This dissertation is the first intensive rhetorical analysis of the writings of St. Patrick. This analysis, informed by interdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies, contributes to our understanding of the rhetorical nature of St. Patrick's writings, as well as the nature of rhetorical education in early medieval Britain and Ireland The literary significance of Patrick's extant writings, Epistola ad milites Corotici and Confessio, beyond their apparent historical value, has regularly been disputed by prominent scholars. Questions of the level of education Patrick received before being assigned to the bishopric in Ireland have informed debates over the quality and importance of his contribution to Hiberno-Latin literature. This study demonstrates the significance of Patrick's texts through discussion of Patrick's rhetorical astuteness and application of classical rhetorical techniques to a new and challenging context: that of a disseminating Christian world. The rhetorical strategies witnessed in Patrick's writings are decidedly Christian and therefore demonstrate the changing rhetorical culture of the early medieval period. The first chapters focus on ars dictaminis and Patrick's employment of the art of letter writing in Ireland in the 5th century CE. The rhetorical strategies detected in Patrick's Epistola ad milites Corotici are discussed relative to the socio-political and cultural context of early medieval Ireland. The later chapters study the Confessio in relationship to the Confession genre in the Late Roman and Early Medieval periods. Of particular significance here is the rhetorical practice of imitatio, which has deep reaching theological and ideological implications.

A case study which examines the agreement between prediction and data is performed for three, complex interplanetary shocks which were detected at the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L1 and induced moderate to intense geomagnetic storms. We use model output from previous runs of the coupled coronal-heliosphere WSA-Enlil+Cone model, available through the Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC), and in-situ data from the OMNI data set. Code written in MATLAB is used to compare the model output with the in-situ measurements of the interplanetary magnetic field as well as the density, speed and temperature of the solar wind. In addition, the difference between the predicted and actual shock arrival time is computed and regions of potential temperature depression are identified. A considerable discrepancy is found between data and model for the studied events. The main reason is deemed to be an inadequate representation of the ambient solar wind as well as the complex interactions between interplanetary coronal mass ejections and corotating interaction regions. We suggest future steps to be taken for the further development of the model as well as for the general understanding of space weather and the Sun-Earth connection. / Denna fallstudie undersöker överensstämmelsen mellan modell och data för tre interplanetära chockvågor, som kunde detekteras vid jordens Lagrangepunkt 1, och som orsakade geomagnetiska stormar av måttlig till kraftig styrka. Vi använder oss av tidigare genomförda körningar av den sammansatta WSA-Enlil+Cone modellen, som avbildar fortplantningen av temporära störningar med ursprung i solens korona, såsom koronamassutkastningar, ut i heliosfären. Modellen gjordes tillgänglig av Community Coordinated Modeling Center (CCMC) och datan inhämtades från OMNI. Kod skriven i MATLAB nyttjades för att göra en jämförelse mellan modell och faktiska mätningar av det interplanetära magnetfältet samt solvindens hastighet, densitet och temperatur. Utöver detta, beräknas också skillnaden mellan förväntad och faktisk ankomsttid av respektive interplanetär chock, och tidsperioder med en temperatursänkning utöver det normala identifieras. Vi finner en omfattande avvikelse mellan modell och data, i synnerhet för de fall där på varandra följande koronamassutkastningar förväntas interagera eller rent av slås ihop samt för uppskattningen av den omgivande solvindens egenskaper och det interplanetära fältet under pågående geomagnetisk störning. Interaktionen mellan koronamassutkastningar och närliggande ko-roterande interaktionsregioner har ej heller återskapats väl av modellen ifråga. Slutligen ger vi förslag på möjliga, framtida åtgärder som kan bör tas i åtanke vid konstruerandet av framtida versioner av nämnda modell, liksom för den allmänna förståelsen för rymdvädrets inverkan på Jorden.