VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
After constructivism
Keywords: Constructivism
modern art
painting

This thesis examines the legacy and consequences of Constructivism in art, from the early days of the Russian avant-garde to recent times and today. The Introduction explains how the concept of faktura, first theorised around 1912 by David Burliuk and others, came to designate the material qualities rather than the subject-matter of art. Chapter 1: Towards A Constructive Ideal, traces the progress of faktura in the reliefs of V.Tatlin from 1913. The ancestry of faktura in the Eastern icon tradition is emphasised, where a close relation between sight and touch already suggested a new type of encounter between the viewer and the object of art. The chapter further examines the importance of faktura to Suprematism, and examines A.Rodchenko’s appeal to line as a rational element of construction and as a weapon against ‘composition’ in art. Chapter 2: Time and the Viewer presents evidence of the importance to artists in the period 1940-70 of the real-time encounter between viewer and the art-object, first in American and British ‘Constructionism’, and then in the Minimal art of Judd, Morris and others. The chapter ends with a discussion of temporality in relation to abstract paintings of Rothko and de Kooning. Chapter 3: Irregular Curves: Science and ‘The Organic’ reprises the minority Constructivism of Mikhail Matyushin and Pyotr Miturich that claimed organic structures were superior to technicist ones. Evidence is presented that the rectilinear grid was always subject to challenge, initially in the art of Emma Kunz, Jean Arp and other pre-war modernists but latterly among those for whom ‘field’ and ‘curvature’ became relevant formats after 1945. Particularly with the development of computing from the 1970s, new geometries based on iteration and scale-invariancy assumed major relevance to constructed art. Chapter 4: Constructivism Now presents evidence of the application of Constructivist principles in recent art, initially in Dan Flavin’s ‘monuments’ to Tatlin and others and subsequently in so-called Neo-Geo and Op art of the 1970s and 1980s. From that period on, albeit often in a register of irony and ‘serious play’, faktura in a Constructivist sense continued, and continues today, to define the relation between viewer and object of art.
Early life histories: a study of past childhood diet and health using stable isotopes and enamel hypoplasia
Keywords: childhood
stable isotopes
hypoplasia
health
infancy
Victorian
hunter-gatherers
breastfeeding

The δδ13C and δ15N composition of incremental segments of tooth dentine was used to infer infant and childhood diet in a post-medieval London population, and a hunting and gathering Mesolithic/Neolithic group from Latvia. Health was analysed using defects on the tooth enamel caused by stress, termed enamel hypoplasia. The populations, which differ markedly in their economy, diet and health, were selected because of the difference in childhood experiences between the two groups. The results were used to consider questions about childhood, including how early diet may have been influenced by social factors such as class or status, the effect this could have on population dynamics and how childhood diet and health are related.
The results show that the London individuals were rarely breastfed beyond 6 months and in some instances not at all. A small isotopic difference between males and females was observed which could be caused by dietary or physiological differences. The peak incidence of hypoplasia may be related to developmental patterns, rather than stress caused by weaning. The Zvejnieki individuals had a slightly longer breastfeeding duration. Those buried with pendants consumed a different diet in childhood to those without pendants, suggesting a complex social system, possibly indicating that diet was related to the role a person had within the community. There is a suggestion diet may have shifted between the Middle Mesolithic and Late Neolithic, although not dramatically. Neither population have elevated δ13C often associated with breastfeeding.
The early life histories of the groups are not compared directly, but general observations concerning the children’s lives are considered. It is concluded that economy is not a reliable predictor of infant feeding strategies, as hunter-gatherers provide children with solid foods at a similar time to industrial groups. Intra-population variability was found to be a feature of all socio-economic groups.
When I touch my hand it touches me back: an investigation of the illusion of self-touch
Keywords: sensation
illusion
body representation

Following stroke, a patient may fail to report touch administered by another person but claim that s/he feels touch when it is self-administered. In Part One, the self-touch rubber hand paradigm was used to investigate different explanations for this phenomenon, termed self-touch enhancement. The most important finding was that patients reported touch based on feeling rather than by using proprioceptive information. Some patients have residual sensation that could be targeted in sensory rehabilitation.
Part Two is a systematic investigation of the illusion of self-touch conducted with neurologically healthy participants. Participants used the right hand to administer touch to a prosthetic hand while the left (receptive) hand, positioned 15 cm from the prosthetic hand, received Examiner-administered touch. Proprioceptively perceived position of the administering and receptive hand was measured. Most participants experienced the single event of self-touch at the location of the receptive hand. Previous investigations have relied on measurement of only one hand and have concluded that participants experience self-touch at the location of the prosthetic hand. Our findings have implications for the role of ownership in this illusion.
There is also a series of experiments in Part Two which test four potential constraints on the illusion of self-touch – violated expectations about the object that is administering touch, increased distance between the hands, alignment mismatch, and anatomical implausibility. For example, one study uses a novel paradigm to demonstrate that, although the subjective intensity of the illusion of self-touch is diminished by anatomical implausibility, most participants report the impossible experience of touching their left elbow with their own left index finger. Taken together, these experiments highlight the malleability of body representation, and provide a comprehensive framework for understanding the illusion of self-touch.
Balancing employer and employee interests: legitimate expectations and proportionality under the Acquired Rights Directive
Keywords: Balancing-Acquired Rights Directive-Legitimate Expectations-Proportionality

