VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Counsel amidst uncertainty: conceptual traditions of consilium and their medieval adaptations, c. 1150 – c. 1270
Keywords: medieval
deliberation
preaching
spiritual counsel
advice
political languages

This thesis examines conceptions of counsel (consilium) within the broader intellectual milieu of England and France from c. 1150 to c. 1270. In all its forms, counsel functioned as a means of mitigating life’s uncertainties and contingencies, but consilium was also a multifaceted concept, encompassing multiple positions between in-process deliberation and settled plan, individual and multilateral involvement, and divine and human insight. The very unity of its terminology enabled the influence of one type of counsel to be readily felt upon others: divine counsel had implications for human counsel, private deliberation for public debate. Understanding how consilium is utilised in this period therefore requires engagement with a broad range of contemporary sources.
Investigating consilium on both sides of the Channel grounds this inquiry in the broader intellectual culture influencing both English and French schools and political courts, while the specified period encompasses important intellectual and societal changes such as the development of canon law and the rise of the universities and mendicant orders. By this period, conceptions of consilium were being drawn from a variety of overlapping discourses, both longstanding and more recently emerging. The language of counsel was therefore derived from a wide spectrum of sources from diverse genres, including theology, philosophy, law, rhetoric, and historiography, all of which contributed to the contemporary definition and limits of counsel. Through an examination of the works of contemporary writers and the authorities upon which they frequently relied, this thesis teases out the various facets of consilium– dealing in successive chapters with key elements of spiritual, deliberative, moral, rhetorical, and political counsel – while recognising that these facets often bled into one another in contemporary usage. The language and associations with which consilium was surrounded could be deployed in both intellectual and political contexts to support a diversity of models of ‘good counsel’.
Quantum computing using native interaction in superconducting circuits
Keywords: error mitigation
quantum control
nuclear magnetic resonance
superconducting qubit
quantum algorithm
Hamiltonian engineering

Superconducting circuits form one of the most promising hardware platforms for building a quantum computer. As the quantum computing system gets more complex as we increase the size, employing simple circuit designs and control strategies can make the task of building a large scale quantum computer easier.
This thesis describes a novel control strategy that utilises spin-echo techniques and native interaction in superconducting circuits, which reduces the cost of calibrating pulsed two-qubit gates. Spin-echo pulses are used to rescale the always-on Hamiltonian, and the timings of spin-echo pulses encode the effective coupling strengths. In collaboration with the NMR group in Oxford, two methods for scaling this technique to large numbers of qubits were explored. In the first approach, pulse sequences for an all-to-all coupled system are obtained numerically using linear programming, and it finds the time-optimal solution for up to twenty qubits and the near time-optimal solution for up to hundreds of qubits. Another approach based on graph colouring finds the near time-optimal pulse sequence analytically, allowing pulse sequences for any number of qubits. An idea based on the Hamiltonian rescaling technique was applied to implementing the variational quantum eigensolver algorithm and error mitigation on two superconducting qubits. In contrast to previous studies, the residual dispersive coupling between qubits was used for computation instead of regarding it as a source of error.
Lastly, the detailed dynamics of the residual dispersive coupling in superconducting circuits were investigated to predict the practicality of spin-echo-based quantum computing on superconducting circuits. The Hamiltonian rescaling protocol assumes the always-on coupling to be diagonal, such as Ising Hamiltonian, but deviation from the pure Ising interaction was observed in the strongly coupled superconducting qubits. The origin of the deviation was identified analytically, and the circuit design criteria to suppress the deviation are presented.
Optimisation for efficient deep learning
Keywords: deep learning
machines learning
optimisation
neural network

Over the past 10 years there has been a huge advance in the performance power of deep neural networks on many supervised learning tasks. Over this period these models have redefined the state of the art numerous times on many classic machine vision and natural language processing benchmarks. Deep neural networks have also found their way into many real-world applications including chat bots, art generation, voice activated virtual assistants, surveillance, and medical diagnosis systems. Much of the improved performance of these models can be attributed to an increase in scale, which in turn has raised computation and energy costs.
In this thesis we detail approaches of how to reduce the cost of deploying deep neural networks in various settings. We first focus on training efficiency, and to that end we present two optimisation techniques that produce high accuracy models without extensive tuning. These optimisers only have a single fixed maximal step size hyperparameter to cross-validate and we demonstrate that they outperform other comparable methods in a wide range of settings. These approaches do not require the onerous process of finding a good learning rate schedule, which often requires training many versions of the same network, hence they reduce the computation needed. The first of these optimisers is a novel bundle method designed for the interpolation setting. The second demonstrates the effectiveness of a Polyak-like step size in combination with an online estimate of the optimal loss value in the non-interpolating setting.
Next, we turn our attention to training efficient binary networks with both binary parameters and activations. With the right implementation, fully binary networks are highly efficient at inference time, as they can replace the majority of operations with cheaper bit-wise alternatives. This makes them well suited for lightweight or embedded applications. Due to the discrete nature of these models conventional training approaches are not viable. We present a simple and effective alternative to the existing optimisation techniques for these models.
Multimodal assessment of neonatal pain
Keywords: EEG
pain
neonatal

