ka BP, and suggests ice retreated from the project site 16.7ka BP. Between 17 and 14ka BP global sea level rose 4 meters per century, accompanied by a dramatic increase in atmospheric carbon. This period of rapid sea level rise and global warming is a valuable analog for understanding the Earth's current and projected climate. This project uses particle size analysis to better understand the late-glacial depositional environment in Hanö Bay, and ICP-OES geochemical analysis for evidence pertaining to changing sediment provenance and bottom water oxygenation in the BIL. Diamicton is present between 47 and 9 mbsf in Hole M0064D. At 8 mbsf, the sediment exhibits a prominent upward transition from well-laminated cm-scale grey to more thinly laminated reddish brown rhythmites. With calculated Al/Ti ratios, we find that there is not much provenance change in the sequence, however we see fluctuations in Mn/Al ratios, implying shifts in sediment color may be chemical, possibly indicating redox changes in the water column during sediment deposition. Although we find that particle size in the varve sequence does not change, this factor may be driving chemical fluctuations in the diamicton. These results increase the understanding of ice retreat, paleocirculation and relative sea level changes in the Baltic Sea at the onset of the last deglaciation.

  14. Tephrochronology as a tool to constrain radiocarbon reservoir age in the deglacial Bering Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chapman, A. U.; White-Nockleby, C.; de Konkoly Thege, P. A.; Rubel, J. N.; Cook, M. S.; Mix, A. C.; Addison, J. A.

    2015-12-01

    In order to accurately calendar date marine carbon, it is necessary to constrain surface reservoir age, the apparent 14C age difference between the atmosphere and surface ocean that results from incomplete equilibration of 14C across the air-sea interface. Surface reservoir age is generally assumed to be constant at the preindustrial value, but evidence suggests it has varied through time by up to 1000 years. In this study we use tephrochronology, a method of correlating tephras across different environments, to identify equivalent strata, as a tool to quantify reservoir age in the Bering Sea during the transition between the Oldest Dryas and Bolling-Allerod (14.7 kcal BP). With frequent volcanic eruptions that allow for possibility of high-resolution reservoir age reconstructions, the Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands region is uniquely positioned to provide insight into the hypothesis that dense water formed in the North Pacific during the last deglaciation. We compare a massive tephra found in three deep-sea sediment cores from Umnak Plateau in the southeast Bering Sea (HLY02-02-55JPC, HLY-02-02-51JPC, and IODP Site U1339) to a tephra dated to 14.8 kcal BP from Deep Lake, Sanak Island in the Eastern Aleutians. For both the Umnak and Sanak tephras, volcanic glass shards are geochemically matched using major and trace elements from electron microprobe and laser-ablation inductively-coupled-plasma mass spectrometry. We compare 14C ages of foraminiferal species Uvigerina peregrina and Neogloboquadrina pachyderma (sinistral) from just above the tephra in HLY-02-02-51JPC (1467 m) to 14C age of the corresponding tephra at Sanak Island from terrestrial plant macrofossils. The surface reservoir age found (930 ± 160 14C y) is similar to the average preindustrial value in the region (790 ± 130 14C y). Benthic-atmosphere age difference (1860 ± 200 14C y) is also comparable to the preindustrial value (2030 ± 60 14C y). These results and future work on additional tephras from

  15. Experience of ALARA in controlling radiocaesium discharges to the Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunt, G.J.

    1984-01-01

    Radiocaesium discharges to the Irish Sea, which primarily originate from corrosion of magnox fuel in the Sellafield storage ponds, are a source of public radiation exposure mainly through the fish and shellfish consumption pathway. Experience of ALARA in the context of reducing these discharges is described. The operators, British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL), in consultation with Government Departments, decided to install an ion exchange plant to remove radioactivity from pond effluents. This plant is scheduled for commissioning in 1984 and optimisation will play a major part in determining its operating regime. Meanwhile, measures have been taken to reduce discharges using skips of zeolite installed in the ponds. Experience of ALARA in determining the optimum replacement rate of skips is described. A major consideration was differential cost-benefit analysis. Following installation of skips at the rate thereby indicated, discharges are being reduced by about half. A further major reduction is expected when the ion exchange plant becomes available. (author)

  16. A Survey of Tritium in Irish Seawater

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Currivan, L.; Kelleher, K.; McGinnity, P.; Wong, J.; McMahon, C.

    2013-07-01

    This report provides a comprehensive record of the study and measurements of tritium in Irish seawater undertaken by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland RPII. The majority of the samples analysed were found to have tritium concentrations below the limit of detection and a conservative assessment of radiation dose arising showed a negligible impact to the public. Tritium is discharged in large quantities from various nuclear facilities, and mostly in liquid form. For this reason it is included in the list of radioactive substances of interest to the OSPAR (Oslo-Paris) Convention to protect the marine environment of the North-East Atlantic. To fulfil its role within OSPAR, to provide technical support to the Irish Government, RPII carried out a project to determine the levels of tritium in seawater from around the Irish coast to supplement its routine marine monitoring programme. A total of 85 seawater samples were collected over a three year period and analysed at the RPII's laboratory. Given that the operational discharges for tritium from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield, UK, are expected to increase due to current and planned decommissioning activities RPII will continue to monitor tritium levels in seawater around the Irish coast, including the Irish Sea, as part of its routine marine monitoring programme

  17. Northern Hemisphere forcing of Southern Hemisphere climate during the last deglaciation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Feng; Shakun, Jeremy D; Clark, Peter U; Carlson, Anders E; Liu, Zhengyu; Otto-Bliesner, Bette L; Kutzbach, John E

    2013-02-07

    According to the Milankovitch theory, changes in summer insolation in the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere caused glacial cycles through their impact on ice-sheet mass balance. Statistical analyses of long climate records supported this theory, but they also posed a substantial challenge by showing that changes in Southern Hemisphere climate were in phase with or led those in the north. Although an orbitally forced Northern Hemisphere signal may have been transmitted to the Southern Hemisphere, insolation forcing can also directly influence local Southern Hemisphere climate, potentially intensified by sea-ice feedback, suggesting that the hemispheres may have responded independently to different aspects of orbital forcing. Signal processing of climate records cannot distinguish between these conditions, however, because the proposed insolation forcings share essentially identical variability. Here we use transient simulations with a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model to identify the impacts of forcing from changes in orbits, atmospheric CO(2) concentration, ice sheets and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) on hemispheric temperatures during the first half of the last deglaciation (22-14.3 kyr BP). Although based on a single model, our transient simulation with only orbital changes supports the Milankovitch theory in showing that the last deglaciation was initiated by rising insolation during spring and summer in the mid-latitude to high-latitude Northern Hemisphere and by terrestrial snow-albedo feedback. The simulation with all forcings best reproduces the timing and magnitude of surface temperature evolution in the Southern Hemisphere in deglacial proxy records. AMOC changes associated with an orbitally induced retreat of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets is the most plausible explanation for the early Southern Hemisphere deglacial warming and its lead over Northern Hemisphere temperature; the ensuing rise in atmospheric CO(2

  18. Technetium-99 in lobsters from the western Irish sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fegan, Mary

    1999-05-01

    Technetium-99, the most important radionuclide of technetium release to the environment, is a pure beta emitter with a half-life of 2.13 x 10(5) years. It behaves conservatively in seawater and is likely to remain available to biota for a long time. The dominant and most stable form of technetium in oxygenated seawater is the pertechnetate ion, Tco4. The principle source of radionuclide contamination of the Irish Sea has been the liquid waste discharges of low level radionuclide effluent from the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield on the Cumbria Coast. In 1994 the annual discharge authorization limit for 99Tc was increased from 10 TBq to 200 TBq. Lobster concentrates 99Tc to a high degree with concentration factors of 1x 10(3) reported in the literature. The mean 99Tc activity concentrations in lobsters caught close to Sellafield were reported to have risen by a factor of 20 in 2 years from 390 Bq/kg (wet weight) in 1993 to 8300 Bq/kg (wet weight) in 1995. This study was undertaken to determine the 99Tc activity concentration in lobsters from the western Irish Sea. Lobsters were collected from the east and north east coasts of Ireland over the period June 1997 to July 1998 and analysed using a radioanalytical method which was based on the anion-exchange seperation of technetium as pertechnetate. A gas-flow proportional counter was used to measure to 99Tc activity concentration in each sample. Technetium-99 activity concentrations were measured in the muscle from the tail, the right and the left claws and also in the green gland, the hepatopancreas and the cardiac fore-gut. The results of the measurements showed, as expected, that the 99Tc activity concentrations were not as high as those in the samples from the Cumbrian coast. The mean 99Tc activity concentrations, over the sampling period, in the tail, right and left claw muscles were 214, 124 and 136 BQ/kg (wet weight) respectively. The mean 99Tc activity concentrations in the green gland

  19. The glacial sequence at Killiney, SE Ireland: terrestrial deglaciation and polyphase glacitectonic deformation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Rijsdijk, K.F.; Warren, W.P.; van der Meer, J.J.M.

    2010-01-01

    Depositional conditions of a complexly deformed glacigenic sequence at Killiney Bay, on the west-central margin of the Irish Sea are reconstructed. Deformation geometries provide conclusive evidence for polyphase glacitectonic deformation generated by terrestrial ice sheets. They are dominated by

  20. Accumulation of Sellafield-derived radiocarbon ((14)C) in Irish Sea and West of Scotland intertidal shells and sediments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tierney, Kieran M; Muir, Graham K P; Cook, Gordon T; MacKinnon, Gillian; Howe, John A; Heymans, Johanna J; Xu, Sheng

    2016-01-01

    The nuclear energy industry produces radioactive waste at various stages of the fuel cycle. In the United Kingdom, spent fuel is reprocessed at the Sellafield facility in Cumbria on the North West coast of England. Waste generated at the site comprises a wide range of radionuclides including radiocarbon ((14)C) which is disposed of in various forms including highly soluble inorganic carbon within the low level liquid radioactive effluent, via pipelines into the Irish Sea. This (14)C is rapidly incorporated into the dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) reservoir and marine calcifying organisms, e.g. molluscs, readily utilise DIC for shell formation. This study investigated a number of sites located in Irish Sea and West of Scotland intertidal zones. Results indicate (14)C enrichment above ambient background levels in shell material at least as far as Port Appin, 265 km north of Sellafield. Of the commonly found species (blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), common cockle (Cerastoderma edule) and common periwinkle (Littorina littorea)), mussels were found to be the most highly enriched in (14)C due to the surface environment they inhabit and their feeding behaviour. Whole mussel shell activities appear to have been decreasing in response to reduced discharge activities since the early 2000s but in contrast, there is evidence of continuing enrichment of the carbonate sediment component due to in-situ shell erosion, as well as indications of particle transport of fine (14)C-enriched material close to Sellafield. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  1. Reawakening the Irish Language through the Irish Education System: Challenges and Priorities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ó Ceallaigh, T. J.; Ní Dhonnabháin, Áine

    2015-01-01

    As a language, Irish is unique to Ireland and is, therefore, of crucial importance to the identity of the Irish people, to Irish culture and to world heritage. The Irish language however has had a turbulent and traumatic history and has endured a complex and varied relationship with the Irish people. Since the foundation of the Irish Free State,…

  2. Interstitial water studies on Irish Sea sediments and their relevance to the fate of transuranic nuclides in the marine environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harvey, B.R.

    1981-01-01

    This paper describes the physico-chemical conditions existing in the interstitial waters of sediments in contaminated areas of the Irish Sea, which provide valuable information on the sedimentary environment into which radioactive waste products become incorporated. It is recommended that these measurements be made in areas where transuranic behaviour can be determined, which then would allow useful predictions to be made concerning the possible behaviour of transuranics in other, uncontaminated, environments, if these environments can be physico-chemically correlated in the same way. (author)

  3. The radioactivity of the sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walker, M.I.; Rose, K.S.B.

    1990-01-01

    The radioactivity in the world's surface sea water averages 13.6 Bq/kg of water. Over 88% of this activity arises from a single natural radionuclide, 40 K, and 7% of the remainder results from nuclear weapon test fallout. Variations in the radioactivity occur due to changes in salinity, weapon test fallout and discharges of artificial radionuclides, and are examined here on the basis of published measurements. The most radioactive sea identified by these measurements is the Dead Sea, which averages 178 Bq/kg due to its high salinity. Other enclosed, highly saline waters can be expected to have similar levels. The radioactivity in open seas varies within a much narrower range, generally within 20% of the world average. The highest averages are found in the Persian Gulf (22 Bq/kg), the Red Sea (15 Bq/kg) and the Eastern Mediterranean (14.6 Bq/kg). The Irish Sea averaged 13.7 Bq/kg in 1987, with the effect of the Sellafield discharges being partly offset by lower than average salinity. Although higher levels occurred in the Irish Sea during the 1970s when the Sellafield discharges were higher, the average level has always been much less than that in the Dead Sea, so that the Irish Sea has never been the most radioactive sea in the world. Exceptionally low levels of radioactivity (4 Bq/kg) occur in the Baltic Sea due to dilution by fresh water. (author)

  4. Palaeoenvironments in the Skagerrak-Kattegat basin in the eastern North Sea during the last deglaciation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, K.L.; Conradsen, Keld; Heier-Nielsen, S.

    1996-01-01

    The study of a c. 18 m thick Late Weichseltan - Early Holocene (isotope stage 2/1) marine succession (original water depth 100-150 m) from the Skagen 3 borehole, northern Denmark, has led to a better understanding of the palaeoenvironmental changes during the last deglaciation. The palaeoenvironm......The study of a c. 18 m thick Late Weichseltan - Early Holocene (isotope stage 2/1) marine succession (original water depth 100-150 m) from the Skagen 3 borehole, northern Denmark, has led to a better understanding of the palaeoenvironmental changes during the last deglaciation......-Holocene transition after the Younger Dryas occurred in two stages. Arctic/subarctic deep-water assemblages persisted continuously at Skagen after the first stage at 10 100 BP, while cold boreal assemblages existed in shallower water environments in the Kattegat-Skagerrak basin during the same period of time...

  5. Radioactivity monitoring of the Irish marine environment 2000 and 2001

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryan, T.P.; McMahon, C.A.; Dowdall, A.

    2003-04-01

    This report presents the results of the marine radioactivity monitoring programme carried out by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) during 2000 and 2001. The primary objective of the programme is to assess the exposure of the Irish population resulting from radioactive contamination of the Irish marine environment and to estimate the risks to health from this exposure. Discharged radioactive waste from the British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria in the North West of England continues to be the dominant source of this contamination. In particular, the remobilisation from sediments of historic discharges makes an important contribution to the levels of radioactivity in the seawater of the western Irish Sea. Approximately 300 samples of fish, shellfish, seaweed, seawater and sediment were collected in 2000 and again in 2001. Both the Marine Institute and the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources assisted the Institute with this sampling. The samples were analysed for a range of radionuclides at the Institute's radio-analytical laboratory. The results show that the artificial radionuclide of greatest dosimetric significance continues to be caesium-137. The activity concentration of this radionuclide in the Irish marine environment has remained relatively stable since the mid 1990s but at a lower level than that observed during the previous two decades. Along the Irish coastline the highest activity concentrations observed are in the north-east. Since 1994 the commissioning and operation of new facilities at Sellafield have resulted in an increase in the discharges of technetium-99 to the Irish Sea. This has been reflected in an increase in the activity concentrations of this radionuclide at all east coast sampling sites. However, the low radiotoxicity of technetium-99 means that it is generally of lesser radiological significance than caesium-137. The main pathway contributing to the

  6. The discharges from Sellafield how big a risk for the Irish population?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    O` Flaherty, T [Radiological Protection Inst. of Ireland (Ireland)

    1996-10-01

    The site operated by British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL) at Sellafield in Cumbria was established just after World War II to produce plutonium for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Plutonium was obtained by extracting it from nuclear fuel which had been irradiated in an early type of nuclear reactor. This procedure was the forerunner of what ultimately became the main commercial activity at Sellafield, the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel to recover re-usable uranium and plutonium An unavoidable consequence of nuclear fuel reprocessing is the necessity to discharge from the site very large volumes of low-level radioactive waste in liquid form. In the case of Sellafield this waste is discharged into the Irish Sea. Due to a plant malfunction the rates of discharge greatly increased in the mid-1970s, and became a matter of serious concern to the people of Ireland and to successive Irish Governments. In more recent years the rates of discharge have fallen again to lower levels, but this has not diminished concern in Ireland to any significant degree. This paper summarises the results of Irish monitoring of radioactivity levels in the Irish Sea which has been in progress since the late 1970s. From these results it quantifies the radiation doses received by people in Ireland in consequence of the discharges from Sellafield, and estimates the degree of risk of increased cancer levels in the Irish population as a result. The RPII`s monitoring programme has been expanded since 1993 in the light of the bringing into operation of the new Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) and now includes the monitoring of gaseous discharges to the atmosphere. The paper includes some initial results of this expanded programme.

  7. Radioactivity monitoring of the Irish marine environment 1993 to 1995

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pollard, D.; Long, S.; Hayden, E.; Smith, V.; Ryan, T.P.; Dowdall, A.; McGarry, A.; Cunningham, J.D.

    1996-10-01

    This report presents the results of the marine radioactivity monitoring programme carried out by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland during the period 1993 to 1995. The principal objective of this programme is to assess the exposure to the Irish population arising from radioactive contamination in the Irish marine environment and to estimate the risks to human health arising from such exposure. In addition, the programme aims to assess the distribution of the significant contaminating radionuclides in the marine environment and to identify tends with a view to assessing possible future effects. The results show that by 1995 the mean concentration of caesium-137 in fish landed at north-east ports had fallen to 1.6 Bq/kg, from a figure of 68 Bq/kg in 1979-82 and 3.0 Bq/kg in 1993. A similar decline is evident for seawater, sediment and seaweed. In addition, the Irish Sea data show the progressive dilution of artificial radioactivity with increasing distance from Sellafield

  8. Surface Ocean Radiocarbon Reservoir Ages From Land-Sea Tephra Correlation Constrains Deglacial Chronology and Ocean Circulation in the Southeast Bering Sea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cook, M. S.; Miller, R.; White-Nockleby, C.; Chapman, A.; Mix, A. C.

    2017-12-01

    Radiocarbon estimates of the past ocean are valuable because unlike passive tracers, radiocarbon has the potential to trace both the distribution and rate of transport of water masses. Most studies using paired radiocarbon measurements on planktonic and benthic foraminifera assume that the surface reservoir age was constant at the preindustrial value, which if incorrect, can strongly bias radiocarbon reconstructions. The subarctic Pacific is ringed by volcanic arcs, and there is great potential to use tephrochronology as a stratigraphic tool in sediments from the last glacial and deglaciation, and assign calendar ages to the marine sediment without relying on calibrated planktonic radiocarbon ages. In this study, we use major and trace element analysis of volcanic glass to match tephras between radiocarbon-dated lake cores from Sanak Island in the eastern Aleutians to marine cores from Umnak Plateau in the southeast Bering Sea. There are numerous thin tephras preserved in laminated sediments from the Bolling-Allerod and early Holocene in marine cores from depths (1000-1500 m) within the modern oxygen minimum zone. We find that trace elements are crucial in distinguishing tephras from individual eruptions. Our preliminary radiocarbon measurements suggest that the benthic-atmosphere radiocarbon differences and marine surface reservoir ages in the Bolling-Allerod are similar to pre-industrial values, supporting previously published radiocarbon reconstructions from the region.

  9. The Collyhurst Sandstone as a secondary storage unit for CCS in the East Irish Sea Basin (UK)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gamboa, D.; Williams, J. D. O.; Kirk, K.; Gent, C. M. A.; Bentham, M.; Schofield, D. I.

    2016-12-01

    Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) is key technology for low-carbon energy and industry. The UK hosts a large CO2 storage potential offshore with an estimated capacity of 78 Gt. The East Irish Sea Basin (EISB) is the key area for CCS in the western UK, with a CO2 storage potential of 1.7 Gt in hydrocarbon fields and in saline aquifers within the Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Formation. However, this theoretical storage capacity does not consider the secondary storage potential in the lower Permian Collyhurst Sandstone Formation. 3D seismic data were used to characterise the Collyhurst Sandstone Formation in the EISB. On the southern basin domain, numerous fault-bound blocks limit the lateral continuity of the sandstone strata, while on the northern domain the sandstones are intersected by less faults. The caprock for the Collyhurst sandstones is variable. The Manchester Marls predominate in the south, transitioning to the St. Bees evaporites towards the north. The evaporites in the EISB cause overburden faults to terminate or detach along Upper Permian strata, limiting the deformation of the underlying reservoir units. Five main storage closures have been identified in the Permian strata. In the southern and central area these are predominantly fault bounded, occurring at depths over 1000m. Despite the higher Collyhurst sandstone thickness in the southern IESB, the dolomitic nature of the caprock constitutes a storage risk in this area. Closures in the northern area are deeper (around 2000-2500m) and wider, reaching areas of 34Km2, and are overlain by evaporitic caprocks. The larger Collyhurst closures to the north underlie large Triassic fields with high storage potential. The spatial overlap favours storage plans including secondary storage units in the EISB. The results of this work also expand the understanding of prospective areas for CO2 sequestration in the East Irish Sea Basin in locations where the primary Sherwood Sandstone Formation is either too shallow

  10. Investigating Margin and Grounding Line Dynamics with a Coupled Ice and Sea Level Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuchar, J.; Milne, G. A.

    2017-12-01

    We present results from the coupling of an adaptive mesh glaciological model (BISICLES) with a model of glacial isostatic adjustment and sea level. We apply this coupled model to study the deglaciation of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) from the last glacial maximum. The proximity of the GrIS to the much larger Laurentide results in an east-west gradient in sea level rates across Greenland during the deglaciation. We investigate the impacts of this sea level gradient on ice and grounding line dynamics at the margins, as well as the influence of both local and non-local ice on sea level and ice dynamics.

  11. Glacial Lake Pickering: stratigraphy and chronology of a proglacial lake dammed by the North Sea Lobe of the British-Irish Ice Sheet

    OpenAIRE

    Evans, David J.A.; Bateman, Mark D.; Roberts, David H.; Medialdea, Alicia; Hayes, Laura; Duller, Geoff A.T.; Fabel, Derek; Clark, Chris D.

    2016-01-01

    We report the first chronology, using four new optically stimulated luminescence dates, on the sedimentary record of Glacial Lake Pickering, dammed by the North Sea Lobe of the British–Irish Ice Sheet during the Dimlington Stadial (24–11 ka cal BP). Dates range from 17.6 ± 1.0 to 15.8 ± 0.9 ka for the sedimentation of the Sherburn Sands at East Heslerton, which were formed by multiple coalescing alluvial fans prograding into the falling water levels of the lake and fed by progressively larger...

  12. Phased occupation and retreat of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet in the southern North Sea; geomorphic and seismostratigraphic evidence of a dynamic ice lobe

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dove, Dayton; Evans, David J. A.; Lee, Jonathan R.; Roberts, David H.; Tappin, David R.; Mellett, Claire L.; Long, David; Callard, S. Louise

    2017-05-01

    Along the terrestrial margin of the southern North Sea, previous studies of the MIS 2 glaciation impacting eastern Britain have played a significant role in the development of principles relating to ice sheet dynamics (e.g. deformable beds), and the practice of reconstructing the style, timing, and spatial configuration of palaeo-ice sheets. These detailed terrestrially-based findings have however relied on observations made from only the outer edges of the former ice mass, as the North Sea Lobe (NSL) of the British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) occupied an area that is now almost entirely submarine (c.21-15 ka). Compounded by the fact that marine-acquired data have been primarily of insufficient quality and density, the configuration and behaviour of the last BIIS in the southern North Sea remains surprisingly poorly constrained. This paper presents analysis of a new, integrated set of extensive seabed geomorphological and seismo-stratigraphic observations that both advances the principles developed previously onshore (e.g. multiple advance and retreat cycles), and provides a more detailed and accurate reconstruction of the BIIS at its southern-most extent in the North Sea. A new bathymetry compilation of the region reveals a series of broad sedimentary wedges and associated moraines that represent several terminal positions of the NSL. These former still-stand ice margins (1-4) are also found to relate to newly-identified architectural patterns (shallow stacked sedimentary wedges) in the region's seismic stratigraphy (previously mapped singularly as the Bolders Bank Formation). With ground-truthing constraint provided by sediment cores, these wedges are interpreted as sub-marginal till wedges, formed by complex subglacial accretionary processes that resulted in till thickening towards the former ice-sheet margins. The newly sub-divided shallow seismic stratigraphy (at least five units) also provides an indication of the relative event chronology of the NSL. While there

  13. Radioactivity monitoring of the Irish marine environment 1985-86

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cunningham, J.D.; O'Grady, J.; Rush, T.

    1988-01-01

    This report presents the results of the monitoring programme for the two-year period from January 1985 to December 1986. Information on the radioactive contamination of the marine environment is obtained from the analysis of environmental samples taken at a number of locations along the coastline and various sampling stations in the western Irish Sea. These usually include samples of surface seawater, sediment, seaweed, fish and shellfish. Estimates are presented of the individual and collective doses received by the Irish public from the consumption of fish and shellfish during the period 1985-1986. These doses are assessed in terms of the system of dose limitation recommended by the International Commission on Radiological Protection and embodied in the Basic Safety Standards Directive of the European Community

  14. Irish and Scandinavian objection to Sellafield

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haaland, Leif

    2001-01-01

    The article deals with the objection of Ireland and the Scandinavian countries to the radioactive emissions from the Sellafield reprocessing plant. This contamination follows the sea currents northward and radioactive material from this plant has been found in seaweed and crustaceans along the coast of Norway. The concentration in lobster from the Irish Sea is much higher than in Norwegian crustaceans and above the action limit set by the EU for the radioactive isotope Technetium 99 in the event of a new atomic accident. British authorities have refused to stop the pollution and even plan to start production of MOX fuel at Sellafield. They say new purification techniques will be developed within three or five years. For Norway, the opposition against Sellafield is a priority

  15. Deglacial history of the Pensacola Mountains, Antarctica from glacial geomorphology and cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bentley, M. J.; Hein, A. S.; Sugden, D. E.; Whitehouse, P. L.; Shanks, R.; Xu, S.; Freeman, S. P. H. T.

    2017-02-01

    The retreat history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is important for understanding rapid deglaciation, as well as to constrain numerical ice sheet models and ice loading models required for glacial isostatic adjustment modelling. There is particular debate about the extent of grounded ice in the Weddell Sea embayment at the Last Glacial Maximum, and its subsequent deglacial history. Here we provide a new dataset of geomorphological observations and cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure ages of erratic samples that constrain the deglacial history of the Pensacola Mountains, adjacent to the present day Foundation Ice Stream and Academy Glacier in the southern Weddell Sea embayment. We show there is evidence of at least two glaciations, the first of which was relatively old and warm-based, and a more recent cold-based glaciation. During the most recent glaciation ice thickened by at least 450 m in the Williams Hills and at least 380 m on Mt Bragg. Progressive thinning from these sites was well underway by 10 ka BP and ice reached present levels by 2.5 ka BP, and is broadly similar to the relatively modest thinning histories in the southern Ellsworth Mountains. The thinning history is consistent with, but does not mandate, a Late Holocene retreat of the grounding line to a smaller-than-present configuration, as has been recently hypothesized based on ice sheet and glacial isostatic modelling. The data also show that clasts with complex exposure histories are pervasive and that clast recycling is highly site-dependent. These new data provide constraints on a reconstruction of the retreat history of the formerly-expanded Foundation Ice Stream, derived using a numerical flowband model.

  16. Incorporation of plutonium, americium and curium into the Irish Sea seabed by biological activity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kershaw, P J; Swift, D J; Pentreath, R J; Lovett, M B

    1984-12-01

    Bioturbation was considered as a potentially significant mechanism for the incorporation of long-lived radionuclides into the seabed and in particular the activities of a large echiuran Maximulleria lankesteri. Radionuclides of the transuranium elements plutonium, americium and cirium are discharged into the Irish Sea under authorization as part of the low-level liquid effluent from the British Nuclear Fuels plc reprocessing plant at Sellafield, Cumbria, England. The distribution of Pu-239, 240, Pu-238, Am-241, Cm-244 and Cm-242 concentrations and the Pu-239, 240/Pu-238 quotient in samples taken in April and May 1983 from the sediment surface, burrow linings, sediments adjacent to burrows, and the gut contents and body of a large M. lankesteri clearly indicate that bioturbation is responsible, at least in part, for the incorporation of these radionuclides to depths of up to 140 cm. This area of sediments represents a significant present-day sink, but the permanence of this sink and the likelihood that radioactivity will be remobilized and be returned to man, depends on a large number of factors. 15 references, 18 figures.

  17. Radioactivity monitoring of the Irish marine environment 1998 and 1999

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryan, T.P.; Long, S.; Dowdall, A.; Hayden, E.; Smith, V.; Fegan, M.; Sequeira, S.; Pollard, D.; Cunningham, J.D.

    2000-09-01

    The safety of the food chain and the protection of the environment are prime concerns of the Irish public. This report presents the results of the marine radioactivity monitoring programme carried out by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) during 1998 and 1999. The primary objective of the programme is to assess the exposure of the Irish population resulting from radioactive contamination of the Irish marine environment and to estimate the risks to health from this exposure. Discharged radioactive waste from the British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) reprocessing plant at Sellafield continues to be the dominant source of this contamination. In particular, the remobilisation from sediments of historic discharges makes an important contribution to the levels of radioactivity in the seawater of the western Irish Sea. Approximately 300 samples of fish, shellfish, seaweed, seawater and sediment were collected in 1998 and again in 1999. Both the Marine Institute and the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources assisted the Institute with this sampling. The samples were analysed for a range of contaminating radionuclides at the Institute's radio-analytical laboratory. The results show that the radionuclide of greatest dosimetric significance continues to be caesium-137. The activity concentration of this radionuclide in the Irish marine environment has remained relatively stable since the mid 1990s but at a lower level than that observed during the previous two decades. Along the Irish coastline the highest activity concentrations observed are in the north-east. Since 1994 the commissioning and operation of new facilities at Sellafield have resulted in an increase in the discharges of technetium-99 to the Irish Sea. This has been reflected in an increase in the activity concentrations of this radionuclide at all east coast sampling sites between 1994 and 1999. However, the low radiotoxicity of technetium-99 means that it is generally of lesser

  18. Radioactivity monitoring of the Irish marine environment 1998 and 1999

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryan, T.; Long, S.; Dowdall, A.

    2000-09-01

    The safety of the food chain and the protection of the environment are prime concerns of the Irish public. This report presents the results of the marine radioactivity monitoring programme carried out by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) during 1998 and 1999. The primary objective of the programme is to assess the exposure of the Irish population resulting from radioactive contamination of the Irish marine environment and to estimate the risks to health from this exposure. Discharged radioactive waste from the British Nuclear Fuels plc (BNFL) reprocessing plant at Sellafield continues to be the dominant source of this contamination. In particular, the remobilization from sediments of historic discharges makes an important contribution to the levels of radioactivity in the seawater of the western Irish Sea. Approximately 300 samples of fish, shellfish, seaweed, seawater and sediment were collected in 1998 and again in 1999. Both the Marine Institute and the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources assisted the Institute with this sampling. The samples were analysed for a range of contaminating radionuclides at the Institute's radio-analytical laboratory. The results show that the radionuclide of greatest dosimetric significance continues to be caesium-137. The activity concentration of this radionuclide in the Irish marine environment has remained relatively stable since the mid 1990s but at a lower level than that observed during the previous two decades. Along the Irish coastline the highest activity concentrations observed are in the north-east. Since 1994 the commissioning and operation of new facilities at Sellafield have resulted in an increase in the discharges of technetium-99 to the Irish Sea. This has been reflected in an increase in the activity concentrations of this radionuclide at all east coast sampling sites between 1994 and 1999. However, the low radiotoxicity of technetium-99 means that it is generally of lesser

  19. The Irish Wind Atlas

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Watson, R [Univ. College Dublin, Dept. of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Dublin (Ireland); Landberg, L [Risoe National Lab., Meteorology and Wind Energy Dept., Roskilde (Denmark)

    1999-03-01

    The development work on the Irish Wind Atlas is nearing completion. The Irish Wind Atlas is an updated improved version of the Irish section of the European Wind Atlas. A map of the irish wind resource based on a WA{sup s}P analysis of the measured data and station description of 27 measuring stations is presented. The results of previously presented WA{sup s}P/KAMM runs show good agreement with these results. (au)

  20. Deglacial temperature history of West Antarctica

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cuffey, Kurt M.; Clow, Gary D.; Steig, Eric J.; Buizert, Christo; Fudge, T.J.; Koutnik, Michelle; Waddington, Edwin D.; Alley, Richard B.; Severinghaus, Jeffrey P.

    2016-01-01

    The most recent glacial to interglacial transition constitutes a remarkable natural experiment for learning how Earth’s climate responds to various forcings, including a rise in atmospheric CO2. This transition has left a direct thermal remnant in the polar ice sheets, where the exceptional purity and continual accumulation of ice permit analyses not possible in other settings. For Antarctica, the deglacial warming has previously been constrained only by the water isotopic composition in ice cores, without an absolute thermometric assessment of the isotopes’ sensitivity to temperature. To overcome this limitation, we measured temperatures in a deep borehole and analyzed them together with ice-core data to reconstruct the surface temperature history of West Antarctica. The deglacial warming was 11.3±1.8∘">11.3±1.8∘11.3±1.8∘C, approximately two to three times the global average, in agreement with theoretical expectations for Antarctic amplification of planetary temperature changes. Consistent with evidence from glacier retreat in Southern Hemisphere mountain ranges, the Antarctic warming was mostly completed by 15 kyBP, several millennia earlier than in the Northern Hemisphere. These results constrain the role of variable oceanic heat transport between hemispheres during deglaciation and quantitatively bound the direct influence of global climate forcings on Antarctic temperature. Although climate models perform well on average in this context, some recent syntheses of deglacial climate history have underestimated Antarctic warming and the models with lowest sensitivity can be discounted.

  1. Connectivity and Dispersal Patterns of Protected Biogenic Reefs: Implications for the Conservation of Modiolus modiolus (L. in the Irish Sea.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kate Gormley

    Full Text Available Biogenic reefs created by Modiolus modiolus (Linnaeus, 1758 (horse mussel reefs are marine habitats which support high levels of species biodiversity and provide valuable ecosystem services. Currently, M. modiolus reefs are listed as a threatened and/or declining species and habitat in all OSPAR regions and thus are highlighted as a conservation priority under the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD. Determining patterns of larval dispersal and genetic connectivity of remaining horse mussel populations can inform management efforts and is a critical component of effective marine spatial planning (MSP. Larval dispersal patterns and genetic structure were determined for several M. modiolus bed populations in the Irish Sea including those in Wales (North Pen Llŷn, Isle of Man (Point of Ayre and Northern Ireland (Ards Peninsula and Strangford Lough. Simulations of larval dispersal suggested extant connectivity between populations within the Irish Sea. Results from the genetic analysis carried out using newly developed microsatellite DNA markers were consistent with those of the biophysical model. Results indicated moderately significant differentiation between the Northern Ireland populations and those in the Isle of Man and Wales. Simulations of larval dispersal over a 30 day pelagic larval duration (PLD suggest that connectivity over a spatial scale of 150km is possible between some source and sink populations. However, it appears unlikely that larvae from Northern Ireland will connect directly with sites on the Llŷn or Isle of Man. It also appears unlikely that larvae from the Llŷn connect directly to any of the other sites. Taken together the data establishes a baseline for underpinning management and conservation of these important and threatened marine habitats in the southern part of the known range.

  2. A coupled modelling system for the Irish Sea and Liverpool Bay with application to coastal flood forecasting and beyond

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, J.; Bricheno, L. R.; Brown, J. E.; Bolaños, R.

    2012-04-01

    The POLCOMS-WAM coupled wave and hydrodynamic model has been implemented at 1.8km resolution for the Irish Sea and 180m in a nested model of Liverpool Bay. It can be forced with output from the UK Met Office Unified Model. This allows the use of Smith and Banke (1975) and Charnock (1955) formulations for the wind-stress. The former gives an underestimate of the wind-stress, requiring enhanced winds for accurate surge hindcasts. While the latter gives good results for the Irish Sea and Liverpool Bay, with different values of the Charnock coefficient, it also allows the inclusion of a coupled wave stress into the wind-stress (Brown and Wolf, 2009). New results have been obtained by using wind and pressures from the WRF atmospheric model, allowing further development of air-sea coupling. The coupled model also includes bottom friction and the Doppler shift of the waves by the depth-averaged current), as well as advanced coupling procedures: use of the 3D current in the wave physics and calculation of radiation stress and Stokes' drift (Brown et al., 2011). During storm conditions it is found that the radiation stress is the most important term in this shallow water application. However, WAM runs in near real time, making this model only practical for research purposes. The model system has been used to hindcast tides, surges and waves in Liverpool Bay. Data are readily available from the Liverpool Bay Coastal Observatory to quantify the importance of each coupled term with the aim of producing the most accurate model setup for coastal forecasting. A storm event, 18th January 2007, has been hindcast to investigate extreme tide-surge-wave condition both offshore and inshore. During storm events, wave setup in shallow regions can contribute significantly to the total water elevation. The application of a 2D method to calculate radiation stress in a 3D hydrodynamic model is thoroughly examined by comparison with observations and a 3D model (Mellor, 2003). The results show

  3. Irish Literature in Austria.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faerber, Gerda

    After a brief description of some historical and cultural interchanges between Ireland and Austria, the paper examines Irish fiction that has been translated into German and Irish plays that have been performed in Vienna over the past 25 years. The paper also describes German translations of Irish children's fiction, including classics like…

  4. Indian summer monsoon forcing on the deglacial polar cold reversals

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Virupaxa K Banakar

    2017-09-01

    Sep 1, 2017 ... because CO2, the fundamental forcing for deglaciation, and Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, ... The role of CO2 in causing these deglacial cold ..... Temperature changes in the polar regions with reference to their ...

  5. Radioactivity monitoring of the Irish marine environment 1996 and 1997

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Long, S.; Pollard, D.; Hayden, E.; Smith, V.; Fegan, M.; Ryan, T.P.; Dowdall, A.; Cunningham, J.D.

    1998-07-01

    This report presents the results of the marine radioactivity monitoring programme carried out be the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) during 1996 and 1997. The primary objective of the programme is to assess the exposure to the Irish population resulting from radioactive contamination of the Irish marine environment and to estimate the risks to health from this exposure. Discharges from the British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) reprocessing plant at Sellafield continue to be the principal source of this contamination. Approximately 300 samples of fish, shellfish, seaweed, seawater and sediment were collected each year. The samples were analysed for a range of contaminating radionuclides at the Institute's radioanalytical laboratory. The results show that the radionuclide of greatest dosimetric significance continues to be caesium-137. Since 1994 the commissioning and operation of new facilities at Sellafield have resulted in an increase in the discharges of technetium-99 to the Irish Sea. This has been reflected in an increase in the activity concentration of this radionuclide at all east coast sampling sites during the reporting period. The main pathway contributing to the exposure of the Irish public is the consumption of seafood. The committed effective dose to heavy consumers of seafood due to artificial radionuclides in 1996 was 1.6 μSv and in 1997 was 1.4 μSv. in 1996 was 1.6 μSv and in 1997 was 1.4 μSv

  6. Sea surface conditions in the southern Nordic Seas during the Holocene based on dinoflagellate cyst assemblages

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Van Nieuwenhove, Nicolas; Baumann, Astrid; Matthiessen, Jens

    2016-01-01

    Dinoflagellate cyst (dinocyst) records from the southern Nordic Seas were compiled in order to evaluate the evolution of upper ocean conditions, on a millennial timescale and supported by a highly resolved record from the Vøring Plateau. After the transitional phase from the last deglaciation...

  7. Irish and Scandinavian objection to Sellafield; Norden protesterer

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haaland, Leif

    2001-07-01

    The article deals with the objection of Ireland and the Scandinavian countries to the radioactive emissions from the Sellafield reprocessing plant. This contamination follows the sea currents northward and radioactive material from this plant has been found in seaweed and crustaceans along the coast of Norway. The concentration in lobster from the Irish Sea is much higher than in Norwegian crustaceans and above the action limit set by the EU for the radioactive isotope Technetium 99 in the event of a new atomic accident. British authorities have refused to stop the pollution and even plan to start production of MOX fuel at Sellafield. They say new purification techniques will be developed within three or five years. For Norway, the opposition against Sellafield is a priority.

  8. Sea ice dynamics across the Mid-Pleistocene transition in the Bering Sea.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Detlef, H; Belt, S T; Sosdian, S M; Smik, L; Lear, C H; Hall, I R; Cabedo-Sanz, P; Husum, K; Kender, S

    2018-03-05

    Sea ice and associated feedback mechanisms play an important role for both long- and short-term climate change. Our ability to predict future sea ice extent, however, hinges on a greater understanding of past sea ice dynamics. Here we investigate sea ice changes in the eastern Bering Sea prior to, across, and after the Mid-Pleistocene transition (MPT). The sea ice record, based on the Arctic sea ice biomarker IP 25 and related open water proxies from the International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1343, shows a substantial increase in sea ice extent across the MPT. The occurrence of late-glacial/deglacial sea ice maxima are consistent with sea ice/land ice hysteresis and land-glacier retreat via the temperature-precipitation feedback. We also identify interactions of sea ice with phytoplankton growth and ocean circulation patterns, which have important implications for glacial North Pacific Intermediate Water formation and potentially North Pacific abyssal carbon storage.

  9. Deglacial and post-glacial sea-level history for Bantry Bay (SW Ireland) based on offshore evidence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plets, Ruth; Callard, Louise; Cooper, Andrew; Long, Antony; Belknap, Daniel; Edwards, Robin; Jackson, Derek; Kelley, Joseph; Long, David; Milne, Glenn; Monteys, Xavier; Quinn, Rory

    2014-05-01

    As part of a large NERC funded project, seven areas around the Irish Sea were investigated in order to provide offshore field data on the depth and age of the relative sea-level (RSL) minimum since the post-Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Such evidence is currently sparse, resulting in poorly constrained glacio-isostatic adjustment (GIA) models, particularly for areas where RSL was significantly lower than present during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. We present offshore geomorphological and stratigraphic evidence for a lower than present sea level from SW Ireland (Bantry Bay), and compare our findings with the current GIA model. Data examined consists of: multibeam bathymetry and backscatter, pinger sub-bottom and vibrocores (25 sites). A bluff line in the outer bay detected on the multibeam in water depths of c. 80 m forms the western edge of a large sediment lobe. The south-western boundary of this lobe is marked by a series of long (up to 22 km), parallel ridges at depths between -96 m and -131 m, with iceberg scouring evident on the offshore margin. This sediment lobe is interpreted as the top of a lowstand delta with the ridges representing ice-marginal submarine morainic or deltaic sediments, reworked by stronger-than-present tidal currents during the lowstand (c. -80 m pre- 14.6 ka cal BP). The bluff line could then represent the eroded northern edge of this lowstand delta. The seismic data show a prominent unit, which can be traced throughout the basin, sitting on an erosional surface and characterised by a turbid acoustic signature. In the cores, this unit is identified as alternating sand and clay layers with some traces of organic material and gas. The micro-palaeontological data shows an increase in marine and estuarine foraminifera in this unit, becoming predominantly marine in the overlying sediments. Based on the integration of all data, we interpret the erosional surface as the transgressive surface, underlying intertidal-estuarine sediments

  10. Composition and dynamics of biostimulated indigenous oil-degrading microbial consortia from the Irish, North and Mediterranean Seas: a mesocosm study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gertler, Christoph; Näther, Daniela J; Cappello, Simone; Gerdts, Gunnar; Quilliam, Richard S; Yakimov, Michail M; Golyshin, Peter N

    2012-09-01

    Diversity of indigenous microbial consortia and natural occurrence of obligate hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria (OHCB) are of central importance for efficient bioremediation techniques. To investigate the microbial population dynamics and composition of oil-degrading consortia, we have established a series of identical oil-degrading mesocosms at three different locations, Bangor (Menai Straits, Irish Sea), Helgoland (North Sea) and Messina (Messina Straits, Mediterranean Sea). Changes in microbial community composition in response to oil spiking, nutrient amendment and filtration were assessed by ARISA and DGGE fingerprinting and 16Sr RNA gene library analysis. Bacterial and protozoan cell numbers were quantified by fluorescence microscopy. Very similar microbial population sizes and dynamics, together with key oil-degrading microorganisms, for example, Alcanivorax borkumensis, were observed at all three sites; however, the composition of microbial communities was largely site specific and included variability in relative abundance of OHCB. Reduction in protozoan grazing had little effect on prokaryotic cell numbers but did lead to a decrease in the percentage of A. borkumensis 16S rRNA genes detected in clone libraries. These results underline the complexity of marine oil-degrading microbial communities and cast further doubt on the feasibility of bioaugmentation practices for use in a broad range of geographical locations. © 2012 Federation of European Microbiological Societies. Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. Development of a non-conservative radionuclides dispersion model in the ocean and its application to surface cesium-137 dispersion in the Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kobayashi, Takuya; Otosaka, Shigeyoshi; Togawa, Orihiko; Hayashi, Keisuke

    2007-01-01

    A numerical simulation model system that consists of an ocean current model, Princeton Ocean Model (POM), and a particle random-walk model, SEA-GEARN, has been developed to describe the migration behavior of non-conservative radionuclides in a shallow water region. Radionuclides in the ocean are modeled in three phases, i.e., the dissolved phase in seawater, the adsorbed with large particulate matter (LPM) and the adsorbed with active bottom sediment. The adsorption and desorption processes between the dissolved and solid phases are solved by the stochastic method with the kinetic transfer coefficients. Deposition of the LPM and re-suspension from bottom sediment are also considered. The system was applied to simulate the long-term (24-year) dispersion of 137 Cs actually released from the BNFL spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield in United Kingdom. The calculation well reproduced the main characteristics of migration of dissolved 137 Cs concentration in the Irish Sea. (author)

  12. Sellafield waste radionuclides in Irish sea intertidal and salt marsh sediments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mackenzie, A B; Scott, R D

    1993-09-01

    Low level liquid radioactive waste discharges from the Sellafield nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in north west England had generated environmental inventories of about 3 × 10(16) Bq of(137)Cs, 6.8 × 10(14) Bq of(239,240)Pu and 8.9 × 10(14) Bq of(241)Am by 1990. Most of the(239,240)Pu and(241)Am and about 10% of the(137)Cs has been retained in a deposit of fine marine sediment close to the discharge point. The quantities of radionuclides discharged annually from Sellafield decreased by two orders of magnitude from the mid-1970s to 1990 but estimated critical group internal and external exposure decreased by less than one order of magnitude over this period. This indicates that during the period of reduced discharges, radionuclides already in the environment from previous releases continued to contribute to the critical group exposure and highlights the need to understand processes controlling the environmental distribution of the radionuclides.Redistribution of the contaminated marine sediment is potentially of major significance in this context, in particular if it results in transport of radionuclides to intertidal areas, where contact with the human population is relatively likely.A review is presented of published work relating to Sellafield waste radionuclides in Irish Sea sediments. Data on temporal and spatial trends in radionuclide concentrations and activity ratios are collated from a number of sources to show that the dominant mechanism of radionuclide supply to intertidal areas is by redistribution of the contaminated marine sediment. The implications of this mechanism of supply for trends in critical group radiation exposure are considered.

  13. Interaction between climate, volcanism, and isostatic rebound in Southeast Alaska during the last deglaciation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Praetorius, Summer; Mix, Alan; Jensen, Britta; Froese, Duane; Milne, Glenn A.; Wolhowe, Matthew; Addison, Jason A.; Prahl, Fred

    2016-01-01

    Observations of enhanced volcanic frequency during the last deglaciation have led to the hypothesis that ice unloading in glaciated volcanic terrains can promote volcanism through decompression melting in the shallow mantle or a reduction in crustal magma storage time. However, a direct link between regional climate change, isostatic adjustment, and the initiation of volcanism remains to be demonstrated due to the difficulty of obtaining high-resolution well-dated records that capture short-term climate and volcanic variability traced to a particular source region. Here we present an exceptionally resolved record of 19 tephra layers paired with foraminiferal oxygen isotopes and alkenone paleotemperatures from marine sediment cores along the Southeast Alaska margin spanning the last deglacial transition. Major element compositions of the tephras indicate a predominant source from the nearby Mt. Edgecumbe Volcanic Field (MEVF). We constrain the timing of this regional eruptive sequence to 14.6–13.1 ka. The sudden increase in volcanic activity from the MEVF coincides with the onset of Bølling–Allerød interstadial warmth, the disappearance of ice-rafted detritus, and rapid vertical land motion associated with modeled regional isostatic rebound in response to glacier retreat. These data support the hypothesis that regional deglaciation can rapidly trigger volcanic activity. Rapid sea surface temperature fluctuations and an increase in local salinity (i.e., δ18Osw) variability are associated with the interval of intense volcanic activity, consistent with a two-way interaction between climate and volcanism in which rapid volcanic response to ice unloading may in turn enhance short-term melting of the glaciers, plausibly via albedo effects on glacier ablation zones.

  14. Florence Nightingale and Irish nursing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDonald, Lynn

    2014-09-01

    To challenge statements made about 'Careful Nursing' as a 'distinctive system' of nursing established by the Irish Sisters of Mercy, prior to Florence Nightingale, and which is said to have influenced her. Numerous publications have appeared claiming the emergence of a 'distinctive system' of nursing as 'Ireland's legacy to nursing', which, it is claimed, influenced Nightingale's system. One paper argues that the Irish system has its philosophical roots in Thomist philosophy. Several papers argue the ongoing relevance of the Irish system, not Nightingale's, for contemporary nursing theory and practice. Nightingale's influence on and legacy to Irish nursing are not acknowledged. A Discursive paper. Archival and published sources were used to compare the nursing systems of Florence Nightingale and the Irish Sisters of Mercy, with particular attention to nursing during the Crimean War. Claims were challenged of a 'distinctive system' of nursing established by the Irish Sisters of Mercy in the early nineteenth century, and of its stated influence on the nursing system of Florence Nightingale. The contention of great medical satisfaction with the 'distinctive' system is refuted with data showing that the death rate at the Koulali Hospital, where the Irish sisters nursed, was the highest of all the British war hospitals during the Crimean War. Profound differences between the two systems are outlined. Claims for a 'distinctive' Irish system of nursing fail for lack of evidence. Nightingale's principles and methods, as they evolved over the first decade of her school's work, remain central to nursing theory and practice. Nightingale's insistence on respect for patients and high ethical standards remains relevant to practice no less so as specific practices change with advances in medical knowledge and practice. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  15. The nitrogen isotopes of fossil Tahiti corals from the last deglaciation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, X.; Sigman, D. M.; Cohen, A. L.; Thompson, W. G.

    2015-12-01

    Despite its vast geographic area, the South Pacific gyre has been minimally explored in terms of its changing conditions over glacial cycles, partly due to slow sedimentation and poor preservation of carbonate in its deep sea sediments. We have developed a sensitive and precise method for measuring the nitrogen isotopes (d15N) of organic matter protected within the skeletal aragonite of stony corals (coral skeletal d15N). Analyses of modern corals from 8 global sites suggest that the coral skeletal d15N first and foremost records the d15N of regional ocean nitrate, with a secondary effect of local reef productivity. In this study, we apply this new proxy to fossil corals collected during the Expedition 310 of International Ocean Discovery Program, investigating the nitrogen cycle of the South Pacific since the last deglaciation. We measured skeletal d15N in consecutive growth bands in 4 U-Th dated coral samples (with ages of 14.3 ka, 13.3 ka, 11.8 ka and 8.4 ka) from a single core. Within each coral, over the 3-8 consecutive bands sampled, inter-band d15N variation was 1-2.5‰. However, the band-averaged d15N from each dated sample showed Pacific. The implications of these results for the regional nitrogen cycle as well as the deglacial change in mean ocean nitrate d15N will be discussed.

  16. Music Therapy Through Irish Eyes: A Student Therapist’s Experience of Irish Traditional Music

    OpenAIRE

    Ruth Armstrong

    2008-01-01

    This article outlines my personal experience of Irish traditional music and considers how it can inform music therapy practice. The use of Irish music may be particularly meaningful for some clients and help them connect with their culture and identity. Music therapy can also draw on specific features; including the melodic, rhythmic and social aspects of the music. The melody is prominent in Irish traditional music, and its expression is very important. The word draíoght (meaning "spell" or ...

  17. Partial dependency parsing for Irish

    OpenAIRE

    Uí Dhonnchadha, Elaine; van Genabith, Josef

    2010-01-01

    In this paper we present a partial dependency parser for Irish, in which Constraint Grammar (CG) rules are used to annotate dependency relations and grammatical functions in unrestricted Irish text. Chunking is performed using a regular-expression grammar which operates on the dependency tagged sentences. As this is the first implementation of a parser for unrestricted Irish text (to our knowledge), there were no guidelines or precedents available. Therefore deciding what constitutes a syntac...

  18. ASSESSING THE STATE OF THE PELAGIC HABITAT: A CASE STUDY OF PLANKTON AND ITS ENVIRONMENT IN THE WESTERN IRISH SEA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cordula Scherer

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Much work had been undertaken on tracking change in the condition of marine pelagic ecosystems and on identifying regime shifts. However, it is also necessary to relate change to states of good ecosystem health or what the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD calls 'Good Environmental Status' (GES. Drawing on existing scientific and legislative principles, including those of OSPAR's 'Strategy to Combat Eutrophication', we propose a framework for assessing the status of what the MSFD calls the 'pelagic habitat' in temperate coastal seas. The framework uses knowledge of local ecohydrodynamic conditions, especially those relating to the stratification and optical environment, to guide expectations of what would be recognised as healthy in terms of ecosystem 'organisation' and 'vigour'. We apply this framework to the seasonally stratified regime of the Western Irish Sea, drawing on published and new work on stratification, nutrient and phytoplankton seasonal cycles, zooplankton, and the implications of plankton community structure and production for higher trophic levels. We conclude that, despite human pressures including nutrient enrichment, and the food-web effects of fisheries, the pelagic ecosystem here is in GES, and hence may be used as a reference for the 'Plankton Index' method of tracking change in state space in seasonally stratified waters.

