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Since late 2019, COVID-19 has devastated the global economy, with indirect implications for the environment. As governments’ prioritized health and implemented measures such as the closure of non-essential businesses and social distancing, many workers have lost their jobs, been furloughed, or started working from home. Consequently, the world of work has drastically transformed and this period is likely to have major implications for mobility, transportation and the environment. This paper estimates the potential for people to engage in remote work and social distancing using O*NET data and Irish Census data and calculates the potential emission savings, by commuter type from a switch to remote working and occupational social distancing. The results show that while those who commute by car have a relatively high potential for remote work, they are less likely to be able to engage in social distancing in their workplace. While this may be negative for employment prospects in the short run, our analysis indicates that this pattern has the potential for positive environmental implications in the short and long run.

Since 2000 and the launch of Science Foundation Ireland, Irish policymakers have been involved in a large-scale national science policy programme. Starting from a position with little pre-existing research infrastructure beyond its traditional higher education system, Ireland allocated significant public resources to rapidly develop an extensive research centres programme. These centres are designed to harness knowledge embedded in the national science base to impact firm-level Research and Development (R&D). Each research centre focuses on basic and applied research (as opposed to development), targeted at prioritised sectors of the economy. Using a novel panel dataset (2007–2017), our analysis provides the first evaluation of these research centres. Results indicate that research centre collaborations increase firm-level R&D, and, over time, re-orientate collaborating firms' R&D towards more applied research. We also consider how impacts vary depending on the firms’ characteristics (size and sector), and research centre characteristics. Our findings demonstrate that Ireland's policy programme improved firms' R&D profile, and suggest key policy lessons for other economies who might consider adopting a similar strategy.\ud \ud

In this paper we empirically analyse the innovation returns to firms which engage in nanotechnology research. Using propensity score matching we match firms which engage in nanotechnology research with statistically similar firms which do not. This allows us to assess whether there is a difference in their respective innovative output. We note that firms which engage in nanotechnology research have higher levels of turnover derived from newly innovative goods and services than firms which do not engage in nanotechnology research after controlling for differences in R&D intensity, openness to external agents and other firm specific characteristics. This suggests that firms which engage in nanotechnology research may gain an innovation premium over similar firms which do not engage in this specific form of research.

Background Mania/hypomania is the hallmark feature of bipolar disorder. This paper aims to review the current evidence in relation to factors hypothesised to precipitate bipolar mania/hypomania, and suggest areas for future research. Methods A selective review of original and review papers was conducted. The electronic databases ‘PsycINFO’ and ‘PubMed’ were searched using the following search strings: “bipolar disorder” or “mania” or “hypomania” or “manic-depression” with “triggers” or “precipitants” or “precedents” or “predictors”. Results There is evidence that goal attainment events, antidepressant medication, disrupted circadian rhythms, spring/summer seasonal conditions, and more tentatively, stressful life events and high emotional expression, may precipitate bipolar mania/hypomania in susceptible individuals. Evidence from case reports and clinical observations are also reported. Discussion The pathways to bipolar mania/hypomania may be many and varied, and many of these pathways may be outside the awareness of individuals with bipolar disorder. Greater awareness of the broad number of precipitating factors is needed to inform self-management and psycho-educational programs to build resilience to further episodes. Future research is needed to explore what other factors may precipitate bipolar mania/hypomania, and to determine why some factors may precipitate mania/hypomania in some individuals with bipolar I or II disorder but not in others.

Using firm level data from the Irish Community Innovation Survey 2008–2010 we analyse the importance of eight skill sets for the innovation performance of firms. We distinguish between radical and incremental innovation. Our results suggest that there is substantial heterogeneity in the importance of skills for different types of innovation and that some skills are best sourced from outside the firm while others are best developed in-house.