VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Essays in Financial Economics
Keywords: cross-border bank lending
central bank swap lines
covered interest rate parity deviations
gdp-linked bonds

This dissertation consists of three chapters discussing issues in the field of financial economics. The first two chapters are largely empirical; the third chapter is mainly theoretical.
In the first chapter (co-authored with Andrew Meldrum and Wen Yan) we develop a model for pricing hypothetical financial instruments that have their pay-offs tied to the evolution of a country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth ('GDP-linked bonds'). We first develop a no-arbitrage pricing model for these bonds in line with those applied to other financial securities. Absent data on actual prices given lack of trading, we device an alternative empirical strategy for estimation of our model. This strategy entails inferring the risk profile of GDP from a second term-structure model, this time of 'zero-coupon' equities, which can be taken to the data. After estimating the prices of GDP-linked bonds we decompose them into their components (including GDP growth expectations and GDP risk premia) and study their time series and term structure dynamics.
In the second chapter (co-authored with Matias Ossandon-Busch and Dennis Reinhardt) we study the effect of price dislocations in the market for foreign currency (FX) swaps, an important source of funding for banks, on cross-border bank lending. Armed with a detailed balance sheet level dataset for banks operating from the UK, we examine how ex-ante exposure to FX swap-based funding affects the reaction of banks cross-border positions in the face of the mentioned dislocations in pricing. We also explore the role of potential shielding factors, including banks' reliance on intra-group funding.
In the third chapter I develop a theoretical macroeconomic model featuring shocks to the availability of FX funding for banks (`dollar shortage shocks') and central bank swap lines as a monetary policy tool. First, I show that dollar shortage shocks can have significant negative consequences for macroeconomic aggregates by affecting bank lending. Second, I show how the availability of central bank swap lines, through which the local central bank can access foreign currency, can attenuate the negative consequences of dollar shortage shocks on the macroeconomy.
Fixational eye movements - keeping the eyes on target
Keywords: adaptive optics
microsaccades
microsaccade detection
eye tracking
AOSLO
eye movements
Eyelink

This thesis presents three different strands of research into fixational eye movements: the detection of microsaccades, the interaction between fixational eye movements and the visual stimulus, and the interplay of microsaccades and drift. Fixational eye movements actively sample the visual stimulus, generating spatial and temporal information about its structure while also preventing fading of the percept.
Two new microsaccade detection methods are presented: the binocular correlation method most suited to data from video-based eye trackers and the monocular microsaccade detection method suited to microsaccade detection from high resolution adaptive optics eye tracking. These methods are systematically compared to the established standard method in the field by (Engbert & Kliegl, 2003) using the F1 score of the precision-recall metric. Manually labelled eye movement data will be made available online to be used as training and testing data for future microsaccade detection methods.
The active responses of fixational eye movements to visual stimuli of different eccentricities, grating orientations, and levels of blur were also investigated. It was found that fixational eye movements exhibit systematic changes in response to stimulus eccentricity and orientation, but not to the different levels of blur tested. To explore possible underlying mechanisms data are presented on correlations of unreferenced motion thresholds and centre estimations with measures of fixational stability. Both were good predictors of fixational stability, suggesting that these or mutual underlying processes contribute to fixational eye movement control.
Microsaccades and drifts are compared for their relative contribution to fixational stability. Traditionally microsaccades were considered to be correcting for the random error introduced by drift, but the data examined in this thesis suggest a complimentary role between microsaccades and drift in stabilising gaze.
Quantum chaos in atom optics
Keywords: Atom optics
Laser-cooling
Quantum mechanics
Classical dynamics
Quantum chaos
Chaotic dynamics
Ultracold atoms
Atomic physics
Atom interferometry
Quantum-classical correspondence

