Alcohol consumption and related harm among university students in Ireland

Aim: Alcohol consumption is a leading cause of global suffering. The harms caused by alcohol to the individual, their peers and the society in which they live provokes public health concern. Elevated levels of consumption and consequences have been noted in those aged 18-29 years. University students represent a unique subsection of society within this age group. University authorities have attempted to tackle this issue throughout the past decade. However, the issue persists. Thus, the aim of this study is to contribute to the evidence base for policy and practice in relation to alcohol harm reduction among third-level students in Ireland. Methods: A mixed methods approach was employed. A systematic review of the prevalence of hazardous alcohol consumption among university students in Ireland and the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2014 was conducted. In addition, a narrative synthesis of studies of drinking types evidenced among youths in western societies was undertaken. A cross-sectional study focused on university students’ health and lifestyle behaviours with particular reference to alcohol consumption was undertaken using previously validated instruments. Undergraduate students registered to one university in Ireland were recruited using two separate modes; classroom and online. Studies investigated the impact of mode of data collection, the prevalence of hazardous alcohol consumption and resultant adverse consequences for mental health and wellbeing. In addition a study using a Q-methodology approach was undertaken to gain a deeper understanding of the cultural factors influencing current patterns of alcohol consumption. Data were analysed using IBM SPPS statistics 20, Stata 12, MPLUS and PQ Method. Results: The literature review focusing on students’ alcohol consumption found that there has been both an increase in hazardous alcohol consumption among university students and a convergence of male and female drinking patterns throughout the past decade. Updating this research, the thesis found that two-thirds of university students consume alcohol at a hazardous level, detailing the range of adverse consequences reported by university students in Ireland. Finally, the heterogeneous nature of this drinking was described in a narrative synthesis exposing six types of consumption. The succeeding chapters develop this review further by describing three typologies of consumption, two quantitative and one quali-quantilogical. The quantitative typology describes three types of drinking for men (realistic hedonist, responsible conformer and guarded drinker) and four types for women (realistic hedonist, peer-influenced, responsible conformer and guarded drinker). The quali-quantilogical approach describes four types of consumption. These are defined as the ‘guarded drinker’, the ‘calculated hedonist’, the ‘peer-influenced drinker’ and the ‘inevitable binger’. Discussion: The findings of this thesis highlight the scale of the issue and provide up-to-date estimates of alcohol consumption among university students in Ireland. Hazardous alcohol consumption is associated with a range of harms to self and harms to others in proximity to the alcohol consumer. The classification of drinkers into types signal the necessity for university management, health promotion practitioners and public health policy makers to tackle this issue using a multi-faceted approach.

Malaria prevention in north-eastern Tanzania: patterns of expenditure and determinants of demand at the household level.

Objective. This study aims to provide a better understanding of the amounts spent on different malaria prevention products and the determinants of these expenditures. Methods. 1,601 households were interviewed about their expenditure on malaria mosquito nets in the past five years, net re-treatments in the past six months and other expenditures prevention in the past two weeks. Simple random sampling was used to select villages and streets while convenience sampling was used to select households. Expenditure was compared across bed nets, aerosols, coils, indoor spraying, using smoke, drinking herbs and cleaning outside environment. Findings. 68% of households owned at least one bed net and 27% had treated their nets in the past six months. 29% were unable to afford a net. Every fortnight, households spent an average of US $0.18 on nets and their treatment, constituting about 47% of total prevention expenditure. Sprays, repellents and coils made up 50% of total fortnightly expenditure (US$0.21). Factors positively related to expenditure were household wealth, years of education of household head, household head being married and rainy season. Poor quality roads and living in a rural area had a negative impact on expenditure. Conclusion. Expenditure on bed nets and on alternative malaria prevention products was comparable. Poor households living in rural areas spend significantly less on all forms of malaria prevention compared to their richer counterparts. Breaking the cycle between malaria and poverty is one of the biggest challenges facing malaria control programmes in Africa.

The impact of learning context on the acquisition of sociopragmatic variation patterns in non-native speaker teachers of English

The study is a cross-linguistic, cross-sectional investigation of the impact of learning contexts on the acquisition of sociopragmatic variation patterns and the subsequent enactment of compound identities. The informants are 20 non-native speaker teachers of English from a range of 10 European countries. They are all primarily mono-contextual foreign language learners/users of English: however, they differ with respect to the length of time accumulated in a target language environment. This allows for three groups to be established – those who have accumulated 60 days or less; those with between 90 days and one year and the final group, all of whom have accumulated in excess of one year. In order to foster the dismantling of the monolith of learning context, both learning contexts under consideration – i.e. the foreign language context and submersion context are broken down into micro-contexts which I refer to as loci of learning. For the purpose of this study, two loci are considered: the institutional and the conversational locus. In order to make a correlation between the impact of learning contexts and loci of learning on the acquisition of sociopragmatic variation patterns, a two-fold study is conducted. The first stage is the completion of a highly detailed language contact profile (LCP) questionnaire. This provides extensive biographical information regarding language learning history and is a powerful tool in illuminating the intensity of contact with the L2 that learners experience in both contexts as well as shedding light on the loci of learning to which learners are exposed in both contexts. Following the completion of the LCP, the informants take part in two role plays which require the enactment of differential identities when engaged in a speech event of asking for advice. The enactment of identities then undergoes a strategic and linguistic analysis in order to investigate if and how differences in the enactment of compound identities are indexed in language. Results indicate that learning context has a considerable impact not only on how identity is indexed in language, but also on the nature of identities enacted. Informants with very low levels of crosscontextuality index identity through strategic means – i.e. levels of directness and conventionality; however greater degrees of cross-contextuality give rise to the indexing of differential identities linguistically by means of speaker/hearer orientation and (non-) solidary moves. When it comes to the nature of identity enacted, it seems that more time spent in intense contact with native speakers in a range of loci of learning allows learners to enact their core identity; whereas low levels of contact with over-exposure to the institutional locus of learning fosters the enactment of generic identities.

