NUI Maynooth Eprint Archive
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Bridging Cultural Holes in Organizations: The Dynamic Structure of Social Networks and Organizational Vocabularies Within and Across Subunits
No full textThe mechanisms by which social networks and organizational vocabularies
combine jointly to affect communication patterns across organizational boundaries
remain largely unexplored. In this paper, we examine the mutually constitutive relation
between the network ties through which organizational members communicate with
each other and the vocabularies that they use to describe their organization. We suggest
that the dynamic structure of social networks and organizational vocabularies is contingent on the formal design of organizational subunits. Within subunit boundaries,
members who interact with each other are more likely to develop similar vocabularies
over time. Interestingly, between subunits, the more two members share similar organizational vocabularies, the more likely they are to form a tie over time. We find
empirical evidence for these arguments in a longitudinal study conducted among the
managers of a multiunit organization. Organizational vocabularies, we suggest, may
sustain communication patterns across organizational boundaries, thus bridging cultural holes within organizations
Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise (SME) Participation in Public Procurement
No full textSmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) dominate the Single Market
contributing to local employment generation and innovative supplies and
services development. Yet, SMEs are continuously disproportionately
underrepresented in public markets. On average EU member states spend
approximately 14% of their gross domestic product (GDP) concluding
public supplies, services and works contracts. EU rules aim to promote
cross-border trade in the Single Market by removing the barriers faced by
suppliers when tendering for public contracts. This research questions
whether the inclusion of social criteria and innovative procedures
facilitates SME participation in public contracts. The research questions
what impact “the division of large contracts into small ‘lots’; the use of
community benefit clauses; the use of subcontractor considerations; and
the use of pre-commercial procurement (PCP) procedures” has on SME
participation. A cross-border comparative case-study approach is adopted
to examine the inclusion of social criteria and innovative procedures in
four case studies. The case studies scrutinise the inclusion of social criteria
in; a €1.7 billion works contract for the construction of a New Children’s
Hospital in Ireland, a £27 million catering, cleaning and ancillary services
contract conducted by Northern Ireland’s Central Procurement
Directorate, and two PCP competitions conducted by Smart Dublin and
Smart Belfast. The findings show how; the use of community benefit
clauses and the use of lots facilitated a social enterprise in winning a
proportion of a £27 million services and supplies contract; the use of
subcontractor considerations resulted in the awarding of €500,000 of
subcontracts to SMEs on a €1.7 billion contract within six months of
contract commencement, and the use of PCP facilitated the participation
of nine SMEs in public contracts. The thesis argues that public procurers
should not to treat SMEs as a homogenised group and should design
appropriate and proportionate policies for different forms of businesses,
including social enterprises and innovative start-ups
Framing a Project to Engage the ADR Community in Developing a Public Policy Framework for Mediation in the Republic of Ireland (MUSSI Working Paper No 14)
No full textAs a process, mediation has evolved in the Republic of Ireland as an increasingly significant
part of the work of alternative dispute resolution agencies and services funded by the State.
This evolution has occurred without any overarching policy framework being in place. Yet the
lack of an policy framework means that there is no integrated understanding of what is being
done, by whom and to what return on the State’s investment. This 2020 project , funded by
the Irish Research Council New Foundations programme, sets out to bring together all those
ADR agencies and services currently involved in mediation provision in the Republic of Ireland,
who are funded by the Irish State. There is limited research to date on mediation provision
and impact in Ireland and a growing interest in developing a systematic evidence base in
relation to mediation. The project will enable shared understanding of current mediation
provision, the development of a draft public policy framework and a basis for engaged
research into the future
Education in Ireland: accessible without discrimination for all?
