VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Truth and historiographical aims in Polybius' histories
Keywords: Greek and Roman historiography
ancient history
truth
Polybius
Greek literature

This work looks at the textual exegesis of the passages in which Polybius writes about truth as seen in a historiographical milieu and in relation to what Polybius claims to be the proper way of writing history. The main scholarly contribution and originality of this dissertation are to provide a comprehensive analysis of this concept, since the notion of truth in Polybius’ work has not been yet extensively examined, and at the same time to ‘test’ Polybius’ assessments and check whether he actually stuck to his claims.
The linguistic analysis of the Polybian terminology and the close look at his style and narrative technique illustrate how he employs diverse narrative and oratorical devices, how he mixes references to history, philosophy, tragedy, and rhetoric to invent new words and concepts (which have been defined as Polybian neologisms), and how he plays on different levels with his readers (a special kind of readers, the ‘lovers of learning’). Also, this work shows Polybius’ anxiety to give an overall view of the events, which is feasible only by applying the rules and techniques required by universal history. The thematic approach to truth has gone hand in hand with the focus on Polybius’ attitude towards historiographical methodology in relation with his predecessors, and the dissertation also delineates different types of non-truths or anti-truths in Polybius’ view, thus ‘how not to write a (false) account of events’. Indeed, in most cases Polybius’ methodology lies in the shadow of the critiques to his predecessors.
My work not only reconstructs the image Polybius has of truth, but also advocates a new understanding of the figure of the historian, who is characterized by the newly-created Polybian concept of assuming the proper ethos when one undertakes the crucial task of writing history.
Revisiting alliances in Somalia's Civil War
Keywords: Somalia
Horn of Africa
realism
civil war
alliances

Alliances in Somalia have often appeared unpredictable to external observers. Since the collapse of Siad Barre’s regime in 1991, the country’s civil war has been characterized by fluid political alignments and constantly renegotiated alliances. Although lineage solidarity – the main determinant of political allegiances according to the classic Somali studies literature – has remained the foundation of political mobilisation, it cannot explain alliance choices on its own. At many times, the most intense fighting has been between rivals from the same clan or sub-clan, who have established alliances with groups involved in similar intra-clan competition within other clan-families, illustrating the limits of lineage solidarity based on genealogical proximity.
This thesis suggests a framework for understanding alliance formation in Somalia’s civil war that builds on the classic Somali studies literature, but moves away from culturally specific explanations by drawing on alternative approaches to alliance dynamics, including the realist tradition and the literature on the political economy of civil wars. It argues that Somalia’s civil war has not been about winning as much as it has been about not losing, and points to an underlying defensive logic to alliance formation often overlooked in favour of explanations that emphasize opportunism. It argues that alliance choices have largely been determined by perceptions of threat: the main tendency has been for political actors to focus on the main threat to their interests, and to draw support from allies accordingly. The thesis highlights three patterns in alliance formation: how alliances have been formed vertically as well as horizontally between local, regional, and national actors; how interaction between different arenas of competition in Somalia has shaped alliance formation; and how expectations of the emerging political order in Somalia have shaped perceptions of threat and informed alliance choices.
Through its analysis, the thesis provides a detailed historical narrative about alliances in Somalia from 1988 to 2001 and outlines a number of alliance patterns that can be seen in that particular period as well as in the country’s past and in the contemporary crisis. It builds on interviews with key players in Somalia’s civil war, including faction leaders, politicians, foreign diplomats, and representatives from other countries in the region, as well as original documents from Somali factions and international organisations.
Cellular iron governs the host response to malaria infection and vaccination
Keywords: immunity
liver pathology
iron
vaccine
malaria

Iron deficiency and malaria are two major public health problems with largely overlapping epidemiology, and there is a complex relationship between iron and malaria. Iron deficiency can protect from malaria infection, whereas iron supplementation can increase the risk, and tissue iron loading can disrupt disease tolerance. Immune cells also need iron to support their function and iron deficiency can disrupt immunity. However, it is not known how tolerance or the immune response to malaria infection and vaccination is affected by iron deficiency.
In this thesis, the effects of cellular iron deficiency on the host’s response to malaria infection and vaccination were investigated. Recently mosquito transmitted P. chabaudi parasites were used to infect mice with a mutation in transferrin receptor 1 (TfrcY20H/Y20H mice), which causes decreased cellular iron uptake. We discovered that TfrcY20H/Y20H mice had higher P. chabaudi parasite burden, but comparable malaria induced anaemia. The disease phenotype of TfrcY20H/Y20H mice was also altered, as they had increased weight loss and exacerbated kidney damage, but attenuated liver damage compared to wild-type mice. In addition, disrupted cellular iron uptake had a range of inhibitory effects on the immune response to P. chabaudi. The expansion of key effector cells was reduced during the acute stage of infection and the germinal centre response was impaired in TfrcY20H/Y20H mice. Moreover, TfrcY20H/Y20H lymphocytes cultured in vitro had impaired proliferation and effector function, which could be completely rescued by iron supplementation. We also demonstrated that decreased cellular iron uptake weakened the immune response to blood-stage malaria vaccine RH5.1 and that mini-hepcidin induced hypoferremia disrupted the response to experimental liver-stage vaccine AdHu5-Py9.
Hence, we have demonstrated for the first time that cellular iron deficiency has the potential to alter malaria disease tolerance and to impair the immune response to malaria infection and vaccination.
Risk factors for cardiovascular multimorbidity in UK women
Keywords: socioeconomic status
multimorbidity
cardiovascular multimorbidity
cardiovascular risk factors
reproductive factors
cardiovascular disease

