Digital Commons Network^™

Sharing The Big Apple : A Survey Study Of People, Place And Locatability, Samer Nadim Karam

Theses

Over the past half century social trends and new technologies have weakened local social ties and thus, the fabric of civil society itself. Mobile location-aware community systems offer one path to redress these problems by enhancing community cohesion and the formation of social capital by helping people to meet each other and coordinate their actions. However, little is known about the general population's desire and attitude towards these systems.

The design space described by the People-to-People-to-Geographical-Places Framework (P3-Framework), was used to guide a survey study of the impact of 'place' on people's social information needs and their willingness to share …

Digital Libraries And Middleware Technology, Muhammad Umar Qasim

Theses

Digital libraries deliver personalized knowledge directly to their users, without being restricted to the contents of a physical library. In a digital library information from any online source can be managed and shared, making more knowledge available to users than before. The information sharing is achieved by integrating many autonomous heterogeneous systems available. The challenge is to provide users with the ability to transparently access digital library contents in spite of the heterogeneity among the information sources.

Research communities have proposed several approaches to accomplish the system integration in digital libraries. In this thesis, the working of currently employed approaches …

Performance Measurement In Irish Credit Unions: An Evaluation Of Pearls, Ruth Vance

Theses

In recent years, the appropriateness of the measures used in performance measurement systems is one of the areas within Management Accounting that attracts significant interest. Even though a lot has been written on the advances in measurement systems in for-profit organisations there is a lack of literature on performance measurement systems in not-for-profit organisations. This dissertation describes and evaluates the performance measurement system used by credit unions in Ireland.

A literature review on performance measurement identifies the criteria that a performance measurement system needs in order to be effective: namely it should be linked to the organisation’s strategic objectives, reflect …

Towards A Best Practice Framework : The Case Of Institutes Of Technology Campus Incubators, Mary Fenton

Theses

Campus incubators catalyse campus enterprise development by encouraging Third Level “spin offs”, commercialisation of research and facilitating “spin-in” enterprises. They provide academic staff, graduates and “spin-in” entrepreneurs with a range of support services including space, advice, training, mentoring and networking opportunities. The real value of a campus incubator location for clients is their association with a reputable Third level Institute and access to the Institute’s resources namely academic staff, embedded knowledge, manager’s expertise and enterprise netvyorks. The researcher explored literature on campus and business incubators and identified a lacuna of research on campus incubation, particularly within Irish Higher Education Institutes. …

Getting Real About Ebusiness In Ireland : A Marketing Perspective, Daniel Finbarr Sheehan

Theses

Electronic business has been promoted as marking a sea change in the way companies can develop and deliver products and services. Global markets are increasingly accessible in the new digital economy. Ireland, situated on the periphery of continental Europe, appears to be a perfect example of an economy that can benefit from this new medium. This thesis seeks to go beyond the hype in order to examine eBusiness as a marketing channel.

Given the new opportunities made possible by information and communication technology (ICT), it is instructive to investigate the attitudes of marketers to electronic business. An online survey was …

An Investigation Into The Role Of Social Marketing In Preventing Adolescent Drinking., Cian Long

Theses

In recent years, there has been increased concern about the level of alcohol abuse by Irish teenagers. Countless studies have shown that underage drinking is now becoming an epidemic. Up to 100 million young people around the globe are alcohol dependent and another 400 million drink to excess. Research has shown that early onset of alcohol use can lead to alcohol dependency, violence, absenteeism, crime and subsequent health problems. It is estimated that alcohol related problems cost the Irish economy €2.65 billion in 2003. Unfortunately, this alcohol problem is not going to vanish or disappear. Alcohol has become Ireland’s number …

A Framework Of Best Practice For Community Based Tourism Inititives, Cornelius O'Sullivan