This thesis presents an account of experimental and numerical investigations of two quantum systems whose respective classical analogues are chaotic. These are the delta-kicked rotor, a paradigm in classical chaos theory, and the novel delta-kicked accelerator, created by application of a constant external acceleration or torque to the rotor. The experimental realisation of these systems has been achieved by the exposure of laser-cooled caesium atoms to approximate delta-kicks from a pulsed, high-intensity, vertical standing wave of laser light. Gravity’s effect on the atoms can be controlled by appropriate shifting of the profile of the standing wave. Numerical simulations of the systems are based on a diffractive model of the potential’s effect.
Each system’s dynamics are characterised by the final form of the momentum distribution and the dependence of the atoms’ mean kinetic energy on the number and time period of the delta-kicks. The phenomena of dynamical localisation and quantum resonances in the delta-kicked rotor, which have no counterparts in the system’s classical analogue, are observed and investigated. Similar experiments on the delta-kicked accelerator reveal the striking phenomenon of the quantum accelerator mode, in which a large momentum is transferred to a substantial fraction of the atomic ensemble. This feature, absent in the system’s classical analogue, is characterised and an analytic explanation is presented.
The effect on each quantum system of decoherence, introduced through spontaneous emission in the atoms, is examined and comparison is made with the results of classical simulations. While having little effect on the classical systems, the level of decoherence used is found to degrade quantum signatures of behaviour. Classical-like behaviour is, to some extent, restored, although significant quantum features remain. Possible applications of the quantum accelerator mode are discussed. These include use as a tool in atom optics and interferometry, a technique for measuring gravity, and a method of preparing atoms in a particular region of phase space. This may allow measurement of quantum phase space stability, and hence investigation of quantum chaos and quantum-classical correspondence.
Investigation of differentially expressed genes that contribute to therapeutic effects of bevacizumab  in BRAF mutant melanoma
Keywords: VEGF
Angiogenesis
BRAF
Melanoma

Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive and often lethal disease. In 2012, patient outcomes were poor after resection of high-risk stage II and III melanoma, and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has been implicated in melanoma progression. The phase III AVAST-M clinical trial (recruiting between 2007-2012) randomized patients with high risk melanoma to 1 year of adjuvant bevacizumab (anti-VEGF antibody) or observation. Patients treated with bevacizumab experienced superior disease-free survival (DFS), and BRAFV600E mutation was unexpectedly predictive of benefit. The aim in this project was to investigate this novel association between BRAFV600E and VEGF, based on the hypothesis that BRAFV600E melanomas are dependent on VEGF and more sensitive to its inhibition.
VEGF and CD31 expression were quantified in tissue microarrays (TMAs) and whole mount sections of AVAST-M melanomas. Although no differences were identified between BRAFV600E and wildtype (WT) tumours from TMAs, there was a trend towards higher VEGF and CD31 expression in BRAFV600E whole mounts. In three independent transcriptomic datasets including NanoString analysis of melanomas from the AVAST-M clinical trial, VEGF itself was not differentially expressed, but all identified receptor kinase ROR2 as overexpressed in BRAFV600E melanomas. Differential ROR2 expression was confirmed in a BRAFV600E/WT isogenic melanoma model. ROR2 expression decreased with pharmacological MEK inhibition, supporting regulation by MAPK signalling. In vitro, ROR2 expression associated with invasive and proliferative phenotypes, with novel evidence that ROR2 regulates VEGF secretion in BRAFV600E mutant melanoma cells. The putative ROR2 ligand Wnt5a was also identified as regulated by MAPK signalling, and MEK inhibition of BRAFV600E mutant ROR2-overexpressing cells was shown to suppress Wnt5a expression and VEGF secretion. An exploratory transcriptomic analysis of bevacizumab treated BRAFV600E/WT isogenic melanoma xenografts identified gene expression changes in the tumour and stroma, that were mutually exclusive between BRAFV600E and WT tumours, both basally and after bevacizumab treatment, and included upregulation of ROR2 in the tumours and Wnt5a in the stroma of BRAFV600E xenografts. Finally, as a predictive biomarker in AVAST-M patient samples, patients with melanomas containing high ROR2 expression trended towards a prolonged DFS after treatment with bevacizumab. In summary, this work identifies Wnt5a-ROR2 signalling as upregulated in BRAF mutant melanomas, contributing to increased VEGF secretion and potentially also to bevacizumab response.
State of play. Play and game in 20th century political thought.
Keywords: Johan Huizinga
Game Theory; Game models
Reconceptualising Politics
20th Cent Political Thought
Play/Game

