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A Privacy-focused Data Solution for Understanding and Improving Indoor Environmental Quality in Social Housing From the SHINE Project
Get PDFThe Irish social housing sector faces major challenges in improving home environments and sustainability. Ageing infrastructure, harsh weather, and inadequate management responses contribute to poor living conditions, leading to mould growth and worsening health. In a County Dublin social housing block, children and vulnerable individuals suffer from bronchiolitis, breathing issues, chest infections, and mental health decline due to mould exposure (Conneely, 2025). Despite calls for relocation, their health has already deteriorated, highlighting a widespread issue that harms residents and incurs high costs.
The Sustainable Homes Integrating Non-Intrusive Environmental Sensors Research Project (SHINE) aims to improve living conditions by identifying root causes and solutions. Through interviews with 28 stakeholders, including housing officials and residents, SHINE explores the use of non-intrusive environmental sensors in social homes. These sensors provide
real-time insights, warning residents of mould risks by monitoring condensation over time. This proactive approach helps prevent issues, reducing management costs, hospital visits, and energy use. Long-term, SHINE seeks to integrate these technologies into social housing policy, promoting sustainability and better health outcomes
Dynamic inventory sharing, ordering, and pricing strategies for perishable foods to maximize profit and minimize waste
Get PDFEffective management of perishable food products is essential for grocery retailers to balance profitability and waste reduction. This study addresses the challenge of selling perishable food products with varying ages across two branches, incorporating consumer behavior and demand shifts between old and new products. A bi-objective infinite horizon dynamic programming model is developed to optimize centralized pricing, ordering, and inventory sharing decisions, aiming to maximize profit and minimize waste. Numerical analysis demonstrates that inventory sharing effectively balances stock levels and reduces food waste. Findings indicate that prioritizing waste reduction leads to higher price discounts and increased inventory sharing, while prioritizing profit maximization results in selling newer products and reducing inventory sharing. Sensitivity analyses highlight the importance of market segmentation and price differentiation strategies. These insights provide valuable guidance
for retailers in refining inventory and pricing decisions, adapting to regulatory pressures, and improving overall supply chain performance
An autoethnographic study of ESL academic writing with ChatGPT: from psychological insights to the SUPER framework
Get PDFWhile the practical benefits of English as a Second Language (ESL) higher education (HE) students’ use of ChatGPT for academic writing have been explored, psychological factors remain under-investigated. This autoethnographic study examines how ESL HE students use ChatGPT to address psychological challenges in academic writing. Guided by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and the concept of Escapism, this study provides a critical reflection on the author’s lived experience of academic writing challenges, first encountered during doctoral studies in the United States and continuing into an assistant professorship in Ireland. Data sources include a personal diary, work logs, notes from academic writing classes, and track-changed drafts annotated by writing tutors and editors. These materials were analysed using reflective thematic analysis to interpret the author’s experiences. Findings indicate that ChatGPT helps fulfil physiological and safety needs, fosters belonging, enhances self-esteem, and supports self-actualisation. Despite providing temporary psychological relief from writing challenges, concerns persist about overreliance and potential breaches of academic integrity. The study proposes a user-friendly SUPER framework comprising five interconnected principles to guide ESL HE students and general writers in ethically and effectively using ChatGPT. Researchers and practitioners are recommended to share, validate, and refine this framework
Exploring the Potential of Educational Robots in Enhancing Mathematics Education for Students with Dyslexia: Towards Inclusive Multimodal Interfaces
Get PDFDyslexia is a learning difficulty characterised by challenges in information processing, particularly in phonological skills, working memory, and rapid naming, which can impact students' engagement with mathematical con-cepts like counting, spatial awareness, and basic operations. This paper highlights the potential use of educational robots (ER) to enhance mathe-matics education for students with dyslexia (SwD) through inclusive, mul-timodal interfaces. The authors adopted a human-centred design (HCD) ap-proach to develop a low-cost, pedagogically informed educational robot aligned with the Irish mathematics curriculum to support SwD in primary schools. The HCD process involved collaboration with 27 first-class stu-dents (male, aged 6–7), three primary school teachers, and an expert in in-clusive pedagogy and special educational needs, whose contributions di-rectly informed the design of the accessible and engaging prototype robot. Additional participants will be involved in later stages of the HCD process. The prototype robot’s design also incorporates universal design for learning (UDL) principles, offering multiple means of engagement, representation, and expression to foster inclusive mathematics education. The prototype robot was presented at a primary school in Dublin, Ireland, receiving posi-tive feedback from students and teachers for enhancing engagement, acces-sibility, and understanding of mathematics. This feedback highlights the potential of ER to transform traditional mathematics education, providing new opportunities for inclusive learning
Under Consumed and Overestimated: Discrepancies in Race‐Day Carbohydrate Intake Among Endurance Athletes
No full textDespite well‐established guidelines for carbohydrate (CHO) intake to support endurance performance, many athletes fail to meet these targets, and in‐race intake is often estimated based on planned consumption rather than measured intake. We aimed to quantify actual CHO intake during endurance races and explore behavioral and psychological predictors. Sixty Tier 2 endurance athletes (38 marathoners and 22 cyclists) participated in two official races. Athletes' planned, perceived, and actual CHO intake 24 h before and during the race were assessed using food diary analysis, and pre‐ and post‐race weighing of sports
