VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The symphonies of Charles Villiers Stanford: constructing a national identity?

Writing in 2001, musicologist Axel Klein concluded that Stanford’s reception history has been significantly impacted by the complicated national identities surrounding both the composer and his music. A lifelong devotee of the nineteenth-century Austro-Germanic tradition, Stanford’s status as an Irish-born leading figure of the ‘English’ Musical Renaissance has compromised the place that the composer and his musical output occupy within the history of Western music.
Stanford is well-known for being an outspoken critic on matters musical and Irish. Although his views seldom appear ambiguous, there is still a sense that the real Stanford remains partially obscured by his opinions. Through an examination of his symphonic works, this thesis seeks to readdress our understanding of Stanford and his relationship with Ireland and the musical community of his time. Although A. Peter Brown has stated that the symphony was not a central genre for the composer, it is my argument that, on the contrary, the symphony was a pivotal form for him. Considering these works within the broader history of the symphony in Europe in the nineteenth century, and through a critical examination of Stanford’s relationship with Ireland, this thesis seeks to demonstrate that these seven works can be read as an allegory for the composer’s relationship both with his homeland and with the musical community of his time. His struggle to combine the universality of symphonic expression with a need to articulate his Irish identity parallels Stanford’s own attempts to integrate himself within both British and European musical communities, and further demonstrates, in his eventual rejection of it, that it was only when he attempted to forge a more individualistic path through his music that he found a way of expressing his individual Irish identity.

Keywords: Irish Identity
Charles Villiers Stanford
Anglo-Irish
Anglo-Irish Music
Symphonic Music
Symphony
Anglo-Irish Identity
Nationalism
Advisor: Allen, R
Early effects of boron deficiency on membrane function in higher plants

The transfer of plants to boron-free solutions induces rapid responses in membrane functions without necessarily affecting root growth and anatomy. In sunflowers (Helianthus annuus), root growth slows within 3-6 h. However in maize (Zea mays), no growth effects are apparent after more than 30 h without boron (-B). In both species early disturbances in ion uptake and cell wall deposition are seen.
Ultrastructural studies on sunflower root tips after 5.5 h or 3 d -B are reported. Detailed studies on the absorption of Pj and K+ by root tips were complemented by studies on protoplasts isolated from the root tips of +B and -B plants. There were no significant differences in the protoplast yield or viability according to their B status. Ion absorption by protoplasts isolated from roots of +B and -B plants generally resembled that by intact roots of the corresponding B status.
Altering the B status of the protoplasts was expected to initiate earlier responses than in the roots where cell wall binding and diffusion times buffer the system against change; but the greater variability inherent in measuring the protoplast responses prevented the detection of subtle changes.
The activities of two+ membrane bound arjzymes were investigated; β-glucan synthetase and a K+-stimulated, Mg2+ -dependent ATPase. UDPG incorporation by protoplasts continued for over 18 h and was consistently higher in +B protoplasts and root membranes than -B. However SEM revealed no significant differences in fibre deposition around sunflower and maize protoplasts according to their boron status.
(K++Mg2+)-ATPase from sunflower roots was found to be reversibly impaired by the loss of B; and preliminary investigations implied that restoration of activity when B was resupplied to the intact roots was correlated with the B content of the membrane fraction, as determined by the (n,α) method.

Advisor: Loughman, B
Quantitative structural and compositional characterisation of bimetallic fuel-cell catalyst nanoparticles using STEM

Platinum-based catalysts for hydrogen fuel-cell applications have progressed greatly with the addition of a second element in either a mixed-alloy or core-shell structure. Not only do they contain a reduced amount of the more expensive platinum metal but they have been shown to demonstrate a significant improvement in catalytic activity. Further improvement of these systems can only be made by careful investigation of such catalyst panoparticles on an atomic scale. These nanoparticles provide a significant characterisation challenge due to their minute size and beam sensitivity.
A new method of quantifying the annular dark-field (ADF) scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) signal on an absolute scale has been developed to address this problem. Experimental images are scaled to a fraction of the incident beam intensity from a detector map. The integrated intensity of each individual atomic column is multiplied by the pixel area to yield a more robust imaging parameter: a scattering cross section, σ.
Using this cross section approach and simulated reference data, I show it is possible to count the number of atoms in individual columns. With some prior knowledge of the sample, this makes it possible to reconstruct the 3-dimensional structures of pure platinum nanoparticles. Such an approach has subsequently been extended to bimetallic particles here the elements are close in atomic number, using the platinum-iridium system as an example.
In the same way that the cross section can be calculated from ADF image intensity, it is possible to calculate an energy dispersive x-ray (EDX) partial scattering cross section, beneficial especially because of the simplicity of its implementation. In sufficiently thin samples such that the number of x-ray counts is linearly proportional to sample thickness, we can determine element-specific atom counts. Finally, it is possible to combine EDX and ADF cross sections to provide us with quantitative structural and compositional information.

