VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
On the welfare economics of climate change

The three constituent chapters of this thesis tackle independent, self-contained research questions, all concerning welfare economics in general and its application to climate change policy in particular.
Climate change is a policy problem for which the costs and benefits are distributed unequally across space and time, as well as one involving a high degree of uncertainty. Therefore, cost-benefit analysis of climate policy ought to be based on a welfare function that is sufficiently sophisticated to incorporate the three dimensions of aggregation: time, risk and space. Chapter 1 is an axiomatic treatment of a stylised model in which all three dimensions appear. The main result is a functional representation of the social welfare function for policy assessment in such situations.
Chapter 2 is a numerical mitigation policy analysis. I modify William Nordhaus' RICE-2010 model by replacing his social welfare function with one that allows for different degrees of inequality aversion along the regional and inter-temporal dimension. I find that, holding the inter-temporal coefficient of inequality aversion fixed, performing the optimisation with a greater degree of regional inequality reduces the optimal carbon tax relative to treating the world as a single aggregate consumer.
In Chapter 3 I analyse climate policy from the point of view of intergenerational transfers. I propose a system of transfers that allows future generations to compensate the current one for its mitigation effort and demonstrate the effects in an OLG model. When the marginal benefit to a - possibly distant - future generation is greater than the cost of compensating the current generation for its abatement effort, a Pareto improvement is possible by a combination of mitigation policy and transfer payments. I show that under very general assumptions the business-as-usual outcome is Pareto dominated by such policies and derive the conditions for the set of climate policies that are not dominated thus.

Keywords: climate change
pensions
inequality
uncertainty
social choice
computational economics
decision theory
Advisor: Quah, J
Petrogenesis of the tertiary lavas of the Isle of Skye, N. W. Scotland

The Tertiary lavas of Northern Skye, N.W. Scotland comprise a pile of flat-lying, predominantly basaltic, volcanic flows. The lavas are the earliest products of the igneous activity on Skye, later manifestations including the gabbroic Cuillin complex and the Red Hills granites. The activity occurred from approximately 65 Ma to 50 Ma (Palaeocene to Eocene) within a continental environment.
The lava pile can be divided compositionally into three magma-types, the Skye Main Lava Series (SMLS), lavas of which constitute the majority of the pile, and the less abundant Preshal Mhor (PM) and Fairy Bridge (FB). This study concerns the petrogenesis of the three magma-types.
The three magma-types have a normal basaltic mineralogy; phenocrysts include olivine, plagioclase and sparse clinopyroxene; groundmasses comprise varying proportions of olivine, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, and titanomagnetite.
A typical flow comprises four zones: a basal amygdaloidal layer, a massive central portion possibly showing columnar jointing, a purple rotted amygdaloidal layer, and a capping red or brown bole.
The fractional crystallisation of the SMLS w#s a two-stage process initially involving the precipitation of olivine (± minor Cr-spinel), and later fractionation of olivine and plagioclase ± clinopyroxene.
The majority of the lavas assimilated some lower crustal Lewisian granulite en route to the surface. The most basic lavas are the most contaminated.
Major and trace element modelling suggests that the SMLS magmas were generated by 15 % melting, at an above-average mantle potential temperature, within the spinel-garnet transition zone at a depth of - 100 km. The magmas subsequently last equilibrated with mantle host rocks at 15 kb (- 45 km).

Advisor: Cox, K
The sovereignty of the royal portrait in revolutionary and Napoleonic Europe: five case studies surrounding Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples

This study demonstrates how royal portraiture functioned during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars as a vehicle for visualizing and processing the contemporary political upheavals. It does so by considering a notion of the 'sovereignty of the portrait', that is, the semiotic integrity (or precisely the lack thereof) and the material territory of royal portraiture at this historical juncture. Working from an assumption that the precariousness of sovereignty which delineated the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars goes hand in hand with the precariousness of representation during the same period, it reframes prevailing readings of royal portraiture in the aftermath of the French Revolution by approaching the genre less as one defined by the oneway propagation of a message, and more as a highly unstable intermedial network of representation. This theoretical undertaking is refracted through the figure of Maria Carolina, Queen of Naples (1752-1814), close sister and foil to Queen Marie- Antoinette of France, and who, as de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Naples, physically survived revolution but was twice dethroned and thrice exiled. A diverse ecology of royal portraiture revolving around Maria Carolina is presented across five case studies. Close attention to the materiality of a hyperrealistic wax bust of Maria Carolina reveals how portraiture absorbed the trauma of the French Revolution; Maria Carolina’s correspondence in invisible ink is used as a tool to read a highly distinctive visual language of 'hidden' silhouettes of sovereigns and to explore the in/visibility of exile; a novel reading of Antonio Canova's work for the Neapolitan Bourbons through the lens of contemporary caricature problematizes the binary between ancien régime and parvenue monarchy; and a unique miniature of Maria Carolina offers itself as a material metaphor for post-revolutionary sovereignty. Finally, Maria Carolina’s death mask testifies to how Maria Carolina herself became a relic of the ancien régime.

