VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Following Libor: financial benchmarks, law, and the government of economic life
Keywords: LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate)
money
financial markets
benchmark reform
neoliberalism
Foucault
legal form

Libor is a financial benchmark – a daily published number incorporated into financial contracts of all kinds for the purposes of establishing financial valuations. It has played a vital role in global finance for decades, with an influence that extends beyond the markets in which it is created and serves its primary purposes, and into everyday economic life. The global financial crisis of 2007/8 sparked a set of debates that has seen Libor’s reform, and ultimately replacement, top the financial regulatory agenda. But while these issues have attracted interest from social scientists and legal scholars alike, existing scholarship tends to take for granted the ruling conception of a benchmark as a calculative device. Libor’s effects on the distribution of wealth and power in society are seen as having to do with ‘underlying’ market realities or else sociological factors such as status, networks, or social norms. The benchmark itself is often analytically invisible.
In contrast, this thesis asks how Libor has been made into an object of critique since the financial crisis – that is, how has Libor been made into a ‘problem’ in need of reform? The thesis uses an in-depth, qualitative case study of the UK aspects of Libor reform to analyse the nature and effects of this problematisation and thereby to illuminate the configuration of power relations entailed in contemporary financial governance. I show that a benchmark such as Libor is a legal artefact whose role is to obviate debate about what things are ‘really’ worth by providing a measure that allows transactions to take place as if that debate was resolved. I refer to this as the benchmark form. I argue that, as a modern-day benchmark form, Libor has its analogue and historical template in the institution of money as a technical means of commensurating values in economic exchange.
Left to their own devices: work-related seamless mobile learning 
Keywords: Civil Service
Hedegaard
Seamless mobile learning
eLearning
Activity theory
Mixed methods
Mobile learning
Work-related learning

Today many workers carry portable devices – smartphones, tablets and laptops – which have the potential to alter work-related learning practices by facilitating seamless mobile learning. However, the specific ways in which this may happen remain unexplored for many groups. Drawing on Hedegaard, this study sought to understand the seamless mobile learning practices of civil servants and related agency workers by focusing on affordances and demands experienced in activity settings embedded within institutional practices and values. This methodological approach involved reviewing documents and trace data (records from a learning management system), as well as collecting data via a survey and semi-structured interviews, to form a view of the values and practices of seamless mobile learning as well as resulting conflicts. The resulting analysis revealed the dynamics and tensions in practices which span multiple settings, illuminating the challenges of learning in a seamless manner.
Specifically, the findings show that much mobile learning involved abstraction from setting and appeared fragmented and ad hoc, as opposed to forming part of a longer, orchestrated, seamless learning project. Engagement in mobile learning arose from a sense of a lack of time and need to stay “on top of things” as much as from a keen interest in the topic in question. However, in rarer instances, seamless mobile learning was possible and more sustained. Institutional support for learning that was also of individual interest was important for supporting learning over time, even where projects were self-initiated and self-orchestrated. The individual ability to orchestrate learning also played a critical role.
This study presents a picture of seamless mobile learning, frequently studied within educational or recreational institutions, within the institutions of work and private life. It contributes to the literature through proposing the use of an activity theory lens to consider the relationship of the learner’s setting to their learning as well as to their broader institutional context and, through drawing methodologically on Hedegaard’s work, proposing the addition of the concept of institution to definitions of seamless learning.
Mechanisms of TonB-dependent protein import in Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Keywords: Bacteriocins
Gram-Negative Bacteria
Protein Antibiotics
Pyocins
Multi-drug Resistance
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Outer Membrane

