VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Paul’s approach to death in his letters and in early Pauline effective history

This thesis analyzes the Apostle Paul’s approach to his own death. The term “approach” is deliberately vague and is intended to encompass a number of questions: What was Paul’s attitude toward his death? How did he act and what did he say and write in view of it? What hopes did he hold for himself beyond death? These questions are explored through a close reading of three Pauline letters that look forward to Paul’s death and other relevant texts in the first two generations after Paul’s death (A.D. 70–160). Thus, this thesis is a study of Paul’s death in prospect and retrospect. Starting with the latter, the first half of the thesis examines portraits of the departed Paul in Acts 20:17–38; 1 Clem. 5.1–6.1; Ign. Eph. 12.2; Rom. 4.3; Pol. Phil. 9.1–2; and the Martyrdom of Paul. It is argued that these portraits exhibit a complicated network of similarities that may be described using Wittgenstein’s concept of “family resemblances.” Viewed as a part of Paul’s early effective history, these early portraits of Paul offer substantial resources for the interpretation of his letters. The second half of the thesis examines portraits of the departing Paul in 2 Cor 1:8–14; 4:16–5:10; Phil 1:18d–26; 2:16b–18; 3:7–14; and 2 Tim 1:12; 4:6–8, 17–18. The “decision of death” referred to in 2 Cor 1:9 is highlighted as a religious experience and one which goaded Paul to formulate his approach to death. It is argued that his death did not primarily present an existential challenge, but a pastoral one. Although touching upon three areas of recent scholarly interest (Paul’s theology of death and beyond; Paul’s religious experience; and Pauline reception), this thesis sets forth a new research question and fresh interpretations of early Christian and Pauline texts.

Keywords: early Christianity
death
effective history
Paul the Apostle
Advisor: Bockmuehl, M
Parties, factions and votes: a comparative study of electoral politics in post-colonial Namibia

Since Africa’s ‘second liberation’ from authoritarianism at the beginning of the 1990s, political parties have assumed a critically important role in the processes by which social interests are articulated, institutions are legitimised and conflicts are managed. Many authors question the extent to which these organisations recognise the intrinsic value of free political competition, personal liberty, political accountability and social inclusion, although relatively few studies have attempted a comprehensive exploration of either party or voter behaviour. This research project represents a hypothesis-building case study of Namibia and addresses three areas of concern.
First, it builds upon existing party system research to demonstrate that Namibia’s opposition vote is characterised by acute volatility and attributes this phenomenon to weak parties, salient ethnic identities and a permissive electoral system, all of which serve to encourage party fragmentation. Second, it investigates the more proximate causes of party fragmentation and concludes that leadership succession contests tend, in Namibia, to trigger splinter group formation either when factional support has been mobilised around a divisive issue or when defeated contenders are coerced into submission. Third, it explores the nature and drivers of dominant-party motivation, challenging an assumption that ruling elites are primarily interested in gangster-style theft and demonstrating that Namibia’s governing party has pursued, not only a formally legitimate path to wealth accumulation, but also a set of progressive social policies designed to empower its support base. Finally, it argues that Namibia’s opposition parties are not primarily motivated by a desire to secure ministerial office through election or co-optation, as the literature would suggest, but by a determination to capture the salaries, party income and media opportunities associated with parliamentary office. Each of these four arguments is tested through comparative analysis, using secondary literature, of Namibia, South Africa and Botswana.

Keywords: Government and politics--Namibia; Government and politics--South Africa; Government and politics--Botswana; Political parties--Africa; Comparative democratisation; Liberation movements--Africa
Advisor: Cheeseman, N
Lemon, A
Records of volcanism and controls on volcanic processes in southern Chile

This thesis describes volcanic records from the Andean southern volcanic zone, based on the collection of field data between Calbuco and Puyuhuapi volcanic centres, with a particular focus on the Hualaihue peninsula, combined with existing records from the region as a whole. These data, extending the understanding of the volcanic history of southern Chile, are examined for evidence of spatial or temporal variability, which may be used to explore underlying controls on volcanic processes. All three volcanoes on the Hualaihue peninsula have been active in the Holocene. A large mafic scoria unit from Apagado is unusually primitive, providing a potential window into primary magma generation in the arc. Dynamically similar eruptions occurred at Hornopirén and widely along the regional scale Liquiñe-Ofqui fault zone (LOFZ). Although the Hualaihue centres are closely related, petrological evidence indicates a complex magmatic storage system. Effusive activity is predominant at Yate and Hornopirén, and the tephrostratigraphy of the Hualaihue area is dominated by units from Calbuco volcano, to the north. The 2008 eruption of Chaitén provided an analogue for past large explosive eruptions in the region, with tephra deposition reflecting variable eruption intensity in a changing wind field. The regional tectonic setting and the LOFZ influence dyke ascent, volcano morphology and, as demonstrated at Yate, edifice stability, determining the orientation of collapse. Explosive eruption records over the post-glacial period also indicate a limited response of volcanism to deglaciation, suggesting a control on magma storage arising from changing crustal stress regimes, both at the arc front and along the LOFZ. On short timescales, large earthquakes are shown to influence eruption rate across the arc, implying a triggering role for dynamic seismic stresses. This work demonstrates the existence of a range of external forces affecting Chilean arc volcanism, but the degree to which these are quantifiable is strongly constrained by the quality of the available data.

