Digital Commons Network^™

Defining Gastrocriticism As A Critical Paradigm On The Example Of Irish Literature And Food Writing: A Vade Mecum, Anke Klitzing

Doctoral

The aim of this study is to map out the gastrocritical approach, using Irish literature and writing to test its premises, and to provide a vade mecum for its practical application, particularly for interdisciplinary scholars. The gastrocritical approach furnishes a “culinary lens” for reading food and foodways in imaginative texts, informed by work in the field of food studies and gastronomy. The approach was broadly characterised by Tobin in 2002, but only sparsely used since. The past fifteen years have seen an increasing self-awareness and reflexivity in the field of literary food studies. As the field matures, there have been …

Biomechanics Of Head Impacts In An Unhelmeted Sport, Stephen Tiernan

Doctoral

Concussion in sport is very common and often the injury is undetectable using CT and MRI scans. In addition, approximately 50% of concussions areunreported.The project initially investigated the suitability of a skin patch sensor and a head-band sensorfor the measurement of head impacts in unhelmeted sports. It was found that both were unsuitable due to large angular accelerationerrors. Thestudy then collaborated withCAMLab at Stanford University and 25 Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) athletes were fitted CAMLab’s validated instrumented mouthguard. 451 video confirmed impacts were recorded at 19 sparring and 11 competitive MMA events. Five concussions were diagnosed during the competitive events. …

Keepers Of The Port: Visualising Place And Identity In A Dublin Dock Community, Moira Sweeney

Doctoral

This practice-based thesis responds to the absence of documentary film or photographic studies and scholarship that embrace the contrasting experiences of different dock working constituencies in the transforming early twenty-first century space of Dublin Port. It is a filmic investigation into how the experiences and memories of this community of workers in Dublin’s surviving port space shape their urban identity and sense of place, undertaken with regard to the sensuous, haptic qualities of documentary and ethnographic filmmaking. In the ever-shifting world of neoliberalism, its narratives – in relation to labour practices – prioritise faceless markets over the humanity of working …

Lived Experiences Of Reintegration: A Study Of How Former Prisoners Experienced Reintegration In A Local Context., Sylvia Brand

Doctoral

Notwithstanding prison populations generally being characterised by a high degree of marginalisation and socio-economic disadvantage –– the concept of reintegration pertains to the notion that prisoners eventually return to the community to live crimefree and productive lives. That so many are outside the realm of mainstream society, it can be argued that to expect prisoners to “reintegrate” back into society poses somewhat of a conundrum –– as most were never fully integrated into society to begin with. Using an interpretive phenomenological approach this thesis investigates the experience of reintegration in a small city (population = 119,230) from in-depth interviews with …

Formations Of Indian Cinema In Dublin: A Participatory Researcher-Fan Ethnography, Giovanna Rampazzo

Doctoral

This thesis explores emergent formations of Indian cinema in Dublin with a particular focus on globalising Bollywood film culture, offering a timely analysis of how Indian cinema circulates in the Irish capital in terms of consumption, exhibition, production and identity negotiation. The enhanced visibility of South Asian culture in the Irish context is testimony to on the one hand, the global expansion of Hindi cinema, and on the other, to the demographic expansion of the South Asian community in Ireland during the last decade. Through varying degrees of participant observation in and across sites of film production and consumption, alongside …

A Bio-Ecological Perspective On Educational Transition: Experiences Of Children, Parents And Teachers., Leah O'Toole

Doctoral

This thesis explores the potential of Bronfenbrenner’s Bio-ecological Model of Human Development (Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006) as a framework for theory and research in psychology, sociology and education. It draws on other well-known conceptual approaches, particularly Bourdieu’s theories of social reproduction, habitus, field and cultural capital, investigating points of theoretical enhancement and synthesis. This culminates in the development of eight Propositions for a Bio-ecological Framework. These are then tested using data from a qualitative examination of two key educational transitions, pre-school to primary and primary to secondary school. Using qualitative methodologies, this research explores perspectives of children, teachers and parents …