  19. The Irish Maritime Transport Economist Volume 3

    OpenAIRE

    Office, Irish Maritime Development

    2006-01-01

    The Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) of the Marine Institute publishes the Irish Maritime Transport Economist each year to provide a descriptive statistical analysis of the Irish ports and shipping services sector, as well as the many factors influencing its performance.

  20. The Irish Maritime Transport Economist Volume 4

    OpenAIRE

    Office, Irish Maritime Development

    2007-01-01

    The Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) of the Marine Institute publishes the Irish Maritime Transport Economist each year to provide a descriptive statistical analysis of the Irish ports and shipping services sector, as well as the many factors influencing its performance.

  1. A data-calibrated distribution of deglacial chronologies for the North American ice complex from glaciological modeling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tarasov, Lev; Dyke, Arthur S.; Neal, Radford M.; Peltier, W. R.

    2012-01-01

    Past deglacial ice sheet reconstructions have generally relied upon discipline-specific constraints with no attention given to the determination of objective confidence intervals. Reconstructions based on geophysical inversion of relative sea level (RSL) data have the advantage of large sets of proxy data but lack ice-mechanical constraints. Conversely, reconstructions based on dynamical ice sheet models are glaciologically self-consistent, but depend on poorly constrained climate forcings and sub-glacial processes. As an example of a much better constrained methodology that computes explicit error bars, we present a distribution of high-resolution glaciologically-self-consistent deglacial histories for the North American ice complex calibrated against a large set of RSL, marine limit, and geodetic data. The history is derived from ensemble-based analyses using the 3D MUN glacial systems model and a high-resolution ice-margin chronology derived from geological and geomorphological observations. Isostatic response is computed with the VM5a viscosity structure. Bayesian calibration of the model is carried out using Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods in combination with artificial neural networks trained to the model results. The calibration provides a posterior distribution for model parameters (and thereby modeled glacial histories) given the observational data sets that takes data uncertainty into account. Final ensemble results also account for fits between computed and observed strandlines and marine limits. Given the model (including choice of calibration parameters), input and constraint data sets, and VM5a earth rheology, we find the North American contribution to mwp1a was likely between 9.4 and 13.2 m eustatic over a 500 year interval. This is more than half of the total 16 to 26 m meltwater pulse over 500 to 700 years (with lower values being more probable) indicated by the Barbados coral record (Fairbanks, 1989; Peltier and Fairbanks, 2006) if one assumes a

  2. Irish treebanking and parsing: a preliminary evaluation

    OpenAIRE

    Lynn, Teresa; Cetinoglu, Ozlem; Foster, Jennifer; Uí Dhonnchadha, Elaine; Dras, Mark; van Genabith, Josef

    2012-01-01

    Language resources are essential for linguistic research and the development of NLP applications. Low- density languages, such as Irish, therefore lack significant research in this area. This paper describes the early stages in the development of new language resources for Irish – namely the first Irish dependency treebank and the first Irish statistical dependency parser. We present the methodology behind building our new treebank and the steps we take to leverage upon the few existing resou...

  3. Quaternary Sea-ice history in the Arctic Ocean based on a new Ostracode sea-ice proxy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cronin, T. M.; Gemery, L.; Briggs, W.M.; Jakobsson, M.; Polyak, L.; Brouwers, E.M.

    2010-01-01

    Paleo-sea-ice history in the Arctic Ocean was reconstructed using the sea-ice dwelling ostracode Acetabulastoma arcticum from late Quaternary sediments from the Mendeleyev, Lomonosov, and Gakkel Ridges, the Morris Jesup Rise and the Yermak Plateau. Results suggest intermittently high levels of perennial sea ice in the central Arctic Ocean during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (25-45 ka), minimal sea ice during the last deglacial (16-11 ka) and early Holocene thermal maximum (11-5 ka) and increasing sea ice during the mid-to-late Holocene (5-0 ka). Sediment core records from the Iceland and Rockall Plateaus show that perennial sea ice existed in these regions only during glacial intervals MIS 2, 4, and 6. These results show that sea ice exhibits complex temporal and spatial variability during different climatic regimes and that the development of modern perennial sea ice may be a relatively recent phenomenon. ?? 2010.

  4. Ice stream behaviour and deglaciation of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in the Kuittijärvi area, Russian Karelia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juha-Pekka Lunkka

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Glacial landforms of the Lake Kuittijärvi area, Russian Karelia, which covers an area of more than 7000 km^2, were studied in detail using aerial photography and satellite imagery methods and on-site field observations. This was done to reconstruct a detailed historyof Scandinavian ice sheet behaviour in the Lake Kuittijärvi area. The results indicate that the Lake Tuoppajärvi sub-ice stream (TIS that formed the northern part of the Kuusamo-White Sea ice stream and the Lake Kuittijärvi sub-ice stream (KIS, which was part of theNorthern Karelian ice stream, operated in the area during the last deglaciation. Subglacially formed lineation patterns associated with other indicative landforms such as end moraines and esker ridges indicate a clear age relationship between the ice streams’ activity and that the KIS was active after the linear landforms were created by the TIS. It is estimated that deglaciation of the TIS from the Kalevala end moraine to the Lake Pääjärvi end moraine took place between ca. 11 300 – 10 900 calendar years ago. It seems that the terminus of the KIS marker by the Kalevala end moraine was also formed around 11 300 calendar years ago but the KIS remained active longer than the TIS. Both of these sub-ice streams terminated into a glacial lake that was part of a larger White Sea Basin ice lake.

  5. Sedimentary alkenone distributions reflect salinity changes in the Baltic Sea over the Holocene

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Warden, L.A.; van der Meer, M.T.J.; Moros, Matthias; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S.

    2016-01-01

    The Baltic Sea has had a complex salinity history since the last deglaciation. Here we show how distributions of alkenones and their δD values varied with past fluctuations in salinity in the Baltic Sea over the Holocene by examining a Holocene record (11.2–0.1 cal kyr BP) from the Arkona Basin.

  6. A Feminism of Their Own?: Irish Women’s History and Contemporary Irish Women’s Writing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mary Ryan

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available For a long time, Irish women’s lives were strictly confined to the private domain, and women’s issues were largely silenced and hidden from public knowledge. Additionally, both Church and state maintained that women should hold a certain morality, particularly relating to areas of sexuality and reproduction. As a result, until relatively recently, Irish women’s issues remained largely ignored and therefore unremarked upon. This paper will examine two major areas in which Irish women’s lives have traditionally been repressed: women’s sexuality and domestic violence, both issues which were once considered taboo for open discussion. This paper will also discuss how these same issues are being represented in Irish chick lit novels, thus providing a frank and positive voice for these largely female issues and for the everyday experiences of women in Ireland.

  7. The Southern Ocean's role in carbon exchange during the last deglaciation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burke, Andrea; Robinson, Laura F

    2012-02-03

    Changes in the upwelling and degassing of carbon from the Southern Ocean form one of the leading hypotheses for the cause of glacial-interglacial changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide. We present a 25,000-year-long Southern Ocean radiocarbon record reconstructed from deep-sea corals, which shows radiocarbon-depleted waters during the glacial period and through the early deglaciation. This depletion and associated deep stratification disappeared by ~14.6 ka (thousand years ago), consistent with the transfer of carbon from the deep ocean to the surface ocean and atmosphere via a Southern Ocean ventilation event. Given this evidence for carbon exchange in the Southern Ocean, we show that existing deep-ocean radiocarbon records from the glacial period are sufficiently depleted to explain the ~190 per mil drop in atmospheric radiocarbon between ~17 and 14.5 ka.

  8. An Irish Revolution Without A Revolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aidan Beatty

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available There is a conventional view among Irish historians that a revolution occurred in that country between the passing of the Third Home Rule Bill of 1912 and the end of the Civil War in 1923.  The violence of those years, the collapse in support for the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP, the meteoric rise to power of Sinn Féin, a new sense of meritocracy, a greater sense of democracy and a widespread radicalism; all are seen as elements of a major change in Irish politics and life, a ‘Revolution.’  Drawing on Gramsci's notion of a “revolution without a revolution”, this paper seeks to understand the events in Ireland of 1912-23, not as a sudden rupture with the past but as the culmination of a much longer period of (often British-backed capitalist development in post-Famine Ireland. This paper argues that Irish nationalist politics in the decades before 1912 is better understood via categories such as class, gender, capitalism and the pervasive power of the British state.  As such, as well as pursuing a reassessment of the project of Irish historical development and state-building, this paper also seeks a reassessment of the project of (an equally statist Irish historiography.

  9. No evidence for a deglacial intermediate water Δ14C anomaly in the SW Atlantic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sortor, R. N.; Lund, D. C.

    2010-12-01

    paired with those from the South Pacific, it appears AAIW was not the vehicle that carried the 14C anomaly to lower latitudes, and therefore other hypotheses to explain the eastern tropical Pacific data are required. References Marchitto, T., Lehman, S., Ortiz, J., Fluckiger, J. & van Geen, A. Marine radiocarbon evidence for the mechanism of deglacial atmospheric CO2 rise. Science 316, 1456-1459 (2007). Stott, L., Southon, J., Timmermann, A. & Koutavas, A. Radiocarbon age anomaly at intermediate depth in the Pacific Ocean during the last deglaciation. Paleoceanography 24, PA2223 (2009). Pol-Holz, R.D., Keigwin, L., Southon, J., Hebbeln, D. & Mohtadi, M. No signature of abyssal carbon in intermediate waters off Chile during deglaciation. Nature Geosci. 3, 192-195 (2010). Oppo, D.W. & Horowitz, M. Glacial deep water geometry: South Atlantic benthic foraminiferal Cd/Ca and delta C-13 evidence. Paleoceanography 15, 147-160 (2000). Mangini, A., Godoy, J.M., Godoy, M.L., Kowsmann, R., Santos, G.M., Ruckelshausen, M., Schroeder-Ritzrau, A. & Wacker, L. Deep Sea corals off Brazil verify a poorly ventilated Southern Pacific Ocean during H2, H1 and the Younger Dryas. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 293, 269-276 (2010).

  10. The onset of deglaciation of Cumberland Bay and Stromness Bay, South Georgia

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Der Putten, N.; Verbruggen, C.

    Carbon dating of basal peat deposits in Cumberland Bay and Stromness Bay and sediments from a lake in Stromness Bay, South Georgia indicates deglaciation at the very beginning of the Holocene before c. 9500 14C yr BP. This post-dates the deglaciation of one local lake which has been ice-free since

  11. Radioactivity monitoring of the Irish marine environment 1991 and 1992

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGarry, A.; Lyons, S.; McEnri, C.; Ryan, T.; O'Colmain, M.; Cunningham, J.D.

    1994-05-01

    This report presents the results of the Radiological Protection Institute's programme of monitoring of radioactivity in the seas around Ireland during 1991 and 1992. The principal objective of the monitoring programme is to review the risks to human health arising from the Sellafield discharges. Secondary objectives include studies of the distribution of the significant contaminating radionuclides in the marie environment and the identification of trends with a view to assessing possible future effects. Estimates of the radiation doses to the Irish public are also presented in this report. 23 refs. 24 tabs. 9 figs

  12. Horslips in Irish Musical and Literary Culture

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John L. Murphy

    2008-03-01

    Full Text Available This essay examines the literary impact of a musical electric-folk band. Horslips combined psychedelic, and hard rock with Irish traditional motifs and Celtic narrative themes. Spanning the decade from 1970 to 1980, their success and decline followed the trajectory of the countercultural movement, which came late to Ireland. The band’s revival of mythic characters and historical events drawn from the Irish past attracted fans from all over the island, as well as the diaspora; many young people gained an appreciation of their Irish heritage for the first time, as Horslips became the first electric folk-rock band to fuse disparate genres, and to succeed as an Irish-based independent collective who controlled the graphics, marketing, distribution, and promotion of their music. They inspired the likes of U2 and the Irish punk and new-wave rock musicians who followed them, and without the pioneering efforts of Horslips, Irish music and culture today may never have reached its current success, three decades later.

  13. A laboratory and field study of 210Po depuration by edible winkles (Littorina littorea L.) from the Cumbrian coast (north-eastern Irish Sea)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Swift, D.J.; Smith, D.L.; Allington, D.J.; Winpenny, K.

    1995-01-01

    Edible winkles from Saltom Bay, Cumbria (north-eastern Irish Sea) had flesh 210 Po concentrations in excess of 200 Bq kg -1 (wet). This came from liquid waste discharged under authorisation from a chemical plant producing phosphoric acid. This labelling of the winkles under natural conditions was exploited to determine the 210 Po depuration rate and biological half-time. Winkles transferred to Lowestoft and depurated in flowing seawater had biological half-times ranging from 82 to 119 days depending on temperature. After the chemical plant was shut, changes in Saltom Bay winkle flesh contents of 210 Po, 210 Pb and cadmium were followed by monthly samples. The biological half-time in the environment for the decrease in 210 Po after the plant closed was estimated at about 92 days. (author)

  14. The North Sea field development guide. V.1: Northern North Sea. V.2: Southern North Sea. 6. ed.

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1996-08-01

    The 1997/8, sixth edition is the first to be divided into two volumes. Volume 1 covers the central and northern North Sea areas; volume 2 contains the southern North Sea as well as the Irish and German sectors. The pages are numbered consecutively over the two volumes, with page numbers greater than 702 contained in the second volume. There are three index sections. Main index. Arranged by national sector (UK, Norway etc.) Within each sector the entries are alphabetical by operator name. This index contains page numbers for the book entries: the other two index sections should be used with the main index to find the exact location of an entry; Index by field. If the reader knows a field name (e.g. Kittiwake) but not the operator or the national sector, this index will reference them; Index by installation. Each installation (''Fulmar SALM'', ''Togi'') is named, giving the operator, field and national sector where it is located. This index is also useful for locating particular kinds of installations, such as subsea completions; The book is intended to provide a factual overview of field development activity in the North Sea (a term loosely used to include the Irish Sea and the Baltic Sea). The aim is therefore to provide some background, specifications and history on every offshore installation in that area. Speculative or evaluative commentary is avoided where possible. No attempt has been made to forecast the form or probability of future developments, except in those few instances where announcements have been made by the oil company itself, and these are, clearly indicated. (UK)

  15. Trace metal contamination of Beaufort's Dyke, North Channel, Irish Sea: A legacy of ordnance disposal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Callaway, Alexander; Quinn, Rory; Brown, Craig J.; Service, Matthew; Benetti, Sara

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Our samples are the first trace metal concentrations taken from the valley of Beaufort's Dyke. → There is no clear trend between concentrations of trace metals in Dyke and NMMP sediments. → Particle transport simulations show dispersal of trace metals from Beaufort's Dyke is possible. → Disposed ordnance may also contribute to contamination of surrounding areas. → These methods could help predict areas at risk of future trace metal contamination as a result of ordnance disposal. - Abstract: Beaufort's Dyke is a disused ordnance disposal ground within the North Channel of the Irish Sea. Over 1 million tonnes of ordnance were disposed of in the dyke over a 40 year period representing a substantial volume of trace metal pollutants introduced to the seabed. Utilising particle transport modelling software we simulated the potential transport of metal particles from Beaufort's Dyke over a 3 month period. This demonstrated that Beaufort's Dyke has the potential to act as a source for trace metal contamination to areas beyond the submarine valley. Trace metal analysis of sediments from the Dyke and surrounding National Marine Monitoring Programme areas demonstrate that the Dyke is not the most contaminated site in the region. Particle transport modelling enables the transport pathways of trace metal contaminants to be predicted. Implementation of the technique in other munitions disposal grounds will provide valuable information for the selection of monitoring stations.

  16. Climate bifurcation during the last deglaciation?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Lenton, T.M.; Livina, V.N.; Dakos, V.; Scheffer, M.

    2012-01-01

    There were two abrupt warming events during the last deglaciation, at the start of the Bolling-Allerod and at the end of the Younger Dryas, but their underlying dynamics are unclear. Some abrupt climate changes may involve gradual forcing past a bifurcation point, in which a prevailing climate state

  17. Detailed Sea Level Record from Barbados Spanning 13,000 to 11,000 Years Before Present

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdul, N. A.; Mortlock, R. A.; Wright, J. D.; Fairbanks, R. G.

    2013-12-01

    Th/U dated reef-crest corals (Acropora palmata) obtained from new Barbados offshore drill cores provide a local sea level reconstruction in unprecedented detail. The time interval, 13,000 to 11,000 years before present (BP), spans the well-studied Younger Dryas pollen zone, a period that has given rise to more than three decades of sensational climate interpretations and popular press. Widely described as a time when Earth's climate reverted to "glacial-like conditions" the various hypotheses that attempt to explain the "cause" of the Younger Dryas climate event have their staunch supporters as well as their critics but there remains little consensus. The Barbados sea level record for this time interval shows that sea level continued to rise during the Younger Dryas, albeit at a slower rate than prior to 13,000 or following 11,000 years BP. The decrease in the rate of sea level rise can simply be explained by the slow expansion of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet beginning 12,800 years BP followed by its faster demise contributing to a period of rapid sea level increase known as Melt Water Pulse 1B. We calculate the ice volume history of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet and it compares favorably to the moraine history and ice models. The Younger Dryas climate event is most often defined by the rapid shifts in atmospheric proxies measured in ice cores from Greenland. The ice core proxies shift into and out of the Younger Dryas climate event in only a few years to a few decades. Abrupt shifts in the climate state associated with the onset and termination of the Younger Dryas as revealed in Greenland Ice cores are not expressed in the smooth Barbados deglacial sea level record. We make the case that these Greenland atmospheric records mark regional atmospheric frontal shifts and changes in air mass sources over an ice sheet that largely did not participate in the deglaciation or sea level change. As proposed decades ago, the warming of the North Atlantic between 14,000 and 13

  18. The Portrayal of Women’s Contribution to Irish Society through a Sample from the Irish Press

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Martínez Lirola

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available The article intends to approach the representation of womanhood in the Irish press from 2006 to 2012. The corpus comprises all the texts dealing with women, from January 1 to 31 December of four years within this time range, taken from one of the main Irish broadsheet newspapers: The Irish Independent. The research database LexisNexis Academic was employed to compile the corpus. For the purposes of this research, I apply Teun van Leeuwen’s (2008 social actor network model. This paper points out that Corpus Linguistics (CL can be a powerful complementary tool to Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA.

  19. Constituency Orientation in Irish Politics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kusche, Isabel

    2017-01-01

    The constituency orientation of Irish politicians is a recurring topic in Irish political science. Its analysis has predominantly focused on TDs. This article uses a content analysis of candidate video statements in the general election 2016 in order to assess the strength of constituency...... this pattern, indicated by the weak constituency orientation in Dublin and Cork constituencies. Results also indicate differences between parties and some political statuses, while the gender of the candidates is of no relevance. Although the material does not permit a clear distinction between effects...... of political culture and short-term considerations, taken together the results indicate that localism in Irish politics matters, but in more complicated ways than usually depicted....

  20. Irish Intercultural Cinema: Memory, Identity and Subjectivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murray, Enda Vincent

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Irish intercultural cinema looks at the development of a cinematic genre which focuses on issues of Irish migrancy but is produced outside of Ireland. This paper has as its focus the cultural landscape of Irish-Australia. The essay uses methodologies of ethnographic and documentary theory plus textual analysis of film and written texts to establish a throughline of Irish intercultural film. The essay begins by contextualising the place of the Irish diaspora within the creation of Irish identity globally. The discussion around migrancy is widened to consider the place of memory and intergenerational tensions within not just the Irish migrant population, but also within the diverse cultures which comprise the contemporary Australian landscape. The historical development of intercultural cinema is then explored internationally within a context of colonial, gender and class struggles in the 1970s and1980s. The term intercultural cinema has its origins in the Third Cinema of Argentinians Solanas and Getino in the 1970s and covers those films which deal with issues involving two countries or cultures. The term was refined by Laura Marks in 2000 and further developed by Hamid Naficy in 2001 in his discussion of accented cinema which narrows its definition to include the politics of production. The paper then traces the development of Irish intercultural cinema from its beginnings in England in the 1970s with Thaddeus O'Sullivan through to Nicola Bruce and others including Enda Murray in the present day. The essay concludes by bringing these various strands together to see where intercultural film might have a place in today's globalised cultural landscape. Common traits within intercultural film such as the notion of place, autobiographical film and personal identity are explored using examples of intercultural filmmaking from around the globe. These commonalities point to a way forward for the future of a sustainable multicultural film culture.

  1. The Ulster Cycle: Cultural Significance for Irish Composers

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angela Goff

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available For more than three hundred years, Irish composers have engaged with tales from early Irish saga-literature which comprises four main series: Mythological, Ulster and Fenian cycles as well as the Cycle of Kings. This literary corpus dates from 600–1200 CE and is amongst the oldest in Europe. The fragmented history of the literature reveals a continuity of tradition in that the ancient sagas evolved from the oral Irish tradition, were gradually recorded in Irish, and kept alive in modern times through translation into the English language. The timelessness and social impact of these sagas, centuries after they were documented, resonate with Irish composers through the identification of local features and/or universal themes of redemption, triumph or tragedy depicted in the literature. The focus here is on sagas from the Ulster Cycle as they have been most celebrated by Irish composers; the majority of which have been composed since Thomas Kinsella’s successful translation of the Táin Bó Cuailnge in 1969. How the composers chose to embrace the Irish past lies in each composer’s execution of the peculiar local and universal themes exhibited in the sagas. The aim of this article is to initiate an interdisciplinary discussion of the cultural significance of this literary corpus for Irish composers by exploring an area of Irish musicological discourse that has not been hitherto documented. A brief literary background to the Ulster Cycle leads to a discussion of what prompted the composers to engage with Ulster Cycle themes at a particular time in their respective careers. An exploration of the various stylistic features employed in selected works sheds light on the cultural ideologies that prevailed in Ireland at the time of their respective composition.

  2. Deglacial palaeoclimate at Puerto del Hambre, subantarctic Patagonia, Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heusser, Calvin J.; Heusser, Linda E.; Lowell, Thomas V.; Moreira M., Andrés; Moreira M., Simón

    2000-02-01

    The primary objective of this study is to further substantiate multistep climatic forcing of late-glacial vegetation in southern South America. A secondary objective is to establish the age of deglaciation in Estrecho de Magallanes-Bahía Inútil. Pollen assemblages at 2-cm intervals in a core of the mire at Puerto del Hambre (53°3621S, 70°5553W) provide the basis for reconstructing the vegetation and a detailed account of palaeoclimate in subantarctic Patagonia. Chronology over the 262-cm length of core is regulated by 20 AMS radiocarbon dates between 14 455 and 10 089 14C yr BP. Of 13 pollen assemblage zones, the earliest representing the Oldest Dryas chronozone (14 455-13 000 14C yr BP) records impoverished steppe with decreasing frequencies and loss of southern beech (Nothofagus). Successive 100-yr-long episodes of grass/herbs and of heath (Empetrum/Ericaceae) before 14 000 14C yr BP infer deglacial successional communities under a climate of increased continentality prior to the establishment of grass-dominated steppe. The Bølling-Allerød (13 000-11 000 14C yr BP) is characterised by mesic grassland under moderating climate that with abrupt change to heath dominance after 12 000 14C yr BP was warmer and not as humid. At the time of the Younger Dryas (11 000-10 000 14C yr BP), grass steppe expanded with a return of colder, more humid climate. Later, with gradual warming, communities were invaded by southern beech. The Puerto del Hambre record parallels multistep, deglacial palaeoclimatic sequences reported elsewhere in the Southern Andes and at Taylor Dome in Antarctica. Deglaciation of Estrecho de Magallanes-Bahía Inútil is dated close to 14 455 14C yr BP, invalidating earlier dates of between 15 800 and 16 590 14C yr BP.

  3. Radioactivity Monitoring of the Irish Environment 2003-2005

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryan, R.W.; Dowdall, A; Fegan, M.F.; Hayden, E.; Kelleher, K.; Long, S.; McEvoy, I.; McKittrick, L.; McMahon, C.A.; Murray, M.; Smith, K.; Sequeira, S.; Wong, J.; Pollard, D.

    2007-05-01

    fuel. During the reporting period, levels of radionuclides in airborne radioactivity were low and consistent with measurements in previous years. External gamma dose rates were monitored continuously at twelve stations. No abnormal levels were observed during the period. In accordance with the RPII's drinking water monitoring protocol, major public water supplies from each county are sampled at least every four years while supplies to certain major population centres are sampled annually. During the period 2003 to 2005, water supplies from fourteen counties were sampled and all of the waters tested were found to be within the parametric values for radioactivity set out in the relevant national standards. The RPII sampled and measured levels of radioactivity in mixed diet, milk and miscellaneous other foodstuffs including milk products, baby foods, beef, lamb, poultry and vegetables. These measurements show that levels of anthropogenic radioactivity in the Irish diet continue to be low. Approximately 300 samples of fish, shellfish, seaweed, seawater and sediment were collected in each of the years covered by this report. The samples were analysed for a range of radionuclides. The main pathway contributing to the exposure of the Irish public to anthropogenic radioactivity from the marine environment was found to be the consumption of seafood. Between 2003 and 2005, the mean annual committed effective dose to a heavy consumer of seafood from the Irish Sea was 0.85 ?Sv. Caesium-137 was the dominant radionuclide, accounting for approximately 60-70% of the total dose. The dose to the Irish population due to this radionuclide has declined significantly over the last two decades corresponding to the reduction in discharges of this radionuclide from Sellafield. Along the Irish coastline the highest activity concentrations observed are in the north-east. The doses incurred by the Irish public as a result of anthropogenic radioactivity in the environment do not constitute a

  4. Sea-level variability over five glacial cycles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grant, K M; Rohling, E J; Ramsey, C Bronk; Cheng, H; Edwards, R L; Florindo, F; Heslop, D; Marra, F; Roberts, A P; Tamisiea, M E; Williams, F

    2014-09-25

    Research on global ice-volume changes during Pleistocene glacial cycles is hindered by a lack of detailed sea-level records for time intervals older than the last interglacial. Here we present the first robustly dated, continuous and highly resolved records of Red Sea sea level and rates of sea-level change over the last 500,000 years, based on tight synchronization to an Asian monsoon record. We observe maximum 'natural' (pre-anthropogenic forcing) sea-level rise rates below 2 m per century following periods with up to twice present-day ice volumes, and substantially higher rise rates for greater ice volumes. We also find that maximum sea-level rise rates were attained within 2 kyr of the onset of deglaciations, for 85% of such events. Finally, multivariate regressions of orbital parameters, sea-level and monsoon records suggest that major meltwater pulses account for millennial-scale variability and insolation-lagged responses in Asian monsoon records.

  5. Irish Culinary Manuscripts and Printed Books:a Discussion

    OpenAIRE

    Mac Con Iomaire, Máirtín; Cashman, Dorothy

    2011-01-01

    This paper provides a discussion of Irish Culinary Manuscripts and Printed Cookbooks. It covers Gaelic hospitality and aristocratic hospitality, setting the background for the Anglo-Irish households from which many manuscripts emerge. It charts the growing sources of information on Irish culinary history. It outlines Barbara Wheaton's framework for reading historic cookbooks and discusses the growing manuscript cookbook collection in the National Library of Ireland.

  6. Engineering Research in Irish Economic Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly, John

    2011-01-01

    This article summarizes the main findings and recommendations of a report published in December 2010 by the Irish Academy of Engineering (IAE). The report, representing the views of a committee of distinguished Irish engineers from a wide range of disciplines, addresses the role of engineering research in Ireland's economic development and the…

  7. Deglacial to Holocene history of ice-sheet retreat and bottom current strength on the western Barents Sea shelf

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lantzsch, Hendrik; Hanebuth, Till J. J.; Horry, Jan; Grave, Marina; Rebesco, Michele; Schwenk, Tilmann

    2017-10-01

    High-resolution sediment echosounder data combined with radiocarbon-dated sediment cores allowed us to reconstruct the Late Quaternary stratigraphic architecture of the Kveithola Trough and surrounding Spitsbergenbanken. The deposits display the successive deglacial retreat of the Svalbard-Barents Sea Ice Sheet. Basal subglacial till indicates that the grounded ice sheet covered both bank and trough during the Late Weichselian. A glaciomarine blanket inside the trough coinciding with laminated plumites on the bank formed during the initial ice-melting phase from at least 16.1 to 13.5 cal ka BP in close proximity to the ice margin. After the establishment of open-marine conditions at around 13.5 cal ka BP, a sediment drift developed in the confined setting of the Kveithola Trough, contemporary with crudely laminated mud, an overlying lag deposit, and modern bioclastic-rich sand on Spitsbergenbanken. The Kveithola Drift shows a remarkable grain-size coarsening from the moat towards the southern flank of the trough. This trend contradicts the concept of a separated drift (which would imply coarser grain sizes in proximity of the moat) and indicates that the southern bank is the main sediment source for the coarse material building up the Kveithola Drift. This depocenter represents, therefore, a yet undescribed combination of off-bank wedge and confined drift. Although the deposits inside Kveithola Trough and on Spitsbergenbanken display different depocenter geometries, time-equivalent grain-size changes imply a region-wide sediment-dynamic connection. We thus relate a phase of coarsest sediment supply (8.8-6.3 cal ka BP) to an increase in bottom current strength, which might be related to a stronger Atlantic Water inflow from the Southeast across the bank leading to winnowing and off-bank export of sandy sediments.

  8. Control of radiocaesium discharges to the Irish Sea: ICRP-26 in practice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Handyside, I.; Hunt, G.J.; Partington, C.

    1982-01-01

    Experience of application of the ICRP dose limitation system is described in the context of control of radioactive waste discharges to the north-east Irish Sea from the British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) Sellafield Works. The radiological significance of these discharges is mainly due to radiocaesium from the magnox fuel storage ponds. The discharges increased in 1974 owing to corrosion of magnox fuel; radiation exposure of the public mainly through the fish and shellfish consumption pathway also increased. BNFL, in consultation with Government Departments, decided to install an ion-exchange treatment plant to remove radioactivity from pond effluents. This plant is presently being built and will provide a long-term reduction in radiocaesium discharges. Optimization will play a major part in determining its operating regime. Meanwhile, measures to reduce discharges have been taken by circulating pond water through skips of zeolite installed in the ponds. Differential cost-benefit analysis has been used to indicate the optimum replacement rate of skips; experience of this is described. A range of skip costs was used to allow for some factors which were not uniquely definable. Detrimental costs were estimated from collective dose commitments and a range of values of the man-Sv from Pound 2000 to Pound 50,000. Other, non-quantifiable, factors were relevant. Following these considerations, the current skip replacement frequency is about 30 year -1 . Skips are presently reducing collective effective dose equivalent commitments to the UK and European populations by about half, or some 150 man-Sv.year -1 . Finally, to demonstrate conformity with the overall ICRP dose limitation system, compliance with dose limits is described. Effective dose equivalents to the relevant critical groups for the years 1977 to 1980 are presented. The use of zeolite skips has, here too, given significant reductions over this time, from 33% to (provisionally) 15% of the ICRP-recommended dose

  9. Looking for evidence of climate change impacts in the eastern Irish Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. S. Esteves

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Although storminess is often cited as a driver of long-term coastal erosion, a lack of suitable datasets has only allowed objective assessment of this claim in a handful of case studies. This reduces our ability to understand and predict how the coastline may respond to an increase in "storminess" as suggested by global and regional climate models. With focus on 16 km of the Sefton coastline bordering the eastern Irish Sea (UK, this paper analyses available measured datasets of water level, surge level, wave height, wind speed and barometric pressure with the objective of finding trends in metocean climate that are consistent with predictions. The paper then examines rates of change in shoreline position over the period 1894 to 2005 with the aim of establishing relationships with climatic variability using a range of measured and modelled metocean parameters (with time spans varying from two to eight decades. With the exception of the mean monthly wind speed, available metocean data do not indicate any statistically significant changes outside seasonal and decadal cycles. No clear relationship was found between changes in metocean conditions and rates of shoreline change along the Sefton coast. High interannual variability and the lack of long-term measurements make unambiguous correlations between climate change and shoreline evolution problematic. However, comparison between the North Atlantic Oscillation winter index (NAOw and coastline changes suggest increased erosion at times of decreasing NAOw values and reduced erosion at times of increasing NAOw values. Erosion tends to be more pronounced when decreasing NAOw values lead to a strong negative NAO phase. At present, anthropogenic changes in the local sediment budget and the short-term impact of extreme events are still the largest threat likely to affect coastal flooding and erosion risk in the short- and medium-term. Nevertheless, the potential impacts of climate change in the long

  10. Radioactivity monitoring of the Irish marine environment 1987

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Grady, J.; Currivan, L.

    1990-06-01

    This report represents the results of the Board's monitoring of radioactivity levels in the Irish marine environment during 1987. The principal objective of the monitoring programme is to obtain estimates of radiation doses to the Irish public arising from caesium-137 and caesium 134, the main contaminating radionuclides. Estimates are presented of the radiation doses to the Irish public arising from the consumption of fish and shellfish contaminated with radiocaesium

  11. A pan-Precambrian link between deglaciation and environmental oxidation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raub, T.J.; Kirschvink, J.L.

    2007-01-01

    Despite a continuous increase in solar luminosity to the present, Earth’s glacial record appears to become more frequent, though less severe, over geological time. At least two of the three major Precambrian glacial intervals were exceptionally intense, with solid evidence for widespread sea ice on or near the equator, well within a “Snowball Earth” zone produced by ice-albedo runaway in energy-balance models. The end of the first unambiguously low-latitude glaciation, the early Paleoproterozoic Makganyene event, is associated intimately with the first solid evidence for global oxygenation, including the world’s largest sedimentary manganese deposit. Subsequent low-latitude deglaciations during the Cryogenian interval of the Neoproterozoic Era are also associated with progressive oxidation, and these young Precambrian ice ages coincide with the time when basal animal phyla were diversifying. However, specifically testing hypotheses of cause and effect between Earth’s Neoproterozoic biosphere and glaciation is complicated because large and rapid True Polar Wander events appear to punctuate Neoproterozoic time and may have episodically dominated earlier and later intervals as well, rendering geographic reconstruction and age correlation challenging except for an exceptionally well-defined global paleomagnetic database.

  12. Reconciling records of ice streaming and ice margin retreat to produce a palaeogeographic reconstruction of the deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Margold, Martin; Stokes, Chris R.; Clark, Chris D.

    2018-06-01

    This paper reconstructs the deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS; including the Innuitian Ice Sheet) from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), with a particular focus on the spatial and temporal variations in ice streaming and the associated changes in flow patterns and ice divides. We build on a recent inventory of Laurentide ice streams and use an existing ice margin chronology to produce the first detailed transient reconstruction of the ice stream drainage network in the LIS, which we depict in a series of palaeogeographic maps. Results show that the drainage network at the LGM was similar to modern-day Antarctica. The majority of the ice streams were marine terminating and topographically-controlled and many of these continued to function late into the deglaciation, until the ice sheet lost its marine margin. Ice streams with a terrestrial ice margin in the west and south were more transient and ice flow directions changed with the build-up, peak-phase and collapse of the Cordilleran-Laurentide ice saddle. The south-eastern marine margin in Atlantic Canada started to retreat relatively early and some of the ice streams in this region switched off at or shortly after the LGM. In contrast, the ice streams draining towards the north-western and north-eastern marine margins in the Beaufort Sea and in Baffin Bay appear to have remained stable throughout most of the Late Glacial, and some of them continued to function until after the Younger Dryas (YD). The YD influenced the dynamics of the deglaciation, but there remains uncertainty about the response of the ice sheet in several sectors. We tentatively ascribe the switching-on of some major ice streams during this period (e.g. M'Clintock Channel Ice Stream at the north-west margin), but for other large ice streams whose timing partially overlaps with the YD, the drivers are less clear and ice-dynamical processes, rather than effects of climate and surface mass balance are viewed as more likely drivers. Retreat

  13. 'HAs fail to consult Irish people in UK'.

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-11-10

    Health authorities are failing to consult local people on their health needs, a conference on the mental health of Irish people living in the UK heard last week. Consulting Irish people was often only 'symbolic', despite the requirements of the NHS and Community Care Act, conference Chair Padraic Kenna, Director of Innisfree Housing Association, told delegates. 'The Irish caught the boat in the 1950s only to miss the boat ever since,' he said.

  14. CO2 and circulation in the deglacial North Pacific

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taylor, B.; Rae, J. W. B.; Gray, W. R.; Rees-Owen, R. L.; Burke, A.

    2017-12-01

    The North Pacific is the largest carbon reservoir in the global ocean, but has not typically been thought to play an active role in deglacial CO2 rise based on its modern stratified state. Recent studies (Okazaki et al., 2010; Rae et al., 2014; Max et al., 2017), however, have suggested that a more dynamic circulation regime operated in the glacial and deglacial North Pacific and, as such, the role of the North Pacific in deglacial CO2 rise may have been underestimated. We present two new high-resolution boron isotope records of surface water pCO2 from the North West and North East Pacific spanning the last 22 kyrs. The two records show remarkable coherence over key intervals during the last deglaciation and highlight major changes over a number of abrupt climate events. At both sites, following the LGM, pCO2(sw) rises, coincident with a younging of North Pacific intermediate and deep waters. This suggests that increased local overturning mixed CO2-rich deep waters throughout the water column, likely contributing to CO2 outgassing during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1). Both records exhibit decreases in pCO2(sw) during the latter stages of HS1, which are immediately followed by a rapid increase in pCO2(sw) at the onset of the Bølling-Allerød (B/A). Radiocarbon and δ13C data indicate a collapse in North Pacific Intermediate Water formation at the onset of the B/A, which, combined with enhanced wind stress curl, would have allowed CO2-rich waters to mix into the surface ocean from intermediate-depths. The combination of high nutrient availability and a seasonally well-stratified mixed layer likely led to the abrupt increase in export productivity across the region; the excess surface water CO2 shows that alleviation of iron or light limitation could not have been its primary cause. Our new records highlight the importance of overturning circulation in the North Pacific in controlling productivity and CO2 release on glacial/interglacial timescales.

  15. Nature tourism and Irish film

    OpenAIRE

    Brereton, Pat

    2006-01-01

    This article provides a historical overview and reading of seminal Irish film from the perspective of nature tourism. Within Irish cultural studies, tourism is frequently equated with an overly romantic image of the island, which has been used to sell the country abroad. However, using notions like the tourist gaze and taking on board influential debates around space/place, one can posit a more progressive environmental vision of nature and landscape in our readings of film.

  16. The Significance Of Space In Iris Murdoch’s The Unicorn As A Twentieth-Century Irish Gothic Novel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jarząb Joanna

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available During the twentieth century almost all literary genres came back to prominence in different and alternative forms. The Gothic is no exception to this phenomenon as many a writer made an attempt at using this eighteenth-century genre once again, but adding to it some contemporary elements. Consequently, an abundance of new techniques have been introduced to Gothic fiction to evoke the feeling of horror and terror among the more and more demanding readers of modern times. Still, some writers prefer to return to the traditional concept of the Gothic – as does Iris Murdoch in her novel The Unicorn. The purpose of this article is to analyse the text from the perspective of the Irish Gothic. Those features of the genre which are traditional as well as local are going to be discussed in the context of space as the dominating aspect of the novel. The typical Irish landscape abounding in marshes, bogs and the sea will be contrasted with the inner space of the house, and its resemblance to the old Victorian mansions popular among the Anglo-Irish ascendancy of nineteenth-century Ireland. In what follows, the paper aims at showing how Murdoch’s skilful play with the spatial differentiation between the inside and the outside dislodges other more universal issues, such as the question of freedom, of social taboos and of the different anxieties still present in Irish society today.

  17. The Impact of Oil Prices on Irish Inflation

    OpenAIRE

    O'Brien, Derry; Weymes, Laura

    2010-01-01

    Oil prices have been characterised by large fluctuations in recent years. Strong volatility in oil prices has important implications for the Irish economy as Ireland has a relatively poor fuel endowment and relies heavily on imported oil. Energy price increases have been one of the principal drivers behind HICP inflation rates in Ireland in recent years. This article highlights the distinctive features of the Irish energy market which render the impact of oil price changes on Irish inflation ...

  18. Reawakening the Irish language through the ırish education system: Challenges and priorities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T.J. Ó Ceallaigh

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available As a language, Irish is unique to Ireland and is, therefore, of crucial importance to the identity of the Irish people, to Irish culture and to world heritage. The Irish language however has had a turbulent and traumatic history and has endured a complex and varied relationship with the Irish people. Since the foundation of the Irish Free State, the education system has been targeted as an agency and model for Irish language planning, education and language revitalisation and has had a critical role in generating linguistic ability in the Irish language. This paper reviews the complex and controversial relationship between the Irish language, the State and the education system from an historical perspective. Some key acts of recent legislation and government initiatives, which impact on the status of the Irish language are considered and barriers and challenges to progress in the education system are outlined. The paper concludes with a discussion on significant positive factors which may revolutionise and reawaken the Irish language through our education syste

  19. Unique mitochondrial DNA lineages in Irish stickleback populations: cryptic refugium or rapid recolonization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravinet, Mark; Harrod, Chris; Eizaguirre, Christophe; Prodöhl, Paulo A

    2014-06-01

    Repeated recolonization of freshwater environments following Pleistocene glaciations has played a major role in the evolution and adaptation of anadromous taxa. Located at the western fringe of Europe, Ireland and Britain were likely recolonized rapidly by anadromous fishes from the North Atlantic following the last glacial maximum (LGM). While the presence of unique mitochondrial haplotypes in Ireland suggests that a cryptic northern refugium may have played a role in recolonization, no explicit test of this hypothesis has been conducted. The three-spined stickleback is native and ubiquitous to aquatic ecosystems throughout Ireland, making it an excellent model species with which to examine the biogeographical history of anadromous fishes in the region. We used mitochondrial and microsatellite markers to examine the presence of divergent evolutionary lineages and to assess broad-scale patterns of geographical clustering among postglacially isolated populations. Our results confirm that Ireland is a region of secondary contact for divergent mitochondrial lineages and that endemic haplotypes occur in populations in Central and Southern Ireland. To test whether a putative Irish lineage arose from a cryptic Irish refugium, we used approximate Bayesian computation (ABC). However, we found no support for this hypothesis. Instead, the Irish lineage likely diverged from the European lineage as a result of postglacial isolation of freshwater populations by rising sea levels. These findings emphasize the need to rigorously test biogeographical hypothesis and contribute further evidence that postglacial processes may have shaped genetic diversity in temperate fauna.

  20. Irish-Israelism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yazell, Bryan

    2018-01-01

    This article re-considers the language of racial stereotype that is at the forefront of the “Cyclops” episode in Ulysses. Critics have long characterized the conflict between Leopold Bloom and the Citizen in terms of how each character defines the Irish nation. According to these readings, Bloom’...

  1. Injuries in Irish dance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, Cynthia J; Tyson, Kesley D; Johnson, Victor M; Popoli, David M; d'Hemecourt, Pierre A; Micheli, Lyle J

    2013-12-01

    Irish dance is growing in popularity and competitiveness; however, very little research has focused specifically on this genre of dance. The purpose of this study was to analyze the types of dance injuries incurred by Irish dancers. A chart review was performed to identify all injuries associated with Irish dance seen in the sports medicine or orthopaedic clinics at the investigators' hospital over an 11-year period. "Injury" was defined as any dance-related pain or disorder that led to evaluation in the clinics. Survey data were also collected from study participants. Ultimately, 255 patients from over 30 different schools of dance were seen with injuries directly related (726 clinic visits) or partially related (199 visits) to Irish dance. Participants ranged in age from 4 to 47, with 95% (243/255) under the age of 19. These 255 patients received 437 diagnoses. Almost 80% of the injuries (348/437) were attributable to overuse, and 20.4% were acute and traumatic injuries (89/437). Ninety-five percent (95.9%) of injuries involved the hip or lower extremity. The most common sites were the foot (33.2%), ankle (22.7%), knee (19.7%), and hip (14.4%). Typical diagnoses were tendon injury (13.3%), apophysitis (11.4%), patellofemoral pain and instability (10.8%), stress injury (10.1%), and muscle injury (7.8%). The majority of traumatic injuries were seen in clinic within 3 weeks, but less than a quarter of overuse injuries were seen that quickly. The most common treatment, prescribed to 84.3% of patients, was physical therapy and home exercises, and the majority of dancers (64.3%) were able to return to full dance activity after injury.

  2. Deciphering the spatio-temporal complexity of climate change of the last deglaciation: a model analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. M. Roche

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Understanding the sequence of events occuring during the last major glacial to interglacial transition (21 ka BP to 9 ka BP is a challenging task that has the potential to unveil the mechanisms behind large scale climate changes. Though many studies have focused on the understanding of the complex sequence of rapid climatic change that accompanied or interrupted the deglaciation, few have analysed it in a more theoretical framework with simple forcings. In the following, we address when and where the first significant temperature anomalies appeared when using slow varying forcing of the last deglaciation. We used here coupled transient simulations of the last deglaciation, including ocean, atmosphere and vegetation components to analyse the spatial timing of the deglaciation. To keep the analysis in a simple framework, we did not include freshwater forcings that potentially cause rapid climate shifts during that time period. We aimed to disentangle the direct and subsequent response of the climate system to slow forcing and moreover, the location where those changes are more clearly expressed. In a data – modelling comparison perspective, this could help understand the physically plausible phasing between known forcings and recorded climatic changes. Our analysis of climate variability could also help to distinguish deglacial warming signals from internal climate variability. We thus are able to better pinpoint the onset of local deglaciation, as defined by the first significant local warming and further show that there is a large regional variability associated with it, even with the set of slow forcings used here. In our model, the first significant hemispheric warming occurred simultaneously in the North and in the South and is a direct response to the obliquity forcing.

  3. Partial pressure (or fugacity) of carbon dioxide, salinity and other variables collected from Surface underway observations using Carbon dioxide (CO2) gas analyzer, Shower head chamber equilibrator for autonomous carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement and other instruments from CEFAS ENDEAVOUR in the English Channel, Irish Sea and St. George's Channel and North Atlantic Ocean from 2013-02-16 to 2013-03-13 (NCEI Accession 0157256)

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — NCEI Accession 0157256 includes Surface underway, chemical, meteorological and physical data collected from CEFAS ENDEAVOUR in the English Channel, Irish Sea and St....

  4. The sword and the prayerbook: ideals of authentic Irish manliness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nugent, Joseph

    2008-01-01

    As the Catholic Church responded to secular models of the nineteenth-century hero by refurbishing its saints, the Irish Church promoted its native saint, Colmcill, as the sole authentic positive stereotype deserving of the Irishman's emulation. At a time when the concepts of Irishness and manliness were being contested, the League of St. Columba proposed that the physical, psychological, and spiritual characteristics of Colmcill be materialized in the new Irish youth. By folding the mystical rhetoric of Catholicism into the search for national identity, the League altered the course of Irish nationalism and inflected the trajectory of Irish masculine development. While Colmcill's ascendance as an emulatory type was brief, the qualities he was shaped to embody were reinscribed in the Catholic priest, who became installed as the aspirational model for the youth of Ireland.

  5. Temporal and spatial responses of the bioindicator Fucus to discharges of 99Tc in the eastern Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, P.; Busby, R.G.; McCartney, M.

    1999-01-01

    Technetium-99 is a radioactive isotope discharged under authorisation to the Irish Sea from the British Nuclear Fuels plc Sellafield reprocessing plant in Cumbria via a marine pipeline. An increase in 99 Tc discharges from Sellafield in recent years has provided an ideal opportunity to undertake a more detailed investigation of its environmental behaviour. Here, the temporal and spatial response of Fucus sp. to the increased discharges has been investigated and its role as a bioindicator assessed. Initial investigations in 1995, have confirmed the expectation that Fucus does act as an effective bioindicator of 99 Tc, with easily detectable 99 Tc concentrations (1 - 15 kBq kg -1 wet weight) being encountered, providing a time integrated signal of 99 Tc discharges. Analysis of subsequent samples collected during 1996, however, have shown significant short-term peaks in Fucus 99 Tc concentrations close to Sellafield (up to 90 kBq kg -1 wet weight) and this can be related to peaks in 99 Tc seawater concentrations. This type of response suggests that Fucus has a means of rapidly accumulating 99 Tc, although the rate at which this accumulated component may be eliminated remains unclear. This effect was only observed at sites close to Sellafield (within 15 km). Relatively constant 99 Tc concentrations in Fucus were found at more distant sites (50 - 150 km). (author)

  6. Re-dissolution of caesium and plutonium from Irish Sea sediments: a comparison between different modelling approaches

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Iosjpe, M.A.; Perianez, R.B.

    2004-01-01

    Recently, there has been experimental evidence of re-dissolution of plutonium and caesium taking place from contaminated Irish Sea sediments. Thus, sediments are behaving as a long-term source of waste radionuclides to the water column. The objective of this work consists of studying such re-dissolution process by means of mathematical modelling. In particular, two models with different conceptual and numerical approaches will be used. The first is a box model for long-term dispersion from Sellafield to the Arctic marine environment in which water fluxes between boxes are obtained from basic oceanographic information. Water sediment interactions of radionuclides are described through sedimentation and remobilization processes on the basis of the sediment equilibrium distribution coefficient. The second model is a high resolution 3D model in which advective transport is obtained from the calculated current fields. Thus, tidal mixing is explicitly computed. Exchanges of radionuclides between the liquid and solid phases are described in terms of kinetic transfer coefficients. As a consequence, the model has a general applicability and can be used in situations out from equilibrium conditions. Both models have been used to simulate the dispersion of instantaneous releases from Sellafield and to simulate the process of re-dissolution of radionuclides from contaminated sediments. Results from both models are comparable, being differences in activity levels in water and sediments smaller than should be expected from the different modelling approaches. Some general conclusions on the applicability of each modelling approach and on how they can be combined to improve predictions can also be extracted from this work. (author)

  7. Cultural Scripts and the Speech Act of Opinions in Irish English: A Study amongst Irish and Polish University Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weronika Gąsior

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Studies in pragmatics have been limited to a handful of illocutionary acts such as requests, apologies or compliments, and opinions remain underrepresented in the existing literature. In this paper I present the results of a study of opinions in Irish English, conducted in an intercultural environment of Irish-Polish interactions. Departing from a traditional approach of speech act realisation studies, I applied the theory of cultural scripts to analyse opinions. In contrasting the Irish and Polish formulas for expressing opinions, as well as sociopragmatic attitudes towards this speech act, a difference in the cultural scripts for opinions in each culture was observable. Apart from already documented Polish frankness in opinions, the study discovered also a rational approach to presenting good arguments to support one’s assertions among the participants. In relation to the Irish script for opinions, the findings are in line with previous classifications of opinions in Australian English, showing a certain level of variational uniformity amongst the English-speaking cultures in this regard.

  8. Database in Theory and Practice: The Bibliography of Irish Literary Criticism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howell, Sonia

    2013-01-01

    Focusing on "The Bibliography of Irish Literary Criticism" (BILC, 2010), a bibliographical database of Irish literary criticism developed by humanities and information and communications technology (ICT) researchers in NUI Maynooth, this chapter investigates the opportunities and implications afforded the field of Irish literary studies…

  9. Universal precautions--do Irish anaesthetists comply?

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    O'Rourke, N

    2012-02-03

    BACKGROUND: Anaesthetists are at high risk from blood-borne pathogens. Universal Precautions (UP) include the routine use of appropriate barrier precautions and techniques to reduce the likelihood of exposure to blood, body fluids and tissues that may contain pathogens. The compliance of Irish anaesthetists with these precautions has not been studied. AIM: To study the attitudes of Irish anaesthetists to Universal Precautions. METHOD: A postal questionnaire was sent to 210 anaesthetists currently practising in Ireland. The questionnaire was based on a model used in Australia and New Zealand. RESULTS: There was a 50% response rate to the survey. Only 15% of respondents had taken a risk history from a patient in the preceding four weeks. Resheathing of needles was commonplace. The effectiveness of hepatitis B immunisation was rarely checked and only 66% of respondents believe implementation of Universal Precautions to be practical. CONCLUSION: Irish anaesthetists comply poorly with Universal Precautions.

  10. The Irish Theme in the Writings of Bill Naughton

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Pierce

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available The student interested in cultural assimilation, hybridity, and naturalization, in masculinity, authorship, and identity, in what happened to the Irish in Britain in the twentieth century, will turn at some point to the Mayo-born, Lancashire writer Bill Naughton (1910-1992, author of a classic children’s story collection The Goalkeeper’s Revenge and Other Stories (1961, ofAlfie (1965, the film which helped define 1960s London, and of a series of autobiographies largely centering on his Irish childhood and upbringing in Bolton. It has been the historic role of Irish writers from Richard Brinsley Sheridan to Oscar Wilde, from Elizabeth Bowen to William Trevor, to give the English back to themselves in a gallery of portraits. Naughton is part of this tradition, but, unlike these other writers, his subject is the English working class, which he writes about from within, with both sympathy and knowledge. It can be readily conceded that his work is not at the forefront of modern English or Irish writing, but it does deserve to be better known and appreciated. Here in this discursive essay, with an eye on his Irish background, I move back and forth across his writing to reflect on his contribution not so to much the cultural greening of Britain as to the mass observation of the English and of the Irish in Britain.

  11. Deglacial and Holocene sea-ice variability north of Iceland and response to ocean circulation changes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Xiaotong; Zhao, Meixun; Knudsen, Karen Luise; Sha, Longbin; Eiríksson, Jón; Gudmundsdóttir, Esther; Jiang, Hui; Guo, Zhigang

    2017-08-01

    Sea-ice conditions on the North Icelandic shelf constitute a key component for the study of the climatic gradients between the Arctic and the North Atlantic Oceans at the Polar Front between the cold East Icelandic Current delivering Polar surface water and the relatively warm Irminger Current derived from the North Atlantic Current. The variability of sea ice contributes to heat reduction (albedo) and gas exchange between the ocean and the atmosphere, and further affects the deep-water formation. However, lack of long-term and high-resolution sea-ice records in the region hinders the understanding of palaeoceanographic change mechanisms during the last glacial-interglacial cycle. Here, we present a sea-ice record back to 15 ka (cal. ka BP) based on the sea-ice biomarker IP25, phytoplankton biomarker brassicasterol and terrestrial biomarker long-chain n-alkanols in piston core MD99-2272 from the North Icelandic shelf. During the Bølling/Allerød (14.7-12.9 ka), the North Icelandic shelf was characterized by extensive spring sea-ice cover linked to reduced flow of warm Atlantic Water and dominant Polar water influence, as well as strong meltwater input in the area. This pattern showed an anti-phase relationship with the ice-free/less ice conditions in marginal areas of the eastern Nordic Seas, where the Atlantic Water inflow was strong, and contributed to an enhanced deep-water formation. Prolonged sea-ice cover with occasional occurrence of seasonal sea ice prevailed during the Younger Dryas (12.9-11.7 ka) interrupted by a brief interval of enhanced Irminger Current and deposition of the Vedde Ash, as opposed to abruptly increased sea-ice conditions in the eastern Nordic Seas. The seasonal sea ice decreased gradually from the Younger Dryas to the onset of the Holocene corresponding to increasing insolation. Ice-free conditions and sea surface warming were observed for the Early Holocene, followed by expansion of sea ice during the Mid-Holocene.