This thesis analyses the aims and objectives of the EU Acquired Rights Directive (ARD) in the context of the larger evolution of EU labour law itself. The thesis presents the overall goal of the ARD as that of striking an appropriate balance between the employer’s prerogative to transfer the business and the employee’s interest in not having the security of the job unduly threatened by such transfers. Given the current complexity and incoherence of the law regulating economic dismissals in the context of transfers, the central argument of the thesis is that there is a need for a clearer conceptual framework for defining and understanding the rights and obligations in the Acquired Rights Directive (ARD). It is suggested that the principles of legitimate expectations and proportionality are ideally adapted to play this role. In analyzing the teleology of the ARD based on these principles, this study not only assists in understanding and explaining the ARD itself, but also has wider implications for understanding the challenges facing European social policy in the field of employment protection.
In its attempts to reconcile fundamental economic freedoms of employers on the one hand, and fundamental rights of employees on the other, the Court of Justice has frequently relied upon the proportionality principle to achieve a ‘fair balance’ between both parties. Following the interpretations of ‘proportionality’ in Viking and Laval, there is admittedly a fear that the proportionality balancing is likely to accord an almost absolute priority to the employers’ economic freedoms. The thesis is cognizant of this danger, and therefore advocates a ‘symmetrical’ approach to balancing.
In this way the thesis offers some insight into the potential for the ARD to remain continuously effective in times of economic crisis. The study therefore finds reason to be optimistic about the prospects for the ARD and other standard-setting directives in the future of social Europe.
Medical relevance and functional consequences of protein truncating variants
Keywords: variant annotation
Rare variants
Human Genetics
disease mapping
MCMC methods in genetics
type 2 diabetes
autoimmune diseases
loss of function variants
Statistical Genetics
human knockout
gene mapping
RNA sequencing
Medical Genetics
metabolomics
splice disrupting variants
Mixture models
Gibbs sampler
C-alpha test
Mathematical genetics
TNFAIP3
Protein truncating variants
GTEx
Genome sequencing
allele specific expression
MAMBA
lipids
APOC3
dyslipidemia

Genome-wide association studies have greatly improved our understanding of the contribution of common variants to the genetic architecture of complex traits. However, two major limitations have been highlighted. First, common variant associations typically do not identify the causal variant and/or the gene that it is exerting its effect on to influence a trait. Second, common variant associations usually consist of variants with small effects. As a consequence, it is more challenging to harness their translational impact. Association studies of rare variants and complex traits may be able to help address these limitations. Empirical population genetic data shows that deleterious variants are rare. More specifically, there is a very strong depletion of common protein truncating variants (PTVs, commonly referred to as loss-of-function variants) in the genome, a group of variants that have been shown to have large effect on gene function, are enriched for severe disease-causing mutations, but in other instances may actually be protective against disease.
This thesis is divided into three parts dedicated to the study of protein truncating variants, their medical relevance, and their functional consequences. First, I present statistical, bioinformatic, and computational methods developed for the study of protein truncating variants and their association to complex traits, and their functional consequences. Second, I present application of the methods to a number of case-control and quantitative trait studies discovering new variants and genes associated to breast and ovarian cancer, type 1 diabetes, lipids, and metabolic traits measured with NMR spectroscopy. Third, I present work on improving annotation of protein truncating variants by studying their functional consequences. Taken together, these results highlight the utility of interrogating protein truncating variants in medical and functional genomic studies.
Roman Law and Local Law in Asia Minor (133 BC - AD 212)
Keywords: Roman provinces
Roman Law
Asia Minor

