VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
An edition of Oxford, Trinity College, MS 29
Keywords: medieval studies
medieval english
compilation
historiography
fifteenth century
middle english
edition

Oxford, Trinity College, MS 29 is a late 15th-century manuscript which contains a large number of excerpts from diverse religious and secular medieval texts like the Vulgate, Caxton’s print of the Polychronicon, de Worde’s print Information for pilgrims unto the Holy Land, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, Peter of Poitiers’s Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi, Gower’s Confessio Amantis, a Holy Cross legend, Jacques Legrand’s Book of Good Manners, and Mandeville’s Travels. These texts are compiled in an idiosyncratic manner, forming a seamless prose history of the world, which starts with the creation of the world and ends incompletely with a description of Hannibal’s exploits. Written by a single compiler-scribe, the manuscript offers fascinating insights into methods of compilation employed by medieval historiographers at the close of the Middle Ages. Two other manuscripts in the same hand are extant – San Marino, Huntington Library, MS HM 144 and London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS 84 – which show similarities in design and compilatory technique.
To date, MS 29 has received only little critical attention. This thesis presents for the first time a full edition and comprehensive study of the text. The thesis consists of two volumes, the first of which contains an analysis of the edited text, including a complete description, investigation of sources, linguistic analysis, discussion of genre, context, and audience, as well as a commentary. The second volume contains the edited text as an appendix (excluded from the word count, according to the regulations for DPhil theses).
The way in which the compiler of MS 29 interacts with and selects from his source texts provides a better understanding of medieval habits of reading and writing and of the cultural climate predominant at the time of the manuscript’s production. This extensive analysis thus serves as a detailed case study, which is relevant to a wide range of late medieval texts.
Rapid synthesis of the Taxol core
Keywords: 1,4-conjugate addition
Organocatalysis
Asymmetric allylic alkylation
Suzuki-Miyaura coupling
Kinetic resolution
Tetrahydropyridines
Taxol

This thesis describes the combination of prochiral/racemic electrophiles and non-stabilised nucleophiles in transition metal catalysed asymmetric transformations.
The first part of the thesis focuses on the synthetic approach towards the Taxol core, Taxadiene. The key steps involve a Cu-catalysed asymmetric conjugate addition (ACA) of alkylzirconocenes to enones and cyclisations. Three different routes towards the synthesis of Taxadiene were explored and investigations into the Cu-catalysed ACA led to the discovery of a novel domino hydrozirconation/conjugate addition/enolate trapping reaction.
The second part of this thesis builds on the Rh-catalysed asymmetric coupling of boronic acids (vinyls, benzenes and heteroaromatics) and cyclic allyl chlorides, developed in the Fletcher group. Here, the main point is to couple a similar library of boronic acids to a more challenging electrophile, a racemic tetrahydropyridine (or N-heterocyclic piperidene) chloride, in order to access new chiral building blocks that can be found in a variety of natural products and their derivatives. The utility of this method is demonstrated by the total and formal asymmetric synthesis of the antipsychotic drug (-)-Preclamol.
The last chapter builds on the Cu-catalysed asymmetric allylic alkylation of alkylzirconocenes to cyclic allyl chlorides, also developed in our group. The main goal of this work is once again to apply this methodology to the racemic N-heterocyclic piperidene chloride. Investigations led to the discovery of a kinetic resolution process which afforded novel 3-alkyl substituted tetrahydropyridines and enantioenriched 3-chloro-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridines in high enantioselectivities.
Mechanisms of co-stimulatory and inhibitory receptors in human cancer-specific cytotoxic T cells
Keywords: Co-stimulatory receptor
Inhibitory receptor
CD103+ T cells

