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Energy Monitoring Programme for Social Housing in Ireland: Pre- and Post- Retrofitting
Get PDFThere is a scarcity of empirical data to demonstrate the actual benefit of energy efficient
retrofitting in the residential sector. The Irish official methodology for calculating the
energy rating of dwellings only offers an indication of energy performance. This paper
describes the methodology involved in the initial stages of an on-going longitudinal
energy monitoring programme to determine actual energy savings brought about by a
building retrofitting programme for social housing in Kilkenny, South East Ireland.
The bespoke system was designed to monitor whole building energy use for one year
pre- and post- retrofitting. The wireless system installed in nine dwellings regularly logs
indoor temperature, humidity, volatile organic compounds, gas and segregated
electricity. Raw data is relayed to a data concentrator within the building and via a
network to a secure database. Basic cleaning of the data is carried out prior to
presentation for analysis on a secure website.
The monitoring system is designed to provide an understanding of energy consumption
patterns and energy wastage in social housing. The paper explains and reviews the
monitoring system employed and highlights some of the key lessons learnt during the
planning and installation of equipment. Gas meters which do not have a pulse output
and solid fuel use pose the largest challenge to monitor. The paper makes suggestions to
researchers and industry professionals for future domestic energy monitoring systems
Lipoprotein particle distribution and skeletal muscle lipoprotein lipase activity after acute exercise
Get PDFThe Flute Music of Frederick II
Get PDFFrederick II ‘the Great’ of Prussia (1712-1786) is regarded as one of the greatest aristocratic
dilettante musicians and composers of the 18th century. This Master of Arts in Music
(Performance) minor dissertation explores his flute music with particular reference to the
compositional style of his flute sonatas and concertos. It commences with an overview of
Frederick’s musical background, focusing on relevant biographical details that relate both to
the formative influences on his musical training and tastes, and to the development of his
compositional style. A historical examination of his abilities as a flautist (citing
contemporaneous first-hand accounts) and the actual flutes upon which he played concludes
that Frederick, while not faultless, was a skilled flautist judging from the technically difficult
music that he and others composed for him to perform. The remaining chapters explore the
musical structures and style that he employed in writing for the flute in his sonatas and
concertos.
Frederick’s flute music adheres to the ‘rules’ set out by Quantz in his Versuch einer
Anweisung die Flöte traversière zu spielen (Berlin, 1752). By imitating the forms and style of
Quantz’s own flute works precisely, posterity has perhaps judged Frederick’s dilettante
compositions for the instrument unfairly in comparison with those of his far more experienced
professional teacher. Notwithstanding the formulaic nature of these works, however, the
concluding premise of the dissertation asserts that Frederick’s extant published flute sonatas
and the four flute concertos have significant artistic merits, warranting a deserved place in the
instrument’s repertoire
Swapping the lycra for the suit: determinants of cycling for transport among leisure cyclists in Ireland
Get PDFThe main purpose of this study was to investigate levels of cycling for transport among regular cyclists in Ireland and to describe the factors that influence their decision to cycle or not cycle for transport. Ireland’s National Cycle Policy Framework 2009-2020 aims to get ten per cent of all trips to work by bicycle by 2020. There has been very little research in Ireland into what encourages and discourages cycling for transport, particularly cycling for transport among those who already cycle for leisure and fitness and may have more positive attitudes to cycling in general and to cycling for transport. A web-based, self-report survey of participants in a non-competitive sportif event collected information on demographics, usual travel mode, stage of change for transport and determinants of cycling for transport. The majority either regularly or sometimes cycled for transport. The most popular factors that influenced the decision to cycle for transport were the incentives of cheaper cost (regarding fuel and parking changes), quicker, more reliable journey times and greater health, fitness and well-being. While the biggest disincentives to cycling for transport were the weather and practical concerns (such as dropping children to school and distance), key factors that also discouraged cycling for transport were poor road conditions (surface and width), poor driver behaviour and road safety and traffic concerns
‘The Forgotten Voice’ The Richard Henebry (1863-1916) Collection of Irish Music
