VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Operando characterisations of lithium/sodium metal batteries
Keywords: real-time liquid-cell STEM
role of electrolyte solvents in sodium metal battery
fluoride-rich SEI in lithium metal battery

This thesis explores the degradation mechanisms of lithium/sodium metal battery anodes by several operando characterization techniques, such as real-time liquid-cell scanning transmission electron microscopy, online mass spectrometry, and in-situ atomic force microscopy. These findings highlight the importance of appropriately designing electrolytes and tailoring the solid electrolyte interphase for achieving nondendritic lithium/sodium deposition and dissolution.
In Chapter 4, the reason why fluoride-rich SEI benefits lithium metal anodes and how they alter the structural dynamics of lithium plating/stripping to promote efficiency were studied. The fluoride-rich SEI was directly observed to yield a flatter and finer deposited lithium structure that presented a better morphology for uniform stripping, thus resulting in a significant reduction in dead lithium. In addition, the dead lithium was quantificationally found to be the main degradation reason for lithium metal batteries, and the LiH was verified to be an important SEI component in lithium metal batteries.
In Chapter 5, the role of electrolyte solvents during sodium plating/stripping was systematically studied. Severe gas formation was observed in carbonate-based electrolytes during sodium plating/stripping while just a few bubbles in ether electrolytes. The SEI in ether electrolyte was found to be much stiffer and more elastic, and the plated sodium was more uniform. In addition, fewer dead sodium formations and less electrolyte decomposition were measured in the ether-based system compared to a carbonate-based electrolyte case.
Exploring the association between sibling relationship quality, parenting styles, and theory-of-mind development in Chinese young adolescents: a preliminary analysis
Keywords: interview
theory of mind
observation
Chinese siblings
parenting

Siblings’ influence has often been overshadowed globally by other family factors. This research gap is especially pronounced in China, largely due to the four-decade-long One-Child policy. To date, only one study by Hou et al. (2022) has examined the role of sibling relationship quality (SRQ) in the theory of mind (ToM) development among Chinese children. Since this study, along with previous research predominantly from Western cultures, has focused on preschoolers, the present study sought to employ a cross-sectional, multimethod, multi-informant correlational design to verify the relationship between Chinese young adolescents’ SRQ and ToM performance. Furthermore, this study incorporated parenting styles as a parental factor, which has been demonstrated to influence both SRQ and ToM. Consequently, the second aim of this research was to explore the parenting-ToM and parenting-SRQ correlations. Lastly, the study also assessed the associations between sibling structures (number of siblings, birth order, age gap, gender composition) and ToM.
Thirty families (comprising 30 young adolescents aged 11-12 years, their 30 siblings, and 30 parents) participated in individual online research sessions, with one family per session. In each session, the SRQ was gauged through questionnaires completed by both children in the sibling pair, as well as by researcher observations during a cooperative drawing game called Etch-a-Sketch Online. The ToM skills of the young adolescents were evaluated using the performance-based task, Strange Stories. Parenting styles were explored through interviews.
This study found that young adolescents’ self-rated sibling intimacy was negatively associated with cognitive ToM. In contrast, the parents’ strategy of referring to their own feelings when addressing social incidents with children, termed as Parent Emotions, was positively correlated with cognitive ToM scores. Moreover, when accounting for the Parent Emotions strategy, the self-rated sibling intimacy remained a significant predictor of cognitive ToM. Young adolescents with parents who often employed the Active Non-interference strategy (i.e., non-involvement based on trust in children) scored higher on emotional ToM tasks, while those with parents favouring Practical Solutions (i.e., taking direct action to solve conflicts without discussing with children) scored lower. Further, the study revealed that parents who frequently used Active Non-interference had children with more negatively observed SRQ by researchers. In terms of demographic information, all sibling structure variables showed no correlation with ToM abilities. However, the parents’ sibling status (with versus without siblings) was found to be related to their parenting styles. This study not only bridges the research gap but also offers insightful avenues for future research.
Dynamic duos: dialogic learning in the year 8 secondary classroom.
Keywords: teaching
secondary
pair work
education
talk
small groups
turn-taking
students
pupils
dialogic learning
discussion

