VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Essays on labour market frictions in developing economies
Keywords: South Africa
labour
job search
Ethiopia
housing
development

This thesis is about imperfections in urban labour markets of three developing countries. I study how physical living conditions place constraints on labour force participation, and increase risks associated with unemployment.
In Chapter One I test for the impact of high search costs on labour market outcomes of job seekers. I use a randomized trial of transport subsidies among youth living far away from the centre of the city in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Lowering transport costs increases the intensity of job search and leads to better employment outcomes. Weekly phone call data shows that treatment works to stop job search activity from declining over time. I show that the results are consistent with a dynamic model of job search with cash constraints and monetary search costs. Income from temporary work is used to smooth consumption and pay for the costs of search. I find that subsidies reduce participation in temporary work.
Chapter Two looks at the links between poor housing conditions in slums and market labour supply. I test for the effect of free government housing in South Africa on households, using four waves of panel data and a natural experiment due to the allocation of new housing according to proximity from housing projects. I then use planned but cancelled projects to control for non-random selection of housing project sites. I find that government housing leads to large increases in household incomes from wage work, and increases in the labour supply of female household members. I argue that these results are due to reduced burdens of work in the home of improved housing, especially for women.
In Chapter Three we look at how labour markets respond to large but temporary economic shocks caused by typhoons in the Philippines. We use quarterly aggregate, repeated-cross sectional and panel data to demonstrate robust evidence of downward wage flexibility. Lay-offs do not occur when storms hits, but hours per worker fall. We explain these results with a model of implicit contracts under which risk is shared between workers and firms through wage cuts, but workers are insured against lay-offs so that adjustments in labour demand occur through reductions in hours per worker. Our results are particularly strong for workers in long term contractual relationships in the private sector.
Sickness, disability, and miracle cures: hagiography in England, c. 700 - c. 1200
Keywords: Disability
Saint Swithun
Bede
Saint Cuthbert
Saint Edmund
Miracle Stories
Sickness
Saint AEthelthryth
Thomas Becket

This thesis considers how religious literature represented sickness and disability in Anglo- Saxon and post-Conquest England. Based on Gospel accounts of Jesus's healings, narratives of miracle-cures were highly valued within medieval Christian culture. By analysing a selection of miracle-cure narratives from the main period of miracle writing in England, from the age of Bede to the late twelfth century, this project considers the social significance of such stories. All miracle-cures followed the pattern of a spiritual triumph over the material world, but this thesis focuses on how hagiographers represented human experiences of sickness and disabilities.
The first two chapters of this thesis address the conceptual structure of the project. The first explains the two areas of scholarly theory that underpin this thesis. These are the use of narrative sources for historical study; and sociological conceptualisations of bodily difference. The second chapter orientates the case-studies selected for this project in their context. Miracle-cures were recounted in relation to other aspects of the culture of medieval England, most importantly the theology of sainthood and of sin.
The remaining three chapters of the thesis provide detailed thematic analysis of selected miracle-cure narratives. The third chapter asks how the spiritual experience of bodily difference was understood. The next chapter considers the physical understandings of a body that was affected by either sickness or disability, and the links between miracle-cure narratives and contemporary medical theory. The fifth and final chapter addresses the representation of social aspects of sickness and disability in these texts, in particular the moralising rhetoric of such texts in favour of community support.
This thesis concludes with a discussion of how modern Disability Studies and scholarship on medieval culture benefit from interaction with one another.
Interaction of anaesthetics with the carotid body glomus cell and the background potassium channel response to hypoxia
Keywords: hypoxia

