VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Overcoming immunity: the impact of domestic court decisions on the enforcement of the fair trial obligations of international organisations
Keywords: fair trial rights
domestic courts
international organisations' immunities

This thesis examines whether decisions of domestic courts in cases involving International Organisations (IOs) have the effect of enforcing, i.e., promoting compliance by IOs with, their obligation to ensure fair trial rights to individuals. This results in turn in the increased adjudication and enforcement of the responsibility of IOs for the breach of their legal obligations.
The thesis establishes firstly that IOs bear obligations under international law to ensure fair trial rights to private persons affected by their conduct. Secondly, it considers whether (a) the practice of domestic and international courts and tribunals or (b) the application of a different rule of international law renders the denial of immunity to IOs and the exercise of jurisdiction by domestic courts in claims against IOs lawful in situations where individuals’ fair trial rights are not ensured. Thirdly, assuming that there is no lawful basis for domestic courts to deny immunity to IOs in instances where the claimant’s fair trial rights are not upheld, the thesis considers whether the decisions of domestic courts trigger reactions from States and IOs that result in IOs complying with their fair trial obligations.
The thesis makes two claims — (a) that the practice of domestic and international courts has not resulted in the immunity of IOs before domestic courts becoming subject to the satisfaction of the claimant’s fair trial rights and that the application of the rules allowing for the suspension of treaty obligations on account of material breach and countermeasures constitute plausibly but not conclusively lawful means for denying immunity to IOs in situations where the claimant’s fair trial rights have not been ensured; and (b) that even if there are no means to lawfully deny immunity to IOs due to the violation of the claimant’s fair trial rights, the decisions of domestic courts in claims against IOs, including those that deny immunity to IOs and also those that do not deny immunity, but signal to States and IOs that IOs’ fair trial obligations must be fulfilled, have the effect of triggering reactions from States and IOs that result in IOs incrementally complying with their fair trial right obligations.
Understanding macro developments in environmental public opinion
Keywords: media effects
environment
protest
agenda-setting
public opinion
climate change

This thesis examines macro developments in environmental public opinion to not only discern the patterns and driving factors of these changes, but to also investigate the potential consequences of such. Given the lack of climate opinion data, it first examines existing temporal measures of cross-national climate concern, and how well these align across survey organisations. As the attention given to the environment by the public has fluctuated over time, a British-focused investigation then examines how monthly changes in public salience between 2006-2019 may be linked to agenda-setting forces including media coverage, parliamentary debate, environmental protest, as well as other exogenous factors. Considering the surge in green party support in the 2021 German elections, this theoretical approach is then extended to examine changing green support in Germany between 1994-2019.
Findings show that cross-national metrics of climate opinion do not always align, highlighting issues with relying on a single survey to establish cross-national differences. They also indicate that the global public have become more climate conscious, that is they increasingly recognise the seriousness of climate change as a problem, with this now at its highest ever level. Both British and German analyses find that protest activity is important in understanding environmental public opinion dynamics; protest can be predicted by public attention levels, but in turn, is successful in increasing broader environmental salience. The British analysis additionally suggests media coverage moves in response to public attention rather than the reciprocal, and that public attention may drop following heightened political attention. Relatedly, in Germany media is also not predictive of green support. Levels of public attention to the environment were previously predictive of changes in party support, however, this is no longer the case. Instead, monthly changes in the perceived importance of the environment to the public are occurring after changes in green support. These findings provide important insight into shifting opinion on a global phenomenon with geopolitical significance.
The mysticism of human communion: the theological writings of Mother Maria Skobtsova (1891-1945)
Keywords: Russian religious thought
Mother Maria Skobtsova
modern Orthodox theology