Keywords: STEM
cross sections
ADF STEM
EDX
Quantitative
Catalysts
Advisor: Nellist, P
Lozano-Perez, S
Ozkaya, D
Roman representations of the orator during the last century of the Republic

The aim of this thesis is to explore the various ways in which Romans constructed the orator's role during this period. I emphasize that the orator was a central figure in Late Republican Rome and that a rhetorical training and an ability to speak in public - whether in the courts, in the senate house or in contiones - could be seen as essential attributes for the leading public figures of this time. In this way the thesis contributes to recent work which has stressed that the political system at Rome can be seen as a form of democracy. My chapters are arranged according to the texts which I have used as evidence in each.
The first examines the surviving rhetorical handbooks and dialogues, and argues that there was a thriving and agonistic market for rhetorical education at Rome. Greek ideas were reshaped to suit the Roman socio-political world and its different practices, such as advocacy. Roman orators engaged in heated polemic over the best style of speaking, providing further evidence that the world of the forum was highly competitive.
The second chapter uses a selection of Cicero's judicial speeches to argue that a Roman advocate could use a wide variety of strategies, both in portraying his relationship with his client, and in presenting his own persona.
The third chapter focuses upon Cicero's Philippics, and explores the ways in which an orator could present his relationship - and establish his authority - with his audience, through his selection of arguments, such as the use of exempla.
The final two chapters broaden the horizons of the work: the former uses the fragments of Cato the Elder and Gaius Gracchus to suggest that earlier Romans had used similar devices in developing their self-portrayals. The latter explores the historical texts of Caesar and Sallust, the only surviving evidence which sets the speech-act within the contexts of opposing orations and of audience responses.
I conclude with an appendix on the published versions of the speeches.

Advisor: Chris Pelling, G
Non-classical propositional calculi

There exist well-known varieties of implication, such as strict, intuitionist, three-valued and rigorous, which are non-classical in the sense of being more restrictive than material implication. But there exists also a type of implication, intuitively plausible, which is nonclassical not only in being more restrictive, but in satisfying certain theses which are classically false. These theses are exceedingly venerable, dating back to Aristotle and Boethius, but, despite their plausibility, have been generally rejected by logicians since. It has not been noticed, however, that in Sextus Empiricus reference is made to a species of Stoic implication which fits them perfectly.
In this work formal recognition is given to this species of implication, known as connexive implication. It is shown that none of the well-known systems of prepositional logic is connexive, and a new system is accordingly constructed. A proof of consistency is given, and a number of problems posed for further investigation.
The role of autophagy in CD8+ T cell immunity

CD8&plus; T cells form a crucial arm of the adaptive immune system and act as sentinels against infection and cancer. The role of autophagy, a major lysosomal degradation pathway, in T cell biology is currently limited. Here, we show that autophagy is required for naïve CD8&plus; T cell homeostasis. When the essential autophagy gene Atg7 is deleted in the T cell lineage (T-Atg7-/- mice), mice develop lymphopaenia leading to increased CD8&plus; T cell homeostatic proliferation. When CD8&plus; T cells encounter antigen, they undergo an initial expansion before contracting, leaving behind a population of long-lived memory cells that provide long-lasting immunity. How CD8&plus; T cells utilise autophagy when responding to infection is currently unknown. We demonstrate that autophagy is dispensable for CD8&plus; T cell expansion, but loss of Atg7 results in the failure to establish CD8&plus; T cell memory to influenza and MCMV infection. Interestingly, CD8&plus; T cell memory becomes defective in old age, although the cellular mechanism for this is largely unknown. Here, aged mice were shown to exhibit defective CD8+ T cell expansion and memory formation to immunisation. Autophagy levels were diminished in antigen-specific CD8&plus; T cells from aged mice and the CD8&plus; T cell response of old mice to vaccination could be rejuvenated in an autophagy-dependent manner using the compound spermidine. These results suggest that targeting of the autophagy pathway might be beneficial as a route to effective T cell modulation and enhanced immunity to infection and vaccination.

