VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Re-thinking smartness: designing more ethical connected devices for the home
Keywords: Voice Assistants
Respect
HCI
Smart homes

Modern smart devices are capable of incredible things: making life easier, more enjoyable, and more secure. But this 'smartness' often comes at the cost of devices harvesting data from the home, constraining how we use them, and changing the ways we relate to each other. This thesis explores what it means for a device to be smart, the ethical concerns that smartness causes, and ways that we might re-think smartness to better support people's needs and values. It does so using four lenses of smartness, privacy, social actors, and respect.
In order to better understand the problem, we begin by presenting the results of surveys and interviews investigating perceptions of what smartness is, and how it manifests across a variety of contexts. In doing so we identify concomitant ethical concerns, such as privacy and autonomy, and discuss the similarities and differences in how they operate across devices. We then follow up by addressing two of the identified problems in greater detail. We present the results of a six-week technology probe deployment designed to give people control over their connected devices by visualising and constraining their data flows. We show how participants preferences shifted over the course of the study and how, when given the right resources, people can learn and come together to solve privacy problems in the home. Secondly, we explore social concerns around voice interfaces, with a survey exploring correlations between trust, anthropomorphism, and relationship development with voice assistants. We show how people develop relationships with social devices in a similar manner to those between people, raising questions about the potential for social interaction modalities to be used to manipulate. The thesis then brings these lines of enquiry together by proposing the concept of respect as a lens for using standards of interpersonal interaction to evaluate interactions with smart devices. Practical and theoretical perspectives on respectful behaviour from a variety of disciplines are used to link the behaviours of intelligent systems to previous work on moral theory, agency, social hierarchies, and oppression.
Drawing on each of these four lenses, the thesis closes by discussing potential ways to re-think smartness, reaping its benefits whilst mitigating its problems. From rejecting smartness altogether, giving people greater control over their devices, making devices more respectful, and using different conceptual models of devices, the thesis lays the foundations for more socially aware systems that use their smartness to support users in managing and enjoying life in the connected home.
Finite element approximation of elliptic homogenization problems in nondivergence-form
Keywords: nondivergence-form elliptic PDE
finite element methods
Homogenization

This thesis focuses on the construction of finite element numerical homogenization schemes for both linear and selected fully-nonlinear elliptic partial differential equations in nondivergence-form.
In the first part of the thesis, we study periodic homogenization problems of the form A(x/ε):D2 uε = f subject to a homogeneous Dirichlet boundary condition. We provide a qualitative W2,p theory and obtain optimal gradient and Hessian bounds with correction terms taken into account in the Lp-norm. Consequently, we find that (uε)ε>0 converges strongly in the W1,p-norm to the solution of the corresponding effective problem, and that the optimal rate for this convergence is O(ε). Based on these quantitative homogenization results, we propose and rigorously analyze a finite element-type numerical homogenization scheme for the approximation of the solution to the effective problem and the solution uε to the original problem in the H1 and H2 Sobolev-norms. We extend the scheme to the framework of nonuniformly oscillating coefficients and provide a variety of numerical experiments illustrating the theoretical results.
In the second part of the thesis, we propose and rigorously analyze numerical homogenization schemes for the fully-nonlinear Hamilton--Jacobi--Bellman (HJB) and HJB--Isaacs (HJBI) equations. More precisely, we are interested in the approximation of the effective Hamiltonian which determines the effective equation. Our numerical schemes are based on finite element approximations for suitable corrector problems arising in the periodic homogenization of these equations. We present a mixed finite element scheme as well as discontinuous Galerkin and C0 interior penalty finite element approaches. Several numerical experiments accompany the theoretical results and illustrate the performance of the numerical schemes.
A Spinozist approach to affective patterns in revolutionary springs
Keywords: International Relations
Spinoza
Affects
International Relations Theory
Indignation
Emotions
Revolution Theory