Background: Multimorbidity is the presence of two or more chronic diseases in one person, and in this thesis, cardiovascular multimorbidity (CVM) refers to the co-occurrence of two or more cardiovascular disease subtypes. Multimorbidity is a major public health concern in the UK and CVM is a key component. However, there is currently limited large-scale, prospective evidence on risk factors for CVM.
Aim: This thesis aims to provide a broad overview of CVM, its component conditions and potential risk factors in UK women.
Methods: This was a population-based prospective cohort study of 1.2 million women aged 50-64 years at recruitment in 1996-2001. Using linked hospital admission and death records up to 31 December 2016, each participant was followed-up for nineteen subtypes of incident cardiovascular disease. CVM was defined either by counting the number of cardiovascular diseases in one person or as specific pairs of diseases. Established cardiovascular risk factors, socioeconomic, and reproductive factors were investigated.
Main results: More than 40% of UK women with any incident cardiovascular disease developed CVM (≥2 cardiovascular diseases). The most common components of CVM were ischaemic heart disease (in 55% of CVM cases), atrial fibrillation (46%), heart failure (30%), and other arrhythmias (28%). Smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidaemia was each associated with 1.7-2.5 times the risk of CVM. Taller height was associated with higher CVM risk, which appeared to be driven by the association between height and atrial fibrillation. There was evidence of somewhat higher CVM risks associated with lower educational attainment and higher area deprivation. However, 80% or more of each of the observed associations was accounted for by four health behaviours measured at recruitment: smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, and BMI. Similarly, over 75% of each of the associations between reproductive factors (age at menarche, parity, and breastfeeding) and CVM was accounted for by those four factors.
Conclusion: Roughly 1 in every 2.5 UK women with incident cardiovascular disease had CVM. Established cardiovascular risk factors were also independent risk factors for CVM. Much of the difference in CVM risk by levels of socioeconomic and reproductive factors could be attributed to known modifiable cardiovascular risk factors.
Bayesian methods for statistical network analysis and data subsampling
Keywords: statistical network analysis
Bayesian nonparametrics
Bayesian statistics
Bayesian coresets

Bayesian statistics provides an important framework for parameter estimation and uncertainty quantification in a wide range of settings. Prior information on unknown parameters can be incorporated into Bayesian models in principled ways, resulting in posterior distributions that describe the uncertainty in those parameters. In this thesis we utilise this Bayesian framework to study problems in statistical network analysis and data subsampling. In both cases, the key task will be uncovering latent structure within datasets.
To perform statistical network analysis within the Bayesian setting, we use a Bayesian nonparametric (BNP) approach, in which infinitely many parameters are used to capture the complexities present in real-world data. This framework allows us to model sparse networks, a property commonly exhibited by real-world datasets. Furthermore, it allows us the flexibility to capture the structure exhibited by these networks, by modelling the popularity of nodes within them. We focus specifically on core-periphery networks, where there exists a subset of important, highly connected nodes within the overall network, and dynamic networks, where the structure of the network evolves over time. We perform posterior inference on these models using Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC).
One problem shared by our BNP network models and many other complex models is that exact inference is rarely possible, and thus approximate sampling methods such as MCMC are needed. However, these can be prohibitively slow for very large datasets. One solution to this problem is to replace the full dataset with a small, weighted subset - a coreset - that captures key features of the full dataset. The key idea here is that most of the data is often redundant, and an appropriately weighted subset can capture most of the relevant information. We introduce a novel Bayesian coreset construction algorithm, which is based on first uniformly subsampling the data, and then optimizing the weights. Our method is simple to implement, significantly faster than the state-of-the-art (in terms of performance), and comes with theoretical error guarantees.
A Thomistic account of natural understanding of the human good and practical truth
Keywords: practical reason
moral cognition
Thomistic action theory
Aristotle
moral perception
Thomistic epistemology
Thomistic metaethics
Thomas Aquinas

