VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Oil and state capture: the subnational links between oil revenues and armed conflict in Colombia

While there is strong evidence of the association between oil wealth and internal armed conflicts, the literature is less conclusive about the processes linking the two. Despite myriad mechanisms hypothesised by the literature, much uncertainty still exists about the causal pathways between oil and armed conflicts. How does oil revenues affect the occurrence and course of internal armed conflicts in contexts of political decentralisation? The main argument of the thesis is that the control of abundant oil revenues by subnational governments contributes to shape the strategies undertaken by armed groups at the local level. Subnational governments become a prize for armed groups, which pursue oil revenues through the political capture of local democracy. The armed groups interfere with democracy through a mix of violent and non-violent strategies. The thesis identifies political connections between oil revenues and armed conflicts and traces mechanism which I term the subnational-government-as-target. The pathway contributes to explain how oil revenues can undermine the workings of the subnational government through the dynamics of the armed conflict.
A comparative case study approach was implemented to examine how oil revenues affected conflict and public management at the subnational level in Colombia. Drawing on data collected over five months of fieldwork in oil-royalty-abundant municipalities, the thesis also constitutes one of the first studies to examine the effects of oil revenues accrued by non-oil-producing municipalities in Colombia. The qualitative and quantitative data was triangulated to carry out a process-tracing analysis covering the period from the early 1960s to 2017.

Keywords: Royalties
Subnational governments
Resource curse
Colombia
Armed clientelism
Armed conflict
Oil
Advisor: Collier, P
Sánchez-Ancochea, D
Senators, bishops, decuriones and barbarians, in the 4th to 5th centuries

This thesis develops the strand of scholarship on ethnic identity of the Vienna school, by examining relations between Roman and ‘barbarian’ elites within the Roman Empire in the 4th and 5th centuries, studying the impact and role of identities in shaping the political and social realities of the times, while at the same time critically analysing the literary image of these groups and individuals created by Roman authors. The study also explores concepts such as those of ‘boundary’, and ‘intersectionality’.
A survey of the above-mentioned phenomena is the subject of the first part of the thesis: ‘Roman commanders – barbarian warlords’. The second focus of the thesis is on political and diplomatic forms in the emerging sub-Roman kingdoms, which are the subject of the second part: ‘Emperors, kings and amici’. The final part, ‘Bishops and women: At the intersection of ethnic, religious and gender identities’, returns to the subject of the impact of identity within the elites, but concentrates on its role for the clergy and women, considering its influence on the Church, and the intersection of gender roles and identities.
Processes of ethnicization were fuelled in different ways: on the one hand, by Roman imperial ideology and the old elites, as a way of controlling groups and individuals by ‘othering’ them; on the other hand, by some leaders of ‘barbarian’ groups (both those politically aligned with the Empire and those who had a more difficult relationship with it), who were interested in limiting the ‘normalisation’ of their own groups or in reifying their differing identity. As imperial power waned and left a vacuum, new opportunities opened up to barbarians. The new patterns allowed the barbarian and Roman elites to become one, and eventually transform into the aristocracy of the early Middle Ages.

Advisor: Ward-Perkins, B
Bridging the gap between JavaScript analysis and web analysis

This thesis presents my work towards web interface analysis and web data extraction by making connections between high-level user actions on web pages and the corresponding low-level implementation details.
I have developed a concolic testing platform for web-based JavaScript code, which can be used to analyse JavaScript running as part of live web pages without support from the developers. This platform is used as the basis for ArtForm, a tool which analyses web forms to infer their validation constraints. This involves simulating which actions and input values are available to a real user at the interface. ArtForm includes a suite of manual analysis tools which demonstrate the concolic testing platform and allow manual tracing of JavaScript execution for low-level debugging. The concolic platform has also been applied to the problem of event delegation, where it can be used to determine which elements on a page will respond to user actions, and should therefore be considered interactive. Finally, ArtForm can be connected to third-party analysis tools to provide advice on which values and actions are likely to lead to new code paths being explored, thus extending the client tool with low-level analysis results about the targeted site.
I also present work on optimising data extraction wrappers. By analysing the low-level HTTP calls corresponding to the user-level actions made by typical browser-based wrappers, it is possible to synthesise new, equivalent wrappers which can run without a browser. These optimised wrappers can provide a drop-in replacement for many data extraction tasks, with a huge performance benefit.

