VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Revival to revolution: medieval narratives in Irish republicanism
Keywords: Irish
Irish republicanism
Irish mythology
Irish Revolution
Gaelic revival
Irish Civil War
Ireland
Irish War of Independence
Easter Rising
medieval Irish literature
Irish volunteers

Medieval narratives that had been celebrated in the Gaelic Revival (c.1880-1916) became a tool of republican self-fashioning in the revolutionary era (c.1912-23). As revolutionary nationalism developed into a movement distinct from Revivalism, it acquired its own flavour of engagement with medieval history and literature. This project argues for the continued cultural relevance of medieval narratives throughout the revolutionary period. Employing a hybrid methodology and incorporating a wide range of source material, this study adds nuance to our understanding of the transition from Revival to Revolution. The project demonstrates that medieval narratives not only remained a part of revolutionary culture after the Rising, but were selected, reimagined and deployed in ways specific to this context.
This project brings together the fields of medieval Irish literature, nineteenth and early twentieth century translations and twentieth century Irish history. Ultimately, it is a historiographical project, but an interdisciplinary one. The project interrogates how literature and mythology circulated in the national imaginarium and shaped identity. The research framework suits the multifaceted nature of the subject.
As Joep Leerssen wrote in Remembrance and Imagination, ‘tradition’ is not ‘a discreet heirloom’ but ‘a vast and chaotic curiosity shop.’ Fin de siècle revolutionaries in Ireland inherited a wealth of narratives that took multiple forms in the middle ages and were then passed through centuries of time and translations. Entering twentieth century culture, the tales were mediated not only through translation but through their modern audiences’ values. New translations, retellings, and derivative works of art–and the context of each reader’s own particular Weltanschauung–all create new frameworks for using old narratives in the service of identity.
Following the Revival, the medieval cultural inheritance continued to solidify identity and advance the political case for independence. Medieval narratives allowed people to understand, define and legitimise the present in terms of the past.
Mendicant ecclesiology and the apostolic life in the thought of the Oxford Masters, c.1250-1325
Keywords: University of Oxford
religious orders
friars
apostolic life
Dominican order
Franciscan order
medieval universities
ecclesiology
Mendicant orders

This thesis examines the texts and contexts in which three mendicants at the University of Oxford discussed certain ecclesiological themes in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Although the secular-mendicant disputes at the University of Paris certainly provided a major impetus for the articulation of ideas about both the vita apostolica, as well as the structure of the contemporary Church and its orders, modern scholars have tended to impose certain artificial limitations upon their investigation into the effect of the mendicant orders’ emergence upon the development of ecclesiological thought. Firstly, they have generally limited their examination to the Parisian schools, which bore witness to the fiercest episodes of antifraternal polemic; secondly, they have tended to downplay the role that burgeoning intrafraternal tensions played in the way that ecclesiological concepts continued to be explored and refined. By examining the works of three mendicant theologians associated with the University of Oxford – the Franciscans, Thomas of York and William de la Mare, and the Dominican, Nicholas Trevet – this thesis traces the articulation of mendicant ‘aspects ecclésiologiques’ beyond the antifraternal debates at Paris. In doing so, it begins to illuminate the vitality and originality of much of the ecclesiological thought produced by mendicant theologians during this period.
Behavioural drivers of fertility in red junglefowl Gallus gallus and commercial chicken flocks
Keywords: sexual selection
broiler breeders
sperm competition
Gallus gallus
red junglefowl
chickens
broilers
poultry farming
polyandry
Coolidge effect

The fowl, Gallus gallus, has been used to study sexual behaviour and sexual selection for many years: its combination of reproductive biology that is fairly typical of birds and a polygynandrous mating system makes it an ideal model species for studying the effects of pre- and post- copulatory competition and of conflict between the sexes. There is a large body of research spanning many decades on these processes in domestic chickens and their wild ancestor, the red junglefowl. As well as being an ideal model system, the sexual behaviour and fertility of this species is of great significance to the poultry industry, where the reproductive efficiency of broiler breeders (birds whose commercial purpose is to produce hatching eggs) is a key concern. However, the behaviour of broiler breeders in a commercial setting, and how their behaviour links to fertility, is little understood.
Females of this species are subject to intense sexual harassment, and some behavioural strategies exhibited by females in response to sexual harassment have been described. However, we lack a detailed and systematic understanding of the suite of female responses to sexual harassment, despite these having the potential to significantly affect reproductive success for males and females.
In this thesis, I build on existing knowledge of sexual behaviour and its influence on fertility, with a focus on female responses to sexual coercion and on commercially relevant insights in broiler breeders. I use a mix of approaches, from a theoretical model, to an experiment on a captive population of junglefowl, to translational research in broiler breeders. The findings of this thesis add new detail to our understanding of female resistance against sexual coercion, both in this species and in general, and inform suggestions for husbandry optimisations that could be trialled in broiler breeders.
War and Peace: analysis of the Egyptian presence in the Levant during the 18th dynasty
Keywords: military theory
18th dynasty
Levant
grand strategy

