VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Ezra and the second wilderness: the literary development of Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8-10

For many pre-modern and modern critics, the emergence of Ezra among the post-exilic Jerusalem community marks a significant event in the beginning stages of Judaism. Ezra’s promulgation of a “law of Moses,” bolstered by the theory of Persian imperial authorization, is often viewed as the moment at which the final form of the Pentateuch is published. The accounts contained in Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8-10, however, continue to present historical and literary problems for the exegete. Compounding the difficulties for a reconstruction of Ezra’s activities, recent scholarship has raised questions concerning the viability of state-sanctioned support for the Pentateuch and revived skepticism on the historicity of Ezra and the reliability of the biblical witness. Still, the Ezra Memoir (EM) remains an important source that is shaped by the political, religious, and social worldview of post-exilic Yehud. This study incorporates two scholarly debates: on the one hand, the identification of EM and its supplemental layers; and on the other hand, the development of the Pentateuch up to this period. After the parameters of EM are identified in Ezra 7-10 and Nehemiah 8-10, this study supports EM’s use of Deuteronomic and Priestly literature but adds that EM also demonstrates significant literary connections to pentateuchal strands that are neither Deuteronomic nor Priestly. These strands are distinguished by the narrative and historical claims that are preserved in the classical pentateuchal documents. This study concludes that EM is a product of the Second Temple that anticipates the final form of the Pentateuch by collecting and integrating multiple presentations of the wilderness generation into a super-narrative that projects Ezra and the returnees as a second exodus and Sinai generation that supersedes their predecessors.

Keywords: biblical interpretation
Ezra-Nehemiah
Pentateuch
second temple Judaism
Advisor: Williamson, H
The Predicament of the Learner in the New Media Age

This thesis explores the Predicament of the Learner in an age during which an emergent Participatory Culture supported by networked computers is converging or colliding with a top-down Culture Industry model of education associated with centralised control and traditional learning media. Two case studies explore attempts to use advanced E-learning tools, the Learning Activity Management System (LAMS) and Revolution (a multiplayer role-playing game) to mediate learning activities in the digital classroom. Both reveal the shifting locus of agency for managing and regulating learning and identify a need to understand how learners are creatively appropriating a range of digital media to advance self-directed learning agendas. The main study, The Agency of the Learner in the Networked University, develops these insights through a cognitive anthropology, informed by post-Vygotskian theory, focussed on the digitally mediated practices of 16 post-graduate students who enjoyed unrestricted access to the Internet from their study rooms. The findings chapters explore i) learners designing personalised learning environments to support advanced knowledge work; ii) learners creatively appropriating web-based digital tools and resources for course related study and self education; iii) learners cultivating, nurturing and mobilising globally distributed funds of living knowledge; iv) learners breaking away from lifeworld communities and learning with others in online affinity spaces; and v) learners seeking out opportunities to bootstrap themselves towards the actualisation of a projective identity through serious play in virtually figured worlds. In each case, an attempt is made to innovate conceptual tools that can help us to identify and conceptualise the New Media Literacies (conceived of as expert-like digitally mediated practices) required to exploit the full potential of new media as a resource for course related study, independent learning and self-education.

Keywords: Socio-cultural and Activity Theory
Internet
New Media
Learning
Networked University
Literacy
Participatory Culture
Media Change
Agency
Advisor: Furlong, J
Edwards, A
The gravitationally lensed galaxy IRAS FSC10214+4724

We present a multi-wavelength analysis of IRAS FSC10214+4724 from radio to X-ray wavelengths. This is a gravitationally lensed galaxy at a redshift z=2.3 (3 Gyr after the Big Bang) which hosts prodigious star formation as well as an obscured active nucleus. We derive a new lens model for the system employing a Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm with extended-source, forward ray-tracing. An array of spatially resolved maps (radio, millimetre, near-infrared, optical) trace different physical components which enables a high resolution, multi-wavelength view of a high-redshift galaxy beyond the capabilities of current telescopes. The spatially-resolved molecular gas total intensity and velocity maps reveal a reasonably ordered system, however there is evidence for minor merger activity. We show evidence for an extended, low-excitation gas reservoir that either contains roughly half the total gas mass or has a different CO-to-H_2 conversion ratio. Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is used to detect what we argue to be the obscured active nucleus with an effective angular resolution of <50 pc at z=2.3. The source plane inversion places the VLBI detection to within milli-arcseconds of the modeled cusp caustic, resulting in a very large magnification (mu > 70) which is over an order of magnitude larger than the derived co magnification. This implies an equivalent magnification difference between the starburst and AGN components, yielding significant distortion to the global continuum spectral energy distribution (SED). A primary result of this work is therefore the demonstration that emission regions of differing size and position within a galaxy can experience significantly different magnification factors (> 1 dex) and therefore distort our view of high-redshift, gravitationally lensed sources. This not only raises caution against unsophisticated uses of IRAS FSC10214+4724 as an archetype high-redshift Ultra-Luminous Infra-Red Galaxy (ULIRG), but also against statistical deductions based on samples of strong lenses with poorly constrained lens models and spatially-unresolved detections. Analogous to the continuum SED distortion quantified in this thesis, we predict a distortion of the CO spectral line energy distribution of IRAS FSC10214+4724 where higher order J lines, that are increasingly excited by the AGN and shock heating from the central starburst, will be preferentially lensed owing to their smaller solid angles and closer proximity to the AGN, and therefore the cusp of the caustic. This distortion is predicted to affect many high redshift lenses and will be tested most synergistically by the Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) and the Atacama Large Millimetre Telescope (ALMA).

