Computer Science (Reports)

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  • Publication
    Updated high-resolution climate projections for Ireland
    (Environmental Protection Agency, 2024-12-17) Nolan, Paul; Environmental Protection Agency
    Climate change poses a significant risk to Ireland’s economy, society and environment, and therefore it is imperative that planners and policymakers are adequately informed about future climate change so that appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures can be implemented. The main objective of this project was to evaluate the effects of climate change on the future climate of Ireland using high-resolution regional climate modelling. Previous regional climate projection research for Ireland shows large uncertainty for certain climate projections such as precipitation. Since extreme events such as flooding and droughts are likely to be a critical issue for Ireland, it is important to address this research gap. The project simulated the future climate (up to the year 2100) at high resolution (4 km grid spacing) using the most up-to-date regional climate models, Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) Earth system models and new shared socioeconomic pathway and representative concentration pathway (SSP-RCP) (SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, SSP3-7.0 and SSP5-8.5) emission scenarios. The scenario-based projections are supplemented with global warming threshold scenario projections for temperature and precipitation. Below are examples of climate projections that are of particular interest to policymakers: • Near-surface temperature is projected to increase by 0.5–0.7°C for SSP1-2.6 (2021–2050) and 2.4–3.0°C for SSP5-8.5 (2071–2100), with the largest increases in the east. • Warming is enhanced for the extremes, resulting in substantial projected increases in heatwaves and decreases in frost and ice days. • The future autumn and winter months are projected to be wetter (increases of up to 10% for SSP5-8.5, 2071 2100), while summer is projected to be drier (decreases of 8% for SSP5-8.5, 2071–2100). • The precipitation climate is projected to become more variable, with substantial projected increases in both dry periods and heavy rainfall events. Snowfall is projected to decrease by between 31% (SSP1 2.6, 2021–2050) and 84% (SSP5-8.5, 2071–2100). • The projections indicate an average increase in the length of the growing and grazing seasons, soil temperature, crop heat units and growing degree days for a range of crops. • The energy content of the 120 m wind is projected to decrease for all seasons, with the largest decreases noted for the summer months (reductions of 23% for SSP5-8.5, 2071–2100). • Photovoltaic power is projected to decrease for all seasons, with decreases enhanced for the winter and summer months. • The projections show that over the coming decades there will be a substantial reduction in the requirement for heating in Ireland. This research provides Ireland with a data resource to explore its future climate and enables the assessment of the scale of impacts across sectors, at regional and local levels. This report provides an outline of the regional climate modelling undertaken to assess the impacts of climate change in Ireland, based on a number of future scenarios, and highlights the key findings. The project has also provided a large database that can be interrogated for various meteorological parameters, which is essential for detailed analysis across a diverse range of sectoral concerns. The national climate projections of the current report are in broad agreement with previous research, which adds a measure of confidence to the projections. The research improves on previous research by simulating the future climate at a higher spatial resolution (4 km) using the most up-to-date regional climate models to downscale an ensemble of CMIP6 global datasets under the new SSP-RCP emission scenarios. The increased ensemble size of projections allows for a more accurate quantification of climate change uncertainty. Furthermore, the current report provides projections for additional climate variables and derived metrics that are critically important to biodiversity and to key Irish sectors, including agriculture, health, energy and transport. A second component of the project involved simulating global climate change using the EC-Earth ESM. These EC-Earth simulations constituted Ireland’s contribution to CMIP6, and their results informed the IPCC Assessment Report (AR) 6 Working Group 1 report,
  • Publication
    The production of energy from short rotation forestry
    (European Commission, 1985) Lyons, Gerard J.; M. Neenan and G. Lyons; |~|1267872|~|
    [no abstract available]
  • Publication
    Using multiple objective optimisation to generate policy insights for system dynamics models.
    (System dynamics society, 2005) Duggan, Jim
    Multiple objective optimisation (MOO) is an optimisation approach that has been widely used to solve optimisation problems with more than one objective function. The benefit of this approach is that it generates a set of non-dominated solutions which a policy maker can explore and evaluate before making a final optimal selection. This paper demonstrates that MOO can be used to assist policy makers explore a richer set of alternatives when deciding on a range of values for key parameters in their system dynamics model. In order to demonstrate the approach, a well-known case study "The Domestic Manufacturing Company" is used, and a stock and flow model and a multiple objective optimiser are designed and coded. The results show that valid solutions are generated, and that each of these solutions can be examined independently - and hence give greater insight into the problem at hand - before a decision is made as to the most appropriate solution.
  • Publication
    A Multi-Agent System for Context-based Distributed Data Mining
    (2003) Xing, Yan; Madden, Michael; Duggan, Jim; Lyons, Gerard J.
  • Publication
    Business Modelling to Support the Development of Integrated Process Support Systems in the Extended Enterprise
    (1999) Lyons, Gerard J.; Dunican, Enda; |~|
    Recent years have witnessed rapid advances in the areas of Business Process Reengineering(BPR) and Software Engineering. In order for BPR to work, successful deployment of Information Technology is imperative, with the lack of adequate IT support being cited as the single largest impediment in BPR projects. Furthermore, new business concepts such as extended enterprises and agile enterprises which build upon basic BPR call for even more complex software support in an ever-changing global business environment. This paper addresses these problems and proposes a framework which supports the design and development of information systems which support business processes in the extended enterprise.
  • Publication
    Organizational context and the IS implementation process: an integrated research framework
    (2000) Lyons, Gerard J.; Geraghty, Tom; |~|
    Good IS managers have an intuitive grasp of the complex organizational and project dynamics required for successful implementation of large information systems. Years of hard-earned experience have taught them that IS implementation requires simultaneous attention to the political and structural contexts of the host organization as well as to the execution of a well planned IS project.  Yet, much of the research on IS implementation has focused on narrowly bounded, individual dimensions of this multi-faceted real-world phenomenon. The work described here attempts to integrate these various perspectives into a robust research strategy, and evaluates its application in a comparative case study. Broadly, research on information systems implementation can be classified into two distinct groups: Factors Studies and Process Studies. These offer valuable academic insight into separate aspects of IS implementation concerned, respectively, with the underlying factors affecting IS success or failure and the dynamics of the implementation project. However, the practitioner must grapple with both of these dimensions simultaneously, attempting to achieve a pragmatic balance between business objectives, organizational and political dynamics and the implementation process itself. This paper presents an integrated methodology for studying systems implementation within its organizational and business contexts.  The approach uses a number of models and techniques to formulate an holistic view of the implementation process, to enable its examination and subsequent interpretation in an organizational framework.  Development of the methodology involved the selection and adaptation of key elements from cognate areas such as IS investment analysis and success criteria, techno-structural approaches to organization development, and IS implementation research. The methodology was successfully tested in a comparative case study on the implementation of a major information system in two separate business units of an electrical utility.  This integrated approach provides an holistic IS implementation framework for practitioners and helps to knit together much valuable earlier work into a coherent research strategy.