VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
End of empire policies, and the politics of local elites: the British exit from south Arabia and the Gulf, 1951-1972.

The unusual way in which Britain's empire in Arabia was connected politically and constitutionally to the metropole, and the perceived – in some instances exaggerated – view of its strategic and economic importance, created both an opportunity and a justification for the British disengagement from the region to happen differently than in most of the rest of the empire. Strong personalities – in the metropole, amongst the men on the spot, and among local elites – played a crucial role in decision-making, and this thesis argues that informal networks from among these three constituencies worked in parallel to the established formal channels, impacting policy and driving the decision-making process. These networks initially contributed to a break in the political consensus within the metropole, but eventually also helped to restore it. The manipulation of local elites was the tool of choice, used by Britain (under both Conservative and Labour Governments) and its "men on the spot", in their endeavour to secure a lasting privileged position in Arabia. How key actors adapted to change, both in their own societies and in the international system, often determined the success or otherwise of their endeavours.
This tangled tale of Britain’s last imperial stand in Arabia is far from being a unique case of how modern empires have handled unusual episodes of imperial retreat. The story has echoes in two other imperial exits of the late 20th century – the French disengagement from Algeria from 1954 to 1962, and Russian efforts to maintain a privileged position in Georgia, immediately before and after the collapse of the USSR in 1991, and since. Even if it is too early to draw firm conclusions, similar patterns – as the ones discussed in this thesis with regards to the end of the British Empire in Arabia – can also be observed in the other two cases, allowing us to draw some observations and lessons.

Keywords: GCC
UAE
Aden
South Arabia
Persian Gulf
Yemen.
British Empire
Advisor: McDougall, J
Risking the flood: cartographies of things to come

Reflecting on fieldwork carried out in the UK insurance sector, the thesis explores the role played by various types of actuarial and hydrological expertise in the performance of flooding as a matter of sustained public concern. In doing so, the question is raised: what analytical status to give the concept of risk when accounting for the epistemic doings involved in bringing yet unrealised future floods to bear on the present? Contrary to most other European countries the provision of flood insurance in the UK is left to the market and organised via an agreement under which insurers pledge to provide cover in areas protected by the Government to a standard of 1:75 years (the average return period between floods). What should be taken into account when mapping out this 1:75 year flood zone is subject to debates constantly revitalised by flood events with changing characteristics as well as new ways of modelling and anticipating what has yet to take place. How should we understand the knowledge claims hardwired into these debates through the involvement of actuarial and hydrological expertise? The thesis will argue that a reorientation of flood risk away from a status as the (multiple) object of these claims towards a status as an event in which a diverse variety of other things are brought into being (maps, futures, frequencies, anxieties, publics, geographies, things which are not necessarily very well understood as risk per se), will give rise to more productive and eventful questions. In the terminology of Isabelle Stengers, to risk is to create the possibility of bringing new things to life – the risking of floods seems to be constantly exciting such creativities.

Keywords: risk
insurance
simulation
STS
pragmatism
flooding
modelling
Advisor: Sarah, W
Social complexity and religion at Rome in the second and first centuries BCE

This thesis studies the religious system of the city of Rome and its immediate hinterland from the end of the Second Punic War to the emergence of autocratic rule shortly before the turn of the millennium.
The Romans lacked a separate word for 'religion'. Scholars therefore hold that modern notions of religion, due to their Christianizing assumptions, cannot be applied to Roman religion, which consisted in public and social religious observance rather than in individual spirituality. The first chapter argues that Roman religion can be conceptualized as a system of social religious behaviour and individual motivational processes. A comparative definition of 'religion', which transcends Christianizing assumptions, is proposed to support this argument.
In chapter two, modern interpretations of Roman religion, which view Republican religion as a 'closed system' in which religion is undifferentiated from politics and from public life, are criticized. It is argued that these interpretations start from unwarranted preconceptions concerning the interrelation of religion and society. Instead, I suggest that we should apply the model of an 'open system': the religious system at Rome was interrelated with its environment, but at the same time it could be conceptualized as being differentiated from other realms of social activity at Rome.
Chapter three refutes the view that the identity of religion at Rome can be described by models of political or cultural identity. Instead, religious communication in Late Republican Rome was characterized by contextual rather than by substantive meanings. The fluidity of religious meaning in Late Republican Rome, a metropolis of nearly 1,000,000 inhabitants, implies that normative definitions of the constituents of Roman religion fail to convince. In relation to coloniae and municipia it is attempted to show that the religious system of Rome, a local religion geared to the physical city and its immediate hinterland, was not capable of becoming a universal religion.
In the fourth chapter, the parameters organizing Roman religion are discussed. My thesis is that Roman religion in the Late Republic was decentralized in that religious authority was diffused and religious responsibilities were divided. In the city of Rome, there existed a market of religious alternatives, which was characterized by the compatibility of different deities and cults in a polytheistic context.
Asymmetric synthesis via iron acyl complexes

