VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Political institutions, skill formation, and pension policy: the political-economic logic of China’s pension system

A central theme in the comparative political economy of the welfare state is the complementaries between political institutions, social policy, and labour markets. Yet little has been written to uncover this political-economic nexus in China, the world’s second largest economy. This thesis partly addresses this gap by studying the country’s public pension arrangement, the most expensive component of the Chinese welfare state. It reveals the working of the political-economic nexus in contemporary China by showing how it leads to two puzzling characteristics of the Chinese pension system, namely the rapid expansion in the absence of electoral pressures and the persistent regional fragmentation despite an authoritarian central government. It argues that the decentralised authoritarianism, in which China’s authoritarian central state delegates to regional governments and motivates them to achieve its developmental goals, drives municipal authorities to compete with each other in generating economic growth. In the inter-municipal economic competition, local leaders adopt an expansionary yet localising pension policy. This facilitates the formation of specific industrial skills, which are productive for particular local industries, and the retention of skilled industrial workers. All of this is important to local economic development in a context of industrial upgrading and labour market tightening. It is argued this is the political-economic logic of China’s pension system.

Keywords: varieties of capitalism
pension
skill formation
China
labour market
comparative political economy of the welfare state
Advisor: Walker, R
Saunders, A
Synthetic applications of hydrazones

This thesis describes investigations of reactions of hydrazones and their N-anions via the imino carbon atom; these reactions show umpolung reactivity. The conversion of the derived azo products into synthetically useful compounds (e.g. 4-ketoesters, 4-ketoacids, 4-ketonitriles, alkanes, amines) is also described.
Reactions of ṯ-butylhydrazone anions with enoic esters are described. 4-ṯ-Butylazoesters were formed on reaction with methyl crotonate. The 4-ṯ-butylazoesters derived from aldehyde ṯ-butylhydrazones were converted by tautomerisation of the azo function and hydrolysis of the resultant ṯ-butylhydrazone to 4-ketoesters or 4-ketoacids in 47-60% yield. Other Michael type electrophiles investigated gave negligible yields of C-adducts.
ṯ-Butylhydrazones of aliphatic aldehydes were found to give ene adducts with methyl acrylate or aerylonitrile on reflux in xylene for 24h. The resultant azo compounds were converted into 4-ketoesters (75-90%) or 4-Ketonitriles (18- 75%) by tautomerisation and hydrolysis. Other potential enophiles investigated did not give C-adducts.
The C-alkylation of tritylhydrazone anions with alkyl halides gave tritylazoalkanes. Tritylazoalkanes decomposed by homolytic fragmentation with dinitrogen evolution above -20°C. Trapping with ethanethiol of the resultant radicals gave alkanes in 27-69% yield.
The last section describes investigations of the anions of various secondary alkyl hydrazones for C-reaction, and attempted reduction of the resultant azoalkanes to amines Isopropyl- and cyclohexylhydrazones gave low yields of Cadducts. 2,4-Dimethylpent-3-yl- (DMP) and 3,3-dimethylbut- 2-ylhydrazones (TBM) gave good yields of C-adducts. Direct reduction of the azoalkanes to amines was not achieved Azoalkanes derived by alkylation of ketone DMP or TBM hydrazones were tautomerised and hydrolysed to hydrazines in low yield. Reduction of a so-formed hydrazine gave an amine, but in low overall yield (14%).

Advisor: Baldwin, J
The cult of St. Edward the Confessor, 1066-1399

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the popularity of the cult of Edward the Confessor during the period 1066-1399. The first chapter examines the history behind Edward's canonisation. Two elements make it noteworthy: it was the first papal canonisation of an Englishman, and it required two petitions. Because of the monarchy's prominent role in Edward's canonisation, Chapter Two concentrates on royal patronage of the cult. The major obstacle in attaining a clear understanding of the nature of royal devotion to the cult is the monarchy's use of Westminster Abbey, site of Edward's tomb, for royal ceremonies. Chapter Three charts Westminster Abbey's role in the promotion of the saint and his impact in other English ecclesiastical establishments. After discerning the influence of the cult, the focus shifts to secular and hagiographical documents which presented the king. The importance of the documents is that they record any changes in the perception of Edward. Chapter Four looks at the four main vitae written about Edward and detects a metamorphosis in the presentation, deviating from traditional hagiographical forms to a more fantastic, almost fictional account of the king. Chapter Five examines two other types of sources: works produced or commissioned by those who promoted Edward's sanctity and the chronicles which include Edward's reign in their texts. Both types of sources confirm Chapter Four's conclusion that as time passed, Edward became a mythological figure. Chapter Six compares the presentation of Edward with those of political and royal saints in the mid-thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and finds that the king is an unusual picture of both royal and English sanctity. This study of Edward's cult concludes that though it was used for various political ends and some stories of the saint became popular legends, the cult never attained a popular status.