Soft sediment ecology of Lough Hyne Marine Reserve - spatial and temporal patterns

Distribution of soft sediment benthic fauna and the environmental factors affecting them were studied, to investigate changes across spatial and temporal scales. Investigations took place at Lough Hyne Marine Reserve using a range of methods. Data on the sedimentation rates of organic and inorganic matter were collected at monthly intervals for one year at a number of sites around the Lough, by use of vertical midwater-column sediment traps. Sedimentation of these two fractions were not coupled; inorganic matter sedimentation depended on hydrodynamic and weather factors, while the organic matter sedimentation was more complex, being dependent on biological and chemical processes in the water column. The effects of regular hypoxic episodes on benthic fauna due to a natural seasonal thermocline were studied in the deep Western Trough, using camera-equipped remotely-operated vehicle to follow transects, on a three-monthly basis over one year. In late summer, the area below the thermocline of the Western Trough was devoid of visible fauna. Decapod crustaceans were the first taxon to make use of ameliorating oxygen conditions in autumn, by darting below the thermocline depth, most likely to scavenge. This was indicated by tracks that they left on the surface of the Trough floor. Some species, most noticeably Fries’ goby Lesueurigobius friesii, migrated below the thermocline depth when conditions were normoxic and established semi-permanent burrows. Their population encompassed all size classes, indicating that this habitat was not limited to juveniles of this territorial species. Recolonisation by macrofauna and burrowing megafauna was studied during normoxic conditions, from November 2009 to May 2010. Macrofauna displayed a typical post-disturbance pattern of recolonisation with one species, the polychaete Scalibregma inflatum, occurring at high abundance levels in March 2010. In May, this population had become significantly reduced and a more diverse community was established. The abundance of burrowing infauna comprising decapods crabs and Fries’ gobies, was estimated by identifying and counting their distinctive burrow structures. While above the summer thermocline depth, burrow abundance increased in a linear fashion, below the thermocline depth a slight reduction of burrow abundance occurred in May, when oxygen conditions deteriorated again. The majority of the burrows occurring in May were made by Fries’ gobies, which are thought to encounter low oxygen concentrations in their burrows. Reduction in burrow abundance of burrowing shrimps Calocaris macandreae and Callianassa subterranea (based on descriptions of burrow structures from the literature), from March to May, might be related to their reduced activity in hypoxia, leading to loss of structural burrow maintenance. Spatial and temporal changes to macrofaunal assemblage structures were studied seasonally for one year across 5 sites in the Lough and subject to multivariate statistical analysis. Assemblage structures were significantly correlated with organic matter levels in the sediment, the amounts of organic matter settling out of the water column one month before macrofaunal sampling took place as well as current speed and temperature. This study was the first to investigate patterns and processes in the Lough soft sediment ecology across all 3 basins on a temporal and spatial scale. An investigation into the oceanographic aspects of the development, behaviour and break-down of the summer thermocline of Lough Hyne was performed in collaboration with researchers from other Irish institutions.

Early warning sign attributes for the safety of drinking water treatment works

A proactive risk management strategy seeks to prevent accidents from taking place and maintain the safety of a system. In this context, the task of identifying and disseminating early warning signs and signals is among the most important. The problem is that warning signs that are present before an accident takes place are often being overlooked and not picked up or identified as warning signs. If these warning signs were responded to, then an accident may be averted. Accidents occuring in the critical domain of a drinking water treatments works can have serious implications for the public health of consumers of the water supplied. Realising and comprehending early warning signs is a major challenge for the domain of systems safety and especially in the domain of a water treatment works. The approaches that are typically used to enhance the realisation, comprehension and dissemination of early warning signs in the water treatment domain in Ireland mainly involves the creation of accident scenarios, the use of monitoring data and procedures for the dissemination of warnings. While all of these approaches are all useful to inform the mental or process models of possible accident scenarios, nevertheless, accidents are still occurring in this domain. Therefore, a new approach to enhance the comprehension of and effective dissemination of early warning signs is required in order to improve safety and proactive risk management strategies. The contributions of this thesis is the provision of a set of attributes associated with the early warning sign concept that provides meaningful data on the early warning signs and allows recipients to better comprehend them. The values of these attributes were customised for application in the water treatment domain. This research proves that early warning signs at a water treatment works received with information on their attributes are comprehended and communicated more effectively and efficiently than the usual pragmatic approach and thereby improves the safety and proactive risk management strategies.

Activity patterns in design processes of IT standards

Contemporary IT standards are designed, not selected. Their design enacts a complex process that brings together a coalition of players. We examine the design of the SOAP standard to discover activity patterns in this design process. The paper reports these patterns as a precursor to developing a micro-level process theory for designing IT standards.