Clinical studies have shown that the upregulation of immunocheckpoints such as PD-1 on tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs) can impair the clinical outcome of cancer patients. However, current immunocheckpoints-targeting immunotherapies have failed to improve response in some patients and cancer types. This is likely due to the heterogeneity of the tumor immune composition, the overall complex TILs immunophenotype and the influence of the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. It is therefore important to assess the characteristics and mechanisms of TILs, especially cancer-specific cytotoxic CD8+ T cells (CTLs), in order to develop more effective T cell immunotherapy strategies.
In this study, comprehensive assessment using paired tumor, paratumor and peripheral blood from cancer patients demonstrated concomitant upregulation of both inhibitory CD94/NKG2a receptor and its HLA-E ligand in tumor. Although their engagement has been described on NK cells, it remains unclear whether this interaction could constitute an additional immunocheckpoint of cancer-specific CTLs in cancer. We demonstrated that the engagement of NKG2a and HLA-E resulted in impaired anti-tumor cytotoxicity, cytokine production and proliferation of CTLs, which recovered following antibody-blockade treatment. In contrast, the antagonistic NKG2a and CD103 expression on TILs suggest a distinct anti-tumor role of CD103. The CD103+ cancer-specific CTLs were found to self-produce TGF-β to sustain own CD103 expression, have improved TCR antigen sensitivity, faster cancer killing and elevated energy potential. However, they are more susceptible to apoptosis after prolonged cancer exposure. In addition, we demonstrated that a sizeable portion of cancer-specific CTLs lacks IFNγ expresssion and production, and discovered that this is contributed by CpG hypermethylation of its IFNγ promoter.
In summary, this study carried out in-depth investigation into the impacts of the inhibitory receptor NKG2a, costimulatory receptor CD103, and epigenetic DNA methylation, on anti-tumor T cell responses. The thorough understanding of these key factors in affecting cancer-specific CTL functions and their restoration potential, could be important for future designs of more effective cancer immunotherapy strategies.
Vanadium and zinc isotope ratios in lunar basalts
Keywords: Lunar rocks
Vanadium
Moon
isotope ratios
vanadium isotopes
Zinc
Isotopes

Measurements of isotopic ratios have been useful in understanding the formation and evolution of planetary bodies in our Solar System. However, studies have typically been limited in sample overlap, thereby limiting possible interpretation. This study presents the first highprecision vanadium isotope data, zinc isotope data (via double-spiking), and trace-element data for a suite of lunar basalts. Companion analyses of chlorine and sulphur isotope ratios were obtained at University of New Mexico and University of Maryland.
Vanadium isotope ratios span a larger range (~2.5‰) within this suite of lunar basalts than found in all igneous terrestrial rocks (~2.3‰). Lunar isotopic ratios are almost uniformly lighter than those from the bulk silicate Earth (BSE). Unlike on Earth, variation in vanadium isotope ratios is mainly due to cosmogenic effects, where bombardment of lunar samples by energetic particles (from solar and galactic cosmic rays) alters primary isotopic compositions. Modelling of cross-sections shows that iron is likely the most important target element in lunar samples. Correcting for cosmogenic effects shows lunar basalts to have uniform vanadium isotope ratios within error of recent estimates for the BSE. Where published meteorite data is available, accounting for cosmogenic exposure shows no resolvable difference between the BSE, Mars, Moon, and chondrites, in contrast to earlier studies.
Zinc displays a large isotopic range (~10‰) even amongst samples of the same lithological subtype, likely reflecting the volatile behaviour of zinc. Chlorine isotope ratios for the water-soluble fractions of the basalts in this suite (and for published data) correlate negatively with zinc isotope ratios, indicating a mixing trend between a heavy-Zn, light-Cl endmember, and a light-Zn, heavy-Cl endmember. Mobilisation of volatiles enriched in the lunar crust during magmatic ascent or eruption is the most plausible explanation for this trend.
Rethinking growth through trade: a two-tiered capabilities approach
Keywords: fair trade
capabilities approach

Trade has been a concern of global justice theorists since Charles Beitz prominently cited it as a fundamental cause of global inequalities in his seminal 1979 book Political Theory and International Relations. Yet it is only recently that theorists are beginning to address trade in and of itself. Following David Miller, I define trade as “a practice that involves the voluntary exchange of commodities or services for mutual advantage. That means, self-evidently, that both trading partners expect to be better off as a result of their exchange.” Ultimately, the problem is, that despite this definition of trade, it does not always benefit both partners or at the very least benefit them to the full (expected) potential of the exchange. That is, trade, quite problematically, does not fulfill its normative potential; it is not doing what it was designed to do.
This thesis proposes and develops a normative theory of justice in international trade. Thus, it falls both within the fields of political theory and normative or welfare economics. Like other theorists of trade justice, I too seek to answer the question “what does it mean for trade to be fair?” Yet unlike other theorists of trade justice, I am not looking for a theory of specifically distributive justice within trade, instead I take inspiration from an older conception of justice, one where something must fulfill its function in order to be considered just. The normative economic aspect, then, becomes important because the ‘mutual advantage’ that countries gain from trade must be benefiting economically in some way. Namely, they must be benefitting in terms of growth and/or development.
After demonstrating that this is a reasonable interpretation of a function of international trade, I propose that this idea of growth and/or development is best understood in terms of what I call a ‘Two-Tiered Capabilities Approach’ focusing specifically on country-level capabilities that can be used to assess development. Using a capabilities framework allows us to identify practical functions of international trade and then subsequently assess whether or not trade is fulfilling its purpose and where exactly it falls short. I offer that this broad understanding of development through trade must not just be focused on gross domestic product (GDP), but also a tentative list of ‘capabilities’ such as labor standards, environmental sustainability, and human rights.
A comparative study of the dress, food and leisure of domestic servants in France and Britain, 1900-1939
Keywords: France
autobiographies
domestic service
Britain

