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'Blood, Sweat, Respect:' A Genealogy of Reactionary Hardbody Cinema
No full textThis thesis is a unique intervention into the realm of Film, Media, and Cultural Studies, as well as building upon studies of action cinema, masculinity, whiteness, and somatic histories. Sourced in Film Studies, I seek to provide an account for the shifting, building, ageing, and testing of on-screen bodies, celebrity bodies, and the bodies they inspire that has purchase across diverse scholarly disciplines. American action cinema, and more particularly what I have termed “reactionary action cinema” is centralised within my work but I argue that there has been a large-scale interrelation of creative industries, from cinema to social media, within which action stars perform the building of a body that is now synergistic and multi-platformed. These stars then display how said body may function as a powerful, profitable piece of capital which can accumulate in the marketplace. The high profile, highly profitable and culturally influential fitness industry is a key aspect of contemporary body culture and often positions itself as a central site of masculinist ideology, mental health, and normative somatic life. As such, I engage with changes in men’s grooming and fitness cultures, labour discourses and the shift from manual to cognitive to precarious labour over the last fifty years as well as cinematic analysis. My genealogy aims to provide not only insight into the effects of a particular cinematic genre on American culture but also a wider analysis of cultures of male body transformation. Thus, the scope of my project transcends standard genre analysis in that I aim to analyse how one particular genre has influenced cultural and ideological formations of white masculinity and reactionary politics in the U.S and how, in turn, those ideological formations and shifts have influenced action cinema
Essays on Inequality and Attitudes
No full textIn contemporary society, the quest for equality remains a big challenge, with significant implications for economic stability, social cohesion, and individual well-being. Central to this pursuit is the human construct of what is deemed fair—a concept deeply embedded in societal norms, values, and attitudes. This thesis explores various dimensions of social inequality and investigates the effects of policy and structural interventions on mitigating these disparities. By examining economic inequality in consumption patterns, media influence in autocratic regimes, and gender inequality in work and family outcomes, this research shows how different forms of inequality manifest and how societal attitudes and perceptions can be shaped and changed. Human societies have long strived to define and achieve fairness, often viewing equality as a key component of this ideal. What is considered fair evolves over time, influenced by cultural, economic, and political changes. The chapters of this thesis are driven by the recognition of several unfair dynamics: the persistence of economic inequality despite economic growth, the unequal access to information in autocratic regimes, and the disproportionate burden on women in balancing work and family responsibilities. The first study investigates trends in consumption inequality in Russia over the past two decades. Utilizing data from the Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Study, this research documents the dynamics of consumption inequality, uncovering rising disparities between different income groups despite overall economic growth. The findings highlight the complexities of economic inequality and the need for targeted policy measures to address these gaps. The second paper examines the manipulation of information in autocratic regimes, emerging from informational inequality, and its impact on public perceptions and trust in institutions. Through an analysis of a Russian state-run television program featuring Vladimir Putin, this paper investigates how media framing can influence citizens' beliefs and attitudes towards the regime. The results underscore the effectiveness of strategic framing in bolstering trust and preventing dissent, revealing the ways in which media influence can sustain autocratic control. This exploration highlights the importance of transparency and informed public discourse in shaping societal norms and values. The third study delves into the persistent issue of gender inequality, focusing on the potential impacts of reduced work hours on the allocation of household responsibilities and work-life balance. By analyzing data from a four-day workweek campaign across six English-speaking countries, this study offers insights into how policy changes can promote greater gender equality in both work and family settings. It demonstrates how specific economic policies can target and address gender disparities, making the argument more tangible. Moreover, this study, along with the analysis of media framing, emphasizes the importance of attitudes and perceptions in understanding and addressing social inequalities. Despite the distinct contexts and focuses of these studies, they are united by a common aim: to understand and address the aspects of social inequality. The following chapters present each study in detail, building towards conclusions on the ways to promote a more equitable society
Design and deployment of human-robotic applications using advanced digital technologies
No full textOne of the key objectives of this research work is to support the design of robotic cell configurations, including the cell layout and equipment design. Exploring different cell configuration alternatives, their feasibility as well as their performance in terms of a set of Key Performance Indicators is often cumbersome and takes up a significant amount of time. In addition, a new cell configuration may require physical validation, necessitating the use of a real robotic cell, leading to potential production disruptions. This poses a direct challenge for the industry. Such challenges may be partially addressed by employing robotic process simulation platforms. In this thesis, two different studies have been conducted in robotic cell and equipment configuration: simulation-based design of a) gripper fingers and b) baggage handling systems with aid of advanced digital manufacturing platforms. The simulation-based design of robotic gripper fingers was implemented by integrating a Computer-Aided Design platform and a 3D process simulation platform with a physics engine. The CAD together with the Physics-based simulation framework were deployed to work in tandem to automatically redesign and validate an initial gripper finger. One of the key advantages of the proposed approach is that it is capable of testing several gripper design configurations for handling multiple workpieces. Further, the physics-based process simulation allows the realistic exploration of different configurations and what-if scenarios. The study pertaining to airport baggage handling systems was conducted in collaboration with Dublin Airport Authority and led to the analysis of a set of baggage handling layouts, digitally constructed and evaluated with the aim to investigate their performance. Both studies proved that significant time and cost savings may be achieved by employing digital manufacturing and process simulation tools in complex manufacturing and logistics applications.
