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Reimagining Effectiveness in Youth Justice: The Necessity of Moving Towards the Holistic Child
No full textThe aim of this research is to look at effectiveness and its relevance and definition within the
context of youth justice. Although ‘effective’ is frequently used to describe the success of youth
justice policies, interventions and systems, its precise definition remains elusive. In order to
explore the concept of effectiveness, and its use in the area of youth justice, an extensive review
of the literature was undertaken, establishing a theoretical framework which provided the basis
for a thematic analysis of Irish policy documents. This approach offered a detailed exploration
and comprehensive insights into where the understanding of effectiveness within these
documents sits in relation to the literature in the area. This analysis revealed that ‘effectiveness’
is a highly fluid and adaptable term, which is capable of meaning many things to many different
stakeholders. It often serves as a catch-all phrase that is shaped by political, social, and
ideological contexts. As a result, the concept is difficult to pin down and is open to
interpretation depending on the perspective of the evaluator. While its position within youth
justice remains the same, its meaning is everchanging and is not captured easily. There is a
clear need for a more consistent and streamlined definition of effectiveness, with further
research required in the area
VR Sports Games: An Overview
No full textThis article provides an overview of the history of VR sports games and offers insights into the interaction and integration between real-world sporting events and VR games. Additionally, it reveals the challenges associated with VR gaming technology and VR sports games. Overall, motion-control based VR sports games blur the lines between the virtual and real sport, providing new options for participating in sports, fitness activities and competitions. They offer opportunities for individuals to explore and learn sports that may have been inaccessible to them otherwise. Furthermore, VR sports games have been increasingly integrated into international sporting events, paving the way for a new direction in the future development of both sports and video games. As computer and information technology advances, VR sports video games are creating innovative avenues for entertainment, physical exercise and sports competition
When Hard-Working Bees Do Not Make a Productive Beehive: Legitimacy Tensions in Societal Impact Governance and How to Navigate Them
No full textBusiness schools increasingly need to demonstrate the societal impact of their activities
to a broad range of stakeholders, both internal and external. With societal impact being a
hard-to-measure performance dimension, business school deans find it challenging to
create societal impact governance processes that reconcile multiple legitimate perceptions of what societal impact is. The result is that individual-level societal impacts (influences on society attributed to individual employees) are not aggregated into
organizational-level societal impact (influence attributed to an organization) in ways
that are effective and legitimate. In this paper, we develop a model that provides insights
into the process of legitimation for societal impact governance at the organizational
level. We address the emergence of different types of legitimacy and the sequencing of
legitimation stages that reduces internal decoupling and increases the perception of procedural justice. In a practical sense, our model helps in designing a decision-making process that addresses what societal impact is, how to measure it, and how much should be
spent on its measurement. We develop and share a set of tools and frameworks that can
be used to support the legitimation of societal impact evaluation and governance
UNITES Project: A National Vision for the Future. A Policy Briefing Paper
No full textNational policies such as Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures (2015), First 5 – A Whole of Government Strategy for Parents and Babies (2019) and Supporting Parents: A National Model of Parenting Support Services (2022), recognise the importance of, and reflect a strong and enduring commitment to, supporting early childhood development and wellbeing through the provision of accessible, high quality and evidence-led supports. For instance, a key goal of ‘First 5’ is to develop strong and supportive families and communities, including a commitment to the development of universal parenting supports (also reiterated in the National Model of Parenting Support Services) and, importantly, in the context of the current study, an evidence-led approach to home visiting services across a continuum of need (Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY), 2022). Indeed, a wealth of both national and international evidence indicates that the home environment, and therefore services provided in the home, provide a crucially important context, and support, for healthy child development and wellbeing (e.g. Bradley & Corwyn, 2008)
“My Work Is to Show That It’s So Much More Beautiful When You Can Mix”: An Interview With Kim Thúy
No full textKim Thúy Ly Thanh, who publishes under the pen name Kim Thúy, was born in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1968. In 1978, when she was ten years old, Thúy and her family fled their home country by sea as part of the mass emigration of people seeking to escape the repressive communist regime and harsh economic conditions in Vietnam after the end of the war. These refugees, who were collectively referred to as “boat people” due to the many small, overcrowded boats they used to escape Vietnam, often faced perilous conditions on the sea; those who survived the risky journey were initially accommodated in refugee camps in Southeast Asia before being resettled in countries such as the US, Australia, France, Germany, and the UK.1 Thúy and her family made it to Malaysia, where they spent a few months living in a small refugee camp in Kuantan; they were subsequently offered political asylum in Canada and settled in French-speaking Québec in early 1979. In this interview, Thúy describes the warmth and affection with which she and her family were welcomed in Canada, which marked a sharp contrast to the emotional restraint she was used to within Vietnamese culture. She also outlines the challenges her parents faced in integrating into Canadian society and culture, which was so different from everything they knew. By contrast, Thúy quickly immersed herself in the culture of her new home, learning French and pursuing an education. She studied at the University of Montréal, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Translation in 1990 and subsequently with a Bachelor’s degree in Law in 1993
Geographies of Candidate Selection and Campaigning in Modern Ireland: Placing selection and campaigning approaches in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland into context.