  12. Differential response of vegetation in Hulun Lake region at the northern margin of Asian summer monsoon to extreme cold events of the last deglaciation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shengrui; Xiao, Jule; Xu, Qinghai; Wen, Ruilin; Fan, Jiawei; Huang, Yun; Yamagata, Hideki

    2018-06-01

    The response of vegetation to extreme cold events during the last deglaciation is important for assessing the impact of possible extreme climatic events on terrestrial ecosystems under future global warming scenarios. Here, we present a detailed record of the development of regional vegetation in the northern margin of Asian summer monsoon during the last deglaciation (16,500-11,000 cal yr BP) based on a radiocarbon-dated high-resolution pollen record from Hulun Lake, northeast China. The results show that the regional vegetation changed from subalpine meadow-desert steppe to mixed coniferous and deciduous forest-typical steppe during the last deglaciation. However, its responses to the Heinrich event 1 (H1) and the Younger Dryas event (YD) were significantly different: during the H1 event, scattered sparse forest was present in the surrounding mountains, while within the lake catchment the vegetation cover was poor and was dominated by desert steppe. In contrast, during the YD event, deciduous forest developed and the proportion of coniferous forest increased in the mountains, the lake catchment was occupied by typical steppe. We suggest that changes in Northern Hemisphere summer insolation and land surface conditions (ice sheets and sea level) caused temperature and monsoonal precipitation variations that contributed to the contrasting vegetation response during the two cold events. We conclude that under future global warming scenarios, extreme climatic events may cause a deterioration of the ecological environment of the Hulun Lake region, resulting in increased coniferous forest and decreased total forest cover in the surrounding mountains, and a reduction in typical steppe in the lake catchment.

  13. Ecocriticism and Irish Poetry A Preliminary Outline

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James Mc Elroy

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available This article offers a brief thumbnail sketch of how Irish poetry has situated “nature” inside its competing narrative forms. Beginning with Irish poetry’s earliest lyrics and concluding with some of Ireland’s most recent, and most experimental, writers, the goal of the piece is to introduce some rudimentary eco-critical theory as a means of better understanding how nature acts as a complex cultural and political semiotic, so often overlooked, in Irish literature. En route, the article examines and in part deconstructs those critical categories that have often divided Irish literature into two distinct ecological camps: the picturesque (read colonialist/tourist and the oral (read native/indigenous. The article also considers the importance of ecofeminist theory and asks how critics might better read Ireland’s women poets as nature poets in their own right. In closing, the piece turns its attention to a number of recent poets, both men and women, who have exceeded the picturesque/oral divide and now require eco-alternative readings of nature as we enter the second decade of the 21st Century.

  14. 75 FR 10159 - Irish-American Heritage Month, 2010

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-03-05

    ... America A Proclamation From long before American independence to today, countless individuals have reached... the Emerald Isle. Irish Americans fought for our independence, and their signatures adorn our founding documents. When famine ravaged Ireland in the 1840s and 1850s, many Irish men and women sought a new...

  15. Corned Beef: an Enigmatic Irish Dish

    OpenAIRE

    Mac Con Iomaire, Máirtín; Gallagher, Pádraic Óg

    2011-01-01

    Corned beef and cabbage, which is consumed in America in large quantities each Saint Patrick’s Day (17th March), is considered by most Americans to be the ultimate Irish dish. However, corned beef and cabbage is seldom eaten in modern day Ireland. It is widely reported that Irish immigrants replaced their beloved bacon and cabbage with corned beef and cabbage when they arrived in America, drawing on the corned beef supplied by their neighbouring Jewish butchers, but not all commentators beli...

  16. Irish Corned Beef: A Culinary History

    OpenAIRE

    Mac Con Iomaire, Máirtín; Gallagher, Pádraic Óg

    2011-01-01

    This article proposes that a better knowledge of culinary history enriches all culinary stakeholders. The article will discuss the origins and history of corned beef in Irish cuisine and culture. It outlines how cattle have been central to the ancient Irish way of life for centuries, but were cherished more for their milk than their meat. In the early modern period, with the decline in the power of the Gaelic lords, cattle became and economic commodity that was exported to England. The Cattle...

  17. The identification of critical groups and its application to fish and shellfish consumers in the coastal area of the North-East Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunt, G.J.; Hewett, C.J.; Shepherd, J.G.

    1982-01-01

    Control of radioactive waste disposal to the environment, based on the recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP), necessitates an identification of the critical group of members of the public exposed from a given practice. Criteria for identification of critical groups based mainly on ICRP recommendations are discussed. Methods existing up to 1974 are briefly reviewed in the light of these criteria. Two more recent methods are described and compared on the basis of previous data; these methods, which are complementary, are based on homogeneity considerations and satisfy the criteria generally rather better than do the earlier methods. The application of the newer techniques to recent surveys of fish and shellfish consumption in the coastal area of the North-East Irish Sea is described, in relation to discharges from the Windscale reprocessing plant. The results of this survey are presented, and estimates are given of the effective dose equivalent to members of these critical groups in recent years, to show the effect of liquid discharges from Windscale in terms of public radiation exposure. (author)

  18. Gaeilge Gaming: Assessing How Games Can Help Children to Learn Irish

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dalton, Gene; Devitt, Ann

    2016-01-01

    In the 2011 census almost one in three Irish teenagers claimed to be unable to speak Irish (Central Statistics Office, Ireland, 2012), despite the language being taught daily in school. The challenges facing the Irish language in schools are complex and multifaceted. The research reported here attempts to address some of these challenges by…

  19. Profiling vocabulary acquisition in Irish.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Toole, Ciara; Fletcher, Paul

    2012-01-01

    Investigations into early vocabulary development, including the timing of the acquisition of nouns, verbs and closed-class words, have produced conflicting results, both within and across languages. Studying vocabulary development in Irish can contribute to this area, as it has potentially informative features such as a VSO word order, and semantically rich prepositions. This study used a parent report adapted for Irish, to measure vocabulary development longitudinally for children aged between 1,04 and 3,04. The findings indicated that the children learned closed-class words at relatively smaller vocabulary sizes compared to children acquiring other languages, and had a strong preference for nouns.

  20. Forecasting Irish Inflation: A Composite Leading Indicator

    OpenAIRE

    Quinn, Terry; Mawdsley, Andrew

    1996-01-01

    This paper presents the results of research into the construction of a composite leading indicator of the Irish rate of inflation, as measured by the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). It follows the work of Fagan and Fell (1994) who applied the business cycle leading indicator methodology, initially established by Mitchell and Burns (1938,1946), to construct a composite leading indicator of the Irish business cycle.

  1. Reconstructing Mid- to Late Holocene Sea-Level Change from Coral Microatolls, French Polynesia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallmann, N.; Camoin, G.; Eisenhauer, A.; Vella, C.; Samankassou, E.; Botella, A.; Milne, G. A.; Pothin, V.; Dussouillez, P.; Fleury, J.

    2017-12-01

    Coral microatolls are sensitive low-tide recorders, as their vertical accretion is limited by the mean low water springs level, and can be considered therefore as high-precision recorders of sea-level change. They are of pivotal importance to resolving the rates and amplitudes of millennial-to-century scale changes during periods of relative climate stability such as the Mid- to Late Holocene, which serves as an important baseline of natural variability prior to the Anthropocene. It provides therefore a unique opportunity to study coastal response to sea-level rise, even if the rates of sea-level rise during the Mid- to Late Holocene were lower than the current rates and those expected in the near future. Mid- to Late Holocene relative sea-level changes in French Polynesia encompassing the last 6,000 years were reconstructed based on the coupling between absolute U/Th dating of in situ coral microatolls and their precise positioning via GPS RTK (Real Time Kinematic) measurements. The twelve studied islands represent ideal settings for accurate sea-level studies because: 1) they can be regarded as tectonically stable during the relevant period (slow subsidence), 2) they are located far from former ice sheets (far-field), 3) they are characterized by a low tidal amplitude, and 4) they cover a wide range of latitudes which produces significantly improved constraints on GIA (Glacial Isostatic Adjustment) model parameters. A sea-level rise of less than 1 m is recorded between 6 and 3-3.5 ka, and is followed by a gradual fall in sea level that started around 2.5 ka and persisted until the past few centuries. In addition, growth pattern analysis of coral microatolls allows the reconstruction of low-amplitude, high-frequency sea-level change on centennial to sub-decadal time scales. The reconstructed sea-level curve extends the Tahiti last deglacial sea-level curve [Deschamps et al., 2012, Nature, 483, 559-564], and is in good agreement with a geophysical model tuned to

  2. Travellers and Cowboys: Myths of the Irish West.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bisplinghoff, Gretchen

    The recent Irish film "Into the West" (1992) explores the myth of the West on two continents. Images from television and movies appear as a visual reference point within "Into the West"; the main characters, two young Irish boys, are fascinated with the American West of cowboys and Indians as depicted in countless Hollywood…

  3. The three lost millennia of the last deglaciation (Alfred Wegener Medal Lecture)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bard, Edouard

    2013-04-01

    sediments from the Iberian Margin. Three years later, significant improvements of the radiocarbon calibration demonstrated that about three millennia were missing from the deglaciation record. Accordingly, the LGM mean age was pushed from 18,000 to 21,000 yr BP, the midpoint of H1 was shifted from 13,500 to 16,000 yr BP, and the beginning of the Holocene was repositioned at about 11,500 yr BP. This new climate chronology was subsequently confirmed by counting 'cryovarves' within the GRIP and GISP2 Greenland ice cores. These studies have since been complemented by many other records from polar ice, marine and lacustrine sediments and cave speleothems. In addition to extending the chronology by three additional millennia, improvement also arose from the quality of the new geological archives. These archives have allowed studies at much higher resolution than was previously achieved in the framework of CLIMAP, which included many records based on deep-sea cores characterized by low sedimentation rate, and thus very susceptible to smoothing processes such as bioturbation. In addition, analytical geochemistry has only recently provided techniques adapted to the production of high-resolution time series of various proxies based on elemental ratios, on organic compounds or on stable and radiogenic isotopes. More than a dozen years after the H1 discovery, the same Iberian Margin sediments were used to show that H1 comprised at least two phases, H1a and H1b, based on ice rafted debris (IRD) and other proxies. It is now recognized that the entire H1 event (H1 sensu lato) is a three millennia-long period (ca. 17,500 to 14,500 yr BP). To illustrate the progress in this research field, I will review the key records that can be used to document the complex nature of this episode. The H1 (s.l.) included several phases of intense cooling, of precipitation changes - notably at low latitudes and in the Asian monsoon area, of retreat and decay of glacial ice-sheets - as evidenced in sediments

  4. Modelling the reworking effects of bioturbation on the incorporation of radionuclides into the sediment column: implications for the fate of particle-reactive radionuclides in Irish Sea sediments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cournane, S.; Leon Vintro, L.; Mitchell, P.I.

    2010-01-01

    A microcosm laboratory experiment was conducted to determine the impact of biological reworking by the ragworm Nereis diversicolor on the redistribution of particle-bound radionuclides deposited at the sediment-water interface. Over the course of the 40-day experiment, as much as 35% of a 137 Cs-labelled particulate tracer deposited on the sediment surface was redistributed to depths of up to 11 cm by the polychaete. Three different reworking models were employed to model the profiles and quantify the biodiffusion and biotransport coefficients: a gallery-diffuser model, a continuous sub-surface egestion model and a biodiffusion model. Although the biodiffusion coefficients obtained for each model were quite similar, the continuous sub-surface egestion model provided the best fit to the data. The average biodiffusion coefficient, at 1.8 ± 0.9 cm 2 y -1 , is in good agreement with the values quoted by other workers on the bioturbation effects of this polychaete species. The corresponding value for the biotransport coefficient was found to be 0.9 ± 0.4 cm y -1 . The effects of non-local mixing were incorporated in a model to describe the temporal evolution of measured 99 Tc and 60 Co radionuclide sediment profiles in the eastern Irish Sea, influenced by radioactive waste discharged from the Sellafield reprocessing plant. Reworking conditions in the sediment column were simulated by considering an upper mixed layer, an exponentially decreasing diffusion coefficient, and appropriate biotransport coefficients to account for non-local mixing. The diffusion coefficients calculated from the 99 Tc and 60 Co cores were in the range 2-14 cm 2 y -1 , which are consistent with the values found by other workers in the same marine area, while the biotransport coefficients were similar to those obtained for a variety of macrobenthic organisms in controlled laboratories and field studies. -- Research highlights: →N. diversicolor redistributes up to 35% particle

  5. Attitudes of Irish dental graduates to vocational training.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    McKenna, G

    2010-05-01

    Vocational training (VT) is a mandatory 12 month period for UK dental graduates after graduation. Graduates of Irish Dental Schools are eligible to enter the general dental service in Ireland or obtain an NHS performers list number in the UK immediately after qualification. Reports would suggest that some graduates of Irish Dental Schools are choosing to take part in VT in the UK and find the experience beneficial. This study aimed to record the uptake of VT amongst recent graduates from University College Cork and to document their experiences. It was designed to compare the attitudes and experiences of graduates of Irish Dental Schools who undertook VT compared with those who entered the general dental service.

  6. Angels and IPOs: Policies for Sustainable Equity Financing of Irish Small Businesses

    OpenAIRE

    Mulcahy, Diane

    2005-01-01

    Angels and IPOs: Policies for Sustainable Equity Financing of Irish Small Businesses explores the rationale for the Irish government?s investments of more than 300 million Euro in Irish companies and the domestic venture capital industry. It challenges the conventional wisdom that there is an `equity gap? of early stage risk capital in Ireland. In the context of the equity financing cycle, it discusses the limited supply of angel capital available to Irish firms as well as the `exit gap? resu...

  7. EJBEVol.1 No.1/2010 Page 134 The Conditionality of Irish aid ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    User

    focus will be on the impact of Irish development assistance in Sudan. Irish aid administered by .... 'priority' countries and the relationships between Irish Aid and trade. ..... of excessive government spending, budget deficits and inflation, and overvalued ..... indemnified against any credit risk from overseas customers by the.

  8. Bowery to Broadway. The American Irish in Classic Hollywood Cinema (Christopher Shannon & New Irish Storytellers. Narrative Strategies in Film (Díóg O’Connell

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Menéndez-Otero

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Reseñas de los libros de cine Bowery to Broadway. The American Irish in Classic Hollywood Cinema (Christopher Shannon 2010 & New Irish Storytellers. Narrative Strategies in Film (Díóg O’Connell 2010

  9. Infilling and flooding of the Mekong River incised valley during deglacial sea-level rise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tjallingii, Rik; Stattegger, Karl; Wetzel, Andreas; Van Phach, Phung

    2010-06-01

    The abrupt transition from fluvial to marine deposition of incised-valley-fill sediments retrieved from the southeast Vietnamese shelf, accurately records the postglacial transgression after 14 ka before present (BP). Valley-filling sediments consist of fluvial mud, whereas sedimentation after the transgression is characterized by shallow-marine carbonate sands. This change in sediment composition is accurately marked in high-resolution X-ray fluorescence (XRF) core scanning records. Rapid aggradation of fluvial sediments at the river mouth nearly completely filled the Mekong incised valley prior to flooding. However, accumulation rates strongly reduced in the valley after the river-mouth system flooded and stepped back. This also affected the sediment supply to deeper parts of the southeast Vietnamese shelf. Comparison of the Mekong valley-filling with the East Asian sea-level history of sub- and inter-tidal sediment records shows that the transgressive surface preserved in the incised-valley-fill records is a robust sea-level indicator. The valley was nearly completely filled with fluvial sediments between 13.0 and 9.5 ka BP when sea-level rose rather constantly with approximately 10 mm/yr, as indicated by the East Asian sea-level record. At shallower parts of the shelf, significant sediment reworking and the establishment of estuarine conditions at the final stage of infilling complicates accurate dating of the transgressive surface. Nevertheless, incised-valley-fill records and land-based drill sites indicate a vast and rapid flooding of the shelf from the location of the modern Vietnamese coastline to the Cambodian lowlands between 9.5 ka and 8.5 ka BP. Fast flooding of this part of the shelf is related with the low shelf gradient and a strong acceleration of the East Asian sea-level rise from 34 to 9 meter below modern sea level (mbsl) corresponding to the sea-level jump of melt water pulse (MWP) 1C.

  10. The Paleoceanography of the Bering Sea During the Last Glacial Cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    2006-02-01

    pachyderma (s.). This suggests that the P180 reflects transient warmings, but sustained freshening of surface water. 3.1 Introduction The heat...centennial and millenial time scales during the deglaciation, even though the climate system was undergoing a major transition. 60 Chapter 4 Marine Isotope...and transient warming, and a sudden and sustained freshening of surface water in the Bering Sea. I made one simple test of whether the faunal record

  11. Making the Case for Irish through English: Eco-critical Politics of Language by Learners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John L. Murphy

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines recent accounts by Americans who have learned Irish. Their narratives from the West of Ireland express what translation theorist Michael Cronin calls ‘individualist politics of language’. He claims that the English-speaking majority will determine the survival of 21st century Irish.  Cronin shifts Irish into a globalized, ‘late modern’ network. Foreign-born learners enter this network when they choose to study Irish. They counter the stereotype of Irish schoolchildren forced into rote recitation of a moribund language.  Patricia Monaghan combines goddess-worship with academic research into indigenous spirituality, place-name lore, literature, and the Irish environmental inheritance. Her travelogue and reports by five other American visitors to Gaeltachtaí are compared with John Montague and Éilís Ní Dhuibhne’s literary depictions of 20th-century Irish-born school-level learners.Feminist, post-colonial, and literary criticisms enrich understanding of how American students apply ecological and cultural strategies that seek to recover this indigenous language. Choosing to make the case for Irish, adult students share Cronin’s ‘individualist politics’. In English-language books, American advocates preserve and expand a linguistic ecology in which Irish may survive.

  12. Between Irish National Cinema and Hollywood: Neil Jordan’s Michael Collins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Raita Merivirta-Chakrabarti

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available When Neil Jordan’s film Michael Collins was released in 1996, it was seen by some as a Hollywood epic, by others as a great national film. I would argue that Michael Collins combines these two traditions and occupies a space between Irish national cinema and Hollywood. The subject matter, the creative talent and the locations were Irish and the film was produced by using the Irish filmmaking infrastructure and the Irish government’s support mechanisms, but it was largely financed and distributed by a Hollywood studio. Also, to make it more appealing especially globally, but probably also locally (since Hollywood is now the international standard, it makes use of Hollywood conventions, making it accessible to international audiences as well. Despite the Hollywood mode, the fact remains that Michael Collins is a national film text, and Jordan does not make too many concessions to the non-Irish audiences.

  13. Profiling the Cross-Border Funding of the Irish Banking System

    OpenAIRE

    Coates, Dermot; Everett, Mary

    2013-01-01

    Between 2002 and 2008, there was a surge in foreign funding ows to the Irish banking system. This unprecedented increase in in ows was a key driver of the credit boom in Ireland. In the wake of the domestic banking and global nancial crises, the Irish banking system experienced a sharp decrease in its foreign wholesale funding. This Economic Letter addresses two primary questions: (i) who funded the Irish banking system during the boom?; and (ii) how did foreign funding contract in the post-S...

  14. Is Bank Finance the Achilles' Heel of Irish SMEs?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carey, Dermot; Flynn, Antoinette

    2005-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this research paper is to examine the implications of new banking regulations (Basel II) for the Irish SME sector. Training gaps are identified and recommendations to advance social capital networks are provided. Design/methodology/approach: The Irish SME dependence on external (bank) finance and their susceptibility to…

  15. The other "Irish question".

    Science.gov (United States)

    Browne, H

    1992-05-01

    The influence of the Roman Catholic Church on Irish society makes it difficult for sex and health educators and HIV/AIDS prevention efforts. Divorce, abortion, consensual sex between consenting adult men, and contraception for those under 18 years is banned in Ireland. Public opinions and recent court decisions do appear to bring a measure of hope for more lenient attitudes. The trends vary from the recent Supreme Court case of the 14-year old rape victim being permitted an abortion because she was suicidal to a radio talk show host, Father Michael Cleary who suspected she was "set-up" to test the ban on abortion. Father Cleary also outraged health educators by stating inaccurately that condoms did not prevent AIDS. It is estimated that 500 Irish women have abortions each year in Britain; there have been 262 reported AIDS cases and estimates of up to 10,000 HIV infected out of a population of 3.5 million. An AIDS education campaign was mounted in 1987, but in the 37-minute Department of Health video only 1 minute was devoted to condoms and no sex was promoted as the only safe sex. Access is limited to consenting pharmacies and clinics for people 18 years of older; rural chemists may exercise discretion and refuse sales. In 1991, the government proposed lowering the age to 17 years for condom availability and assigning the regional health boards, the responsibility of determining who sells contraceptives. A university lecturer reported that inaction on this bill was close to "criminal inactivity." Challenges in February 1991 were made by the Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) in setting up a condom sales kiosk in Dublin. The IFPA was fined, but opinion polls indicated that 57% supported condom availability for 16 year olds. On Valentines Day in 1992, condom vending machines, which are illegal, were installed in pubs and nightclubs, police action has been cautious. A new health minister is concerned about AIDS prevention and the republic's first woman President

  16. The Role of Irish Language Teaching: Cultural Identity Formation or Language Revitalization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slatinská, Anna; Pecníková, Jana

    2017-01-01

    The focal point of the article is Irish language teaching in the Republic of Ireland. Firstly, we deal with the most significant documents where the status of the Irish language is being defined. In this respect, for the purposes of analysis, we have chosen the document titled "20 Year Strategy for the Irish language" which plays a…

  17. ‘Old Ireland and Himself’: William Orpen and the Conflicts of Irish Identity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roy Foster

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available The Irish painter William Orpen (1878-1931, defined here as Ireland’s most ‘Spanish’ painter, was out of fashion for fifty years after his death; but he has recently been dramatically revalued, with his works fetching huge prices in salerooms and an unprecedentedly large exhibition of his work being mounted in London and subsequently Dublin. Best known for his Edwardian portraits and his devastating paintings of the First World War, he also produced a series of allegorical paintings of his native Ireland. These are discussed in this article, and linked to his admiration for J.M.Synge, his dislike of clericalism and repression in Irish life, and his celebration of sensuality. The same themes lie behind ‘Homage to Manet’, a celebrated group portrait which includes the Irish novelist George Moore and the art collector Hugh Lane —a close friend of Orpen’s. Orpen knew other figures of the cultural Revival, and his relation to them is discussed; as is the conflict of identity he experienced (like other middle-class Irish Protestants when the radicalisation of Irish politics and the outbreak of the First World War put a new strain on the allegiances of people who had previously thought of themselves as both ‘British’ and ‘Irish’. After the trauma of the War, and Irish separation, Orpen opted for Britain; but, it is argued, he was closer to elements of the Irish cultural revival, and more involved with Irish politics and Irish history, than is usually accepted.

  18. CULTURAL NATIONALISM AND THE IRISH LITERARY REVIVAL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David Pierce

    2002-12-01

    Full Text Available The impact of cultural nationalism on the Insh Literary Revival is a topic of continuing interest for the cultural critic and literary historian alike. In recent years, with the Fa11 of the Berlin Wall, political scientists and others, suchas A.D. Smith, Ernest Gellner, and E.J. Hobsbawm, have also focused on the subject of nationalism. The intention here in this article is to revisit a familiar site in the light of these new ideas and to test their validity or appropriateness in the Irish context. The article, part of a larger project to be published in 2003 by Polity Press under the title A Cultural History of Twentieth-Century Irish Literature, is divided into 5 sections: What ish my Nation?; What is a Nation?; Do Nations Have Navels?; 1890s: Winds of Change; English As We Speak It In Ireland. Among Irish authors discussed are Hyde, Shaw. Yeats, Wilde, Lady Gregory, Joyce, and Beckett.

  19. A review of radionuclides in tide-washed pastures on the Irish Sea coast in England and Wales and their transfer to food products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howard, B.J.

    1996-01-01

    Close to the Sellafield Reprocessing Plant activity concentrations of many radionuclides including the long-lived 137 Cs and actinides on tide-washed pastures bordering the Irish Sea are high compared with other terrestrial eco-systems in the United Kingdom. Despite the comparatively high deposition of radionuclides, contamination of agricultural products from tide-washed pastures is lower than would be predicted from studies in terrestrial eco-systems. This is because the main source of contamination in tide-washed pasture, radionuclides associated with sedimentary particles, has low availability for uptake by plant roots and in the gut of ruminants. Generalised Derived Limits (GDLs), published by the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) are estimates of environmental radioactivity concentrations which would potentially be radiologically significant. These provide a benchmark against which environmental measurements can be assessed. In the past, several comparisons of radioactivity concentrations in tide-washed pastures with GDLs have been made, but only some of these comparisons are valid since current approaches used to assess doses are not always strictly appropriate to these ecosystems. Directly applicable GDLs are needed, and are currently being developed by the NRPB. (Author)

  20. Spatial and temporal variations in concentration factors in NW European seas - secondary use of monitoring data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kershaw, P.J.; Mcmahon, C.A.; Rudjord, A.L.; Smedley, C.; Nawakowski, C.; Leonard, K.S. [Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), Lowestoft (United Kingdom)

    2004-07-01

    This paper presents new data on concentration factors (CFs: concentration kg-1 biota/concentration l-1 seawater) for several marine species-radionuclide pairs, in three regions: coastal waters of Ireland, eastern Irish Sea, coastal waters of Norway. The CFs were estimated using data from long-term monitoring programmes, obtained for radiological protection purposes. The practical constraints of using such data sources are discussed. CFs were obtained for Mytilus edulis (mussels), Nephrops norvegicus (Norway lobster/Dublin Bay prawn/scampi), Pleuronectes platessa (plaice), Cancer pagurus (edible crab), Littorina littoria (winkles) and Fucus vesiculosus, for one or more of the following radionuclides: {sup 99}Tc, {sup 137}Cs, {sup 239,240}Pu and {sup 241}Am. In general, there was a relatively high degree of variability in the values obtained, and it was not possible to discern systematic regional or time-dependent differences. However, for two datasets in the eastern Irish Sea ({sup 137}Cs in winkles and crabs) there was a statistically-significant increase in the CF over the 40 year monitoring period. In several cases the range of values obtained exceeded the range recommended by the IAEA. In 2002, the average {sup 99}Tc CF for F. vesiculosus from the eastern Irish Sea coastline was 26, significantly lower than the IAEA recommended valve (1 x 10{sup 3} - 1 x 10{sup 5}).The results are discussed in relation to the influence of contemporaneous discharges and the possible impact of re-mobilised radionuclides. (author)

  1. Outward-Oriented Economic Development and the Irish Education System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barry, Frank

    2014-01-01

    Most studies of the relationship between education and economic development focus on the line of causation running from the former to the latter. The present paper studies how the pattern of Irish development has influenced the structure of the Irish education system. The first section sets out the economic context of late industrialisation within…

  2. Cosmogenic 10Be Dating of Northern Quebec-Labrador Glacial Lake Shorelines and Drainage Deposits: Implications for the Final Meltwater Discharges of the Last Deglaciation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roy, M.; Dube-Loubert, H.; Schaefer, J. M.; Hébert, S.

    2017-12-01

    The decay of the Laurentide ice sheet played an important role in the climate variability of the last deglaciation, notably through large discharges of meltwater from glacial lakes that disturbed the Atlantic meridional overturning oceanic circulation (AMOC). These former climate-forcing events are now under focus due to growing evidence showing that the present-day increase in freshwater releases from Greenland and other Arctic glaciers may potentially lead to a slowdown of the AMOC and cause important climate feedbacks. In northern Quebec and Labrador, the end of the deglaciation led to the formation of at least 10 important glacial lakes that drained into the nearby Labrador Sea where repeated meltwater discharges could have destabilized the ocean surface conditions in this key sector of the North Atlantic Ocean. Although the drainage of these ice-dammed lakes may form a good analogue for modern processes, the lack of direct constraints on the physiographic configuration and temporal evolution of these lakes limits our understanding of the timing and climate impact of these final meltwater pulses. Here we applied cosmogenic 10Be dating to raised boulder shorelines belonging to Lake Naskaupi, one of the largest glacial lakes in northern Quebec and Labrador. We reconstructed the lake extent and meltwater volume, as well as its lake-level history by systematic mapping of geomorphic features. We sampled a total of 16 boulders at 4 sites along the valley. In addition, we dated five boulders belonging to a large-scale outburst flood deposit recording the abrupt drainage of the lake. The distribution of the 21 ages shows a remarkable consistency, yielding a mean age of 7.8 ± 0.4 ka (1 outlier excluded). The ages from the shorelines are indistinguishable from those of the outburst flood deposit, suggesting that Lake Naskaupi existed for a relatively short time span. These new chronological data constrain the timing of the lake development and attendant drainage

  3. Ghost Stories, Ghost Estates: Melancholia in Irish Recession Literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Molly Slavin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This article considers representations of melancholia in post-Celtic Tiger Irish literature. By situating their post-recession fictions in “ghost estates,” or largely uninhabited housing developments, Donal Ryan and Tana French present neoliberally-inflected varieties of melancholia for their contemporary readers to contemplate. The settings of the ghost estates – and the accompanying supernatural elements to the texts – call to mind ghosts of Ireland’s past and legacies of recent economically unsound policies, spurring the reader to think about the imagined loss of futurity that accompanied the Irish economic crash. “Ghost stories for ghost estates,” then, represent an important contribution to the growing field of post-recession Irish literature.

  4. 76 FR 16323 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Continuance Referendum

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-23

    ...; FV11-946-1 CR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Continuance Referendum AGENCY: Agricultural... conducted among eligible Washington potato growers to determine whether they favor continuance of the marketing order regulating the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Washington. DATES: The referendum will be...

  5. Deep ocean ventilation, carbon isotopes, marine sedimentation and the deglacial CO2 rise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Heinze

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The link between the atmospheric CO2 level and the ventilation state of the deep ocean is an important building block of the key hypotheses put forth to explain glacial-interglacial CO2 fluctuations. In this study, we systematically examine the sensitivity of atmospheric CO2 and its carbon isotope composition to changes in deep ocean ventilation, the ocean carbon pumps, and sediment formation in a global 3-D ocean-sediment carbon cycle model. Our results provide support for the hypothesis that a break up of Southern Ocean stratification and invigorated deep ocean ventilation were the dominant drivers for the early deglacial CO2 rise of ~35 ppm between the Last Glacial Maximum and 14.6 ka BP. Another rise of 10 ppm until the end of the Holocene is attributed to carbonate compensation responding to the early deglacial change in ocean circulation. Our reasoning is based on a multi-proxy analysis which indicates that an acceleration of deep ocean ventilation during early deglaciation is not only consistent with recorded atmospheric CO2 but also with the reconstructed opal sedimentation peak in the Southern Ocean at around 16 ka BP, the record of atmospheric δ13CCO2, and the reconstructed changes in the Pacific CaCO3 saturation horizon.

  6. U-Th ages obtained by mass spectrometry in corals from Barbados: sea level during the past 130,000 years

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bard, Edouard; Hamelin, Bruno; Fairbanks, R.G. (Columbia Univ., Palisades, NY (USA). Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory)

    1990-08-02

    The study of the sea level record during the last glacial cycle has primarily proceeded indirectly by means of oxygen isotope measurements on foraminifera from deep-sea sediments. The direct approach of dating sea level indicators stagnated during the past decade, mainly because the samples required to complete our knowledge of the past glaciations are below the present-day sea level. Using the {sup 14}C ages of Acropora palmata samples collected by drilling offshore the island of Barbados, we report the first detailed chronology for the last deglaciation. This radio-carbon chronology is limited to the past 30 kyr because of the short half-life of {sup 14}C (5,730 yr); we must therefore rely on other dating methods to obtain information for the whole last glacial cycle. During the past four years {sup 230}Th-{sup 234}U dating of corals by thermal-ionization mass spectrometry has been shown to be significantly more precise and accurate than the classical {alpha}-counting method. We have used this technique to measure U-Th ages in coral samples from the Barbados collection and from subaerially exposed outcrops. Here we present results bearing on the sea level record for the past 130,000 years; we conclude that the last deglaciation started 3,000 years earlier than previously thought and confirm that there were two surges in melt water at about 11 kyr and 14 kyr BP (before present). (author).

  7. U-Th ages obtained by mass spectrometry in corals from Barbados: sea level during the past 130,000 years

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bard, Edouard; Hamelin, Bruno; Fairbanks, R.G.

    1990-01-01

    The study of the sea level record during the last glacial cycle has primarily proceeded indirectly by means of oxygen isotope measurements on foraminifera from deep-sea sediments. The direct approach of dating sea level indicators stagnated during the past decade, mainly because the samples required to complete our knowledge of the past glaciations are below the present-day sea level. Using the 14 C ages of Acropora palmata samples collected by drilling offshore the island of Barbados, we report the first detailed chronology for the last deglaciation. This radio-carbon chronology is limited to the past 30 kyr because of the short half-life of 14 C (5,730 yr); we must therefore rely on other dating methods to obtain information for the whole last glacial cycle. During the past four years 230 Th- 234 U dating of corals by thermal-ionization mass spectrometry has been shown to be significantly more precise and accurate than the classical α-counting method. We have used this technique to measure U-Th ages in coral samples from the Barbados collection and from subaerially exposed outcrops. Here we present results bearing on the sea level record for the past 130,000 years; we conclude that the last deglaciation started 3,000 years earlier than previously thought and confirm that there were two surges in melt water at about 11 kyr and 14 kyr BP (before present). (author)

  8. A Woman Alone: The Depictions of Spinsters in Irish Women’s Short Stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ann Wan-lih Chang

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper focuses on the manner in which single women are represented in contemporary Irish women’s short stories.  Typically in these stories, such women are portrayed as a distinctive social group within a society in which a traditionally negative image of the spinster has been reinforced by a dominant social ideology which has as objective the exertion of social control over women.  Contemporary Irish female writers attempt to ridicule this problematic “single-woman phobia” by demonstrating that this phenomenon is actually the result of women’s “selflessness” rather than the “selfishness” associated with the spinster stereotype.  Irish women’s stories demonstrate also a fundamental unfairness inherent within Irish society in which women are compelled to sacrifice their own lives and needs for the benefit of others by assuming a surrogate mothering role as “social mothers”.  Ironically, this paradox acts as the main obstacle preventing Irish spinsters from fulfilling their roles as wives and biological mothers.  In response, Irish female writers de-demonise the witch-like spinster stereotypes by deconstructing through their narratives those paradoxical social norms which have actually nurtured and reinforced negative perceptions of the “single women” within Irish society.

  9. Dispersion of radionuclides in the European north-western seas: observations and modelling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bailly du Bois, Pascal

    2013-01-01

    In this report for an Accreditation to supervise research (HDR), the author reports the use over 30 years by the Cherbourg-Octeville IRSN Laboratory of artificial radionuclides in solution in sea water as oceanographic markers. Such measurements on radio-markers which are soluble in sea water, enabled a better knowledge of dissolved substance displacements in north-western seas of Europe, notably the Channel, the North Sea, the Celtic Sea, and the Irish Sea. The author reports researches which aimed at studying the dispersion of radionuclides in seawater and their use as water mass markers, at validating hydrodynamic models of dispersion at different time-space scales, at the understanding and simulation of the sedimentary transport, and at studying the transfer to living species. These different topics give the document its structure [fr

  10. Radioactivity Monitoring of the Irish Environment 2006

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, V.; Dowdall, A; Fegan, M.; Hayden, E.; Kelleher, K.; Long, S.; McEvoy, I.; Somerville, S.; Wong, J.; Pollard, D.

    2007-10-01

    This report presents the results of the environmental radioactivity monitoring programme carried out by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) in 2006. This programme aims to assess the exposure of the Irish population to artificial radioactivity in the environment, to review the temporal and geographical distribution of contaminating radionuclides and to maintain systems and procedures which would allow a rapid assessment of environmental contamination to be made in the event of a radiological emergency. Radioactivity is present in the environment due to natural processes, the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, past nuclear accidents such as that at Chernobyl in Ukraine and the routine discharge of radionuclides from nuclear installations. Liquid discharges from the British Nuclear Group reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria in the north-west of England, which are licensed by the UK Environment Agency, continue to be the dominant source of artificial radioactivity in the Irish marine environment. The key elements of the monitoring programme implemented by the RPII in 2006 included; assessment of ambient radioactivity based on measurements of radioactivity in air and of external gamma dose rate at permanent monitoring stations located throughout the country; assessment of levels of radioactivity in drinking water; assessment of levels of radioactivity in foodstuffs based on measurements of total diet, milk and various ingredients; assessment of levels of radioactivity in the Irish marine environment based on sampling and measurement of seawater, sediment, seaweed, fish and shellfish. The RPII monitored airborne radioactivity at ten stations located throughout the country. One of these stations is equipped with a high volume sampler, which allows concentrations of caesium-137 to be measured; another is equipped to detect the presence of the gas krypton-85. This gas is released into the environment primarily as a result of the

  11. Digest of data from the measurement of radioactivity in the Irish Marine Environment 1982-1984. Part I: Fish and Shellfish

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Grady, John

    1985-11-01

    Levels of radioactivity in fish and shellfish have been measured at the National Radiation Monitoring Service since 1982. These measurement are part of the Nuclear Energy Board's radioactivity monitoring of the marine environment. The main effort was directed at the measurement of radioactivity, in particular radiocaesium, in fish and shellfish from the Irish Sea where the polluting effect of radioactive wastes from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield is greatest. The measured levels of Cs-137 and Cs-134 in the popular species of fish and shellfish allow the estimation of the population dose to the Irish public as a result of eating seafood contaminated with radiocaseium. This report attempts to set out, in summarised form, a comprehensive review of sampling, analytical and dose assessment details for the three-year period 1982 to 1984. Levels of K-40, the naturally occurring radionuclide, in the fish and shellfish samples are also reported. (author)

  12. Timing and structure of the penultimate deglaciation in north China constrained by a precisely dated stalagmite record

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duan, W.; Cheng, H.; Tan, M.; Li, X.; Edwards, R. L.

    2017-12-01

    The timing and structure of the penultimate deglaciation (Termination II, T-II) is still controversial due to the lack of precise-date and high-resolution paleoclimate documents. This study firstly presents high-precision stalagmite δ18O data encompassing T-II from north China, near the northern limit of the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM), an area sensitive to climate change. An obvious 2200-year long 18O-depleted excursion was identified within T-II, 1500 years later than in south China, mostly indicating it's a hitherto unidentified interstadial event, but the possibility of a local signal linked to karst hydrologic changes cannot be excluded. The sharpest T-II transition occurred at 129.20 ka BP (BP=before AD 1950), consistent with other EASM records but 3000 years later than mid-high-latitudinal cave records in Europe and North America. The different ages between them are attributed to that the original ice sheet melting during T-II did not inhibit the overturning in the Nordic Seas, leaving the heat transport to western Europe unaffected. Furthermore, the rise in EASM after the main T-II transition was interrupted by a significant "pause" in our record, whereas only expressed as a "slowdown" in south Chinese caves, further confirming the higher sensitivity of climate in north China. Compared with the last deglaciation (T-I), this climate pause could be considered as a Younger Dryas (YD)-type event that was shifted into the early stage of the last interglacial period, though its intensity and duration were not as strong as the YD during T-I. Key words: North China stalagmite record Timing and structure Termination II

  13. Irish Baking Book

    OpenAIRE

    Ross, Ruth Isabel

    1995-01-01

    Published by Gill & Macmillan, Goldenbridge, Dublin 8 in 1995 at a cost of £4.99 Irish pounds.Editorial consultant Roberta Reeners, Illustrations by Tom Brady, Design and print origination by Identikit Design Consultants Dublin, index compiled by Helen Litton, printed by the Guernsey Press Ltd. 98p., 19cm., paperback. Access the publisher's website here http://arrow.dit.ie/irckbooks/1006/thumbnail.jpg

  14. Minority Language Advertising: A Profile of Two Irish-Language Newspapers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kelly-Holmes, Helen; Atkinson, David

    2007-01-01

    This paper investigates the Irish-language adscape through an analysis of the profile of two Irish-language newspapers, "Foinse," published in the Republic of Ireland, and "La," published in Northern Ireland. The advertising in both papers is analysed in terms of products and services advertised, advertisers represented and…

  15. 76 FR 33967 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Southeastern States; Suspension of Marketing Order Provisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-10

    ... IR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Southeastern States; Suspension of Marketing Order Provisions AGENCY... suspends the marketing order for Irish potatoes grown in Southeastern states (order), and the rules and regulations implemented thereunder, through March 1, 2014. The order regulates the handling of Irish potatoes...

  16. Implications of 36Cl exposure ages from Skye, northwest Scotland for the timing of ice stream deglaciation and deglacial ice dynamics

    OpenAIRE

    Small, David; Rinterknecht, Vincent; Austin, William E. N.; Bates, C. Richard; Benn, Douglas I.; Scourse, James D.; Bourlès, Didier L.; Hibbert, Fiona Danielle; ASTER Team

    2016-01-01

    The French national AMS facility ASTER (CEREGE, Aix en Provence) is supported by the INSU/CNRS, the ANR through the "Projets thématiques d’excellence" program for the "Equipements d’excellence" ASTER-CEREGE action, IRD and CEA. The authors would like to thank Shasta Marrero for helpful and informative discussion on the CRONUScalc online calculator. DS was supported by a SAGES studentship and fieldwork by funds from the QRA and BSG. Geochronological constraints on the deglaciation of former...

  17. Comparison in maternal body composition between Caucasian Irish and Indian women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farah, N; Murphy, M; Ramphul, M; O'Connor, N; Kennelly, M M; Turner, M J

    2011-08-01

    The use of body mass index (BMI) for the diagnosis of obesity has limitations, especially when comparing ethnic groups with different body proportions. The aim of this prospective study was to compare maternal body composition in early pregnancy between Caucasian Irish and Indian women. A total of 81 Indian women and 81 Irish Caucasian women were matched for age, parity and BMI. Maternal weight and height were measured, and body composition analysed using bioelectrical impedance. The Irish women were taller and weighed more than the Indian women (pIndian women had a higher total body fat percentage, visceral fat level and high fat percentage than the Irish women (p=0.024, 0.001 and 0.001, respectively). Our findings suggest that lower BMI cut-offs should be used for screening for gestational diabetes mellitus in Indian women attending our antenatal services.

  18. Host Students' Perspectives of Intercultural Contact in an Irish University

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunne, Ciaran

    2009-01-01

    Given the increasing numbers of international students in Ireland and the lack of attention afforded to host culture students in existing research on intercultural relations in higher education, a grounded theory study was conducted in an Irish university exploring host (Irish) students' perspectives on intercultural contact. The study focused on…

  19. Changes in Eastern Equatorial Pacific Thermocline Structure across the Last Deglaciation: Evidence from the Carnegie Ridge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glaubke, R.; Schmidt, M. W.; Warner, L.; Hertzberg, J. E.; Marcantonio, F.; Bianchi, T. S.

    2017-12-01

    The eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) is an important climatological region given its influence in the modulation of the El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The current climatic mean state of the EEP is characterized by cool sea surface temperatures (SST) and a strong, shallow thermocline. Nevertheless, there remains significant uncertainty about past changes in tropical Pacific climate and how ENSO variability relates to the millennial-scale climate events of the last deglaciation. Here, we will present 21 kyrs of Mg/Ca paleotemperature data from the surface-dwelling foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber and the thermocline-dwelling foraminifera Neogloboquadrina dutertrei collected from piston core MV1014-02-17JC (00° 10.83'S, 85° 52.00'W; 2846 m depth) on the Carnegie Ridge. Initial results reveal a 1.3°C warming of the surface ocean from the early-Holocene until 6 kyrs, a trend present in other EEP SST reconstructions (Pena et al., 2008; Timmerman et al., 2014; Lea et al., 2000). The surface ocean subsequently cools from 6 kyrs and reaches present-day temperatures by 3.5 kyrs. The subsurface reveals a nearly monotonic cooling of 1.8°C from 10.8 kyrs to the present day, which suggest a gradual shoaling of the thermocline across the Holocene. Furthermore, an increase in the vertical temperature gradient occurs from the late- to mid-Holocene, with the sharpest temperature difference centered at 6 kyrs, coincident with the mid-Holocene peak in SSTs. Taken together, these data suggest a gradual shoaling of the thermocline across the Holocene, with the variations in SST primarily governing the intensity of the vertical temperature gradient. Future work includes extending this record back to the last glacial maximum (LGM) to assess tropical Pacific mean state change across the abrupt climate events that characterized the last deglaciation.

  20. Contemporary Irish identity on the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McAtackney, Laura; Ryzewski, Krysta; Cherry, John F

    2014-01-01

    In recent decades, the island of Montserrat has been noticeably repositioning itself within the Caribbean as a place with a unique Irish heritage. Using the tag-line ‘the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean’, there has been an explicit attempt to evoke images of a verdant, green island with a long Irish...

  1. Irish International Cultural and Educational Exchange: Two Models for Inspiration

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bøss, Michael

    2006-01-01

    An account of the cultural and educational foreign policies of Denmark and Canada and a discussion of their relevance for the future of Irish foreign policy.......An account of the cultural and educational foreign policies of Denmark and Canada and a discussion of their relevance for the future of Irish foreign policy....

  2. Winds observed in the Northern European seas with wind lidars, meteorological masts and satellite

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hasager, Charlotte Bay; Stein, D.; Peña, Alfredo

    2013-01-01

    Ocean winds have been observed in the Baltic, Irish and North Seas from a combination of groundbased lidars, tall offshore meteorological masts and satellites remote sensing in recent years. In the FP7 project NORSEWInD (2008-2012) the project partners joined forces to ensure collection of these ...

  3. Debbie Ging, Men and Masculinities in Irish Cinema

    OpenAIRE

    Epinoux, Estelle

    2013-01-01

    Men and Masculinities in Irish Cinema was written by Debbie Ging, who is a lecturer in Film and Media Studies at Dublin City University’s School of Communications in Ireland. Her book falls into the field of media studies and more precisely film studies. It is divided into nine chapters which interweave the notions of gender, nation, identity and masculinity. The author centres her research around the concept of masculinity, unveiling its multiple understandings within the context of Irish so...

  4. The Late Ordovician deglaciation sequence of the SW Murzuq Basin (Libya)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moreau, Julien

    2011-01-01

    Rocks of Late Ordovician to Silurian age are well exposed on the western rim of theMurzuq Basin (Ghat-Tikiumit area,Libya)where seismic-scale exposures allow spectacular insights into the growth and decay of the LateOrdovician (Hirnantian) ice sheet.The ¢nal deglaciation left a complex topography...

  5. Dating glacimarine sediments from the continental shelf in the Amundsen Sea using a multi-tool box: Implications for West Antarctic ice-sheet extent and retreat during the last glacial cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hillenbrand, C. D.; Smith, J.; Klages, J. P.; Kuhn, G.; Maher, B.; Moreton, S.; Wacker, L.; Frederichs, T.; Wiers, S.; Jernas, P.; Anderson, J. B.; Ehrmann, W. U.; Graham, A. G. C.; Gohl, K.; Larter, R. D.

    2016-02-01

    Satellite data and in-situ measurements show that today considerable mass loss is occurring from the Amundsen Sea sector of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). The observational record only spans the past four decades, and until recently the long-term context of the current deglaciation was poorly constrained. This information is, however, crucial for understanding WAIS dynamics, evaluating the role of forcing mechanisms for ice-sheet melting, and testing and calibrating ice-sheet models that attempt to predict future WAIS behavior and its impact on global sea level. Over the past decade several multinational marine expeditions and terrestrial fieldwork campaigns have targeted the Amundsen Sea shelf and its hinterland to reconstruct the WAIS configuration during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and its subsequent deglacial history. The resulting studies succeeded in shedding light on the maximum WAIS extent at the LGM and the style, pattern and speed of its retreat and thinning thereafter. Despite this progress, however, significant uncertainties and discrepancies between marine and terrestrial reconstructions remain, which may arise from difficulties in dating sediment cores from the Antarctic shelf, especially their deglacial sections. Resolving these issues is crucial for understanding the WAIS' contribution to post-LGM sea-level rise, its sensitivity to different forcing mechanisms and its future evolution. Here we present chronological constraints on WAIS advance in the Amundsen Sea and its retreat from 20 ka BP into the Holocene that were obtained by various techniques, such as 14C dating of large ( 10 mg) and small (sample aliquots of calcareous microfossils, 14C dating of acid-insoluble organic matter combusted at low (300 °C) and high (800 °C) temperatures and dating of sediment cores by using geomagnetic paleointensity. We will compare the different age constraints and discuss their reliability, applicability and implications for WAIS history.

  6. Bridging environmental and financial cost of dairy production: A case study of Irish agricultural policy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Wenhao; Holden, Nicholas M

    2018-02-15

    The Irish agricultural policy 'Food Harvest 2020' is a roadmap for sectoral expansion and Irish dairy farming is expected to intensify, which could influence the environmental and economic performance of Irish milk production. Evaluating the total environmental impacts and the real cost of Irish milk production is a key step towards understanding the possibility of sustainable production. This paper addresses two main issues: aggregation of environmental impacts of Irish milk production by monetization, to understand the real cost of Irish milk production, including the environmental costs; and the effect of the agricultural policy 'Food Harvest 2020' on total cost (combining financial cost and environmental cost) of Irish milk production. This study used 2013 Irish dairy farming as a baseline, and defined 'bottom', 'target' and 'optimum' scenarios, according to the change of elementary inputs required to meet agricultural policy ambitions. The study demonstrated that the three monetization methods, Stepwise 2006, Eco-cost 2012 and EPS 2000, could be used for aggregating different environmental impacts into monetary unit, and to provide an insight for evaluating policy related to total environmental performance. The results showed that the total environmental cost of Irish milk production could be greater than the financial cost (up to €0.53/kg energy corrected milk). The dairy expansion policy with improved herbage utilization and fertilizer application could reduce financial cost and minimize the total environmental cost of per unit milk produced. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. On 99Tc, 137Cs and 90Sr in the Kara Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dahlgaard, H.

    1995-01-01

    Technetium-99 in the Arctic seas originate mainly from European reprocessing plants whereas 137 Cs and 90 Sr have many sources. It appears that for 137 Cs, re-mobilisation from the Irish Sea of sedimented activity from earlier discharges and the outflow of Baltic water contaminated with Chernobyl activity, are more important sources to the present contamination of the Kara Sea than new European discharges. As opposed to 137 Cs and 99 Tc, 90 Sr is correlated with low salinity waters. It is argued, that this is due to runoff of global atmospheric fallout 90 Sr from land. 7 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab

  8. Advocating Commodification: An Ethnographic Look at the Policing of Irish as a Commercial Asset

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brennan, Sara C.

    2018-01-01

    Based on ethnographic fieldwork in two towns in the Republic of Ireland, this article explores the local negotiation, endorsement, and contestation of two community-level Irish language advocacy organizations' attempts to regulate the use of Irish in business by mobilizing discourses of language commodification to position Irish as a commercial…

  9. Welcome to the Irish Journal of Paramedicine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alan M Batt

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Welcome to the first issue of the Irish Journal of Paramedicine (IJP. It gives me great pleasure to launch this journal, a first for Irish paramedics, and pre-hospital care in Ireland. I am also honoured to announce that the IJP has been adopted as the official journal of the Irish College of Paramedics, the professional body for prehospital emergency care practitioners in Ireland.               A newly emerging profession, paramedicine is now poised at  a crossroads. Previously alluded to with  colleagues from around the globe, the role of the paramedic is one that is rapidly evolving, and yet paramedicine as a discipline has yet to figure out where it belongs.(1 Are we public safety professionals, first responders or healthcare professionals? Williams has previously stated that the road less travelled requires the paramedic profession to pursue identity as a healthcare profession and not as emergency responders, EMS workers, or ambulance drivers, which we are so commonly identified as.(2 Initiatives within Ireland such as the Centre for Prehospital Research national research agenda, the move to higher education for paramedics in University College Dublin and the University of Limerick, and the publication of high-quality peer-reviewed research, undertaken for paramedics, led by paramedics, and published in paramedicine journals are key components in this pursuit of professionalism. It is our hope that the Irish Journal of Paramedicine will play its part as a vehicle in this endeavour. It is important however to point out that the Irish Journal of Paramedicine is not exclusively for paramedics. Within Ireland, and around the world, there are many other prehospital care providers, including community responders, volunteer first responders, EMT practitioners, nurses, physicians and others who deliver high quality patient care and are as committed to their personal and professional development as any paramedic. This journal is for

  10. Investment in Edification: Reflections on Irish Education Policy since Independence

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Connor, Muiris

    2014-01-01

    Beginning with a historical review of Irish education policy since the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922, this paper focuses on the issue of investment in education through the lens of the "Investment in Education" report. Following this historical review, the author explores how the legacy of the past continues to define the…

  11. Comparison in maternal body composition between Caucasian Irish and Indian women.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Farah, N

    2012-02-01

    The use of body mass index (BMI) for the diagnosis of obesity has limitations, especially when comparing ethnic groups with different body proportions. The aim of this prospective study was to compare maternal body composition in early pregnancy between Caucasian Irish and Indian women. A total of 81 Indian women and 81 Irish Caucasian women were matched for age, parity and BMI. Maternal weight and height were measured, and body composition analysed using bioelectrical impedance. The Irish women were taller and weighed more than the Indian women (p<0.001). At any given BMI, the Indian women had a higher total body fat percentage, visceral fat level and high fat percentage than the Irish women (p=0.024, 0.001 and 0.001, respectively). Our findings suggest that lower BMI cut-offs should be used for screening for gestational diabetes mellitus in Indian women attending our antenatal services.

