Crime Concentration in Ireland in 2012: A Location Quotient Approach

The aim of this paper is to investigate spatial patterns of crime in Ireland to develop a better theoretical understanding of the role of geography and opportunity, as well as enabling practical crime prevention solutions that are tailored to specific places. The analysis uses crime data sourced from the Central Statistics Office to analyse crime concentration for a range of crime categories using alternative measures of concentration. The findings of this paper indicate that crime concentrates in particular places in Ireland. The findings may be utilised by An Garda Síochana (Irish police force) to enable practical crime prevention solutions that are tailored to specific places. Particularly, the concentrations of certain sub categories of crime may require a rearrangement of current resources, as well as the deployment of additional resources to worst affected areas

The socioeconomic determinants of crime in Ireland from 2003-2012

This paper analyses the socioeconomic determinants of property crime and violent crime in Ireland between 2003 and 2012. The aim of the study is to determine whether individuals respond to incentives when deciding to engage in crime and whether this decision is dependent on the type of crime an individual engages in. The results of the paper support the economic theory of crime which indicates that criminals respond to incentives, particularly for property crimes. Higher detection rates have been found to reduce crime rates for property crimes while the impact on violent crimes is found to be insignificant. The socioeconomic determinants of crime tend to be more ambiguous

The Impact of Sports Participation on Crime in England between 2012 and 2015

This paper estimates the relationship between sports participation and two broad categories of crimes – property crimes and person crimes- in 323 local authorities in England between 2012 and 2015. The aim of this paper is to assess whether participation in sporting activities influences an individual’s decision to engage in crime. Furthermore, the impact of socioeconomic conditions on crime are estimated also. The results of this paper indicate that sport participation reduces crime rates for both property and person crimes in English local authorities between 2012 and 2015. The findings suggest that sports participation has a stronger effect on person crimes as opposed to property crimes. The results show that a 10% increase in sports participation leads to a fall in person crimes of 1.30 and 1.56% while a 10% increase in sports participation rates leads to a fall in property crimes of between 0.64 and 0.73%

The Impact of Sports Participation on Crime in England between 2012 and 2015

This paper estimates the relationship between sports participation and two broad categories of crimes – property crimes and person crimes- in 323 local authorities in England between 2012 and 2015. The aim of this paper is to assess whether participation in sporting activities influences an individual’s decision to engage in crime. Furthermore, the impact of socioeconomic conditions on crime are estimated also. The results of this paper indicate that sport participation reduces crime rates for both property and person crimes in English local authorities between 2012 and 2015. The findings suggest that sports participation has a stronger effect on person crimes as opposed to property crimes. The results show that a 10% increase in sports participation leads to a fall in person crimes of 1.30 and 1.56% while a 10% increase in sports participation rates leads to a fall in property crimes of between 0.64 and 0.73%

The Socioeconomic Determinants of Crime in Ireland from 2003-2012

This paper analyses the socioeconomic determinants of property crime and violent crime in Ireland between 2003 and 2012. The aim of the study is to determine whether individuals respond to incentives when deciding to engage in crime and whether this decision is dependent on the type of crime an individual engages in. The results of the paper support the economic theory of crime which indicates that criminals respond to incentives, particularly for property crimes. Higher rates of crime detection are associated with a fall in crime rates across all property crimes. Higher detection rates have been found to reduce crime rates for property crimes while the impact on violent crimes is found to be insignificant. The socioeconomic determinants of crime tend to be more ambiguous

Measuring and evaluating economic impact of publicly-funded research centres

The aim of this thesis is to develop and test frameworks and tools to measure and evaluate the economic impact of publicly funded research centres, thus addressing calls from policymakers for greater accountability and justification for investment of public funding towards research activities. In addition to developing impact measurements tools, the Research Impact Index (RII) is tested using a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funded research centre. Testing the tool facilitates the identification of strengths and weaknesses of the framework and tools before large scale roll-out of the RII. The development of robust tools and frameworks to measure and evaluate the economic impact of publicly funded research centres requires conceptual clarity on research impact. Research impact can mean different things to different people. Therefore, this thesis offers conceptual clarity on what constitutes an impact through a thematic analysis exploring the meanings and conceptualisations of research impact across the research sector in Ireland. Following this, the thesis contributes to the development of a novel framework for measuring the economic impact of publicly funded research centres. The IMPACTS framework (Impact Measurement and Performance Assessment of Centres for Technology and Science) adopts a systems-based approach to research impact assessment which views research centres as important cogs within an innovation system. An important new, and to date underappreciated, element in this framework is the inclusion of a research centre's contribution to the overall innovation system, while simultaneously identifying the strength of the system is an important input and platform for a research centre's success. The study uses data generated though two survey instruments, the Research Centre Impact Questionnaire and the Industry Partner Impact Questionnaire. The questionnaires were designed to facilitate the assessment of research centre impact that minimises common methodological challenges, such as issues of attribution, additionality and time lags. The quantitative and qualitative data from the questionnaire will be combined to construct a multidimensional index to measure and evaluate research centre impact. The development of the IMPACTS framework and Research Impact Index (RII) will result in a step change in measurement of the performance of publicly funded research centres, enabling them to optimise structures and ways of working to maximise economic impact. In addition, it will help funding bodies select and oversee funded centres to increase the efficiency in conversion of investments into impact for industry partners and the regional and national economy. Findings will be disseminated to science policy practitioners, funding bodies and research centres management teams

TOWARDS AN UNDERSTANDING OF DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION RISK: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW

