VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Kierkegaard and a Religionless Christianity
Keywords: Epistemology
Kierkegaard
Bonhoeffer
Attack on Christendom
Christology
Idealism
Ethics
Ecclesiology
Attack on Idealism

The central aim of this thesis is to analyse the influence of Kierkegaard on Bonhoeffer. This relationship has been almost universally recognized. And yet this area has received no comprehensive study, limited within the secondary literature to footnotes, digressions, and the occasional paper. Furthermore, what little literature there is has been plagued by several stereotypes. First, discussion is often limited to Discipleship. Second, Kierkegaard has been identified as an individualist and acosmist who rejected the church, leading many to consider Bonhoeffer the ecumenist and ecclesiologist as selectively agreeing with Kierkegaard, but ultimately rejecting his overall stance. This thesis will argue that neither stereotype is true, and suggest (a), that Kierkegaard’s influence can be found throughout Bonhoeffer’s work, and (b) that although a more stereotypical perspective may be present in SC, by the end of his life Bonhoeffer had gained a far deeper understanding across the breadth of Kierkegaard’s work. The importance of this thesis is not simply to ‘plug the gap’ of scholarship in this area, but also to suggest the importance of analysing Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer together. This will focus on three specific areas. First, alongside the influence of Kierkegaard on Bonhoeffer, it will argue for the importance of using Bonhoeffer as an interpretive tool for understanding Kierkegaard. This thesis will show how Bonhoeffer adopted and adapted Kierkegaard’s work to his own situation, forcing Kierkegaard to answer questions that were not present during his own life. In this way, we are led to compare Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer as individuals, and not simply their static declarations. Secondly, against the tendency to consider Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer’s final attacks on Christendom as unfortunate endings to otherwise profound careers, it will be suggested that these attacks stand as the fulfilment of their earlier thought. It will be argued that despite their different contexts, both Kierkegaard and Bonhoeffer were led to the same conclusions concerning Christendom. Thirdly, given Kierkegaard’s submission to indirect communication and his somewhat 'prophetic' proclamations concerning one who will come after him and reform, this thesis will ask whether Bonhoeffer stands as something of a fulfilment to Kierkegaard’s thought in the guise of a Kierkegaardian ‘reformer’.
Study of DNA double strand break repair in Dictyostelium discoideum
Keywords: DNA repair
DNA damage response
DNA damage
Dictyostelium

The homologous recombination (HR) pathway contributes to genome integrity by mediating double strand break (DSB) repair using a homologous DNA sequence as a template. In mammals Rad51 and Brca2 are molecules central to this process. Little is known about HR repair in Dictyostelium. However, research previously conducted on DSB repair using this organism has shown that DSB repair pathways are highly conserved when compared to humans. This encouraged study of HR in this organism. In this study, through a bioinformatics search I have identified putative orthologues of most human HR proteins and most interestingly of BRCA2, which cannot be found in other lower eukaryotes used as models for DSB repair, such as the budding yeast S.cerevisiae. Brcp, the Dictyostelium BRCA2 ortholog, shows similar domain structure when compared to BRCA2-related proteins identified in other organisms. To verify the implication of HR proteins in DSB repair, I developed a method to monitor recruitment of DNA repair proteins on chromatin upon DSB induction. Findings of this study suggest that both Brcp and Rad51 get recruited to chromatin upon DSB induction and are therefore implicated in DSB repair in Dictyostelium. To further study Brcp function and based on findings suggesting that disruption of brcp might be lethal, I developed a novel system for specific and conditional depletion of endogenous Dictyostelium proteins. Utilizing this system, I conducted phenotypic studies in a strain depleted of Brcp to examine its role in DNA repair. Overall this study shows that the HR pathway in Dictyostelium shows great similarity to vertebrates, making Dictyostelium an appealing model for the study of DSB repair and specifically HR.
Aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions
Keywords: precipitation
climate
satellite
cloud
aerosol
aerosol-cloud interactions