  12. Timing and preservation mechanism of deglacial pteropod spike from the Andaman Sea, northeastern Indian Ocean

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Sijinkumar, A.V.; Nath, B.N.; Gupta, M.V.S.; Rao, B.R.

    system in the Arabian Sea. Deep-Sea Research II 45, 2225-2252. Milliman, J. S. & Meade, R. H. 1983: World-wide delivery of river sediment to the oceans. Journal of Geology 91, 1-21. Naqvi, W. A., Charles, C. D. & Fairbanks, R. G. 1994: Carbon...

  13. Contamination of North Sea and Baltic Sea with long-living iodine-129 and other anthropogenic radionuclides; Kontamination von Nord- und Ostsee mit langlebigem Iod-129 und anderen anthropogenen Radionukliden

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tosch, Luebbert

    2010-10-12

    The radionuclide iodine-129 (T{sub 1/2} = 15.7 Ma) is produced in nature by spontaneous fission of uranium-238 and by cosmic ray induced spallation of xenon. Due to the military and civil use of neutron-induced fission of uranium-235 and plutonium-239 a huge amount of iodine-129 has been released into the environment. The main sources of anthropogenic {sup 129}I are the reprocessing plants in La Hague (France) near the English Channel and in Sellafield (UK) close to the Irish Sea. The natural equilibrium {sup 129}I/{sup 127}I-isotopic ratios are estimated to 1.5 . 10{sup -12} for the marine hydrosphere and to 3.0 . 10{sup -13} for the terrestrial biosphere respectively. Due to the emissions of anthropogenic iodine-129 the {sup 129}I/{sup 127}I-isotopic ratios have been increased in all compartments of the environment. Surface water samples taken from the English Channel, the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Irish Sea, and the North Atlantic give information about anthropogenic changes. Iodine turns out to be a conservative tracer in seawater. The iodine-127 concentrations in seawater except for coastal areas are rather constant (40.7 ± 6.2 ng/g). The observed {sup 129}I/{sup 127}I-isotopic ratios range between 10{sup -10} and more than 10{sup -6}. The variation of the {sup 129}I/{sup 127}I-isotopic ratios is caused by the admixture of anthropogenic iodine-129. Water samples taken far away from the reprocessing plants show the lowest isotopic ratios. The highest {sup 129}I/{sup 127}I-isotopic ratios are found near the reprocessing plants. The transport of {sup 129}I from La Hague has a rather clear pattern. It can be observed along the coasts of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. The iodine-129 emissions from Sellafield can be followed northbound along the Scottish coast. The results of other anthropogenic radionuclides are used for discussing transport processes in the North Sea and the Irish Sea. Large areas in the North Sea are characterised by

  14. Modelling firn thickness evolution during the last deglaciation: constraints on sensitivity to temperature and impurities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    C. Bréant

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The transformation of snow into ice is a complex phenomenon that is difficult to model. Depending on surface temperature and accumulation rate, it may take several decades to millennia for air to be entrapped in ice. The air is thus always younger than the surrounding ice. The resulting gas–ice age difference is essential to documenting the phasing between CO2 and temperature changes, especially during deglaciations. The air trapping depth can be inferred in the past using a firn densification model, or using δ15N of air measured in ice cores. All firn densification models applied to deglaciations show a large disagreement with δ15N measurements at several sites in East Antarctica, predicting larger firn thickness during the Last Glacial Maximum, whereas δ15N suggests a reduced firn thickness compared to the Holocene. Here we present modifications of the LGGE firn densification model, which significantly reduce the model–data mismatch for the gas trapping depth evolution over the last deglaciation at the coldest sites in East Antarctica (Vostok, Dome C, while preserving the good agreement between measured and modelled modern firn density profiles. In particular, we introduce a dependency of the creep factor on temperature and impurities in the firn densification rate calculation. The temperature influence intends to reflect the dominance of different mechanisms for firn compaction at different temperatures. We show that both the new temperature parameterization and the influence of impurities contribute to the increased agreement between modelled and measured δ15N evolution during the last deglaciation at sites with low temperature and low accumulation rate, such as Dome C or Vostok. We find that a very low sensitivity of the densification rate to temperature has to be used in the coldest conditions. The inclusion of impurity effects improves the agreement between modelled and measured δ15N at cold East Antarctic sites during the last

  15. Integrating terrestrial and marine records of the LGM in McMurdo Sound, Antarctica: implications for grounded ice expansion, ice flow, and deglaciation of the Ross Sea Embayment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christ, A. J.; Marchant, D. R.

    2017-12-01

    During the LGM, grounded glacier ice filled the Ross Embayment and deposited glacial drift on volcanic islands and peninsulas in McMurdo Sound, as well as along coastal regions of the Transantarctic Mountains (TAM), including the McMurdo Dry Valleys and Royal Society Range. The flow geometry and retreat history of this ice remains debated, with contrasting views yielding divergent implications for both the fundamental cause of Antarctic ice expansion as well as the interaction and behavior of ice derived from East and West Antarctica during late Quaternary time. We present terrestrial geomorphologic evidence that enables the reconstruction of former ice elevations, ice-flow paths, and ice-marginal environments in McMurdo Sound. Radiocarbon dates of fossil algae interbedded with ice-marginal sediments provide a coherent timeline for local ice retreat. These data are integrated with marine-sediment records and multi-beam data to reconstruct late glacial dynamics of grounded ice in McMurdo Sound and the western Ross Sea. The combined dataset suggest a dominance of ice flow toward the TAM in McMurdo Sound during all phases of glaciation, with thick, grounded ice at or near its maximum extent between 19.6 and 12.3 calibrated thousands of years before present (cal. ka). Our data show no significant advance of locally derived ice from the TAM into McMurdo Sound, consistent with the assertion that Late Pleistocene expansion of grounded ice in McMurdo Sound, and throughout the wider Ross Embayment, occurs in response to lower eustatic sea level and the resulting advance of marine-based outlet glaciers and ice streams (and perhaps also reduced oceanic heat flux), rather than local increases in precipitation and ice accumulation. Finally, when combined with allied data across the wider Ross Embayment, which show that widespread deglaciation outside McMurdo Sound did not commence until 13.1 ka, the implication is that retreat of grounded glacier ice in the Ross Embayment did

  16. Coastal barrier stratigraphy for Holocene high-resolution sea-level reconstruction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costas, Susana; Ferreira, Óscar; Plomaritis, Theocharis A; Leorri, Eduardo

    2016-12-08

    The uncertainties surrounding present and future sea-level rise have revived the debate around sea-level changes through the deglaciation and mid- to late Holocene, from which arises a need for high-quality reconstructions of regional sea level. Here, we explore the stratigraphy of a sandy barrier to identify the best sea-level indicators and provide a new sea-level reconstruction for the central Portuguese coast over the past 6.5 ka. The selected indicators represent morphological features extracted from coastal barrier stratigraphy, beach berm and dune-beach contact. These features were mapped from high-resolution ground penetrating radar images of the subsurface and transformed into sea-level indicators through comparison with modern analogs and a chronology based on optically stimulated luminescence ages. Our reconstructions document a continuous but slow sea-level rise after 6.5 ka with an accumulated change in elevation of about 2 m. In the context of SW Europe, our results show good agreement with previous studies, including the Tagus isostatic model, with minor discrepancies that demand further improvement of regional models. This work reinforces the potential of barrier indicators to accurately reconstruct high-resolution mid- to late Holocene sea-level changes through simple approaches.

  17. The Barbados Sea Level Record

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fairbanks, R. G.; Mortlock, R. A.; Abdul, N. A.; Wright, J. D.; Cao, L.; Mey, J. L.

    2013-12-01

    Additional offshore drill cores, nearly 100 new radiometric dates, and more than 1000 kilometers of Multibeam mapping greatly enhance the Barbados Sea Level record. Extensive Multibeam mapping around the entire island covers approximately 2650 km2 of the sea bottom and now integrates the offshore reef topography and Barbados Sea Level Record with the unparalleled onshore core collection, digital elevation maps, and Pleistocene sea level record spanning the past one million years. The reef crest coral, Acropora palmata, remains the stalwart indicator of sea level for many reasons that are validated by our redundant sea level records and redundant dating via Th/U and Pa/U analyses. Microanalysis and densitometry studies better explain why Acropora palmata is so well preserved in the Pleistocene reef records and therefore why it is the species of choice for sea level reconstructions and radiometric dating. New drill cores into reefs that formed during Marine Isotope Stage 3 lead us to a model of diagenesis that allows us to better prospect for unaltered coral samples in older reefs that may be suitable for Th/U dating. Equally important, our diagenesis model reinforces our rigorous sample quality criteria in a more quantitative manner. The Barbados Sea Level record has a sampling resolution of better than 100 years throughout much of the last deglaciation showing unprecedented detail in redundant drill cores. The Melt Water Pulses (MWP1A and MWP1B) are well resolved and the intervening interval that includes the Younger Dryas reveals sea level changes in new detail that are consistent with the terrestrial records of ice margins (see Abdul et al., this section). More than 100 paired Th/U and radiocarbon ages place the Barbados Sea Level Record unambiguously on the radiocarbon time scale for direct comparisons with the terrestrial records of ice margin changes.

  18. Irish nurses’ and midwives’ understanding and experiences of empowerment

    OpenAIRE

    Corbally, Melissa; Scott, Anne; Matthews, Anne; MacGabhann, Liam; Murphy, Catriona

    2007-01-01

    Aim This study explored conceptualisations of empowerment amongst Irish nurses and midwives. Background Current literature on the meaning of empowerment in the literature lacks consensus. As a result there is a likelihood that empowerment will be conceptualised differently between managers and sub-ordinates. Method In order to get a sense of how Irish practitioners viewed empowerment, ten focus groups were held in locations throughout Ireland (n = 93). A national distribution of par...

  19. Entangled geographies of "Irish" finance

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hendrikse, R.P.

    2013-01-01

    This paper dissects the financial crisis through an analysis of financial development in Ireland. Although a single system, Irish finance is split in two. Illustrative of national financial developments, this paper details how public officials aimed to create a financial center in Cork. Exemplifying

  20. Radioactivity Monitoring of the Irish Environment 2007

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fegan, M.; Dowdall, A.; Hanley, O.; Hayden, E.; Kelleher, K.; Long, S.; Smith, V.; Somerville, S.; Wong, J.; Pollard, D.

    2008-10-01

    This report presents the results of the environmental radioactivity monitoring programme carried out by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) in 2007. This programme aims to assess the exposure of the Irish population to artificial radioactivity in the envorinment, to review the temporal and geographical distribution of contaminating radionuclides and to maintain systems and procedures which would allow a rapid assessment of environmental contamination to be made in the event of a radiological emergency. In additiopn, some natural radioactivity exposure pathways are included in the programme including radioactivity in surface and ground drinking water. Radioactivity is present in the environment due to natural oprocesses, the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, past nuclear accidents such as that at Chernobyl in the Ukraine and the routine discharge of radionuclides from nuclear installations. Liquid discharges from the British Nuclear Group reprocessing plant at Sellafield in Cumbria in the north-west of England continue to be the dominant source of artificial radioactivity in the Irish marine environment. The key elements of the monitoring programme implemented by the RPII in 2007 included; assessment of ambient radioactivity based on measurements of radioactivity in air and of external gamma dose rate at permanent monitoring stations located throughout the country; assessment of levels of radioactivity in drinking water; assessment of levels of radioactivity in foodstuffs based on measurements of total diet, milk and various ingredients; assessment of levels of radioactivity in the Irish marine environment based on sampling and measurement of seawater, sediment, seaweed, fish and shellfish. The RPII monitored airborne radioactivity at twelve stations located throughout the country. One of these stations is equipped with a high volume sampler, which allows background concentrations of caesium-137 to be measured; another is equipped to

  1. Evidence for late Pliocene deglacial megafloods in the Gulf of Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Z.; Gani, M. R.

    2017-12-01

    The paleoclimatic significance of giant sedimentary structures developed under unconfined Froude-supercritical sediment gravity flows in subaqueous settings is considerably under-examined. This research, for the first time, extensively documents >20-km-wide and 200-m-thick Plio-Pleistocene giant sediment waves in the northern Gulf of Mexico continental slope using 3D seismic data, showing waveform morphology in unprecedented detail. Published biostratigraphic data help constraining the geologic age of these deposits. The results of numerical and morphological analyses suggest that such large-scale bedforms were formed under sheet-like unconfined Froude-supercritical turbidity currents as cyclic steps. Paleohydraulic reconstruction (e.g., flow velocity, discharge, and unit flux), in association with other evidence like geologic age, published stable isotope records, and temporal rarity, points out that the responsible Froude-supercritical turbidity currents were most likely triggered by deglacial catastrophic outburst floods during the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene. Laurentide Ice Sheet outburst floods to the Gulf of Mexico have previously been documented based mainly on deep-sea cores during the last several interglacial episodes in the late Pleistocene. Our megaflood events constitute, by far, the oldest record of the glacial outburst floods during the Quaternary Ice Age anywhere in the world. This study suggests that such pervasive occurrence of large-scale sediment waves likely serve as a proxy for extreme events like catastrophic megafloods.

  2. Early deglacial Atlantic overturning decline and its role in atmospheric CO2 rise inferred from carbon isotopes (δ13C

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Schmittner

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The reason for the initial rise in atmospheric CO2 during the last deglaciation remains unknown. Most recent hypotheses invoke Southern Hemisphere processes such as shifts in midlatitude westerly winds. Coeval changes in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC are poorly quantified, and their relation to the CO2 increase is not understood. Here we compare simulations from a global, coupled climate–biogeochemistry model that includes a detailed representation of stable carbon isotopes (δ13C with a synthesis of high-resolution δ13C reconstructions from deep-sea sediments and ice core data. In response to a prolonged AMOC shutdown initialized from a preindustrial state, modeled δ13C of dissolved inorganic carbon (δ13CDIC decreases in most of the surface ocean and the subsurface Atlantic, with largest amplitudes (more than 1.5‰ in the intermediate-depth North Atlantic. It increases in the intermediate and abyssal South Atlantic, as well as in the subsurface Southern, Indian, and Pacific oceans. The modeled pattern is similar and highly correlated with the available foraminiferal δ13C reconstructions spanning from the late Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ~19.5–18.5 ka BP to the late Heinrich stadial event 1 (HS1, ~16.5–15.5 ka BP, but the model overestimates δ13CDIC reductions in the North Atlantic. Possible reasons for the model–sediment-data differences are discussed. Changes in remineralized δ13CDIC dominate the total δ13CDIC variations in the model but preformed contributions are not negligible. Simulated changes in atmospheric CO2 and its isotopic composition (δ13CCO2 agree well with ice core data. Modeled effects of AMOC-induced wind changes on the carbon and isotope cycles are small, suggesting that Southern Hemisphere westerly wind effects may have been less important for the global carbon cycle response during HS1 than previously thought. Our results indicate that during the early deglaciation the AMOC decreased

  3. Radioactivity monitoring of Irish dairy produce

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kelleher, K.

    2010-01-01

    Full text: The RPII has been carrying out monitoring of milk and dairy produce since 1986. Milk samples are routinely analysed for radiocaesium and strontium-90 as part of the RPII's environmental monitoring programme to determine the doses received to the Irish population from milk consumption. The method the RPII utilises for determining the Sr-90 activity in milk is by measuring the Cerenkov radiation produced by its daughter 90 Y isolated from interfering nuclides such as uranium, thorium, radium and their decay products as well as isotopes of caesium, potassium and strontium by extraction with 10% di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate (HDEHP) in toluene. The chemical yield of 90 Y is determined by the acidmetric titration of yttrium nitrate carrier with titriplex III. The levels of Sr-90 and dose to the Irish population from milk consumption have been negligible when compared to other radioactive sources in the Irish environment. Other dairy products are analysed for radiocaesium on a routine basis for commercial customers to ensure the levels of radioactivity in the dairy products fall within EC regulations governing the export/import of dairy produce. The export of milk and milk produce from Ireland is a very important industry, 80% of dairy products produced in Ireland are exported and these exports are worth Euro 2.2 billion annually to the Irish economy. The dairy products are analysed by gamma spectroscopy and include full and skim milk powders, butter, casein, cheese, cream, whey and lactose. The levels of radiocaesium in these products are typically below 5 Bk/kg and fall well within the limit of 370 Bq/kg laid down by the European Community in Council Regulation 737/90. Although the levels of these radionuclides are relatively low the RPII recognises the importance of analysing these samples for radioactivity to inform the public, ensure consumer confidence and, more importantly, to maintain a level of expertise in the RPII in these analytical techniques so that

  4. Radioactivity monitoring of Irish dairy produce

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kelleher, K. (Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland. Radiation Monitoring, Dublin (Ireland))

    2010-03-15

    Full text: The RPII has been carrying out monitoring of milk and dairy produce since 1986. Milk samples are routinely analysed for radiocaesium and strontium-90 as part of the RPII's environmental monitoring programme to determine the doses received to the Irish population from milk consumption. The method the RPII utilises for determining the Sr-90 activity in milk is by measuring the Cerenkov radiation produced by its daughter 90Y isolated from interfering nuclides such as uranium, thorium, radium and their decay products as well as isotopes of caesium, potassium and strontium by extraction with 10% di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate (HDEHP) in toluene. The chemical yield of 90Y is determined by the acidmetric titration of yttrium nitrate carrier with titriplex III. The levels of Sr-90 and dose to the Irish population from milk consumption have been negligible when compared to other radioactive sources in the Irish environment. Other dairy products are analysed for radiocaesium on a routine basis for commercial customers to ensure the levels of radioactivity in the dairy products fall within EC regulations governing the export/import of dairy produce. The export of milk and milk produce from Ireland is a very important industry, 80% of dairy products produced in Ireland are exported and these exports are worth Euro 2.2 billion annually to the Irish economy. The dairy products are analysed by gamma spectroscopy and include full and skim milk powders, butter, casein, cheese, cream, whey and lactose. The levels of radiocaesium in these products are typically below 5 Bk/kg and fall well within the limit of 370 Bq/kg laid down by the European Community in Council Regulation 737/90. Although the levels of these radionuclides are relatively low the RPII recognises the importance of analysing these samples for radioactivity to inform the public, ensure consumer confidence and, more importantly, to maintain a level of expertise in the RPII in these analytical techniques so

  5. Is the Price Right?: Stereotypes, Co-Production Policy and Irish Television.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gibbons, Luke

    The purpose of this paper is to examine how recent demand for greater realism in portrayals of Irish life in the television and film industries serves to authenticate existing stereotypes and romantic images which characterize "Irishness" in the popular imagination rather than refute or undermine them. Discussions of a political thriller…

  6. Organising methods and member recruitment in Irish Trade Unions

    OpenAIRE

    Turner, Thomas; O'Sullivan, Michelle; D'Art, Daryl

    2011-01-01

    peer-reviewed Purpose This paper explores the recruiting and organising methods used by Irish full-time union officials to recruit new members in the private sector of the economy. Design/methodology/approach The analysis is based on a survey of full-time union officials in eight Irish trade unions. Findings Results indicate that the use of organising techniques by officials had no significant impact on changes in membership numbers but did have a significant and po...

  7. Unravelling source regions of ice rafted debris within three NE Atlantic marine sediment cores during the deglacial interval: a multi-proxy approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Small, David; Hibbert, Fiona; Austin, Bill

    2010-05-01

    -1010. • Hibbert, F.D., Austin, W.E.N., Leng, M.J. and Gatliff, R.W., 2009. British Ice Sheet Dynamics inferred from North Atlantice ice-rafted debris records spanning the last 175,000 years. Journal of Quaternary Science. ISSN 0267-8179. • Knutz, P.C., Austin, W.E.N. and Jones, E.J.W., 2001. Millenial-scale depositional cycles related to British Ice Sheet variability and North Atlantic paleocirculation since 45kyr B.P., Barra Fan, U.K. margin. Paleoceanography 16. pp.53-64. • Oliver, G.J.H., 2001. Reconstruction of the Grampian episode in Scotland: it's place in the Caledonian Orogeny. Tectonphysics 332. pp.23-49. • Ruddiman, W.F., 1977. Late Quaternary deposition of ice-rafted sand in the sub-polar North Atlantic (lat 40° to 65°). Geological Society of America Bulletin 88. pp.1813-1821. • Scourse, J.D., Haapaniemi, A.I., Colmenero-Hidalgo, E., Peck, V.L., Hall, I.R., Austin, W.E.N., Knutz, P.C. and Zahn, R., 2009. Growth, dynamics and deglaciation of the last British-Irish Ice Sheet: the deep-sea ice-rafted detritus record. Quaternary Science Reviews 28. pp.3066-3084.

  8. An Atlantic-Pacific ventilation seesaw across the last deglaciation

    OpenAIRE

    Freeman, E; Skinner, Luke Cameron; Tisserand, A; Dokken, T; Timmermann, A; Menviel, L; Friedrich, T

    2015-01-01

    It has been proposed that the rapid rise of atmospheric CO2across the last deglaciation was driven by the release of carbon from an extremely radiocarbon-depleted abyssal ocean reservoir that was ‘vented’ to the atmosphere primarily via the deep-and intermediate overturning loops in the Southern Ocean. While some radiocarbon observations from the intermediate ocean appear to confirm this hypothesis, others appear to refute it. Here we use radiocarbon measurements in paired benthic-and plankto...

  9. Irish women who seek abortions in England.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francome, C

    1992-01-01

    In 1991, 4158 women from Ireland and 1766 from Northern Ireland traveled to England for abortions. This situation has been ignored by Irish authorities. The 1992 case of the 14-year old seeking an abortion in England finally caught legal attention. This study attempts to help define who these abortion seekers are. Questionnaires from 200 Irish abortion seeking women attending private Marie Stopes clinics in London and the British Pregnancy Advisory Services clinic in Liverpool between September 1988 and December 1990 were analyzed. Findings pertain to demographic characteristics, characteristics of first intercourse, family discussion of sexual activity, and contraceptive use. From this limited sample, it appears that Irish women are sexually reserved and without access to modern methods of birth control and abortion. Sex is associated with shame and guilt. 23% had intercourse before the age of 18 years and 42% after the age of 20. 76% were single and 16% were currently married. 95% were Catholic; 33% had been to church the preceding Sunday and 68% within the past month. Basic information about menstruation is also limited and procedures such as dilatation and curettage may be performed selectively. 28% of married women were uninformed about menstruation prior to its onset. Only 24% had been using birth control around the time of pregnancy. The reason for nonuse was frequently the unexpectedness of intercourse. 62% of adults and 66% of women believe in legalizing abortion in Ireland. British groups have tried to break through the abortion information ban by sending telephone numbers of abortion clinics to Irish firms for distribution to employees. On November 25, 1992, in the general election, there was approval of constitutional amendments guaranteeing the right to travel for abortions and to receive information on abortion access. The amendment to allow abortion to save the life of the mother was not accepted.

  10. Training and Developing Non-Irish Workers: The Perspectives of Interested Stakeholders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prendergast, Mary

    2016-01-01

    Purpose: This paper aims to explore the challenges facing Irish organisations in the training and development of non-Irish workers. It analyses the importance of fluency in the host country's language and the approach taken by organisations in relation to language training. In-depth semi-structured interviews provide significant insights for the…

  11. Early Reading Strategies in Irish and English: Evidence from Error Types

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parsons, Christine E.; Lyddy, Fiona

    2009-01-01

    For the majority of people in Ireland, Irish is a second language acquired primarily through the schooling system. This study examined the reading strategies children used in response to English and Irish words (presented in isolation), through an analysis of their oral reading errors. Children in their 4th year of schooling attending…

  12. Floating like a cork: The importance of glacial isostasy in the deglaciation progress in Iceland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norddahl, H.; Ingolfsson, O.

    2016-12-01

    Being positioned on top of a hotspot and between two spreading ocean plates explains rheological structure of Iceland and the properties of a 30-35 km thick lithosphere, possibly with high proportion of partial melt, on top of a low viscous asthenosphere below Iceland, in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean. Rapid variations in glacier loading on the Iceland crust have been proved to generate more or less an instantaneous depression or uplift of the crust and, thus, uphold both temporal and spacial glacio-isostatic equilibrium. Formation of a shoreline requires at least temporal equilibrium between glacial isostasy and eustasy. Eminent raised shorelines - found throughout Iceland - were formed during two separate but consecutive culmination of climatically induced glacier re-advance and consequent transgression of relative sea-level in Younger Dryas and Preboreal times (12.0 and 11.3 kcal BP). A Marine Limit shoreline in W Iceland was formed at 14.7 kcal BP, subsequent to a collapse-like retreat of the marine based part of the Icelandic Ice Sheet (IIS) and just prior to the onset of the Bølling warming, i.e. during a period of anticipated rapid isostatic uplift. A temporary glacio-isostatic equilibrium at that time is best explained by changes in the mode of deglaciation generating dynamic changes within the Ice Sheet itself, changes that resulted in reduced rates of mass-loss and glacio-isostatic uplift to such a degree that a temporal quasi-equilibrium between eustatic rise and isostatic uplift was established. Formation of well-developed raised shoreline is generally regarded as a deglaciation proxy signaling large ice volume changes. Formation of the ML shoreline in W Iceland during the rapid climatic improvement at the beginning of the Bølling/Allerød Interstadial underlines the importance of, beside the geological data, also to take into consideration physical properties of both the lithosphere and asthenosphere in each location.

  13. Square-Toed Boots and Felt Hats: Irish Revolutionaries and the Invasion of Canada (1848-1871

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marta Ramón-García

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available The Fenian movement was born in 1858 as an alliance between the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a revolutionary secret society, and the Fenian Brotherhood, an Irish-American organisation intended to supply this society with funds and trained officers. This was not the first time that Irish nationalists on both sides of the Atlantic had tried to cooperate, but it was the first time that there was a steady arrangement in place. The Fenian partnership was extremely successful on the surface, but it was undermined by fundamental differences in customs, political attitudes and ultimate goals between Irish and American Fenians. The clearest evidence of these differences was afforded by the Fenian Brotherhood’s successive attempts to invade Canada between 1866 and 1871. As military episodes the Canadian raids were negligible; as Irish revolutionary attempts they seem absurd. However, they were a perfectly coherent manifestation of the Irish-American “hyphenated identity”. The present article traces the parallel evolution of the Irish Republican Brotherhood and the Fenian Brotherhood up to 1866, and reconstructs the cultural and political reasons for the revival of the Canadian scheme, the ensuing split in the Fenian Brotherhood, and the final collapse of the Fenian alliance.

  14. The core faecal bacterial microbiome of Irish Thoroughbred racehorses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O' Donnell, M M; Harris, H M B; Jeffery, I B; Claesson, M J; Younge, B; O' Toole, P W; Ross, R P

    2013-12-01

    In this study, we characterized the gut microbiota in six healthy Irish thoroughbred racehorses and showed it to be dominated by the phyla Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Actinobacteria, Euryarchaeota, Fibrobacteres and Spirochaetes. Moreover, all the horses harboured Clostridium, Fibrobacter, Faecalibacterium, Ruminococcus, Eubacterium, Oscillospira, Blautia Anaerotruncus, Coprococcus, Treponema and Lactobacillus spp. Notwithstanding the sample size, it was noteworthy that the core microbiota species assignments identified Fibrobacter succinogenes, Eubacterium coprostanoligenes, Eubacterium hallii, Eubacterium ruminantium, Oscillospira guillermondii, Sporobacter termiditis, Lactobacillus equicursoris, Treponema parvum and Treponema porcinum in all the horses. This is the first study of the faecal microbiota in the Irish thoroughbred racehorse, a significant competitor in the global bloodstock industry. The information gathered in this pilot study provides a foundation for veterinarians and other equine health-associated professionals to begin to analyse the microbiome of performance of racehorses. This study and subsequent work may lead to alternate dietary approaches aimed at minimizing the risk of microbiota-related dysbiosis in these performance animals. Although Irish thoroughbreds are used nationally and internationally as performance animals, very little is known about the core faecal microbiota of these animals. This is the first study to characterize the bacterial microbiota present in the Irish thoroughbred racehorse faeces and elucidate a core microbiome irrespective of diet, animal management and geographical location. © 2013 The Society for Applied Microbiology.

  15. Comment on "Younger Dryas sea level and meltwater pulse 1B recorded in Barbados reefal crest coral Acropora palmata" by N. A. Abdul et al.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bard, Edouard; Hamelin, Bruno; Deschamps, Pierre; Camoin, Gilbert

    2016-12-01

    Based on new U-Th ages of corals drilled offshore Barbados, Abdul et al. (2016) have confirmed the existence of the abrupt stratigraphic feature called meltwater pulse 1B (MWP-1B), which they interpret as being due to a very large and global sea level step change dated at about 11.3 kyr before present (approximately 15 m and equivalent to twice the amount of water stored in the present Greenland ice sheet). This contrasts with the Tahiti record, in which MWP-1B is essentially absent or very small, as Carlson and Clark (2012) and Lambeck et al. (2014) also conclude in their recent reviews of deglacial sea levels at the global scale. However, the evidence provided by Abdul et al. and their main conclusions are not convincing as they are affected by the following three main problems, which may explain the apparent discrepancies: Problem #1/Barbados is located in a subduction zone, which was also active throughout the Late Glacial period. Furthermore, the Barbados cores studied by Abdul et al. were drilled on both sides of the extension of a tectonic feature identified at the southern tip of Barbados (South Point) as underlined by several studies of the Barbados stratigraphy. Problem #2/Fossil samples of Acropora palmata may not be reliable sea level markers during rapid and large sea level rises. Indeed, the asexual reproduction strategy of this species may not be optimal to keep up when the water depth is increasing very rapidly. This may in part explain why the living depth of A. palmata at Barbados was significantly greater than 5 m during some periods of the last deglaciation, notably between 14.5 and 14 kyr B.P. and possibly between 14 and 11.5 kyr B.P. Problem #3/The slow glacio-isostatic adjustment and the rapid responses due to gravitational changes of ice and water masses complicate the interpretation of individual relative sea level (RSL) records at specific locations. Therefore, the Barbados and Tahiti record cannot be compared directly in terms of absolute

  16. Melting of the Patagonian Ice Sheet and deglacial perturbations of the nitrogen cycle in the eastern South Pacific

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Pol-Holz, Ricardo; Ulloa, Osvaldo; Dezileau, Laurent; Kaiser, Jérôme; Lamy, Frank; Hebbeln, Dierk

    2006-02-01

    We report the last glacial-interglacial transition of marine denitrification off northern Chile based on sedimentary nitrogen isotopes. Our results show a relatively early, large and abrupt transition from low to high denitrification regimes consistent with recently-reported data from off Peru. The deglaciation is characterized by millennial-scale adjustments of the oxygen minimum zone that mimic the atmospheric temperature record from Antarctica. We also show that the sharp denitrification onset was not caused by an increase in local primary productivity, nor by ventilation changes occurring in the Southern Ocean, as previously proposed. We found that the magnitude and timing of the deglacial denitrification changes are in close agreement with the fresh-water pulses that resulted from the melting of the Patagonian Ice Sheet. We consequently attribute the deglacial onset of marine denitrification in the area to a collapse of the thermocline ventilation occurred at the mid-latitude subduction region of the eastern South Pacific.

  17. Spatial Overlap of Grey Seals and Fisheries in Irish Waters, Some New Insights Using Telemetry Technology and VMS.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Cronin

    Full Text Available Seals and humans often target the same food resource, leading to competition. This is of mounting concern with fish stocks in global decline. Grey seals were tracked from southeast Ireland, an area of mixed demersal and pelagic fisheries, and overlap with fisheries on the Celtic Shelf and Irish Sea was assessed. Overall, there was low overlap between the tagged seals and fisheries. However, when we separate active (e.g. trawls and passive gear (e.g. nets, lines fisheries, a different picture emerged. Overlap with active fisheries was no different from that expected under a random distribution, but overlap with passive fisheries was significantly higher. This suggests that grey seals may be targeting the same areas as passive fisheries and/or specifically targeting passive gear. There was variation in foraging areas between individual seals suggesting habitat partitioning to reduce intra-specific competition or potential individual specialisation in foraging behaviour. Our findings support other recent assertions that seal/fisheries interactions in Irish waters are an issue in inshore passive fisheries, most likely at the operational and individual level. This suggests that seal population management measures would be unjustifiable, and mitigation is best focused on minimizing interactions at nets.

  18. Radioactivity Monitoring of the Irish Environment 2010-2011

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGinnity, P.; Currivan, L.; Dowdall, A.; Hanley, O.; Kelleher, K.; McKittrick, L.; Pollard, D.; Somerville, S.; Wong, J.; McMahon, C.

    2012-11-01

    This report presents the results of the environmental radioactivity monitoring programme carried out by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland RPII during 2010 and 2011. The RPII has routinely monitored levels of radioactivity in the Irish environment since 1982 and this is the latest in the RPII's series of environmental monitoring reports. The RPII reviews and updates its environmental programme annually to ensure it remains relevant and continues to focus on the most important sources of radioactivity in the environment. The data presented in this report confirm that while the levels of artificial radioactivity in the Irish environment are detectable, they are low. They do not pose a significant risk to the human health of the Irish population. Trace amounts of radioactive isotopes consistent with the Fukushima nuclear accident were detected in air, rainwater and milk samples during the period March to May 2011. These increases in levels of radioactivity were not of concern from a public health point of view. For the remainder of the reporting period, activity concentrations of radionuclides in airborne particles were low and consistent with measurements made in recent years. Radioactivity levels in milk, mixed diet and a wide range of foodstuffs were low and, for the majority of samples, below the detection limits. All drinking waters tested were found to be in compliance with the total indicative dose defined in national and EU legislation. The doses incurred by the Irish public in 2010 and 2011 as a result of artificial radioactivity in the marine environment are small when compared to dose limits or to natural radiation doses received by the Irish public. The doses to the most exposed individuals, members of the oyster and mussel farmers critical group, were approximately 0.02 per cent and 0.05 per cent of the annual dose limit of 1000 microsieverts for members of the public from practices involving controllable sources of radiation in 2010 and

  19. Of Mermaids and Changelings: Human Rights, Folklore and Contemporary Irish Language Poetry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rióna Ní Fhrighil

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available This article investigates the intersection of human rights discourse, Irish folklore and contemporary Irish-language poetry. The author contends that contemporary Irish-language poets Louis de Paor and Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill exploit the multi-faceted nature of international folklore motifs, along with their local variants, to represent human rights violations in their poetry. Focusing specifically on the motif of the changeling in De Paor’s poetry and on the motif of the mermaid in Ní Dhomhnaill’s, the author traces how folklore material is reimagined in ways that eschew uncomplicated transnational solidarity but which engender empathetic settlement.

  20. The Irish organic food market: shortfalls, opportunities and the need for research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tobin, Rachel; Larkin, Tracey; Moane, Siobhan

    2011-09-01

    In 2009 the Irish organic food market was forecasted to grow from €120 m to €239 m by 2013; however, recent figures set its value at just €90 m. An estimated 70% of this market is imported. Surveys of Irish consumers reveal that 66% of consumers prefer to buy local produce and most organic consumers are buying organic at supermarkets. This evidence reveals that Irish producers must trade at supermarkets, and promote 'local produce' to ensure their produce reach the majority of buyers. Seventy-eight % of organic rejecters state price and 21% state unawareness of the benefits as reasons for not buying organic. Many Irish consumers are buying organic food on the perceived belief that it is healthier, safer and tastes better; however, a review of studies on organic versus conventional foods in terms of health benefits, safety and sensory quality has shown that existing data is limited in scope and fails to show a clear trend. The review concludes with the need for a comprehensive study of a range of organic and conventional foods available to the Irish consumer in order to determine if differences in organic cultivation result in statistically significant differences in health linked compounds and sensory quality. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry.

  1. Real exchange-rates, co-integration and purchasing power parity - Irish experience in the EMS

    OpenAIRE

    Thom, R

    1989-01-01

    Dickey-Fuller and Co-Integration techniques are used to test the hypothesis that co-movements in Irish nominal exchange rates and relative prices are consistent with the implications of Purchasing Power Parity. The data reject PPP between Ireland and the US. Results from Irish/UK and Irish/German data are less decisive against the possibility that linear combinations of the nominal exchange rate and corresponding relative prices are stationary series.

  2. "The Balancing Act"--Irish Part-Time Undergraduate Students in Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darmody, Merike; Fleming, Bairbre

    2009-01-01

    While the numbers of part-time students has increased in higher education in Ireland, little is known about these students or about how they balance their study and other commitments. Drawing on a larger study on Irish students' experiences in higher education, this article attempts to address this gap in research and reports on Irish part-time…

  3. The Irish coastal current: A seasonal jet-like circulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernand, L.; Nolan, G. D.; Raine, R.; Chambers, C. E.; Dye, S. R.; White, M.; Brown, J.

    2006-10-01

    During 25 July-3 August 2001 a comprehensive cruise was undertaken along the western coast of the Republic of Ireland to resolve the three-dimensional density field and circulation. Towed undulating CTD revealed the strong thermocline beyond the 60 m contour with more diffuse stratification inshore. Argos drifters deployed in the late summer of 1999, 2000 and 2001 demonstrated strongly northward flow, their motion was uncorrelated with wind forcing but was consistent with the predicted geostrophic currents generated by the bottom fronts intersecting the seabed. These flows were evident in the data from the vessel mounted 153.6 kHz acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) although the jets are relatively narrow (15-20 km). This region is heavily influenced by storm events and Atlantic influence with high salinity contributing to strong vertical and horizontal density gradients particularly in the south of the region. However, the seasonal heating cycle coupled with tidal mixing is the dominant force of buoyancy production that ensures that the frontal features occur every year. In combination with similar features found in the Celtic Sea [Brown, J., et al., 2003. Observations of the physical structure and seasonal jet-like circulation of the Celtic Sea and St. George's Channel of the Irish Sea. Continental Shelf Research 23, 533-561] these observations demonstrate the existence of a continuous pathway in summer from the north Cornish coast to Malin Head with average residual velocities >7.5 cm s -1. The data set described here provides the necessary basis for environmental management and knowledge of the pathway for contaminants, the dynamics of nutrients and an understanding of the movement of larvae and juvenile fish, in a geographic location that had previously been little studied.

  4. Vitamin D intake and status in Irish elderly women and adolescent girls

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McCarthy, D.; Collins, A.; O’Brien, M.

    2006-01-01

    Aim To assess vitamin D status during summer and winter in Irish girls and elderly women, and to estimate vitamin D intake in these two age-groups. Methods Ambulatory free-living, elderly Irish women (aged 70-76 years; n = 43) and girls (aged 11-13 years; n = 17) were recruited. Fasting serums we...... collected during August/ September 2002 and February/March 2003 and analysed for 25 (OH) D by HPLC. Results Mean daily intakes of vitamin D were 4.6 mu g and 2.1 mu g in elderly women and girls, respectively Serum 25 (OH) D was significantly lower (P......Aim To assess vitamin D status during summer and winter in Irish girls and elderly women, and to estimate vitamin D intake in these two age-groups. Methods Ambulatory free-living, elderly Irish women (aged 70-76 years; n = 43) and girls (aged 11-13 years; n = 17) were recruited. Fasting serums were...

  5. Codeswitching in the Irish-Latin Leabhar Breac: Mediæval homiletic culture

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Horst, Th.J.E. ter

    2017-01-01

    An Leabhar Breac ('The Speckled Book'; c.1410) is a manuscript containing a collection of mostly religious material in both Latin and Irish, now housed in Dublin at the Royal Irish Academy. The present publication explores the make-up of the manuscript, focusing on the question which languages are

  6. The Advent of Representative Associations in the Irish Defence Forces

    Science.gov (United States)

    1992-06-05

    year period from 1975 to 1988. The Submission Group had difficulty finding appropriate groups in the Irish labour market against which to compare the...in the Irish Labour market , the average male industrial worker was chosen. In choosing the male industrial worker, it was not suggested that this...Defence Forces to have all young officers attend University College Galway ( UCG ) or a similar third level institute for the purpose of acquiring a

  7. Head-dependent asymmetries in Munster Irish prosody

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavel Iosad

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available In this paper I propose an analysis of stress in Munster Irish which builds on two important premises. First, I argue for a distinction between the notion ‘head of a constituent’ and the notion of ‘stress’: these are separate entities, and the typologically frequent isomorphic distribution of the two is just one possible outcome of the phonological computation. Second, I propose to employ a particular family of constraints requiring head-dependent asymmetries (Dresher and van der Hulst 1998 to account for the mismatch between the placement of foot heads and stress in Munster Irish. Overall, the paper is an argument for elaborate abstract structure as an explanatory factor in phonology, as opposed to relatively shallow, substance-based representations.

  8. New Uses of Traditional Healing in Contemporary Irish Literature

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patricia A. Lynch

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available This is a comparative study in two ways.  After a summary of the historical and cultural research into traditional healing which is relevant to this article, then some comments about the general usage of such themes in contemporary Irish literature, the article moves on to examine the role and function of traditional healing as a motif in four specific literary texts.  These are: two Irish plays, Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, and Jim Nolan’s Blackwater Angel, and two pieces of Irish fiction, P.J. Curtis’ novel The Lightning Tree and Claire Keegan’s short story “The Night of the Quicken Trees”.  Strong similarities are found on many fronts between the texts, especially in the acceptance of healing and the mystery associated with it.  However, differences also occur, depending on the artistic choices of the authors, the gender and community emphasis used, and the relative importance of healing in the context of the work.  Women healers seem to be more rooted and less tragic than their male counterparts, but all healers are seen paradoxically as both an asset and a potential threat to society. When these texts are compared with research into historical and cultural aspects of Irish folk medicine, they clearly draw on tradition for their plot elements, but only in the fiction and plays can the full dramatic potential of these life and death situations be explored.

  9. Responses to the Holocaust in Modern Irish Poetry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin Keatinge

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available This essay examines twentieth and twenty-first century responses by Irish poets to the Holocaust. It argues that, despite the illiberal tendencies of the Irish state towards Jewish immigration during and after the 1939-1945 war, recent commemorative activities in Ireland have included the Holocaust and are part of a wider commemorative ‘opening up’ in Ireland towards twentieth-century historical events. Important contemporary Irish poets have written Holocaust poems of notable merit including: Seamus Heaney, Harry Clifton, Derek Mahon, Pearse Hutchinson, Paul Durcan, Paul Muldoon, Thomas Kinsella and Tom Paulin, all of whom are discussed here. These poets are noted as second-generation Holocaust poets, more at home in the lyric form and less troubled by communicative dilemmas than their precursors such as Paul Celan and Samuel Beckett whose resemblance is briefly discussed. The essay concludes by arguing that Giorgio Agamben’s arguments about testimony after Auschwitz are strikingly pertinent to some of the poems under discussion. It also suggests that the historical essays of Hubert Butler may have acted as an unseen influence on some of these writers.

  10. New deglacial and Holocene micropaleontological and geochemical records from the southern margin of the Svalbard Archipelago (Arctic Ocean)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rigual-Hernández, Andrés.

    2010-05-01

    This study is presented in the context of the Spanish research project "The development of an Arctic ice stream-dominated sedimentary system: The southern Svalbard continental margin" (SVAIS), developed within the framework of the International Polar Year (IPY) Activity N. 367 (NICE STREAMS). Its main goal is to understand the evolution of glacial continental margins and their relationship with the changes in ice sheet dynamics induced by natural climatic changes, combining the geophysical data with the sediment record both collected during an oceanographic cruise in the Storfjorden area (SW Svalbard margin) in August 2007. This marine depositional system, dominated by an ice stream during the last glacial period, was selected due to its small size inducing a rapid response to climatic changes, and for the oceanographic relevance of the area for global ocean circulation. The results obtained aim to define the sedimentary architecture and morphology, and to provide more insight into the paleoceanographic and paleoclimatic evolution of the region. We specifically report on new micropaleontological and geochemical data obtained from the sediment cores. A preliminary age model indicates that the sediment sequences cover approximately the Last Deglaciation and the Holocene. Microfossils are generally well preserved, although the abundances of the different groups show marked shifts along the record. Low concentrations of coccolithophores, diatoms, planktic foraminifers and cysts of organic-walled dinoflagellates (dinocysts) are found at the lower half of the sequence (IRD-rich, coarser-grained sediments), and increase towards the Late Holocene (fine-grained bioturbated sediments). The Climatic Optimum is characterized by the warmest sea surface temperatures as estimated from the fossil assemblage, diverse transfer functions and biogeochemical proxies, and by high nutrient contents in the bottom waters shown by light carbon isotope values and high Cd/Ca ratios in benthic

  11. 76 FR 4254 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Certain Designated Counties in Idaho, and Malheur County, Oregon...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-01-25

    ... Service 7 CFR Part 945 [Doc. No. AMS-FV-10-0109; FV11-945-1] Irish Potatoes Grown in Certain Designated... among eligible producers of Irish potatoes in certain designated counties in Idaho, and Malheur County... Irish potatoes grown in the production area. DATES: The referendum will be conducted from March 5 to...

  12. Laboratory experiments to investigate radionuclide enrichment in the sea-surface microlayer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hickmott, S.J.B.

    1982-02-01

    Samples of simulated seawater, and seawater from the Irish Sea, were contained in a plastic tank in the laboratory, and bubbles were passed through them to burst at the water surface. The emitted jet droplets, as representing the surface microlayer, were collected on filter papers. Such measurements are easier to perform than similar measurements at sea, and the lack of waves enables greater collection efficiencies to be obtained. The droplet samples were analysed for stable Na, 137 Cs and actinides, and compared with the concentrations in the bulk tank water, in order to examine possible concentration factors for radionuclides in the surface microlayer. (author)

  13. Prevalence of and Attitudes about Concussion in Irish Schools' Rugby Union Players

    Science.gov (United States)

    Delahunty, Sinéad E.; Delahunt, Eamonn; Condon, Brian; Toomey, David; Blake, Catherine

    2015-01-01

    Background: Youth rugby players represent 45.2% (N?=?69,472) of the Irish rugby union playing population. The risk and consequences of concussion injury are of particular concern in these young athletes, but limited epidemiological data exists. This study investigated annual and lifetime prevalence of concussion in an Irish schoolboy rugby union…

  14. The Holocene and the Late Deglaciation: timing and development on the northern Svalbard margin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slubowska, M. A.; Koc, N.; Rasmussen, T. L.

    2002-12-01

    Svalbard is located in the high Arctic (76§ to 81§ N and 10§ to 28§ E) at the northernmost reach of the warmer West Spitsbergen Current, which forms the continuation of the North Atlantic Current. At this position, close to the Polar Front, even small variations in the current are expected to have large effects on the regional climate. Therefore, the Svalbard area is ideal for monitoring past changes in the ocean circulation as well as the timing and the nature of the Svalbard ice sheet disintegration. We have investigated core NP94-51 SC2 (80§ 21,346 N, 16§ 17,970 E, 400m water depth and 714 cm long) retrieved from the mouth of the Hinlopen Strait in the Arctic Ocean, north of Svalbard. The main objective of this study is to document a) the deglaciation history of the area, b) the Holocene climate variability on the decadal time scales using sedimentological, physical and biological analysis. AMS-14C dating gives the age of approximately 14,000 BP for the bottom of the core. The Holocene interglacial is represented by c. 5 m. A detailed analysis of different oceanographic proxies such as: ice rafted debris, magnetic susceptibility, spectral reflectance (L*a*b scale), benthic and planktic foraminiferal fauna, diatom flora, grain size and radiocarbon dates (AMS-14C) were used to reconstruct the paleoceanographic evolution of the area. The results show that disintegration of the Hinlopen Strait ice sheet and, possibly, the northern margin of the Svalbard ice sheet began at 14,000 BP. The influx of the subsurface Atlantic waters into the area began during the Bolling interstadial at 12,600 BP, while the surface waters were still cold and of low salinity. The retreat of the sea ice cover occurred together with the opening of the surface waters at 10,800 BP. During major part of the Younger Dryas (10,800 - 10,000 BP) the Polar Front was located close to the core site. At 10,100 BP the Polar Front retreated from that area. In comparison to the deglaciation

  15. A community-based geological reconstruction of Antarctic Ice Sheet deglaciation since the Last Glacial Maximum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bentley, Michael J.; Ó Cofaigh, Colm; Anderson, John B.; Conway, Howard; Davies, Bethan; Graham, Alastair G. C.; Hillenbrand, Claus-Dieter; Hodgson, Dominic A.; Jamieson, Stewart S. R.; Larter, Robert D.; Mackintosh, Andrew; Smith, James A.; Verleyen, Elie; Ackert, Robert P.; Bart, Philip J.; Berg, Sonja; Brunstein, Daniel; Canals, Miquel; Colhoun, Eric A.; Crosta, Xavier; Dickens, William A.; Domack, Eugene; Dowdeswell, Julian A.; Dunbar, Robert; Ehrmann, Werner; Evans, Jeffrey; Favier, Vincent; Fink, David; Fogwill, Christopher J.; Glasser, Neil F.; Gohl, Karsten; Golledge, Nicholas R.; Goodwin, Ian; Gore, Damian B.; Greenwood, Sarah L.; Hall, Brenda L.; Hall, Kevin; Hedding, David W.; Hein, Andrew S.; Hocking, Emma P.; Jakobsson, Martin; Johnson, Joanne S.; Jomelli, Vincent; Jones, R. Selwyn; Klages, Johann P.; Kristoffersen, Yngve; Kuhn, Gerhard; Leventer, Amy; Licht, Kathy; Lilly, Katherine; Lindow, Julia; Livingstone, Stephen J.; Massé, Guillaume; McGlone, Matt S.; McKay, Robert M.; Melles, Martin; Miura, Hideki; Mulvaney, Robert; Nel, Werner; Nitsche, Frank O.; O'Brien, Philip E.; Post, Alexandra L.; Roberts, Stephen J.; Saunders, Krystyna M.; Selkirk, Patricia M.; Simms, Alexander R.; Spiegel, Cornelia; Stolldorf, Travis D.; Sugden, David E.; van der Putten, Nathalie; van Ommen, Tas; Verfaillie, Deborah; Vyverman, Wim; Wagner, Bernd; White, Duanne A.; Witus, Alexandra E.; Zwartz, Dan

    2014-09-01

    A robust understanding of Antarctic Ice Sheet deglacial history since the Last Glacial Maximum is important in order to constrain ice sheet and glacial-isostatic adjustment models, and to explore the forcing mechanisms responsible for ice sheet retreat. Such understanding can be derived from a broad range of geological and glaciological datasets and recent decades have seen an upsurge in such data gathering around the continent and Sub-Antarctic islands. Here, we report a new synthesis of those datasets, based on an accompanying series of reviews of the geological data, organised by sector. We present a series of timeslice maps for 20 ka, 15 ka, 10 ka and 5 ka, including grounding line position and ice sheet thickness changes, along with a clear assessment of levels of confidence. The reconstruction shows that the Antarctic Ice sheet did not everywhere reach the continental shelf edge at its maximum, that initial retreat was asynchronous, and that the spatial pattern of deglaciation was highly variable, particularly on the inner shelf. The deglacial reconstruction is consistent with a moderate overall excess ice volume and with a relatively small Antarctic contribution to meltwater pulse 1a. We discuss key areas of uncertainty both around the continent and by time interval, and we highlight potential priorities for future work. The synthesis is intended to be a resource for the modelling and glacial geological community.

  16. Student voice: An emerging discourse in Irish education policy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Domnall Fleming

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available In positioning student voice within the Irish education policy discourse it is imperative that this emergent and complex concept is explored and theorized in the context of its definition and motivation. Student voice can then be positioned and critiqued as it emerged within Irish education policy primarily following Ireland’s ratification of the United Nations Charter on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC in 1992. Initially emerging in policy from a rights-based and democratic citizenship perspective, the student council became the principal construct for student voice in Irish post-primary schools. While central to the policy discourse, the student council construct has become tokenistic and redundant in practice. School evaluation policy, both external and internal, became a further catalyst for student voice in Ireland. Both processes further challenge and contest the motivation for student voice and point to the concept as an instrument for school improvement and performativity that lacks any centrality for a person-centered, rights-based, dialogic and consultative student voice within an inclusive classroom and school culture.

  17. Altered phosphorylation of rhodopsin in retinal dystrophic Irish Setters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cunnick, J.; Takemoto, D.J.; Takemoto, L.J.

    1986-01-01

    The carboxyl-terminus of rhodopsin in retinal dystrophic (rd) Irish Setters is altered near a possible phosphorylation site. To determine if this alteration affects ATP-mediated phosphorylation they compared the phosphorylation of rhodopsin from rd affected Irish Setters and normal unaffected dogs. Retinas from 8-week-old Irish Setters were phosphorylated with γ- 32 P-ATP and separated on SDS-PAGE. Compared to unaffected normal retinas, equalized for rhodopsin content, phosphorylation of rd rhodopsin was drastically reduced. When rd retinas were mixed with normal dog retinas, phosphorylation of the latter was inhibited. Inhibition also occurred when bovine retinas were mixed with rd retinas. The rd-mediated inhibition of phosphorylation was prevented by including 1mM NaF in the reaction mixture. Likewise, 1mM NaF restored phosphorylation of rd rhodopsin to normal levels. Phosphopeptide maps of rd and normal rhodopsin were identical and indicated 5 phosphopeptides present in each. Results suggest that one cause of the depressed rd rhodopsin phosphorylation is an increased phosphatase activity

  18. Adspots and Green Eyes: 'National' Identity in Irish TV Commercials and Other 'Marginal' Areas of Irish Television.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McBride, Stephanie

    This paper discusses the relationship between national identity and the so-called "marginal" areas of Irish television, i.e., advertisements, continuity announcements, and promotional trailers. The following issues are considered: (1) how these "spaces" between television programs compare in terms of use and influence to…

  19. Radioactivity Monitoring of the Irish Environment 2009

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGinnity, P.; Currivan, L.; Dowdall, A.; Fegan, M.; Hanley, O.; Kelleher, K.; McKittrick, L.; Somerville, S.; Wong, J.; Pollard, D.

