VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Between the conquests and the court: a critical analysis of the Kitāb Futūḥ al-Buldān of al-Balādhurī
Keywords: Futuh al-Buldan
Book of the Conquest of Lands
futuh
Kitab Futuh al-Buldan
al-Balādhurī
Arabic genre
Arabic Historiography
al-Baladhuri
futūḥ
Islamic historical writing

When considering the available sources for Islamic history between the seventh and eighth centuries CE, there are few which have greater importance than al-Balādhurī’s (d. ca. 892 CE/279 AH) Kitāb Futūḥ al-buldān (The Book of the Conquest of Lands). While the text and its author are recognized for their importance as a historical source for the early Islamic period, there has previously been no in-depth study of either. This dissertation works to correct these gaps in knowledge of the author and his text by investigating the construction, form, content, and early reception history of al-Balādhurī’s book.
This research begins by providing a manuscript tradition of Futūḥ al-buldān, including a discussion of a previously unpublished manuscript. It thereafter illuminates the background of al-Balādhurī, bringing together much of the previous scholarship on the author while augmenting that information with an analysis of biographical sources and the text itself. It situates the author and his text in its ninth/third century milieu, a period of history where the early Arabic historical tradition was still in its infancy and only just being committed to writing. It suggests the text was likely completed at the end of the “anarchy at Sāmarrā’” in the late 860s CE, and highlights the author’s role at the court of several ‘Abbāsid Caliphs. After this, it discusses a number of al-Balādhurī’s most important (and, in some cases, previously understudied) sources of information, and argues that the author chose to differentiate when he was learning information directly from a teacher and when he had access to written sources. It then analyzes the content and themes of the text, placing special attention on the unique form of Futūḥ al-buldān and its importance in providing modern scholars with information on the conquest, settlement, and building projects of the early Islamic world. In considering these key themes, this research then argues that Futūḥ al-buldān defies traditional modern genre classification by borrowing form and content from several different Arabic genres including conquest literature (futūḥ), legal texts, and administrative geographies. It contends that both the text’s content and form suggest that it was written to be read by courtly administrators in the service of the state as both a site of memory (lieu de mémoire) and as an “administrator’s handbook” during a time of upheaval in the ‘Abbāsid realm. Finally, it considers the legacy of Futūḥ al-buldān and the popularity of al-Balādhurī’s book throughout the medieval period through an analysis of textual reuse.
Brain markers of cumulative stress response and allostatic load in the ageing Whitehall II cohort
Keywords: stress
MRI
human brain ageing

The Whitehall II (Stress and Health) study is a prospective study based on originally 10,308 British civil servants. Since 1985, rich socio-demographic, health and life-style measures have been acquired every 2-5 years. Eight hundred participants were randomly selected from the remaining 6,308 participants of Phase 11 for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and further examination in Oxford (2012-14).
There is evidence of changes in brain anatomy and mental health following traumatic events, such as combat stress or sexual abuse, in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder, mood or personality disorders, but little is known about the association between everyday stress, brain structure and function, and mental health in the general population. The secondary stress markers, Allostatic Load (AL) index, Framingham Stroke Risk score (FSRS) and Metabolic Syndrome (MetS) were selected as potential predictors of brain changes at follow-up. This thesis focuses on measures of structural grey and white matter (GM, WM) integrity, collected with the Siemens 3T Verio scanner in the first 563 participants of the Oxford study.
As hypothesised, stress markers measured as early as 20 years prior to the scan, predicted lower GM and WM integrity in older age. Unique linear relationships remained even after controlling for socio-demographic confounders between each stress marker and GM density but not with measures of WM integrity. This suggests that some, if not most variance is shared between the stress markers and the usual correlates of general health, such as age and employment class.
The three markers did not have equal power to predict brain measures: AL added more unique predictive variance to GM density than MetS and FSRS. On the other hand, FSRS was the more powerful predictor of poor WM integrity compared with AL and MetS, and after removing confounding variable effects.
This thesis thus provides some empirical support for the concept of allostatic load, linking 'everyday' stress and features of the ageing human brain.
Catalysis for CO2 activation reactions with light alkanes
Keywords: CO2 Utilisation
Hydrocarbons
Catalysis