No full textCandidate selection and campaigning are two important political processes, which occur within
a political party. Following decisions made with regards the two processes, potential tensions
may arise between the local members and the National Headquarters of a political party, which
possess side effects. This thesis will investigate how candidate selection and campaigning
processes, have transformed on the island of Ireland, taking into consideration first order (UK
General Election, Northern Ireland Assembly elections and Dáil election) and second order
elections (local election).
An all-island study, it aims to encompass a mixed methodological approach, through a critical
realism framework, to firstly, examine trends through quantitative methods including spatial
data analysis, and secondly, investigate the trends through qualitative methods, to understand
the experiences that emerge from the trends, through semi-structured interviews and
documentary analysis. By analysing candidate selection trends, it can be determined who are,
or are not, selected by political parties, and how have these trends changed, dependent on the
election, electoral system, cultural processes, or by formal/informal structural rules.
Furthermore, relations between the actors are examined, and how these relations can impact a
campaign.
This thesis identified that representation of under-represented groups is increasing, supported
by structural mechanisms and increased participation of the relevant groups. However, this
increase has occurred, predominately in urban regions, and cultural issues still exist, which
have created issues for candidates and political parties. The importance of traditional forms of
campaigning is established, but the growing use of modern forms has increased the demands
placed on representatives, but also the abuse experienced on this medium, has increased
difficulties with recruitment. Finally, the importance of geography is identified, through the
‘friends and neighbours’ effect, urban-rural dimension, and the overall attachment to a place,
namely Agnew’s (2002) sense of place. Through a mixture of exploratory data analysis,
including geospatial data analysis, and qualitative methods, a range of trends and observations
are identified, with potential solutions to these issues suggested, in this cross-border elections
analysis
International scope of biomedical research ethics review
No full textIn the context of biomedical research involving human subjects, the review of research proposals by ethics committees in virtually every country has traditionally focused on informed consent and other protections for individuals participating in research ( 1 ). However, the substantial societal implications of modern biomedical research and the globalization of scientific inquiry make it important to understand whether research ethics review in each country addresses both individual and societal issues. Knowledge of the practices internationally can promote understanding and can suggest possible innovations for specific countries. Below, we explore three related issues: (i) whether biomedical research ethics review considers the societal and long-term implications of the research, (ii) whether bodies charged with performing research ethics reviews are appropriate to consider these issues, and (iii) the feasibility and likely support for embedding multidisciplinary researchers with scientists to study societal and long-term implications. We address current regulatory policies and offer comments about possible changes
Coupled Models of Structured Ecological Systems: Patch Dynamics, Population Demography, and Stochastic Interactions
No full textIn order to study their temporal dynamics, the size, density or abundance of populations are
often monitored over discrete time steps. Many of these populations tend to have internal
structure or interconnections that affect individuals at various spatiotemporal scales, such
as developmental stages, resource preferences, group interactions and movement. In this
thesiswe are mainly concerned with modelling the dynamics of such structured populations
in discrete-time, from both deterministic and stochastic perspectives. In Chapter 1 we
motivate the problems we are interested in throughout this thesis. In Chapter 2 we give
some technical background needed in order for this thesis to be reasonably self-contained.
In Chapter 3we discuss various existing frameworks and results within the literature related
to structured population models, while also demonstrating how matrix stability plays an
important role in understanding such systems. In Chapter 4 we propose a costless, densitydependent
invasion model, where a population moves between two resources. We explore
some of the properties of this model, both theoretically and numerically, in the context of
a species expanding its habitat or range. We then apply this model to an pest case study in
order to further understand how host switching can affect long-term population viability.