Advisor: Garnett, G
The changing structure of occupations and wage inequality

This thesis investigates the co-evolution of the changing structure of occupations and the growth in wage inequality in Britain since the 1970s and the subsequent stabilisation during the 2000s. Occupations provide the single most important unit of analysis for economic inequality in stratification research, providing the basis for socioeconomic status, prestige scales, job desirability scores, and social class schemas. Although there was a ‘massive rise’ in wage inequality, relatively little is known about the relationship between the occupational structure and the growth in wage inequality. Since sociologists tend to place a lot of emphasis on the role of occupations in structuring economic inequalities, we might expect them to play a key role in accounting for trends in overall wage inequality. More recent strands of sociological theory, however, argue that the link between occupations and economic inequalities might have been weakening over time.
This thesis assesses these claims in relation to the over time trends in between- and within-occupation-inequality. It finds that the growth in overall wage inequality was largely due to growing inequality between occupations, not within them. The growth in between-occupation inequality was largely due to higher-paying occupations receiving the largest wage gains. Furthermore, and perhaps surprisingly, only a handful of occupations account for the majority of the rise in wage inequality, indicating caution should be exercised in generating accounts about the role for occupations in accounting for overall inequality. Along the way, this thesis attempts to address the extent to which the structuring of the growth in wage inequality by occupations was due to the changing composition of incumbents within occupations (namely the rise in educational attainment), in spite of data limitations. Finally, this thesis takes to task what the implications of the ‘massive rise’ in wage inequality implies for the broader categories sociologists use to capture economic inequalities based on aggregations of occupations.

Keywords: social class
wage inequality
occupations
Advisor: Mills, C
The role of tracing in claiming 

The central tenet of tracing theory is that in certain circumstances it is possible to show that one asset stands in the place of another, such that any claims in relation to the original asset can be transmitted to its substitute. Since at least 2001 academic and judicial orthodoxy has been that this is done by following the path of value from one asset to the other, and can be aided in more complex cases by the application of evidential rules or presumptions. These ideas are at the heart of existing accounts of proprietary claims against trustees who deal with trust assets without authority, and personal and proprietary claims against strangers to the trust. They are also at the heart of calls to 'unify' the rules of tracing at law and in equity, removing existing distinctions drawn between claimants who are owed fiduciary duties and those who are not.
In this thesis it is argued that there are no independent processes of following and identifying value, and that the language of 'tracing value' has lent the appearance of neutrality and conceptual unity to disparate heads of fiduciary and non-fiduciary liability. Most importantly, it has led to the assumption that in any case in which a claimant can demonstrate that a series of transactions links some right in the defendant’s hands with a right previously held by or for the claimant, the claimant can claim that right. In this thesis it is argued that far from creating an arbitrary practical obstacle for claimants seeking to trace and locate value, the fiduciary relationship is at the heart of the justification for any claim that exists to a new right in the hands of someone else.

Keywords: Equity
Debt
Value
Restitution
Property
Tracing
Advisor: Stevens, R
The rise of the leisure painter: artistic creativity within the experience of ordinary life in postwar Britain, c. 1945-2000