Keywords: southern volcanic zone
Chile
Hualaihue
Andes
volcano
Advisor: Pyle, D
Mather, T
Functional and inhibition studies on 2-oxoglutarate-dependent oxygenases

This thesis explores roles of 2-oxoglutarate-dependent (2OG) oxygenases as interfaces that modulate steps in the flow of genetic information in cells in response to oxygen availability. Chapter 1 introduces mechanistic, biochemical and physiological aspects of major subfamilies of 2OG oxygenases, and their established regulatory roles in cells. In addition, structural and functional aspects of the ribosome and the translation process are discussed, with a focus on post-translational ribosome modifications.
Chapter 2 investigates histone demethylases, which mediate chromatin-dependent regulation of gene expression and provides proof-of-concept for the rational, structure-guided design of small-molecules for selective inhibition of 2OG oxygenases with roles in cancer and inflammatory disease. Chapter 3 suggests regulatory roles for ten-eleven-translocation (TET)- catalysed DNA hydroxylation; calorimetric and thermal analyses reveal a duplex-stabilizing effect of the epigenetic 5-methylcytosine mark that is reversed upon conversion to 5- hydroxymethylcytosine (also termed the ‘sixth’ DNA base), raising the possibility that 2OG oxygenase catalysis might affect transcription via biophysical effects. Chapter 4 investigates fluoride release assays as a technology to enable medicinal chemistry studies on 2OG oxygenases with roles in fat mass regulation and obesity, cancer and inflammation; studies on the ALKBH5 enzyme show that it is a hypoxically upregulated 2OG oxygenase with a substrate preference distinct from previously characterized ALKBH enzymes.
Chapter 5 identifies OGFOD1 as a 2OG-dependent ribosomal protein hydroxylase. OGFOD1 catalysis is conserved from yeast to humans. OGFOD1 catalyses formation of trans-3- hydroxy-L-proline in a highly conserved loop of ribosomal protein S23 proximal to the ribosomal decoding centre, possibly to modulate the interactions of eukaryotic ribosomes with tRNA, mRNA and translation factors in an oxygen-dependent manner. OGFOD1 is the functionally most well-conserved protein-modifying 2OG oxygenase; likewise, ribosomal protein S23 hydroxylation is the most well-conserved post-translational ribosome modification in eukaryotes. Some cell lines require OGFOD1 for proliferation, and scaffolds for OGFOD1- selective inhibitors are developed for use as potential antiproliferative agents and probes for cellular function. Chapter 6 shows the development of assays to investigate whether OGFOD1 catalysis affects ribosome assembly and function, including processivity, accuracy of initiation, elongation and termination, in yeast and mammalian cell lines.
Chapter 7 concludes that ribosome hydroxylation might present an additional layer of regulatory complexity by which 2OG oxygenases could enable cells to respond to fluctuating oxygen levels.

Keywords: 2-oxoglutarate
hypoxia
protein translation
post-translational modification
ribosome hydroxylation
hydroxylation
Advisor: Schofield, C
Helleday, T
Protestantism and public life: the Church of Ireland, disestablishment, and Home Rule, 1864-1874 

This thesis explores the hitherto undocumented disestablishment and reconstruction of the Anglican Church of Ireland, c.1868-1870, and argues that this experience was formative in the emergence of Home Rule. Structurally, the Church’s General Synod served as a model for an autonomous Irish parliament. Moreover, disestablishment and reconstruction conditioned the political trajectories of the Protestants initially involved in the first group to campaign for a federal Irish parliament, the Home Government Association (HGA). More broadly, both the HGA and the governance of the independent Church—the General Synod—grew from the bedrock of the same associational culture. The HGA was more aligned with the public associations of Protestant-dominated Dublin intellectual life and the lay associational culture of the Church. Although the political vision advocated was different from the normal conservatism of many of its Protestant members, culturally it was entirely grounded in the recent Anglican experience.