The rise of multidrug resistance in several bacterial families is an emerging therapeutic crisis, with the potential to revert society to a pre-antibiotic era. Of particular concern is the opportunistic pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a major causative agent of hospital-associated infections. As such, the development of novel therapeutics to target multidrug resistant P. aeruginosa is critical. Protein antibiotics synthesised by P. aeruginosa, known as pyocins, have recently become the focus of concerted efforts to develop new treatments to combat bacterial infections. Pyocins are fundamental for interbacterial competition, but the mechanisms by which they translocate across the Gram-negative cell envelope are poorly understood. The work presented in this thesis explores the mechanism by which two nuclease-type pyocins, pyocin S2 (PyoS2) and pyocin SN (PyoSN) exploit target proteins within the P. aeruginosa cell membrane to stimulate uptake. The components of the cellular envelope parasitised by PyoSN during import were identified, including a novel OM transporter, CntO. CntO is a 22-stranded β-barrel and virulence factor in P. aeruginosa that transports the metallophore pseudopaline across the OM. PyoSN eliminated a broad range of Pseudomonas clinical isolates, demonstrating its potent therapeutic potential. The PyoSN transporter binding domain was subsequently isolated (PyoSNNTD) and the crystal structure solved. PyoSNNTD possessed a kinked three-helical bundle motif, which is conserved with the PyoS2NTD structure. Finally, the global mechanisms of TonB-dependent pyocin import were investigated in atomistic detail using PyoS2 and its transporter FpvAI. The structural constraints imparted on protein import across the OM were identified, confirming partial unfolding of the PyoS2NTD is a requirement for translocation through FpvAI. Interestingly, structural flexibility of transport was much greater than expected, with a PyoS2 disulphide construct retaining translocation activity in vivo. Hence, this study demonstrates a conserved mechanism of import for TonB-dependent protein antibiotics through exploitation of energised nutrient transporters in the OM.
The Catholic Church's teaching on church-state relations at Vatican II: an interpretation, critique, and suggested reform
Keywords: Ecumenism
church-state relations
Hendrik Berkhof
political theology
church and state
Oliver O'Donovan
William Cavanaugh
Second Vatican Council
Oscar Cullmann
John Howard Yoder
Stanley Hauerwas
Dignitatis Humanae

This thesis seeks to answer three questions: What did the Catholic Church teach about church-state relations at the Second Vatican Council? What problems can we identify in that teaching? How should those problems be remedied?
To answer the first question, I present an original interpretation of the conciliar documents to argue that the church intended not to contradict its past teachings on church-state relations, as many wrongly think, but rather to change the church's pastoral approach towards states. The church tacitly accepted church-state separation in the hope that that would facilitate its mission of evangelization and enable the laity to bring the influence of Christian values more effectively into politics and society.
In conversation with Stanley Hauerwas and William Cavanaugh, I then offer an original critique of Vatican II’s teaching about church-state relations. I argue that Vatican II's teaching about the laity's role vis-à-vis political authorities retained the problematic features of pre-conciliar conceptions of ecclesiology and of the laity’s role in politics. The problematic features can be summarised as an acceptance of dichotomous categories (religion-politics, spiritual-social, internal-external), which makes it difficult to construe cogently how the laity ought to mediate the Gospel in political life, since the categories separate the church's relation to political authorities from its mission of evangelisation and sanctification.
I then return to scripture and the history of Christian political thought to propose remedies to the problems, and to suggest an improved conception of political authority’s purpose and of the church’s responsibilities post-Christendom in relation to political authorities. In dialogue with Oliver O'Donovan and biblical scholarship on the 'Powers,' I argue that political authorities are a manifestation of the fallen world defeated by Christ (i.e. ‘Powers’); nevertheless, they are authorised by God to facilitate the church’s mission by preserving places of earthly peace in the saeculum. The responsibilities of the church are to regain its missionary posture towards political authorities, to teach the limitations of their authority, even if its preaching should provoke the Powers to persecute the church, and to preserve (where prudent) the valuable remnants of Christendom.
Towards the total synthesis of (+)-lophotoxin
Keywords: furanocembranoid
lophotoxin
natural product
total synthesis
ring-closing metathesis

Chapter 1: Introduction
This chapter gives an overview of the furanocembranoid family of natural products, and its most prominent member (+)-lophotoxin. Biosynthetic, biological, and structural properties, as well as interconversion and synthetic studies are discussed. The chapter ends with a research proposal and lays out the synthetic strategy which was developed to approach this project.
Chapter 2: Synthesis of the right-hand furan fragment and model furans
This chapter describes the retrosynthesis and forward synthesis of several furan fragments used in our approach to lophotoxin. The organocatalytic Baylis–Hillman reaction to introduce the secondary alcohol alcohol at position C-13 stereoselectively, as well as the RCM-based furan methodology to introduce the core furan heterocycle, are described as key steps.
Chapter 3: Cross-coupling approaches for fragment linkage
This chapter discusses the synthesis of literature-known vinyl iodide, intended as the lefthand fragment, and attempts to couple it with various furan fragments via cross-coupling methods. The biggest challenge was a competing intramolecular Heck reaction.
Chapter 4: Synthesis of aldehyde left-hand fragments
This chapter details the restrosynthesis and forward synthesis of several aldehyde fragments, intended for an alternative fragment coupling strategy. The crucial Sharpless dihydroxylation of a 1,1-disubstituted olefin to introduce the tertiaty alcohol at position C-8 stereoselectively is discussed. The stereochemical assignment of C-8 and different protecting group strategies are summarised.
Chapter 5: Fragment coupling and synthesis of the carbon skeleton
This chapter depicts coupling reactions of furan and aldehyde fragments. Shiina macrolactonisation and RCM-mediated butenolide synthesis are reported as key steps to provide the carbon skeleton of (+)-lophotoxin. Different protecting group strategies are evaluated for their efficiency.
Chapter 6: Experimental procedures and supporting Information
This chapter lists all procedures for experiments described in this thesis. Additionally, all spectral data for the characterisation of synthesised compounds are given.
Perceptual decision-making under uncertainty in humans
Keywords: OU process
convolutional GLM
parietal cortex
decision-making
EEG
CPP
continuous task paradigm