Keywords: Queen of Naples
death masks
silhouettes
Kingdom of Naples
Antonio Canova
wax portraiture
Maria Carolina
espionage
Napoleonic Wars
caricature
French Revolution
Royal portraits
miniatures
portraiture
Advisor: Grootenboer, H
The origins and development of the Oxford Group (Moral Re-Armament)

The thesis is intended to establish a basis for the sociological study of the Oxford Group. As a historical study, its particular concern is to trace (1) the ideological origins of the Group in American revivalism, college evangelism, and missions in the 1890-1918 period; and (2) the ideological development of the Group itself from its foundation in the 1920s, through the period of its most vigorous revivalism in the 1930s, to its political involvements of the 1940s and 1950s.
The thesis seeks to show that previous studies and commentaries on the Oxford Group have lacked an adequate understanding of the ideological motivation of the Oxford Group. In consequence of these misunderstandings, some sociologists have misinterpreted the structure and development of the Group as a social movement. By emphasizing the history of the Group's ideology, this thesis seeks to correct these common misinterpretations.
In subsequent sections, the thesis then analyses the social composition of the Group in the 1930s, and seeks to explain its appeal to an educated upper and middle class clientele. Development of the Group's structuee is traced from 1920s to the 1950s and particular attention is paid to itslack of formal organization and its expression of 'non-sectarian' ecumenism. These features are contrasted with the Group's strong internal cohesion and its 'sect-like' enthusiasm.
Genome evolution and epidemiology of human pathogens

Understanding the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases is important to well-informed public health policy, responsive infection control and individual patient management. The on-going revolution in whole-genome sequencing provides unprecedented resolution for detecting evidence of recent transmission and characterising population-level transmission dynamics. In this thesis, I develop and apply evolutionary approaches to investigating transmission, focusing on three globally important pathogens.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of liver disease affecting 150 million people and killing 350,000 annually. I conducted a meta-analysis of twentieth-century HCV epidemics, finding that the age of the epidemic can be predicted by genetic diversity. Using the coalescent, I fitted classic susceptible-infected (SI), susceptible-infected-susceptible (SIS) and susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) epidemiological models. Most epidemics showed signatures of SI dynamics, but three, from Argentina, Hong Kong and Thailand, revealed complex SIR dynamics.
Norovirus is the leading viral cause of diarrhoea, estimated to cost the NHS around £115 million annually. I analysed whole norovirus genomes via a stochastic transmission model, finding that up to 86% of hospital infection was attributable to transmission from another patient in the hospital. In contrast, the rate of new introductions to hospital by infected patients was extremely low (<0.0001%), underlining the importance of ward management during outbreaks.
Campylobacter is the most commonly identified cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. I developed a zoonotic transmission model based on phylogeography approaches to test whether three strains previously associated with multiple host species were in fact aggregates of strongly host-restricted sub-strains, or genuine generalists. Members of the same strain isolated from different host species were often more closely related than those isolated from the same host species. I estimated 419, 389 and 31 zoonotic transmissions in ST-21, ST-45 and ST-828 respectively, strongly supporting the hypothesis that these strains are adapted to a generalist lifestyle.

Keywords: population genetics
hepatitis C virus
Campylobacter
whole genome sequencing
norovirus
coalescent
evolution
Advisor: Wilson, DJ
Donnelly, PJ
Social being and the Navan complex: c.4000BC-c.90BC

Archaeological records at the Navan site are fragmented and difficult to interpret. This site, in County Armagh, Northern Ireland, features artefacts extending over 4,000 years from the Neolithic period to the Iron Age. This thesis provides a framework for understanding this important material culture. Through an analysis of archaeological theories and specific physical items, links are established among the natural world, culture, and the Navan residents’ understanding of the cosmos. This analysis covers the landscape (e.g. topography), constructed objects (e.g. prehistoric infrastructure such as pools, roads and earthworks), and metaphysical concepts (e.g. sound and time), thus building a holistic picture of how these settlers might have viewed themselves, the physical world around them, and the spiritual world they imagined. While it is not possible to determine definitively these groups’ purposes and motives, the thesis finds clues in the incoherentarchaeological evidence. It explores possible functions for archaeological markers whose significance is not clear.These markers could, for instance, have beenmeans of social separation orceremonial signifiers. Therefore the thesis is both an analysis of a particular site and an investigation into how the archaeological process itself, specifically in a situation of challenging evidence, enables distant worlds to be understood.

