Work Research Centre

Sedimentary basins in Northern Ireland are increasingly recognised as promising targets for low- to medium-temperature geothermal energy, yet their subsurface architecture and reservoir properties remain poorly constrained. The Lough Neagh Basin exhibits elevated geothermal gradients relative to other regions of Ireland and represents a low-enthalpy, sedimentary-basin geothermal system. The basin is known to contain sedimentary rocks ranging from at least Permian to Upper Cretaceous in age, overlain by thick Paleogene basalts. Within this system, the electrically conductive Triassic Sherwood Sandstone Group is considered the principal geothermal reservoir, although deeper Permian sandstone units may also have reservoir potential.In this study, we assess the geothermal potential of the Lough Neagh Basin using a broadband magnetotelluric (MT) dataset comprising more than 250 MT stations, including 118 newly acquired stations as part of the GEMINI (Geothermal Energy Momentum on the Island of Ireland) project. MT data were processed to derive impedance tensors and vertical magnetic transfer functions, followed by phase tensor and induction arrow analyses to characterise dimensionality and lateral resistivity variations. Three-dimensional (3-D) MT inversion was then applied to recover the subsurface resistivity structure.The resulting 3-D resistivity structure reveals laterally extensive low-resistivity zones with a spatially variable upper boundary, typically initiating at depths of ~0.7–1.0 km and extending to ~2–2.5 km beneath a high-resistivity basalt sequence. These zones are interpreted as the Triassic Mercia Mudstone Group–Sherwood Sandstone Group succession with variable thickness, consistent with borehole constraints and regional geological understanding. While MT primarily constrains the geometry of this conductive package, integration with petrophysical measurements from selected rock samples and other geophysical datasets (i.e., gravity and passive seismics) aids discrimination between mudstone- and sandstone-dominated intervals, enabling first-order estimates of reservoir geometry and associated heat capacity within the Lough Neagh Basin geothermal system.

This study presents a novel decision support process for a pilot dispatching problem in the St. Lawrence River. It integrates a comprehensive set of time-based performance measures, including working time, waiting time, and skill level differences, to optimize fairness and operational efficiency in pilot dispatching. The proposed process employs a weighted multi-objective model and a goal programming solution method to dynamically rank pilots, continuously updating dispatch plans. A year-long case study in the St. Lawrence River, Canada with 1288 vessels and 200 pilots across four stations showed that the proposed decision support process significantly improved workload distribution, reducing waiting times by 14% and enhancing pilot satisfaction. The findings highlight the potential for more balanced and efficient pilot dispatching approach benefiting for both service quality provided to vessels and the pilots themselves by reducing fatigue and improving performance measures.

Stoma formation is a commonly performed procedure both during and following colorectal surgery. When designed correctly, stomas can dramatically improve patients' quality of life, but the reverse may occur when complications arise. Given the significant negative impact of complications following stoma formation, understanding risk factors that may be mitigated pre-operatively is important. A systematic search of publications using MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Cochrane databases was conducted in May 2022. Data was extracted and a narrative synthesis undertaken. The evidence-based librarianship (EBL) checklist assessed the methodological quality of the included studies. The systematic review includes various research designs such as randomised controlled trials (RCT), case-control studies, and observational cohort studies written in English. Reviews, conference papers, opinion papers, and those including participants < 18years old were excluded. No restrictions on the date of publication and study setting were applied. This review included 17 studies, conducted between 2001 and 2020. The study designs were prospective audit, prospective analysis, retrospective analysis, longitudinal analysis and multivariate analysis of self-reported questionaires/surveys. Twenty-two possible risk factors for the development of stoma complications following stoma formation were identified. These include demographical risk factors, underlying medical condition, type of surgery, elective vs emergency surgery, stoma factors, surgical factors, indications for surgery and factors which may impact healing. Furthermore, high BMI, emergency surgery, and stoma type were identified as the most frequently occurring risk factors. Given the large number of risk factors identified, the implementation of a risk stratification tool may decrease the incidence and prevalence of stoma complication development. This, in turn, would decrease the associated healthcare-related costs, and negative impact on mortality, length of stay and quality of life.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have reignited debates about the impact of technology on the future of work, raising concerns about massive job losses. However, extant evidence is beset by methodological limitations. The majority of studies are either (1) based on modelling predictions, underpinned by subjective judgements or (2) measure the effect of automation technologies more broadly using proxies for AI effects. Analysis of what actually happens in organisations introducing AI-enabled technologies is lacking. This Research Note proposes a third methodology based on the use of bespoke employer surveys. Drawing on a new and unique survey of UK business leaders, it illustrates the utility of this approach through the presentation of descriptive findings on the association between introduction of AI and job creation and destruction within organisations. Directions for future research using this approach are suggested.

