VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The manuscript and print contexts of older Scots romance
Keywords: manuscript and print contexts
Older Scots literature
Older Scots and Middle English romance

This thesis is a study of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century manuscript and print contexts of Older Scots romance. Building on recent developments in Middle English romance scholarship and Older Scots book history, it seeks to contextualise the surviving corpus of Older Scots romances in light of their unique material witnesses and contemporary cultural milieu.
Chapters 1 to 8 focus respectively on the following Older Scots romances: the Octosyllabic Alexander, the Buik of King Alexander the Conquerour, Florimond, Lancelot of the Laik, King Orphius and Sir Colling, Golagros and Gawane and Rauf Coilȝear, the Scottish Troy Book, and Clariodus. The conclusion assesses and evaluates the most significant and recurring features of these chapters and reveals how they cumulatively deepen our understanding of the book-producing and book-owning culture of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Scotland. The conclusion also looks forward to new witness- conscious editions of Older Scots romance that endeavour to represent as far as possible a text’s unique and idiosyncratic manuscript and print contexts.
  In each chapter I examine the set romance’s primary contexts of composition, including authorship, date, and first audience, as well as its secondary publication contexts. A full palaeographical, codicological and bibliographical description of each manuscript and print is provided, with details of when, where and by whom each witness was produced. Information about when and where that witness was read is also given, with details of the owners and readers where known. Significant attention is paid to the use of titles, rubrication and mise-en-page to reveal the trends and bibliographical codes in copying and presentation. Where appropriate, the compilation choices made by scribes and readers are also analysed. Careful assessments of these are shown to aid modern thematic and comparative literary interpretation.
Most notably, each chapter of this thesis also provides much-needed new information about fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Scottish literary communities. Several significant and often-overlapping circles of scribes, readers and owners are revealed. The familial, professional and geographical associations between these groups of producers and consumers are traced and consequently new book- publishing and book-owning networks are documented. In further original work, a number of hitherto unknown texts, scribes and readers are also successfully identified.
CD161+ Gamma Delta T-cells in health and liver disease
Keywords: Gamma delta T-cells
CD161

CD161 γδ T-cells have been implicated in the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis however their role in health and chronic liver disease requires further exploration.
In health, the majority of γδ T-cells expressed CD161 – a C-type lectin, and predominantly expressed the Vδ2 chain. The CD161+ γδ T-cells demonstrated a Th1-like pattern, expressing IFN-γ, TNF-α and Granzymes/Perforin when compared to the CD161- subset. The CD161+ γδ T-cells also expressed CCR6 and IL-18R thus also displaying a Th17-like pattern. These cells were also found in the lamina propria in the gut and rapidly expanded in the 1st few weeks of life in the periphery.
On gene array analysis, there were 409 genes expressed on the CD161+ γδ T-cells when compared to their CD161-ve counterparts including those coding for β2 receptors, CCL20, Acetycholinesterase, CCR1 and IL-18R. A potential clinical correlation to cardiac diseases was found when the upregulated genes were analysed. When the CD161+ γδ and CD161+ αβ T-cell populations were compared via gene-array, an association with a risk variant for coeliac disease was found. Thus in health, CD161+ γδ T-cells are not only a distinct subset of T-cells (confirmed by a FACS approach and gene array methods), but also the expression of CD161 may be linked to common genetic signals downstream in cell processes and disease pathogenesis, irrespective of T-cell subset population.
In chronic liver disease there was a significant reduction in the periphery of CD161+ γδ T-cells in patients with chronic Hepatitis C (HCV) and an increase in patients with Primary Biliary Cirrhosis and Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis when compared with healthy individuals. The CD161+ γδ T-cells appeared to be of a different phenotype in HCV infection. There was no overall significant localisation into of CD161+ γδ T-cells patients with chronic liver disease or specifically in HCV infection. There was however a CD161+ γδ T-cell enrichment in the liver in patients with Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver disease. The CD161+ γδ T-cells were also found in Hepatocellular Carcinoma tissue.
Overall it appears the CD161+ γδ T-cells are indeed a unique subset, playing a distinct role in health, as part of an early innate response, but also potentially involved in disease pathogenesis.
Suspense in the English novel from Jane Austen to Joseph Conrad
Keywords: detective
structuralism
Dickens
suspense
Victorian
narrative
whodunit
recognition
anagnorisis
romance
Austen
Hardy
Aristotle
mystery
Conrad
Barthes
novel