Keywords: navan
Northern Ireland
prehistoric
archaelogy
Advisor: Gosden, C
Comparative studies of courtship behaviour in sympatric sibling species of Zaprionus (Diptera - Drosophilidae)

Zaprionus tuberculatus and Z. sepsoides are two sibling species of drosophilid fly which are sympatric throughout tropical Africa. Their sexual behaviour has previously received little study.
In this thesis, the courtship behaviours of the two species are described, and the descriptions compared with previously published descriptions by other authors. Three different laboratory-bred strains of Z. sepsoides, and two of Z. tuberculatus, were studied, and their male courtship "songs" (produced by male wing vibration) were compared.
The main objects of the project were to study the mechanisms by which members of these two species identify the sex of other individuals (sexual dimorphism being slight); and the isolating mechanisms operating between the two species. Preliminary observations suggested that males could probably identify females by chemosensory cues. However, males would sometimes also court each other. Further experiments on the males' ability to distinguish sex-specific pheromones gave ambiguous results. There were no grounds to suspect that females could distinguish between the sexes by chemosensory means, and further experiments gave no evidence for such an ability.
Preliminary observations indicated that that there was an effective pre-mating reproductive barrier between male Z. sepsoides and female Z. tuberculatus, but male Z. tuberculatus were sometimes able to copulate with female Z. sepsoides. These interspecific matings resulted in infertile eggs. Further experiments seemed to confirm that the isolating mechanism between the two species is asymmetric, the onus of species recognition lying largely on Z. sepsoides. Male Z. sepsoides apparently recognise a female's species by chemosensory means, while female Z. sepsoides recognize a male's species by his "Type-2" courtship "song". There was also some evidence that female Z. sepsoides could distinguish between males of the two species by olfactory means. Z. tuberculatus were not shown to be able to distinguish reliably between the two species.
The relevance of these findings to current theories about mechanisms of speciation is discussed.

Advisor: Bennet-Clark, H
Milton's History of Britain in its historical context

The prologue studies the Tory publication of Milton's Character of the Long Parliament (1681). It argues that the provenance of this tract is best explained if Milton did in fact attempt to include the Digression in his History of Britain. Further ambiguities in Milton's early reputation are discussed in a review of the History's reception.
Chapter I surveys Milton's response to the long­ standing demand for a national history and briefly reconsiders his ideas on history and historiography.
Chapter II proposes that his political sympathies led Milton to look to the British legends for his historical subject. The strong Protestant and Tudor associations of such native myth have been largely overlooked, and yet they bear strongly on Milton's proposals for a British historical poem. His reappraisal of the myths in the History indicates his disillusionment with his original historical project: and reflects his changing opinion of the national character.
Chapter III charts Milton's response to the legends surrounding Lucius, Constantine and the early British church, and traces conflicts between his need to deny church history and his desire to rewrite it. It then turns to his curiously muted views on the Saxon church.
Chapter IV compares the use of Gildas's De Excidio in the History with Milton's relative silence on Arthur. Milton's regard for this ancient British jeremiad recalls that of the Reformers and suggests the instability of his commitment to purely classical styles of historiography in his time.
Chapter V surveys the conflicting ideological and religious pressures on the history of the Saxons and the Conquest and compares Milton's shifting response to these in his political tracts with his views in the History.
The Epilogue returns to Milton's view of the national character, with special reference to the Digression. Presenting his references to climate theory in a wider context, it argues that in moving from a loosely predestinarian position to a belief in free will, Milton first sought some determining natural force to explain England's conduct through the ages.
Moduli spaces of complexes of sheaves

This thesis is on moduli spaces of complexes of sheaves and diagrams of such moduli spaces. The objects in these diagrams are constructed as geometric invariant theory quotients and the points in these quotients correspond to certain equivalence classes of complexes. The morphisms in these diagrams are constructed by taking direct sums with acyclic complexes. We then study the colimit of such a diagram and in particular are interested in studying the images of quasi-isomorphic complexes in the colimit.
As part of this thesis we construct categorical quotients of a group action on unstable strata appearing in a stratification associated to a complex projective scheme with a reductive group action linearised by an ample line bundle. We study this stratification for a closed subscheme of a quot scheme parametrising quotient sheaves over a complex projective scheme and relate the Harder-Narasimhan types of unstable sheaves with the unstable strata in the associated stratification. We also study the stratification of a parameter space for complexes with respect to a linearisation determined by certain stability parameters and show that a similar result holds in this case.
The objects in these diagrams are indexed by different Harder-Narasimhan types for complexes and are quotients of parameter schemes for complexes of this fixed Harder-Narasimhan type. This quotient is given by a choice of linearisation of the action and so the diagrams depend on these choices. We conjecture that these choices can be made so that for any quasi-isomorphism between complexes representing points in this diagram both complexes are identified in the colimit of this diagram.