Theses

This study commences with a detailed analysis of the tourism industry from a global perspective charting its inception through the time of the Persian, Assyrian, Greek, Egyptian & Roman empires to the present elimate, surpassed then by adherence to future predictions. The study then moves to examine the Irish tourism product by acknowledging the individuals who have pioneered & continue to survey its development. The study in response to its principle aim of creating a Framework of Best Practice for Community Based Tourism Initiatives identifies, discusses & evaluates in detail four core fundamental building blocks for such initiatives. These four …

Family Friendly / Work Life Balance Policies: Perspectives Of Irish Employers And Employees, Caroline Williams

Theses

This study assesses the emergence of family friendly / work life balance arrangements within Irish organisations in view of changing conditions on the labour market, particularly with the increased participation of women. It incorporates the experiences, opinions and commentaries of both Human Resource representatives responsible for the implementation of such practices, and employees availing of them in a broad spectrum of public and private sector organisations.

This research addresses the perceived explicit and implicit barriers, such as organisational size, location and culture which challenge employers and employees in terms of alternative working arrangements. It illustrates the significance of introducing and …

Employee Retention And Customer Relationships In Services Industry, Aileen O'Connell

Theses

The business environment of the 1990s has seen a shift in firms’ emphasis away from recruiting new customers, towards nurturing and retaining those that they currently have (Palmer, 1996). The marketing emphasis has moved from customer acquisition to customer retention. Reicheld, (1996a) has identified a link between customer and employee retention, but this link has not been extrapolated by many researchers. For the purpose of this study, the researcher proposes to examine this link.

A large number of people who work for organisations are no longer what would be termed “traditional” employees of those organisations, i.e. employees for life. These …

The Evidence For A Nascent Biotechnology Cluster In Cork, John W. Hobbs

Theses

Over the past 30 years, encouraged by Ireland’s low rate of corporation tax (currently 12.5 %), and active promotion of FDI by the IDA, foreign owned pharmaceutical plants have set up and multiplied in the Cork area. To Ireland’s advantages of a low tax rate, an English speaking population, a pro-business environment and membership of EU, Cork offered the added attractions of a deepwater port and large natural harbour, good freight connections, an international airport, an educated workforce and excellent sporting and leisure facilities for sailing, golf, etc. (Pfizer, Eli Lilly, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Schering Plough have …

An Investigation Into The Role Of Social Marketing In Preventing Adolescent Drinking., Cian Long

Theses

In recent years, there has been increased concern about the level of alcohol abuse by Irish teenagers. Countless studies have shown that underage drinking is now becoming an epidemic. Up to 100 million young people around the globe are alcohol dependent and another 400 million drink to excess. Research has shown that early onset of alcohol use can lead to alcohol dependency, violence, absenteeism, crime and subsequent health problems. It is estimated that alcohol related problems cost the Irish economy €2.65 billion in 2003. Unfortunately, this alcohol problem is not going to vanish or disappear. Alcohol has become Ireland’s number …

A Study Of Indian Culture As A Basis For Design, Evevon L. Little

Theses

This thesis will focus on the historical background of Indian-American culture. One key objective is to create a contemporary garment based on the knowledge of Indian traditional clothing.

Research has contributed to gaining knowledge about a continents regional inspirations and understanding how the environment plays a role in many lifestyles. The author sought to gain familiarity with many phases of Indian culture from regional textiles to cuisine.

Today, western influences of India are becoming more contemporary. American designers are mixing the vibrant embroidered textiles of India into their work. Not only is fashion of India popular, their crafts and arts …

A Guide To The Management & Operation Of A Chinese Restaurant In The United States, Wen-Chiung Huang

Theses

Before writing this thesis, the reason I choose for the issue of management and operation of Chinese restaurant is not because so much mass communication was related. It is the idea of the restaurant business how it to be created by using media or people's words of mouth. It is difficult to start a new business in the foreign country. Restaurant business does the same. In the early a late age of immigration, people realized only work hard can made a better life for themselves and their next generation. They started have their own business, created job opportunity even contributed …