This thesis describes the applications to asymmetric synthesis of the highly diastereoselective carbon-carbon bond forming reactions of α,β-unsaturated acyl ligands bound to the chiral iron auxiliary [(η5-C5H5)Fe(CO)(PPh3)].
Chapter 1 briefly reviews the use of chiral auxiliaries in asymmetric synthesis.
Chapter 2 discusses the conformation of [(η5-C5H5)Fe(CO)(PPh3)COCH3] with reference to its X-ray crystal structure. A method for determining the absolute configuration of (+)- and (-)-[(η5-C5H5)Fe(CO)(PPh3)COCH3] is described as well as methods for determining their optical purities.
Chapter 3 describes methods for the preparation of α,β-unsaturated acyl complexes. The Peterson reaction between the enolate derived from [(η5-C5H5)Fe(CO)(PPh3) COCH2 Si (CH3)3] and aldehydes gives complexes of the type [(η5-C5H5)Fe(CO)(PPh3) COCH=CHR] as mixtures of E and Z isomers. Sodium hydride-induced elimination of methanol from either diastereoisomer of the corresponding β-methoxy acyl complex gives the E isomer stereo-selectively. Complexes of the type [η5-C5H5)Fe(CO)(PPh3)COC(R)=CH2] are similarly prepared from the corresponding β-methoxy acyl complexes. The conformations of E- and Z- [η5-C5H5)Fe(CO)(PPh3)COC(R)=CH2] are discussed with reference to the X-ray crystal structures of the β-methoxy substituted complexes.
See thesis pdf for remainder of abstract

Advisor: Davies, S
Irish protestant travel to Europe, 1660-1727

This thesis examines travel to continental Europe as undertaken by several generations of Irish Protestants between 1660 and 1727. Historians draw parallels between the Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland and other polities in ancien régime Europe, but these demand an exploration of contemporary encounters. Research on the Irish in Europe concentrates on Catholics without much regard to Protestant experiences, while work on English or British travel overlooks ways in which Irish Protestant voyages differed. This thesis analyses the experiences of Church-of-Ireland families from the gentry, nobility and aristocracy, especially the Southwells, Percevals, Molesworths, Molyneuxs, Boyles and Butlers. Correspondence, notebooks and financial accounts reconstruct their voyages, mainly to France, Italy, the Low Countries and Germany, and their attitudes towards the practice of travel. Journeys to other destinations are incorporated, as are the voyages of neighbours, acquaintances and employees. Purposes varied, but travel was consistently considered an opportunity for 'improvement'.
The thesis follows the successive preoccupations of travellers, beginning with demonstrations of 'fitness to travel'. Wealthy young men were judged according to criteria that privileged anglicisation and Protestantism, though linguistic skill was a more socially-comprehensive standard. Advisors emphasised civil conversation and written observation, but warnings to avoid 'countrymen' were ignored. The company of English-speaking travellers and Irish Catholic expatriates created distinctive European experiences. Foreign hosts often saw uncomplicated Englishmen, though some recognised Irish difference. Anglican travellers held qualified membership of a 'Protestant international', drawing on a cross-confessional 'stock of friends'. Travellers received tuition that complicates perceptions of travel as 'informal' education and they memorialised experiences through souvenirs and gifts. Voyages encouraged some into English residence and identifications, though others brought improvements home to Ireland. 'Improvement', as it related to wealthy Church-of-Ireland families, functioned not as a binary between approved England and disdained Ireland but a triangular exchange in which continental Europe featured prominently.

