VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Cross-linguistic influence among Chinese learners of English (L2) and German (L3)
Keywords: third language acquisition
word order
language transfer
cross-linguistic influence

Chinese, English and German have different word orders. The word order in English and Chinese is largely Subject-Verb-Object (SVO). However, the Chinese word order is more flexible, so Chinese sentences are sometimes presented as Subject-Object-Verb (SOV). The SVO order is simpler than the verb second (V2) word order system in German, which requires one of other fragments to exist before the verb in a sentence to ensure that the verb always occurs in the second position in the sentence (In subordinate clauses in German, the verb position does not fulfil the verb second rule). As such, the word order of the three languages is sometimes identical, sometimes completely different, and sometimes pairwise similar. This study aimed to investigate the effects of Chinese as a first language (L1) and English as a second language (L2) on Chinese learners’ acquisition of the German word order. 30 sentences with different word orders across the three languages were selected for a set of novel multiple-choice tasks, during which participants had to choose the correct option to make the sentence having the correct word order. The task was completed by 27 undergraduate students (L1 Chinese, L2 English, L3 German) who majored in German studies and had English learning experience before attending university. The results showed that participants’ knowledge of both Chinese and English had a positive effect on the acquisition of German word order and that the participants’ L2 and L3 proficiency levels were not correlated with their performance in the L3 word order tasks and their L2 and L3 proficiency levels were not correlated neither. Based on these findings, it is believed that when the L1 and L2 word order is the same, participants do not tend to generalise this pattern to the L3 regardless of how proficient in their background languages they are.
The activation of phonological representations in Cantonese-English bilingual young adults with different levels L2 proficiency
Keywords: ALSLA2023
ALSLA

This study delves into the contentious issue of lexical activation and access in bilinguals, primarily focusing on whether the process is selective or nonselective. Selective activation means that only one of the two language systems in a bilingual individual is activated while processing. Conversely, nonselective activation means both language systems are activated simultaneously. While previous research largely supports the nonselective hypothesis, the roles of second language (L2) proficiency and the influence of different language scripts remain largely unexplored.
To elucidate these aspects, the study involved 42 Cantonese-English bilinguals, a less investigated demographic and employed a phonological relatedness judgement task, a seldom-used approach. Findings revealed that neither the direction of language priming nor the use of different scripts significantly influenced the participants’ reaction times. However, the script and direction of priming markedly impacted accuracy rates, providing new insights into cross-script bilingual word recognition. These results offer a deeper understanding of bilingual lexical access and carry significant educational and theoretical implications such as teaching English as a second language for Cantonese-English bilinguals, the awareness on the education of Jyutping and theories of bilingual language processing such as the BIA+ model.
Was your university worth it? - comparing expectations and aspirations of university graduates
Keywords: university name value
higher education
human capital
educational aspiration
education degree
educational motivation
educational expectation
HE2023
university admission
university ranking
university

Education in South Korea has been carrying a deeper significance then a dissemination of knowledge. Both historically and culturally education has been profoundly intricated with socioeconomic value that receiving education itself even entailed certain social class significance. Such value of education created a separate socio-educational class, called hakbeol, which is still rampant in the modern Korean society (Jung, 2014). Particularly after the Korean War in 1953, the role of education extended to being an anecdote to various social ill, from uniting the divided nation to reconstructing the destructed economy (Kim, 2004). Naturally such extended role of education was also re-shaping the meaning of HE and HEI as well. The values of education, HE, and HEI are socially recognized and, thus, are well-known. However, whether HE and HEI, specifically of undergraduate level, are appropriately fulfilling its role is remaining unanswered, which this research seeks to answer.
This dissertation utilised semi-structured interviews with 17 participants to analyse aspiration and expectation participants had before university and after attending a Korean university. By examining how interviewees had prepared for university, what, and why, the study analyses what kind of aspiration participants incorporated pre-entrance to university and how the aspirations are shaped.
The majority of participants claimed they had economic aspiration before entering university. Expecting HEIs to guarantee graduate premium either through HC or Signaling, participants were aspiring to have their life preparation completed with the entrance to university. Some participants (3 out of 17) noted they had no expectation before entering university.
However, HEI was not an ending for their employment preparation, but, in fact a new beginning, a steppingstone. Due to such disparity in the degree of universities financial assurance, participants experienced a reality hit that led to psychological voidness, or even to depression. Therefore, in investigating the role of HEIs in contemporary Korea through the perspective of those who had experienced university, HEIs is serving as an employability shaping institution either by knowledge or its name value.
'Smart' colonialism: a case study of international students' (from non-native English-speaking countries) perspective and experience of navigating 'smart campus' features at Oxford University
Keywords: smart campus
digital transformation
power
Oxford
digital education
international students