In this study I examine how the human being naturally comes to understand the human good and practical truth according to a Thomistic perspective. I begin with a claim that St. Thomas Aquinas draws from the Christian tradition as my starting premise: that the human being is created by God with an intellectual nature and natural intellectual aptitude to participate in God’s understanding and loving.
In Part I, which includes chapters 1 and 2, I examine, broadly speaking, what are two poles of contemporary Thomistic discourse on natural understanding of the human good and practical truth, namely, the theories of John Bowlin and John Finnis. After concluding that each author articulates an overly determinative account of practical truth, I consider in Part II the implications of Aquinas’ claim that practical thinking depends on speculative thinking.
My approach in Part II takes three turns. First, I turn in chapter 3 to the topic of simple truth. I recognize that a Thomistic theory of practical truth relies on a clear account of how simple judgment of affirmation (i.e., natural assent) arises distinctly in act. I observe both a need for clarity in Aquinas’ account and a tendency in Thomistic interpretations to conflate the operation’s logical and natural species. Second, I turn in chapter 4 to consider Robert Sokolowski’s descriptive account of human engagement in truth. In dialogue with Sokolowski, I realize that to explain how simple judgment arises, I need to distinguish it from another species of assent that is already a practical activity, namely, judgment of affirmation by inductive inference. Therefore, third, I turn in chapter 5 to clarify a Thomistic speculative account of simple judgment in terms of its natural causal principles, and then to articulate the beginnings of an account of natural understanding of the human good and practical truth in terms of this.
The politics of taxation and redistribution in autocratic regimes
Keywords: dictatorships
party politics
redistribution
comparative politics
protest

This thesis explores the politics of taxation and redistribution in autocracies. I consider autocrats as revenue-maximizing and survival-oriented rulers, who use fiscal policy strategically in a bid to consolidate their rule. I argue that rulers rely on coercive taxation and exploit the distributional properties of various fiscal instruments to discriminate between groups of taxpayers, making those least essential to their survival pay the lion’s share of the fiscal burden. However, this strategy can backfire: From the French revolution to the VAT riots in Ghana, history has shown the disruptive potential of tax adoptions and reforms under dictatorship. I explore the conditions allowing for a politicization of taxation in autocracies, and study how fiscal design and the political inclusion or exclusion of specific groups interact to generate support for or opposition to the ruler’s fiscal policy. This thesis is made up of three related papers.
The first article asks: What are the socio-political consequences of tax policies in autocracies? To address this question, I introduce the first database of tax protest events in ten Sub-Saharan African dictatorships, and conduct a comparative empirical analysis of the origins and dynamics of tax resistance movements. The analysis of this original data, combining descriptive and regression analysis, shows that that indirect taxes are the most unpopular, that tax resistance comes in many forms – from petitions to boycotts and riots –, and that it rarely succeeds.
The second article explores how fiscal policies can help entrench authoritarian rule. I revisit existing models of fiscal bargaining and shift the focus to ruler-elite relations: I argue that elites use their political and economic leverage to negotiate policy con- cessions in exchange for tax compliance. Using time-series cross-sectional analysis and fine-grained accounts on instances of elite-led resistance to taxation, I find that direct taxation can foster stability, through bargaining between the autocrat and regime elites.
Lastly, the third article asks: How does political inclusion affect economic inclusion, in the form of redistributive policies, in autocracies? I introduce a new measure of political inclusion: The presence of multiple parties in government. Exploiting fine- grained data on cabinet composition worldwide, for which I helped to code ministers’ party affiliation, I find evidence of a substitution rather than complementarity effect between political and economic inclusion. The effect is amplified at higher levels of autocratic power-sharing across party lines.
Development of heterodyne receiver technology for sub-millimetre wavelength astronomy
Keywords: smooth-walled feed horns
SIS mixers
sub-millimetre wavelength astronomy instrumentation
Schottky diodes
E-beam lithography

