http://hdl.handle.net/10468/3 2013-05-22T03:24:48Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/1126 Report on Irish consumers' awareness and knowledge of legal rights Donnelly, Mary; White, Fidelma This Report presents the results of an empirical study conducted by staff at the Faculty of Law, University College Cork (the UCC study ) in relation to consumers self-perception and their actual knowledge of the law. It builds upon earlier studies concerning Irish consumers by the National Consumer Agency and on the Special Eurobarometer Report (No. 342, 2011) on consumer empowerment. The UCC study assesses actual knowledge and focuses largely on consumer rights which derive from domestic law and it investigates how well informed and knowledgeable Irish consumers are in respect of these rights. 2013-04-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/774 Decomposing European NUTS2 regional inequality from 1980 to 2009: national and European policy implications Doran, Justin; Jordan, Declan Purpose - This paper analyses income inequality for a sample of fourteen European countries and their composite regions using data from the Cambridge Econometrics regional dataset from 1980 to 2009. The purpose of the paper is to provide insight into the dynamics of regional and national cohesion among the EU-14 countries studied. Design/methodology/approach - Initially, inequality is decomposed using the Theil coefficient into between and within country inequality to assess the extent to which convergence has occurred. To investigate the underlying causes of the changes in inequality, the Theil coefficient is further decomposed to assess the contribution of productivity and employment-population ratio differentials to inequality. Findings - The results indicate that while between-country inequality has declined, within-country inequality has increased by approximately 50 percent. Subsequent decomposition indicates that while productivity levels among regions have converged, the employment-population ratios have diverged substantially driving increasing levels of inequality. This suggests that while EU cohesion policies have reduced productivity inequalities they have had little effect in stimulating convergence of employment-population ratios across regions.Research limitations/implications - The paper argues that national priorities, particularly in the context of the current European economic crisis, are likely to hinder European Union level policies to reduce income inequality at a regional level. This may result in further increases in regional inequality among European regions. Originality/value - This paper's main contribution is to highlight how national convergence can lead to regional divergence being overlooked. The value of the paper is that it provides policy insights, based on empirical evidence, for European cohesion policy. 2013-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/1121 FuturICT: Participatory computing to understand and manage our complex world in a more sustainable and resilient way Helbing, Dirk; Bishop, Steven; Conte, Rosaria; Lukowicz, Paul; McCarthy, James B. We have built particle accelerators to understand the forces that make up our physical world. Yet, we do not understand the principles underlying our strongly connected, techno-socio-economic systems. We have enabled ubiquitous Internet connectivity and instant, global information access. Yet we do not understand how it impacts our behavior and the evolution of society. To fill the knowledge gaps and keep up with the fast pace at which our world is changing, a Knowledge Accelerator must urgently be created. The financial crisis, international wars, global terror, the spreading of diseases and cyber-crime as well as demographic, technological and environmental change demonstrate that humanity is facing serious challenges. These problems cannot be solved within the traditional paradigms.Moving our attention from a component-oriented view of the world to an interaction-oriented view will allow us to understand the complex systems we have created and the emergent collective phenomena characterising them. This paradigm shift will enable new solutions to long-standing problems, very much as the shift from a geocentric to a heliocentric worldview has facilitated modern physics and the ability to launch satellites.The FuturICT flagship project will develop new science and technology to manage our future in a complex, strongly connected world. For this, it will combine the power of information and communication technology (ICT) with knowledge from the social and complexity sciences.ICT will provide the data to boost the social sciences into a new era. Complexity science will shed new light on the emergent phenomena in socially interactive systems, and the social sciences will provide a better understanding of the opportunities and risks of strongly networked systems, in particular future ICT systems. Hence, the envisaged FuturICT flagship will create new methods and instruments to tackle the challenges of the 21st century.FuturICT could indeed become one of the most important scientific endeavours ever, by revealing the principles that make socially interactive systems work well, by inspiring the creation of new platforms to explore our possible futures, and by initiating an era of social and socio-inspired innovations. 2012-11-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10468/1001 Becoming a CEO: an exploration of the theory and practice of effective organisational leadership O'Keeffe, Niall This Thesis is an exploration of potential enhancement in effectiveness, personally, professionally and organisationally through the use of Theory as an Apparatus of Thought. Enhanced effectiveness was sought by the practitioner (Subject), while in transition to becoming Chief Executive of his organization. The introduction outlines the content and the structure of the University College Cork DBA. Essay One outlines what Theory is, what Adult Mental Development is and an exploration of Theories held in the Authors past professional practice. Immunity to change is also reflected on. Essay Two looks at the construct of the key Theories used in the Thesis. Prof. Robert Kegan’s Theory of Adult Mental Development was used to aid the generation of insight. The other key Theories used were The Theory of The Business, Theory of the Co‐operative and a Theory of Organisational Leadership. Essay Three explores the application of the key Theories in a professional setting. The findings of the Thesis were that the subject was capable of dealing with increased environmental complexity and uncertainty by using Theory as an Apparatus of Thought, which in turn enhanced personal, professional and organisational effectiveness. This was achieved by becoming more aware of the Theories held by the practitioner, the experiences from the application of those Theories, which then led to greater insight. The author also found that a detailed understanding of the Theory of the Business and a Theory of Leadership would support any new CEO in the challenging early part of their tenure. 2012-10-01T00:00:00Z