God and Christianity According To Swinburne

In this paper I discuss critically Richard Swinburne’s concept of God, which I find to be incoherent, and his understanding of Christianity, which I find to be based on a precritical use of the New Testamen

The SocialWelfare Pensions in Ireland: Pensioner Poverty and Gender

This paper examines changes to value of the state pensions and poverty rates for older men and women during the two terms of the Fianna Fáil — Progressive Democrat coalition government in Ireland between 1997 and 2007. It is shown that despite consistent increases in the value of the state pensions relative to earnings, poverty increased during the initial years of the period only to fall dramatically thereafter. While the increase in poverty at the 50 per cent median income rate between 1997 and 2001 was experienced disproportionately by women, there has also been an important gender dimension to the reduction in poverty amongst the over 65s since 2001. Since 2003, women have been no more likely than men to fall below the 50 per cent of median income poverty line or to fall below the 60 per cent line since 2004. However, analysis of data from the 2006 Irish release of the EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions shows that older women remained more likely than men to experience poverty as measured at 70 per cent of median income. A logistic regression model is used to identify underlying differences in poverty rates between men and women after adjusting for other independent variables. The results show that after adjusting for differences in occupation, household composition, geography and health status, the odds of a woman falling below the 70 per cent median income line remained 1.25 times that of a man.

Appropriation and Transformation

The recent decision in Cariou v. Prince has reinvigorated a pressing issue for the contemporary movement of appropriation art: how can art which is defined by its taking from other artworks hope to survive in the world of copyright? In this article, I consider the legal history leading to the Cariou case, including a series of suits brought against appropriation artist Jeff Koons, as well as strategies proposed by several theorists for accommodating appropriation art within the law. Unfortunately, largely due to vagaries of the law and the misunderstood nature of appropriation art, the matter remains unresolved. I argue that, by investing borrowed material with new ideas, appropriation artists create new expressions and so transform their original sources. Being in line with the Constitutional mandate of copyright law, I suggest that such works of appropriation art be treated as presumptively fair uses

Short-term memory and vocabulary development in children with Down syndrome and children with specific language impairment

A longitudinal comparison was made between development of verbal and visuo-spatial short-term memory and vocabulary in children with Down syndrome (DS), children with specific language impairment (SLI), and typically developing children as a control group. Participants were 12 children with DS (6 males, 6 females; mean chronological age 9y 9mo [SD 2.8 mo], range 8y 6mo to 11y 4mo); nine children with SLI (4 males, 5 females; mean chronological age 3y 9mo [SD 4.8mo], range 3y 3mo to 4y 5mo); and 12 typically developing children (5 males, 7 females; mean chronological age 4y 4mo [SD 3.9mo], range 3y 3mo to 4y 3mo). Participants were matched on mental age (mean mental age 4y 3mo). All participants completed verbal short-term memory, visuo-spatial short-term memory, and expressive and receptive vocabulary tasks on three occasions over 1 year. Similarities were seen in the clinical groups for verbal short-term memory. There was some evidence of difficulty in visuo-spatial short-term memory in the children with SLI relative to the other groups, but all three groups showed overlap in visuo-spatial short-term memory performance. At the final time-point vocabulary performance in the clinical groups was similar; the typically developing children showed higher vocabulary abilities than both clinical groups

Cognitive abilities in children with specific language impairment: consideration of visuo-spatial skills

Background: The study is concerned with the cognitive abilities of children with specific language impairment (SLI). Previous research has indicated that children with SLI demonstrate difficulties with certain cognitive tasks despite normal non‐verbal IQ scores. It has been suggested that a general processing limitation might account for the pattern of language and cognitive difficulties seen in children with SLI. The performances on a visuo‐spatial short‐term memory task and a visuo‐spatial processing task were considered in a group of young children with SLI. Verbal short‐term memory was also measured. Aims: To identify whether children with SLI demonstrate difficulties with visuo‐spatial memory as well as verbal short‐term memory. To see whether a visuo‐spatial processing task without short‐term memory requirements is problematic for children with SLI. To consider performance on these tasks over time. Methods & Procedures: Nine children with SLI (mean age 3;9 years at the study outset) and nine typically developing children (mean age 3;9 years at the study outset) were visited on three occasions over 1 year. Verbal short‐term memory, visuo‐spatial short‐term memory and visuo‐spatial processing tasks were administered to the children, and performance over time was compared between the two groups. Outcomes & Results: The children with SLI performed at a lower level than the typically developing children on the verbal short‐term memory task. Both groups showed similar development on the verbal short‐term memory task and the visuo‐spatial processing task over time. Only the visuo‐spatial short‐term memory task showed slower development over time in the children with SLI relative to the typically developing children. Conclusions: Children with SLI demonstrated slower development on a visuo‐spatial short‐term memory task relative to typically developing children of the same chronological age. This finding has implications for speech and language therapists and other professionals working with children with SLI. It may mean that only certain types of visual support are suitable, and that children with SLI will have difficulty with tasks requiring a high level of processing, or a number of mental manipulations