The second key objective of this thesis is to address the problem of accurately estimating the pose of a human operator on a shop floor taking advantage of vision and Inertial Measurement Sensors. Initially, data from two spatial computing developer kits together with IMU sensors were fused to estimate and track the pose of the human operator and the status in the shop floor. One drawback of the approach was a drop in the frequency of the fused output data. To address this limitation, a forward kinematic-based approach was employed, fusing the information from the spatial computing sensor and the IMU using Kalman filter. This led to significantly improved performance and accuracy. The next study employed a series of multiple different vision systems towards exploring the idea of whether combining the capabilities of different hardware systems and software frameworks may lead to better performance and accuracy in detecting the human operator pose. The study involved 3 different spatial computation kits, i.e., the Azure Kinect, Intel D455 and ZED2. The results indicated that at a distance less than 3 m, Azure Kinect demonstrated better tracking performance, followed by Intel D455 and ZED2, while at ranges higher than 3 m, ZED2 had excellent tracking performance.
Lastly, two studies were performed to address the challenges of integrating and deploying human-robot collaborative applications, taking advantage of mobile robotic platforms. The first study focused on a novel straightforward approach, with an easy-to-implement control strategy involving haptic-force and compliance control feedback from the robot arm was developed to guide the base of the mobile robot to the location. Furthermore, this was developed for applications where the co-manipulation of long parts is required. The second project employed Edge-AI devices and a mobile robotic platform using ROS for demonstrating how Edge computing principles may be employed in demanding collaborative robotic applications
There and back again: a (geo)archaeological reassessment of three Mesolithic sites on the East Coast of Ireland
No full textThis thesis presents the process and results of a research aimed at reassessing the state of knowledge and archaeological potential of three Later Mesolithic sites identified as “shell middens”, and excavated on the east coast of Ireland between 1946 and 1970: Rockmarshall, Co. Louth; Sutton and Dalkey Island, Co. Dublin. Despite their importance in the academic literature, the records for these sites are relatively scarce and reflect the standards of the era, and the current state of preservation of these sites is unknown. The research objectives and questions were twofold: 1. To update the state of knowledge by reviewing the existing material for each site – what do we know about its archaeology? To answer this question, the archival material was systematically reviewed, and the assemblage in the collection of the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology was analysed using a standardised methodology, including a detailed lithics analysis. 2. To assess the sites’ potential for future research by implementing minimally-invasive (geo)archaeological methods – what archaeology is left there? This objective was tackled by developing a multi-method approach adapted to the characteristics of each site. This approach combined an array of surveying techniques (Digital Surface- and 3D-Modelling; resistivity; magnetometry; Ground-Penetrating Radar; coring; surface collection) with geo)archaeological field intervention and analysis, including section cleaning and recording, radiocarbon dating, soil pH, animal and plant remains analysis and charcoal identification, and soil micromorphological analysis. Results indicate that shell accumulation occurred during a protracted period of the Later Mesolithic on all three sites, and did not continue during the Early Neolithic. Potential for further research is very significant, with shell layers surviving in situ on all three sites, and crucial information still to be extracted from temporarily inaccessible material. Despite fundamental limitations, current models of relative sea-level change challenge the existing interpretation of the sites. More widely, categories such as “shell midden”, but also “Mesolithic” and “hunter-gatherer” reflect contemporary values and contribute to reduce the lives of past people to the fulfilment of basic needs, while the role played by the missing data is not discussed
Interactions between forests, pollinators, livelihoods, and sustainability in rural Africa
No full textThe importance of pollination services to commercially traded crops that support human nutrition is well-recognised, and the impacts of pollinator decline driven by habitat loss in the developed world are now well-researched. These aspects are poorly understood in the developing world, however, despite the risks associated with pollinator decline being greatest in the Global South. Although there is growing public cognisance of pollinators and their importance, some key knowledge gaps remain, which may have consequences for pollinator conservation. Forests support livelihoods, especially in undeveloped regions, where forest-based livelihoods programs, including beekeeping, are frequently used as mechanisms of forest conservation. Little is known, however, about the role of pollinators for