This thesis is about revolutionary springs, defined as fast transnational diffusion of revolutionary uprisings in the absence of any financial or military collaboration. Due to their speed, their international nature, and their spontaneity, I argue that these phenomena cannot be satisfactorily explained by material or ideological factors alone, hence the need for original analytical tools. To analyse the structures of affects, I offer to look at three affective patterns, namely repressive fear, revolutionary fraternity, and revolutionary martyrdom. The first part of this thesis draws from Baruch Spinoza’s philosophy to understand how collective affects emerge and circulate transnationally within and across multitudes, and briefly distinguishes this perspective from the one developed by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt. The second part describes how affective patterns interplay in revolutionary dynamics in two empirical cases, namely the Springtime of the Peoples and the Arab Spring. It first connects Spinoza’s ontological foundations with methodology by presenting the textual, visual, and sound materials and respective methods that are handled to investigate affective patterns in revolutionary times. Then, I examine these affective patterns at the national level during the Springtime of the Peoples and the Arab Spring to show how they contribute to the emergence of the revolutionary multitude. The last two chapters offer an international theory of affective patterns in revolutionary springs by showing how a transnational multitude may emerge and be set in motion through affective patterns. This part also uses affective patterns to investigate negative cases, that is, countries that could have joined the revolutionary movement and did not. This work has implications for the understanding of both revolutions, especially but not exclusively revolutionary springs, and transnational affective circulations.
Use of stem cell-derived macrophages and gene editing to investigate viral pathology and innate immunity
Keywords: HIV
RNA sequencing
differentiation
toll-like receptors
macrophages
cyclophilins
innate immunity
CRISPR
stem cells
TRIM5

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell (iPSC)-derived macrophages are a rapidly emerging model of tissue resident macrophages for investigating human disease. As potentially infinitely replicating cells, iPSC lend themselves for genetic manipulation by CRISPR-Cas9 editing before terminal differentiation into a vast array of cell types. As such, long standing challenges in exploration of macrophage gene functions during inflammatory diseases and infections, such as HIV-1, caused by donor variability and immortalised cell line deficiencies can finally be overcome. With over 30 different protocols for macrophage differentiation from iPSC now described, culturing of these cells is gradually becoming more accessible to researchers, and essential processes for differentiation better understood. However, with this progress comes the ever-greater need for clear definition of culturing conditions of these cells, so that we can compare results between methodologies, and eliminate undesirable sources of variability.
This thesis sought to capitalise on this new system to explore the complicated and often contradictory role of TRIM5α in HIV-1 infection, and to explore with a precision only achievable through CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing the function of the cyclophilin family of peptidyl-prolyl isomerases. I demonstrate protection of HIV-1 from TRIM5α restriction by cyclophilin A, as well as regulation of the innate immune inflammatory response more generally by the cyclophilin family. However, prior to exploring this, this thesis sets out to address some of current issues in iPSC-derived macrophage culture and the ill-defined components of growth media and cellular environment. I describe a new macrophage differentiation medium using serum free, defined, and open-sourced components to bring needed transparency into the field. I also address the variability in macrophage phenotype and function brought about by the fundamental, but largely overlooked, impact of cell crowding in ex vivo culture. This revealed evidence for a potential plating density-dependent anti-inflammatory feedback loop relevant for human diseases like Alzheimer’s disease.
A genealogy of reasons
Keywords: Reasons
Genealogy
Pragmatic Genealogy
Philosophy of Action

I will attempt to answer three questions about reasons: what kinds of entities they are, why we should care about responding to them, and how they are related to motivation. In Chapter One, I argue that the debate in the theory of reasons is stagnant and that we would be better off adopting a radically new approach— pragmatic genealogy. In Chapter Two, I discuss the nature of pragmatic genealogy. In Chapter Three, I develop a pragmatic genealogy of reasons based on the need to reconcile conflicting beliefs and desires in both individual and communal settings. In Chapter Four, I respond to possible objections. In Chapter Five, I apply the information gained from our genealogy to address our three central questions and argue that it turns out that pragmatic genealogy is a methodology uniquely suited to doing so.
Adaptive therapy for cancer: Integrated modelling of tumoral competition for controlling drug resistance
Keywords: mathematical oncology
tumour evolution
prostate cancer
cancer drug resistance
ovarian cancer
adaptive cancer therapy
mathematical biology

