VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The Gilbertine priories of Alvingham and Bullington : their endowments and benefactors

This thesis has two themes. In the first place it is a study of the development of the estates of two small Gilbertine houses in north Lincolnshire from their foundation c.1150 to c.1300, by which date their holdings had reached their largest extent. It is clear that the great majority of the houses' properties had been obtained by c.1200 and by this date granges had been established at the largest holdings. At the same time the priories were receiving grants of churches, the income from which provided over half of their income by the end of the thirteenth century.
Secondly, I have examined the benefactors of these communities, most of whom were drawn from the ranks of the lesser lords of the region or from the free peasants. I have attempted to demonstrate how the fortunes of the priories and their economic growth were dependent upon the economic condition of their benefactors. Many of these men had little land to grant to religious houses and often their families were declining in importance. As a result their grants in favour of the priories were increasingly small.
Evidence for both the endowments of the priories and for the condition of their benefactors is largely confined to charters, of which a large number survive for both priories. Though it has not proved possible to describe the economy of either priory in any details the evidence does allow a detailed study of the creation of the estates of these small houses and an assessment of their importance in the life of their region.

Keywords: England
Bullington
Alvingham
priories
benefactors
endowments
Lincolnshire
Gilbertine
Advisor: Harvey, B
Modelling the impact of climate change on the wildebeest of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem

Migratory wildebeest are a key component of the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Their population dynamics and movement patterns depend on, and contribute to, a complex set of interactions between the soils, wildlife, vegetation, fire, topography, geology, and precipitation patterns. Yet climate change is projected to alter precipitation patterns across the globe. This thesis set out to explore how future mean precipitation patterns may change over the SME, and how this may impact the migratory wildebeest.
The first paper of the thesis quantified the past mean climatological state of the regional precipitation, and identified the key atmospheric processes governing its spatial and temporal distribution. Precipitation over the SME was heterogeneous; different parts of the region were found to have distinct annual cycles, peak precipitation months, dry season precipitation totals and time of peak daily precipitation. These were found to be controlled by interactions between the complex rift topography, mid-tropospheric large-scale easterlies (at approximately 700 hPa), and lower tropospheric lake breeze westerlies from Lake Victoria (present between the surface and 800 hPa).
The second paper assessed the suitability of mechanistic ecological model for use in ecological climate change impact studies, by driving the model with a spectrum of novel precipitation conditions. The study found that modelled wildebeest population size was most sensitive to changes in annual precipitation, dry season precipitation, and precipitation over the south-east of the SME. As long as the annual cycle was present, simulated movement only ceased when all environmental gradients were removed, suggesting climate change would unlikely to stop the migration (although increased rainfall could weaken the environmental gradients that drive it).
The third paper evaluated the performance of a convection-permitting climate model over the SME, examined the projected future changes to the regional climate, and modelled the impact of the future changes on the SME wildebeest. The climate model captured the zonal component of the precipitation gradient across the ecosystem and the annual cycle of precipitation, although unrealistically high totals were simulated in wet season months. Overly strong lake breeze winds were suggested as a causal mechanism for a dry annual bias over Lake Victoria’s shoreline, and abnormally high precipitation totals over the rift highlands. Future mean precipitation was projected to increase over the SME in every month except August. Analysis of mid-tropospheric winds suggested this was due to anomalous southerlies over the Lake Victoria basin. The projected increase in future precipitation resulted in an increase in the modelled wildebeest population size. This suggests that climate change may cause a mean state that is favourable to the SME wildebeest, although changes to interspecific competition or interannual variability of precipitation could undermine these favourable mean conditions.