Pain assessment is critical to prevent suffering and harm in infants admitted to the neonatal care unit. As pain is a subjective experience, its assessment in nonverbal infants relies on surrogate measures. Current infant pain assessment tools that are based on behaviour and autonomic nervous system measurements lack face validity — they are unlikely to reflect pain in all its dimensions. In recent years, EEG-derived measures of pain have been developed in late preterm and term infants. Multimodal tools which include these cerebral measurements are conceptually more appropriate to measure pain. Yet, their use is still limited to specific research applications. This thesis focuses on outstanding questions that need to be addressed in order to advance the development of multimodal pain assessment tools that incorporate cerebral measurements.
In the first part of this thesis, I focus on the characterisation of preterm infants’ noxious-evoked responses and their development. Across several modalities, premature infants have dampened or altered responsiveness compared to term infants, and it is uncertain if these responses can be reliably discriminated from tactile-evoked responses. In particular, a discriminative pattern of noxious-evoked EEG activity that is present in term infants, is unlikely to be present in preterm infants. In addition, it is unclear how noxious-evoked responses, especially brainderived responses, change with age. In this thesis, I use a classification model to show that infants aged 28–40 weeks postmenstrual age display discriminable multimodal responses to a noxious clinical procedure and a tactile control procedure, and I provide examples of how a such a model could be used in clinical trials of analgesics. I show that noxious-evoked responses change magnitude and morphology across this age range, and that discriminative brain activity emerges in early prematurity. In the second part of this thesis, I focus on improving the neuroscientific validity of a noxious-evoked EEG response measured at the cot-side, as the spatial neural correlates of these responses are still poorly understood. I present an EEG-fMRI pilot study to investigate the spatial neural correlates of inter-individual differences in noxious-evoked EEG responses and provide recommendations for a larger follow-up study.
Overall, this thesis provides a characterisation of infants’ noxious-evoked responses and their development across multiple modalities, a crucial next step in improving multimodal neonatal pain assessment.
Quantitative proteomics to unravel NLRP3 inflammasome biology
Keywords: APEX2 proximity labelling mass spectrometry
NLRP3 inflammasome
co-fractionation mass spectrometry
deep proteomics
di-Gly ubiquitomics

Inflammasomes are multi-protein complexes that serve as critical sensors to fend off pathogens and resolve aberrant cellular physiology. The NOD-, LRR-, and Pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome can detect a wide range of stimuli, including pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs), and homeostasis-altering molecular processes (HAMPs). It drives the production of pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1β (IL-1β) through the caspase-1 dependent signalling pathway. Despite extensive studies, no consensus model for the activation mechanism exists. Thus, systematic interrogation of NLRP3 inflammasome activation is highly desirable. Emerging mass spectrometry (MS) methodologies and proteomics have enabled the comprehensive mapping of intracellular protein networks. In this thesis, multiple MS-based strategies have been utilised to examine the global perturbation during NLRP3 inflammasome priming and activation. Using multiplexed TMT-based proteomics and di-Gly ubiquitomics, we presented a high-resolution map of proteome and ubiquitome profiles in THP-1 cells in response to NLRP3 activators. Through the combination of co-fractionation mass spectrometry (CF-MS) and machine learning algorithms, we elucidated the spatial and subcellular proteomic changes during the NLRP3 inflammasome activation process. We observe substantial relocalisation of the complex upon stimulation. Furthermore, utilising the APEX2 proximity labelling (PL)-MS approach, we spatiotemporally characterized the “proximity proteome (also known as proximitome)” of the NLRP3 inflammasome. Combined with RNAi screening, two NLRP3-interacting proteins, USP10 and UCHL1, were identified and validated as essential regulators for NLRP3 activation downstream of potassium efflux. Collectively, the MS-based approaches, including multiplexed proteomics, di-Gly ubiquitomics, CF-MS, and APEX2 PL-MS, enable a comprehensive understanding of the NLRP3 inflammasome activation process. These new insights into the underlying mechanism provide potential novel therapeutic targets, which may ultimately lead to treatments for NLRP3-associated diseases.
Bicategorical aspects of topological quantum computation
Keywords: ZX-calculus
anyon
topological quantum computation
categorical quantum mechanics
bicategory