Because of critical neglect, there is no established terminology to describe techniques of suspense. Borrowing from Aristotle, Koestler, and others, a new body of concepts is suggested and importantly, a distinction of tense is established, between types of suspense which relate to the narrative past, present, and future. The classical world's intuition of a connection between mental uncertainty and the physical state of hanging has conditioned Western man's notion of narrative suspense until a comparatively recent date. Eighteenth-century theories of the sublime helped to create an understanding that suspense was not necessarily painful. Through an analysis of novels by Jane Austen, George Eliot, Dickens, Hardy, and Conrad, an attempt is made to identify and evaluate the most common suspense strategies in the period's popular genres, notably the Austenian romance, mystery, and tragedy. The Austenian romance is compared to the detective story in that narrative presentation is determined by the need to control the reader's expectations, and to achieve an ending which is both satisfactory and surprising. The latter requirement may have contributed to the gradual disappearance of the authorial "voice" in the course of the nineteenth century, and a consequent reduction in the pleasures of irony and comedy. During the Victorian period, many genres are combined in the long novel, but mystery gradually advances in popularity and sophistication, to the point where narrative events are often inappropriately exploited as secrets. Tragedy involves a creative conflict between the reader's hopes and expectations, so he is permitted to glimpse the overall tragic process, and suspense is generated on the levels of theme and causaliy. The problems incurred by an inability or unwillingness to conclude structures of theme suspense are considered finally.
Essays in econometrics and forecasting
Keywords: Econometrics
Panel Data
Panel Cointegration
Trade elasticities
Forecasting

Whether we would like to model imports and exports, or forecast inflation, structural variation in an economy frequently causes problems. This thesis examines such variation in two dimensions: first, in a cross-section of individuals, and secondly, over time. A panel of manufacturing industries in several developed countries reveals that there is substantial variation across sectors, in the response of trade to changes in prices and incomes. Ignoring this heterogeneity can render conventional results biased and inconsistent, so a number of robust methods are used to obtain reliable estimates of long-run and short-run trade relationships. The findings point to common behaviour across sectors, which could be due to similarities in technology.
The impact of structural breaks over time is examined in the second part of the thesis. Unpredictable shifts in deterministic terms such as the mean of a process are shown to generate significant forecast failure, and even the methods used to evaluated forecast accuracy are affected. Using the Kullback-Leibler discrepancy to measure the size of forecast errors, various robust mechanisms are discussed, that do not fail systematically after a break. Although they can provide a degree of insurance if a shift does occur, this comes at a cost if there is no change, and in the presence of measurement error they can exacerbate the uncertainty surrounding a forecast. An empirical illustration with a model of UK money demand provides some support for the automatic correction mechanisms, although there does seem to be a role for direct modeling of a break process.
High resolution microwave spectroscopic studies of hydrates of carboxylic acids
Keywords: high resolution microwave spectroscopy
carboxylic acid
hydrate
ab initio calculation
molecular internal dynamics
structure