The role of family members’ support in the burnout recovery process has been recognized in several studies. The role of emotional support provided by the spouse has been found to be significant in reducing burnout levels. Although crossover of burnout and emotional support have been investigated, the partners’ experiences of the individuals’ burnout and recovery have remained largely unexplored. To fill this research gap the study aims to provide in-depth knowledge of the experiences of spouses of individuals who have a history of burnout and are recovering from it by participating in a rehabilitation course. Ten spouses of individuals who had previously suffered and had recovered or was recovering from burnout in a national rehabilitation course, were interviewed. Semi-structured interviews comprised the main research material and were subjected to Thematic Analysis. Results showed that spouses were vicariously affected by the individuals’ burnout and recovery. While they were able to provide significant support, especially if interspousal communication was well-functioning, they also experienced significant distress. In the recovery phase, the positive changes in the individuals’ well-being were transferred in the relationship, and were perceived by both spouses as an increased ease, shared activities and improvement in communication. Knowledge of the spouses’ experiences will allow their possible inclusion in the rehabilitation programme and their training in recognizing the symptoms of burnout in their close ones. This will enable individuals and their spouses to be better equipped to prevent the full development of burnout and to initiate a timely search for professional help.

While many cities around the world qualify themselves as “smart cities”, there is no comprehensive way to evaluate to what extent they are “smart”. This article proposes a framework for comparison of the level of “smartness” of the urban mobility systems. The most relevant indicators that have the greatest impact on smart mobility systems were selected in the course of literature review. The impact of indicators on smart mobility systems is variable. Evaluating smart mobility systems, different authors distinguish between different indicators, which usually do not duplicate. The paper categorizes the indicators of the smart mobility system into five groups, called “factors”: motor travel and congestion reduction measures; pollution reduction measures; travel safety and accident reduction measures; traffic management tools and services; smart infrastructure measures. A number of indicators are attributed to each of the listed groups. A Multiple Criteria Decision-Making method, namely, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, has been used to evaluate the significance of the smartness level used in the research. This method bases the weighting of subjective criteria on expert judgement. Rank correlation is used to determine the consistency of expert opinions. A model has been developed to compare smart mobility systems of individual cities and their infrastructure.

BackgroundThere is increasing recognition of the contribution of affective factors such as motivation to the development of reading competence. Reading activity is theorised to mediate associations between motivation and achievement, but this has been tested empirically only rarely.MethodThis study employed structural equation modelling to test a hypothesised model of relations between the reading self‐concept, intrinsic motivation, activity and achievement of a sample of 4,067 grade 6 students in Ireland and to explore whether the relations were moderated by gender or socioeconomic status (SES).ResultsIntrinsic motivation and self‐concept were significantly associated with reading activity, which, in turn, significantly predicted reading achievement. Girls had higher intrinsic motivation and reading activity than boys, but there was no gender difference in reading self‐concept. High‐SES students had higher reading self‐concept, intrinsic motivation and activity than low‐SES and medium‐SES students. The strength of the associations among the constructs under study did not vary by gender or SES.ConclusionsFindings suggest that efforts aimed at increasing students' intrinsic reading motivation may lead to increased reading activity and reading competence, irrespective of gender or SES.

Motivated by the move towards the next generation of green communications, we study a power beacon (PB) assisted wireless-powered cooperative communication network (PBWPCCN). A new system model is proposed where a source and a number of relay terminals are not directly connected to the power grid. These terminals, including the source, need to harvests energy from radio frequency (RF) signals radiated from PB and works cooperatively to deliver the information to the target device successfully. The system executes this process in a two-stage relay selection decode-then-forward (2SRS-DF). First, the system selects a group of relay candidates that can successfully decode the received signal from the source. Second, from the first relays group that successfully decodes the source signal, the best relay with the maximum capability to forward the decoded message to the destination is selected. The closed-form expression for the average outage probability and the throughput of the proposed system is derived and presented. We validate the theoretical results by numerical simulations. The impact of position and number of relay terminals along with time allocation parameters are also studied.