The Boolean 2022 Vol.6 Issue 1

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http://hdl.handle.net/10468/13899

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    Introduction
    (The Boolean, University College Cork, 2022) Ramsay, Ruth
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    Decisions decisions – A farmer's mitigation dilemma
    (The Boolean, University College Cork, 2022) Cantillon, Marion; O'Driscoll, Conor; Niemitz, Lorenzo; Murphy, Stephen; Cheemarla, Vinay Kumar Reddy; Meyer, Melissa Isabella; Taylor, David Emmet Austin; Cluzel, Gaston
    Livestock producers are under rising pressure to nourish a growing population while simultaneously reducing the impact of meat/milk production on the planets’ climate. Decision Support Tools (DST) provide a valuable evidence-based decision-making framework in agriculture to improve productivity and environmental outputs. Decision Support Tools are often developed and designed by local stakeholders and tend to represent their national system. While current DSTs may be used to examine the impact of management choices on farm emissions, there are relatively few tools available for Irish farms that take into account both the environmental and financial aspects of decision-making. This research will improve existing farm scale descision support systems designed to cost effectively mitigate Green House Gas emissions from livestock production systems.
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    Who gets child protection and welfare services and why?
    (The Boolean, University College Cork, 2022) O'Leary, Donna; O'Driscoll, Conor; Niemitz, Lorenzo; Murphy, Stephen; Cheemarla, Vinay Kumar Reddy; Meyer, Melissa Isabella; Taylor, David Emmet Austin; Cluzel, Gaston
    When children are reported to Tusla Child and Family Agency, social workers may conduct Initial Assessments to determine their safety and welfare to decide if they need ongoing services. We know little about these impactful decisions. Equally, little is known about the nature of concerns investigated or about the children and families themselves. The research for my PhD addressed this evidence gap. I conducted two empirical studies in Tusla between 2015 and 2016. In the first, a case study, I used case file records and interviews to explore social workers’ rationales for their judgments and decisions. In the second, a cross-sectional study, I coded written case records to profile the population undergoing assessments and identify, through multivariable analysis, factors associated with the decision to provide ongoing service.The study developed new insights into the characteristics of children and families undergoing initial assessment and into decision making processes. Social workers’ judgments about service needs are informed by case factors, policies, resource constraints and their perception of their expertise and role. Almost 40% of children assessed received ongoing service. Multivariable analysis indicated decisions to provide ongoing services are multifactorial, influenced by a handful of current and historic case and organisation factors. This is the largest study of Initial Assessments conducted in Ireland to date. Implications of the findings for interventions, policy and further research are discussed.
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    Echoes from history: Women, drug-use, and cultural shame
    (The Boolean, University College Cork, 2022) Lynch, Arhonda; O'Driscoll, Conor; Niemitz, Lorenzo; Murphy, Stephen; Cheemarla, Vinay Kumar Reddy; Meyer, Melissa Isabella; Taylor, David Emmet Austin; Cluzel, Gaston
    Women who use drugs continue to be mostly overlooked in research or are depicted as promiscuous and licentious.31 The legacy of a patriarchal past and moralistic societal attitudes still features heavily on the pathways to recovery for women. This project will focus on the structural barriers faced by women in accessing supports for alcohol and/or drug use. The aim is to explore the potential harm caused to women due to the structural and often patriarchal barriers they experience in accessing supports. Historically, drug treatment and policies have emerged from knowledge produced by a ‘male-based society’, for what was perceived to be, predominantly a ‘male problem’.4, 34 Lorde17 asserts the ‘master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house’ thus male-based knowledge production will not serve women as well as it does men. The dominant culture has valued a punitive ideology of addiction that dismisses the needs of women who use drugs and fails to address the abuses perpetrated against them. Challenging this ideology, through viewing this as a feminist and human rights issue, will be the core argument within this project.
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    Ecomusicology and the potential of music and sound for environmental education
    (The Boolean, University College Cork, 2022) Gambirasio, Luca; O'Driscoll, Conor; Niemitz, Lorenzo; Murphy, Stephen; Cheemarla, Vinay Kumar Reddy; Meyer, Melissa Isabella; Taylor, David Emmet Austin; Cluzel, Gaston
    Ecomusicology is an interdisciplinary field drawing together scholars from sciences and humanities who share a research interest in the overlapping of music, culture, and nature. Human and non-human animals constantly rely on sonic signals to relate with other animals and the environment. Considering this auditory connection, and the contribution that ecocritical music and music about places may have in nurturing a sentiment of environmental stewardship, I propose an applied environmental education methodology that relies on participatory music making and critical listening to foster environmental awareness.