Strengthening of concrete columns with pseudo-ductile hybrid FRP

Abstract not currently available

AI-assisted, Raman Activated Cell Sorting (AI-RACS)

Abstract not currently available

If war is the answer, what is the question? A genealogy of ideas in the Greek Just War tradition

Just War theories are shaped by distinct cultures, collective mentalities, and historical developments. However, the existing International Relations literature on Just Wars has not effectively integrated the role of ideas in how actions acquire meaning and legitimacy. Even within the literature on the Just War tradition, there has been a predominant focus on the evolution of Roman ‘Ciceronian’ concepts through the Western medieval system, which became ingrained in Western thought as part of the collective mentalities and experiences of recent centuries. My study tried to address this gap by examining the genealogy of the Greek Just War tradition. The central question of my research is: how did the concept of Just War develop within Greek thought from antiquity to the establishment of an independent Greek state in the 19th century, and can we trace a distinct (Greek) Just War tradition shaped by unique collective experiences, norms, and ideas? References to the Greeks are not ethnological; they refer to the Mediterranean culture centred on the Greek language, concepts, and way of life, which leads to a precise analysis on ideas and practices that construct Just War mentalities. My study demonstrated that the origins of Western Just War traditions can be traced back to Ancient Greek thought and examined how these ideas contributed to the Greco-Roman and Christian synthesis. I explored how Christianity, alongside factors such as geopolitical circumstances, interactions with other cultures, and pre-existing ideas and norms, shaped Eastern Roman practices and created a distinct normative environment, i.e., a different Just War tradition. This environment influenced the evolution of Modern Greek thought, particularly among the Greek diaspora, during the Greek War of Independence, and in the social constructions that legitimised armed conflict as a core element of Greek identity and future Greek security discourses on various domains. Analysing Just War traditions as part of the evolution of ideas across different cultures is both methodologically and ontologically significant. Such an approach enables a deeper understanding of how communities justify warfare, how ideas give meaning to action, and ultimately challenges the positivist view prevalent in modern International Relations, which often treats war merely as a strategic manoeuvre in the game of international politics, rather than as a reflection of diverse cultures. In a globalised interdependent world, the understanding of how warfare is an extension of different communities’ mentality and how ideas legitimise practice is crucial for any aim to improve security discourses, multilateral strategy, and crisis management

Mitochondrial targeting for inhibition of fumarate hydratase

Abstract not currently available

Broken brotherhood: understanding child sexual abuse by Marist brothers and former Marist brothers in Australia

The purpose of this research was to interview four Marist brothers and four former Marist brothers who had abused children to ascertain their understanding of the factors that contributed to the abuse. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was used as the methodology for the research, using semi-structured interviews. The findings were interpreted in the light of the reports of commissions of inquiry and psychological research. The findings supported the view that abuse by clerics is a complex phenomenon that involves personal, situational, organisational, and environmental factors. The results are consistent with the findings from published qualitative research with priests and brothers, and the data from commissions of inquiry, including the importance of opportunity as a significant factor in the abuse of children by clerics. This is the first research project where the participants were all members of the same Roman Catholic religious order of brothers, and from the same country. The results were explored from the perspective of the vocation of brotherhood and, in particular, Marist brotherhood. St Marcellin Champagnat, the founder of the Marist Brothers, was opposed to physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect, and established rules to prevent the abuse of children and to protect the brothers from the temptations of inappropriate behaviour. The regulations regarding relations with pupils and how to live a life of chastity from the time of the Founder until the mid-20th century were explored, especially the changes that took place at the time of Vatican II (1963–65) that led to significant developments in the theology and vocation of brothers in the Church. These developments enabled the Marist Brothers to respond to the abuse crisis by benefiting from insights from psychology and counselling, and from developments in theology, as well as by extending the mission and spirituality of the Marist Brothers to lay men and women. The themes of guilt, shame, redemption, membership, identity, loss, and belonging were explored from the perspective of psychology. Moral injury was proposed as a concept that could be applied to victims, secondary victims, perpetrators, and bystanders, as all felt betrayed and lost trust in individuals in leadership and in the Church as an institution. One of the implications of this research is that clerical status is not a significant variable regarding the abuse of children by priests and brothers. The research also showed that individuals are able to build new lives and identities and live meaningful lives after discovery and imprisonment. Brotherhood as a value and (for some) an identity, continues to have validity whether they continue to live as Marist brothers, leave, or are dismissed from the Order

