VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
A stylistic study of the sagas of Sturla Þórðarson and their relationship to some other thirteenth century Icelandic historical and literary sagas

It is the object of this thesis to present the chief stylistic and structural characteristics of five thirteenth century Norse sagas selected as representative of Sturla Þórðarson's literary background; to show in what ways and to suggest why he did or did not follow their examples; and on the basis of this, to offer a new interpretation of the style and structure of Sturla's Íslendinga Saga. The five sagas are considered chronologically in the order they are believed to have been written. Sverris Saga is a partisan record of an unconventional Norwegian king's reign (1177-1202) based on the king's personal experience and contemporary witness. Knytlinga Saga (c. 1260), a celebration of Danish Christian princes (940-1187), has an unadorned style, at times not unlike Sturla's, but its concentration on the single theme makes it too constricted for Sturla's complex material. In Heimskringla (c. 1230), a history of Norwegian kings up to 1177, Snorri Sturluson freely adapts and selects from his source material to produce a wellreasoned pattern of events. Sturla's material for Íslendinga Saga was too close to him to be manipulated in this fashion. He probably learned most from his own experience of writing Hákonar Saga in 1263. Although this was written under the constraints of diplomacy, Sturla was confronted with the task of ordering a mass of virtually contemporary material. Njáls Saga, an almost wholly fictional work, depends for its unity on complex interactions between figures motivated by their inner temperaments. Sturla also records diverse human emotions, but his narrative must depend on actual happenings and therefore lacks the contrived flawlessness of Njáls Saga. Yet Sturla's selection and arrangement of his authentic material - a dense mass of facts - show that his control is perfect. He writes with awesome sobriety and psychological insight, and he rejects any artificial structure.
Phytoplankton community structure, photophysiology and primary production in the Atlantic Arctic

The Arctic is a region undergoing unprecedented and unequivocal climate change. The seas of this extreme region form a major component of the oceanic thermohaline conveyor and natural carbon cycle. Using a combination of recent and historical datasets this study examines the distribution, diversity, photophysiology and primary productivity of phytoplankton in the Atlantic sector of the Arctic Ocean. CHEMTAX analysis reveals a diverse phytoplankton community structure in the Greenland Sea comprising six main phytoplankton groups. The influence of sea-ice and water column stratification are key factors in the presence or absence of groups such as haptophytes and prasinophytes. Group-specific differences are observed in spectral absorption and photophysiological parameters. However, the influence of environmental factors has a stronger influence than taxonomic composition on photophysiology. A clear division between the photoacclimatory response of algal communities beneath sea-ice and those of open-ocean stations is predominantly due to ‘Ek independent’ photoacclimation beneath sea-ice. This occurs due to the combined effect of sea-ice decreasing irradiance entering the water column and a positive correlation between Pm B and temperature. This variation in photophysiology is important for primary production models as a sensitivity analysis shows that errors in these parameters propagate to give the largest final errors in primary production values. The importance of other model parameters varies with the level of biomass in the water column and the presence or absence of sea ice. Accelerated ice-melt and an increase in open water due to climate change are likely to increase primary production in the Atlantic Arctic alongside an altered distribution of phytoplankton groups, with an increase in the importance of prasinophytes or haptophytes.

Keywords: Arctic
phytoplankton
pigments
Primary Production
photophysiology
CHEMTAX
Advisor: Bouman, HA
Sathyendranath, S
Tilstone, G
Photochemistry of some heterocyclic compounds

