VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
In need of a new story, writing, teaching and learning history in mandatory Palestine

This study looks at history teaching as a reflection of the circumstances and interests that shaped the nature of Palestinian society, Arab and Jewish, in mandate Palestine. It examines the pedagogical and political roots of educational segregation between Arabs and Jews, tracing the causes that turned it into an impervious practice and explores the engagement of both communities with the education of the national other and the reciprocal influence of this engagement on both education systems.
The thesis examines the sociology of particularly Arab, but also Hebrew knowledge, focusing on who wrote history textbooks and why, what were the cultural and intellectual influences involved in this process, and how was history instrumentalised for the creation of a new identity, shedding light on the conscious or unconscious manner in which colonial historiographic paradigms wrote themselves into these textbooks. The juxtaposition of Arabic and Hebrew textbooks underlines the centrality of the conflict in moulding exclusive notions of collectivity and territoriality through the narration of the past.
The second part of the project discusses the institutionalisation of this historiography into an educational policy, through curricula, syllabi and exams. I focus on the colonial logic behind this policy, highlighting its inconsistent educational rationale. By analysing the pedagogic discourse of Arab educators and essays written by students, I argue that a growing community of educators and students countered the British policy, seeking to make sense and find an authentic voice within the contours of colonial reality. The thesis concludes with an examination of the teaching of history beyond the history course, analysing the omnipresence of history in the students' lives and their interpretation of it, underlying the differences between the Arab and Hebrew communities in their ability to disseminate a shared, historical consciousness. This analysis of Arabic and Hebrew sources discloses the uncanny resemblance between the production of historical education in both communities, which nonetheless contributed in both cases to driving them apart rather than opening any space for commonality.

Keywords: education
knowledge
history
mandate
historiography
Palestine
Advisor: Mcdougall, J
Analysis of novel pathways in neurodegeneration using mouse and fly model organisms

The aim of this project was to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying movement disorders and to identify new genes involved in neurodegeneration. By genetic crossing two mutations identified in the Shakin' Stevens mouse, were separated into individual mouse strains. Both have provided important new insights into two pathways characteristic of neurodegeneration: The autophagy-lysosome pathway, a protein degradation pathway in the Nymphe mouse (nym/nym), and lipid metabolism defects in the Jabber mouse (jab/&plus;).
The nym homozygous mouse was identified as a novel mouse model of the lysosomal storage disorder mucolipidosis II (MLII) homozygous for a patient mutation in the GNPTAB gene. The novel mouse model of MLII more fully recapitulates the human pathology than the previously described Gnptab knock-out mouse. Histological analysis of the brain revealed for the first time progressive neurodegeneration in the cerebellum with severe Purkinje cell loss. In addition, based on similar features between Niemann-Pick type C disease and MLII, the nym homozygous mice were treated with 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin, a drug previously reported to rescue Purkinje cell death in a mouse model of NPC disease. No improvement in brain pathology was observed, demonstrating that cerebellar degeneration is not primarily triggered by loss of Npc2 function.
The jab mouse model, harbouring a mutation in the small GTPase Arl1, was characterised as a novel model of chylomicron retention disease, a lipoprotein deficiency, and offered the opportunity to study a novel gene involved in the maintenance of lipid homeostasis and neurodegeneration, specifically demyelination in the peripheral nervous system. The jab mutation in Drosophila presented with characteristic features of the jab mouse, highlighting the functional conservation of Arl1 and validated the use of Drosophila for further studies. Interestingly, together with constitutively active and inactive mutants, pathology in lipid droplet formation and defective insulin signalling was associated with defective Arl1 function. Using Drosophila will enable further studies into Arl1's role in tissue specific function and help elucidate molecular pathway leading to demyelination.
Thus, this work has highlighted the value of a phenotype-driven approach to investigate novel neurodegenerative pathways and their amenability to therapy.

Advisor: Davies, K
'Rebellion to the Gods'. Dialogue and conflict with tradition in the poetry of Amelia Rosselli from 'Primi Scritti' to 'Variazioni belliche'