Aerosols are thought to have a large effect on the climate, especially through their interactions with clouds. The magnitude and in some cases the sign of aerosol effects on cloud and precipitation are highly uncertain. Part of the uncertainty comes from the multiple competing effects that aerosols have been proposed to have on cloud properties. In addition, covariation of clouds and aerosol properties with changing meteorological conditions has the ability to generate spurious correlations between cloud and aerosol properties.
This work presents a new way to investigate aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions while accounting for the influence of meteorology on cloud and aerosol. The clouds are separated into cloud regimes, which have similar retrieved cloud properties, to investigate the regime dependence of aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions. The strong aerosol optical depth (AOD)- cloud fraction (CF) correlation is shown to have the ability to generate spurious correlations. The AOD-CF correlation is accounted for by investigating the frequency of transitions between cloud regimes in different aerosol environments. This time-dependent analysis is also extended to investigate the development of precipitation from each of the regimes as a function of their aerosol environment.
A modification of the regime transition frequencies consistent with an increase in stratocumulus persistence over ocean is found with increasing AI (aerosol index). Increases in transitions into the deep convective regime and in the precipitation rate consistent with an aerosol invigoration effect are also found over land. Comparisons to model output suggest that a large fraction of the observed effect on the stratocumulus persistence may be due to aerosol indirect effects. The model is not able to reproduce the observed effects on convective cloud, most likely due to the lack of parametrised effects of aerosol on convection. The magnitude of these effects is considerably smaller than correlations found by previous studies, emphasising the importance of meteorological covariation on observed aerosol-cloud-precipitation interactions.
Selective traditions: feminism and the poetry of Colette Bryce, Leontia Flynn and Sinead Morrissey
Keywords: tradition and influence studies
Irish studies
Sinead Morrissey
Northern Irish literature
Irish poetry
Leontia Flynn
women's writing
Colette Bryce
Ulster poetry
Poetry
Contemporary poetry

This thesis seeks to argue for the problematising role of tradition and generational influence in the work of three Northern Irish poets publishing since the late 1990s. The subjects, Colette Bryce (b. 1970), Leontia Flynn (b. 1974) and Sinéad Morrissey (b. 1972), emerged coterminously, each publishing with major UK publishers. Together they represent a generation of assured female poetic voices. This study presents one of the first critical considerations of the work of these poets, and it remains conscious of the dominance of conceptions of tradition and lineage which are notable in poetry from Northern Ireland from the twentieth-century onwards. In suggesting that this tradition is problematised for emerging women poets by precursor-peer dominance and the primacy of male perspectives in the tradition, this thesis combines a study of poetics, themes relating to gender, detachment and paratexts. From consideration of these elements, it proposes that contemporary poets are not necessarily subject to the powers of tradition and influence, but rather, are capable of a selective approach that in turn demonstrates the malleability of contemporary traditions.
The approaches are laid out in four chapters which move from a consideration of “threshold” paratexts (following from the work of Gérard Genette), including book reviews and dedications, through studies of thematic divergence and detachment, the changing status of women’s poetry traditions within Northern Ireland and beyond, the significance of gendered subjects in poetry, and influence found not in thematic or paratextual aspects, but in the individual aspects of poetic form. These aspects combine to form poems and the tradition(s) in which they continue. The thesis provides extensive coverage of the work of Bryce, Flynn, and Morrissey, combining close readings with the application of theoretical frameworks interrogating the implications of literary traditions on later writers (especially when the writers are temporally and culturally close), giving particular consideration to gender and feminist politics. It explores a variety of different critical truisms applied to the poetic generations that precede the younger poets and identifies both compliance and divergences from the contemporary Northern Irish canon. In doing so, this study simultaneously illuminates the frailties of the popular, overwhelmingly male, tradition, particularly as regards to representations of women, and provides direction for studies of post-millennial Northern Irish poetry.
The reception of English government propaganda, c.1530-1603
Keywords: Propaganda

Despite a wealth of scholarship on the Tudors’ printed and visual propaganda, little has been written on how the population received this material. Doubts over how far either media penetrated a largely illiterate society with questionable access to the visual arts have likely been partly responsible, but as studies increasingly disprove these assumptions the need to address this gap becomes more pressing.
After establishing that the governments from Henry VIII to Elizabeth were interested, to varying extents, in propagating particular messages to their subjects, this thesis employs a diverse range of sources to analyse popular responses to official pamphlets, portraits and other visual iconography. Primarily using inventories, the ownership of these different types is examined, in particular exploring the mixed motives that underlay the display of monarchical portraits and royal devices. Broadly positive reactions to propaganda are then discussed, similarly uncovering the different, potentially subversive reasons that drove people to accept government materials. The evidence of marginalia in surviving copies of polemical works is then used to show both the different approaches taken to reading official books, and how people engaged with several specific pamphlets, illuminating the success of particular arguments and propagandistic techniques. Finally, negative reactions to government images and books are investigated, highlighting not only opposition but, conversely, more evidence of propaganda’s positive impact.
Analysing reception in these ways not only permits judgements about the extent and nature of propaganda’s success; it also provides valuable insights into important historiographical debates, like the progress of the English Reformation and the potential emergence of a public sphere, besides more generally revealing widely-held attitudes that underpinned sixteenth-century society and conditioned the relationship between rulers and ruled.
Micro-deformation and texture in engineering materials
Keywords: geometrically necessary dislocations
dual-phase zirconium alloys
texture
polycrystal plasticity

