VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Using neuroimaging and histology to understand hyperexcitability and atypical connectivity in autism spectrum disorder
Keywords: MRS
excitation
autism spectrum disorder
MEG
DTI
neuroimaging
MRI
inhibition
immunohistochemistry

The aim of this thesis was to better understand hyperexcitability and atypical connectivity in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) by using a combination of neuroimaging and histology techniques. Three regions of interest were of particular interest: primary visual cortex, the fusiform gyrus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. These functionally diverse regions have previously been implicated in ASD, and one of the goals was to determine whether the disorder is better characterized by primary sensory deficits or dysfunction in higher-order processing areas.
Diffusion Tensor Imaging results across two different datasets suggested that mean diffusivity in the cortex may be sensitive to detect microstructural differences in ASD. Gender and hemisphere were factors that significantly affected diagnostic differences in the first dataset. In the second dataset, ASD individuals (n = 14) compared to Typically Developing (TD) individuals (n = 25) showed reduced mean diffusivity across regions, which may be linked to increased neuropil or neuronal density. Magnetoencephalography findings suggested that both ASD (n = 13) and TD (n = 14) individuals showed no apparent differences in primary visual cortex activity in response to simple visual stimuli, whereas frontal regions of the ASD brain showed more deviations in gamma oscillations, providing some evidence for the executive dysfunction theory of ASD. Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy results revealed elevated glutamate levels in primary visual cortex and medial prefrontal cortex in ASD (n = 11) compared to TD individuals (n = 13), as well as elevated creatine levels in the medial prefrontal cortex, which may be linked to hyperactivity of glial cells. ASD individuals also showed superior performance on a visual task, which correlated with glutamate levels in medial prefrontal cortex, and both of these measurements correlated with autism severity scores, providing evidence for the specificity of these findings to the disorder.
Immunohistochemistry was used to study the distribution of parvalbumin cells – a subset of fastspiking GABAergic cells – in 14 ASD and 15 TD post-mortem cases. No significant group differences were found in any of the three regions of interest. These results taken together with the neuroimaging findings support the idea that hyperexcitability in ASD is a complex interplay between several cell-types.
The direct electoral connection in the European Union
Keywords: responsibility
EES
attribution
European Union
polarization
multilevel governance
electoral connection

The European Union is often criticized for having a democratic deficit, and most often cited are the shortcomings in citizen inputs. The complex institutional structure, in particular the dual channel of representation (supranational and intergovernmental), contributes to these concerns. This thesis thus examines what impacts the linkage between citizens and their elected representatives in the direct channel of representation. I refer to this linkage as the "electoral connection" and outline three related input criteria:
Competent Citizens: Citizens can competently assign policy responsibility and hold their representatives to account;
Meaningful Choices: Citizens have meaningful choices at election time; and
Substantive Representation: Elected officials are representative of their constituents.
The theoretical framework of the electoral connection is based in substantive representation, and focuses on the mandate conception of representation but also includes a discussion of accountability. I utilize European Election Studies (EES) voter, media, and candidate studies from 2009, EES voter and candidate studies from 1994, and a novel expert survey on EU responsibility (2010). The analyses of responsibility attributions and vote choice are conducted using multilevel modelling to assess individual- and contextual-level determinants.
I test the effect that information and political attitudes, specifically extreme attitudes have on the first two criteria of the direct electoral connection. The role of information is tested at the individual level through political sophistication, and at the contextual level through the politicization of the EU issue. The first criterion is tested by comparing citizen and expert attributions of responsibility. For the second criterion, two chapters which examine perceived party positions and issue-cross pressure assess how this impacts the electoral connection. The final empirical chapter is a descriptive analysis of congruence on policy priorities and preference for governmental responsibility to assess substantive representation. If there is some understanding of responsibility, and citizens have selected parties that align with their preferred policy positions, then we should expect government to be representative of its constituents.
One contribution is defining an expanded definition of the electoral connection. In addition I show that political sophistication and issue politicization have a positive impact on the electoral connection, while attitude extremity generally has a negative impact. Furthermore, the European Parliament is quite representative of its constituents. Concerns about democratic deficit and lack of representation in the European Union are overstated.
A study of the piezocone penetrometer in normally consolidated clay
Keywords: cone penetrometer
clay

