VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Goddesses in Ramessid Egypt: representations of gender and gendered agency in the divine sphere
Keywords: visual anthropology
private tomb decoration
private stelae
built environment
small temple Abu Simbel
gender anthropology
textual studies
gender theory
gendered agency
agency
visual culture studies
ancient religion
spatial analysis
anthropology of art
Great Hypostyle Hall Karnak
memphite necropolis
temple decoration
gendered representation
Temple of Seti I Abydos
art history
iconography
two-dimensional representation
Theban Necropolis

The gendered representation of goddesses has received little explicit analysis within Egyptology. Studies of goddesses have tended to focus on materials associated with particular deities, and scholarly conversations surrounding gender have largely concerned the experiences of living people. However, the divine sphere is a very ‘real’ aspect of a culture’s social world; to only theorise gender processes among humans is to overlook an entire realm in which those processes might also be active. This thesis interrogates the gendered agency of goddesses in the Ramessid period, as materialised in their two-dimensional representations.
Analysis centres on the wall scenes of Theban and Memphite private tombs, and of three contemporaneous temple environments: the Small Temple of Abu Simbel, the temple of Seti I at Abydos, and the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak. Supporting examples are drawn from votive stelae. These sources were selected for their potential to visualise structures of gendered agency and status, and the opportunity they provide to observe those processes across regions and ritual contexts. A typology was created of the roles fulfilled by goddesses in such compositions, which together with methods of statistical description revealed patterns of agency both within monuments and across data sets. These patterns were then explored through the use of case studies.
The depiction of goddesses’ gendered agency is shown to vary according to the ritual function and focus of a space, with regional artistic preferences also playing a role. While goddesses can be prominent in certain contexts, they are frequently allocated secondary positions in hierarchies of status; the organisation of compositions, even of entire decorative programmes, can serve to reconcile female prominence with male primacy. However, it is also shown that this secondary position allows goddesses the space to exercise unique modes of agency and exhibit their own forms of representation.
The conception and formation of families among non-heterosexual women (lalas) in urban China 
Keywords: sexuality
cyberspace
inequality
gender
motherhood
family

This study examines the ways in which Chinese non-heterosexual women, who identify themselves as lalas, make sense of and form their families in urban China. It sheds new light on the complex interplay between structure and agency in lalas’ experiences of family formation, including those of pursuing motherhood, in a context where same-sex relationships remain stigmatized. Based on in-depth interviews with 35 lala-identified women, this study reveals lalas’ pursuit of agency in redefining who can be related to whom in their family-building processes and shows how and under what circumstances their strategies for forming female-led families reinforce or subvert established norms of gender, sexuality, and family. The findings also demonstrate the ways in which traditional and new beliefs about family ties, concerns about the stability of family life, and worries about later life come into play in lalas’ decision-making processes regarding whether and how to have children. Furthermore, by exploring lalas’ experiences of cyberspace, including their participation in both online and offline activities initiated by lala-targeted social networking sites and social media, this study shows how lalas use cyberspace to explore new meanings of family and ways of developing family life and yet constantly need to navigate tensions between their online and offline lives.
This study makes a distinctive contribution to a more nuanced and context-sensitive understanding of ongoing changes in family life within and beyond China. The findings highlight the importance of attending to the diversity of practices and meanings along different paths to family formation, which are interwoven with individuals’ continued struggles to navigate the gendered, familial, material, and socio-political constraints in their local context. Studying lalas’ family-building in China provides an important window into interlocking systems of inequality confronting people whose family aspirations and practices are considered deviant from the norm, and consequently are devalued or silenced.
Keeping the peace in a late-medieval polity. Conflict and collaboration in Bologna in the age of Dante (13th-14th centuries)
Keywords: Medieval violence
Medieval Europe
Medieval Italy
Peace-keeping
Medieval
Medieval peace-making
Medieval law
Medieval justice
Italian communes