Keywords: Web page analysis
Web forms
Symbolic execution
JavaScript
Program analysis
Web information extraction
Concolic testing
Software testing
Advisor: Benedikt, M
Community- and ecosystem-level effects of insect herbivory on oak (Quercus robur)

The interactions between plants and their insect herbivores are among the most common ecological interactions. By feeding on plant tissue, insects can influence plant physiology and chemistry, with potential implications for other herbivores associated with the same host plant and for ecosystem-level processes mediated by the plant.
In this thesis, I studied the community and ecosystem-level effects of insect herbivores associated with the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur, L.) in temperate woodlands in Oxfordshire, UK. First, I studied how early-season moth caterpillars affect photosynthesis and selected physical and chemical leaf traits. I then examined how herbivore-induced changes in the host plant affect tree performance, the structure of the sessile herbivore community associated with the host tree, canopy-level carbon sequestration, and forest-level primary productivity.
My work shows that moth caterpillars can substantially reduce the photosynthetic rate of their host plant. These leaf-level changes can reduce canopy-level carbon sequestration, and therefore affect the primary productivity of the ecosystem. In this system, insect herbivory did not affect any of the studied leaf traits, tree performance, or the structure of the herbivore community. Leaf chemical composition varied substantially between individual trees, was affected by the growth location of the tree, and covaried significantly with the associated insect community.
My results suggest that insect herbivores can have important ecosystem-level effects by inducing small-scale changes in the primary metabolism of their host plant. My work also emphasises the importance of abiotic conditions in influencing plant chemistry, and plant chemical composition in shaping the plant-associated insect community. I stress the need to quantify the effects of insect herbivores on carbon cycling in other systems and to include these effects in models on ecosystem productivity and biosphere-atmosphere interactions.

Keywords: Herbivory
Caterpillar
Winter moth
Oak
Photosynthesis
Wytham Woods
Polyphenol
Advisor: Gripenberg, S
Riutta, T
Malhi, Y
Reason to hope: economic, social and ecological virtuous circles in Chiapas, Mexico

Today’s dominant economic system does harm and has little future; agro-food systems are a privileged lens for understanding both what is happening and what is at stake. There is reason to hope; many actors are experimenting with alternative models for a life-giving economy that combine agroecology, food sovereignty, and social and solidarity economy. This thesis is an exploration of one such initiative, the Misión de Bachajón (MB) in Chiapas, Mexico. In Chapter 1, I build a theoretical framework based on the economic anthropology of Stephen Gudeman. All economies consist of a dialectic tension between the realm of the market and the realm of mutuality. To ensure sustainability, the latter realm must be protected from the former’s tendency to colonize it. Chapter 2 explains my ethnographic, collaborative research design. Chapter 3 is an account of the MB’s overall project, which entails a sophisticated "middle peasant" model. On the one hand, the things that are essential for the community’s reproduction are withdrawn from the market. At the same time, though, the MB’s group of cooperatives and social businesses, Yomol A’tel, creatively engages global value chains (coffee and honey) from a position of strength. Chapter 4 shows how the model goes beyond "fair trade" to achieve very significant economic upgrading, in a way that benefits people and ecosystems. I argue that the MB’s model generates economic, social, and ecological virtuous circles by refashioning "economy’s tension" into a creative tension. Chapter 5 considers how the MB has achieved all of this by mobilizing its relationships with other actors. Its strategy of networked territories is not only a form of resistance to neoliberal globalization, but also contributes to building the "pluriverse," a world in which many worlds fit. In the Conclusion, I consider the ways in which the MB gives us reason to hope.

