Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Referring Expression Generation Challenge 2008 Dit System Descriptions (Dit-Fbi, Dit-Tvas, Dit-Cbsr, Dit-Rbr, Dit-Fbi-Cbsr, Dit-Tvas-Rbr), John D. Kelleher, Brian Mac Namee

Conference papers

This papers desibes a set of systems developed at DIT for the Referring Expression Generation challenage at INLG 2008.In Proceedings of the 5th International Natural Language Generation Conference (INLG-08)

Application Of The Fractal Market Hypothesis For Modelling Macroeconomic Time Series, Jonathan Blackledge

Articles

This paper explores the conceptual background to financial time series analysis and financial signal processing in terms of the Efficient Market Hypothesis. By revisiting the principal conventional approaches to market analysis and the reasoning associated with them, we develop a Fractal Market Hypothesis that is based on the application of non-stationary fractional dynamics using an operator of the type
∂² / ∂x² − σ^q(t) * ∂ ^q(t)/ ∂t^q(t)

where σ⁻¹ is the fractional diffusivity and q is the Fourier dimension which, for the topology considered, (i.e. the one-dimensional case) is related to the Fractal …

Control And The Protean Career: A Critical Perspective From The Multinational’S International Assignees, Marian Crowley-Henry, David Weir

Articles

Mainstream management literature and research regarding the international career has long focused on the traditional expatriate experience. In this discourse the tendency has been to outline the benefits and issues to be considered for organizations and individuals embarking on international assignments. In contrast this chapter focuses on a special group whose positioning in the structures of employment and organization is in some ways exemplary of developing trends in the global labor force. They are the highly educated permanent expatriates who remain in the host country indefinitely (that is without a pre-determined organizational option of repatriation to their initial home country). …

The Birth Of The European Union: Us And Uk Roles In The Creation Of A Unified European Community, Bruce Carolan

Articles

The United States jealously guards its national sovereignty. This has been reflected in reluctance to participate fully in international agreements or organizations with a 'supranational' flavor, such as the International Criminal Court or the Kyoto Protocols. It is therefore surprising to find that the United States was one of the principal architects of the supranational characteristics of what has developed into the European Union. Specifically, the earliest stages of European integration, which is embodied in the European Coal and Steel Community Treaty, were heavily influenced by US insistence on creation of supranational institutions that could exert dominance over sovereign European …

Digital Radio Policy In Canada: From Analog Replacement To Multimedia Convergence, Brian O'Neill

Articles

Digital radio policy in Canada has moved from a position of seeking to migrate all radio broadcasting onto a single digital transmission system (Eureka-147) to a multi-platform, cross-media and multimedia approach. The most recent digital radio policy of 2006 suggests a range of new possibilities for radio broadcasting, including multimedia broadcasting, but as a result has compromised the early adoption of the Eureka-147 standard. This paper contrasts the different policy contexts of 1995 and 2006 and argues that the competing technological options for digital audio delivery now pose significant dilemmas for broadcasters and policy makers.

The Community Life Of Older People In Ireland, Carmel Gallagher

Books/Book chapters

No abstract provided.

The Experience Of Young People Remanded In Custody: A Case For Bail Support And Supervision Schemes, Sinead Freeman

Articles

This article focuses on the potential role and benefits bail support and supervision(BSS) schemes may have for young people in the Irish context. This article is based on a wider Ph.D study examining the issue of coping on remand. The research used court observation and semi-structured interviews conducted with young prisoners aged 16 to 21 years in remand custody. The findings indicate that young people often end up in remand custody as a result of non-compliance with bail. The case is made arising from the research, that the operation of bail support and supervision (BSS) schemes may benefit these young …

Child Sexual Abuse And Hiv Transmission In Sub-Saharan Africa, Kevin Lalor

Articles

The purpose of this paper is to examine the risks of HIV transmission to children through sexual abuse and exploitation in sub-Saharan Africa. The paper is based on a review of pertinent literature. Child sexual abuse in this region must be defined broadly enough to encompass widespread coercion or violence in early sexual relations in some regions, the practice of ‘transactional sex’ and constructions of masculinity, emphasising multiple sexual partners and power over women and girls. The high HIV prevalence in SSA is briefly described. Research evidence showing the link between child sexual abuse and HIV transmission is reviewed, although …