The phototransposition reactions of thiophene- carbonitriles were shown to occur via the intermediate formation and isomerisation of 5-thiabicyclo[2˙1˙0]pent- 2-enes . Thus, irradiation of thiophene-3-carbonitrile in cyclohexane gave 5-thiabieyelo[2˙1˙0]pent-2-ene-2-carbonitrile as the primary photochemical product. Further irradiation produced thiophene-2-carbonitrile. The reaction was reversible, Addition of furan to 5-thiabicyclo[2˙1˙0]pent-2-ene-2- carbonitrile yielded a mixture of exo and endo-10,4-oxa thiatetracyclo[5˙2˙1˙0,sup>2,6
˙ 0sup>3,5]dec-8-ene-2-carbonitrile. These two adducts were similarly formed upon irradiation of either thiophene-2 or 3-carbonitrile in furan.
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Advisor: Day, A
Some aspects of perceptual codes

This thesis reports a series of experiments which study various aspects of perceptual coding processes in normal adults. Perceptual coding involves several distinct stages of analysis, which it is possible to separate by suitable experimental manipulations. The importance of "functional" concepts and models, in discussing the nature and relationship of these stages, is a recurrent theme which is illustrated both by review and by experiment.
The opening section of the Introduction examines the relationship between "recognition" and "discrimination" and distinguishes the concepts of "norminal" and "functional" as they are applied to human information processing. Following a brief discussion of "active" and "passive" theories of recognition, the nature of information theory is elaborated and evaluated with particular emphasis upon recent criticisms and its ability to model discrimination performance. The theory is found to be inadequate in several important respects - in particular in its failure to provide a viable account of the functional basis of information processing.
The following section discusses and criticises the concepts of serial and parallel processing which are frequently employed in modelling the way in which pattern discriminations are executed. Although the terminology is useful in certain instances, it is suggested that it presents difficulties which appear to multiply with the increasing conceptual refinement demanded by new data. Several logical and empirical assumptions upon which the dichotomy rests are made explicit and considered. A number of these are found to be questionable, to an extent which makes it difficult to maintain and heuristic value for the original distinction.
The necessity for functional models is further emphasised in a review of data obtained from some well-tried experimental paradigms. Three are selected on the basis of their relevance to the chapters which follow, as well as for their own intrinsic interest.[see text for continuation of abstract].

Advisor: Rabbitt, P
Synthesis and reactivity of titanium cyclopentadienyl imido amidinate complexes

This Thesis describes the preparation and characterisation of a range of titanium imido complexes supported by a cyclopentadienyl-amidinate ligand set. Reactivity studies of these complexes towards unsaturated organic species are presented.
Chapter 1 reviews transition metal complexes containing imido, cyclopentadienyl, and amidinate ligands, with an emphasis on recent work.
Chapter 2 describes the synthesis and characterisation of titanium cyclopentadienyl imido amidinate complexes, along with precursor complexes which have not been previously reported. X-ray crystal structures of four imidotitanium species are described.
Chapter 3 describes the reactivity of titanium cyclopentadienyl imido amidinate complexes towards carbon dioxide. An unprecedented reaction with two molecules of carbon dioxide is reported for the arylimido complexes. X-ray crystal structures of two of the arylimido dicarboxylate products are described. The kinetics of the insertion of the second molecule of carbon dioxide are investigated and reported.
Chapter 4 describes the reactivity of titanium cyclopentadienyl imido amidinate complexes towards isocyanates and carbodiimides. The X-ray crystal structures of two N, O- bound ureate complexes are described. A new series of reactions involving two molecules of p-tolyl isocyanate with arylimido complexes is reported. Reactions of isocyanates with carbamate complexes are also reported.
Chapter 5 explores the reactivity of titanium cyclopentadienyl imido amidinate complexes towards sulfur-containing substrates. Comparisons are drawn with the reactivity towards oxygen-bearing homologues. X-ray crystal structures of two bridging sulfido complexes are described.
Chapter 6 discusses the reactivity of titanium cyclopentadienyl imido amidinate complexes towards substrates containing only one unsaturated linkage. Reactions with organic carbonyls and terminal alkynes are found to afford equilibria rather than isolable products.
Chapter 7 details full experimental procedures for all syntheses and reactions described in the text.
Chapter 8 contains characterising data for all new compounds reported.
Full tables of crystallographic data for all new crystallographically characterised complexes described herein are presented in Appendices Aandndash;H, Jandndash;M.
Appendix I contains kinetics data relating to work discussed in Chapter 3.

