Reading the Irishwoman: Studies in Cultural Encounter and Exchange, 1714-1960

In 1700 few Irishwomen were literate. Most lived in a rural environment, rarely encountered a book or a play or ventured much beyond their own domestic space. By 1960 literacy was universal, all Irishwomen attended primary school, had access to a variety of books, magazines, newspapers and other forms of popular media and the wider world was now part of their every-day life. This study seeks to examine the cultural encounters and exchanges inherent in this transformation. It analyses reading and popular and consumer culture as sites of negotiation of gender roles. This is not an exhaustive treatment of the theme but focusses on three key points of cultural encounter: the Enlightenment, emigration and modernism. The writings and intellectual discourse generated by the Enlightenment was one of the most influential forces shaping western society. It set the agenda for scientific, political and social thought for the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The migration of peoples to north America was another key historical marker in the development of the modern world. Emigration altered and shaped American society as well as the lives of those who remained behind. By the twentieth century, aesthetic modernism suspicious of enlightenment rationalism and determined to produce new cultural forms developed in a complex relationship with the forces of industrialisation, urbanisation and social change. This study analyses the impact of these three key forces in Western culture on changing roles and perceptions of Irish women from 1700 to 1960.

Sustainability-related media coverage and socioeconomic development: a regional and North–South perspective

Abstract. With this paper we discuss the differences between sustainability-related media agendas across different countries and regions. Utilising a sample of 115 leading national newspapers covering forty-one countries, we show that typically no homogeneous global trends exist with regard to sustainability-related media agendas. Instead, significant differences exist regarding the national-level prioritisations of sustainability-related issues in the countries under review. To some extent, these observed differences can be attributed to different levels of socioeconomic development as measured by Human Development Index scores and gross domestic product per capita. Here, generic differences can be identified between newspapers from the Global North and South, with a range of issues such as climate change emerging as typically Northern issues, whereas issues such as corruption and poverty show significantly higher levels of coverage across newspapers from the Global South. We conclude with a discussion of the results in the context of global environmental governance.

Constructing the 'gay gene' in the news:Optimism and skepticism in the US and British press

In the 1990s the discovery of a 'gay gene' was widely reported in the news media, often as front-page stories. Focusing on the print media presentation of Dean Hamer's 1993 and 1995 scientific papers reporting finding a genetic marker for homosexuality, we examine how these studies were framed in a selected sample of US and British newspapers and news magazines. We found disparate constructions of the 'gay gene' in each press culture. The US press reported Hamer's study as good science and treated it with 'cautious optimism' while the British press reported the research as 'the perils of the gay gene.' We discuss how these studies received such widespread attention and the sources and implications of the variant images of the 'gay gene' in the news.

Genetic optimism:Framing genes and mental illness in the news

Over the past two decades the pace and specificity of discoveries associating genetics with mental illness has accelerated, which is reflected in an increase in news coverage about the genetics of mental disorder. The news media is a major source of public understanding of genetics and a strong influence on public discourse. This paper examines the news coverage of genetics and mental illness (i.e., bipolar illness and schizophrenia) over a 25 year period, emphasizing the peak period of 1987-1994. Using a sample of 110 news stories from 5 major American newspapers and 3 news magazines, we identify the frame of "genetic optimism" which dominated the reporting of genetics and mental illness beginning in the mid-1980s. The structure of the frame is comprised of 3 elements: a gene for the disorder exists; it will be found; and it will be good. New discoveries of genes were announced with great fanfare, but the most promising claims could not be replicated or were retracted in short order. Despite these disconfirmations, genetic optimism persisted in subsequent news stories. While the scientific accuracy of the gene stories is high, the genetic optimism frame distorts some of the findings, misrepresents and reifies the impact of genes on mental disorder, and leaves no space for critics or an examination of potential negative impacts. The stances of reporters, scientists and editors may all in different ways contribute to the perpetuation of genetic optimism. Genetic optimism presents an overly sanguine picture of the state of genetics; as we enter the genetic age it is important to balance the extraneous "hype and hope" contained in news stories of genetics and mental illness.

Locally Unwanted Sea Use: The Case of Syrian Chemical weapons disposal in the Mediterranean

This paper discusses the opposition to the disposal of Syrian chemical weapons in the Mediterranean Sea. Following insights from Green criminology and recent calls in that discipline for the inclusion of new social movements and resistance, it discusses in detail how the issue was framed in terms of environmental and ecological justice by different protest actors. This process is aided by an analytical model that brings together the sociology of protest and social movements, insights from reflexive modernisation and the study of southern European civil societies. Methodologically, the focus is on mobilisations that took place in Greece in general and the island of Crete in particular. Data have been harvested through the examination of online sources, such as newspapers, blogs and dedicated social networks. The analysis of the findings suggests that these mobilisations were initially stimulated by real concern, but subsequently these were only carried through by certain movement entrepreneurs who didn’t hesitate to pepper these concerns with false claims and/or linkages to an already active anti-imperialist discourse.

