VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The politics of procedural choice: regulating legislative debate in the UK House of Commons, 1811–2015
Keywords: Rules of debate
Parliamentary debate
Computational text analysis
UK House of Commons

All democratic organisations operate under a particular set of rules. Such procedures are implemented by the very individuals that create and maintain them, usually under a majority voting rule. This research project engages with the question of why and how members of parliament "abdicate" procedural power, focusing on the evolution of the rules of debate in the UK House of Commons. Working from newly collected data on the reform of Standing Orders of the House spanning 205 years (1811–2015), as well as records of over six million speeches, it provides a new perspective on procedural choice. Framing debate as a platform for speech-as-filibuster behaviour, I develop a formal model where the decision to support an anti-dilatory reform is primarily a function of polarisation. I show that legislators adopt restrictive rules when they are more likely to share policy preferences with colleagues within their party. The presence of shared views, then, motivates MPs to prioritise responsible use of the common resource of plenary time over individual policy influence. Both empirically and theoretically, my research offers new insights into the process of parliamentary reform in the absence of party discipline, and studies how the dynamics of procedural choice change as political parties enter the stage. Methodologically, it makes a contribution to the text-as-data field, exploring the use of novel machine-learning techniques in the measurement of political preferences.
Respect and criminal justice: the policies and practices of policing and imprisonment
Keywords: Law
Criminal justice
Respect
Moral values
Instrumentalism
Institutional practice and design
Policing
Imprisonment

Respect is a value whose importance in contemporary criminal justice many would endorse in principle. It is well-established that every person, by virtue of his or her humanity, has a claim to respect that need not be negotiated and cannot be forfeited. As the principal means by which to recognise a person's intrinsic worth, respect is attitudinal but also requires a degree of expressive action. The core claim of the thesis is that at two defining points in the criminal process – policing and imprisonment – there is an overwhelming preoccupation with instrumental outcomes, with the result that respect is understood reductively and, at best, as a weak side-constraint on the pursuit of those outcomes.

The thesis takes the form of a sustained critique of the respect deficit in policing and imprisonment. It is especially concerned with the ways in which both institutions are merely constrained and not characterised by respect. Respect shows great flexibility as a concept of critical enquiry, in particular, in its striking capacity to sharpen our critique of a diverse range of policies and practices. It swiftly emerges, for example, that both institutions appeal to the word 'respect' – relying on its inclusive ethos in official documentation when it is expedient to do so – but rarely and only superficially address the prior question of what it is to respect and be respected. Despite much criminological activity on the 'democratic design' of these institutions in recent decades, respect is more akin to a slogan than a foundational value of criminal justice practice.

Yet respect is not only of analytic merit. It is also a matter of material significance. The dominant institutional approach to respect would prove difficult to correct, sustained as it is by intuitive understandings, convenient fictions and a preoccupation with outcomes. With a sense of modest realism, the thesis concludes by considering how best to embed respect in policing and imprisonment, anticipating the challenges – as well as the advances that could be made – in inscribing respectful relations between state and subject.
Characterization of the effect of dopamine on the neural coding of reward-based learning and decision-making
Keywords: body mass index
foraging
dopamine

Dopamine has an important role in normal cognition and reward processing, both of which are impaired in disorders involving dopamine dysfunction such as addiction, schizophrenia, and Parkinson’s disease. However, our understanding of the interplay between different aspects of the dopamine system and reward-guided behavior in humans is limited. Food is an important type of reward that is critical for survival and impacts the decisions we make every day. Here, we characterize the relationship between two food-reward related phenotypes and dopamine synthesis capacity (related to tonic dopamine) as well as dopamine D1 and D2 receptor availability in healthy humans.
First, we examined the link between dopamine synthesis and receptor availability and body mass regulation in 117 individuals with body mass index (BMI) values ranging from normal to obese. We found that current BMI was related to a pattern of increased dopamine synthesis in the hypothalamus, a region important for homeostatic control of appetite, but decreased dopamine D2 receptor availability in the midbrain, where D2 autoreceptors regulate dopamine release throughout the brain. This suggests that increased BMI is related to a dopamine imbalance between homeostatic drivers of appetite and reward system regulatory control mechanisms that could result in an overactive, unregulated intake of food.
Building on this finding, we studied the link between dopamine synthesis capacity and receptor availability and an important food-reward related behavior, foraging. Fifty-seven healthy volunteers completed a computer-based foraging task where we measured their threshold for leaving one group of rewards to search for another in four different reward environments varying from a low to high rate of reward receipt. We found that two particular patterns of dopamine synthesis and receptor availability in the anterior cingulate cortex and basal ganglia were linked to the amount that individuals changed their threshold based on the reward rate of the environment.
Finally, since the prefrontal cortex is known to be important for reward-guided behavior, we implemented two methodological advancements aimed to address limitations that make it difficult to measure cortical dopamine in humans with PET imaging. The first method involves partial volume correction and surface-based smoothing in order to increase the signal to noise in the cortex. The second method is a data-driven PET data parcellation and automated reference region selection algorithm to optimize the voxels included in the reference region.
In conclusion, we have characterized the dopaminergic contribution of two different foodreward guided phenotypes and have developed two techniques that will aid future research on the role of cortical dopamine. Understanding the neural mechanisms underlying these rewardguided behaviors helps us to not only understand normal behavior, but also serves as a reference for comparison when studying related pathological states.
Consequence-based reasoning for SRIQ ontologies
Keywords: OWL 2
Ontologies
Semantic Web
Classification