Advisor: Washington, R
Coulson, T
Dyer, E
The genetic architecture of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common genetic heart disorder, affecting at least 1 in 500 individuals, and a leading cause of sudden death. Genetic testing for rare, causal, genetic variants in sarcomere genes is the standard of care and conducted at scale. However, more than half of HCM patients do not carry identifiable pathogenic variants and, in those that do, there is substantial variation in penetrance and disease expression.
Here, the genetic architecture of HCM is further evaluated, under a central hypothesis that the genetic aetiology of HCM extends beyond known rare variant contributions. Through a series of case-control analyses monogenic, oligogenic and polygenic models of disease were assessed. Burden testing analyses support prior knowledge regarding the monogenic basis to HCM. Quantitative analyses directed towards quantifying the penetrance and expressivity of disease-causing HCM variants were largely underpowered. Similarly, systematic evaluation for oligogenicity was underpowered. However, haplotype analysis of a candidate variant (MYBPC325) presumed to be of importance to oligogenicity revealed synthetic association with a rare pathogenic variant (MYBPC3 c.1224-52G>A), quelling this specific oligogenic hypothesis. Polygenicity was evaluated through genome wide association analyses. The additive effects of common variants explained 34.0±2.4% of phenotypic variance in sarcomere-negative HCM, and 15.8±3.8% in sarcomere-positive HCM. Meta-analysis revealed 28 loci (13 independent genome-wide significant variants (p-value < 5×10−8) and 16 <5% local false discovery rate variants (p-value < 1.82×10−6)). A genetic risk score (GRS) assessed the aggregate impact of these independent common variants: HCM risk was halved for individuals in the lowest quintile and more than doubled for those in the highest quintile.
Collectively, these analyses reject the null hypothesis that the genetic aetiology of HCM is restricted to known rare variant contributions and extend understanding regarding the genetic architecture of HCM.

Keywords: genomics
hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
sequencing
genome wide association study
Advisor: Watkins, H
Farrall, M
Goel, A
Reliving the past. How the Russian government and media use history to frame the present

In this thesis, I examine political uses of history in Russia during Vladimir Putin’s third term (2012-2018). Arguing that domestic politicians and state-aligned media continuously invoked history as a means of political legitimation and discursive (re)construction of Russian identity, I separate my research into two parts: 1) How did the Russian government, supported by state-aligned media, conflate specific contemporary issues with historical events? 2) How did the Russian government, supported by state-aligned media, use this conflation to promote selective engagement with history as central to Russian identity? I answer these questions through a large-scale discourse analysis of Russian media sources and official government documents, as well as interviews with cultural practitioners. I first examine the government and media’s use of historical framing (the detailed conflation of a current event with a historical precedent) in their depictions of the Ukraine Crisis, sanctions, and Russian intervention in Syria. I then use these case studies to provide a framework of historical framing that can be applied beyond the Russian context. Historical framing was also part of a larger government-led ‘call to history’, whereby politicians and the media centred Russian identity around history and ‘correct’ historical interpretation. I provide practical examples in the second part of my thesis, when I detail how the Ministry of Culture and Russian Military Historical Society promoted and funded hundreds of thousands of historical organisations, activities, and festivals to propagate a standard cultural historical narrative. Through the enormous scale of these efforts, the government also reinforced its narrative that Russians were experiencing a patriotic upsurge and had attained a heightened consciousness of their own history and cultural heritage (which I term cultural consciousness). In the conclusion, I argue that these processes and narratives are not unique to Russia and that my findings provide a template for exploring similarly politicised treatments of history and identity in other countries.

Keywords: Ukraine Crisis
Russia
Messianism
Uses of history
Historical framing
Foreign Policy
Sanctions
post-Soviet identity
Political communication
Memory politics
Advisor: Jones, P
The diplomatic making of EU-China relations: structure, substance and style

The existing scholarly literature on EU-China relations is characterised by a dichotomous distinction between material and ideational factors and overemphasises the ‘interest versus values’ motif undergirding EU-China relations. The enigma of EU-China diplomatic relationship-building is compounded with a ‘relational gap’ in diplomatic studies. There is a dearth of a systemic theoretical framework that integrates the various dimensions of diplomatic relationship-building to interpret the dynamics of the process of diplomatic relationship-building. This study advances a novel theoretical model of diplomatic relationship-building and an associated social-network based research methodology to explore the making of EU-China relations through two in-depth case studies: the negotiations of the EU-China landmark agreement – the Agreement on Cooperation on, and Protection of, Geographical Indications (2009-2019) and the flagship EU-China climate-related bilateral cooperation – the EU-China Emission Trading System Project (2010-2019). The study purports that the making of EU-China relations is a process influenced by three essential elements – structural coordination, negotiations of technical and political substance, and the dialogue between the EU’s ‘walk the talk’ diplomatic style and China’s ‘shoulder responsibility’ diplomatic style. The process of EU-China diplomatic relationship-building is shaped by the fundamental underpinning of the relationship, encapsulated in EU-China shared intentions, which endow the EU and China with a ‘we-feeling’ that invokes shared vision and conveys the potential to unite the two parties. In so doing, the work provides a new theoretical arsenal to understand EU-China relations in a way that captures not only the ‘relational’ nature of diplomatic relationship-building but also takes us beyond the binary understanding of interests and values as sole motives in fostering international diplomacy, by integrating the social layer of ‘intentions’ in understanding diplomatic relationship-building. This work transcends traditional research in International Relations and has broader implications for exploring means by which the EU-China relationship can be better evaluated, managed and enhanced.