products containing CHO. Sleep behavior (ASBQ), pre‐race anxiety (CSAI‐2R), and gastrointestinal symptoms were also evaluated using validated questionnaires. Across the cohort, actual CHO intake (31.7 23.5 g/hr) was lower than planned (38.0 27.3 g/hr; p < 0.001). The absolute planned‐actual gap was larger in cyclists (58.9 → 49.1 g/hr; Δ = 10.3 g/hr) than in marathoners (25.9 → 21.7 g/hr; Δ = 4.2 g/hr); proportionally, the shortfall was similar (~16%–17%) in both groups. Cyclists planned substantially higher CHO intakes and achieved higher actual intakes than marathoners. Regression analysis showed
that race type, better sleep behavior, and lower cognitive anxiety predicted higher actual intake (R2 = 0.41, p < 0.05). Despite
similar intentions, marathoners consumed less CHO than cyclists and overestimated their CHO intake, highlighting behavioral
gaps. Sleep and psychological readiness played key roles in fueling success. Findings support the importance of measuring
actual intake and considering individual behavioral factors to optimize endurance nutrition strategies
De-mystifying the 'Cinderella’ leadership model: Premia in the practice of curriculum leadership
No full textThis qualitative research study explores the concept of curriculum leadership and how it is exercised by a multitude of actors at the school microlevel. Curriculum leadership has been recognised
internationally as an under-researched leadership model that has frequently been confused with, and subsumed into, other general leadership models. Applying a multi-site, embedded case study
approach within the Irish special school sector, this paper delineates how curriculum leadership is enacted across different positional levels within schools. Data were gathered from sixteen participants (n=16), occupying the roles of principal, curriculum coordinator and unpromoted
teacher, across three schools (n=3). The findings evidenced two curriculum leadership premia that amplified the influence of those teachers in possession of either or both of them. First, principalship, or positional proximity to the principal, provided greater agency in exercising curriculum leadership. Second, the more experience a teacher had, the more professional capital it provided them with in influencing colleagues over how the curriculum should be enacted within the school.
This paper provides important insights on how teachers leverage influence at school-level and also elucidates how distributed leadership manifests in relation to the curriculum
VitaChronicle 2.0: A Dual-Mode UX-Centered Approach to Lifelog Image Retrieval for Novice and Expert Users
No full textRetrieving meaningful information from lifelog data remains a
complex task due to its large volume, diversity of modalities, and
the need for intuitive user interaction to support effective memory
search. Despite advancements in retrieval techniques, user interface
(UI) design remains underexplored, often limiting accessibility for
diverse user groups. To address this gap, we present VitaChronicle
2.0, a redesigned retrieval framework that focuses on improving
the previous system’s interface and user experience (UX) for better
lifelog search performance. The proposed framework features a
dual-mode interface, offering simplified navigation or advanced
query capabilities as needed. Novice mode minimizes interface
complexity to reduce cognitive load, while expert mode enables
parameterized queries, compact views, and advanced navigation
tools. In VitaChronicle 2.0, new functionalities include voiceactivated search, mode selection, and intelligent suggestions for
queries and images. This updated version is developed with usercentric design principles and validated through iterative testing,
contributing a scalable and user-adaptive framework for visual
lifelog retrieval
New Frontiers in EU Trade Policy: Moving Beyond Conventional Trade Agreements
No full textAs the rules-based international trading system faces stagnation and increasing unilateralism, the European Union's trade policy must evolve beyond conventional free trade agreements (FTAs). This article examines recent trends in EU trade agreements, highlighting not only their expanded scope to include areas such as digital trade, sustainability, and regulatory cooperation, but also the emergence of new negotiation formats such as two-phase agreements. It then explores alternative forms of trade cooperation, including plurilateral agreements, mini-deals, and informal economic partnerships, as potential responses to geopolitical shifts and recent trade disruptions. Against a backdrop of renewed protectionist measures—particularly from the United States—this article argues that the EU must proactively forge deeper economic alliances with like-minded partners as a counterforce to this trend. The EU can do this by embracing adaptable negotiating formats that prioritise speed and flexibility without compromising on the core requirements for such agreements at the multilateral level. A strategic shift towards trade arrangements that are adaptable and pragmatic, yet uphold the integrity of the rules-based system, is essential to preserving the multilateral trading order in an era of growing economic unilateralism
Unbroken, but Dangerous: The UK’s Political Finance Regime and the Rationale for Reform
No full textThe framework for political donations in the UK creates a risk of political finance inflation, distorted political competition, and corruption. We study reported donations from 2001 to 2023. The value of political donations, adjusted for inflation, has gone down, not up, over the period we study. Adjusting for the popularity of the parties, donations have been received relatively equally by the two big parties. The corruption risk from donations is minimal: the two big parties have not been particularly dependent on individual donors and few businesses bother donating. This benign situation is a matter of luck, not design. The decisions of individual donors or politicians could easily flip the system towards inflation, distorted party competition, or greater corruption. In the wake of the 2025 local elections, reform should appeal to the UK’s traditional big three parties: it is a way to partially insulate political parties against electoral volatility, as well as reducing the risks of inflation, distortion, and corruptio
Engaging with the unreal: Introduction to the special issue
No full textThis is a special issue of Imagination, Cognition, and Personality that deals with fantasy and cognition. People engage with the unreal continuously in daily life. These engagements can take various forms. Bilbo the hobbit is not real, yet I can read about him in the novel The Hobbit, I can pretend that he is my dinner guest, I can watch him
run around in the movie The Hobbit, I can remember that he grows really old and other features about him. Other ways of engaging with the unreal include watching television, playing computer games, daydreaming, and engaging in virtual reality. In this way, people interact with, encode, store, retrieve, and think about information that extends beyond their immediate reality. Analyzing how people engage with the unreal is central to understanding imaginative thought, media consumption, narrative engagement, virtual experiences, and aspects of human communication such as role play and pretend pla