VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Jahn-Teller effect in icosahedral symmetry

The resurgence of interest in properties of molecules of icosahedral symmetry follows the discovery of the C60 molecule. Due to the high symmetry of the icosahedron, almost all the electronic and vibrational levels are highly degenerate, so that in dealing with properties of these systems, the Jahn-Teller interaction must almost always be allowed for. This thesis primarily explores the properties of the icosahedral G ⊗ (g ⊕ h] interaction and related subsystems in the strong coupling régime. Mappings of the adiabatic potential energy surfaces facilitate an analysis of the geometrical phase or Berry phase acquired by the quantal system on transportation around adiabatic circuits in parameter space. The Berry phase information in conjunction with an analysis of tunnelling, determines the properties of the ground state.
The use of Ham factors achieves a characterization of the various coupling régimes. However, characterization of G and H Jahn-Teller systems, requires an extension of the standard definition of these Ham factors. In such cases the extended matrix elements between and within vibronic tunnelling sublevels cannot be ignored. A calculation of all the standard and extended matrix elements is presented. A further introduction of a matrix of Ham factors facilitates the description of H multiplicity within an H manifold.
Finally, two problems are investigated numerically; aimed at making some allusion towards possible experimental manifestations of G ⊗(g(⊕)h). The first investigation considers the variations in the eigensystem and Ham factors of G ⊗ (g ⊕ h), as a function of the coupling to the two modes. The second investigation considers the structure in the optical absorption line shapes for the transitions from orbital singlet to quartet, G, states in an icosahedral environment. The quartet states are subject to both spin-orbit and linear Jahn-Teller interactions.

Advisor: O'Brien, M
The parlementaires of Bordeaux at the end of the eighteenth century, 1775-1790

An understanding of the nature and role of the parlements is essential to effective study of the French old régime, and of the origins of the Revolution. Much light can be thrown on this question by the study of the magistrates of these courts, their interests, and the conditions under which they passed their lives. The results of such enquiries have the added use of illustrating aspects of aristocratic life not directly connected with the parlements. The study of parlementaires, therefore, has relevance to political, institutional, social, economic, and intellectual history. Too often, studies have been too narrowly tied to their political or social and economic aspects, with no attempts other than the crudest to link them, and the result has tended to produce an unbalanced picture. In this thesis an attempt has been nade to bind together all the aspects of the lives of one group of parlementaires, to relate then one to another, and to to present a total view which will make the ways of parlementaires more understandable. [...]
Modernist poetry and film of the home front, 1939-45

This thesis is an exploration of the links between modernist literature and film and society at a period of historical crisis, in Gramscian terms a moment of national 'popular will'. In general, these works are informed by a greater organicity of form, replacing the previous avant-garde model of a serial or mechanical structure. This organicity, however, maintains an element of disjunction, in which, as with filmic montage, the organicity is constituted on the level of the work seen as a totality. Herbert Read's aesthetics are shown to develop with these changes in the Thirties and the war years. The work of H.D. and T.S.Eliot is explored in the light of these new structural elements, and the formal questioning of the subject through the interplay of 'we' and montages of location and address in the poems. The pre-war years are portrayed in these works as a time of shame, and the war as a possible means of redemption, perhaps through suffering, or through the new subjectivity of the wartime community. The documentary movement provides an opportunity to trace these formal changes in a historical and institutional context, and with the work of Dylan Thomas, the relations between mass and high culture, film and poetry, are investigated, as well as the representation of the Blitz, in which guilt is sublimated into celebratory transcendence. These aspects, and the adaptation of a European avant-garde to meet British cultural needs, are examined in the work of the Apocalyptic movement. The last structure of feeling is reconstruction, which is related to Herbert Read's thought, but shown to inform all these other works and to be a linking-point between ideology and the structure of the text, formed as an organic unity that promises a reconstructed post-war society.
Characterisation of a novel tick-derived dendritic cell modulator: Japanin