This DPhil project is set in the context of single crystal elasticity-plasticity finite element modelling. Its core objective was to develop and implement a methodology for predicting the evolution of texture in single and dual-phase material systems. This core objective has been successfully achieved. Modelling texture evolution entails essentially modelling large deformations (as accurately as possible) and taking account of the deformation mechanisms that cause texture to change. The most important deformation mechanisms are slip and twinning. Slip has been modelled in this project and care has been taken to explore conditions where it is the dominant deformation mechanism for the materials studied. Modelling slip demands that one also models dislocations since slip is assumed to occur by the movement of dislocations. In this project a model for geometrically necessary dislocations has been developed and validated against experimental measurements.
A texture homogenisation technique which relies on interpretation of EBSD data in order to allocate orientation frequencies based on representative area fractions has been developed. This has been coupled with a polycrystal plasticity RVE framework allowing for arbitrarily sized RVEs and corresponding allocation of crystallographic orientation. This has enabled input of experimentally measured initial textures into the CPFE model allowing for comparison of predictions against measured post-deformation textures, with good agreement obtained. The effect of texture on polycrystal physical properties has also been studied. It has been confirmed that texture indeed has a significant role in determining the average physical properties of a polycrystal.
The thesis contributes to the following areas of micro-mechanics materials research: (i) 3D small deformation crystal plasticity finite element (CPFE) modelling, (ii) geometrically necessary dislocation modelling, (iii) 3D large deformation CPFE modelling, (iv) texture homogenisation methods, (v) single and dual phase texture evolution modelling, (vi) prediction of polycrystal physical properties, (vii) systematic calibration of the power law for slip based on experimental data, and (viii) texture analysis software development (pole figures and Kearns factors).
Personalised cardiovascular disease risk information as a motivator of behaviour change in individuals at high cardiovascular disease risk
Keywords: physical activity
cardiovascular disease
risk communication
brief lifestyle advice

Introduction: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk assessment is becoming increasingly common in routine clinical practice. Consequently many individuals are likely to be identified as being at increased CVD risk and risk reducing strategies implemented with a view to preventing future CVD. There are many steps along the pathway from CVD risk assessment to the prevention of CVD events. First, CVD risk needs to be accurately estimated using an appropriate CVD risk calculator. Secondly CVD risk information needs to be effectively communicated to the individual identified as being at increased risk. Thirdly, the risk information communicated needs to be capable of motivating behaviour change and finally behaviour change needs to result in a reduction in CVD risk. The evidence base for many of these steps has yet to be fully established. Aims: The overall aims of this work were first to adapt the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) Risk Engine to better display risk and achievable risk. Secondly to investigate lay perceptions of risk and to develop two interventions designed to reduce CVD risk. The two interventions were a personalised 10-year CVD risk estimate and a brief lifestyle advice intervention. Finally, the capacity of these interventions to increase physical activity and improve CVD risk factors in adults at increased CVD risk was tested. Methods: Three focus groups were held to investigate lay perceptions of risk and to inform the design of the UKPDS Risk Engine interface and a brief lifestyle advice intervention designed to motivate risk reducing behaviours. The two interventions were then tested in a 2x2 factorial randomised controlled trial. Results: The focus group results demonstrated that public interest and understanding of risk was high. In addition participants expressed clear views regarding how risk information and lifestyle advice should be presented. 194 participants at increased 10-year CVD risk (≥ 20%) were recruited from 4 Oxfordshire general practices. Neither a personalised 10-year CVD risk estimate nor a brief lifestyle advice intervention was capable of increasing physical activity or reducing estimated 10-year CVD risk in this group. Conclusions: Whilst public interest in CVD risk appeared to be high this study was unable to demonstrate that a 10-year personalised CVD risk estimate or a brief lifestyle advice intervention was able to increase physical activity in adults at increased CVD risk.
Defeasible knowledge
Keywords: Misleading Evidence
Knowledge
Williamson
Defeasibility

This dissertation collects five papers that discuss potential consequences of the defeasibility of knowledge. Chapters 1, 2, 3, and 5 provide arguments for a number of important epistemological consequences of the defeasibility of knowledge. Chapter 4 discusses consequences that others have claimed the defeasibility of knowledge to have. Chapter 1 argues that closure principles for knowledge are in tension with the defeasibility of knowledge. Chapter 2 argues that one of Williamson's famous arguments against the KK principle relies in a problematic way on a closure principle that is incompatible with defeat. Chapter 3 argues that a view on which knowledge just is belief safe from error is in tension the defeasibility of knowledge. Chapter 4 discusses two arguments to the effect that defeat by higher-order evidence sometimes involves the violation of rational ideals or rules of rational belief formation. As part of a response to an objection to contextualism about 'know', Chapter 5 investigates a number of social epistemological consequences of the defeasibility of knowledge.
Moduli in general SU(3)-structure heterotic compactifications
Keywords: Heterotic Compactifications
Moduli
Holomorphic Structures

