VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The why of geographical indications
Keywords: Intellectual Property Law
Common Agricultural Policy
Traditional Specialities Guaranteed
Rural Development
Protected Geographical Indications
Traditional Knowledge
EU Geographical Indications
Geographical Indications
Appellations of Origin
Protected Designation of Origin

This thesis explores the historical evolution of the nature of the link between a product and its place of origin in the European sui generis systems of GI protection, with a specific focus on the EU Regulation 1151/2012 on Geographical Indications for the protection of agricultural products and foodstuffs. It concludes that this link has substantively changed, since the 1930s, when some early forms of sui generis GI systems were introduced in southern Europe, especially in France and Italy. While these regimes were based exclusively on the concept of terroir, a cipher for the physical link between a product and a place, an empirical analysis carried out in the present work reveals that, today, the history of the product and of its method of production is, statistically, the predominant linking factor. Furthermore, the research shows that the historical link is almost always mentioned in the specifications of EU GI products, when protected both by Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) or Protected Geographical Indications (PGI), which are the two quality schemes provided by EU Law. In particular, the terroir element, which characterises PDOs, also appears frequently in PGI specifications, where it should be superfluous, thus suggesting that the differences between these two quality schemes are unclear. Finally, the emergence of the historical element confirms that GIs can contribute to the protection of products that are linked to a geographical area not by physical and environmental factors, but by the socio-cultural traditions of a specific place. Although history can constitute a valid product/link, however, it must be used with caution, as it can be mystified and reconstructed in an arbitrary and unfounded way. This is dangerous, because it can turn GIs into a mere marketing tool, thus damaging the origin function that distinguishes them from the broad family of quality labels.
Predicting heart failure deterioration
Keywords: Actigraphy
Risk prediction
Signal processing
Heart failure

Chronic heart failure (HF) is a condition that affects more than 900,000 people in the UK. Mortality rates associated with the condition are high, with nearly 20% of patients dying within one year of diagnosis. Continuous monitoring and risk stratification can help identify patients at risk of deterioration and may consequently improve patients' likelihood of survival. Current repeated-measure risk stratification techniques for HF patients often rely on subjective perception of symptoms, such as breathlessness, and markers of fluid retention in the body (e.g. weight). Despite the common use of such markers, studies have shown that they offer limited effectiveness in predicting HF-related events.
This thesis set out to identify and evaluate new markers for repeated-measure risk stratification of HF patients. It started with an exploration of traditional HF measurements, including weight, blood pressure, heart rate and symptom scores, and aimed to improve the performance of these measurements using a data-driven approach. A multi-variate model was developed from data acquired during a randomised controlled trial of remotely-monitored HF patients. The rare occurrence of HF-related adverse events during the trial required the developement of a careful methodology. This methodology helped identify the markers with most predictive ability, which achieved moderate performance at identifying patients at risk of HF-related adverse events, clearly outperforming commonly-used thresholds.
Subsequently, this thesis explored the potential value of additional, accelerometer-derived physical activity (PA) and sleep markers. For this purpose, the ability of accelerometer-derived markers to differentiate between individuals with and without HF was evaluated. It was found that markers that summarise the frequency and duration of different PA intensities performed best at differentiating between the two groups and may therefore be most suitable for future use in repeated-measure applications.
As part of the analysis of accelerometer-derived HF markers, a gap in the methodology of automated accelerometer processing was identified, namely the need for self-reported sleep-onset and wake-up information. As a result, Chapter 5 of this thesis describes the development and evaluation of a data-driven solution for this problem.
In summary, this thesis explored both traditional and new, accelerometer-derived markers for the early detection of HF deterioration. It utilised sound methodology to overcome limitations faced by sparse and unbalanced datasets and filled a methodological gap in the processing of signals from wrist-worn accelerometers.
Political sociology of unity and division
Keywords: identity
group polarization
institutions
social solidarity
social cleavages