Pharmacogenetics and the print media: what is the public told?

Background: Pharmacogenetics is a rapidly growing field that aims to identify the genes that influence drug response. This science can be used as a powerful tool to tailor drug treatment to the genetic makeup of individuals. The present study explores the coverage of the topic of pharmacogenetics and its potential benefit in personalised medicine by the UK newsprint media. 

Methods: The LexisNexis database was used to identify and retrieve full text articles from the 10 highest circulation national daily newspapers and their Sunday equivalents in the UK. Content analysis of newspaper articles which referenced pharmacogenetic testing was carried out. A second researcher coded a random sample (21%) of newspaper articles to establish the inter-rater reliability of coding. 

Results: Of the 256 articles captured by the search terms, 96 articles (with pharmacogenetics as a major component) met the study inclusion criteria. The majority of articles over-stated the benefits of pharmacogenetic testing while paying less attention to the associated risks. Overall beneficial effects were mentioned 5.3 times more frequently than risks (p < 0.001). The most common illnesses for which pharmacogenetically based personalised medicine was discussed were cancer, cardiovascular disease and CNS diseases. Only 13% of newspaper articles that cited a specific scientific study mentioned this link in the article. There was a positive correlation between the size of the article and both the number of benefits and risks stated (P < 0.01). 

Conclusion: More comprehensive coverage of the area of personalised medicine within the print media is needed to inform public debate on the inclusion of pharmacogentic testing in routine practice.

Performance and Fault Tolerance of Preconditioned Iterative Solvers on Low-Power ARM Architectures

As the complexity of computing systems grows, reliability and energy are two crucial challenges asking for holistic solutions. In this paper, we investigate the interplay among concurrency, power dissipation, energy consumption and voltage-frequency scaling for a key numerical kernel for the solution of sparse linear systems. Concretely, we leverage a task-parallel implementation of the Conjugate Gradient method, equipped with an state-of-the-art pre-conditioner embedded in the ILUPACK software, and target a low-power multi core processor from ARM.In addition, we perform a theoretical analysis on the impact of a technique like Near Threshold Voltage Computing (NTVC) from the points of view of increased hardware concurrency and error rate.

Evaluating fault tolerance on asymmetric multicore systems-on-chip using iso-metrics

The end of Dennard scaling has promoted low power consumption into a firstorder concern for computing systems. However, conventional power conservation schemes such as voltage and frequency scaling are reaching their limits when used in performance-constrained environments. New technologies are required to break the power wall while sustaining performance on future processors. Low-power embedded processors and near-threshold voltage computing (NTVC) have been proposed as viable solutions to tackle the power wall in future computing systems. Unfortunately, these technologies may also compromise per-core performance and, in the case of NTVC, xreliability. These limitations would make them unsuitable for HPC systems and datacenters. In order to demonstrate that emerging low-power processing technologies can effectively replace conventional technologies, this study relies on ARM’s big.LITTLE processors as both an actual and emulation platform, and state-of-the-art implementations of the CG solver. For NTVC in particular, the paper describes how efficient algorithm-based fault tolerance schemes preserve the power and energy benefits of very low voltage operation.

Measuring the macrosystem in post-accord Northern Ireland: A social-ecological approach

The macrosystem refers to the overarching patterns that influence behavior at each level of the social ecology (Bronfenbrenner, 1977), making it a necessary component for assessing human development in contexts of political violence. This article proposes a method for systematically measuring the macrosystem in Northern Ireland that allows for a subnational analysis, multiple time units, and indicators of both low-level violence and positive relations. Articles were randomly chosen for each weekday in 2006-2011 from two prominent Northern Irish newspapers and coded according to their reflection of positive relations and political tensions between Catholics and Protestants. The newspaper data were then compared to existing macro-level measurements in Northern Ireland. We found that the newspaper data provided a more nuanced understanding of fluctuations in intergroup relations than the corresponding measures. This has practical implications for peacebuilding and advances our methods for assessing the impact of macro-level processes on individual development.