Keywords: secularisation
United Kingdom
nationalism
religion
Ireland
Disestablishment
Nineteenth century
Home rule
Church and state
Advisor: Foster, R
A study of dry frictional contacts

This study addresses a range of phenomena associated with dry frictional contacts. Particular emphasis is devoted to elastic dissimilarity. Problems are formulated such that coupling between normal and tangential tractions is permitted and the results, which must often be found by numerical means, are compared with classical solutions.
The manipulation of objects in contact with frictional surfaces is investigated. The main focus is on objects resting upon a plane at three discrete points of support. When displaced by an arbitrary force such objects have a tendency to rotate about these points of support. The motion of both planar and three dimensional objects is predicted and the effect of friction at the pushing contact is considered.
Rolling contact between two elastically dissimilar cylinders is addressed. By allowing full coupling between normal and tangential tractions it is found that an offset in the contact patch may result. This often leads to a significant resistive moment which balances the nett power supplied and the frictional losses.
Three dimensional contacts form a major part of the study and a numerical method is developed to facilitate their solution. The evolution of an incomplete contact is evaluated to demonstrate how contact boundaries may be determined. The method is then applied to sliding contact between elastically dissimilar spheres. The traction distributions which result from a fully coupled formulation are compared with those predicted by a Hertzian solution. The parameters which cause the greatest differences are found.
A Mindlin-type contact is re-evaluated and traction distributions are calculated which are compatible with local slip directions for both elastically similar and dissimilar bodies. A comprehensive set of results is presented revealing how material parameters influence the solution.
Interactions between cracks and contacts are analyzed. It is shown that although the change in compliance of a flawed body may modify the traction distribution compared with a flawless one, the stress intensity factors at the crack tip are rarely affected.
Finally, a method of determining the fracture toughness of brittle materials is explored based on the observation of surface cracks in the wake of a sliding indenter. Material characteristics are related to crack initiation, spacing and depth.
The legal construction of migrant work relations: precarious status, hyper-dependence and hyper-precarity

This thesis is concerned with the ways in which the laws and policies governing labour migration shape the relationship between migrant workers, employers, and labour markets in advanced industrialised countries. Specifically, it elucidates the intersections of immigration and labour market regulatory norms, structures, and processes that have salient implications for migrants’ work relations. The notions of ‘hyper-dependence’ and ‘hyper-precarity’ are developed as the main analytical and normative lenses in this thesis for examining the particular vulnerabilities associated with migrants’ precarious statuses under contemporary labour migration regimes. Hyper-dependence refers to an acute dependence that transcends the immediate context of an employment relationship, where other aspects of a worker’s life critically depend on that employer. For migrant workers, hyper-dependence may arise where their legal statuses is tethered to a specific employer sponsorship, accompanied by other de jure and de facto restrictions on their labour mobility. Hyper-precarity seeks to capture the multifaceted insecurities and uncertainties in migrants’ work relations and their broader migration projects, which are linked to their exclusion, in law and in practice, from a wide array of social, economic, and civil rights in the host state.
Engaging with the various and often competing goals and concerns of immigration law and labour law, the two concepts of hyper-dependence and hyper-precarity are developed and applied through an in-depth comparative analysis of the legal and regulatory architectures of two contemporary temporary migrant workers’ programmes (TMWPs): Australia’s Temporary Work (Skilled) Subclass 457 Visa (‘457 visa’) scheme and the United Kingdom’s Tier 2 (General) visa scheme. In recent years, TMWPs in advanced industrialised countries have been touted by global and national policymakers as a desirable labour migration instrument that delivers ‘triple wins’ for host states, home states, and migrants and their families. I situate the normative concerns of the legally constructed hyper-dependence and hyper-precarity in the ethical debates on TMWPs in liberal states. I also consider how the worst extremes of the two ‘hyper’ conditions combined in highly exploitative work relations could be ameliorated, and in doing so propose some ideas for reforming key features of current TMWPs to enable migrants to exit any employment relationship and to resort to a range of voice mechanisms in the workplace.