This thesis is a study of power. More specifically, it investigates the forms and operations of power that can be observed in ‘smart campus’ projects in UK higher education, which promises to improve the student experience with more inclusive and innovative digital infrastructure systems.
A case study of Oxford University is taken to explore its Digital Transformation Programme (DTP), supported by the Digital Education Strategy 2023-2027, which provides a strategic policy to advance learning and research, and the digital technologies that enable access and participation. The purpose of this research is twofold: to examine the extent to which Oxford University is mobilising ‘smart campus’ imaginaries to create data-driven, coded spaces that have the effect of sculpting particular kinds of educational values and practices; and how these features are experienced by international students—an important yet often overlooked group who rely on ‘smart’ applications to overcome social and cultural barriers, and at the same time, find themselves increasingly subject to technology’s racial and imperialist power relations. For such a group, questions of the future of education—and of social justice and equality more generally—are of vital importance to be addressed.
Through the collection of institutional documents and statistics, relational maps, and semistructured interviews with international students, faculty members, and DTP consultants, a core finding of the research suggests that when it comes to the use and development of ‘smart campus’ features for international students, there are considerable ambiguity, contradiction, and unease among participants as to what this looks like, and the principles and practices that undergird these systems. Drawing on Foucault’s critical concept of the dispositif and decolonial theories, the thesis argues that a colonial gaze guides initiatives to create ‘smarter’ universities in ways that, despite its modernist rhetoric of transformation, continue an oppressive history of counting, categorising, and governing Others.
This research attempts to make sense of the long-term consequences of ‘smart campus’ projects in both masking and deepening social inequalities; and thus, engages with alternative ways of imagining the future of education that represents, liberates, and places social justice within a wider and historical field of power relations.
Investigating checkpoint inhibitor-induced gastrointestinal disease: comparisons with idiopathic ulcerative colitis and health
Keywords: inflammatory bowel disease
checkpoint inhibitors
immunotherapy
colitis

In the last decade, immunotherapy with anti-PD1 and anti-CTLA4 drugs has revolutionized the treatment of metastatic cancer. A significant proportion of patients given these checkpoint inhibitors develop off-target inflammation in the colon (checkpoint inhibitor-induced colitis, CC). Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a well-characterized multisystem disorder, propagated by a combination of barrier defects, immune dysfunction and a disordered microbiome, all on a background of genetic susceptibility. The underlying mechanisms of both checkpoint inhibitor-induced colitis and ulcerative colitis remain poorly understood, with a significant proportion of patients failing therapy. Using clinical data, next-generation single-cell RNA sequencing, unbiased spatial transcriptomics and organoid model systems, we elucidate clinically relevant patterns of cellular behaviour across blood, epithelium, stroma and immune populations. We describe and characterize novel disease-specific cell populations and cellular interactions in tissue ‘microdomains’ with functional relevance. Our work has implications for therapeusis as well as puts forward a new approach for identifying drug-bound cells in vivo.
New reagents and reactions for the synthesis of sulfinates and their aza-analogues
Keywords: photochemistry
sulfur dioxide
sulfur
sulfinates
sulfinamides
sulfurdiimides
sulfinylamines
radical chemistry

