VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Essays on money and financial frictions in finance and macroeconomics 
Keywords: bankruptcy codes
macro-finance
currency union
monetary policy
general equilibrium
financial stability
Money, equilibrium default
international finance

This thesis consists of four essays in the area of macro-finance and international finance in financial economics. The common thread linking the four essays is the interaction between money and endogenous default, as well as the scope for policy to improve social welfare. Chapter 1 introduces the novelty of inside money and banking to a New Keynesian model, with the policy focus on the real and nominal behaviours of the macro-economy. The model shows at the zero lower bound on deposit rates (ZLBD), further policy rate reductions reduce spreads, and thereby reduce bank profitability, deposit creation, and output. Moreover, at the ZLBD, Phillips curves are flatter because credit rationing is both contractionary and inflationary. Finally, alternative policy rules are proposed to alleviate the economic strain at the ZLBD. Chapter 2 develops a two-country general equilibrium model to examine the benefits of the bankruptcy code of a capital markets union - in the absence of a fiscal union - as an alternative mechanism to improve the financial stability and welfare of a currency union. I show when domestic credit risks are present, a lenient union-wide bankruptcy code that allows for default in the cross-border capital markets union removes the pecuniary externality of banking insolvency; therefore, it leads to a Pareto improvement within the currency union. The model provides the welfare and financial stability implications of bankruptcy within a capital markets union in the Eurozone. Chapter 3 develops a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model featuring deposit issuance via bank credit and endogenous default to study the complex interactions between the real and nominal sectors of the economy, with policy implications provided. Chapter 4 builds a dynamic model with endogenous default and banks’ costly monitoring to assess the Basel III liquidity tool Net Stable Funding Ratio and its effect on bank credit quality and monetary policy transmission.
Constitutional hybridity, the party-state and executive-legislative relations in Chinese Polities: China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
Keywords: Party-State
Constitutional Hybridity
Authoritarianism
Inclusiveness
Agenda-setting
Executive- Legislative Relations
Legitimacy
Institutional Conflicts
Institutionalization
Veto-playing
Constitutional Tradition

This research explores how the constitutional hybridity of different traditions shape the core political institutions in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Three sets of constitutional traditions mix, intertwine and interact in these political systems: a Chinese tradition, a Communist tradition, and a Western tradition. The most crucial platforms on which these dynamics play out are the party-state, in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and executive-legislative relations (PRC, Hong Kong, and Taiwan). It is exactly through such interplay that the core features of Chinese political systems are formulated. The contents of such traditions are carefully analyzed in this thesis, to highlight the core elements that shape the constitutional landscape of Chinese political systems. By investigating the relevant literature on constitutional hybridity, especially literature about the mixed constitution and hybrid regimes, this thesis identifies some major dynamics of constitutional hybridity. Among them, regime inclusiveness, legitimacy clash, the institutionalization of politics, and political opportunism are of exceptional significance regarding Chinese polities. The explanatory powers of this thesis apply but are not limited to the actual patterns of governance in China, the failure of Hong Kong’s supposed executive-led governance, and political gridlock in Taiwan. This research also shows that constitutional hybridity is not inherently positive or negative. It depends on the outcomes it produces. If these above-mentioned problems could be curbed, then hybridity could be effectively mobilized to facilitate political reform. Based on such understanding, the thesis formulates certain institutional suggestions for the further political reform of Chinese polities.
Competitive learning in rate coded and spiking neural networks models with applications to vision and audition
Keywords: pitch processing
competitive learning
neural networks
spiking networks
spike timing dependent plasticity