Growing economic inequality and cultural heterogeneity has brought increased attention to the issue of 'unity in diversity', that is, the state of being joined together or being in agreement in the presence of actual and perceived differences among people. Despite the growing interest in 'politics in divided societies', many political-sociological aspects of this issue remain largely unexplored. At the heart of this thesis lies an interest in explaining how social forces shape political preferences regarding the tension between unity and diversity in contemporary democracies. More specifically, this research seeks to understand how social (and identity-based) cleavages affect public responses to the idea of solidarity-based welfare provision and the reconciliation of increased ethnic diversity with national unity (including the functioning of the welfare state). Drawing on the institutionalist view that pre-existing policy creates mass politics (policy feedback effect), the study also investigates whether institutional structures condition the association between social forces and political attitudes. Although several chapters put particular emphasis on policy feedback effects (e.g., Chapters 2, 3, and 5), they are still within the general scope of this thesis, that is, the 'social embeddedness of political attitudes'. The thesis consists of two parts: the first assesses the explanatory power of socioeconomic status and social policy structures in predicting public attitudes toward income inequality, redistribution, and taxation policies (Chapters 2 to 4), and the second examines how differences in occupational status and national identity result in differences in reactions to welfare chauvinism and multiculturalism (Chapters 5 and 6). Taken together, the findings of this study underscore the importance of social cleavages, identity, and institutional structures in explaining why and under what conditions people are more likely to sacrifice part of their private interest or particularistic identity for the common good or the general welfare of all individuals in a community, in a situation of growing economic inequality and increased cultural plurality.
Epicardial heterogeneity during zebrafish heart development
Keywords: Single cell sequencing
Epicardium
Heart development
Heterogeneity
Zebrafish
Microscopy

The epicardium, a cell layer enveloping the heart muscle, drives embryonic heart development and heart repair in the adult zebrafish. Previous studies found the epicardium to consist of multiple cell populations with distinct phenotypes and functions. Here, I investigated epicardial heterogeneity in the developing zebrafish heart, focusing on the developmental gene program that is also reactivated during adult heart regeneration. Transcription factor 21 (Tcf21), T-box 18 (Tbx18) and Wilms’ tumor suppressor 1b (Wt1b) are often used interchangeably to identify the zebrafish epicardium. Analyzing newly generated reporter lines and endogenous gene expression, I showed that the epicardial expression of tcf21, tbx18 and wt1b during development is heterogeneous. I then collected epicardial cells from newly generated reporter lines at 5 days-post-fertilization and performed single-cell RNA sequencing. I identified three distinct epicardial subpopulations with specific gene expression profiles. The first subpopulation expressed tcf21, tbx18 and wt1b and appeared to represent the main epicardial layer. The second subpopulation expressed tbx18, but not tcf21 or wt1b. Instead, it expressed smooth muscle markers and seemed restricted to the bulbus arteriosus. The third epicardial subpopulation only expressed tcf21 and resided within the epicardial layer. I compared the single-cell subpopulations with transcriptomic bulk data and visualized the expression of marker genes to investigate their spatial distribution. Using ATAC sequencing, I additionally identified open regulatory regions located in proximity to subpopulation-specific marker genes and showed subpopulation-specific activity in vivo. My results detail distinct cell populations in the developing zebrafish epicardium, likely to fulfil distinct and specific cellular functions. Future experiments will involve targeting signature genes enriched within each epicardial subpopulation, such as those encoding Adrenomedullin a (first subpopulation), Alpha Smooth Muscle Actin (second subpopulation) and Claudin 11a (third subpopulation), employing cell type-specific genome editing to test whether and how the identified heterogeneity underlies distinct epicardial cell fates and functions. Taken together, my work adds significantly to the understanding of the cellular and molecular basis of epicardial development and can offer novel insights in the context of heart regeneration.
Quantifying impaired metabolism following acute ischaemic stroke using chemical exchange saturation transfer magnetic resonance imaging
Keywords: quantitative imaging
CEST MRI
amide proton transfer, APT
ischemic stroke
acute ischaemic stroke
metabolic imaging
partial volume correction
clinical imaging
mathematical modelling
chemical exchange saturation transfer
nuclear Overhauser effect, NOE
biomedical image analysis
magnetisation transfer, MT