Description logics (DLs) are knowledge representation formalisms with numerous applications and well-understood model-theoretic semantics and computational properties. SRIQ is a DL that provides the logical underpinning for the semantic web language OWL 2, which is the W3C standard for knowledge representation on the web.
A central component of most DL applications is an efficient and scalable reasoner, which provides services such as consistency testing and classification. Despite major advances in DL reasoning algorithms over the last decade, however, ontologies are still encountered in practice that cannot be handled by existing DL reasoners.
Consequence-based calculi are a family of reasoning techniques for DLs. Such calculi have proved very effective in practice and enjoy a number of desirable theoretical properties. Up to now, however, they were proposed for either Horn DLs (which do not support disjunctive reasoning), or for DLs without cardinality constraints. In this thesis we present a novel consequence-based algorithm for TBox reasoning in SRIQ—a DL that supports both disjunctions and cardinality constraints. Combining the two features is non-trivial since the intermediate consequences that need to be derived during reasoning cannot be captured using DLs themselves. Furthermore, cardinality constraints require reasoning over equality, which we handle using the framework of ordered paramodulation—a state-of-the-art method for equational theorem proving. We thus obtain a calculus that can handle an expressive DL, while still enjoying all the favourable properties of existing consequence-based algorithms, namely optimal worst-case complexity, one-pass classification, and pay-as-you-go behaviour.
To evaluate the practicability of our calculus, we implemented it in Sequoia—a new DL reasoning system. Empirical results show substantial robustness improvements over well-established algorithms and implementations, and performance competitive with closely related work.
Discourses of heroism in Brezhnev’s USSR
Keywords: Communist Youth League (Soviet Union)
Komsomol
USSR under Brezhnev
propaganda (Soviet)
heroism
late socialism
youth policy (USSR)

This thesis examines propaganda and educational campaigns in the Brezhnev-era USSR, where the Party-state continued the longstanding Soviet attempt to form the country's youth into conscientious builders and defenders of communism. Focusing on the military, military-historical and physical-cultural activity that the state identified as areas of strategic importance in a period of intensifying competition with the capitalist world, the thesis analyses the interactions between propaganda and its producers, and the ordinary and extraordinary young people at whom it was aimed. It finds that state agencies and organisations of the Brezhnev era followed tradition in employing heroic motifs and discourses to elicit heroic behaviour amongst the population, often seeking to apply themes and material from earlier periods directly to the situation of late-1960s and 1970s youth. In particular, propaganda emphasised the importance of both models of wartime heroism, and the characteristics articulated in the 1961 Moral Code of the Builder of Communism – but in a political and social environment now much changed from those in which they had originally emerged.
The thesis begins with a study of material surrounding the reinstatement of universal conscription after Khrushchev's army reforms, before examining youth involvement in one of the flagship military-patriotic education campaigns of the period. The second part of the thesis then shifts the focus to a more symbolic, yet no less significant site of the 'defence of the honour of the Motherland': the international sporting arena, particularly during the 1972 Olympiads in 'hostile' West Germany and Japan. Through a case study of coverage of the gymnast Olga Korbut, the thesis argues that, while propaganda-makers still sought to control the Soviet definition of 'heroism', conditions increasingly allowed for the emergence of celebrity and a popular heroism based more on self-advancement and public acclaim than on established Soviet ethical models.
The jurisprudence of constitutional conflict in the European Union
Keywords: Constitutional pluralism
Constitutional Review
Constitutional Theory
Judicial Dialogue
Constitutional Law
European Union Law