Keywords: coffee
Stephen Gudeman
indigenous
Chiapas
Mision de Bachajon
social and solidarity economy
food sovereignty
Jesuits
agroecology
Tseltal
Advisor: Rival, L
Normothermic kidney preservation

The thesis describes the development of a transportable normothermic kidney preservation device which is able to perfuse discarded human and porcine kidneys for up to 24 hours for the very first time. Recirculation of the urine to facilitate maintenance of perfusate volume and homeostasis is a novel approach. Utilisation of this perfusion device could enable viability assessment, decrease organ discard rate and improve transplantation logistics. Thirty-six clinically declined human kidneys were perfused, 19 from donors after brain stem death and 17 from donors after circulatory death: n=4 kidneys were perfused using Ringer’s lactate to replace excreted urine volume, and n=32 using urine recirculation. In all cases, normothermic perfusion either maintained or slightly improved the histopathologically assessed tubular condition, achieved physiological arterial flow levels and effective urine production. Biomarkers, neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), kidney injury molecule-1 (KIM-1) and liver fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) were detected and quantified in the perfusates with and without urine recirculation. NGAL could be promising for clinical use, as it was inversely correlated with median arterial flow. Only kidneys with urine recirculation were readily perfused up to 24 hours and exhibited physiological perfusate sodium levels, whilst kidneys without urine recirculation achieved reduced normothermic perfusion time and significantly higher perfusate sodium. Metabolomics analyses of perfusate samples detected urea and two sugars as the main difference between kidneys with and without urine recirculation. Proteomics analyses not only revealed that human kidneys have become metabolically active during normothermic perfusion, but they also detected that damage-associated molecular patterns known to contribute to ischaemia-reperfusion-injury, were significantly downregulated in biopsies from kidneys with urine recirculation compared to kidneys without. As a final part, porcine perfusion studies were performed with the aim to revisit the findings obtained during the human experiments and to render a valid comparison between urine recirculation and urine replacement in undamaged kidneys.

Keywords: Perfusion
Kidney transplantation
Urine recirculation
Preservation
Transplantation
Advisor: Friend, P
Coussios, C
Novel strategies for synthesising and labelling the heteroatom-trifluoroethyl motif

The expansion of methodologies to access fluorinated molecules is vital to the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industry. Novel protocols will complement existing routes to accessing proven useful fluorinated motifs, and for accessing new chemical space. Such fluorinated scaffolds may be [18F]-radiolabelled, generating tracers which may be used to produce medical images through Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Improvement in [18F]-radiolabelling techniques will simplify access to current PET tracers and allow the development of original tracers, potentially enhancing image quality or permitting images of a wider range of clinical problems.

Advisor: Gouverneur, V
Quantifying information flow

The main problem addressed by this thesis is that of characterising information leakage channels in interactive systems as either 'dangerous' or 'safe', on the basis of the amount of information that can be leaked. We define information information leakage in a fashion very similar to the classical definition of Goguen and Meseguer, modeling systems as finite state transducers. Interesting issues arise in the selection of the appropriate measure of information, and we propose some novel definitions which address the problems which have been identified with the traditional notion of mutual information.
We show that for deterministic systems, the problem of quantifying information flow can be reduced to a natural combinatorial problem on regular languages, namely that of computing their 'width' with respect to the lexicographic partial order. We solve this problem, and show that there is a dichotomy between exponential and polynomial width, corresponding to linear and logarithmic information flow (which we characterise as 'dangerous' and 'safe' respectively). We give a polynomial time algorithm to distinguish the two cases, as well as to compute the precise rate of logarithmic information flow. We also study the analagous question for some other partially ordered structures: we show that for context-free languages there is a similar dichotomy but the problem of distinguishing the two cases is undecidable, and that for regular tree languages there is a trichotomy between doubly exponential, singly exponential and polynomial growth.
Finally we consider information flow in the setting of the process algebra CSP. In order to reduce to the framework of languages and automata, we establish a general theorem showing that a wide class of finite observational models of CSP (including all known models) can be reduced to the traces model using the `priority' operator.