In ischaemic stroke a disruption of cerebral blood flow leads to impaired metabolism and the formation of an ischaemic penumbra in which tissue at risk of infarction is sought for clinical intervention. In stroke trials, therapeutic intervention has largely been based on perfusion-weighted measures, but these have not been shown to be good predictors of tissue outcome. The aim of this thesis was to develop analysis techniques for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) in order to quantify metabolic signals associated with tissue fate in patients with acute ischaemic stroke. This included addressing robustness for clinical application, and developing quantitative tools that allow exploration of the in-vivo complexity.
Tissue-level analyses were performed on a dataset of 12 patients who had been admitted to the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford with acute ischaemic stroke and recruited into a clinical imaging study. Further characterisation of signals was performed on stroke models and tissue phantoms.
A comparative study of CEST analysis techniques established a model-based approach, Bloch-McConnell model analysis, as the most robust for measuring pH-weighted signals in a clinical setting. Repeatability was improved by isolating non-CEST effects which attenuate signals of interest. The Bloch-McConnell model was developed further to explore whether more biologically-precise quantification of CEST effects was both possible and necessary. The additional model complexity, whilst more reflective of tissue biology, diminished contrast that distinguishes tissue fate, implying the biology is more complex than pH alone. The same model complexity could be used reveal signal patterns associated with tissue outcome that were otherwise obscured by competing CEST processes when observed through simpler models.
Improved quantification techniques were demonstrated which were sufficiently robust to be used on clinical data, but also provided insight into the different biological processes at work in ischaemic tissue in the early stages of the disease. The complex array of competing processes in pathological tissue has underscored a need for analysis tools adequate for investigating these effects in the context of human imaging. The trends herein identified at the tissue level support the use of quantitative CEST MRI analysis as a clinical metabolic imaging tool in the investigation of ischaemic stroke.
Effective judicial protection and damages in EU law: the case for the deterrent effect
Keywords: comparative law
damages
Antitrust Damages Directive
European Union law
EU competition law
effective judicial protection

The aim of the thesis is to examine whether the prohibition of overcompensation in the Antitrust Damages Directive is compatible with the EU legal and normative framework. To this end, the analysis is carried out on two levels. First, the rationale for damages in the selected jurisdictions (England, France and Germany) and in the EU is examined to test the main underpinning justification for the prohibition of overcompensation in the Antitrust Damages Directive, i.e. the “European legal tradition argument”. Second, the thesis addresses broader constitutional implications that underpin the debate on the desirability of the pursuit to prohibit overcompensation in the EU. These entail questions pertaining to the adoption of such measures and, thus, exploring whether the EU has the legitimacy to legislate and the related question of competence and the choice of the appropriate legal basis. The argument to be advanced in this thesis is that the aim of achieving a sufficient level of deterrence with awarding damages for EU competition law infringements stems from the very conceptual basis in which the right to damages is grounded – the principle of effective judicial protection and the principle of effectiveness. Thus, as the analysis reveals, the prohibition of overcompensation is inconsistent with the EU legal framework, since it has potential to jeopardise the deterrent or dissuasive function of antitrust damages actions. The prohibition of overcompensation has significantly contributed to the business- biased gist of the Directive, and thus to breaking the link between the rationale for the right to damages for EU competition law infringements, the legal basis and the content of the Directive. The thesis ultimately argues that the Directive’s prohibition is incompatible with the principles of conferral, subsidiarity and proportionality, and to a considerable extent inconsistent with the EU’s legal and normative framework.
Characterisation of novel cardiac and skeletal ion channels on intracellular Ca2+ stores.
Keywords: Ion channel
TRIC channel
Excitation-contraction coupling

Excitation-contraction (EC) coupling is the process by which Ca2+ is released from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) and is fundamental to cardiac and skeletal muscle function. The SR contains many uncharacterised ion channels and proteins which may influence EC coupling and in this thesis I have investigated the biophysical properties of some of these channels.
I have demonstrated that the single-channel gating and conducting properties of SR K+ channels from various mammalian species (rabbit, sheep and mouse) are very similar. I investigated the actions of possible physiological regulators of these channels and demonstrated that luminal Ca2+ and Mg2+ can block K+ flux in a voltage-dependent manner, while luminal Ca2+, Ni2+, and alkaline pH can reduce Po by additional mechanisms. I also characterised the single-channel properties of the various SR anion channels that are observed after incorporating mammalian SR vesicles into artificial membranes.
The trimeric intracellular cation channels (TRIC-A and TRIC-B) and Mitsugumin 23 (MG23) are suggested to be SR cation channels. I have therefore utilised Tric-a KO and Mg23 KO mice to study SR membranes devoid of TRIC-A and MG23. Additionally, I have begun to investigate the single-channel properties of purified c. elegans TRIC-B1 and human TRIC-A. I found that SR K+ channel function was altered in SR from Tric-a KO or Mg23 KO tissue, however the underlying mechanisms for the observed changes appear to be complex. My initial studies of the purified TRIC-A and TRIC-B proteins show that they are permeable to K+, Ca2+, choline, and Cl-, properties which deviate from those of SR K+ channels from rabbit, mouse and sheep. This may reflect species differences or alterations to protein function caused during the purification process or that SR K+ channels remain an unidentified class of ion channel.
Catullus: lyric poet, lyricist
Keywords: Ariadne
Carl Orff
Ned Rorem
Hugo von Hofmannsthal
Richard Strauss
Lyricism
Alan Rawsthorne