My thesis investigates the dynamics which made it possible for the conflict-ridden polities of late communal-age Italy (c.1250-1350) to keep the peace and experience relative political stability, using Bologna and its surrounding countryside (contado) in c.1265-1307 as case study. The aim is to analyse the ways in which European and Mediterranean late-medieval polities could function in what was a period of unprecedented institutional and legal growth, but also one of deepening pluralism and rising inequality. By doing so, my thesis addresses a number of key debates linked to the study of this important historical period. These are the question of the relationship between the growth and development of polities and the control of ‘private’ violence; and the ways in which new administrative, legal, and judicial developments – but also the circulation of new intellectual ideas – affected the functioning of society and its internal power relations. As I argue, deeply divided late-medieval polities could actually achieve an internal balance which secured peaceful coexistence between enemy families and factions. During these periods, civic governments managed to carry out more or less coherent political programmes. This was not only the consequence of new advances in the fields of law , bureaucracy , and administration, but it was also – and mainly – possible thanks to formal and informal collaboration between different sections of society. In particular, I demonstrate the existence of a restricted network made of 161 elite urban families whose members appeared in a mediating capacity in thousands of disputes and in the most delicate conflicts. This system of peace-keeping also came at a cost, however, as it produced many side-effects and did not completely eradicate the problem of internecine divisions. The underlying argument is that the growth of public institutions around 1300 did not replace an older political system made of interpersonal relations but, rather, was built onto it.
Ulysses in cyberspace: examining the effectiveness of design patterns for digital self-control
Keywords: attention
self-regulation
distraction
ICT non-use
self-control
digital wellbeing

Instant access to information, entertainment, and connection enabled by smartphones and computers provides innumerable benefits, but also unprecedented opportunity for distraction. However, while technology companies have devoted enormous resources to keeping users 'hooked' on digital systems, little is known about how designers can best support people in regaining control over their digital device use.
This thesis argues that the emerging research into design patterns for digital self-control, which attempts to address this challenge, will benefit from (i) drawing on established psychological research on self-control, and (ii) using the existing landscape of apps and browser extensions for digital self-control on online stores as a resource for understanding potential design patterns and implementations.
To substantiate these arguments, the thesis proceeds in four steps: First, we adapt a well-established dual systems framework to the context of digital device use, to help explain the psychological mechanisms that underlie self-control struggles. Second, we investigate digital self-control tools (n = 367) on the Chrome Web, Google Play, and Apple App stores, by analysing their design features, user numbers, ratings, and reviews. Third, we present a controlled study of interventions for Facebook, drawn from popular tools on the Chrome Web store. Fourth, distilling findings from the previous steps, we present a workshop format intended as a research tool for long-term investigation of user struggles and solution strategies, to better understand and respond to the pervasive challenge of digital self-control. Throughout the thesis, we adopt open science practices and make our materials, data, and analyses publicly available.
The thesis concludes by arguing that future research should focus on design patterns that enable users to sculpt their digital environments such that the amount of - and motivational pull from - the information they are exposed to remain within a range that allows them to exert effective self-control without being overwhelmed by distractions.
Action potential alterations induced by single neuron mechanical loading
Keywords: patch-clamp
neuronal membrane mechanics
mechanoelectrical coupling
ultrasound neuromodulation
nanoindentation
neuronal action potential
neuron multiphysics

Since the 1940s, an extensive body of empirical evidence has been gathered about non-electrical alterations accompanying the voltage depolarisation of a neuron during the generation and propagation of an action potential (AP). The prevailing traditional electrochemical models do not account for these changes, and are as a result incomplete. At the same time, multiple research programmes have demonstrated how ultrasound (US) -a mechanical wave- can non-invasively and reversibly mechanically perturb neuronal functions. Strikingly, the mechanisms of action remain largely unknown.
In this framework, this thesis takes the approach to focus on single cell studies to better understand and exploit the multiphysics of the neuronal action potential and aims at studying the effects of direct mechanical loadings on the shape and dynamics of the neuronal signal. First, a multiphysics platform combining nanoindentation and patch clamp systems, assembled in an inverted microscope, is designed to simultaneously measure mechanical and electrophysiological properties of single neurons while imaging the cell morphology. The functionality of the setup is first used to provide a full characterisation of the neuronal cell line chosen here, i.e., dorsal root ganglion-derived cells, and then to quantify the alterations in the magnitude and dynamics of single neuron spontaneous APs before, during and after quasi-static and dynamic mechanical loadings over a wide range of frequencies (up to 1 MHz).
Quasi-static indentation tests show transiently smaller, wider and slower depolarising APs during compressions within the cell's linear viscoelastic regime, which translates in slower AP dynamics, as well as sustained hyperpolarised cells with longer repolarisation rates after the indentation. Dynamic loading results, instead, show narrower APs with shorter depolarisation and repolarisation phases, i.e., faster induced AP dynamics, at increasing frequencies, particularly for stimulations at around 1 MHz. In addition, results at this frequency are more evident after indentation, hinting at a cumulative or lagged effect of mechanical stimulation at US frequencies. These observations are attributed to the stiffening of the membrane and membrane cortex as a result of the mechanical oscillations, as well as potentially related phase state alterations. Taken together, these findings highlight the importance of mechanical cues in shaping the neuronal AP, and the often overlooked role of the membrane and its mechanical properties in determining cell functionality. In particular, the promoted faster AP dynamics that emerge after high frequency mechanical oscillations suggest a potential mechanism of US neuromodulation and support the assumption that direct mechanical cellular agitations induced by US stimulation protocols assist the observed neuromodulatory effects.
What are the brain specializations underlying human vocal control?
Keywords: white matter
quantitative neuroimaging
evolution
larynx
neuroanatomy
fMRI
sulcal morphology
speech