This paper explores how to incorporate effective pair-based work in the secondary classroom in relation to dialogic learning. Dialogic learning has been researched in small groups and in primary schools but there is little research on how to embed it in pairs, in secondary schools. This intervention focuses on two year 8 classes over one term, or two units of teaching, and investigates whether pairs can develop exploratory talk that leads to dialogic learning. Methodologically, it combines oral lesson recordings, a pre- and post-intervention questionnaire looking at students’ perspectives on talk and learning in general, and field notes from teacher observations. The findings show that student confidence levels have improved over the course of the intervention, and students are able to improve their discourse skills in pairs in the classroom. It also demonstrates the time it takes to embed dialogic learning and the reflection required to transfer discussion skills used from one unit to the next.
Pair-based learning can be an effective form of dialogic learning, but time is required to develop the skills needed and active teaching of discussion, turn-taking, handling of errors and questioning are important elements of developing this practice. This research supports the use of dialogic learning in the classroom as a vital element for learning long-term and for transferring skills beyond the classroom. This paper offers transcripts of student discussions at multiple points throughout the intervention, and insights into students’ thoughts about talk and pair-based work in the classroom, along with teacher observations on how the resources used were effective in creating a dialogic classroom.
'Seen but not heard?': gender and the choral voice in Greek tragedy
Keywords: Greek tragedy
Women's voices
Greek chorus
Sociolinguistics

This thesis explores the influence of gender on the choral voice of Greek tragedy. By looking internally at linguistic patterns across the choral voice of Tragedy as well as externally at contemporary sources for women in Athenian literature and society, the thesis argues that the tragedians differentiated the language of their female choruses in a variety of situations. These ‘feminine’ uses of language allow for a more positive interpretation of how female characters depicted on the stage corresponded to the real-life women in Athens than has often been presented in existing scholarship on this issue.
The focal point of the thesis is the choral voice, since this character-type tends to represent specific sub-sections of society whose characters and voices would have been more familiar to the original audience than the remote heroes and heroines of the myths. By combining modern sociolinguistic theory with a fresh look at sociological readings of female characters in Tragedy, the thesis adds nuance to the existing, often polarised, debates in this area of scholarship and uses new frames of analysis to deepen our understanding of how gender is used to characterise the choral voice in Tragedy.
Chapter 1 introduces modern sociolinguistic methodology and theory, and argues that it is possible to construct a ‘sociolinguistic approach’ which can be applied to the language of Tragedy. It introduces the three main recurring syntactic features which underpin the linguistic and literary analysis of the following chapter, and takes into account the methodological boundaries of using gender as a lens through which to study an artificial, male-constructed literary language. Chapter 2 applies this sociolinguistic approach to the choral voice across Tragedy, arguing that female choral language in the plays of all three tragedians is differentiated from that of male choruses in order to emphasise women’s verbal, social and physical marginality. Chapter 3 takes a broader sociological approach to analysing women’s voices in the Tragic chorus, arguing that the female choral voice not only represented male stereotypes of women’s speech, but also may have reflected some understanding of the societal realities facing contemporary women in Athens. Chapter 4 argues that in the context of lament, the language of the choral voice may have been differentiated less strongly along gendered lines than elsewhere in Greek culture.
Microstability and turbulence in high-performance tokamak plasmas
Keywords: microturbulence
tokamaks
transport barriers
magnetic shear
high beta

Turbulence, driven by microscale instabilities, is known to reduce the performance of fusion devices by exacerbating the radial transport of heat and particles from the high-pressure core where fusion can occur. In this Thesis, we study two ways of reducing this turbulent transport, focusing in particular on microstability and turbulence at high plasma pressure where electromagnetic effects are important. Local δf gyrokinetic simulations are used throughout. We uncover a novel destabilizing effect of increased elongation that is manifest in plasmas with steep pressure gradients. This is explained as the competition between local magnetic shear and finite-Larmor-radius damping as elongation is varied. At high β, we show that this effect can lead to the removal of second stability of the kinetic ballooning mode (KBM) with increased elongation, which could have severe implications for future high-performance tokamaks for which access to second stability is crucial for good performance. In the second half of the Thesis, we study a JET pulse exhibiting an internal transport barrier in the ion temperature. By a combination of linear and nonlinear studies, we determine a mechanism that allows the steepest radial gradients of temperature to coexist with low levels of transport. We propose that electromagnetic effects stabilize the ion-temperature-gradient instabilities that otherwise drive significant transport well above experimental levels. The KBM that is usually destabilized at high plasma β is stabilized by significant negative magnetic shear, and equilibrium flow shear should be avoided as it rapidly destabilizes the KBM via the parallel velocity gradient. In determining this mechanism, we matched experimental fluxes simultaneously in multiple transport channels at multiple radial locations, validating the use of local δf gyrokinetics for the further study of transport barriers.
Empathic predators: on the affects and optics of brain-computer interface unmanned aerial vehicle research
Keywords: weapons research
anthropology
philosophy
neuroweapons
dual use
brain-computer interface