Competitive learning is a common and successful approach used to train unsupervised rate-based neural network models. We apply such a technique in this thesis and produce a rate-coded neural network model of pitch processing which provides insights into the training protocols necessary to develop robust pitch representations. However, the extension of reliable unsupervised competitive learning approaches from rate-coded to spiking neural networks has proven challenging, especially when biological plausibility and detail are desired. Transitioning to spiking neural network models is made more difficult by the comparatively high computational cost and complexity of these network models compared to rate-based models.
We describe a transition from rate-based to spiking neural network models and address these outstanding issues. First, we focus on increasing simulation efficiency. We develop a state of the art graphical processing unit (GPU) based spiking neural network simulator which adopts optimisations from central processing unit (CPU) and cluster-based simulators. In benchmarks, we show that our novel simulator is capable of simulation speeds up to an order of magnitude greater than contemporary simulators. This greater simulation speed is intended to enable a higher throughput of spiking neural network simulations and thereby accelerate research. In order to ensure that present and future simulators can be efficiently and effectively compared, we also compile a repository of benchmarks which allow validation of simulator performance and simulated neural network dynamics.
Having developed efficient simulation techniques, we propose a novel excitatory plasticity rule which, when used to train spiking neural networks in conjunction with an existing inhibitory plasticity rule, produces reliable competitive learning. These rules are both unsupervised, use local only information, and depend upon spike-timing in order to compute synaptic weight updates. This learning rule framework is used to produce a model of V1 simple cell receptive field development and shows qualitatively similar behaviour to traditional sparse coding models. During the development of these models we come across a number of challenges, especially in the interactions of inhibitory and excitatory neurons. We pose solutions to these challenges and thereafter suggest some future research questions and avenues for exploration.
The wholeness of early Chinese texts: Mu Shi 牧誓, Huainanzi 淮南子, and Wu Cheng 武成
Keywords: Wu Cheng
Early China
Shangshu
Mu Shi
Textuality
Huainanzi

What does it mean for a text to be a whole? How do texts achieve wholeness? And how can one determine when they do so? Questions of wholeness have been at the heart of Chinese text studies since the Western Han 漢 (205 BC–9 AD), when scholars attempted some of the earliest known reconstructions, and constructions, of pre-imperial texts. In the two millennia since, almost all early Chinese texts studied have been evaluated in terms of their wholeness, yet within this scholarship, there are many ideas about what makes these texts whole. In many cases, “wholeness” refers to the extent to which a text is seen to resemble an earlier, if not an imagined original form. Alternatively, “wholeness” is taken to refer to a function of texts’ intrinsic features, such as their content or structure. This project, by contrast, posits that “wholeness” does not refer to an immutable property of texts themselves, but to a contingent hermeneutical device or function within the open, kaleidoscopic process of reading, itself negotiated and re-negotiated through this very process. Reading, in short, does not reveal text wholeness (or lack thereof), but rather allows for texts to be made whole, in different and plural ways.
'See and read this book': Reading the typography of English, 1509–1592
Keywords: fonts
Thomas Berthelet
Richard Pynson
Humanism
blackletter
Geneva
Reformation
early modern printing
Database
typography
roman
print
William Copland
italic

This thesis gives a timeline of English typography between 1509 and 1592, and uses it to examine some ways sixteenth-century typography could and can be read. It is founded on a database of typographic descriptions of 10,645 books printed in England or English between 1509 and 1592, representing 82% of known editions for this period.
Chapter 1 applies the data to interrogate the truism that blackletter signified English, while also showing correlations for other languages. The broad developments in the relationship between the English language and the three typefaces are described. The second half of the chapter zooms in to the imperfect manifestation of language on the page. Chapter 2 begins with hypotheses that connect typography to certain religious movements. It shows that typographically anomalous books are often those written by dissident authors, and in this group we find the first English book in roman, the first English roman W, and the first English book in italic. The continental design of English books printed by the Marian exiles in Geneva is read as an index of their enfranchisement in a transnational Calvinist community.
The topic of Chapter 3 is subject. A broad statistical picture of the relationship between typography and subject is given. Two distinct groups of books are considered in this context, both involving the reprinting of extant works. The first shows a fresh enthusiasm for roman type in humanist books between 1519 and 1522; the second argues that William Copland consciously archaized his vernacular reprints of the 1550s and 60s. Chapter 4 applies the concept of skeuomorphism to early modern book history in order to demonstrate how printers evoked engraved texts in printed books. The inscriptional origins of uppercase roman were exploited to evoke certain connotations of that medium, both in paratexts and endotexts. In light of the significance of typography explored in these chapters, Chapter 5 surveys the various strategies used to remediate typography in the present day, often causing its transformission.
Novel nanocomposites integrating Metal-Organic Frameworks (mofs) for biomedical engineering
Keywords: Synchrotron microspectroscopy
Inelastic Neutron Scattering
Mechanochemistry
Drug Delivery
Metal-Organic Frameworks

