Digital Commons Network^™

Philosophy For Teenagers: Finding New Relevence In Old Concepts, Andrea Monteath

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In 2008, the Curriculum Council of Western Australia launched a formal curriculum of philosophy and ethics education for upper secondary students. This thesis is a writing project that provides a new teaching text in support of this course. The thesis is composed of two components, a creative project and an essay. The creative project is a work of non-fiction entitled, Philosophy for Teenagers: Finding New Relevance in Old Concepts, and has been researched and designed employing the Western Australian Certificate of Education (WACE) Philosophy and Ethics course model. Philosophy for Teenagers aims to provide an innovative introduction to concepts such …

Exploring The Impact Of Social Media On Regional Festivals In Ireland: A Public Relations Perspective, Niamh Mccarthy

Theses

This study looks into the area of social media use in Irish festivals from a public relations perspective. The aim of the study is to provide an understanding of the effect social media is having on the regional festival industry in Ireland.

The study also accesses how social media has affected the public relations industry and reveals the predicted future of social media in Ireland. I’he study used a qualitative method of research through use of semi-structured interviews. Interviews were carried out face-to-face, online and on the telephone. All interviewees in the study had relevant experience in the social media …

Participant Characteristics And Child Welfare Outcomes: Factors Of Influence For Success In The Vip-Ri Program, Alisha Kutzler

Open Access Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to identify characteristics associated with success, defined by a closed case with Child Welfare Services and reunification with biological child, in the Vulnerable Infants Program of Rhode Island (VIP-RI). Data utilized for this study came from participants from the first four years of the VIP-RI program including 206 mothers involved in the Rhode Island Family Treatment Drug Court. These mothers met criteria for this program if they used drugs during pregnancy and voluntarily opted to be part of the VIP-RI program. Demographic, service history and psycho-behavioral variables were examined and, of the hypothesized variables …

Weighing Status: Obesity, Class, And Health Reform, Janet L. Dolgin, Katherine R. Dieterich

Hofstra Law Faculty Scholarship

The article explores the intersection between the nation’s presumptive “epidemic” of obesity and efforts to reform the health care system. It notes parallels between attitudes toward obesity and attitudes toward poverty and suggests that a set of social and legal responses about those deemed overweight or obese echoes a wider set of beliefs and values that lies beneath the national debate about health care reform. It suggests that these beliefs and values limited the reach of health reform in 2010 and continue to do so.

More specifically, the article examines America’s recent public focus on what has been labeled an …

Redistricting Effect In A Non-Partisan World: Toward A Theory Of Reapportionment At The County Board Level Of Government, Amy Uden

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Electoral redistricting shapes political scientists' perceptions of partisan polarization and incumbency. This paper examines the redistricting process at the county level of government, using the cases of McLean and Champaign Counties, Illinois. This research analyzes the McLean County board's voting cleavages in order to highlight considerations of nonpartisan electoral bodies. With Champaign County as a comparison, it also uses a series of linear regression models to analyze redistricting's effects on county incumbency and board composition. Redistricting impact proved insignificant, but the study demonstrates correlations between county electoral composition and state-level electoral trends, and also confirms the important influence of partisanship …

European Integration: A Plan To Make The Grade, Megan Weinstein

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Since World War II, millions of immigrants have settled into European societies. While many of these ethnic minorities are entering their second and third generation within their host countries there is still a deep sense of disunity and alienation. Some researchers suggest that the best way to acculturate these migrants into society is through structural integration where migrants are exposed to and involved in institutions such as the educational system. To examine the importance of education's impact on socio-cultural integration, this article examines the effect of educational structures on the socio-cultural integration of Europe's ethnic minority populations, including foreign-born migrants. …

Pulsed Radiofrequency Neuromodulation Of Peripheral Nerve Injury, Alex Willett

Honors Projects

Pulsed-radiofrequency neuromodulation (PRF) is a pain management technique that involves placing a needle electrode near nerves and generating electrical current pulses in order to modulate the transduction of somatosensory information through those nerves. This technique evolved from a similar radiofrequency (RF) procedure in which constant current is distributed to a nerve or neural structure. RF interrupts nerve conduction and prevents somatosensory information from reaching the brain. In the case of continuous radiofrequency, however, the destructive lesion can cause further complications and unwanted side effects. According to research, PRF, unlike RF, is non-destructive yet still induces analgesia and consequently represents a …

