In this thesis I show how the challenges of producing a philosophy of history responsive to the negativity of the world benefits from working through the difficulties of G. W. F. Hegel’s systematic philosophy. By revealing the powerful and intricate ways that Hegel gives an illegitimate primacy to thought (or the concept) we can better appreciate the obstacles that face a philosophy which places new emphasis on the nonconceptual whilst recognising the genuine role of the concept. In the first half of this thesis I reconstruct the important criticisms levelled at Hegel by F. W. J. Schelling and Theodor W. Adorno. I argue that both their criticisms illuminate our understanding of the metaphysical status of Hegel’s thought and expose the surreptitious means by which Hegel overextends the concept. The value of Adorno’s and Schelling’s reading of Hegel is also due to the fact that they do not cast aside Hegel’s ambitions as mere fantasy. Rather, they provide important insight into the goals philosophy should be striving towards—even if we cannot be as confident as Hegel in their imminent achievement. In the second half I reconstruct Schelling’s and Adorno’s philosophies of history in light of their criticisms of Hegel. The core problem addressed is how unwarranted optimism – entailed by the idealistic operation in Hegel’s theoretical philosophy – is to be eschewed whilst also avoiding a lapse into unwarranted pessimism. I argue that, while both Schelling and Adorno make important advances in this direction, Adorno’s philosophy of history is better able to make sense of both the prevalence of unfreedom in history and the ways in which we can respond to this situation.

Authority figures permeate our daily lives, particularly, our political lives. What makes authority legitimate? The current debates about the legitimacy of authority are characterised by two opposing strategies. The first establish the legitimacy of authority on the basis of the content of the authority’s command. That is, if the content of the commands meet some independent normative standard then they are legitimate. However, there have been many recent criticisms of this strategy which focus on a particular shortcoming – namely, its seeming inability to account for who can legitimately command whom. This is the basis of the second strategy, which attempts to characterize the normative relationship that underlies and makes possible authoritative commands. The central point of Part I is that these two strategies are, in fact, not opposed and both raise questions which a theory of legitimacy must answer. If this is the case, then we need to ask: how ought we to determine the legitimacy both of the content of commands as well as who can command whom? Part II will answer this question. Starting with the question of standing, I argue that we ought not to look for normative principles outside of the institutions in which authority is embedded. Rather, one ought to start by elaborating the ontology of institutions in which a sui generis form of normativity arises. A joint commitment account of social ontology provides the tools necessary to see how the direction obligations emerge concurrently with the formation of institutions. Similarly, the question of content can be answered by paying close attention to the social ontology of institutions. We need not look beyond the internal constitutive standards of the institution itself. The constitutive standards provide an internal criterion by which the legitimacy of commands can be established.

This text is a commentary on the nature of my principle artistic preoccupations over a period of research-creation spanning 2011 and 2013. The works discussed cover, each in their own way, various approaches to sound composition linked to physical objects. In effect, the object proves to be a fundamental element at the heart of discourse, which, though anchored in sound, is often multi-disciplinary. The object here is thus taken apart in its affective, conceptual, performative, visual, as well as sonic properties. The first part of this text illustrates the nature of the relationship between the physical object and the works submitted for this doctoral thesis. It focuses on the journey of the works: from their genesis in the artist’s collections of objects to their life on stage where the objects are used as visual elements in a performative context. The second part is dedicated to the conceptual and aesthetic content of the works, from which flow the principal elements of their discourse. Here, the relationships between the work, the concept and the sonic material are established, which together make up their aesthetic.

Hepatitis B virus infection (HBV) is an important health problem worldwide, with a significant rate of chronic infection, which can lead to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Increased age is an important determinant of progression to cirrhosis and HCC, possibly because age is a crude measure of the duration of HBV infection. Increasing age is associated with changes in liver structure, blood flow and function and with reduced response to injury, impaired regeneration and increased mortality in acute liver disease. Age has been identified as a co‐factor in several chronic liver diseases including chronic hepatitis C infection (HCV). Available evidence suggests differential ageing of various intrahepatic cell types in different liver diseases and the ageing process may be more complex in the liver than originally thought. Telomeres are DNA structures located at the end of each chromosome, which protect the underlying coding DNA from breaks and fusions and shorten with increasing age. Both DNA damage and cell proliferation lead to progressive telomere shortening, which ultimately leads to cell cycle arrest and a state of replicative senescence. Persistent HCV and HBV infections lead to cell cycle arrest, providing a favourable environment for viral replication. Evidence suggests that progressive telomere shortening occurs with advancing stage of liver disease in HBV and specifically from cirrhosis through large cell dysplasia to small cell dysplasia and to HCC. Whether cell cycle arrest leads to a senescent‐like state or whether this is the result of oxidative stress is unknown. Unpublished data using cell cycle phase markers in chronic HBV infection reveal that hepatocytes, which support HBV replication, are arrested in G1, which is mediated by hepatocyte p21 expression. I hypothesise that: 1. In normal liver tissue, different cell types age at different rates and this is altered during disease; 2. Hepatocyte senescence plays a significant role in the natural course of chronic HBV infection and underlies HBV antigen expression. I developed and optimised large volume Q‐FISH methodology to measure telomere length and nuclear size in a variety of intrahepatic cell lineages. In normal liver tissue, cholangiocytes had longer telomeres compared with all other intrahepatic lineages over a wide age range. Hepatocytes did not show any age‐related telomere shortening, in contrast to Kupffer and hepatic stellate cells. In chronic HBV infection, all hepatocytes had shortened telomeres when compared to age and sex‐matched controls consistent with accelerated ageing. HBV replication was confined to those hepatocytes with longer telomeres, suggesting that HBV entry or replication is less efficient in older hepatocytes and compatible with the fall in serum HBV DNA and HBsAg titre seen with advancing age. There may be two populations of hepatocytes in chronic HBV infection; hepatocytes that are growth arrested with short telomeres not supporting HBV replication and biologically 'younger' hepatocytes with longer telomeres that do support HBV replication. The change in cellular HBV antigen localisation with disease progression is also explained by age related changes in HBV expression. Nuclear Hepatitis B core antigen expression (HBcAg), characteristic of the early immune tolerant phase of infection, was associated with the longest telomeres, while cytoplasmic HBcAg expression was associated with shorter telomeres. Furthermore, the total number of hepatocyte telomeres fell with increasing fibrosis stage. Hepatocyte nuclear size, a marker of senescence, increased as HBcAg expression shifted from nucleus to cytoplasm; and p21, another senescence marker, never co‐localised with HBcAg expression. These results suggest that the location and production of HBV antigens are related to increased functional hepatocyte age and the onset of cellular senescence.

