National University of Ireland, Maynooth
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How can we research social movements? An introduction
No full textThis introductory chapter is written for beginning researchers, whether in movements or universities, for people from non-traditional academic backgrounds and non-native English speakers. We share some of our own complicated and messy routes to movement research. We also explain why researching social movements matters, and how it can genuinely help movements. This is the first methods handbook for movement researchers that takes a genuinely global perspective, rather than focussing on researchers and movements in the global North. Understanding movements means not being restricted to knowing about one movement or one academic discipline. The chapter introduces the book’s themes - the methodologies and politics of knowledge of movement research; different methods of data collection/analysis; and the uses of research for movements - followed by a chapter-by-chapter overview, highlighting the specific movements studied. The chapter concludes with reflections on the future of social movements research and a call for solidarity
Dynamic gait switching for Hexapod Robots
No full textHexapod robots exhibit superior navigation capabilities on rough and unmodified terrains, but gait control and switching are complex. This paper describes a novel gait library approach that allows for dynamic gait switching that facilitates faster gait transitions, rapid response to limb loss, and flexible configuration for different hexapods. The gait library is validated on the open-source H.O.R.E.A. platform in terms of gait switching times and rapid response to loss of a limb. The gait switching is relative to the swing speed, resulting in a fast response time. Additionally, the gait manager adapts to the loss of one or two limbs, resulting in an approximate 23% drop in speed with each leg removed, except for the wave gait, which showed an increase of around 10% for each leg
Adaptive second order sliding mode control of an oscillating water column
No full textThe energy from waves has a vast untapped potential to contribute to renewable energy supply and diversification. For that reason, wave energy conversion systems have been a topical research area in recent years. In particular, harnessing wave energy with an oscillating water column converter has proved to be one suitable solution, which has also seen a number of successful deployments. Nevertheless, additional research is required for this technology in order to reach full commercial maturity and economic performance. This paper proposes an adaptive second order sliding mode controller to maximise the converted energy. In particular, the proposed adaptive control setup maintains the sliding mode robust features, while reducing high frequency oscillations and abrupt control actions produced by fixed‐gain algorithms. A comparison of energy generation performance shows better energy conversion efficiency of the proposed control strategy over standard speed regulation control strategies, even considering air compression dynamics and hydrodynamics in the tests
Far-future hydrology will differentially change the phosphorus transfer continuum
No full textClimate change is likely to exacerbate land to water phosphorus (P) transfers, causing a degradation of water quality
in freshwater bodies in Northwestern Europe. Planning for mitigation measures requires an understanding of P loss
processes under such conditions. This study assesses how climate induced changes to hydrology will likely infuence
the P transfer continuum in six contrasting river catchments using Irish national observatories as exemplars. Changes or
stability of total P (TP) and total reactive P (TRP) transfer processes were estimated using far-future scenarios (RCP4.5 and
RCP8.5) of modelled river discharge under climate change and observed links between hydrological regimes (basefow
and fashiness indices) and transfer processes (mobilisation and delivery indices). While there were no diferences in P
mobilisation between RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, both mobilisation and delivery were higher for TP. Comparing data from 2080
(2070–2099) with 2020 (2010–2039), suggests that P mobilisation is expected to be relatively stable for the diferent
catchments. While P delivery is highest in hydrologically fashy catchments, the largest increases were in groundwaterfed catchments in RCP8.5 (+22% for TRP and+24% for TP). The inter-annual variability of P delivery in the groundwaterfed catchments is also expected to increase. Since the magnitude of a P source may not fully defne its mobility, and
hydrological connections of mobilisation areas are expected to increase, we recommend identifying critical mobilisation
areas to target future mitigation strategies. These are hydrologically connected areas where controls such as soil/bedrock
chemistry, biological activity and hydrological processes are favourable for P mobilisation
The Teachings of Death: Gesturing toward New Educational Thought in the Posthuman Convergence
No full textThe current trajectory of the Earth, itself becoming a vast graveyard amidst the ongoing destruction of life-sustaining conditions, is a pressing reality that demands earnest consideration. This thesis is based on the premise that reorienting this necrophiliac tendency requires, in part, a transformation in how we think about mortality and subjectivity. Gesturing towards this fundamental shift, the interdisciplinary investigation here presented delves into the educational potential of death, i.e., education imparted by death, rather than education about death. Its aim is to expand on recent studies dealing with the subject of death in educational philosophy and theory, meanwhile distinguishing itself through a unique theoretical and methodological approach. Situated in the field of philosophy of education, this work also draws on continental philosophy – particularly feminist posthuman theory, queer death studies, and the environmental humanities – and builds on contributions from the arts.
Following a research question of my own, this thesis positions death as a critical site of learning, with the aim of questioning its educational value. This approach establishes new ways to reflect on the lessons that death and the dead can offer in the era of the posthuman convergence, as well as the potential responses that may be envisaged in light of these teachings. Against this backdrop, my methodology takes the form of an aesthetic-theoretical provocation, which is itself developed through registers of ‘gesture’ and ‘choreography’ as well as three case studies analysing depictions of death in four contemporary artworks. As such, my methods and styles of thinking with and from death support the exploratory, open-ended, and cross-disciplinary character of the inquiry that brings multiple texts, materials, and ideas into play, while also drawing on the expressions and perspectives of artistic bodies and the aesthetics of knowledge, to expand understandings of death in innovative ways and without immobilising a definition or seeking to lay claim to any particular discipline.