Get PDFRichard Henebry (1863-1916) was ordained to the priesthood at All Hallows College, Dublin in 1892, but subsequently established a linguistic career for himself centred on the study of the Gaelic language. In 1898 he was appointed Associate Professor of Celtic Studies at the Catholic University of America, Washington DC, where he remained for two years, and in 1909 he was appointed Professor of Irish Language and Literature at University College Cork. Henebry was also a traditional fiddler and made field recordings and transcriptions of Irish music. Indeed, he was one of the first Irish music collectors in Ireland to recognise the potential of the Edison phonograph for the documentation of Irish music. Henebry’s wax cylinder collection of Irish music was one of the first of such aural collections made in Ireland. This thesis will give biographical details on Richard Henebry, explore his theories and analyses of Irish music, and provide a catalogue of the extant Henebry wax cylinder collection. Chapter 1 offers biographical detail on Richard Henebry and chronicles the three main periods in his life: his birth and education; his sojourn in America; and his return to Ireland. Chapter 2 discusses how an antiquarian and political connection with Irish music can be traced through the lineage of antiquarians, and how the antiquarian and political influences may have shaped Henebry as a music collector and analyst. In Chapter 3 Henebry’s analytical approach to Irish music in his publications is examined in detail. The first publication, ‘Gaelic Melody Schemes in Word and Sound’ (published lecture notes 1900), was a somewhat tentative and confused exploration of the structure of Irish music. His second, Irish Music (1903), is a more detailed document describing unique scales and modes in Irish music, and the third, A Handbook of Irish Music (1928), was Henebry’s most definitive, and utilises a scientific, tonometric analysis of music on phonograph recordings to verify his conclusions. Henebry’s wax cylinder recordings are catalogued and discussed in Chapter 4. His wax cylinder collection is preserved in three different locations: University College Cork; University College Dublin; and the Berliner Phonogram-Archiv, with copies in the Irish Traditional Music Archive. Detailed descriptions of the collection in each location and biographies of Henebry’s sources are given in the chapter. Henebry’s music transcriptions have also been catalogued and copies of which are included at the end of the thesis in Appendices A, B, and C
How To Add Your Research To The Repository (VIDEO)
No full textA short video giving the essential steps to submitting research to the repository
Critical Comedy: Satire, absurdity and Ireland’s economic crash
Get PDFSatirical humour increasingly plays a part in the public sphere, particularly in anglophone countries, and quite remarkably so during Ireland's economic crash. While this satire is ostensibly and avowedly critical, irreverently satirising figures of authority and hegemonic discourses, it is argued that the consequences of critical comedy do not necessarily emancipate, but do inculcate critical sensibility and a world-image of politics as irredeemably absurd. Drawing on the works of Bakhtin on carnival and satire, Bergson on laughter and Billig on ridicule, a selection of representative mainstream Irish satire is interpreted as not only discursively positing politicians and public figures as corrupt, stupid and self-serving, but also, more importantly, positing ‘the people’ as gullible and uncritical. Hence, the overall consequence of satire and critical discourse is the diffusion of generalised cynicism which takes the public sphere as a theatre of absurdity
Risk Management in the NHS: Governance, Finance and Clinical Risk
Get PDFThis paper explores this theme – the inter-relationship
between good governance, financial incentives and clinical risk management – and presents evidence gleaned from views
expressed by key decision takers within the NHS
Social Processes and Connectivity in Irish Volunteering
Get PDFVoluntary and community are fundamental to the modern democratic state of Ireland,in their role as service providers for community and individual welfare and wellbeing, most especially those vulnerable or disadvantaged (Harvey, 2012). The voluntary and community sectors have a long and well established history in Ireland, and originate in medical and welfare charities in the 18th century. In addition to providing social and allied services, voluntary and community organisations play an important civic role in society, where opportunities to volunteer have personal and altruistic benefits. This level of active civic engagement and social inclusion forms the basis of the chosen theoretical framework for the study, which utilised social capital theory to investigate volunteering processes, social situatedness and civic outcomes amongst Irish volunteers and host organisation representatives in South Tipperary, Ireland. Research underscores that all forms of social, human and cultural capital have positive associations with volunteering in the form of social connectivity, trust and reciprocity between individuals, groups and wider social networks, community embeddedness and sense of belonging, well-being and mutual resource acquisition relating to friendships, knowledge, skills and education.
