Search Results (57)

Eva Gore-Booth (1870–1926) was a significant contributor to the Celtic Literary Revival at the turn of the twentieth century; however, her literature differed immensely from that of her male counterparts. Gore-Booth’s writings had a prevailing feminist message, while her later works were manifestly concerned with the study of sexuality and the deconstruction of gender. Gore-Booth’s literature remained vastly overlooked and undervalued until recent times. In the twenty-first century, her poetry and plays are experiencing somewhat of a resurgence. Amid Gore-Booth’s modest literary revival, this article examines her writings from a fresh perspective. Tracing Gore-Booth’s social reform work and later devotion to the New Age religion of Theosophy, it is evident that her writings increasingly endorsed celibacy. This article will highlight how Gore-Booth advocated for celibacy as a radical practice with the potential to dismantle the social construction of gender and of presumed heterosexuality. Notably, Gore-Booth only advocated for heterosexual celibacy, placing same-sex relationships as the ideal, especially lesbian partnerships. This research centers on readings of Gore-Booth’s lesser-known writings including a neglected play Fiametta, her theological writings and the journal Urania which clearly express her revolutionary ideas. Full article

In response to the International Maritime Organization’s emission reduction targets, ship power systems are transitioning toward microgrid architectures with high renewable energy penetration. In islanded mode, the lack of main grid support and the low inertia of power electronic interfaces pose significant frequency stability challenges. Virtual Synchronous Generator (VSG) technology offers an effective solution, but conventional VSG control exhibits two inherent limitations: steady-state frequency deviation under load variations due to its primary regulation nature, and poor dynamic response characterized by large overshoot and prolonged settling time. This paper proposes an enhanced VSG control strategy integrating two key innovations: (i) a communication-free secondary frequency regulation loop that eliminates steady-state error, and (ii) an adaptive control scheme for virtual inertia and damping coefficients that dynamically responds to frequency deviations and their rate of change. The adaptive mechanism reduces overshoot by 57% (from 0.14 Hz to 0.06 Hz) and shortens settling time by 40% (from 0.38 s to 0.23 s) compared to non-adaptive secondary regulation, as demonstrated through MATLAB/Simulink simulations and 6 kW experimental prototype validation. The proposed strategy ensures both steady-state accuracy and enhanced transient performance, providing a reliable solution for improving power quality in islanded shipboard microgrids and contributing to maritime decarbonization goals. Full article

This study combines a multidisciplinary approach to Pyrenean and Alpine glacial lakes to characterize the sensitivity of Late Glacial to Holocene subaquatic flood deposits in deltaic environments to slope failures triggered either by earthquakes, rockfalls, or snow avalanches. To clarify the possible interactions between environmental changes and these natural hazards in mountain and piedmont lakes, we analyze the lacustrine sedimentary records of key historical events and discuss the recurrence of similar regional events in the past. High-resolution seismic profiles and sediment cores from large perialpine lakes (Bourget, Geneva, and Constance) and from small mountain lakes in the French Alps and the Pyrenees were used to establish a conceptual model linking environmental changes, tributary flood sedimentary processes, subaquatic deltaic depocenters, and potentially tsunamigenic mass-wasting deposits. These findings illustrate the specific signatures of the largest French earthquakes in 1660 CE (northern Pyrenees) and in 1822 CE (western Alps) and suggest their recurrence during the Holocene. In addition, the regional record in the Aiguilles Rouges massif near Mont Blanc of the tsunamigenic 1584 CE Aigle earthquake in Lake Geneva may be used to better document a similar Celtic event ca. 2300 Cal BP at the border between Switzerland and France. Full article

In 1844, Hermann Müller, a Catholic law professor from Würzburg, published a hefty volume on Nordic Greekdom and the Original History of North-Western Europe. The study claimed to hold definitive proof of the north-European origins of Hellenism, Abrahamic monotheism, and the entire human race. Germanic history was not German at all, Müller argued, but Celtic, and underneath it lay another hidden history of Nordic Greekdom, of which Southern Hellenism had been but a minor branch. Though it is today largely forgotten, Müller’s book elicited several responses upon publication and as late as the 1920s in Nazi literature. This article examines the reception of Nordic Greekdom as a striking example of the politicization of antiquity as an origin myth, arguing that the array of modern historicizations of antiquity and of Christianity’s place within it forms a ruptured and incoherent continuity of which ideologies as dissimilar as liberalism, Christian conservatism, and fascism—to name but a few—were all a part. Tracing this variety across ideological divides avoids overly rigid dichotomies such as the distinction between theological and racial antisemitism, while acknowledging the persistent, vast significance of Christianity within these discussions, whether as a living faith or as a discarded inheritance. Full article

