Digital Commons Network^™

Volatility Spillovers Between Stock Prices And Exchange Rates: Empiral Evidence From Six Apec Economies, Lucia Morales, Mary O'Donnell

Conference papers

This paper set out to examine the volatility linkages between stock returns and exchange rates in a number of East Asian markets. Overall, our main results indicate that since the Asian financial crises, there exists significant scope for investors and portfolio managers to diversify their assets between stocks and currencies in these markets. In particular, the lack of volatility spillovers between stock markets and exchange rates, and between exchange rates and stock markets in all countries, except Taiwan in the post crises period indicates that there is scope for investors to diversify their investments and to benefit from potential gains …

Strategic Partnerships And The Internationalisation Process Of Software Smes, Aileen Kennedy, Kathy Keeney

Conference papers

This research investigates the strategic partnering activities of software SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises), their motivations to engage in strategic partnerships as part of the internationalisation process, the key benefits achieved and the main challenges encountered. A qualitative research methodology focusing on Irish indigenous firms is used. Findings suggest that strategic partnerships were initiated to take advantage of firm synergy, reputation and credibility advantages. Partnerships also served as an important foreign market entry mechanism allowing firms to accelerate sales cycles and reduce risk in overseas markets. Challenges facing firms included partner selection and issues of control. Directions for further …

Process Modelling Support For The Conceptual Modelling Phase Of A Simulation Project, Cathal Heavey, John Ryan

Conference papers

While many developments have taken place around supporting the model coding task of simulation, there are few tools available to assist in the conceptual modelling phase. Several authors have reported the advantages of using process modelling tools in the early phases of a simulation project.

This paper provides an overview of process modelling tools in relation to their support for simulation, categorizing the tools into formal method and descriptive methods. A conclusion from this review is that none of the tools available adequately support the requirements gathering phase of simulation. This is not surprising as none of the process modelling …

Mems Mobile Gis: A Spatially Enabled Fish Habitat Management System, Andrea Rizzini, Keith Gardiner, Michela Bertolotto, James Carswell

Conference papers

Spatially enabled computing can provide assistance to both web-based and mobile users by exploiting positional information and associated contextual knowledge. The Mobile Environmental Management System (MEMS) is a proof of concept prototype that has been developed in order to simplify administrative duties of biologists at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), Canada. MEMS aims to deliver contextaware functionality aided by visualization, analysis and manipulation of spatial and attribute datasets. The resulting application delivers a set of functions and services that aids the DFO’s biologists in making everyday management decisions

A Lost Soul In Search Of The Light : Francois Mauriac's ''Therese Desqueyroux'', Eamon Maher

Articles

Material reproduced by kind permission of Reality

Application Of Advanced Computational Modelling In The Numerical Prediction Of The Haemodynamic Impact Of Coronary Stent Implantation, Jonathan Murphy, Fergal Boyle

Conference Papers

Coronary stent implantation can improve blood flow in an artery narrowed by the build up of arterial plaque. However, the haemodynamic effect of stent placement is unclear and may influence arterial restenosis (re-blockage). In this investigation the stent induced, non-Newtonian blood flow disturbances have been captured in a three dimensional computational domain. The results clearly show areas of low wall shear stress proximal and distal to the stent wires, a characteristic which is known to encourage restenosis. Furthermore, this computational method of observing the complex haemodynamics of the stent environment can be used in conjunction with medical trial data to …

Clinical Viability Study Of Preattentive Visual Search Glaucoma, James Loughman

Doctoral

Background/Aim: Previous research has shown that several clinical conditions cause increased pre-attentive visual search (PAVS) times, implying reduced parallel search capabilities in glaucoma, DLB dementia and Parkinson’s disease. The purpose of the research reported here was two-fold • To examine for the first time the effect of a number of variables on PAVS performance including optical blur, age, retinal eccentricity and perceptual learning. Such investigations are designed to elucidate the nature of best clinical practise and to determine whether the test remains viable in the presence of such potentially confounding variables. • To analyse the efficiency of PAVS in cases …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Digital Radio Cultures In Europe: Progress To Date And Prospects For The Future:A Review Of Research Produced By Drace, Brian O'Neill, Stephen Lax