    2010-12-01

    This report presents the results of the environmental radioactivity monitoring programme carried out by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) during 2009. The RPII has routinely monitored levels of radioactivity in the environment since 1982 and this is the latest in the RPII's series of environmental monitoring reports. The RPII reviews and updates its environmental programme annually so as to ensure it remains relevant and continues to focus on the most important sources of radioactivity in the environment. The principal aims of the RPII's monitoring programme are; to assess the level of radioactivity to which the Irish population is exposed as a result of radioactivity in the environment; to study trends and establish the geographical distribution of contaminating radionuclides so as to better understand the long term behaviour of artificial radioactivity in the food chain and the environment; to ensure that any increase in radiation levels resulting from an accidental release of radioactivity to the environment is detected and assessed rapidly. During 2009 radioactivity was measured in a wide range of foods and environmental materials including: air, water, milk, seafood, foodstuffs and complete meals. The most significant source of artificial radioactivity in the Irish marine environment is the discharge of low level liquid radioactive waste from the Sellafield Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant on the north east coast of England. In order to assess the exposure arising from the source extensive sampling of fish and shellfish landed at ports along the north east coast of Ireland is undertaken. The most exposed group of individuals to discharges from Sellafield have been identified as commercial oyster and mussel farmers working along the north east coastline and their families. Manmade radioactivity is also present in the terrestrial environment due primarily to residual global fallout arising primarily from atmospheric testing of nuclear

  20. Radioactivity Monitoring of the Irish Environment 2008

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fegan, M.; Currivan, L.; Dowdall, A.; Hanley, O.; Hayden, E.; Kelleher, K.; Long, S.; McKittrick, L.; Somerville, S.; Wong, J.; Pollard, D.

    2010-01-01

    This report presents the results of the environmental radioactivity monitoring programme carried out by the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) during 2008. The RPII has routinely monitored levels of radioactivity in the environment since 1982 and this is the latest in the RPII's series of environmental monitoring reports. The RPII reviews and updates its environmental programme annually so as to ensure it remains relevant and continues to focus on the most important sources of radioactivity in the environment. The principal aims of the RPII's monitoring programme are; to assess the level of radioactivity to which the Irish population is exposed as a result of radioactivity in the environment; to study trends and establish the geographical distribution of contaminating radionuclides so as to better understand the long term behaviour of artificial radioactivity in the food chain and the environment; to ensure that any increase in radiation levels resulting from an accidental release of radioactivity to the environment is detected and assessed rapidly. During 2008 radioactivity was measured in a wide range of foods and environmental materials including: air, water, milk, seafood, foodstuffs and complete meals. The most significant source of artificial radioactivity in the Irish marine environment is the discharge of low level liquid radioactive waste from the Sellafield Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Plant on the north east coast of England. In order to assess the exposure arising from the source extensive sampling of fish and shellfish landed at ports along the north east coast of Ireland is undertaken. The most exposed group of individuals to discharges from Sellafield have been identified as commercial oyster and mussel farmers working along the north east coastline and their families. Manmade radioactivity is also present in the terrestrial environment due primarily to residual global fallout arising primarily from atmospheric testing of nuclear

  1. Equity in Irish health care financing: measurement issues.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Samantha

    2010-04-01

    This paper employs widely used analytic techniques for measuring equity in health care financing to update Irish results from previous analysis based on data from the late 1980s. Kakwani indices are calculated using household survey data from 1987/88 to 2004/05. Results indicate a marginally progressive financing system overall. However, interpretation of the results for the private sources of health financing is complicated. This problem is not unique to Ireland but it is argued that it may be relatively more important in the context of a complex health financing system, illustrated in this paper by the Irish system. Alternative options for improving the analysis of equity in health care financing are discussed.

  2. “Is it English what we speak?” Irish English and Postcolonial Identity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mariavita Cambria

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores the case of Ireland as an anti-litteram postcolonial context. Within this context, a main concern is that of the relationship between language and identity. Irish English (the variety of English spoken in Ireland enjoys a unique position within the constellation of world-wide English varieties. Various factors led to the emergence of Irish English, it may well have developed as a resistance to the (contrasting forces of colonialism and has been perceived as a different vehicle for communication when compared to received colonial English. Scholars now generally believe that Irish people, at a certain moment in time, decided to use a language which offered better possibilities for work. Via the analysis of some postcolonial issues, such as the linguistic crisis of the colonial subject, the paper will first illustrate the circumstances that led to the emergence of Irish English and then list the main features of this variety.

  3. The image of mathematics held by Irish post-primary students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, Ciara; Stynes, Martin; O'Donoghue, John

    2014-08-01

    The image of mathematics held by Irish post-primary students was examined and a model for the image found was constructed. Initially, a definition for 'image of mathematics' was adopted with image of mathematics hypothesized as comprising attitudes, beliefs, self-concept, motivation, emotions and past experiences of mathematics. Research focused on students studying ordinary level mathematics for the Irish Leaving Certificate examination - the final examination for students in second-level or post-primary education. Students were aged between 15 and 18 years. A questionnaire was constructed with both quantitative and qualitative aspects. The questionnaire survey was completed by 356 post-primary students. Responses were analysed quantitatively using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and qualitatively using the constant comparative method of analysis and by reviewing individual responses. Findings provide an insight into Irish post-primary students' images of mathematics and offer a means for constructing a theoretical model of image of mathematics which could be beneficial for future research.

  4. Yield gap analysis and resource footprints of Irish potato production systems in Zimbabwe

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Svubure, O.; Struik, P.C.; Haverkort, A.J.; Steyn, J.M.

    2015-01-01

    Irish potato is the third most important carbohydrate food crop in Zimbabwe after maize and wheat. In 2012, the Government of Zimbabwe declared it a strategic national food security crop. In this study, we examine the country's potential for increasing Irish potato yield and help ease the nation's

  5. Training Cubs for the Celtic Tiger: The Volume Production of Technical Graduates in the Irish Educational System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wickham, James; Boucher, Gerard W.

    2004-01-01

    This article examines the claim that the Irish educational system was one cause of Ireland's rapid economic growth in the 1990s. For decades Irish economic policy has assumed that economic growth depended on foreign direct investment (FDI). During the 1990s, Irish exports largely comprised high-technology manufacturing products; foreign-owned…

  6. Climate bifurcation during the last deglaciation?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. M. Lenton

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available There were two abrupt warming events during the last deglaciation, at the start of the Bølling-Allerød and at the end of the Younger Dryas, but their underlying dynamics are unclear. Some abrupt climate changes may involve gradual forcing past a bifurcation point, in which a prevailing climate state loses its stability and the climate tips into an alternative state, providing an early warning signal in the form of slowing responses to perturbations, which may be accompanied by increasing variability. Alternatively, short-term stochastic variability in the climate system can trigger abrupt climate changes, without early warning. Previous work has found signals consistent with slowing down during the last deglaciation as a whole, and during the Younger Dryas, but with conflicting results in the run-up to the Bølling-Allerød. Based on this, we hypothesise that a bifurcation point was approached at the end of the Younger Dryas, in which the cold climate state, with weak Atlantic overturning circulation, lost its stability, and the climate tipped irreversibly into a warm interglacial state. To test the bifurcation hypothesis, we analysed two different climate proxies in three Greenland ice cores, from the Last Glacial Maximum to the end of the Younger Dryas. Prior to the Bølling warming, there was a robust increase in climate variability but no consistent slowing down signal, suggesting this abrupt change was probably triggered by a stochastic fluctuation. The transition to the warm Bølling-Allerød state was accompanied by a slowing down in climate dynamics and an increase in climate variability. We suggest that the Bølling warming excited an internal mode of variability in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation strength, causing multi-centennial climate fluctuations. However, the return to the Younger Dryas cold state increased climate stability. We find no consistent evidence for slowing down during the Younger Dryas, or in a longer

  7. Biogeochemical Cycling and Sea Ice Dynamics in the Bering Sea across the Mid-Pleistocene Transition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Detlef, H.; Sosdian, S. M.; Belt, S. T.; Smik, L.; Lear, C. H.; Hall, I. R.; Kender, S.; Leng, M. J.; Husum, K.; Cabedo-Sanz, P.

    2017-12-01

    Today the Bering Sea is characterized by high primary productivity (PP) along the eastern shelf, maintained by CO2 and nutrient rich upwelled deep waters and nutrient release during spring sea ice melting. As such, low oxygen concentrations are pervasive in mid-depth waters. Changes in ventilation and export productivity in the past have been shown to impact this oxygen minimum zone. On glacial/interglacial (G/IG) timescales sea ice formation plays a pivotal role on intermediate water ventilation with evidence pointing to the formation of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) in the Bering Sea during Pleistocene glacial intervals. In addition, sea ice plays a significant role in both long- and short-term climate change via associated feedback mechanisms. Thus, records of sea ice dynamics and biogeochemical cycling in the Bering Sea are necessary to fully understand the interaction between PP, circulation patterns, and past G/IG climates with potential implications for the North Pacific carbon cycle. Here we use a multi-proxy approach to study sea ice dynamics and bottom water oxygenation, across three intervals prior to, across, and after the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (MPT, 1.2-0.7 Ma) from International Ocean Discovery Program Site U1343. The MPT, most likely driven by internal climate mechanisms, is ideal to study changes in sea ice dynamics and sedimentary redox conditions on orbital timescales and to investigate the implications for associated feedback mechanisms. The sea ice record, based on various biomarkers, including IP25, shows substantial increase in sea ice extent across the MPT and the occurrence of a late-glacial/deglacial sea ice spike, with consequences for glacial NPIW formation and land glacier retreat via the temperature-precipitation feedback. U/Mn of foraminiferal authigenic coatings, a novel proxy for bottom water oxygenation, also shows distinct variability on G/IG timescales across the MPT, most likely a result of PP and water mass

  8. The Roman-Irish Bath: Medical/health history as therapeutic assemblage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foley, Ronan

    2014-04-01

    The invention of a new form of hot-air bath in Blarney, Ireland in 1856, variously known in its lifetime as the Roman-Irish or Turkish Bath, acted as the starting point for a the production of a globalised therapeutic landscape. Tracking the diffusion of the Roman-Irish bath template from its local invention in Ireland to a global reach across the Victorian world and recognizing its place within a wider hydrotherapeutic history, this paper frames that diffusion as a valuable empirical addition to assemblage theory. The specific empirical history of the spread of the Roman-Irish/Turkish bath idea is drawn from primary archival and secondary historical sources. It is then discussed and, drawing from work on assemblage theory, analyzed against three broad themes: mobile networks, socio-material practices and contested emergence. The emergent relational geographies of the Roman-Irish Bath identify important roles for the diffusion and transformation of specific medical settings, identities and functions. These were linked in turn to competing social-healing pathways wherein bodies were technologically and morally managed, to produce a more inhabited form of therapeutic assemblage. In all cases the differential diffusion of the bath idea, it's shifting and fractured material forms and multiple inhabitations and discourses were contested and mobile and spoke to an assemblage approach which has ripe potential for exploration across a range of medical/health geography settings. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. `Googling' Terrorists: Are Northern Irish Terrorists Visible on Internet Search Engines?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reilly, P.

    In this chapter, the analysis suggests that Northern Irish terrorists are not visible on Web search engines when net users employ conventional Internet search techniques. Editors of mass media organisations traditionally have had the ability to decide whether a terrorist atrocity is `newsworthy,' controlling the `oxygen' supply that sustains all forms of terrorism. This process, also known as `gatekeeping,' is often influenced by the norms of social responsibility, or alternatively, with regard to the interests of the advertisers and corporate sponsors that sustain mass media organisations. The analysis presented in this chapter suggests that Internet search engines can also be characterised as `gatekeepers,' albeit without the ability to shape the content of Websites before it reaches net users. Instead, Internet search engines give priority retrieval to certain Websites within their directory, pointing net users towards these Websites rather than others on the Internet. Net users are more likely to click on links to the more `visible' Websites on Internet search engine directories, these sites invariably being the highest `ranked' in response to a particular search query. A number of factors including the design of the Website and the number of links to external sites determine the `visibility' of a Website on Internet search engines. The study suggests that Northern Irish terrorists and their sympathisers are unlikely to achieve a greater degree of `visibility' online than they enjoy in the conventional mass media through the perpetration of atrocities. Although these groups may have a greater degree of freedom on the Internet to publicise their ideologies, they are still likely to be speaking to the converted or members of the press. Although it is easier to locate Northern Irish terrorist organisations on Internet search engines by linking in via ideology, ideological description searches, such as `Irish Republican' and `Ulster Loyalist,' are more likely to

  10. Levels of polychlorinated dibenzo(p)dioxins, dibenzofurans and dioxin-like PCBs in Irish farmed salmon

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gruemping, R.; Hamm, S.; Stegemann, D.; Maulshagen, A. [eurofins/GfA, Muenster (Germany)

    2004-09-15

    A recent survey published by Hites in the journal Science compared the level of organochlorine contaminants including PCBs and dioxins in farmed versus wild salmon collected from around the world. Most organochlorine substances analysed in the study show a significantly higher concentration level in farmed than in wild salmon. While dioxin and PCB levels of wild fish mainly reflect the contamination level of the environment in which the fish is grown, the dioxin and PCB concentration in farmed fish may mainly be attributed to the fish feed used. In January 2004, the Irish Sea Fisheries Board (BIM) conducted the present study on the concentration of Polychlorinated Dibenzo(p)dioxins (PCDDs), Dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and dioxinlike PCBs (WHO-PCBs) in farmed salmon from two locations in Ireland. The present study should examine whether the PCDD/F and WHO-PCB levels of Irish farmed salmon correlate to the dioxin data for farmed Atlantic salmon from other countries in Northern Europe (e.g. Scotland, Faroe Islands and Norway) presented in the study by Hites. In the Hites survey, raw salmon filets with skin on were tested. Since PCBs, dioxins and other organic pollutants are mainly bound to the fish fat, a reduction of fat content by removal of the skin was supposed to lower the amount of organic contaminants. Thus, the effect of skin removal on the dioxin and PCB levels was also examined in the present study. In addition, the influence of cooking the fish meat was investigated.

  11. The Irish Women's Movement

    OpenAIRE

    Cullen, Pauline

    2015-01-01

    Ireland’s long history of patriarchy is matched by the ongoing evolution of its women’s movements. Today’s complex, transnational feminism finds its precursor in the colonial era. The first wave of the Irish women’s movement dates from the mid-19th century, with the franchise secured for women in 1918 while still under British colonial rule. First-wave feminists played a role in the nationalist movement, but their demands were sidelined later, during the construction of a conserva...

  12. 76 FR 11929 - Irish-American Heritage Month, 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-03

    ... life in a new Nation, these intrepid immigrants built strong communities and helped forge our country's... the American story. Through hard work, perseverance, and patriotism, women and men of Irish descent...

  13. Radiocaesium in the seas of northern Europe: 1980-84

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Camplin, W.C.; Steele, A.K.

    1991-01-01

    A computer data base of measurements of caesium-134 and caesium-137 in sea water has been compiled. The measurements were carried out by the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and include data for the Irish Sea, Bristol Channel, English Channel, North Sea, Scottish waters and other parts of the marine environment of northern Europe. This report covers the sampling period 1980-84 and further information will be published as the data base is expanded. It is hoped that the information will be useful to scientists modelling radionuclide dispersion in the area. In order to assist in the development of new models, diskettes of the data in ASCII files are available, on request, from the first author. The data include the locations of sample collection, collection date, depth salinity, concentration of activity and counting errors. Plots of the geographical scope of the data are also provided to assist the user. (author)

  14. Between Apathy and Antipathy: The Vikings in Irish and Scandinavian History

    OpenAIRE

    HOLM, POUL

    1995-01-01

    PUBLISHED "Neither apathy nor antipathy can ever bring out the truth of history" (Eoin MacNeill, Phases of Irish History, Dublin, 1919, vi). Around 1970 the subject of "the Vikings in Ireland" was seen, historiographically, as a non-problem. Scandinavian historians did not deal with Irish history, and except for the casual asides of four or five specialists, there was no particular interest in Ireland as an area in Viking studies. However, during the seventies there was a veritable boom...

  15. Solar Orientation of Irish Early Christian Oratories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tiede, V. R.

    2001-12-01

    The Hiberno-Latin literary metaphor of "Xpistus sol verus" (Christ the True Sun) finds an architectural analogue in the orientation of the single eastern window of Irish monastic stone chapels or oratories. The author's field surveys in Ireland, Hebrides, Orkney and Shetlands revealed that the window of Irish rectangular dry stone oratories framed the rising solar disk on the Feast Days of selected saints of the Celtic Early Christian Church, AD 800-1100. The most frequent target skyline declinations were to sunrise on the Feast Days of St. Patrick (March 17th) and St. Aidan of Lindisfarne (August 31st). During the Early Christian period, St. Patrick's Day coincided with the Vernal Equinox, and heralded the Paschal Full Moon (i.e., Passover crucifixion) and Easter Sunday as proclaimed by Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicaea (AD 325). St. Aidan of Lindisfarne (d. AD 651) inspired the Irish monks who, at the Synod of Whitby (AD 664), remained loyal to the Jewish 84-year cycle determining Passover and refused to replace it with the new orthodox 19-year computus for Easter adopted by the Roman Catholic Church (AD 527). Hypothetical affiliation between monastic communities whose oratories share common solar orientation, interior length/width ratios (e.g., 4:3 and 3:2) and units of measurement (e.g., Scottish ell, Coptic cubit, or Roman pes) is discussed. Grateful acknowledgement is made to the Michael D. Coe Fund and Augusta Hazard Fund of Yale University for research grant support in 1999.

  16. "The Next Level": Investigating Teaching and Learning within an Irish Traditional Music Online Community

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kenny, Ailbhe

    2013-01-01

    Online music communities offer a new context and culture for musical participation globally. This article, employing a socio-cultural theoretical lens, examines how the Online Academy of Irish Music (OAIM) functions as a teaching and learning online community for Irish traditional music. Findings from qualitative case study research present…

  17. Haunting the Text: Nicola Pierce’s Spirit of the Titanic and Irish Historical Children’s Fiction

    OpenAIRE

    Beyer, Charlotte

    2015-01-01

    My article explores representations of Irish identity, history, and trauma in the Irish writer Nicola Pierce’s contemporary children’s novel, Spirit of the Titanic (2011). I examine the representation of Irish society and culture around the time of the construction of the Titanic,\\ud with a particular emphasis on the portrayal of marginalised individuals and groups. My article analyses the representation of history and the portrayal of trauma and affective ties, and concludes that Spirit of t...

  18. Community rating in the absence of risk equalisation: lessons from the Irish private health insurance market.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turner, Brian; Shinnick, Edward

    2013-04-01

    Ireland's private health insurance market operates on the basis of community rating, alongside open enrolment and lifetime cover. A risk equalisation scheme was introduced in 2003 to bolster community rating. However, in July 2008 the Irish Supreme Court set aside this scheme, on the basis of the interpretation of community rating in Irish legislation. This decision has significant implications for the Irish private health insurance market. This paper reviews the development of the market, focusing in particular on community rating. The breakdown of community rating in a market with multiple insurers with differing risk profiles is discussed. Applying this to the Irish market, it can be seen that the Irish Supreme Court judgment has significant implications for the application of community rating. Specifically, while community rating operates within plans, it no longer operates across the market, leading to high-risk lives paying more, on average, than low-risk lives. It has also led to greater opportunities for insurers to engage in market segmentation. This may have relevance for the design and operation of other community rated markets.

  19. 78 FR 30737 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Reestablishment of Membership on the Colorado Potato...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-05-23

    ... FR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Reestablishment of Membership on the Colorado Potato...: This final rule reestablishes the membership on the Colorado Potato Administrative Committee, Area No... Irish potatoes grown in Colorado. This action modifies the Committee membership structure by amending...

  20. Laurentide Ice-Sheet Meltwater Sources to the Gulf of Mexico During the Last Deglaciation: Assessing Data Reconstructions Using Water Isotope Enabled Simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vetter, L.; LeGrande, A. N.; Ullman, D. J.; Carlson, A. E.

    2017-12-01

    Sediment cores from the Gulf of Mexico show evidence of meltwater derived from the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation. Recent studies using geochemical measurements of individual foraminifera suggest changes in the oxygen isotopic composition of the meltwater as deglaciation proceeded. Here we use the water isotope enabled climate model simulations (NASA GISS ModelE-R) to investigate potential sources of meltwater within the ice sheet. We find that initial melting of the ice sheet from the southern margin contributed an oxygen isotope value reflecting a low-elevation, local precipitation source. As deglacial melting proceeded, meltwater delivered to the Gulf of Mexico had a more negative oxygen isotopic value, which the climate model simulates as being sourced from the high-elevation, high-latitude interior of the ice sheet. This study demonstrates the utility of combining stable isotope analyses with climate model simulations to investigate past changes in the hydrologic cycle.

  1. Irradiation could help Irish food processors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bourke, Edward

    1985-01-01

    The applications of irradiation processing in the food industry are reviewed, and the present situation in Ireland outlined. The caution of legislators, choice of product labelling and consumer acceptance are seen as major factors in the adoption of this technology by Irish industry, although at least two concerns are considering setting up a service facility near Dublin

  2. Cumann na mBan & Women in Irish Republican Paramilitary Organisations, 1969-1986

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dieter Reinisch

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available 2014 marked the centenary of Cumann na mBan, the Irish Republican women’s organisation. While a number of recent publications have dealt with the first decade of Cumann na mBan, its existence in the second half of the 20th century has largely been neglected by academics. However, women played an integral part in the Republican struggle and many of these women held influential positions in the Irish Republican Movement. With this in mind, the article will discuss the role of Cumann na mBan within the so-called Provisional Republican Movement between 1969 and 1986. Based on 25 Oral History interviews with former members of the women’s organisation, the membership structure of the organisation and its activities will be discussed. In particular, the role of women in the Irish Republican Movement will be examined along with a number of other factors which have hitherto been largely underplayed in the historiography of women activists in the Irish Republican Movement. This will provide students and academics with literature for further in-depth research on Cumann na mBan. In essence, the aim of the article is to introduce Cumann na mBan into the historiography of the recent conflict in the North of Ireland.

  3. 3 CFR 8350 - Proclamation 8350 of March 2, 2009. Irish-American Heritage Month, 2009

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ..., and pursue the American Dream. Many took on the difficult work of constructing America’s... 3 The President 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Proclamation 8350 of March 2, 2009. Irish-American... 2, 2009 Proc. 8350 Irish-American Heritage Month, 2009By the President of the United States of...

  4. Extent of Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Problems in the Irish Traditional Music Community: A Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porter, Mark; Wilson, Iseult M; Doherty, Liz; Magee, Justin

    2018-03-01

    The literature related to playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) primarily includes classical musicians and instrument-specific studies. Previous work by our team identified that PRMDs are an issue for Irish traditional fiddle players; however, the extent of the problem was not known. To identify the type and extent of PRMDs in the Irish traditional music population, specifically fiddle players. A questionnaire was developed and administered to faculty and students related to all Irish traditional music courses in all higher education institutions in Ireland. Seven institutions were included. The response rate was 77.5% (n=79 of 102 possible respondents). A fifth of respondents never had a PRMD, 36.7% (n=29) currently had a PRMD, and 34.2% (n=27) had a previous experience of a PRMD. The main symptoms were pain (62%, n=49), stiffness (41.8%, n=33), and tingling (35.4%, n=28). There was a positive association between the development of PRMDs and increased hours of play (p=0.017). PRMDs are a problem for Irish traditional fiddle players, especially during times of intense playing such as festivals.

  5. Deglacial Western Equatorial Pacific pCO2 Reconstruction Using Boron Isotopes of Planktonic Foraminiferas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kubota, K.; Yokoyama, Y.; Ishikawa, T.; Sagawa, T.; Ikehara, M.; Yamazaki, T.

    2017-12-01

    During the last deglaciation (ca. 19 - 11 ka), partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) of the atmosphere increased by 80 μatm. Many paleoceanographers point out that the ocean had played an important role in atmospheric CO2 rise, since the ocean have 60 times larger capacity to store carbon compared to the atmosphere. However, evidence on where carbon was transferred from the ocean to the atmosphere is still lacking, hampering our understanding of global carbon cycles in glacial-interglacial timescales. Boron isotope of skeletons of marine calcifying organisms such as corals and foraminiferas can pin down where CO2 source/sink existed, because boron isotopes of marine calcium carbonates is dependent on seawater pH, from which pCO2 of the past seawater can be reconstructed. In previous studies using the boron isotope teqnique, Martinez-Boti et al. (2015, Nature) and Kubota et al. (2014, Scientific Reports) revealed that central and eastern parts of the equatorial Pacific acted as a CO2 source (i.e., CO2 emission) during the last deglaciation, suggesting the equatorial Pacific's contribution to atmospheric CO2 rise. However, some conflicting results have been confirmed in a marine sediment record from the western part of the equatorial Pacific (Palmer & Pearson, 2003, Science), making the conclusion elusive. In this presentation, we will show new results of Mg/Ca, oxygen isotope, and boron isotope measurements during the last 35 ka on two species of surface dwelling foraminiferas (Globigerinoides ruber and G. sacculifer) which was hand-picked separatedly from a well-dated marine sediment core recovered from the West Caroline Basin (KR05-15 PC01) (Yamazaki et al., 2008, GRL). From the new records, we will discuss how the equatorial Pacific behaved during the last deglaciation and how it related to the global carbon cycles.

  6. 10Be in late deglacial climate simulated by ECHAM5-HAM - Part 2: Isolating the solar signal from 10Be deposition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heikkilä, U.; Shi, X.; Phipps, S. J.; Smith, A. M.

    2014-04-01

    This study investigates the effect of deglacial climate on the deposition of the solar proxy 10Be globally, and at two specific locations, the GRIP site at Summit, Central Greenland, and the Law Dome site in coastal Antarctica. The deglacial climate is represented by three 30 year time slice simulations of 10 000 BP (years before present = 1950 CE), 11 000 and 12 000 BP, compared with a preindustrial control simulation. The model used is the ECHAM5-HAM atmospheric aerosol-climate model, driven with sea-surface temperatures and sea ice cover simulated using the CSIRO Mk3L coupled climate system model. The focus is on isolating the 10Be production signal, driven by solar variability, from the weather- or climate-driven noise in the 10Be deposition flux during different stages of climate. The production signal varies at lower frequencies, dominated by the 11 year solar cycle within the 30 year timescale of these experiments. The climatic noise is of higher frequencies than 11 years during the 30 year period studied. We first apply empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis to global 10Be deposition on the annual scale and find that the first principal component, consisting of the spatial pattern of mean 10Be deposition and the temporally varying solar signal, explains 64% of the variability. The following principal components are closely related to those of precipitation. Then, we apply ensemble empirical decomposition (EEMD) analysis to the time series of 10Be deposition at GRIP and at Law Dome, which is an effective method for adaptively decomposing the time series into different frequency components. The low-frequency components and the long-term trend represent production and have reduced noise compared to the entire frequency spectrum of the deposition. The high-frequency components represent climate-driven noise related to the seasonal cycle of e.g. precipitation and are closely connected to high frequencies of precipitation. These results firstly show that

  7. Irish psychiatric nurses' self-reported sources of knowledge for practice.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Yadav, B L

    2012-02-01

    Evidence-based practice (EBP) is an approach to health care in which health professionals use the best evidence available to guide their clinical decisions and practice. Evidence is drawn from a range of sources, including published research, educational content and practical experience. This paper reports the findings of a study that investigated the sources of knowledge or evidence for practice used by psychiatric nurses in Ireland. The paper is part of a larger study, which also investigated barriers, facilitators and level of skills in achieving EBP among Irish psychiatric nurses. Data were collected in a postal survey of a random sample of Irish psychiatric nurses using the Development of Evidence-Based Practice Questionnaire. The findings revealed that the majority of survey respondents based their practice on information which was derived from interactions with patients, from their personal experience and from information shared by colleagues and members of the multidisciplinary team, in preference to published sources of empirically derived evidence. These findings are consistent with those of the previous similar studies among general nurses and suggest that Irish psychiatric nurses face similar challenges to their general nursing counterparts in attaining of EBP.

  8. Policies and practices of parental involvement and parent-teacher relations in Irish primary education: a critical discourse analysis

    OpenAIRE

    Bennett, Brigid

    2015-01-01

    This thesis presents a critical discourse analysis of policies of parental involvement in Irish education from the past decade. It explores three questions: Do discourses of parental involvement and teacher professionalism construct parent-teacher relations in Irish primary education?; What implications do these constructions have for policies and practices of parent-teacher relationships, particularly parent-teacher partnerships, in Irish primary education?; How can these constructions be ch...

  9. Neoglacial Antarctic sea-ice expansion driven by mid-Holocene retreat of the Ross Ice Shelf.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bendle, J. A.; Newton, K.; Mckay, R. M.; Crosta, X.; Etourneau, J.; Anya, A. B.; Seki, O.; Golledge, N. R.; Bertler, N. A. N.; Willmott, V.; Schouten, S.; Riesselman, C. R.; Masse, G.; Dunbar, R. B.

    2017-12-01

    Recent decades have seen expanding Antarctic sea-ice coverage, coeval with thinning West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) ice shelves and the rapid freshening of surface and bottom waters along the Antarctic margin. The mid-Holocene Neoglacial transition represents the last comparable baseline shift in sea-ice behaviour. The drivers and feedbacks involved in both the recent and Holocene events are poorly understood and characterised by large proxy-model mismatches. We present new records of compound specific fatty acid isotope analyses (δ2H-FA), highly-branched isoprenoid alkenes (HBIs) TEX86L temperatures, grain-size, mass accumulations rates (MARs) and image analyses from a 171m Holocene sediment sequence from Site U1357 (IODP leg 318). In combination with published records we reconstruct Holocene changes in glacial meltwater, sedimentary inputs and sea-ice. The early Holocene (11 to 10 ka) is characterised by large fluctuations in inputs of deglacial meltwater and sediments and seismic evidence of downlapping material from the south, suggesting a dominating influence from glacial retreat of the local outlet glaciers. From 10 to 8 ka there is decreasing meltwater inputs, an onlapping drift and advection of material from the east. After ca. 8 ka positively correlated δ2H-FA and MARs infer that pulses of glacial melt correlate to stronger easterly currents, driving erosion of material from upstream banks and that the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS) becomes a major influence. A large mid-Holocene meltwater pulse (preceded by warming TEX86L temperatures) is evident between ca. 6 to 4.5 ka, culminating in a rapid and permanent increase in sea-ice from 4.5 ka. This is coeval with cosmogenic nuclide evidence for a rapid thinning of the Antarctic ice sheet during the mid-Holocene (Hein et al., 2016). We suggest this represents a final major pulse of deglaciation from the Ross Ice Shelf, which initiates the Neoglacial, driving cool surface waters along the coast and greater sea

  10. Irish (Republic) versus British (North West) orthopaedic trainees: what are the differences?

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Banks, L N

    2012-02-01

    British Trainees have gradually had their working week curtained over the last 8 years. The Republic of Ireland Trainees have not been subjected to the European Working Time Directive prior to 2009 and have therefore worked on average, more hours than their British counterparts. We wanted to see if the differing schemes had an impact on recruiting and training orthopaedic surgeons. We surveyed Republic of Ireland orthopaedic specialist registrars (SpRs) and North West (NW) British SpRs\\/specialist trainees (ST3 and above) to see if there were any discernable differences in working patterns and subsequent training exposure. A standard proforma was given to Irish Trainees and to NW SpRs\\/STs at their National or regional teaching (January\\/February 2009). 62% of Irish and 47% of British NW Trainees responded. Irish trainees were more likely to have obtained a post-graduate degree (p = 0.03). The Irish worked more hours per week (p < 0.001) doing more trauma operative lists (p = 0.003) and more total cases per 6 months than the NW British (p = 0.003). This study suggests that more hours worked, equals more operative exposure, without detriment to the academic side of training. Obviously it is not possible to say whether fewer operations make for a poorer surgeon, but the evidence suggests that it may be true.

  11. SPECTRUM-DRIVEN PLANETARY DEGLACIATION DUE TO INCREASES IN STELLAR LUMINOSITY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shields, Aomawa L.; Meadows, Victoria S. [Department of Astronomy and Astrobiology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Bitz, Cecilia M. [Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Joshi, Manoj M. [School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich NR4 7TJ (United Kingdom); Robinson, Tyler D., E-mail: aomawa@astro.washington.edu [NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245-3, Moffet Field, CA 94035 (United States)

    2014-04-10

    Distant planets in globally ice-covered, ''snowball'', states may depend on increases in their host stars' luminosity to become hospitable for surface life. Using a general circulation model, we simulated the equilibrium climate response of a planet to a range of instellations from an F-, G-, or M-dwarf star. The range of instellation that permits both complete ice cover and at least partially ice-free climate states is a measure of the climate hysteresis that a planet can exhibit. An ice-covered planet with high climate hysteresis would show a higher resistance to the initial loss of surface ice coverage with increases in instellation, and abrupt, extreme ice loss once deglaciation begins. Our simulations indicate that the climate hysteresis depends sensitively on the host star spectral energy distribution. Under fixed CO{sub 2} conditions, a planet orbiting an M-dwarf star exhibits a smaller climate hysteresis, requiring smaller instellation to initiate deglaciation than planets orbiting hotter, brighter stars. This is due to the higher absorption of near-infrared radiation by ice on the surfaces and greenhouse gases and clouds in the atmosphere of an M-dwarf planet. Increases in atmospheric CO{sub 2} further lower the climate hysteresis, as M-dwarf snowball planets exhibit a larger radiative response than G-dwarf snowball planets for the same increase in CO{sub 2}. For a smaller hysteresis, planets near the outer edge of the habitable zone will thaw earlier in their evolutionary history, and will experience a less abrupt transition out of global ice cover.

  12. Sedimentation studies relevant to low-level radioactive effluent dispersal in the Irish Sea. Part III. An evaluation of possible mechanisms for the incorporation of radionuclides into marine sediments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirby, R.; Parker, W.R.; Pentreath, R.J.; Lovett, M.B.

    1983-01-01

    Based on circumstantial evidence the Cumbrian mud area was previously interpreted as accretionary. There are no measurements confirming that riverborne sediment reaches the mud area and the postulated subtidal sources appear to be sealed by a lag gravel. In contrast, fine sediment deposited in Liverpool Bay is known to return to the Ribble, Mersey and Dee. Similarly 'hot' particles originating in the Sellafield outfall are implied to travel, perhaps accompanied by natural fine sediment, into the Ravenglass Estuary and elsewhere. The likely interpretation is that fine sediment accumulating in the coastal zone of the eastern Irish Sea is partly derived from seawards. Possible sources are coast erosion and the unconsolidated mud areas themselves. Radionuclide profiles from the Cumbrian mud area have previously been interpreted as confirming the accretionary hypothesis. In fact three principal types of radionuclide profiles occur, which are interpreted here to indicate progressively more efficient bioturbation. Burrowing animals may also supply uncontaminated sediment to the bed, where it absorbs radionuclides before, in part, being redeposited locally. This implies that no large external sediment source is necessary to explain the radionuclide profiles encountered. We thus interpret the area as a relatively stable sedimentary regime dominated by biological processes. (author)

  13. Representing Sikhism: essays in memory of the Irish scholar Max Arthur Macauliffe

    OpenAIRE

    Shackle, Christopher; Bocking, Brian

    2017-01-01

    This is an introduction, by the guest editors, to the special issue of JISASR (Vol 4, 2017) entitled 'Representing Sikhism: Essays in Memory of the Irish Scholar Max Arthur Macauliffe'. The genesis of this special issue lies in pioneering work on Macauliffe's Irish identity and personal and scholarly life undertaken by Professor Tadhg Foley (Galway). The active interest and support of members of the Sikh community in Ireland led to a conference, hosted by the Study of Religions Department at ...

  14. Deglaciation of the Scoresby Sund fjord region, north-east Greenland

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Funder, Svend Visby

    1972-01-01

    by a short period of advance at the end of the period. (3) The Post-glacial warm period (c. 7000-5000 BP) was a time when the glaciers retreated behind their present limits. A warm climate is indicated by the presence of the now-extinct bivalves Mytillls edulis and Chlamys islandica in raised marine deposits....... (4) Historical time is marked by are-advance. The deglaciation of the region was greatly influenced by relief. This is reflected in the location of the glacier fronts during the major stages and the differences in the behaviour of neighbouring fjord glaciers. The fjord morphology probably also...

  15. Megaphone Diplomacy in the Northern Irish Peace Process: Squaring the Circle by Talking to Terrorists through Journalists

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sparre, Kirsten

    2001-01-01

    In early 1994, British and Irish mainstream media were instrumental in facilitating an indirect dialogue between their governments and the Irish Republican movement about the terms on which Sinn Fein, the political wing of the Irish Republican Army, could be admitted into political talks...... of journalists, but also that it is possible for journalists to strengthen the process and yet stay within the journalistic paradigm. The article concludes with an assessment of the contributions of the media dialogue to the wider peace process....

  16. What Stick Figures Tell Us about Irish Politics: Creating a Critical and Collaborative Learning Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feeney, Sharon; Hogan, John; Donnelly, Paul F.

    2015-01-01

    This paper focuses upon the interpretation of freehand drawings produced by a small sample of 220 first-year students taking an Irish politics introductory module in response to the question, "What is Irish Politics?" By sidestepping cognitive verbal-processing routes, through employing freehand drawing, we aim to create a critical and…

  17. Is Irish set dancing feasible for people with Parkinson's disease in Ireland?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shanahan, Joanne; Morris, Meg E; Bhriain, Orfhlaith Ni; Volpe, Daniele; Richardson, Margaret; Clifford, Amanda M

    2015-02-01

    To investigate if community-based Irish set dancing is feasible in Irish adults with Parkinson's disease. Over an eight week period, ten participants attended one set dancing class per week and completed a home programme in parallel. Feasibility was assessed by monitoring adverse effects, participants' verbal feedback, compliance rates and feedback from an exit questionnaire. Participants were assessed using the Berg balance scale, 6-min walk test, UPDRS-3 and PDQ-39, before and after the intervention. No adverse effects were detected. Attendance at classes was 86%. Compliance with the home programme was 67%. Findings from the exit questionnaire showed participants enjoyed participating and reported improvements in aspects of health including balance. Quality of life improved with the dance programme and there was a trend toward improvement on the UPDRS-3. These findings suggest community-based Irish set dancing is a feasible form of exercise that can positively influence quality of life. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Third party liability in the field of nuclear law an irish perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Higgins, P.; McGrath, P.

    2002-01-01

    This paper will first set out in summary form the main provisions of the Paris Convention, the instrument under which issues of third party liability between the majority of NEA member states affected by any such incident would be resolved, and will then set out some of the perceived advantages and disadvantages which would result from an application of the provisions of the Convention to a non-nuclear state such as Ireland. This paper will then consider how Irish victims of a nuclear incident might re.cover compensation for loss and damage caused by such an incident. For reasons set out below, it is the view of the authors that Irish victims of such an incident could first bring their claim in Ireland or in France, that it is likely that Irish law would apply to any such claim and that any judgement, including any interlocutory judgement in such proceedings, could be enforced in the courts of any other European Union state, including France. (authors)

  19. Temporal trends in reproductive performance in Irish dairy herds and associated risk factors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mee John F

    2004-03-01

    Full Text Available Irish dairy herd fertility has been declining since the 1980s. The extent, nature and causes of this decline in fertility and the current status of Irish dairy herd fertility were described. An increase in calving interval of approximately one day per year has been recorded. The principal components of this trend have been an increased incidence of postpartum endocrinopathies, reduced expression of oestrus and a fall in conception rate. Both submission rate and calving-to-service interval have increased slightly over time. Significant risk factors associated with these trends have been strain substitution within the Holstein-Friesian breed and single trait selection for milk production. Critically, these changes have been reflected in loss of body condition. Contributory factors included increased herd size and possibly increased use of DIYAI. The most recent Irish study showed that 48% of cows conceived to first service and 14% of cows were not pregnant at the end of the industry-average 15-week spring breeding season. However, the top quartile of herds achieved a first-service conception rate of 59%, illustrating the wide variation between herds. These phenotypic trends were attributed to both genetic and environmental factors and their interactions. Recent Irish dairy herd fertility performance falls short of the targets set for seasonal compact calving.

  20. Non proliferation and disarmament: the 'golden age' of the Irish diplomacy (1957-1961) - Historical note

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hautecouverture, Benjamin

    2007-06-01

    The author proposes an analysis of the Irish diplomatic actions and policy with respect to non proliferation and disarmament at the end of the 1950's. Inspired by the Swedish international posture, this policy notably produced the so-called 'Irish resolution'. The author first comments the origin of this resolution, and then describes the negotiation process which lasted about two years to finally produce this resolution which was voted by the United Nations General Assembly. The last part of the article comments the content of the resolution which stated that the NPT had to be considered as a first step on the way to disarmament. While evoking the evolution of the Irish diplomatic action during the following years, the author comments the implications and influence of this Irish resolution

  1. Antarctic Circumpolar Current Dynamics and Their Relation to Antarctic Ice Sheet and Perennial Sea-Ice Variability in the Central Drake Passage During the Last Climate Cycle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuhn, G.; Wu, S.; Hass, H. C.; Klages, J. P.; Zheng, X.; Arz, H. W.; Esper, O.; Hillenbrand, C. D.; Lange, C.; Lamy, F.; Lohmann, G.; Müller, J.; McCave, I. N. N.; Nürnberg, D.; Roberts, J.; Tiedemann, R.; Timmermann, A.; Titschack, J.; Zhang, X.

    2017-12-01

    The evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the last climate cycle and the interrelation to global atmospheric and ocean circulation remains controversial and plays an important role for our understanding of ice sheet response to modern global warming. The timing and sequence of deglacial warming is relevant for understanding the variability and sensitivity of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to climatic changes, and the continuing rise of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is a pivotal component of the global water budget. Freshwater fluxes from the ice sheet may affect the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which is strongly impacted by the westerly wind belt in the Southern Hemisphere (SHWW) and constricted to its narrowest extent in the Drake Passage. The flow of ACC water masses through Drake Passage is, therefore, crucial for advancing our understanding of the Southern Ocean's role in global meridional overturning circulation and global climate change. In order to address orbital and millennial-scale variability of the Antarctic ice sheet and the ACC, we applied a multi-proxy approach on a sediment core from the central Drake Passage including grain size, iceberg-rafted debris, mineral dust, bulk chemical and mineralogical composition, and physical properties. In combination with already published and new sediment records from the Drake Passage and Scotia Sea, as well as high-resolution data from Antarctic ice cores (WDC, EDML), we now have evidence that during glacial times a more northerly extent of the perennial sea-ice zone decreased ACC current velocities in the central Drake Passage. During deglaciation the SHWW shifted southwards due to a decreasing temperature gradient between subtropical and polar latitudes caused by sea ice and ice sheet decline. This in turn caused Southern Hemisphere warming, a more vigorous ACC, stronger Southern Ocean ventilation, and warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) upwelling on Antarctic shelves

  2. Uncovering the glacial history of the Irish continental shelf (Invited)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunlop, P.; Benetti, S.; OCofaigh, C.

    2013-12-01

    In 1999 the Irish Government initiated a €32 million survey of its territorial waters known as the Irish National Seabed Survey (INSS). The INSS is amongst the largest marine mapping programmes ever undertaken anywhere in the world and provides high-resolution multibeam, backscatter and seismic data of the seabed around Ireland. These data have been used to provide the first clear evidence for extensive glaciation of the continental shelf west and northwest of Ireland. Streamlined drumlins on the mid to outer shelf record former offshore-directed ice flow towards the shelf edge and show that the ice sheet was grounded in a zone of confluence where ice flowing onto the shelf from northwest Ireland merged with ice flowing across the Malin Shelf from southwest Scotland. The major glacial features on the shelf are well developed nested arcuate moraine systems that mark the position of the ice sheet margin and confirm that the former British Irish Ice Sheet was grounded as far as the shelf edge around 100 km offshore of west Donegal at the last glacial maximum. Distal to the moraines, on the outermost shelf, prominent zones of iceberg plough marks give way to the Barra/Donegal fan and a well developed system of gullies and canyons which incise the continental slope. Since 2008 several scientific cruises have retrieved cores from the shelf and slope to help build a more detailed understanding of glacial events in this region. This presentation will provide an overview of the glacial history of the Irish shelf and will discuss ongoing research programmes that are building on the initial research findings to produce a better understanding of the nature and timing of ice sheet events in this region.

  3. “Caint na ndaoine”. The Irish Language as a Precedent for Standardisation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlo James Waskowski Ritchie

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available “Caint na ndaoine”. The Irish Language as a Precedent for Standardisation Critics of the standardisation of the Irish language argue that the “modernisation” of the Irish orthography has been detrimental to the preservation of the various dialects that form native spoken Irish. The effects of standardisation on Irish consequently form an important precedent for language standardisation. The potential alienation of a language’s native speakers is an outcome of standardisation that is obviously destructive for a language community that exists in a minority. The issues that surround the movement for a standardised Plattdeutsch are similar to those faced in the standardisation of Modern Irish. Since the recognition by the European Union of Low German (Plattdeutsch as a regional language in 1998, there has been newfound momentum in the movement for its reestablishment as a unified language of Northern Germany. One of the great difficulties of this movement however is the lack of any universal orthography due to the separate nature of the language’s dialects. Given the sociolinguistic similarities of these two (albeit unrelated languages, a study of the effects of the standardisation of Irish is useful for an assessment of the possibility of a standardised Plattdeutsch.   “Caint na ndaoine”. Język irlandzki jako precedens standaryzacji Krytycy procesu standaryzacji języka irlandzkiego uważają, że „modernizacja” irlandzkiej ortografii zaszkodziła ochronie wielu dialektów składających się na oralny język natywnych Irlandczyków. Skutki standaryzacji irlandzkiego stanowią więc ważny precedens standaryzacji języków. Możliwe wyobcowanie natywnych użytkowników języka jest w oczywisty sposób destrukcyjnym dla trwania wspólnoty mniejszościowej rezultatem procesu standaryzacji. Zagadnienia towarzyszące ruchowi na rzecz standaryzacji języka dolnoniemieckiego są podobne do problemów standaryzacji, wobec kt

  4. Rapid sea level rise in the aftermath of a Neoproterozoic snowball Earth.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myrow, P M; Lamb, M P; Ewing, R C

    2018-04-19

    Earth's most severe climate changes occurred during global-scale snowball-Earth glaciations, which profoundly altered Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and biosphere. Extreme rates of glacio-eustatic sea-level rise are a fundamental prediction of the snowball Earth hypothesis, but supporting geologic evidence is lacking. We use paleohydraulic analysis of wave ripples and tidal laminae of the Elatina Formation, Australia - deposited following the Marinoan glaciation ca. 635Ma - to show that water depths of 9-16m remained nearly constant for ~100yrs throughout 27m of sediment accumulation. This accumulation rate was too great to have been accommodated by subsidence, and instead indicates an extraordinarily rapid rate of sea-level rise (0.2-0.27m/yr). Our results substantiate a fundamental prediction of snowball Earth models of rapid deglaciation during the early transition to a super-greenhouse climate. Copyright © 2018, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

  5. Carbon tax scenarios and their effects on the Irish energy sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Cosmo, Valeria; Hyland, Marie

    2013-01-01

    In this paper we use annual time series data from 1960 to 2008 to estimate the long run price and income elasticities underlying energy demand in Ireland. The Irish economy is divided into five sectors: residential, industrial, commercial, agricultural and transport, and separate energy demand equations are estimated for all sectors. Energy demand is broken down by fuel type, and price and income elasticities are estimated for the primary fuels in the Irish fuel mix. Using the estimated price and income elasticities we forecast Irish sectoral energy demand out to 2025. The share of electricity in the Irish fuel mix is predicted to grow over time, as the share of carbon intensive fuels such as coal, oil and peat, falls. The share of electricity in total energy demand grows most in the industrial and commercial sectors, while oil remains an important fuel in the residential and transport sectors. Having estimated the baseline forecasts, two different carbon tax scenarios are imposed and the impact of these scenarios on energy demand, carbon dioxide emissions, and government revenue is assessed. If it is assumed that the level of the carbon tax will track the futures price of carbon under the EU-ETS, the carbon tax will rise from €21.50 per tonne CO 2 in 2012 (the first year forecasted) to €41 in 2025. Results show that under this scenario total emissions would be reduced by approximately 861,000 tonnes of CO 2 in 2025 relative to a zero carbon tax scenario, and that such a tax would generate €1.1 billion in revenue in the same year. We also examine a high tax scenario under which emissions reductions and revenue generated will be greater. Finally, in order to assess the macroeconomic effects of a carbon tax, the carbon tax scenarios were run in HERMES, the ESRI's medium-term macroeconomic model. The results from HERMES show that, a carbon tax of €41 per tonne CO 2 would lead to a 0.21% contraction in GDP, and a 0.08% reduction in employment. A higher carbon

  6. EUROASPIRE (European Action on Secondary Prevention through Intervention to Reduce Events) III--a comparison of Irish and European results.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Cooney, M T

    2009-04-01

    The EUROASPIRE III audit was a Europe-wide study which took place in 2006\\/2007. The objective was to examine the control of risk factors in subjects with established cardiovascular disease. Here, we compare the Irish results to those of the other 21 European countries which participated. Control of blood cholesterol was significantly better in Irish participants, with 73% below the target of 4.5 mmol\\/l. Blood pressure control was less satisfactory in both Irish and European individuals, with an average of 52% of Irish participants not achieving blood pressure targets. Medication usage was high throughout, particularly anti-platelet agents, beta-blockers and, especially in Ireland, statins. Obesity figures were particularly high in Ireland and throughout Europe, with 82% Irish men and women either overweight or obese. Smoking figures in Irish women were also of concern, with 24% continuing to smoke. Cardiac rehabilitation attendance was particularly high in Ireland, with 68% attending; substantially higher than the European figure of 34%. In common with the rest of Europe, current control of body weight and blood pressure in Ireland is unsatisfactory and in need of increased consideration on the part of both patients and healthcare professionals.

  7. Strategic Planning and Accountability in Irish Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gleeson, Jim; O Donnabhain, Diarmaid

    2009-01-01

    This article considers the impact of the New Public Management culture on Irish education and calls for a debate in relation to the prevailing bureaucratic model of accountability. The influence of the Lisbon Agenda (2000) on education planning is identified and the 2005/7 Education Strategy Statement is analysed using the relevant OECD framework.…

  8. Holocene relative sea-level changes from North America and the Caribbean

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horton, Benjamin; Engelhart, Simon; Vacchi, Matteo; Khan, Nicole; Peltier, Dick; Roy, Keven

    2014-05-01

    Reconstructions of Holocene relative sea level (RSL) are important for identifying the ice equivalent meltwater contribution to sea-level change during deglaciation. Holocene RSL reconstructions from near, intermediate and far field regions enable the assessment of earth and ice parameters of Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) models. RSL reconstructions provide data for estimating rates of spatially variable and ongoing vertical land motion; a requirement for understanding the variation in modern and late Holocene sea level as recorded by instrumental and proxy records. Here we explain the methodology employed to reconstruct former sea levels, which follows the practice of the International Geoscience Programme (IGCP). We produce sea level index points from the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of North America and the Caribbean. Index points are defined as the most reliable observations of former sea levels. They consist of an estimate of X (age) and Y (the position of former RSL). Where a suite of index points are developed for a locality or region, they describe changes in RSL through time and estimate rates of change. A valid index point must meet the following four criteria; (1) location of the sample is known; (2) the altitude of the sample (and the error associated with measuring that altitude) is known; (3) the indicative meaning (the relationship between the sample and a tide level) is estimated; and (4) the age of the sample, which is commonly radiocarbon dated is calibrated to sidereal years using the latest calibration curves. In total databases have over 2000 sea-level index points from formerly ice covered, uplifting regions of Canada, to the region of forebulge collapse along the subsiding mid-Atlantic and mid-Pacific coastlines of the United States, to the tropical regions of the Caribbean. Recent analyses of these new published databases have led to a further refinement of the most recent of the ICE-NG (VMX) series of global models of GIA. The records

  9. The distribution of artificial radionuclides in the waters of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea in 1985

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wedekind, C.; Gabriel, H.; Goroncy, I.; Framcke, G.

    1997-01-01

    In the summer of 1985, sea water samples were taken to determine 3 H, 90 Sr, 134 Cs, 137 Cs and transuranics within a grid of 165 stations including 16 depth series down to the seafloor, covering all ice-free areas. The distribution of the activity concentrations and the nuclide ratios reveal the contamination pathway into the surface and deeper layers of the Norwegian-Greenland Sea from nuclear weapon fallout and civil nuclear technology. Moreover, the investigations show that: (1) a yearly discharge of 1 TBq (10 12 Bq) 90 Sr into the Irish Sea (English Channel) is diluted on its way to the southern Norwegian Sea, raising the concentration by about 0.04 m Bql -1 ; (2) the drift time to this sea area is around 4 years; (3) about 40% of the 137 Cs discharged does not reach the Norwegian Sea and (4) a further 30% leaves the Norwegian-Greenland Sea via the North Cape and flows into the Barents Sea. Investigations into the vertical distribution and stratification of the radioactivity indicate the time scale on which the radionuclides travel to the deeper layers. (author)

  10. Radioactivity in the northern seas of europe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carvalho, Fernando P.; Madruga, Maria Jose; Oliveira, Joao M.; Gouveia, Jorge M.; Silva, Lidia

    2004-01-01

    The recent accidents with nuclear powered Russian submarines, such as the Kursk and the K-159, that took place in the Arctic Seas, give rise to high concerns of the public and the media about the radioactive contamination of marine ecosystems and radiological safety of the European population. Those accidents were preceded by decades of discharges of radioactive liquid effluents into coastal seas of Europe and the dumping of packed radioactive waste into the North Atlantic. Being Portugal one country with high consumption rate of seafood caught in its own coastal waters as well as in far seas including the Ar tic seas, the investigation of the radioactive contamination of fish was investigated. Analysis of fish from the Sea of Labrador, Sea of Iceland and Barents Sea, has shown that gamma-emitting radionuclides of artificial origin are in general not detected. The only gamma emitting radionuclide present is Cs-137, in concentrations not higher than 0.3 Bq/kg. This radionuclide originates in the deposition of radioactive fallout following nuclear weapon tests performed in the fifties and sixties. Radionuclides in fish from northern regions and in fish from the Portuguese coast generally are present in concentrations lower than those currently reported for fish from the Irish Sea and the Baltic Sea, impacted with the discharges of radioactive waste from Sellafield and the deposition of fallout from Chernobyl, respectively. Nevertheless, the potential for future accidents and the radioactive waste dumped into the North Atlantic may in the future modify this scenario and potentially increase the currently very low radionuclide concentration in fish included in the Portuguese diet. Therefore, the research and radiological surveillance must be maintained in order to monitor the radiological risk and to ensure the quality of food available to consumers. (author)

  11. Plutonium and americium in arctic waters, the North Sea and Scottish and Irish coastal zones

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hallstadius, L.; Aarkrog, Asker; Dahlgaard, Henning

    1986-01-01

    Plutonium and americium have been measured in surface waters of the Greenland and Barents Seas and in the northern North Sea from 1980 through 1984. Measurements in water and biota, Fucus, Mytilus and Patella, were carried out in North-English and Scottish waters in 1982 and Fucus samples were co...