Empathic Predators is a philosophical anthropological inquiry concerning the dual use problem with relation to brain-computer interface research and technology. The thesis makes use of scientific papers as qualitative data, by taking literature on brain-computer interface unmanned aerial vehicle (BCIUAV) research as its anchor. A small number of digital interviews with BCI researchers were also conducted. The dual use problem involves research, technology, and artefacts with an ambivalent moral valence, in terms of the uses to which they can be put; crucially, where one of the uses entails weapons innovation. In BCIUAV research, the problem is represented by the juxtapositioning of the proposals for future uses of the BCIUAV as an assistive technology for people with disabilities, and as an electronic neuroweapon for combat. The conceptual and normative basis for the approach taken to dual use is found in the work of philosopher John Forge, and the cosmopolitan anthropology of Nigel Rapport. The research and technology are examined over several chapters, and special attention is eventually paid to the ways authors of some BCIUAV research papers figure bodies of future users in their texts. Speculative analyses are conducted concerning the way in which some figured bodies might function as morally persuasive optical devices, manipulating the reader’s perceptions of the research and technology in question. The thesis flows towards a consideration of the Human Right to Life with relation to knowingly dual use and weapons research, but also with relation to the practice of anthropology itself. It is argued that knowingly dual use and/or weapons research constitutes an indiscriminate threat to the Right to Life of Anyone and is thus a fundamental contravention of cosmopolitan politesse; and that a justifiably moralizing anthropology, capable of critique and intervention can be founded on respect for the Human Right to Life.
"Love is tears": the charmolypic theological vision of C.S. Lewis
Keywords: literary criticism
sorrow
drama
tragi-comedy
charmolypi
love
modern theology
C.S. Lewis
joy

This dissertation examines the significance of tragi-comedy in the theological writings of C.S. Lewis. It describes Lewis’s approach in terms of charmolypi (joy-sorrow), a word derived from John Climacus. I argue that Lewis’s charmolypic theological vision can address a dilemma in Christian theology. Some critics suspect that Christianity promotes escapism from the tragic conditions of human life, while others claim that it negates or undermines joy and laughter. Thus, Christianity is criticized for being insufficiently sorrowful but also insufficiently joyful. Lewis’s view of Christianity as something charmolypic might show a way to resolve this dilemma.
This research is original because almost no scholarly attention has been given to tragi-comedy in Lewis’s writings. With the single exception of Terry Lindvall’s 1996 Surprised by Laughter, scholars have examined Lewis’s views of comedy and tragedy within the confines of his literary criticism, but the possibility that these genres may have implications for his theological outlook.
The significance of this dissertation is threefold. First, it is the first ever dissertation on C.S. Lewis submitted to the Faculty of Theology and Religion at Oxford University. Second, my archival work on an unpublished play Lewis wrote in 1942, analyzed in Chapter Three, is entirely new in scholarship on Lewis. Thirdly, the implications of my argument are significant. If Lewis’s charmolypic vision of Christianity is sufficiently tragic and comic, it can help address the present need for a theological imagination that properly affirms the sorrows and joys of human experience. Christian theology can learn something from Lewis about how to respond to both criticisms mentioned above in a persuasive and imaginatively compelling way.
The method used throughout this research is textual-interpretative and theological. It first interprets the primary texts in which Lewis, explicitly or implicitly, discusses tragi-comedy or depicts charmolypi and then examines the theological implications thereof.
The Introduction frames the dilemma and presents the thesis of this dissertation. Chapter One examines the “tragic horn” of the dilemma, and Lewis’s direct response to it. Chapter Two does the same with the “comic horn” of the dilemma. Chapter Three defines the central terms of the dissertation (tragedy, comedy, tragi-comedy), and relates them to the notion of charmolypi. Chapters Four through Seven survey how various theological doctrines are depicted as tragi-comic in Lewis’s writings. The Conclusion summarizes the overarching argument and delineates its contributions to Lewis scholarship and Christian theology.
Investigating age at onset in bipolar disorder
Keywords: structural equation modelling
bipolar disorder
BD
machine learning
AAO
adolescent mental health
age at onset

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a complex mental health disorder with a heterogenous clinical course, diagnostic delays, high relapse rates, and sub-optimal treatment outcomes. Age at onset (AAO) has been proposed as a useful specifier for defining more homogeneous BD subgroups that can inform clinical course and symptom profiles. This thesis aimed to investigate the utility of AAO as a clinical specifier by defining and validating AAO subgroups; identifying predictive factors for BD AAO; investigating the relationship between premorbid factors, AAO, and functional outcomes; and examining the association between AAO and mood instability.
Using mixed methods across four experimental chapters, this thesis provides novel insights into the role of AAO in BD. Chapter 2 presents a systematic review of AAO distributions in BD and provides a recommended AAO definition. Chapter 3 uses machine learning approaches to explore predictive factors for BD AAO. Chapter 4 investigates the potential pathways between premorbid factors, BD AAO, and functional outcomes using prospective data. Chapter 5 examines the association between AAO and mood instability using longitudinal mood monitoring data. Findings reveal a trimodal distribution of AAO in BD, with distinct early-life risk factors, which may represent potential causal pathways to clinical outcomes. Additionally, mood instability is identified as a promising target for intervention in the clinical trajectory of BD. These results have important theoretical and practical implications, informing early intervention strategies and providing further evidence for the distinctiveness of AAO subgroups.
The thesis concludes with a general discussion of the findings and implications for future research. Overall, this thesis provides valuable insights into the role of AAO in BD, highlights the importance of identifying more homogeneous subgroups to improve diagnosis and treatment outcomes, and underscores the need for continued research in this area.
Molecular magnets in nanoscopic quantum devices: theory & experimental comparisons
Keywords: torque magnetometry
rare-earth magnet
MOLCAS
strong coupling
RASSCF
ab initio
single-molecule magnet

