Advancing the concept of Democratic Public Ownership

This thesis examines and refines the concept of Democratic Public Ownership, which has emerged in both theory and practice in recent years as neoliberalism continues to mutate and falter. While increasingly referenced and discussed in academic, policy, and movement settings, Democratic Public Ownership currently lacks conceptual clarity, coherence, and distinctiveness, and could benefit from heightened scrutiny and development. This thesis reviews the modern literature on Democratic Public Ownership, investigating its connections to, and impact on, political economic shifts and theorizing since the turn of the 21st century (such as the global remunicipalization movement); identifies and analyzes numerous relevant historical and contemporary theories, experiments, and prototypes ranging from the early days of the industrial revolution to the Great Financial Crisis of the late 2000s; locates the concept of Democratic Public Ownership historically and ideologically as part of the broader effort to advance and implement systemically transformative visions of economic democracy, especially as it relates to moving beyond historical and contemporary versions of capitalism; and presents a refined and coherent concept consisting of a novel definition, numerous revised and new principles, and a suggested theory of change. This thesis significantly advances the literature and discourse on Democratic Public Ownership, economic democracy, and democratic participation in the economy more broadly, opening new research directions and serving as an important theoretical steppingstone

Youth building the future: The political economy of the adoption of a youth policy in Mexico

This thesis presents a single qualitative case study that examines the main material and ideational factors behind the adoption of the youth policy ‘Jóvenes Construyendo el Futuro‘ (JCF) (Youth Building the Future) in Mexico in 2019. The JCF is an eclectic, broad-based youth policy that combines elements of conditional cash transfer, work-based training and social inclusion that, by 2023, had supported more than 2.3 million young people ‘not in education, employment or training’ (NEET) aged 18 to 29. Historically, most youth policies in Mexico and Latin America have been small-scale ‘upskilling’ interventions. Therefore, most research typically focuses on implementation or labour, social, or economic impacts, overlooking the adoption phase. For these reasons, both because of its scale and its underlying rationale, the JCF appears as a paradigmatic policy. This thesis employs a combined analytical approach of Cultural Political Economy (CPE) and the Policy Cycle Model (PCM). Methodologically, the study is built on the triangulation of interviews with key informants from the public, private, and social sectors and the analysis of a variety of primary and secondary policy documents. The data was analysed using iterative coding within Thematic Analysis (TA). The findings reveal how several intertwined material and ideational factors explain the adoption of this youth policy. A stern anti-neoliberal stance provided the framework for the leftist MORENA government that won the presidency in 2018 to reinterpret the problems that plagued millions of NEET youth as a direct consequence of the neoliberal development model (1980s - 2018) portrayed as the cause of high levels of poverty, informal employment and lack of opportunities. This problematisation led to the design of an intervention with elements of universality and lax conditionality for the target population, which is uncommon in social policies in Mexico. Despite inevitable disagreements with the private sector in defining the rules of the programme, the overwhelming electoral legitimacy and political-administrative leverage resulted in an expeditious adoption of the JCF. This thesis contributes various conceptual, empirical, and theoretical insights to current debates on the relationship between development models and the type of welfare institutions that can support the construction of new social bases in contexts of high labour informality, among others, all this amidst significant political-ideological shifts

Micro-optics: From wormholes to medical applications

Lying within the overarching boundaries of micro-optics, this thesis begins by exploring two different “pixelated” approaches to medical spectacles. The first was aimed as a treatment alternative to surgical corrections for torsional diplopia (double vision due to a relative eyeball rotation around the back-to-front axis). To do this, the spectacles were designed to approximately rotate the view seen through them. In the very basic design consisting of simple wedges (each of which we call a pixel), the component does not actually perform imaging leading to a reduced visual acuity of about 6/420. This was worse than desired, which is why the latter half of the chapter was designated to implementing methods that may improve the visual acuity, consisting of a pupil restriction and a new approach we call derivative control. Using this, the visual acuity was improved to a value of about 6/35, but at the cost of added complexity and bulkiness. The second spectacle pair was designed to help with uncorrected refractive errors by permitting patients to adjust the focusing power of the spectacles through simply rotating two cylindrical lens spirals relative to one another. The combination yields an equivalent Fresnel lens, which is the reason we call these adaptive Fresnel lenses. These were simulated in the ray optical limit, yielding an expected feasible variable range of ±2 diopters. Several configurations were explored where the distances and spiral types were varied, with ray trace simulations confirming the expected view through the adaptive lens. The other half of the text is dedicated to an extension of the previously published ideal lens cloak. The cloaking principles were explored, yielding conditions for which a light ray within the cloak must remain within the cloak and hence travel in a closed ray trajectory. These were used in the theoretical creation of a novel “extreme omnidirectional ideal lens cloak” which hides an object within from all viewing directions. Furthermore, attractor-like properties were found within the cloak, trapping some light rays entering from the outside. These properties were also found in a more realizable cloak we call the “shifty cloak”, which suggests significant similarities between the two cloaks. The shifty cloak was used to construct a Janus device and an optical wormhole, the latter of which was adversely affected by the attractor properties