Topological quantum computation offers a paradigm shift for fault-tolerant quantum computation. It proposes encoding qubits in the mutual states of quasiparticles (called anyons) of 2-dimensional topologically ordered matter. Unitary ribbon fusion categories describe the algebraic theory of anyons. Although the category of an anyonic theory specifies suitable computational spaces, qubits, and quantum gates, it does not precisely formalise the category of topological quantum computation (TQC). We describe the TQC category using the elements of categorical quantum mechanics (CQM). Given the qubit-based graphical calculus accompanying CQM, called the ZX-calculus, we present the details of the ZX-representation of Fibonacci and Ising anyons. Finally, we propose a bicategorical approach to convene anyonic theory and TQC in one (bi)category.
In the second part of the thesis, we discuss how the bicategory of module categories formalises boundary types and their excitations. We show theorems that reduce the data to physically meaningful data. A 2-category capable of describing topological quantum computation with point-like and string-like excitations is speculated to be a fusion 2-category. We discuss the available definition in the literature. The paper particularly lacks a rigorous definition for additive 2-categories; in this thesis, we give a definition. We propose the idea of typing higher-ranked matrices in additive 2-categories. Lastly, we overview the complete definition of monoidal 2-categories and recover Kapranov and Voevodsky's definition from the algebraic definition of tricategory by Gurski. This definition and the detailed list of data are the complete ingredients physicists need for quantum computation with higher dimensional excitations.
Growing old in Byzantium: the construction of ageing in twelfth-century literary and visual culture
Keywords: Byzantium
age
literature
ageing
visual culture

Byzantium in the twelfth century was a society in which diverse images of the elderly existed simultaneously. This thesis analyses the multiple meanings of growing old in this period of Byzantine history, painting a nuanced picture of the ideas and associations that underpinned the many conflicting representations of ageing. The results of this study shed some light on the cultural significance of growing old, and on the role of age in the construction of Byzantine identity more generally.
To this date there has been relatively little scholarship on age in Byzantium, and much of this scholarship has tended to focus on the earlier part of the life course. This thesis focuses exclusively on representations of ageing and the elderly in the literary and visual culture of twelfth-century Byzantium. It utilises a range of Greek textual sources, including historiography, hagiography, fictional literature, occasional poems and verse epigrams, together with visual evidence in the form of religious icons, monumental art and manuscript illumination. The various age motifs are examined and situated within broader trends in contemporary discourse. The intended outcome of the thesis is thus the production of what might be termed a ‘thick description’ of old age in Byzantium. By interpreting the images of old age ’thickly’, the findings of the thesis contribute towards a deeper understanding of the cultural significance of ageing. From the evidence presented, it is suggested that in twelfth-century Byzantium growing old was a relative concept whose meaning was subject to the context in which it was depicted. Defined chiefly through contrast with youth, the imagery of old age represented a potent and emotive poetic tool, deployed in contemporary literature and art to convey a range of meanings.
Receding-horizon motion planning of quadrupedal robot locomotion
Keywords: kinodynamic planning
numerical optimization
behaviour cloning
quadrupedal robots

Quadrupedal robots are designed to offer efficient and robust mobility on uneven terrain. This thesis investigates combining numerical optimization and machine learning methods to achieve interpretable kinodynamic planning of natural and agile locomotion.
The proposed algorithm, called Receding-Horizon Experience-Controlled Adaptive Legged Locomotion (RHECALL), uses nonlinear programming (NLP) with learned initialization to produce long-horizon, high-fidelity, terrain-aware, whole-body trajectories. RHECALL has been implemented and validated on the ANYbotics ANYmal B and C quadrupeds on complex terrain.
The proposed optimal control problem formulation uses the single-rigid-body dynamics (SRBD) model and adopts a direct collocation transcription method which enables the discovery of aperiodic contact sequences. To generate reliable trajectories, we propose fast-to-compute analytical costs that leverage the discretization and terrain-dependent kinematic constraints.
To extend the formulation to receding-horizon planning, we propose a segmentation approach with asynchronous centre of mass (COM) and end-effector timings and a heuristic initialization scheme which reuses the previous solution. We integrate real-time 2.5D perception data for online foothold selection. Additionally, we demonstrate that a learned stability criterion can be incorporated into the planning framework.
To accelerate the convergence of the NLP solver to locally optimal solutions, we propose data-driven initialization schemes trained using supervised and unsupervised behaviour cloning. We demonstrate the computational advantage of the schemes and the ability to leverage latent space to reconstruct dynamic segments of plans which are several seconds long.
Finally, in order to apply RHECALL to quadrupeds with significant leg inertias, we derive the more accurate lump leg single-rigid-body dynamics (LL-SRBD) and centroidal dynamics (CD) models and their first-order partial derivatives. To facilitate intuitive usage of costs, constraints and initializations, we parameterize these models by Euclidean-space variables. We show the models have the ability to shape rotational inertia of the robot which offers potential to further improve agility.
China's evolving role in African conflict involvement: a balance of national interests, international expectations, and host-country receptiveness
Keywords: security
conflict
China
Africa
foreign policy