This thesis focuses on Intertexuality in the Poetry of Amelia Rosselli from Primi Scritti (1952-1963) to Variazioni belliche (1959-1961).
The research is based on the annotated books of the author’s personal library kept in the Fondo Rosselli of Viterbo and of her personal documents, letters and original typescripts of her works held in the Centro Manoscritti Autori Moderni e Contemporanei of the University of Pavia. Rosselli's annotations are studied for the first time and they have proved to be essential for the interpretation of her poetry.
Rosselli's aspiration to Gesamtskunstwerk is reflected in the composition of her library which ranges from musicology, quantum physics, Gestalt psychology, history of art and philosophy. I explored the influence of these disciplines in her work adopting an interdisciplinary approach. In particular I concentrate on the influence that her studies in etnomusicology have had on the style of her poetry.
The theoretical framework of Julia Kristeva and Gian Biagio Conte enable me to draw two main intertexual strategies in Rosselli's poetry: the intertexuality of harmonics, and parody.
Rosselli's use of literary allusion is a very original one: it is based on her work as a musicologist, which she articulates in the essay La serie degli armonici. In this essay Rosselli studied natural harmonics in music. Allusions develop into an intertextual fugue creating a mîse en abyme effect. Another type of allusion is the parody in which the poetic I acting as the fool challenges the literary fathers of Tradition in order to find her own space in the canon.
The study of intertextuality has also some important consequences on a literary hystoriographic perspective: I recognized in her poetry what Detloff called 'the persistence of Modernism'. Her work like the one of Anglo-American modernists is characterized by a form of resilience to trauma and loss. Like the literature of survivors, Rosselli’s deals with the expression of inexpressible, the fragmentation of the poetic I, and the will of re-writing her own story to overcome trauma. The ultimate result is a political and ethical cry for social justice, symphathy and peace.

Keywords: Gestalt
Intertexuality
Modernism
Literature and ethics
Literature and trauma
Ethnomusicology
Advisor: Tandello, E
Automated radiological analysis of spinal MRI

This thesis addresses the problem of analysing clinical MRI using modern computer vision methods for a variety of clinical and research-related tasks. We use automated machine learning algorithms to develop a spinal MRI analysis framework for a number of tasks such as vertebrae detection, labelling; disc and vertebrae segmentation, and radiological grading, and we validate the framework on a large, heterogeneous dataset of 300 symptomatic back pain patients from multiple clinical sites and scanners. Our framework has a number of back pain research and other spine-related clinical applications and could hopefully find application in a clinical workflow in the future.
Our framework has five steps -- detection, labelling, segmentation, support regions and features, and machine learning for radiological measurements. The framework works in full 3D and has currently been implemented on sagittal T2 slices. We use Deformable Part Models along with a chain model to detect and label vertebrae, and a powerful graph cuts based method for vertebrae and disc segmentation. The labelled detections and segmentations are used to place support regions for feature extraction, which are mapped into a number of radiological measurements -- namely Pfirrmann grade, disc space narrowing, and herniation/bulge. The radiological ground truth was provided by a clinical radiologist with 25 years experience. We demonstrate a high performance in the measurement in each. The measurements are performed using support vector machines and support vector regressors learned on training data.
We next investigate the problem of what is the best method of obtaining support regions. We first used pixel intensity features to predict the Pfirrmann grade, narrowing and bulge/herniation, with vertebrae segmentation to localise their support regions. Since segmentation of spine images, especially intervertebral discs is an unsolved problem and algorithms are prone to failure, we then ask the question, to segment or not to segment. To answer the question, we compare results on Pfirrmann grade prediction with three different points on the no segmentation to full disc segmentation involving no segmentation, vertebrae segmentation, or disc segmentation and find that vertebrae segmentation suffices.
We finally show preliminary results in distinguishing between different radiological conditions related to the posterior side of the disc more finely than before in literature, taking information from both sagittal and axial slices to attempt to distinguish between herniated and bulged discs.

Advisor: Zisserman, A
Kadir, T
Bioprocessing of oncolytic group B adenovirus for scalable production

The central aim of this thesis was to develop strategies to improve the manufacture of the group B chimeric oncolytic adenovirus, ColoAd1, which rapidly kills and lyses host cells. In attempting to improve the cellular yield of ColoAd1, this thesis therefore sought to identify host infection-related factors that limited ColoAd1 production.
In the widely-used manufacturing cell line, HEK293, ColoAd1 replication depleted intracellular ATP earlier than Ad11p and activated the intracellular energy sensor, AMPK. This might have reflected earlier ATP depletion, or possibly the absence of the E4orf4 protein from ColoAd1 compared to Ad11p. Despite this difference in AMPK activation, both viruses appeared able to maintain mTORC1 activity, which may be essential particularly for protein synthesis in the early stages of virus infection. For production purposes, preventing intracellular ATP depletion was seen as an attractive mechanism of maintaining ColoAd1 infected host cell viability and was hypothesised to lead to increased virus yield. A range of strategies were explored to enhance depleting ATP levels. Even though none of these were dramatically successful, they indicated that perhaps the anabolic building blocks required for viral replication were more important than cellular energy levels. Finally, a screening methodology based on siRNA knockdown was used to identify kinases that affected ColoAd1 replication. Many hits were identified, and several candidate kinases indicated a role for intracellular calcium signalling limiting virus particle production.
Overall, data presented in this thesis supports the manufacture of ColoAd1 in HEK293 cells and suggest that enhancing glycolysis may increase ColoAd1 yield. It also provides mechanistic insights into the replication of ColoAd1 and Ad11p that may inform the improved design of group B oncolytic adenoviruses.

