The Rise and Fall of the Jumbo Breakfast Roll: How a Sandwich Survived the Decline of the Irish Economy

This paper examines a specific food item - the Jumbo Breakfast Roll [JBR] - through a sociological lens, in order to trace the factors that contributed to its rise to prominence in Irish food culture in the 'Celtic Tiger' period of the late 20th/early 21st century. It also examines the development of these factors in the period following the crash of the Irish bubble economy. It is argued that the JBR arose at the intersection of a number of key trends in the food technology, retail, transport, distribution and construction sectors. Yet the JBR also had its antecedents in established foodways and traditions. It reflects on how the JBR could be interpreted as a 'national dish' that symbolised a particular moment in contemporary Irish society, and raises the possibility that a sociologically-informed analysis of such emblematic dishes allows us to explore aspects of national society, culture and economy within a globalised world.Fast Food; Ireland; Culture; Economic Conditions; Celtic Tiger; Convenience Stores; Baking Technology; Sandwich

\u27Thinking Outside the Box\u27: Extending Our Analysis of Surplus Food Movement

The concept of movement in relation to food can be applied in diverse ways, literally, but also as metaphor. Food waste, similarly, is an open and contested signifier. To bring the two concepts together, then, is a potentially complicated analytical exercise. Nevertheless, to think of food waste in terms of “movement” may be productive. This paper examines, in terms of movement, the activities of Irish community and voluntary organisations (CVOs), partners with an Irish-based NGO, FoodCloud, in the distribution of surplus food. These are examined within the context of the COVID19 pandemic in Ireland during 2020 and 2021. The paper is based on research conducted by the authors in 2021-2. It outlines aspects of the concept of movement within food waste studies; describes the aims and methodology of the research; reports findings in relation to surplus food distribution in terms of movement; and suggests implications for our broader understanding of food waste. It asks scholars of food waste to “think outside” a number of boxes, to ask how the food chain is extended through surplus food distribution; how surplus food may be used in multiple ways; and in how surplus food distribution activities may have the potential to support, more broadly, sustainable food communities

Helping tomorrow’s social professionals to learn about social robotics

This paper identifies that social robotics and autonomous technologies will inevitably impact on the field of care for human beings. Those currently employed in caring roles, and those about to enter these roles, are generally ill-prepared to respond to this challenge: whether it is to develop the skills to work alongside such technologies or to critically engage with their development. The paper outlines a current Erasmus+ funded international project (PRoSPEro) that brings together social roboticists, educators, learners, practitioners and policymakers in order to develop, pilot, assess and deploy innovative pedagogical materials to address the gap in provision. It also  describes a locally-generated learning opportunity within futures studies that facilitates learners to engage directly with these new technologies. The paper provides ideas for strategies and techniques to successfully engage learners from social science and therapeutic-based fields to engage with urgent contemporary technological issues.Share, P.; Pender, J. (2020). Helping tomorrow’s social professionals to learn about social robotics. En 6th International Conference on Higher Education Advances (HEAd'20). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. (30-05-2020):1093-1100. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAd20.2020.11205OCS1093110030-05-202

Understanding Social Care

There is a good chance you are reading this because you are planning to be, or already are, a social care practitioner. Yet for many in Irish society, even those entering the field themselves, the meaning of the term ‘social care’ is not self- evident. A common question directed at social care students and professionals alike is, ‘What do you do?’ Misconceptions abound and in many cases practitioners are not accorded the recognition or status they deserve, partly as a consequence of a limited understanding of what the term means This chapter explores the notion of social care itself. Some definitions are examined, phrase by phrase, to see what is involved. A short history of social care in Ireland is provided, placing the current set of institutions and practices in a historical context. Aspects of social care practice are described, such as what qualities practitioners possess; what sort of work is involved; what practitioners do and where they do it; how much they get paid; and the difference between a social care practitioner and a social worker

Interpreting response time effects in functional imaging studies

It has been suggested that differential neural activity in imaging studies is most informative if it is independent of response time (RT) differences. However, others view RT as a behavioural index of key cognitive processes, which is likely linked to underlying neural activity. Here, we reconcile these views using the effort and engagement framework developed by Taylor, Rastle, and Davis (2013) and data from the domain of reading aloud. We propose that differences in neural engagement should be independent of RT, whereas, differences in neural effort should co-vary with RT. We illustrate these different mechanisms using data from an fMRI study of neural activity during reading aloud of regular words, irregular words, and pseudowords. In line with our proposals, activation revealed by contrasts designed to tap differences in neural engagement (e.g., words are meaningful and therefore engage semantic representations more than pseudowords) survived correction for RT, whereas activation for contrasts designed to tap differences in neural effort (e.g., it is more difficult to generate the pronunciation of pseudowords than words) correlated with RT. However, even for contrasts designed to tap neural effort, activity remained after factoring out the RT-BOLD response correlation. This may reveal unpredicted differences in neural engagement (e.g., learning phonological forms for pseudowords. >. words) that could further the development of cognitive models of reading aloud. Our framework provides a theoretically well-grounded and easily implemented method for analysing and interpreting RT effects in neuroimaging studies of cognitive processes

Cognitive predictors of shallow-orthography spelling speed and accuracy in 6th grade children

Spelling accuracy and time course was investigated in a sample of 100 Norwegian 6th grade students completing a standardized spelling-to-dictation task. Students responded by keyboard with accurate recordings of response-onset latency (RT) and inter-keypress interval (IKI). We determined effects of a number of child-level cognitive ability factors, and of word-level factors—particularly the location within the word of a spelling challenge (e.g., letter doubling), if present. Spelling accuracy was predicted by word reading (word split) performance, non-word spelling accuracy, keyboard key-finding speed and short-term memory span. Word reading performance predicted accuracy just for words with spelling challenges. For correctly spelled words, RT was predicted by non-word spelling response time and by speed on a key-finding task, and mean IKI by non-verbal cognitive ability, word reading, non-word spelling response time, and key-finding speed. Compared to words with no challenge, mean IKI was shorter for words with an initial challenge and longer for words with a mid-word challenge. These findings suggest that spelling is not fully planned when typing commences, a hypothesis that is confirmed by the fact that IKI immediately before within word challenges were reliably longer than elsewhere within the same word. Taken together our findings imply that routine classroom spelling tests better capture student competence if they focus not only on accuracy but also on production time course