Digital transformation research and industry adoption has been on the rise over the past decade with the majority of organisations viewing it as critical to their survival over the next five years. However, in spite of the benefits of digital transformation, it presents a clear but paradoxical risk to organisations such as the requirement to develop innovative products and services while maintaining a stable customer and employee experience. With an estimated 90% of digital transformation projects resulting in failures, several calls have emerged from within the European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS) and the wider academy for research exploring digital transformation risks and the methodologies to manage them (Munns et al., 2022; Rowland et al., 2022). This article presents a systematic literature review (SLR) of 117 papers from high quality information systems (IS) research outlets. This research identifies six major risks that must be identified, monitored and evaluated to enable digital transformation success. These risks encompass the culture, organisation, processes, and technologies being transformed, along with the stakeholders involved in the initiative, and the overall digital transformation strategy being developed

Ethofumesate-resistant annual bluegrass (Poa annua) in grass seed production systems

The prolific seed production and polyploidy of annual bluegrass allow for the rapid development of herbicide resistance. Ethofumesate-resistant annual bluegrass plants were identified in the 1990s in grass seed production in Oregon, but their prevalence and distribution are not well documented. Therefore a dose–response experiment was initiated to determine the potential level of ethofumesate resistance in seed production systems. Seeds from 55 annual bluegrass populations were obtained from three sources: seed production fields (31 populations), the seed cleaning process (6 populations), and seed testing lots prior to retail distribution (18 populations). Additionally, two populations, one with known ethofumesate resistance and one with known susceptibility, were identified in preliminary testing and used as controls in this experiment. Seed from each collected population was increased. Individual seedlings were then transplanted into separate cone-tainers, grown to a size of 2 to 3 tillers in the greenhouse, and then sprayed using a compressed air track spray chamber with 10 doses of ethofumesate at 0, 0.56, 1.1, 2.8, 5.6, 8.4, 11.2, 16.8, 22.4, and 44.8 kg ai ha−1, with 0.84 to 2.2 kg ha−1 as the label application rate for perennial ryegrass. The resistant to susceptible ratio of populations across all sources ranged from 0.5 to 5.5. The most resistant populations found in production fields, seed cleaning, and seed testing lots had the effective dose necessary to kill 50% of the population (ED50) of 12.1, 9.4, and 13.1 kg ha−1, respectively. Furthermore, 68% of the populations found in production fields had ED50 higher than 6 kg ha−1, indicating common annual bluegrass resistance in grass seed production. As such, growers should implement integrated weed management strategies, as herbicides alone will likely be ineffective at controlling annual bluegrass

Definitions of Metabolic Health and Risk of Future Type 2 Diabetes in BMI Categories: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Various definitions of metabolic health have been proposed to explain differences in the risk of type 2 diabetes within BMI categories. The goal of this study was to assess their predictive relevance. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We performed systematic searches of MEDLINE records for prospective cohort studies of type 2 diabetes risk in categories of BMI and metabolic health. In a two-stage meta-analysis, relative risks (RRs) specific to each BMI category were derived by network meta-analysis and the resulting RRs of each study were pooled using random-effects models. Hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic curves were used to assess predictive performance. RESULTS: In a meta-analysis of 140,845 participants and 5,963 incident cases of type 2 diabetes from 14 cohort studies, classification as metabolically unhealthy was associated with higher RR of diabetes in all BMI categories (lean RR compared with healthy individuals 4.0 [95% CI 3.0-5.1], overweight 3.4 [2.8-4.3], and obese 2.5 [2.1-3.0]). Metabolically healthy obese individuals had a high absolute risk of type 2 diabetes (10-year cumulative incidence 3.1% [95% CI 2.6-3.5]). Current binary definitions of metabolic health had high specificity (pooled estimate 0.88 [95% CI 0.84-0.91]) but low sensitivity (0.40 [0.31-0.49]) in lean individuals and satisfactory sensitivity (0.81 [0.76-0.86]) but low specificity (0.42 [0.35-0.49]) in obese individuals. However, positive (0.4) likelihood ratios were consistent with insignificant to small improvements in prediction. CONCLUSIONS: Although individuals classified as metabolically unhealthy have a higher RR of type 2 diabetes compared with individuals classified as healthy in all BMI categories, current binary definitions of metabolic health have limited relevance to the prediction of future type 2 diabetes.The research leading to these results has received support from the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking under EMIF grant agreement n° 115372, resources of which are composed of financial contribution from the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) and EFPIA companies’ in kind contribution. This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), and the Medical Research Council UK (grant no. MC_U106179471). A.A. is supported by a Rubicon grant from the NWO (Project no. 825.13.004).This is an author-created, uncopyedited electronic version of an article accepted for publication in Diabetes Care. The American Diabetes Care Association (ADA), publisher of Diabetes Care, is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or any version derived from it by third parties. The definitive publisher-authenticated version will be available in a future issue of Diabetes Care in print and online at http://care.diabetesjournals.org

Changes in the arabinoxylan fraction of wheat grain during 1 alcohol production

Laboratory produced DDGS samples were compared with commercial samples from a distillery and a biofuel plant. Changes in structure, solubility and content of arabinoxylan (AX) was determined. The distillation process results in a relative increase of AX content compared to the starting material. The heating and drying processes involved in the production of DDGS lead to an increased solubility and viscosity of water-extractable AX. Production of DDGS results in structural changes to the AX. There is a decrease in 2-and 3-linked arabinose oligosaccharides, that contributes to around a 50% reduction in arabinosylation in DDGS compared with the starting grains. The current study shows that laboratory-scale DDGS provide an accurate representation of the commercial scale and that the AX composition of DDGS is consistently uniform irrespective of starting material. The uniformity of DDGS and thin stillage makes them a good potential source of AX for production of prebiotics or other novel products