558 research outputs found
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Much More Than ‘Danny Boy’: Bringing Irish Traditional Music to the USA
Full text linkPerformances in the USA during the 1970s by three semi-professional groups - The Chieftains, the Siamsa Céilí Band, and Siamsa Tíre - present opportunities to understand developments in Irish traditional music during that period. These developments led to increased commercialisation of the music and tours by Irish performers to the USA in subsequent decades, providing access to a significantly larger market for the genre, within and beyond the diaspora. Underpinning the study is a critical consideration of audiences’ understanding of Irish identity and culture and the reception of Irish cultural performances in the USA at this time. These tours contributed to a reconceptualization of Irish traditional music that engaged new audiences in the USA and incorporated repertoire beyond what American audiences typically associated with Ireland at the time. Developing a professional approach, the groups presented repertoire from the dance music and harp music traditions, Irish language song, and traditional styles of dance. We examine the motivations for the tours, the itineraries and venues, and the material presented, as well as the impact of Northern Ireland politics on each of the groups and their performances
Resonance and Post-Otherness in Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers (2020)
Full text linkInfluenced by colonial relations and post-colonialism, the contrast between Irish and (Anglo-) Irish or English characters has been a focal point in twentieth century Irish literature. From racist nineteenth cartoons in Punch magazine depicting the Irish as monkeys, to the themes of isolation that pervade the work of Anglo-Irish writers, otherness has been central to these representations. Political and economic developments have created new contexts for representation in recent decades: the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and subsequent end to a period of violent sectarian conflict known as the Troubles, the Celtic Tiger period of economic growth and prosperity, and modern social developments that include referenda on abortion and gay marriage, have changed both the experience of living in Ireland and the expression of Irish identity. Consequently, contemporary Irish identity seeks to include an increasingly diverse population and focuses less on Irish/English binaries, instead considering urban/rural differences, environmental concerns, and the impact of globalisation.
Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers (2020) presents one opportunity to consider ‘post-otherness’ within Irish storytelling and cinema. Its key protagonists, Mebh Óg MacTíre and Robyn Goodfellowe, strongly resonate with one another despite their cultural differences, forging a bond on their quest to validate their sense of self. They neither share a cultural background nor identify entirely with their respective communities but, in coming together to face existential challenges, the pair become more comfortable with their own identities. Blurring the definition of and distinction between groups, it becomes difficult to establish who is the Other. Wolfwalkers presents characters and themes akin to Anglo-Irish literature, but responding to their lived experience as earlier writers did theirs, the directors rework Irish tropes for a contemporary audience. By presenting historically inspired narratives, the film shows new perspectives on character development, utilising child heroes in a way that differs from earlier approaches. Representations of colonialism and English-Irish duality from nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature are re-imagined here, influenced by post-nationalist thinking and the efforts of a transnational team of artists targeting an international audience. There are also elements of the film that reflect postcolonialism and orientalism, complicating the film’s depictions of Irishness. An analysis of Wolfwalkers demonstrates that otherness is highly subjective, and when Robyn and Mebh cross the boundary between their two worlds, they reject the illusion of difference
Evaluating Fairness Metrics
Full text linkArtificial Intelligence systems add significant value to decision-making. However, the systems must be fair because bias creeps into the system from sources like data and preprocessing algorithms. In this work, we explore fairness metrics discussing the shortfalls and benefits of each metric. The fairness metrics are demographic, statistical, and game theoretic. We find that the demographic fairness metrics are independent of the actual target value and hence have limited use. In contrast, the statistical fairness metrics can provide the thresholds to maximize fairness. The Minimax criterion was used to guide the search and help recommend the best model where the error among protected groups was minimum
Classification of Frailty among Community Dwelling Older Adults Using Parameters of Physical Activity Obtained Independently and Unsupervised
Full text linkThe global population is ageing at an unprecedented rate, with the percentage of those aged over 65 years expected to double and those aged over 80 years expected to treble by the year 2050. With ageing comes biological and physiological changes that affect functional capacity. Frailty is a potentially avoidable, reversible biopsychosocial condition associated with biological but not chronological age, affecting a quarter of all community-dwelling older adults. Frailty results in disability, increased dependency and institutionalisation.