Dendritic cells (DC) play a key role in immunity and represent a great target for modulation, because of their ability to prime T cells and direct their polarisation into effector subsets. Ticks release immunomodulatory compounds in their saliva, possibly in order to evade host immune responses during feeding. We have recently reported that Rhipicephalus appendiculatus ticks produce ‘Japanin’, a secretory lipocalin that arrests differentiation of monocytes into DC and reprogrammes maturation of DC in response to various stimuli towards a tolerogenic phenotype . Japanin was cloned and recombinantly expressed in a baculovirus system for subsequent immunological and biochemical analysis. This study was set out to further investigate the immunomodulatory activity of Japanin as well as the underlying mechanism of action. We have discovered that Japanin prevents DC-mediated proliferation and polarisation of allogeneic T cells. Experiments with labelled Japanin have demonstrated that it binds predominantly to ex vivo generated human monocyte-derived DC (moDC) and to a reduced degree to monocyte and DC populations in peripheral blood, yet to no other blood leucocytes. We have identified CD206, also known as the mannose receptor, as a Japanin-binding receptor on moDC. This identification has been achieved by crosslinking and subsequent pull-down of Japanin-receptor complexes from moDC. Affinity studies with recombinant CD206 constructs have confirmed the binding to Japanin. Moreover, the binding has been verified by specific siRNA knock-down of CD206 in moDC, which resulted in significantly decreased binding of Japanin. Unexpectedly, CD206 has appeared to be dispensable for at least most of the DC-modulatory activity of Japanin. Therefore, attempts were made to determine other factors in the mode of action of Japanin, through which we have found that IL-10 is not essentially involved. Further results have suggested that the activity of Japanin demands cell contact. Collectively, we have come to the conclusion that the mechanism of action of Japanin might require internalisation by DC, potentially enabling modulation of intracellular pathways involved in the regulation of DC maturation.

Keywords: immunology
immune modulation
Ticks
Dendritic cells
Advisor: Austyn, J
A taxonomy of tort law defences

Tort law provides for a large number of defences to liability. While the circumstances in which some of these defences apply have been explored in detail, scant attention has been given to the theoretical foundations of defences. In particular, no serious attempt has been made to explain how defences relate to each other. This thesis seeks to reduce this gap in our understanding of tort law by proposing a system by which defences may be organised. It is argued that tort defences should be arranged into a threefold taxonomy consisting in (1) absent element defences; (2) justifications; and (3) public policy defences. These categories differentiate defences from each other on the basis of the story that they tell about the defendant’s practical reasoning. Absent element defences indicate that the defendant did not commit any wrong. Justifications reveal that the defendant acted wrongly but that his acts conformed to the balance of reasons. Public policy defences give no insight as to the quality of the defendant’s practical reasoning.

Keywords: Tort law
defences
Advisor: Ashworth, A
Bagshaw, R
Impacts of development-induced displacement on urban locality and settlers: a case-study of the railway upgrading project in Metro Manila

Population displacement has long been a controversial companion of development. The central tension has been between the position challenging the kind of development that removes people from their homes, livelihoods and communities, and a managerial position that the impoverishment risks of displacement can be mitigated through an effective intervention. Whereas recent research has been devoted to unpacking a rather unsuccessful performance of involuntary resettlement as a mitigation measure, this study aims to question the assumption of mitigation itself by expanding the concept of development impacts beyond the realm of displacement. Through an empirical study of a railway project in Metro Manila, the Philippines, I examine how urban residents are affected by a large-scale demolition and displacement that took place in their locality. Semi-structured interviews were conducted along the railway tracks after the land was cleared of informal settlements since the study placed particular focus on residents who were not physically displaced. They are identified in my research as non-displaced people. Few studies have addressed the possibility that other people might have been adversely affected in situ and this is particularly so in urban areas.
Empirical findings reveal that the physical environment and socio-economic relationships in the locality were significantly transformed through the clearance; impacting the tenure status, livelihoods and social milieu of non-displaced people. Tenure security was important for avoiding displacement but was not a definitive factor as a number of people are still informal settlers who continue to be faced with other eviction threats. For the non-displaced, the physical change of the locality became relevant when their productive capital, notably, a second house or business space, was affected. The loss or erosion of physical capital had a secondary impact on livelihoods, which was compounded by the rupture in the local livelihood network following a mass population outflow. Whereas the income of locally-based businesses decreased substantially, livelihoods that operate beyond the locality remain relatively resilient. Differentiated experiences of a local change are also reflected in a range of evaluations that describe local social ambiance before and after the event. Diverse ways in which non-displaced people were affected underline that the current conceptualisation of impacts is limited to one dimension of displacement. This raises the need to adopt a more holistic and disaggregated approach to understanding the complexities of development impacts. A discussion on whether and how they can be mitigated would benefit further from such a comprehensive study.

Keywords: Metro Manila
urban livelihoods
urban socio-spatial change
development-induced displacement and resettlement
development impacts
Advisor: Zetter, R
Becoming Romano-British: The landscape of the late prehistoric and Romano-British periods in the Vale of the White Horse.

