Research Theses
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Item The role of e-leadership on remote decision making: key learnings from the COVID-19 pandemic(University College Cork, 2024) Alsqeah, Latifah; Adam, Frederic; Treacy, Stephen; Saudi Electronic UniversityThis thesis investigates the role of e-leadership competencies in decision-making processes within private businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic forced a rapid transition to remote work, necessitating a deeper understanding of how leaders adjust to virtual environments and employ e-leadership practices. Despite the growing relevance of remote work, empirical studies on e-leadership remain scarce, particularly in the context of decision-making—a core leadership responsibility. This research addresses this gap by exploring the importance and impact of e-leadership competencies on remote decision-making and the value propositions these competencies present. The primary objective of this study was to investigate how e-leadership competencies influenced decision-making among private-sector leaders in Saudi Arabia during the COVID-19 crisis. A qualitative field study was conducted through interviews with 19 leaders from various private sectors, including software development, logistics, oil mining, and training services. These interviews provided in-depth insights into how leaders faced the challenges of remote decision-making during the pandemic. The findings indicated that leaders recognised two key e-leadership competencies, e-communication and e-technology, as crucial for facilitating remote decision-making. These skills enabled managers to maintain clear and consistent communication with their staff, utilising advanced technology to manage remote work successfully. Critical competencies such as e-trust, e-team, and e-change were also recognised as essential, highlighting their significance in building trust, managing teams, and supporting change in a remote environment. Interestingly, 70% of participants considered e-social competency crucial, yet not all leaders agreed, indicating differing viewpoints on the role of social skills in e-leadership. Through this analysis, two theoretical models emerged from the findings: i. A preliminary model of e-leadership competencies’ impact on remote decision-making processes. ii. A preliminary model of the value propositions of remote decision-making. These models identified seven key impacts influencing decision-making in a remote work environment, alongside five primary value propositions related to remote decision-making. This research makes several significant contributions to the IS field and practice. Firstly, it empirically validates and extends Roman et al.'s (2019) e-competency framework by applying it to the context of remote decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. This application resulted in the development of two preliminary models that explain the impact of e-leadership competencies on decision-making processes in remote work environments. Secondly, the study fills a significant gap in the literature by identifying new value propositions associated with remote decision-making. Lastly, the research broadens the understanding of e-leadership in the context of private businesses, offering practical implications for managing remote work during disruptions and contributing valuable insights to the literature on business continuity and e-leadership. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis of how e-leadership competencies influence remote decision-making in a disrupted remote work environment. The findings highlight the essential role of e-competencies in navigating the challenges of remote work, offering both theoretical advancements and practical guidance for leaders facing similar situations in the future. As organisations continue to adapt to the evolving landscape of remote working, the insights from this study will prove valuable in understanding and enhancing the effectiveness of remote decision-making.Item Experimental testing and finite element analysis of segmented water pipeline(University College Cork, 2024) Zhang, Qinglai; Li, Zili; Soga, KenichiUnderground pipeline networks are crucial for the serviceability of sustainable water distribution in contemporary society. Nonetheless, thousands of miles of segmented pipeline infrastructure are susceptible to substantial damage from natural disasters, such as earthquakes and landslides, particularly at the vulnerable joint sections. To enhance the resilience of the segmented pipelines, many previous studies have already investigated various types of pipeline joints and materials in both academia and industry. Over the years, Ductile Iron (DI) Pipes have already been widely used in buried underground infrastructure, owing to their durability and reliability under various soil and loading conditions. On the other hand, Polyvinyl Chloride-Oriented (PVCO) pipelines have emerged as a novel alternative in recent years due to its cost-effectiveness, environmental friendliness and easy installation. Both are valued for their adaptability to different local ground conditions. Continued advancements in both DI and PVCO pipeline technologies have led to significant improvements in the design and functionality of segmented pipelines. To evaluate the effectiveness of their recent innovations, it is crucial to conduct the corresponding experimental testing and develop computational models. Hence, this PhD study aims to comprehensively investigate the mechanical responses of modified jointed DI and newly designed segmented PVCO pipelines to earthquake-induced forces through a series of full-scale laboratory tests utilizing distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS) technology for continuous strain measurement and conducting advanced three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) analyses. A series of laboratory tests were conducted on the 203-mm (8-in) diameter DI pipeline with a restrained axial joint, three critical states have been identified: axial tension, deflection and biaxial tension (combined tension and bending). The behavior in each state is influenced by the orientation, quantity, and installation of locking segments in bell-spigot joints, leading to variations in joint stiffness, flexibility, and capacity. The analysis was then further extended to an innovative surrogate model using bushing connectors to replace the complex bell-spigot joint configurations, aligning well with expected outcomes while significantly reducing simulation time. This is particularly beneficial for future soil-pipeline interaction studies at the system level. Similar to DI pipelines, a series of bending tests was also conducted on the 160-mm (6-in) diameter PVCO pipeline. The pipeline employs a 'Fittom-Coupler' fitting, sealed with an Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM) rubber and polypropylene ring gasket to connect two spigots securely and ensure water tightness. The results highlighted that performance is primarily influenced by bending stresses, leading to deflection and axial sliding. Validated models incorporating anisotropic properties and seal materials helped in conducting sensitivity analyses on varying wall thicknesses and fitting designs. Pipeline failure modes are shown typically involve mechanical disconnection at the joints and also local buckling related to variations in wall thickness. Such buckling can be reduced by altering the length or local shape of the fitting. Both segmented restrained DI pipes and PVCO pipes present unique