Screening for frailty could help reduce its prevalence and mitigate the adverse outcomes however, traditional screening tools are time-consuming to perform, require clinician input and by their subjective nature are flawed. The use of wearable sensors has been proposed as a means of screening for frailty and parameters of mobility and physical activity have been identified as being associated with frailty.
The goal of this thesis was to examine if community-dwelling older adults could capture parameters of mobility and physical activity independently in their own home and if these parameters could discriminate between frail and non-frail status.
This work provides evidence that a single parameter of mobility and physical activity obtained from a single body-worn sensor correlates with frailty. It also provides evidence that community-dwelling older adults can independently capture parameters of mobility and physical activity, unsupervised in their own home using a consumer-grade wearable device, and that these data can predict pre-frailty and frailty with acceptable accuracy. Thresholds for parameters of physical activity predictive of frailty have been identified.
The results of this thesis will guide future work to focus community-dwelling older adults on the importance of frailty screening and guide the development of a user-friendly device or sensor system suitable for use by older adults for continuous data collection relevant to frailty
An exploration of the potential contribution of a medication management app in heart failure outpatients’ care: the experiences of staff and older patients
Full text linkBackground: Managing the care of older adults with Heart Failure (HF) largely centres on symptom and medication management. Medication management in patients with HF is challenging due to frequent medication adjustments in response to changes in their symptomatology and polypharmacy. Some patients with HF typically take on average 10-25 tablets daily. Given the complexity of HF self-management, assisting older adults in managing their own care at home is critical to the success of HF management.
Aim: To explore the role of a medication management app in supporting the care of older adults attending a HF outpatients ‘clinic and the impact of this new intervention on staff working practices.
Methods: Mixed methods sequential design to test the feasibility of a medication app with HF patients. Observations of clinical practice were conducted followed by semi-structured interviews with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and patients pre- and post-intervention. Interviews were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis, the Normalisation Process Theory (NPT) framework was used to capture challenges and facilitators to technology use in phase three. A systematic search of apps was also conducted to identify commercially available apps with a medication functionality, followed by an evaluation of apps using a validated tool. The optimal app was selected and implemented in a three-month intervention with patients attending the HF clinic. A case study strategy was used to present the experiences and opinions of HCPs and patients using the app.
Findings: Patients normalised the use of the app and found it easy to use after training for medication self-management at home. HCPs found the use of the app to empower patients and to assist them in maintaining an up-to-date medication list and concluded that the use of the app was beneficial to both HCPs and patients. However, several challenges need to be overcome before implementing and scaling up this intervention. Some of the barriers to technology uptake identified in this study were: HCPs attitudes towards older people using technology, lack of managerial support and the need for training and ongoing technical support for older adults
Conclusion: The use of the NPT framework captured individual and organisational barriers and facilitators to the normalisation of the use of the medication app with HF older patients. These barriers need to be overcome to enable the implementation and scaling up of this intervention. The findings of this feasibility study are encouraging and warrant further investigation to test the effectiveness of a medication app with HF older adults at a larger scale in future studies
Supporting older people with multimorbidity: Experiences of caregiver burden among paid care workers in Ireland
Full text linkRisks and opportunities from artificial creativity