CO2, without question, the most famous greenhouse gas, is known to have an increasing concentration in both the atmosphere and oceans. To slow down the pace not only of global warming but also the ocean acidification, several routes are proposed to effectively reduce the net emission of CO2. Compared to Carbon Capture and Sequestration/Storage (CCS), Carbon Capture and Utilisation (CCU) has much more potential because of the lower costs of scale up and higher profitability to potentially attract capital investment.
Different from the conventional CCU route which is to reduce CO2 to fuels with hydrogen generated via renewable-energy-driving electricity, two processes are investigated in this thesis; that of Dry Methane Reforming (DMR) and the DeHydrogenation of Propane by CO2 (DHP by CO2). The projects on these two processes not only develop catalysts which would be suitable for the reaction performance, but also the ultimate aim is to link the processes with a renewable energy source (in the thesis we chose Solar Thermal Heating).Thermodynamic calculations and process simulations were also evaluated.
The results of DMR unfortunately did not indicate a promising future to link with Solar Thermal Heating due to the very high temperature required during the process. However, the results of thermodynamic calculations and process simulations in DMR project illustrate a good opportunity to utilise flue gas in industry through the so-called Tri- Methane Reforming (TMR). In the DHP by CO2 process, the catalysts developed were less promising than the ones in DMR due to the severe side-reactions occurred which significantly decreased the selectivity for the desired product. However - and importantly - through our thermodynamic calculations and process simulations, the DHP by CO2 process has a bright future if the Solar Thermal Heating can be applied with the relative lower temperature requirement, making the CO2 utilisation process much easier to be fulfilled than DMR.
Understanding human mononuclear phagocyte ontogeny using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs)
Keywords: Macrophage
SPI1
Primitive hematopoiesis
RUNX1
MYB

Tissue-resident macrophages (MΦ) such as microglia, Kupffer and Langerhans cells derive from Myb-independent yolk sac (YS) progenitors generated before the emergence of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Myb-independent YS-derived resident MΦ self-renew locally, independently of circulating adult monocytes and HSCs. In contrast, adult blood monocytes as well as infiltrating, gut and dermal MΦ derive from Myb-dependent HSCs and are less proliferative. These findings are derived from the mouse, using gene knock-outs and lineage tracing, but their applicability to human development has not been formally demonstrated. Here I use a human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) differentiation model of hematopoiesis, capable of monocyte/MΦ production over prolonged periods of time, as a tool to investigate human mononuclear phagocyte ontogeny. Using a transcriptomic approach I showed that hiPSC-derived monocytes/MΦ (iPS-Mo/MΦ) produced early in differentiation (first weeks) are more proliferative and less immunologically mature than iPS-Mo/MΦ produced at a later time point. I therefore hypothesised either that iPS-Mo/MΦ only become fully mature after several weeks of differentiation or that there are two developmentally distinct waves of MΦ produced over time. By comparing the transcription profile of iPS-Mo/MΦs to that of primary adult blood monocytes and fetal microglia I then showed that early and late iPS-Mo/MΦs were transcriptionally closer to fetal microglia than to adult blood monocytes. To further investigate if iPS-Mo/MΦs are indeed of the same developmental origin as MYB-independent MΦ such as microglia, I used a CRISPR-Cas9 knock-out strategy to show for the first time, that human iPS-Mo/MΦs develop in a MYB-independent, RUNX1 and SPI1 (PU.1)-dependent fashion. This result makes human iPS-Mo/MΦs developmentally related to, and a good model for, MYB-independent tissue-resident \Macros such as alveolar and kidney MΦs, microglia, Kupffer and Langerhans cells. Interestingly, while MYB was not required for the generation of iPS-Mo/MΦs, its knock-out resulted in an increase in iPS-Mo/MΦ production. To investigate this increase I developed two methods for quantifying the differentiation bottleneck occurring during hiPSC differentiation to iPS-Mo/MΦs. Those techniques highlighted a potential increase in progenitor cell generation in MYB KO cells and thus lay foundation to improve our technical understanding of EB differentiation and will enable enhanced manipulation of the EB model.
Subjects of justice: social institutions and the basic structure
Keywords: justice
Rawls