This thesis investigates the establishment of the Egyptian “Empire” in the Levant at the beginning of the Late Bronze Age, and aims at reconstructing the reasons that brought Thutmose III and its successors to conquer and control the region. This reconstruction is based upon an analysis of their military actions, namely their campaigns and the development of a network of installations able to logistically support the army in enemy territory. Given the scattered nature of the sources, written and archaeological evidence are used in concert, and the subject at hand is seen through the new and different perspectives of modern military theory. In this way, there emerges a picture of a complex and calculated Egyptian effort, aimed at developing and controlling a buffer state in the region. In particular, it is argued that the Egyptian efforts appear to have been specifically designed to respond to the socio-political characteristics of each area they entered, and to the mutation of the objectives through time. Such an adaptability has been hitherto unrecognized, and opens new avenues in the study of the Levant under the Egyptian occupation.
Micro-patterns of violence: disaggregating Provisional Irish Republican Army activity, 1969-1979
Keywords: violence studies
Northern Ireland Troubles
Provisional Irish Republican Army

This thesis examines the first ten years of the campaign of political violence that was waged by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) during the Northern Ireland Troubles (c.1969–1998). The primary aim is to understand how and why the PIRA chose to apply violence, and the consequences of these decisions. What is significant about this thesis, is the volume and range of PIRA violence that has been disaggregated and assessed – fatal and non-fatal acts of violence; targeted assassinations that were planned and executed as intended; operations that were stillborn, off-target, or thwarted by the security forces; attacks that maimed or killed unintended targets; and acts that were never intended to and did not cause physical harm to others. The work uncovers a richer account of the relationship between PIRA agency, chance, and the character and consequences of PIRA violence than has hitherto been possible.
The research has involved a detailed investigation of the PIRA’s activity to establish how, when where and why the violence took different forms. The PIRA’s operations have been examined in minute detail to identify and evaluate the significance of various characteristics that are apparent in each stage of the process: its design, execution, outcome, and reception. This has involved first, identifying why the PIRA selected certain targets and tactics, and the extent to which they perpetrated violence with accuracy and discrimination in each scenario. Second, the different outcomes that are produced – directly or indirectly – as a result of PIRA violence (including the material damage, deaths and injuries caused) and the relationship between these outcomes and the actions taken by the perpetrator(s), have been explored. Finally, the thesis considers how and why the armed struggle was perceived in disparate ways by others.
Axonal membrane trafficking regulation and its failure in cargo delivery
Keywords: Rab GTPase
neurodegeneration
axonal transport
synaptic plasticity
mitochondria
PrP
neuromuscular junction
membrane trafficking
mRNA
drosophila
microtubule

Regulation of axonal trafficking of membrane-bound compartments is important for delivery of various neuronal cargoes towards the distal synapses and for quality control of damaged cellular components/toxic proteins. The contribution of Rab GTPase pathways in neurodegenerative pathologies and the regulatory mechanism to replenish various Rab proteins in the axonal periphery remain unclear. In the Encalada lab, we modeled familial prion disease axonopathies in primary murine hippocampal neurons, to determine (1) the biogenesis pathway that forms neurotoxic mutant prion protein (PrPmut) aggregates and (2) the consequences of PrPmut aggregate formation on cytoskeletal-organelle interactions within swollen axons that PrPmut aggregates reside. Firstly, I, and the research team, identified that the small GTPase ARL8 recruits kinesin-1 and HOPS for axonal transport and fusion, respectively, that generates neurotoxic PrPmut aggregates in non-degradative endolysosomes, called ‘endoggresomes.’ This axonal rapid endosomal sorting and transport-dependent aggregation (ARESTA) mechanism forms endoggresomes rapidly, and as a result impair calcium dynamics and neuronal viability. Inhibition of ARESTA reduces axonal endoggresome densities and rescues neuronal dysfunction, providing an anti-aggregation target to ameliorate prionopathies. Secondly, axonal micro-domain analysis of live organelle dynamics within endoggresome sites showed deficits to the MT-based active transport system, that result in enhanced mitochondrial-Rab7 endosomal contacts that induce mitochondrial fission via Rab7 activity and render retained mitochondria dysfunctional. In the Davis lab, I studied post-transcriptional fate of rab GTPase mRNA towards their axonal localization and function at the Drosophila larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ) pre-synapse. I found that a conserved RNA-binding protein Imp and kinesin-1 are required for rab11 mRNA delivery to axon termini and are required for synaptic plasticity and unimpaired locomotory behavior. Furthermore, I detected transcripts of multiple important rab GTPases for endosome recycling at the axonal and glial periphery at the NMJ, uncovering an unorthodox regulatory mechanism of axonal membrane trafficking.
Studies of beam instabilities and associated beam-loss on a high-intensity proton synchroton
Keywords: beam
ISIS
space charge
instability
proton
beam-loss
head-tail
RAL
accelerator