One uniquely human experience is our ability to communicate via speech and language. Specialized laryngeal motor control has been suggested to be a critical adaptation in the human brain that enabled speech. The aim of this thesis was to study the human brain specializations underlying laryngeal motor control and to study evolutionary principles of brain organization within the primate lineage. I investigated these questions using magnetic resonance imaging and comparative primate neuroanatomy.
To characterize the representations of the larynx in the human brain, I used anatomical and functional studies. First, I mapped the motor representations of the larynx and other effectors using fMRI. I designed a novel functional paradigm to isolate brain activity related to laryngeal activity during vocalization whilst controlling for breathing. Then, I characterized the cortical microstructure underlying the activated regions using structural and quantitative neuroimaging. The results revealed the existence of a dorsal larynx representation in primary motor cortex and a ventral larynx representation presumed to be in premotor cortex as indexed by lower cortical thickness and lower myelin content.
Next, I examined whether variability in cortical folding explains inter-individual variability in the location of the larynx representations. I provided a systematic description of the sulcal patterns in the central and subcentral region. I showed that the anterior subcentral sulcus typically consists of two distinct segments, as opposed to being one continuous sulcus as previously described in a brain atlas. I demonstrated a tight link between morphological landmarks in the central and subcentral region and functional activation maxima for several movement types. This result indicates that inter-individual variability in brain morphology might have contributed to controversies and inconsistent reports in the case of the ventral larynx representation.
Furthermore, I set out to dissociate different scenarios of cortical brain reorganization during primate evolution. Using a surface-based cross-species registration, I studied if changes to the relative location of brain areas and cortical expansions went hand in hand with changes to connectivity profiles. The registration was based on homologous maps of cortical myelin in humans, chimpanzees and macaques to model local cortical expansions and relocations of brain areas. Then we applied this registration to surface tract maps of a set of homologous white matter tracts. Our results demonstrated that several tracts can be predicted well by cortical expansion and relocation, but that the arcuate fasciculus underwent additional evolutionary modifications affecting the temporal lobe connectivity pattern.
Burnout market feminism: urban Chinese businesswomen in the internet age
Keywords: Burnout
China
Xiaojiang Li
Businesswomen
Burnout Market Feminism
Feminism
Internet
E-commerce
Byung-Chul Han
Market Feminism
Chinese Feminism
Female Entrepreneur

Based on a one-year multi-sited ethnography with businesswomen in Shenzhen and Hefei and three-years' working experiences in an online educational platform economy, this thesis makes two main contributions. Theoretically, by using my concept of burnout market feminism, it unravels the puzzle of why women in China thrive in business in the Internet age during a state crackdown on feminism. Burnout market feminism is a critical theoretical combination of Chinese feminist Li Xiaojiang’s market feminism and Korean-German cultural theorist Han Byung-Chul’s Burnout Society. While Li's market feminism contributes the Chinese local perspective with empowerment and contexts at its centre to allow gendered subjectivities and solidarity to burgeon from the market, Han warns us that the Internet age has made us voluntarily self-exploit and burn out. In short, women burn out for market feminism. Empirically, it demonstrates the multiplicities and nuances of businesswomen's lived experiences and negotiations with patriarchy in different social-culture locations. Businesswomen’s negotiation with patriarchy in the Internet age is shaped by the intersectionality of place, gender, age, class and migration trajectory. I compare business ideas, business practices and especially in terms of the well-researched male-centred guanxi practices, and intimacy as well as family practices in three different groups of women. In doing so, I avoid a yes or no monolithic answer to questions such as “are women empowered by the Internet?” and show instead nuanced diversified presences of my interlocutors empowered by their materialistic advancements.
Are audio-files a more useful methods for providing feedback?
Keywords: MLT2020
MLT