This thesis investigates the role anaesthetics play in the depression of the acute hypoxic and hypercapnic ventilatory response. Particular attention is paid to TASK (TWIK related acid sensitive potassium) channels that are known to be sensitive to both hypoxia and the volatile anaesthetics.
After chapters relating to a general introduction and methods, chapter 3 describes studies into the hypoxic and hypercapnic responses of mice with genetic ablation of TASK 1 and/or TASK 3. By using whole animal unrestrained plethysmography, it was demonstrated that any loss of TASK channels resulted in a depression of ventilatory responses to hypoxia and hypercapnia. In isocapnic hypoxia, there is a genotype specific depression by anaesthetics of the remaining AHVR, depending on whether halothane or isoflurane is inspired.
Chapter 4 establishes that propofol depresses the chemosensory responses of carotid body glomus cells. Using ratiometric flurimetry to measure the intracellular calcium concentration in isolated neonatal rat glomus cells, it was demonstrated that propofol depresses the normal cellular response to both hypoxia and hypercapnia. Using pharmacological modulators of GABA and nAChR, and single channel patch clamp electrophysiology of TASK, it is apparent that this depression is independent of these candidate mechanisms.
Chapter 5 describes the effects of the anaesthetic dexmedetomidine at two levels of the hypoxic chemoreflex arc in rodents. Neither isolated rat glomus cells, nor unrestrained mice show significant depression of hypoxic responses when dexmedetomidine is present.
Chapter 6 illustrates the potential role for specific antagonism of TASK channels in stimulating the carotid body. Two TASK channel blockers, A1899 (TASK 1 antagonist) and PK-THPP (TASK 3 antagonist) are shown to cause a significant influx of calcium into isolated glomus cells, and an augmentation in the glomus cell response to hypoxia, which persists in the presence of isoflurane.
Overall, this thesis provides evidence that both TASK 1 and TASK 3 channels are essential for normal hypoxic chemosensitivity. It has extended the knowledge that anaesthetics depress glomus cell chemosensation, by demonstrating that propofol too causes this effect. It also proposes that dexmedetomidine may have greater utility in sparing of ventilatory reflexes. By selectively blocking TASK channels, glomus cells can be stimulated, and exploiting this mechanism would be useful in minimising anaesthetic-induced depression of ventilation.
Mathematical modelling of the host-virus interaction in chronic HTLV-I infection and its impact on our understanding of viral persistence and pathogenesis
Keywords: differential equations and dynamical systems
global asymptotic stability
within-host virus dynamics
infectious disease mathematical modelling

Human T-cell lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) is a persistent human retrovirus characterised by life-long infection and risk of developing one of two major, clinically independent diseases: adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma (ATL), an aggressive blood cancer, and HAM/TSP, a progressive neurological and inflammatory disease. Infected individuals typically mount a large, chronically activated CD8+ cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response against HTLV-I-infected cells, but ultimately fail to effectively eliminate the virus. Moreover, the identification of determinants to disease manifestation has thus far been elusive.
A central issue in current HTLV-I research is how the virus is able to persist despite strong immune pressure. To explore this issue, we adopt a mathematical modelling approach. Mathematical modelling can help us break apart the complex mechanisms of HTLV-I persistence and identify the underlying principles that govern successful viral propagation in the presence of host immunity. Understanding these interactions is a crucial step on the road to developing effective ways to disrupt the virus life-cycle and may help identify promising new treatment strategies to reduce the severity of HTLV-I infection and minimise the detriment due to associated disease.
The objective of this thesis is to develop a consistent theoretical framework that can help shed light on specific, biologically relevant questions that are of interest to experimentalists and theoretical immunologists trying to understand the complicated host-pathogen dynamics of chronic infection by HTLV-I. In this thesis, we construct a series of mathematical models, each incorporating an increasing level of immunological detail, designed to explore the impact of three biologically significant features that have not been fully considered in previous mathematical models of HTLV-I: (I) the trade-off between proviral latency and activation, (II) the simultaneous expression of viral proteins, and (III) the role of antigenic variability.
The results from investigation of these features in the various models help contribute to our understanding of the dynamics of persistent HTLV-I infection alongside virus-specific host immunity. Although our approach is primarily theoretical in nature, our research is principally driven by a desire to elucidate biologically and clinically relevant phenomena observed in HTLV-I and, for each of the models, we link our results to what is known from experimental observations and discuss their significance in a biologically meaningful context.
The association between impaired fetal growth and neurodevelopment in childhood
Keywords: neurodevelopment
cognitive development
anthropometry
fetal growth
attention development