This dissertation aims to make a contribution to our understanding of the 20th century political theory of play. Particularly in the 20th century, play and game analogies become ever more influential in political theory. I suggest that what unites this ‘turn to play’ is the desire to develop a critique of and also an alternative to traditional models of political authority. In response, this thesis is organised around a comparative reading of four influential accounts of politics as play – which focus on play as a political activity, rather than simply using play as a metaphor for politics. Each account offers important lessons for politics as play activity – and taken together they offer a kaleidoscopic perspective on politics as play. However, in presenting these four accounts, the thesis highlights the importance of Johan Huizinga’s conception of politics as play, as a particular engagement with play that remains neglected by political theorists, yet which nevertheless provides vital insight for our understanding of the challenges of 21st century politics.
Ronald Reagan and race: The evolution of colour-blind conservatism
Keywords: American conservatism
twentieth century United States
colour-blind conservatism
racial politics
Ronald Reagan

Ronald Reagan was the most influential American conservative politician of the twentieth century. His name gave rise to an ‘era’ and his politics became an ‘ism’. His two sizable election victories in 1980 and 1984 were record-breaking, and yet, to African Americans his victories symbolised ‘Mourning in America’.
Historiography presents Reagan as the successor in a history of conservative antagonism toward civil rights progression. To some, his presidency represented the zenith of white backlash hostility. This thesis takes a more nuanced approach; seeking to understand the historical roots and development of Reagan’s ideological worldview regarding minority America. In tracing his ideological formulation from his college days in the 1930s, to the end of his presidency in 1989, we see the relationship between Reagan-conservatism and civil rights in a wholly new light.
Overturning our present understanding of Reagan as embodying the ‘white backlash’ narrative, this thesis argues that his vision of ‘colour-blind’ conservatism was a distinct historical tradition. Not only did Reagan fail to pursue the backlash politics of Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy, but he pulled conservatism in a different direction, fracturing the Republican Party. Reagan’s colour-blindness took a broad, universal approach in which the solution to America’s racial problems was to ignore race entirely. Consequently, Reagan opposed affirmative action, the expansion of welfare, and many of the Civil Rights reforms of the 1960s. Yet, as liberal consensus dramatically shifted during Lyndon Johnson’s presidency toward compensatory forms of justice along group-based lines, Reagan’s politics were left outdated and (to some) indefensible.
Bubble dynamics and regime transitions in two-phase flow
Keywords: two-phase flow

Two-phase flows comprise the concurrent flow of two fluids in different physical states. In this thesis we are are concerned with the flow of liquid and gas mixtures through a vertical pipe. Two-phase pipe-flows are categorised into flow regimes which describe the macroscopic geometries of the two fluids. Mathematical models are typically developed for specific flow regimes, and this leads to the study of the transition domain between regimes.
The underlying industrial motivation for the analysis of two-phase flows arises from oil wells. In Part I of this thesis we study a two-fluid model for vertical upwelling flow, and explicitly account for the exsolution of the dissolved gas as the pressure decreases along the well. We find that the application of Henry’s law for the dissolved gas concentration predicts a rapid transition to a foam, which is unexpected and non-intuitive. In order to study ways in which this rapid transition could be avoided, we examine rate-limiting non-equilibrium dynamics by incorporating nucleation and bubble growth dynamics in the two-phase model.
In Part II of this thesis we address the question of how to model the bubbly-to-slug flow regime transition. We develop a master equation to describe the evolution of bubble size and shape in a two-phase flow. The approach is based on the derivation of the Boltzmann equation which is generalised to allow for the description of coalescence and fragmentation. The model provides the foundation for further study of the mechanism of regime transition.
Translational potential of a novel osteoclast inhibitor, eliglustat, in myeloma bone disease
Keywords: eliglustat
glycosphingolipids
osteoclast
autophagy