The work in this thesis documents several advances in the synthesis of S(VI) functional groups. The methods reported in this work have a focus on the reaction of radicals with sulfur dioxide and its aza-analogues to prepare S(IV) products, which can then be exploited to prepare a broad selection of S(VI) products. Furthermore, studies were carried out into the preparation of reagents that can generate reactive sulfinylamines in situ, and these were used in a variety of reactions. Finally, we were able to prepare novel sulfurdiimide reagents, and we were able to demonstrate the use of these reagents in the preparation of challenging aza-sulfur functional groups.
Chapter 1 is a literature review covering the properties, applications and synthesis of sulfur functional groups. The chemistry of sulfur dioxide surrogates, sulfinylamines and sulfurdiimides is also reviewed.
Chapter 2 describes the development of a novel method for the synthesis of alkyl sulfinates and their derivatives utilising alkyl radical addition to sulfur dioxide surrogates. This method utilises Katritzky pyridinium salts as alkyl radical precursors, which can be prepared from readily-available primary amines.
Chapter 3 describes the preparation of sulfinamide products via decarboxylative radical addition to sulfinylamine reagents and their use in the preparation of S(VI) products. This method was applied to sulfinylhydroxylamines in order to prepare N-alkoxysulfinamides, which were subsequently used to prepare sulfonamide and sulfonimidamide products.
Chapter 4 describes the application of trans-sulfinylation to prepare sensitive sulfinylamines in situ. This was used in combination with our previously-developed decarboxylative reaction conditions to prepare diverse N-alkylated sulfinamide products.
Chapter 5 describes studies towards the development and application of benchstable sulfinylamine reagents or sulfinylamine surrogates to support the use of existing methods and enable the development of new methods utilising hydrolytically-sensitive electron-poor sulfinylamines.
Chapter 6 describes studies towards the development of synthetic routes towards new sulfurdiimide reagents and demonstrates their reaction with alkyl radicals or organometallic reagents to prepare challenging aza-sulfur products.
Chapter 7 presents conclusions to our research and potential future directions of study.
Chapter 8 presents experimental data.
In the spirit of engagement: memories and the sensorium in Algonquin canoe building
Keywords: cultural heritage
ancestral memory
material engagement theory (MET)
algonquin first nations

This project develops cross-cultural ontologies of memory that are explored dynamically through multimodal sensory pathways. Considering the vast and varying theories on memory, the near universal adoption of storage-and-retrieval metaphors, such as the memory trace, which posits that memories are embodied ‘inside’ in our central nervous system or embedded ‘out there’ in our material environment, remains problematic. Using Material Engagement Theory (MET) as an experimental research model in cognitive archaeology, I conduct collaborative ethnographic fieldwork building birch bark canoes with the Algonquin First Nations. Together we investigate the mnemonic flow that occurs between sensing bodies and living geographies. I propose the possibility that the human mind may possess underdeveloped sensory pathways involved in the transmission of transgenerational memories and the recovery of long-lost wisdoms. I excavate the sensorium through the archaeoacoustics of forest listening to uncover the ways in which memories are deeply sedimented in the sonic worlds of nature. With the helpful concept of mimesis, this ethnography encourages multiple forms of listening, where natural sounds are fully canvased for what they are capable of teaching us about how to live. An examination of the haptic dimensions of the mocataugan (crooked knife) presents a compelling case for how material inheritances provide sensuous similarities that cohabite past and present moments of our cognitive becoming. These sensory attunements challenge the popular belief that memories are imprinted and stored. The ethnographic findings suggest ancestral memories are imminent, temporally persistent, actively participating and ready-at-hand to be enacted through our material engagements and our skillful dealings with the world. Understanding the ways traditional territory and natural resources sustain cultural memory over vast periods of time is of vital importance to the Algonquin. This research encourages us to think about how to sensibly take our place in the larger ecology of mind that sustains us and is increasingly under considerable strain.
Navigating middle grounds: transforming educational spaces through collaborative pedagogy inspired by Puerto Rican's battles against 'juvenicides'

Keywords: teacher-student relationship
CIE
CIE2023
spatial structure of schooling
collaborative learning

This Participatory Action Research (PAR), led by a group of students and teachers from Puerto Rico, explores the pressing issue of juvenicides and how schools can serve as a space for collaborative reflection on broader social issues. Most academic studies of PAR and Collaborative Pedagogy concentrate on working with students or teachers individually. Rather than focusing solely on students or teachers, this research proposes and implements a collaborative pedagogy where we work together to transform educational spaces.
Through critical dialogue and online group meetings, the concept of middle ground (the in-between spaces) that we navigate while conducting research and navigating our schools is analysed, shedding light on the importance of questioning the spatial dimension of our educational practices. This study is part of the ongoing transformation we aim to see in our education system.
The validity of this research is not in its replicability but in how it produces a praxis (reflection and action) of the co-researcher, and its implications for our practice in schools and research. As an outcome of our critical dialogues and vivencias, the “Guide for a Collaborative Pedagogy: transforming our learning spaces” emerges, providing a roadmap for transforming the educational spaces we inhabit.
Quantum treatment of ultra-low loss electron energy loss spectroscopy with applications to molecular crystals
Keywords: density functional theory (DFT)
molecular crystals
electron energy loss spectroscopy
spectroscopy
ultra low loss
condensed matter
dipole
quantum