This thesis is a contribution towards legal history of Roman Asia Minor from the creation of the province of Asia to the enfranchisement of the free population of the Empire by the emperor Caracalla. Chapter I is concerned with the Hellenistic background and with the theoretical framework for explaining the relationship between the suzerain and the cities in the Hellenistic and Roman periods. The possibility of using Bickerman’s ‘surrender and grant’ model for introducing much needed nuance into usual dichotomy of ‘free’ and ‘subject’ cities is argued for. Chapter II deals with the court of the Roman governor. It is argued that there was no limit set on govenor’s jurisdiction from below and that the main way in which governor’s burden was relieved or legal autonomy of local communities guaranteed was through delegation of decision at the apud iudicem stage of the proceeedings. An in-depth study of the procedure is provided. Chapter III provides an analysis of the assize circuit system, above all in the province of Asia. Arguments for continuity with the pre-Roman administrative structure are advanced and a new hypothesis of significant structural changes in the second century A.D. advanced. Chapter IV explores the jurisdiction of other Roman officials: proconsular legates, quaestors, and above all procurators and other imperial officials. The division of responsibility with the governor’s court and their role in covering the areas not usually penetrated by the governor’s jurisdiction is discussed. Chapter V deals with judicial autonomy of the ‘free’ and ‘federate’ cities. It is argued that the extent of these privileges was widely variant and the possibility that some of them applied only to the apud iudicem stage explored. Chapter VI is concerned with courts of the ‘subject’ communities. It is suggested on the basis of recently published evidence that ‘subject’ communities could retain a high degree of judicial autonomy. Different models used by the Romans are explored and compared. Chapter VII explores a vexed question of internal jurisdiction of Jewish diaspora communities in Asia Minor. The validity of Flavius Josephus' evidence is upheld and the role of 'ancestral laws' ideology in Roman interventions in support of Jewish courts discussed. Two appendices discuss a recently published inscription from Chersonesus Taurica and offer an annotated list of passages in the Corpus iuris civilis dealing with Asia Minor in our period respectively.
Investigating circadian disruption in mouse models of neurological and metabolic disorders
Keywords: circadian physiology
neuropathology

Sleep and circadian rhythm disturbance has been widely observed in neurological disorders although the mechanistic basis for this association remains unknown. In order to understand this association further, a combination of rest/activity and molecular profiling was carried out on mouse models of Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Lysosomal Storage Disorders (LSDs) and schizophrenia.
Data from rest/activity behavioural screening of new BAC (Bacterial Artificial Chromosome) transgenic PD models displayed scotophase hyperactivity and decreased fragmentation patterns. Interestingly, rest/activity profiles of LSD models displayed possible core clock defects under constant conditions (Hexb-/-) and potential re-entrainment deficits following a 6hr phase advance (Npc1-/-). Together these data suggest new associations between disruptions in rest/activity cycles and neurodegeneration.
The blind-drunk (Bdr) mutant is a mouse model of synaptosomal-associated protein (Snap)-25 exocytotic disruption that displays schizophrenic endophenotypes and phase advanced rest/activity cycles. Despite identification of phase advanced expression of signalling neuropeptides (e.g. arginine vasopressin) in the Bdr suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), the underlying mechanisms regulating circadian disruption in this model remain elusive; therefore, label-free shotgun proteomics was carried out over 24 hours to elucidate potential post-transcriptional pathways. A number of novel circadian patterns of protein expression were identified including myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate (MARCKS) which exhibited a robust phase advanced expression profile. This study has identified novel SCN post-transcriptional mechanisms that may link schizoaffective disorder biomarkers to dysfunctional rest/activity cycles.
Rethinking relations and regimes of power in online social networking Sites: tales of control, strife, and negotiations in Facebook and YouTube.
Keywords: law
online social networking sites
copyright
power
socio-legal studies
data protection
privacy
Foucault
actor-network theory
YouTube
Facebook
cyberspace

This thesis investigates the potentially complex power effects generated in Online Social Networking Sites (‘OSNS’), such as YouTube and Facebook, when legal values, such as copyright and personal data, are protected and/or violated. In order to develop this analysis, in Chapter Two, I critically analyse key academic writings on internet regulation and argue that I need to move away from the dominant ‘regulatory’ lens to my Actor-Network Theory-Foucauldian Power Lens (‘ANT-Foucauldian Power Lens’) in order to be able to capture the potentially complex web of power effects generated in YouTube and Facebook when copyright and personal data are protected and/or violated. In Chapter Three, I develop my ANT-Foucauldian Power Lens and explore how key ANT ideas such as translation can be used in conjunction with Foucauldian ideas such as governmentality. I utilise my ANT-Foucauldian Power Lens in Chapters Four to Seven to analyse how YouTube and Facebook are constructed as heterogeneous, contingent and precarious ‘actor-networks’ and I map in detail the complex power effects generated from specific local connections. I argue five key points. Firstly, I suggest that complex, multiple, and contingent power effects are generated when key social, legal, and technological actants are locally, contingently, and precariously ‘fitted together’ in YouTube and Facebook when copyright and personal data are protected and/or violated. Secondly, I argue that ‘materialities’ play key roles in maintaining the power effects generated by specific local connections. Thirdly, I argue that there are close links between power and ‘spatialities’ through my analysis of the Privacy Settings and Tagging in Facebook. Fourthly, I argue that my relational understandings of YouTube and Facebook generate a more comprehensive view of the power effects of specific legal elements such as how specific territorial laws in YouTube gain their authority by virtue of their durable and heterogeneous connections. Finally, I argue that we can extrapolate from my empirical findings to build a small-scale theory about the power effects generated in OSNS when legal values are protected and/or violated. Here I also consider the contributions made by my research to three distinct fields, namely, internet regulation, socio-legal studies, and actor-network theory.
Aortic stenosis: pathophysiological effects on the myocardium and predictors of clinical events :
Keywords: Aortic stenosis
physiology
myocardium