This thesis studies the monohydrate, dihydrate and in some cases, trihydrate of five carboxylic acids, namely acetic acid, propanoic acid, T-difluoroacetic acid, Gdifluoroacetic acid and trifluoacetic acid using the technique of Fourier tranform microwave spectroscopy. The rotational and centrifugal distortion constants of these hydrates were determined with high accuracy. Ab initio calculations were also performed to locate the different conformational minima of the hydrates and to optimize their structures. Comparison of the ab initio predicted rotational and centrifugal distortion constants with the experimentally observed values allows us to determine the structures of the global minimum conformations of the various hydrates without ambiguity.
Hydrogen-bonded ring structures are found to be the predominant feature in all observed hydrates. In this structural arrangement, all the hydrogen bonds formed are located in the same ring, and the cooperativity effect between them significantly strengthens each hydrogen bond, as suggested by the sharp increase of their binding energies in the larger hydrates. The fine and hyperfine splittings observed in the specrum were also successfully analyzed, which allows information on the dynamics of the intramolecular large amplitude tunnelling motions to be extracted explicitly.
In the final part of this thesis, the equilibrium constants for the formation of monohydrates of the different carboxylic acids involved in this thesis, together with that of formic acid whose microwave spectrum has been analyzed elsewhere, were calculated to approximately derive their abundances under typical atmospheric conditions. It was found that about 2% of FMA, ACA and PPA will complex with one H2O molecule to form monohydrates in the low troposphere, while for TFA, the value increases to about 15%, mainly as a result of the larger binding energy of TFA–(H2O) due to fluorination on the end group.
How and why did MARS facilitate migration control? Understanding the implication of migration and refugee studies (MARS) with the restriction of human mobility by UK state agencies
Keywords: migration and refugee studies
migration control
academics

This thesis makes two related arguments regarding the academic field of migration and refugee studies (MARS) and the control of migration by UK state agencies. The first, and more empirical one, is that the former facilitated the latter: the field’s members provided symbolic, technical, and pedagogic assistance to two non-departmental public bodies in controlling migration. The second, and more theoretical, argument of this thesis is that MARS facilitated migration control because of culture, power, and structure. It is through the field’s implication in the coercion of its human subjects by UK state agencies that MARS academics a) answered their calling, b) assisted class rule as ideologists, and c) separated sacred and profane by policing endogamy.
The introduction describes the existing literature on the relationship between MARS and migration control. The consensus is that the former facilitated the latter. However, these studies fail to provide detailed accounts of the ways in which it did so.
Chapter One defines the elements of my more empirical argument: MARS and migration control. An historical narrative outlines the institutional development of the field since its beginnings in the early 1980s. Then a new model for understanding migration control – i.e., migrant CODAR – is described. Chapter Two uses this model to trace the actor network through which MARS academics facilitated the restriction of their human subjects’ mobility by the UK state agencies of the Advisory Panel on Country Information and the Migration Advisory Committee.
Chapters Three, Four, and Five use Weberian, Marxist, and Durkheimian anthropological approaches (respectively) to explain the implication of MARS and migration control that is described in Chapters One and Two. Finally, the conclusion of the thesis discusses its contributions to both more particular (i.e., the literature surveyed in the introduction on MARS and migration control) and more general (i.e., anthropology) scholarly fields.
Hybrid ferrocene-based systems
Keywords: sensors

This thesis explores the capacity of sterically and electronically unsaturated boranes to bind substrates of biological and environmental interest, and transduce such binding events into a photo-physical and/or electrochemical response, hence reporting the presence of these substrates.
Chapter three details the synthesis of a range of novel ferrocenyl boranes featuring either a proximal hydrogen-bond donor or a second Lewis acidic centre. These novel boranes were shown to be competent at binding both cyanide and fluoride anions, with the role played by a proximal hydrogen-bond donor or a second Lewis acidic centre in anion binding investigated by both NMR and crystallographic studies.
Chapter four reports the synthesis of novel pyridinyl and related boronic esters, as well as unexpected mixed alkenyl/aryl boranes. The capacity of both types of system to bind fluoride or cyanide anions in solution was investigated by UV-Vis and NMR studies. The photo-physical responses to these anions were also probed, leading to the establishment of both switch-on and switch-off fluorescent responses.
Chapter five extends the knowledge derived from selective anion receptor design and combines this with recent developments in the field of frustrated Lewis pairs (FLPs) to activate, bind and report the presence of nitrous oxide (N2O) molecule. Thus, the syntheses of novel, highly Lewis acidic ferrocenyl boranes that incorporate a high degree of steric loading around the boron centre are reported. The electrochemical and photo-physical response of an FLP system to the presence of N2O was investigated leading to the development of a novel N2O reporting system.
Social and environmental determinants of changing distribution and incidence of tick-borne encephalitis in Western Europe
Keywords: tick-borne diseases
tick-borne encephalitis
public health
infectious disease
epidemiology