Keywords: education
improvement
identity
Irish history
grand tour
European travel
British history
Irish Protestants
Advisor: Barnard, T
Collective decision-making in homing pigeon navigation

This thesis focuses on conflict resolution and collective decision-making in co-navigating pigeons, Columba livia. These birds have a remarkable homing ability and frequently fly in flocks. Group navigation demands that group members reach consensus on which path to follow, but the mechanisms by which they do so remain largely unexplored. Pigeons are particularly suitable for studying these mechanisms, due to their sociality and the fact that their possession of information can easily be altered and quantified. I present the results of a series of experiments that manipulated the experience of homing pigeons in various ways so as to observe the effect of information they had previously gathered on their group behaviour. Key findings were:
Previous navigational experience contributes to the establishment of leader-follower relationships. The larger the difference in experience between two co-navigating pigeons, the higher the likelihood the more experienced bird will emerge as leader.
Shared homing experience through repeated joint flights can allow two pigeons to develop into a “behavioural unit”. They form spatial sub-groups when flying with less familiar birds, and perform a similar transition between compromise- and leadership-dominated flights as single birds, although they are more likely to accept compromise routes. Such previous association histories between birds can thus affect collective decision-making in larger flocks.
There is a trade-off between the amount of spatial information handled and the efficiency with which such information can be applied during homing. Leading/following behaviour is influenced by the recency of the route memories.
Leadership hierarchies in pigeon flocks appear resistant to changes in the navigational knowledge of a subset of their members, at least when these changes are relatively small in magnitude. The stability of the hierarchical structure might be beneficial during decision-making.
Mathematical modelling suggests that underlying hierarchical social structures can increase navigational accuracy. Hierarchically organised groups with the smallest number of strong connections achieve highest accuracy. Group leader-follower dynamics resemble the underlying social structure.

Keywords: decision-making
social navigation
animal behaviour
homing pigeon
Advisor: Biro, D
Mallarmé Apollinaire Maeterlinck Jarry: Space and Subject in French Poetry and Drama, c.1890-1920

This study explores the interrelationship between spatiality and subjecthood in the work of Stéphane Mallarmé, Guillaume Apollinaire, Maurice Maeterlinck, and Alfred Jarry. Concerned with various modes of poetry and drama, it also examines the cross-pollination that can occur between these modes, focusing on a relatively narrow corpus of core texts: Mallarmé’s Igitur (c. 1867-70) and Un Coup de dés (1897); Apollinaire’s “Zone” (1912) and various of his calligrammes; Maeterlinck’s early one-act plays—L’Intruse (1890), Les Aveugles (1890), and Intérieur (1894); and Jarry’s Ubu roi (1896) and César-Antechrist (1895). The poetic and dramatic practices of these four authors are assessed against the broader cultural and philosophical contexts of the fin de siècle. The fin de siècle witnessed a profound epistemological shift: the Newtonian-Cartesian paradigm, increasingly challenged throughout the nineteenth century, was largely dismantled, with ramifications beyond physics, philosophy and psychology. Chapter 1 introduces three foundational notions—Newtonian absolute space, the unitary Cartesian subject, and subject-object dualism—that were challenged and ultimately overthrown in turn-of-the-century science and art. Developments in theatre architecture and typographic design are examined against this philosophical backdrop with a view to establishing a diachronic and interdisciplinary framework of the authors in question. Chapter 2 focuses on the spatial dimension of Mallarmé’s Un Coup de dés and Apollinaire’s calligrammes—works which defamiliarise page-space by undermining various (naturalised) conventions of paginal configuration. In Chapter 3, the notion of liminality (the experience or condition of the betwixt and between) is implemented in an analysis of character and diegetic space as constructed in Jarry’s Ubu roi and Maeterlinck’s one-acts. Chapters 4 and Chapter 5 undertake a more abstract investigation of parallel inverse processes—the subjectivisation of space and the spatialisation of the subject —manifest not only in the works of Mallarmé, Maeterlinck, Apollinaire and Jarry, but in the period’s poetry and drama more generally.

