The development of language and communicative behaviors in deaf/hearing twins

This paper examines language development in twins--one that is hearing and the other that is hearing impaired

An investigation into contemporary online anti-feminist movements

In the early years of the popular internet, in the spirit of Donna Harraway’s Cyborg Manifesto (1985), many theorists then called “cyberfeminists” were optimistic about its potential for women’s liberation (Plant 1998, Spender 1995). This came as part of a broader wave of optimism about the information age and its democratic and economic potential (Wellman 1988, Castells 1996, Negroponte 1995, Kelly 1998). While a significant body of critical literature emerged in response to what was seen as a utopian narrative in general (Van Zoonen 2001, Henwood 2003, Barbrook and Cameron 1995), much of this early utopian and cyberfeminist fervour has seen a re- emergence in popular political and cultural discussion again in recent years, with the Arab Spring, framed as a series of social media revolutions, the emergence of the internet-centric Occupy movement, “hacktivism” and the explosion of online feminism (Penny 2013, Mason 2011). However, along with this renewed feminist optimism, there had also been a less discussed growth of anti-feminist online cultures. Expressions of misogyny previously unthinkable in the public sphere now appear anonymously on popular social media platforms, such as Twitter. Interestingly, this new transgressive antifeminism identifies as countercultural more than conservative and pro-family or men’s rights based as it has done in the past, and its locus, an infamous taboo- busting forum called 4chan/b/, is also the point of origin of the hackers known as Anonymous and of the symbolism of the egalitarian Occupy movement. With reference to existing analyses on online misogyny and anti-feminism (Shaw 2014, Jane 2014, Penny 2014) on the relevant geek and hacker online spaces (Coleman 2014, Phillips 2012) and drawing on a wealth of literature about historical cultural parallels (Reynolds and Press 1995) this study aims to investigate this transgressive countercultural-identifying antifeminism, to locate it, understand its origins and to unpack its cultural politics

Evidence for a nurse-led protocol for removing urinary catheters: A scoping review

Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections significantly contribute to hospital acquired complications globally, with adverse implications for patient outcomes, healthcare, and fiscal resources. Nurse-led protocols for early removal of urinary catheters to reduce the incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infections have been trialled. Aim: To report the evidence for nurse-led practices of removing urinary catheters within the acute healthcare setting. Methods: Five databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, EMCARE, and INFORMIT) were systematically searched in a scoping review of all peer reviewed publications up to 12/03/2021. Findings: Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Eleven studies described a reduction in catheter-associated urinary tract infections regardless of the type of intervention, one study did not demonstrate a change and one study reported an increase in catheter-associated urinary tract infections. Settings, study duration and sample size varied substantially between the included studies. Interventions were exclusive nurse-led protocol for removal of urinary catheters, computerised reminder systems, bundle approaches or comprehensive packages. Outcome measures and definitions of catheter-associated urinary tract infections were varied or absent. Discussion: The quality of evidence of included studies in this review was low, attributed to by a number of methodological issues related to sample size and statistical analyses. Whilst the introduction of nurse-led protocols showed some improvements, the methodological inconsistencies make it difficult to highlight a specific protocol. Conclusion: Given the quality of existing evidence, caution is required in translating these findings to policy and practice

Greenway pedestrian and cycle bridges from repurposed wind turbine blades

Greenways are long-distance walking and cycling routes, often developed along the routes of disused railways. Greenways therefore are a means of repurposing underused infrastructure to provide sustainable transport. They also offer benefits for leisure activities, rural development and tourism. The network of greenways in the Republic of Ireland is projected to grow to 240 km by 2022, and a further 800 km of long-distance pathways has been proposed. The Irish government announced â ¬64m in funding for greenway projects in 2020, with further commitments to sustainable transport spending in the 2020 Programme for Government. In Northern Ireland there is 1,000 km of abandoned former transport routes with the potential for development as greenways. Many of the proposed greenway routes will need extensive works. In many cases, bridges and overpasses are in poor condition and will require complete reconstruction. Alongside the repurposing of disused railways as sustainable transport routes, there is an opportunity to reuse another type of repurposed infrastructure to create functional and attractive new bridges on greenways: end-of-life decommissioned wind turbine blades. Wind turbine blades are made of durable, lightweight and strong fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) materials. They are difficult to recycle by conventional methods, but are ideally suited to repurposing. A US-Ireland-Northern Ireland initiative, the Re-Wind network, has created designs for several new artefacts from repurposed wind turbine blades, including a pedestrian bridge. In this paper we will show the advantages of the blade bridge design for deployment on greenways, show details of the testing and design of the worldâ s first repurposed greenway blade bridge, scheduled for installation on the Midleton-Youghal Greenway in Co. Cork in 2021, and outline the environmental and social advantages of using repurposed FRP blades in new infrastructure such as bridges. The paper also discusses the future expected flow of end-of-life blades from decommissioned wind turbines in Ireland and how this can be aligned with repurposing opportunities

Community research report

University College Cork introduced its first Community-based Participatory Research (CBPR) module in 2016. The module was funded and supported by Horizon2020 funding, specifically the EnRRICH project (Enhancing Responsible Research and Innovation through Curricula in Higher Education). The module is a 5-credit module for PhD students from all disciplines in the early stages of their PhD at University College Cork. Following two fruitful partnerships in the areas of social justice / equality, community family support services and older persons, there was a keen interested to explore partnerships in markedly different areas such as environmental sustainability. A dialogue ensued with CEF where the opportunity and feasibility to collaborate on the CBPR module was explored

