NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Characterizing Access to Culture for People with Disabilities in EU Cultural Policy: European Identity, Market integration and Social Inclusion
No full textThis article discusses the emergence of access to culture for people with disabilities,
among other underrepresented audiences, as an integral part of the EU ‘explicit’ cultural
policy, and identifies and analyses its underlying justifications. It posits that this emerging
disability dimension is not only linked to the implementation of the UN Convention on the
Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), but can be traced back to the three main
overarching functions of EU cultural policy, i.e. European identity building, market
integration and social inclusion
The right to participate in cultural life of persons with disabilities in Europe: Where is the paradigm shift?
No full textThe UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is
associated with a paradigm shift in how disability is approached, as it views
persons with disabilities as holders of rights and as active members of society.
It aims to ensure that people with disabilities are fully included in communal
life, and, in Article 30, addresses participation in culture. This research article
focuses on the implementation of Article 30, investigating whether there
is evidence of the paradigm shift underpinning the CRPD in how cultural
participation is approached by States Parties. Focusing on Europe and on
the basis of a systematic qualitative document analysis of States’ reports to
the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and recommendations made by the Committee in response to them, this article shows that
the medical model of disability still underpins cultural participation. Signs of
a paradigm shift are, however, evident in the way States address accessibility
and identities of some groups. Physical access to buildings and heritage is a
prominent issue, and awareness of the need to facilitate access to cultural content is emerging. This article concludes that full realisation of the paradigm
shift in the cultural domain, while being essential to achieve full inclusion of
persons with disabilities, is yet to come
Creative industries’ new entrants as equality, diversity and inclusion change agents?
No full textThis paper considers how new entrants to the Creative Industries
view the challenge of achieving equality, diversity and inclusion
in the sector. The research adopts a case study approach based
on a snowball sample and interviews with 21 new entrants to
media work. All were graduates of the same media degree
programme and all were based in Ireland and worked in the
audio-visual sector, PR, communications, marketing, content
creation or advertising, as well as in media-related roles in non-media organisations and companies. The key findings are that
new entrants do see the need for EDI initiatives in creative
industries. However, they frame EDI interventions in terms of the
needs of individuals. Because of their new entrant status they do
not see themselves as being in a strong position to advocate for
equality, diversity and inclusion in creative industries and so do
not view themselves as change agents
Jewishness and postcoloniality in Borges and Derrida: the singular and the specific
No full textThis paper reads two texts, ‘The Argentine Writer and Tradition’ by Jorge Luis Borges and Monolingualism of the Other by Jacques Derrida, to examine the tension between singularity and specificity in comparative work, particularly in comparisons between Jewishness and post coloniality. ‘Singularity’ is understood here as uniqueness, while‘ specificity’ is the factors that define that uniqueness. Borges’ text serves as an example of the potential pitfalls of comparative work that is inconsistent in its recognition of singularity and specificity. Borges affords Jewish writers singularity, but not specificity, and so ends up denying the very elements of Jewish culture his argument appears to valorise, at the expense of his celebration of the postcolonial condition. Borges’ comparison therefore undermines its own logic. Derrida, meanwhile, appears to exaggerate one particular colonised Jewish community’s exceptionality, but through this apparent focus on the specificity of one group at the expense of others, offers a potential model for how to work comparatively yet still recognise the specificity of multiple groups
From Ideal to Real: Attachment Orientations Guide Preference for an Autonomous Leadership Style
No full textAutonomy is a key characteristic of attachment relations that varies as a function of
attachment orientations and is also a key personality characteristic of leadership
perceptions. In the presented research, we reasoned that the relationship between
attachment and autonomy-related preference for specific leaders and leadership behavior
would be a function of individuals’ insecure attachment strategies. We tested our
hypotheses in two studies. Study 1 used Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC)
modeling to test expectations based on a cross-sectional design, while Study 2 utilized
a vignette-based experimental design. We find that anxious individuals attributed less
positive evaluations to an autonomous leadership style (Study 1), while avoidant persons
attributed higher leader competence to an autonomous leader description (Study 2).