This thesis investigates the rural landscape of the Vale of the White Horse in the late Iron Age and the Roman period. Its three aims are to place the Roman temple, amphitheatre and cemetery at Marcham / Frilford within the context of the wider rural landscape, to document the nature of the Romano-British social and economic structure and its relationship to earlier Iron Age systems, and to compare the rural community of the Vale with other communities in the upper Thames Valley.
The first aim is addressed by analysing the archaeological data for the neighbourhood of the religious complex at Marcham / Frilford, integrating recent geophysical survey and commercial archaeological evaluations. It is considered whether the site's function was restricted to an extensive religious complex, or whether it can be classed as a small town. Although there is no evidence for urbanism in terms of densely packed buildings, market activities are possible. It is suggested that the cemetery might be a 'managed cemetery'.
The second and third aims are addressed by presenting and evaluating the archaeological evidence for the use of the landscape. The development of the Iron Age into the Romano-British landscape is seen through changes in settlement density, structure and form, buildings such as villas, ditched field systems, communication via roads and trackways, increasing population and agricultural intensification.
Variations in settlement forms in the Vale of the White Horse are considered within the wider context of settlement in the upper Thames Valley. The Iron Age landscape of the Vale appears similar to that of the gravel terraces north of the river Thames. In the Roman period it differs from the gravel terraces to the north by becoming a region of villas and local centres, which suggests differences in landholding and in social and economic structures. In addition, the late Iron Age and Romano-British settlement in the Vale of the White Horse is compared with other regional studies.

Keywords: Iron Age
Settlement Patterns
Thames Valley
Vale of the White Horse
Landscape archaeology
Roman Period
Advisor: Lock, G
Gosden, C
The compatibility between a theologically relevant libertarian notion of freewill and contemporary neuroscience research

The notion that we are voluntary agents who exercise power to choose and, in doing so, determine some of what happens in the world has been an important notion in certain theological accounts concerning our relationship with God (e.g. 'the freewill defence' for God's goodness and omnipotence in light of moral evil and accounts of human moral responsibility in relation to God). However, it has been claimed that the physicalism supported by contemporary neuroscience research calls into question human voluntary agency and, with it, human power to choose. Emergentist (or non-reductive physicalist) accounts of psychological phenomena have been presented as a way of reconciling the physicalism supported by contemporary neuroscience and the theologically important notion of human power to choose. But there are several issues that remain for the plausibility of the required kind of emergentist account; namely - Does recent neuroscience research show that voluntary agency is an illusion? and Is there evidence for neurophysiological causes which, along with neurophysiological conditions, determine all we do? In this dissertation I set out to address these issues and, in doing so, present an account of voluntary agency as power to choose in the state of being aware of alternatives. I argue that this account allows for the notion that human beings determine some of what happens in a way that is consistent with what contemporary neuroscience shows. Thus, contemporary neuroscience does not undermine this notion of human voluntary agency; or, then, the predominant theological view that we are morally responsible in our relationship with God.

Keywords: philosophy of action
theology
emergence
voluntary
free will defence
neuroscience
free will
responsibility
choice
Advisor: van den Toren, B
Hyman, J
A critical edition of the Athis und Prophilias fragments with introduction, commentary, rhyme- and word-lists

The introduction contains separate studies of the manuscripts, their orthographies, the rhymes, metre and treatment of source material. Both the orthographic studies and the rhyme—grammar reveal Athis to be a CG poem with no real evidence of Rhenish provenance. The metrical studies, dealing with vowel collision and units of one and three syllables, show how the Athis poet pursued various legitimate rhythmic options in his attempt to introduce variation to the tedium of regular alternation. The most positive results emerge from the comparison of Athis with its OF source, the Roman d'Athis. The dependence of the German text on the OF poem can be proved through misunderstandings of lines and part—lines of the Rd'A enshrined in proper names in the German text. By far the most important aspect of the German poet's adaptation is his sense of history. Ancient Rome and Athens are presented in an entirely different way in the German text. In particular, the large scale descriptions of ceremonies and major events are scenically developed under the influence of medieval historiographic ideas. Further supplementary source material is provided by a Pseudo—Ovidian treatment of Pyramus and Thisbe and a number of medieval military and judicial customs associated with Roman models. In general Athis is shown to be indebted to a medieval German self—awareness of Romanitas.

