Women in Ulster, 1600-1800

Some have entertained the belief that early modern Gaelic society conferred substantial rights on women. This could hardly be farther from the truth. In aristocratic Gaelic circles women were used ruthlessly as pawns in political alliances and other manoeuvres. The status of women at the lower levels of society also seems to have been low relative to men. While patriarchal relationships persisted after the Plantation of Ulster, they took new forms. Some women actually benefited in terms of property rights relative to men. Economic change in the eighteenth century, in particular the development of proto-industry, opened up opportunities for poorer women but it is notable that women did not feature at all in the public political sphere before 1800

Photocontrolled Binding and Binding-Controlled Photochromism within Anthracene-Modified DNA

Modified DNA strands undergo a reversible light-induced reaction involving the intramolecular photodimerization of two appended anthracene tags. The photodimers exhibit markedly different binding behavior toward a complementary strand that depends on the number of bases between the modified positions. By preforming the duplex, photochromism can be suppressed, illustrating dual-mode gated behavior.

Religion and Society 1600-1914

An overview of changes in denominational structure and popular religious practice

Popular Culture, 1600-1914

A review of changes in language, custom, amusements during Ulster's transition from a rural to an urban industrial society

The PREDICTS database: a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts

Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species' threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project - and avert - future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups - including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems - http://www.predicts.org.uk). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015.

Gender and Material Culture in Britain since 1600

What does material culture tell us about gendered identities and how does gender reveal the meaning of spaces and things?

If we look at the objects that we own, covet and which surround us in our everyday culture, there is a clear connection between ideas about gender and the material world. This book explores the material culture of the past to shed light on historical experiences and identities. Some essays focus on specific objects, such as an eighteenth-century jug or a twentieth-century powder puff, others on broader material environments, such as the sixteenth-century guild or the interior of a twentieth-century pub, while still others focus on the paraphernalia associated with certain actions, such as letter-writing or maintaining eighteenth-century men's hair.

Written by scholars in a range of history-related disciplines, the essays in this book offer exposés of current research methods and interests. These demonstrate to students how a relationship between material culture and gender is being addressed, while also revealing a variety of intellectual approaches and topics.

The PREDICTS database: a global database of how local terrestrial biodiversity responds to human impacts

Biodiversity continues to decline in the face of increasing anthropogenic pressures such as habitat destruction, exploitation, pollution and introduction of alien species. Existing global databases of species’ threat status or population time series are dominated by charismatic species. The collation of datasets with broad taxonomic and biogeographic extents, and that support computation of a range of biodiversity indicators, is necessary to enable better understanding of historical declines and to project – and avert – future declines. We describe and assess a new database of more than 1.6 million samples from 78 countries representing over 28,000 species, collated from existing spatial comparisons of local-scale biodiversity exposed to different intensities and types of anthropogenic pressures, from terrestrial sites around the world. The database contains measurements taken in 208 (of 814) ecoregions, 13 (of 14) biomes, 25 (of 35) biodiversity hotspots and 16 (of 17) megadiverse countries. The database contains more than 1% of the total number of all species described, and more than 1% of the described species within many taxonomic groups – including flowering plants, gymnosperms, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, beetles, lepidopterans and hymenopterans. The dataset, which is still being added to, is therefore already considerably larger and more representative than those used by previous quantitative models of biodiversity trends and responses. The database is being assembled as part of the PREDICTS project (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems – www.predicts.org.uk). We make site-level summary data available alongside this article. The full database will be publicly available in 2015.

Império e imagem : D. João de Castro e a retórica do Vice-Rei (1505-1548)

Tese de doutoramento, Ciências Sociais (Sociologia Histórica), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, 2014

Cooperação e conflito entre britânicos e portugueses na Ásia. Dos primeiros contactos em Bombaim (c.1600-1740)

A aquisição da ilha de Bombaim pela coroa inglesa e a consequente convivência fronteiriça com o Estado da Índia constituiu uma novidade relacional e diplomática entre os poderes português e britânico, não só no Índico como em todo o espaço ultramarino. Esta nova situação projectou a recentemente forjada e renovada aliança anglo-portuguesa para um diferente plano, até então não experienciado. De facto, o acordo de 1661 estipulou que o Estado da Índia entregasse parte do seu território a uma coroa europeia, o que significava uma mudança no seu paradigma de actuação e a partilha de fronteiras comuns com um vizinho europeu, “consentido” e aliado. A isto adicionava-se o facto da população residente em Bombaim, constituída por uma forte comunidade de grandes foreiros portugueses e jesuítas, passar a estar sujeita aos dictames da coroa inglesa. Todos estes pressupostos constituíram uma novidade para o Estado da Índia e para os seus súbditos e exigiram, necessariamente, uma adaptação no modo de interacção com tão próximo vizinho. O mesmo se terá passado com os oficiais britânicos, numa primeira fase da coroa (1665-1668) e doravante da East India Company, para quem o domínio territorial no espaço asiático constituía uma experiência nova. Esta realidade tão próxima entre as duas potências europeias originou, necessariamente, a eclosão de problemas e tensões entre as duas estruturas de poder. Será a partir desta conjuntura sugestiva que procuraremos compreender como o entendimento anglo-português na Europa foi transposto e gerido na esfera ultramarina, através da análise do caso paradigmático de Bombaim. A gestão da aliança naquele espaço assumiu contornos específicos e de difícil administração, pois a distância ditava uma maior autonomia decisória das autoridades de Goa e Bombaim, nem sempre em consonância com as directrizes europeias. A interacção na região de Bombaim e espaços adjacentes foi pautada pela flexibilidade e, por isso, caracterizou-se por momentos de antagonismo, cooperação e conflito aberto. Nestes “encontros de (in)conveniência”, ambos os lados procuraram tirar partido das dinâmicas conjunturais da política indiana, o mesmo aplicando-se no sentido inverso, adaptando-se alinhamentos e rupturas consoante os interesses imediatos. Bombaim foi, assim, singular no relacionamento anglo-português na Ásia, o que não implica que não se procure compreender as ressonâncias da interação entre portugueses e britânicos noutros espaços do subcontinente indiano (como Madrasta) ou contrapor os modos de actuação da EIC noutros locais (como Cochim). Na dissertação em curso, propomos efectuar um estudo de longo tempo, que analise de forma sistemática a transversal as dinâmicas relacionais entre britânicos e portugueses desde a introdução britânica na Ásia até à perda portuguesa da Província