Multiple myeloma is a fatal haematological malignancy, in which the majority of patients either present with or develop a destructive and debilitating osteolytic bone disease. The bone disease is characterised by an increase in osteoclastogenesis and by osteoblast suppression. Current treatments for MM bone disease include bisphosphonates and denosumab, both of which act to inhibit osteoclast formation and thus limit bone resorption. Recently the glycosphingolipid inhibitor miglustat was found to be effective in the treatment of myeloma bone disease. Eliglustat is small molecule drug that inhibits glucosylceramide synthase and is approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Gaucher's Disease. Patients with Gaucher’s disease have an increased risk of MM development, raising the possibility that this drug may be of benefit in MM. This thesis aimed to investigate the efficacy of eliglustat in myeloma bone disease in vivo, and to determine its mechanism of action.
Preliminary data revealed that treatment with eliglustat in a murine MM model reduced osteolytic bone lesion development, associated with a reduction in osteoclast number but no change in osteoblastic bone formation. Eliglustat was also found to be effective in reducing myeloma bone disease in both diet-induced obesity and ageing models of myeloma. The combination of eliglustat and the bisphosphonate, zoledronic acid, was found to have a greater effect to reduce myeloma bone disease than either agent alone, suggesting the potential for combination therapies that allow for dose reductions. Mechanistic studies demonstrated that Eliglustat is likely to inhibit OC formation via preventing degradation of TRAF3 in OC precursors. This could be achieved either by disrupting GSL integrity in the cell membrane or working as an autophagy inhibitor to exert its effect in OC by maintaining TRAF3 protein level.
Taken together, this project identifies a novel mechanism by which GSL inhibition impacts osteoclastogenesis and highlights the translational potential of eliglustat for the treatment of myeloma bone disease.
“A love-hate relationship”: Canadian laypeople’s construction of academic theories as diffusing innovations
Keywords: diffusion of research
diffusion
laypeople
theories

As the knowledge society paradigm and its emphasis on knowledge as socioeconomic capital grows, the importance of subtle, collective sharing of ‘blue skies’ academic theories is sidelined. Non-expert voices are largely marginalized in these discussions of what academic knowledge is or should be. In order to bridge gaps between academia and laypeople, and basic research and impact, this study explored how Canadian laypeople construed the popularity of academic theories across domains of physical sciences, social sciences, and the humanities, and related those perceptions to a novel measure of diffusion. An integrated mixed-methods research design was framed by a constructionist philosophy and a conceptual framework rooted in Diffusion of Innovations literature, re-conceptualizing academic theories as constructed innovations. Ninety academic theories were input into Google Trends, which provided data regarding the frequency with which Canadians searched theory terms. This was used as a measure of initial diffusion. Repertory grids were produced with the completion of online interviews with fifteen Canadian laypeople, which captured the qualities of academic theories that they understood as being related to popularity. Qualitative analyses revealed that Canadian laypeople had complex, mixed feelings about whether theories were beneficial or irrelevant. Cluster analyses identified themes of ‘the nature of discussion’, ‘benefits’, ‘acceptance of the best knowledge’, ‘explanation of something meaningful’, ‘understandability’, ‘physically verification’, ‘scientific proof’, ‘religious belief’, and ‘applied use’ as being used by laypeople to contrast the popularity of academic theories, the first three of which were most closely related to the initial diffusion of theories. Overall, the conceptual framework of innovations attributes from Diffusion of Innovations literature proved to be a fruitful application.
Characterisation of armour ceramics at the microstructural scale for modelling of impact
Keywords: Numerical simulation
Deformation and failure mechanisms
Ceramics
Microstructural characterisation
Micromechanical testing