Treatment in advanced cancers often provides only temporary improvements due to the emergence of drug-resistant tumour subpopulations. Standard-of-care regimens seek to maximise cell kill in order to achieve a cure, but thereby inadvertently also free resistant cells from the intra-tumoral competition which usually constrains their growth. An emerging alternative strategy, called adaptive therapy (AT), aims to tackle this problem by prioritising tumour control over cure. The idea is to leverage intra-tumoral competition to slow, or even avoid, the expansion of resistance.
In this thesis we present an integration of mathematical modelling, clinical data analysis, and biological experiments in order to investigate: i) the factors which determine whether a patient will benefit from AT, and ii) how to best adjust treatment to control resistance. We begin by studying a simple two-population model, which we formulate first as an ordinary differential equation (ODE), and subsequently as an agent-based, model. We dissect the impact of various model parameters on the benefit of AT, and identify cell turnover as an important, but previously overlooked, factor. Furthermore, we find that the tumour’s spatial organisation reflects, as well as modulates, intra-tumoral competition, and we discuss implications for intermittent androgen deprivation treatment in prostate cancer.
In the second part of this thesis, we investigate whether adaptive scheduling of poly-adenosine di-phosphate ribose polymerase inhibitors (PARPis) can improve the treatment of ovarian cancer. We develop a framework which uses an ensemble of six ODE models to dynamically guide AT decision-making. In collaboration with an experimentalist, we test our framework in an in vitro spheroid model, and find that it compares favourably to other adaptive dosing algorithms. However, this work also shows that high-dose, continuous treatment achieves the best overall outcome. To conclude we therefore develop an ODE model of PARPi treatment, and discuss implications for PARPi scheduling. Overall, this thesis provides novel insights into the eco-evolutionary underpinnings of AT, and highlights some of the challenges involved in translating AT to a new cancer type.
Cyprus betwixt Greeks and Saracens, A.D. 647-965
Keywords: Byzantine Empire
Islamic Empire
Foreign relations
Islamic
Cyprus
Greeks
Saracens

A re-examination of the documentary evidence in conjunction with, and in the light of, available archaeological evidence indicates that:
For some sixty years after Muawiya's first Arab raid against Cyprus, in 649, the Island was under the control of whichever of the two powers contesting it - Byzantium and Islam - was the stronger.
After the second Arab raid of 653/4 an Arab garrison may have been established in Cyprus, as the Arab chronicler Baladhuri states. But numismatic and other archaeological evidence is cited to show that such an Arab garrison must have been withdrawn from the Island, soon after it is reported to have been stationed there, by Muawiya himself. An Arab garrison reported, by Baladhuri, to have been withdrawn from Cyprus by Muawiya's successor, Yezid, may have been re-established in the Island during the siege of Constantinople in the seventies of the seventh century.
Extensive repair works to various public buildings, the erection and decoration of others and the fortification of the central part of the capital, Constantia, which was renamed Nea Justinianopolis after Justinian II, are cited as evidence for Byzantine control of Cyprus between 680 and 688. The view of modern historians that Nea Justinianopolis of the 39th Canon of the Council-in-Trullo was in the Hellespont is examined and shown to be untenable.
… Continued in thesis.
Impact of wrong-way risk on margin valuation adjustment
Keywords: wrong-way risk
margin valuation adjustment

Valuation adjustments (XVA) have grown in popularity and importance since the Financial Crisis. In the post-Crisis environment, the value of a derivative can no longer be calculated simply as the risk-free price from by Black-Scholes theory, but other aspect, such as credit risk need to be accounted for as well. New regulations following the Crisis impose collateral requirements on over-the-counter derivatives, where initial and variation margin must be exchanged between trading counterparties. This introduces valuation adjustments that reflect the cost of funding for the derivative position. In particular, the Margin Valuation Adjustment (MVA) quantifies the cost of posting initial margin over the life of a trade.
Over the years, an XVA framework was established as market standard which neglects the correlation structure between the probability of default of the counterparty on the one hand, and the exposure or collateral measure on the other hand. Wrong-way risk, i.e., the situation in which exposure is adversely correlated with the counterparty's default probability has increasingly become a concern for regulators, which started to give recommendations to financial institutions to identify and observe the wrong-way risk present in their portfolios.
This work combines the timely subjects of MVA and wrong-way risk by including wrong-way risk effects in MVA calculations. A model-independent approach is followed that has recently been applied to the calculation of regulatory and accounting Credit Valuation Adjustment and Funding Valuation Adjustment.Sample calculations are performed for plain-vanilla interest-rate swaps, cross-currency swaps, and European swaptions.
From resurrection to rehabilitation: Laurence Sterne and his readers in Soviet Russia (1919-1941)
Keywords: translation
book history
Laurence Sterne
Soviet culture
reception
Soviet Russia