Facts, Hacks and Turbines: Media Analysis of Irish Wind Energy

Wind energy projects face increasing opposition from host communities throughout the western world. Governments have responded in a range of ways, including enhanced local control over consenting (England), reform of planning regulations (Australia) or community ownership (Denmark). However, there is no effective mechanism for monitoring levels of social acceptance and thus, no means of evaluating the effectiveness of these approaches. There have been attempts to understand how social framing of wind energy in the media (e.g. Van de Velde et al 2010, Barry and Ellis, 2008, Hindmarsh 2014), highlighting how this changes over time. However, no research has focussed on Ireland and critically, none have examined whether this can help monitor overall levels of social acceptance. In order to explore this, this paper will present a media analysis of wind energy in the Republic of Ireland, which witnessed a rapid increase in wind energy capacity and has the highest energy penetration of wind in the world (19%). However, this has been accompanied by increasing public opposition and (assumed) declining levels of social acceptance.

This paper will describe the results of analysing over 8000 articles on wind energy that have appeared in three Irish newspapers. These are assessed through historical-diachronic (over time) and comparative –synchronic (differences between newspapers) analyses (Carvalho 2007) to highlight changing trends in framing wind energy and changing concerns over wind energy in Ireland. The paper will consider whether such media analysis could form a tool for monitoring the trends in social acceptance of wind energy.

A ideia de Europa na imprensa desportiva portuguesa (1893-1945)

Pensar a Europa e Portugal, a partir da imprensa desportiva portuguesa, é o principal objectivo deste trabalho, que deve ser visto como uma espécie de "viagem" por um tempo conturbado (1893-1945), com os principais jornais desportivos a servirem de guia. Esta longa peregrinação de 52 anos — iniciada quando surge o primeiro jornal desportivo em Portugal e encerrada no ano em que termina a Segunda Guerra Mundial (altura em que este género de imprensa se consolida) — permitiu recuperar, simultaneamente, do baú do esquecimento, reflexões sobre a Europa e Portugal, e um pedaço da esquecida história da imprensa desportiva. /***Abstract - The main goal of this work is to think Europe and Portugal starting from the discourses produced in the portuguese spod press on the subject. This research must be seen as a “journey" through a troubled time (1893-1945), with the sport newspapers as guides. It's a long way of 52 years that started when the first portuguese sport newspaper born and finished at the end of the Second World War (period when Chis kind of press was already established) permitted, at the same time, a recovery, from the chests of forgetfulness, of reflections about Europe and Portugal and a piece of forgotten sport press history.

O design dos jornais diários e generalistas portugueses

O presente trabalho é um estudo comparativo de imagem gráfica que visa analisar o estado actual do design gráfico dos jornais diários nacionais de cariz generalista – Público, Diário de Notícias, Jornal de Notícias, Correio da Manhã e 24 Horas. Efectuada a análise dos jornais, é proposto o redesign do Jornal de Notícias, com o objectivo de aplicar as conclusões obtidas de forma teórica num projecto prático. As opiniões resultantes deste trabalho apresentam dois tipos de contributo: em primeiro lugar, permitem caracterizar num determinado período de tempo a apresentação visual das publicações diárias e generalistas em Portugal. Em segundo lugar, contribuem para ultrapassar as soluções de menor eficácia, potenciando a apresentação visual do conteúdo informativo das publicações acima referidas, com o objectivo de fidelizar e aumentar o número de leitores e potenciar as vendas. A metodologia utilizada para a realização da presente tese desenvolve-se em três partes: na primeira parte, a leitura bibliográfica, a investigação e o registo de informações, distribuída ao longo de treze áreas fundamentais para a compreensão e posterior aplicação às restantes partes; na segunda parte, o recurso a entrevistas a profissionais ligados ao design de publicações jornalísticas, bem como a análise de jornais diários nacionais e estrangeiros, tendo como base os resultados obtidos pelo Poynter Institute for Media Sudies no projecto Eye-Trac Research, um dos maiores estudos realizados sobre a importância da cor nas publicações jornalísticas e da forma como o leitor percorre as páginas de um jornal; na terceira parte, a realização de um projecto de redesign para o Jornal de Notícias. Na opinião de alguns especialistas, como Mario García e Rodrigo Fino, no futuro os jornais terão uma função de complementaridade relativamente às restantes plataformas de informação e o público será simultaneamente leitor no ecrã e no papel. Nesse sentido, os designers deverão encontrar novas formas de potenciar o conteúdo e de estabelecer graficamente meios eficazes de ligação entre as diferentes plataformas de informação. Independentemente do suporte, em papel ou no ecrã, a função do designer será sempre a de encontrar soluções mais eficazes para cada caso concreto.