This thesis is a comparative study of the everyday lives of French and British female domestic servants between 1900 and 1939. Despite making-up nearly half of the female workforce in both countries, the experiences of servants are hard to access. To overcome this problem, the thesis relies on a large sample of French and British servants’ autobiographies. Autobiographies have been used by historians primarily to document the economic struggles these women faced and the social trajectories they followed. However, autobiographies are also bursting with revealing digressions and significant little details about servants’ lives. This thesis seizes upon these insights by actively reading at the margins of servants’ stories. It concentrates on three themes which were most present in servants’ accounts: dress, food and leisure. What servants wore, what they ate and what they did in their free time played a key role in their negotiations of authority and the construction of class, gender, generational and regional identities. The thesis combines this focus on the micro-level of domestic servants’ lives with a comparative analysis which contextualises servants’ testimonies within two different social, cultural and economic environments. It shows how contrasting levels of industrialisation, urbanisation and land ownership as well as divergent forms of family structures and gender norms shaped French and British servants’ world and identities. Ultimately, this comparative study of French and British servants’ experiences with dress, food and leisure leads us to interrogate what it meant to be a servant and deconstruct the category of ‘servanthood’ in the first half of the twentieth century.
3-D printing: adding a new dimension to intellectual property?
Keywords: Trade Mark
Copyright
3D Printing
IPR
Intellectual Property Rights
Patent

3D printing is a phrase often seen in the media in relation to wondrous or troubling developments in manufacturing, health, arms and myriad other areas. The growth of 3D printing has the potential to have a major economic impact, and while we may be at a tilting point with regard to the relationship between 3D printing and intellectual property law, whether the future will see it as a truly ‘disruptive’ element remains to be seen.
This dissertation identifies three key issues for intellectual property and highlights how 3D printing raises both old and new questions in the areas of copyright, trade mark and patent law. In looking at these focal areas it analyses the extent to which existing regimes are capable of answering some of the difficult questions 3D printing may raise. It does so with the aim of questioning whether the newness of these issues is primarily fuelled by media buzz and a fear regarding the status quo, or whether 3D printing is inherently disruptive.
While the idea of printing a car or a watch may be as novel to the layman as the Star Trek Replicator, the host of issues that come with this new technology are not so fantastic or beyond comprehension. In dealing with many of the questions raised by 3D printing we need to keep a mind to questions that IP law has addressed in the past in relation to disruptive technologies. Some areas may benefit from new legislation or amendments. For others, it is clear that what is required is a re-interpretation of existing legal principles. Either way, while the technology may be new, it does not require us to re-write our IP law. At least not yet.
Geometric aspects of twisted 3d supersymmetric gauge theories
Keywords: Quasi-maps
Riemann surface
Vortex equations
Hilbert space
3d
Topological

We study geometric aspects of 3d N = 2 and N = 4 supersymmetric gauge theories on the product of a line and a Riemann surface. Performing the topological twist on the Riemann surface, the theories preserve a supersymmetric quantum mechanics on the line. The quantum mechanics has an eﬀective description where its target space is a moduli space of conﬁgurations that satisfy generalized vortex equations on the Riemann surface. We propose a construction of the space of supersymmetric ground states of selected N = 2 theories as a graded vector space in terms of a certain cohomology of the moduli spaces. This exhibits a rich dependence on deformation parameters compatible with the topological twist, including superpotentials, real mass parameters, and background vector bundles associated to ﬂavour symmetries. By matching spaces of supersymmetric ground states, we perform new checks of 3d abelian mirror symmetry. We go on to the study of the twisted indices of a 3dN = 4 quiver gauge theories that have isolated vacua under generic mass and FI parameter deformations. These can be viewed as virtual Euler characteristics of the moduli spaces of generalized vortex equations, which in this case can be understood algebraically as quasi-maps to the Higgs branch. We demonstrate that this description agrees with the contour integral representation introduced in previous work. We then investigate 3d N = 4 mirror symmetry in this context, which implies an equality of enumerative invariants associated to mirror pairs of Higgs branches under the exchange of equivariant and degree counting parameters.
Automatic verification of stochastic processes: certification of building automation systems
Keywords: verification