This study analyses the impacts of winter storms on beach response, as well as the subsequent recovery during spring and summer, at a dissipative sandy beach in Brandon Bay, Ireland. Shoreline dynamics were assessed through the integration of field data from five survey campaigns conducted between October 2021 and November 2022 with a 1D Xbeach (version 1.23) numerical model. Cross-sectional profiles were measured at seven locations, revealing pronounced erosion during winter, followed by recovery in calmer seasons, especially in the lower beach zone. The model effectively simulated short-term storm-induced morphological changes, demonstrating that rates of shoreline retreat and profile alteration are higher in the eastern bay, where wave energy is greater. Most morphological changes occurred between the low and high astronomical tide marks, characterized by upper beach erosion and lower beach accretion. Models were subsequently employed to examine future climate scenarios, including sea level rise and increased storm intensity. The projections indicated an exponential increase in erosion rates, correlated with higher storm wave heights and frequencies. These results highlight the dynamic response of dissipative beaches to extreme events and reinforce the necessity for adaptive coastal management strategies to address the escalating risks posed by climate change. Full article

Verbal nouns in Insular Celtic languages have long been a subject of interest because they are capable of exhibiting both nominal and verbal properties, posing a persistent challenge when it comes to determining their precise categorization. This study therefore seeks to examine the intersective gradience of verbal nouns in Scottish Gaelic from a functional-typological and multidimensional perspective, providing an insight into the interaction between their morphosyntactic, semantic, and pragmatic properties and their lexical categorization, and, consequently, encouraging a broader discussion on linguistic gradience. This hybrid category plays a central role in the clause structure of Scottish Gaelic, as it appears in a wide range of distinct grammatical constructions. Drawing on a range of diagnostic tests revealing the morphosyntactic and semantic properties of verbal nouns across various contexts (e.g., etymology, morphological structure, inflection, case marking, TAM features, syntactic function, types of modification, form and position of objects, distributional patterns, cleft constructions, argument structure, subcategorization, etc.), this line of research identifies two key environments, depending on whether the construction features a verbal noun functioning either as a verb or a noun. This distinction aims to illustrate the way in which these contexts condition the gradience of verbal nouns. By doing so, it provides strong evidence for their function along a continuum ranging from fully verbal to fully nominal depending on their syntactic context and semantic and pragmatic interpretation. In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that the use of verbal nouns blurs the line between two lexical categories, often displaying mixed properties that challenge a rigid categorization. Full article

The crystal structures, interactions, and contacts analyses of four N-(ferrocenylalkyl)benzene-carboxamide derivatives are described as the N-(ferrocenylmethyl)benzenecarboxamide 4a, N-(ferrocenylmethyl)-2,6-difluorobenzenecarboxamide 4e, N-(ferrocenylmethyl)pentafluorobenzenecarboxamide 4f and N-(ferrocenylethyl)-4-fluorobenzenecarboxamide 5. Intermolecular amide⋯amide hydrogen-bonding interactions as 1D intermolecular chains are present in all four crystal structures, with N⋯O distances ranging from 2.819 (2) to 2.924 (3) Å. Three of the crystal structures have one molecule per asymmetric unit, except the phenyl 4a, which has Z’=2. In the structure of 4a, Fc(C-H)⋯(phenyl) and _phenylC-H⋯π(C₅H₄) ring interactions dominate the interaction landscape, together with (1:1) face-to-face (phenyl)⋯(phenyl) and (C₅H₅)⋯(C₅H₅) ring stacked pairs (Fc = ferrocenyl moiety). In 4e, interlocking ferrocenyls, short C-H⋯(C-F) and C-H⋯O hydrogen bonds are the only additional notable intermolecular interactions. In the pentafluorophenyl derivative 4f, a remarkable selection of interactions is present with interwoven 1D ferrocenyl⋯(C₆F₅) stacking and C-H⋯F interactions; molecules aggregate forming impressive 1D columns comprising intertwined (Fc⋯C₆F₅⋯)_n ring stacking. In the ethyl bridged system 5, C-H⋯F and C-H⋯π (arene) contacts with (4-fluorobenzene) ring⋯ring pairs combine and stack about inversion centres. The reported para-F substituted structure REYWOU (4d) is used for comparisons with the 4a, 4e, 4f, and 5 crystal structures. In view of the rich interaction chemistry, contacts enrichment analyses of the Hirshfeld surface highlights several interesting features in all five ferrocenylalkylcarboxamide structures. Full article