Keywords: embodiment
theatre
reading
subjectivity
spatiality
spectatorship
visual poetry
Advisor: Holland, M
Plutarch on Sparta: cultural identities and political models in the Plutarchan macrotext

Can we consider Plutarch's Parallel Lives a historical work? Can we read them as a unitary series? These are the initial questions that this thesis poses and that are investigated in the Introduction, five main Chapters, and the Conclusion. In the Introduction, a preliminary status quaestionis about ancient biography is presented before clarifying the methodology adopted for reading the Parallel Lives as a unitary historical work and the reasons for choosing the Lives of Lycurgus, Lysander, and Agesilaus as the case studies to examine in detail. Chapter 1 discusses the historiographical principles that emerge from the De sera numinis vindicta: for Plutarch history is primarily the history of individuals and cities, based on the interpretation of historical events. Chapter 2 tries to verify the hypothesis that the Parallel Lives correspond to the historical project delineated in the De sera numinis vindicta. This Chapter, moreover, reassesses the literary form of the Parallel Lives by employing the concepts of 'open macrotext' and 'cross-complementarity' between the Lives. Chapter 3 analyses the Life of Lycurgus, focusing on the formation of the cultural identity and the political model of Sparta. In the Life of Lycurgus, Plutarch indicates already the intrinsic weaknesses of Sparta and the probable causes of Spartan decline in the fourth century BC. Chapter 4 is devoted to the Life of Lysander, where Plutarch narrates how after the Peloponnesian War Sparta established its hegemony over the Greeks and, simultaneously, began its rapid moral and political decline into decadence. Plutarch also seems to suggest that in this historical period of extraordinary changes not only Sparta and Lysander but all the Greeks were guilty of distorting moral values. Chapter 5 concentrates on Agesilaus, who could have led Sparta and the Greeks to great success against the Persians, but, instead, had to save Sparta from complete destruction after the Battle of Leuctra. The Conclusion recapitulates the main points of the thesis and proposes possible arguments for future research on Plutarch’s Parallel Lives.

Keywords: Sparta
Plutarch
Agesilaus
Lysander
Macrotext
Lycurgus
Parallel Lives
De Sera Numinis Vindicta
Seriality
Advisor: Pelling, C
Regional studies in the sedimentology, mineralogy and geochemistry of the Penarth group ("Rhaetic") of Britain

The Upper Triassic, Penarth Group has been examined, throughout Britain, both at outcrop and in boreholes. It is divided, lithostratigraphically into a lower, Westbury Formation and an upper, Lilstock Formation. Within these units a number of regionally-and locally-applicable members are distinguished.
The Penarth Group is a predominantly marine, sedimentary sequence transitionally situated between arid or semi-arid lacustrine and fluviatile sediments (Mercia Mudstone Group and New Red Sandstone) and more fully marine strata (Lias).
Early stages of the "Rhaetic" marine incursion, principally represented by the Westbury Member, document the establishment of semi-isolated, brackish basins which were superseded by a less restricted marine environment. This transgressional advance is linked to nutrient supply and thence to phytoplankton productivity in order to explain organic carbon profiles through the Westbury Member, Offshore and nearshore zones of this sea are recognised, the latter including sediments assigned to barrier-inlet, lagoon and tidal=flat environments. Clay mineral studies reveal an enrichment of smectite in offshore areas which is ascribed to differential sedimentation processes.
Transgression was interrupted by a regressional phase marked by the lagoonal sediments of the Gotham Member. A shift in the zone of smectite deposition can be related to this regression. The inferred shelf-lagoon carbonates of the Langport Member reflect a renewal of transgression. A local influx of sediment-laden fresh- water is believed to have been responsible for the local change to the Watchet Member Facies.
Deeper-water intermittently oxygen-deficient, marine environments are envisaged for the
Pre-planorbis
Beds. These spread across the Langport Member shelf-lagoon, as a result of continuing transgression, culminating in the widespread establishment of deeper-water conditions in the Lower Jurassic. An increase in kaolinite relative to smectite in these younger strata, reflects increasingly humid climatic conditions.
A regional correlation of the lithostratigraphica.1 subdivisions is attempted leading to a series of palaeogeographical reconstructions.