Compared to less anxious participants, highly anxious participants attributed lower
competence to the autonomous leader description. By examining how individual differences
in attachment orientations can indirectly influence the ideal leader categorization process,
the present set of studies lends support to the importance of attachment orientations and
related working models in leader perception and contribute to the literature on leader-follower fit. Using a survey and experimental approach, we examine how followers’
attachment schemas can shape the leader influence process, specifically concerning a
preference for an autonomous leadership style
The utility of Google Trends as a tool for evaluating flooding in data‐scarce places
No full textGoogle Trends (GT) offers a historical database of global internet searches with the potential to complement conventional records of environmental hazards, especially in regions where formal hydrometeorological data are scarce. We evaluate the extent to which GT can discern heavy rainfall and floods in Kenya and Uganda during the period 2014 to 2018. We triangulate counts of flood searches from GT with available rainfall records and media reports to build an inventory of extreme events. The Spearman rank correlation (ρ) between monthly mean search interest for flooding and monthly Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS) rainfall totals was ρ = +0.38 (p < 0.005) for Kenya and ρ = +0.64 (p < 0.001) for Uganda. Media reports of flooding were used to specify a threshold of detectability to give the same overall frequency of floods
based on GT search interest. When the GT search index threshold was set at ≥15 and ≥29, the correct detection rate was 75% and 64% within a five-day window of known flood events in Kenya and Uganda, respectively. From these preliminary explorations we conclude that GT has potential as a proxy data source, but greater skill may emerge in places with larger search volumes and by linking to historical information about environmental hazards at sub-national scales. Wider applicability of the GT platform might be possible if there is greater transparency about
how Google algorithms determine topics
Patents, healthcare and engaged shareholders: a pathway to encourage socially responsible patent use?
No full textThis paper focuses on the drivers steering companies’ behaviour over uses of patented health technologies, taking Covid-19 as a case study. Global equitable access to health technologies is vital to bringing the pandemic under control. Reflecting this, global mechanisms for rightsholders to share intellectual property rights, data and know-how over such health technologies have been developed. Yet, to date, there is limited support from corporate rightsholders for such mechanisms. Instead, health technologies have been licensed largely based on bilateral deals, with vast global inequalities emerging. Given the traditional focus within company law on prioritising shareholders' short-term financial value, we argue that it is unsurprising that many corporate rightsholders adopt a protectionist approach to patents, even in the face of health crises. However, we argue that the tide may now be starting to shift, catalysed by an emergence of engaged shareholders petitioning for socially responsible corporate behaviour, including for uses of intellectual property over health technologies in a manner that more clearly aligns with public interests. If harnessed and encouraged, such engaged shareholder behaviour could present an opportunity to reframe the conception of shareholder value towards one that considers a long-term sustainable approach and ultimately to shift corporate behaviour around uses of intellectual property over health technologies to take public interests into account
Healthy Age Friendly Homes – Interim Report
No full textFollowing extensive collaboration between Sláintecare and the local Government
sector in 2021, and in response to the Housing Options for Our Ageing Population
policy statement, in line with this Programme for Government’s vision for an
Age Friendly Ireland, the Healthy Age Friendly Homes (HAFH) programme was
established as an innovative, new support co-ordination service designed to
support older people to age in place
Re-thinking the coronavirus pandemic as a policy punctuation: COVID-19 as a path-clearing policy accelerator
No full textThis article joins with others in this special issue to examine the evolution of our understanding of how the coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 pandemic impacted policy ideas and routines across a wide variety of sectors of government activity. Did policy ideas and routines transform as a result of the pandemic or were they merely a continuation of the status quo ante? If they did transform, are the transformations temporary in nature or likely to lead to significant, deep and permanent reform to existing policy paths and trajectories? As this article sets out, the literature on policy punctuations has evolved and helps us understand the impact of COVID-19 on policy-making but tends to conflate several distinct aspects of path trajectories and deviations under the general concept of “critical junctures” which muddy reflections and findings. Once the different possible types of punctuations have been clarified, however, the result is a set of concepts related to path creation and disruption—especially that of “path clearing”—which are better able to provide an explanation of the kinds of policy change to be expected to result from the impact of events such as the 2019 coronavirus pandemic
Production of a functionally active recombinant SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) 3C-like protease and a soluble inactive 3C-like protease-RBD chimeric in a prokaryotic expression system
No full textDuring the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) intracellular life-cycle, two large polyproteins, pp1a and pp1ab, are produced. Processing of these by viral cysteine proteases, the papain-like protease (PLpro) and the chymotrypsin-like 3C-like protease (3CL-pro) release non-structural proteins necessary for the establishment of the viral replication and transcription complex (RTC), crucial for viral replication. Hence, these proteases are considered prime targets against which anti-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) drugs could be developed. Here, we describe the expression of a highly soluble and functionally active recombinant 3CL-pro using Escherichia coli BL21 cells. We show that the enzyme functions in a dimeric form and exhibits an unexpected inhibitory profile because its activity is potently blocked by serine rather than cysteine protease inhibitors. In addition, we assessed the ability of our 3CL-pro to function as a carrier for the receptor binding domain (RBD) of the Spike protein. The co-expressed chimeric protein, 3CLpro-RBD, did not exhibit 3CL-pro activity, but its enhanced solubility made purification easier and improved RBD antigenicity when tested against serum from vaccinated individuals in ELISAs. Chimeric proteins containing the 3CL-pro could represent an innovative approach to developing new COVID-19 vaccines