Keywords: infection
T cells
autophagy
ageing
immunity
Immunology
lymphocytes
influenza
vaccination
Advisor: Simon, K
The future of the second sophistic

This thesis explores the anxieties and opportunities that attend fame and posterity in the second sophistic and how they play out in both literary and monumental expressions of cultural production. I consider how elite provincials in the Roman empire, who are competitive, bi- or even tri-cultural, status-driven, often politically active, and engaged in cultural production, attempt to construct a future presence for themselves either through the composition of literature that is aimed (at least in part) at the future or through efforts to write themselves into the landscape of their native or adopted cities. I argue that the cultural and temporal perspective of these men drives their multifarious, playful, and self-reflexive approach to the production of literature or monuments. For those men engaged in the ‘second sophistic’, in the narrower, Philostratean definition, there is an ever present tether on their creative efforts, in that for contemporary success they must immerse themselves in the culture of classical Athens; and the prominent practice of epideictic oratory, with its promotion of improvisation and lack of repetition, discourages the kind of literary effort that aims at eternity. At the same time, their attempts to build themselves into the hearts of cities is less restricted, in that those who possess or have access to sufficient wealth can grant elaborate benefactions which essentially stand as monuments to their financer. Nevertheless, their belated position with respect to the Greek literary canon and the heights of political and cultural prestige invested in classical Greece infuses the cultural efforts of the second sophistic with a sense of pathos that acknowledges the impossibility of creating and controlling one’s future reputation regardless of how much effort is applied. At the same time, this impossible position, rather than limiting them, endows these men with a varied, self-ironizing, intertextual, intermedial, and unique approach to cultural production that actively engages with the inescapable and laudable past in order to carve a lasting impression on the literary and physical landscape of the Roman empire.

Keywords: Roman Greece
Philostratus
Imperial Greek Literature
future
second sophistic
Advisor: Whitmarsh, T
Non-equilibrium strongly-correlated quantum dynamics in photonic resonator arrays

Strong effective photon-photon interactions mediated by atom-photon couplings have been routinely achievable in QED setups for some time now. Recently, there have been several proposals to push the physics of interacting photons into many- body distributed architectures. The essential idea is to coherently couple together arrays of QED resonators, such that photons can hop between resonators while interacting with each other inside each resonator. These proposed structures have attracted intense theoretical attention while simultaneously inspiring experimental efforts to realise this novel regime of strongly-correlated many-body states of light. A central challenge of both theoretical and practical importance is to understand the physics of such coupled resonator arrays (CRAs) beyond equilibrium, when unavoidable (or sometimes even desired) photon loss processes are accounted for.
This thesis presents several studies whose purpose can roughly be divided in two aims. The first part studies just what constitutes a valid physical and computational representation of non-equilibrium driven-dissipative CRAs. Addressing these ques- tions constitutes essential groundwork for further investigations of CRA phenomena, as numerical experiments are likely to guide and interpret near-future experimen- tal array observations. The relatively small body of existing work on CRAs out of equilibrium has often truncated their full, rich physics. It is important to establish the effects and validity of these approximations. To this end we introduce powerful numerical algorithms capable of efficiently simulating the full dynamics of CRAs, and use them to characterise the non-equilibrium steady states of arrays reached under the combined influence of dissipation and pumping.
Having established the rigour necessary to realistically describe CRAs, we exam- ine two novel phenomena observable in near-future small arrays. Firstly we relate a counter-intuitive ‘super bunching’ in the statistics of photons emitted from arrays engineered to demonstrate strong effective photon-photon repulsion at the single and two-photon level, to an interplay between the underlying eigen-structure and details of the non-equilibrium operation. Secondly we characterise a dynamical phenomenon in which domains of ‘frozen’ photons remain trapped in sufficiently nonlinear arrays. Finally we present a preliminary characterisation of a previously unexplored phase diagram of arrays under coherent two-photon pumping. Com- petition between the coherence injected by the pumping, photon interactions and delocalisation processes lead to interesting new physical signatures.

Keywords: strongly-correlated systems
quantum optics
non-equilibrium
Advisor: Jaksch, D
Diastereocontrolled synthesis of hetero- and carbocycles via manganese(III) and copper(II): towards a novel prostaglandin total synthesis

