VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The borders of the Rechtsstaat: migrant exclusion and the constitutional state in post-crisis Germany

Keywords: rule of law
migrant exclusion
Rechtsstaat

Drawing on sixteen months of fieldwork within the migrant/refugee solidarity movement in Berlin, discourse analysis and doctrinal legal research, this thesis provides an empirically grounded account of the controversies surrounding the normative implications of the Rechtsstaat ideal with respect to the question of migrant exclusion in post-2015 Germany. The thesis’ central argument is that these controversies were fuelled by, and therefore provide a window onto, a deeper clash between conflicting visions of justice in immigration and, more specifically, different conceptions of nationalism and cosmopolitanism. The specific and contingent vision of justice in immigration embedded in the post-war Rechtsstaat, I argue, is best understood as a form of moderate nationalism and/or moderate cosmopolitanism – a normative framework that places procedural and substantive constraints on the sovereign right to exclude migrants but does not fundamentally question that right and the underlying nation-statist order. Yet, many of those who participated in the politics of immigration and asylum in post-crisis Germany – including political leaders, bureaucrats, civil society actors and migrants/refugees themselves – embraced more “radical” conceptions of cosmopolitanism and nationalism that were not only irreconcilable with each other but also with the moderate strands of these two principles which the liberal-constitutional Rechtsstaat arduously tries to balance. In so doing, these actors effectively – if not always explicitly – challenged the very assumption that the Rechtsstaat constitutes a benchmark of political legitimacy in matters of migrant exclusion.
E-commerce regulation and trader compliance: a comparative and empirical inquiry
Keywords: e-commerce regulation
contract law
comparative law
consumer law
EU Law
empirical legal research

This thesis examines both the European Union and national rules governing e-commerce consumer transactions, and empirically investigates whether 300 traders from four countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) comply with these rules. By examining whether traders actually comply with their legal obligations, the thesis seeks to understand how consumer rules work in practice and determine factors of compliance. The thesis first maps the legal obligations of e-commerce traders under the national rules implementing the Unfair Contact Terms Directive, E-Commerce Directive, and Consumer Rights Directive. The second part investigates whether the 300 simulated e- commerce transactions comply with the 35 selected legal obligations (10,500 assessments). The ambition of the thesis is to define and measure the levels of compliance and to test four hypotheses: (H1) traders do not comply in full with their legal obligations; (H2) large traders are more likely to be compliant compared to SMEs; (H3) traders that are older are more likely to be compliant compared to companies that were incorporated more recently; (H4) traders that base their terms and conditions on pre-drafted standard contract terms are more likely to be in compliance with the selected legal obligations. Based upon the findings, the thesis offers targeted and actionable policy recommendations, in an attempt to promote an evidence based approach to regulating consumer contracts.
Proteomics and Transcriptomics of the Betz cell in the Human Brain.
Keywords: Proteomics
RNA sequencing
Laser Microdissection
Frontotemporal Dementia
Transcriptomics
Multiomics
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
ALS
Purkinje cell
Betz cell

Very little is known about the enigmatic gigantopyramidal neuron in the Primary Motor Cortex. These Betz cells are the largest neurons in the human brain, display unique morphology, play a fundamental role in voluntary movement, and are selectively vulnerable to a range of neurodegenerative diseases, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). Yet, there has been no targeted studies to investigate the molecular profile of these neurons and how that may be affected in disease. Here, for the first time, laser microdissected human Betz cells were subjected to extensive proteomic analysis via a workflow that has been optimised to produce leading proteomic performance from individually pooled neurons. The proteome of the Betz cell has been comparatively analysed to similar neurons to reveal key insights into their physiology. This thesis molecularly confirms previous assumptions about their biology and discovers cellular mechanisms that are enriched within these neurons. To complement proteomic findings, laser microdissected Betz cells were also subjected to RNA-sequencing to investigate their gene expression patterns, to validate recently generated proteomic observations, and for the first time, to reveal the transcriptome of the Betz cell. To ease and improve future Betz cell research, the proteomic/transcriptomic data were screened to search for Betz cells biomarkers – for which there are currently none that immunochemically target Betz cells without also binding to surrounding neurons. Several proteins were identified that could selectively target Betz cells, potentially acting Betz cell biomarkers. Finally, proteomic/transcriptomic analysis was also applied to microdissected Betz cells from ALS patients to determine how/why these neurons degenerate in ALS. The findings herein, align with the excitotoxicity hypothesis of ALS, i.e. that upper motor neurons become over-activated by excess glutamate activity. These data also provide clues to other pathways that may cause the degeneration of Betz cells in ALS e.g. DNA damage, oxidative stress, dysregulated energy production, and impaired axonal guidance.
Forms of unknowing in Victorian poetry
Keywords: literature and philosophy
literature and theology
poetic form
literature and visual art
aesthetics
Victorian poetry
literature and psychology