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are fascinating hybrid materials, considered as promising nanocarriers for drug delivery. Their tailorability sets MOFs apart from their porous inorganic (zeolites and silica) and organic (carbon nanotubes) counterparts. To enable the use of MOFs for biomedical applications, new developments of sustainable MOF fabrication and characterization methodologies are sought. In this work, a detailed study the fundamental potential of MOFs as a ‘host’ to encapsulate various ‘guest’ drug molecules was carried out. Mechanochemistry and water-based approaches were systematically applied for the preparation of two model systems - the copper-based HKUST-1 and the iron (III) carboxylate MIL-100 (Fe), and theirvfeasibility for the fabrication of drug@MOF assemblies was demonstrated.
First, by leveraging two different mechanochemical approaches (i.e. manualvgrinding versus automated vortex grinding), the effects of different mechanochemical environments on the drug confinement were investigated. The outcomes were reflected in the release kinetics of 5-FU from the MIL-100 host, in which different guest–host interactions yielded from each technique led to variations in the release rate. Secondly, the mechanochemical preparation of drug-loaded MIL-100 (Fe) systems, comprising 5-FU, caffeine, or aspirin as guest molecules revealed the undocumented ‘modulator’ effect presented by 5-FU and caffeine. These molecules can be used to replace highly toxic mineralizers (e.g. hydrofluoric acid) in the preparation of crystalline MIL-100 (Fe). Thirdly, a novel water reconstruction process was developed to acquire highly crystalline MIL-100 (Fe). This approach was harnessed for the facile fabrication of the drug@MIL-100 systems, accomplishing up to ∼65 wt.% of drug cargo. Both strategies, mechanochemical and water-based synthesis, elucidated much-needed pathways towards an environmentally friendly and energy efficient preparation of MOF and guest@MOF systems, with improved cargo encapsulation capabilities.
New possibilities presented by high-resolution inelastic neutron scattering were brought to light for the characterization of drug-MOF interactions and structural changes arising from nanoscale confinement. Finally, this work presented the innovative application of synchrotron microspectroscopy to track the release of 5-FU molecules from a (5-FU@HKUST-1/PU) composite. Using experimental time resolved infrared spectra, jointly with newly developed density functional theory calculations, the detailed dynamics of vibrational motions underpinning the dissociation of 5-FU bound to the framework of HKUST-1 upon water exposure were revealed.
Overall, this work contextualizes future developments of MOFs as efficient drug delivery systems and expands the portfolio of synthetic and characterisation techniques applicable to the large realm of guest@MOF systems.
Effect of processing techniques on the secondary intermetallic phases and thermomechanical behaviour of 6xxx  series aluminium
Keywords: 6xxx Series Aluminium
Secondary Intermetallic Phases
Thermomechanical Behaviour