Perceptions Of A Deity And Corresponding Religious Group As Affected By Descriptions Of Gender And Personal Characteristics, Hannah R. Jones

Honors Projects

Both personal and social identities are important to the self-concept, but the values of such identities can come into question when they conflict with one another. The religious group, one such identification, can exert a great deal of influence over one’s thoughts and beliefs. However, religion is often critiqued for being a reflection of the patriarchal context from which a religion often emerges, which potentially elicits and reinforces gender stereotypes and sexism within the religious group. This can be seen in the Abrahamic religions; they maintain that their God does not claim biological sex nor gender, but their texts include …

Alternatives To Industrial Work Placement At Technological University City, Catherine Bates, Elena Gamble

Staff Articles and Research Papers

In the current economic crisis, higher education graduates need transferable professional skills more than ever. They need resourcefulness, an ability to work reflectively, a sense of civic awareness and an impressive curriculum vitae. This case study analyses how Technological University City’s Programme for Students Learning With Communities provides cost-effective, sustainable solutions to these needs, offering an alternative to industrial work placement. Community-based learning and research involve collaboration between staff and/or students and community partners to design real-life, course-based projects which meet the learning needs of the students and those of the community. The programme not only enriches the curriculum; it …

Forex Trading Using Metatrader 4 With The Fractal Market Hypothesis, Jonathan Blackledge, Kieran Murphy

Conference papers

This paper reports on the results of a research and development programme concerned with the analysis of currency pair exchange time series for Forex trading in an intensive applications and services environment. In particular, we present some of the preliminary results obtained for Forex trading using MetaTrader 4 with a new set of trend indicators deigned using a mathematical model that is based on the Fractal Market Hypothesis. This includes examples of various currency pair exchange rates considered over different time intervals and use of the indicators in a live trading environment to place a buy/sell order.

Currency Trading Using The Fractal Market Hypothesis, Jonathan Blackledge, Kieran Murphy

Articles

We report on a research and development programme in financial modelling and economic security undertaken in the Information and Communications Security Research Group (ICSRG, 2011) which has led to the launch of a new company - Currency Traders Ireland Limited - funded by Enterprise Ireland. Currency Traders Ireland Limited (CTI, 2011) has a fifty year exclusive license to develop a new set of indicators for analysing currency exchange rates (Forex trading). We consider the background to the approach taken and present examples of the results obtained to date.

Use Of Collaborative Learning Technology To Support Cross-Faculty Group Learning, Colm O'Kane, Jennifer Mcdonnell

Conference Papers

The scope of applications of computer supported collaborative learning (CSCL) has grown exponentially in recent years. This group of techniques has been found to be extremely effective as a collaborative tool to inspire scaffolding between students. It is also useful when several academic supervisors wish to view the same project work.

This paper describes the process and the motivation behind the first implementation of a campus pack-based project in Year 3 of Technological University Dublin's (DIT) BSc. in Product Design programme. Issues have been encountered in previous years with this cross-faculty managed project, but this work shows the potential that …

Rankings And The Reshaping Of Higher Education:The Battle For World Wide Excellence, Ellen Hazelkorn

Books/Book chapters

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Intuition In Strategic Decision Making: How Managers' Rationalize Intuition, Philomena Hanlon

Conference papers

This paper looks at the role of intuition in strategic decision making. While there is a considerable body of work on intuition generally empirical research on it and its use by managers is limited. Little research on managers in the ‘field’ has been carried out, with the work by Agor (1989) probably the best known. Due to the nature of intuition (an activity which takes place in the minds of individuals and which researchers can not access directly) this paper looks instead at the discursive patterns of mangers in relation to intuition in strategic decision making.

Primary data collection consisted …

Technology Enhanced Learning: Students' Views, Eileen O'Donnell, Mary Sharp

Conference Papers

User feedback is very important in all areas of computer science especially in the development of computer applications. Hence, student feedback on the use of technology enhanced learning in higher education in Ireland is relevant to the quality of the learning resources to be created by learning designers and academics in the future. The book “Student Reactions to Learning with Technologies: Perceptions and Outcomes” (Moyle & Wijngaards, 2012) was published by IGI Global in October 2011. This book includes contributions from various authors who are interested in students’ feedback regarding how technology has impacted on their educational experience. This book …

James D. Dougan Award For Contributions To Faculty Governance, Iwu Chapter Of The Aaup, Illinois Wesleyan University

Chapter Activities

No abstract provided.