High-intensity hadron accelerators provide beams for many different applications around the world: from high energy particle physics to drivers of spallation neutron sources such as ISIS. These facilities face a common, significant challenge: the control and mitigation of beam-loss, often defining the limit to the beam intensity achievable.
Beam-loss may be driven by many different processes including transitions between accelerators, RF capture and non-linearities in the accelerator’s magnetic lattice. Collective effects, such as space charge and beam instabilities, may also be a major source of beam-loss, particularly in accelerators pushing for higher intensities. The interaction of space charge with beam instabilities is a key topic of current research and development.
The head-tail instability drives beam-loss on a number of high intensity hadron accelerators around the world. Measurements of the instability are shown from the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK. These are shown in normal, Rapid Cycling Synchrotron, operation as well as in a new operating mode: bunched beams stored at injection energy. The new mode is utilised to explore the instability on ISIS systematically, with a simplified experimental setup for comparison with established theory, as a function of the vertical betatron tune and the vertical beam size.
Particle-in-cell tracking simulations of ISIS in the new operating mode are performed, varying the associated beam and accelerator parameters, and the results compared to observed instability characteristics. Further simulations include a self-consistent model of the beam’s transverse space charge field, allowing analyses of its effect on the instability characteristics.
Experimental and simulation results are compared with predictions derived from a well established theory of head-tail dynamics which does not include the effects of space charge. Recent theories including these effects are summarised and the results discussed in the light of those theories.
Key agreements and discrepancies between experiment, simulation and theory are presented together with directions for future research. Finally, the impact of this research on the operation of current and future high intensity hadron accelerators is discussed with particular focus on current ISIS operations.
Towards a new theory of reparative justice under authoritarian states


Keywords: responsibilities
authority
citizenship
injustices
authoritarianism

Injustices are ubiquitous throughout countries governed by authoritarian states, given their fundamentally anti-plural and anti-liberal nature, and unchecked executive powers. Such injustices, ranging from the murder and suppression of dissidents, targeted ostracisation of citizens, the exploitation of resources and land confiscation, to the perpetration of deeply unjust social hierarchies, often leave substantial devastation in their wake. The task of repairing such injustices is likely to impose substantial costs on populations under such states. On what grounds, and by what parameters should such responsibilities of reparative justice be assigned to individual citizens - especially if culpable state actors do not take up such responsibilities?
Existing accounts for reparative justice and citizens’ responsibilities for state injustices tend to suffer from a number of issues when applied to authoritarian contexts. First, some are exclusively centered around liberal democratic contexts. Second, most fail to fine-grain and conceptualise comprehensively the limits to agency of individual citizens. Third, even accounts that purportedly advance non-blame-centric conceptions of moral responsibility, strain to articulate why citizens residing under highly coercive and radically uncertain circumstances ought to be held responsible.
Drawing upon robust empirics on authoritarian regimes, this thesis advances the view that authorisers of states in relation to state-perpetrated injustices are responsible for repairing injustices, on grounds that they have either subjectively avowed voluntary uptake of responsibilities qua authorisers of their state, or objectively authorised their state via being capable of influencing or benefiting from state policies and their outcomes.
Reparative justice calls for compensation, opposition, apology and commemoration for injustices, as well as fundamental reforms to faulty institutions. As compared with other surveyed accounts anchored in concepts of moral liability and blameworthiness, collective responsibility, complicity, structural injustice, and intentional citizenship, this account is demonstrably more descriptively accurate, explanatorily precise, and compatible with our broader normative commitments.
Mortality inequality and its implications for retirees
Keywords: retirement
aging
social stratification
demography
inequality
life course
mortality