This thesis argues that Victorian poets were persistently drawn to the experience of partial, uncertain, or elusive knowledge, situations in which knowing is felt to be simultaneously tantalising and potentially entrapping or chimerical: a set of conditions I group under the term ‘unknowing’. Exploring the ways in which the idea of knowledge in the nineteenth century was saturated in value and feeling, I show how the resistance of certain objects to being fully known (people, God, art, nature, the future) could generate not merely frustration and disappointment but fresh sources of possibility and pleasure. For the poets I study, such concerns were intimately linked to the question of poetry’s own relationship to knowledge. In the fibres of their poetry, as well as in the writings of some of the period’s most inventive thinkers, I trace a vital and availing tradition which stresses how poetry may sharpen our awareness of that which exceeds or escapes our knowing.

My first chapter reads the poetry of Arthur Hugh Clough as a sustained dialogue with Ralph Waldo Emerson’s critique of ‘knowingness’. My second connects Robert Browning’s interest in the natural world with notions of foiled or occluded knowledge, drawing on the writings of John Ruskin. My third chapter proposes two ways of thinking about knowing in the poetry of Dante Gabriel Rossetti: an aesthetics of vagueness stemming from Renaissance art theory, and the dreamlike phenomenology of déjà vu. My fourth chapter pursues Alice Meynell’s interest in God’s hiddenness as a potential resource of faith, linking it to the thought of John Henry Newman and the figure of the Virgin Mary. My final chapter explores Thomas Hardy’s attention to the difficulties of knowing (and being known by) other people, showing how more fruitful modes of engagement may depend upon relinquishing the desire for secure knowledge.
Neurodegenerative effects of radiofrequency fields
Keywords: Ageing
Alzheimer's disease
Radiofrequency fields
SAMP8
J20

This thesis studied the cognitive and structural effects of radiofrequency fields exposure on Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and ageing. Two mice models were chosen, the J20 transgenic mice as a model of AD, and the senescence-accelerated mouse model SAMP8 for ageing. Mice underwent a chronic exposure and behavioural assessments either immediately post-exposure or after a latency period. At the end of the study, histological analysis was performed. Results were analysed with Minitab® and showed a possible transient effect of EMF exposure on activity and motivation in the J20 mouse model of AD.
Dating the Aterian using techniques of luminescence dating and implications for mapping the dispersal of modern Homo sapiens
Keywords: Luminescence Dating
Aterian
Bayesian Modelling
SR-OSL

The Aterian is a Middle Stone Age technocomplex that occurs throughout North Africa, typically identified by the presence of pedunculates. Due to widespread radiocarbon dating of contaminated samples, most Aterian sites are not well-dated. The use of more appropriate absolute dating techniques, including optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), has renewed interest in the Aterian technocomplex--several sites with remarkable behavioural innovations have been the source of surprisingly early ages. This OSL dating project had two separate but complementary aims. First, OSL ages were obtained for samples from four significant Aterian sites (Taforalt, Dar es-Soltan I, Rhafas, and Chaperon Rouge II). High density sampling strategies were used in concert with independent dating methods and Bayesian modeling in order to obtain accurate and precise OSL ages. This study suggests that the Aterian technocomplex began by at least 70 ka in Taforalt, though Middle Palaeolithic archaeology exists earlier, and likely before ~100 ka at the coastal site Dar es-Soltan I. Single grain analysis was carried out for a previously dated sample from the open air site Chaperon Rouge II (Rhodes, 1990), and it indicated that the sample was likely highly bioturbated. Conversely, sediment trapped within a potentially Aterian human femur (Rhafas) seems to be less than 10,000 years old, though the bone itself may be older. Second, the feasibility of imaging ultraviolet OSL via electron-multiplying charge coupled device (EMCCD) cameras was investigated. Key requirements for an OSL imager were evaluated, scientific cameras from several manufacturers were compared, and an optical system was created. Experiments have shown that a back-thinned, back-illuminated EMCCD camera is sensitive enough in the UV regime (365 nm) to successfully detect OSL emissions from natural quartz grains. Additionally, quantitative information can be derived from such image sequences and used to calculate equivalent dose.
Assessing local health outcomes using spatially-resolved health surveillance data
Keywords: Epidemiology
Tuberculosis
COVID-19
Spatial epidemiology
Spatial analysis
Under-5 mortality
Global health
Civil registration and vital statistics
Geostatistics