Keywords: metabolism
replication
virotherapy
oncolytic
adenovirus
Advisor: Seymour, L
Fisher, K
Corresponding forms: aspects of the eighteenth-century letter

My thesis investigates the dialogic aspects and literary qualities ascribed to letters during the long eighteenth century. In part this involves documenting the correspondence between letters and other genres, such as the novel. Being in correspondence encouraged writers such as Burney and Johnson to express the relationship between sender and recipient in interesting ways. I posit that the letter offered a sophisticated means for writers, including those in Richardson's circle, to represent speech and thought, and mimic (with varying degrees of indirection), that of others. I consider the editorial habits and typographical conventions that governed letter-writing during the period, honing in on Richardson's contributions. I link his claim that letters were written ‘to the Moment' with broader tropes of 'occasional' style, and show how this manifests in letters' intricate modulations of tense and person.
Chapter 1 details the conventions that prevailed in letters of the period, and their interactions with irony and innovation. I compare convention in the epistolary novels of Smollett and Richardson, and look at closure in the Johnson-Thrale correspondence. Chapter 2 demonstrates that various methods of combining one's voice with others were utilized in letters (such as those of the Burney family), including some that took advantage of the epistolary form and its reputation as 'talking on paper'. Chapter 3 shows the role of mimesis in maintaining the dialogic structure of letters, and links it to contemporary theories of sympathy and sentiment. Chapters 4 and 5 apply the findings about epistolary tradition, polyphony and sentimentalism to the letters of Sterne and Burns. In them, there is a mixture of sentiment and irony, and of individual and 'correspondent' styles. The conclusion discusses the editing of letters, both in situ and in preparation for publication. The twin ideals of spontaneity and sincerity, I conclude, have influenced the way we choose to edit letters in scholarly publications.

Keywords: dialogue
letters
Robert Burns
Samuel Richardson
Advisor: Johnston, F
Fact factories: Wikipedia and the power to represent

Wikipedia is no longer just another source of knowledge about the world. It is fast becoming a central source, used by other powerful knowledge brokers like Google and Bing to offer authoritative answers to search queries about people, places and things and as information infrastructure for a growing number of Web applications and services. Researchers have found that Wikipedia offers a skewed representation of the world that favours some groups at the expense of others so that representations on the platform have repercussions for the subjects of those representations beyond Wikipedia's domain. It becomes critical in this context to understand how exactly Wikipedia's representations come about, what practices give rise to them and what socio-technical arrangements lead to their expression.
This ethnographic study of Wikipedia explores the values, principles and practices that guide what knowledge Wikipedia represents. It follows the foundational principles of Wikipedia in its identity both as an encyclopaedia and a product of the free and open source software and internet freedom rhetoric of the early 2000s. Two case studies are analysed against the backdrop of this ideology, illustrating how different sets of actors battle to extend or reject the boundaries of Wikipedia, and in doing so, affect who are defined as the experts, subjects and revolutionaries of the knowledge that is taken up.
The findings of this thesis indicate that Wikipedia's process of decision-making is neither hierarchical nor is it egalitarian; rather, the power to represent on Wikipedia is rhizoid: it happens at the edges rather than in the centre of the network. Instead of everyone having the same power to represent their views on Wikipedia, those who understand how to perform and speak according to Wikipedia's complex technical, symbolic and policy vocabulary tend to prevail over those who possess disciplinary knowledge about the subject being represented. Wikipedians are no amateurs as many would have us believe; nor are they passive collectors of knowledge held in sources; Wikipedians are, instead, active co-creators of knowledge in the form of facts that they support using specially chosen sources.
The authority of Wikipedia and Wikipedians is garnered through the performative acts of citation, through the ability of individual editors to construct the traces that represent citation, and through the stabilization and destabilization of facts according to the ideological viewpoints of its editors. In venerating and selecting certain sources among others, Wikipedians also serve to reaffirm traditional centres of authority, while at the same time amplifying new centres of knowledge and denying the authority of knowledge that is not codified in practice. As a result, Wikipedia is becoming the site of new centres of expertise and authoritative knowledge creation, and is signalling a move towards the professionalization of the expertise required to produce factual data in the context of digital networks.