Why has China exhibited seemingly inconsistent or even contradictory positions in its contributions to conflict involvement in different African crises? For example, why did China actively engage in the counter-piracy campaign in the Gulf of Aden but exhibited an indifferent position regarding the Darfur crisis before 2006?
This thesis investigates the determinants and logical flow behind China’s level of engagement in African conflict involvement. I argue that China’s foreign policy is a “two-step” mechanism involving both international and domestic factors, and that Chinese elites perceive external signals and translate them to the policy outcome. Endogenous threats to China’s economic interests, international expectations about China’s engagements, and the host country’s receptiveness to external intervention are China’s major considerations in African context. They then interact dynamically to jointly determine China’s level of participation.
I employ a small-N qualitative approach with controlled comparisons across small-N cases and within-case process tracing. I use existing literature, archival materials, and elite interviews across the Chinese government to test a series of hypothesized contextual relationships. A comparison between controlled pairs across five case studies – the Darfur crisis before and after 2006, the Gulf of Aden counter-piracy campaign before and after the hijacking of the Chinese vessel De Xin Hai, and the South Sudan civil war – allows tracing the mechanism by which the determinants interact with each other and demonstrating the causal relationships between the determinants and the policy outcome. In so doing, this thesis offers a systematic and comprehensive theory to explain how motivations influence China’s engagement in African peace and security, contributing to a better understanding of China’s foreign policy decision-making process in the African context.
Humanism and the Bible in the poetry of Benito Arias Montano (ca. 1525-1598)
Keywords: Hebraism
humanism
Bible
Benito Arias Montano
lyric poetry
sixteenth century

Benito Arias Montano (ca. 1525–1598) is known for his polymathic scholarly interests. However, for him, humanist learning had to be put to the service of the study of the Bible. While the erudition of Arias Montano’s prose treatises has seen an increase in critical attention in recent years, his poetry is still understudied. This thesis shows that the fruits of his learning can also be seen in his original lyric poetry. However, I argue throughout this study that Arias Montano’s poetry betrays an anxiety about the limitations and proper use of humanist scholarship.
The first two chapters place his oeuvre in context. In Chapter One, I aim to situate Arias Montano’s work in a broader trend of European biblical encyclopaedism. In Chapter Two, I discuss how his choice of poetic form and his use of biblical material compares to that of other religious poets writing in Europe during the same period. In the following chapters, I focus on the appearance of particular disciplines in his poetry: respectively, the study of Classical texts; Hebraist studies; the study of historiography and political theory; and biblical geography and architecture.
More broadly, I aim to contribute to our understanding of sixteenth-century biblical humanism by demonstrating how Arias Montano balances his interest in emerging humanist disciplines with his conviction that the Bible was ultimately the only source of true knowledge. This thesis also aims to fill a surprising gap in scholarship by providing the first full-length study of Arias Montano’s Latin lyric poetry.
Community before liberation: theorizing gay resistance in San Francisco, 1953-1969
Keywords: queer intellectual history
Jose Sarria
gay community
history of queer political thought
Society for Individual Rights
League for Civil Education
Gay San Francisco
homophile movement

This thesis offers the first detailed account of the early history of homophile ideas of community. Its geographical centre is San Francisco. The thesis covers the period from the advent of homophile organising in the city in 1953 to the arrival of a new generation of post-Stonewall gay liberationists in 1969. In these sixteen years, ideas of community first emerged in San Franciscan gay bar-based activism, took hold, and from there, began to travel across the United States.
The thesis delivers two overarching arguments. First, it revises our understanding of when homophile ideas of community first surfaced. In the standard historical narrative, homophile activists first forged ideas of community in mid-1960s San Francisco. This thesis uncovers an earlier genesis. It locates the birth of ‘community’ in the mid-century activism of Latino female impersonator José Sarria, particularly his 1961 campaign for San Francisco City Supervisor. In the following years, ideas of ‘the community’ circulated in the newspapers of Sarria’s collaborator Guy Strait, gradually winning a national audience. The mid-1960s activists often heralded as community’s inventors were in fact the inheritors of this earlier generation.
Second, the thesis contends that the early history of homophile ideas of community demonstrated much greater doctrinal diversity than has previously been recognized. According to John D’Emilio’s influential account, homophile activists primarily conceived of community as sexual community, rooted in shared sexual behaviours and interests. In contrast, my thesis uncovers a plurality of traditions of imagining community to which homophile activists contributed in the 1960s. In particular, the thesis traces homophile projects which pursued broader, coalitional communities in concert with other contemporary political movements, including the Civil Rights, Black Power, sex workers’ and immigrant movements. Recovering their legacy corrects myths of a monolithic homophile investment in a single-issue gay politics.