Enter the Troika: The politics of social security during Ireland's bailout

This paper examines the influence of the Troika on the retrenchment and reform of social security in Ireland during its bailout between 2010 and 2013. To do this, it draws on data from in-depth interviews with senior civil servants and civil society organisation staff who met with the Troika as part of their quarterly missions to Ireland during this period. The key themes which emerged from these interviews include the largely domestic origins of social security retrenchment and reform; the surprising, and distinctive, positions adopted by the European Commission and the IMF; the extent of the Irish government’s room for manoeuver in this area, and the ways in which the Irish government defended social security against proposals for additional cuts put forward by the Troika. The paper concludes by arguing that the scope for domestic decision-making was heavily constrained, yet non-trivial, and that the Troika’s influence comprised not only ‘powering’ but also ‘persuasion’

The coupling of disadvantages: material poverty and multiple deprivation in Europe before and after the Great Recession

This paper examines the impact of the Great Recession on material poverty and multiple deprivation in Europe. Applying as its conceptual framework Poverty as Capability Deprivation (Hick 2014), which is one specification of Amartya Sen's capability approach, and employing the Alkire-Foster adjusted headcount measure, the paper draws on data from the EU Survey of Income and Living Conditions to present a multidimensional poverty analysis of 24 EU Member States at four time points: 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2013. The analysis shows that the pre-crisis period was associated with substantial reductions in multidimensional poverty in Europe, with the largest reductions occurring in the poorest Member States. However, the Southern European countries largely failed to benefit from these pre-crisis poverty reductions and, when the crisis hit, experienced the largest increases in multidimensional poverty in Europe. These patterns reflect a changing geography of poverty within the European Union, increasingly concentrated away from the East, and towards the South

The Troika gave Ireland more autonomy over social security cuts than is commonly recognised

The so called ‘Troika’ of the European Commission, European Central Bank, and the International Monetary Fund was frequently criticised during the Eurozone crisis on the basis that it had imposed austerity on countries requiring a bailout. But how accurate was this picture in reality? Drawing on new research in Ireland, Rod Hick writes that the nature of Troika supervision was quite different from the popular image: while the deficit reduction targets put Ireland in a fiscal straight-jacket, they allowed room for manoeuvre in terms of the precise tax rises and spending cuts that would be imposed to reduce the deficit

The experience of using role-play and simulated practice as an adjunct to paramedic placement learning

This study examines the current experiences of paramedic students regarding the perceptions, understanding and utilisation of role-play plus simulation in a paramedic degree programme. This area is underexplored, so it is situated in the context of paramedic practice, training and education landscape in UK, Australia, Canada and the USA, and cognate professions.The skills training in its original format remains, as does the on-the job clinical training (hospital placement and ambulance internship) as these are set regulatory requirements. Role-play and task focused simulation is used as part of syndicate learning for skills development. A mixed methodology, comprising both qualitative and quantitative approaches, including an exploratory sequential design, was used in this research. This was done in order to evaluate the student perceptions of their current placement experience and to explore the perception of combining simulation and role-playing.The study results show that the current educational model of clinical placement is flawed. After a brief exposure to an exemplar event, students preferred the combination of simulation and role-playing over the use of either technique independently. Adoption of this technique firstly requires a set definition of terminology and consistent interpretation within the discipline.A consolidation of the students’ experience is required by enhancing the mentorship supports. Further research is needed to design and develop the combination of role-playing and simulation to enhance student learning in the simulation laboratory. This study promotes positive social change by providing data to the educators and key decision makers of the paramedic programme on students’ perceptions of the benefits of a technique that is able to support instruction and augment the students’ clinical placement experience