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Teaching Intercultural Competence: Challenges and Opportunities
Get PDFThis paper presents a case study analysis of Intercultural Studies electives delivered to students as part of a Business Studies degree programme in Dundalk Institute of Technology, Ireland. A survey captured students’ perceptions of the existing Intercultural Studies electives. Much of the literature endorses the importance of intercultural competence for students in general, and business graduates in particular, in a globalised world. The nature and range of active learning methods currently employed on this elective are also cited in the literature as being conducive to building intercultural competence. This was further evidenced in the findings from the student survey conducted. The conclusions of the case study present some clear opportunities regarding both the challenges and the importance of building awareness, knowledge and skills among graduates using a range of relevant teaching and learning methods
The evolution of Irish folk theatre
No full textSiamsa Tíre, The National Folk Theatre of Ireland, was founded in 1964 and is based in Tralee, Co. Kerry. It is, in many ways, a unique cultural experience, presenting Irish folklore and folk culture through the medium of theatre involving music, song, dance and mime but invariably no dialogue. I began training with the company at the age of nine and have been involved in many roles since, including as a performer and director. In this paper I seek to outline the evolution of Irish folk theatre as exemplified by Siamsa Tíre. As well as engaging with the material presented on stage, I consider the impact of tourism on Irish culture, changing concepts of folk culture in an increasingly urbanized state and the potential of folk theatre to create as well as reflect a community and society. This paper draws selectively on the repertoire of performances devised by Siamsa Tíre over the past half century, highlighting themes and developments that inform an understanding of the art form and changes in Irish society more generally
Health and Wellness Self-Management for Older Adults
No full textThis position paper describes our ongoing work in the design of health and wellness applications that support older adults in managing their wellbeing. Specifically, this involves older adults self-reporting on various aspects of their wellbeing and receiving feedback on such, to increase their awareness of their health and to support them in maintaining or returning to a healthy state of being. In designing this application, it was critical to involve older adults, to understand their attitudes towards wellness, as well as assessing the effectiveness of various types of input and feedback visualisations
Selective Memories
Get PDFA review article of John Horne & Edward Madigan (eds) Towards Commemoration: Ireland in war and revolution 1912-1923 (2013) RIA
Part L and the passive house stand: achieving compliance
No full textThe aim of this research is to identify the difficulties associated with Building a Passive House in Ireland and remaining compliant with Part L of the Irish Building Regulations for the Conservation of Fuel and Energy in Dwellings. A review of Part L of the Building regulations and The Passive House Standard was conducted in order to gain an understanding of what each of them requires and the main principles behind them. In order to carry out this investigation, a case study was performed on a recently constructed A-Rated Passive House in Wexford. As this is the first of its kind, this standard of construction will more than likely lead the way for future construction in Ireland, as it overcame any difficulties put in its way by Part L and also achieved the onerous Passive House Standard. The research investigates and analyses the difficulties which are faced when trying to meet Part L of The Building Regulations when building to the Passive House Standard and identifies the ways in which they can be overcome. It also high lights areas which need to be addressed within the regulations in order for the aim towards reducing energy demand in Ireland to be achieved
Fracking technology and its environmental impacts
No full textThe purpose of this research is to gain an understanding of fracking technology and examine the effects fracking has had in other countries firstly, and furthermore what improvements, if any can be made in the process to reduce its environmental impact. The author will be carrying out a literature review in order to obtain a greater understanding on the need for fracking, the shale gas technology itself and will also look into the different aspects of the argument, for and against fracking. The most conventional fracking method used today is the Horizontal drilling and Stimulation process. This technique is the current method used nowadays with advancements making it hugely productive, mainly the ability to drill horizontally. Fracking, like any environmental hazard, has the ability to be a prosperous and valuable technology, one that creates plentiful jobs but the negligence from planners and operators partaking in the operations has created severe controversy. Two different case studies to portray the impacts of fracking in an everyday life situation are reviewed in this research dissertation. One case study focuses on the negative impacts of fracking and the other positive. The benefits of fracking are great but they do not diminish the potential hazardous impacts to our environment and human health. Implementation of these practices would surely reduce the possibility of such contamination occurring to the fresh water aquifer and would help improve the reputation of the fracking technology
A Methodology for Software Process Improvement Roadmaps for Regulated Domains – Example with ISO 62366
Get PDFSoftware process improvement initiatives offer many benefits in terms of productivity, cost savings and quality. As part of these initiatives organisations undergo an assessment and then embark on a software process improvement program to improve their existing processes to meet a desired target. These programs can be improved by the use of process improvement roadmaps that are tailored to the organisation and are usually non-transferrable. Within regulated domains, such as the medical device industry, adherence to international standards must be achieved before products can be placed on the market. This work proposes the use of software process improvement roadmaps to assist organisations achieve compliance with medical device standards. These proposed roadmaps will be generic in nature to meet the requirements of the standard, but will be subsequently tailored to meet the specific requirements of an individual organisation. In this paper we introduce the concept of the software process improvement roadmaps for the implementation of standards and detail a methodology for developing these roadmaps
Investigation of Traceability within a Medical Device Organization
Get PDFRequirements traceability helps to ensure software quality. It supports quality assurance activities such as impact analysis, regression test selection, compliance verification and validation of requirements. Its implementation has long been promoted by the research and expert practitioner communities. However, evidence indicates that few software organizations choose to implement traceability processes, in the most part due to cost and complexity issues. Organizations operating within the safety critical domains are mandated to implement traceability, and find the implementation and maintenance of an efficient and compliant traceability process a difficult and complex issue. Through interviews with a medical device SME, this paper seeks to determine how traceability is implemented within the organization, the difficulties it faces in implementing traceability, how compliant it is with the medical device standards and guidelines, and what changes could be made to improve the efficiency of their traceability implementation and maintenance
1 Card 6 Libraries Presentation
No full textA presentation to the LIR Annual Seminar on the DkIT Library / Louth County Libraries initiative to allow joint membership of all County Louth libraries. This is the first joint venture of its kind in Ireland and this presentation gives a detailed description of the processes and policies needed to accomplish the joint membership arrangement
An Assessment of the Archaeological Potential of a Low-Level Airborne Geophysical Dataset from the Boyne Valley, Ireland.
No full textThis poster presents ongoing investigation into the archaeological potential of airborne and terrestrial remote sensing data from the Boyne Valley, eastern Ireland. The dataset being investigated (Tellus Border Project) was collected during low-level (59m agl) surveys for regional environmental mapping purposes completed in 2012. Magnetic, electromagnetic and radioelement data were recorded and defined background geo-environmental values for rock, soil and water. The combination of sensors provides geophysical and geochemical parameters used to define regional soil/land types or zones. These zones are examined for possible correlations with ‘archaeological zones’ or zones of archaeological potential. Comparative legacy remote sensing, geological and archaeological datasets include multi-spectral imagery, aerial photography, LiDAR, ground geophysics, geological and soils data and monument locations. Based on the current results the next step will focus on more detailed studies in the Boyne Valley. This work partly addresses (at a landscape scale) issues discussed by David Jordan at AARG 2012 – “A Geoarchaeologist’s View of Aerial Archaeology