Study On Safety And Liability Issues Relating To Package Travel, Frank Alleweldt, Klaus Tonner, Marc Mcdonald

Articles

This study on safety and liability issues relating to package travel, package holidays and package tours highlights some of the gaps in the EU package travel law by answering a number of specific questions related to statistical evidence, Community legislation, and US legislation. It also suggests possible solutions to fill these gaps. The study was prepared by Civic Consulting and is based on a legal analysis, a literature review, an evaluation of statistical data, and on interviews with European and national travel and tour operator associations, individual tour operators, European and national associations of insurers, individual insurance companies, and European …

Revenue Maximisation; An Examination Of The Influences Of Heuristics And Biases On The Yield Management Decision Process In Dublin Hotels, Tony Kiely

Conference papers

Yield management in hotels has been described as a method of profitably managing fixed room capacity. A critical element of yield management is the decision strategy employed, as this determines the degree to which optimum financial solutions are generated. Recent research has indicated that the use of technology assisted decision optimising models, specifically the management science model of decision making, would greatly improve decision optimisation, by minimising the need to employ guesswork in achieving financial goals. However, despite this assurance, yield management remains couched in uncertainty through being inextricably associated with forecasting future demand for a perishable product in an …

Heritage Awareness In County Wicklow., Anne Dagg

Masters

This research project investigated the community’s current level of heritage awareness in County Wicklow. The study was initiated by Wicklow County Council and the Heritage Council in response to objective 1, action 1.2 of the County Wicklow heritage plan 2004-2008, which pointed to the need to undertake a study to determine public attitudes towards heritage and to gauge the current level of awareness about heritage in the county. The findings of this research are being used on an ongoing basis by the Wicklow County Council and the Wicklow Heritage Forum to inform the decision making process concerning the direction and …

Poverty, Diet And Health Behaviours: A Quantitative And Qualitative Study Among Young Urbanised Women., Daniel Mccartney

Doctoral

Demographic, socio-economic, attitudinal, dietary, health behavioural and anthropometric data were collected from 221 “disadvantaged” and 74 “advantaged” women aged 18-35 years across Dublin, according to the provisions of a novel socio-economic sampling frame. Internal and external validation techniques established the dietary assessment method of choice and identified “valid” dietary reporters (n=216, 153 disadvantaged, 63 advantaged) among this sample. Five qualitative focus groups (n=5-8 per group) were also conducted among disadvantaged women to examine their diet and health behaviour choices. Lower intakes of fruit and vegetables (172g/d vs. 405g/d, p

A Study On The Use Of Ontologies To Represent Collective Knowledge, John Mcauley

Masters

The development of ontologies has become an area of considerable research interest over the past number of years. Domain ontologies are often developed to represent a shared understanding that in turn indicates cooperative effort by a user community. However, the structure and form that an ontology takes is predicated both on the approach of the developer and the cooperation of the user community. A shift has taken place in recent years from the use of highly specialised and expressive ontologies to simpler knowledge models, progressively developed by community contribution. It is within this context that this thesis investigates the use …

How Does Advertising Articulate The Tropes Of The Posthuman That Exist In Contemporary Culture?, Norah Campbell

Doctoral

The posthuman is a concept that has accrued much currency in disciplines as diverse as legal theory, artificial life science and philosophy. This thesis explores the meaning of the concept by initially examining what it means to be human, finding that art and science have so far failed to provide a long-lasting definition of humanness. Instead of a temporal “coming-after” stage of humanity, posthumanism might be more usefully seen as a concept that draws attention to the cracks that have always existed in the apparently water-tight description of the human- how the “human” has changed radically and continues to change …

Two Tribes Go To War: An Examination Of Social Interactions At Irish Football Games, Niamh Kirwan

Masters

research is to explore social life and interaction in sporting space. Despite the growing interest in the field of sport consumption, the experiences of supporters have not been adequately theorised. Studies acknowledging the sport supporter tend to focus supporters as lone individuals or as rigid groups of homogenous individuals that fit into a typology. In this study, I examine the distinct ways in which supporters in small groups interact in the sporting space through mutual relationships and interdependent social networks. Maffesoli (1996) is the original proponent in the study of tribal consumption groups. Maffesoli’s (1996) work has not been used …