A mixed method research design which employed a sequential approach where qualitative interviews were undertaken with a convenience sample of volunteers (17 volunteers and 11 organisation representatives), with phenomenological findings used to inform the design of a social capital questionnaire, which could be used to measure the extent to which volunteering added to social capital by Volunteer Centres in Ireland. The questionnaire was administered via survey monkey to the Sales Force dashboard quota of the South Tipperary Volunteer Centre, with a usable sample of 71 volunteers obtained. The final summated scale of 16 indicators had a Cronbachs alpha of 0.86.
A shift in personal and social definitions of volunteering were described in qualitative narratives, with informal volunteering increasingly replaced by structured, formalised and regulated volunteer placements. Volunteer experiences contributed to increased personal well-being and sense of purpose, development of friendships and meeting new people, identification with the volunteer activity and ethos of the relevant group or organisation, sense of ‘giving something back’ and serving a specified community need, providing work related experiences, justification of productivity in free time and opportunity for up-skilling. Integration of volunteers into the organisation’s workforce was dependent on length of time, intensity of interaction and scope of volunteer contributions. Power differentials and lack of trust between volunteers and staff, alongside lack of volunteer recognition were described. Some volunteers sought additional security and identification within the wider social volunteer network. Survey results indicated that enjoyment of volunteer participation and impact of volunteering in the community were important factors, with contribution to social capital were not influenced by age, gender, employment or relationship status. Contribution to social capital was influenced by educational status. The research reflected an emergent consumerist approach to volunteering and underscores the need to preserve existing informal social networks of community volunteers, alongside the development of more formalised work specific routes for volunteering in post economic boom Ireland. Further research is required to validate the social capital survey scale and to evaluate both the internal structure
validity and dimensionality. However, the scale can be used by Volunteer Centres in Ireland and elsewhere in development planning, placement and administration of volunteering in communities and organisation
Organisational Issues surrounding the Merger of Two Acute Mental Health Services: An Exploratory Study
No full textHealthcare services have engaged in domestic and international mergers in recent years in order to match the macroeconomic trends operating worldwide and to cope with the current global financial crisis. ‘Vision for Change’ (Department of Health and Children 2006) highlights the importance of closing all psychiatric institutions in an effort to enhance a community-based model of care and to modernise mental health service infrastructure. Therefore, considering acute mental health services will continue to merge in the near future to facilitate the closure of institutions, the views of individuals involved in a merger process are significant. This study explored the ‘how’ and ‘why’ issues that occurred during the merger of two acute mental health services in the south-east of Ireland. A case study approach was employed, whereby service providers (n=30) involved in the merger of two acute mental health services were purposively recruited. Participants were interviewed using a semi-structured framework to gain an in-depth understanding of the ‘how’ and ‘why’ issues. Interview data was entered into computer aided qualitative data analysis software, ‘NVivo 9’ and analysed using Braun & Clarke’s (2006) guide to thematic analysis. ‘How’ and ‘why’ issues were identified as they related to: (1) uncertainty and communication, (2) loss of familiarity, and (3) cultural differences between health professionals and senior management. Uncertainty emerged as a key finding and appeared to be exacerbated as a result of ‘how’ information was communicated during the initial stages of the merger. The loss of familiarity emerged throughout the merger process, as participants faced uncertain futures and desired the ‘old’ mental health service. The findings also indicated cultural differences between health professionals and senior management in terms of an occupational divide. Overall, the findings suggest that health professionals assume a significant role during the early stages of a merger process, and that this role can impact the pace of the merger process. Keywords: organisational issues, psychiatric service, amalgamation, mergers, policy, organisational change, organisational culture