An investigation into contemporary online anti-feminist movements

In the early years of the popular internet, in the spirit of Donna Harraway’s Cyborg Manifesto (1985), many theorists then called “cyberfeminists” were optimistic about its potential for women’s liberation (Plant 1998, Spender 1995). This came as part of a broader wave of optimism about the information age and its democratic and economic potential (Wellman 1988, Castells 1996, Negroponte 1995, Kelly 1998). While a significant body of critical literature emerged in response to what was seen as a utopian narrative in general (Van Zoonen 2001, Henwood 2003, Barbrook and Cameron 1995), much of this early utopian and cyberfeminist fervour has seen a re- emergence in popular political and cultural discussion again in recent years, with the Arab Spring, framed as a series of social media revolutions, the emergence of the internet-centric Occupy movement, “hacktivism” and the explosion of online feminism (Penny 2013, Mason 2011). However, along with this renewed feminist optimism, there had also been a less discussed growth of anti-feminist online cultures. Expressions of misogyny previously unthinkable in the public sphere now appear anonymously on popular social media platforms, such as Twitter. Interestingly, this new transgressive antifeminism identifies as countercultural more than conservative and pro-family or men’s rights based as it has done in the past, and its locus, an infamous taboo- busting forum called 4chan/b/, is also the point of origin of the hackers known as Anonymous and of the symbolism of the egalitarian Occupy movement. With reference to existing analyses on online misogyny and anti-feminism (Shaw 2014, Jane 2014, Penny 2014) on the relevant geek and hacker online spaces (Coleman 2014, Phillips 2012) and drawing on a wealth of literature about historical cultural parallels (Reynolds and Press 1995) this study aims to investigate this transgressive countercultural-identifying antifeminism, to locate it, understand its origins and to unpack its cultural politics

Austerity’s Model Pupil: The Ideological Uses of Ireland during the Eurozone Crisis

During the Eurozone crisis, Ireland would come to be regarded widely as a ‘poster child’ for the remedial powers of the austerity agenda and as a ‘role model’ for the other heavily indebted states. In this article, we offer a critical reading of the narrative of an Irish ‘recovery’ that has gained currency over recent years. Tracing the genealogy of terms such as ‘poster child’ and ‘role model’ reveals that they predate the recent apparent revival in Ireland’s economic fortunes. The specific point of origin of these metaphors suggests that the often euphoric discourse that has come to attend the Irish economy articulates a very specific political enterprise. In their efforts to cast the country as the harbinger of economic ‘recovery’, powerful political players have sought to make ideological use of Ireland to ensure that repayments would continue to flow from those European countries in which private bank debts were socialized after the crash. The success of this endeavour has meant that the crisis in the Eurozone has been resolved in the interests of those powerful forces that sparked it in the first place

Evidence for nurse-led protocol for removing urinary catheters

Introduction: Catheter-associated urinary tract infections significantly contribute to hospital-acquired complications globally, with adverse implications for patient outcomes, healthcare and fiscal resources. Most urinary tract infections are preventable. Consequently, nurse-led protocols for the early removal of urinary catheters to reduce the incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infections have been trialled. A systematic review of nurse-led protocols for the removal of urinary catheters has not been conducted since 2010. Purpose: To undertake a scoping review of published evidence for nurse-led practices of removing urinary catheters within the acute healthcare setting, with reference to the impact on catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates. Methods: Five databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, SCOPUS, EMCARE and INFORMIT) were systematically searched in a scoping review of all peer-reviewed publications up to 12/03/2021. Results: Thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Eleven studies described a reduction in catheter associated urinary tract infections regardless of the type of intervention, one study did not demonstrate a change, and one study reported an increase in catheterassociated urinary tract infections. Settings, study duration and sample size varied substantially between the included studies. Interventions were exclusive nurse-led protocol for removal of urinary catheters, computerised reminder systems, bundle approaches or comprehensive packages. Outcome measures and definitions of catheter associated urinary tract infections were varied or absent. The quality of evidence of included studies in this review was low, attributed to a number of methodological issues related to sample size and statistical analyses. While the introduction of nurse-led protocols showed some improvements, the methodological inconsistencies make it difficult to highlight a specific protocol. Conclusion: There is evidence that a reduction in catheter-associated urinary tract infection incidence could be achieved by utilising nurse-led protocols for the removal of urinary catheters. However, given the quality of existing evidence, caution is required in translating these f indings to policy and practice

Life cycle assessment of the use of decommissioned wind blades in second life applications

53,000 tonnes of blade waste from on-shore wind farms will potentially be generated in Ireland by 2040. The recycling of blades, which are made from composite material, is costly and thus far no high volume recycling solution exists. Repurposing blades into second life structures is an alternative which is gaining in popularity, but has many challenges. Green Public Procurement has the potential to help drive demand for blade products in Irish public works. The Re-Wind project has generated a Design Atlas with 47 blade product concepts and these are screened for their ability to overcome repurposing challenges. Three Irish scenarios are developed based on this ranking, maximal utilization of the blade, and on the end customer. Life Cycle Assessment is used to determine the marginal environmental impacts of the raw material substitution provided by the use of blade material. Focusing on greenhouse gas emissions, an estimated 342 kg CO2 e can be saved for every tonne of blade waste used in these scenarios. Blade substitution of steel products was found to provide the most impact, followed by substitution of concrete products. Although repurposing is unlikely to offer an end-of-life solution for all Irish blade waste, the use of 20% of this material annually would divert 315 tonnes of blade waste from landfill, as well as avoiding emissions of 71,820 kg CO2 e. Green procurement has the potential to create a demand for repurposed blade products, which in turn could create jobs in high unemployment areas. Utilization of repurposed, local material could contribute to creating resiliency in supply chains. Both job creation and supply chain resiliency are essential for a post-Covid recovery in Ireland