Complete and accurate health information systems are necessary inputs for effective health policy. Although many countries maintain civil registration and infectious disease surveillance systems, variation in data completeness often impedes analysis of aggregated health records at the spatial level where policymaking occurs, discouraging greater investment in these systems.
This thesis aims to integrate health information systems into local health decision-making using spatial modelling approaches. In four case studies, I introduce a class of spatial statistical models based on incomplete vital and health surveillance records that offer insights into the health of a country that would be impossible to derive from other sources.
I demonstrate how civil registration and vital statistics data (CRVS) can be synthesised with supplementary spatial data sources to estimate both neonatal mortality and CRVS completeness by municipality across Mexico. This spatial modelling strategy can be applied to a wide array of health outcomes, including infectious diseases. I demonstrate how an analogous model can combine data from a tuberculosis (TB) prevalence survey and TB case notifications to estimate TB prevalence across Uganda.
Complete registration of births and deaths ensures that all citizens receive the same legal and health protections. I take a holistic approach to analyse India’s three health surveillance systems in relation to the Indian National Health Plan’s child survival goals. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted gaps in health surveillance capacity worldwide, including in high-income countries. In Italy, I develop a small-area excess mortality model to estimate the number of misdiagnosed COVID-19 deaths during the first six months of the pandemic. This analysis reveals important information about the mortality dynamics of the pandemic across sub-populations of Italy.
The results, limitations, and conclusions of these case studies are discussed with recommendations for how these findings influence our understanding of health information systems and implications for greater integration between health surveillance data and policy.
A socio-legal exploration of approaches towards secondary uses of administrative data in social science research.
Keywords: Regulation
Regulation Emerging Technologies
GDPR
Citizen Participation
Legitimacy of the law
Digital Economy Act
Data Protection Law
Mixed Methods

Governments worldwide are increasingly seeking to capitalise on technological advances in the collecting, linking, and analysis of ever greater sets of data. By applying novel analytical techniques to previously collected administrative data, governments and researchers seek to shed light on the causes of societal challenges and provide a robust evidence base for policymaking.
However, these advances foster new opportunities and risks, particularly to citizens’ privacy interests. Recent legislation has grappled with this modern data processing landscape by protecting individuals without unduly constraining the potential of such developments. Nevertheless, public backlashes to legal data-sharing initiatives and a wider societal unease towards the use of citizens’ data question the ability of the law to secure societal acceptance in this context. Future data-sharing initiatives and the wider legitimacy of the law are put at risk if they diverge from citizens’ views as to what is acceptable regarding data use. But how do such divergences arise, and how can we respond?
An analysis of the General Data Protection Regulation and the Digital Economy Act 2017 provides insights into the influences that shaped these legislative outcomes. Understanding the law as the product of a fiercely contested process highlights the underlying motivations that shaped the law and the effects that arise as a result. A mixed methods study provides rich data on citizens’ views towards the appropriate secondary uses of administrative data in research. This enables a comparison between the legislative approaches and citizens’ views, suggesting areas of divergence and their underlying causes.
In response to these divergences, the need to better incorporate citizens in the governance of secondary data uses is emphasised. Pursuing the law’s legitimacy is posited as one requiring ongoing interactions between those using the law and citizens to continually develop and evolve the law over time.
Fuel retention in plasma facing materials of the JET ITER-like wall
Keywords: Beryllium
Hydrogen retention
JET
ITER
Fusion
Energy
Nuclear Fusion

This thesis, presents results from the Joint European Torus (JET), beryllium ITER-like wall. Isotopic hydrogen retention is investigated at three microstructurally unique sites: erosion zones, co-deposition zones, and melted material, found across the reactor at the inner and outer wall limiters and dump plate tiles. The techniques applied to these novel inservice materials were: Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray (SEM-EDX), Raman Spectroscopy; Focused Ion Beam (FIB) 3D milling; Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) with Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) and Energy Dispersive X-Ray (EDX); Atom Probe Tomography and Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS).
Clustering of deuterium (D) with beryllium deuteride (BeD2) was found at the outer eroded material, whilst not at the inner. BeD2 was present at the core of D clusters up to 8 at%. Co-deposition at the outer limiter tile was governed by beryllium oxide (BeO), whilst at the inner it was governed by Be with D. EUROFusion samples produced from High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) returned similar EELS results to JET samples; presenting a reasonable model. Melted material produced highly oxidised zones devoid of metallic impurities from marker layers in spatially optimum sites, surrounded by grains produced via high temperature material mixing. Several types of beryllium deuteroxide (BeOD) with varying stoichiometries were presented
Retention is lowest at the inner wall eroded zone, increasing at the outer wall eroded zone, and increasing further between inner to outer wall codeposits. Melted material, remains an outlier. Overall total retention, in melted materials was similar to outer wall co-deposit, however composed of over 77% H. Material mixing was suggested the cause due to beryllium/nickel alloying seen in melted materials.
Redox mediators and phase transfer catalysts for metal-oxygen batteries
Keywords: redox mediator
lithium-oxygen battery
phase transfer catalyst
metal-oxygen battery
singlet oxygen
potassium-oxygen battery

