VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Second language creative writing strategies: in what ways do they foster writing improvement in a Year 9 class?
Keywords: MLT 2019
MLT

The following paper is a contribution to the existing small body of research on the theory and practice of creative writing (CW) in the English as second language (ESL) secondary school classroom. The research aimed at improving the writing skills of Year 9 students through the use of CW in a large, private Waldorf comprehensive school in the Eastern part of Germany. It was carried out under the theoretical underpinning of practitioner research. The study included 31 students from the chosen grade. Prior to the intervention, student writing samples on file were analysed according to word length and use of language. A pre-intervention writing assessment was used as a quantitative measure to monitor change in student writing. During the intervention, students were observed and interviewed to find out if and how student writing changed on the participant’s individual level. A post-intervention writing assessment was then used to measure change in student writing. A post-intervention group interview as well as post-intervention survey were also conducted.
The study found that improvement took place with word length, but not on the level of spelling or syntax-related issues. The percent improvement between girls and boys showed a significant difference in text length. The findings from the student interviews obtained showed that students’ self-perception changed towards their writing. Students felt reassured and more positive towards writing than before the intervention. It was further observed that CW tasks served students’ writing motivation, helped bring out self-expression skills and reduce language anxiety. Students with learning disabilities profited from CW as much as high ability students, which demonstrates that the use of the method is particularly fit for inclusive ESL settings.
It was also found that task design as well as first language (L1) use play a major role in the ESL CW process.
Mathematical modelling of autoimmune myocarditis and the effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors
Keywords: mathematical modelling
myocarditis
optimal control
autoimmunity
immune checkpoint inhibitors

Autoimmune myocarditis is a rare, but frequently fatal, side effect of immune check- point inhibitors (ICIs), a class of cancer therapies. Despite extensive experimental work on the causes, development, and progression of this disease, much still remains unknown about the importance of the different immunological pathways involved. To further our understanding of the immunological mechanisms underlying autoimmune myocarditis and the cardiotoxicity associated with ICIs, we build the first math- ematical model of this disease. This model is based on the immune cell types and interactions that have been identified by previous experimental research as playing an important role in disease development. We show that this model, when parameterized based on literature insights, can reproduce the qualitative behaviour we expect based on disease characteristics observed in patients. Using bifurcation analysis, we show that the presence of ICIs increases the risk of autoimmune myocarditis developing.
Balancing the positive effects of ICIs in treating the tumour with the detrimental effects of increasing the risk of autoimmune myocarditis, lends itself well to the use of optimal control theory. We show that, in a scenario where the standard–of–care treatment schedule used for ICIs causes the development of autoimmune myocarditis, optimal control theory can be used to establish a wide range of schedules with which the same number of doses of ICIs can be applied while autoimmune myocarditis is prevented. This allows for treatment regimen selection from a set of schedules with a minimized risk of autoimmune myocarditis, so other factors such as effect on the tumour and other possible side–effects can be considered.
Lastly, we show that our model of autoimmune myocarditis can be used as part of a larger modelling framework which explicitly considers the effects of ICIs on the tumour. We use optimal control theory on this extended model to show how this framework could be a first step towards using modelling in optimizing personalized treatment scheduling by considering the risk of autoimmune myocarditis in combination with other factors such as effect on the tumour and other possible side effects. Further extension of this framework can consider more complex tumour models as well as models of other side–effects of concern when ICIs are administered.
The emergence of an economic technocracy in Colombia, 1948-1974
Keywords: economic planning
development
economists
technocracy
Colombia
professionalization
foreign aid
economic expertise
World Bank

This dissertation studies the emergence of an economic technocracy in Colombia between 1948 and 1974. It accounts for the advent of professional economists as experts and shows how they succeeded at carving their way into the state to intervene in economic decision-making. Before the mid-twentieth century, men with practical knowledge about public and private finances had generally overseen the administration of economic affairs. In the period under consideration in this dissertation, economics departments and research centres were established in universities, allowing state institutions to incorporate a new type of specialist with a more technically and scientifically grounded expertise about the economy. Based on research in Colombian and US archives as well as interviews, this dissertation explores the resulting professionalisation of economics and institutionalisation of economic expertise in the state. It shows that these processes were embedded in the redemocratisation project of the National Front (1958-1974), following a decade of political turmoil during La Violencia (1948-1957). They were also shaped by the transnational exchanges with foreign actors and institutions that the post-WWII international order made possible for governments in developing countries. Colombia became a favorite client of multilateral institutions and philanthropic foundations, which sponsored several development and technical assistance missions to this country from the late-1940s to the mid-1970s. Hence, the Colombian case provided a privileged lens to analyse more broadly how the transnational circulation of expertise about economic development in the post-WWII period triggered the educational and institutional reforms that entrenched the position of economists in government.
Liminal lives: trans feminine histories from Weimar and Nazi Germany
Keywords: Weimar Republic
trans history
gender
Third Reich
trans studies
German history
sexuality