Advisor: Mountford, P
Eighteenth-century women writers and the tradition of epistolary complaint

This thesis considers the presence of the epistolary tradition of female complaint in the writings of five late eighteenth-century women writers: Hester Thrale Piozzi, Mary Wollstonecraft, Charlotte Turner Smith, Mary Robinson, and Frances Burney D’Arblay. The epistolary female complaint tradition is premised on the suggestion that readers are permitted, through the literary endeavours of male authors/transcribers, a glimpse into the authentically felt woes of women; the writers in this study both question and exploit this expectation. Often viewed by critics like John Kerrigan as a tradition that stifled female creativity, epistolary female complaint proves, this thesis argues, a lively and enlivening tradition for women writers; it provided opportunities for literary experimentation and enabled them to turn their experiences into artistic form.
Five themes central to the epistolary female complaint tradition are considered: betrayal, absence, suicide, falls, and authorship. Each chapter looks at one theme and one author specifically. Chapter 1 examines the narrative of betrayal Hester Thrale Piozzi established in her journals from 1764 to 1784. Chapter 2 turns to Mary Wollstonecraft and her accounts of absence in her private letters to Gilbert Imlay, and her epistolary travel account, A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark (1796). Chapter 3 discusses Charlotte Turner Smith’s engagement with the theme of suicide in her Elegiac Sonnets (1784) and her epistolary novel, Desmond(1792). Chapter 4 considers the strategies employed in Mary Robinson’s autobiographical, poetic, and fictional writings, which work to move beyond the moral fall the tradition implied. Chapter 5 focuses on the recurrent theme of authorial debt in Frances Burney D’Arblay’s journals, plays, and fiction. I conclude by considering Jane Austen’s appropriation of the tradition in her final novel, Persuasion (1818), and her transformation of the tradition by providing a resolution to the cause of complaint.

Keywords: Female Complaint
Epistolary Fiction
18th Century
Women Authors
Advisor: Ballaster, R
The attitude of the Imāmī-Shīʿīs to the Companions of the Prophet

It is a commonly held view among non-Shī'īs that the Imāmī-Shī'ī attitude towards the Companions of the Prophet is characterised by hatred and contempt. In fact f the picture is far more complex and diverse. There are certain basic beliefs which are common to all Imāmī-Shī'īs, such as the belief that 'Alī b. Abī Ṭālib was the only rightful successor to Muḥammad. But in their attitude to individual Companions, as well as to the Ṣaḥāba as a whole, there are considerable differences between scholars of various periods, schools and geographic centres, and also between official Imāmī theology and popular Shī'ism.
The aim of the present study is to examine the Imāmī-Shī'ī attitude to the Companions from two complementary angles: first, the Imāmī view of the Companions as Muslims; secondly, the Imāmī view of the Companions as authorities. The first point is directly connected with the Imāmī interpretation of events in the early period of Islam; the second involves doctrinal considerations which spring out of the Imāmī belief in an Imam in whom all authority is vested.
Imāmī statements on most subjects have to be placed in the context of polemics against the Sunna. This is especially true for the Imāmī attitude to the Companions, since this is a subject about which both Sunnīs and Shī'īs held strong, often contradictory, views. In the present study, therefore, the investigation of Imāmī views is preceded by a chapter which examines Sunnī attitudes to the Ṣaḥāba. This chapter is followed by a discussion of Mu'tazilī views on the Companions, so that these views may be compared and contrasted with the official Imāmī attitude. The third chapter examines the doctrinal questions involved in the Imāmī attitude toward the Ṣaḥāba; it is followed by two chapters dealing with the Imāmī view of the rejected and the accepted Companions, respectively. In the the sixth and last chapter it is attempted to show that although Imāmī-Shī'īs regard the Imam as the supreme authority after the Prophet, the Companions are not entirely devoid of authority. The first appendix deals with biographies of some of the better known among the accepted Companions ; in the second appendix the main views of the Zaydiyya on the subject of the Ṣaḥāba are summarised.
Studies on secretion and absorption in Dionaea muscipula Ellis