It is becoming increasingly clear that current lithium-ion battery technology does not possess a gravimetric energy density great enough to cater to the demands of our growing energy needs. By dispensing with the heavy cathode materials, metal-oxygen battery systems have far greater gravimetric energy densities, potentially enabling them to supersede lithium-ion technology and make the complete electrification of transport a viable endeavour.
Metal-oxygen batteries, however, are not without their limitations. Lithium-oxygen cells suffer from very large charging overpotentials, high levels of decomposition of cell components at all points of the cell cycle (particularly so on charge, due to the presence of singlet oxygen), and insoluble and insulating discharge products, which passivate the cathode leading to cell death. Potassium-oxygen cells, whilst displaying superior stability and smaller charging overpotentials, also form passivating discharge products. This thesis addresses a number of the issues and questions surrounding lithium- and potassium-oxygen cells.
Chapter 3 investigates the relationship between charging potential and the quantity of lithium carbonate arising from both ethereal electrolyte and carbon cathode decomposition. Use of operando electrochemical mass spectrometry and fluorescence spectroscopy reveals that formation of singlet oxygen only occurs above 3.31 V, with minimal quantities formed between 3.31 – 3.45 V. Low potential redox mediators are demonstrated to minimise cell decomposition by suppressing the charge potential below this level.
Chapter 4 details the synthesis and characterisation of novel redox mediators, identified through the use of DFT. The reaction kinetics of redox mediators with lithium peroxide are investigated through the use of scanning electrochemical microscopy, revealing that said reaction kinetics are governed by Marcus theory.
Chapter 5 demonstrates the use of phenol as a protic phase transfer catalyst to increase the discharge capacity of potassium-oxygen cells, with operando electrochemical mass spectrometry revealing an electron to oxygen ratio of 1.02 on discharge, indicative of potassium superoxide formation.
Structure and dynamics of two-dimensional binary colloidal polycrystals and fluids
Keywords: Grain boundary pinning
Grain boundaries
Grain boundary fluctuations
Supercooled fluids
Grain rotation
Polycrystals
Grain growth
Soft Matter
Colloids
Glass transition
Microrheology

The structural and dynamic behaviour of two-dimensional binary colloidal polycrystals and fluids are studied through optical microscopy and optical tweezing. Firstly, grain size evolution in an impurity doped polycrystalline monolayer is studied. A model is developed, combining crystallisation and curvature driven grain growth, which works well in describing grain size evolution at different impurity concentrations. The amount of dopant is found to affect the frustration of crystallisation and pinning of grain boundaries. Next studied is grain rotation in polycrystals. The rate of rotation for a single grain is well described by a model combining grain size and the grain boundary misorientation. The rate of rotation induced grain coalescence is placed in the context of grain size evolution and the trajectories of particles and dislocations are studied. To study the pinning forces of impurities in grain boundaries, active microrheology with optical tweezing is utilised. A model accounting for grain boundary deformation, contact angles between the impurity and grain boundary, and elastic response from the crystal is used to measure the pinning force on the impurity. An anomalously high depinning force is found, corresponding to the creation of a entity analogous to a dislocation. Next, the thermal fluctuations of a grain boundary between two pinned impurities are studied for different impurity spacings. The form of the fluctuations is dominated by the mode with a wavelength twice the impurity spacing. This spacing is also found to impact the mobility of the grain boundary and the mean-squared displacement. Finally, a binary system is placed on an angle to set up sedimentation-diffusion equilibrium. The particle sizes and materials are chosen to prevent fractionation. The structure of the system is found to be amorphous for all area fractions. The entire system for different tilt angles is found to be diffusive, with dynamics slowing down with a steeper tilt angle. The cause of the diffusive dynamics at all area fractions is found to be due to dynamic heterogeneities, which propagate from low to high densities, with higher tilt angles having a greater activation energy for this mechanism.