VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Reforming the imagination

This is a study of some literary aspects of English thinking during the eighty years from Elizabeth's Settlement of religion to the Civil Wars. The central thesis is that there is a shift in the images the English Protestant mind uses for its own acquisition of knowledge: from images of public and visible entities, lit by the ubiquitous sunlight of authority and reason, to images of direct cognisance by the self, lit by internal Promethean light. As this image of inner light is primarily an image of reading, there is an imaginative, and thus exegetical, identification of the inspired reader with the meaning or Voice' within the text. This identification is exploited by the more radical Protestants, the party in favour of further reform, to rebut the negative aspersions of scepticism, and the positive aspersions of Catholic polemic; especially in poetry that means to vindicate the truths of Protestant dogma, which is notionally read from the Bible, by replicating and extending the experience of inspired reading. Protestants are ambivalent about the legitimacy of such 'divine' literature, but nevertheless Nosce teipsum, New Atlantis, Sidney's Arcadia, Paradise Lost and even Robinson Crusoe are shown to employ this Protestant mode of inspired defence.
In the first of three parts, English Reformation uses of the word imagination are distinguished, and the Protestant faculty of inspiration is shown to be a function of the secondary imagination.
Part II discusses the Protestant ambivalence about human artifice on the edge of Scripture; such artifice is necessary to make the Bible work as Protestantism wants, but its existence compromises the Bible's character as a self-sufficient and self-interpreting oracle. This dilemma is demonstrated in the actions of English iconoclasm, and in English attitudes to illustrations of the Bible, Bible translation, and authoritative exegesis. In Part III, this same ambivalence is apparent in the theory and practice of literature, as evidenced by the writings of Jewel, Whitaker, Sidney, Greville, Hooker, Bacon, Sir John Davies, and Milton.
Gender representation, sexuality and politics in the writings of Patrick Hamilton

This thesis analyzes the drama and prose fiction of the upper-middleclass Communist writer Patrick Hamilton (1904-62), drawing on a considerable amount of primary material. Part of the purpose of the thesis is to restore Hamilton's reputation as a writer of significance by effecting a judicious critical assessment of his unjustly neglected oeuvre. It is argued that throughout his work are discernible traces of a crisis of hegemony which afflicted the British ruling order in the interwar period and of which one aspect is of special relevance here -- viz., a certain problematization of Victorian and Edwardian codes of English bourgeois masculinity engendered by the Great War and its shell-shocked aftermath and peculiarly operative among those ex-Public School writers who, like Hamilton, were born around the mid-1900s, and became prominent in the 1930s. One, well-known, consequence of this crisis was a sexualized transfer of allegiance by some bourgeois literary intellectuals to the Soviet Union and the working-class; another was a gravitation towards (crypto-) Fascism. From the time of his 1926 novel, Craven House. Hamilton sought to anatomize the potential for fascistic 'evil' latent in the southern English petty bourgeoisie. It is demonstrated that his fictional analyses were rendered more profound by his intellectual assimilation of Marxism from 1933 onwards. It is also shown that the specific appeal of Soviet Marxism for this writer resided in its quasi-religious capacity to satisfy a craving for authenticity in a social world characterized by deceitful quotidian role-playing and, in the drama especially, to facilitate the unmasking of villainy and subserve an obsession with revenge. Congenial to this brand of Marxism, it is contended, is the monologic tradition of the realist novel, to which Hamilton's fiction almost invariably conforms. The Protestant discourse of confession which nurtures that tradition is often discernible in the impulse to confess which tends to characterize the rendition of the sexual in Hamilton's texts and, in general, his problematic representation of gender and sexuality is closely scrutinized. It is concluded that, despite its demonstrable limitations and inherent problems, much of Hamilton's work can be rendered valuable to a contemporary radical audience.
On connections between dark matter and the baryon asymmetry

This thesis is dedicated to the study of a prominent class of dark matter (DM) models, in which the DM relic density is linked to the baryon asymmetry, often referred to as Asymmetric Dark Matter (ADM) theories. In ADM the relic density is set by a particle-antiparticle asymmetry, in direct analogue to the baryons. This is partly motivated by the observed proximity of the baryon and DM relic densities Ω_{DM} ≈ 5 Ω_{B}, as this can be explained if the DM and baryon asymmetries are linked. A general requisite of models of ADM is that the vast majority of the symmetric component of the DM number density, the DM-antiDM pairs, must be removed for the asymmetry to set the DM relic density and thus to explain the coincidence of Ω_{DM} and Ω_{B}. However we shall argue that demanding the efficient annihilation of the symmetric component leads to a tension with experimental constraints in a large class of models.
In order to satisfy the limits coming from direct detection and colliders searches, it is almost certainly required that the DM be part of a richer hidden sector of interacting states. Subsequently, examples of such extended hidden sectors are constructed and studied, in particular we highlight that the presence of light pseudoscalars can greatly aid in alleviating the experimental bounds and are well motivated from a theoretical stance. Finally, we highlight that self-conjugate DM can be generated from hidden sector particle asymmetries, which can lead to distinct phenomenology. Further, this variant on the ADM scenario can circumvent some of the leading constraints.