Keywords: moduli spaces
complexes
sheaves
geometric invariant theory
Harder-Narasimhan stratifications
Advisor: Kirwan, F
The concept of self-realization in political theory

This thesis aims to elaborate a plausible conception of self-realization and defend the claims that: {a} the concept in general is a valid concern of modern political theory; {b} the conception it proposes provides an ideal which can play a workable and desirable role in shaping the structure of modern political institutions and the content of specific policies.
I begin by examining the conceptual definition of "modern" thought, proposing to explore how "self-realization" may be conceived in a way which respects the terms of this definition. I justify the separate existence of my proposed theory by showing that its conception of self-realization is clearly distinct from, but compatible with, autonomy and that its consequences for political practice are also interestingly different from policies promoting autonomy alone. The relevance of this is justified by a general defence of perfectionism in politics.
I develop the theory by examination of conceptions of self-realization in the political thought of Aristotle, John Stuart Mill and Karl Marx. The structure, underlying assumptions and political import of each is considered in order to understand how selfrealizationist theories work and to see what, if anything, from these thinkers remains pertinent.
My ("general") theory of self-realization is built from a critique of the Marxist concept of communism. The final chapter consolidates these foundations, constructing the "general conception" with some of the critically-tested ideas from earlier chapters. A new way of conceptualizing the self for the purposes of political theory is offered, justifying this melding of ideas from disparate traditions into one conception. Possible policy consequences of the latter are summarized, drawing heavily on the conclusions of the author-based chapters. The study concludes by presenting an argument which might be offered for the claim that this new conception of self-realization is worth promoting through political action.
Hybrid radio frequency/free space optical communications for energy-efficient wireless sensor networks

A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of a large number of networked sensor nodes deployed to sense and report a particular phenomenon to a base station. Currently, most WSNs use radio frequency (RF) communications, and this accounts for a significant amount of energy expended. Free space optical (FSO) communications using modulating retroreflectors is potentially attractive for WSNs, due to the lower communications energy required. However, for FSO communications, line of sight (LOS) is required between the transmitter and the receiver. In this thesis, a hybrid Radio Frequency/Free Space Optical (RF/FSO) WSN is proposed. FSO links are used for communications, with RF links providing backup in the absence of LOS. This network has the potential to lower the overall energy consumption of a traditional RF-only WSN.
Chapter 1 introduces the WSN and outlines the motivation for the RF/FSO WSN. Chapters 2 and 3 describe the RF and FSO link models used for the RF/FSO WSN. Chapter 4 describes how the WSN networks are configured. The energy model for the sensor node is discussed in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 discusses how network traffic and energy consumption are modelled. The results of the RF/FSO WSN simulations are presented in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 discusses the conclusions from the thesis and suggests areas for future work.
Simulations show that for the wide range of scenarios considered, the RF/FSO WSN consumes less energy and has a lifetime at least twice as long as the RF-only WSN. For low and average optical blocking conditions, the RF/FSO WSN is also able to offer at least the same level of network coverage as the RF-only WSN.

Advisor: O'Brien, D
The role of the macrophage in the immune response

In this thesis the mesenteric lymphadenectomised rat model has been validated as a method for collecting cells derived from peripheral lymph draining the intestine.
This model has been employed to study the non-lymphoid cells (NIC) of rat peripheral lymph. These cells are heterogeneous with regard to their surface morphology but evidence is presented that surface morphology is a labile marker. NIC have been characterised in terms of their ultrastructure, cytochemistry, surface markers and endocytic capabilities. Evidence is presented suggesting that these cells are of bone marrow origin. Various features of their life history are described including the location of similar cells in the intestinal wall and evidence that NIC turn-over rapidly and do not recirculate.
Physical and biological properties of NIC have been used to devise a variety of techniques for separating NIC from the thoracic duct lymphocytes with which they are collected.
Conditions have been established that allow the in vitro pro- liferation responses of rat lymphocytes to be studied. Functional properties of NIC as accessory cells in these proliferative responses and as potent stimulators of primary mixed leukocyte reactions are described.
Comparisons are made between NIC and other non-lymphoid cells that have been described in various locations in the immune systems of the rat and other species. These comparisons suggest that NLC are related to the dendritic cell described by Steinman and the interdigitating cell described by Veldman. NLC show marked differences from classical macrophages although they may be members of the mononuclear phagocyte system. The relationship between NLC, Langerhans cells and other cells collected from peripheral lymph is discussed.
In the light of these comparisons and published data on the functional capabilities of these different types of non-lymphoid cell their probable roles in immune responses are discussed.

Advisor: MacPherson, G