No description available.

No description available.

Astrology is a feature of modern culture. While the academic study of the culture of astrology is on the increase, virtually no scholarship exists on astrology and the Internet. However a large body of literature exists on the relationship between the Internet and religion, and this literature is used as a framework for the study of astrology and Internet. This research investigates the use of the Internet by modern Western Astrologers, within the context of theories of cyberspace. It looks at how the Internet is being used by astrologers and what effects they believe it can have on astrology and its practice. The research was both quantitative and qualitative. Questionnaires were issued at astrological conferences in the United Kingdom and the United States of America. In addition sixty-five astrologers were interviewed. In the 1990s a body of literature was produced that associated the physical Internet with the virtual world of cyberspace. From this literature came claims of cyberspace as dualistic or Cartesian. My research was informed by theories of dualism inherited from the classical world, and by previous arguments that astrology is dualistic. The thesis concludes that the majority of astrologers have a dualistic view of the Internet and cyberspace; the online world of cyberspace is viewed as a mental arena in contrast to the offline, physical world. A highly positive use of the Internet is the growth of online astrological communities; connections can be made with astrologers in different parts of the world. The Internet is perceived as a source of vast quantities of astrological information of varying quality. In the views of the astrologers poor quality astrological information can have a detrimental effect on the practice of astrology in the modern Western world.

This thesis is presented in part fulfilment of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Huddersfield. This thesis aims to explore the lives of seventeenth century noble widows in the north of England. The issues investigated include the demographics of widowhood, economics of widowhood, charitable activities, noble widows and the law, social networks surrounding widows and widows' political interests. Each of these subjects forms a chapter, where widows' contribution to each sphere through the seventeenth century is explored and assessed. The work also covers wider issues which affected women prior to and during marriage as they were also relevant to widowhood. Therefore it has been necessary to widen the scope of research from analyzing women's lives after the deaths of their husbands. Similarly, the geographical scope of the research, whilst basically entrenched in the north of England, extends in response to the variety of widows' experiences. The research has required examination of primary source material generated by widows such as letters, diaries, estate records and account books from institutions such as the British Library and private libraries such as that at Chatsworth. The second aim of this thesis is to examine more recent attitudes towards seventeenth century noble widows, encompassing the writings of nineteenth century historians and contemporary authors. The subject of this study is an under researched area and the thesis highlights the importance of the only part of a noblewoman's life that was lived as an independent individual. By scrutinising the secondary source material, challenging and criticizing general arguments proposed by other writers, debate upon the subject should be increased and new ideas expressed. Despite the social, legal, economic and political changes which took place throughout the seventeenth century, noble widows remained influential figures within the contexts of family, household and society as they exploited legal loopholes or accepted conventions in order to further their individual aims. This study advances the understanding of women's history by focussing on a neglected aspect of the subject, provides a new viewpoint for regional history and stimulates ideas for further academic debate.