Keywords: Baryogenesis
Baryon Asymmetry
Dark Matter
Particle Theory
Advisor: March-Russell, J
Candelas, P
What should child poverty policy look like? Disjunctures between what young people, policymakers and academics think

This research uses a novel policy writing method to explore young people’s subjective understandings of the problems of poverty. Working with five groups of young people, aged 11 – 21, from some of the most financially deprived areas of England, it sought to draw out and explore their “policy imaginary”, or the way they viewed the problems of poverty through a lens of ideal policy responses.
It unpacks these young people’s policy imaginaries, and the life-narratives they discussed alongside these imaginaries, within a discourse of individualisation. Across four articles, it demonstrates and explores the complexities and ambiguities of these young people’s thinkings. This thesis begins by suggesting that many of the problems of poverty they identify as important to their lives are structural, and that they understanding the role of collective and political agency, rather than their own individual agency, in ending poverty. It then more specifically explores their understandings of their neighbourhoods and houses, which suggests that individualised factors often identified in other research, such as social contagion and epidemic neighbourhood effects, are not what they identify as most important in their local areas. It concludes by identifying a policy gap emerging along similar theoretical lines. Here, this research suggests that much of the policy directed towards these young people focuses on individualised problems, and their individual agency as a route of out poverty, but that this sort of policy response is not what these young people felt was needed.
However, this is not to suggest that these young people downplayed or dismissed their own agency in charting their life-pathways. Indeed, as much previous literature has found, these young people spoke fluently about the agency and opportunities they have in their lives, often seeming ‘hyper-agentic’. However, this thesis suggests that exploring these young people’s policy imaginary appears to create a medium through which they can talk both about their agency and the constraints and limitations low-incomes generate. It allowed them to bridge their highly agentic biographies to their socially structured histories, as they saw them.

Keywords: Policy
Participation
Poverty
Youth
Advisor: Walker, R
Bennett, F
Coping with 'ethnic' conflict: an analysis of teacher responses in Kenya

During post-conflict reconstruction, various roles are bestowed on teachers to manage the effects of violence such as peace educator, conflict resolution expert, counsellor and so on. However, there are no empirical studies that examine what teachers actually do when faced with the challenges of post-conflict schooling. More importantly, most policies often neglect the fact that teachers are not necessarily neutral in conflict. Whilst being professionals, many are also political and social beings that come from the community they serve. Surely the tension between their personal beliefs and professional practice has some impact on how teachers deal with the effects of conflict. This research investigates how teachers, who maintain a reflexive relationship with their community, feel about transforming their role to manage the effects of ethnic conflict.
The case of Kenya offers a suitable context in which to research this particular phenomenon because of its continuous association with conflict, consequent corrosion in ethnic relations, and increasing ethnic segregation in education systems. Employing a case study strategy, data was collected using semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The sample size consisted of twenty head teachers and seventy teachers and counsellors from government secondary schools in Nakuru and Kericho.
Analysis of the data suggests that ethnic tensions have seeped into schools affecting not only peer relationships but also teacher-student interactions. These tensions and fears continue to impair teachers from actively participating in schools and assuming the role of managing the effects of the conflict. Aside from this, various other factors in their classroots realities shape the manner in which they deal with the effects of the conflict. Some of these factors include external support, professional capacity, their purpose and motivation as well as the school culture.
This research concludes that teachers require adequate support and guidance from their head teacher in order to conceptualise their role in relation to managing the effects of violence. While the focus of external institutions is on relaying concepts of ‘peace’ and ‘conflict resolution’ to the students, there is merit in taking a more gradual approach and equipping teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge to teach these concepts. Moreover, teachers too require space to confront their own biases and prejudices towards other groups in order to assume these new roles. Finally, the creation of support networks is essential during post-conflict reconstruction as it ensures that teachers and students are provided with the necessary guidance, knowledge, and assistance in the absence of support from the state.