Keywords: strong gravitational lensing
IRAS FSC10214+4724
astrophysics
Advisor: Rawlings, S
Representations and perceptions of the Kruger National Park and the Manyeleti Game Reserve, 1926-2010

In 1926 the Kruger National Park in South Africa became the first national park in Africa to accept visitors. Since that date there has been a propaganda campaign to convince people outside of the administration of the importance of the national park project and the value of the wildlife inside the parks. As a large tract of land in a land-hungry region of the country, the Kruger Park required both political and public support to ensure its survival. This attempt to communicate with the public is the subject of my thesis.
The idea of the national park, and the natural world that it contained, altered dramatically since 1926. At times the message was tightly managed, and at others that control was loosened. As various interests intervened and encroached, new discourses developed and struggled for influence. Contained within the messages around the park and its wildlife were ulterior strands and ideologies that impacted in various ways on the idea of the national park. Nationalism, race, gender, class and status all became constituent parts of a heterogeneous construction. My thesis interrogates those strands within the discourse on the Kruger National Park.
In 1967 the Manyeleti game reserve, on the western borders of the Kruger Park, became the first segregated game reserve for the exclusive use of black South Africans. Through this parallel project African visitors, who had been generally ignored in the Kruger Park setting, became the focus of propaganda efforts intended for a black audience. Race, gender, and class merged with the environmental messages in this unique setting to create new directions in conservationist rhetoric. My thesis sets these diverse messages communicated at Manyeleti alongside those transmitted through and about the Kruger Park.

Keywords: Recreation
National Parks
Leisure
Game Reserves
South Africa
Apartheid
Advisor: Beinart, W
Crime and equality, or crime and punishment? Population heterogeneity and fear of crime as determinants of redistribution preferences

Despite considerable research efforts, the relationship between inequality and demand for redistribution remains a highly contested topic within comparative political economy. This paper argues that a central yet widely overlooked mechanism linking macro-level income inequality to preferences for redistribution has to with the micro-level implications of certain externalities of inequality. Focusing on fear of crime, as one such externality, I argue that because (i) in- equality and crime are positively related, and (ii) because crime and fear of crime have a negative effect in individual utility, it follows that increasing in- equality should have a positive effect on support for redistribution. Importantly, however, the argument of this paper also recognises that redistribution is but one of several means through which a concern about crime can be addressed, with the most relevant alternatives being increased policing and harsher punitive measures. Drawing on literatures in criminology and political sociology, I theorise that a key determinant of this choice | between redistribution and policing/punishment as alternative approaches to dealing with crime | is the level of ethnic heterogeneity in the population. Taken together, therefore, this paper's argument implies that inequality will have differential effects on support for redistribution in different contexts: in cases where the population is homogenous, fear of crime - and by consequence inequality - will boost demand for redistribution, whilst no such effects will follow in contexts of high heterogeneity. Using a two-step statistical methodology, I analyse Eurobarometer and ESS data from 21 OECD countries and find persuasive empirical support for my theoretical expectations. Fear of crime is more strongly associated to support for redistribution when the level of population heterogeneity remains low, whilst the opposite holds true for the relationship between fear of crime and support for policing and punishment.