In Chapter 5 we propose a model of costly, density-dependent dispersal between a finite
number of regions. We study its stability and persistence properties, and numerically show
howit relates to various source-sink scenarios. In Chapter 6we focus on deriving sufficient
conditions for the stability of the extinction equilibrium for coupled linear time-invariant
systems, which is robust under diffusive couplings, so-called robust diffusive stability
(RDS). This model corresponds to demographically-structured populations diffusively
dispersing between habitats, such as species migration for example. We discuss the role
of the existence/nonexistence of copositive, quadratic and diagonal Lyapunov functions in
determining RDS. We then discuss the anithesis of RDS, diffusive growth. Throughout,
we apply our results to some commonly used matrix population models. In Chapter
7 we propose a stochastic model that aims to capture the interactions between animal
groups within a social population. We conduct simulation scenarios and fit this model to
real-world data, to show its applicability. We then discuss the findings of this model fit
in the context of ecological theory. We derive an approximation to the marginal group
correlation for a simpler model, which describes their net interactions over an observation
period. We then theoretically discuss its interpretation in multiple predator-prey scenarios.
Finally, in Chapter 8, we conclude by discussing various extensions and open questions
suggested by the results presented throughout this thesis
Valuing drought impact mitigation on ecosystem services in a Mediterranean country
No full textDrought is a complex natural hazard increasing in frequency, duration, and severity worldwide. Although
droughts cause both market and non-market impacts, the latter suffers from a dearth of economic studies
quantifying their magnitude. In this paper, we investigated how droughts affect selected ecosystem services
expected to result in welfare losses in Spain. This study is aimed at quantifying and simulating societal losses
given the expected potential increase in drought severity in the coming decades. We estimated a Discrete Choice
Latent Class Model by which we distinguished three broad classes of individuals. The common behavior across all
classes is that people consistently choose to avoid the negative effects of droughts. However, there are substantial
differences among the three classes; while class 1 chooses options regardless of cost, even when selecting the
most expensive ones, the other two classes account for the size of the payment. Moreover, health and water use
restrictions have been decisive factors in individuals’ choices. We have also observed that the perception of
climate change is related to individual decisions. We quantified the enormous damage drought causes to societal
well-being. Policymakers should take this information into account when addressing the increasing likelihood of
extreme weather events
The Montessori school as a ‘healing’ environment: translating childhood trauma research into effective, trauma-informed, educational practice
No full textBackground: Childhood trauma/adversity is pervasive and has far-reaching consequences for
children’s health and well-being, leading to increased calls for trauma-informed practice (TIP).
Archival data show that early Montessori schools (circa 1907-1917) were recognised as ‘healing’ schools, wherein trauma-affected children improved dramatically.
Aims/objectives: This project aimed to (1) investigate claims of psychological healing in early
Montessori schools; (2) integrate the findings with contemporary knowledge on TIP; (3)
develop a novel Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programme based on this integration; and (4) evaluate its perceived impact on staff in a test school.
Method: A multi-method, three-strand approach was used comprising three distinct and
sequential studies. Study 1 involved a documentary analysis of eyewitness testimonies, media reports, and Montessori’s own accounts of her early schools, to investigate how the Montessori approach supported trauma-affected children. Study 2 integrated the findings of Study 1 with
contemporary trauma literature to develop an innovative CPD programme designed to enhance the capacities of early childhood teachers to support trauma-affected children. Study 3 then
used a case study approach to provide a rich contextual account of teachers’ (n=11) experiences of engaging with this programme, focusing on its perceived impact on their knowledge,
attitudes/beliefs, professional practice, and their views on its feasibility.
Findings: Study 1 identified significant evidence of psychological healing in trauma-affected
children attending Montessori’s early schools. Study 2 found that several features of
Montessori education cohere with contemporary research on TIP approaches, especially the Neurosequential Model in Education (NME), and that these can be integrated to develop a programmme of Montessori-attuned TIP. Study 3 found that early childhood/Montessori teachers rated the new programme highly, stating it positively impacted their practice.
Conclusion: This project makes a significant original contribution to existing knowledge on
Montessori pedagogy and TIP and has important implications for supporting trauma-affected
children in Ireland and elsewhere