This thesis will provide a critical exposition of the theological writings of Mother Maria Skobtsova (1891-1945). It will highlight two over-arching themes in her work. The first is a focus on the human in her theological vision. Secondly, and related to this, is a desire to maintain ‘wholeness’; to strive towards a unity between the divine and the human principles, and to balance various dualities such as the individual and community, or the church and the world. This thesis will suggest that the key to understanding these themes is a recognition of the place of sacrifice in Skobtsova’s work. In order to do this, Chapter 1 will provide important biographical context for this understudied figure, contextualising some of her key theological essays against her biography. Chapter 2 will highlight the place of Russia in Skobtsova’s thought. It will explore the impact of Russian religious thought on Skobtsova’s theology (especially Aleksei Khomiakov and Vladimir Soloviev), the notion of Russia as the ‘third Rome’, and key concepts such as Godmanhood and sobornost’. It will also highlight the impact of emigration on Skobtsova’s thought. The Chapter 3 will focus on one of Skobtsova’s earliest theological works, entitled ‘Zhatva Dukha [Harvest of the Spirit]’. Chapter 4 will look at Skobtsova’s ascetic theology and highlight her understanding of ‘the world’ in ascetic literature. Chapter 5 will note the centrality of the ‘mysticism of human communion’ for Skobtsova’s theological system, and her understanding of the ascetical practice of human encounter. Chapter 6 will look at her writings on social theory and politics, thinking especially about how she judges social theory against her desire to love the neighbour and strive towards ideological synthesis. The conclusion of this thesis will gather together these themes and draw out the place of sacrifice in Skobtsova’s theology.
A Kunkel-inspired approach to create light-activated plasmids
Keywords: T7 promoter
biotin
nucleic acids
light
streptavidin
UV
plasmids
photoactivation
CMV promoter

Plasmids are circular double-stranded DNA and have been the workhorse of molecular biology. They can also be adopted by more complex organisms to influence how their cells behave. Importantly, this means they can be leveraged to study intricate molecular networks, and gene-function relationships, and hold promise as therapeutic devices. Thus, the ability to deliver and control their activity will not only advance their utility in research fields such as developmental and molecular biology but also expedite their translation to clinical settings. In this regard, light is a convenient stimulus as it is non-invasive, and its properties and application can be adjusted to minimise cellular damage. However, examples of light-controlled plasmid are limited, with the majority displaying poor light-dependent activation, or necessitating specific sequences that limit their use. This thesis outlines the development of a general strategy to deliver light-activated plasmids. This approach relied on photoblocking groups placed at the promoter, which could be removed in response to UV light. This strategy was used to control two ubiquitous bacterial and mammalian promoters. Cell-free reactions with the T7 promoter could be tightly repressed until the UV stimulus was applied. Likewise, light-regulated transcription and translation from the CMV promoter were also demonstrated in mammalian cells, although the photomodulation efficiency was more modest. However, this strategy failed to work on the tac and Sp6 promoters, which is likely due to the difference in binding interactions between the promoter and their cognate RNA polymerase partner. Thus, although this strategy worked well for the T7 promoter in cell-free reactions, the promoter dependency would mean that optimisation is required when the strategy is adopted to photocage alternative promoters. Furthermore, an outstanding challenge needs to be overcome before plasmids can be used for therapy: the inefficient delivery of large negatively charged molecules into cells. Initial studies in this regard were made, and suggestions to enable plasmid delivery were outlined. Unlike previous examples, this technology has the potential to be sequence agnostic, meaning it could be adaptable to any plasmid, greatly expanding its scope.
Essays in information economics
Keywords: information
incentives
disclosure
networks
reputation

This thesis collects three papers which study settings of imperfect information transmission. In "Strategic Information Release on a Communication Network", we study the problem of a sender who seeds a network with information, knowing that as the information spreads, it will acquire noise due to the 'broken telephone' effect. In "Noisy Disclosure", we also study communication via a noisy channel, and analyse the disclosure problem of a sender who can send a verifiable message about the state of the world, which may be corrupted by noise before reaching a receiver. In "Reputational Incentives with Networked Customers", we study networked learning for customers in a setting in which customers can observe only the reviews written by their neighbours on a network, and a firm can engage in non-contractible effort when serving customers to increase the probability of good reviews. In the first two papers, we show that a sender looking to influence the behaviour of decision makers can attempt to overcome noise in transmission by seeding the most central receiver on a network, or by failing to disclose their private information with positive probability. In the final paper, we show that restricting the ability of customers to observe only their neighbours' reviews may be welfare improving, if doing so means a firm must exert more effort to build a good reputation. Our results have important implications for consumer welfare: for example; mandatory disclosure policies for firms may be harmful if communication is noisy, while making it easier for customers to access a firm's past reviews may mean a firm with a good reputation does not exert as much effort for customers.
Moduli spaces of compact RCD structures
Keywords: measure theory
topology
mathematics
geometry
Riemannian
Ricci