Quantum devices are quickly becoming the centrepiece of a novel generation of technological systems that could affect every aspect of our life, though we still do not understand how we may effectively interface molecular materials with nanoscopic quantum devices and control them. My aim in this thesis is to start exploring these issues, combining numerical and analytical theoretical methods to allow researchers to explore the properties of various molecular magnets, and predict and understand their behaviour when they are integrated into nanoscopic quantum devices. Maintaining a strong connection to real examples by considering specific molecular magnets, I cross-check the results with various characterisation techniques. I also consider commercially available molecular compounds and their possible practical use in actual quantum devices. In doing so, I also present and develop new methods of data analysis, to extend the information that can be extracted from experiments; throughout, I compare theory and experiments, corroborating the results. First, I mostly consider various compounds based on rare-earth metals, and deal with the challenges linked to numerically modelling the spin anisotropy of these systems. I demonstrate how careful treatment of the data can find the molecular anisotropy axes even in systems with high crystal symmetry. Moreover, I show how various methods allow us to predict the behaviour of single-molecule spin devices. Second, to investigate how the second-quantisation formalism impinges on the magnetisation’s macroscopic dynamics, I consider a wellknown, model spin system, Mn12-acetate, and then explore in theory how we might expect a strongly coupled system to behave. Third and finally, I consider the theory of strongly coupled gadolinium-based systems, finding good agreement between experimental results and first-principles calculations, and explore what such systems could make possible for the future of quantum devices.
Molecular determinants of immune receptor signalling
Keywords: FcεRI
immunology
BCR
B cell
receptor signalling

Immunoreceptors play a key role in leukocyte function. Despite the important role of these receptors, the mechanisms by which non-catalytic tyrosine-based receptor signalling is initiated in response to their ligands is still controversial. To fully understand the molecular mechanisms driving receptor signalling, previous work has focused on determining the structure of these receptors prior to and following ligand binding, as well as the organisation of the receptors on resting cells, often with contradictory conclusions. Among these, the B-cell receptor (BCR) plays a central role in the activation of antigen-specific B cells and the production of targeted antibody responses. In this study, a new super-resolution imaging technique is used to characterise the three-dimensional distribution of the BCR in resting B cells, in the context of the often-overlooked complex architecture of the cell membrane. B-cell responsiveness to membrane antigens was also tested for antigens on supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), and the impact of antigen molecular height in BCR signalling was assessed. Moreover, purification of fully assembled BCR complexes in the presence or absence of antigen molecules ligated in situ provided material for preliminary cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) analysis of individual BCR molecules. Similarly, complexes of the high-affinity IgE immune receptor, FcεRI, were also purified in the presence or absence of their ligand for future structure determination using cryo-EM. Together, these results provided initial observations that seek to define the molecular mechanisms driving both immunoreceptor assembly and signalling.
Efficient explanations: a powers hypothesis for how the mental causes
Keywords: philosophy of Mind
mental causation
powers causation
counterfactuals
overdetermination

This thesis attempts to offer a powers causation solution to the difficulties posed by mental causation. I do so by arguing against what I call “events-pair” analyses of causation. As is known, mental causation seems to raise the problems of overdetermination and the possible exclusion of the mental cause. Jaegwon Kim presents one possible answer by using his Supervenience Argument to urge reduction, whereas Thomas Kroedel presents another by defending a Lewisian counterfactual condition for causation. I argue that both these views use a common view of causation that depends on the assumption that causation is the relationship between a pair of temporally separated events. Against this assumption, I present and defend a powers view of causation, which can account for both the simultaneity and interruptibility of a causal process. I then apply the powers perspective to mental causation, with the beneficial results that overdetermination no longer poses a threat, double-prevention can be re-analyzed into constituent causal stages, and mental causes can be, without contradiction, one part of the sufficient cause of intentional bodily movement. Overall, I thus present a new powers solution to the difficulties of mental causation.