The ultrastructure and physiology of the secretory glands of Dionaea muscipula Ellis (The Venus's Flytrap) have been examined in order to investigate the mechanism of obtaining nutrients practised by this plant.
The dynamic changes in the ultrastructure following stimulation have been examined. Particularly prominent features are a decrease in the size of the main cell vacuole and an increase in smaller vacuoles. Important changes are also observed in the distribution of ribosomes within the secretory cells. By the use of high resolution histochemical, cytochemical, and autoradiographic methods, it is shown that the secretory hydrolases are probably stored in a sub-compartment of the vacuole, the smooth endoplasmic reticulum and the cell walls. It is shown by quantification of the cell and by autoradiography that the dictyosomes do not appear to be involved in the discharge of secretion, but rather that this probably occurs both by direct fusion of the endoplasmic reticulum with the plasmalemma and by the migration of vesicles derived from the endoplasmic reticulum directly to the cell periphery.
Evidence is presented to show that, in addition to being released from a site of storage, some of the protein discharged is synthesized de novo during the cycle. This is suggested by the observed formation of numerous polysomes associated with the endoplasmic reticulum in the secretory cells and confirmed by radiolabelling techniques.
A preliminary analysis of the enzymology of the secretion is presented and it is tentatively suggested that there are several peptide hydrolase activities present, possibly including a serine proteinase and a carboxypeptidase. It is shown that the secretion can hydrolyse chitin and has peroxidase activity.
By following the absorption of chloride ions, it is shown that the plasmodesmata are important in the uptake of these ions. The overall architecture of the gland is considered in relation to the possible pathway of absorption of digestive products and it is suggested that the plasmo-desmata are probably the primary route for the movement of nutrients into the glands.
A model is put forward, based on these observations, for the way in which the gland conducts a bi-directional flow of material. It is hypothesized that, while absorption takes place via the symplast, secretory proteins are discharged directly into the apoplast and flushed from there by hydrostatic pressure generated by the inner secretory cells. Suggestions are made for how this might be achieved.

Advisor: Juniper, B
The medieval ‘vates’: prophecy, history, and the shaping of sacred authority, 1120-1320

Belief in prophetic inspiration and the possibility of discerning the future was a cornerstone of medieval conceptions of history and of God’s workings within that history. But prophecy’s significance for the Middle Ages is due as much to the multiplicity of its meanings as to its role as an engine of history. Prophetia was described in terms ranging from prediction and historiography to singing and teaching. This thesis examines the attempts of medieval thinkers to wrestle with these ambiguities. The nature and implications of prophetic inspiration were a crucial area of contention during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, as scholastic theologians, with their particular techniques and standards of rationality, attempted to make systematic sense of inspired speech and knowledge. These attempts reveal a great deal about medieval structures of knowledge, and about theological reflections on the Church’s place in history. The stakes were high: ‘prophecy’ not only was the subject of Old Testament exegesis, but also, in its various forms, was often the basis of authority for exegetes and theologians themselves, as well as for preachers, visionaries, saints, and even writers of secular works. Those who claimed the mantle of the prophet came just as easily from inside the institutional structures as from outside. Theologians began legitimating a moderate form of inspiration that justified their own work through ordinary activities such as teaching and preaching, while trying to keep at bay perceived threats from powerful assertions of prophetic authority, such as Islam, female visionaries, and schismatic and apocalyptic Franciscans. This study argues that, as theologians sought to determine the limits of prophetic privilege, and to shape prophecy for their own purposes, they actually opened space for claims of divine insight to proliferate in those ordinary activities, and in a way that went beyond their control.