Synthesis of PfCLK1 inhibitors

Despite international efforts to deal with malaria, it remains a serious health concern on a global scale, contributing to a considerable number of deaths worldwide, especially in LEDCs (less economically developed countries) on the African and Asian continents. Unfortunately, a lack of research has resulted in no new antimalarial drugs being introduced into the market since 1996. Current treatment strategies against malaria have been seen in the form of artemisinin; however, due to constant usage, this drug has become compromised, as the most virulent malaria parasite strain, Plasmodium falciparum, has developed resistance. As a result, significant efforts must be targeted towards the development of new antimalarial drugs that target not only the symptomatic blood stage of infection, but all stages of the parasite life cycle to prevent transmission and hopefully allow the eradication of malaria. In recent times, a four-membered protein kinase family known as ‘Plasmodium falciparum cyclin-like kinase’ (PfCLK1-4) has been identified as an essential eukaryotic protein for the survival of the parasite during the ‘blood stage’ of its lifecycle. Studies have shown these kinases to be pivotal in regulating RNA expression throughout the asexual and sexual stages of the parasite lifecycle, which are important in parasite survival. As a result, efforts have been made to focus on this protein kinase family to see if targeting these protein kinases could offer a novel therapeutic strategy to treat malaria. Henceforth, this project aims to validate one of these family members ‘PfCLK1 as a new therapeutic target against malaria by synthesizing tool compounds that selectively inhibit PfCLK1. As this project is still in the early ‘hit to lead’ stage of the drug discovery process, the focus so far has been on developing a synthetic route towards the ‘hit’ molecules identified from a HTS (high throughput screen) that showed biological activity against PfCLK1. As a result, the main discussion of this report will outline the synthetic route used to synthesize two of the four hit molecules, compounds A & B

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

The diagnostic use of metabolomics for the identification of secondary infections in critical coronavirus disease 2019

Background: Critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 are at high risk of developing secondary infections, which pose a challenge to identify clinically. Empirical antibiotic usage in this group is therefore high. Identification of novel biomarkers of secondary infections would minimise unnecessary antibiotic usage while ensuring that patients with secondary infections receive appropriate antibiotics as early as possible. This project aimed to investigate whether metabolomics could produce a panel of biomarkers capable of distinguishing critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 patients with and without secondary infections. Methods: Blood samples were collected from patients in critical care with coronavirus disease 2019, along with a group of healthy volunteer controls. Using high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, metabolites which showed significant differences in abundance between patients with and without secondary infections were identified. A panel of metabolites capable of distinguishing Gram positive and negative infections was also explored. Results: A total of 105 patients were recruited to the study, of whom 40 developed a secondary infection during the trial period. The metabolites creatine and 2-hydroxyisovalerylcarnitine were significantly increased in patients with secondary infections, while S-methyl-L-cysteine was significantly reduced. This metabolite panel demonstrated good diagnostic performance with an AUROC of 0.83. The panel of metabolites distinguishing Gram positive and negative infections consisted of betaine, N(6)-methyllysine and four phosphatidylcholines. This panel performed with high accuracy, with an AUROC of 0.88. Conclusion: Metabolomic profiling may be used to identify biomarkers of secondary infections in critically ill coronavirus disease 2019 patients. Investigation of biomarkers for secondary infections in other critical illnesses should be explored

Practical and theoretical considerations for working with emotions in autonomous systems: applying the appraisal theory of emotion to guide methodological design

Abstract not currently available

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

Human behavior-driven robotics and security

Abstract not currently available

Microalgal biofilm cultivation systems for enhanced biomass production

Abstract not currently available