(Mis)Interpreting Arts And Health: What (Else) Can An Arts Practice Do?, Sheelagh Broderick

Doctoral

This research project concerns arts practices in healthcare settings and the encounter between artist, researcher, healthcare professional and institution. Rather than understanding arts practices as either therapeutic or recreational services, this research asks instead, what (else) can an arts practice do? This is accomplished by connecting two previously separate bodies of scholarship; health sociology and an art criticism of expanded arts practices. By connecting these bodies of scholarship, this inquiry offers a new conceptual language and orientation for arts and health practitioners distinct from the evidence-based practice model most prevalent in academic and professional discourses and consequently establishes a transdisciplinary …

Handling Concept Drift In The Context Of Expensive Labels, Patrick Lindstrom

Doctoral

Machine learning has been successfully applied to a wide range of prediction problems, yet its application to data streams can be complicated by concept drift. Existing approaches to handling concept drift are overwhelmingly reliant on the assumption that it is possible to obtain the true label of an instance shortly after classification at a negligible cost. The aim of this thesis is to examine, and attempt to address, some of the problems related to handling concept drift when the cost of obtaining labels is high. This thesis presents Decision Value Sampling (DVS), a novel concept drift handling approach which periodically …

Gender And Ses Effects On Multidimensional Self-Concept Development During Adolescence, Patricia Meredith Orr

Doctoral

The present study constitutes an integral part of the Dublin Child Development Study, a longitudinal study which began in 1986 and which has had eight waves of data collection since its inception. Using data collected during two of these waves, multidimensional self-concept status of 72 participants (F = 40, M = 32) was examined at 10 (T1) and 17 (T2) years of age. Longitudinal changes in multidimensional self-concept between T1 and T2 were also examined. The Shavelson Hubner and Stanton Structural Model (1976) was used as the theoretical basis for this research; this model emphasises the multidimensionality of the self-concept …

Licensed To Care: Inhabiting The Transnational Economy Of "Global Pinoy", Fidel Taguinod

Doctoral

The Philippines’ experience in international labour migration is widely considered a success – an observation endorsed by international bodies such as the World Health Organisation. As an active source of professional nurses to the developed world, the country continues to produce more nurses than the local nursing market can employ; a labour strategy that is promoted, facilitated and supported by the Philippine state and nursing educational system. This thesis interrogates Filipino nurse migration through the methodological prism of autoethnography, drawing on first-hand experience and reflexive accounts, interviews, photographs, policy documents and material cultural artefacts, to critically examine and challenge the …

Molecular Genetic And Dna Methylation Profiling Of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia: A Focus On Divergent Prognostic Subgroups And Subsets, Nicola Cahill

Doctoral

Advancements in prognostication have improved the subdivision of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) into diverse prognostic subgroups. In CLL, IGHV unmutated and IGHV3-21 genes are associated with a poor-prognosis, conversely, IGHV mutated genes with a favourable outcome. The finding of multiple CLL subsets expressing ‘stereotyped’ B-cell receptors (BCRs) has suggested a role for antigen(s) in leukemogenesis. Patients belonging to certain stereotyped subsets share clinical and biological characteristics, yet limited knowledge exists regarding the genetic and epigenetic events that may influence their clinical behaviour. This thesis aimed to, further investigate Swedish IGHV3-21-utilising patients, screen for genetic and DNA methylation events in CLL …

What Are The Visible And Invisible Archaeologies Of Conflict In The Irish Landscape Of Donegal And How May These Be Contextualised And Represented Through Arts Practice, Mhairi Sutherland