Keywords: China
European Union
Diplomacy
Advisor: Bjola, C
Studies of the crack initiation and notch sensitivity behaviour of gilsocarbon

To better understand the initiation of axial cracks in the graphite moderator bricks of advanced gas-cooled nuclear reactors, the development of a test suitable for measuring notch sensitivity from small specimens would be valuable. The test geometry is constrained, currently, to be under 20 mm in two dimensions. There is limited data on the notch sensitivity of Gilsocarbon, particularly after exposure to a nuclear environment. For the potential small specimen test geometries the microstructural scale is expected to significantly affect the fracture behaviour, which could make understanding of the component-scale behaviour difficult. The material science challenges in defining a suitable test will be outlined in this thesis, with studies of how crack initiation of the Gilsocarbon-grade graphite depends on the notch sensitivity.
Geometries based on a notched 6 x 6 x 19 mm beam will be prototyped, with over 100 beams of seven different notch geometries tested. Multi-scale, multi-camera in situ imaging will be combined with image correlation and finite element techniques to calculate the specimens’ states at fracture, and potential fracture criteria evaluated (notch strengthening factors and strain energy density, SED). Comparison with historical results will demonstrate an increased insensitivity to notch radius (from 0.05 mm to 2.00 mm), and notch depth (up to 4.50 mm). The need for non-linear simulations will be highlighted and a potential material model tested, with limited success. SED calculation from digital image correlation measurements will be evaluated as a suitable monitoring technique, agreeing with the simulations but suffering from lack of reliable coverage for predictive capability. In situ volumetric imaging will be used to understand the interactions of the microstructural phases. A non-linear, non-recoverable stress-strain response will be observed, with anomalous deformation identified and attributed to damage at the filler particle peripheries. The origin of the insensitivity of Gilsocarbon to notch radii less than 2.0 mm will be explained by the observation of a notch radius-independent fracture process zone that extends over several millimetres. This understanding will support the development of a notch sensitivity test, and the outstanding challenges and potential future work will also be identified.

Keywords: Radiolytic oxidation
Advanced gas-cooled reactor
Strain energy density
Nuclear graphite
Fracture
Diamond Light Source
Notch sensitivity
Finite element modelling
X-ray tomography
Digital volume correlation
Gilsocarbon
Digital image correlation
Neutron irradiation
Advisor: Marrow, T
Nowell, D
Insights into the molecular mechanisms of ABC transporters and membrane insertases

Membrane proteins have a pivotal role in cellular homeostasis given their strategic position and involvement in pathways such as small molecules transport and interaction with ligands leading to downstream responses. In this thesis, I describe the application of mass spectrometry approaches to elucidate the structure, dynamics and regulation of membrane protein complexes, including ABC transporters and membrane insertases. The employment of native mass spectrometry (nMS) to membrane proteins has allowed the examination of non-covalent interactions, as described in Chapter 2 where the interaction between ABC importers and their cognate substrate binding proteins (SBPs) was analysed and the mechanism of transport of these complexes was clarified. This analysis indicated that substrate and nucleotide binding destabilise the interaction between the type II importer BtuCD and the SBP BtuF, while has no effect on the interaction between type I importer ModBC and the SBP ModA. Similarly, nMS allowed the elucidation of protein-lipid and protein-substrate interactions of the LPS transporter LptB2FG, suggesting that cardiolipin competes for LPS binding and nucleotide binding increases affinity for the substrate. The combination of nMS and cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) allowed further elucidation on the structure of this protein complex and its interactions with LptC and LptA. The combination of nMS with hydrogen-deuterium exchange mass spectrometry (HDX- MS) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations yielded information on the conformational dynamics of the outer membrane LPS translocon LptDE, showing opposite effects of substrate and antimicrobial peptide thanatin. Indeed, while LPS induces opening of the periplasmic domain of LptD, thanatin stabilises this region, acting as a non-competitive inhibitor of LPS transport. In Chapter 5, nMS is again combined to cryo-EM, as well as lipidomics and in vivo studies to define the structure and subunit stoichiometry of the eukaryotic tail-anchored protein insertase complex, revealing the contribution of phosphatidylinositol binding on the stabilisation of the complex.