The research was intended to enhance the understanding of penetrometer behaviour in normally consolidated clay. The effects of varying penetration rate and clay shear strength were studies and the distribution of pore pressures determined. The meet these objectives laboratory testing was undertaken. Penetration tests were to be performed in tanks of clay consolidated from slurry and maintained under known stresses. An initial series of tests examined the effect of stiff tank walls. These showed unexpectedly high radial boundary stresses were generated with tank to probe diameter ratios of 50:1. This finding dictated laboratory tests with small scale penetrometers in the largest practical size of tank. Field tests with small scale and full size penetrometers demonstrated an absence of scale effect in the penetrometer pore pressures and total stress data. Two consolidation tanks of 580mm diameter and one of 1000mm diameter were built with the facility for maintaining constant stresses on top of the sample during penetration. Piezocone penetrometers of 5cm2 and 1cm2 cross-section were built. Penetration tests were performed from 2cm/s to 3m/s with hydraulic insertion equipment. At lower rates the total cone resistance factor Nkt was shown to be 10.3±0.9 in normally consolidated kaolin. The corresponding pore pressure factor NΔu was 8.25±1.0 at the cone shoulder. A hundredfold increase in the penetration rate increased the Nkt factor by 40% but the NΔu factor was unchanged. Various subsidiary points emerged. The type of strength test used for comparison with penetrometer data is significant. Major strength reductions occur on sample depressurization. These were demonstrated with vane and triaxial tests. Baligh and Levadoux’s method for determining ch from pore pressure dissipation around penetrometers matched experimental data. Ratios of excess pore pressures on the cone face and shoulder show some promise in the evaluation of OCR.
Transatlantic conversations: the art of the interview in Britain and America
Keywords: Interview; Journalism; Literature in English; Transatlanticism

This thesis assesses the role of the interview form within literature from the late nineteenth century to the present day. The project contends that the interview, although styling itself as a revealing, authentic, private confession, is a genre of life writing that deeply troubles the model of singular Romantic authorship that it simultaneously promotes. The thesis argues that the interview has been a key site for negotiating conceptions of authorship since its inauguration. Exploring issues of publicity, life writing and gossip, through nineteenth-century newspaper depictions of scandals (chapter one), I argue that the act of interview publication is a staging of the speaking self in the public sphere. In chapter two I triangulate discussions of journalism, celebrity and material modernism to argue that the characteristic modernist authorial persona, far from being revolutionary, avant-garde or iconoclastic, was in fact deeply retrograde. Chapter three examines how the interview operated as a negotiation of the study, the marketplace and the middlebrow in the 1930s, with reference to the popular Everyman magazine series “How Writers Work.” The development of an interrogative interview model in the postwar era forms the subject of chapter four, as I demonstrate how the backdrop of the Cold War transformed the ways in which writers as diverse as Ezra Pound and the Beat poets responded to the interview in their work. The penultimate chapter argues that the Paris Review interview offers a hitherto unrecognised link between New Criticism and New Journalism and can revitalise discussions around the historical institutionalisation of literary studies. Chapter six considers the interview’s prominent contemporary position within world literature as a purveyor of literary value and archive of global cultural memory. Overall, the project illustrates how central the interview has been in the cultural construction of authorship in the last 150 years.
The role of protein kinase C in platelet activation
Keywords: regulation
platelets
PKC
signalling

The protein kinase C (PKC) superfamily is a key regulator in platelet activation with individual isoforms playing distinct roles. This thesis focuses on the role of the novel PKC isoforms downstream of several agonists using both pharmacological and genetic approaches and human and mouse platelets. Quantification of the protein levels of PKC isoforms identified different levels of the five major PKC isoforms expressed in human platelets and also differences between levels of the same isoform in human and mouse platelets. Use of a selection of broad spectrum and isoform-specific inhibitors, identified both positive and negative novel roles for PKC in the regulation of human and mouse platelets. A net positive role for PKC was found in GPVI, Clec-2, and PAR receptor signalling, with classical isoforms of PKC playing a major role in aggregation and dense granule secretion. A novel negative regulatory role was also identified in the regulation of ADP-induced platelet activation for PKCβ, and both PKCε and PKCβ in human and mouse platelets respectively. Gene knock-out mouse models confirmed a positive regulatory role for PKCθ in αIIbβ3 outside-in signalling but identified no other regulatory role for PKCθ in agonist induced platelet activation. Despite this relatively minor role, functional redundancy was identified between PKCθ and PKCε isoforms in haemostasis, as tail bleeding was significantly increased in mice deficient in both novel isoforms. The work presented here identifies key roles for the PKC superfamily in the complex regulation of platelet activation, with different isoforms supporting and limiting the process of thrombus formation and haemostasis.
Behavioral optimal consumption and portfolio selection in continuous time
Keywords: divide-and-conquer
quantile method
cumulative prospect theory
consumption

