Diachronic representational change surrounding queer identities in British newspapers between 1976 and 2005

This thesis explores the changing use of language in British newspapers that was used to describe queer people, between 1976 and 2005. It brings together a broad spectrum of sociological, linguistic and media theorists to investigate how such change was driven and describe some of the social consequences. The discussion is framed through the analysis of ifferent facets of the queer community’s experience which are being represented in the press over that time frame such as: the closet, queer protest and normalization. Whilst at the same time, aspects of the researcher’s personal biography are woven into the writing to solidify the connections between theory, representation and individual experience. This then is a multi-theoretical study using changing language and representation as a methodology with its heart in media and language studies, sociology, queer studies and history. The research is focused upon newspaper articles taken from national, regional and queer newspapers and each was focused upon as aspect of the queer experience. The main case studies included comparisons between different papers, The Gay News Trial in 1977 and protests concerning section 28 in 1988. Later, it explores power and the closet across the period and ends by utilising articles involving queer youth, queer family and queer professionals. The analysis reveals that we are living in a new Foucaultian episteme; new age with a new spirit this developed out of the protests and campaigns of the 1970s and 1980s which led to a compression upon language driving linguistic change. This compression led the normalization of queer people within society

Mapping diverse visions of energy transitions: co-producing sociotechnical imaginaries

The need to rapidly decarbonise energy systems is widely accepted, yet there is growing criticism of ‘top–down’, technocentric transition visions. Transitions are, such critics claim, unpredictable, contested, and comprise of multiple and competing perspectives. This paper opens up to diverse visions of energy transitions by studying a corpus of 12 visions produced across different ‘institutional settings’ of the state, business, science and technology, and civil society in the UK. We introduce a new analytical framework grounded in relational co-productionist perspectives in science and technology studies (STS) to comparatively analyse the similarities and differences of the visions in relation to four dimensions of sociotechnical transformation: meanings, knowings, doings, and organisings. Whilst research on energy transitions often focuses on dominant imaginaries within political cultures, regimes and centres of power, it is an explicit intention of this paper to also comparatively map the distributed, diverse and counter-hegemonic visions. The paper reveals that what is often presented as a primarily ‘technical’ transition is always normative in bringing forward particular forms of social and political order. Our analysis reveals important distinctions between more ‘centred’ and more decentred or ‘alternative’ imaginaries of the energy transition, differences which reveal the inherently political nature of energy futures. Visions which emerge from civil society settings are shown to be a key locus of diversity in sociotechnical imaginaries and tend to open up to alternative models of progress, social change, and the roles of publics. This emphasises the significant role played by the settings and the make-up of collective practices through which energy visions are co-produced. We suggest that mapping diverse visions to reveal their respective partialities, exclusions and sociopolitical dimensions in this way, can offer a more humble, reflexive, and responsible foundation for practices of future-making and sociotechnical transformations

Time-Resolved Scanning Electron Microscopy Analysis of Nanodynamical Structures

We have developed and characterized a time-resolved scanning electron microscopy (SEM) operational mode which provides non-destructive mechanical characterization of nanodynamical structures with 8-bit image resolution and 200 ns time resolution. This time-resolved SEM scheme does not require blanking plates, nor does it require any hardware modification to a commercially available scanning electron microscope. Both time-resolved images and line scan profiles of nanofabricated single crystal silicon tweezers are obtained. This time-resolved SEM operational mode can be used to evaluate a number of important mechanical properties of nanodynamical structures, including time response and resonance mode-shapes

Monomorphic Ventricular Arrhythmias in Athletes.

Ventricular arrhythmias are challenging to manage in athletes with concern for an elevated risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) during sports competition. Monomorphic ventricular arrhythmias (MMVA), while often benign in athletes with a structurally normal heart, are also associated with a unique subset of idiopathic and malignant substrates that must be clearly defined. A comprehensive evaluation for structural and/or electrical heart disease is required in order to exclude cardiac conditions that increase risk of SCD with exercise, such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Unique issues for physicians who manage this population include navigating athletes through the decision of whether they can safely continue their chosen sport. In the absence of structural heart disease, therapies such as radiofrequency catheter ablation are very effective for certain arrhythmias and may allow for return to competitive sports participation. In this comprehensive review, we summarise the recommendations for evaluating and managing athletes with MMVA

Participatory action and dual lens research

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the idea that, in the last few decades, collaborative inquiry methods have evolved along a similar trajectory to dual lens research. Dual lens research, known in various contexts as both ways, two-eyed seeing Old Ways New Ways, and Koodjal Jinnung (looking both ways), is designed to generate new knowledge by exploring a theme through Aboriginal and contemporary western lenses. Participatory action research and a dual lens approach are considered in a number of projects with a particular focus on the issues such work can raise including conceptual challenges posed by fundamental differences between knowledge sets. Design/methodology/approach: The authors hypothesize that a dual lens approach will become a branch of participatory action research, as such, a robust description needs to be developed and its ethical implications are considered. Existing work in this direction, including principles and processes, are collated and discussed. Findings: Dual lens research as a branch of participatory action research is of great significance in countries with Aboriginal populations that are undergoing a cultural renaissance. As dual lens practitioners, the authors are finding their research outputs have a high positive impact on both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal populations and make a genuine contribution to reconciliation by finding ways of going forward together. Originality/value: This paper joins a growing body of research that supports resonances between Aboriginal and “western” research methods

Consignation , Representations of Grangegorman : Past ,Present and Future

Exhibition held at the Broadcast Gallery, 2013. Curated by Adrian Langtry, Aisling Reddin, Jason Kearney, Noel Phelan, Orlaith Baldwin and Vincent Gregan. We wanted to curate an exhibition from the perspective of the student population affected by these changes, but who will never study on the new site. It is our aim to make a contribution to ideas and proposals about how to think about the history of the site, its people, its artifacts in the present, as we all imagine its future. Delving into the past of Grangegorman with St Brendan’s Hospital operating since 1815 previously under the name of Richmond Lunatic Asylum, a connection is created between the patients and staff who provided the rich history and records of the past for preservation. This is utilised by the Grangegorman Development Development Agency (GDA) who are taking this into account in developing a sustainable Dublin Institute of Technology Grangegorman campus not only for future students, staff and local residents but in remembrance of those who were present in the former era of the site

Comparison of machine learning approaches with a general linear model to predict personal exposure to benzene

Machine learning techniques (MLTs) offer great power in analyzing complex data sets and have not previously been applied to non-occupational pollutant exposure. MLT models that can predict personal exposure to benzene have been developed and compared with a standard model using a linear regression approach (GLM). The models were tested against independent data sets obtained from three personal exposure measurement campaigns. A correlation-based feature subset (CFS) selection algorithm identified a reduced attribute set, with common attributes grouped under the use of paints in homes, upholstery materials, space heating, and environmental tobacco smoke as the attributes suitable to predict the personal exposure to benzene. Personal exposure was categorized as low, medium, and high, and for big data sets, both the GLM and MLTs show high variability in performance to correctly classify greater than 90 percentile concentrations, but the MLT models have a higher score when accounting for divergence of incorrectly classified cases. Overall, the MLTs perform at least as well as the GLM and avoid the need to input microenvironment concentrations