Conference Papers

Digital Radio Cultures in Europe (DRACE), was established in 2004 under the COST Action A20 “The Impact of the Internet on Mass Media in Europe”. The original configuration of the COST A20 group included provision for an internet and music research group but this was re-focussed following a re-organisation in which DRACE was more formally incorporated. The group comprises 14 researchers with specific interests in radio from Norway, Finland, Denmark, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Croatia, the United Kingdom and Ireland. The objective of the research group is to be at the forefront of empirical research on changes in radio cultures …

A Decade Of Reflection: Early Childhood Care And Education In Ireland 1996-2006, Noirin Hayes, Siobhan Bradley

Conference Papers

You are welcome to the first seminar in a CSER series intended to consider aspects of early childhood education and care1 [ECEC] from a policy, research and practice perspective and promote discussion and debate. In this introduction to the seminar I want to outline some of the thinking behind the topic for today and present - with limited elaboration - a personal reflection to add to the discussion and debate. In choosing to reflect on the development and impact of early childhood education and care policy in Ireland it is no surprise that the decade 1996 - 2006 should act …

Cop-On To The Risks Of Buying Abroad, Lorcan Sirr

Media

No abstract provided.

Child Sexual Abuse: How Young People Tell, Rosaleen Mcelvaney

Conference papers

This paper explores the theme of disclosing sexual abuse experiences in adolescence. As children develop increasing autonomy and independence they also develop cognitive, social and emotional skills which facilitate the process of disclosing personal experiences they have struggled for in some cases many years to maintain secrecy. Decision making skills which enable the young person to consider alternative consequences to their behaviour, multiple outcomes and an appreciation of the diverse perspectives of others enables them to weigh up the relative advantages and disadvantages of disclosure. Increased empathy enables them to appreciate the vulnerability of other children to abuse yet also …

Experimental Investigation On Voip Performance And The Resource Utilization In 802.11b Wlans, Miroslaw Narbutt, Mark Davis

Conference papers

In a shared medium network like the 802.11b WLAN, predicting the quality of VoIP calls from the resource usage of the wireless medium is highly desirable. Analyzing the bandwidth usage at the L2/MAC layer may be especially useful for potential QoS provisioning and call admission schemes. This paper experimentally investigates the relationship between resource utilization in WLANS and the quality of VoIP calls transmitted over wireless medium. Specifically we evaluate how the amount of free bandwidth influences transmission impairments (i.e. delay, loss and jitter) and thus call quality. Resource utilization (under the MAC bandwidth components framework) is calculated by a …

Serious Gordon Using Serious Games To Teach Food Safety In The Kitchen, Brian Mac Namee, Pauline Rooney, Patrick Lindstrom, Andrew Ritchie, Frances Boylan, Greg Burke

Conference papers

This paper will describe the development of Serious Gordon, an interactive digital game developed to tech the basics of kitchen food safety to workers in industries dealing with food. The motivations driving the development of the game will be described as will the development process itself. An initial evaluation of the game, from both a technical and pedagogical point of view, will be presented as will conclusions on the viability of using a commercial game engine for the purpose of developing educational games.