There exists between lyric poetry and music a bond that is at once tangible and grounded in practice, and yet that is indeterminate, a matter of perception as much as theory. From Graeco-Roman antiquity to the modern day, lyrical forms have brought together music and text in equal partnership: in archaic Greece, music and lyric poetry were inextricably (now irrecoverably) coupled; when lyric poetry flowered in the eighteenth century, composers harnessed text to music in order to create the new and fully integrated genre of Lieder; and in our contemporary age, the connection between word and music is perhaps most keenly felt in pop music and song ‘lyrics’. In 2016, the conferral of the Nobel Prize for Literature on Bob Dylan brought to wider public attention the nature of lyric’s poetical-musical bond: can Dylan be considered a poet if the meaning, syntax and expression of his words are dependent upon music? Is music supplementary to the words or are the two so harnessed that the music is in fact a facet of the poetic expression?
The connection between music and poetry is perfectly clear in such integrated lyric forms as these, but a more indeterminate connection can also be felt in ‘purely’ musical or poetic works – or at least in the way that we perceive them – as our postRomantic, adjectival use of the word ‘lyrical’ shows. Describing music as lyrical often suggests that it carries an extra-musical significance, a deeply felt emotion, something akin to verbal expression, while a lyrical poem brings with it an emotive aurality and a certain musicality. Text and music of lyrical quality may, therefore, invoke the other for the purpose of expression and emotion so long as our understanding of lyric forms remains conditioned by the appreciation of an implied music-poetry relationship
This thesis works within the overlap of music and poetry in order to explore the particular lyric voice of Catullus in the context of his twentieth-century musical reception. Whilst some of Catullus’s poems may have been performed musically, what we know of poetry circulation, publication and recitation in first-century BCE Rome suggests that the corpus was essentially textual. Nevertheless, Catullus’s poetry was set to music centuries later, not in reconstruction of an ancient model, but in new expression, suggesting not only that composers of the twentieth century found themes in Catullus’s poetry that resonated in their own contemporary world but that they found a particular musicality, something in the poetry that lent itself to musical form. I argue that it is in these works of reception that we can most clearly identify the essence of Catullan lyricism. Moreover, by considering the process of reception, this thesis is able to take a broader view of lyric, identifying traits and characteristics that are common to both music and poetry, thus transcending the boundaries of individual art forms in order to consider the genre in larger, interdisciplinary terms.
Understanding the role of the SNM1B and EXD2 in DNA damage repair
Keywords: DNA damage repair

Unrepaired, or misrepaired, DNA damage can be carcinogenic or mutagenic; thus functional DNA damage repair pathways are essential for the safeguarding of the genome.
SNM1B is a 5’ to 3’ exonuclease implicated in the repair of damaged DNA, particularly the repair of interstrand crosslinks. Genetic studies have identified SNPs in the SNM1B gene as related to cancer risk. One of these (rs11552449) encodes a single amino acid change, H61Y. This study shows that WT and H61Y SNM1B have comparable in vitro biochemical and biophysical characteristics. The structures of both WT and H61Y C-terminally truncated SNM1B (Δ-SNM1B) were solved to 2.8 and 3.1 Å, respectively, and reveal similar structural properties. The structure of WT Δ-SNM1B was also reported (to 1.8 Å) with two 2’-deoxy-5’- adenosine monophosphate molecules in the active site. The structure of SNM1B shows an accessible extended active site, which may facilitate the binding of a variety of non-canonical DNA substrates. Accordingly, in vitro, WT and H61Y SNM1B are able to exonucleolytically process a wide range of structurally diverse DNA substrates. By utilising SNM1B depleted cell lines, this study also shows that SNM1B is required for DNA repair in response to treatment with DNA-crosslinking genotoxic agents (including cisplatin and SJG-136).
This study also identifies the novel double strand break repair factor, EXD2, as having intrinsic 3’ to 5’ exonuclease activity. EXD2 was shown to have enzymatic activity on a variety of substrates in vitro, including replication fork intermediates, ‘nicked’ or ‘gapped’ DNA duplexes, and RNA based substrates. Together with the cellular data this suggests a role for EXD2 in nucleolytically processing RNA or DNA-based intermediates in damage repair pathways.