Full text linkThere has been an explosion of generative algorithms and tools in recent years; applications such as ChatGPT for generating text, Midjourney for generating images or AIVA for generating music have become very popular. As the years pass, we can see an ever-increasing number of generative algorithms and applications being released. Part of their appeal is that such applications are highly accessible to the general public and require little, if any, computational expertise. The ease with which people can generate creative artefacts, such as music, does come with some drawbacks however. There are practical drawbacks to not being able to determine if an artefact was created by a human or not. If we are unable to determine if an artefact is human or computer generated, such methods may cause disruption and difficulties for amateur musicians, artists and creators and for sites or publications who aim to highlight, publish or promote independent artists. Furthermore, many artists within creative domains have shown concern and outright disdain at the notion of generative algorithms being applied to creative tasks. Some of this anger may be attributed to the notion of the humanity of creativity – that machines cannot possibly generate things of genuine beauty, art or creativity. This paper considers a number of practical and ethical questions that are pertinent to the new reality whereby algorithms can be easily used to generate creative artefacts: How can it be determined if an artefact was created by a person or an algorithm? Can an evaluation of the Creativity within an artefact help determine its authorship? Is it necessary to ascertain human versus machine authorship or should the quality of the output be the only issue that matters? What are the repercussions of a person attempting to pass an artefact as human-generated when it was in fact created by an algorithm? While it may not be possible to definitively answer all questions at this time, it is vital to consider these questions and consider the impact and repercussions that such autonomous methods can have on creative authorship
The Contribution of Rosetta Tharpe and Bonnie Raitt to the Blues Genre
Full text linkThis thesis addresses the contribution of Rosetta Tharpe and Bonnie Raitt as pioneering women in blues music in the twentieth century. Through two case studies of repertoire analysis, this thesis aims to highlight reasons for the gap in knowledge and appreciation for women in blues music. This analysis will use guiding theoretical concepts including intersectionality, masculine domination, signifyin(g), blues canon and crossover to explore their reception and appreciation. Through the case studies and repertoire analysis, which examines the cultural importance of women in blues music, this research highlights how Tharpe and Raitt contributed significantly to the blues genre.
This study investigates how Tharpe and Raitt contributed to the interpretation of the blues, and how they challenged genre boundaries and evolved their performance styles in live recordings and performances. This is analysed through a cultural lens and performance perspective via lecture recitals. The themes of reception, gender and music are investigated as decisive factors in the appreciation of Tharpe and Raitt. Research methodologies utilised include practice-based research and music analysis, taking a sociocultural perspective, incorporating close analysis of specific songs. The lecture recitals address how influential they were in formulating their musical identities and performing personas. The thesis highlights their importance as cultural expressions within the blues genre, which culminates as two outputs: a thesis that comprises cultural reception study and three lecture recitals that interrogate, analyse and re-imagine the artists’ live performance styles. My own practice-based lecture recital demonstrates the influence of both artists in my own development as a performing blues artist. This research traces the influential careers of both artists, their achievements, key musical events, and their reception and legacy as female blues artists, contributing to the burgeoning field of women in popular music and the role of female guitarists in blues and modern music
Spaces on the Stave: Documenting the Musical Lives of Transgender People in Ireland
Full text link'Spaces on the Stave: Documenting the Musical Lives of Transgender People in Ireland' is a study situated in the domain of cultural musicology, establishing socio-historical context in alignment with a mapping of the musical lives of transgender people in Ireland. Identifying and interviewing transgender music-makers resulted in the collation of primary data for this research, combined with a nationwide survey that maps transgender music fandom. This data was analysed in order to develop a cultural historical perspective on the impact that gender identity has had on music-making and consumption for transgender people in Ireland. This research project engages with three research methods: archival research, online survey, and the semi-structured interview. Archival research reveals traces of a history of transgender people in Ireland from the 1970s onwards with documentation of transgender experiences, community frameworks and music consumption. The survey investigates the role of music in participants' lives, transgender musical icons within Ireland and internationally and music venues, scenes and communities in Ireland. 230 transgender people from all over Ireland responded to the survey and shared their experiences as a means of supporting this research project centred on their lives and music. The series of interviews conducted with four transgender music-makers based in Ireland provide insight into career development, status in venues, spaces and scenes, and perspectives on a lineage of transgender music-makers. This thesis serves as a documented chronology of transgender musical experiences in Ireland dating from the 1970s to the present