VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Dynamic reflections: mirrors in the poetic and visual culture of Paris from 1850 to 1900

This thesis explores the transformation of the mirror’s symbolic role in the poetry and visual art of late nineteenth-century Paris. For centuries the mirror has been associated with both truth and artifice, whether in religion, popular culture, art, or theories of aesthetics. In the context of nineteenth-century literature, M. H. Abrams uses the mirror to represent the age-old idea of the artist as an objective reflector of the world, juxtaposing this with the nineteenth-century notion of the artist as a subjective lamp. However, this thesis shows that, far from being abandoned as a symbol of artistic expression, the mirror motif was reclaimed and reinterpreted by Baudelaire and his artistic and poetic successors. The thesis argues that their works highlight the distortions and ambiguities that the mirror can produce, using it as a motif to challenge and alter our mode of vision.
This thesis focuses on the visual and poetic culture of Paris between 1850 and 1900, when mirrors were increasingly visible in a range of public and private settings. Building on Walter Benjamin’s descriptions of Paris as a city of mirrors and a locus of multiple, shifting gazes, the thesis examines how the perceptual experiences of modernity feed into the development of the mirror’s symbolic role. Through a series of close readings, the thesis analyses the dynamics of mirror-vision and explores the shared preoccupations of art and poetry in their treatment of subjectivity, vision, and self-reflexive artistic practices.
The thesis is arranged into three sections, examining texts by Charles Baudelaire, Henri de Régnier, Jules Laforgue, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Marie Krysinska, and artworks by Edgar Degas, Edouard Manet, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Berthe Morisot, and Mary Cassatt. The first section assesses Baudelaire’s works as a turning point for the mirror’s symbolic significance, particularly examining how Baudelaire reinterprets the association between mirrors and femininity. The second section explores this latter connection in the art and poetry of Baudelaire’s late nineteenthcentury successors. The third section examines the mirror’s appearance in various ambiguous or ill-defined spaces, assessing how this affects the reader’s or viewer’s perceptions. I conclude that in the art and poetry of this period, the mirror becomes an emblem of self-reflexivity. Through works that prioritise mobility, multiplicity, and fragmentation, these artists and poets subvert the mirror’s associations with mimesis in order to expose the dynamic uncertainty of vision and artistic representation.

Keywords: Berthe Morisot
Henri de Régnier
Art
Impressionism
Poetry
Stéphane Mallarmé
Mirrors
Symbolism
Marie Krysinska
Nineteenth century
Self-reflexivity
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Paris
Edouard Manet
Edgar Degas
Charles Baudelaire
Advisor: Pearson, R
Luke/Acts and the end of history

This thesis investigates how understandings of history in diverse texts of the Graeco-Roman period illuminate Lukan eschatology. Two strands of Lukan scholarship have contributed to an enduring tendency to underestimate the centrality of eschatology to Luke/Acts. Hans Conzelmann's thesis, that Luke focused on history rather than eschatology as a response to the parousia's delay, has dominated Lukan scholarship since the mid-twentieth century, with concomitant assumptions about Luke's politics and understanding of suffering. Recent Lukan scholarship has centred instead on genre and rhetoric, examining Luke/Acts predominantly in relation to ancient texts deemed the same genre while overlooking themes (including those of an eschatological character) that these texts do not share.
This thesis offers a fresh approach. It illuminates the inherent connections between Luke's understanding of history and its end, and demonstrates significant ways in which Luke’s eschatological consciousness shapes key themes of his account. By extending comparisons to a wider range of texts, this study overcomes two clear methodological shortfalls in current research: limiting comparisons of key themes to texts of similar genre, and separating non-Jewish from Jewish texts. Having established the need for a new examination of Luke’s eschatology in Chapter 1, in Chapter 2 I set out the study’s method of comparing diverse texts on themes that cut across genres. Chapters 3 to 6 then consider each key text and Luke/Acts in relation to a different aspect of their writers' conceptions of history: the direction and shape of history; determinism and divine guidance; human culpability and freedom; and the present and the end of history. The analysis shows that in every aspect of history examined, Luke/Acts shares significant features of the texts with which, because they do not share its genre, it is not normally compared. Setting Luke/Acts in conversation with a broader range of texts highlights Luke's periodised, teleological view of history and provides a nuanced picture of Luke’s understanding of divine and human agency, all of which is affected in fundamental ways by his portrayal of the present time already within the final period of history. As a result, this study not only clarifies Lukan eschatology, but reaffirms the importance of eschatology for Lukan politics and theodicy.