Impaired fetal growth is associated with an increased risk of negative neurodevelopmental outcomes. The majority of research to date, however, has relied on birth weight as an index of fetal growth impairment. Furthermore, few studies have included samples from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The objective of this thesis was to examine the association between impaired fetal growth, using a range of birth indices, and neurodevelopment in childhood.
A systematic review showed that cognitive development and attention are two domains particularly affected by impaired fetal growth and thus was the focus of this thesis. Cognitive development and attention were assessed in three large, prospective birth cohorts drawn from high-, middle- and low-income countries: Pelotas (Brazil) 2004 (N=3579), ALSPAC (UK) (N=7354) and INTERGROWTH-21st (UK, Italy, Brazil, India and Kenya) (N=1073). INTERGROWTH-21st only enrolled low-risk mothers, whereas Pelotas and ALSPAC were not selective. In all three cohorts, indices of birth weight, stunting, wasting and asymmetry were collected at birth. Attention was assessed using subscales of the Child Behaviour Checklist or the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire; and cognition was assessed using the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scales of Intelligence-Revised or INTERGROWTH-21st Neurodevelopmental Assessment (INTER-NDA). Each cohort measured these outcomes at one time point (range = 2-6 years of age). As part of this thesis the INTER-NDA was validated against the Bayley Scales of Infant Development.
Associations between birth anthropometric indices and both cognitive and attention outcomes were assessed using hierarchical ordinal logistic regression. Attention impairment was associated with stunted birth length (BL) but only in females (OR=1.21-1.69, p<.05), across cohorts drawn from high-, middle- and low-income countries. In contrast, cognitive impairment was associated with stunted head circumference (HC) and low ponderal index (PI) in both sexes, although predominantly in LMIC settings (HC: OR=1.73-1.91, p<.05; PI: OR=1.46-4.91, p<.05).
Identification of a female-specific association between stunted BL and poor attention across cohorts from different settings, suggests the association is robust to differential confounding effects. In contrast, the stronger association in LMICs between cognitive impairment and stunted HC and low PI suggests confounding structures (e.g. maternal and neonatal health care) may modify the effect of fetal growth on cognitive development. Birth indices (specifically BL, HC and PI) may be particularly helpful in identifying children at risk of neurodevelopmental impairment for early intervention.
The role of sleep in early language acquisition
Keywords: infants
eye tracking
generalisation
word learning
vocabulary
sleep
nap
toddlers
development

The relationship between sleep and language during infancy has not attracted a great deal of scrutiny despite its theoretical importance in the function of sleep and the practical implications to which resulting findings could contribute. With this in mind, the current thesis aims to investigate this question with a focus on word learning, generalisation of word meanings and vocabulary development. A cross-sectional design in 16 month old infants was used as one of the main approaches to test the potential effects of naps on word learning and generalisation. In both experiments, infants were randomly assigned to nap or wake conditions. After teaching two novel object-pairs to them, their initial performance was tested with an intermodal preferential looking task. An increase in target preference indicated the recognition of the auditory label—looking behaviour being monitored with an automatic eye-tracker. In the case of word learning, the same objects were shown in the test trials as in the training trials, whereas the test objects were different in colour in the generalisation experiment. In both experiments target preference increased only after a nap, while there was no change in the performance of the wake groups. These results indicate that daytime napping facilitates both the consolidation of novel words and the generalisation of novel word meanings in infancy. The relationship between sleep and vocabulary development was studied in a longitudinal questionnaire based design, in which vocabulary questionnaires and sleep diaries were employed, with a cohort of 246 children between the ages of 7 and 38 months being analysed. Sleep measures were used as predictors in a multi-level growth curve analysis of vocabulary development. The length of daytime naps was positively correlated with both expressive and receptive vocabulary growth, whereas the length of night-time sleep was negatively associated with rate of expressive vocabulary growth. To conclude, the results of the present thesis highlight the importance of daytime naps in early childhood.
The identification and characterisation of disease genes in craniosynostosis
Keywords: CDC45
whole genome sequencing
Saethre-Chotzen syndrome
TCF12