This thesis investigates RCD spaces, which are metric measure spaces with Ricci curvature bounded below and dimension bounded above in a synthetic sense. We introduce moduli spaces of compact RCD structures and study their topology. In particular, we discuss the results obtained in [MN22] (written in collaboration with Andrea Mondino) and [Nav22].
In Chapter 2, we present the primary tools we use in the thesis. We recall Gromov–Hausdorff type topologies and RCD spaces with their covering and moduli spaces. The main contributions of this chapter are the equivariant measured Gromov–Hausdorff topology and the equivariant theorem (both obtained in [MN22]).
In Chapter 3, we focus on the case of nonnegative curvature. In particular, we obtain topological invariants of RCD(0,N) spaces using the splitting theorem. In addition, we introduce the Albanese and soul maps and prove their continuity. This last result is the most technical part of the chapter and was obtained in [MN22]. Finally, we use the Albanese map to construct examples of moduli spaces with non-trivial higher homotopy groups in every dimension N ≥ 3.
Chapter 4 is devoted to nonnegative curvature in dimension 2 and discusses the results of [Nav22]. We obtain a classification (up to homeomorphism) of the topological spaces that admit an RCD(0, 2) structure. For every space appearing in the classification, we compute the homeomorphism type of the moduli space of RCD(0, 2) structures and show that it is contractible.
Finally, in Chapter 5, we apply Ricci flow techniques to study moduli spaces of RCD(−1, 2) structures. In particular, we show that if a space has a negative Euler characteristic, then its moduli space of RCD(−1, 2) structures is homotopy equivalent to its moduli space of hyperbolic metrics.
Catalytic asymmetric approaches to nitrogen-containing bicycles
Keywords: nitrogen-containing bicylic alkaloids
asymmetric catalysis
cross-coupling
organic chemistry

In this thesis, we report a series of asymmetric rhodium-catalysed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions between nitrogen-containing bicycles and boron species. High stereoselectivity was observed on nortropane derivatised allyl chloride, while the reaction with quinuclidine species requires further optimisations.
In Chapter 1, we summarise recent development of catalytic asymmetric Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions on cyclic products, specifically with rhodium catalysis with the establishment of multiple stereogenic centres. Next, the advancements in catalytic asymmetric synthesis of nitrogen-containing cyclic molecules by cross-coupling reactions were highlighted in the second section. Furthermore, an introduction was given on different types of asymmetric reactions, including Kinetic Resolution (KR), Dynamic Kinetic Resolution (DKR), and Dynamic Kinetic Asymmetric Transformation (DyKAT).
In Chapter 2, we present a highly enantio- and diastereoselective asymmetric Rh-catalysed Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of racemic nortropane-derived allylic chloride with aryl- and heteroaryl boronic pinacol esters. The reactions proceeded via a kinetic resolution process to afford highly enantioenriched bicyclic products and enantiopure allylic chloride. This method was applied in the first catalytic asymmetric synthesis of an intermediate of YZJ-1139(1), a potential insomnia treatment which completed Phase II trials. Further synthetic utility of enantiopure allyl chloride was demonstrated by highly enantiospecific SN2' reactions with N-, O-, and S-containing nucleophiles.
In Chapter 3, we investigated the asymmetric Rh-catalysed arylation reactions between dehydroquinuclidine-derived substrates and aryl boronic acids. Various substrates including dehydroquinuclidine, its N-oxide derivative, and its nitrogen-borane complex were synthesised and tested subject to different conditions under rhodium-catalysis. The substrate exhibited reactivity and stereoselectivity but required further optimisations.
Life on the ground: the behavioural ecology of risk and terrestriality in primates
Keywords: predation risk
terrestriality
primate behaviour
behavioural evolution
circadian activity patterns
behavioural ecology
human evolution
primate evolution

The spread of predation risk across an environment creates a “landscape of fear” that acts as a significant driver of behaviour and evolution in prey species. This thesis explores primates’ landscapes of fear, with a particular focus on the relationship between perceived risk, substrate use, and the evolution of primate – including human – locomotion. Chapter One provides an introduction and overview of the landscape of fear concept, how it might have featured in the paleoenvironments of early hominins, and how it is studied in extant primates. Chapter Two presents a quasiexperimental study of risk perception in baboons in Gorongosa, Mozambique. In this study, habituation by human observers is used to document relationships between perceived risk of humans, mediating environmental variables, and behavioural correlates in two baboon troops. The results demonstrate that behaviours indicative of perceived risk – vocalisations and vigilance – decline throughout habituation and are mediated by habitat structure and time of day. There is also a negative relationship between these behaviours and baboons’ use of the ground. Chapters Three and Four explore this relationship between risk and ground-use at broader scales and using the presence of carnivores, rather than humans, as indicators of risk. In Chapter Three, camera trap data provides insight into the effects of ecology, season, and risk on the terrestrial activity patterns of two neighbouring baboon populations in Mozambique. The results illustrate that seasonality influences baboons’ use of the ground, and suggest that circadian patterns in terrestrial activity are sensitive to predator abundance or species in a landscape. Chapter Four investigates these dynamics at an even broader scale, comparing carnivore and baboon activity across 10 different sites in eastern and southern Africa. Results from this chapter indicate that loss of carnivore diversity – and particularly the absence of leopards – releases restrictions on baboon terrestriality, facilitating their use of the ground during crepuscular and nocturnal hours. Finally, Chapter Five returns to an evolutionary perspective with a review of the origins of hominin locomotion and the emergence of primate terrestriality. This chapter emphasises the value of integrating paleontological research with insights from behavioural ecology to generate more nuanced understandings and hypotheses about the environments that have shaped human evolution.
Donor efforts to support public sector reform and the 'Second Orthodoxy' in Mozambique and Uganda
Keywords: political economy
locally led
inclusive development
governance
public sector reform
Africa
politically smart
foreign aid