On a daily basis, humans need to make decisions in a complex uncertain world that requires them to adapt their decision strategies to the environmental volatility. In order to make a decision, humans often need to integrate noisy information and combine it with prior experience they learned through previous similar decision situations. This thesis examines how humans form decisions based on noisy information using electroencephalography (EEG), and how they make use of prior expectation in order to guide their decisions using magnetoencephalography (MEG). For both parts, models that capture the different decision-making processes were used to make predictions of human behaviour and underlying neural activity.
To study how humans integrate noisy evidence a novel continuous random dot motion task was developed in which signal periods had to be detected in a stream of noisy evidence which, in contrast to previous studies, is controlled by the experimenter. Simulations with a leaky accumulator model predicted that participants should discount past evidence to solve the task. Participant behaviour suggests that they adapted their evidence strategy to the frequency and length of signal periods in the noise in a manner that is consistent with leaky accumulation. A contingent negative variation (CNV) signal measured with EEG suggests that the brain adapted its evidence accumulation process in line with the behavioural results. In addition, a P300-like signal encoded the difference between previous and current evidence sample, scaling with the size of the difference and trial frequency.
To study how humans update their prior belief about decision outcomes a different random dot motion task was used in which participants had to integrate evidence within trials but also had to integrate prior expectation over past trial outcomes to inform choice. A Bayesian model was fit to subjects’ behavioural data to estimate the prior expectation on each trial that was subsequently used to study human choice behaviour and neural activity in the task. Human choice behaviour depended on both, the within-trial evidence, as well as prior belief. Activity in parietal cortex, measured with MEG, at the time of feedback suggested that the feedback type, i.e., whether a choice was correct or incorrect, is encoded in parietal cortex. There was only a very weak influence of prior belief on the neural signal.
Recovery and identification of organic residues from metal corrosion
Keywords: proteomics
IC-MS
copper-organic complexes
thermal sample probe
X-ray diffraction
metal corrosion
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
infrared spectroscopy
organic residue analysis
mass spectrometry
archaeological copper corrosion
GC-MS

This research demonstrates the potential of archaeological copper corrosion for organic residue analysis. In archaeology, analysis of metal corrosion has traditionally been limited to the identification of inorganic compounds, thought to result from the interaction of the metal object with the deposition environment. For the first time a range of analytical techniques are used to analyse archaeological copper corrosion, many from Pompeii vessels, revealing the different types of information they contain and how the identified compounds can be articulated into compelling stories.
The formation of copper-organic complexes is proposed as a pathway for preservation of organic residues in metal objects. This hypothesis is supported by electrochemical experiments to generate copper corrosion impregnated with organic mixtures and to synthetize copper-organic complexes with characterization by a range of analytical techniques. To address the low solubility of copper-organic complexes in organic solvents a gas chromatography with mass spectrometry method using a thermal sample probe is developed and shown to be superior to solvent extraction. This method is incorporated into a new multi-analytical protocol for the analysis of copper corrosion comprised of Fourier-Transform infrared (FTIR) for identification of chemical functions, powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) for identification of mineral phases and identification of organic molecules that also includes IC-MS and proteomics. Validation of the multi-analytical protocol with archaeological copper corrosion enables the recovery of a range of biomarkers including those for substances used in the past, for past environments and associated with changes in the deposition environment.
Exploitative data harvesting as an article 102 TFEU violation
Keywords: data harvesting
exploitative abuses
competition law
digital markets
abuse of dominance