ensuring the provision of forest products to communities, which prevents accurate estimations of pollinator dependence. Unsustainable forest product harvesting contributes to forest loss with consequences for biodiversity and associated ecosystem goods and services including pollination. Despite this, the sustainability of forest use is rarely quantified, limiting the assessment of progress or regression with respect to sustainable forest management. This thesis investigated the interactions between forests, pollinators, livelihoods, and forest use sustainability. Smallholder farming households were surveyed in North-Western Zambia revealing substantial reliance on pollinator dependent crops and forest products. While farming was the dominant livelihood, forests were also important for most households and provided resources in between crop harvests. Despite the reliance on pollinators, there was little understanding of pollinator diversity and their role in forest pollination. Pollinator exclusion experiments on key forest product trees revealed variable reliance on biotic pollination. Symptoms of pollen limitation in one tree species indicated that pollinators could be a limiting resource. Pollen limitation could be exacerbated by forest loss which was found to have mixed effects on pollinators. Pollinator abundance and taxonomic richness were greater at deforested sites, possibly indicating sufficiently high floral diversity in agricultural areas to support pollinators. However, there were negative effects of forest loss on pollinator evenness, and evidence that forest loss has altered pollinator communities. Similarly, the effects of forest loss on honeybee foraging were mixed but showed some evidence of the possible importance of trees for honeybee foraging. In some cases, honeybee forage diversity was high in deforested sites, indicating that floral diversity in smallholder agricultural landscapes may be sufficient to support honeybees. Finally, a composite indicator was developed to quantify the sustainability of forest use by rural communities, enabling a comparison between current forest use and a future projection of more sustainable use, showing that forests could be used more sustainably by addressing harvesting practices. A possible attitude-behaviour gap was identified by comparing rural community attitudes to forests with forest use indicators, suggesting that there may be barriers preventing pro-forest attitudes being acted on. The results emphasize the importance of protecting forests and floral diversity in rural smallholder agriculture landscapes. Floral diversity in deforested agricultural areas will likely not satisfactorily substitute for forest habitats, however, since forests provide important resources for pollinators and people, including during seasons when agricultural landscapes are unproductive. Addressing key knowledge gaps around pollinators, and potential attitude-behavior gaps, may help to garner support for forest and pollinator conservation. Quantifying the use of forests using an indicator approach as developed in this thesis will be useful for tracking progress towards such forest conservation goals.2025-11-18 JG: Author's signature removed from PD
A semantics-driven framework for scalable demand flexibility control applications in buildings
No full textThe International Energy Agency (IEA) indicates that achieving decarbonisation in the electricity sector requires a tenfold increase in Demand Flexibility (DF) by 2030 compared to 2020 levels, with approximately 50% coming from buildings. DF in buildings can be achieved by control applications that adjust consumption patterns in order to support the grid needs according to weather conditions and user requirements. Despite their promising potential, DF controls within the building sector remain limited. The heterogeneous nature of buildings leads to bespoke installations, limited interoperability, and often vendor lock-in. This results in ad-hoc and building-specific control applications, which require costly, labour-intensive onboarding (configuration) processes when reusing the same applications across different buildings. In recent years, several researchers have investigated semantic models built on ontologies to uniformly represent building data. Semantic models based on ontologies such as Brick and SAREF can describe buildings, their spaces, systems, measurement and/or control points in a machine-readable manner. This allows for improved interoperability as heterogeneous data sources can share a common understanding of concepts and relationships. Semantic models also facilitate applications to abstract building-specific intricacies, such as ad-hoc naming conventions, enabling them to rely on common onboarding tasks (e.g., point mapping) across various buildings. This, ultimately, enhances applications’ portability and scalability. However, while semantics-driven approaches have been successfully demonstrated for analytical applications, previous studies failed to explore them in the context of controls, especially for DF. This thesis proposes a novel semantics-driven framework, encapsulating three contributions that enhance the portability, interoperability, and scalability of DF control applications. The first contribution focuses on creating a foundational framework that leverages Brick-based semantic models to enable the portability