This thesis explores ruptures and continuities in Germanophone trans lives before and after the Nazi rise to power. Recovering detailed accounts of individuals’ life stories based largely on medical, police and legal records, my research investigates how trans people navigated institutional frameworks across juxtaposed regimes. By focusing on subjectivities, I overturn long held assumptions in histories of gender & sexuality and modern Europe: specifically, the idealization of Weimar as a trans utopia followed by uniform Nazi persecution.
The introduction sets up the current vision we have of trans experiences of Weimar and Nazi Germany by analyzing two enduring photographs. Critiquing tendencies within gender and sexuality studies, I explicate new methodologies that move beyond binary romantic/tragic narratives in the trans past.
Chapters one and two seek to de-idealise Weimar. Everyday micro-histories show that unemployment, homelessness, and reliance on exclusionary and obstructive medico-legal processes characterized this pivotal moment in trans history. Tracing regimes of knowledge and practice related to legal and medical transition also demonstrates their enduring effect in the present.
Chapter three and four analyse how trans women weathered the Nazi watershed by looking at kinship ties and Nazi state responses to trans femininity. Blurring sharp demarcations between exclusion/inclusion, life/death, and good/bad victimhood under Nazism, I use ‘liminality’ to explain how transness manifested between categories and therefore received heterogeneous treatment under Nazism. Focusing on intersubjective relations and social tempers therefore tell us more about the people and societies who fell under Nazi rule than qualitative or discursive analyses.
The final chapter analyses how some trans lives were cut short under the Third Reich, whilst others outlived the sharp political punctuation of 1945. I conclude with a commentary on how ‘everyday’ theory is not simply a form of history from below, but how the everyday affects how we (might) ‘do’ history, full-stop.
Gaining insights from transcriptomic signatures in spinal muscular atrophy: identification and exploration of new therapeutic targets
Keywords: neurodegeneration
transcriptomics
target discovery
muscle atrophy
antisense oligonucleotide therapy
spinal muscular atrophy

5q-spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare, autosomal recessive, progressive, and lethal neuromuscular disease, most frequently of paediatric onset, caused by the loss of function of the survival of motor neuron (SMN1) gene. SMN1 codes for the SMN protein, whose best characterised role supports the biogenesis of the spliceosome and efficient splicing of pre- messenger RNAs. Twenty years of drug development have led to approval of three therapies in SMA, two of which are splice-switching therapies targeting the SMN2 paralog and disease- modifying gene to SMN1. The ceiling effect of splice-switching therapies as well as issues associated with the specialised delivery of oligonucleotide therapeutics in neurological use calls for research towards the identification and functional exploration of new therapeutic targets beyond SMN2 pre-mRNA.
In this work, I explore three avenues for the identification of new therapeutic targets in SMA, using transcriptomics data in motor neurons (MN) and in skeletal muscle. First, I study time- and treatment- dependent genome-wide transcriptomic changes in neuronal tissues in a target-agnostic way and develop a proof-of-concept meta-analysis of all published human RNAseq data in neuronal tissues. In addition, I report a microarray dataset in laser-captured microdissected motor neurons from a severe (Taiwanese) mouse model and provide the first demonstration of neuronal transcriptome-wide efficacy of an intravenously administered splice-switching therapy. Secondly, I investigate the changes in the transcription of a rare subpopulation of RNAs, circular RNAs (circRNA), derived from the SMN1/2 loci. I show changes of expression of the most expressed SMN-derived circRNA, C2A-2B-3-4, in SMA fibroblasts, and provide computational evidence for their putative biological role. Finally, I design and develop two distinct pharmacological approaches to down-regulate FoxO3, a transcription factor transactivating the transcription of atrophy-inducing genes. I identify 8b2-(A) as a promising candidate for further in vitro development.
This work provides new insights in the neurodegenerative processes in MN by tackling the first meta-analysis of published neuronal transcriptomics datasets in SMA, revealing methodological gaps in the study of circular RNAs in a high-isoform context, and identifying novel groups of genes dysregulated in early post-natal MN development in SMA. The identified targets can be further explored for therapeutic development in SMA and in other neurodegenerative and muscle- wasting conditions.
The relationship between literacy outcomes & social-contextual variables for students in low and middle income countries