In this thesis, we study compactifiations of ten-dimensional heterotic supergravity at O(α'), focusing on the moduli of such compactifications. We begin by studying supersymmetric compactifications to four-dimensional maximally symmetric space, commonly referred to as the Strominger system. The compactifications are of the form M10 = M4 x X, where M4 is four-dimensional Minkowski space, and X is a six-dimensional manifold of what we refer to as heterotic SU(3)-structure. We show that this system can be put in terms of a holomorphic operator D on a bundle Q = T&ast; X ⊕ End(TX) ⊕ End(V ) ⊕ TX, defined by a series of extensions. Here V is the E8 x E8 gauge-bundle, and TX is the tangent bundle of the compact space X. We proceed to compute the infinitesimal deformation space of this structure, given by TM = H(0,1)(Q), which constitutes the infinitesimal spectrum of the lower energy four-dimensional theory. In doing so, we find an over counting of moduli by H(0,1)(End(TX)), which can be reinterpreted as O(α') field redefinitions.
In the next part of the thesis, we consider non-maximally symmetric compactifications of the form M10 = M3 x Y , where M3 is three-dimensional Minkowski space, and Y is a seven-dimensional non-compact manifold with a G2-structure. We write X → Y → &reals;, where X is a six dimensional compact space of half- at SU(3)-structure, non-trivially fibered over &reals;. These compactifications are known as domain wall compactifications. By focusing on coset compactifications, we show that the compact space X can be endowed with non-trivial torsion, which can be used in a combination with %alpha;'-effects to stabilise all geometric moduli. The domain wall can further be lifted to a maximally symmetric AdS vacuum by inclusion of non-perturbative effects in a heterotic KKLT scenario. Finally, we consider domain wall compactifications where X is a Calabi-Yau. We show that by considering such compactifications, one can evade the usual no-go theorems for flux in Calabi-Yau compactifications, allowing flux to be used as a tool in such compactifications, even when X is Kähler. The ultimate success of these compactifications depends on the possibility of lifting such vacua to maximally symmetric ones by means of e.g. non-perturbative effects.
Coherent control of spin systems for quantum information processing
Keywords: GRAPE algorithm
NMR
spin simulation

Over the last few years, the GRAPE algorithm has become of central importance in the development of general purpose control sequences for several branches of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance. In this thesis, the application of the GRAPE algorithm to quantum information processing tasks is considered. First the theory underlying the algorithm is reviewed in detail, then a number of extensions and improvements to the core technique are developed. An implementation of the GRAPE algorithm using GPUs is presented and compared with a standard CPU based implementation.
A variety of experimental results are presented covering many different aspects of the practical use of GRAPE. This includes an evaluation of some of the errors that can affect the performance of GRAPE sequences in real experiments, and their relative importance. The strengths and weaknesses of GRAPE compared to the other possible techniques are assessed, and some suggestions made regarding potential developments in this direction.
Pseudo-pure states are a crucial component of any NMR based quantum computer, but many current methods for preparing them sacrifice purity in exchange for simplicity in the preparation sequence. This thesis also presents a new method for robustly generating pseudo-pure states with the maximum possible purity.
Pindar's Prosodia: introduction, text, and commentary to selected fragments
Keywords: Prosodia
Pindar
fragments

This dissertation examines the surviving remains of the two books of Pindar’s Prosodia. The introduction falls into four parts. The first is concerned with gathering the evidence for the books, through a review of their ancient testimonia (Chapter 1) and of the indirect and direct transmission of their fragments (Chapter 2); the second is concerned with the prosodion as a poetic genre, with some introductory remarks (Chapter 3) followed by an investigation of the collected evidence for the notion of prosodion in describing poetic texts (Chapter 4) and in later scholarship and generic theory (Chapter 5); the third combines the results of the first two into an analysis of the surviving fragments of Pindar’s Prosodia and an inquiry on the generic principles that shaped the collection (Chapter 6); the fourth consists of a descriptive catalogue of the papyrus manuscripts that contribute to the text of Pindar’s Prosodia (Chapter 7). The critical text of the eighteen main fragments and groups of fragments is followed by an introduction and line-by-line commentary to six of them, nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, *6, and *7 (= fr. 89 Snell-Maehler and ‘Paeans’ 14, 15, 6.123-183, 17, and 18).