To Evaluate The Effects Of The Introduction Of A Smoke-Free Environment On The Lung Function Of Bar Workers In Dublin, Michele Agnew

Masters

It has long been recognised that exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) causes respiratory and cardio-vascular disease. A ban, prohibiting smoking in the workplace, was sanctioned by the Irish government and came into effect on 29 March, 2004. Bar staff were an ideal group to study the health effects of the introduction of this ban. Methods Workers were recruited through their Trade Union, Mandate, and 81 participated in the pre-ban phase of testing between September 2003 and March 2004. They attend the Respiratory Laboratory in St. James’s Hospital and underwent lung function tests and measurement of exhaled carbon monoxide (CO). …

The Transforming Power Of Grace, Eamon Maher

Articles

Material reproduced by kind permission of Reality

Influence Of Novel Preservation Methods On The Quality Of Minimally Processed Iceberg Lettuce And Carrot, Daniel Rico

Doctoral

The market of ready-to-fresh vegetables has grown rapidly in recent decades as a result of changes in consumer attitudes. Chlorine solutions are widely used to sanitise fresh-cut fruit and vegetables in the industry. However, the possible formation of carcinogenic chlorinated compounds in water has called into questions the use of chlorine in food processing plants. There is a real need to find new alternatives fro the preservation of minimal processed vegetables in order to maintain their quality attributes after processing. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of novel preservation methods on the quality of minimally process …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Subsidiary Entrepreneurship: An Exploratory Study, Enda Carolan

Masters

This is a study of subsidiary entrepreneurship. In recent years entrepreneurship has been promoted by academics, practitioners and governmental agencies as a panacea for subsidiary managers as they attempt to sustain and grow their subsidiaries. The research question that underpins this works relates to the transposition of the concept of entrepreneurship into large nature business units of multinational corporations (MNC). Drawing on four case studies of subsidiary managers who invoke the discourse of entrepreneurship to make sense of their managerial behaviour, this study examines the difference between entrepreneurship and subsidiary entrepreneurship. There are two key findings. Firstly subsidiary entrepreneurship is …

Bs News

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Task Based Mood-Induction Procedures To Generate High Quality Emotional Assets, Brian Vaughan, Charlie Cullen, Spyros Kousidis, Yi Wang, Ciaran Mcdonnell, Dermot Campbell

Conference papers

Detecting emotion in speech is important in advancing human-computer interaction, especially in the area of speech synthesis. This poster details experimental procedures based on Mood Induction Procedure 4, using performance related tasks to engender natural emotional responses in participants. These tasks are aided or hindered by the researcher to illicit the desired emotional response. These responses will then be recorded and their emotional content graded to form the basis of an emotional speech corpus. This corpus will then be used to develop a rule-set for basic emotional dimensions in speech.

Experimental Investigation Of The Effects Of Background Traffic Loads On Streamed Video Over 802.11b Wlans, Tanmoy Debnath, Nicola Cranley, Mark Davis

Conference papers

Video is a frame based media and video streaming is often described as “bursty” which has a large impact on the Quality of Service of the video streaming application over WLAN networks. In this paper the impact of background load on the performance of streaming MPEG-4 video with a video server located on the wired network streaming to wireless client is analysed. We experimentally investigate the performance for both uplink and downlink loads. The performance is measured in terms of the key parameters of bit rate, loss rate and mean delay since these are the primary factors that affect the …

Experimental Analysis Of An 802.11b Wireless Mesh Network, Brian Keegan, Karol Kowalik, Mark Davis

Conference papers

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) are a type of radio-based network which require minimal configuration and infrastructure. They can be built using relatively low cost radio and computing platforms. In this paper we attempt to analyze the performance of a simple WNM using various packet sizes as well as a multi-hop WMN.

Icing Location Client, Seamus Rooney, Keith Gardiner, James Carswell

Articles

The ICiNG (Innovative Cities for Next Generation) project is researching a multi-modal, multi-access model of e-Government. It develops the concept of a “thin-skinned City” that will be sensitive to both the citizen and the environment through the use of mobile devices, universal access gateways, social software and environmental sensors. Intelligent infrastructure will enable a Public Administration Services layer and a Communities layer. Communities will interact with the infrastructure to avail of ICiNG services created by the administration, and will also create their own information-based services.