Advisor: Roscoe, B
Essays on urban job networks in developing countries

Across the globe, social networks influence labour market outcomes. This thesis investigates job networks—networks in which individuals exchange jobs and information about vacancies — in cities of developing countries. Using the example of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I describe such networks, analyse how individuals use them for their economic benefit, and show how the networks respond to external shocks.
Chapter one presents experimental evidence on job referrals in informal urban labour markets, investigating the relationship between social network centrality and persistence in labour market outcomes. I provide day work opportunities to young casual workers and vary the conditions by which they can refer their neighbourhood contacts to the same job. I find that central individuals are more likely to receive job referrals, and that there is a strong norm of reciprocal referring. While both factors lead to productivity losses and continuous neglect of peripheral workers, I show that socially excluded workers establish and consolidate new links when they can refer someone to the job. This suggests that individuals can integrate into job referral networks when given the opportunity.
Chapter two studies information sharing about job opportunities in the social networks of young job-seekers, who collaborate in job search by sharing expenses and information about vacancies across the city. A job search assistance intervention, targeting only one individual in a pair of job-seekers, can break such collaborative informal arrangements. It is important to consider such social network externalities when evaluating the impact of labour market activation programmes.
Chapter three contributes to the literature on the measurement of urban social networks, with a particular focus on job information exchange among individuals. I show that using truncated or local network data — such as from census-blocks — can introduce a bias when the network of interest is spread over larger spaces like whole cities. I compare two different network elicitation methods — pre-populated census-based rosters and open-ended, memory-based listings. I show that within geographically limited and tractable entities such as neighbourhoods, the former method yields more connections than the latter, which systematically underreports women and older contacts and relies more strongly on bilateral links.

Advisor: Quinn, S
Stevens, M
Funding flows for freshwater: the role of philanthropy in market-based freshwater conservation

As freshwater development progresses around the world, institutions must shift from the paradigm of exploiting water resources towards managing water scarcity in a way that maintains adequate environmental flows to support the river’s functioning, biodiversity, and many ecosystem services. Amidst the rise of market environmentalism, market-based solutions have gained popularity as a promising approach to reallocate water from existing uses to in-stream environmental purposes. Successful water transactions require a number of enabling conditions; this dissertation explores these conditions, the ways in which they are created, and the role of different actors in facilitating institutional change. The results indicate that philanthropic funders play a major role by enabling collective action, encouraging collaboration and efficiency in creating the necessary preconditions for successful transactions. This is connected to literature on philanthrocapitalism and the role that foundations play in shaping conservation discourse.

Keywords: philanthropy
philanthrocapitalism
market-based
freshwater conservation
Advisor: Garrick, D
Incentives for international publications in the humanities and social sciences: an exploratory study of Chinese universities

This research aims to investigate how Chinese universities have attempted to incentivise academics in Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS) to publish in internationally-indexed journals, in response to increasing emphasis on internationalisation in national policies and political discourses. In addition, it explores how HSS academics’ research activities and careers have been influenced by those incentives. Institutional incentives used monetary and career- related benefits to prioritise international publications, especially publications in journals indexed by the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) and the Arts and Humanities Citation Index (A&HCI;). This phenomenon has provoked heated debates in China, particularly seen as detrimental to domestic publications and to other academic activities. The thesis aims to address the lack of systematic research on the scale and structure of those incentives in Chinese universities, and the lack of research on the incentive schemes’ influences on HSS academics’ research and careers.
The study applied a multiple-case study design, including six research- intensive universities in China, indicative of ‘985’ and ‘211’ universities in Chinese policy terms. It drew on interview data with 65 HSS academics, six senior university administrators, and four HSS journal editors in China. The study also included a documentary analysis of 172 institutional incentive policy documents across 113 of the ‘985’ and ‘211’ universities.
This research revealed that 84 out of the 113 research universities have been employing monetary bonuses or career-related incentives to promote HSS international publications. Incentives varied in their aims, the level of benefits, specific requirements, and models of policy-making. The findings suggested that higher prestige was being attached to SSCI and A&HCI; publications, as demonstrated by the higher bonus value for them and higher status in academics’ career development. The study also found that academic interviewees’ responses to incentives clustered around four profiles: proactive, adaptive, resistant, and hesitant. Academics from different sub-groups and various backgrounds reported direct and indirect influences of incentive schemes on their research and careers.
The theoretical contributions of the study include a conceptualisation of academics’ responses to research incentives, and a proposed framework for understanding the relationship between incentives and international publications. It identified specific dynamics in Chinese HSS, which challenged the widely-used centre-periphery model for explaining the internationalisation of knowledge production. It also reflected on unintended influences of incentives for HSS international publications. Drawing on the discussion, the thesis proposes implications for institutional policymaking and directions for further studies.

Keywords: China
Humanities and social sciences
Research incentives
International publications
Higher education
Advisor: Oancea, A
Rose, H
Ertl, H