  12. Radiological mass screening in the Irish Republic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Donnell, B.

    1987-01-01

    Mass chest screening was first introduced to Ireland in the late 1940's. Routine mammography has never been used in the Irish Republic. For some years it has been customary to carry our routine clinical screening for congenital dislocation of hips on new born babies. Pre-- employment and pre- surgery x-ray screening were also being practiced

  13. Performance Of Irish Potato Varieties Under Aeroponic Conditions In ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    cntaganda

    1Department of Crop Science, Faculty of Agriculture, National University of Rwanda. (NUR) ... Though Irish potato is very important in Rwanda, average yields ... One plausible solution to this problem is to adopt a soil-less seed production.

  14. J. F. Powers and Betty Wahl: Irish Americans and Returning Yanks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John L. Murphy

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The limited critical attention given J.F. Powers (1917-99 has concentrated on his engagement with Catholicism. Powers also applies Irish American motifs to his fiction. This article analyzes the depiction that Powers and his wife Betty Wahl (1924-88, who left postwar America to live on and off in Ireland, made of the Irish in both their homeland and in America. Powers only once directly addressed his own experience as a sporadic Irish resident, in the final story, “Tinkers,” anthologized in his third and last collection in 1975. Wahl’s writing career proved limited. Her only novel, Rafferty and Co. (1969, semi-fictionalizes the Powers family’s decision to move to Ireland, for a series of extended stays in the 1950s and early 1960s. This article examines these writers’ dramatization of postwar Ireland as expatriate Americans. Powers’ story and Wahl’s novel depict the stresses of living in suburbs south of Dublin while struggling to sustain a countercultural yet conservative idealism. That combination drove the family away from the Midwest, in both fiction and fact, to settle in an economically destitute and patriotically insecure Ireland.

  15. The Irish famine of 1740-1741: famine vulnerability and "climate migration"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engler, S.; Mauelshagen, F.; Werner, J.; Luterbacher, J.

    2013-05-01

    The "Great Frost" of 1740 was one of the coldest winters of the eighteenth century and impacted many countries all over Europe. The years 1740-1741 have long been known as a period of general crisis caused by harvest failures, high prices for staple foods, and excess mortality. Vulnerabilities, coping capacities and adaptation processes varied considerably among different countries. This paper investigates the famine of 1740-1741 in Ireland applying a multi-indicator model developed specifically for the integration of an analysis of pre-famine vulnerability, the Famine Vulnerability Analysis Model (FVAM). Our focus is on Ireland, because famine has played a more outstanding role in Irish national history than in any other European country, due to the "Great Famine" of 1845-1852 and its long-term demographic effects. Our analysis shows that Ireland was already particularly vulnerable to famine in the first half of the eighteenth century. During and after the experience of hardship in 1740-1741, many Irish moved within Ireland or left the country entirely. We regard migration as a form of adaptation and argue that Irish migration in 1740-1741 should be considered as a case of climate-induced migration.

  16. Claiming and displaying national identity: Irish travellers' and students' strategic use of 'banal' and 'hot' national identity in talk.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joyce, Carmel; Stevenson, Clifford; Muldoon, Orla

    2013-09-01

    Two complementary explanations have been offered by social psychologists to account for the universal hold of national identity, first that national identity is ideologically assumed, as it forms the 'banal' background of everyday life, and second that national identity is 'hotly' constructed and contested in political and everyday settings to great effect. However, 'banal' and 'hot' aspects of national identity have been found to be distributed unevenly across national and subnational groups and banality itself can be strategically used to distinguish between different groups. The present paper develops these ideas by examining possible reasons for these different modes and strategies of identity expression. Drawing upon intergroup theories of minority and majority relations, we examine how a group who see themselves unequivocally as a minority, Irish Travellers, talk about their national identity in comparison to an age and gender-matched sample of Irish students. We find that Travellers proactively display and claim 'hot' national identity in order to establish their Irishness. Irish students 'do banality', police the boundaries and reputation of Irishness, and actively reject and disparage proactive displays of Irishness. The implications for discursive understandings of identity, the study of intra-national group relations and policies of minority inclusion are discussed. © 2012 The British Psychological Society.

  17. 78 FR 14431 - Irish-American Heritage Month, 2013

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-03-06

    ... to pursue their dreams. Millions among them were born in Ireland, separated from our shores but... principle, may America and Ireland always continue to move forward together in common purpose. NOW... me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2013 as Irish...

  18. Aerobic Mesophilic Bacteria Associated With Irish Potato ( Solanum ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A total of 15 samples of spoilt Irish potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) were collected from five grocery shops in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria and were analysed for aerobic mesophilic bacterial load. The isolated aerobic mesophilic bacteria were phenotypically characterized by biochemical tests and their susceptibility to ...

  19. “The way the Irish asylum system turns people into un-human is my problem”: An Interview with Ifedinma Dimbo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sara Martín-Ruiz

    2015-03-01

    Ifedinma Dimbo currently lives in Dublin, where she works and researches for her PhD in Medical Sociology. The Nigerian-born, Irish-based writer was kind enough to answer my questions via e-mail between the months of August and October 2014, with some final elaboration in January 2015. Ifedinma Dimbo’s writing, as well as her answers in this interview, are an invaluable testimony to a reality that is currently taking place in Ireland and has often been silenced. Now that Irish society is beginning to be aware of the unfair treatment that refugees and asylum seekers receive at the hands of the Irish system, it is high time to let people who, like Ifedinma Dimbo, have made Ireland their home, have their voices heard in the field of Irish Studies. In this interview, Ifedinma Dimbo very sharply shares her views on writing, immigration, religion and Irish society.

  20. Recent topographic evolution and erosion of the deglaciated Washington Cascades inferred from a stochastic landscape evolution model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moon, Seulgi; Shelef, Eitan; Hilley, George E.

    2015-05-01

    In this study, we model postglacial surface processes and examine the evolution of the topography and denudation rates within the deglaciated Washington Cascades to understand the controls on and time scales of landscape response to changes in the surface process regime after deglaciation. The postglacial adjustment of this landscape is modeled using a geomorphic-transport-law-based numerical model that includes processes of river incision, hillslope diffusion, and stochastic landslides. The surface lowering due to landslides is parameterized using a physically based slope stability model coupled to a stochastic model of the generation of landslides. The model parameters of river incision and stochastic landslides are calibrated based on the rates and distribution of thousand-year-time scale denudation rates measured from cosmogenic 10Be isotopes. The probability distributions of those model parameters calculated based on a Bayesian inversion scheme show comparable ranges from previous studies in similar rock types and climatic conditions. The magnitude of landslide denudation rates is determined by failure density (similar to landslide frequency), whereas precipitation and slopes affect the spatial variation in landslide denudation rates. Simulation results show that postglacial denudation rates decay over time and take longer than 100 kyr to reach time-invariant rates. Over time, the landslides in the model consume the steep slopes characteristic of deglaciated landscapes. This response time scale is on the order of or longer than glacial/interglacial cycles, suggesting that frequent climatic perturbations during the Quaternary may produce a significant and prolonged impact on denudation and topography.

  1. Institutional Design and Irish Political Reform

    OpenAIRE

    Hardiman, Niamh

    2010-01-01

    Part of Symposium: Resolving Ireland's Fiscal Crisis (read before the Society, 26th November 2009) The financial and economic crisis that erupted in 2008 exposed significant weaknesses in Irish decision-making and policy implementing processes. In contrast with other European countries in the grip of crisis, the political system was not fundamentally challenged and the incumbent government held onto power. But confidence in government?s capacity to respond adequately fell to historically l...

  2. The Irish epilepsy surgery experience: Long-term follow-up.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Dunlea, Orla

    2010-05-01

    To assess the long-term seizure outcome of Irish patients who underwent resective surgery for refractory epilepsy since 1975. We also wished to determine the impact of pathology and surgical technique (with particular reference to neocorticectomy) on seizure outcome.

  3. Joint Russian-Norwegian collaboration on radioactive contamination from dumped nuclear waste in the Kara Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nikitin, A.I.; Salbu, B.; Strand, P.

    1995-01-01

    Joint Russian-Norwegian expeditions to the Kara Sea have taken place annually since 1992. The 1992 expedition to the open Kara Sea included for the first time scientists from Western countries. During the 1993 expedition underwater investigations of dumped objects in the Tsivolky Fjord and the Stepovogo Fjord was performed in addition to sample collection. This program was also carried out in the Abrosimov Fjord and the Stepovogo Fjord in 1994. The enhanced levels of 137 Cs and 90 Sr, and the presence of 60 Co in sediments from Stepovogo Fjord as well as traces of 60 Co in samples from Tsivolky Fjord, show that leakage from dumped radioactive water has taken place. The contamination was localized to nearby dumped objects. The concentrations of radionuclides in waters and sediments in the open Kara Sea are presently very low and significantly lower than in other marine areas, e.g. the Irish Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the North Sea. The results imply that the impact of radioactive contamination from dumped radioactive waste on the Kara Sea environment is at present very low. 4 refs., 1 fig., 2 tabs

  4. Breast cancer risk in a screening cohort of Asian and white British/Irish women from Manchester UK.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, D Gareth; Brentnall, Adam R; Harvie, Michelle; Astley, Susan; Harkness, Elaine F; Stavrinos, Paula; Donnelly, Louise S; Sampson, Sarah; Idries, Faiza; Watterson, Donna; Cuzick, Jack; Wilson, Mary; Jain, Anil; Harrison, Fiona; Maxwell, Anthony J; Howell, Anthony

    2018-01-25

    The differences between breast cancer risk factors in white British/Irish and Asian women attending screening in the UK are not well documented. Between 2009-15 ethnicity and traditional breast cancer risk factors were self-identified by a screening cohort from Greater Manchester, with follow up to 2016. Risk factors and incidence rates were compared using age-standardised statistics (European standard population). Eight hundred and seventy-nine Asian women and 51,779 unaffected white British/Irish women aged 46-73 years were recruited. Asian women were at lower predicted breast cancer risk from hormonal and reproductive risk factors than white British/Irish women (mean 10 year risk 2.6% vs 3.1%, difference 0.4%, 95%CI 0.3-0.5%). White British/Irish women were more likely to have had a younger age at menarche, be overweight or obese, taller, used hormone replacement therapy and not to have had children.. However, despite being less overweight Asian women had gained more weight from age 20 years and were less likely to undertake moderate physical activity. Asian women also had a slightly higher mammographic density. Asian age-standardised incidence was 3.2 (95%CI 1.6-5.2, 18 cancers) per thousand women/year vs 4.5 (95%CI 4.2-4.8, 1076 cancers) for white British/Irish women. Asian women attending screening in Greater Manchester are likely to have a lower risk of breast cancer than white British/Irish women, but they undertake less physical activity and have more adult weight gain.

  5. Modelling the existing Irish energy-system to identify future energy costs and the maximum wind penetration feasible

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Connolly, D.; Leahy, M.; Lund, H.; Mathiesen, B.V.

    2010-01-01

    In this study a model of the Irish energy-system was developed using EnergyPLAN based on the year 2007, which was then used for three investigations. The first compares the model results with actual values from 2007 to validate its accuracy. The second illustrates the exposure of the existing Irish energy-system to future energy costs by considering future fuel prices, CO 2 prices, and different interest rates. The final investigation identifies the maximum wind penetration feasible on the 2007 Irish energy-system from a technical and economic perspective, as wind is the most promising fluctuating renewable resource available in Ireland. It is concluded that the reference model simulates the Irish energy-system accurately, the annual fuel costs for Ireland's energy could increase by approximately 58% from 2007 to 2020 if a business-as-usual scenario is followed, and the optimum wind penetration for the existing Irish energy-system is approximately 30% from both a technical and economic perspective based on 2020 energy prices. Future studies will use the model developed in this study to show that higher wind penetrations can be achieved if the existing energy-system is modified correctly. Finally, these results are not only applicable to Ireland, but also represent the issues facing many other countries. (author)

  6. Last Deglaciation Events (16.1-11.4 cal-Ka) Recorded in a Speleothem from DeSoto Caverns, Alabama, U.S.A.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambert, W. J.; Aharon, P.; Hellstrom, J.

    2007-12-01

    Whereas the rapid climate swings that occurred during the last deglaciation have been well documented in the Greenland ice cores, their cause/s continue to be a subject of heated debate. Clearly, more geographically dispersed records are required in order to provide better insight into the history of deglaciation, and by extension into the cause/s of the abrupt climate shifts. Particularly scarce are continental deglaciation records from the southeast North America whose atmospheric conditions were controlled by the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet to the north and the Gulf of Mexico warm waters to the south. In order to remedy the absence of deglaciation records in the Southeast USA in general, and the Gulf Coast in particular, we have initiated a study of a 55-cm long stalagmite (DSSG-2) from the DeSoto Caverns in Childersburg, Alabama (33° 18'N, 86° 17'W). Seven radiocarbon AMS and eighteen U/Th TIMS dates reveal that the continuously layered stalagmite covers the time interval 31 to 11.4 cal-Ka at growth rates varying from 61 μm/decade at the start of deglaciation and up to 2700 μm/decade close to its termination. The combination of unusually high growth rates, pristine aragonite mineralogy and tight sampling (n=602) afforded generation of high fidelity δ13C and δ18O records from about 16.1 to 11.4 cal-Ka whose high resolution is comparable with the contemporaneous Greenland ice core records. The stalagmite δ18O record shows excellent agreement in relative amplitude shifts and timing of abrupt and brief cold reversals (Oldest Dryas, Older Dryas, Inter-Allerød Cold Period) that punctuated the overall trend of deglaciation warming (Bølling/Allerød period). The succeeding Younger Dryas is depicted in the stalagmite by rapid positive shifts in δ18O and δ13C of 1.3‰ and 2.3‰ (V-PDB) relative to the baseline mean value and its start and termination (12.7-11.8 Ka) are concordant within error with the dates reported from GISP2 ice core (12.82-11.60 Ka

  7. Experience of the Irish National Centre for hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia 2003-2008.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Ni Bhuachalla, C F

    2012-01-31

    Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is a group of autosomal dominant disorders of vascular structure. The Irish National Centre for HHT at the Mercy University Hospital, Cork, Ireland was founded in 2003. From 2003 to 2008, screening of 164 patients with contrast echocardiography, thoracic computerised tomography (CT) and cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has identified 88 patients with definite HHT, 72 (82%) of whom had epistaxis, 70 (80%) had telangiectasia and 81 (92%) had a first-degree relative with HHT. We sought to describe the manifestations of HHT in an Irish population and to determine differences between internationally reported data. The HHT patient database was analysed to describe demographics, clinical manifestations and interventional procedures performed in all referred patients. Contrast echocardiography and\\/or CT were performed in 86 patients with definite HHT, identifying 27 patients (31%) with pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (pAVMs). Nineteen patients with single or multiple pAVMs had 28 embolisation procedures performed, with 1-6 pAVMs embolised per procedure. Cerebral MRI was performed in 78 (89%) patients and 2 (2.3%) had cerebral arteriovenous malformations (cAVMs). HHT prevalence is thought to be 1 in 2500-8000, suggesting that there are many undiagnosed cases in Irish patients. Internationally published data suggest a prevalence of 15-35% for pAVMs and 10-23% for cAVMs in patients with HHT. While the prevalence of pAVMs in our group is consistent with these data, the prevalence of cAVMs is considerably lower, suggesting that Irish patients with HHT may differ genotypically and phenotypically from those in other countries.

  8. Numerical Modeling of Rocky Mountain Paleoglaciers - Insights into the Climate of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Subsequent Deglaciation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leonard, E. M.; Laabs, B. J. C.; Plummer, M. A.

    2014-12-01

    Numerical modeling of paleoglaciers can yield information on the climatic conditions necessary to sustain those glaciers. In this study we apply a coupled 2-d mass/energy balance and flow model (Plummer and Phillips, 2003) to reconstruct local last glacial maximum (LLGM) glaciers and paleoclimate in ten study areas along the crest of the U.S. Rocky Mountains between 33°N and 49°N. In some of the areas, where timing of post-LLGM ice recession is constrained by surface exposure ages on either polished bedrock upvalley from the LLGM moraines or post-LLGM recessional moraines, we use the model to assess magnitudes and rates of climate change during deglaciation. The modeling reveals a complex pattern of LLGM climate. The magnitude of LLGM-to-modern climate change (temperature and/or precipitation change) was greater in both the northern (Montana) Rocky Mountains and southern (New Mexico) Rocky Mountains than in the middle (Wyoming and Colorado) Rocky Mountains. We use temperature depression estimates from global and regional climate models to infer LLGM precipitation from our glacier model results. Our results suggest a reduction of precipitation coupled with strongly depressed temperatures in the north, contrasted with strongly enhanced precipitation and much more modest temperature depression in the south. The middle Rocky Mountains of Colorado and Wyoming appear to have experienced a reduction in precipitation at the LLGM without the strong temperature depression of the northern Rocky Mountains. Preliminary work on modeling of deglaciation in the Sangre de Cristo Range in southern Colorado suggests that approximately half of the LLGM-to-modern climate change took place during the initial ~2400 years of deglaciation. If increasing temperature and changing solar insolation were the sole drivers of this initial deglaciation, then temperature would need to have risen by slightly more than 1°C/ky through this interval to account for the observed rate of ice recession.

  9. Plutonium and americium in air on the coasts of the Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Playford, K.

    1991-01-01

    Measurements of artificial radionuclides in air, deposition and seawater were carried out at coastal and inland locations in Cumbria, south-west Scotland, Northern Ireland and North Wales. The measurements were undertaken to determine the distribution of artificial radionuclides in the coastal environment attributable to discharges from Sellafield and to investigate the mechanisms responsible for the increased radionuclide concentration in the marine aerosol and their subsequent transfer to land. A number of different sampling methods were used and the contribution each method could make to the understanding of the marine aerosol was assessed. Measurements of the size distribution of the marine aerosol was also undertaken. The measurements demonstrated that the actinide concentrations measured in the air and deposition at coastal locations could be related to near shore sea water concentrations, but that no direct proportionality existed. It was also determined that a significant proportion of the material transferred from sea to land was associated with larger particulate present in the marine aerosol during conditions of above average onshore winds. (author)

  10. Engaging with Leadership Development in Irish Academic Libraries: Some Reflections of the Future Leaders Programme (FLP)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fallon, Helen; Maxwell, Jane; McCaffrey, Ciara; McMahon, Seamus

    2011-01-01

    Four librarians from Irish university libraries completed the U.K. Future Leaders Programme (FLP) in 2010. In this article they recount their experience and assess the effect of the programme on their professional practice and the value for their institutions. The programme is explored in the context of the Irish higher education environment,…

  11. Interlaboratory comparison: Radionuclides in Irish sea water. IAEA-443

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2009-01-01

    comparisons, production of Reference Materials and Certified Reference Materials, and training. More than 40 Reference Materials have been produced, which include a wide range of marine sample matrices and radionuclide concentrations. As part of these activities, a new interlaboratory comparison was organized to provide the participating laboratories with the possibility of testing the performance of their analytical methods on a seawater sample with elevated radionuclide levels due to discharges from a nuclear facility. The material was designed for the analysis of anthropogenic and natural radionuclides in sea water. It is expected that the sample, after successful certification, will be issued as a Certified Reference Material for radionuclides in sea water

  12. 75 FR 3333 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Modification of the Handling Regulation for Area No. 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-21

    ... FR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Modification of the Handling Regulation for Area No. 2 AGENCY... requirement under the Colorado potato marketing order, Area No. 2. The marketing order regulates the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Colorado, and is administered locally by the Colorado Potato...

  13. 78 FR 35743 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Modification of the General Cull and Handling Regulation for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-06-14

    ... IR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Modification of the General Cull and Handling Regulation for.... SUMMARY: This interim rule modifies the size requirements for potatoes handled under the Colorado potato marketing order, Area No. 2 (order). The order regulates the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Colorado...

  14. Are we prepared for a growing population? Morbid obesity and its implications in Irish emergency departments.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    2012-01-31

    Two percent of the Irish population is morbidly obese with this figure expected to rise significantly. This survey aimed to establish the present logistical capacity of Irish emergency departments (EDs) to adequately cater for the bariatric patients. A telephone survey was carried out of 37 health service executive EDs over a 5-day period in October 2008. Questions were posed to the departmental lead nurse regarding facilities (Supplemental digital content 1). No ED had adequate facilities. Two of 37 units questioned had on-site hoists designed to lift patients of more than 170 kg. Four departments had rapid access to mattresses within the hospital and three of these four had access to beds and trolleys for weighing patients. Two percent of the Irish population is morbidly obese with this figure expected to rise significantly to more than 150 kg. One department had access to commodes, chairs, wheelchairs and trolleys from inpatient services. All departments had extra-wide blood pressure cuffs and 12 had a difficult airways trolley. Necessary infrastructure and equipment for bariatric patients is deficient in the majority of Irish EDs.

  15. Food and beverage cues in UK and Irish children-television programming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scully, Paul; Reid, Orlaith; Macken, Alan; Healy, Mark; Saunders, Jean; Leddin, Des; Cullen, Walter; Dunne, Colum; O'Gorman, Clodagh S

    2014-11-01

    Increased time in which children spend watching television is a well-described contributor to paediatric obesity. This study investigated the frequency and type of food and beverage placement in children-specific television broadcasts and compared data from UK (UK) and Irish television stations. Content analysis, totalling 82.5 h, reflecting 5 weekdays of children-specific television broadcasting on UK and Irish television channels was performed. To allow comparison between UK and Irish food and beverage cues, only broadcasts between 06.00 and 11.30 were analysed. Data were coded separately by two analysts and transferred to SPSS for analyses. Food and beverage cues were coded based on type of product, product placement, product use, motivation, outcome and characters involved. A total of 1155 food and beverage cues were recorded. Sweet snacks were the most frequent food cue (13.3%), followed by sweets/candy (11.4%). Tea/coffee was the most frequent beverage cue (13.5%), followed by sugar-sweetened beverages (13.0%). The outcome of the cue was positive in 32.6%, negative in 19.8%, and neutral in 47.5% of cases. The most common motivating factor associated with each cue was celebratory/social (25.2%), followed by hunger/thirst (25.0%). Comparison of UK and Irish placements showed both to portray high levels of unhealthy food cues. However, placements for sugar-sweetened beverages were relatively low on both channels. This study provides further evidence of the prominence of unhealthy foods in children's programming. These data may provide guidance for healthcare professionals, regulators and programme makers in planning for a healthier portrayal of food and beverage in children's television. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  16. Who is the Populist Irish Voter?

    OpenAIRE

    Reidy, Theresa; Suiter, Jane

    2017-01-01

    read before the Society, 20 April 2017; Symposium 2016-2017: Globalisation, Inequality and the Rise of Populism Across the EU, the Great Recession begot economic and political crisis heralding a renewed march towards populism and party system fragmentation. Much commentary about Ireland remarked on the absence of a populist surge of the type seen in many other bailout states (Clifford, 2016; Pappas, 2015). But is this characterization of the Irish experience accurate? The imposition of aus...

  17. Primary medical care in Irish prisons

    OpenAIRE

    ALLWRIGHT, SHANE PATRICIA ANN; DARKER, CATHERINE; BARRY, JOSEPH; O'DOWD, THOMAS

    2010-01-01

    PUBLISHED Background: An industrial dispute between prison doctors and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) took place in 2004. Part of the resolution of that dispute was that an independent review of prison medical and support services be carried out by a University Department of Primary Care. The review took place in 2008 and we report here on the principal findings of that review. Methods: This study utilised a mixed methods approach. An independent expert medical evaluator (one of ...

  18. 75 FR 17034 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Relaxation of the Handling Regulation for Area No. 3

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-05

    ...; FV09-948-2 IFR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Relaxation of the Handling Regulation for Area No. 3...: This rule relaxes the size requirement prescribed under the Colorado potato marketing order. The marketing order regulates the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Colorado, and is administered locally by...

  19. Changes in sea ice cover and ice sheet extent at the Yermak Plateau during the last 160 ka - Reconstructions from biomarker records

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kremer, A.; Stein, R.; Fahl, K.; Ji, Z.; Yang, Z.; Wiers, S.; Matthiessen, J.; Forwick, M.; Löwemark, L.; O'Regan, M.; Chen, J.; Snowball, I.

    2018-02-01

    The Yermak Plateau is located north of Svalbard at the entrance to the Arctic Ocean, i.e. in an area highly sensitive to climate change. A multi proxy approach was carried out on Core PS92/039-2 to study glacial-interglacial environmental changes at the northern Barents Sea margin during the last 160 ka. The main emphasis was on the reconstruction of sea ice cover, based on the sea ice proxy IP25 and the related phytoplankton - sea ice index PIP25. Sea ice was present most of the time but showed significant temporal variability decisively affected by movements of the Svalbard Barents Sea Ice Sheet. For the first time, we prove the occurrence of seasonal sea ice at the eastern Yermak Plateau during glacial intervals, probably steered by a major northward advance of the ice sheet and the formation of a coastal polynya in front of it. Maximum accumulation of terrigenous organic carbon, IP25 and the phytoplankton biomarkers (brassicasterol, dinosterol, HBI III) can be correlated to distinct deglaciation events. More severe, but variable sea ice cover prevailed at the Yermak Plateau during interglacials. The general proximity to the sea ice margin is further indicated by biomarker (GDGT) - based sea surface temperatures below 2.5 °C.

  20. Ocean modelling for aquaculture and fisheries in Irish waters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dabrowski, T.; Lyons, K.; Cusack, C.; Casal, G.; Berry, A.; Nolan, G. D.

    2016-01-01

    The Marine Institute, Ireland, runs a suite of operational regional and coastal ocean models. Recent developments include several tailored products that focus on the key needs of the Irish aquaculture sector. In this article, an overview of the products and services derived from the models are presented. The authors give an overview of a shellfish model developed in-house and that was designed to predict the growth, the physiological interactions with the ecosystem, and the level of coliform contamination of the blue mussel. As such, this model is applicable in studies on the carrying capacity of embayments, assessment of the impacts of pollution on aquaculture grounds, and the determination of shellfish water classes. Further services include the assimilation of the model-predicted shelf water movement into a new harmful algal bloom alert system used to inform end users of potential toxic shellfish events and high biomass blooms that include fish-killing species. Models are also used to identify potential sites for offshore aquaculture, to inform studies of potential cross-contamination in farms from the dispersal of planktonic sea lice larvae and other pathogens that can infect finfish, and to provide modelled products that underpin the assessment and advisory services on the sustainable exploitation of the resources of marine fisheries. This paper demonstrates that ocean models can provide an invaluable contribution to the sustainable blue growth of aquaculture and fisheries.

  1. Timing of the deglaciation and the late-glacial vegetation development on the Pandivere Upland, North Estonia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Amon

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the deglaciation chronology of the Pandivere Upland is defined, and the late-glacial vegetation trends of north-eastern Estonia are summarised. The multi-proxy study includes accelerated mass spectrometry 14 C dating, plant macrofossil, magnetic susceptibility, loss-on-ignition and grain-size distribution data of the lacustrine sediment record from one previously unpublished study site (Kursi, and the study discusses the results in combination with five previously published study locations from the area. The results indicate that the deglaciation of the Pandivere Upland started at approximately 14 200 cal. yr BP and was completed by 13 800 cal. yr BP. The ice recession rate was approximately 180 m yr -1 . Based on these new radiocarbon dates, the Baltic Ice Lake stage A 1 submerged the northern and western ice-free areas of Estonia by ca. 13 800 cal. yr BP. The prevalent vegetation type in north-eastern Estonia during the late-glacial period was tundra with local variations in the dominant shrub species. The region remained treeless until the Holocene.

  2. 78 FR 3 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Modification of the Handling Regulation for Area No. 2

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-01-02

    ...; FV12-948-1 IR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Modification of the Handling Regulation for Area No. 2...: This rule modifies the grade requirements for potatoes handled under the Colorado potato marketing order, Area No. 2 (order). The order regulates the handling of Irish potatoes grown in Colorado and is...

  3. 78 FR 70191 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Modification of the General Cull and Handling Regulation for...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-11-25

    ...-FV-13-0001; FV13-948-1 FIR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Colorado; Modification of the General Cull and..., without change, an interim rule that modified the size requirements for potatoes handled under the Colorado potato marketing order, Area No. 2 (order). The order regulates the handling of Irish potatoes...

  4. Holocene sea-level changes along the Strait of Magellan and Beagle Channel, southernmost South America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porter, Stephen C.; Stuiver, Minze; Heusser, Calvin J.

    1984-07-01

    Radiocarbon-dated marine sediments from five coastal sites along the Strait of Magellan and Beagle Channel in southernmost Chile permit construction of a curve of relative sea-level fluctuations during the Holocene. Morphologic and stratigraphic data point to coastal submergence during the early Holocene as the sea rose to a maximum level at least 3.5 m higher than present about 5000 yr ago. Progressive emergence then followed during the late Holocene. Data from widely separated localities define a smooth curve, the form of which is explainable in terms of isostatic and hydroisostatic deformation of the crust resulting from changing ice and water loads. Apparently anomalous data from one site located more than 100 km behind the outer limit of the last glaciation may reflect isostatic response to deglaciation. The sea-level curve resembles one derived by Clark and Bloom (1979, In "Proceedings of the 1978 International Symposium on Coastal Evolution in the Quaternary, Sao Paulo, Brasil," pp. 41-60. Sao Paulo) using a spherical Earth model, both in amplitude and in the timing of the maximum submergence.

  5. Revised age of deglaciation of Lake Emma based on new radiocarbon and macrofossil analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elias, S.A.; Carrara, P.E.; Toolin, L.J.; Jull, A.J.T.

    1991-01-01

    Previous radiocarbon ages of detrital moss fragments in basal organic sediments of Lake Emma indicated that extensive deglaciation of the San Juan Mountains occurred prior to 14,900 yr B.P. (Carrara et al., 1984). Paleoecological analyses of insect and plant macrofossils from these basal sediments cast doubt on the reliability of the radiocarbon ages. Subsequent accelerator radiocarbon dates of insect fossils and wood fragments indicate an early Holocene age, rather than a late Pleistocene age, for the basal sediments of Lake Emma. These new radiocarbon ages suggest that by at least 10,000 yr B.P. deglaciation of the San Juan Mountains was complete. The insect and plant macrofossils from the basal organic sediments indicate a higher-than-present treeline during the early Holocene. The insect assemblages consisted of about 30% bark beetles, which contrasts markedly with the composition of insects from modern lake sediments and modern specimens collected in the Lake Emma cirque, in which bark beetles comprise only about 3% of the assemblages. In addition, in the fossil assemblages there were a number of flightless insect species (not subject to upslope transport by wind) indicative of coniferous forest environments. These insects were likewise absent in the modern assemblage. ?? 1991.

  6. Application of Dexter’s soil physical quality index: an Irish case study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fenton O.

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Historically, due to a lack of measured soil physical data, the quality of Irish soils was relatively unknown. Herein, we investigate the physical quality of the national representative profiles of Co. Waterford. To do this, the soil physical quality (SPQ S-Index, as described by Dexter (2004a,b,c using the S-theory (which seeks the inflection point of a soil water retention curve [SWRC], is used. This can be determined using simple (S-Indirect or complex (S-Direct soil physical data streams. Both are achievable using existing data for the County Waterford profiles, but until now, the suitability of this S-Index for Irish soils has never been tested. Indirect-S provides a generic characterisation of SPQ for a particular soil horizon, using simplified and modelled information (e.g. texture and SWRC derived from pedo-transfer functions, whereas Direct-S provides more complex site-specific information (e.g. texture and SWRC measured in the laboratory, which relates to properties measured for that exact soil horizon. Results showed a significant correlation between S-Indirect (Si and S-Direct (Sd. Therefore, the S-Index can be used in Irish soils and presents opportunities for the use of Si at the national scale. Outlier horizons contained >6% organic carbon (OC and bulk density (Bd values <1 g/cm3 and were not suitable for Si estimation. In addition, the S-Index did not perform well on excessively drained soils. Overall correlations of Si. with Bd and of Si. with OC% for the dataset were detected. Future work should extend this approach to the national scale dataset in the Irish Soil Information System.

  7. The Farm as an Educative Tool in the Development of Place Attachments among Irish Farm Youth

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cassidy, Anne

    2017-01-01

    This paper focuses on the educative role of the farm in the development of relationships between young people and the homeplace they grew up on. The paper is based on qualitative interviews with a cohort of 30 Irish university students (15 men and 15 women) brought up on Irish family farms who would not become full-time farmers. The farm acts as…

  8. Primary medical care in Irish prisons

    OpenAIRE

    Barry, Joe M; Darker, Catherine D; Thomas, David E; Allwright, Shane PA; O'Dowd, Tom

    2010-01-01

    Abstract Background An industrial dispute between prison doctors and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) took place in 2004. Part of the resolution of that dispute was that an independent review of prison medical and support services be carried out by a University Department of Primary Care. The review took place in 2008 and we report here on the principal findings of that review. Methods This study utilised a mixed methods approach. An independent expert medical evaluator (one of the authors, DT)...

  9. The Interstitial Status of Irish Gayness in Colm Tóibín’s The Blackwater Lightship and The Master

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José M. Yebra

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper explores the liminal status of Irish gayness in the aftermath of its decriminalization in 1993. Colm Tóibín’s The Blackwater Lightship (1999 tries to reconcile Irish Catholicism and traditional family with new models of Irishness. Declan, the protagonist of the novel, goes back home when he is about to die of AIDS. His return reveals a dysfunctional family which only his disease brings together. His grandmother, mother and sister mourn Declan’s corpse-like body. Making reference to Julia Kristeva’s concepts of “abjection” and “the chora” (1982, 1984, I contend that the hero’s disease is a necessary sacrifice for the family and Ireland as a whole to resurface. The second part of the paper addresses Tóibín’s The Master (2004, whose fictional Henry James counterbalances Declan’s overt homosexuality and AIDS-related death. The Master delves into James’s hybridity as a closeted American of Irish descent opposed to Oscar Wilde’s flamboyant gay Irishness. The restraint of the former and the traumatic downfall of the latter make up the late-Victorian framework through which Declan’s late-twentieth-century sacrifice becomes meaningful.

  10. Relative sea-level changes and crustal movements in Britain and Ireland since the Last Glacial Maximum

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shennan, Ian; Bradley, Sarah L.; Edwards, Robin

    2018-05-01

    The new sea-level database for Britain and Ireland contains >2100 data points from 86 regions and records relative sea-level (RSL) changes over the last 20 ka and across elevations ranging from ∼+40 to -55 m. It reveals radically different patterns of RSL as we move from regions near the centre of the Celtic ice sheet at the last glacial maximum to regions near and beyond the ice limits. Validated sea-level index points and limiting data show good agreement with the broad patterns of RSL change predicted by current glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models. The index points show no consistent pattern of synchronous coastal advance and retreat across different regions, ∼100-500 km scale, indicating that within-estuary processes, rather than decimetre- and centennial-scale oscillations in sea level, produce major controls on the temporal pattern of horizontal shifts in coastal sedimentary environments. Comparisons between the database and GIA model predictions for multiple regions provide potentially powerful constraints on various characteristics of global GIA models, including the magnitude of MWP1A, the final deglaciation of the Laurentide ice sheet and the continued melting of Antarctica after 7 ka BP.

  11. Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) in grazing Irish dairy cows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Grady, Luke; Doherty, Michael L; Mulligan, Finbar J

    2008-04-01

    Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) is a significant production disease of dairy cattle. Previous concerns have been raised over the occurrence of SARA in pasture-fed dairy cattle and the potential consequences of laminitis and lameness. Highly digestible perennial rye grass contains high concentrations of rapidly fermentable carbohydrate and low concentrations of physical effective fibre that may result in SARA. This study conducted a point prevalence survey of rumen health status in grazing Irish dairy cattle fed predominantly perennial rye grass-based pasture. The survey assessed rumen fluid, animal health status, milk production data and pasture composition. A total of 144 cows between 80 and 150 days in milk were sampled on 12 farms. Eleven percent of cows were classified as affected with SARA (pH 5.8). The study showed that low rumen pH is prevalent in grazing Irish dairy cattle consuming perennial rye grass-based pasture and raises concerns regarding effective pasture utilisation and possible consequences for animal health.

  12. “Who am I? Well, I’m Irish anyway, that’s something.” Iris Murdoch and Ireland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carla de Petris

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Peter J. Conradi, a lifelong friend and biographer of Iris Murdoch,born in Dublin of Anglo-Irish parents, speaks of her attachment to/detachment from her country of origin as follows: “Her Irish connectionwas reflected in a lifetime’s intellectual and emotional engagement[that] – before her illness – transformed her from a romanticMarxist idealist to a hard-line Unionist and defender of the politicsof Ian Paisley” (Conradi 2001b. This article is an attempt to investigatepossible connections between Murdoch’s social, ethnic, andreligious background and her philosophy based on up-rooted androotedness and self-distancing (terms borrowed from Simone Weilpersonified in the characters of her numerous novels. Her only worksset in Ireland, namely the short story “Something Special” (1958,and the novels The Unicorn (1963 and The Red and the Green (1965,will be analysed and compared with the novels of another womanwriterfrom the same background, Jennifer Johnston, the doyen ofIrish writers, who has inherited and modified the same tradition inthe light of contemporary Irish history.

  13. The dynamics of the marine nitrogen cycle across the last deglaciation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Eugster, Olivier; Gruber, Nicolas; Deutsch, Curtis

    2013-01-01

    -internal N feedbacks and the response of the oceanic N cycle to four external forcings. Scenarios that best match the ı15N constraints indicate a strong transient decrease in N-fixation in the early deglacial in response to the decrease in iron input by dust. Around 15 kyr B.P., N-fixation rebounds primarily...... the ı15N of nitrate of the whole ocean (dilution effect). Our optimal solution suggests a glacial N cycle that operated at nearly the same rates as that in pre-industrial times, but sensitivity cases with substantially lower rates fit the data only marginally worse. An important caveat of our study...

  14. Politics as Usual? Theatre, the Northern Irish Assembly, and the Romanticization of Normality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eleanor Owicki

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available This article explores the treatment of Northern Irish electoral politics in two plays featuring Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs as major characters. Between 2007 and 2016, many viewed the stability of the Northern Irish Assembly as evidence of the continued success of the peace process. Although the principle of mandatory coalition at the system’s heart bears witness to the lasting nature of divisions within the state, the collaboration between once-bitter enemies demonstrates a real shift in Northern Irish politics. Until the institution’s (perhaps temporary collapse in 2017, many commentators and politicians suggested that its success proved that the state was progressing in the nebulous but desirable direction of ‘normality’. Colin Bell’s 'God’s Country' (2010 and Rosemary Jenkinson’s 'Planet Belfast' (2013 suggest, however, that a valorization of normality obscures the dangers posed to Northern Ireland by problems that occur on more global levels. 'God’s Country' explores the dangerous impact of homophobia in the North, and particularly within unionist politics, while 'Planet Belfast' depicts the combined threat of environmental destruction and corporate interference. Both plays depict Northern Irish politics functioning smoothly, with minimal evidence of sectarian divisions deeper than the partisanship present in most democracies. In spite of this, however, they caution against treating normality as an end goal or as evidence that the state is safe. Instead, they suggest that the state faces a wide array of problems that have been obscured by the focus on sectarianism and the legacy of the Troubles.

  15. Glyphosate in Irish adults - A pilot study in 2017.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Connolly, Alison; Leahy, Michelle; Jones, Kate; Kenny, Laura; Coggins, Marie A

    2018-05-02

    Glyphosate is the highest volume herbicide used globally and has recently been classified as a 2 A 'probably carcinogenic to humans' by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). There is limited data to evaluate the public health impacts from glyphosate exposure. The objective of this study is to conduct an exploratory glyphosate exposure assessment study among Irish adults, who were non-occupational users of glyphosate. A convenient sampling method was used, collecting one first morning void spot urine sample from each participant. A biomonitoring survey involving the collection and analysis of 20 ml spot urine samples from 50 Irish adults was conducted in June 2017. Participants completed a short questionnaire to collect information on demographics, dietary habits and lifestyle. Glyphosate was extracted using solid phase extraction (SPE) and analysed by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MC/MS). Of the 50 urine samples analysed, 10 (20%) contained detectable levels of glyphosate (0.80-1.35 µg L -1 ). Exposure concentrations are higher than those reported in comparable studies of European and American adults. Glyphosate was detectable in 20% of the samples collected from Irish adults. The low proportion of detectable glyphosate levels could be due to lower localised use of pesticides, having a small sample size or the higher analytical detection limit used in this study (0.5 µg L -1 ), which could underestimate the true exposure and warrants further investigation. Given the widespread use of glyphosate, further information on population exposure is required to advance our understanding of the relationship between chronic low dose exposure to glyphosate and human health risk. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Deglacial upwelling, productivity and CO2 outgassing in the North Pacific Ocean

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gray, William R.; Rae, James W. B.; Wills, Robert C. J.; Shevenell, Amelia E.; Taylor, Ben; Burke, Andrea; Foster, Gavin L.; Lear, Caroline H.

    2018-05-01

    The interplay between ocean circulation and biological productivity affects atmospheric CO2 levels and marine oxygen concentrations. During the warming of the last deglaciation, the North Pacific experienced a peak in productivity and widespread hypoxia, with changes in circulation, iron supply and light limitation all proposed as potential drivers. Here we use the boron-isotope composition of planktic foraminifera from a sediment core in the western North Pacific to reconstruct pH and dissolved CO2 concentrations from 24,000 to 8,000 years ago. We find that the productivity peak during the Bølling-Allerød warm interval, 14,700 to 12,900 years ago, was associated with a decrease in near-surface pH and an increase in pCO2, and must therefore have been driven by increased supply of nutrient- and CO2-rich waters. In a climate model ensemble (PMIP3), the presence of large ice sheets over North America results in high rates of wind-driven upwelling within the subpolar North Pacific. We suggest that this process, combined with collapse of North Pacific Intermediate Water formation at the onset of the Bølling-Allerød, led to high rates of upwelling of water rich in nutrients and CO2, and supported the peak in productivity. The respiration of this organic matter, along with poor ventilation, probably caused the regional hypoxia. We suggest that CO2 outgassing from the North Pacific helped to maintain high atmospheric CO2 concentrations during the Bølling-Allerød and contributed to the deglacial CO2 rise.

  17. Evolution of South Atlantic density and chemical stratification across the last deglaciation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Jenny; Gottschalk, Julia; Skinner, Luke C; Peck, Victoria L; Kender, Sev; Elderfield, Henry; Waelbroeck, Claire; Vázquez Riveiros, Natalia; Hodell, David A

    2016-01-19

    Explanations of the glacial-interglacial variations in atmospheric pCO2 invoke a significant role for the deep ocean in the storage of CO2. Deep-ocean density stratification has been proposed as a mechanism to promote the storage of CO2 in the deep ocean during glacial times. A wealth of proxy data supports the presence of a "chemical divide" between intermediate and deep water in the glacial Atlantic Ocean, which indirectly points to an increase in deep-ocean density stratification. However, direct observational evidence of changes in the primary controls of ocean density stratification, i.e., temperature and salinity, remain scarce. Here, we use Mg/Ca-derived seawater temperature and salinity estimates determined from temperature-corrected δ(18)O measurements on the benthic foraminifer Uvigerina spp. from deep and intermediate water-depth marine sediment cores to reconstruct the changes in density of sub-Antarctic South Atlantic water masses over the last deglaciation (i.e., 22-2 ka before present). We find that a major breakdown in the physical density stratification significantly lags the breakdown of the deep-intermediate chemical divide, as indicated by the chemical tracers of benthic foraminifer δ(13)C and foraminifer/coral (14)C. Our results indicate that chemical destratification likely resulted in the first rise in atmospheric pCO2, whereas the density destratification of the deep South Atlantic lags the second rise in atmospheric pCO2 during the late deglacial period. Our findings emphasize that the physical and chemical destratification of the ocean are not as tightly coupled as generally assumed.

  18. How advocates use health economic data and projections: the Irish experience.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Murray, Eugene

    2009-07-01

    Approximately 30,000 people die in Ireland each year. Currently over 6000 people access specialist palliative care services annually, a figure that is projected to rise to 12,500 by 2016. In 2006, the Irish Hospice Foundation entered a joint advocacy alliance with the Irish Cancer Society and the Irish Association for Palliative Care. By speaking with one voice and using quality data, these three national voluntary groups were able to influence government and social partners to address clearly identified regional inequities in the provision of palliative care services. Over the past three years, there has been significant public investment in palliative care services, culminating in the recent publication by the national health agency of a five-year plan for a comprehensive national palliative care service. However, the sudden economic downturn in 2008 and the severe deterioration of public finances threaten the implementation of the plan. New services can only be developed if there is strong evidence to illustrate that they are cost-effective in delivering patient care. Having reviewed the international evidence, the joint advocacy group has used this economic evidence to strengthen the case that the development of palliative care services can actually save money in health budgets. The campaign mounted by the joint advocacy group was greatly facilitated by the existence of good data and an agreed evidence-based policy on what constitutes a comprehensive service.

  19. We don't like (to) party : explaining the significance of Independents in Irish political life

    OpenAIRE

    Weeks, Liam

    2008-01-01

    The aim of this thesis is to explain the significant presence of Independents (non-party representatives) in the Irish political system. This topic was chosen because parties have a monopoly on parliamentary representation in almost all liberal democracies. Ireland is an exception to this pattern, as independents have been elected to every session of parliament since the foundation of the modern Irish state. There have been very few academic analyses of Independents carried out in relation...

  20. Sequencing and analysis of an Irish human genome.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Tong, Pin

    2010-01-01

    Recent studies generating complete human sequences from Asian, African and European subgroups have revealed population-specific variation and disease susceptibility loci. Here, choosing a DNA sample from a population of interest due to its relative geographical isolation and genetic impact on further populations, we extend the above studies through the generation of 11-fold coverage of the first Irish human genome sequence.

  1. Strategic Planning in Irish Quantity Surveying Pracitces

    OpenAIRE

    Murphy, Roisin

    2011-01-01

    The role and usefulness of strategic planning has been well documented over several decades of strategic management research. Despite the significant body of existing knowledge in the field of strategic planning, there remains a paucity of investigation into the construction sector, specifically in Professional Service Firms (PSF’s) operating within it. The aim of this research was to ascertain the type, scope and extent of strategic planning within Irish Quantity Surveying (QS) practices and...

  2. Paleomagnetism and rock magnetism from sediments along a continental shelf-to-slope transect in the NW Barents Sea: Implications for geomagnetic and depositional changes during the past 15 thousand years

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caricchi, C.; Lucchi, R. G.; Sagnotti, L.; Macrì, P.; Morigi, C.; Melis, R.; Caffau, M.; Rebesco, M.; Hanebuth, T. J. J.

    2018-01-01

    Paleomagnetic and rock magnetic data were measured on glaciomarine silty-clay successions along an E-W sediment-core transect across the continental shelf and slope of the Kveithola paleo-ice stream system (south of Svalbard, north-western Barents Sea), representing a stratigraphic interval spanning the last deglaciation and the Holocene. The records indicate that magnetite is the main magnetic mineral and that magnetic minerals are distinctly less abundant on the shelf than at the continental slope. The paleomagnetic properties allow for the reconstruction of a well-defined characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) throughout the sedimentary successions. The stratigraphic trends of rock magnetic and paleomagnetic parameters are used for a shelf-slope core correlation and sediment facies analysis is applied for depositional processes reconstruction. The new paleomagnetic records compare to the PSV and RPI variation predicted for the core sites by a simulation using the global geomagnetic field variation models SHA.DIF.14k and CALS7K.2 and closest PSV and RPI regional stack curves. The elaborated dataset, corroborated by available 14C ages, provides a fundamental chronological framework to constrain the coupling of shelf-slope sedimentary processes and environmental changes in the NW Barents Sea region during and after deglaciation.

  3. Primary medical care in Irish prisons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barry, Joe M; Darker, Catherine D; Thomas, David E; Allwright, Shane P A; O'Dowd, Tom

    2010-03-22

    An industrial dispute between prison doctors and the Irish Prison Service (IPS) took place in 2004. Part of the resolution of that dispute was that an independent review of prison medical and support services be carried out by a University Department of Primary Care. The review took place in 2008 and we report here on the principal findings of that review. This study utilised a mixed methods approach. An independent expert medical evaluator (one of the authors, DT) inspected the medical facilities, equipment and relevant custodial areas in eleven of the fourteen prisons within the IPS. Semistructured interviews took place with personnel who had operational responsibility for delivery of prison medical care. Prison doctors completed a questionnaire to elicit issues such as allocation of clinician's time, nurse and administrative support and resources available. There was wide variation in the standard of medical facilities and infrastructure provided across the IPS. The range of medical equipment available was generally below that of the equivalent general practice scheme in the community. There is inequality within the system with regard to the ratio of doctor-contracted time relative to the size of the prison population. There is limited administrative support, with the majority of prisons not having a medical secretary. There are few psychiatric or counselling sessions available. People in prison have a wide range of medical care needs and there is evidence to suggest that these needs are being met inconsistently in Irish prisons.

  4. Session 1984-85. Radioactive waste. Minutes of evidence, Wednesday 19 June 1985. Natural Environment Council

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-01-01

    The Environment Select Committee of the House of Commons received a memorandum from the Natural Environment Research Council, on the management and disposal of radioactive waste, under the headings: introduction; role of NERC in research relating to radioactive waste disposal; current NERC research; disposal of wastes in geological strata on land; disposal of wastes in the deep oceans; general comments on high level wastes; effluents discharged to the Irish Sea (dispersion in the Irish Sea; dispersion from the Irish Sea into other environments); concluding observations. Representatives of NERC were examined on the subject of the memorandum and the Minutes of Evidence are recorded. (U.K.)

  5. 78 FR 43827 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Modoc and Siskiyou Counties, California, and in All Counties in Oregon...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-07-22

    ... Service 7 CFR Part 947 [Doc. No. AMS-FV-13-0036; FV13-947-1 PR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Modoc and Siskiyou... handling of Irish potatoes grown in Modoc and Siskiyou Counties, California, and in all counties in Oregon... by the Oregon-California Potato Committee (Committee), which recommended termination of the marketing...

  6. The Irish famine of 1740–1741: famine vulnerability and "climate migration"

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Engler

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available The "Great Frost" of 1740 was one of the coldest winters of the eighteenth century and impacted many countries all over Europe. The years 1740–1741 have long been known as a period of general crisis caused by harvest failures, high prices for staple foods, and excess mortality. Vulnerabilities, coping capacities and adaptation processes varied considerably among different countries. This paper investigates the famine of 1740–1741 in Ireland applying a multi-indicator model developed specifically for the integration of an analysis of pre-famine vulnerability, the Famine Vulnerability Analysis Model (FVAM. Our focus is on Ireland, because famine has played a more outstanding role in Irish national history than in any other European country, due to the "Great Famine" of 1845–1852 and its long-term demographic effects. Our analysis shows that Ireland was already particularly vulnerable to famine in the first half of the eighteenth century. During and after the experience of hardship in 1740–1741, many Irish moved within Ireland or left the country entirely. We regard migration as a form of adaptation and argue that Irish migration in 1740–1741 should be considered as a case of climate-induced migration.

  7. Clinical research ethics in Irish healthcare: diversity, dynamism and medicalization.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Condell, Sarah L

    2012-11-01

    Gaining ethical clearance to conduct a study is an important aspect of all research involving humans but can be time-consuming and daunting for novice researchers. This article stems from a larger ethnographic study that examined research capacity building in Irish nursing and midwifery. Data were collected over a 28-month time frame from a purposive sample of 16 nurse or midwife research fellows who were funded to undertake full-time PhDs. Gaining ethical clearance for their studies was reported as an early \\'rite of passage\\' in the category of \\'labouring the doctorate\\'. This article penetrates the complexities in Irish clinical research ethics by describing the practices these nurse and midwife researchers encountered and the experiences they had. The key issue of representation that occurred in the context of \\'medicalized\\' research ethics is further explored including its meaning for nursing or midwifery research.

  8. Bipolar seesaw control on last interglacial sea level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marino, G; Rohling, E J; Rodríguez-Sanz, L; Grant, K M; Heslop, D; Roberts, A P; Stanford, J D; Yu, J

    2015-06-11

    Our current understanding of ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere interactions at ice-age terminations relies largely on assessments of the most recent (last) glacial-interglacial transition, Termination I (T-I). But the extent to which T-I is representative of previous terminations remains unclear. Testing the consistency of termination processes requires comparison of time series of critical climate parameters with detailed absolute and relative age control. However, such age control has been lacking for even the penultimate glacial termination (T-II), which culminated in a sea-level highstand during the last interglacial period that was several metres above present. Here we show that Heinrich Stadial 11 (HS11), a prominent North Atlantic cold episode, occurred between 135 ± 1 and 130 ± 2 thousand years ago and was linked with rapid sea-level rise during T-II. Our conclusions are based on new and existing data for T-II and the last interglacial that we collate onto a single, radiometrically constrained chronology. The HS11 cold episode punctuated T-II and coincided directly with a major deglacial meltwater pulse, which predominantly entered the North Atlantic Ocean and accounted for about 70 per cent of the glacial-interglacial sea-level rise. We conclude that, possibly in response to stronger insolation and CO2 forcing earlier in T-II, the relationship between climate and ice-volume changes differed fundamentally from that of T-I. In T-I, the major sea-level rise clearly post-dates Heinrich Stadial 1. We also find that HS11 coincided with sustained Antarctic warming, probably through a bipolar seesaw temperature response, and propose that this heat gain at high southern latitudes promoted Antarctic ice-sheet melting that fuelled the last interglacial sea-level peak.

  9. The Antarctica component of postglacial rebound model ICE-6G_C (VM5a) based on GPS positioning, exposure age dating of ice thicknesses, and relative sea level histories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Argus, Donald F.; Peltier, W. R.; Drummond, R.; Moore, Angelyn W.