Keywords: Genre
Valerius Maximus
4 Ezra
Time in Second Temple Judaism
Divine and human agency
2 Maccabees
Dead Sea Scrolls
Eschatology
Hans Conzelmann
Theodicy
Diodorus Siculus
2 Baruch
Virgil, Aeneid
Josephus, Jewish War
War Scroll
Polybius
Politics
Schema of history
Tacitus, Histories
Temporality and hope
Advisor: Bockmuehl, M
Rowland, C
Finding the way: Guomindang discourse, Confucius, and the challenges of revolutionary traditionalism in China, 1919-1934

Between 1919 and 1934, as members of China's Guomindang (Nationalist Party) struggled to take control of and transform the country, they increasingly appropriated language and symbols associated with the fallen Qing Dynasty. At the same time, these were accompanied in party discourse by radical appeals that included strong critiques of China's past.
In this they were far from unique: studies of nationalisms around the world have found them to combine appeals to the new and the old. Yet in China this combination incited particular controversy, as Guomindang members and others, wrestling with the cultural legacy of the empire, put forward powerfully radical critiques not only of the culture of the past but also of traditionalist appeals to it. The result was distinctive textual practices I term 'revolutionary traditionalism', which appropriated cultural elements of the imperial orthodoxy while reconciling these appropriations with radical language. Yet this revolutionary traditionalism could not unproblematically form a unified modern nationalist orthodoxy. Radical and traditionalist positions in regard to culture recurred through power struggles within and beyond the party.
Through these struggles, by the end of the 1920s revolutionary traditionalism came to characterise the new Nationalist Government formed by Guomindang members in Nanjing. While like other nationalists Guomindang members reinvented the language and symbols to which they appealed, however, the case of Confucius shows that they could not unilaterally control these reinterpretations. The central place of Confucius in national culture was established through a process of negotiation, as groups identifying themselves as 'Confucian' petitioned the state, appropriating its own traditionalist discourse, for recognition and commemoration. Yet these Confucians, pursuing their own often religious agendas, also cast doubt on the authenticity of the state’s commitment. Revolutionary traditionalism thus remained unstable, repeatedly challenged both from radical and traditionalist positions.

Keywords: Dai Jitao
Confucius
Republican period
Confucianism
History
Nationalism
Guomindang
Sun Yatsen
China
Political discourse
Classics
Chiang Kaishek
Advisor: Haar, B
Boundary treatment and multigrid preconditioning for semi-Lagrangian schemes applied to Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equations

We analyse two practical aspects that arise in the numerical solution of Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equations by a particular class of monotone approximation schemes known as semi-Lagrangian schemes, namely boundary treatment and multigrid preconditioning. These schemes make use of a wide stencil to achieve convergence and result in discretization matrices that are less sparse and less local than those coming from standard finite difference schemes. This leads to computational difficulties not encountered there.
We start by considering the overstepping of the domain boundary and analyse the accuracy and stability of stencil truncation. This truncation imposes a stricter CFL condition for explicit schemes in the vicinity of boundaries than in the interior, such that implicit schemes become attractive. Then, we show that for problems posed on a (semi) infinite domain whose boundary has no regular points we can avoid such truncation by means of a smooth transformation of the domain.
Next, we consider the error analysis for semi-Lagrangian schemes with truncated stencils. The stencil truncation alters properties of the semi-Lagrangian scheme that were used for the derivation of error bounds. Hence, using an alternative approach, relying on a regularization procedure due to Krylov and a switching system approximation to the HJB equation, we derive error bounds for the truncated scheme.
Finally, motivated by the stricter CFL condition of the scheme with truncated stencils, we consider implicit time stepping schemes. This involves solving non-linear systems of algebraic equations for semi-Lagrangian discretization matrices, hence, we study the use of geometric, algebraic and aggregation-based multigrid preconditioners to construct efficient solvers.

Advisor: Reisinger, C
Picarelli, A
The poetics of glass in France, 1850-1900

This thesis examines the representation of glass in French and Belgian poetry associated with the Symbolist and Decadent movements. It incorporates a number of authors, particularly focussing on Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Laforgue, Rodenbach, and Maeterlinck, but also encompassing more minor writers where appropriate, as well as some writers on the periphery of Symbolism and Decadence.
The thesis investigates how the growing use of glass in architecture, technology, and visual art influenced late-nineteenth-century poets, providing these writers with a means by which to understand their social context as well as a multi-faceted metaphor through which to interrogate their own poetic mechanisms. Glass, in its various manifestations – windows, lenses, hothouses, aquariums, Exhibition halls, Art Nouveau glasswork, and stained glass – prompts meditation on such questions as: the interaction between subject and object; the relationship between fiction and reality; the infinite; poetic form; nature and artifice; and aesthetic identity. Ultimately, I combat the traditional understanding of this poetry as being solely concerned with the pure realm of dreams, the soul, and the 'Idée'. Instead, I insist on the material world as a starting point for this poetry, demonstrating that it is not immune to environmental factors, but rather that it uses its environment as a route towards the elusive 'Idée'. Glass is key to this process because its very ambiguity makes it a suitable embodiment of the tension between the material and the unknown, invisible, or ideal.