Since John Ruskin and William Morris's protestations against mass production in the nineteenth century, critics of mass consumption thought that it not only reduced the necessity, but also the desire, to make things for personal use and enjoyment. The history of leisure painting in art societies and adult education, and of the amateur artist’s consumption of art materials and self-help literature, shows that, on the contrary, affluence both inspired and facilitated a quest for self-actualisation amongst the rank and file. Creative activities such as drawing and painting served this quest at little financial cost to the individual. Following the Second World War, a significant increase in the take-up of leisure painting was encouraged by the state as part of the broader postwar settlement. The pursuit of personal wellbeing through creative activity was regarded as a public good, of benefit not only to individuals but also to the communities of which they were a part. In the last quarter of the twentieth century, state support for recreational pursuits such as leisure painting was pared back: in the shift from collectivist social democracy towards individualist market liberalism, personal enjoyment was recast as a private affair for which the consumer must pay. Painting continued to grow in popularity, supported by expanding consumer markets in self-help literature and affordable art materials. Yet while consumerism sustained the popularity of amateur art-making, the ways in which amateur artists participated in the arts changed. Personal creativity emerges here as an inherently social activity: the private experience of creativity is mediated and structured by society. Consumerism was not bad for personal creativity per se, but the replacement of a communitarian approach with a consumerist model restricted the breadth and reach of creative aspiration nurtured as part of the postwar settlement. By the end of the century, most amateurs were painting alone.

Keywords: social democracy
art
affluence
british
history
market liberalism
modern
amateur
Advisor: Offer, A
The role and regulation of Asterless in the centrosome cycle

Centrosomes are the main microtubule organizing centres in animal cells and are formed by a pair of centrioles together with surrounding pericentriolar material (PCM). Cycling cells duplicate their centrosomes strictly once per cell cycle. This process is driven by the semi-conservative duplication of the centrioles that are found at the centrosome core. During the exit from mitosis the two centrioles within the single inherited centrosome separate, and upon the start of S-phase each of these inherited mother centrioles assembles an adjacent daughter at its side. This process results in two complete centrosomes that can form the poles of the mitotic spindle, and thus segregate evenly to the next cell generation.
The formation of a daughter centriole suppresses the initiation of new duplication events from the same templating mother centriole until this daughter separates - disengages - at the end of the cell cycle. This regulation - that acts to repress centriole amplification - is summarized in the 'licensing model of centriole duplication' (Tsou and Stearns, 2006). This model states that centriole disengagement provides the license for the re-duplication of mother centrioles. Importantly, experiments show that while abolishing centriole engagement is sufficient to allow mother centrioles to re-duplicate within the same cycle, it is insufficient to allow daughter centrioles the assembly of a granddaughter before they mature into mothers towards the end of their first cell cycle. The molecular nature of this daughter-to-mother transition remains mysterious.
In this thesis I show that in Drosophila embryos the essential centriole duplication protein Asl is not incorporated into daughter centrioles as they assemble during S-phase, but is only incorporated once mother and daughter separate at the end of mitosis. The initial incorporation of Asterless (Asl) is irreversible, and is dependent on centriolar DSas-4. Crucially, Asl incorporation is essential for daughter centrioles to mature into mothers that can support centriole duplication. I propose that Asl acts as a permanent primary license that allows new centrioles to duplicate for the first time. Once acquired, this primary license is not lost but rather further regulation is taken over by the reduplication licensing mechanism, disengagement. This work extends the previously proposed licensing model to also explain how new centrioles are licensed for their first duplication event.

Keywords: Centriole
centrosome
Drosophila
Advisor: Raff, J
Duties in the wake of atrocity: a normative analysis of post-atrocity peacebuilding

Over the last two decades, the international community has taken on the task of rebuilding societies in the aftermath of mass-atrocities. Through a combination of trial and error and vigorous academic research, a relatively clear (and semi-malleable) blueprint of post-atrocity peacebuilding has developed. This includes setting up a temporary international transitional authority, establishing democracy, facilitating economic development, and holding war crime trials. Though there are volumes of studies which address the pragmatic strengths and weaknesses of these key elements of peacebuilding, to date political theorists have not critically analyzed the moral legitimacy of these policies. My thesis aims to fill this gap.
The overarching question of this thesis is this: What moral duties does the international community have to post-atrocity societies? To answer this question, I critically examine the normative issues involved in the four key aspects of peacebuilding (identified above). Using the framework of just war theory and a cosmopolitan theory of fundamental human rights, I argue that, in most post-atrocity cases, the international community has duties to remove atrocity-committing regimes from power, occupy the target-state and act as a transitional authority, help facilitate the creation of democracy and economic development, and hold war crimes trials. These duties, of course, are extremely complicated and limited and these qualifications are examined and developed throughout. Running through the construction of my theory of post-atrocity duties is a clear message: we – the international community – have obligations to the victims and survivors of atrocities. In other words, providing assistance in the wake of mass-atrocities is not a supererogatory act of charity, rather, it is a duty which we owe to the victims of these horrible crimes.