Doctoral

The research question - "What are the visible and invisible archaeologies of conflict in the Irish landscape of Donegal and how may these be contextualised and represented through arts practice?" has been addressed through textual and historical research and through arts practice, using lens-based media in the exploration of an historic series of military circumstances, in the contemporary Irish landscape of County Donegal. The research undertaken and the resulting outcomes are presented as a textual narrative and as visual arts practice. The thesis material is composed of five chapters, each of which discusses selected arguments in the fields of, respectively; …

Rationalising Public Service: Scheduling As A Tool Of Management In Rté Television, Ann-Marie Murray

Doctoral

Developments in the media industry, notably the increasing commercialisation of broadcasting and deregulation, have combined to create a television system that is now driven primarily by ratings. Public broadcast organisations must adopt novel strategies to survive and compete in this new environment, where they need to combine public service with popularity. In this context, scheduling has emerged as the central management tool, organising production and controlling budgets, and is now the driving force in television. Located within Weber’s theoretical framework of rationalisation, this study analyses the rise of scheduling as part of a wider organisational response to political and economic …

Investigation To Improve The Control And Operation Of A Three-Phase Photovoltaic Grid-Tie Inverter, Mohamed Moin Hanif

Doctoral

Solar Energy or more precisely photovoltaic energy is one of the most promising sources of electricity for the future and it can be used as a distributed generator (DG) to play its role in ‘smart grids of the future’. Distributed PV (photovoltaic) generators can provide numerous potential benefits such as augmenting the capacity of distribution systems, deferring capital investments on distribution and transmission (T&D) systems and improving power quality and system reliability. The PV energy which possesses very special I-V and P-V characteristics has to be conditioned by a PV inverter before it can be consumed by an ac load …

Holiday Home, Sweet Home: A Phenomenological Approach To Second Home Living In Ireland, Deirdre N. Quinn

Doctoral

This study constructs a phenomenological account of the second home living experience in Ireland, exploring the interactions between the everyday home life and the holiday home life of the second home owner. It is contextualized by a critical review of the relevant literatures on post-modernism, cosmopolitanism, home and second home living. The thesis utilises a package of participant-centred qualitative methodologies (including in-depth interviews, audio diaries and participants’ photographs) in order to produce a fine-grained insight into their experiences of second home living.

The fieldwork consists of two phases, the first based on in-depth interviews with second home owners and the …

Food Anxieties: Issues For The Food Sector, Denise Kelly

Doctoral

People have become obsessed with the harmful effects of eating (Rozin, 1999) and are experiencing ‘food anxiety’, a by-product of modern food. The aim of this research was to explore the nature of food anxiety in Ireland and the potential implications for the food sector. The research objectives were to determine the range of issues causing food anxiety in Irish consumers; to investigate the impact of food anxiety on food choice behaviour; to examine the potential of food anxiety as a segmentation variable for categorizing consumers; and to identify antecedents to the experience of food anxiety. A sequential, mixed methodology …

The Screenplays Of Robert Towne 1960-2000, Elaine Lennon

Doctoral

What follows is a study of Hollywood screenwriter Robert Towne. Theoretical notions of the screenplay have largely been cast in terms of screenwriting practice as an adjunct of studio production schedules. A popular cultural text in its own right, the screenplay is a procedurally central yet provisional document originated by a writer and subject to alteration within the production process. Auteurism has dominated film theory for over fifty years and is the point of departure for this study. While the critical method employed here is not rigidly anti-director, it seeks to enact an intervention into prior debates surrounding the attribution …

Boy Cultures And The Performance Of Teenage Masculinities, Cliona Barnes

Doctoral

This thesis is a response to negative media and public portrayals of young white working class men in Ireland It is prompted by the emergence into the public sphere of the Department of Education and Science’s Exploring Masculinities programme, a curriculum initiative designed to counter perceived problematic elements of youthful masculinity. This programme initiated a debate in the Irish media on men and boys, and gave a particular Irish dimension to the international focus on issues and questions about masculinity, social class and youth culture. My research seeks to uncover what lies behind increasingly negative and intransigent portrayals of young …