I explore how justice can be said to apply to different subjects through an examination of the work of John Rawls. I first offer an interpretation of Rawls’s idea of a social institution, and explain how Rawls is able to avoid a well-known objection put forward by Hayek. I then raise a puzzle about how the justice of institutions is supposed to fit with the justice of the basic structure of society. Rawls asserts that justice is the first virtue of social institutions, but it is not clear whether this means that institutions must be just in isolation or in terms of the role they play in the basic structure. I examine two possible solutions to the puzzle, derived from the work of David Miller and Jon Elster, but find that neither is compatible with Rawls's theory. I illustrate the ambiguity by reference to the family, drawing a distinction between the family as a social institution and families as associations. I conclude from this example that institutions must be just in terms of the basic structure, but argue that Rawls's hierarchical account of domestic and local justice – applying to the basic structure and to families within it respectively – is underdeveloped and unconvincing. Turning to the basic structure itself, I argue that the language of 'subjects' of justice is insufficiently precise, and we should distinguish between a site and an agent of justice. I illustrate this distinction with reference to recent work by Miriam Ronzoni. Rawls originally saw the basic structure of society as the site of social justice, but moved in his later work towards a more agent-orientated conception. This difference, I suggest, has significant implications for the meaning of the highly influential thesis that the basic structure of society is the primary subject of justice.
Hebrew borrowings in the Arabic speech of Palestinians in three refugee camps in the West Bank, occupied Palestinian territories
Keywords: language contact
Palestinians
Hebrew
refugees
Arabic
sociolinguistics
language
migrant workers
anthropology
Israel
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
borrowings

This thesis on Hebrew borrowings in Palestinian Arabic provides detailed casework from an understudied linguistic situation. It is firmly anchored in empirical results from fieldwork in three refugee camps in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The results are presented and analysed with reference to speech's immediate interpersonal surroundings and the wider social, political and economic situation. Several aspects of the political economy of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories are seen to affect borrowing from Hebrew: firstly, the formation of a Palestinian economy dependent on the capitalist Israeli core, a dependency exacerbated in the refugee camps by the refugees' sudden loss of their traditional livelihood in the peasant economy of pre-1948 Palestine; secondly, the existence at present of a customs union between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories which opens the Palestinian consumer marker to Israeli goods; thirdly, the provision of some state services to Palestinian holders of Jerusalem residency cards; and fourthly, the functioning of the military occupation which imposes closures and other military restrictions on Palestinians. This context provides the setting for power relations between Israelis and Palestinians which give rise to a variety of practices of borrowing, including the use of Hebrew to demarcate in-groups, signal aspirations to a modern lifestyle, and give a political edge to humour. On the basis of this analysis, an explanatory model is proposed that seeks a non-deterministic link, termed "articulation", between the structure of the context and the speakers' agency manifested in the linguistic practice. This explanatory model moves away from the notions of conflict and national identity often submitted as explanations in sociolinguistics of the Middle East, but rather gives prominence to Palestinian and Israeli ideologies that inform the conceptual experience of Palestinians. These ideologies are identified as Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian pragmatism, Israeli securitism and Israeli consumerism. The analysis is sensitive to gendered patterns of behaviour as well as inter-generational differences.
Conceptualising political candidacy as a human right
Keywords: citizenship
right to vote
political rights
electoral rights
right to stand for election
candidacy

This thesis examines the justificatory basis of the right to candidacy, otherwise referred to as the right to stand for election, and assesses the implications of characterising political candidacy as a human right. It examines the extent of the right's legal recognition in international, regional and domestic human rights law with specific focus on the jurisprudence of the United States, Canada and the ECtHR.
This dissertation then offers a theoretical justification for the existence of a moral right to candidacy in all liberal democracies. This justificatory account highlights how the following values and interests underlie the right to candidacy: dignity (as social recognition of one’s equal moral status), autonomy, self-expression and self-development. It further examines the derivative justifications for the right to candidacy by outlining the extent to which it is necessary for the effective exercise of the right to vote, freedom of association and the maintenance of a common liberal culture.
The correlative duties to which the right gives rise are also examined. It is argued that the right entails duties to respect, protect and fulfil. The duty to respect imposes a negative obligation on the State to refrain from imposing unjustifiable disqualifications or eligibility requirements for elective office. The duty to protect entails an obligation to safeguard against infringements of the right by political parties in their candidate selection processes. Thirdly, the duty to fulfil involves a positive obligation to organise and administer free and fair elections with a reasonably level playing field in which candidates may compete.
This thesis subsequently explores the institutional implementation of these duties and how the values and interests underlying the right should help inform the scope and content of such duties in the jurisdictions specified above.
The rise and fall of FidoNet: the geographic growth and decline of an ICT community
Keywords: Growth
Decline
Community
Contagion
Geospatial

