Ireland's EU Referendum Experience

The purpose of this article is twofold. First, it surveys Ireland’s European Union referendum experience, tracing the key actors, issues and political dynamics of seven European referendums from 1973 to 2008. It unpicks the institutional rules of the referendum game in Ireland stemming from the McKenna and Coughlan judgements, the operation of the Referendum Commission and the effect of this institutional environment on referendum campaigns and outcomes. Second, building on a framework originally developed by Darcy and Laver (1990), this article investigates the emergence of a dynamic in Irish referendums on EU treaties with two key elements: elite withdrawal and populist capture

Visions of EU Reform - The Irish Perspective

The evidence submission to the House of Lords EU Select Committee Visions of EU Reform Inquiry focuses on the extent to which the Irish Government shares the UK Government’s vision for the future of Europe (as part of the current UK-EU membership renegotiation)

How can I encourage my pupils to think critically through collaborative online-learning?

In this paper I show how I study my teaching, as a student on a Masters degree (M.Sc.) programme in Education and Training Management (e-learning strand) at Dublin City University. As I explain my teaching as a History teacher, I show how I locate myself within Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and within education in Ireland. The source-literature examines critical thinking, social software and collaborative online-learning environments. These help me to understand the processes in my research question. I seek to explore my embodied educational values, and use them as a standard of judgement for my research. I work in a collaborative-dialogic way with all the research participants, establishing an online-classroom in order to help them to think critically. I come to several conclusions about collaborative online-learning, critical thinking and my own educational values. I believe I create a space for students to think critically through my enthusiasm and the students’ ease in an online-environment. I show that positive educational change is possible when using a collaborative dialogic approach to teaching and learning

Influence of calcium-binding salts on heat stability and fouling of whey protein isolate dispersions

peer-reviewedThe effect of the calcium-binding salts (CBS), trisodium citrate (TSC), tripotassium citrate (TPC) and disodium hydrogen phosphate (DSHP) at concentrations of 1–45 mm on the heat stability and fouling of whey protein isolate (WPI) dispersions (3%, w/v, protein) was investigated. The WPI dispersions were assessed for heat stability in an oil bath at 95 °C for 30 min, viscosity changes during simulated high-temperature short-time (HTST) and fouling behaviour using a lab-scale fouling rig. Adding CBS at levels of 5–30 mm for TSC and TPC and 25–35 mm for DSHP improved thermal stability of WPI dispersions by decreasing the ionic calcium (Ca2+) concentration; however, lower or higher concentrations destabilised the systems on heating. Adding CBS improved heat transfer during thermal processing, and resulted in lower viscosity and fouling. This study demonstrates that adding CBS is an effective means of increasing WPI protein stability during HTST thermal processing

New research project: live blogging – is it any good and what next?

Live blogging is one of those formats that have emerged in the last few years as Web 2.0 journalism has gone interactive, continuous and connected. But what impact is live blogging having on the newsroom and do they actually work? Do they create better journalism and do they attract audiences who pay attention? Polis has already done research on this, and now Swedish journalist Karin O’Mahony is at Polis for a month to research this topic and she would love to hear you views – you’re welcome to attend a seminar she’s holding, too, details below

Is TechnoCraft a New Cornerstone for Luxury Fashion

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In Search of An ICT Impact on TFP: Evidence from Industry Panel Data

This paper uses a new set of industry data for the US and the UK non-agricultural market economy, to provide new evidence on the impact of ICT on TFP. We compare the results from standard panel data techniques with newly developed dynamic panel data estimation methods. The traditional industry panel data analysis fails to find a significant impact of ICT on output/TFP growth. This paper argues that this is due to heterogeneity across industries, particularly in the time dimension. An alternative technique which allows the dynamic specification to vary across industries yields a positive and significant long-run impact of ICT on TFP.productivity, ICT capital, heterogeneous dynamic panels

Residue analyses and exposure assessment of the Irish population to nitrofuran metabolites from different food commodities in 2009–2010

peer-reviewedAn exposure assessment to nitrofuran residues was performed for three human populations (adults, teenagers and children), based on residue analyses of foods of animal origin (liver, honey, eggs and aquaculture) covering the 2-year period 2009– 2010. The occurrence of nitrofuran metabolites in food on the Irish market was determined for the selected period using the data from Ireland’s National Food Residue Database (NFRD) and from results obtained from the analysis of retail samples (aquaculture and honey). Laboratory analyses of residues were performed by methods validated in accordance with Commission Decision 2002/657/EC regarding performance of the analytical method and interpretation of results. Semicarbazide (SEM) was the contaminant most frequently identified and its content ranged from 0.09 to 1.27 μg kg−1. SEM is currently used as a marker of nitrofuran abuse, but it may also occur from other sources. The presence of nitrofuran metabolite 3-amino-2-oxazolidinone (AOZ) was detected in two aquaculture samples (prawns) at 1.63 and 1.14 μg kg−1, but such a low number of positive cases did not present sufficient data for a full AOZ exposure assessment. Therefore, the evaluation of exposure was focused on SEM-containing food groups only. Exposure assessments were completed using a probabilistic approach that generated 10 iterations. The results of both the upper- and lower-bound exposure assessments demonstrate that SEM exposure for Irish adults, teenagers and children from selected food commodities are well below EFSA-estimated safe levels.This research was funded by the Food for Health Research Initiative (FHRI) administered by the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and the Health Research Board (Contract 07FHRIAFRC5