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The Role of Digital Twins for building resilient communities: Case of Dublin.
No full text‘Resilience’ is an overarching term subsuming capacity of any society to deal and adapt with new changes in existing systems. ‘Digital’ is rapidly becoming a new order of life, especially with urban solutions labelled more and more as ‘smart’, in rhetoric hopes of achieving a high quality of life. Digital twins are one such emerging technology, focussing to create virtual replicas of physical assets, and systems, with advanced data analytics and prediction capabilities in real-time. For cities, they can result in cost efficiencies, operational efficiencies, better urban management, and informed decision-making. However, for communities, they can aid in better participation, accessibility, and inclusive communication, which could result in localization of sustainable development goals, and improved levels of acceptance for a just and green transition, thus eventually building more resilience within communities. Realising their potential role in decision-making, Dublin City Council’s smart cities unit has collaborated with the Science Foundation of Ireland’s ADAPT Research Centre for AI-Driven Digital Content Technology on a two-year long targeted project for developing a digital twin framework. The project started in December 2022 with core objective to adopt a human-centric approach for future engagement frameworks. It is unique in terms of its collaborative and multi-stakeholder structure
Applying the ‘Human Rights Model of Disability’ to Informed Consent: Experiences and Reflections from the SHAPES Project
No full textUnderstanding the complexity of informed consent processes is critically important to the success of research that requires participants to test, develop, or inform research data and results. This is particularly evident in research involving persons experiencing neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease, dementia) that impair cognitive functioning, who according to national law are considered to have a diminished capacity, or to lack the capacity, to consent to research participation. Those who would potentially benefit most from applied research participation may be excluded from participating and shaping data and outcomes. This article offers insights into challenges faced by the Smart and Healthy Ageing through People Engaging in Supportive Systems (SHAPES) Project in obtaining the consent of older persons, including older persons with disabilities. The promotion of continuing health, active ageing, and independent living is central to SHAPES, requiring project partners to reflect on traditional informed consent approaches to encourage the full, cognisant participation of older persons with disabilities. We examine how this issue may be addressed, with reference to the inclusive approach of SHAPES. In respecting the inalienable legal capacity of all legal persons, SHAPES uses the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and the human rights model of disability as part of the theoretical framework. A novel, inclusive, representative informed consent framework was designed and is detailed herein. This framework provides significant opportunity to advance the inclusion of persons with disabilities or those experiencing neurodegenerative diseases in innovative research and is readily transferable to other research studies. The SHAPES approach is a substantial contribution to research on informed consent, demonstrating the utility of the human rights model of disability in facilitating the full research participation of target populations
Communicating criminological research to the public – findings from the science communication literature. (Working Paper Series No – 18 May 2023)
No full textIt is necessary to communicate the findings of social research to educate the public,
challenge problematic beliefs and inform the political discourse (Uggen & Inderbitzen,
2010). In the field of criminology, this is essential given the highly political nature of
criminal justice policy and the fact that criminological findings on how to meet needs and
keep society safe are often complex, countercultural and counterintuitive to many. How
best to do so, however, presents challenges to academics of all disciplines.
Research on science communication is burgeoning, finding common pitfalls around the
framing of research communications, their visual and linguistic presentation, and the
pedagogical techniques commonly employed. When communicating with the public,
many educators rely on traditional lecturing methods, neglecting situated, discussionbased learning. Yet, the evidence suggests that traditional lecturing is not experienced as
engaging and does not sufficiently hold learners’ attention, rendering it ineffective. Rather,
research consistently shows the benefits of facilitating independent learning and
engaging learners dialogically to explore deeply held assumptions. Research pertaining
to framing, meanwhile, shows that challenging existing narratives and justifying reform in
relation to crime and justice requires careful consideration as to which findings and
arguments are prioritised, and what types of language, values and metaphors are used
Learning to grasp unknown objects in domestic environments
No full textFor robots to become valuable assistants in real-world scenarios, they must effectively
manipulate unknown objects in complex environments, such as homes with
multiple objects on shelves or desks. A critical aspect of manipulating objects is
grasping them with the robot’s end-effector. The key challenge for grasping an
unknown object lies in determining how to position and orientate the end-effector
relative to the object. While prior research has predominantly focused on tabletop
scenarios with fixed camera-workspace transforms, in this thesis, we extend
robotic grasping to domestic settings.