Dramaturgy of exile: an autopoietic exploration

This thesis presents a practice-led, dramaturgical inquiry into autopoiesis in exile. It provides a methodology for the recreation or the autopoiesis, of the (writing) self in exile by presenting the emergence of a new languaging of the exilic condition within the exile but, more importantly, outwith the exile, and within the host. Through the researching and crafting of three works of theatre and film the thesis examines the poetic self in exile through written language. The subject is vast and much discussed by many, from classical Greek and Roman antiquity to modernity and postmodernity. The innovation this work offers emerges from writing under the condition of existential peril against “authoritarian and fascist threat” (Stanley, 2024). Through dramatisation, it explores what can happen when language is instrumentalised, decontextualised and turned against its former emancipatory function. Within the chronological impetus of less than one hundred years, there is presently a virulent re-emergence of all five conditions of fascism as set out by philosopher Jason Stanley alongside numerous studies by Arendt, Snyder, Klemperer, Bertrand Russell, Ecco and many others. Exposure to this “descent to fascism” (Snyder, 2025) is taking place through traditional but also technological and complex digital means. In that sense, we are all exiles. As the writer in exile, I have thus addressed a gap in the scholarship by foregrounding the method of autopoiesis as an embodied, dramaturgically situated and performative practice of resistance under contemporary conditions of linguistic, ontological and material exclusion. This work on autopoiesis has been designed as a philosophical pentagon of a Contract of Vulnerability constructed around the wound of exile and its potential for transforming vulnerability into a new language. The first play, LESBOS, examines the term Wound. By exposing the wound, the timing of the wound and the invulnerability of the Antigonian drama, it examines constitutive exclusion and dramatizes the conditions of exilic presence and how these may be regenerated and reimagined. The second play, A Seafarer’s Elegy, is an absurdist piece which examines the condensation of political language. Led by Martin Esslin’s 1960 study on the theatre of the absurd, it considers the sloganification of language and the potential for remaking meaning in a time of depletion of traditional codes of signification. The final piece, A Poetic Constitution for Scotland revisits Scotland as a repository of trauma and contestation and a scene of political resistance. The thesis further examines the function of literature in exile as a precondition of writing and, lastly, problematises translational and extractive poiesis in a moment when the exilic writer is mined for cultural and linguistic capital while simultaneously re-languaging, resisting and producing new dramaturgies in exile

Tribal influence on corporate governance in Nigerian firms

Publicly listed firms are composed of different parties, with the Board of Directors (BoDs) as the primary force influencing the firms’ governance (Baysinger & Butler, 1985; Fama & Jensen, 1983a; Williamson, 1983, 1984 as cited in Hassan, Marimuthu & Satirenjit, 2015). As a result of having multiple parties on a single board, there are always divergent interests (Eisenhardt, 1989). As such, a critical challenge with governance is aligning and balancing the interests of a company’s many stakeholders, especially those represented on BoDs in multi-ethnic settings. The multiplicity of their ethnicity can create complicated, divergent interests, even within their group. The shareholders’ role in governance is to appoint directors who apply appropriate governance to ensure the parties’ interests are represented. In contrast, the BoD’s role is to act on behalf of the shareholders via their control. This control exists along with and depends on the control of other stakeholders. The question arises: Is the board members’ capacity to exercise control influenced by any tribal connections among them? Or are tribal affiliations among shareholders’ representatives and managers associated with Type 1 agency costs? To address this question, this research initiates a review of corporate governance research, focusing on agency theory. Agency theory was chosen as a theoretical framework to explain many strengths and weaknesses of corporate governance, i.e. the structures that specify the distribution of rights and responsibilities. It also predicts the implications of relationships among various parties in controlling and directing the activities of a firm, e.g., understanding how tribal affiliations can influence a BoD’s capacity to perform its functions and reduce agency costs. First, the assumptions of agency theory are covered in the literature review. For a company with tribal ownership and/or control, agency theory predicts higher Type 1 agency costs (i.e., relating to tribal ownership and managerial control) and Type 2 agency costs (i.e., relating to tribal share ownership). However, following the data analysis, this research's empirical results contradict the negative prediction of agency theory for the predominant Nigerian tribe. Hence, alternative proximate theories like network, stewardship, and stakeholder theories as alternatives to agency theory may explain this refutation and comprehend the intricacy of interpersonal relationships within a firm

Exploring the global majority and racially minoritised women’s experiences of miscarriage and maternity services

Abstract not currently available

The suicide narratives of Silius Italicus

In this dissertation, I examine the theme of suicide in Silius Italicus’ Punica through the following case studies: Saguntum (Punica 2), Capua (Punica 11, 13), Hannibal (Punica 2, 13, 17), Scipio (Punica 4), and Solimus (Punica 9). I analyse recurrent literary features and motifs –civil war, human/object/divine agency, bodily disfigurement, elemental imagery in loci horridi, exile, haunting memory, fides, and pietas– and their connections to Silius’ suicide ideology. I use frameworks provided by Narrative Exposure Therapy to connect these features with textual allusions to Silius’ contemporary Rome and other Latin epics. I observe that Silius portrays suicide as a powerful weapon and instrument for moral action, a form of internal civil war, a form of escape and exile, and a transformative boundary threshold. I conclude that Silius presents an epic ideology of suicide that enabled readers to contemplate the emotional experiences of suicide, and the effects of suicide on one’s physical/cultural identity and environment. These reveal a duality of Silian suicides as desperate acts amid uncontrollable and impossible situations, and as means of reclaiming personal power and control of one’s fate

A novel privacy-preserving data sharing system based on attributed-based encryption and zero knowledge proof

The exponential growth of digital data across various sectors, such as healthcare, finance, and e-commerce, has underscored critical concerns regarding data privacy, security, and ownership. Centralised data storage systems are inherently vulnerable to cyber-attacks, raising significant privacy risks and compliance challenges, despite regulatory frameworks like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This research introduces a decentralised, privacy-preserving data-sharing framework leveraging blockchain technology, Ciphertext-Policy Attribute-Based Encryption (CP-ABE), and Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP). By employing CP-ABE, the proposed system enables fine-grained access control, ensuring that only authorised entities can access sensitive data based on specified attributes. The integration of Zero-Knowledge Proofs preserves user privacy by allowing verification of access rights without revealing the underlying attributes. The system architecture is underpinned by decentralised storage, with smart contracts managing secure access verification. Performance evaluations demonstrate that the system effectively handles dynamic policies and attribute sets, demonstrating its adaptability to real-world applications. This framework represents a significant advancement in privacy-preserving data-sharing technologies, offering a scalable and secure solution for safeguarding sensitive users’ attributes in decentralised environments