The verbal noun in the modern, currently spoken p-Celtic language Welsh is of a different nature than any other word class known in Standard Average European Languages (SAEs), to which the Insular Celtic tongues do not belong. This subject has occasionally attracted attention. Welsh language grammars clearly identify a berfenw ‘verb noun’, which Thomas (1996, p. 28) calls a citation form with no specific person or time allocation. However, non-Welsh descriptions of the verbal noun tend to trigger confusion by allocating varied SAE terms to it, like ‘verb noun infinitives’ (Myhill, 1985), ‘verbal noun infinitives’ (Carnie & Guilfoyle, 2000, p. 10), ‘infinitives’ (Borsley et al., 2007, p. 70), and ‘non-finite verb(al) forms’ (Sackmann, 2022, p. 2), most of them belittling the prominent nominal functions of this word class. Coming from a historical perspective, Scherschel et al. (2018) call the Welsh verbal noun an ‘event noun’, which seems more appropriate, as is shown in this paper, in which a detailed analysis of the major features of this Welsh word class is carried out. Full article

This short concluding chapter reflects on the work of an ongoing collaborative academic project focused on the C18th home tour. Curious Travellers could be described as a ‘crucible’ project—a space in which different media, different perspectives, and different research skills combine and collide. Currently funded by the AHRC, it is a digital humanities project involving TEI tagging and crowd-sourcing, but its foundation is archival research into manuscripts. It is focused through the influential Tours of Wales and Scotland published by the naturalist and antiquarian Thomas Pennant, yet it seeks to unpick the multiple voices and collaborations behind his texts and to explore their legacy in the journeys and texts of others. The creation of new editions continues to generate new topics and research questions, including Anglophone/Celtic-language interactions; the writings of women tourists; the role of material objects (specimens and souvenirs) and of visual culture in knowledge exchange and production. Increasingly, project researchers are relating their work to broader global contexts of colonialism and environmental history. The diversity of the genre has proved hugely stimulating for a range of audiences beyond academia: community engagement and creative practices have been a key feature from the start. There are, of course, challenges—practical, methodological, financial. This reflective piece will acknowledge the constraints, as well as the possibilities, of being multi-stranded, cross-disciplinary—and intermittently funded. Full article

This study presents an integrated methodology for evaluating operations and maintenance (O&M) costs for floating offshore wind turbines (FOWTs), incorporating vessel motion dynamics. By combining UWiSE, a discrete-event simulation tool, with SafeTrans, a voyage simulation software, vessel motion effects during offshore operations are modeled. The approach is demonstrated in a case study at two wind farm sites, Marram Wind and Celtic Sea C. Three major component replacement (MCR) strategies were assessed: Tow-to-Port (T2P), Floating-to-Floating (FTF), and Self-Hoisting Crane (SHC). The T2P strategy yielded the highest O&M costs—94 kEUR/MW/year at Marram Wind and 97 kEUR/MW/year at Celtic Sea C—due to the extended MCR durations (90–180 days), leading to lower availability (90–94%). In contrast, the FTF and SHC strategies offered significantly lower costs and downtime. The SHC strategy was most cost-effective, reducing costs by up to 64% while achieving 97–98% availability. The integrated approach was found to be either more restrictive or more permissive depending on the specific sea states influencing the motion responses. This variability highlights the critical role of motion-based dynamics in promoting safe and efficient O&M practices, particularly for advancing FOWT operations. Full article