The aim of this research project was to see if audio-files are a more useful way of providing feedback to students in a secondary school setting compared with the researcher’s standard form of written feedback. Feedback is a crucial part of the learning process and should always aim to be as useful as possible. Clarity and precision are the two key parameters used in this research to ensure feedback is useful and easily understandable. The literature emphasises there is a lack of knowledge with understanding student perspectives when receiving feedback, especially with regards to receiving audio-files. This research hopes to provide more evidence towards the usefulness of audio-file feedback at secondary school level. A class of Year 9 Geography students completed three GCSE style 8 mark questions and subsequently received both written and audio-file feedback. Student views on audio-files were gathered through group interviews; teacher views were collected through an online questionnaire. The data collected from these qualitative methods were analysed through a coding process which led to particular themes being identified. The principle finding that 78% of students valued the audio-files and believed them to be more useful compared with the written feedback. The recordings provided more detail and the verbal nuances added greater clarity. The remaining students preferred written feedback because they could see the comments written down. Teachers found audio-files to be useful and highlighted how recordings sped up the feedback process together with providing a personalised piece of feedback.
The electrochemical leaf: driving and observing nanoconfined enzyme cascades
Keywords: NADP(H) recycling
Biosensor
Nanoconfinement
Enzyme cascades
Biocatalysis
Artificial Photosynthesis
Electrochemistry

The co-localisation of cooperating enzymes within nanozones is crucial in biological catalytic processes to ensure fast and efficient catalysis. The Electrochemical Leaf is a novel electrode which mimics that principle. Entrapping two cooperating enzymes, Ferredoxin NADP+ reductase (FNR) and a NADPH-dependent dehydrogenase, within the nanopores of an Indium-Tin-Oxide (ITO) electrode produces a massive catalytic enhancement. Upon application of a small potential FNR catalyses the interconversion of NADP+/NADPH, while the NADP(H)-dependent dehydrogenase uses the produced cofactor to catalyse the oxidation or reduction of a substrate. By nanoconfining the two catalysts the effective concentration of the enzymes is greatly increased, and diffusion distances of the cofactor minimized. The system makes it possible to drive and monitor complex biotransformations. This Thesis shows that by incorporating the NADPH-dependent Malic Enzyme (ME), the resulting electrode, (FNR+ME)@ITO/Support, is able to drive reductive CO2 incorporation into pyruvate (C3) forming malate (C4). The favourable catalysis within the electrode pores allows for the design of a system which mimics biological oxygenic photosynthesis by incorporating a PEC-PV system with a photoanode in conjunction with a 0.5 V Silicon solar cell. For the first time the Electrochemical Leaf was exploited to drive multi-enzyme cascade reactions where the overall rate is measured directly as an electric current through the FNR-NADPH-dependent dehydrogenase couple. As a proof of concept, the reversible amination of pyruvate (C3) to L-aspartate (C4) was investigated by entrapping FNR, ME, carbonic anhydrase, fumarase and L-aspartate ammonia lyase. The Electrochemical Leaf can be coupled to any natural or artificial multienzyme cascade provided one enzyme is NAD(P)(H) dependent. The implications are numerous for synthesis, biosensing and fundamental investigation of systems catalysis.
Development of a post-16 feedback policy: Staff and student perceptions
Keywords: MLT
MLT2020

Feedback can be considered one of the key strategies for improving student achievement. While much focus has been given to effective feedback strategies, an area of increasing focus is students’ perceptions of the feedback they receive, as it is suggested that without positive perceptions, feedback will not be fully utilised. This study aimed to introduce a post-16 feedback policy. The policy was developed collaboratively within the school, incorporating staff and student perceptions of feedback, as well as building on good practice, as outlined by the literature. As a mixed methods investigation, staff and student perceptions were gathered by quantitative questionnaires, with the intention of developing more detailed views through the use of interviews. The study found that students’ perceptions of feedback were largely positive, and that the introduction of the policy resulted in an increase in these positive views, although the majority of these changes were not statistically significant. One area in which a significant difference was found, was between male and female students’ perceptions of feedback, particularly relating to its usefulness and its perceived importance. This is an area that has not been identified by other studies and may warrant further investigation. In contrast to existing literature, alignment was found between staff and student perceptions regarding the provision of the feedback, and the extent to which students utilise it. Staff perceptions of feedback can be considered important, as increased workload, relating to feedback, can be a barrier to implementation. This study found that workload was minimally impacted by the introduction of the feedback policy. However, low staff perceptions of the benefits of this policy, and the changes to feedback practices, may have resulted in limited engagement with the policy.