Keywords: Ethnic conflict
education
teacher development
Kenya
Advisor: Johnson, D
Recrystallization in two-phase alloys

This study is concerned with the effect of particles, which are too small to produce Particle Stimulated Nucleation, on recrystallization. A single crystal model system of internally oxidised copper-aluminium was deformed by rolling. The deformed and annealed structures were investigated both electron-microscopically and optically. Measurements of the stored energy of deformation were combined with measurements of the recrystallization kinetics by the use of anisothermal differential scanning calorimetry.
The effect of particles on the mechanical properties of metals and the microstructural inhomogeneities produced during deformation in the single phase are reviewed. The literature concerning recrystallization is surveyed with emphasis on the possible sites for nucleation and the effects of a second phase.
Comparison of the deformed structure of copper-alumina and copper revealed that cells form at lower strains in the particle-containing material. These cells are smaller than those found in copper and show alignment with {111} planes. Dynamic recovery at higher strains leads to the formation of a banded structure from these cells. Microbands were found at all strains, they increased in frequency and decreased in width as the strain increased. Misorientation measurements using STEM microdiffraction could find no evidence of a slip homogenizing effect due to the particles, in fact larger misorientations were found across cell boundaries in particle-containing material.
Addition of particles raised the stored energy and this increase was greater at higher strains. A comparison of the recrystallization kinetics of particle-hardened and single phase material found complex behaviour in the former. Increasing the strain could lead to a change from complete suppression, to retardation, to acceleration of recrystallization in two-phase alloys. A model based on the properties of microbands and particle pinning is presented to account for these effects.

Advisor: Martin, J
The role of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells in a mouse transplantation tolerance model

Clinical transplantation continues to rely on the use of non-specific immunosuppressive therapy, which reduces the incidence of graft rejection but also carries with it undesirable side effects such as infection and malignancy. A preferable option would be to induce operational graft tolerance without the need for such non-specific therapy, for example by harnessing natural mechanisms. In recent years there has been much progress in the characterisation of CD4+ cells that possess suppressive or regulatory properties in experimental systems; particular attention has been focussed upon CD4+ cells expressing CD25, the α subunit of the IL-2 receptor, which have been shown to possess regulatory capacity both in vitro and in vivo in autoimmune disease and transplantation models. The aim of this study was to examine the potential role of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg) in the induction phase of tolerance in a transplantation model.
Pre-treatment of mice with fully allogeneic blood administered under the cover of anti-CD4 antibody is shown to lead to the generation of CD4+CD25+ cells capable of preventing the rejection of donor type, but not third party, skin allografts mediated by CD4+CD45RBhigh cells in secondary recipients. In addition to their suppressive properties in vivo, these CD4+CD25+ cells also display the ability to regulate the proliferation of target T cell populations in vitro.
Generation of CD4+CD25+ Treg by the pre-treatment protocol is not reliant upon an intrathymic selection process nor upon the expansion of a pre-existing CD4+CD25+ Treg population, but can occur through the conversion of peripheral CD4+CD25- cells to a regulatory phenotype.
Although the regulatory function of the CD4+CD25+ cells generated by pre-treatment is donor strain-specific in vivo, this specificity can be overcome by activating the cells before their regulatory capacity is tested. Moreover, CD4+CD25+ cells generated by pre-treatment with a non-cellular protein antigen completely unrelated to the graft can also regulate skin allograft rejection provided that these Treg are first activated.
It is hoped that the principles defined by these findings identify a strategy that may be applicable in clinical transplantation and in the therapy of autoimmune disease.

Advisor: Wood, K
Kathryn Wood, A
Tracing syndrome-specific trajectories of cognitive development: the impact of attention profiles on precursors of literacy and numeracy.

The research presented in this thesis combined a number of aims. One was to investigate in detail the early typical development of individual cognitive domains including attention, literacy and numeracy, and consequently to investigate whether domain-general attentional abilities constrain the development of either literacy or numeracy skills in preschool to school-age children. A further aim was to test the development of the same cognitive processes in two groups of children with developmental disorders of known genetic origin; Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS). A combination of standardised tests, novel experimental paradigms, and questionnaire measures were employed in pursuit of these aims, and children were assessed both cross-sectionally and longitudinally one year later. In typically developing (TD) children, novel findings pointed to differential influences of cognitive constructs of sustained and selective attention on the one hand, and executive attention on the other, on reading and numeracy abilities longitudinally. In both of the atypically developing groups of children, novel and individual patterns of developmental relationships emerged in the domains of attention, literacy and numeracy. In addition, the investigation of cross-domain relationships between attentional abilities and literacy and numeracy skills evidenced typical patterns in DS children, but atypical patterns in WS children. These findings emphasize the importance of cross-syndrome, cross-domain, and fully developmental research to understand both typical and atypical profiles of cognitive development. Furthermore, teaching practice, early identification of difficulties, and interventions should consider the wider implications of potential constraints of broader cognitive domains, such as attention, on learning.