This thesis mainly concerns a continuous-time behavioral consumption model under Kahneman and Tversky’s cumulative prospect theory. Mathematically this is a non- concave maximization problem because of the presence of an S-shaped functional and the presence of so-called probability distortions. By using a quantile method and divide-and-conquer scheme, we solve the problem quite explicitly and the optimal consumption is in general characterized in two parts: the agent has rich consumption above the benchmark in good situations and suffers from hunger (i.e. no consumption) in bad situations. An example is given to show that judging whether the market is good or bad depends highly on the agent’s benchmark. Finally we give the strategy for optimal consumption and portfolio selection to maximize behavioral utilities from both consumption and terminal wealth.
A novel route to trans-THFs and the synthesis of sylvaticin
Keywords: hydride shift
THF
trans-THF
sylvaticin
osmium

trans-2,5-Disubstituted-tetrahydrofurans (THFs) are a common structural motif in many biologically active natural products, particularly in the Annonaceous acetogenins. This thesis develops a new route for their synthesis and applies it to the total synthesis of the Annonaceous acetogenin sylvaticin. Chapter 1: Introduction – Synthetic routes to trans-2,5-substituted tetrahydrofurans This chapter reviews methods for the synthesis of trans-2,5-THFs that have been applied to natural products synthesis. Chapter 2: Results & Discussion – A Novel Route to trans-THFs The rearrangement of activated 2,5-disubstituted cis-THFs is reviewed and is developed into a new synthetic method for the synthesis of trans-THFs. The reaction proceeds via a hydride shift mechanism to form an oxonium ion. Intramolecular reduction by a tethered hydrosilane stereoselectively forms the trans-THF. The mechanism of the rearrangement is investigated with the use of different stereoisomers and a deuterium labelling study. A cross-over study is carried out which confirms the reaction occurs via the proposed hydride shift mechanism. Chapter 3: Introduction – The Annonaceous Acetogenins This chapter introduces the Annonaceous acetogenins, a biologically active class of natural products often found with THF rings in their structure. The three key areas for their synthesis are explored- the synthesis of the THF core, the synthesis of the butenolide ring, and their coupling. Chapter 4: Results & Discussion – The Synthesis of Sylvaticin The Annonaceous acetogenin sylvaticin is introduced, and its isolation in nature and biological activity reviewed. With the aid of a model system study to extend the scope of the reaction, the methodology developed in Chapter 2 is then applied to the synthesis of sylvaticin. The synthesis, the first to be reported, is completed in a total of 19 linear steps starting from commercially available tetradecatetraene. In order to prove the obtained structure is that found in nature, a comprehensive investigation is undertaken using Mosher ester derivatives and the synthesis of its bis-epimer, 4,36-epi,epi sylvaticin. Chapter 5: Experimental Full experimental procedures and characterisation of compounds are reported.
Sex and the party: gender policy, gender culture, and political participation in unified Germany
Keywords: German politics
gender culture
women's political participation
unified Germany
gender gaps

This thesis explores the relationship between gender policy, gender culture, and political participation in unified Germany. It investigates the extent to which political regimes shape citizens' attitudes towards gender roles and examines the effect of such attitudes on women's participation in politics.
The thesis is divided into three parts: The first part explores the differences in gender regime types between the former German Democratic Republic and Federal Republic of Germany during the Cold War period. Building on existing studies, the analysis considers how generations that were socialised in the divided Germany differ in their attitudes toward gender roles. It finds that citizens from West Germany are more socially conservative than citizens from the East. The second part of the thesis tests the effects of these traditional gender attitudes on citizens' participation, focusing on party membership. The analysis highlights that gender gaps in formal political participation in unified Germany still exist, but that these gaps are smaller in the new federal states. The investigation further shows that traditional gender attitudes exert a negative effect on women’s political engagement beyond the predictive power of socio-economic and demographic factors. The final part of this thesis casts a critical look at the political controversy in Germany over the introduction of a cash-for-care subsidy (the so-called Betreuungsgeld). It explores the normative assumptions and ideas about gender roles that have been promoted by Germany's main political parties throughout the policy negotiation process.
Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods, the research presented in this thesis draws on, and contributes to, studies on gender, welfare states, political socialisation, and political participation.
Vaughan Williams, song, and the idea of 'Englishness'
Keywords: Harry Plunket Greene
landscape
embodiment
subjectivity
Englishness
Toward the Unknown Region
vocal pedagogy
song
Ralph Vaughan Williams
national identity
Flos Campi
A Sea Symphony
nationalism
folk song
The House of Life
organology
Riders to the Sea
Songs of Travel
voice