This thesis makes three principal contributions in this area: (i) extending a depthimage-
based grasp quality prediction method to accommodate 6-DoF grasps and
versatile camera poses, (ii) creating a depth-image-based grasp proposal method
tailored for 6-DoF grasps and unknown camera-workspace transforms, and (iii) applying
such a grasp proposal method in complex, domestic environments. For application
in domestic environments, we develop a simulation pipeline specifically
designed for training and evaluating grasp proposal models in domestic settings.
Quantitative experiments demonstrate competitive or superior performance of our
approach when compared with widely used techniques across a number of challenging
simulated experiments. Additionally, real-world experiments with a mobile
manipulator demonstrate successful grasping of unknown objects positioned
on tables and shelves in unknown poses. We make our code and pre-trained models
available for fellow researchers, facilitating the direct application of our models
when attempting to grasp unknown objects with mobile manipulators in domestic
environments
Historical Gendered Institutional Violence: A Research Agenda for Criminologists
No full textThis article considers the phenomenon of historical gendered institutional harm, examining the widespread incarceration of women and girls in Ireland through the decades following independence in 1922. In this period, thousands of women and girls were confined in a network of sites including Magdalene Laundries and Mother and Baby Homes. The article considers the responses to this history, focusing on those fields which concern themselves with matters of “wrongdoing” and “harm,” responses grounded in law and legalism. We explore both the utility and the limits of these approaches before proposing a criminological research agenda which draws on the centrality of the state in the perpetration of gendered violence. Although Ireland has become a by-word as a case of historical institutional abuse internationally, it remains remarkably understudied by criminologists. The article explores how the Irish example can speak to the discipline of criminology by forcing us to reimagine how we conceive of gendered harms and state-perpetrated harms
Private religion as resistance in Ann Seghers’ der prozess der Jeanne D’Arc Xu Rouen 1431 (1937) and Bertolt Brecht’s 1952 stage adaptation
No full textThis article will examine the representation of religion in Anna Seghers’ radio play Der Prozess der Jeanne d’Arc zu Rouen 1431 (1937) and Bertolt Brecht’s subsequent adaptation of this text for the stage (1952). While religiosity is central to the identity of the medieval heroine, Seghers chooses to communicate this feature to modern audiences in a ‘lacunary’ way that sees Jeanne refusing to elaborate on the details of her belief throughout the play. The protagonist’s faith creates a distance from contemporary listeners and spectators as well as from characters within the text, but when absolute commitment to her private belief results in Jeanne’s execution, this moves the people at large to rebel against their oppressors. Thus Seghers’ Jeanne emerges as a figure of political resistance who draws on her private faith to bring about social change. In Brecht, the voices that move Jeanne to withstand oppressive forces are revealed to be those of the people rather than an expression of the divine. For Seghers and Brecht, the twentieth-century relevance of Jeanne’s characteristic religiosity, depicted differently by each author, lies in the political transformation which it can inspire both within the text and outside it
Living in a Legal Utopia: The Gap Between Law and Lived Experiences for LGBTI Activists in South Africa
No full textSouth Africa is applauded for being the first country in the world to provide
constitutional protection from discrimination to LGBTI people. However, high
rates of discrimination, threats, and violence against LGBTI people persist.
Against this backdrop, this dissertation explores the lived experiences of LGBTI
activists in South Africa and how people navigate the gaps between the law as
prescribed and every day lived experiences. Adopting an intersectional feminist,
anti-racist, and decolonial framework, this project layers archival material with
contemporary experiences and examines ways in which non-heterosexual and
gender non-conforming people in South Africa (re)make spaces of queer
resistance from spaces of vulnerability. This was done through a combination of
semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation, along
with immersion in several archives. Particular attention was paid to the layers
of legal meaning inherited from colonisation and apartheid, which continue to
reverberate into the present. I demonstrate how anti-sodomy laws moved
intact across the British Empire and how the vague language utilised by
lawmakers has contributed to anti-LGBTI attitudes. Drawing from nine-months
of fieldwork conducted between June 2017 and September 2018, I argue that
violence is displaced in the public imaginary allowing participants to engage in
place-based activities that nurture feelings of belonging and (precarious) safety.