Current challenges to the understanding and clinical management of craniosynostosis (premature fusion of the cranial sutures) include the interpretation of changes in known disease genes, the identification of novel disease genes and the identification of pathogenic regulatory mutations. This thesis aims to address these issues and by doing so improve diagnosis, surgical prognosis and support for affected families.
Expanding the repertoire of known disease mechanisms, pathogenicity of an apparently synonymous substitution in FGFR2 is demonstrated, associated with a mild Crouzon syndrome phenotype. Furthermore, a new severe phenotype associated with localised mutations in TWIST1 (usually associated with Saethre-Chotzen syndrome; SCS) is described.
In an attempt to better understand the underlying pathogenesis of SCS, six probands with a clinical diagnosis, but no TWIST1 mutations, underwent whole-genome sequencing. Two individuals were found to have mutations in TCF12, a dimerization partner of TWIST1, and one patient had compound heterozygous mutations in CDC45. The latter, however, was not initially prioritised as one of the mutations led to a silent substitution, and this individual also had a de novo variant in a gene that interacts with a known craniosynostosis pathway.
To further explore the contribution of regulatory mutations to the pathogenesis of SCS, targeted sequencing of a 2.4 Mb region around TWIST1, and 640 kb around TCF12, was undertaken on DNA from 160 coronal synostosis patients. As well as coding mutations that had been missed, intronic splicing mutations and putative TWIST1 promoter mutations were identified.
In summary, during the course of this work novel and sometimes unexpected pathogenic mechanisms of mutations both in previously known genes (FGFR2, TWIST1) and in newly defined genes (TCF12, CDC45) have been identified. The pathogenicity of apparently synonymous variants provides important lessons in the correct interpretation of patient sequence data, and the identification of novel disease genes expands the classification and range of pathophysiology in craniosynostosis.
Defining wisdom : Ratnākaraśānti's Sāratamā
Keywords: doxography
work
Ratnākaraśānti's life
philosophy

This thesis examines Ratnākaraśānti’s (ca. 970-1045 C.E.) explication of Prajñāpāramitā in his doxographical works and his Sāratamā. Based on extant Sanskrit and Tibetan primary sources, it argues that Ratnākaraśānti’s main teacher was Dharmakīrtiśrī (late 10th C.E.) and that Ratnākaraśānti’s Sāratamā sought to replace his teacher’s Yogācāra-Mādhyamika framework with a causal explanation of Prajñāpāramitā through redefining the term Prajñāpāramitā as the path to awakening, rather than its goal. By unpacking that causal explanation in light of his broader system, the thesis demonstrates the way that Ratnākaraśānti’s own version of Nirākāravādin-Yogācāra-Mādhyamika refutes cognitive images (ākāra) as unreal ultimately, but claims they are still perceived by buddhas out of compassion. This conclusion debunks the long-standing theory that Ratnākaraśānti was an Indian proponent of the controversial Tibetan gZhan-stong despite later gZhan-stong propon-ents’ attempts to claim him as their own.
There are two parts to the study. The first part introduces Ratnākaraśānti’s life, philosophy and doxography based upon evidence from a Tibetan colophon to his Mādhyamika commentary and the Tibetan hagiography of his student Adhīśa (a.k.a. Atiśa) and upon a comparative analysis of his doxographical works that are prerequisites for reading his Sāratamā. The second part consists of an annotated translation of the Sāratamā’s introductory section, contrasted with the prior standard interpretation by Haribhadra’s (9th century C.E.).
In the two appendices are included a Tibetan critical edition and a separate hybrid Sanskrit and Tibetan critical edition of the Sāratamā’s first parivarta based on the extant 11th and 13th century incomplete MSS and on the Tibetan translations in the sDe dge, Peking and sNarthang editions. The hybrid edition also includes my provisional critical edition of the root text—i.e. the first parivarta of the Āryāṣṭa-sāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra—and my own translation of two small sample sections of the Sāratamā, which are extant only in Tibetan, back into Sanskrit.
Turncoat poets of the English Revolution
Keywords: Poetry
Marvell
Allegiance
Hobbes