In Western Europe the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) has increased over the last 30 years, coupled with changes in distribution. Modifications in the TBE enzootic cycle, through a combination of changes in temperature, vertebrate abundance and habitat suitability may have increased the risk of TBE in recent years. In Switzerland, analysis using satellite-derived climate data demonstrated that the environment of areas with TBE since the 1980s and areas that recently became endemic for TBE have become more similar between 2001 and 2009. This was coupled with an increase in April, May and June temperature, which could have affected the tick population and/or human exposure to ticks. Deer and boar abundance also changed in some cantons. In Germany, spatio-temporal modelling demonstrated the importance of temperature, vertebrate abundance and unemployment in the incidence and distribution of TBE between 2001 and 2009. Changes in TBE reporting, April, May and June temperature, vertebrate abundance and pesticide use may have contributed to increases in TBE in 1992 and 2001.
Human exposure patterns, however, appear to be as important as the enzootic cycle in shaping the incidence of TBE, not only in determining the overall trend but also in interacting with the weekly, seasonal and yearly patterns of tick hazard to give the observed incidence. In Switzerland, in weeks with warm, sunny weather, human exposure to ticks is promoted and short-term increases in tick bites are seen. Human outdoor activity also shifts the seasonal pattern of tick bites, when compared with tick questing. There was no apparent increase in time spent in outdoor activities between the 1990s and 2000s in Italy, Germany and Austria, but survey data demonstrated that walking and hiking were already popular activities across Europe by the 1990s. The popularity of mushroom and berry foraging as a source of income in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, coupled with the expense of vaccination, provide an inverse link between economic wellbeing and TBE risk. Correspondingly, in 2009, the economic recession was associated with an increase with TBE in these three countries.
An archaeobotanical analysis of Silchester and the wider region across the late Iron Age - Roman transition
Keywords: Iron Age Britain
Roman Britain
Archaeobotany; Agriculture

The separation of agricultural practice from urban communities has long been understood as a key defining feature of urban societies. This thesis investigates the relationship between developments in agriculture and urbanisation in Late Iron Age and Roman Britain. The Late Iron Age period saw the rise of oppida, characterised by extensive dyke systems, the presence of elites and imported material culture. Three models of the agricultural basis of oppida are currently available: agricultural innovations, surplus production, and non-arable settlements. These three models have been evaluated through three methods: the analysis of charred, waterlogged and mineralised plant remains from Silchester, an oppidum and civitas capital in southern Britain; the quantitative analysis of secondary archaeobotanical data from the regional area of the Hampshire Downs and the Thames Valley; and the synthesis of archaeobotanical evidence for food and agriculture at oppida and Roman towns in Britain.
Key findings are that spelt wheat and barley were cultivated at Late Iron Age Silchester in combination with a new crop (flax), new management techniques (hay meadows) and the consumption of new plant foods (olives, celery and coriander). Following the establishment of the Roman civitas capital, the agricultural basis continued unchanged for several decades before a re-organisation c. AD70/80, whereby crop-processing ceased within Silchester. The regional crop-processing and weed ecology analysis shows that arable farming was conducted at Silchester, and that large-scale handling of cereals was not occurring unlike at earlier hillforts, and later towns. The evidence for animal stabling, flax cultivation, haymaking, and new plant foods from Silchester are interpreted as representing the coalescence of a rural population, developing new farming techniques to cope with the nucleated population, and therefore supportive of internal models of oppida development.
Molecular mechanisms of OXR1 function
Keywords: Oxr1
mouse models
oxidative stress
oxidation resistance 1
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Neurodegeneration
inflammation
Motor Neurone disease