Smart buildings are key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the face of the continuous and fast-paced growth of urbanisation. The performance criteria for the optimal operation of such intelligent systems require the coupling of certification goals with the design of both the modelling framework and control algorithms. In the first part of this thesis we demonstrate the use of Fault Maintenance Trees (FMTs): a qualitative description that embeds component degradation, maintenance policies and the relationship between components leading to a failure. We provide semantics to FMTs using continuous-time Markov chains and employ efficient probabilistic model checking to analyse the performance of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning unit, against certification metrics, under different maintenance schemes. The method is also benchmarked against the application of statistical model checking for analysis. The second part introduces the modelling framework of discrete-time Stochastic Hybrid Systems (SHS): probabilistic models suitable for describing the dynamics of variables presenting interleaved and interacting continuous and discrete components. We present algorithms and techniques for performing scalable verification and control synthesis of SHS. The kernel of the methods is a novel abstraction procedure that makes use of interval Markov decision processes. The method embeds the exact abstraction error within the abstraction itself. Consequently reducing the number of states required significantly and allowing us to analyse SHS with more than 10 continuous variables. Furthermore, the applicability of the framework is shown via the construction and analysis of a library of models for building automation systems with different certification goals. Finally, we embed the models and algorithms within StocHy: a new tool aimed at simplifying the analysis of \shs. The tool is written in C++ and allows for simulation, verification and synthesis of stochastic and hybrid systems, in a manner that is accessible to general end-users.
Analogy in morphological change
Keywords: Analogy
Greek
Historical linguistics
Morphological change
Morphology

This thesis focusses on the tendencies of morphological change, as a source of evidence for how linguistic knowledge is stored and structured in the mind, and how speakers access and use this knowledge. I empirically test various hypotheses that morphological change is directed towards the optimisation of synchronic grammar. In chapter 4, I test the common claim that diachrony is guided by a universal preference for one-to-one mapping of meaning and form in language, implemented via Universal Grammar, and in chapter 5, I consider the diachronic implications of a set of claims by Carstairs-McCarthy (1998), that the degree to which synchronic systems of inflectional morphology deviate from this ideal meaning-form relationship is limited by a set of constraints on the acquisition of lexical semantics. I test the predictions made by these teleological theories against systematic data from synchronic verbal paradigms in classical Greek, and their subsequent diachronic restructuring, and show that the theories are not supported by this evidence. On the other hand, using the same data, I demonstrate two important factors influencing morphological change: the type frequency of formal patterns of implication between paradigm cells (chapter 4), and the token frequency of inflected words (chapter 6). I argue that this is best understood if we view diachronic tendencies as by-products of language use, and I make a case for a synchronic theory of morphology in which words are the fundamental stored units of language, and analogy is a psychologically real mechanism of both synchronic productivity and change.
Actor-network theory and the action of biblical texts
Keywords: textual performativity
reader response theory
evangelicalism
American evangelicalism
Bruno Latour
textual agency
nonhuman agency
climate change
biblical performativity
reception criticism
beings of fiction
actor-network theory
actants

This thesis is an investigation of the mechanisms of textual performativity: how do biblical texts bring about change, such that they can be thought of as enacting and configuring social reality? This methodology begins with Bruno Latour’s work on actor-network theory, and proposed here is a model for the performativity of texts as nonhuman actors embedded within actor-networks.
Three theoretical components form the basis to the argument: 1) Texts are nonhuman actors that have agency and act within actor-networks. Within these actor-networks, the text mediates the agency and action of other actors, shifting, transforming, and betraying the meaning and action it carries from the writing event to the reading event. 2) A text functions both as an artifact and a being of fiction, with action that emerges in the relationship between text and other objects to which it is attached, such that notions about the text are assembled together with the text and other actors, together configuring its action. 3) The text’s action as a Latourian mediator provides the text with autonomy, and it is, thus, the reader’s notion of meaning, not the author’s intent, that is performative in the reading event. Any notion, however, of the creative event held by the reader shapes this emergent meaning. Finally, because texts are performative, notions of what an author meant, of a text’s production, and of how to read are caught up in politics. In this analysis priority is given to what is rather than what ought to be, in what is referred to as a Realhermeneutik approach.
In order to develop this theoretical framework with practical analysis, throughout this thesis, examples are drawn from the action of the Bible within American evangelicalism, concluding with a chapter that demonstrates this methodological approach by tracing the participation of the Bible in climate change.