VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Regional powers & energy integration: South Africa in the Southern African power pool

Energy access is essential for sustainable development, yet more than half of sub- Saharan Africa lacks access to electricity. Regional energy integration is a viable solution to this problem, particularly through regional power pools (regional markets to trade electricity between utilities). However, African states have mostly developed their power sectors in isolation, and the role of regional powers – states exerting domination over regional processes – in these power pools is unpredictable. To address this puzzle, I investigate the participation of a particular regional power, South Africa, in the energy integration projects of its regional power pool, the Southern African Power Pool (SAPP).
Using data from 22 in-depth interviews of elite and expert actors in the Southern African energy sector, this qualitative-interpretive, single case study analysis builds theory and contributes to the literatures on regional powers, regional energy integration, and global political economy. I use thematic network analysis to generate intricate thematic networks of the factors shaping regional powers’ participation in regional power pools, and then map the interactions between relevant actors. This multifaceted analysis illuminates an important type of regional organisation hitherto neglected in International Relations literature.
Ultimately, I argue that South Africa’s participation in the SAPP can be explicated as a complex web of interactions between three interconnected groups of factors: regional political dynamics in Southern Africa, South African domestic factors, and the institutional characteristics of the SAPP. Contrary to the literature’s overemphasis of domestic electricity supply deficiencies, I argue that regional political dynamics are more important and co-constitute the other two groups of factors. I unmask key regional factors, including political willpower for regional cooperation and regional project financing, which contextualise the political motivations for South Africa’s energy policies and shape the commercial rationale for participating in regional power pools.

Advisor: Soares de Oliveira, R
New reagents and reactions for the synthesis of sulfinates and their aza-analogues

The work in this thesis documents several advances in the synthesis of S(VI) functional groups. The methods reported in this work have a focus on the reaction of radicals with sulfur dioxide and its aza-analogues to prepare S(IV) products, which can then be exploited to prepare a broad selection of S(VI) products. Furthermore, studies were carried out into the preparation of reagents that can generate reactive sulfinylamines in situ, and these were used in a variety of reactions. Finally, we were able to prepare novel sulfurdiimide reagents, and we were able to demonstrate the use of these reagents in the preparation of challenging aza-sulfur functional groups.
Chapter 1 is a literature review covering the properties, applications and synthesis of sulfur functional groups. The chemistry of sulfur dioxide surrogates, sulfinylamines and sulfurdiimides is also reviewed.
Chapter 2 describes the development of a novel method for the synthesis of alkyl sulfinates and their derivatives utilising alkyl radical addition to sulfur dioxide surrogates. This method utilises Katritzky pyridinium salts as alkyl radical precursors, which can be prepared from readily-available primary amines.
Chapter 3 describes the preparation of sulfinamide products via decarboxylative radical addition to sulfinylamine reagents and their use in the preparation of S(VI) products. This method was applied to sulfinylhydroxylamines in order to prepare N-alkoxysulfinamides, which were subsequently used to prepare sulfonamide and sulfonimidamide products.
Chapter 4 describes the application of trans-sulfinylation to prepare sensitive sulfinylamines in situ. This was used in combination with our previously-developed decarboxylative reaction conditions to prepare diverse N-alkylated sulfinamide products.
Chapter 5 describes studies towards the development and application of benchstable sulfinylamine reagents or sulfinylamine surrogates to support the use of existing methods and enable the development of new methods utilising hydrolytically-sensitive electron-poor sulfinylamines.
Chapter 6 describes studies towards the development of synthetic routes towards new sulfurdiimide reagents and demonstrates their reaction with alkyl radicals or organometallic reagents to prepare challenging aza-sulfur products.
Chapter 7 presents conclusions to our research and potential future directions of study.
Chapter 8 presents experimental data.

Keywords: photochemistry
sulfur dioxide
sulfur
sulfinates
sulfinamides
sulfurdiimides
sulfinylamines
radical chemistry
Advisor: Willis, M
In the spirit of engagement: memories and the sensorium in Algonquin canoe building