    2014-07-01

    A new model of the deglaciation history of Antarctica over the past 25 kyr has been developed, which we refer to herein as ICE-6G_C (VM5a). This revision of its predecessor ICE-5G (VM2) has been constrained to fit all available geological and geodetic observations, consisting of: (1) the present day uplift rates at 42 sites estimated from GPS measurements, (2) ice thickness change at 62 locations estimated from exposure-age dating, (3) Holocene relative sea level histories from 12 locations estimated on the basis of radiocarbon dating and (4) age of the onset of marine sedimentation at nine locations along the Antarctic shelf also estimated on the basis of 14C dating. Our new model fits the totality of these data well. An additional nine GPS-determined site velocities are also estimated for locations known to be influenced by modern ice loss from the Pine Island Bay and Northern Antarctic Peninsula regions. At the 42 locations not influenced by modern ice loss, the quality of the fit of postglacial rebound model ICE-6G_C (VM5A) is characterized by a weighted root mean square residual of 0.9 mm yr-1. The Southern Antarctic Peninsula is inferred to be rising at 2 mm yr-1, requiring there to be less Holocene ice loss there than in the prior model ICE-5G (VM2). The East Antarctica coast is rising at approximately 1 mm yr-1, requiring ice loss from this region to have been small since Last Glacial Maximum. The Ellsworth Mountains, at the base of the Antarctic Peninsula, are inferred to be rising at 5-8 mm yr-1, indicating large ice loss from this area during deglaciation that is poorly sampled by geological data. Horizontal deformation of the Antarctic Plate is minor with two exceptions. First, O'Higgins, at the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, is moving southeast at a significant 2 mm yr-1 relative to the Antarctic Plate. Secondly, the margins of the Ronne and Ross Ice Shelves are moving horizontally away from the shelf centres at an approximate rate of 0.8 mm yr-1, in

  10. Personal Development in Secondary Education: The Irish Transition Year

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clerkin, Aidan

    2012-01-01

    Secondary education in Ireland includes an optional Transition Year (TY) between the junior and senior examination cycles, when students are typically about 15 years old. Transition Year is an innovative programme, unique to Irish education, which is intended as a non-academic year devoted to personal and social development in the absence of…

  11. A comparison of mean glandular dose diagnostic reference levels within the all-digital irish national breast screening programme and the Irish symptomatic breast services

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Leary, D.; Rainford, L.

    2013-01-01

    Data on image quality, compression and radiation dose were collected from symptomatic breast units within the Republic of Ireland. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using SPSS. Recommendations of mean glandular dose (MGD) diagnostic reference levels were made at various levels for film-screen and full field digital mammography units to match levels published worldwide. MGDs received by symptomatic breast patients within Ireland are higher than those received in the all-digital Irish Breast Screening service; 55-65 mm breast: 1.75 mGy (screening) vs. 2.4 mGy (symptomatic) at the 95. percentile; various reasons are proposed for the differences. MGDs achieved in the screening service may be lower because of the exacting requirements for radiographer training, characteristics of the patients and equipment quality assurance levels. More precise imaging guidelines, standards and training of symptomatic radiographers performing mammography are suggested to remediate MGDs delivered to the breasts of Irish women attending the symptomatic breast services. (authors)

  12. Clastic dykes in over-consolidated tills: evidence for subglacial hydrofracturing at Killiney Bay, eastern Ireland

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rijsdijk, Kenneth F.; Owen, Geraint; Warren, William P.; McCarroll, Danny; van der Meer, Jaap J. M.

    1999-11-01

    A swarm of vertical gravel-filled dykes up to 6 m high and several decimetres wide, cut through an over-consolidated till at Killiney Bay. The dykes are rooted in a gravel layer and many display plumes of clastic debris ejected into the overlying sediments — `burst-out structures'. Such features have not previously been described. These clastic dykes are interpreted as the infillings of hydrofractures which formed when water pressures in the basal gravel layer exceeded the overburden pressure and tensile shear strength of the capping till. The burst-out structures extend up to 7 m from the tops of the dykes and provide strong evidence for forceful upward flow. Evidence suggests that the hydrofractures formed subglacially, probably during a minor re-advance. Their presence in Late Devensian (26-13 ka BP) tills with an Irish Sea provenance (`Irish Sea till') may have important implications for the subglacial hydrology of the last Irish Sea ice sheet. These hydrofractures cannot form in unconsolidated glacimarine sediment and their presence precludes a glacimarine origin for these deposits. They greatly affect the geotechnical properties of Irish Sea tills, in particular providing very permeable routes through otherwise impermeable layers, with important consequences in situations elsewhere in the Irish Sea basin, where they have been used as aquicludes in landfill and low-level nuclear waste disposal sites.

  13. Radon in Irish schools: the results of a national survey

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Synnott, H; Hanley, O; Fenton, D; Colgan, P A

    2006-01-01

    This paper presents the results of a survey of radon concentrations in Irish primary and post-primary schools. The objective of this survey was to assess the distribution of radon in Irish schools and to identify those requiring remedial work to reduce radon exposure to children and staff. All primary and post-primary schools were invited to participate in the survey. Indoor radon concentrations were measured during the academic year using integrating passive alpha track-etch detectors with a measurement period from three to nine months. The survey was carried out on a phased basis from 1998 to 2004 and is one of the most comprehensive of its kind undertaken in Europe. Measurements were completed in 38 531 ground floor classrooms and offices in 3826 schools, representing over 95% of the approximate 4000 primary and post-primary schools in Ireland. Of these, 984 schools had radon concentrations greater than 200 Bq m -3 in 3028 rooms and 329 schools had radon concentrations in excess of 400 Bq m -3 in 800 rooms. The average radon concentration in schools was 93 Bq m -3 . This results in an annual average effective dose to an Irish child from exposure to radon of 0.3 mSv per year, assuming that the long-term radon concentration is equal to the radon concentration present during the working hours and that the annual average occupancy is 1000 h per year. A programme of remediation of schools with radon concentrations above 200 Bq m -3 has been put in place

  14. The last Deglaciation in the Mediterranean region: a multi-archives synthesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bazin, Lucie; Siani, Giuseppe; Landais, Amaelle; Bassinot, Frank; Genty, Dominique; Govin, Aline; Michel, Elisabeth; Nomade, Sebastien; Waelbroeck, Claire

    2016-04-01

    Multiple proxies record past climatic changes in different climate archives. These proxies are influenced by different component of the climate system and bring complementary information on past climate variability. The major limitation when combining proxies from different archives comes from the coherency of their chronologies. Indeed, each climate archives possess their own dating methods, not necessarily coherent with each other's. Consequently, when we want to assess the latitudinal changes and mechanisms behind a climate event, we often have to rely on assumptions of synchronisation between the different archives, such as synchronous temperature changes during warming events (Austin and Hibbert 2010). Recently, a dating method originally developed to produce coherent chronologies for ice cores (Datice,Lemieux-Dudon et al., 2010) has been adapted in order to integrate different climate archives (ice cores, sediment cores and speleothems (Lemieux-Dudon et al., 2015, Bazin et al., in prep)). In this presentation we present the validation of this multi-archives dating tool with a first application covering the last Deglaciation in the Mediterranean region. For this experiment, we consider the records from Monticchio, the MD90-917, Tenaghi Philippon and Lake Orhid sediment cores as well as continuous speleothems from Sofular, Soreq and La Mine caves. Using the Datice dating tool, and with the identification of common tephra layers between the cores considered, we are able to produce a multi-archives coherent chronology for this region, independently of any climatic assumption. Using this common chronological framework, we show that the usual climatic synchronisation assumptions are not valid over this region for the last glacial-interglacial transition. Finally, we compare our coherent Mediterranean chronology with Greenland ice core records in order to discuss the sequence of events of the last Deglaciation between these two regions.

  15. A comparison of the exposure response of French and Irish radon detectors during field measurements in houses in Brittany

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tymen, G.; Mouden, A.; McLaughlin, J.P.; Wasiolek, P.; Rannou, A.

    1988-01-01

    Intercomparisons between French (CEA) and Irish (UCD) radon detectors were made during 1986/87 under field conditions in over 100 dwellings within the framework of a regional study in Britanny which commenced in 1984. Two different types of passive radon detectors, both using Kodak-Pathe LR-115 film, were used. The French type is of the open variety while the Irish type is closed. Preliminary analysis of the results obtained from about one hundred exposures shows that while good agreement was found in some cases a mean relative variation of 40% appears to exist between the French and Irish data. In general the Irish data gave the lower radon determinations. Likely reasons for any lack of agreement between the radon data sets obtained from the passive detectors are discussed and also comparisons are made in relation to potential alpha energy data, gamma exposure data and the exposure conditions in the dwellings. (author)

  16. COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF QUANTITATIVE DATA OF THE IRISH LANGUAGE FUNCTIONAL POWER IN IRELAND AND NORTHERN IRELAND

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gataullina, K.N.

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The globalization processes put a number of regional languages on the verge of extinction, therefore, they have raised awareness of protecting and maintaining the minority languages among a great number of foreign and Russian scholars. The paper deals with Irish that is under protection of the European Charter for regional and Minority Languages in UK and is an official language of Ireland. The research is aimed at comparing the Irish language position in both regions: Ireland and Northern Ireland. Reviewing the quantitative data in the regions under the study allows us to see clearly the language situation, monitor development, and relying on the achieved results, assess the current state and predict the future of Irish in both regions. The research results are considered to be of practical use for further language planning, improving the efficiency of language policies.

  17. Retarded deglaciation of north-Spitsbergen fjords during the last glacial - an example of bathymetric controls on the dynamics of retreating glaciers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forwick, M.; Vorren, T. O.; Hass, H.; Vogt, C. M.

    2012-12-01

    North and west Spitsbergen fjords acted as pathways for fast-flowing ice streams during the last glacial (e.g. Ottesen et al., 2005). The deglaciation of west Spitsbergen fjords occurred stepwise and the ice retreat terminated around 11,200 cal. years BP (calendar years before the present; e.g. Forwick & Vorren, 2009, 2011, and references therein; Baeten et al., 2010). However, the deglaciation dynamics and chronology of north Spitsbergen fjords still remain poorly understood. We present swath-bathymetry, high-resolution seismic data and two sediment cores from the approx. 110 km long, N-S oriented Wijdefjorden-Austfjorden fjord system, the largest fjord system on northern Spitsbergen. The data indicate that - as in the fjords on west Spitsbergen - multiple halts and/or readvances interrupted the retreat of the ice front during the final phase of the last glacial. However, even though the study area and several west Spitsbergen fjords are fed by the same glacier source (the ice field Lomonosovfonna), the final deglaciation of Wijdefjorden-Austfjorden took place after 9300 cal. years BP, i.e. at least approx. 2000 years later than in the west. We assume that the retarded deglaciation in the north is mainly related to the fjord bathymetry, i.e. a more than 35 km wide and up to 60 m high area in the central parts of the study area (approx. 45 km beyond the present fjord head) that acted as pinning point for the grounded glacier. Multiple, relatively large and partly stacked moraine ridges and sediment wedges are suggested to reflected that the ice front retreated slowly across this shallow area and that repeated readvances interrupted this retreat. The absence of larger sediment wedges in the deeper parts between the shallow area and the fjord head may indicate that the final retreat occurred relatively rapid. References: Baeten, N.J., Forwick, M., Vogt, C. & Vorren, T.O., 2010. Late Weichselian and Holocene sedimentary environments and glacial activity in

  18. Obesity and disability in the symptomatic Irish knee osteoarthritis population.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Ambrose, N L

    2010-06-01

    Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a common disorder with significant social and financial implications. Obesity is the strongest modifiable risk factor of knee OA. There is little data on obesity in Irish knee OA populations and its relationship to other measures of disease severity.

  19. The Intergenerational Transmission of Parenting Styles of Irish Immigrant Mothers

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Brien, Helen G.

    2010-01-01

    The research on child developmental outcomes underscores the importance of exploring parenting styles and identifying their multifactorial and intergenerational influences. This descriptive study examined the individual parenting styles of a sample of 82 Irish immigrant mothers and investigated the factors that influenced their individual…

  20. Battling for the Rights to Privacy and Data Protection in the Irish Courts

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shane Darcy

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Far-reaching mass surveillance by the US National Security Agency and other national security services has brought issues of privacy and data protection to the fore in recent years. Information and technology companies have been embroiled in this scandal for having shared, unwittingly or otherwise, users’ personal data with the security services. Facebook, the world’s largest social media company, has long-been criticised by privacy advocates because of its treatment of users’ data. Proceedings before the Irish courts concerning the role of national data protection authorities have seen an examination of these practices in light of relevant Irish and EU law.

  1. Global change and the measurement of absolute sea-level

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diamante, John M.; Pyle, Thomas E.; Carter, William E.; Scherer, Wolfgang

    To quantify properly the long-term response of sea-level to climate change, land motions must be separated from the apparent or relative sea-level change recorded by conventional tide/sea-level gauges. Here we present a concept for global measurement of the true or “absolute” sea-level change, which combines recent advances in space-based geodetic techniques with plans for a global sea-level network under the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). Data from initial feasibility tests show that land motion, due to global (plate tectonic), regional (glacial rebound), or local (fluid withdrawal) effects, can probably be measured to ±1cm (on a single measurement basis) by an innovative combination of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) and Global Positioning System (GPS) tevhniques. By making repeated observations of position at a number of tide gauges using portable, economical GPS receivers in a differential mode relative to the fewer, more stable, but more expensive VLBI observatories, it will be possible to subtract land motion from the relative sea-level signal. Decadal to century scale trends at the 1-2mm y -1 level will be resolvable in the sea-level and vertical land motion time series within about a decade. Detection of subsidence or uplift at specific gauges will allow correction for land motion or deletion of bad data when computing regional or global, i.e. eustatic, sea-level changes. In addition to their applications in oceanography and climate studies, such data will test models by Peltier and other that relate mantle viscosity and deglaciation history to present rates of crustal subsidence or uplift. If the predicted crustal motions are confirmed, we can also have more confidence in the use of historical tide/sea-level gauge records in retrospective studies of sea-level change related to climate variability on decadal or longer time scales. It is concluded that as few as one-third (about 100) of the total number of tide/sea-level gauges (250

  2. Explaining Responses in Danish and Irish Banking to the Financial Crisis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kluth, Michael Friederich; Lynggaard, Kennet

    The 2008 global financial crises produced very different responses in Ireland and Denmark. While both countries embraced depositor guarantee schemes and recapitalization programmes, their design and adoption reveal important variations. Crucially, the Irish state initially assumed full...

  3. Development of an online database of typical food portion sizes in Irish population groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyons, Jacqueline; Walton, Janette; Flynn, Albert

    2013-01-01

    The Irish Food Portion Sizes Database (available at www.iuna.net) describes typical portion weights for an extensive range of foods and beverages for Irish children, adolescents and adults. The present paper describes the methodologies used to develop the database and some key characteristics of the portion weight data contained therein. The data are derived from three large, cross-sectional food consumption surveys carried out in Ireland over the last decade: the National Children's Food Survey (2003-2004), National Teens' Food Survey (2005-2006) and National Adult Nutrition Survey (2008-2010). Median, 25th and 75th percentile portion weights are described for a total of 545 items across the three survey groups, split by age group or sex as appropriate. The typical (median) portion weights reported for adolescents and adults are similar for many foods, while those reported for children are notably smaller. Adolescent and adult males generally consume larger portions than their female counterparts, though similar portion weights may be consumed where foods are packaged in unit amounts (for example, pots of yoghurt). The inclusion of energy under-reporters makes little difference to the estimation of typical portion weights in adults. The data have wide-ranging applications in dietary assessment and food labelling, and will serve as a useful reference against which to compare future portion size data from the Irish population. The present paper provides a useful context for researchers and others wishing to use the Irish Food Portion Sizes Database, and may guide researchers in other countries in establishing similar databases of their own.

  4. Freedom or Free-For-All in Irish Healthcare? Establishing Improved Consumer Protection Mechanisms in the Irish Complementary and Alternative Medicine Sector

    OpenAIRE

    O LEARY, CLAIRE LOUISE

    2017-01-01

    APPROVED Despite political rhetoric, the establishment of working groups, and the publication of commissioned reports in the early and mid-2000s recommending improvements in the regulation of the Irish complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) sector, little of significance has changed. Controversies undermining public confidence in authority, global digital dissemination of information, and higher levels of education and wealth have, among other factors, contributed to the increas...

  5. Snowball Earth: Asynchronous coupling of sea-glacier flow with a global climate model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pollard, D.; Kasting, J. F.; Zugger, M. E.

    2017-05-01

    During Snowball Earth episodes of the Neoproterozoic and Paleoproterozoic, limited amounts of tropical open ocean (Jormungand), or tropical ocean with thin ice cover, would help to explain (1) vigorous glacial activity in low latitudes, (2) survival of photosynthetic life, and (3) deglacial recovery without excessive buildup of atmospheric CO2. Some previous models have suggested that tropical open ocean or thin-ice cover is possible; however, its viability in the presence of kilometer-thick sea glaciers flowing from higher latitudes has not been demonstrated conclusively. Here we describe a new method of asynchronously coupling a zonal sea-glacier model with a 3-D global climate model and apply it to Snowball Earth. Equilibrium curves of ice line versus CO2 are mapped out, as well as their dependence on ocean heat transport efficiency, sea-glacier flow, and other model parameters. No climate states with limited tropical open ocean or thin ice are found in any of our model runs, including those with sea glaciers. If this result is correct, then other refugia such as cryoconite pans would have been required for life to survive. However, the reasons for the differences between our results and others should first be resolved. It is suggested that small-scale convective dynamics, affecting fractional snow cover in low latitudes, may be a critical factor accounting for these differences.

  6. Irish general practitioner attitudes toward decriminalisation and medical use of cannabis: results from a national survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crowley, Des; Collins, Claire; Delargy, Ide; Laird, Eamon; Van Hout, Marie Claire

    2017-01-13

    Governmental debate in Ireland on the de facto decriminalisation of cannabis and legalisation for medical use is ongoing. A cannabis-based medicinal product (Sativex®) has recently been granted market authorisation in Ireland. This unique study aimed to investigate Irish general practitioner (GP) attitudes toward decriminalisation of cannabis and assess levels of support for use of cannabis for therapeutic purposes (CTP). General practitioners in the Irish College of General Practitioner (ICGP) database were invited to complete an online survey. Anonymous data yielded descriptive statistics (frequencies, percentages) to summarise participant demographic information and agreement with attitudinal statements. Chi-square tests and multi-nominal logistic regression were included. The response rate was 15% (n = 565) which is similar to other Irish national GP attitudinal surveys. Over half of Irish GPs did not support the decriminalisation of cannabis (56.8%). In terms of gender, a significantly higher proportion of males compared with females (40.6 vs. 15%; p cannabis should be decriminalised (54.1 vs. 31.5%; p = 0.021). Over 80% of both genders supported the view that cannabis use has a significant effect on patients' mental health and increases the risk of schizophrenia (77.3%). Over half of Irish GPs supported the legalisation of cannabis for medical use (58.6%). A higher percentage of those who were level 1-trained (trained in addiction treatment but not to an advanced level) agreed/strongly agreed cannabis should be legalised for medical use (p = 0.003). Over 60% agreed that cannabis can have a role in palliative care, pain management and treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). In the regression response predicator analysis, females were 66.2% less likely to agree that cannabis should be decriminalised, 42.5% less likely to agree that cannabis should be legalised for medical use and 59.8 and 37.6% less likely to agree that cannabis has a role in

  7. The Efficacy of Entrepreneurship Education: Perspectives of Irish Graduate Entrepreneurs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenton, Mary; Barry, Almar

    2011-01-01

    This paper presents an analysis of the views of Irish graduate entrepreneurs on the efficacy of entrepreneurship education in fostering their development as entrepreneurs. It answers three key questions: (a) what was the graduate entrepreneurs' experience of undergraduate entrepreneurship education; (b) what was the graduate entrepreneurs'…

  8. Introducing Farouk's Process Consultation Group Approach in Irish Primary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayes, Marie; Stringer, Phil

    2016-01-01

    Research has shown that teacher consultation groups increase teachers' behaviour management skills through discussion and collaborative problem-solving. Unlike the United Kingdom, at the time of this research consultation groups were not widely used in Irish schools. This research introduced Farouk's process consultation approach in three Irish…

  9. Nationalism in exotic clothes? Postcolonial thinking, gender and translation in the field day anthology of irish writing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aidan OMalley

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Field Day has been the most important collective cultural initiative in Ireland since Yeats and Lady Gregory’s National Theatre movement in the early twentieth century. Founded in 1980 to articulate a cultural intervention into the crisis in Northern Ireland, it brought together some of the most important cultural figures in Ireland, such as the playwright Brian Friel, the actor Stephen Rea, and the poet Seamus Heaney. While it was originally conceived of as a touring theatre company, the enterprise also became a publishing imprint, and has produced some of the most challenging scholarly work on Irish culture and history. Its most ambitious project was The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, a massive undertaking that looked to compile and rethink 1,500 years of Irish writing. When the first three volumes of the Anthology were published in 1991 the egregious lack of women’s writing in their 4,044 double-columned pages, and the fact that not one of the editors of the 44 different sections was a woman, were immediately noted. In an embarrassed response, the editors commissioned a second instalment, which was entirely edited by women and devoted to women’s writing, and was published in 2002 in two volumes. The focus of this article is on the modes of postcolonial thinking that informed these two instalments. The first three volumes were clearly influenced by thinkers such as Said, who published a pamphlet with the group, and considered Field Day an archetypal postcolonial enterprise. Indeed, Field Day is credited with having introduced postcolonial thinking into Irish Studies, a move that was by no means uncontroversial. For many critics, theories emanating from African, Caribbean and Indian colonial experiences had no relevance in an Irish context, and they strongly suspected that Field Day’s interest in postcolonial thinking was little more than an attempt by the group to re-dress nationalism in exotic clothes. The blindness to gender

  10. Global trends in milk quality: implications for the irish dairy industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    More SJ

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The quality of Irish agricultural product will become increasingly important with the ongoing liberalisation of international trade. This paper presents a review of the global and Irish dairy industries; considers the impact of milk quality on farm profitability, food processing and human health, examines global trends in quality; and explores several models that are successfully being used to tackle milk quality concerns. There is a growing global demand for dairy products, fuelled in part by growing consumer wealth in developing countries. Global dairy trade represents only 6.2% of global production and demand currently outstrips supply. Although the Irish dairy industry is small by global standards, approximately 85% of annual production is exported annually. It is also the world's largest producer of powdered infant formula. Milk quality has an impact on human health, milk processing and on-farm profitability. Somatic cell count (SCC is a key measure of milk quality, with a SCC not exceeding 400,000 cells/ml (the EU milk quality standard generally accepted as the international export standard. There have been ongoing improvements in milk quality among both established and emerging international suppliers. A number of countries have developed successful industry-led models to tackle milk quality concerns. Based on international experiences, it is likely that problems with effective translation of knowledge to practice, rather than incomplete knowledge per se, are the more important constraints to national progress towards improved milk quality.

  11. Facilitators and Inhibitors of Supply Chain Innovation-prospects for Supply Chain Managment in the Irish Grocery Sector

    OpenAIRE

    Keegan, Joan; O'Callaghan, Edmund; Wilcox, Mary

    2001-01-01

    Supply chain management is one of the most significant strategic challenges currently facing the Irish grocery sector. The UK grocery market with its emphasis on composite deliveries via regional distribution centres is extremely sophisticated; the Irish grocery sector, however, is in the embryonic stage of implementing central distribution. The potential to develop innovative supply chain systems is mediated by both national logistic-related variables and company characteristics. In additio...

  12. Primary medical care in Irish prisons

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Allwright Shane PA

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background An industrial dispute between prison doctors and the Irish Prison Service (IPS took place in 2004. Part of the resolution of that dispute was that an independent review of prison medical and support services be carried out by a University Department of Primary Care. The review took place in 2008 and we report here on the principal findings of that review. Methods This study utilised a mixed methods approach. An independent expert medical evaluator (one of the authors, DT inspected the medical facilities, equipment and relevant custodial areas in eleven of the fourteen prisons within the IPS. Semistructured interviews took place with personnel who had operational responsibility for delivery of prison medical care. Prison doctors completed a questionnaire to elicit issues such as allocation of clinician's time, nurse and administrative support and resources available. Results There was wide variation in the standard of medical facilities and infrastructure provided across the IPS. The range of medical equipment available was generally below that of the equivalent general practice scheme in the community. There is inequality within the system with regard to the ratio of doctor-contracted time relative to the size of the prison population. There is limited administrative support, with the majority of prisons not having a medical secretary. There are few psychiatric or counselling sessions available. Conclusions People in prison have a wide range of medical care needs and there is evidence to suggest that these needs are being met inconsistently in Irish prisons.

  13. The Image of Mathematics Held by Irish Post-Primary Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lane, Ciara; Stynes, Martin; O'Donoghue, John

    2014-01-01

    The image of mathematics held by Irish post-primary students was examined and a model for the image found was constructed. Initially, a definition for "image of mathematics" was adopted with image of mathematics hypothesized as comprising attitudes, beliefs, self-concept, motivation, emotions and past experiences of mathematics. Research…

  14. Parametric Pedagogy: Integrating Parametric CAD in Irish Post-Primary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGarr, Oliver; Seery, Niall

    2011-01-01

    Technology education in Irish post-primary schools is undergoing significant change. In recent years the syllabi of all technology-related subjects have been revised. A new subject, Design and Communication Graphics, has replaced the traditional Technical Drawing subject. This new subject aims to develop students' spatial awareness and graphical…

  15. The Challenges of Distributing Leadership in Irish Post-Primary Schools

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Donovan, Margaret

    2015-01-01

    This study explores the challenges and opportunities in relation to developing distributed leadership practice in Irish post-primary schools. It considers school leadership within the context of contemporary distributed leadership theory. Associated concepts such as distributed cognition and activity theory are used to frame the study. The study…

  16. James Joyce’s Home Rule Comet, Elvis Costello’s Anglo-Irish Agreement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dermot Kelly

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available It is a truism that Anglo-Irish relations did not progress in the eighty odd years between Joyce’s Trieste lectures and articles and Elvis Costello’s King of America album. If anything they regressed. As Declan Kiberd and others have noted, Joyce foresaw the partitioning of Ireland and, as Greil Marcus has shown, the dark melodies of Costello’s 1986 album are an acrid response to Thatcherism. Tracks like “Sleep of the Just” and “Little Palaces” are threnodies of diaspora. Of course Joyce was prophetic and my reading of Ulysses enables me to fill in the backstory of Marcus’s visceral lines about “Little Palaces” in his 1986 Artforum review: for instance, Bloom’s speech from the dock when he is accused of assaulting the serving girl Mary Driscoll actually reveals the unhappiness of this immigrant’s son. My paper traces continuities of Irish dispossession from Joyce’s “Ireland, Island of Saints and Sages” lecture to Costello’s “Little Palaces” on the one hand and from the Trieste lecture on Mangan to “Sleep of the Just” on the other. I conclude with reflections on Irish absurdism and the seachange in Joyce studies occasioned by the work of critics like Seamus Deane who foreshadowed the Northern Ireland peace process with essays like “Joyce and Nationalism” (1982.

  17. Millennial-scale variability of marine productivity and terrigenous matter supply in the western Bering Sea over the past 180 kyr

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J.-R. Riethdorf

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available We used piston cores recovered in the western Bering Sea to reconstruct millennial-scale changes in marine productivity and terrigenous matter supply over the past ~180 kyr. Based on a geochemical multi-proxy approach, our results indicate closely interacting processes controlling marine productivity and terrigenous matter supply comparable to the situation in the Okhotsk Sea. Overall, terrigenous inputs were high, whereas export production was low. Minor increases in marine productivity occurred during intervals of Marine Isotope Stage 5 and interstadials, but pronounced maxima were recorded during interglacials and Termination I. The terrigenous material is suggested to be derived from continental sources on the eastern Bering Sea shelf and to be subsequently transported via sea ice, which is likely to drive changes in surface productivity, terrigenous inputs, and upper-ocean stratification. From our results we propose glacial, deglacial, and interglacial scenarios for environmental change in the Bering Sea. These changes seem to be primarily controlled by insolation and sea-level forcing which affect the strength of atmospheric pressure systems and sea-ice growth. The opening history of the Bering Strait is considered to have had an additional impact. High-resolution core logging data (color b*, XRF scans strongly correspond to the Dansgaard–Oeschger climate variability registered in the NGRIP ice core and support an atmospheric coupling mechanism of Northern Hemisphere climates.

  18. The effects of the Sea Empress oil spill on the plankton of the Southern Irish Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Batten, S.D.; Allen, R.J.S.; Wotton, C.O.M.

    1998-01-01

    This study investigates the effects of the Sea Empress oil spill on the local plankton communities which are an important component of the marine ecosystem. The Continuous Plankton Recorder survey has monitored the plankton in this area since 1970 giving an extensive time series for comparison with post-spill samples. The analytical procedures applied and results obtained are presented and reveal that, with some exceptions, no significant effects were evident. Barnacle larvae were not recorded post-spill and the spring zooplankton community was somewhat different to the previous year. A long-term trend is apparent in the community but the most common taxa showed no significant changes, suggesting a minor shift in species composition rather than a dramatic change. (author)

  19. Modelling the existing Irish energy-system to identify future energy costs and the maximum wind penetration feasible

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Connolly, D.; Lund, Henrik; Mathiesen, Brian Vad

    2010-01-01

    energy- system to future energy costs by considering future fuel prices, CO2 prices, and different interest rates. The final investigation identifies the maximum wind penetration feasible on the 2007 Irish energy- system from a technical and economic perspective, as wind is the most promising fluctuating...... for the existing Irish energy-system is approximately 30% from both a technical and economic perspective based on 2020 energy prices. Future studies will use the model developed in this study to show that higher wind penetrations can be achieved if the existing energy-system is modified correctly. Finally...... renewable resource available in Ireland. It is concluded that the reference model simulates the Irish energy-system accurately, the annual fuel costs for Ireland’s energy could increase by approximately 58% from 2007 to 2020 if a business-as-usual scenario is followed, and the optimum wind penetration...

  20. Paleoproductivity and intermediate-water ventilation in the subarctic Northwest Pacific during the last deglaciation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khim, B.; Ikehara, K.; Sagawa, T.; Shibahara, A.; Yamamoto, M.

    2010-12-01

    Laminated sediments during the last deglaciation in the subarctic North Pacific indicate significant depletion of dissolved oxygen concentration at intermediate water depths. Such a strong oxygen minimum zone results primarily from a combination of high surface water productivity and poor ventilation of intermediate waters. We investigated a variety of paleoclimatic proxies using about 8-m long piston core sediment (GH02-1030; 42o13.770N, 144o12.530E; water depth, 1212 m) obtained from the continental slope off Tokachi (eastern Hokkaido Island), which is the main path of the southwestward Oyashio Current in the subarctic Northwest Pacific. Laminated sediments were identified at the two horizons in the core GH02-1030; the upper one at 11.4-12.2 cal.kyr BP and the lower one at 14.1-14.7 cal.kyr BP, corresponding to Bølling-Allerød (B/A) and Preboreal (PB), respectively. Between these laminated layers, Younger Dryas occurred. Both laminated sediment layers are characterized by Bolivina tumida, B. pacifica, and Buliminella tenuata, indicating dysoxic bottom water conditions. Increased Mg/Ca-derived intermediate-water temperature and δ18OW values at B/A and PB periods suggest the poor ventilation of intermediate water because of the surface water freshening (i.e., decrease of surface-water salinity). UK'37-derived temperature record also supports the increase of surface-water temperature during B/A and PB intervals. During the last deglaciation, short-chain C14-C18 n-fatty acids, derived mainly from marine organisms, showed higher concentrations, indicating the increased surface-water production, and at the same time, abundant lignin reflected more contribution of terrigenous organic matter, supporting increased freshwater discharge. Variation of CaCO3 contents show remarkable double peaks, corresponding to B/A and PB periods, respectively, leading to the increase of TOC contents. Opal contents also follow similar pattern to CaCO3 contents, but are much less than the

  1. Reasons for not changing to activity-based costing: a survey of Irish firms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Quinn

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose – This paper aims to report on a survey of medium and large Irish firms to ascertain reasons for not changing to more advanced costing techniques, namely, activity-based costing (ABC. Developments in technology and recent poor economic conditions would suggest that the technique could be adopted more by firms, as they make increased efforts to keep costs under control. Design/methodology/approach – A survey instrument was used to gather data drawing from the top 1,000 Irish firms. From a useable population of 821 organisations, a response rate of 20.75 per cent was achieved. Findings – Findings show a rate of adoption of ABC of 18.7 per cent, which is lower than previous studies in an Irish context. The level of information technology in firms is not a key factor for non-adoption. Instead, the main reasoning for non-adoption revolve around stable existing costing methods, which firms expressed satisfaction with. Originality/value – This research suggests the adoption of ABC is not necessarily driven by external factors such as technology and economic shocks, at least in the context of Ireland. It also suggests that costing techniques may be deeply embedded within organisations and are less likely to be subject to change.

  2. Quality evaluation of stiff porridges prepared from Irish potato (Solanum tuberosum) and pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) starch blends.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abu, Joseph Oneh; Enyinnaya, Chinma Chiemela; James, Samaila; Okeleke, Ezinne

    2012-06-01

    Quality attributes of stiff porridges prepared from Irish potato and pigeon pea starch blends were studied. Starches were extracted from Irish potato and pigeon pea using a wet extraction method. Various ratios of the starches were mixed and analyzed for chemical, functional and pasting properties. The starch blends were then prepared into stiff porridges for sensory evaluation using a 20-man sensory panel. Substitution of Irish potato starch with pigeon pea starch led to increases in protein (0.15 to 1.2%), fat (0.26 to 0.56%) and ash (0.30 to 0.69%) while the amylose content of the starch blends decreased (from 23.8 to 18.4%) respectively. Functional properties such as bulk density (0.75 to 0.60 g/cm(3)), water absorption capacity (3.1 to 2.6 g water/ g sample) and dispersibility (58.6 to 42.7%) decreased significantly (P pigeon pea starch respectively. Pasting properties such as peak, breakdown, final and setback viscosities increased with increasing levels of pigeon pea starch while peak time and pasting temperature decreased. The sensory attributes of stiff porridges were not adversely affected by pigeon pea starch inclusion. Therefore it should be possible to incorporate up to 50% of low digestible pigeon pea starch into Irish potato starch from legumes such as pigeon pea as alternatives to cassava starch in the preparation of stiff porridges. Such porridges made from Irish potato and legume starches could provide additional incentive for individuals requiring decreased and or slow starch digestibility such as diabetics.

  3. Sea level and global ice volumes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Holocene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambeck, Kurt; Rouby, Hélène; Purcell, Anthony; Sun, Yiying; Sambridge, Malcolm

    2014-10-28

    The major cause of sea-level change during ice ages is the exchange of water between ice and ocean and the planet's dynamic response to the changing surface load. Inversion of ∼1,000 observations for the past 35,000 y from localities far from former ice margins has provided new constraints on the fluctuation of ice volume in this interval. Key results are: (i) a rapid final fall in global sea level of ∼40 m in sea level, the main phase of deglaciation occurred from ∼16.5 ka BP to ∼8.2 ka BP at an average rate of rise of 12 m⋅ka(-1) punctuated by periods of greater, particularly at 14.5-14.0 ka BP at ≥40 mm⋅y(-1) (MWP-1A), and lesser, from 12.5 to 11.5 ka BP (Younger Dryas), rates; (iv) no evidence for a global MWP-1B event at ∼11.3 ka BP; and (v) a progressive decrease in the rate of rise from 8.2 ka to ∼2.5 ka BP, after which ocean volumes remained nearly constant until the renewed sea-level rise at 100-150 y ago, with no evidence of oscillations exceeding ∼15-20 cm in time intervals ≥200 y from 6 to 0.15 ka BP.

  4. Genetic signature of Last Glacial Maximum regional refugia in a circum-Antarctic sea spider

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soler-Membrives, Anna; Linse, Katrin; Miller, Karen J.; Arango, Claudia P.

    2017-10-01

    The evolutionary history of Antarctic organisms is becoming increasingly important to understand and manage population trajectories under rapid environmental change. The Antarctic sea spider Nymphon australe, with an apparently large population size compared with other sea spider species, is an ideal target to look for molecular signatures of past climatic events. We analysed mitochondrial DNA of specimens collected from the Antarctic continent and two Antarctic islands (AI) to infer past population processes and understand current genetic structure. Demographic history analyses suggest populations survived in refugia during the Last Glacial Maximum. The high genetic diversity found in the Antarctic Peninsula and East Antarctic (EA) seems related to multiple demographic contraction-expansion events associated with deep-sea refugia, while the low genetic diversity in the Weddell Sea points to a more recent expansion from a shelf refugium. We suggest the genetic structure of N. australe from AI reflects recent colonization from the continent. At a local level, EA populations reveal generally low genetic differentiation, geographically and bathymetrically, suggesting limited restrictions to dispersal. Results highlight regional differences in demographic histories and how these relate to the variation in intensity of glaciation-deglaciation events around Antarctica, critical for the study of local evolutionary processes. These are valuable data for understanding the remarkable success of Antarctic pycnogonids, and how environmental changes have shaped the evolution and diversification of Southern Ocean benthic biodiversity.

  5. Who is the mother? Negotiating identity in an Irish surrogacy case.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Christiansen, Karin

    2015-08-01

    An Irish surrogacy case from 2013 illustrates how negotiations of the mother's identity in a given national and legal context are drawing on novel scientific perspectives, at a time when the use of new biotechnological possibilities (such as IVF) is becoming more widespread and commonplace. The Roman dictum, 'Mater Semper Certa Est' (the mother is always certain, i.e. proven by giving birth) is contested by the finding of this Irish court, in which the judge made a declaration of parentage stating that the genetic parents of twins born using a surrogate (the mother's sister) were the parents. This article critically examines the normative background assumptions involved in this ruling. It will argue that the particular deployment of arguments from genetics and epigenetics in this court case produces a naturalization of the mother's identity that is inherently reductive. A second surrogacy case is also examined, this time regarding the rights of a woman of Irish nationality to receive paid maternity leave or paid leave similar to adoptive leave after the birth of her daughter to a surrogate mother in the US state of California. This case, which was brought to the Equality Tribunal in Ireland and decided by the Court of Justice of the European Union, is used to illustrate the possible ramifications of conflicting definitions of motherhood in the legal system. In concluding, this article argues for the development and deployment of a more complex understanding of the evolving state of motherhood within the courts, in keeping with developments in the IVF industry and the various new mother-relations it makes possible.

  6. The Changing Identities of History Teachers in an Irish School

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Boyle, Ailish

    2004-01-01

    This article explores how the nature of history as a subject has shaped the subcultural identities of the eight teachers in the History Department of an Irish post-primary school. Using a biographical, cultural and micropolitical framework popular within symbolic interactionism, this case study is based on data gathered over three years from…

  7. Disentangling the Roles of Atmospheric and Oceanic Forcing on the Last Deglaciation of the Greenland Ice Sheet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keisling, B. A.; Deconto, R. M.

    2017-12-01

    Today the Greenland Ice Sheet loses mass via both oceanic and atmospheric processes. However, the relative importance of these mass balance components is debated, especially their potential impact on ongoing and future mass imbalance. Discerning the impact of oceanic versus atmospheric forcing during past periods of mass loss provides potential insight into the future behavior of the ice sheet. Here we present an ensemble of Greenland Ice Sheet simulations of the last deglaciation, designed to assess separately the roles of the ocean and the atmosphere in driving mass loss over the last twenty thousand years. We use twenty-eight different ocean forcing scenarios along with a cutting-edge reconstruction of time-evolving atmospheric conditions based on climate model output and δ15N-based temperature reconstructions to generate a range of ice-sheet responses during the deglaciation. We then compare the simulated timing of ice-retreat in individual catchments with estimates based on both 10Be (exposure) and 14C (minimum-limiting) dates. These experiments allow us to identify the ocean forcing scenario that best match the data on a local-to-regional (i.e., 100-1000 km) scales, providing an assessment of the relative importance of ocean and atmospheric forcing components around the periphery of Greenland. We use these simulations to quantify the importance of the three major mass balance terms (calving, oceanic melting, and surface melting) and assess the uncertainty of the relative influence of these factors during the most recent periods of major ice loss. Our results show that mass balance components around different sectors of the ice sheet respond differently to forcing, with oceanic components driving the majority of retreat in south and east Greenland and atmospheric forcing dominating in west and north Greenland In addition, we target three areas at high spatial resolution ( 1 km) around Greenland currently undergoing substantial change (Jakobshavn, Petermann

  8. The Teacher as Co-Creator of Drama: A Phenomenological Study of the Experiences and Reflections of Irish Primary School Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    McDonagh, Fiona; Finneran, Michael

    2017-01-01

    Classroom drama in the Irish primary school context remains a relatively new endeavour and is largely under-researched. The knowledge base for all aspects of teacher education should be informed by rigorous reflection on teachers' experiences in the classroom. This paper reports on a phenomenological study conducted with seven Irish primary school…

  9. 76 FR 18001 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Decreased Assessment Rate

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-04-01

    ... IR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Decreased Assessment Rate AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing... rate established for the State of Washington Potato Committee (Committee) for the 2011-2012 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.0035 to $0.003 per hundredweight of potatoes handled. The Committee locally...

  10. 76 FR 41589 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Decreased Assessment Rate

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-07-15

    ... FIR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Decreased Assessment Rate AGENCY: Agricultural Marketing... established for the State of Washington Potato Committee (Committee) for the 2011-2012 and subsequent fiscal periods from $0.0035 to $0.003 per hundredweight of potatoes handled. The Committee locally administers...

  11. Origin of British and Irish mammals: disparate post-glacial colonisation and species introductions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montgomery, W. Ian; Provan, Jim; McCabe, A. Marshal; Yalden, Derek W.

    2014-08-01

    Global climate changes during the Quaternary reveal much about broader evolutionary effects of environmental change. Detailed regional studies reveal how evolutionary lineages and novel communities and ecosystems, emerge through glacial bottlenecks or from refugia. There have been significant advances in benthic imaging and dating, particularly with respect to the movements of the British (Scottish) and Irish ice sheets and associated changes in sea level during and after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Ireland has been isolated as an island for approximately twice as long as Britain with no evidence of any substantial, enduring land bridge between these islands after ca 15 kya. Recent biogeographical studies show that Britain's mammal community is akin to those of southern parts of Scandinavia, The Netherlands and Belgium, but the much lower mammal species richness of Ireland is unique and needs explanation. Here, we consider physiographic, archaeological, phylogeographical i.e. molecular genetic, and biological evidence comprising ecological, behavioural and morphological data, to review how mammal species recolonized western Europe after the LGM with emphasis on Britain and, in particular, Ireland. We focus on why these close neighbours had such different mammal fauna in the early Holocene, the stability of ecosystems after LGM subject to climate change and later species introductions. There is general concordance of archaeological and molecular genetic evidence where data allow some insight into history after the LGM. Phylogeography reveals the process of recolonization, e.g. with respect to source of colonizers and anthropogenic influence, whilst archaeological data reveal timing more precisely through carbon dating and stratigraphy. More representative samples and improved calibration of the ‘molecular clock' will lead to further insights with regards to the influence of successive glaciations. Species showing greatest morphological, behavioural and

  12. Radiological implications from the temporal development of radioactivity in marine food from the North Sea

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kanisch, G.; Nagel, G.; Krueger, A.; Kellermann, H.-J.

    2000-01-01

    A subject of the revision of authorised limits in 1994 for the discharge of liquid radioactive waste by the reprocessing plant Sellafield (UK) was an increase of these limits for certain radionuclides ( 3 H, 14 C, 60 Co, 99 Tc and 129 I). It is investigated now how the radioactivity in marine biota from the North Sea and subsequently the public radiation exposure of seafood consumers has developed in the years since 1994. This is based on a compartment model for dispersion in the North-East Atlantic. Discharges from the reprocessing plants Dounreay (UK) and La Hague (F) are included in the assessment. It is deduced that about 60% of 137 Cs in the North Sea originate presently in the remobilisation of old Sellafield discharges from the Irish Sea sediment. A comparison with measured biota data shows that the model is conservative in most cases. The public radiation exposure (artificial radionuclides) from ingestion of fish, crustaceans and molluscs from the central North Sea as the sum over 12 considered radionuclides has decreased from 1992 to 1998 from 0.13 to 0.08 μSv y -1 . (orig.)

  13. John Punch, Scotist Holy War, and the Irish Catholic Revolutionary Tradition in the Seventeenth Century.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campbell, Ian W

    2016-07-01

    During the 1640s, the Irish Franciscan theologian John Punch taught his theology students in Rome that war against Protestants was made just by their religion alone. Jesuits like Luis de Molina identified the holy war tradition in which Punch stood as a Scotist one, and insisted that the Scotists had confused the natural and supernatural spheres. Among Irishmen, Punch was unusual. The main Irish Catholic revolutionary tradition employed Jesuit and Thomist theory. They argued that the Stuarts had lost the right to rule Ireland for natural reasons, not supernatural ones; because the Stuarts were tyrants, not because they were Protestants.

  14. Differences between Irish and Australian psychiatric nurses' family-focused practice in adult mental health services

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Grant, Anne

    2016-04-01

    Psychiatric nurses\\' practice with parents who have mental illness, their children and families is an important issue internationally. This study provides a comparison of Irish and Australian psychiatric nurses\\' family-focused practices in adult mental health services. Three hundred and forty three nurses across Ireland and 155 from Australia completed the Family Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire. Cross-country comparisons revealed significant differences, in terms of family-focused skill, knowledge, confidence and practice. Australian psychiatric nurses engaged in higher family-focused practice compared to Irish nurses. The comparative differences between countries may be attributable to differences in training, workplace support and policy.

  15. Cowboys and kings: The coming of age film in 1990s Irish cinema

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Menendez-Otero

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The article explores why in the 1990s many Irish filmmakers chose precisely a coming of age narrative to attempt to take the international box office by storm, and assesses some of the films that resulted from the attempt. First, it discusses the cultural roots and generic conventions of the Hollywood teen film, especially the rites of passage it has reified and its idealization of small-town, mid-century America. Second, it studies the economic and cultural reasons behind the (overproduction of coming of age films in Ireland over the 1990s. Finally, we tackle how these films alternatively deviate from and rely on the conventions of the Hollywood coming of age film to meet investor demands and engage global audiences with Irish concerns.

  16. Psychometric Properties of the Drive for Muscularity Attitudes Questionnaire Among Irish Men

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Travis A. Ryan

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The Drive for Muscularity Attitudes Questionnaire (DMAQ was developed to measure men’s desire to attain an idealized muscular body. To date, the cross-cultural suitability of this measure has received limited attention. The current study addressed this omission by testing the psychometric properties of the DMAQ using an online sample of Irish men (N = 327. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed that a unidimensional model adequately matched observed data (i.e., fit indices suggested acceptable model fit. Analyses also showed that the DMAQ yielded reliable and construct valid scores, suggesting that the scale holds promise as an indicant of the drive for muscularity among Irish men. Strengths and limitations associated with this study are discussed, such as advantages and disadvantages of Internet research. Directions for future research are given, including the need for more psychometric work.

  17. A cross-sectional study of elite adult Irish dancers: biopsychosocial traits, pain, and injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahalan, Roisin; Purtill, Helen; O'Sullivan, Peter; O'Sullivan, Kieran

    2015-03-01

    Despite its growing popularity, scant research exists concerning musculoskeletal pain and injury in Irish dancing (ID). This study aimed to record the biopsychosocial characteristics of elite adult Irish dancers and to investigate potential relationships between these characteristics and musculoskeletal pain and injury. One hundred and four professional Irish dancers, elite competitive Irish dancers, and dancers in full time education studying ID completed a questionnaire providing data on dance and activity levels, physical and psychological health, and pain and injury history. Of these subjects, 84 underwent 1. a physical screening of lower limb flexibility, which involved balance and endurance; 2. a number of functional tests; and 3. anthropometric, biomechanical, and anatomical assessments. Subjects were divided into "significantly injured (SI)" and "not significantly injured (NSI)" categories based on the severity and impact of self-reported pain and injury. Thirty-three (31.7%) subjects were classified as SI and 71 (68.3%) as NSI. The factors significantly associated with being SI were female sex (p = 0.036), higher number of subjective general health (p = 0.001) and psychological (p = 0.036) complaints, low mood (p = 0.01), heightened catastrophizing (p = 0.047), and failure always to complete a warm-up (p = 0.006). A self-reported injury rate of 76.9% over the previous 5 years was reported. The mean number of injuries sustained to all body parts over the previous 5 years was 1.49, with a mean of 126.1 days lost annually to injury. Foot and ankle injuries were most prevalent. It was concluded that there is a significant level of musculoskeletal pain and injury in elite adult ID. A complex combination of biopsychosocial factors appears to be associated with pain and injury.

  18. The Impacts of 3-D Earth Structure on GIA-Induced Crustal Deformation and Future Sea-Level Change in the Antarctic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Powell, E. M.; Hay, C.; Latychev, K.; Gomez, N. A.; Mitrovica, J. X.

    2017-12-01

    Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA) models used to constrain the extent of past ice sheets and viscoelastic Earth structure, or to correct geodetic and geological observables for ice age effects, generally only consider depth-dependent variations in Earth viscosity and lithospheric structure. A et al. [2013] argued that 3-D Earth structure could impact GIA observables in Antarctica, but concluded that the presence of such structure contributes less to GIA uncertainty than do differences in Antarctic deglaciation histories. New seismic and geological evidence, however, indicates the Antarctic is underlain by complex, high amplitude variability in viscoelastic structure, including a low viscosity zone (LVZ) under West Antarctica. Hay et al. [2016] showed that sea-level fingerprints of modern melting calculated using such Earth models differ from those based on elastic or 1-D viscoelastic Earth models within decades of melting. Our investigation is motivated by two questions: (1) How does 3-D Earth structure, especially this LVZ, impact observations of GIA-induced crustal deformation associated with the last deglaciation? (2) How will 3-D Earth structure affect predictions of future sea-level rise in Antarctica? We compute the gravitationally self-consistent sea level, uplift, and gravity changes using the finite volume treatment of Latychev et al. [2005]. We consider four viscoelastic Earth models: a global 1-D model; a regional, West Antarctic-like 1-D model; a 3-D model where the lithospheric thickness varies laterally; and a 3-D model where both viscosity and lithospheric thickness vary laterally. For our Last Glacial Maximum to present investigations we employ ICE6g [Peltier et al., 2015]. For our present-future investigations we consider a melt scenario consistent with GRACE satellite gravity derived solutions [Harig et al., 2015]. Our calculations indicate that predictions of crustal deformations due to both GIA and ongoing melting are strongly influenced by 3-D

  19. The great Irish famine: a further understanding of its complexities through the use of human communication theory

    OpenAIRE

    Derby, Lisa Kelly

    2000-01-01

    The Great Irish Famine cleared a minimum of two million Irish individuals from the land by either death or emigration. These individuals, both those that died and those that left, did not have their needs met for many deep-seated political and economic reasons, but also because of failed communication practices. It is this latter, neglected aspect of famine studies that is the focus of this thesis By using the lexicon of communication studies, many controversial aspects of famine historv will...

  20. Seasonal variation of serum vitamin D and the effect of vitamin D supplementation in Irish community-dwelling older people.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Romero-Ortuno, Roman

    2011-03-01

    Ireland is at 53°N, and its population risk of vitamin D deficiency is high. Previous Irish studies suggested a significant seasonality of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] and a beneficial effect of supplementation in raising 25(OH)D levels. However, in Irish older people, little is known about the magnitude of the supplementation effect and whether supplementation affects 25(OH)D seasonality.

  1. Job satisfaction of professional Irish dancers: implications for performer health and well-being.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cahalan, Roisin; O'Sullivan, Kieran

    2013-12-01

    This study investigates for the first time whether experienced former and current professional Irish dancers (PIDs) would recommend a career in Irish dance, and their perceived positive and negative attitudes toward this occupation. One hundred and sixty-five (71 current, 94 retired) PIDs participated in an online survey. Additional focus group interviews of six current and three retired PIDs were conducted to validate survey findings. PID comments were examined independently by the two investigators using thematic analysis and then cross-indexed and coded into the most common positive and negative themes. Ninety-four percent of surveyed PIDs and 100% of focus group participants stated that they would recommend a career in professional Irish dance. The main positive attributes identified included the opportunity to travel and experience diverse cultures, the development of enduring friendships, the pursuit of a hobby as a financially lucrative career, evolving personal life skills, and the maintenance of good physical health and fitness. The main negative themes included the insecure and short-term nature of the career, physical consequences in terms of pain and injury, potentially damaging psychological consequences, and practical difficulties inherent in a touring lifestyle. The effects of dancer job satisfaction on health, wellbeing, and performance are discussed, and recommendations for company managers and dance captains are developed based on findings.

  2. A “New Irish Woman” Emerges: Subverting Femininity in Maeve Kelly’s A Life of Her Own

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ángela Rivera Izquierdo

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available Women in Irish fiction have been largely the creation of male writers, and the embodiment of religious virtues such as purity and passivity, conventionally regarded as “feminine.” Not only the Roman Catholic Church but also the State progressively contributed to the social construct of Irish womanhood as inferior and, above all, domestic. From the 1960s onwards many women writers have tried relentlessly to reimage women in their fiction. Feminist activist Maeve Kelly is an outstanding example of such writers whose work remains virtually unexplored. Very often Kelly’s protagonists are women in their conventional roles as wives and mothers who struggle for happiness and independence. This essay focuses on her collected stories A Life of Her Own (1976, and particularly on her short story “The vain woman,” in which Kelly presents us with a “new Irish woman” who is no longer the personification of the Virgin Mary, and who actively rebels against her environment.

  3. 78 FR 48285 - Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Decreased Assessment Rate

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-08-08

    ...; FV13-946-1 FIR] Irish Potatoes Grown in Washington; Decreased Assessment Rate AGENCY: Agricultural... established for the State of Washington Potato Committee (Committee) for the 2013-2014 fiscal year and all subsequent fiscal periods from $0.003 to $0.0025 per hundredweight of potatoes handled. The Committee locally...