Keywords: Middle High German
word-lists
narrative poetry
critical edition
Athis und Prophilias
German poetry
commentary
rhyme-lists
Advisor: Ganz, P
The City of London and the problem of the liberties, c1540 - c1640

The post-monastic liberties have long formed a footnote to the history of early modern London, but they have escaped serious historical consideration on their own merits. Only a handful of the capital's two dozen religious houses became liberties after the dissolution.
The thesis focuses primarily on four of them, showing the liberties to be more complex and more functional places than their traditional depiction would suggest. The introduction contextualises London's post-monastic liberties. In addition to reviewing the historiography of the liberties, the introduction puts them in an historical context, considering them alongside provincial jurisdictional battles, early modern London's rapid growth, and the institution of sanctuary. The second chapter focuses on the City of London's relationship with the liberties in the century after the dissolution. A chronological survey of its approach to the liberties precedes a thematic discussion of the issues that affected that approach.
The following chapters present in-depth study of four post-monastic liberties. They explore the development of administrative and social conditions within each liberty and consider the relationship of each to outside authorities.
Because of variations in the survival of sources, different aspects of each liberty's history come to the fore. The Minories chapter focuses on its ecclesiastical exemptions and their role in fostering an early Puritan community there. The Blackfriars chapter considers the effects of its gentry and noble population as well as the role of its playhouses and its Puritan leanings in the decades before the Civil War. St Katherine by the Tower's history is explored through the development of an indigenous administrative system to govern the growing population of the precinct, which existed alongside its still-operating hospital. The St Martin le Grand chapter corrects long-held misconceptions about its role as sanctuary and considers its administrative

Advisor: Archer, I
Disaggregating state capacity: explaining policy effectiveness in Latin America, 1996-2006

In this thesis, I use the concept of state capacity to account for cross-national levels of variation in policy effectiveness in Latin America between 1996 and 2006. In doing so, I make four contributions to the literature. Firstly, I develop a theoretically-grounded conceptualization and an empirically systematic measurement of policy effectiveness for 18 Latin American countries along security, welfare and economic policy dimensions. Secondly, I develop a novel conceptualization and operationalization of state capacity along three key dimensions – infrastructural power, bureaucratic capacity and political capacity. By disaggregating state capacity into these three distinct (but mutually reinforcing) constituent dimensions, I integrate different strands of the literature on state capacity and purport to increase the explanatory power of state capacity as a conceptual variable. Thirdly, I develop a simple but theoretically differentiated model of policy effectiveness which maps out and incorporates different kinds of politics-centred explanations of effectiveness, while situating state capacity as a direct (but not exclusive) cause of effectiveness. The final contribution is empirical: I triangulate statistical methods, crisp-set qualitative comparative analysis and an extended qualitative comparison of two countries (Argentina and Chile) along three policy areas (health, citizen security and economic regulation) to provide a rich analysis of the influence the different dimensions of state capacity have on each policy effectiveness dimension. My results suggest, firstly, that state capacity differences are indeed large and important for explaining within-region differences in effectiveness; secondly, that the use of this disaggregated approach provides important theoretical and empirical payoffs for understanding the multiple ways in which states affect outcomes; and thirdly, that differentiating ‘institutions as organizations’ (such as the state) from the standard understanding of ‘institutions as rules’ allows us to improve on standard institutionalist accounts of the influence of politics on development.

Keywords: Latin America
State capacity
Chile
Argentina
Policy effectiveness
Advisor: Power, T
Popular history and fiction: the myth of August the Strong in German literature, art, and media

This thesis concerns the function of fiction in the creation of an historical myth and the uses that that myth is put to in a number of periods and differing régimes. Its case study is the popular myth of August the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, as a man of extraordinary sexual prowess and the ruler over a magnificent, but frivolous, court in Dresden. It examines the origins of this myth in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, and its development up to the twenty-first century in German history writing, fiction, art, and media. The image August created for himself in the art, literature, and festivities of his court as an ideal ruler of extremely broad cultural and intellectual interests and high political ambitions and abilities linked him closely with eighteenth-century notions of galanterie. This narrowed the scope of his image later, especially as nineteenth-century historians selected fictional sources and interpreted them as historical sources to present August as an immoral political failure. Although nineteenth-century popular writers exhibited a more varied response to August’s historical role, the negative historiography continued to resonate in later history writing. Ironically, the myth of August the Strong represented an opportunity in the GDR in creating and fostering a sense of identity, first as a socialist state with historical and cultural links to the east, and then by examining Prusso-Saxon history as a uniquely (East) German issue. Finally, the thesis examines the practice of historical re-enactment as it is currently employed in a number of variations on German TV and in literature, and its impact on historical knowledge. The thesis concludes that, while narrative forms are necessary to history and fiction, and fiction is a necessary part of presenting history, inconsistent combinations of the two can undermine the projects of both.

Keywords: historiography
historical narrative
myth
August the Strong
galanterie
Friedrich August
eighteenth century
GDR
re-enactment
fiction
romance
Saxony
media
history
festival culture
Poland
historical novel
Advisor: Watanabe-O'Kelly, H