Youth, Governance And The City: Towards A Critical Urban Sociology Of Youth Crime And Disorder Prevention, Matt Bowden

Articles

This article considers the historical and spatial context for the emergence of youth crime and disorder prevention initiatives in Ireland. These initiatives have to be understood in the context of their relationship to the broader ‘urban question’ and in particular the relationship of the peripheral housing estate to the rest of society and the economic sphere. More recent changes in the nature of society and the emergence of a ‘liberal creed’ have resulted in greater use of surveillance technologies for offsetting the opportunities for crime to be committed. In this context, youth crime prevention initiatives must be seen as an …

Textual Case-Based Reasoning For Spam Filtering: A Comparison Of Feature-Based And Feature-Free Approaches, Sarah Jane Delany, Derek Bridge

Articles

Spam filtering is a text classification task to which Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) has been successfully applied. We describe the ECUE system, which classifies emails using a feature-based form of textual CBR. Then, we describe an alternative way to compute the distances between cases in a feature-free fashion, using a distance measure based on text compression. This distance measure has the advantages of having no set-up costs and being resilient to concept drift. We report an empirical comparison, which shows the feature-free approach to be more accurate than the feature-based system. These results are fairly robust over different compression algorithms in …

A Study Into Developing Strategies For Internationally Competitive Irish-Owned Consumer Brands, Aidan O'Curry

Masters

The objectives of this study centre on researching the complexities inherent within the development of Irish owned consumer brands. This is with particular emphasis on the international development of Irish brands and the ways by which International success can be realized. There has been a notable lack of Irish successes in International markets since that achieved by brands such as Guiness, Bailey’s, and Kerrygold. Through examinination of the literature on branding and contextualization of the study considering the Irish business environment, the research aims to explore ways in which indigenous Irish brands can grow and achieve international success. The first …

Offshore Strategies In Global Political Economy: Small Islands And The Case Of The Eu And Oecd Harmful Tax Competition Initiatives, Richard Woodward

Articles

This article investigates how recent attempts by the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to clamp down on harmful tax competition will affect small island economies with offshore financial centres (OFCs). It argues that although there are legitimate concerns about the initiatives, the likelihood that small island OFCs will disappear is remote. A confluence of factors have forced the EU and OECD to dilute their original proposals to the extent that while some marginal OFCs may be driven out of existence, more sophisticated OFCs will be unharmed and may even benefit from this supposed …

The International Protean Career: Considerations For Human Resource Management, Marian Crowley-Henry

Conference papers

This paper presents some career patterns from a research undertaking which qualitatively sampled highly educated Western foreign residents in the South of France. In the data collection, their individual career stories were relayed to the researcher from in-depth exploratory interviews. The very personal and individual nature of these careers is underlined in the research findings. The aim of this paper is to share some of the broader findings from the study, which invoke discussion on the wider concerns for career management within the HRM discipline in the future.

In Vivo Mature Immunological Synapses Forming Smacs Mediate Clearance Of Virally Infected Astrocytes From The Brain, Carlos Barcia, Clare Thomas, James Curtin, Gwendalyn King, Kolja Wawrowsky, Marianela Candolfi, Weidong Xiong, Chunyan Liu, Kurt Kroeger, Olivier Boyer, Jerzy Kupiec-Weglinski, David Klatzmann, Maria Castro, Pedro Lowenstein

Articles

The microanatomy of immune clearance of infected brain cells remains poorly understood. Immunological synapses are essential anatomical structures that channel information exchanges between T cell–antigen-presenting cells (APC) during the priming and effector phases of T cells' function, and during natural killer–target cell interactions. The hallmark of immunological synapses established by T cells is the formation of the supramolecular activation clusters (SMACs), in which adhesion molecules such as leukocyte function-associated antigen 1 segregate to the peripheral domain of the immunological synapse (p-SMAC), which surrounds the T cell receptor–rich or central SMAC (c-SMAC). The inability so far to detect SMAC formation in …