Keywords: Williams syndrome
attention
longitudinal
numeracy
Down syndrome
literacy
Advisor: Scerif, G
Cornish, K
Karmiloff-Smith, A
A palaeoenvironmental history of the southern Bekaa Valley and the Lebanon Mountains, Lebanon during the last glacial period (~ 112-35 ka BP)

The remnant montane forests of southern Lebanon provide habitat to a rich diversity of endemic, rare and threatened plant and animal species. Prior to the intensification of human activity during the mid-Holocene period these forests covered most of the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon Mountain ranges. What is not known is how the dynamics of these forests changed in response to major shifts in climate. The aim of this DPhil thesis was to document changes in vegetation composition in southern Lebanon during the last glacial period (~112 to 35 ka BP). To achieve this aim, a palynological study was conducted on a sedimentary sequence recovered from Aammiq Wetland located in the Bekaa Valley, Lebanon. Fossil pollen was analysed to reconstruct variability in vegetation composition and abundance. Energy dispersive spectroscopy, magnetic susceptibility and loss-on-ignition were used to reconstruct the geomorphological and hydrological processes acting within the wetland and its watershed. Macro and microcharcoal were analysed to reconstruct local and regional fire histories respectively. A chronology was established for this sequence using a combination of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating (OSL) techniques.
The results indicate significant variability in the composition and abundance of vegetation through the time interval ~ 112 to ~ 35 ka BP closely aligned in time to global and regional climatic events. Changes in the chemical and physical properties of the sediments indicate significant variability in landscape erosion processes and hydrological conditions in the watershed and within the wetland over the similar interval in time. Peaks in local and regional fire activity were concurrent with periods of precession minima and Dansgaard-Oeschger warming events and had a significant impact on the composition of vegetation within the Aammiq region. These findings provide the first account of environmental change in the southern Bekaa Valley and adjacent slopes of the Lebanon Mountains during the last glacial period.

Keywords: last glacial period
Lebanon
landscape processess
climate change
vegetation dynamics
Advisor: Willis, K
Characterisation of the HIV-1 reservoir and the potential for viral eradication

The HIV-1 reservoir is the major barrier to eradication and cure of HIV-1 infection. The aim of this thesis was to characterise the HIV-1 reservoir in PHI and to investigate two potential reservoir clearance strategies.
Sensitive Q-PCR assays that quantify HIV-1 DNA reservoir level were developed and applied to characterise the HIV-1 reservoir in acutely infected patients enrolled in the SPARTAC trial. HIV-1 DNA levels were found to be a useful biomarker for predicting clinical progression and the time of viral remission in patients, after HAART interruption. Since low HIV-1 DNA reservoir levels were clinically beneficial, potential therapies aimed at decreasing the reservoir burden were investigated.
Thermotherapy was employed as a possible method for increasing CTL killing ability of HIV-1-infected cells. This may increase the likelihood of virological control and functional cure. SPION uptake impacted negatively on the natural killing ability of CTL that expressed the high affinity 868-TCR. However, localised thermotherapeutic heat generation was insufficient to cause direct thermal ablation of bound target cells or to enhance the natural killing ability of CTL.
868-TCR transduced CTL were employed directly as a means to target the latent viral reservoir by the ‘kick and kill’ hypothesis. Latent HIV-1 was reactivated in a variety of latent cell line models, but inconclusively in a primary model. 868-TCR transduced CTL killing of latently infected cells was observed. However, reactivation of latent virus did not necessarily relate to increased antigenicity of latent cells, perhaps in part due to anti-latency drug-induced alterations in MHC class I expression.
Despite recent and sustained interest in HIV-1 cure strategies, the prospect still remains elusive. Only through the development of sensitive assays that measure the HIV-1 reservoir and their application to novel and innovative cure strategies will HIV-1 ever be functionally cured or eradicated in patients on a large scale.

Keywords: virology
HIV
T cell
latency
AIDS
reservoir
eradication
Advisor: Frater, J
Phillips, R