This thesis studies the time evolution of a computer mediated community called FidoNet. The introduction explains what FidoNet is, briefly details its history and sociological significance and sets out research goals for the thesis as a whole. The second chapter—covering background and relevant literature—relates FidoNet to other social phenomena and reviews relevant sections of work on dynamic approaches to social systems. It also describes how FidoNet Nodelists were combined with geographic data on US telephone lines and 1990 Census data so that the geographic growth and decline of FidoNet could be mapped and analysed.
The third through fifth chapters are substantive starting with an empirical analysis on the spatial growth of FidoNet in the United States, covering a variety of different ways in which distance could have mediated the contagiousness of FidoNet as a system. The fourth considers decline as a similarly contagious process, demonstrating that FidoNet’s most obvious competitor—the internet—may in fact have discouraged its decline while the short-term influence of leaving events on current sysops fits the data far better as an explanation. The other explanatory variable of this section—long-term social influence—exhibits an unexpected sign, suggesting that perhaps there were incentives to maintain FidoNet that were most prevalent in the long-term.
The fifth chapter attempts to tease out which different mechanisms may have been at work during decline, using an Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) approach and specifically considering individual rather than aggregated behaviour. The 6th and final chapter summarises the findings.
Democracy, press independence, and constitutional structure: the crisis of journalism and the checking function of the press
Keywords: Checking Function
Democratic Accountability
Defamation
Institutional Press

This thesis undertakes a comparative doctrinal analysis of the checking function of the press in public libel cases in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. This examination reveals serious deficiencies associated with a common under-theorizing of the checking function. The primary consequence of this under-theorizing is inadvertent over and under protection of speech. The thesis concludes by recommending that precise evaluation of its doctrinal and methodological outcomes must await further interdisciplinary efforts to evaluate them within the context of differing conceptions of 'democracy', and each comparator's unique constitutional and media structures.
Autoimmune encephalitis and its implications for the neuroscience of remote memory
Keywords: Declarative memory
Autoimmune encephalitis
Hippocampus

Since the field-defining patient HM, consistent links have been made between a region of the brain called the hippocampus and memories that can be consciously declared – so called declarative memories. Declarative memories fall into two categories (1) episodic memories, memories that are highly detailed and re-experiential, and (2) semantic memories, fact-based memories for personal and public information but that have no sense of re-experiencing. It is believed that the intrinsic anatomy of the hippocampus supports episodic memory but not semantic memory. The hippocampus consists of five regions (cornu Ammonis, CA, 1-3, dentate gyrus, subiculum) with each purported to have a specific role in episodic memory acquisition and retrieval. However, controversy surrounds the temporal extent to which episodic memories rely on the hippocampus for retrieval: current consensus suggests the hippocampus supports these memories for five-10 years post-acquisition, but some suggest that it is required for retrieval across the lifetime. Voltage-gated potassium channel-complex antibody-mediated limbic encephalitis (VGKC-complex LE) is a recently described autoimmune disease that causes chronic hippocampal atrophy and mild amnesia on standardized neuropsychological assessment. Two subfields of the hippocampus – CA1 and CA3 – contain the antigenic targets of the disease but it is unknown if specific atrophy of these subfields underlies the hippocampal damage in humans. Here, the human hippocampal subfield volumes of VGKC-complex LE patients (n = 19, mean age: 64.0±2.55; range: 24-71) were investigated using ultra-high spatial resolution MRI at 7.0-Tesla. Assessment also included standardized neuropsychology to examine the impact of the pathology on hippocampal-dependent and –independent memory performance, as well as attention, language, executive function, and perception Declarative memory assessment measured semantic and episodic memory performance across the lifespan.
Manual segmentation detected lesions to just CA3, with no volume loss noted elsewhere in the hippocampus or brain. Patients were impaired on hippocampal-dependent memory domains but not the hippocampal-independent and non-memory domains. Notably, episodic memory assessment revealed episodic amnesia across the lifetime except for their earliest memories. This counters the received convention that the hippocampus has a temporally limited role in episodic retrieval. Conversely, the performance of the VGKC-complex LE patients for semantic memory, including a new test developed herein, was comparable to controls across the lifespan. It was then shown that CA3 volume predicted episodic memory performance across the lifetime. Together, the results suggest that VGKC-complex LE provides a novel model of human hippocampal subfield pathology, with which to explore the roles of hippocampal subfields in episodic memory acquisition and retrieval.