advantages for seismic water infrastructure. DI pipes provide exceptional strength for high-load environments, whereas PVCO pipes, with thinner walls and enhanced circumferential strength allow greater deflection capability, suitable for areas requiring resilience to large deformations.Item Converging for a moment: an overview of immersion in imaginative space in The Earlie King & the Kid in Yellow and All Along the Echo(University College Cork, 2024) Denton, Danny; Gilson, Jools; Corcoran, MirandaThis PhD Thesis by Prior Publication is comprised of two parts: the creative component and the critical component. The creative component consists of the novels I have published to date: The Earlie King & the Kid in Yellow (2018) and All Along the Echo (2022), supplied separately. The critical component is contained in this document, along with a brief appendix. The critical component is entitled “Converging for a moment: a critical overview of immersion in imaginative space in The Earlie King & the Kid in Yellow and All Along the Echo.” It explores the life experiences, practice processes and thematic concerns (often intertwining) that produced the creative component, with a focus on the importance of language, materiality and embodiment in real and imagined spaces. Drawing on writing by Marc Augé, Dora Massey, Virginia Woolf, Sondra Perl, Guy Debord and Lisa Clughen, among others, senses of place, and indeed felt bodily senses, and how writing can approach them, form a fundamental core of that exploration. The thesis also discusses the roles of the reader and the writer in conjuring imaginative work. Using a wide frame of reference, appropriate to the life, work and research of a fiction writer, the aim of the critical component is to chart a path through my life experience and my writing process to my published work, with a focus on theories of place and non-place as a lens for that path. Excluding its prelude, introduction and conclusion, the critical component is formed of four major parts. “The Terms” explains what writing means to me, as an act, and from there builds in how that affects the process by which my work can be produced. “The Process” deals with the evolution of my writing process, with a focus on its materiality and physicality. “The Ideas” probes concepts of place and non-place as presented in Marc Augé’s Non-places: An Introduction to Supermodernity (1997), and “The Work” links these theories about writing and place to my life experience, my creative practice and, ultimately, the creative output that forms the creative component of the thesis.Item Rethinking strategies for regulation of cross-border online gambling in the EU: an examination of legal and policy frameworks(University College Cork, 2024) Leahy, Deirdre; White, Fidelma; Irish Research CouncilWhen is an activity a ‘gambling’ activity? This question troubles law, time and again. Gambling is not a static concept, and the internet has fuelled rapid changes in the delivery of gambling services as well as enabling creation of new gambling formats. A volatile gambling environment is nothing new, and despite ingenuity as to format, framework and structure, gambling has always been an activity of change. It tends to be pursued by law, which must find the vernacular and normative means to capture and control new gambling formats. Why should this question concern the EU? When the EU adopted its policy for online gambling in 2012, legislative competence for the gambling sector, both land-based and online, was left to the Member States. In the interim, with development of novel sui generis online gambling and near-gambling formats, new challenges are emerging for gambling law. One of these formats, the loot box, an in-game purchasing structure built on randomised game architecture, blurs traditional boundaries between gambling and games and is proving difficult to regulate. Some Member States have attempted to capture it within existing legal definitions of gambling, and the EU has been called on to act, but there is still a lack of clarity about the role of gambling law in the context of an EU intervention. This triggers many questions: How does gambling law define ‘gambling’? What is gambling law and what are its objectives? What is the ‘fit’ of gambling law with EU law? What are the rationales for conferral of legislative competence for online gambling as between the EU and its Member States? Is there some quality to gambling law that makes it exceptional in this context? What are the legal obstacles to harmonisation? What is the role of the principle of subsidiarity in this debate? These questions are the subject of this thesis, which takes the loot box phenomenon to examine interrelationships between gambling law and EU law. It explores the discipline of gambling law to investigate whether gambling/gaming convergence creates an environment where a conceptualised approach to the principle of subsidiarity in EU law and policy for online gambling can be developed. It undertakes this task by means of a dual enquiry: first it investigates gambling law to unpack its conceptual foundations and normative context, and then it considers these findings against EU legislative competence for the internal market. The objectives of gambling control are weighed against the goals and objectives of the internal market to explore gaps between EU market aims and the public interest rationales that motivate gambling law. This enquiry demonstrates an unmet need to unravel the normative complexity of gambling law as a precursor to EU policy formation affecting the sector. Lessons learned from EU law and policy for tobacco control are explored to understand how the EU can frame its meta-regulatory functions in issues that impact on personal choice, and the nature of the EU’s sectoral regulatory role. Recognising the function of the principle of subsidiarity, this thesis argues that the discipline of gambling law creates a rebuttable presumption in favour of Member State legislative competence for the sector and pleads for normative sensitivity in the debate on gambling/gaming convergence. It concludes that the solution for EU digital policy with impacts on Member State legislative competence for online gambling is to take a structured approach, acknowledging that the challenge is one of diagonal competences. This should accept that the path towards a solution must first respect the polycentric objectives of gambling law, from which the primacy of Member State legislative competence can also be inferred.Item Real-world Orkambi Cork (ROCK) study - a prospective 12 months analysis addressing the impact of CFTR modulation in patients with cystic fibrosis homozygous for F508del CFTR variant(University College Cork, 2024) Arooj, Parniya; Plant, Barry; Eustace, JoeCystic fibrosis (CF) stands as one of modern medicine's success stories, with significant and sustained improvements in survival rates, transforming it from a childhood fatal condition to one of adult survival. Historically, CF management has centered on addressing the consequences of CFTR dysfunction. The introduction of Lumacaftor-Ivacaftor marks a pivotal shift, allowing researchers to assess the impact of CFTR function restoration on both pulmonary disease and extrapulmonary manifestations. Globally, approximately 82% of individuals with CF are homozygous for the F508del mutation, whereas this prevalence is 53% at the Cork CF centre. This study examines the effects of CFTR modulation on clinical outcomes, patient-reported measures, systemic and airway inflammation, and lung microbiota composition.