Responding to the failures of the ‘good governance’ agenda in the post-Cold War period, development scholars and practitioners have been advancing approaches that might better contribute to establishing stronger institutions in Africa. Sometimes referred to as the ‘second orthodoxy’ in donor practice, these models aim to take the politics of African contexts seriously and adapt to the realities of the institutional contexts in which they are applied. Despite widespread acceptance of the need for more ‘politically sensitive’ development practice, there remain questions about how such models work in practice and whether they lead to more effective development programming. For instance, by forwarding an approach that works ‘with the grain’ of prevailing political economies, do such models risk simply reinforcing the status quo in terms of how power and resources are distributed? This thesis examines the application of ‘second orthodoxy’ methods in efforts to support public sector reform in two UKAid-funded development programmes. The first is a public financial management technical assistance programme in Uganda: the Budget Strengthening Initiative (BSI). The second is an economic empowerment programme for young urban women in Mozambique (MUVA); the research focuses on its efforts to promote the adoption of gender policy in the education and social protection sectors. Through qualitative within-case analysis, the research seeks to gain a clearer picture of how the ‘second orthodoxy’ is being applied in practice, and both the intended and unintended effects it produces in aid programmes.
The findings of this thesis demonstrate the potential of second orthodoxy practices that are more sensitive to the realities of local contexts. In the case of the MUVA programme, the thesis also demonstrates that the pull towards standardisation within the aid bureaucracy can come into tension with the requirement to be context-sensitive and responsive. Ultimately, however, it is local political realities themselves that stand as the main enabler of, or barrier to, public sector reform. The thesis demonstrates, conceptually and empirically, that the successful application of second orthodoxy practices is dependent on a conducive political environment already being in place. When such conditions are not favourable, the thesis points towards the risks and challenges associated with practices that involve aligning with local contextual realities. In an evolving field of practice, the findings indicate that both the contextual risks and conditions for success would benefit from further attention in future practice development and research on the second orthodoxy.
Empirical and modelling approaches to the psychology of musical awe
Keywords: awe
sublime
musical awe

The experience of awe is one that we may all recognise, the feeling of being overwhelmed by a great force and often inspired from its presence. Research from various disciplines has recently taken an interest in understanding and explaining this phenomenon through psychological models guided by the extensive philosophical discourse on the sublime. This research project, through its seven studies, takes some of the first steps to validate and test these psychological models through participant-based experiences of awe evoked from music, known as ‘musical awe’. Studies 1 and 2 examined first-hand accounts of musical awe, and found commonalities in experiences, associated judgements, and emotional sentiments through a mixed methods approach. Studies 3, 4, and 5 used the Musical Awe Corpus (MAC)—a collection of music excerpts from experiences of musical awe in Study 1—to examine shared musical associations and categorical groupings through online psychometric scale experiments. Study 6 investigated the relationship between judgements of size and associations of musical awe through a time-series, virtual object manipulation task. Lastly, Study 7 used music information retrieval techniques to extract and analyse musical features from the MAC to assess which features are prevalent and important to awe-associate music. Taken together, the findings of these studies advance a general characterisation of musical awe as an emotional phenomenon best understood as shared between two valenced-differentiated groups. The more common group is associated with positive valence and emotions of joy and wonder, whilst the other group is associated with threat and fear. However, both groups of musical awe show strong associations with size and power. Sonically, awe-related music, especially the negative valenced group, can be characterised by high levels of brightness, roughness, and extensive changes in spectral qualities. In conclusion, these studies largely support much of the theoretical grounding concerning the production and occurrence of awe, and from these findings, a novel empirically driven model was created to expand and improve our understanding of musical awe.