This project develops cross-cultural ontologies of memory that are explored dynamically through multimodal sensory pathways. Considering the vast and varying theories on memory, the near universal adoption of storage-and-retrieval metaphors, such as the memory trace, which posits that memories are embodied ‘inside’ in our central nervous system or embedded ‘out there’ in our material environment, remains problematic. Using Material Engagement Theory (MET) as an experimental research model in cognitive archaeology, I conduct collaborative ethnographic fieldwork building birch bark canoes with the Algonquin First Nations. Together we investigate the mnemonic flow that occurs between sensing bodies and living geographies. I propose the possibility that the human mind may possess underdeveloped sensory pathways involved in the transmission of transgenerational memories and the recovery of long-lost wisdoms. I excavate the sensorium through the archaeoacoustics of forest listening to uncover the ways in which memories are deeply sedimented in the sonic worlds of nature. With the helpful concept of mimesis, this ethnography encourages multiple forms of listening, where natural sounds are fully canvased for what they are capable of teaching us about how to live. An examination of the haptic dimensions of the mocataugan (crooked knife) presents a compelling case for how material inheritances provide sensuous similarities that cohabite past and present moments of our cognitive becoming. These sensory attunements challenge the popular belief that memories are imprinted and stored. The ethnographic findings suggest ancestral memories are imminent, temporally persistent, actively participating and ready-at-hand to be enacted through our material engagements and our skillful dealings with the world. Understanding the ways traditional territory and natural resources sustain cultural memory over vast periods of time is of vital importance to the Algonquin. This research encourages us to think about how to sensibly take our place in the larger ecology of mind that sustains us and is increasingly under considerable strain.

Keywords: cultural heritage
ancestral memory
material engagement theory (MET)
algonquin first nations
Advisor: Malafouris, L
Navigating middle grounds: transforming educational spaces through collaborative pedagogy inspired by Puerto Rican's battles against 'juvenicides'


This Participatory Action Research (PAR), led by a group of students and teachers from Puerto Rico, explores the pressing issue of juvenicides and how schools can serve as a space for collaborative reflection on broader social issues. Most academic studies of PAR and Collaborative Pedagogy concentrate on working with students or teachers individually. Rather than focusing solely on students or teachers, this research proposes and implements a collaborative pedagogy where we work together to transform educational spaces.
Through critical dialogue and online group meetings, the concept of middle ground (the in-between spaces) that we navigate while conducting research and navigating our schools is analysed, shedding light on the importance of questioning the spatial dimension of our educational practices. This study is part of the ongoing transformation we aim to see in our education system.
The validity of this research is not in its replicability but in how it produces a praxis (reflection and action) of the co-researcher, and its implications for our practice in schools and research. As an outcome of our critical dialogues and vivencias, the “Guide for a Collaborative Pedagogy: transforming our learning spaces” emerges, providing a roadmap for transforming the educational spaces we inhabit.

Keywords: teacher-student relationship
CIE
CIE2023
spatial structure of schooling
collaborative learning
Advisor: Khalid, A
Quantum treatment of ultra-low loss electron energy loss spectroscopy with applications to molecular crystals

Continual advancements of experimental hardware for electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) - a material characterisation technique grounded in electron scattering - has opened up the avenue for studying vibrational excitations, as energy resolutions are now able to reach down to ~ 5meV. Although optical methods such as Infrared and Raman spectroscopy can be used to study phonon vibrations, EELS paired with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) has the advantage of superior spatial resolution, making it an attractive alternative. An electron beam that is off-sample (aloof mode) reduces the sample beam damage, an attractive technique for better investigations of sensitive, organic molecular crystals such as pharmaceutical products.
In this thesis, the commonly used theoretical derivations of ultra-low loss EELS are reviewed. Their shortcomings are identified, and an improved quantum formalism congruous with molecular crystals is presented. This modified ‘dipole’ theory dominates in magnitude over the current quantum treatment for aloof beam EELS, and is demonstrated to show improved relative intensity predictions for the molecular crystal of beta-guanine. It successfully distinguishes between two polymorphs of quinacridone, and reasonably quantifies the relative peak intensities. We also apply our theory to the bulk crystal of boron subphosphide by evaluating its performance over the other theoretical methods. These calculations require material properties determined from first principles using density functional theory, which will be expanded upon in the thesis.

Keywords: density functional theory (DFT)
molecular crystals
electron energy loss spectroscopy
spectroscopy
ultra low loss
condensed matter
dipole
quantum
Advisor: Nicholls, R
Yates, J
Nellist, P
Animal objects? - Acknowledging the moral limits of property law