Keywords: Migrant Workers
Temporary Migration Programmes
Labour Law
Labour Migration
Immigration Law
Advisor: Freedland, M
Costello, C
Econometric methods for evaluating the cost-effectiveness of health care interventions using observational data

This thesis explores the use of observational microdata in cost-effectiveness analysis. The application of econometric methods adjusting for selection bias is first reviewed and critically appraised in the economic evaluation literature using a structured template. Limitations of identified studies include lack of good quality evidence regarding the performance of different analytical approaches; inadequate assessment of the sensitivity of their results to violations of fundamental assumptions or variations to crucial estimator parameters; failure to combine the cost and effectiveness outcomes in a summary measure; and no consideration of stochastic uncertainty for the purpose of evaluating cost-effectiveness. Data from the Birthplace national cohort study are used in an attempt to address these limitations in the context of an empirical comparison of estimators relying on regression, matching, as well as the propensity score. It is argued that although these methods cannot address the potential impact of unobservable confounding, a novel approach to bias-corrected matching, combining entropy balancing with seemingly unrelated regression, still has the potential to offer important advantages in terms of analytical robustness. The net economic benefit is proposed as a straightforward way to exploit the strengths of rigorous econometric methodology in the development of reliable and informative cost-effectiveness analyses.

Keywords: observational data
cost-effectiveness analysis
treatment effects
economic evaluation
econometrics
selection bias
Advisor: Fitzpatrick, R
Petrou, S
Wilkinson, A
Waists, health and history: obesity in nineteenth century Britain

The scale of the current global obesity epidemic and the implications of this for health, functionality and economics, dictates that assessing the origins of overnutrition must become a priority in all research fields. To date anthropometric historians have mainly utilised institutional sources providing height and occasionally weight data for a sample of the working class who experienced deprivation. Tailoring institutions offer new, innovative sources for the field; uniquely measuring body shape in its entirety and sampling the upper-middle classes and elites. Anthropometric data for waist circumference, hip circumference and leg length has been collected from Morris & Son tailoring establishment in Barmouth, North West Wales and from Henry Poole & Co. ‘Savile Row’ tailors in Mayfair, London. This data from the second half of the nineteenth century has been nominally linked to census and probate records and cross-referenced with contemporary medical tracts and modern epidemiological literature to highlight obesity related health risks within both populations.
Results indicate that 'diseases of affluence' permeated many nineteenth century class groups. Both waist circumferences and hip circumferences increased over the life span. Furthermore, Barmouth’s economic transition from a port to a tourist destination appears to have placed individuals' health (when measured by early adult waist-hip ratio) at greater risk than the overall wealthier customers attending Savile Row. The Barker hypothesis may be relevant - an influx of wealth being of greater detriment to health in later life than consistent affluence. For Henry Poole & Co.’s customers an elite lifestyle enabled girths to expand, increasing the risk of chronic diseases but seemingly protecting them from infectious pathogens. In later life, during the second half of the nineteenth century, it would appear that optimal waist circumferences to reduce mortality were larger than current recommended levels.

Keywords: anthropometric history
Advisor: Oxley, D
Reasoning with !-graphs

The aim of this thesis is to present an extension to the string graphs of Dixon, Duncan and Kissinger that allows the finite representation of certain infinite families of graphs and graph rewrite rules, and to demonstrate that a logic can be built on this to allow the formalisation of inductive proofs in the string diagrams of compact closed and traced symmetric monoidal categories.
String diagrams provide an intuitive method for reasoning about monoidal categories. However, this does not negate the ability for those using them to make mistakes in proofs. To this end, there is a project (Quantomatic) to build a proof assistant for string diagrams, at least for those based on categories with a notion of trace. The development of string graphs has provided a combinatorial formalisation of string diagrams, laying the foundations for this project.
The prevalence of commutative Frobenius algebras (CFAs) in quantum information theory, a major application area of these diagrams, has led to the use of variable-arity nodes as a shorthand for normalised networks of Frobenius algebra morphisms, so-called "spider notation". This notation greatly eases reasoning with CFAs, but string graphs are inadequate to properly encode this reasoning.
This dissertation firstly extends string graphs to allow for variable-arity nodes to be represented at all, and then introduces !-box notation – and structures to encode it – to represent string graph equations containing repeated subgraphs, where the number of repetitions is abitrary. This can be used to represent, for example, the "spider law" of CFAs, allowing two spiders to be merged, as well as the much more complex generalised bialgebra law that can arise from two interacting CFAs.
This work then demonstrates how we can reason directly about !-graphs, viewed as (typically infinite) families of string graphs. Of particular note is the presentation of a form of graph-based induction, allowing the formal encoding of proofs that previously could only be represented as a mix of string diagrams and explanatory text.

Keywords: proofs
graphs
automated reasoning
quantum computer science
commutative frobenius algrebras
quantomatic
Advisor: Abramsky, S
Coecke, B