Superconductor-Insulator-Superconductor (SIS) mixers are regularly employed as the detectors of choice in sub-millimetre wavelength astronomy receivers due to their unparalleled sensitivity, stable operation and ability to capture both amplitude and phase of incoming signals which is necessary to perform high-resolution spectroscopic observations. With the advent of telescopes such as the Atacama Large Millimetre/sub-millimetre Array (ALMA) which are set to explore the field for the foreseeable future, there is considerable interest in developing the technological capabilities employed by such facilities.
The work presented in this thesis has therefore focused on the development of coherent, heterodyne receiver technology at sub-millimetre wavelengths for potential applications such as the upgrade of current, ground based observatories.
In particular, the harmonic content of Local Oscillator reference sources has been investigated and shown to play an important role in both the noise performance of heterodyne receivers and the spectral content of their output IF band.
Furthermore, successful design, optimisation, fabrication and testing of THz frequency feed horns has led to the demonstration of a novel, smooth walled horn design that presents an attractive alternative to the more complex corrugated feed horn structure for antenna deployment in sub-mm wavelength receivers. A three section horn design operating between 780 − 950 GHz has been shown to exhibit excellent measured far-field beam patterns which closely resemble the predicted performance down to ~ −30 dB and a two section design employed in a four pixel feed horn array has been shown to operate between 1300 − 1500 GHz.
In addition, a novel E-Beam lithography fabrication process has been developed for the production of Schottky barrier diodes to be used in high frequency multiplier and mixer components. This process has demonstrated the ability to create the ohmic pad layer, sub-micron anodes and the suspended air-bridge of the device which are necessary for efficient performance at sub-mm wavelengths. Initial RF testing of the diodes as frequency multipliers has produced excellent results between 225 − 330 GHz.
Finally the development of a prototype, heterodyne receiver, based on double side band SIS mixer with a novel optical design that operates between 800 − 900 GHz has been presented and shown to exhibit very encouraging noise temperature characteristics of ~ 340 K at 880 GHz. This system is due to be tested at even higher frequencies with the aim of pushing its detection capabilities into the supra-Terahertz regime.
Normative foundations
Keywords: realism
Christine Korsgaard
constitutivism
meta-ethics
normativity
constructivism
moral philosophy
moral objectivity
Sharon Street

This dissertation presents a theory of normativity. The central claim to be advanced is that human beings are constitutively committed to certain objective moral and other normative requirements. Furthermore, setting itself against the proposition that there are brute and mind-independent normative facts, the dissertation also advances positive theses about how normativity arises from the mind, as well as why a mind-given theory of normativity need not be nihilistic. After advancing this positive vision of normativity, the dissertation turns to examine prominent arguments for moral objectivity from Christine Korsgaard, Michael Smith, Julia Markovits, and Sharon Street.
The first half of the dissertation, from Chapters 1 through 5, develops the positive theory of normativity. The second half of the dissertation, from Chapters 6 through 10, engages with existing arguments for moral objectivity from the recent literature. The result is the presentation of an interconnected set of views on certain basic questions about normativity, as well as a constructive and critical examination of recent meta-ethical work.
Characterising differences between the regenerative and non-regenerative immune response in the Astyanax mexicanus
Keywords: cardiac regeneration
Astyanax mexicanus
myocardial infarction
scarring
scRNAseq
immune response

The human heart cannot regenerate following myocardial infarction and instead forms a fibrotic scar that impairs cardiac function and can lead to heart failure. Cardiac regeneration aims to treat the injured heart by stimulating the heart to repair itself. The Astyanax mexicanus is a uniquely suited model of cardiac regeneration as it comprises two closely related populations: (1) the ‘regenerative’ surface (SF) population and (2) the ‘non-regenerative’ Pachόn (PF) cave population. The immune response to injury is known to be a key regulator of successful regeneration. However, how this response differs between SF and PF populations is unknown.
To fully characterise the A. mexicanus immune response, single cell RNA-sequencing, differential gene expression analysis, histological staining and in situ hybridisation were used to determine the immune cell populations present in the heart at 1-, 3-, 7-, 14- and 30 days post-cryoinjury (dpci). Pharmacological perturbations of the A. mexicanus immune response were then used to explore whether identified differences in the regenerative and scarring immune responses to cardiac injury were exerting control on regenerative capacity.
Striking spatiotemporal differences were found in the dynamics of both myeloid and lymphoid populations in the PF and SF. Immediately after injury, the non-regenerative PF showed a stronger response to injury with a significantly greater influx of neutrophils into the wound (1dpci p=0.0156; 3dpci p=0.0075). By 7dpci, this inflammatory response was resolved, and differential gene expression analysis showed that PF neutrophils had returned to the uninjured state. In contrast, the regenerative SF showed a greater immune response at the late stages of cardiac healing (7-, 14- and 30dpci). Specifically, at 7- and 14dpci, a transcriptionally unique population of neutrophils was observed in the SF that remained activated and upregulated TNFα-NFκB signalling. Furthermore, a stark contrast in the B cell response was observed: SF displayed a significant influx of B cells at 14- and 30dpci that was absent in the PF (p<0.005). Inhibition of the SF immune response using 7-14dpci Dexamethasone treatment did not impair the regenerative capacity of the SF but did significantly disrupt scar organisation, resulting in scars that closely resembled time-matched PF scars.
This research represents a significant leap forward in our understanding of how the immune response differs between successful regeneration (SF) and scarring (PF). However, further studies will be required to determine the role of late-stage SF neutrophils and B cells in successful regeneration before novel therapeutic targets can be identified for immunomodulation in heart attack patients.