Keywords: Membrane proteins
Lipopolysaccharide
ABC transporters
Mass spectrometry
Advisor: Robinson, C
Queering the Greek television "comedy": Popular texts, dissident readings

This dissertation examines Greek television fiction and attempts to proffer queer readings of a wide range of texts that were made and broadcast in the 1990s and 2000s. These texts, despite their differences, fall under the general rubric of “comedy” and enjoy phenomenal popularity ever since their inaugural appearance on the small screen. There has been growing academic interest in the examination of the relatively underexplored sub-field of Greek television fiction, and this dissertation contributes to this project, using Οι Απαράδεκτοι [The Unbearables] (MEGA, 1991-1993), Στο Παρά 5 [In the Nick of Time] (MEGA, 2005-2007), Το Καφέ της Χαράς [Hara’s Café] (ANT1, 2003-2006), and Ντόλτσε Βίτα [Dolce Vita] (MEGA, 1995-1997) as its main case studies. The case studies selected in this dissertation integrate gender, (a)sexuality, family, domesticity, body, and/or age in their narratives as a vehicle to create humor, yet in ways which have divided and continue to divide how audiences understand and interpret them. Today, more than ever before, the reception of these texts has generated mixed criticism from everyday people and critics, many of whom approach them either through nostalgic or polemic lenses.
Employing feminist and queer theoretical frameworks and making use of close-reading techniques, I search for gaps, cracks, and fissures in the comedies’ narratives and conventions in order to suggest ways in which popular, heavily consumed texts can reveal cultural "knowledge" that may have remained unnoticed or intentionally suppressed.

Keywords: media
fandom
television
sexuality
feminism
queer
pop culture
Greece
Advisor: Papanikolaou, D
The security of human-computer interaction by speech

This thesis investigates the security issues associated with human-computer interaction by speech, focussing on the context of voice-controlled digital assistants. The security of human-computer interaction by speech has become increasingly important as use of voice control has become more widespread. The research questions addressed in the thesis are whether the speech interface presents particular vulnerabilities that are not relevant to other types of interfaces, and, if so, what these vulnerabilities are and how attacks exploiting them can be defended. Based on a critical review of prior work, it is argued that the speech interface does represent a new attack surface with specific security vulnerabilities that have not as yet been comprehensively studied. These vulnerabilities arise both in relation to the inherently open nature of the speech interface, as well in relation to unintended functionality in the technologies implemented in voice-controlled systems to imitate human speech and language processing.
The thesis makes three main contributions towards closing the gaps in knowledge on the security of human-computer interaction by speech identified in the review of prior work. The first contribution of the thesis is a novel taxonomy of the types of attacks that might be executed via a speech interface, representing a systemisation of knowledge in this area. The second contribution of the thesis is experimental work demonstrating new types of attacks via the speech interface that are foreshadowed in prior work, but have not been validated in practice. The experimental work develops systematic methodologies for executing attacks that hide malicious voice commands in nonsensical word sounds and in apparently unrelated utterances. The methodologies applied in these experiments involve testing both machine and human responses to such input to assess the potential for exploiting differences in machine and human perceptions to execute covert attacks. The third contribution of the thesis is proposals for the development of new defence mechanisms to counter attacks via the speech interface for which no effective defence mechanisms are currently available. These proposals include feasibility tests on the application of two existing technologies for security purposes in voice-controlled systems. The proposals for new defence mechanisms are grounded in a novel attack and defence modelling approach for analysing the security of human-computer interaction by speech that enables conceptualisation of the security of the speech interface in an inclusive framework, and facilitates a review of currently available defence mechanisms.

Keywords: human-computer interaction
cyber security
speech interface
Advisor: Goldsmith, M
Agrafiotis, I