Dynamism, use and reuse at an Irish Portal Tomb: excavations at Tirnony, Maghera, Co. Derry/Londonderry

Excavations of a portal tomb at Tirnony, Co. Derry/Londonderry in 2010 and 2011 revealed a surprisingly dynamic monument with evidence for Neolithic ritual. The excavation uncovered pre-tomb pits, a disturbed stone floor, and primary tomb deposits, containing Neolithic pottery, flint tools, struck quartz and possible hammer-stones. There were indications of the sequence of construction of the elements of the tomb, and of interruptions, of unquantified duration, in the tomb’s development potentially revealing a dynamic, multi-phase monument. Radiocarbon dates obtained from excavated material place the commencement of activity at Tirnony in the 38th to 40th century BC. After initial Early Neolithic activity at Tirnony there were sporadic indications of further activity with radiocarbon dates from the interior of the tomb suggesting Chalcolithic and Early Bronze Age, Iron Age and Late Medieval reuse. Our findings add to a growing body of evidence for a phase of Early Neolithic activity pre-dating the rectangular house horizon of around 3700 BC, and confirm, as already suggested by the dating of Poulnabrone, Co. Clare, that portal tombs appear at an early stage of the Irish Neolithic

Generation of classical non-Gaussian states by squeezing a thermal state into nonlinear motion of levitated optomechanics

We report on an experiment achieving the dynamical generation of non-Gaussian states of motion of a levitated optomechanical system. We access intrinsic Duffing-like nonlinearities by thermal squeezing of an oscillator's state of motion by rapidly switching the frequency of its trap. We characterize the experimental non-Gaussian state versus expectations from simulations and give prospects for the emergence of genuine nonclassical features

Boon or bane?: The hybrid institutional complex for the sustainable development goals

This Special Section marks the tenth anniversary of the United Nations' 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Progress on the latter has been dismal, with only 17% of targets on track. The contributions to this Special Section explore the global governance of the SDGs as a Hybrid Institutional Complex (HIC): a global governance complex characterized by institutional diversity in that it combines formal intergovernmental organizations, informal intergovernmental institutions, public-private partnerships, multistakeholder initiatives, and private transnational institutions. The HIC framework suggests that this institutional diversity can offer governance benefits, such as good substantive fit for addressing complex transboundary SDG challenges and good political fit by including a broad swathe of actors relevant for goal attainment. Yet it also highlights governance risks, including individual institutions assuming governance tasks that they are poorly suited for and powerful actors cherry-picking goals and softer forms of governance that fit their interests. By applying the HIC concept to discrete dimensions of SDG governance and subfields, the contributions examine whether institutional diversity is driving or hindering progress. As we approach the 2030 deadline, they provide insights into the benefits and risks of HIC-based SDG governance, offering reflections on the remaining and post-2030 development agenda.<br/

Maternity care providers’ experiences of work-related serious events (MATES): an international survey

Internationally, many women experience physiological childbirth with positive experiences and good health outcomes for them and their baby. For some, due to health complications and context of childbirth they may experience or be perceived as having had a traumatic birth. Ultimately, whether an individual experiences an event as traumatic or not, is a personal experience. Caring for women who experience their birth as traumatic can be challenging. The risk of exposure to a traumatic birth event(s) as part of maternity care providers (MCPs) work, ranges from 67% to 90%. Thereby to support MCPs to provide quality maternal and newborn care, it is important to explore the impact of work-related events. An anonymised online survey relating to MATernity serious EventS (MATES) was developed utilising validated instruments and hosted on QualtricsXM. Following ethical approval, the questionnaire was disseminated internationally across 33 countries between 1st July and 31st December 2022 via social media and the COST Action DEVOTION (CA18211 www.ca18211.eu) network. In total, 579 MCPs responded with a wide age range and years of experience. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed, including univariate and multivariate linear regression. Data analyses and management were undertaken using SPSS v.20 and two-sided significance tests were applied (α 0.05). The findings suggest that MCPs are exposed to a large variation of serious events and continue to be intensely affected, up to the present day. Events ranged from stillbirth, neonatal death, maternal death, severe or life-threatening maternal or infant incidents and violence and aggression from women or family member. Institutional support for staff is limited, and when available, seldom used. Family and friends were relied on for support, but this does not appear to be associated with MCPs experiencing less secondary traumatic stress. Subsequently MCPs were absence from work through sickness (22%), changed their professional allocation (19%) and seriously considered leaving (42%). Moreover, many reported low to moderate compassion satisfaction and burnout (65–80%). With international scarcity of MCPs, the impact of these events seem to contribute to this shortage. Effective support for MCPs is required if staff are to be recruited and retained.<br/

Religion on the island of Ireland during the Covid-19 pandemic: piety in the public sphere?

