"...and they won land among the Picts by friendly treaty or the sword": How a re-examination of early historical sources and an analysis of early medieval settlement in north Co. Antrim confirms the validity of traditional accounts of Dál Riatic migration to Scotland from Ulster

Much recent scholarship has been critical of the concept of a Dál Riatic migration to, or colonisation of, Argyll. Scepticism of the accuracy of the early medieval accounts of this population movement, arguing that these are late amendments to early sources, coupled with an apparent lack of archaeological evidence for such a migration have led to its rejection. It is argued here, however, that this rejection has been based on too narrow a reading of historical sources and that there are several early accounts which, while differing in detail, agree on one point of substance, that the origin of Scottish Dál Riata lies in Ireland. Also, the use of archaeological evidence to suggest no migration to Argyll by the Dál Riata is flawed, misunderstanding the nature of early migrations and how they might be archaeologically identified, and it's proposed that there is actually quite a lot of evidence for migration to Argyll by the Dál Riata, in the form of settlement and artefactural evidence, but that it is to be found in Ireland through the mechanism of counterstream migration, rather than in Scotland.

Financial reintegration assistance for veterans of the Irish revolution (1916-23): post-conflict policy in an historical setting

In the aftermath of the Irish revolution and Civil War the governments of independent Ireland introduced various compensation schemes to provide financial reintegration assistance to revolutionary veterans. This would be recognised today as part of a programme for DDR. This paper will examine various service and disability pensions paid to veterans in the context of literature on post-conflict reintegration. It will examine various challenges to reintegration in an effort to analyse the success of revolutionary compensation as a post-conflict reintegration mechanism in independent Ireland after 1922.

Special condition wind power forecasting based on Gaussian process and similar historical data

Due to the variability of wind power, it is imperative to accurately and timely forecast the wind generation to enhance the flexibility and reliability of the operation and control of real-time power. Special events such as ramps, spikes are hard to predict with traditional methods using solely recently measured data. In this paper, a new Gaussian Process model with hybrid training data taken from both the local time and historic dataset is proposed and applied to make short-term predictions from 10 minutes to one hour ahead. A key idea is that the similar pattern data in history are properly selected and embedded in Gaussian Process model to make predictions. The results of the proposed algorithms are compared to those of standard Gaussian Process model and the persistence model. It is shown that the proposed method not only reduces magnitude error but also phase error.

Renouveau religieux et politique au Mozambique: entre permanence, rupture et historicité

La recherche sur le religieux en Afrique s’est beaucoup intéressée, ces vingt dernières années, au phénomène du « renouveau religieux », et elle s’est plutôt penchée sur la question des ruptures et des innovations qui en résultent. Le présent article interroge la réalité ce renouveau et explore, sur la base d’une étude de cas, la question des continuités et des ruptures dans les changements survenus  [1]. Tout d’abord, il s’intéresse à la nature du renouveau religieux au Mozambique ; il examine ensuite les continuités historiques et dénominationnelles existantes au sein du renouveau pour discuter, dans une troisième section, l’impact des transformations religieuses sur la relation entre religion et politique. La conclusion tente, elle, de faire la part entre ruptures et permanences, et d’appréhender la question du renouveau au-delà de cette dichotomie.

The Historical Use of Amnesties, Immunities, and Sentence Reductions in Northern Ireland

While it is widely believed that the use of amnesties and similar measures would mark a new departure in NI and the UK, so that speculation about their introduction causes public controversy and threatens political instability, the report demonstrates that such measures have in fact been repeatedly used in a wide range of circumstances since the foundation of the NI state. The paper offers definitions of the key measures which have been employed, including amnesties, sentence reductions linked to peace building and use immunities. It explores their historical use and its consequences.

Using film as a source

This book is a hands-on study skills guide that explores how film and moving image can be used as sources. It is aimed at those who want to use film and moving image as the basis for research and offers advice on research methods, theory and methodology, archival work and film-based analysis. It draws on the disciplines of film and history to offer advice for students and researchers in these fields.

The book includes sections on working with different kinds of moving images, how to explore visual sources, how to undertake film-related research and how to use film theory. In addition to providing detailed case studies, the guide also offers advice on research, writing and studying, creating a methodology, visiting archives, accessing material and exploring films from a historical perspective. The guide's focus is on good research practice, whether it be conducting an interview, visiting an archive, undertaking textual analysis or defining a research question.

Mineralogical and chemical characterization of some vermiculites from the mozambique belt of tanzania for agricultural use

Vermiculite minerals are locally available in the Mozambique Belt of Tanzania but are not currently commercially exploited. In part this may be due to lack of any precise characterization. This study was carried out as a first step to assess the suitability of these vermiculites for crop production by characterization of their mineralogical and chemical compositions. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy combined with an energydispersive X-ray system were used to establish the mineralogy. Electron microprobe analysis and inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry were used to study the chemical compositions and to identify any possible issues related to chemical composition that might affect their use if applied as soil conditioners. The samples were characterized as vermiculites and hydrobiotites with a wide variety of accessory minerals. Accessory minerals that might be of some concern are galena, fibrous amphiboles and sepiolite. The total levels of Ni in all vermiculites, and Cr in some, were also found to be high relative to common European standards and this might limit their potential as soil conditioners. It is clear that a field assessment of the bioavailability of various elements would be necessary before decisions relating to potential agricultural use could be made. © 2009 The Mineralogical Society.