Keywords: jus post bellum
mass atrocities
just war theory; humanitarian intevention
Advisor: Fabre, C
Ground heave around driven piles in clay

Large diameter piles have increasingly been used, especially for offshore foundations. Most of the piles that have been used offshore have been open-ended. There is evidence from previous work that closed-ended piles have merits over open-ended piles; they have a greater ultimate axial capacity and are easier to drive than open-ended piles of the same outer diameter. However, because a greater volume of soil is displaced, closed-ended piles give rise to much greater ground heave. This additional heave may cause unacceptable distortion to the structure as each leg is fixed to the sea-bed in turn. For this reason, this research was commissioned. Laboratory studies of ground heave around driven open- and closed-ended piles (16mm o.d.) were carried out. Two different types of specimen reconstituted from Speswhite Kaolin were prepared; semi-cylindrical and full cylindrical specimens each 450mm in diameter and about 450mm in height. The semi-cylindrical specimens were used to obtain qualitative data about the movements of soil around the driven pile. The full cylindrical specimens were used to take accurate measurements of the ground heave during pile driving and to study the influence of the ground heave on a small surcharged collar through which a pile was driven. A further series of tests investigated the effect of ground heave when a group of piles was driven through a larger surcharged collar which was used to represent the mudmat of an offshore structure. The lateral movement of soil at around the mid-depth of a driven pile agreed with the cavity expansion model (plane strain analysis) assuming undrained conditions and no vertical movement. Closed-ended piles were found to generate about four times the magnitude of ground heave compared to open-ended piles with an area ratio of 34%. Ground heave appeared to be unaffected by overconsolidation ratio and rate of pile driving (22 to 150 blows/min.). However, maximum vertical consolidation pressure seemed to have a small effect. A remarkably good agreement was obtained between the field data and the results of this investigation when both were made dimensionless. The surcharged collar and model mudmat generally settled during pile driving. However, when very low surcharge pressures were used, the collar and mudmat were lifted up. For pile groups, the surcharged mudmat tilted towards the pile being driven. The magnitude of this tilt for the mudmat was greater when closed-ended piles were used.

Keywords: piles
clay
foundation
Advisor: Wroth, C
Laplace transforms, non-analytic growth bounds and $C_{0}$-semigroups

In this thesis, we study a non-analytic growth bound ζ(f)
associated with an exponentially bounded measurable function f:R+→X,
which measures the extent to which f
can be approximated by holomorphic functions. This growth bound is related to the location of the domain of holomorphy of the Laplace transform of f
far from the real axis. We study the properties of ζ(f)
as well as two associated abscissas, namely the non-analytic abscissa of convergence, ζ1(f)
and the non-analytic abscissa of absolute convergence κ(f)
. These new bounds may be considered as non-analytic analogues of the exponential growth bound ω0(f)
and the abscissas of convergence and absolute convergence of the Laplace transform of f,
abs(f)
and abs(‖f‖)
. Analogues of several well known relations involving the growth bound and abscissas of convergence associated with f
and abscissas of holomorphy of the Laplace transform of f
are established. We examine the behaviour of ζ
under regularisation of f
by convolution and obtain, in particular, estimates for the non-analytic growth bound of the classical fractional integrals of f
. The definitions of ζ,ζ1
and κ
extend to the operator-valued case also. For a C0
-semigroup T
of operators, ζ(T)
is closely related to the critical growth bound of T
. We obtain a characterisation of the non-analytic growth bound of T
in terms of Fourier multiplier properties of the resolvent of the generator. Yet another characterisation of ζ(T)
is obtained in terms of the existence of unique mild solutions of inhomogeneous Cauchy problems for which a non-resonance condition holds. We apply our theory of non-analytic growth bounds to prove some results in which ζ(T)
does not appear explicitly; for example, we show that all the growth bounds ωα(T),α>0,
of a C0
-semigroup T
coincide with the spectral bound s(A)
, provided the pseudo-spectrum is of a particular shape. Lastly, we shift our focus from non-analytic bounds to sun-reflexivity of a Banach space with respect to C0
-semigroups. In particular, we study the relations between the existence of certain approximations of the identity on the Banach space \xspace
and that of C0
-semigroups on X
which make X
sun-reflexive.