Continual advancements of experimental hardware for electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) - a material characterisation technique grounded in electron scattering - has opened up the avenue for studying vibrational excitations, as energy resolutions are now able to reach down to ~ 5meV. Although optical methods such as Infrared and Raman spectroscopy can be used to study phonon vibrations, EELS paired with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) has the advantage of superior spatial resolution, making it an attractive alternative. An electron beam that is off-sample (aloof mode) reduces the sample beam damage, an attractive technique for better investigations of sensitive, organic molecular crystals such as pharmaceutical products.
In this thesis, the commonly used theoretical derivations of ultra-low loss EELS are reviewed. Their shortcomings are identified, and an improved quantum formalism congruous with molecular crystals is presented. This modified ‘dipole’ theory dominates in magnitude over the current quantum treatment for aloof beam EELS, and is demonstrated to show improved relative intensity predictions for the molecular crystal of beta-guanine. It successfully distinguishes between two polymorphs of quinacridone, and reasonably quantifies the relative peak intensities. We also apply our theory to the bulk crystal of boron subphosphide by evaluating its performance over the other theoretical methods. These calculations require material properties determined from first principles using density functional theory, which will be expanded upon in the thesis.
Animal objects? - Acknowledging the moral limits of property law
Keywords: medical law
animal law
legal personhood
animal rights
property law

At present, animals are categorised as objects in law, whereas humans are categorised as subjects. Animals have or they are capable of having human property rights accrue in them and, as such, they are treated only as being instrumentally valuable. This is in contrast to the inherent value recognised in the human context. The law has conflated a human/animal dualism with the subject/object distinction in property law. The aim of this thesis is to consider the relationship between subjecthood and objecthood through a study of the status of animals. In doing so, I challenge the longstanding and pervasive assumption in traditional property theory and practice that animals are properly regarded as property objects. This thesis brings together the core fundamental aspects of the concept of property, highlighting that one of the fundamental features is that it contains a moral limitation. At present, this moral limitation prevents humans from being treated as property objects, doing so by recognising their subjecthood. Thus, I posit that the moral limit of property is the concept of subjecthood. I conduct a study of the attribution of subjecthood to humans and extract four key elements, which I term the “irreducible core”, that forms the basis of that recognition. I move on to examining whether the attribution of subjecthood only to humans, and thus the present moral limit of property, is morally consistent and justifiable. In concluding that it is not, I propose a new theory of subjecthood or personhood that draws from existing legal principles – centring the importance of the irreducible core but conceiving of it and applying it non-anthropocentrically to be inclusive of all humans and other animals. In proposing this new theory of personhood, I argue that the moral limitation of property should be reimagined – recasting animals as subjects and removing them from the property paradigm as objects.
Immunogenomic analysis of the tumour microenvironment
Keywords: TAM
tumour microenvironment
TME
tumour associated macrophage
immunotherapy
hypoxia
single cell sequencing
breast cancer

Immune signatures are important tools to investigate the prognostic significance and therapeutic possibilities of different immune populations in the context of the tumour microenvironment (TME). Accompanied by the wealth of cancer transcriptomic data, many immune signatures have been developed using different samples, technologies, and methods. But there has been limited effort to comprehensively assess these tools in cancer, especially in the context of macrophage signatures.
In this study, I first exanimated the performance of six bioinformatic immune dissection tools (Chapter 3). I conducted in-depth comparisons on two of the most comprehensive and methodologically distinctive tools (CIBERSORT and xCell) in 33 different cancer types across the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). The effort identified high agreements on five immune subsets and an unexpected positive relationship between the theoretically polarized M1 and M2 signatures. Subsequently, I assessed the impact of tumour hypoxia on infiltrating immune cells (Chapter 4), since hypoxia is a hallmark of the immunosuppressive microenvironment. I uncovered a reciprocal relationship between tumour hypoxia and the stromal contents within the breast cancer TME.
In the work concerned with tumour associated macrophage (TAM) (Chapter 5), I systematically compared 16 different ex vivo and in vivo derived macrophage signatures. This comparison indicated these macrophage signatures have high divergence and the ex vivo derived signatures were not representative of TAMs in breast cancer. Following this, I derived a new independent TAM signature from single-cell data, which featured lipid metabolism and lysosomal activities. I further refined and improved this signature using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO). Using the refined TAM signature, I demonstrated the lipid-associated macrophages were immunosuppressive, enriched in aggressive HER2-enriched and Basal-like subtypes, and associated with poor prognoses across breast cancer subtypes. Therefore, this lipid-associated TAM could be a promising target in breast cancer.