Keywords: digital inequalities
Wikipedia
power in online communities
digital speech acts
authority
‘Busy working with materials’: transposing form, re-exposing Medardo Rosso

This thesis examines how making extends artists' thoughts beyond their conceptions. Central to this is consideration of how an artist's statements and their work relate: this thesis argues that the relationship is neither of identity nor contradiction, but of a productive tension from which emerges a richer understanding of thought. A similar approach underscores this doctorate's relationship of studio and written components, both of which desire self-sufficiency. The studio work consists of discrete yet mutually informing series, all engaged with the specificity of a moment of exposure, whether here and now or recording a past moment. The notion of 'documentation' underscores these works, which include large chemical photographs, high-definition video, cyanotypes and extensive exploration of casting to reveal latent images. The written component is a thorough study of the various instances of Medardo Rosso's sculpture Ecce Puer, offering art-historical and theoretical grounding of hands-on making as a way pressing cultural issues inhere in a work at a more fundamental level than understood by its contemporaries or maker. The first chapter locates Rosso in his historical milieu. Chapter 2 assesses the elements constituting Ecce Puer; it argues that no definitions of a 'work' adequately encompass these, and coins the term 'complex work' to designate artworks indivisibly singular and plural, concrete and abstract. Chapter 3 offers phenomenological interpretation of Rosso's confused writings, illuminating them through Maurice Merleau-Ponty's late philosophy but understanding Rosso's thought as inadequate to the complexity of his work. Chapter 4 examines Rosso's photography, specifically his photography of photographs, connecting what this achieves to his phenomenology. Chapter 5 introduces a key notion of 'friendship' to understand how the connections between instances of Ecce Puer became 'meaningful'. Having offered a fundamentally new interpretation of Rosso's project, chapter 6 extends Michael Fried's history of French painting to relocate Rosso within early twentieth-century art.

Keywords: Rephotography
C. S. Lewis
Reproductive technologies
Phenomenology of art
Photography of sculpture
Practice-led research
Medardo Rosso
Ontologies of art
Advisor: Taylor, B
Chevska, M
Twenty years of independence: modern Estonian music, EU integration, and effects on identity

Contemporary musicological analysis of the musical languages and aesthetics of post-Soviet states has largely avoided the effect of independence, political and social integration into the EU, and the unanticipated preponderance of sonic information and exchange on composers working and living in the Baltic States. The diffusion of composers and musicians from the Baltic States in the 1990s and 2000s, the lack of a focal point of artistic contention and backlash after the collapse of the Soviet Union, as well as a social and intellectual realignment toward the EU and Western Europe have all distinctly affected Baltic nations' musical identities. This research examines the development of Estonian music over the period of twenty years, 1991-2011; initially, by comparing compositional processes, musical motives, scoring, harmony, and orchestration techniques of the post-Soviet to the Soviet eras; further, by defining aspects of the native Estonian musical identity as relevant to modern classical music and analysing its integration into concert music; next, by detailing the political effects of such integration, if any, during the Soviet period and their continued relevance since independence; the so-called exodus of Estonian composers into Scandinavia and further afield, the arrival of foreign composers; finally, the social effects of internationalism and the extent of Estonian composers' and audiences' focus on distinctly national versus international traditions within the realm of concert music.

Advisor: Harry, M
Development of a high-precision low-latency position feedback system for single-pass beamlines using stripline and cavity beam position monitors

The FONT beam-based, intra-train feedback system has been designed to provide beam stability at single-pass accelerators, such as at the interaction point (IP) of the International Linear Collider. Two FONT feedback systems have been commissioned at the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) at KEK, Japan, and the operation, optimisation and performance of these systems is the subject of this thesis. For each system, the accelerator is operated with two-bunch trains with a bunch separation of around 200 ns, allowing the first bunch to be measured and the second bunch to be subsequently corrected.
The first system consists of a coupled-loop system in which two stripline beam position monitors (BPMs) are used to characterise the incoming beam position and angle, and two kickers are used to stabilise the beam. A BPM resolution of about 300 nm has been measured. On operating the feedback system, a factor ~ 3 reduction in position jitter has been demonstrated at the feedback BPMs and the successful propagation of this correction to a witness BPM located 30 m downstream has been confirmed.
The second system makes use of a beam position measurement at the ATF IP that is used to drive a kicker to provide a local correction. The measurement is performed using a high-resolution cavity BPM with a fast decay time of around 20 ns designed to allow multiple bunches to be resolved. The linearity of the cavity BPM system and the noise floor of the electronics are discussed in detail. The performance of the BPM system under standard ATF operation and with the beam waist at the BPM is described. A BPM resolution of about 50 nm has been measured. This IP feedback system has been used to stabilise the beam position to the 75 nm level.

Advisor: Burrows, P