This thesis examines the 1920s and 1930s as the critical juncture in the rich history of the Russian reception of writings and personality of Laurence Sterne. This study introduces a range of previously unpublished archival materials, including hitherto unknown Russian translations of Tristram Shandy and A Sentimental Journey, essays, illustrations, and private letters. Through a close examination of archival history, it reveals how the eccentric eighteenth-century Yorkshire clergyman was read, translated, and gained admirers within an increasingly totalitarian society. The Soviet state had no political interest in Sterne. What drove this writer’s intensified popularity were individuals who appreciated Sterne’s works and were willing to share their admiration with others.
The thesis seeks to overturn the commonly held assumption that the interest in Sterne did not extend beyond the Formalist circles of Viktor Shklovskii who praised the eighteenth-century writer as an ‘utmost revolutionary of form’. It explores the reception of Sterne in its sheer complexity of overlapping threads and examines other influential, at times paradoxical, forces in play. In particular, it shows that, counterintuitively, the most compelling ideas about Sterne’s work and personality and the best Russian translations of Sterne emerged in Stalin’s era that condemned any formal experiments. This period has previously gone unnoticed in the existing research on Sterne in Russia.
At its core, this thesis is a study of how people suffering from state oppression found forms of escape in Sterne's whimsical fiction that transcends any external ideology. By studying individual encounters with Sterne in the context of wider biographical, cultural, and social narratives, it examines the microhistory of Sterne’s reception as a reflection of the larger history of intellectual autonomy in Soviet Russia.
Target search mode of a disordered transcription factor
Keywords: CREB
protein disorder
transcription
cAMP response element binding protein
nuclear magnetic resonance
bZIP
transcription factors
basic leucine zipper

Protein disorder is prevalent in proteins which are involved in DNA binding, such as transcription factors. Transcription factors commonly contain disorder within protein-protein interaction interfaces, however a small number of families contain disorder in their DNA binding domain such as the basic leucine zipper proteins (bZIP). bZIP proteins like cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) have a wide range of roles in human health, however the role of disorder in how bZIP proteins find their cognate DNA site within the nucleus is still unknown. In addition, significant controversy exists about whether bZIP proteins search for the target as a preformed dimer or by sequential association of monomers. Using a range of biophysical techniques including stopped flow kinetics and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy with constructs to mimic the monomer or dimer species, this question has been examined. The CREB homodimer affinity was found to be high, at the upper limit of what had been previously seen for bZIPs. CREB is able to recognise the cognate DNA CRE motif specifically as a preformed dimer and undergoes coupled folding upon binding. In the search mode, however, the basic region remains dynamic with more disordered character. Compared to the dimeric construct, a monomeric CREB model exhibited a lack of specificity for the cognate site and several orders of magnitude reduction in affinity. The affinity for DNA by the monomer appears to be dependent on the propagation of helical content into the DNA-binding basic region, which directly contacts the DNA, from the leucine zipper in the dimer. CREB bZIP also searches for its target DNA using a combination of intersegmental transfer and sliding, with the residual helical content in the basic region controlling these rates. CREB therefore appears to perform effective target search preferentially through the pre-formed dimer pathway, independent of the presence of excess competitor DNA which is consistent with the homodimer stability, but can also proceed through the monomer pathway albeit with a reduced affinity for the target. This work therefore extends our understanding towards describing the target search mode and mechanism by a disordered transcription factor.
Multi-agent, non-equilibrium, and network models of labour economics and financial contagion
Keywords: COVID-19
financial contagion
networks
agent-based model
automation
labour market
unemployment
multilayer networks

The financial crisis of 2009 showed that the economy is not in equilibrium. That is, the economy is in a state where agents have incentives to modify their chosen actions. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has shown that the economy changes rapidly and that reaching an equilibrium can take years, if one is reached at all. However, assuming equilibrium has long formed the basis of many economic models. Although a non-equilibrium approach may seem better suited for answering economic policy questions during times of rapid change, previously, the lack of data and computing power made it difficult to build these type of models. Today, these factors are less constraining.
This thesis contributes to the development of non-equilibrium economic models that can provide accurate answers to policy-relevant questions efficiently. The models we develop have the potential to enable fast economic analysis and can be run in near real-time.
In the first part of this thesis, we focus on the labour market. We develop a model to analyse how workers move through an empirically derived occupational mobility network in response to labour demand shocks. We show that we can approximate the behaviour of the agent-based model with a discrete dynamical system. At the macro level, our model reproduces the Beveridge curve's dynamics, i.e. the negative relationship between vacancy and unemployment rate. At the occupation level, we study the potential impact of automation and the COVID-19 pandemic on employment. We find that the network structure plays an important role in determining unemployment levels, with occupations in particular areas of the network having few job transition opportunities.
In the second part, we use multiplex networks to study global financial contagion. This work focuses on identifying systemically important countries, i.e. countries whose financial distress can propagate to other countries. We build a global financial multiplex network and develop a multiplex threshold model of financial contagion. We find that the number of systemically important countries can be twice as large when we consider a multiplex network structure compared to a monoplex structure.
These two models have the potential to be used for policy design. Arguably, support and skill development programs should be directed towards workers who are likely to face longer periods of unemployment. Our model can help policymakers identify who these workers are. Our multiplex model of financial contagion represents a first step towards developing multiplex network models which policy institutions could use to prevent the spread of financial contagion.