Improving Technology Transfer and Research Commercialisation in the Irish Food Innovation System

End of project reportThe process by which knowledge generated by publicly-funded research is transferred to industry – technology transfer – has been criticised as being inefficient and having limited success. This research project aimed to obtain a better understanding of the technology transfer process and thereby contribute to policy development and provide guidance for researchers to improve the process. Through a series of focus groups, surveys, case studies and depth interviews, the research identified five key challenges that exist in the context of the Irish food innovation system. These relate to communication, industry capabilities, research capabilities, strategic management and socialisation. To address these challenges, a selection of tools, illustrative case studies and recommendations for a range of stakeholders on how to deal with each of these challenges is provided on the project website (www.dit.ie/toolbox/)

Maquiladoras and market mamas

"This study analyzes work, childcare arrangements, and earnings of mothers in the poor neighborhoods of Guatemala City and Greater Accra, Ghana, two urban areas where formal- and informal-sector work differ in importance. Unlike previous studies on childcare that take mother's work status as given, this paper treats childcare choice and labor force participation of women as joint decisions. Our empirical results indicate that participation in the labor market and use of formal day care are, in fact, jointly determined. In both Guatemala and Accra, life cycle and household demographic factors, notably child age, appear to have important effects on both decisions. In both cities, higher household wealth reduces the mothers' chances of working, presumably via an income effect. Controlling for endogeneity of labor market participation and formal day-care use, in Guatemala, day-care prices do not have significant impacts on earnings; neither does the number of day-care centers within a 10-minute walk affect earnings in Accra. In Guatemala, maternal education is an important determinant of utilization of formal day care, but does not have large effects on whether she works for pay or not. In contrast, in Accra, maternal education does not affect either the demand for formal care or the decision to work. In Guatemala, greater travel time from home to the day-care center reduces utilization of this type of care, but a larger supply of day-care centers in the community does not affect use of formal care in Accra. The lack of importance of formal day-care supply variables in Accra compared to the effect of some variables such as travel time to day-care centers in Guatemala suggests that provision of formal day care may not be as critical an intervention to increase mothers' labor force participation rates in cities where the informal sector dominates, such as in Accra. In more urbanized settings like Guatemala City, where the formal sector generates a higher proportion of jobs for women, formal day care is more important to mothers' decision to work." Author's AbstractRural poor ,

Maquiladoras and market mamas

"This study analyzes work, childcare arrangements, and earnings of mothers in the poor neighborhoods of Guatemala City and Greater Accra, Ghana, two urban areas where formal- and informal-sector work differ in importance. Unlike previous studies on childcare that take mother's work status as given, this paper treats childcare choice and labor force participation of women as joint decisions. Our empirical results indicate that participation in the labor market and use of formal day care are, in fact, jointly determined. In both Guatemala and Accra, life cycle and household demographic factors, notably child age, appear to have important effects on both decisions. In both cities, higher household wealth reduces the mothers' chances of working, presumably via an income effect. Controlling for endogeneity of labor market participation and formal day-care use, in Guatemala, day-care prices do not have significant impacts on earnings; neither does the number of day-care centers within a 10-minute walk affect earnings in Accra. In Guatemala, maternal education is an important determinant of utilization of formal day care, but does not have large effects on whether she works for pay or not. In contrast, in Accra, maternal education does not affect either the demand for formal care or the decision to work. In Guatemala, greater travel time from home to the day-care center reduces utilization of this type of care, but a larger supply of day-care centers in the community does not affect use of formal care in Accra. The lack of importance of formal day-care supply variables in Accra compared to the effect of some variables such as travel time to day-care centers in Guatemala suggests that provision of formal day care may not be as critical an intervention to increase mothers' labor force participation rates in cities where the informal sector dominates, such as in Accra. In more urbanized settings like Guatemala City, where the formal sector generates a higher proportion of jobs for women, formal day care is more important to mothers' decision to work." Author's AbstractRural poor ,

Homelessness and adult education in the UK and Malta

In this piece, I aim to present a critical commentary on the relationship between adult education and homelessness in two different European contexts: the United Kingdom and Malta. As a developing adult educator from the UK, with experience of living in Malta, I am in a privileged position to be able to draw on knowledge and experience in both contexts to illuminate the topic in a comparative way. I position myself as a feminist adult educator who supports a capabilities or asset-based approach to development (see, for example bell hooks, 1994, Sen, 1999, Foot & Hopkins, 2010, and El Khayat, 2018). After several years working in community education with marginalized groups in the UK and Global South (South America and Southern Africa), I recently came to live in the small, southern Mediterranean island nation of Malta, where I undertook a student placement with a homelessness charity (January-June 2018). At the time of writing, there is limited data showing the scale and impact of homelessness in Malta so whilst focusing in particular on Malta and the UK, reference will also be made to research from other countries.peer-reviewe

Facilitating Visitation in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Examining the Influence of Parental Feeding Involvement

Each year thousands of infants in the United States are admitted to a Neonatal intensive Care Unit (NICU). These units exist to provide highly specialized care to a wide array of newborns in critical condition. However, the care provided by hospitals must be coupled with care and involvement from the infant’s family in order for there to be a truly successful outcome. This study aimed to determine if parents who were more actively involved in the feeding of their infants were more likely to visit their children in the NICU. As part of a larger multi-methods study, this project analyzed medical chart data, visitation logs, and questionnaires completed by 30 parents of children admitted to a large Level III/ Level IV NICU in the southeastern US. Findings indicated that parents who reported higher levels of participation in feeding rituals during their child’s NICU stay were more likely to spend longer periods of time in the NICU than the parents who reported lower levels of participation. As more and more children are admitted to the NICU each year, it is important for healthcare providers to improve their methods for facilitating visitation. This research indicates that when hospitals take action to involve parents in caregiving, there is potential for increased visitation

A Questionnaire Survey of Why, How, and What Literature is Being Taught in the Eleventh and Twelfth Grades in the State of Washington

It was the purpose of this study (1) to obtain a cross-section analysis of the eleventh and twelfth grade teachers of literature in the state of Washington; (2) to discover the attitudes of these teaches as to why and how literature should be taught in grades eleven and twelve; (3) to learn how it is actually taught at theses grade levels; (4) to present and analyze these finding; (5) to ascertain which college courses these teachers felt had helped them the most in preparing to teach literature; and (6) to make suggestions that might help the prospective teachers of literature

The Impact of Digital Storytelling on Student Engagement, Motivation, and Revision During the Writing Process

Life in the digital era demands a new set of technological skills and competencies. The twenty-first century learner is currently challenged to embrace both traditional and newer literacies. Digital storytelling, the process of enhancing a narrative with images, audio, video, and text, gracefully blends these literacies, proving an effective tool for both educator and student. While student engagement and motivation may present as problematic during writing instruction, the willingness of students to revise their writing often proves a bigger challenge. The opportunity to produce digital stories has the potential to engage and motivate the twenty-first century learner, as it embraces their technological comfort level and presents the writing process in a novel way. The purpose of this case study was to examine the impact of digital storytelling on student engagement, motivation, and revision during the writing process in a third grade classroom. The researcher applied both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods (i.e., observations, surveys, interviews, and student artifacts) to determine the impact of digital storytelling on these learning indicators. Through the application of inductive analysis and descriptive statistics, the researcher concluded that the process of digital storytelling had a positive impact on student engagement and motivation. Students were driven by a desire to showcase their digital stories to their classroom audience. Unfortunately, the digital storytelling process did not instigate a noteworthy increase in student writing revisions. Further research is needed to inform the impact of digital storytelling on the writing process