The aim of the thesis is to address the jurisprudence of constitutional conflict between the Court of Justice and national courts with constitutional jurisdiction. It seeks to determine how the principle of primacy of EU law works in reality and whether the jurisprudence of the courts under analysis supports this concept. In so doing, the goal is to determine if the theory of constitutional pluralism can explain and guide the application of the principle of primacy of EU law in the jurisprudence of constitutional conflict.
The analysis has been carried out on two levels. First, by exploring sovereignty claims by the courts under analysis, as well as reconciliatory vocabulary they employ to manage and contain constitutional conflict. Second, by further studying the three areas of constitutional conflict – ultra vires review, identity review, and fundamental rights review – to provide more nuance in the analysis of the way the Court of Justice has expanded the self-referential system of the Treaties; the different limits that constitutional adjudicators have placed on the principle of primacy as a result; and what possible solutions they envisage in the event of a constitutional conflict.
All the courts under analysis have employed the vocabulary of mutual respect and self-restraint as principles guiding the resolution of constitutional conflict. Constitutional conflict is managed through incremental and permanent contestation and accommodation of their opposing claims to sovereignty (the auto-correct function of constitutional pluralism) that results in the uniform interpretation and application of Union law, but keeping in line with conferral as its defining principle. The analysis demonstrated the existence of a heterarchical constellation – the potential of all the courts involved for being ranked in a number of different ways at different times – grounded in mutual respect and self-restraint.
Conquests of Egypt: making history in ʿAbbāsid Egypt
Keywords: Historiography
'Abbasid studies
Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam
Arabic historiography
Islamic historiography
Medieval historiography
Umayyad studies

This dissertation is a study of the Futūḥ Miṣr (Conquest of Egypt) of Ibn 'Abd al-Ḥakam (d. 257/871), the earliest extant Arabic history of Egypt. Its primary aim is not to assess whether its information is 'authentic' – i.e. corresponding to an objective historical reality – though my findings are of relevance for those engaged in debates over authenticity. My goal instead is to explore the ideas about the past which are conveyed by this particular conglomeration of historical information and to propose methods through which we can expose and analyse different layers and types of authorial activity within a multi-vocal text like Futūḥ Miṣr. Ultimately, I use this analysis as the basis of a case study suggesting how we might more effectively historicise the generation and transmission of historical ideas in the early Islamic period.
Part I of the thesis consists of three chapters which explore Futūḥ Miṣr as a whole, literary text which can be understood as an instantiation of the historical worldview of its composer. Part II of the thesis contains three chapters which each illuminate features of Ibn 'Abd al-Ḥakam's historical practice which are important prerequisites for the stratigraphic reading of Futūḥ Miṣr performed in Part III. Part III of the thesis uses the understanding of Ibn 'Abd al-Ḥakam's authorial techniques developed in Part II to expose the earlier packages of historical information which underpin Futūḥ Miṣr. These final three chapters demonstrate how Ibn 'Abd al-Ḥakam reinvested these pre-existing narratives with meaning at a micro-level – by interjecting commentary and accounts from other sources – and at a macro-level – by integrating them into the larger narrative structure of Futūḥ Miṣr.
In sum, this thesis is the first systematic study of the sources, structure, and authorship of an early Arabic history, which both tests and expands our current understanding of the dynamics of early Islamic historical writing, and sheds light on numerous aspects of the changing uses of the past among the Muslim scholars of Umayyad and ʿAbbāsid Egypt.
Understanding early transcriptional events in Staphylococcus aureus infection
Keywords: In vivo RNA transcription
Vaccine Development
Antigen Identification
rsp gene
Staphylococcus aureus

Staphylococcus aureus remains an important pathogen, which, due to its capability to develop antimicrobial resistance, imposes an increasing threat to human health. Developing preventive means to decrease disease burden is a major aim. However, the development of an S. aureus vaccine, which would be one strategy to achieve such goals, has been complicated through limited understanding of the bacterium’s pathogenic mechanisms. This work uses four approaches to address these limitations: Firstly, a reproducible RNA sequencing based method for the determination of gene transcription by S. aureus in vivo during mammalian infection. Secondly, examination of the impact of the bacterial transcription regulator “Rsp” on the bacterium, which shows that mutations in this gene have profound functional and transcriptional impacts. Thirdly, by examining the in vivo transcription of multiple S. aureus strains during infection, proposing a “core in vivo transcriptome” of induced genes under the conditions tested. Some of these genes are known to be involved in pathogenesis, others are not completely characterised and may represent suitable vaccine antigens. Finally, this work addresses limited understanding of S. aureus pathogenesis through defining transcriptional changes in vivo, which are induced by an altered immune response in immunised hosts. Together, this body of work contributes to the understanding of S. aureus pathogenesis and provides candidate antigens for future vaccine development.
EEG complexity as an ASD biomarker: a data-driven study for the identification of electrophysiological correlates of ASD
Keywords: Autism
Entropy
Electroencephalography
EEG