A actividade das explicações: um estudo no ensino secundário e superior

As explicações são uma actividade a que os alunos recorrem em diferentes países do mundo. Esta prática parece também ter uma longa história. Para além disto, esta é uma actividade que implica o investimento de tempo e dinheiro por parte dos alunos e suas famílias. Estas foram algumas das questões que motivaram o estudo do fenómeno das explicações em Portugal. O foco deste estudo é o Ensino Secundário e Superior. Para estudar esta temática foi decidido inquirir estudantes do Ensino Superior sobre as suas experiências com explicações no Ensino Secundário e Superior, directores de centros de explicações e explicadores com o objectivo de explorar as razões que levam ao recurso a este serviço, conhecer os impactos desta utilização e fazer uma pesquisa sobre a utilização de explicações ao longo dos tempos. O trabalho de campo realizado consistiu na aplicação de um inquérito por questionário online divulgado em diferentes instituições do Ensino Superior, um inquérito por questionário em papel distribuído em duas Universidades públicas, entrevistas a alunos, directores de centros de explicações e explicadores e a análise de diferentes jornais que continham temáticas educativas, tentando-se contribuir para a história da oferta de explicações nos séculos XIX e XX em Portugal. Os resultados obtidos permitiram verificar que é no Ensino Secundário que se encontra a maior percentagem de frequência de explicações; que as disciplinas da área da Matemática são as mais procuradas em explicações; que a principal razão para o recurso a esta actividade no Ensino Secundário se prende com os exames de acesso à Universidade, e no Ensino Superior com a necessidade de um apoio extra; que o recurso a esta actividade acarreta diversos impactos para os alunos de ambos os níveis; e que parece haver uma relação entre nível educacional dos pais e recurso a explicações, particularmente no Ensino Secundário.

Consciência cultural crítica numa comunidade virtual educativa de línguas

A difusão das tecnologias da informação e comunicação fomenta mudanças qualitativas nas práticas pedagógicas, proporcionando a criação de comunidades de aprendizagem entre aprendentes de diferentes pontos do mundo. Tendo como referência a pedagogia crítica para a emancipação (Freire, 1997; Giroux, 1997), este estudo analisou de que forma aprendentes de diferentes proveniências linguístico-culturais desenvolvem a sua consciência cultural crítica (Byram, 1997), quando colocados em situação de trabalho colaborativo on-line, formando uma comunidade de aprendizagem, através do recurso a uma plataforma especialmente concebida para o efeito, a 2ndschool.eu, na qual foram levados a desenvolver um trabalho de natureza interdisciplinar. Pretendíamos que esta plataforma fomentasse questionamentos por parte dos seus membros. Como tal, integrámos diferentes instrumentos de comunicação eletrónica (chat, fóruns e e-mail), através dos quais se promoveu a interação entre os participantes no projeto, alunos e professores (de diversas áreas disciplinares) do Ensino Secundário belga, búlgaro, grego, polaco, português e sueco, com vista à realização de uma tarefa comum: a edição de um trabalho de projeto de análise crítica de reportagens, artigos de opinião e fotos de jornais acerca de tópicos da atualidade nacional e/ou internacional. Tivemos em conta uma metodologia de investigação mais orientada para o estudo de caso e análise do discurso. Para tal, recorremos a dois tipos de instrumentos de recolha de dados: as impressões das discussões estabelecidas através de chat, fóruns, blogs e wikis e os resultados de três questionários sobre o perfil sociolinguístico e cultural dos participantes, a avaliação da plataforma virtual e o inventário de estratégias mais eficazes na negociação de saberes estabelecida. Concluímos que os alunos (re)constroem saberes, pois revelam representações que têm acerca de situações-problema, refletem acerca das mesmas e, posteriormente, disseminam ativamente pontos de vista críticos através de ferramentas Web 2.0, como forma de as resolver. Enquanto verdadeiros pronetários, foram capazes de recorrer a estratégias de comunicação que fomentam a busca de entendimento com o Outro, num caminho oscilante entre o concordar e o discordar, entre o ajudar e o solicitar ajuda, entre o opinar e o escutar, entre o avaliar e o ser avaliado e entre o corrigir e o ser corrigido. Identificámos como principais limitações do nosso estudo a dificuldade de análise das práticas interdisciplinares dos interlocutores internacionais, a desmotivação de alguns aprendentes nas tarefas e ainda o reduzido recurso ao videochat, pelo desconforto no seu uso. Por isso, consideramos que futuras investigações deverão debruçar-se nestas questões.