The prostaglandins are a unique family of natural products found in all mammalian life, including humans. Their biological significance is profound, and they are responsible for a vast array of bodily functions. This importance, coupled with their low concentration in vivo, has made them attractive targets for total chemical synthesis.
The work herein describes synthetic efforts towards their synthesis using an oxidative radical cyclisation to construct the key [3.3.0]-bridged bicyclic lactone, from which the prostaglandin skeleton may be derived. Key to this was the development of manganese(III) acetate and copper(II) triflate as optimal reagents for this cyclisation of unsaturated malonate/malonic acid derivatives. To study this, several model substrates for this crucial cyclisation were synthesised, and their cyclisation analysed.
Chapter 5 describes the design and synthesis of several model substrates containing malonate groups for the oxidative radical cyclisation. The results of the cyclisation with manganese(III) and various copper(II) salts influenced the design of the substrates, and led to the use of malonic acids as more effective substrates for the formation of [3.3.0]-bicyclic lactones. A catalytic process, in which atmospheric oxygen is the terminal oxidant was also developed.
Chapter 6 describes the studies towards a total synthesis of the prostaglandin family. Two potential routes are followed, the first of which used a key asymmetric epoxidation to install asymmetry. A Suzuki coupling was used to deliver the desired diene required for the cyclisation substrate, which was successfully cyclised using manganese(III) acetate and copper(II) triflate, creating the desired [3.3.0]-bicyclic lactone in good yield and with excellent diastereomeric control. A second, shorter route to the same lactone was also developed, using a novel asymmetric deconjugative aldol condensation to establish asymmetry. Cyclisation of this analogous substrate was also successful, delivering the same lactone after olefin metathesis.

Keywords: manganese acetate
cyclisation reactions
natural product synthesis
radical reactions
Advisor: Burton, J
A history of youth politics in Limpopo, 1967 - 2003

This thesis is an exploration of student and youth politics in the Northern Transvaal (now Limpopo Province) from the height of apartheid in 1967 through the first decade of the ANC’s rule until 2003. It analyses three major trends over this period: the elite-led protest politics of the Black Consciousness era in the late 1960s and 1970s, the turn to mass-mobilized protest of the 1980s, and the consolidation of student and youth movements around the reconstituted ANC Youth League in 1990. It is primarily concerned with exploring the intersection of education and political protest in Limpopo, and the effect of mobilizing ideologies such as radical Christianity, Africanism, and non-racialism, on student and youth activists. It argues that across decades, organisations, and ideologies, this region has produced generations of influential young political leaders. It provides an institutional history of the University of the North and situates that university in a broader narrative of South African political history: from its contribution to the roots of Black Consciousness in student Christian movements, and the role of local university politics in influencing national protests, to the geography of the university itself as a place of political education (for students and nonstudent youth alike) and as a battleground between students and police. It considers the introduction of violence into student protests, the regional expansion of school and then youth politics beyond the crucible of the university, and the refashioning of social structures (like arbitrating in witchcraft accusations and domestic disputes) in homeland villages by politicized youth. It further contributes new insights into the formation and emergence of the ANC Youth League in the 1990s, and suggests that understanding student organisations and events during the 1970s and 1980s, in particular, sheds light on the shape of South African youth politics today.

Keywords: apartheid
South Africa
youth politics
student politics
Advisor: Beinart, W
Rhetoric in recusant writing, published 1580-1603

Catholic writers traditionally approach the laity through the sacraments rather than the Word. Nonetheless, three devotional genres - meditation, hagiography and catechism - recognize that effective written appeals to a reader can be made using rhetoric. This thesis analyses such rhetoric, in recusant devotional texts published by secret presses between 1580 and 1603.
Most detailed examinations of Catholic works think of rhetoric as emasculating the virile yet chaste prose of a 'shining band of martyrs'. This thesis proposes that the rules of rhetoric are used to empower the reader of these works by Grafting a new character in him.
Meditations act as deliberative orations, swaying the reader's will. They use amplificatio and memoria to produce matter and to dwell on it. Late sixteenth-century translations of continental meditation manuals by Granada, Scupoli, Estella and Loarte provide a theory of meditation for the English works studied: rosary texts by John Bucke, Thomas Worthington and Henry Garnet; several anonymous collections of meditations and prayers; contemplations on Scriptural stories by Robert Southwell, I.C., C.N. and Robert Chambers.
In the second section, saints' lives are read as rhetorical examples which support this deliberative discourse, rather than as blazons, innocent of intent on the reader. Hagiographies by Worthington, Robert Persons, William Alien and Thorns Alfield reflect images of what a martyr or saint should do, not what he did.
The last chapters show how catechisms recreate these idealized images in the reader by acting as dramatic scripts for him. Repetition through rhetoric dissolves the element of theatre, allowing the reader to absorb these rules for life. Once again, Elizabethan translations of foreign catechisms by Granada, Bellarmine and Canisius are used to illuminate English catechisms by Persons, Southwell and Lawrence Vaux.