By 2040, the World Health Organization expects neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and Parkinson’s disease, to surpass cancer as the second most common cause of death worldwide. Currently, only treatments for symptoms of these diseases are available. Thus, research is critical to alleviate this public health burden by elucidating the pathogenic processes and developing novel therapies. While exact mechanisms by which these heterogeneous neuropathological conditions become manifest in patients remain unclear, growing evidence suggests that oxidative stress (OS) makes a significant contribution to neuronal dysfunction and apoptosis in all major neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, the gene oxidation resistance 1 (Oxr1) has emerged as a critical regulator of neuronal survival in response to OS. Oxr1 is expressed throughout the central nervous system, and its highly conserved TLDc domain protects neurons from oxidative damage through an unknown mechanism.
This thesis aimed to define mechanisms by which Oxr1 confers neuronal sensitivity to OS, and to determine its role in neurodegenerative diseases. I found that Oxr1 mediates cytoplasmic localization of ALS-associated proteins Fused in Sarcoma (FUS) and transactive response DNA binding protein 43 kDa (TDP-43) through a TLDc domain- and arginine methylation-dependent pathway. Next, I investigated in vivo neuroprotective functions of Oxr1, and demonstrated that neuronal Oxr1 over-expression extends survival and ameliorates behavioural dysfunction and pathology of an ALS mouse model. In particular, neuronal Oxr1 over-expression strikingly delays neuroinflammation during ALS pathogenesis. Finally, I characterised a mouse model that specifically deletes Oxr1 from motor neurons. While loss of Oxr1 in ChAT-positive motor neurons does not cause overt neurodegeneration in the spinal cord, constitutive loss of Oxr1 leads to neuroinflammation in the cerebellum and spinal cord. Taken together, these studies illuminate functions of Oxr1 in the complex antioxidant defence network and present implications for future therapeutic strategies.
Systems-level analysis of the mitotic entry switch
Keywords: mitosis
ultrasensitivity
biological switches
bistability

Entry into mitosis in eukaryotes depends on the activation of the Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1), which phosphorylates many mitotic protein substrates. Activation of Cdk1 requires formation of a complex with Cyclin B (CycB), which gradually rises in concentration during interphase. However, in most organisms Cdk1 activation is not gradual but switch-like, because phosphorylation of the Cdk1-CycB complex by the Wee1 kinase normally keeps Cdk1-CycB inactive during interphase. Mitotic entry is induced when rapid dephosphorylation of Cdk1-CycB by the Cdc25 phosphatase causes abrupt activation of Cdk1-CycB. Cdk1-CycB in turn phosphorylates both Wee1 and Cdc25 leading to Cdc25 activation and Wee1 inhibition. This regulation creates both a positive and a double-negative feedback loop in the system, which are thought to generate a sharp, bistable switch that controls mitotic entry. Bistability is known to require positive feedback and ultrasensitivity, however, how ultrasensitivity arises in the mitotic switch is subject to extensive research efforts both experimentally and theoretically. In this thesis I explore several possible sources of ultrasensitivity in the mitotic switch through mathematical modelling. Based on theoretical considerations and experimental evidence, I show that the existence of multiple positive feedback loops, multisite phosphorylation, and Cdk1-CycB-dependent regulation of Cdk1-counteracting phosphatase activity can all contribute to ultrasensitivity and bistability in the mitotic switch. I analyse models of the mitotic switch including these bistability-generating mechanisms, to simulate and explain experimental data and make testable predictions. I argue that it is unlikely that a single mechanism is responsible for ultrasensitivity in this system, and that bistability requires a combination of different sources, including the ones studied here and others such as enzyme saturation and sequestration effects. I also highlight the importance of network architecture and coherent regulation of opposing reactions in generating efficient biochemical switches. Finally, I draw on recent experimental evidence and ideas derived from this analysis to propose a revised network of the mitotic switch.