The digital landscape has become an intrinsic part of our day-to-day lives and has brought numerous benefits to society. A key factor which has enabled such digital (and societal) transformation is big data and platforms’ enhanced abilities to harvest, analyse and use the same. However, despite the distinct benefits provided by big data and analytics, some harmful implications, including in the competition law sphere are notable. Various aspects of such harm are relevant from an antitrust perspective - this thesis focuses on exploitative data collection by dominant platforms and its privacy-degrading implications.
Notably, there has already been some enforcement action in this area against Facebook’s data collection practices by the German competition authority; and more recently, Germany also started investigating Google’s data processing terms. Similarly, Facebook’s privacy-degrading data gathering practices were also highlighted in recent complaints (by the FTC and State Attorney Generals) in the US.
These cases raise interesting questions for EU competition; specifically, can dominant platforms’ exploitative data harvesting practices be sanctioned under Article 102 TFEU as an abuse of dominance?
The thesis explores this issue. After discussing big data and dominant platforms’ exploitative data collection practices, it establishes the intersection of privacy and antitrust in this sphere. Then it discusses how despite traditional reasons for limited enforcement appetite in exploitative abuse cases, such intervention is justified in the data economy. Thereafter, it explores two potential theories of harm, and concludes that viewing privacy-quality degradation as an exploitative abuse of dominance is a feasible and practically enforceable approach. Finally, it discusses Article 102 TFEU as part of a wider enforcement toolbox, and the complementary role to be played by other antitrust tools and external legislative frameworks like data protection, consumer laws and platform-specific regulation; where these other tools rectify broader market conditions, and ex-post competition law corrects specific failures.
Parton Distribution Functions at the high precision LHC
Keywords: Large Hadron Collider
Parton Distribution Functions
Quantum Chromodynamics

In this thesis, we discuss current progress made in the determination of the Parton Distribution Functions (PDFs) in the context of the high--precision LHC era. The study of these quantities not only furthers our understanding of the composite nature of the proton but is also a vital ingredient for many Standard Model and Beyond the Standard Model phenomenological studies performed at the LHC. To this end, we examine four recent studies in this area, covering a wide range of topics.
We first discuss the challenges currently being faced due to the highly correlated and precise data that are available at the LHC and how this can be overcome in the context of top--quark pair production. We then analyse new theoretical predictions for the dimuon process and place this in context of the recent ATLAS 7 TeV Drell-Yan data. While these datasets can be broadly fit together, they have different pulls on the strange PDF. We investigate the impact of these new calculations on this possible tension. Next, we look to the future of PDFs at the High-Luminosity phase of the LHC and the proposed Large Hadron-electron Collider. We generate projections of what the PDF uncertainty may look like at such detectors, demonstrating that they will place significant constraints on the PDFs. Finally we analyse WW production in the context of the newly formulated structure function approach to photon-initiated processes. This method has the potential to significantly reduce the uncertainty when compared to the standard photon PDF approach. We focus on the key concept of gauge dependency, which is highly relevant for this new formalism.
Transnational education and regional development: a case study of Namal college, Mianwali, Pakistan
Keywords: HE2018
HE
MScEducation

Transnational education is proliferating in developing countries as TNEs are used strategically to raise the quantity and quality of local higher education provision to absorb the increasing local demand for higher education and prepare the country for a knowledge-based economy. However, there is a critical paucity in the literature discussing the substantial rise of TNE in developing countries and its impact on the regional development. This is a qualitative case study that intends to explore the impact of TNE, i.e. Namal College, on the regional development in Pakistan. Stakeholders’ perspective on the role of the TNE is considered, and barriers of the TNE to regional development are explored as well. The data was collected using semi-structured interviews and documentary analysis. A total of 17 participants were selected for the interviews; 10 final year undergraduate students, and 5 academic and administrative staff members of Namal College were selected using purposive sampling, while 2 employers were selected using convenience sampling. The findings indicate that the TNE has broad social and economic impact on the regional development. It has played a crucial role in demand absorption, enhanced the capacity and quality of local higher education institution rapidly through ready-made resources and good pedagogical practices, while offering students from underprivileged background an option to study international degree from home. However, the TNE does not assist students in securing jobs. In addition, the curriculum brought by the TNE is less responsive to the local needs, thus limiting the impact in terms of knowledge transfer for regional development. Moreover, high franchise fee associated with the TNE may also hinder institutional expansion projects by causing financial constraints on the host institution.