Empowering L2 Tutoring: A Case Study Of A Second Language Writer's Vocabulary Learning, Carol Severino, Elizabeth Deifell

The Writing Center Journal

No abstract provided.

Modelos Masculinos Y Violencia En Sanctuary Y Crónica De Una Muerte Anunciada, Cesar Valverde

Scholarship

This essay analyzes how two novels, William Faulkner’s Sanctuary and Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold, present masculine models that juxtapose power and violence during times of social crisis. Both novels present violent masculinities that overcome peaceful masculinities, in conflicts that result in murders and rapes; but rather than acuse the individuals responsible for the violent acts, the texts point out the social mechanisms that inexorably move the authors of the crimes. In both works we also see violence against women and resulting public deaths of men wrongly accused, which happen due to an inability to adapt to …

Identifying The Characteristics Of Key Account Managers That Drive Performance, Lesley Murphy, Joseph Coughlan

Conference papers

A conceptual model of the factors that are linked to the performance of a Key Account Manager has been developed. There is a paucity of research in the correlation between the Key Account Manager’s personal and behavioural characteristics and their influence of the individual and organisation performance. A review of the literature underlines that the Key Account Manager can described as a strategic orchestrator or lynch pin and their key role is to coordinate activities with other members of their organisation. As a result, their individual characteristics will be tested against trust, collaboration and communication which are essential for the …

The Negotiation And Consumption Of Mediated Masculinities In The Artistry Of The Male Self, Deirdre Duffy

Books/Book Chapters

Much research has been conducted to date considering the construction of identity in many disciplines. However this essay explores Irish men’s construction of their identity in tandem with their lived existence in the social world. The interrelations and influences of their family, friends, peers and the media, ultimately human interdependency itself, all serve as potential cues upon which young men borrow to craft their own masculine identity.

Video Supports The Lecturing Star, Audrey Martin

Conference Papers

This paper examines the potential of pedagogically designed video demonstrations in supporting lecture and tutorial notes in the Spatial Information Sciences. In the Department of Spatial Information Sciences (DSIS) in the Technological University Dublin (DIT) Land Surveying is taught across a wide variety of disciplines. Typically such modules have an equal weighting between written examination and field based project learning. To accommodate this highly practical subject area, 50 % of contact time is normally dedicated to field exercises whereby students, in groups of no more than five, receive demonstration on diverse surveying instrumentation and subsequently complete practical project work as …

How Can We Nurture And Develop Creativity In First Year Design Students, Kerry Meakin

Theses

This research paper investigates the perceptions of first year third level design students regarding their creative thinking and use of creative strategies, while studying a first year design based curriculum in an Institute of Technology in Dublin. The research was conducted in a three-phase, sequential project. The first phase, questioned twenty seven students by issuing anonymous questionnaires to gather data on their methods of incubating design ideas, if they experienced any levels of anxiety when doing so, and their satisfaction levels in their design and creative abilities. Literature was reviewed to discover the attributes of those we perceive as creative …

Obtaining Speech Assets For Judgement Analysis On Low-Pass Filtered Emotional Speech, John Snel, Charlie Cullen

Conference papers

Investigating the emotional content in speech from acoustic characteristics requires separating the semantic con- tent from the acoustic channel. For natural emotional speech, a widely used method to separate the two channels is the use of cue masking. Our objective is to investigate the use of cue masking in non-acted emotional speech by analyzing the extent to which filtering impacts the perception of emotional content of the modified speech material. However, obtaining a corpus of emotional speech can be quite difficult whereby verifying the emotional content is an issue thoroughly discussed. Currently, speech research is showing a tendency toward constructing …

Corned Beef: An Enigmatic Irish Dish, Máirtín Mac Con Iomaire, Pádraic Óg Gallagher

Conference papers

Corned beef and cabbage, which is consumed in America in large quantities each Saint Patrick’s Day (17th March), is considered by most Americans to be the ultimate Irish dish. However, corned beef and cabbage is seldom eaten in modern day Ireland. It is widely reported that Irish immigrants replaced their beloved bacon and cabbage with corned beef and cabbage when they arrived in America, drawing on the corned beef supplied by their neighbouring Jewish butchers, but not all commentators believe this simplistic explanation . This paper will trace the origins and history of corned beef in Irish cuisine and chart …