Keywords: Decadence
glass
Symbolism
fin de siècle
Advisor: Pearson, R
Relational norms

The thesis is a study of relational norms-those norms that regulate how we behave in our valuable relationships. I argue that the presence of relational norms in the law reflects its capacities and limitations as an instrument for the guidance of conduct. I make three arguments to support of this claim. First, I argue that we have norms that are constitutive of our practically significant relationships. Second, I argue that the content and justification of these relationships is not necessarily reflected in their legal forms. Third, I argue that we can have relationships that are justified by their instrumental value. There are three Parts to this thesis, each of which is devoted to one of these claims. Part I discusses relational norms in practical reasoning. I identify relational norms as norms that constitute a relationship of value. I then argue that we can owe obligations to one another in what I call the ‘relationship sense’. These obligations are neither necessarily enforceable, nor necessarily correlate with the rights of others. Part II discusses relational norms in law. I consider various constraints on the incorporation of relational norms in law, as well as the various relationships of correlativity that are sometimes said to define private law. I also consider the nature of legal rights to perform certain relational duties. I argue that although the duties are burdensome, these rights promote our interests, or at least are claimed to do so by legal officials. Part III considers the significance of relational norms to the general character of law. First I argue that we can have instrumental relationships—relationships that possess their value in virtue of some end that they serve. I then argue that any authoritative relationship that exists between legal officials and their subjects must be instrumentally justified.

Keywords: relationships
relational norms
partiality
Advisor: Gardner, J
"I sometimes question myself" The learning trajectories of four senior managers as they confronted changing demands at work

This study explores the learning trajectories of four senior managers at the Royal Mail as they confronted new demands at work. e four managers worked at the Royal Mail during the years prior to, and during its privatisation, when it was also undergoing an intense modernisation.
Theoretically, I took a sociocultural approach, drawing on Vygotsky (1998), Edwards (2010), Holland et al. (1998), and Sfard and Prusak (2005), among others. I was also provoked by Alasdair MacIntyre’s characterisation of the manager and his understanding of practice, which emphasises human ourishing.
Data was collected through iterative unstructured and semi-structured interviews, and by work shadowing the managers. Methodologically, I developed a useful interview protocol to capture stories about work and a more nuanced understanding of what mattered to participants. I also built a conceptual framework that draws theoretically from a sociocultural understanding of learning and development, as well as from MacIntyre (2013) and Taylor (1989). e model emerged from the dialectics of theory and empirical data.
The research shows that as the Royal Mail underwent organisational change, the managers had to navigate situations of misalignment between what mattered to them and what mattered to other members of the organisation. Such situations of misalignment brought about new demands. As they confronted the demands, the managers realised the need to close a gap between who they were and who they were expected to become. Gap-closing efforts were characterised as a process of learning and development that involved intense identity work. In the process, the managers had to work through a series of contradictions, which can be expressed in the form of questions: Who am I really? Who should I no longer be? Who do I resist becoming? And, who do I struggle to become? Gap-closing was given by a dialectic between the managers’ commitments and identi cations, and the stories of what was good in the gured world of managing at the Royal Mail.
Contrary to some of MacIntyre’s suggestions, I found that the four managers in the study, Linda, Eric, Margaret and Julian did question themselves about some of the ends they pursued. ey also exhibited varying degrees of agency, and did establish a distance with the impositions of their institutional realities. In the eld, I found instances of moral debate, the exercising of virtues and the managers’ very human efforts to live a worthy life and to ourish. Yet, I also found empirical grounds for some of MacIntyre’s claims. As the managers navigated misalignment, they used an array of strategies intended to persuade others in a manipulative way, sometimes treating ends as given, and sometimes eluding moral debate.
The study contributes to the literature of learning and development through its original theoretical approach that draws from both sociocultural and MacIntyrean ideas.