Advisor: Jenkyns, H
Senior, J
The evaluation of the IGF-1R as a proposed biomarker for DNA damaging cancer therapies

Introduction The IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) is overexpressed in many cancers, with roles in cell proliferation and survival. IGF-1R inhibition enhances radio- and chemo-sensitivity, potentially influencing DNA damage response, whilst IGF1R SNP rs4966013 has been identified as the SNP in the p53 stress response network most significantly associated with differences in chemosensitivity.
Aims: 1. Test whether IGF-1R protein expression correlates with IGF-1R mRNA, hence indirectly with SNP rs4966013 in high and low IGF-1R mRNA-expressing cell lines and the NCI60 2. Using cytotoxic drugs selected from sensitivity correlations with SNP rs4966013, assess: • whether cell lines expressing high IGF-1R exhibit greater chemo- and radio- resistance • the extent to which IGF-1R inhibition enhances chemo- and radiosensitivity, correlated with IGF-1R expression.
Methods Protein expression was analysed using western blots. Sensitivity to irradiation, chemotherapy and IGF-1R inhibitors, and the effect of IGF-1R inhibition on radiosensitivity were assayed using cell viability assays. Published chemosensitivity and radiosensitivity data were compared with SNP genotype, IGF1R mRNA levels and published IGF-1R protein expression data.
Results IGF-1R protein correlated with mRNA expression in the 8 cell line panel (Spearman’s r=-0.87 p=0.005) and the wider NCI60 (r=-0.71 p<0.0001). Examination of IGF-1R protein and mRNA expression by SNP genotype suggested a dominant phenotype for the A allele.
Examination of public data demonstrated significant correlations between chemosensitivity and any measure of IGF-1R expression for 26 of 113 drugs. In cell viability assays, GI50s for Paclitaxel and Topotecan were higher in cell lines with the GG genotype. However, in the 8 cell lines tested, viability assays showed no correlation between high IGF-1R and paclitaxel resistance, and a non-significant association with topotecan resistance. Viability assays showed non-significantly increased radioresistance in cell lines with higher IGF-1R expression. Published NCI60 radiosensitivity data suggested no relationship with measures of IGF-1R expression.
Significant associations were identified between IGF-1R inhibitor sensitivity and pAKT but not measures of IGF-1R expression in cell viability assays. Public data showed cell lines of the GG genotype to be more sensitive to BMS754807 and possibly to OSI906 IGF-1R inhibitors.

Keywords: IGF-1R biomarker DNA damage radiotherapy chemotherapy
Advisor: Macaulay, V
Bond, G
Scalar-fermion theories on the lattice

We study scalar-fermion models with Yukawa interaction on a space-time lat- tice. Such models can describe the Higgs sector of the Standard Model in the case when the Higgs particle is very heavy (few hundred GeV) and there are very heavy fermions whose masses are due to their Yukawa interactions with the Higgs field. We study a realistic model with four component scalar field as well as simplified models with one and two component scalar fields. We use a mean field approximation to calculate equations for critical lines in the large d (dimension of space-time) limit. These lines are in very good agreement with available Monte Carlo data for the models at d = 4. We calculate fermion correlation functions in the mean field and large d approximations to study properties of different phases in the lattice models. We find two distinct phases with vanishing expectation values of the scalar field. One (at small Yukawa coupling Y) contains massless fermions, while in the other (at large F) the fermions have masses larger than the scale given by the inverse lattice spacing. We find that in the latter phase fermions can form bosonic bound states. These states show up as poles in a four-fermion correlator. We discuss pos- sible continuum limits in the lattice scalar-fermion models. In particular, we show that a theory defined near the critical line separating the disordered phase from the phase with antiferromagnetic order is not unitary.

Advisor: Teper, M