User Profile Construction In The Twin Personality-Based Recommender System, Alexandra Roshchina, John Cardiff, Paolo Rosso

Conference Papers

The information overload experienced by peo- ple who use online services and read user- generated content (e.g. product reviews and ratings) to make their decisions has led to the development of the so-called recommender systems. We address the problem of the large increase in the user-generated reviews, which are added to each day and consequently make it difficult for the user to obtain a clear picture of the quality of the facility in which they are interested.

In this paper, we describe the TWIN (“Tell me What I Need”) personality-based recom- mender system, the aim of which is to select …

An Event-Based Approach To Describing And Understanding Museum Narratives, Paul Mulholland, Annika Wolff, Trevor Collins, Zdenek Zdrahal

Publications

Current museum metadata tends to be focused around the properties of the heritage object such as the artist, style and date of creation. This form of metadata can index a museum’s collection but cannot express the relations between heritage objects and related concepts found in contemporary museum exhibitions. A modern museum exhibition, rather than providing a taxonomic classification of heritage objects, uses them in the construction of curatorial narratives to be interpreted by an audience. In this paper we outline how curatorial narratives can be represented semantically using our Curate Ontology. The Curate Ontology, informed by a detailed analysis of …

An Analysis Of Road Safety And Older Driver Behaviour, Tara Mchugh

Students Learning with Communities

This paper analyses road safety and the behaviour of older drivers in the area of County Monaghan. County Monaghan is a border County with many of the interviewees living in border towns. The literature review covers aspects related to issues regarding road safety and driver behaviour, not only to older drivers but to drivers of all ages. The literature review revealed the importance of road safety worldwide, highlighting the hazardous outcomes of negative driver behaviour. A methodology was planned and carried out to analyse older driver behaviour. A pilot study was conducted to determine the suitability and relevance of the …

Urban High School Students' Attitudes Toward Democratic Citizenship: A Comparison Of Students In The Njrotc Program And Students In Traditional Civics Classes, Ruthann Burns-Mcfadden

Wayne State University Dissertations

Conscientious and informed citizenry is essential in maintaining the integrity of American democracy. On the other hand, continued lack of engagement in and lack of positive attitudes towards civic participation can cause democracy to suffer. During the 21st century, schools are expected to prepare and motivate students to participate in their government. Research provides evidence that a positive relationship exists between civics education and increased civic and political knowledge; however, classroom instruction alone cannot provide all that is needed to promote a community of civic-minded individuals. Further, a survey of state level civics standards acknowledged the important relationship between participatory …

Nonresident Fathers Parenting And Child And Adolescent Development, Hema Oshoone Mason

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

NONRESIDENT FATHERS PARENTING AND CHILD AND ADOLESCENT DEVELOPMENT

by

HEMA OSHOONE MASON

August 2011

Advisor: Dr. Douglas Barnett

Major: Psychology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology (Cognitive, Developmental and Social Psychology)

This study investigated the statistical relations between nonresident father involvement and various child outcomes over time. Specifically, the present study examined specific aspects of nonresident father involvement that included (a) paternal warmth, (b) emotional closeness, and (c) involvement in school related activities. The particular child outcomes under investigation included positive behaviors including self-esteem, social competence and self-control. The problem behaviors that were examined were child externalizing behaviors (e.g., aggression, …

Secondary Physical Educators' Content Negotiations, Matthew Daniel Ferry

Wayne State University Dissertations

In light of growing concern over the relation between physical inactivity and a variety of biomedical and psychosocial conditions and the disjuncture between larger physical activity culture and secondary school physical education curriculum, the purpose of this study was to examine how middle school physical education teachers negotiated content and curricular decisions. A variety of theories guided this study, including Bourdieu's theories of habitus and field (1977), teacher socialization theory (Lawson, 1983; 1988), teacher ideology (Apple, 2004), teacher emotion (Hargreaves, 1998; McCaughtry, 2004), curriculum as a political text (Pinar, Reynolds, Slattery, & Taubman, 2004), and range of critical and post-structural …