It is now broadly accepted that Vaughan Williams's music betrays a more complex relation to national influences than has traditionally been assumed. It is argued in this thesis that despite the trends towards revisionism that have characterized recent work, Vaughan Williams's interest in and engagement with English folk materials and cultures remains only partially understood. Offering contextual interpretation of materials newly available in the field, my work takes as its point of departure the critical neglect surrounding Vaughan Williams's contradictory compositional debut, in which he denounced the value of folk song in English art music in an article published alongside his song 'Linden Lea', subtitled 'A Dorset Folk Song'. Reconstructing the under-documented years of the composer's early career, it is demonstrated that Vaughan Williams's subsequent 'conversion' and lifelong attachment to folk song emerged as part of a broader concern with the intelligible and participatory quality of song and its performance by the human voice. As such, it is argued that the ways in which this composer theorized an idea of 'song' illuminate a powerful perspective from which to re-consider the propositions of his project for a national music.
Locating Vaughan Williams's writings within contemporaneous cultural ideas and practices surrounding 'song', 'voice', and 'Englishness', this work brings such contexts into dialogue with readings of various of the composer's works, composed both before and after the First World War. It is demonstrated in this way that the rehabilitation of Vaughan Williams's music and reputation profitably proceeds by reconstructing a complex dialogue between his writings; between various cultural ideas and practices of English music; between the reception of his works by contemporaneous critics; and crucially, by considering the propositions of his music as explored through analysis. Ultimately, this thesis contends that Vaughan Williams's music often betrays a complex and self-conscious performance of cultural ideas of national identity, negotiating an optimistic or otherwise ambivalent relationship to an English musical tradition that is constructed and referenced through a particular idea of song.
Theology as dialogue and fragment: saying God with David Tracy
Keywords: fundamental theology
hermeneutics

This thesis concerns the ideas of ‘dialogue’ and ‘fragment’ in the work of the American liberal Roman Catholic theologian David Tracy (bn. 1939). Dialogue (or ‘conversation’) established itself as a dominant idea for Tracy in the 1980s, whereas the centrality of fragments first emerged for Tracy in the late 1990s, to complicate and refine his earlier thinking. Despite this historical sequence, however, the organisation of this thesis is thematic rather than essentially chronological.
The first three chapters focus on how in the later 1970s and 1980s Tracy adapted his ideas of conversation-dialogue from the thought of the German philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer. Chapter Four examines some serious objections to Tracy’s concept of dialogic reason, before defending his basic choices and gesturing towards his more recent work as perhaps resolving real previous difficulties.
Chapter Five explores the ‘ontological`’ thinking of Martin Heidegger, valuable for evaluating Tracy despite the latter’s determination to put his own thinking on a more empirical and pluralistic footing. Chapter Six tackles this theme of Tracy’s ongoingly ‘empirical’ sensibility, as well as the importance he has attached to the experiencing human ‘self.’ Tracy’s ideas of human experience and selfhood owe much to William James and to Bernard Lonergan.
Chapter Seven examines ‘correlational’ concepts that Tracy has forged to facilitate Christian theology over the course of his career since Blessed Rage for Order (1975). As Tracy became philosophically and theologically uncomfortable with theism as the supposed essential horizon for theology (around 1990), so the idea of the ‘mystical-prophetic’ emerged to open a door into new horizons of thinking. Chapter Eight highlights an easily overlooked antecedent of the hermeneutical negativity that Tracy’s recent ideas of ‘fragments’ imply: in Gadamer’s sense of the Christina negative ‘sign’ of the Ecce Homo. Chapter Nine then focuses on Tracy’s ideas of thinking through fragments: their adequacy and possible consequences.
Wordsworth's scriptural topographies
Keywords: Romanticism
Nineteenth Century
America
Prophecy
Lake District
Heidegger
Rivers
Topography
Bachelard
Cultural Geography
Dwelling
Mountains
Scripture
Vales
William Wordsworth
King James Bible

In 1963, M.H. Abrams suggested that the ultimate source of Wordsworth's poetry is the Bible, and, in particular, the New Testament. This thesis, however, demonstrates the importance of the Old Testament and offers the first extended analysis of Wordsworth's use of Old Testament rhetoric. It examines both his affectionate perceptions of the natural world, and the Biblical recollections that saturate his writing. The purpose is to align two critical discourses - on Scripture and topography - and in doing so, situate Wordsworth's sense of himself as a poet-prophet in both Britain and America.
The four chapters are structured topographically (Dwelling, Vales, Mountains, Rivers), and organised around a phenomenological experience of lived space, as expressed in key poems. Close analysis of Wordsworth's poetic language from Descriptive Sketches to Yarrow Revisited reveals the influence of the Bible (and the recent analysis of sacred Hebrew poetry undertaken by Lowth), while the theories of Heidegger and Bachelard provide a conceptual approach to Wordsworth's investment in nature. The epilogue opens questions of Wordsworth's reception in America by exploring the awareness of cultural and physical geography and sense of Wordsworth's prophetic ministry amongst his heirs. The thesis concludes that Wordsworth's extensive recourse to scriptural language and the physical landscape strengthened his claim to be a Prophet of Nature. His poetry self-consciously adopted the universal 'language of men' - that of the King James Bible.