Keywords: Adult development
Alasdair MacIntyre
sociocultural theory
Identity work
Learning at the workplace
Advisor: Edwards, A
Relly, S
Fancourt, N
University-firm collaboration for innovation in Chile

University-firm collaboration has been regarded as central to the innovation performance of firms and, at aggregate level, of countries. These linkages have been widely promoted as part of innovation policy in many countries. However, there are no conclusive studies of the dynamics of these interactions in developing countries and most of the research on the topic has focused on one side of a two-sided interaction. This gap in our understanding is particularly relevant in the case of developing countries since their innovation systems are 'immature.'
This thesis attempts to explain how multi-level factors shape the incentives for agents to engage in collaboration. The analysis reveals conflicting incentives on both sides of university-firm interactions. The productive and institutional environment, as well as the public policy under which academics, universities, and firms operate, create, often unintended, incentives both for and against collaboration. Increasing understanding of these interactions helps to align policy design.
By studying university-firm collaboration in Chile, this thesis aims at advancing scholarship in four key ways: (i) by studying university-firm linkages in a developing country that possesses comparative advantages in natural resources; (ii) by incorporating management and innovation theories in the study of innovation incentives, which, until recently, have only been studied using market failure analysis in developing country settings; (iii) by using a novel analytical approach that combines the analysis of the supply and demand sides of these linkages, while also incorporating the multi-level factors influencing them; and (iv) by assessing the impact of university-firm collaboration on the innovation performance of a sample of Chilean firms using a novel dataset specially prepared for this thesis. This quantitative analysis provides valuable insight about the type of firms that benefit from collaboration with universities and about the type of innovations activities that produce these benefits.

Keywords: Chile
university-firm collaboration
innovation policy
Advisor: Fu, X
Sanchez-Ancochea, D
Self-determination, custodianship, and synthesis: Telic behavior in contemporary treaty succession

This dissertation examines treaty succession, the extent to which new states take on treaties signed by their predecessor political entities. The last twenty years have witnessed the emergence of complex inheritance of international obligations by new countries, which have often invoked the practice of postcolonial and post-Soviet governments when either accepting or renouncing preexisting legal ties. Although international lawyers have perennially provided prescriptions to solve attendant predicaments in this area, the topic has rarely been addressed by international relations theorists. Through historical research, this dissertation tracks the development of and interaction between two competing telic behaviors among nascent states confronted by vexing questions about the inheritance of international obligations since the end of the Second World War. Its central findings are that, (1) during decolonization, states renounced many preexisting treaties according to notions of self-determination, aimed at autonomously defining their relationship to the international community; whereas, (2) amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union, quite divergent state behavior emerged, namely that states developed a competing approach based on custodianship to existing international legal relations. Finally, in a third period leading up to 2014, this study documents the interplay between these two purposeful forms of inheritance of international obligations, illustrating that their underlying conceptions may sometimes serve as complementary forces. Empirical research proceeds by examining dominant understandings of relevant law as well as the practice of states in three distinct periods. The conduct of states is evaluated in aggregate and through case studies. This dissertation advances a critique of recent scholarship suggesting that the practice of post-colonial states and the 1978 Vienna Convention on Succession of States in respect of Treaties have become largely irrelevant to contemporary treaty succession.

Advisor: Hart, M
Targeting PFKFB4 in mitotically vulnerable ovarian cancer cells

Taxanes represent some of the most common chemotherapeutic agents for ovarian cancer treatment. However, they are only effective in approximately 40% of patients. As such, novel therapeutic strategies are required to potentiate their effect in ovarian cancer to improve patient outcome and prevent chemotherapy resistance.
A hallmark of many cancers is the constitutive activation of the PI3K/AKT pathway, which drives cell survival and metabolism. In this thesis, I identified a potential vulnerability in ovarian cancer cell lines during paclitaxel-induced mitotic arrest, comprising of a striking decrease in AKT activity coupled with a significant reduction in glucose 6-phosphate and ATP levels. The reanalysis of a high content siRNA screen to discover metabolic enzymes important for ovarian cancer cell survival during paclitaxel-induced mitotic arrest, identified the metabolic enzyme PFKFB4. PFKFB4 depletion followed by paclitaxel treatment resulted in a significant decrease in mitotically arrested cells. This was accompanied by a significant increase in caspase-3/7 activity and the levels of reactive oxygen species only in mitotically arrested cells, and a significant enhancement in mitotic cell death and mitotic slippage. Depletion of the related family member, PFKFB3, demonstrated a similar phenotype.
The exogenous expression of constitutively active AKT or siRNA-resistant PFKFB4 did not confer resistance to PFKFB4 depletion and paclitaxel treatment, indicating that the mechanism of mitotic cell reduction is complex. Nonetheless, the observation that some ovarian cancer cells lose AKT activity during mitotic arrest and could become vulnerable to metabolic targeting is a new concept in cancer therapy. In addition, I have identified previously unrecognised roles of PFKFB3 and PFKFB4 in mitotically arrested ovarian cancer cells. This work supports the notion that combining mitotic-targeted therapies with metabolic inhibitors may act to potentiate the effects of antimitotics in ovarian cancer cells.

Keywords: PFKFB4 PFKFB3 paclitaxel ovarian cancer AKT
Advisor: Ahmed, A