Inspiration as embodied in the mythical figure of the Muse is an insistent theme in Yeats' poetry. His particular concept of the Muse is drawn from Celtic mythology, and in its principal aspects is synonymous with Robert Graves' sinister White Goddess, which derives from similar or cognate sources in Celtic lore. The White Goddess is described in terms of a triad of mother, beloved and slayer, and may be considered the prototype for the Gaelic Muse, celebrated by poets as the Leanhaun Sidhe. Originally, the Leanhaun Sidhe was a goddess of the Tuatha De Danaan; the Danaans were the divinities of ancient Eire who finally "dwindled in the popular imagination" to become the fairy folk, or Sidhe. Fractions of Yeats' prose and his collections of Celtic stories portray the Sidhe's activities and the Muse's gift of deathly inspiration. The Leanhaun Sidhe and her fairy denizens predominate in Yeats' first major poem "The Wanderings of Oisin" and in his first three volumes of poetry. The Celtic theme of the seduction of a mortal by a fairy enchantress provides the controlling structure of "The Wanderings of Oisin." The ornately beautiful and sinister Niamh entices Oisin away from his cherished Fenian companions and from all human experience; however, after three hundred years in the immortal realm, Oisin longs to return to the insufficiencies of mortality. "The Wanderings of Oisin" establishes the equivocal dialectic of the fairy and human orders, of seductive vision and inescapable fact, which underlies much of Yeats' later work. The attributes of the Leanhaun Sidhe are also seminal. As White Goddess, she represents the beloved in whom the dualities of creation and destruction coincide; in addition she possesses individual qualities, notably, her sadness. Niamh is comparable to the fairy beguilers of Crossways and particularly to the Muse figures of The Rose. In this second volume, Yeats supplicates the Rose (the Celtic Muse) for the facility to sing Danaan songs. Her inspiration allows him to perceive the essence underlying the phenomenal world, but again the transcendent cannot deny the finite and the immortal Rose remains transfixed upon the Rood of Time ("To the Rose upon the Rood of Time"). Her role as White Goddess is emphatic: she prompts God to create the world, but conversely her beauty effects its destruction. The Wind among the Reeds embodies a climactic treatment of the flight into fairyland. The poet meditates upon the apocalyptic Sidhe with unceasing desire; there is no counterweight to alluring vision. In the poetry of 1904-10, the Muse retains her role of White Goddess, but becomes a creature of mortality. Since she is both changeful and subject to change, the poet laments her cruel fickleness and her transiency. Although mortal, she is the human original for the heroic archetype, and Yeats endows her with the epic savagery and recklessness of the Celtic warrior queens. The Morrigu becomes the source of inspiration. After The Green Helmet and Other Poems the Muse no longer serves as a major structural theme. Yeats becomes preoccupied with the finished work of art, the highly-wrought artefact, rather than with the inspiration for that work. The Muse is the legendary destructive beloved, Mary Hynes or Helen, but the poet creates her, she does not create him. The Muse as artefact proves the invention of the aged poet who cannot render an impassioned dedication to female beauty. "The Tower" is the most prominent poem to treat this change, yet even here Yeats reaffirms his dual allegiance to art and life, the resolution echoing the pattern established in "The Wanderings of Oisin." In the late poetry, the White Goddess as Muse is totally disavowed and Yeats turns to the persona of the fleshly Crazy Jane; interestingly, the aged poet celebrates the pleasures of the body and of the physical universe. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Dans les domaines critiques d'application de l'informatique, il peut être vital de disposer d'un génie logiciel qui soit capable de garantir le bon fonctionnement des systèmes produits. Dans ce contexte, la méthode B évènementielle promeut le développement de modèles abstraits du système à concevoir et l'utilisation de démonstrations formelles ainsi que de la relation de raffinement entre les modèles. Notre but est de pouvoir travailler sur des systèmes ayant des aspects temporels quantitatifs (propriétés et contraintes de temps) en restant au sein du cadre défini par la méthode B qui a déjà montré son efficacité par ailleurs, mais qui ne dispose pas de concepts spécifiques pour le temps. C'est ainsi que nous proposons l'introduction des contraintes de temps par le raffinement, ceci permet de respecter la philosophie de la méthode B et de systématiser cette approche par la formalisation de patrons de raffinement. Nos différentes modélisations du temps sont proposées sous la forme de patron à réappliquer sur le système à étudier. Nous pouvons donc étudier progressivement le système à partir d'une abstraction non-temporelle afin de le valider progressivement et de distribuer la difficulté de la preuve en plusieurs étapes. L'introduction des aspects temporels ne se fait que lorsque cela est nécessaire lors du processus de développement prouvé. Nous avons validé cette approche sur des études de cas réalistes en utilisant les outils logiciels de démonstration formelle de la méthode B. / Critical application domains of computer science require the use of software engineering methods that ensure that the resulting systems behave according to their intended functionality. In this context, the Event-B method uses an approach based on stepwise refinement, starting with abstract, high-level models of the system under development. The system models corresponding to different levels of abstraction are related by precise and formally proved refinement relations. Our goal is to extend this approach to systems whose requirements include quantitative real-time aspects (properties and temporal constraints). In this way, we benefit from the established qualities of the B method, while extending its scope to real-time aspects that it does not yet cover. More specifically, we propose to introduce time constraints by refinement, respecting the overall approach of the B method, and to systematize our approach by the use of refinement patterns. Different time models are represented by generic patterns that can be reused for the development of concrete systems. In this way we can gradually develop the system from a non-temporal abstraction and progressively validate its correctness, distributing the burden of proof is over several refinement steps. Temporal aspects are introduced step by step and only when necessary. We validated this approach using several real-world case studies, using the software tools for formal proof developed for the Event-B method.