Within the choreographic structure of the thesis, I articulate teachings of death around three main intersecting lenses, which I call ‘scenes’: philosophical, educational, and aesthetic-pedagogical. In the first scene, I lay conceptual foundations by elaborating a concept of death in terms of relation. Deploying feminist and posthuman philosophy, I seek to understand death not as an individualising event, but, on the contrary, as one that highlights relationality and the singularity of a life. This proposed conceptualisation defines a model for understanding relations with and of death in which the human individual is not at the centre but entangled in multiple networks of human, more-than-human, and ahuman mortal legacies and assemblages. This philosophical envisioning of death propels the second scene, in which I give attention to the educational
implications of the relational approach, including its ethical and political dimensions. Here, I propose to examine death as a source of education that can generate affirmative and ethical modes of subjectivity and relationality, thus challenging the paradigm of modernity’s social and political denials of death. The third scene continues and deepens this reflection by examining the aesthetic aspect of death’s teachings through a pedagogical analysis of four works of art, each featuring a distinct ‘death narrative’. While differing in form and content, these works question various forms of violence, highlighted in their narratives, and the normalisation of certain deaths, often assumed or implicit within the context of entangled, multiple crises that are characteristic of the posthuman convergence. Through their narratives, I examine how each work points toward neglected, irreverent, and novel ways of thinking with death, overturning conventional representations and opening new avenues for pedagogical reflection and action.
Overall, this dissertation contends that while education is, and always has been, linked to issues of death, the lessons that death imparts have rarely been incorporated into our lives in a concrete, pedagogical way. This research attempts to address this point, and it moves towards a position where facing up to death is not about negating life, but about deepening our awareness of what constitutes it
Informativeness of the federal reserve chair communication’s sentiment on the monetary policy uncertainty
No full textCan a single personal communication have a significant effect on the uncertainty of the
monetary policy process? We estimate the personal communication risk profile of the U.S.
Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair by using a new dataset of the sentiment revealed by their public
statements during their tenure. We develop a new identification method using the implicit
probability of change of the federal fund rate, and analyze the impact of the Fed communication’s sentiment risk profile on the market price discovery process of interest rates, and
the uncertainty of the monetary policy, in the aftermath of the release of Chair public statements. After controlling for the evolving state of the economy surrounding the meetings,
we find that, based on the heterogeneity across Chairs and their personal traits, there is a
significant statistical and economic difference in the communications’ sentiment, which is
likely to affect the market’s reaction to monetary policy announcements. Specifically, the
sentiment in the Chairs’ communications plays an important role in moderating the potential
surprises in the Fed announcements, and it can be effectively used as a tool for controlling
and measuring monetary policy shocks
Attitudes of millennials toward corporate responsibility: a 28-society multilevel analysis
No full textPurpose
We examined the attitudes of millennial-aged business students toward economic, social and environmental corporate responsibility (CR). Currently, these individuals are of an age that they have entered the workforce and are now ascending or have ascended into roles of leadership in which they have decision-making power that influences their company’s CR agenda and implementation. Thus, following the ecological systems perspective, we tested both the macro influence of cultural values (survival/self-expression and traditional/secular-rational values) and structural forces (income inequality, welfare socialism and environmental vulnerability) on these individuals’ attitudes toward CR.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a multilevel study of 3,572 millennial-aged students from 28 Asian, American, Australasian and European societies. We analyzed the data collected in 2003–2009 using hierarchical linear modeling.
Findings
In our multilevel analyses, we found that survival/self-expression values were negatively related to economic CR and positively related to social CR while traditional/secular-rational values was negatively related to social CR. We also found that welfare socialism was positively related to environmental CR but negatively related to economic CR while environmental vulnerability was not related to any CR. Lastly, income equality was positively related to social CR but not economic or environment responsibilities. In sum, we found that both culture-based and structure-based macro factors, to varying extents, shape the attitudes of millennial-aged students on CR in our sample.
Originality/value
Our study is grounded in the ecological systems theory framework, combined with research on culture, politico-economics and environmental studies. This provides a multidisciplinary perspective for evaluating and investigating the impact that societal (macro-level) factors have on shaping attitudes toward businesses’ engagement in economic, social and environmental responsibility activities. Additionally, our multilevel research design allows for more precise findings compared to a single-level, country-by-country assessment
Fighting for Better Representation of Women in and on RTE: Women's Work in Promoting Gender Equality at Irelands National Broadcaster, 1979-1981.
No full textThis article examines the role that women’s activism and advocacy played in early Irish television and the opportunities for and representation of women in national broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ). It focuses on two groups: RTÉ’s own Working Group on Women in Broadcasting, which reported in 1981, and the Women in Broadcasting Study Group of 1980, headed by Senator Gemma Hussey. Both investigated practices of employment of women and the roles that they undertook as well as the role of women in RTÉ programs and in television advertising on RTÉ. The article argues that, although there were tensions between the two groups and each group had different interests, different methodological approaches in their reports and were received in the public and by RTÉ very differently, they effectively worked together to compel RTÉ to implement their recommendations and take the issue of gender equality more seriously on a long-term basis
Walls with no pictures – the alternative interiority of Séamas Mac Annaidh’s short stories
No full textThe Abstract is included in the text
Gendering postcolonial penality: The religious detention of women in Ireland
No full textThe role of religion was pivotal in shaping how women were punished in postcolonial
Ireland. The new state used the Catholic Church to establish a separate system of confinement, a shadow penal regime for women, which drew its inmates from within a
newly recognized threat to the nation. Drawing on Mark Brown’s work on the ways
in which postcolonial states can replicate the repression of colonialism, the article suggests that under an increasingly morally authoritarian state, women perceived as sexually
promiscuous found themselves in systems of religious control. This article explores the
‘how’ and the ‘why’ of this, examining the intersection of state and religious control
through the cases of women convicted in the courts and sent to religious detention. I
argue for the necessity of a gendered lens in postcolonial penality, and for consideration
of the conditions of postcolonial nation formation in shaping punishment