I further argue for understandings of multiple types of queer space and explore
how participants navigate the inherent tensions between NGO-mandated queer
spaces and more fluid queer spaces that are often fleeting and temporary. This
research also offers insights into place-based activities in which solidarities are
built and nurtured, both within and beyond LGBTI communities in the present
and in the past. Ultimately, this dissertation contributes to scholarship that
unsettles binary thinking about good and bad places to be gay, offering insights
into (re)making queer spaces and nurturing solidarities as part of imagining a
better future
Neuromodulation for Mild Cognitive Impairment: Improvements in Spatial Navigation and Associative Memory with Acute Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation: VINCI‐AD
No full textBackground
New therapeutic strategies to treat Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) are urgently needed. Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) is a neuromodulation technique which uses a handheld device to peripherally stimulate the afferent vagus nerve. tVNS has shown promise in augmenting memory in cognitively healthy populations but data in cognitively impaired populations is sparse.
Method
VINCI‐AD is an investigator‐led, single‐blind, sham‐controlled crossover pilot study assessing the effects of tVNS in amnestic MCI. All participants have MCI (CDR global 0.5) with amnestic neuropsychological profile (RBANS delayed memory index <85). Participants are randomised over 3 study visits to baseline (no stimulation) active stimulation (at the CC of left ear) or sham stimulation (earlobe). Cognitive tests include Face‐Name Association Task (FNAT), Sustained Attention Response Test (SART) and Sea Hero Quest Navigation Test (SHQ) among others.
Result
Interim data analysis of 28 participants is presented (mean age 71.5 (range 55‐85), 17 male, RBANS DMI 73.3 ±11.1). CSF AD biomarkers were positive for 75% (21/28) (AB‐42 460.4pg/ml (± 83.3pg/ml) and p‐tau181 82.5pg/ml [± 53.2pg/ml]) and 78% (22/28) of participants had a Charleston Comorbidity Index of ≥3. Mean tVNS stimulation time pre‐cognitive assessments was 21.2 minutes, with mean amplitude setting during active stimulation of 2.5mA (1.8‐4.5) and sham of 2.0mA (0.9‐3.1). During FNAT, active tVNS had no effect on facial recognition or reaction times, however recall accuracy was significantly improved (69.2% ±3.13) compared to baseline (44.7% ±3.51 p = 0.016) and sham (50.1% ±3.28 p = 0.021) and during active tVNS spatial navigation (38.94sec [±1.68]) was quicker than baseline (51.49sec (±3.2) p = 0.0164) and sham (51.9sec (±3.15) p = 0 .0038). We noted no significant improvements in SART or other cognitive tests performance during tVNS.
Conclusion
tVNS may be a useful complementary tool to augment spatial and associative memory in MCI. Further larger studies are needed to delineate precise settings in this population
‘We did what needed to be done’: Cherish, the first support group for unmarried mothers in Ireland
No full textHistorically, unmarried mothers have suffered greatly in Irish
society. Advocacy for unmarried mothers began in the 1970s with
the emergence of the women’s movement in Ireland. ‘Cherish’
became one of the first organisation in Ireland to push for rights
for unmarried mothers. This article is the first comprehensive
study into the organisation exploring its establishment and
development throughout the late twentieth century. Against the
backdrop of the larger women’s movement, this article focuses
on the early years of the campaign incorporating the push for
unmarried mothers allowance; accommodation assistance offered;
advice on legal issues including maintenance; as well as lobbying
politicians on legislative change. It incorporates the organisation’s
connection with the Catholic Church whilst simultaneously and
unapologetically challenging Archbishop Dermot Ryan on
prejudices against unmarried mothers. In the 1980s, the group
faced new challenges as more women with unplanned
pregnancies sought information on abortion. The organisations
link with the Catholic Church diminished throughout the 1980s as
Cherish began to direct women to abortion information helplines
and openly supported the Defend the Clinics Campaign, despite
their receipt of state funding. The establishment of Cherish and
its commitment to advocacy for women in crisis pregnancy has
been somewhat overlooked in the historical analysis of the Irish
women’s movement