The management of the asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) is challenging; clinicians have to balance the risks of early surgery against the risk that irreversible myocardial damage may occur with a conservative management strategy.
It has become increasingly apparent that prognosis in asymptomatic AS depends not only on the degree of valvular stenosis, but also on the myocardial response to pressure overload and understanding the mechanisms of myocardial decompensation may help to guide management in the future. The degree of myocardial fibrosis, microvascular dysfunction, hypertrophy and left ventricular (LV) geometry may all play important roles. However, current guidelines for management of asymptomatic AS limit assessment of the myocardium to the measurement of ejection fraction with echocardiography. More advanced techniques may provide greater information that could be clinically useful.
This thesis seeks to further our understanding of the mechanisms of the myocardial response to AS, using Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) in patients with moderate and severe AS. Myocardial perfusion in AS is examined in chapter 3. The results show that CMR first pass perfusion can be carried out safely and is well tolerated by AS patients. Microvascular dysfunction in these patients was associated with age, exercise time and markers of diastolic dysfunction. Myocardial strain is examined in chapter 4, utilizing a new software tool to look at strain throughout the left ventricle, and also to explore the relationship between strain and myocardial fibrosis. The results show that there are significant variations in circumferential strain measurements, depending on slice position in the LV, and also that there was no relationship found between strain and the degree of LV fibrosis.
In chapter 5, the potential of CMR T1 mapping to identify fibrosis is examined using a new shortened non-contrast sequence (ShMOLLI - Shortened Modified Look-Locker Inversion) developed in our unit. CMR T1 values were validated against histological quantification of myocardial fibrosis in a large group of moderate and asymptomatic AS. A good correlation was found between ShMOLLI derived T1 values, with T1 values increasing with the severity of AS.
The clinical value of measuring myocardial perfusion and LV global strain is examined in chapter 6 by linking these to prognosis. Measurement of circumferential strain could predict prognosis in asymptomatic AS, but myocardial perfusion showed poor ability to predict events.
In conclusion, this thesis offers further insights into the changes that occur in the myocardium of patients with asymptomatic moderate and severe AS, using established and new CMR techniques. The clinical value of measuring these CMR parameters to aid risk stratification is shown, and the future potential for monitoring new therapies in these patients is discussed in the final chapter.
Simultaneous recognition, localization and mapping for wearable visual robots
Keywords: Computer Vision
Wearable
Object Recognition
Robotics
Structure from Motion
SLAM
SFM
Simultaneous Localization and Mapping
Augmented Reality

With the advent of ever smaller and more powerful portable computing devices, and ever smaller cameras, wearable computing is becoming more feasible. The ever increasing numbers of augmented reality applications are allowing users to view additional data about their world overlaid on their world using portable computing devices.
The main aim of this research is to enable a user of a wearable robot to explore large environments automatically viewing augmented reality at locations and on objects of interest.
To implement this research a wearable visual robotic assistant is designed and constructed. Evaluation of the different technologies results in a final design that combines a shoulder mounted self stabilizing active camera, and a hand held magic lens into a single portable system.
To enable the wearable assistant to locate known objects, a system is designed that combines an established method for appearance-based recognition with one for simultaneous localization and mapping using a single camera. As well as identifying planar objects, the objects are located relative to the camera in 3D by computing the image-to-database homography. The 3D positions of the objects are then used as additional measurements in the SLAM process, which routinely uses other point features to acquire and maintain a map of the surroundings, irrespective of whether objects are present or not.
The monocular SLAM system is then replaced with a new method for building maps and tracking. Instead of tracking and mapping in a linear frame-rate driven manner, this adopted method separates the mapping from the tracking. This allows higher density maps to be constructed, and provides more robust tracking. The flexible framework provided by this method is extended to support multiple independent cameras, and multiple independent maps, allowing the user of the wearable two-camera robot to escape the confines of the desk top and explore arbitrarily sized environments.
The final part of the work brings together the parallel tracking and multiple mapping system with the recognition and localization of planar objects from a database. The method is able to build multiple feature rich maps of the world and simultaneously recognize, reconstruct and localize objects within these maps. The object reconstruction process uses the spatially separated keyframes from the tracking and mapping processes to recognize and localize known objects in the world. These are then used for augmented reality overlays related to the objects.