At present, animals are categorised as objects in law, whereas humans are categorised as subjects. Animals have or they are capable of having human property rights accrue in them and, as such, they are treated only as being instrumentally valuable. This is in contrast to the inherent value recognised in the human context. The law has conflated a human/animal dualism with the subject/object distinction in property law. The aim of this thesis is to consider the relationship between subjecthood and objecthood through a study of the status of animals. In doing so, I challenge the longstanding and pervasive assumption in traditional property theory and practice that animals are properly regarded as property objects. This thesis brings together the core fundamental aspects of the concept of property, highlighting that one of the fundamental features is that it contains a moral limitation. At present, this moral limitation prevents humans from being treated as property objects, doing so by recognising their subjecthood. Thus, I posit that the moral limit of property is the concept of subjecthood. I conduct a study of the attribution of subjecthood to humans and extract four key elements, which I term the “irreducible core”, that forms the basis of that recognition. I move on to examining whether the attribution of subjecthood only to humans, and thus the present moral limit of property, is morally consistent and justifiable. In concluding that it is not, I propose a new theory of subjecthood or personhood that draws from existing legal principles – centring the importance of the irreducible core but conceiving of it and applying it non-anthropocentrically to be inclusive of all humans and other animals. In proposing this new theory of personhood, I argue that the moral limitation of property should be reimagined – recasting animals as subjects and removing them from the property paradigm as objects.

Keywords: medical law
animal law
legal personhood
animal rights
property law
Advisor: Pila, J
Immunogenomic analysis of the tumour microenvironment

Immune signatures are important tools to investigate the prognostic significance and therapeutic possibilities of different immune populations in the context of the tumour microenvironment (TME). Accompanied by the wealth of cancer transcriptomic data, many immune signatures have been developed using different samples, technologies, and methods. But there has been limited effort to comprehensively assess these tools in cancer, especially in the context of macrophage signatures.
In this study, I first exanimated the performance of six bioinformatic immune dissection tools (Chapter 3). I conducted in-depth comparisons on two of the most comprehensive and methodologically distinctive tools (CIBERSORT and xCell) in 33 different cancer types across the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The effort identified high agreements on five immune subsets and an unexpected positive relationship between the theoretically polarized M1 and M2 signatures. Subsequently, I assessed the impact of tumour hypoxia on infiltrating immune cells (Chapter 4), since hypoxia is a hallmark of the immunosuppressive microenvironment. I uncovered a reciprocal relationship between tumour hypoxia and the stromal contents within the breast cancer TME.
In the work concerned with tumour associated macrophage (TAM) (Chapter 5), I systematically compared 16 different ex vivo and in vivo derived macrophage signatures. This comparison indicated these macrophage signatures have high divergence and the ex vivo derived signatures were not representative of TAMs in breast cancer. Following this, I derived a new independent TAM signature from single-cell data, which featured lipid metabolism and lysosomal activities. I further refined and improved this signature using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO). Using the refined TAM signature, I demonstrated the lipid-associated macrophages were immunosuppressive, enriched in aggressive HER2-enriched and Basal-like subtypes, and associated with poor prognoses across breast cancer subtypes. Therefore, this lipid-associated TAM could be a promising target in breast cancer.

Keywords: TAM
tumour microenvironment
TME
tumour associated macrophage
immunotherapy
hypoxia
single cell sequencing
breast cancer
Advisor: Buffa, F
Harris, A
Screening and the association between cervical cancer and known reproductive and hormonal factors

Epidemiological studies have shown associations between reproductive and hormonal factors and cervical carcinogenesis, but have had limited information on previous cervical screening. Screening is known to reduce the incidence of invasive cervical cancer (ICC) and there is some evidence that reproductive and hormonal factors affect screening uptake. The main aim of this thesis was to examine the risk of cervical neoplasia i.e., pre-invasive cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 3 (CIN3) and ICC, associated with reproductive factors, namely parity and age at first birth, and hormonal factors, namely use of oral contraceptives (OC) and menopausal hormone therapy (MHT), taking into account confounding by screening history.
Analyses involved over 800,000 women in the Million Women Study with linked NHS Cervical Screening Programme records, including over 1400 cases of CIN3 and 1000 cases of ICC. Using logistic regression, non-attendance for cervical screening was found to vary considerably according to reproductive and hormonal factors. Using Cox regression to estimate relative risks of cervical neoplasia, I found that early childbearing was associated with increased risks of CIN3 and ICC after adjustment for multiparity. For hormonal factors, while use of OCs was not associated with overall ICC, there were heterogenous associations by histo-type. In particular, among users of OCs risks were increased for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) but reduced for adenocarcinoma (AC). The increased risk of SCC with increasing duration of use of OCs persisted for up to 30 years after cessation of use. Use of MHT was associated with a reduction in risk of ICC which was also heterogenous by histo-type; for SCC there was a significant reduction in risk with MHT use, but no significant association with AC.
This large prospective analysis confirms that early childbearing contributes to cervical neoplasia risk and suggests that long duration use of OCs confers a persistent risk of invasive SCC. This study also provides new evidence that hormonal risk factors for cervical cancer may vary between the two major histo-types, SCC and AC, highlighting the need for further research on these cancers.