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are a group of lifelong neurodevelopmental disorders, described by three core deficits which are thought to be consequences of atypical cortical activity. Abnormal neural connectivity underlying ASD could be inferred from dynamical system characteristics of the brain measured from electroencephalography (EEG) time series. Simple EEG measurement have the potential to provide important clinical biomarkers for early identification, risk assessment and monitoring the progression of ASD, while spanning the spectrum’s heterogeneity of severity. The explicit goal of this project was to use Multiscale Entropy (sample entropy) measures and Recurrence Quantitative Analysis (RQA) on EEG to identify quantifiable neural correlates of behaviours associated with an ASD diagnosis. The hypotheses were tested on two cohorts: the Kenyan cohort with data collected in Kilifi, Kenya from both neurotypical children as well as children diagnosed with ASD and the NDAR cohort from the National Database for Autism Research (NDAR), also containing data from both groups. The results showed that complexity measured using sample entropy is useful in distinguishing the two groups, both at a whole brain level in the alpha, beta and gamma bands, and at a single electrode level, mainly in the theta band in the frontal, occipital and parietal electrodes and in the high gamma band in the frontal and prefrontal areas. RQA variables analysis showed that determinism can delineate ASD in the theta, gamma and high gamma bands in all electrode locations, in the delta band in the left frontal and temporal areas and in the alpha band in the left hemisphere in the occipital, parietal, temporal and central electrodes; laminarity is useful in delineating ASD in the frontal, temporal and parietal regions in the theta band and the occipital, parietal and temporal regions in the delta band; l_entropy played a role in ASD delineation in the central, temporal and occipital areas in the theta frequency; lastly, l_max accurately distinguished the two groups, mainly in the frontal and central areas in the theta band and in the parietal region in the alpha frequency. These findings represent pilot evidence of potential high utility of this method, which can have great impact on clinical practice, in the early screening and diagnosis stages of ASD.
Accelerating computational diffusion MRI using Graphics Processing Units
Keywords: Non-linear optimisation
GPGPU
Diffusion MRI
Tractography
Scientific computing
Connectome
Brain Modelling
Brain microstructure

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) allows uniquely the study of the human brain non-invasively and in vivo. Advances in dMRI offer new insight into tissue microstructure and connectivity, and the possibility of investigating the mechanisms and pathology of neurological diseases. The great potential of the technique relies on indirect inference, as modelling frameworks are necessary to map dMRI measurements to neuroanatomical features. However, this mapping can be computationally expensive, particularly given the trend of increasing dataset sizes and/or the increased complexity in biophysical modelling. Limitations on computing can restrict data exploration and even methodology development. A step forward is to take advantage of the power offered by recent parallel computing architectures, especially Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). GPUs are massive parallel processors that offer trillions of floating point operations per second, and have made possible the solution of computationally intensive scientific problems that were intractable before. However, they are not inherently suited for all types of problems, and bespoke computational frameworks need to be developed in many cases to take advantage of their full potential.
In this thesis, we propose parallel computational frameworks for the analysis of dMRI using GPUs within different contexts. We show that GPU-based designs can offer accelerations of more than two orders of magnitude for a number of scientific computing tasks with different parallelisability requirements, ranging from biophysical modelling for tissue microstructure estimation to white matter tractography for connectome generation. We develop novel and efficient GPUaccelerated solutions, including a framework that automatically generates GPU parallel code from a user-specified biophysical model. We also present a parallel GPU framework for performing probabilistic tractography and generating whole-brain connectomes. Throughout the thesis, we discuss several strategies for parallelising scientific applications, and we show the great potential of the accelerations obtained, which change the perspective of what is computationally feasible.
A re-assessment of text-image relationships in Christine de Pizan’s didactic works
Keywords: Medieval France
Christine de Pizan
Medieval literature
Text-image relations
Paratext

Although the works of Christine de Pizan have been of interest to scholars for some time, technological advances and initiatives to make digital copies of manuscripts available online have only recently enabled close comparisons between the visual programmes of her works to be made. This thesis demonstrates that detail usually considered secondary or 'paratextual' in Christine's manuscripts actually formed a carefully-constructed part of the work itself that Christine explicitly asks her audience to read. Through 'reading' the text and image simultaneously, the visual programme proves to comprise additional layers of meaning that were woven into her didactic works. These meanings can serve to supplement the educational and moral aims of the works, or, conversely, can be inconsistent with the message conveyed in the text, leading the reader-viewer to contemplate further on the matters presented and form their own opinions on them. Sometimes, meaning is created by intervisual connections with pre-existing iconography, such that viewers may be creating associations between the miniatures seen in Christine's manuscripts and other imagery, leading them to make certain associations - this is notably the case in author-portraits of Christine. As manuscripts prepared under the author's supervision came to be copied, changes were made to the iconographic programmes, testifying to and enabling different types of readings to take place. The findings of this thesis have implications for editorial practices of medieval works in general, as these tend to circulate in editions without the visual programme, providing modern readers with only a partial view of the complete work.