Keywords: inequality
redistribution
political economy
redistribution preferences
welfare state
Advisor: Rueda, D
Finite element studies of reinforced and unreinforced two-layer soil systems

The purpose of this study is to obtain an insight into the mechanisms by which a geosynthetic membrane influences the performance of a plane strain and an axisymmetric two-layer soil system, where the reinforcement is incorporated either into a layer of fill, or at the interface of a layer of fill overlying clay subgrade. New axisymmetric membrane and interface element formulations are developed and incorporated in to an existing large strain finite element code. A linear elastic model of behaviour is used for the membrane material and an elastic-perfectly frictional model, based on the Mohr-Coulomb yield function, is implemented for the interface. These new formulations both take account of large global displacement and rotation effects, although the interface element is constrained to small relative displacements, and are checked against small and large strain closed form test problems. The finite element equations are based on an Updated Lagrangian description of deformation. Plane strain finite element investigations into the significance of the resolution and relative size of the finite element mesh, and the differences between large and small strain analyses, are undertaken. For typical unreinforced and reinforced plane strain and axisymmetric two- layer soil systems a detailed analysis is presented of the soil displacements, strains, stresses, principal stress directions, mobilised fill friction angles and the stresses on the underside of the footing. A series of plane strain and some axisymmetric parametric studies of the various material properties is conducted, to assess the influences and relative importance of those variables to the performance of the two-layer soil system under monotonic loading. The study considers various reinforcement lengths and stiffnesses, fill depths and strengths, and different clay strengths. The mechanisms of reinforcement are identified through careful examination of the footing load-displacement response, the reinforcement tension and the stresses and displacements at the interfaces with the surrounding soil. A comparative study is also undertaken between the results obtained by the finite element model and those predicted by a plane strain and axisymmetric limit equilibrium design method. The effects of including a low friction membrane within an oil storage tank base, as secondary containment against oil leakage, are investigated by a series of axisymmetric finite element analyses.

Keywords: unpaved roads
soil
reinforcement
Advisor: Burd, H
The ecology of dispersal in lions (Panthera leo) 

As ecosystems become increasingly fragmented, there has been a proliferation of research into fields such as resource use, movement ecology and habitat connectivity. To understand how species may adapt to threats associated with habitat fragmentation it is necessary to study these processes in dispersing individuals. However, this is seldom done. Dispersal is one of the most important life-history traits involved in species persistence and evolution, but the consequences of dispersal are determined primarily by those that survive to reproduce. Although dispersal is most effectively studied as a three-stage process (departure, transience and settlement), empirical studies rarely do so and an investigation into the entire process has probably never been carried out on any one species. Here I investigate the survival, resource use, movement ecology and connectivity of African lions (Panthera leo) in all three dispersal phases in addition to adulthood. I make use of a longterm
dataset incorporating radio-telemetry and observational data from lions in Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe. Dispersal is inherently risky and my results show that male lions that disperse while young suffer high mortality, young dispersal being brought about by high off-take of territorial males. Dispersing males may be aware of risks associated with territorial adults as they position themselves far from them and utilise habitats and resources differently. However, dispersers, compared to adult males and females, are far less averse of risky, anthropogenic landscapes, suggesting they are the demographic most prone to human-lion conflict. The ontogenetic movement behaviour of lions reflects a transition from directional movement during transience, suggestive of sequential search strategies, to random or periodic use of a fixed territory after settlement. In terms of habitat connectivity, I show that radically different conclusions emerge depending on which demographic is used to parameterise connectivity models. Understanding the shifting mechanisms that species adopt throughout ontogeny is critical to their conservation in an increasingly fragmented world.

Keywords: infanticide
resistance surfaces
Panthera leo
landscape resistance
connectivity
movement ecology
natal dispersal
least-cost path
Advisor: Macdonald, D
Loveridge, A
Emotions in court

This doctoral thesis aims to provide an answer to the question of why the criminal law should be concerned with the emotional response of the offender. Emotions have important instrumental aptness, such as the capacity to reveal a person's values to himself. Emotional obligations can exist within friendship, and even between strangers when the basic duty of respect has been breached. Emotions therefore have important roles to play in connection to wrongful acts between fellow citizens.
The emotions that are the most relevant to the committing of a wrong are guilt and shame. The thought content of guilt is responsibility for a wrong, while the thought content of shame focuses on a weakness of the self. In response to a wrong, guilt feelings distance the wrongdoer from the moral falsehood that was implicit in the offence, restoring relations with society. Shame might have similar beneficial effects, but it might also tie the wrongdoer closer to a personal weakness (which is only indirectly related to the wrong) and might therefore weaken the relationship with himself and society.
Preventing undesirable behavior is an aim of criminal law. Good criminal law should aim to persuade offenders to endorse the legal rule that was flouted by the offence. The law is not a suitable basis for citizen's emotional obligations, but emotions are particularly capable of allowing an offender to properly recognise certain reasons for obeying the law, such as moral reasons and reasons of respect for law. Guilt feelings in a setting of victim-offender mediation are very promising in this respect, while shame and humiliation run the risk of distancing the offender from his regard of himself as a moral person and society at large.