Keywords: MEA
MEA 2022

This dissertation explores the relationship between social-contextual variables and literacy outcomes in Sierra Leone. To ensure the quality of the review, the assessment tool utilized to measure literacy outcomes, in this case, the Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA), will be evaluated for appropriateness, using an examination of descriptive statistics, Rasch methodology, and correlations with social-contextual variables. While the assessment may be of acceptable quality, student reading levels are low. However, despite these low scores, students’ achievement was potentially positively impacted by reading with parents and the language spoken at home and at school.
Social interactions in bacteria mediated by bacteriocins and horizontal gene transfer
Keywords: microbiology
bacteriocins
horizontal gene transfer
genomics
microbial competition
social evolution
microbial cooperation
plasmids

Bacteria are highly social organisms that frequently engage in cooperative and competitive interactions to successfully survive and reproduce. Examples include cell-to-cell communication, nutrient scavenging, and chemical warfare. However, the vast majority of our understanding of bacterial sociality has come from the laboratory strains of a small number of gram-negative social evolution model organisms, such as Pseudomonas spp. and Escherichia coli. In my thesis, I aim to expand our understanding of bacterial sociality in natural populations and further across the bacterial tree of life. I do this using two different approaches. Firstly, I use laboratory experiments and sequence analysis to study the evolution and ecology of bacteriocin-mediated competition in natural S. aureus populations, sampled as part of a carriage study on human nasal passages. Theory and laboratory experiments to date have provided extensive evidence that bacteriocin production plays a key role in determining the competitive dynamics of bacterial strains, however evidence from natural populations to support this hypothesis is lacking. I find that inhibitory strains were associated with the propensity to displace competing strains from the nasal cavity, which occurs despite inhibitory activity not being displayed by the majority of strains and targeting interspecific over intraspecific competitors. I also provide evidence for the genetic underpinnings of bacteriocin activity, by identifying five bacteriocin gene clusters associated with inhibition. Secondly, I use a comparative approach to study the role of horizontal gene transfer in stabilising cooperation across bacteria. Bacterial cooperation is typically mediated by the secretion of extracellular public goods, which are costly molecules that provide a fitness benefit to neighbouring cells. Cooperation can be destabilised by the invasion of selfish ‘cheats’ that reap the benefit of public good production without paying a cost. It is widely accepted that horizontal gene transfer, especially via plasmids, can allow cooperators to ‘re-infect’ cheats with the gene for a cooperative trait, thus stabilising cooperation. Although theoretical and experimental studies have provided evidence to support this hypothesis, a comprehensive genomic study that controls for phylogenetic non-independence across species remains to be conducted. The results from our analysis of plasmid genes from 51 diverse bacterial species do not support the cooperation hypothesis across bacteria and are instead supportive of environmental variability as a determining factor in the relationship between horizontal gene transfer and extracellular proteins. Taken together, this thesis provides a body of work that emphasises the importance of testing predictions from theoretical and laboratory experiments in natural populations, and across diverse species.
Felt knowledge: ecologising art and Samani Ainu cooking
Keywords: ecology
scent
Japan
moving images
senses
cooking
photography
ethnography
indigenous knowledge
Hokkaido
foraging
felt knowledge
film
srt
poetry
diary
Ainu

Over seven months between 2020 and 2021, I lived in Samani, Hokkaido in Japan. Learning indigenous Samani Ainu cooking across different seasons from Ms Kane Kumagai, I questioned how an art practice can explore ‘felt knowledge’ of the more-than-human world. My everyday presence with local people’s lived experiences and multi-species encounters in Samani was an act of artistic experimentation that could acquire a different way of exchanging knowledge. Across these relationships I learned how our sensory knowledge-based engagement with both people and nature can contribute to a diverse ecosystem.
This book is a record of my time in Samani and is itself a form of art, which documents and shares the process of making and translating intangibles into tangibles. In it, I seek to show how the practice of art can observe, unfold, work with, and share in a compassionate way a felt knowledge that is part of the human world. Documenting this way of living and working can unpack social, historical, political, and economic backgrounds to reveal reasons why Ms Kumagai and natural species are facing a critical moment in Samani. Recording the Samani Ainu cooking that Ms Kumagai wishes to share with future generations also resists forgetting a facet of Samaini Ainu community. Here, I offer values askance from social norms shaped by colonial, imperialistic, misogynistic, and capitalist modes of society. Through this body of works, I practise knowledge production supporting a compassionate, inclusive, and value diverse approach for people, non-human species, and culture.
Dissecting peripheral CD8+ T cell responses and immune interactions during immune checkpoint blockade for metastatic melanoma
Keywords: transcriptomics
immune interactions
immunology
cancer immunotherapy