Edmund Waller, William Davenant, Andrew Marvell, and Abraham Cowley were royalist poets who changed sides following the English Revolution, attracted to Cromwellian military power, and the reforming aims of the Independents. This thesis contributes to existing scholarship by showing that the poets engaged strongly with theories of allegiance, self-consciously returning to first principles—the natures of sovereignty and obligation—to develop a concept of allegiance that was contingent and transferrable.
Their crucial influence was Hobbes. Hobbes collapsed partisan perspectives into a general theory of sovereignty constituted by a de facto protective and coercive power; this was grounded on a psychological analysis of humans' restless appetite for power. The poets' approach to Hobbes was crucially mediated by Machiavelli, who provided a less abstract account of the relationship between individual agency and collective institutions, and whose concept of virtù offered a model for how restless ambition could be harnessed to political order.
An introductory chapter sketches out the intellectual background to this body of theory and reflects on the methods used to show how the poets dramatized it in their works. Chapter two considers the disintegration of Waller's courtly poetry under the pressure of civil war, and his resulting turn to rationalist theory. Chapters three and four focus on the immediate aftermath of the revolution, considering the synthesis of Hobbes' and Machiavelli's theories of military power ventured by Davenant, and the influence of Davenant's ideas on Marvell's Machiavellianism. Chapter five focuses on Cowley and his more religiously-inflected account of Hobbesian psychology and political obligations. Chapter six asks how the poets responded to the Restoration of Charles II, and in particular charts their influence on the younger poet John Dryden.
With their emphasis on materialist psychology, the turncoat poets abandoned allegory in favour of a mode of dramatization which observed the contingent circumstances in which allegiances could be generated, dissolved, and transferred. They possessed a political conservatism, but a conceptual radicalism which presented a serious challenge to Anglican and constitutionalist discourses of Stuart monarchy.
Role of cryptochromes in retinal responses to light
Keywords: Cry1
Cryptochrome
magnetoreceptor
zeitnehmer
retinal rhythms
magnetoreception
retinal clock
Cry2

Cryptochromes 1 and 2 (CRY1-2) are key components of the negative limb of the mammalian circadian clock. Like in many peripheral tissues, Cry1 and Cry2 are expressed in the retina where they are thought to play a role in regulating retinal circadian physiology.
This thesis investigates the role of Cryptochromes in the mammalian retina. The localization and expression pattern of CRY1 and CRY2 in the mouse retina are described, showing that CRY1 is expressed throughout, whereas CRY2 expression is restricted to the outer retina.
Furthermore, circadian rhythms in retinal physiology, including the photopic electroretinogram (ERG) b-wave amplitude, contrast sensitivity and the pupillary light response (PLR) are found to be all attenuated or abolished in CRY1-deficient mice. By contrast, these physiological rhythms are unaffected in mice lacking CRY2, and only photopic ERG rhythms are affected. As such, both CRY1 and CRY2 play roles in regulating normal retinal circadian rhythms, though CRY1 plays a dominant role.
The role of melanopsin in retinal rhythms is also investigated. It is found that loss of melanopsin affects contrast sensitivity rhythms but not PLR rhythms. The work in this thesis suggests that the retinal circadian clock is composed of at least two independent networks of oscillators in the retina which regulate key aspects of retinal physiology.
Lastly, this thesis investigates whether the retinal clock has any downstream effects on the SCN master pacemaker. The experimental results presented here suggest that the retinal clock is capable of rhythmically gating light input to the SCN clock, acting as a zeitnehmer.