  4. The Era of Tadeusz Pawlikowski and Irish Theatre

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barry Keane

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Tadeusz Pawlikowski was arguably Poland’s greatest theatre director of the fin de siècle. With stints as Theatre Manager in both Kraków and Lwów municipal theatres, Pawlikowski excelled in developing ensemble casts and cultivating audiences without kowtowing to popular tastes. He was also responsible for bringing many western plays to partitioned Poland, and indeed he oversaw theatrical premieres of Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw and John Millington Synge. This paper will look at the production and reception of these plays and will record how there was a growing conviction amongst Polish critics that Irish dramatists would soon make a towering impact on the age. That said, not all the productions were as successful as perhaps they should have been. When in Lwów, Pawlikowski attempted to flood the city with drama and this ambition entailed brief run-throughs and the shortening of texts in order to facilitate the learning of lines. Needless to say, there was little time for work on characterization. Consequently, it was often pointed out that performances had failed to bridge the cultural gap where a foreign piece was concerned. To this end, this paper will assess both the contribution of Tadeusz Pawlikowski to Irish theatre, and the reception and legacy of the productions which took place under his directorial guidance.

  5. Whole grain intakes in the diets of Irish children and teenagers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devlin, Niamh F C; McNulty, Breige A; Gibney, Michael J; Thielecke, Frank; Smith, Hayley; Nugent, Anne P

    2013-07-28

    A growing body of evidence supports the inclusion of whole grain foods in the diet to help prevent certain chronic diseases. Although much of the research has been conducted in adult cohorts, it is thought that younger populations may also benefit from whole-grain-rich diets. The aim of the present study was to quantify the intake of whole grain in Irish children and teenagers, and assess the major sources of intake. Data used in the present study were from the National Children's Food Survey and the National Teens' Food Survey, which used 7 d food diaries to collect data on habitual food and beverage consumption in representative samples of Irish children and teenagers. Results showed that over 90 % of children (5-12 years) and over 86 % of teenagers (13-17 years) are consumers of whole grain, with mean daily intakes of 18·5 and 23·2 g/d, respectively. Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals made the greatest contribution to whole grain intakes for both children and teenagers (59·3 and 44·3 %), followed by bread (14·4 and 26·5 %), with wheat being the major source of intake, accounting for over 65 % of all whole grains consumed. Whole grain consumers had significantly higher intakes of fibre, P and Mg in comparison with non-consumers of whole grain, even though whole grain intakes in this sample were well below the recommendation of three servings or 48 g/d. The present study characterises, for the first time, the patterns of whole grain consumption in Irish children and teenagers and shows whole grain intake to be low.

  6. Testing the fidelity of laminations as a proxy for oxygen concentration in the Bering Sea over millennial to orbital timescales

    Science.gov (United States)

    Black, A. E.; Baranow, N.; Amdur, S.; Cook, M. S.

    2017-12-01

    Ocean circulation and biological productivity play an important role in the climate system through their contribution to global heat transport and air-sea exchange of CO­2. Oceanic oxygen concentration provides insight to ocean circulation and biological productivity. Sediment laminations provide a valuable proxy for local oceanic oxygen concentration. Many sediment cores from the Pacific Ocean are laminated from the last deglaciation, but previous studies have not provided an in-depth examination of laminations over many glacial and interglacial (G/IG) cycles. Typically, studies to date that consider bioturbation as a proxy for oxygen concentration have only considered one sediment core from a site, leaving ambiguity as to whether laminations faithfully record local oxygen levels. With sediment cores from three different holes (A, C, D) on the northern Bering Slope from IODP site U1345 (1008m), we investigate how faithfully laminations record oxygen concentration. We assign a bioturbation index from 1 to 4 for 1-cm intervals for the cores from each of the three holes and align the holes based on physical properties data. We find that the bioturbation is relatively consistent (within one bioturbation unit) between holes, suggesting that laminations may be a faithful, if not perfect, proxy for local oxygen concentration. After examining laminations from a complete hole, representing over 500,000 years, there seems to be no consistent pattern of laminations during the past five glacial cycles, suggesting there is no consistent pattern to oxygen concentration during glacial periods in the northern Bering Slope. Thus, hypotheses on ocean circulation and productivity in the northern Bering Sea from the last deglaciation may not apply to previous G/IG cycles.

  7. Perceptions of Playing-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (PRMDs) in Irish traditional musicians: a focus group study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Iseult M; Doherty, Liz; McKeown, Laura

    2014-01-01

    Playing-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMDs) are common in musicians and interfere with the ability to play an instrument at the accustomed level. There is limited research into injuries affecting folk musicians. To explore the Irish traditional musicians' experience of PRMDs. Focus group interviews were conducted in 2011 and 2012, in two venues in Ireland. Data were recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data collection ended when no new findings emerged from the analysis of interviews. The inclusion criteria were: males or females aged 18 and above, and who taught or played Irish traditional music on any instrument. The data were analysed using the interpretative phenomenological method. All participants (n=22) believed there was a link between playing music and musculoskeletal problems. The main body areas affected were the back, shoulders, arms and hands. The main theme that emerged was: 'PRMDs are an integral part of being a traditional musician', and that the musical experience was generally prioritised over the health of the musician. There were sub-themes of 'fear' and 'stresses that contributed to PRMDs'. PRMDs are an occupational hazard for Irish musicians. There is an awareness of PRMDs, but changes (technique, environment) may threaten identity.

  8. Was the C282Y mutation an Irish Gaelic mutation that the Vikings helped disseminate?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Olsson, Karl Sigvard; Konar, Jan; Dufva, Inge Hoegh

    2011-01-01

    The HLA-related hemochromatosis mutation C282Y is thought to have originated in Ireland in a person with HLA-A3-B14 and was spread by Vikings. Irish people with two HLA-A3 alleles had a high risk of hemochromatosis. In this study, from west Sweden, we wanted to test these hypotheses.......The HLA-related hemochromatosis mutation C282Y is thought to have originated in Ireland in a person with HLA-A3-B14 and was spread by Vikings. Irish people with two HLA-A3 alleles had a high risk of hemochromatosis. In this study, from west Sweden, we wanted to test these hypotheses....

  9. Initial experience with transperitoneal laparoscopic nephrectomy in an Irish hospital setting.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Forde, J C

    2009-08-01

    Laparoscopic nephrectomy has gained widespread acceptance as a treatment for both benign and malignant conditions and is becoming increasingly popular in Irish hospitals. We report a single surgeon, single centre experience with 20 consecutive laparoscopic nephrectomies comparing them to 20 open cases performed prior to the establishment of a laparoscopic service.

  10. The Quiet Man and Angela’s Ashes: Hollywood Representations of Irish Emigration as Male Quest Narrative

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cornelis Martin Renes

    2007-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper analyses Alan Parker’s Angela’s Ashes (1999 against John Ford’s seminalThe Quiet Man (1952. Both Hollywood productions reflect on the Irish return myth, adapting the homonymous memoir by Frank McCourt (1996 and short story by Maurice Walsh (1933 respectively. Although Angela’s Ashes reverses The Quiet Man’s mythical depiction of early 20thc. west of Ireland as rural paradise, the urban ‘inferno’ the former paints can be equally understood as the product of a romantic mindset which combines Irish émigré nostalgia with male quest narrative. Both views are the result of the objective each male protagonist pursues –a return to Ireland in The Quiet Man and to the USA in Angela’s Ashes– and, thus, the divergence in their perception of Ireland may be explained as instances of romance in which Ireland and its culture is reduced to opposing caricatures in the service of wish-fulfilment. Not surprisingly, the criticism of capitalist, industrial America embedded in Walsh’s story, masked as psychological conflict in Ford’s screenplay, and the rags-to-riches American immigrant success story of McCourt’s memoir were adapted to the screen with different degrees of independence from mainstream US film production. This gives additional clues on each film’s use of traditional Irish imagery to the point that Ford’s The Quiet Man may be understood to deliver a more emancipatory perspective on Irish identity than Parker’s Angela’s Ashes.

  11. Postglacial relative sea level change at Fildes Peninsula, King George Island (West Antarctic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. V. Polishchuk

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Analysis and integration of data obtained in our field and laboratory investigations of 2008–2012 together with results of previous paleogeographic studies were conducted to reveal parameters and factors of the post-glacial changes in the relative sea-level on the Fildes Peninsula and the King George Island. Results of dating of organic material taken from cross-sections of Quaternary deposits, data on morphology of marine landforms as well as on bottom sediments in lakes were used to construct a curve of changes in the relative sea-level.Our research has shown that the rapid rise of relative sea level in the area (since the beginning of the Holocene decelerated about 8000 years BP, achieving its maximum about 7000 years BP. This was followed by the fall of relative sea-level (the land elevation by 18–20  m in total, and it was characterized by relatively high rate of fall during periods of 6000– 5000 years BP, 4000–2500 years BP, and during the last 1500 years; the rate decreased in 5000–4000 years BP and 2500– 1600 years BP. The changes in relative sea level in this region were determined by the following factors: the eustatic component of the global changes in sea-level and, possibly, oscillations in the global sea level of another nature; local parameters of the Last glacial maximum; a course of the Peninsula deglaciation; regional physical characteristics of the Earth's crust and the mantle substances; local tectonic processes, including the isostatic rebound. Since the beginning of the Holocene up to about 7000 years BP, the main contribution to changes of the relative sea-level in this area was made by the global eustatic factor. The subsequent fall of the relative sea-level (elevation of the Peninsula surface proceeded under condition of reduced role of the eustatic factor and predominance of other factors.

  12. Bilingual Language Acquisition in a Minority Context: Using the Irish-English Communicative Development Inventory to Track Acquisition of an Endangered Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Toole, Ciara; Hickey, Tina M.

    2017-01-01

    This study investigated the role of language exposure in vocabulary acquisition in Irish, a threatened minority language in Ireland which is usually acquired with English in a bilingual context. Using a bilingual Irish-English adaptation of the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventories) [Fenson, L., V. A. Marchman, D. J. Thal, P. S.…

  13. A Life of Their Own: Women’s Mid-life Quest in Contemporary Irish Women’s Short Stories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ann Wan-lih Chang

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available This essay focuses on the motif of quest, as initiated by older or middle-aged women and depicted in stories by Clare Boylan, Éilís Ní Dhuibhne, Stella Mahon, Mary Dorcey and Marilyn McLaughlin in the 1980s and 90s. Throughout the western literary canon the quest motif recurs in myths, legends or genres such as rite-of-passage novels, in which a hero (seldom a heroine is encouraged to prove his own value through a series of tests. Within this tradition, a woman’s quest is usually one involving a process which shapes her into the contemporary norms of social conformity – essentially losing or sublimating the self rather than developing or expressing the potential of the self. Notwithstanding the traditional depictions of a female quest in which loss and self-sacrifice are characteristic, representations of Irish women in the stories explored in this essay demonstrate heroines whose quest leads them to a kind of awakening and enlightenment. The heroine in Irish women’s stories engages in subversion of the social norm as part of an attempt to reconcile with residual trauma from the past, or with inner conflicts which have left her feeling alienated from accepted social conventions and expectations in respect of women. Irish female writers illustrate through their narrative a latent power to challenge and to subvert the traditionally accepted and dominant patriarchal ideology of Irish society.

  14. Prevalence of left-sided melanomas in an Irish population.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    de Blacam, C

    2012-02-01

    BACKGROUND: A predominance of melanomas on the left side of the body has recently been described. No associations between tumour laterality and gender, age or anatomical site have been identified. AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of left-sided melanomas in an Irish population and to examine potential associations with various patient and tumour characteristics. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of patients with cutaneous melanoma who were treated over a 10-year period was carried out. Lateral distribution of melanoma on either side of the body was compared using chi(2) analysis and evaluated by gender, age group, anatomic location, histologic subtype and Breslow depth. RESULTS: More melanomas occurred on the left side (57%, P = 0.015), and this finding was particularly significant in females. For both genders combined, there were no statistically significant differences in laterality by age group, anatomic location, type of melanoma and Breslow depth. There were significantly more superficial spreading melanomas on the left side in both men and women. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates a predominance of left-sided melanomas in Irish patients. While a number of demographic and molecular associations have been proposed, further research is required to fully explain this phenomenon.

  15. Prevalence of left-sided melanomas in an Irish population.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    de Blacam, C

    2011-04-17

    BACKGROUND: A predominance of melanomas on the left side of the body has recently been described. No associations between tumour laterality and gender, age or anatomical site have been identified. AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of left-sided melanomas in an Irish population and to examine potential associations with various patient and tumour characteristics. METHODS: A retrospective chart review of patients with cutaneous melanoma who were treated over a 10-year period was carried out. Lateral distribution of melanoma on either side of the body was compared using χ(2) analysis and evaluated by gender, age group, anatomic location, histologic subtype and Breslow depth. RESULTS: More melanomas occurred on the left side (57%, P = 0.015), and this finding was particularly significant in females. For both genders combined, there were no statistically significant differences in laterality by age group, anatomic location, type of melanoma and Breslow depth. There were significantly more superficial spreading melanomas on the left side in both men and women. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates a predominance of left-sided melanomas in Irish patients. While a number of demographic and molecular associations have been proposed, further research is required to fully explain this phenomenon.

  16. Teleworking: An Examination of the Irish Dichotomy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Deirdre Donovan

    2013-07-01

    Given the attitudinal challenges to telework within Irish organisations, the research findings suggest that there would be clear merit in piloting telework initiatives with carefully selected candidates. Multinationals and young dynamic businesses which remain open to innovative work practices, particularly in the services and technology sectors, are ideally positioned for such an initiative. Coupled with the extension of broadband, a successful outcome, with government sponsored PR, could pave the way for expanding the practice of teleworking in Ireland. This research would be of particular benefit to organisations and individuals considering the option of telework in the future.

  17. Feminist Education and Feminist Community Psychology: Experiences from an Irish Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moane, Geraldine; Quilty, Aideen

    2012-01-01

    This article describes experiences in an Irish context of education programs delivered in 2 communities, 1 based on class (a working class urban community) and 1 based on sexual orientation (an urban lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community). It aims to illustrate how feminist education can play an important role in feminist community…

  18. Reconstructing historical radionuclide concentrations along the east coast of Ireland using a compartmental model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, C.N.; Clarke, S.; McDonald, P.; Goshawk, J.A.; Jones, S.R.

    2000-01-01

    A mathematical model is presented that simulates the annually averaged transport of radionuclides, originating from the BNFL reprocessing plant at Sellafield, throughout the Irish Sea. The model, CUMBRIA77, represents the processes of radionuclide transport and dispersion in the marine environment and allows predictions of radionuclide concentration in various environmental media, including biota, to be made throughout the whole of the Irish Sea. In this paper we describe the use of the model to reconstruct the historical activity concentrations of 137Cs and 239+240Pu in a variety of environmental media in the western Irish Sea and along the Irish east coast back to 1950. This reconstruction exercise is of interest because only limited measurements of 137Cs and 239+240Pu activity are available prior to the 1980s. The predictions were compared to the available measured data to validate their accuracy. The results of the reconstruction indicate that activity concentrations of 137Cs in the western Irish Sea follow a similar, though slightly delayed and smoothed, profile to the discharges from the Sellafield site, with concentrations at the time of peak discharge (the mid-1970s) being around an order of magnitude higher than those measured in the 1980s and 1990s. By contrast, the concentrations of 239+240Pu at the time of peak discharges were similar to those presently measured. These differences reflect the distinct marine chemistries of the two nuclides, in particular the higher propensity of plutonium to bind to sediments leading to extended transport times. Despite these differences in behaviour the doses to Irish seafood consumers from 137Cs remain significantly higher than those from 239+240Pu

  19. Vegetation controls on weathering intensity during the last deglacial transition in southeast Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ivory, Sarah J.; McGlue, Michael M.; Ellis, Geoffrey S.; Lézine, Anne-Marie; Cohen, Andrew S.; Vincens, Annie

    2015-01-01

    Tropical climate is rapidly changing, but the effects of these changes on the geosphere are unknown, despite a likelihood of climatically-induced changes on weathering and erosion. The lack of long, continuous paleo-records prevents an examination of terrestrial responses to climate change with sufficient detail to answer questions about how systems behaved in the past and may alter in the future. We use high-resolution records of pollen, clay mineralogy, and particle size from a drill core from Lake Malawi, southeast Africa, to examine atmosphere-biosphere-geosphere interactions during the last deglaciation (~18–9 ka), a period of dramatic temperature and hydrologic changes. The results demonstrate that climatic controls on Lake Malawi vegetation are critically important to weathering processes and erosion patterns during the deglaciation. At 18 ka, afromontane forests dominated but were progressively replaced by tropical seasonal forest, as summer rainfall increased. Despite indication of decreased rainfall, drought-intolerant forest persisted through the Younger Dryas (YD) resulting from a shorter dry season. Following the YD, an intensified summer monsoon and increased rainfall seasonality were coeval with forest decline and expansion of drought-tolerant miombo woodland. Clay minerals closely track the vegetation record, with high ratios of kaolinite to smectite (K/S) indicating heavy leaching when forest predominates, despite variable rainfall. In the early Holocene, when rainfall and temperature increased (effective moisture remained low), open woodlands expansion resulted in decreased K/S, suggesting a reduction in chemical weathering intensity. Terrigenous sediment mass accumulation rates also increased, suggesting critical linkages among open vegetation and erosion during intervals of enhanced summer rainfall. This study shows a strong, direct influence of vegetation composition on weathering intensity in the tropics. As climate change will likely impact

  20. Speckle tracking echocardiography in mature Irish Wolfhound dogs

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Westrup, Ulrik; McEvoy, Fintan

    2013-01-01

    Two-dimensional strain measurements obtained by speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) have been reported in both humans and dogs. Incorporation of this technique into canine clinical practice requires the availability of measurements from clinically normal dogs, ideally of the same breed, taken...... under normal clinical conditions.The aims of this prospective study were to assess if it is possible to obtain STE data during a routine echocardiographic examination in Irish Wolfhound dogs and that these data will provide reference values and an estimation of measurement error....

  1. Nutritional Status of Irish Older People in Receipt of Meals-on-Wheels and the Nutritional Content of Meals Provided

    OpenAIRE

    O'DWYER, CIARA MARY; TIMONEN, VIRPI

    2009-01-01

    PUBLISHED BACKGROUND: Research has suggested that meals-on-wheels recipients can be at risk for poor nutritional status. Despite this, few countries have statutory minimum requirements for the nutrient content of meals-on-wheels. This study examined both the nutritional status of a sample of Irish recipients and the nutrient content of a sample of meals provided to determine whether Irish recipients would benefit from statutory minimum nutritional standards. METHODS: The study had two phas...

  2. Deglacial History and Paleoceanography of the Umanak System, West Greenland

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sheldon, Christina; Jennings, Anne; Andrews, John

    2012-01-01

    A record of Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) and ice-stream history, ice-sheet ocean interactions and paleoclimate from the Last Glacial Maximum to present is preserved in the sediments of the Umanak fjord, shelf trough and trough mouth fan system of central West Greenland. The objective of this study....... This evidence of Atlantic Water carried in the WGC precedes lithological evidence of ice stream retreat from the shelf edge (an influx of coarse IRD beginning 62 cm above the first Atlantic Water assemblage) indicating the presence of the WGC at the shelf edge prior to initial deglaciation. Both the slope...... is to document the timing and rate of ice retreat and the role of the West Greenland Current (WGC) in initiating or sustaining ice retreat. During cruise JR175 of the UK ship RRS James Clark Ross in 2009, sediment cores and geophysical data were collected from the Umanak System to document the glacial history...

  3. Bacteriohopanepolyols record stratification, nitrogen fixation and other biogeochemical perturbations in Holocene sediments of the central Baltic Sea

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Blumenberg

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The Baltic Sea, one of the world's largest brackish-marine basins, established after deglaciation of Scandinavia about 17 000 to 15 000 yr ago. In the changeable history of the Baltic Sea, the initial freshwater system was connected to the North Sea about 8000 yr ago and the modern brackish-marine setting (Littorina Sea was established. Today, a relatively stable stratification has developed in the water column of the deep basins due to salinity differences. Stratification is only occasionally interrupted by mixing events, and it controls nutrient availability and growth of specifically adapted microorganisms and algae. We studied bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs, lipids of specific bacterial groups, in a sediment core from the central Baltic Sea (Gotland Deep and found considerable differences between the distinct stages of the Baltic Sea's history. Some individual BHP structures indicate contributions from as yet unknown redoxcline-specific bacteria (bacteriohopanetetrol isomer, methanotrophic bacteria (35-aminobacteriohopanetetrol, cyanobacteria (bacteriohopanetetrol cyclitol ether isomer and from soil bacteria (adenosylhopane through allochthonous input after the Littorina transgression, whereas the origin of other BHPs in the core has still to be identified. Notably high BHP abundances were observed in the deposits of the brackish-marine Littorina phase, particularly in laminated sediment layers. Because these sediments record periods of stable water column stratification, bacteria specifically adapted to these conditions may account for the high portions of BHPs. An additional and/or accompanying source may be nitrogen-fixing (cyanobacteria, which is indicated by a positive correlation of BHP abundances with Corg and δ15N.

  4. Alignment of the Irish legal system and Article 13.1 of the CRPD for witnesses with communication difficulties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine O'Leary

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Irish and international legal reform resulting from the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities [CRPD] has primarily focussed on Article 12, the right to exercise legal capacity. Article 13, which declares the right to access justice and the right to access procedural accommodations for all with disabilities, is often neglected. Specifically, research has not sufficiently explored the accommodations needed by witnesses with communication difficulties to testify in the courtroom. This study brings this aspect of Article 13 into focus by exploring the views of Irish legal professionals and disability advocates regarding existing and potential further accommodations for witnesses with communication diffiuclties in Irish criminal proceedings. By comparing and contrasting contributions, a series of conflicting perspectives between the legal profession and disability community are revealed. As successful implementation of Article 13 requires collaboration between both groups, this study concludes that these conflicts will need to be acknowledged and addressed in order for reform of courtroom accommodations to succeed.

  5. Analysis of Canadian and Irish forage, oats and commercially available equine concentrate feed for pathogenic fungi and mycotoxins

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Buckley Thomas

    2007-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Respiratory infections, recurrent airway obstruction (RAO and exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH are major causes of poor performance in horses. Fungi and mycotoxins are now recognised as a major cause of these conditions. The most notable fungi are Aspergillus and Fusarium. Fungal spores can originate from forage, bedding and feed and, in turn, these fungal spores can produce a series of mycotoxins as secondary metabolites. This study set out to ascertain the degree of fungal and mycotoxin contamination in feed and fodder used in Irish racing yards over a one-year period. Weather conditions in forage producing areas were sampled by Met Eireann and the Canadian Meteorological Service. Fifty per cent of Irish hay, 37% of haylage and 13% of Canadian hay contained pathogenic fungi. Of the mycotoxins, T2 and zearalenone were most prominent. Twenty-one per cent of Irish hay and 16% of pelleted feed contained zearalenone. Forty per cent of oats and 54% of pelleted feed contained T2 toxins.

  6. Analysis of Canadian and Irish forage, oats and commercially available equine concentrate feed for pathogenic fungi and mycotoxins.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buckley, Thomas; Creighton, Alan; Fogarty, Ursula

    2007-04-01

    Respiratory infections, recurrent airway obstruction (RAO) and exercise induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH) are major causes of poor performance in horses. Fungi and mycotoxins are now recognised as a major cause of these conditions. The most notable fungi are Aspergillus and Fusarium. Fungal spores can originate from forage, bedding and feed and, in turn, these fungal spores can produce a series of mycotoxins as secondary metabolites.This study set out to ascertain the degree of fungal and mycotoxin contamination in feed and fodder used in Irish racing yards over a one-year period. Weather conditions in forage producing areas were sampled by Met Eireann and the Canadian Meteorological Service.Fifty per cent of Irish hay, 37% of haylage and 13% of Canadian hay contained pathogenic fungi. Of the mycotoxins, T2 and zearalenone were most prominent. Twenty-one per cent of Irish hay and 16% of pelleted feed contained zearalenone. Forty per cent of oats and 54% of pelleted feed contained T2 toxins.

  7. Environmental radioactivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-01-01

    Outline summary of a report prepared under contract to the DOE: Research Priorities and UK Estuaries: An Overview identifying Research Requirements. Topics considered include the study of radionuclides released into the NE Irish Sea from BNFL, Sellafields, differences in the isotopic composition of stable lead in various sediments, the concentration and distribution of 'hot particles' derived from BNFL in the Irish Sea and adjacent areas, together with attempts to separate hot particles from sediments, and the composition and properties of marine surfaces in relation to uptake and loss of radionuclides, particularly in relation to the common mussel, Mytilus edulis. The problem of the presence of transuranic radionuclides in the bottom sediments of the NE Irish Sea is considered. Profiles of radioactivity are being developed at the shelf-break in order to determine the transfer of radionuclides from the sea surface to the deep sea and to coastal waters; organisms examined include phytoplankton, zooplankton and crustacea (shrimps). Organisms such as Acantharia have been examined to determine transfer of elements and radionuclides to skeletal structures eg Sr, Ba and Si. (U.K.)

  8. The Madoffization of Irish society: from Ponzi finance to sociological critique.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monaghan, Lee F; O'Flynn, Micheal

    2017-12-01

    Financialization and neoliberal policy created the Celtic Tiger. This economic 'miracle' furthered creditors' and property developers' speculative interests, leading to an unstable financial pyramid that eventually imploded in 2008 with catastrophic consequences for Irish society. Using the sociological imagination as social critique, this paper offers a lens on fictitious capital and Ponzi finance in the context of Ireland's boom and bust. Critique is advanced using the Madoffization of society thesis, a sociological heuristic that draws formal comparisons between Bernie Madoff's US$65 billion Ponzi scheme, which collapsed in 2008, and financialized capitalism. The Madoff case exhibits five main elements or forms which, it has been argued, underlie the varying content of life on a much broader scale: accumulation by debt expansion, mass deception, efforts to maintain secrecy and silence, obfuscation, and scapegoating. In conclusion, a crucial difference between the Madoff case and the Madoffization of Irish society is underscored. Discussion also moves from critique to hope amidst calls to renew sociology and transform financialized capitalism. © London School of Economics and Political Science 2017.

  9. The Potential for Joint Farming Ventures in Irish Agriculture: A Sociological Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cush Peter

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Joint farming ventures (JFVs are promoted within Irish and EU policy discourses as strategies that can enhance the economic and social sustainability of family farming. Research has shown that JFVs, including arrangements such as farm partnerships, contract rearing and share farming, can potentially enable farmers to work cooperatively to improve farm productivity, reduce working hours, facilitate succession, develop skills and improve relationships within the farm household. In the context of increasing policy promotion of JFVs, there is a need to make some attempt at understanding the macro socio-cultural disposition of family farming to cooperation. Reviewing sociological studies of agricultural cooperation and taking a specific focus on the Irish contextual backdrop, this paper draws the reader’s attention to the importance of historical legacy, pragmatic economic and social concerns, communicative norms, inter-personal relationships, individualism and, policy and extension stimuli, all of which shape farmers’ dispositions to cooperation and to JFVs specifically.

  10. Detailed Tropical Sea Level Record Spanning the Younger Dryas Chronozone

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abdul, N. A.; Mortlock, R. A.; Wright, J. D.; Fairbanks, R. G.

    2010-12-01

    Variability in sea level is a fundamental measure of past changes in continental ice volume and provides an important benchmark to test climate change hypotheses. Records of the most recent deglaciation show two pulses of accelerated sea-level rise (Meltwater Pulses 1A and 1B) separated by an interval of slower sea level rise. The Younger Dryas chronozone falls within the interval between MWP 1A and 1B. It was first described over 100 years ago and remains one of the most studied periods in Earth’s history. The Younger Dryas was originally constrained with 14C dating to the interval between 11,000 and 10,000 14C years BP, which converts to 13,000 to 11,640 calendar years BP. The climatic expression of the Younger Dryas was most pronounced in the circum North Atlantic where climate proxies returned in some regions to near glacial values. Interpretations of the Younger Dryas’ significance range from a catastrophic global cooling event accompanied by Northern hemisphere ice sheet growth to simply regional changes in ocean and air mass mixing zones confined mainly to the North Atlantic. A detailed sea level record containing the interval from the end of MWP 1A to the beginning of MWP 1B (~14,000 to 11,300 years BP) was generated using 26 new U/Th dates from our 2007 Barbados offshore drilling expedition combined with our 1988 expedition measurements. 16 of these dates fall within the Younger Dryas Chronozone. Younger Dryas sea level positions were based on Acropora palmata samples from 3 overlapping and contemporaneous offshore drill cores (RGF 12 and BBDS 9 & 10) and corrected for minor tectonic uplift. From 14,000 to 11,300 years BP, sea level rose from ~81 to 56.5 m below present sea level with an initial rate of 10 m/kyr that decreased smoothly to <5 m/kyr at the base of MWP 1B. At the beginning of the Younger Dryas, sea level was at 69 m below present and rose 8 m by the end of this interval. In the context of the Barbados sea level record, the Younger Dryas

  11. Survey of Selected Multi-National Employers’ Perceptions of Certain Graduates from Irish Higher Education

    OpenAIRE

    2007-01-01

    This report provides feedback on the suitability of employment of Irish graduates, looking specifically at the disciplinary groups of Science, Engineering, Business and Finance and Humanities, and comparing them to their international counterparts.

  12. Exercise portrayal in children’s television programs: analysis of the UK and Irish programming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Scully P

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Paul Scully,1 Orlaith Reid,1 Alan P Macken,1–3 Mark Healy,4 Jean Saunders,4 Des Leddin,3,5 Walter Cullen,3 Colum P Dunne,3 Clodagh S O’Gorman1–3,5 1The Children’s Ark, University Hospital Limerick, Limerick, 2National Children’s Research Centre, Dublin, 3Centre for Interventions in Infection, Inflammation & Immunity (4i, Graduate Entry Medical School, 4C-Star, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland; 5Department of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada Background: Television watching is obesogenic due to its sedentary nature and programming content, which influences children. Few studies have examined exercise placement within children-specific programming. This study aimed to investigate the frequency and type of exercise placement in children-specific television broadcasts and to compare placements on the UK and Irish television channels.Methods: Content analysis for five weekdays’ worth of children-specific television broadcasting totaling 82.5 hours on both the UK (British Broadcasting Corporation and Irish (Radió Teilifís Éireann television channels was performed. For the purposes of comparing the UK and Irish placements, analysis was restricted to programming broadcast between 6 am and 11.30 am. Exercise placements were coded based on type of activity, activity context, activity motivating factors and outcome, and characters involved.Results: A total of 780 cues were recorded during the total recording period. A wide variety of sports were depicted, but dancing-related cues were most commonly seen (n=163, 23.3%, with the majority of cues being of mild (n=365, 65.9% or moderate (n=172, 31.0% intensity. The majority of cues were associated with a positive outcome (n=404, 61.4%, and social motivations were most commonly seen (n=289, 30.3%. The Irish and the UK portrayals were broadly similar.Conclusion: This study highlights the wide variety of sports portrayed and the active effort undertaken by television

  13. Deliberating the Irish Language in Northern Ireland: From Conflict to Multiculturalism?

    Science.gov (United States)

    McMonagle, Sarah

    2010-01-01

    The Belfast Agreement (1998) contains a clause on respect and tolerance for linguistic diversity in Northern Ireland (NI). It is unsurprising that this clause was included given the role of Irish--and Ulster Scots--in identity politics in the region. The call for respect for NI's languages can therefore be seen as a type of conflict management.…

  14. Chasing the Intangible: a Conversation on Theatre, Language, and Artistic Migrations with Irish Playwright Marina Carr

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina Rapetti

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Offally born Marina Carr is amongst the most prolific, influential and internationally renowned Irish playwrights of our times. Since her debut on the avant-garde side of the Dublin theatre scene in the late Eighties, she has had  seventeen plays professionally produced, both in and outside Ireland. Her earlier work is influenced by Samuel Beckett’s Absurdist drama, while in her most mature and recent plays she draws on both classical and Irish mythology, Greek tragedies and Shakespeare’s poetics. In this interview, Marina Carr recalls and discusses some pivotal moments of her upbringing and career; she also speaks about language, landscape, dream

  15. Wave Energy and Actor-Network Theory: The Irish Case

    OpenAIRE

    Cunningham, William

    2013-01-01

    This paper examines the role of the wave energy sector in Ireland using theories from the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). Theoretical divisions within the field of STS are examined, particularly the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge (SSK) and Actor-Network Theory (ANT). Any conflicts which these two theories present to each other are examined through the empirical findings of the Irish wave energy sector. In particular, ANT s rejection of macro and micro distinctions when analy...

  16. A national study on the attitudes of Irish dental faculty members to faculty development.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    O'Sullivan, E M

    2010-02-01

    International studies suggest that dental faculty are resistant to the concept and practice of faculty development. This paper analyses the demographic and educational profile of Irish Dental Faculty, exploring their attitudes to educational initiatives.

  17. Deglaciation events in part of the Manchester South 7.5' quadrangle south-central New Hampshire

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, Byron D.

    1971-01-01

    The study-area lies in south-central New Hampshire, and is bordered on the west by the Merrimack River, the principal north-south drainage route of central New Hampshire. The classical two tills of New England outcrop in the area. In a unique exposure of the sandy upper till, a loose ablation unit overlies a compact basal unit. Both upper till facies overlie a sheared section of dense, olive-gray lower till. Outwash sequences mapped in the study-area are progressively younger to the north, indicating backwastage of the Wisconsinan ice sheet. Primary structures in proglacial Lake Merrimack sediments include contorted bedding, buckled laminae, and folds. A large slumped section in lake sediments exhibits three distinct deformation zones, characterized by brittle, ductile, and unconsolidated deformation. Cross-cutting relationships establish four fold generations and a deformation sequence in the slumped section. Slip in each fold generation was along nearly parallel slip-lines, as deduced from analyses of fold rotation senses. The primary and slump deformation features contrast sharply with the intense style of deformation of lake beds below till at an apparent ice readvance cut. The deduced drag fold slip-line agrees with till fabric point maxima and dip-slip on one group of thrust faults. A southerly movement of readvancing ice is inferred.The study-area was deglaciated about 13,000 years ago, according to a proposed deglaciation model for New Hampshire. The model is based on Nye's theoretical glacier surface gradient, and evidence for active retreat of the Wisconsinan ice sheet.

  18. “The Terrible Visitation”: Famine in Finland and Ireland 1845-68 - Towards An Agenda for Comparative Irish-Finnish Famine Studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Newby, Andrew; Myllyntaus, Timo

    2015-01-01

    national history, and has had a considerable impact on Irish identity. Since the 150th anniversary of the Great Famine in the late 1990s, prodigious amounts of academic and popular literature have been published on the subject. From an Irish perspective, the historiography of the Great Finnish Famine......, which culminated in 1868, seems somewhat limited. Cormac Ó Gráda, one of the most renowned Irish economic historians, has described the Finnish catastrophe as the “last great subsistence crisis of the western world,” but has also complained that it remains “unduly neglected,” and stressed the potential...... for comparative studies with Ireland. This period of Finnish history tends to be presented as a period of general economic malaise, associated with national “growing pains” as Finland sought to establish itself as an autonomous country....

  19. Development and application of a processing model for the Irish dairy industry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geary, U; Lopez-Villalobos, N; Garrick, D J; Shalloo, L

    2010-11-01

    A processing-sector model was developed that simulates (i) milk collection, (ii) standardization, and (iii) product manufacture. The model estimates the product yield, net milk value, and component values of milk based on milk quantity, composition, product portfolio, and product values. Product specifications of cheese, butter, skim and whole milk powders, liquid milk, and casein are met through milk separation followed by reconstitution in appropriate proportions. Excess cream or skim milk are used in other product manufacture. Volume-related costs, including milk collection, standardization, and processing costs, and product-related costs, including processing costs per tonne, packaging, storage, distribution, and marketing, are quantified. Operating costs, incurred irrespective of milk received and processing activities, are included in the model on a fixed-rate basis. The net milk value is estimated as sale value less total costs. The component values of fat and protein were estimated from net milk value using the marginal rate of technical substitution. Two product portfolio scenarios were examined: scenario 1 was representative of the Irish product mix in 2000, in which 27, 39, 13, and 21% of the milk pool was processed into cheese (€ 3,291.33/t), butter (€ 2,766.33/t), whole milk powder (€ 2,453.33/t), and skim milk powder (€ 2,017.00/t), respectively, and scenario 2 was representative of the 2008 product mix, in which 43, 30, 14, and 13% was processed into cheese, butter, whole milk powder, and skim milk powder, respectively, and sold at the same market prices. Within both scenarios 3 milk compositions were considered, which were representative of (i) typical Irish Holstein-Friesian, (ii) Jersey, and (iii) the New Zealand strain of Holstein-Friesian, each of which had differing milk constituents. The effect each milk composition had on product yield, processing costs, total revenue, component values of milk, and the net value of milk was examined

  20. Factors Affecting Non-Attendance in Irish Primary Schools and Reasons for Differences between Urban and Rural levels of Non-attendance

    OpenAIRE

    Gurhy, Anne Marie; Perry, Glen; Farrell, Mark

    2018-01-01

    This study will investigative the factors that influence school non-attendance, in designated disadvantaged Irish primary schools (DEIS1). Currently, no comprehensive data exists on the factors contributing to the levels and types of non-attendance within the Irish context. Since 2003/2004, the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB, Appendix A) the agency with responsibility for school attendance, has collected specific data on attendance levels and the frequency of non-attendance across a...

  1. Sediment failures within the Peach Slide (Barra Fan, NE Atlantic Ocean) and relation to the history of the British-Irish Ice Sheet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Owen, Matthew J.; Maslin, Mark A.; Day, Simon J.; Long, David

    2018-05-01

    The Peach Slide is the largest known submarine mass movement on the British continental margin and is situated on the northern flank of the glacigenic Barra Fan. The Barra Fan is located on the northwest British continental margin and is subject to cyclonic ocean circulation, with distinct differences between the circulation during stadial and inter-stadial periods. The fan has experienced growth since continental uplift during the mid-Pliocene, with the majority of sediments deposited during the Pleistocene when the fan was a major depocentre for the British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). Surface and shallow sub-surface morphology of the fan has been mapped using newly digitised archival paper pinger and deep towed boomer sub-bottom profile records, side scan sonar and multibeam echosounder data. This process has allowed the interpretation and mapping of a number of different seismic facies, including: contourites, hemipelagites and debrites. Development of a radiocarbon based age model for the seismic stratigraphy constrains the occurrence of two periods of slope failure: the first at circa 21 ka cal BP, shortly after the BIIS's maximum advance during the deglaciation of the Hebrides Ice Stream; and the second between 12 and 11 ka cal BP at the termination of the Younger Dryas stadial. Comparison with other mass movement events, which have similar geological and oceanographic settings, suggests that important roles are played by contouritic and glacigenic sedimentation, deposited in inter-stadial and stadial periods respectively when different thermohaline regimes and sediment sources dominate. The effect of this switch in sedimentation is to rapidly deposit thick, low permeability, glacigenic layers above contourite and hemipelagite units. This process potentially produced excess pore pressure in the fan sediments and would have increased the likelihood of sediment failure via reduced shear strength and potential liquefaction.

  2. Synchronicity of the East Asian Summer Monsoon variability and Northern Hemisphere climate change since the last deglaciation

    OpenAIRE

    T. Shinozaki; M. Uchida; K. Minoura; M. Kondo; S. F. Rella; Y. Shibata

    2011-01-01

    Understanding of the mechanism of the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) is required for the prediction of climate change in East Asia in a scenario of modern global warming. In this study, we present high-resolution climate records from peat sediments in Northeast Japan to reconstruct the EASM variability based on peat bulk cellulose δ13C since the last deglaciation. We used a 8.8 m long peat sediment core collected from the Tashiro Bog, Northeast Japan. Based ...

  3. Lifestyles and Gendered Patterns of Leisure and Sporting Interests among Irish Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacPhail, Ann; Collier, Connie; O'Sullivan, Mary

    2009-01-01

    This paper strives to provide an insight into the multifaceted relationships that young people have, examining the social, cultural and institutional discourses, which shape their lives. We set out to discuss, from an empirical poststructuralist perspective, the way in which Irish adolescents write about the reality of their lives and privilege…

  4. Genetic parameters for production and fertility in spring-calving Irish dairy cattle

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Evans, R.; Buckley, F.; Dillon, P.; Veerkamp, R.F.

    2001-01-01

    The objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters for milk production and selected fertility traits in Irish dairy cattle. Data were derived from 74 seasonal spring-calving dairy herds with a potential cow population of 6,783 in the 1999 calving season. The average 305-day yields (kg)

  5. The Irish 'no' to the Lisbon Treaty: Ireland's voice and Europe's exit?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Curtin, D.

    2009-01-01

    The "no" of the Irish electorate against the Treaty of Lisbon has hit the European elite hard. However, it was not directed against support for the EU as such but rather against a deliberately unintelligible Treaty. Lack of knowledge seems to have played a pivotal role in the voting behaviour, as

  6. Labour supply and commodity demands : an application to Irish data

    OpenAIRE

    Anthony Murphy; Rodney Thom

    1986-01-01

    Annual Irish data are used to estimate a model which allows for the joint determination of commodity demands and labour supply. Consumer preferences are modelled by a cost function of the Gorman polar form which permits exact linear aggregation over individuals with different money wage rates. Separability between goods and leisure is rejected by the data. Labour supply is found to be a positive function of the wage rate.

  7. Past and present stability of the Weddell Sea sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitehouse, P. L.; Vieli, A.; Jamieson, S.; Bentley, M.; Hein, A.; Sugden, D.

    2016-12-01

    The contribution of the Weddell Sea sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to sea-level rise since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), along with the processes controlling the past and ongoing dynamics of this sector, are poorly known. Of particular concern is the fact that significant portions of the present-day grounding line are unstably located on bathymetry that deepens towards the interior of the continent. We present new modelling results, constrained by field evidence relating to past ice extent and thickness along the Foundation Ice Stream and Thiel Trough, which suggest that the post-LGM sea-level contribution from this sector was modest, and that the grounding line is unlikely to have been located at the continental shelf break for a prolonged period during the last glacial cycle. Poorly-constrained ice shelf and ocean processes are found to play a crucial role in controlling the past configuration and stability of this sector of the ice sheet. In particular, we find that we cannot rule out a scenario in which the grounding line of the Foundation Ice Stream retreated behind present during deglaciation, and has since re-advanced. This work complements a number of recent studies, based on independent data sets, that explore the possibility that grounding line re-advance occurred within the Weddell Sea sector during the mid-to-late Holocene. If this hypothesis is correct, then current glacial isostatic adjustment models, and hence contemporary estimates of ice mass balance derived from GRACE data, will be significantly biased. Piecing together, and understanding, the reason for recent changes in ice dynamics is crucial for determining the contemporary stability of the Weddell Sea sector of the Antarctic Ice Sheet.

  8. Sam Thompson, Stewart Parker, and the lineage of northern Irish dramaDOI:10.5007/2175-8026.2010n58p179

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marilynn Richtarik

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Northern Irish dramatist Stewart Parker (1941-1988 wrote plays typically valued for their wit, intellectual content, and formal experimentation. Nonetheless, he was profoundly influenced as a young man by a very different sort of playwright. Sam Thompson (1916-1965, who began his working life in the Belfast shipyards, squarely confronted Northern Irish sectarianism in his plays. His sense of the political potential of drama left an enduring mark on Parker, who organized and edited Thompson's manuscripts several years after his untimely death. Although their dramatic writings bear little resemblance to each other, the two writers should be regarded as united in a common Northern Irish dramatic tradition by virtue of their shared socialist outlook, belief in the importance of individual stands against conformity, and sense of theatre's social mission.

  9. Successful Learners of Irish as an L2: Motivation, Identity and Linguistic Mudes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Petit Kevin

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This article presents the results of a small-scale research conducted for a master’s thesis on the motivation to learn Irish on the part of university students and members of the Gaelic society An Cumann Gaelach. In the light of questionnaires’ results and interviews, the emphasis is placed on the links between motivation, identity, and potential key moments in learners’ lives. Using an AMTB-type questionnaire (n=45, the author puts to the test Dörnyei’s Motivational Self System theory (2005 in the context of the learning of Irish by looking at the correlation between the motivational intensity of 45 students and six variables (Ideal L2 Self, Ought to Self, Ideal L2 Community, Instrumentality, Parental encouragement, and Role of teachers. The notion of Ideal L2 Self, or the capacity to picture oneself speaking an L2 in the future, clearly appears to be strongly correlated with the respondents’ motivational intensity (r=.75 p<.01, in accordance with Dörnyei’s model. However results concerning extrinsic factors differ from previous research, putting forward distinctive features of the learning of minority languages. The second phase of the research looks at the language learning narratives of three An Cumann Gaelach’s members through the qualitative analysis of three interview transcripts. The results clearly show that time spent in Irish summer colleges are linguistic mudes (Pujolar and Puigdevall 2015, or key-moments, which triggered the interest in the language for the three students interviewed.

  10. Traumatic dental injuries and their association with malocclusion in the primary dentition of Irish children.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Norton, Eimear

    2012-02-01

    This study sought to establish the prevalence of traumatic dental injuries in the primary dentition of Irish children and to investigate the relationship between dental trauma and non-nutritive sucking habits.

  11. Mentors, Not Models: Supporting Teachers to Be Empowered in an Irish Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Dohery, Teresa; Deegan, James

    2009-01-01

    This article explores the values and perceptions of Irish mentor teachers who have been involved in mentoring novice teachers. While situating this research within the historical context of the teaching profession in the Republic of Ireland, the article chronicles the establishment of the National Pilot Project on Teacher Induction and reports on…

  12. Attitudes to cadaveric organ donation in Irish preclinical medical students.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Cahill, Kevin C

    2011-06-01

    There is a worldwide shortage of organs for transplantation. It has been shown that the attitude of healthcare professionals can improve the rates of organ donation, and that educational programs aimed at improving both attitudes and knowledge base of professionals can have positive outcomes. Although there has been research carried out on this topic, there has been none in Ireland. Anatomy dissection can be a stressor to medical students-we investigate the attitudes of Irish students to organ donation and how they change with exposure to anatomy dissection. A questionnaire was administered to first year students in the School of Medicine in University College Dublin, Ireland, three times over a nine-week period at the commencement of classes in an academic year. The attitudes of the students were positive throughout regarding organ donation by a stranger, a family member, or themselves. There was, however, a significant decrease in support for the donation of a family member\\'s organs in a minority of students. Irish students\\' attitudes to postmortem organ donation are positive and are not changed by exposure to the dissecting room. There is support for the donation of organs, and willingness among students to donate their own organs and support donation by family members.

  13. Dublin and Irish politics in the age of Charles Lucas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hill, J

    2015-09-01

    In addition to his contributions to medicine, Charles Lucas had a long career in politics, starting in the 1740s as a guild representative on the lower house of Dublin corporation, and culminating in his election to the Irish House of Commons in 1761. By examining the background in Dublin and Irish politics, this paper explores Lucas' impact on the electorate, and how it was that he was able to win a parliamentary seat in Dublin and retain it for a decade while he campaigned in support of a range of important Patriot issues. Lucas had none of the qualifications that would normally be required for a successful politician. His father held some land, but as a younger son who had to make a living, Charles was apprenticed to a Dublin apothecary. Nor did he have the political connections that might have compensated for a lack of land, wealth, or status. But Lucas possessed other advantages, notably an education that enabled him to read the city's medieval charters, identifying areas where the Dublin freemen had lost 'ancient rights', and some experience of publishing, so that he could appeal to the electorate. Lucas' remarkable political success stemmed from both local circumstances and his own personal qualities.

  14. The United States Civil War Causal Agent for Irish Assimilation and Acceptance in US Society

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Gillespie, William

    2001-01-01

    The American Civil War was a cornerstone event for the Irish in America. Their participation proved their duty to Union and Confederate causes, increased their acceptance in American society, and hastened assimilation...

  15. Potential for alcohol and drug interactions in older adults: evidence from the Irish longitudinal study on ageing

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Background Older adults are susceptible to adverse effects from the concomitant use of prescription medications and alcohol. This study estimates the prevalence of exposure to alcohol interactive (AI) medications and concomitant alcohol use by therapeutic class in a large, nationally representative sample of older adults. Methods Cross-sectional analysis of a population based sample of older Irish adults aged ≥60 years using data from The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) (N = 3,815). AI medications were identified using Stockley’s Drug Interactions, the British National Formulary and the Irish Medicines Formulary. An in-home inventory of medications was used to characterise AI drug exposure by therapeutic class. Self-reported alcohol use was classified as non-drinker, light/moderate and heavy drinking. Comorbidities known to be exacerbated by alcohol were also recorded (diabetes mellitus, hypertension, peptic ulcer disease, liver disease, depression, gout or breast cancer), as well as sociodemographic and health factors. Results Seventy-two per cent of participants were exposed to AI medications, with greatest exposure to cardiovascular and CNS agents. Overall, 60% of participants exposed to AI medications reported concomitant alcohol use, compared with 69.5% of non-AI exposed people (p alcohol consumption (both light/moderate and heavier) and AI medications. Current smokers and people with increasing co-morbidities were also at greatest risk for heavy drinking in combination with AI medications. Conclusions The concurrent use of alcohol with AI medications, or with conditions known to be exacerbated by alcohol, is common among older Irish adults. Prescribers should be aware of potential interactions, and screen patients for alcohol use and provide warnings to minimize patient risk. PMID:24766969

  16. Unstructured grid modelling of offshore wind farm impacts on seasonally stratified shelf seas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cazenave, Pierre William; Torres, Ricardo; Allen, J. Icarus

    2016-06-01

    Shelf seas comprise approximately 7% of the world's oceans and host enormous economic activity. Development of energy installations (e.g. Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs), tidal turbines) in response to increased demand for renewable energy requires a careful analysis of potential impacts. Recent remote sensing observations have identified kilometre-scale impacts from OWFs. Existing modelling evaluating monopile impacts has fallen into two camps: small-scale models with individually resolved turbines looking at local effects; and large-scale analyses but with sub-grid scale turbine parameterisations. This work straddles both scales through a 3D unstructured grid model (FVCOM): wind turbine monopiles in the eastern Irish Sea are explicitly described in the grid whilst the overall grid domain covers the south-western UK shelf. Localised regions of decreased velocity extend up to 250 times the monopile diameter away from the monopile. Shelf-wide, the amplitude of the M2 tidal constituent increases by up to 7%. The turbines enhance localised vertical mixing which decreases seasonal stratification. The spatial extent of this extends well beyond the turbines into the surrounding seas. With significant expansion of OWFs on continental shelves, this work highlights the importance of how OWFs may impact coastal (e.g. increased flooding risk) and offshore (e.g. stratification and nutrient cycling) areas.

  17. Deconstructing national leadership: politicians' accounts of electoral success and failure in the Irish Lisbon Treaty referenda.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burns, Michele; Stevenson, Clifford

    2013-03-01

    The Self Categorization approach to national leadership proposes that leaders rhetorically construct national identity as essentialized and inevitable in order to consensualize and mobilize the population. In contrast, discursive studies have demonstrated how national politicians flexibly construct the nation to manage their own accountability in local interactions, though this in turn has neglected broader leadership processes. The present paper brings both approaches together to examine how and when national politicians construct versions of national identity in order to account for their failure as well as success in mobilizing the electorate. Eight semi-structured conversational style interviews were conducted with a strategic sample of eight leading Irish politicians on the subject of the 2008/2009 Irish Lisbon Treaty referenda. Using a Critical Discourse Psychology approach, the hegemonic repertoire of the 'settled will' of the informed and consensualized Irish nation was identified across all interviews. Politicians either endorsed the 'settled will' repertoire as evidence of their successful leadership, or rejected the repertoire by denying the rationality or unity of the populace to account for their failure. Our results suggest national identity is only constructed as essentialized and inevitable to the extent that it serves a strategic political purpose. © 2011 The British Psychological Society.

  18. Independence and the Irish Environmental Protection Agency: A Comparative Assessment

    OpenAIRE

    Shipan, Charles

    2006-01-01

    The Environmental Protection Agency is one of the most prominent regulatory agencies in Ireland. Created in 1992, one of the hallmarks of this agency is its independence from other parts of government. Yet little is known about the actual extent of its independence. Independence and the Irish Environmental Protection Agency: A Comparative Assessment addresses several key questions about the agency's independence. Why was independence such a primary justification for the creation of this a...

  19. Justification of x-ray examinations: General principles and an Irish perspective

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matthews, Kate; Brennan, Patrick C.

    2008-01-01

    The principles of justification and optimisation, and the establishment and use of Diagnostic Reference Levels are core tenets of the European Medical Exposures Directive [Council Directive 97/43], and ensuing legislation across Europe. In Ireland, the European Medical Exposures Directive [Council Directive 97/43] was enacted into national law in Statutory Instrument 478 of 2002. This series of three review articles discusses the status of justification and optimisation of X-ray examinations nationally, and progress with the establishment of Irish Diagnostic Reference Levels. The current article will outline the ICRP recommendations which preceded the European Medical Exposures Directive, describe how the Directive was transposed into Irish Statute, and review the literature associated with some of the justification concepts arising from the Statute in order to elucidate the prevailing practice regarding justification in Ireland. Three levels of justification are identified: general, generic and individual. The relationship between referral guidelines and generic justification is explored, and practical issues in the implementation of individual justification are considered with reference to the role of the radiographer. Two further articles in the series will adopt a similar approach in discussing optimisation, and the establishment and use of Diagnostic Reference Levels

  20. How changes to Irish healthcare financing are affecting universal health coverage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Briggs, Adam D M

    2013-11-01

    In 2010, the World Health Organisation (WHO) published the World Health Report - Health systems financing: the path to universal coverage. The Director-General of the WHO, Dr Margaret Chan, commissioned the report "in response to a need, expressed by rich and poor countries alike, for practical guidance on ways to finance health care". Given the current context of global economic hardship and difficult budgetary decisions, the report offered timely recommendations for achieving universal health coverage (UHC). This article analyses the current methods of healthcare financing in Ireland and their implications for UHC. Three questions are asked of the Irish healthcare system: firstly, how is the health system financed; secondly, how can the health system protect people from the financial consequences of ill-health and paying for health services; and finally, how can the health system encourage the optimum use of available resources? By answering these three questions, this article argues that the Irish healthcare system is not achieving UHC, and that it is unclear whether recent changes to financing are moving Ireland closer or further away from the WHO's ambition for healthcare for all. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.