For this project, an AlMgSi alloy with small additions of Fe was examined. It is established that the presence of Fe introduces secondary intermetallic phases α-AlFeSi and β-AlFeSi. It is also known that introduction of 5:1 Al-Ti-B type grain refiner encourages the formation of β-AlFeSi, while the introduction of Zr encourages the formation of α-AlFeSi.
The overall objective of this investigation was to establish the role of secondary intermetallic phases α-AlFeSi and β-AlFeSi on the hot tearing properties of a 6xxx series aluminium alloy. The approach was to isolate ‘phase identity’ and consequently phase morphology as the variables between two alloys that were being tested. This was achieved by processing a base 6063 alloy, and then making small additions of Zr and 5:1 Al-Ti-B type grain refiner to encourage the specific intermetallic phase identities. To maintain consistent non-dendritic grains of comparable size, the alloys were processed using semisolid technique, which also ensured the alloys experienced the same cooling conditions.
The microstructures of the resultant alloys were then characterised in terms of grain and cell sizes using macro-etched and annodised surfaces, intermetallic phase morphology and phase interconnectivity in both topographical examinations and overall 3D structures using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The intermetallic phase selections of all alloys were also determined using X-ray diffraction analysis, and their thermodynamic behaviours were observed using differential scanning calorimetry analysis. Finally, the alloys with highest and lowest levels of α-AlFeSi were selected for thermomechanical examinations.
The most notable ones were found in the alloy containing Al-Ti-B type grain refiner: the morphology resembled that of a 6-petal flower. Despite in-depth examination no initiation point could be clearly established. Chemically verified Ti-B particles were not observed in association with these ‘flower’-like structures. The thermomechanical tests revealed that the alloy with β-AlFeSi phase present was more susceptible to hot tearing.
Eomesodermin governs the hemogenic competence of murine mesodermal progenitors
Keywords: Eomesodermin
hemogenic endothelium
mouse
hematopoiesis
gastrulation

During mouse gastrulation pluripotent epiblast cells traverse the primitive streak (PS) and diversify into mesoderm and endoderm subtypes. The T-box transcription factor Eomesodermin (Eomes) is expressed during PS formation and is critical for the development of the cardiac mesoderm and definitive endoderm lineages. The earliest wave of progenitors to traverse the posterior PS give rise to extraembryonic mesoderm (ExM) that differentiates into the endothelium and hematopoietic progenitors of the yolk-sac (YS). How a specific subset of ExM becomes committed to a hematopoietic fate remains unclear. Here we report that Eomes is transiently expressed in Flk-1+ ExM progenitors that generate virtually all YS hematopoietic and endothelial cells. Using an embryonic stem cell differentiation model of YS hematopoiesis, we find Eomes activity is essential for the production of primitive erythrocytes and pro-definitive hematopoietic progenitors but dispensable for the development of endothelial cells. Single-cell RNA-seq experiments demonstrate that in the absence of Eomes function Flk-1hi/PdgfRa- hematoendothelial progenitors are specified but fail to transition into hematopoietic cells.
Strikingly, Eomes regulates Runx1 expression in the hemogenic endothelial (HE) lineage. Furthermore, ATAC-seq experiments demonstrate that the accessibility of enhancers, that SCL normally utilizes to specify primitive blood cells, are governed by Eomes functional activity. ChIP-seq experiments suggest that Eomes coordinates the development of hematopoietic mesoderm in the context of Activin/Nodal and Tead-Yap signalling. Finally, the potencies of Eomes+ progenitors that arise during gastrulation remain ill-defined; therefore, I additionally generate two temporally regulatable Eomes.CreERT2 lines that will be used for clonal lineage tracing experiments in the future. Collectively, these results demonstrate that Eomes promotes hemogenic competence of the YS mesodermal lineage by regulating Runx1 expression and SCL functional activity at the outset of gastrulation. These findings suggest that hemogenic competence is endowed earlier during murine embryogenesis than previously appreciated and have widespread implications for the generation of HE from pluripotent stem cell sources.
Histaminergic modulation of striatal development
Keywords: corticostriatal development
synaptic plasticity
histamine
histamine H3 receptor
basal ganglia
mice brain
extracelluar field recording
corticostriatal transmission
striatum
histamine receptors