This article examines how religious institutions and religious media on the island of Ireland framed religion’s place in the public sphere during Covid-19. Through qualitative analysis of Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and Humanist organisations’ public documents and religious media, it finds religious institutions supported government restrictions and adopted secular reasoning to justify their actions. The major churches also avoided claiming special status or religious freedom protections. This reveals a constrained religious input to public debates, reflecting a realistic assessment by religious leaders that they lack policy influence due to long-term declines in church power. The pandemic provides evidence of a reformulation of the relationships between religion, state, and society on the island, albeit with religion retaining more influence in Northern Ireland. Religious media outlets largely reproduced institutional discourses, with the exception of a weekly newspaper, the Irish Catholic. The Irish Catholic argued that stringent restrictions in the Republic of Ireland violated religious freedom, and made a case for the value of piety in the public sphere. But while religious actors still seek to contribute to public debates, there is little consensus or vision about religions’ distinctive contributions, even around existential questions posed by the pandemic

Using approximate matching and machine learning to uncover malicious activity in logs

The rapid expansion of digital services has led to an unprecedented surge in digital data production. Logs play a critical role in this vast volume of data as digital records capture notable events within systems or processes. Large-scale systems generate an overwhelming number of logs, making manual examination by analysts infeasible during critical events or attacks. While hashes, whether cryptographic or fuzzy, are widely used in digital forensics because they serve as the foundation for software integrity and validation, authentication and identification, similarity analysis, and fragment detection, this study investigates and extends the use of approximate matching (AM) algorithms in semi-structured data, such as logs. Existing AM algorithms such as ssdeep, sdhash, TLSH, and LZJD struggle particularly with semi-structured data due to the size of the input data being comparatively small, with syntactical and structural information comprising a significant amount of the data. We present a novel approximate matching algorithm for application across a range of semi-structured data types, which requires no knowledge of the underlying data structure. The algorithm produces digests that serve as input to a machine learning classifier, classifying the behaviour of the underlying logs the hashes represent. Experimental results on a benchmark dataset of IoT network traffic show that the proposed framework can correctly discern malicious logs from benign records with a 95% accuracy, with an F1 score of 0.98. The behaviour of the records deemed malicious was then correctly identified with a 99% accuracy when evaluated using a test data set, producing an average F1 score of 0.99. Additionally, we demonstrate that this approach provides a faster and lightweight framework to perform classification with high accuracy on a list of logs, producing those indicative of an attack for review.<br/

Portable, inclusive, and affordable electronics laboratories: promoting diversity and overcoming barriers in engineering education

This paper presents a novel set of low-cost, hands-on electronics experiments specifically designed to address diversity and inclusion challenges in engineering education, particularly in peripheral and under-resourced regions. Developed with portability and accessibility as primary objectives, these experiments not only foster practical learning experiences among students from diverse backgrounds but also support extension projects that bridge universities and local communities. By integrating readily available technologies such as LEDs and multimeters, the setups minimise the need for expensive equipment such as oscilloscopes, while their independence from personal computers ensures suitability for developing regions. Moreover, these experiments have proven effective in overcoming language barriers and engaging multilingual classrooms, further extending their reach to underrepresented populations—including women, minority communities, and students from disadvantaged contexts. Positive feedback and successful implementation in diverse settings underscore the potential of this approach to advance the support of underrepresented groups, leveraging technology for inclusive development, and enriching STEM education worldwide

Developing a curriculum for deep thinking: the knowledge revival

This open access book discusses why the seemingly straightforward strategy of teaching children how to think deeply does not work and offers an alternative way forward for the curriculum to achieve these objectives. Over the years, the role of knowledge in the curriculum has, like a pendulum, shifted between two extremes, from highly visible to virtually invisible knowledge elements. Insights from cognitive and educational psychology, sociology, and curriculum studies are used to underpin the current knowledge revival that is widely being observed in education. A knowledge-rich curriculum is proposed by the authors as not only the soundest way forward to both effectively acquire knowledge and complex cognitive skills in school, but also as a crucial lever to achieve equitable opportunities for all students. In understanding how a knowledge-rich curriculum can enhance learning, three overarching principles are discussed: (1) content-richness, (2) coherence, and (3) clarity. These principles are illustrated through practical examples from schools and educators who have effectively integrated knowledge-rich curricula.<br/

The role of prejudice and prior contact in support for evidence-based interventions to reduce drug-related deaths: A mixed methods study

Background: Stigmatized attitudes, opinions on opioid use, and prior contact with people who use drugs (PWUD) contribute to what policies are publicly supported and implemented to reduce drug-related deaths. This study examined how these variables relate to policy support for implementation of supervised injection sites, laws protecting bystanders at the scene of an overdose, and over-the-counter naloxone. Methods: An opportunity sample of 472 adults across the Island of Ireland completed an online survey. Hierarchical linear regression was performed to examine associations between respondent attitudes and policy support. Mediation analysis explored how stigma mediated the relationship between prior contact and policy support. Open-ended questions explored attitudes further and were analysed using codebook Thematic Analysis. Results: The final model accounted for 29% of the variance in policy support. Unsympathetic attitudes towards people who use opioids predicted less policy support (β=-.18) and agreement that PWUD were not criminals predicted more policy support (β=.14). Medium or high levels of familiarity with PWUD (compared to low) reduced social stigma, avoidance, and disgust which increased levels of policy support. Medium familiarity (compared to low) showed a small indirect effect via sympathetic attitudes and condemnation. Meta-inferences from the qualitative analysis evidenced mechanisms of stigma and prior contact. Conclusion: Stigma reduction programs should consider the role of prejudice and target negative emotional reactions such as lack of sympathy towards PWUD. Stigma reduction programs should be informed by the lived or living experience of PWUD, families and carers, to help increase social acceptance, understanding, and policy support. <br/