Keywords: scholasticism
Italian humanism
Advisor: Kempshall, M
Gillespie, V
Characterization of the biological properties of FGF-9

The fibroblast growth factor family of polypeptides currently consists of nine structurally-related members. Cloning of the mouse homologue of the latest reported member of the family, FGF-9, is described in this study.
Mouse Fgf9 exhibits a high level of sequence conservation with the human, rat and Xenopus counterparts. Of note is the lack of a hydrophobic signal peptide at the N-terminus of the coding sequence. The protein, however, appeared to be secreted by producer cells since a significant quantity of the protein could be purified from the culture supernatant of transfected cells.
Members of the FGF family are known to bind to cell surface tyrosine kinase receptors (FGFRs) to elicit a variety of physiological responses. These receptors themselves form a family of four structurally-related tyrosine kinases and each FGF member commonly has the ability to bind several members of the FGFR family. By using in vitro plate binding assays, FGF-9 is shown in this study to bind specifically to two FGFR members: FGFR2b and FGFR3c.
To further study the potential functional role of FGF-9, its expression pattern in the mouse embryo was examined by both RNase protection and RNA in situ hybridization analyses. The transcript was detected in a variety of embryonic tissues: the germinal epithelium of the central nervous system, the mesonephric cords, the somites, the gut primordia and the developing eye and ear, suggesting that the gene may have multiple roles during development. In addition, the potential involvement of FGF-9 in mediating adult brain functions was examined by double RNA in situ hybridization analysis of the distribution of both Fgf9 and Fgfr3 transcripts in the adult mouse brain. Most apparent areas of co-localization are the olfactory bulb and cerebral cortex. The two transcripts are also shown to have distinct distribution patterns in the cerebellum.
Innovation in Arabic online newsrooms: 

This study focuses on the factors shaping innovation in online newsrooms in three nations of the Arab World, with particular interest in the adoption of multimedia news innovations. Applying theoretical perspectives from the social shaping of technology and the diffusion of innovation literature, this study sought to identify the key factors shaping the innovation process. Field studies were based in three Arabic newsrooms: Aljazeera Net in Qatar, Almasry Alyoum in Egypt, and Almassae in Morocco. The case studies are grounded in two weeks of participant-observation field research within each online newsroom, along with over 100 in-depth interviews with those involved in the production of online news, and online archival reviews of the three news portals since their inception. Field research began with participant observation at Aljazeera in 2010, prior to the uprisings of the Arab Spring, and continued through early 2013. The political context of each newsroom during the field research became a major aspect of the innovation process of each case study. The thesis reinforces a wide range of social, economic, and organizational factors in the adoption and adaptation of multimedia technologies in the newsrooms studied, supporting earlier research on newsroom innovation across other regions of the world. For example, conceptions about ‘ideal’ industry multimedia models for the modern newsroom were important in each case. However, in the political context of events related to the Arab Spring, the overriding importance of the larger political context emerged in each case. The significance of this observation suggests that research on news organizations cannot take the political context for granted and should more explicitly embed it in discussion of the social shaping of innovation, even under more stable and liberal political conditions. There is a relative lack of systematic empirical research on Arabic newsrooms among studies of news innovation. Looking at the political context of emergent or weak democracies and their influence on modern multimedia newsrooms especially during crisis events, therefore, can contribute to the development of theory and research in Western democracies; and reintroduce politics into theories of innovation within modern newsrooms. This study suggests that future scholarship brings politics into the study of the social shaping of newsroom innovation without losing the many significant advances of existing research in more liberal democratic Western contexts of the multimedia newsroom.

Keywords: Egypt
Qatar
online news
arabic newsrooms
sociology of newsrooms
Morocco
Arab spring
multimedia innovation
social shaping of technology
Aljazeera
Advisor: Dutton, W