Inadequate synthesis of the neurotransmitter histamine in the brain has been suggested to be one of causes of Tourette’s syndrome and several psychiatric diseases. Previous findings suggested that dysfunction of the corticostriatal circuits are associated with such mental disorders. Indeed, recent research has reported a hypofunction of histamine in patients with Tourette’s syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder in human and animal studies. However, the functional role of histamine in young developing animal brains is poorly known. Firstly, this study investigated whether and to what extent histamine plays a significant role in the corticostriatal circuit in the developing mouse brain. Secondly, the study investigated whether and to what extent histamine affects neurogenesis in the striatum in the embryonic mouse brain. Towards the first aim, the study recruited three postnatal young age period mice (postnatal (P)3-6 days, P9-12 days and P21+ days) and applied extracelluar field recordings of the corticostriatal transmission. As a result, the study found that histamine negatively modulates the corticostriatal synaptic transmission in all of young age period mice, acting at the H3 receptors. In addition, histamine facilitated long-term potentiation of the corticostriatal synapses in the P9-12 period, but blocked it in the P21+ period, whereas the baseline condition showed long-term facilitation in the P21+, not the P9-12 periods. Collective analysis of this long-term plasticity experiment revealed that the dorsolateral striatum (DLS) is more likely to be facilitated than the dorsomedial striatum (DMS). Histamine’s negative modulation on the corticostriatal synaptic transmission is found in developing age periods, which was found in only adult mice brains in past studies. Also histamine’s opposite effect on the corticostriatal long-term plasticity in the P9-12 and P21+ periods implies that histamine may cause significant change in the dynamics of synaptic properties in particular developing age periods. For the second aim, the study injected α-fluoromethylhistidine (α-FMH) into the ventricle of embryonic mouse brain at embryonic day (E)12.5 and E15.5. The study then collected their brains 2-3 days after the application of α-FMH to compare the size of the striatum and proliferative zones between control and α-FMH conditions. Finally, a reduced size of striatum was observed in E15.5 brains (medial section) treated with α-FMH than those in control conditions. However, the study could not make further conclusions due to the small number of samples.
Development of bisulfite-free DNA methylation sequencing methods and their application to cell-free DNA for cancer detection
Keywords: methylation sequencing
epigenetics
HCC
liquid biopsy
DNA methylation
PDAC
cell-free DNA

5-Methylcytosine (5mC) is the most abundant epigenetic mark in DNA regulating gene expression and influencing crucial cellular processes. Aberrant DNA methylation is involved in pathogenesis of human malignancies. Detection of cancer-specific methylation patterns in cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is a promising approach for development of minimally invasive, liquid biopsy assays. Most of methylation sequencing methods are based on bisulfite treatment that causes an extensive DNA damage, therefore are not ideal for analysis of minute amount of cfDNA. Unfortunately, technological limitations affect whole-genome methylation analysis of cfDNA. During the course of this project, we developed and validated novel approaches addressing the most important drawbacks of currently available technologies.
First, we developed and validated enrichment-based cfMeSeal approach by combining enzymatic and chemical labelling for cost-effective 5mC sequencing in cfDNA.
Second, we designed and developed a bisulfite-free method, Tet-assisted Pyridine Borane Sequencing (TAPS) for base-resolution 5mC sequencing. We demonstrated that TAPS is a mild reaction and outperforms bisulfite sequencing (BS-seq) at many aspects including improved sequence quality, better mapping statistics and direct conversion of modified sites. Finally, we confirmed that TAPS can be applied for cfDNA methylation sequencing and provides comprehensive information of cfDNA methylation and fragmentation. Information gained from cfDNA TAPS sequencing enables detection of hepatocellular carcinoma and pancreatic cancer with high accuracy.
Together, we demonstrated that newly developed sequencing tools can outperform existing technologies and facilitate comprehensive cfDNA methylation sequencing and provide multidimensional information about cfDNA with high cancer predictive potential.