of DF control applications across both virtual and real building environments. The second contribution extends this framework to support the generation of semantic models compliant with both Brick and SAREF ontologies while using multiple data sources. It also proposes a control platform based on an actor and microservices architecture to facilitate DF controls implementation in real buildings. The third contribution builds upon the initial semantics-driven framework, proposing a novel methodology to create a publicly available and scalable library of DF control applications. This library is designed to support rapid and portable control testing across various contexts, allowing for comprehensive performance assessment. To evaluate the effectiveness of this research, thirteen DF controls were developed. Demonstration cases included two real and four simulated buildings representing diverse climate zones and typologies. The results demonstrate the framework’s ability to: enable the portability of controls across different buildings; enhance interoperability among various data sources for the controls’ configuration and deployment; and support the development of controls at scale while integrated with a robust testing environment. The outcomes also yield significant savings in the real buildings, reducing costs by 27% and demand by up to 60% during shed events. Insights into portable controls, semantic models, and DF performance variations are also derived from these demonstration efforts, providing essential guidance for control developers and researchers in this field
Investment arbitration and the autonomy of EU’s legal order: a rule of law perspective
No full textSteps taken by the European Union (EU) towards putting an end to intra-EU investment arbitration have attracted much criticism, which ranges from accusations of legal imperialism to observations that the notion of autonomy of the EU’s legal order, which is the primary tool weaponised against intra-EU arbitration, is politically malleable. Nevertheless, those supporting the EU’s position argue that in a legal community like the EU, it is expected to litigate against state authorities before national courts. This article informs the debate from a rule of law lens – it contends that the concerns for the EU’s legal order with respect to intra-EU investment arbitration resonate dual standards and undermine article 2 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU). First, it analyses the inconsistencies of the European Commission’s position considering its failure to protect judicial independence in the EU. Then, it explains why the politicisation of the principle of the autonomy of the EU’s legal order in the Court of Justice of the European Union’s case law, which reflects the court’s commitment to self-increasing its jurisdiction and to prioritising procedure over substantive human rights, leads to tension with article 2 TEU. After shedding light on concrete cases illustrating why the EU’s stance on intra-EU investment arbitration hampers investors’ rights, it contemplates what solutions could be envisaged to ensure more adequate investor protection in the EU
Carbon storage and sequestration in Irish saltmarsh habitats
No full textCoastal wetlands are recognised for the vital role they play in climate change mitigation and adaptation. In particular, coastal wetlands are efficient ecosystems for sequestering and storing carbon. Regional estimates of carbon stocks and rates of carbon accumulation are often lacking, particularly for the temperate Northeastern Atlantic region. To address this knowledge gap, I conducted a national carbon stock assessment of 23 saltmarshes in Ireland to determine the magnitude of their carbon inventory and to understand the variability between different morphology types. The carbon density per hectare was 145.28 ± 2.58 Mg Corg ha-1 resulting in a carbon stock of over 950,000 Mg Corg, with the main drivers of variability being the composition and origin of the substrate. To understand the annual increase in carbon stock, I analysed the sediment and carbon accumulation rates of 13 saltmarshes of varying geographical locations through marker horizons and radiometric dating. Through these techniques, the annual present and historic carbon accumulation rate were estimated as 0.018 ± 0.002 g Corg cm-2 and 0.0077 ± 0.0005 g Corg cm-2, respectively. Lastly, I determined the contribution of an invasive species (Spartina anglica) on the carbon storage and accumulation rates. Areas of S. anglica swards were found to store 78.4 ± 6.0 Mg Corg ha-1, and a national total of 105,918 ± 8,106 Mg Corg. Spartina anglica-dominated areas were also found to annually accumulate 40% more sediment and 15% more carbon. Overall, the saltmarshes of Ireland have a below average carbon density and an average carbon accumulation rate on a global scale. This research provides the backbone for Tier 2 data for IPCC National Inventory Reporting and expands our understanding of carbon dynamics in saltmarsh ecosystems in the temperate Northeastern Atlantic region. This will ultimately underpin improved management for the protection and restoration of these habitats.2025-10-29 JG: Author's signature removed from PD
Local Citizenship for Un(der)documented Immigrants: Exploring Governance Paradigms in Athens and Dublin