Keywords: Reproductive risk factors
Cervical screening
Hormonal risk factors
Cohort study
Cervical cancer
Histological type
Epidemiology
Advisor: Beral, V
Barnes, I
Sweetland, S
Desperate remedies and vital lies: art, literature, and escapism, 1840-1914

In response to a pervasive pessimism that saw little ‘help for pain’ in facing reality, writers of the late nineteenth century recuperated escapism, the use of art to avoid reality for the sake of relief, as a viable remedy for discontent. This thesis uncovers a specifically ambivalent escapist tradition across genres in the writing of the art and social critic John Ruskin (1819-1900), the novelist and poet Thomas Hardy (1840-1928), and the memoirist and man of letters Edmund Gosse (1849-1928). Their ambivalent rehabilitation of avoidance provides a necessary corrective to dominant trends in Victorian studies, which instrumentalise literature as an aid to cognitive clarification, ethical commitment, and emotional containment. Ruskin, Hardy, and Gosse envisage ambivalently escapist conceptions of art that paradoxically retain the disquietude they ostensibly seek to elude. The pleasures their texts offer are distinctly guilty pleasures, and this cultivation of ambivalence allows them to fundamentally challenge the escapist predicament even as they appear to accept its terms. In their writing, simplistic dichotomies, such as confrontation and evasion, or contentment and discontentment, give way to more nuanced negotiations of the uses of disillusionment and reillusionment, and the place of ambivalence as both an obstructive and motivational force in psychological development. While Ruskin finds in diminished consciousness a space for dreaming new political and psychological realities into being, Hardy conceptualises cathartic relief as uncontainment to explore the embodied nature of the ethical problem of tragic pleasure in a way that overcomes narrow moralistic didacticism, and Gosse finds in escapism a way of exploring homoerotic and sadomasochistic desire, as well as a method of detaching himself from the circumstances of his upbringing. Engaging critically with insights from psychoanalysis, the eudaimonic tradition in ethics, and queer theory, this thesis proposes new accounts of the function of art in Victorian and Edwardian self-culture, the utopian character of Ruskin’s moralism, Hardy’s satirical engagements with the Aristotelian tradition in his tragic fiction, and Gosse’s initiation of the modern memoir as an essentially escapist fiction.

Keywords: evasion
Bion
Winnicott
art
Edmund Gosse
psychoanalysis
Victorian
ambivalence
narcosis
therapuetic
escapism
illusion
Thomas Hardy
tragedy
poetics
literature
John Ruskin
Klein
bibliotherapy
catharsis
nineteenth century
Freud
Advisor: Russell, D
Development of culture and imaging techniques to investigate human follicle development

The number of young cancer survivors is growing, as both the incidence and survival rates for cancer increases. Cancer treatment can cause damage to the ovaries, which can cause infertility. Although there are ways of preserving the fertility of girls and women undergoing cancer treatment, these methods are invasive and some do not restore ovarian function. In recent years, there has been growing interest in developing non-invasive pharmacological methods of fertility preservation, including administrating drugs to protect the ovaries from the damaging effects of chemotherapy. However, the mechanisms of chemotherapy-induced follicle loss remain poorly understood, hampering progress in the field. The aim of this thesis was to address the knowledge gaps by developing culture and imaging techniques to investigate human follicle development in vitro. The effect of different culture conditions on follicle health and development in cryopreserved human ovarian tissue was investigated, revealing that culture in a low volume of αMEM medium improved follicle health. Experiments investigating different thawing protocols on ovarian stromal health highlighted that cryopreservation causes damage to both follicles and stroma and therefore fresh ovarian tissue was used in the remaining experiments. A technique to allow three-dimensional visualisation of follicles was developed using whole-mount immunolabelling and tissue clearing and was used to investigate follicle activation of fresh ovarian tissue in vitro. This study revealed that three-dimensional analysis was necessary to accurately distinguish between primordial and transitional follicles and that a large proportion of follicles were disc-shaped rather than spherical. No apparent increase in follicle activation was observed within 48 h of culture, however low sample numbers limited this study. A final set of experiments was planned, investigating the effects of chemotherapy drugs on human primordial follicles in vitro, however this could not be performed due to the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The work presented in this thesis highlights the need to consider the heterogeneity and the three-dimensional structure of follicles within the human ovary.

Keywords: tissue clearing
follicle
tissue culture
ovary
fertility preservation
Advisor: Williams, S
Lane, S