No full textWhile Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights articulates a comprehensive right to education, truly accessible education remains elusive in many countries. This article considers the accessibility of education in Ireland in law, policy and practice, drawing on semi-structured interviews with politicians, educators, and representatives of various relevant interest groups. The Irish education system, once described as a ‘Church-State co-operative’, has historically been controlled by the Catholic Church, but in recent times has been obliged to adapt in order to cater for an increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse school population. The article concludes that a variety of exclusionary practices have facilitated the establishment of a de facto two-tiered education system in Ireland, with marginalised groups such as asylum-seekers; religious minorities; and the indigenous Traveller community particularly disadvantaged. A recent process of legislative reform addresses some key issues, such as admission policies, which distinguish prospective students on the basis of religion, past pupil parents, and when their name was placed on the enrolment list. However, it remains to be seen whether these reforms will significantly enhance access in practice
'Editorial Introduction to 'Paddison Geographies'
No full textThis paper opens a special issue (SI) commemorating the contributions of Ronan Paddison (1945–2019), founder and original Editor-in-Chief of Space and Polity. It outlines Paddison’s academic accomplishments before introducing the pieces that follow. It narrates Paddison as scholar, teacher, theorist and critic based on reading a student geographical magazine, the Drumlin, ‘published’ annually 1955–2009. This medium allows glimpses of Paddison as a ‘radical geographer’ nourishing eclectic versions of political and urban geography. The paper raises signposts for many of the concerns, to do with Paddison’s conceptualizing, practising and instructing about ‘space and polity’, covered by the SI as a whole
Making the smart region transition: towards a conceptual and assessment framework
No full textSmart region related policy has gained considerable importance. The UN has included "Smart City" as one of the goals in its sustainable development goals (SDG 11- Sustainable Cities and Communities). The concept of Smart regions goes beyond the smart city concept. Smart region, in principle, means the inclusion of smart city (urban) along with non-urban or rural areas as an integral part of the strategic interventions. E-governance has over the years played a key role in bridging the digital-divide between urban and rural areas, thus an important concept in smart regions. Consequently, we offer a conceptualization of smart regions as comprising smart cities and rural e-governance initiatives. This conceptualization is employed in assessing a region initiative in India - Ahmedabad to determine to what extent it could be labelled as a smart region. We argue that our emerging conceptualization offers pragmatic value for regional and spatial planning in contexts looking to scale islands of smart cities initiatives into smart regions
Regional climate downscaling over Europe: perspectives from the EURO-CORDEX community
No full textThe European CORDEX (EURO-CORDEX) initiative is a large voluntary effort that seeks to advance regional climate
and Earth system science in Europe. As part of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) - Coordinated Regional
Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX), it shares the broader goals of providing a model evaluation and climate projection
framework and improving communication with both the General Circulation Model (GCM) and climate data user
communities. EURO-CORDEX oversees the design and coordination of ongoing ensembles of regional climate projections of unprecedented size and resolution (0.11◦ EUR-11 and 0.44◦ EUR-44 domains). Additionally, the inclusion of empirical statistical downscaling allows investigation of much larger multi-model ensembles. These complementary approaches provide a foundation for scientific studies within the climate research community and others. The value of the EURO CORDEX ensemble is shown via numerous peer-reviewed studies and its use in the development of climate services. Evaluations of the EUR-44 and EUR-11 ensembles also show the benefits of higher resolution. However, significant challenges remain. To further advance scientific understanding, two flagship pilot studies (FPS) were initiated. The first investigates local-regional phenomena at convection-permitting scales over central Europe and the Mediterranean in collaboration with the Med-CORDEX community. The second investigates the impacts of land cover changes on European climate across spatial and temporal scales. Over the coming years, the EURO-CORDEX community looks forward to closer collaboration with other communities, new advances, supporting international initiatives such as the IPCC reports, and continuing to provide the basis for research on regional climate impacts and adaptation in Europe
Is a View of Green Spaces from Home Associated with a Lower Risk of Anxiety and Depression?
No full textAlthough a large body of research supports the theory that exposure to nature results
in mental health benefits, research evidence on the effects of having a view of green space from
home is still scarce. The aim of the present study is to assess the impact that access to a green space
view from home has on anxiety and depression. This is a cross-sectional study extracting data from
the “2018 Green Spaces, Daily Habits and Urban Health Survey” conducted in Carmona (Spain).
The study included variables on sociodemographic and lifestyle, view of green spaces from home,
self-perceived health status, and risk of anxiety and depression measured using the Hospital Anxiety
and Depression Scale (HADS). Chi-square tests were used to assess variable’s associations and a
multiple linear regression models used to identify the variables explaining the risk of anxiety and
depression, taking into account sociodemographic characteristics, frequency of visits and view of
green spaces from home. According to our results, adults who enjoy a view of green spaces from
home have a lower risk of anxiety and depression
Black and White Landscapes: Topographies of Disorientation in the Works of Carrie Mae Weems and Claudia Rankine
No full textn this essay, I explore how the contemporary black female artists Carrie Mae Weems and
Claudia Rankine work with photography and text to develop what I call, after the famous
American landscape photography exhibition, a new, anticolonial, topographics.
Connecting the geographical and anatomical meanings of the word “topography,” I approach
their works via the phenomenology of Sara Ahmed and Frantz Fanon, tracing how the two
artists decentre and throw into relief what Ahmed terms “whiteness as orientation.”
Enacting an affective, visual politics of discomfort and disorientation, Weems and Rankine,
this essay contends, open new terrain from which to encounter the American landscape in
visual, corporeal, and phenomenological terms
Analysis and Enhancement of the LoRaWAN Adaptive Data Rate Scheme
No full textThe adaptive data rate (ADR) algorithm is a key component of the LoRaWAN protocol which controls the performance of a LoRaWAN Network. This modifies the data rate parameter of a device based on the current wireless conditions. In this article, we present substantive enhancements for the End Device and Network Server which reduce the convergence time for LoRaWAN devices to reach their optimal data rate. We extend the LoRaWAN module in ns-3 by adding ADR, enabling the simulation of realistic LoRaWAN networks, and add the implementation of the new enhancements in this module. The simulations show that these modifications can result in a significant reduction of the data rate convergence time for LoRaWAN devices and lead to an increased overall packet delivery rate for the network in a dynamic network environment. Our contributions are a publicly available implementation of ADR in ns-3, an analysis of the original algorithm behaviour, and a novel version of the algorithm with enhancements that improve performance in every case while remaining easily integrable into an existing LoRaWAN system