No full textThis thesis explores the concept of local citizenship, which emphasises equity and inclusivity by prioritising residence-based membership in local polities. The study aims to enhance our understanding of both the normative and empirical aspects of local citizenship by examining the extent to which Athens and Dublin, two cities with limited local autonomy within centralised states, have generated forms of local citizenship and identifying the factors that shape these forms. This inquiry into the mechanisms through which local policies produce contingent forms of citizenship rights for undocumented and under-documented residents employs governance theory as its analytical framework, capturing the complexities of local citizenship as a dynamic, context-dependent phenomenon. The methodology incorporates 30 in-depth interviews with key informants, alongside an analysis of relevant documents. The empirical findings show that the local governance in Athens and Dublin is shaped by the interplay among the degree of local autonomy, political will-referring to the commitment of political actors to pursue specific public policies or reforms, and the role of civil society. The study demonstrates that local policies are influenced not only by the city’s unique context but also by interactions across various levels of government and with different actors. By synthesising insights from local citizenship and governance theories, this thesis proposes an analytical framework to examine local citizenship across diverse contexts and degrees of autonomy. It suggests that inclusive immigrant policy paradigms, coupled with effective multi-actor and multi-level governance, are essential for the enactment and examination of local citizenship practices. These findings contribute to the existing literature by bridging the theoretical discussions on local citizenship with practical governance issues and underscoring how local citizenship is a tangible reality influenced by various levels and actors within governance structures
Vitamin K in Grassfed and non-Grassfed dairy: Quantification, effect of intake and measures of bioaccessibity
No full textThis thesis examined the impact of bovine diets and lactation stages on vitamin K levels in dairy products, and compared the effects of pasture-fed versus total mixed ration (TMR)-fed Cheddar cheese on human vitamin K status and bioaccessibility. The study aimed to understand how different feeding methods influence the vitamin K content and bioavailability in cheese, and it effect on human health. Chapter 2 focused on developing a safer and more efficient method to extract and quantify vitamin K (K1, MK-4, MK-7, MK-9) in dairy products. Cheddar cheese and butter samples were analysed using an improved HPLC method with a fluorescence detector, replacing hexane with the less toxic solvent heptane. The method showed improved LOQ for MK-4 and MK-9 and showed high precision and stability. This validated approach is effective for measuring various vitamin K forms in Cheddar cheese and butter. Chapter 3 investigated the vitamin K content in butter and Cheddar cheese produced from cows fed pasture (GRS), total mixed ration (TMR), or partial mixed ration (PMR) diets at different lactation stages. Findings indicated that pasture-fed milk products had higher K1 levels, with GRS butter showing the highest MK-4 content. Mid-lactation butter and late-lactation cheese had the highest vitamin K concentrations, emphasizing that both diet and lactation stage significantly influence vitamin K levels in dairy products. A higher pasture-fed ratio was found to enhance vitamin K content, particularly K1 and MK-4, suggesting changing the bovine diet could enhance vitamin K levels in dairy products. Chapter 4 explored the effects of pasture-fed versus TMR-fed Cheddar cheese on vitamin K status biomarkers in humans. Using samples from a previous trial involving overweight adults over 50 years old, participants consumed either pasture-fed or TMR-fed cheese for six weeks. Despite the TMR cheese containing nearly double the vitamin K levels compared to pasture-fed cheese, both types resulted in similar improvements in vitamin K status biomarkers, such as dp-ucMGP and the ratio of ucOC to cOC. This suggests that the vitamin K bioaccessibility in pasture-fed cheese may be higher than in TMR cheese, compensating for its lower total vitamin K content. Chapter 5 compared the bioaccessibility of vitamin K in pasture-fed and TMR-fed Cheddar cheese using an in vitro digestion model (INFOGEST 2.0). Results showed that pasture-fed cheese had significantly higher bioaccessibility of K1 and MK-4 compared to TMR cheese, possibly due to differences in texture, unsaturated fatty acids, interactions with casein, and physicochemical properties of vitamin K forms. These findings imply that the matrix of pasture-fed cheese may enhance the absorption of vitamin K more efficiently than TMR cheese. Overall, the research highlights that pasture-fed bovine diets can significantly increase vitamin K content in dairy products and that pasture-fed Cheddar cheese may offer better vitamin K bioaccessibility than TMR-fed cheese. This improved bioaccessibility potentially leads to more effective enhancement of vitamin K status in humans, indicating that diet and feed types play crucial roles in optimizing the nutritional quality of dairy products.2025-11-17 JG: Author's signature removed from PD