The present DPhil thesis aims to provide new insights into the deformation and failure mechanisms of armour ceramics by carrying out experimental investigations at the microstructural scale, which can be integrated into numerical modelling to enhance its predictive capability for ceramic armour designs.
Grain size distributions of polycrystalline alumina with varying microstructures were characterised precisely by employing the method of digitising grain contours from SEM images. The experimental results were incorporated to develop an innovative algorithm for generating representative numerical microstructures, and to validate the numerical models via a novel method of virtual cross sectioning.
The effect of shear stresses on brittle failure of grain boundaries was investigated by measuring the strengths of grain boundaries of alumina in combined normal and shear loading. The contribution of the shear component was found to be significant, which overthrew known theories usually adopted in micromechanical modelling that assume otherwise.
Progress towards making reliable toughness measurements of individual microstructural components was made by allowing for, or avoiding the effect of focused ion beam (FIB) damage at notch roots through the following methods.
(a) Enabling stable crack growth allowed the stress intensity factor for crack propagation Kp to be measured reliably in Al2O3 and SiC. Kp measured in vacuum represented Kc, giving values of 2.8 MPa∙√m for a-plane sapphire. Kp measured in air was 1.8 MPa∙√m for both a- and m-plane sapphire, and 2.2 MPa∙√m for (1̅100) plane SiC. The value was reduced substantially by moisture-assisted subcritical crack growth (SCG) and was close to K0, with crack velocities on the scale of 10-8 m/s. Additionally, cyclic loading tests in vacuum demonstrated the self-healing of interfaces in alumina.
(b) Clarification of the extent of the effect of the implantation damage. First, a microstructural investigation of Ga+- and Xe+-FIB damage induced in Al2O3 and SiC exhibited the formation of amorphous and crystalline damaged layers, which were determined by the combination of ion species, target material and FIB settings. GaAlO3 particles and Xe bubbles were found in Al2O3 implanted by Ga+ and Xe+, respectively. Second, Ga+ and Xe+ implantation stresses (IS) were quantified in Al2O3, SiC and Si using a beam-curvature method, and were mostly on the scale of GPa. With increasing ion dose, while the Ga+ IS in Al2O3 and SiC remained compressive, Ga+ IS in Si and Xe+ IS in Al2O3 and SiC transited from compressive to tensile. For fracture toughness measurement, Ga+-FIB was recommended for notching all three materials investigated.
Bose gases in double-well potentials
Keywords: Bose-Einstein Condensates
Quantum Gases
Machine Learning

This thesis presents experimental results which utilise multiple-radiofrequency-dressed potentials as a method of confinement for cold atoms, and details progress towards investigations of the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of two-dimensional systems.
This work has demonstrated the matter-wave interference of Bose gases released from a double-well potential. We investigate the scaling of the matter-wave inteference fringe wavelength, verify the coherence of the experimental procedure, and demonstrate the controllability of the multiple-radiofrequency-dressed potentials to load a prescribed fraction of atoms into each potential well. Methods presented elsewhere were also used to produce two-dimensional Bose gases in the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless regime. We present a discussion of phase correlations in two-dimensional Bose gases, including their time-dependent behaviour as the system equilibrates following a quench.
Radiofrequency-dressed potentials are intrinsically state-selective, as we demonstrate through manipulations of a mixture of Rb-87 atoms in different hyperfine states within a double-well potential. This can be used to implement species-selective potentials and is a promising architecture for future experiments concerning impurity physics. We find this mixture to be long-lived in the radiofrequency-dressed potential, in stark contrast to recent experiments on this apparatus, in which mixtures of radiofrequency-dressed Rb-87 and Rb-85 were found to suffer from very fast inelastic loss.
Furthermore, we describe the application of machine learning methods to optimise the experimental sequence, in particular the stages of laser cooling and evaporative cooling which are necessary to achieve a quantum gas. We compare several machine learning methods, including Artificial Neural Networks and Gaussian Process regression, and determine experimental parameters which have the strongest influence on the desired outcome. We focus our efforts initially on producing Bose-Einstein condensates with very large atom numbers, although we later highlight the versatility of this method by improving other metrics, such as sequence repetition rate or the final temperature of the gas.