In search of academic excellence: an evaluation of the work of CTYI

This thesis examines the work of the Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) over a two year period between the years 1994-1996. It evaluates the means by which CTYI identify academically talented 12-16 year olds and explores the rigorous and challenging coursework that it provides for the highly able student. The research is both quantitative and qualitative in focus, assessing how students, instructors and other key programme personnel view the CTYI experience. The Centre offers fast paced enrichment courses during the Summer and on Saturday mornings throughout the year. Participants on these courses are assessed in terms of both academic and social satisfaction. Comparative analysis between students who took part in a CTYI programme and those enrolled in secondary schools is conducted using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a self review personality measure representing behavioural preferences and preferred self-descriptive adjectives. The thesis concludes with the current status of education for the academically talented in Ireland with recommendations for future practice

In Search of Excellence: Perceived effects of special classes for gifted students in Ireland from the perspective of the students and their parents

This thesis focuses on high ability students and the effects of Saturday and summer courses on their academic and social development. These students who have been identified through assessment are in the top 5% of the population academically. After qualifying from the assessment they are invited to participate in courses run by the Irish Centre for Talented Youth (CTYI) at Dublin City University and other colleges around the country. This study looks at students who have participated on these programmes and their parents in relation to the impact of these courses on their academic and social development. Results show that participating students and their parents have a significantly higher level of academic satisfaction with classes at CTYI compared to school. Furthermore the parents and students perceive themselves to have a more positive attitude towards attending CTYI classes compared to school. Both parents and students within this study note a lack of academic challenge at school and believe that they receive little support from their classmates in relation to their ability. Parents tend to rank their children’s ability as much better than their peers in all academic subjects while most of the students rank themselves as much better in selected subjects. Students and parents within the study are mostly comfortable with their academic ability although this is seen to decline slightly as the child gets older. Most of the parents and the students who have attended special classes for high ability children are somewhat uncomfortable with the term gifted to describe their ability

Between hotel mama and petrol station manager: the represatations of women's realities in a selection of African films

The roles that women perform as depicted in African films are often dictated to by the type of society they find themselves in. At first glance traditional societies can be seen as oppressive because of the presence of certain cultural practices. Alternatively modern urban settings appear to offer women authority and empowerment through employment. However, with a closer examination one sees that the situation is not so simplistic. Such is the case when certain traditional practices that are deemed oppressive through a Western perspective, are still found in urban societies. Films on the subject of African women have to be cautious not place their characters in stereotypical roles. Therefore, it is not enough to merely portray African women as ‘oppressed’. African films that engage in a feminist critique need to present ‘realistic’ portrayals of African women. Such characters are layered and complex. The film Faat Kine (2000) depicts such a character in the authoritative protagonist Kine. The film La Vie est Belle (1987) examines the issue of polygamous marriages and patriarchy from the point of view of two African women living in France. Touki Bouki (1973) examines two young characters living in Senegal and questions the possibility of escape from ones circumstances. Traditional practices such as polygamous marriages are explored in Xala (1975), and Finzan (1989) explores cultural practices such as forced marriages and female circumcision. This treatise will consider women and work in both traditional society and urban settings. African feminism will also be investigated for the purpose of exploring common social perceptions of women in Africa

The effect of fossil sampling on the estimation of divergence times with the fossilised birth death process

Timescales are of fundamental importance to evolutionary biology as they facilitate hypothesis tests of historical evolutionary processes. Through the incorporation of fossil occurrence data, the fossilised birth-death (FBD) process provides a framework for estimating divergence times using more palaeontological data than traditional node calibration approaches have allowed. The inclusion of more data can refine evolutionary timescale estimates, but for many taxonomic groups it is computationally infeasible to include all fossil occurrence data. Here, we utilise both empirical data and a simulation framework to identify approaches to subsampling fossil occurrence data that result in the most accurate estimates of divergence times. To achieve this we assess the performance of the FBD-Skyline model when implementing multiple approaches to incorporating subsampled fossil occurrences. Our results demonstrate that it is necessary to account for all available fossil occurrence data to achieve the most accurate estimates of clade age. We show that this can be achieved if an empirical Bayes approach to account for fossil sampling through time is applied to the FBD process. Random subsampling of occurrence data can lead to estimates of clade age that are incompatible with fossil evidence if no control over the affinities of fossil occurrences is enforced. Our results call into question the accuracy of previous divergence time studies incorporating the FBD process that have used only a subsample of all available fossil occurrence data.Supplementary Figure 1Median age estimates and 95% HPDs obtained to demonstrate the behaviour of the FBD process without the subsampling of fossil occurrences. These results demonstrate the suitability of the simulation framework employed for subsequent analyses.Positive_Control.pdfSupplementary Figure 2Median age estimates and 95% HPDs for Hymenoptera obtained using a range of approaches to constructing a subsample of fossil occurrences and constraining their placement. These approaches consist of: a uniform subsample of occurrences with and without topological constraints, a uniform subsample of occurrences supplemented with the oldest unequivocal members of clades which were then constrained to their respective crown groups, a subsample consisting of only the oldest unequivocal members of clades with and without topological constraints applied to constrain them to their respective crown groups.Supp_Empirical.PDFSupplementary Figure 3The accuracy and precision of estimated node ages obtained from subsamples of 100 replicate fossil occurrence datasets after the addition of the oldest occurrences for each clade to the subsample. These occurrences were then topologically constrained to lineages that descend from the node either 1, 2, or 4 nodes below the direct ancestor of the occurrence. Each point represents the median posterior age estimate of one clade, with grey bars representing the 95% HPD for that node age estimate. When occurrences are placed one node below their direct ancestor an approach in which the rate of fossil sampling is estimated produces the greatest accuracy. When occurrences are placed with reduced accuracy then the accuracy of age estimates when sampling rate is an estimated parameter of the FBD process decreases. Conversely, fixing the rate of fossil sampling or placing an informed prior on this parameter improves the accuracy as fossils are placed with reduced accuracy. For all cases in which fossils occurrences are placed at a node that is lower than their true ancestral fossil the 95% HPDs of age estimates extend to ages that violate the minimum age of the clade, as implied by the complete sample of fossil occurrences.Drop_Results.ep

Where is the crowd?

Crowdfunding has received increasing attention in the financial services space in the past few years. This is because crowdfunding has become a viable alternative to traditional capital investment and thus a threat to investors in that sector. Various platforms exist which allow fundraisers to pitch an idea and spread awareness with the intention of acquiring backers. Most backers of crowdfunding campaigns come to the platform with the fundraiser rather than from the platform itself [25]. Fundraisers must find and engage a crowd and not rely on the platform for provision of the crowd. This paper sets out four action design principles for identifying and engaging a crowd. Using a boundary object theory approach, the crowdfunding campaign is broken down based on backer’s social worlds which define the crowd and their interests