Immune checkpoint blockade has provided a revolution in solid cancer treatment particularly in the metastatic setting. Although many patients demonstrate clinical responses upon receiving checkpoint therapy, a considerable number of individuals fail to benefit from treatment and continue to progress from their cancers. It is therefore important to establish the immunological contributors that mediate treatment success and identify easily accessible biomarkers that can be used to monitor this process. Here, I utilised bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing, and flow cytometry, to characterise early peripheral immunity across immune checkpoint blockade in an Oxford-based cohort of metastatic melanoma patients.
Firstly, I focus on peripheral CD8+ T cells as central mediators of anti-tumour responses. I demonstrate that a central tenet of the immune response to immune checkpoint blockade is mitosis, which is accompanied by type I interferon and interferon-G signalling and other immune activation pathways. I then employ single-cell RNA sequencing to dissect the CD8+ T cell compartment, finding that mitotically active cells are under-represented amongst clonal expansion. Instead, cytotoxic effector cells and expanding effector memory cells dominate the clonal pool and demonstrate phenotypic and clonal stability across immune checkpoint treatment. Immune checkpoint blockade shifts T cell subsets towards increased differentiation and has particularly stimulatory effects on effector CD8+ T cells.
Next, I describe how these aspects of peripheral CD8+ immunity contribute to clinical patient responses and survival. Individuals with greater levels of CD8 clonal expansion and effector responses show improved treatment outcomes, whilst mitosis and interferon activity have limited patient benefit. I describe how a simple, tractable measure of clinical lymphocyte count predicts long-term survival benefit for patients.
Lastly, I dissect how CD8+ T cell responses interact with other immune subsets, such as monocytes, B cells and CD4+ T cells to create expression and subset composition networks that reflect enhanced T cell activity and homeostasis, or dysregulated inflammation and suppressed T cell immunity. Intersecting these responses with genetic variation provides further insight into the factors influencing immunotherapy responses. Altogether, these results generate multiple blood-based biomarkers to predict therapy success, and provide novel angles for therapeutic adjuvants to support immune checkpoint blockade, spanning potential cellular, cytokine and metabolic mechanisms.
Improving pupil motivation for second language acquisition at Key Stage 4 via teacher response to the pupil voice
Keywords: MLT
MLT 2020

This study aims to investigate teacher strategies for improving pupil motivation, and the strategies which pupils themselves employ to self-motivate, in particular investigating the motivation of two year 11 classes at a high-achieving, selective, rural full-boarding school. A thorough review of the literature was carried out and used as the basis for the investigative measures of the project. Namely, Dörnyei and Csizér’s 1998 research on the ‘Ten commandments for motivating language learners,’ Gardner’s 1985 Attitude/Motivational Test Battery, and Pintrich’s 1991 Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. These instruments were adapted for use on a much smaller scale and combined to give a detailed understanding of the strategies which teachers value for motivating pupils, pupils’ views on these same strategies, and pupil motivational levels and learning strategy use. A new ‘Ten commandments’ was compiled then tailored to the motivational needs of my school and pupils based on teacher responses and pupil ratings. Due to the global pandemic, investigations on the impact of implementing these strategies on pupil motivation was not possible, but the pupil ratings were supported by the findings in the AMTB/MSLQ part of the pupil questionnaire which found that pupils are largely instrumentally oriented, extrinsically motivated, and demonstrate low levels of trait anxiety. Pupils also self-rate effort as high, demonstrate high levels of self-efficacy beliefs, and largely display growth mindset traits. However, there is scope to improve their use of learning strategies, particularly their use of peer learning strategies and metacognitive self-regulation, suggesting that an explicit teaching intervention of these strategies would be beneficial.
'The habits of good society': Victorian manners and etiquette writing, 1834-1890s
Keywords: aristocracy
society
book history
19th-century
women's history
social mobility
prescriptive literature
Victorian
etiquette
gender
conduct literature
behaviour
middle class
manners

Etiquette manuals were a distinctive form of guidance literature, first published in the mid-1830s, providing instruction, in a compact format, on manners and how to behave in society. In the following decades up until the turn of the century, new pocket guides that advised readers how to eat, dress, greet, and most importantly, succeed in a social setting, appeared by the hundreds. This thesis’s main concern is to delve more deeply into this neglected body of material and challenge a series of standard conceptions of the genre, exploring its forms, authors (where known) and its discourse, as enabling as it was restricting about social interaction and social aspiration.
The texts themselves play a significant role as sources: preface, form and syntax provide valuable information about readers and writers to be deduced. References to etiquette writings in fiction, newspapers, periodicals, advertisements of the time are equally valuable in gauging the reception and perception of etiquette works. Through these materials, I explore how expectations of conduct operated in relation to constructions of gender, age, and class, and the ambitions for (and anxieties about) social change and social mobility, that preoccupied the authors, readers and publishers of etiquette manuals. In this way, the project will not only shed light on the etiquette genre itself, but also expose its wider implications. Etiquette literature has the potential to tell us a good deal about how social mobility was understood by a significant portion of Victorian society, and also illuminates in more detail both the contemporary management of social fluidity and how individuals tried to navigate a social system in flux.