This thesis presents four studies on mortality inequality which advance the knowledge of how lifespans differ across social groups and the implications for retirees. The first two studies are based on the concept of distributional differences and propose new methods to study mortality inequality. Specifically, Chapter 2 introduces a statistical distance index to capture the stratification of lifespans among social groups. Empirical evidence from Finland demonstrates its utility and reveals new dimensions of mortality inequalities that traditional measures obscure. Chapter 3 proposes a novel method for investigating the factors that contribute to total lifespan inequality. It finds that in the United States, while racial/ethnic differences in life expectancy contribute little to total-population-level lifespan variance, distributional differences across race/ethnicity explain one fifth of the total lifespan variance. The next two studies explore the implications of mortality inequalities for retirees. Chapter 4 models dynamic work trajectories of older US adults and presents major results of gender and educational inequalities in the United States. It shows that less-educated older adults spent less time working, which compensates for their lower longevity when compared to their more-educated counterparts. Nonetheless, educational inequality in retirement lifespan is substantial and persistent. Chapter 5 looks at how education and preretirement earnings relate to lifetime pensions from age 60 onward, as well as how mortality affects the distribution of lifetime pensions in Sweden. The results show that the greater longevity of socially advantaged groups accounts for up to one quarter of lifetime pension inequality. Chapters 4 and 5 both highlight the importance of social differences in mortality and advocate for greater emphasis on the role of mortality in high-level discussions on old-age policies.
Harry A. Williams beyond Soundings: finding God through self-awareness and doubt
Keywords: Harry A. Williams CR (1919-2006)
20th century Anglican theology

This thesis examines the life and work of Harry Abbot Williams, CR (1919-2006), an Anglican priest and theologian, who was one of the most well-known Church of England clergymen of his time, exerting an influence well beyond the Church. His life was marked by a deep struggle of conflicting claims and tensions and his writings are infused with a profound psychological sense lending to them a compelling impact.
As a homosexual priest initially suppressing his sexual orientation, Williams suffered a mental breakdown which triggered feelings of profound guilt, disapproval and mental paralysis. This experience was for him pivotal; his public admission of homosexuality in his autobiography published in 1982 was one of the first examples of a prominent Anglican clergyman coming out.
There is at present no monograph or critical study of the life and work of Williams, although he was frequently seen as one of the most popular, attractive and persuasive writers on personal religion in contemporary England. The thesis thus aims at an original contribution bridging a gap in an under-researched chapter of the history of 20th century Anglican theology.
The main argument of the thesis is that in a situation where, until the 1960s, academic discourse especially in theology was frequently dominated by an underlying conservatism, Williams and his contemporaries played a central role in defining the radical movement in the Church of England. They contributed significantly to the cultural revolution experienced in 1960s Britain: in the field of Anglican theology, a radically alternative framework for understanding Christianity and the contemporary world was being established, which refused to equate Christianity with conventional respectability.
Understanding the role of PRMT5 in neuroblastoma
Keywords: PRMT5
cancer
neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma (NB) is a deadly childhood cancer that has an orphan disease status, and the most malignant forms of the tumours have MYCN amplification. There is significant unmet medical need and urgency to develop new treatments for high-risk NB patients, as clinical research on rare diseases of children is very challenging. We revealed that higher PRMT5, MYCN, and E2F1 levels are poor prognostic factors in NB according to their Kaplan-Meier survival plots and then we hypothesized that PRMT5-E2F1-MYCN pathway might have potential prognostic value in NB. We characterized NB cell lines in terms of sensitivity to the PRMT5 inhibition by using genomic and transcriptomic assays in order to gain better insight into the underlying molecular mechanism of sensitivity to PRMT5 inhibition. We used T1-44 compound to inhibit PRMT5 biochemically. We found that MYCN amplified NB cancer cells were significantly more sensitive to the PRMT5 inhibition (p <0.0062) and T1-44 treatment induced higher number of differentially expressed and alternatively spliced events in the high E2F1/MYCN expressing cell line when compared with the low E2F1/MYCN expressing cell line. We characterized differentially spliced apoptotic genes upon 200 nM treatment with T1-44 for 72 hours as these genes might have a functional impact on cell fate, we found that T1-44 induced differential splicing of apoptosis genes BCL2L11 and CDK10 in MYCN amplified compared with non-MYCN amplified NB cells. Our results highlight the role of the PRMT5, E2F1, and MYCN axis in the alternative splicing pathway and its clinical relevance in MYCN amplified NB patients. MYCN amplification is observed in many other cancer types beyond NB. Therefore, we believe that our findings will also contribute to the targeted therapy efforts in other cancer types as well.