Traditional costumes and crafts are a basic form and element of local culture and a vital pathway for perpetuating traditional art and design culture. They are an artistic form of historical and cultural significance. This paper focuses on three traditional costumes from Malta, Ireland, and Finland. The għonnella, worn by Maltese women of different social classes, consisted of a voluminous cape-like covering reinforced with whalebone and cardboard and was worn over the head and shoulders, reaching ankle length. Irish costumes were adorned with beautiful Irish lace, crochet, and embroidery. Celtic embroidery was added to clothing to develop a distinctive Irish dress style during the great cultural revival of the early 20th century. The Karelian costume from Finland was constructed using wool and linen. Ladies in Karelia wore handcrafted, highly embroidered gowns, and traditions were passed down from older ladies, including mothers and grandmothers. These costumes were collected in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when Finnish Karelia was known as ‘The Old Finland’. This paper delves into the origins of these costumes and how social and cultural events, with their intriguing influence, shaped their styles, features, colors, and fabrics. Full article

The inclusion of rumen buffers in ruminant feeds has gained widespread adoption for the prevention of rumen acidosis, thereby avoiding the negative production and health consequences of low rumen pH and resulting in improved feed efficiency. Benchmarking and quality controlling the performance of rumen buffer materials is of significant interest to feed mills and end-user producers. The aim of this study was to evaluate, develop and optimise a laboratory protocol to consistently and robustly evaluate rumen buffering materials in order to predict their in vivo efficacy. Three different methods were evaluated for determining the buffering potential of carbonate buffer materials: (a) 2 and 8 h static pH, (b) 8 h fixed HCl acid load addition and (c) 3 h acidotic diet simulation using acetic acid. Buffer material, threshold pH, test duration and interactions between all three variables were significant (p < 0.001) in evaluating the performance of the buffer materials. The acidotic diet simulation was found to provide a different ranking of materials to the 8 h fixed HCl acid load methodology. The results highlight the importance of method selection and test parameters for accurately evaluating the potential efficacy of rumen buffer materials. Full article

The relationship between popular vernacular Catholicism and the more official liturgical variety has varied over centuries. Following the subjugation of Ireland by the late 17th century, and the institution of anti-Catholic proscriptions, the number of priests available became more restricted. Religious observation subsequently centered on holy days and local sacred sites including healing wells, many of them dedicated to saints. Always central figures in death rituals, women who mourned the dead—“keening women”—were so called because they lamented the dead through a combination of voice and song. We will show how the songs relate to a deep liminal spirituality that existed semi-independently of official Church norms, and how the voice served to establish their position. In the Catholic revival of the late nineteenth century, such forms were ousted by European modes of worship, but persisted at the margins, allowing us insight into their previous vigor. Full article

Maurolicus muelleri is an important component of mesopelagic ecosystems; nevertheless, we possess only limited knowledge about its biological features. We collected samples of M. muelleri from six scientific surveys between 2019 and 2021 in three geographical areas in the Northeast Atlantic waters (from South to North): the Bay of Biscay, the Celtic Sea, and the Norwegian Sea. Geographical variations in otolith growth, fish age, length, weight, and condition, as well as length–weight relationships and von Bertalanffy growth models (VBGMs), were investigated. Length-weight relationships revealed differences associated with the fish’s origin, paralleling the annual and daily otolith growth. VBGM parameters increased progressively northwards, in accordance with Bergmann’s rules. Fish length was positively related to the otolith radio, and Lee’s phenomenon was undetected. The impact of environmental variables, such as temperature and food availability, is debated, with these considered potential drivers of this variability. Populations may belong to separated units, either genetically or morphologically, representing differences in biological parameters as a signal of geographical divergence. Full article

Traditionally, cyber risk assessment considers system-level risk separately from individual component-level risk, i.e., devices, data, people. This separation prevents effective impact assessment where attack intelligence for a specific device can be mapped to its impact on the entire system, leading to cascading failures. Furthermore, risk assessments typically follow a failure or attack perspective, focusing on potential problems, which means they need to be updated as attacks evolve. This approach does not scale to modern digital ecosystems. In this paper, we present a Data Science approach, which involves using machine learning algorithms and statistical models to analyse and predict the impact of cyber attacks. Specifically, this approach integrates automated attack detection on specific devices with a systems view of risk. By mapping operational goals in a top-down manner, we transform attack intelligence on individual components into system success probabilities. Full article