Keywords: victim
alternative dispute resolution
restorative justice
shame
emotions
offender
Criminal justice process
guilt
Advisor: Gardner, J
Made by artful practice: health, reproduction and the perinatal period among Xié river dwellers of north-western Amazonia

This thesis is an ethnographic study of a little documented indigenous group, the Warekena people, who live on the Xié River in north-western Amazonia. Examining the mythic histories of the animate riverscape, my work offers an overview of the emergence of riverside dwelling: starting with a macro view of Xié river lifestyles, I explain how seasonal and distinguishing historic-mythic narratives tie in to wider idioms, and to experiences of social reproduction. I focus on reproductive processes and the perinatal period, highlighting methods used by Xié dwellers to nurture healthy, quality-conscious lifestyles, and I examine Xié aetiologies and pathologies. Mindfulness, or awareness, is viewed as a key component of good health. In this context, healthy childbirth is for the birthing mother an art form, a practice for which her total life experience has prepared her. Childbirth is ranked with such other painful experiences as snakebite, and both childbirth and snakebite are opportunities for personal growth. Infant care is seen through the lens of specific, hands-on techniques that promote mindful states in both the carer and the cared for. Mindfulness emerges as a heuristic device that allows us to scrutinize the Amerindian soul and body, also elucidating soul-loss in the ‘animist’ lived world. I argue that mindfulness is a core characteristic of the ‘cool’ hydrocentric and status-conscious lifestyles of Xié river dwellers, and that it defines what it means to be a person, the Xié way.

Keywords: perinatal care
medical anthropology
maternity
mindfulness
Advisor: Hsu, E
Ewart, E
Soviet involvement in Ethiopia and Somalia, 1947-1991

Soviet-Third World relations during the Cold War are still not clearly understood. Largely based on previously unused primary material, this study aims to fill this gap in knowledge by emphasising the interplay between domestic, local, regional, and global dimensions in analysing Moscow’s involvement in the Horn of Africa. By offering a detailed examination of Soviet involvement in Somalia and Ethiopia during the Cold War, this thesis aims to shed light on the factors, shaping Moscow’s policies in the area. While it does not lay any claim of representativeness for other Third World regions, this thesis aims to highlight the intricate interplay between ideology and realpolitik in the making of Soviet foreign policy. Additionally, it tries to determine to what extent the ‘local pull,’ exerted by both Addis Ababa and Mogadishu, as well as by Soviet and other Bloc diplomats, informed the Kremlin’s policy in the area.
This thesis shows that the two main strands of Moscow’s foreign policy, the pragmatic statist line and the ideological Cominternist approach, were not in conflict with one another. Instead, they were amalgamated into a flexible tactical approach, designed to maximise Soviet influence by whatever means available, along the path of least resistance. Another strand in the argument is interwoven with the pericentric framework for the study of the Cold War. While accepting recent interpretations of superpower-Third World relations, this research develops a more nuanced account of the centre-periphery interaction. The act of local engagement was Moscow’s initiative, in accord with its wider geo-political plans. Once engaged, the local actors proved instrumental in informing the Kremlin’s exercise of maintaining a presence. As with its entry, Moscow’s disengagement was predicated on strategic considerations. The period of perestroika, assigned the Third World lower priority in the Kremlin’s global agenda, engendering a withdrawal from the Horn.

Keywords: Developing Countries
Third World
Cold War
Soviet Bloc
Ethiopia
Horn of Africa
Somalia
Soviet Union
Advisor: Anderson, D
Pravda, A
The novels of Ozaki Kōyō

This is a study of some of the works of the Japanese novelist, Ozaki Kōyō (1867-1903). The aim has been to identify the legacy that the fiction of the Tokugawa period (1600-1868) left in his work, so comparatively little attention has been paid to his life or to works that throw no light on this question, such as his adaptations and translations of western literature. Kōyō's fiction was influenced by two distinct literary traditions from the Tokugawa period. His interest in ninjōbon, a genre of romantic novel, spanned his creative life and imparted to his works a tendency towards complex romantic plots and a concern for realistic dialogue. For a few years, however, this source of influence yielded to another: Koyo was involved in the revival of the works of Ihara Saikaku which took place in the years around 1890, and this profoundly affected his language and style for several years. Attempts to imitate Saikaku's fiction also enabled him to experiment with uses of the narrator that were foreign to ninjōbon writers, and he became progressively more interested in probing the minds of his characters. He took these developments further in his last two novels, stimulated both by the western fiction he had read and by current literary fashions. In Tajō takon he used the narrator to express his rejection of views of marriage imported from the West; in Konjiki yasha he combined the qualities of ninjobon with a study of usury. Apart from revealing some of the areas in which Meiji fiction was indebted to tradition, Kōyō's works show that the influence of Tokugawst fiction was not always as harmful as it is often supposed to be.