VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Civil society knowledge networks
Keywords: Kenya
East Africa
Participatory Development
Climate Change Adaptation
International Development
Borana
Kyrgyzstan
Envrionmental Knoweldge
Civil Society
Biocultural Diversity
Knowledge networks

Information technology, media, financial flows and consumer culture have long been acknowledged as transnational connective forces that spread ideas and values around the globe. This work proposes an alternative mechanism for such spread: development-focused civil society organizations. This thesis argues that such organizations constitute a backbone of connections that link a diversity of development actors and local communities into a network with global scope. While individual nodes in these civil society networks may not possess global reach, the network as a whole facilitates the far flung transfer of knowledge and ideas. This work focuses on the ways that knowledge is generated, transferred and renegotiated on both the global, national and local scale through such networks of development institutions. How are global discourses formed, adapted and spread via civil society into local communities? How do local communities interact with, change, implement or ignore the values, knowledge and rhetoric of global movements? How are communities shaped by these discourses and what role do they have in informing the discourses themselves?
The project constructs two case studies of such 'knowledge networks' – two international foundations, their partner NGOs in the developing world (Kyrgyzstan and Kenya), and the local communities where the NGOs support ecologically-focused initiatives. The case studies demonstrate the complex and uneven ways in which knowledge and values are shared – and contested – within the networks. Ideas are transformed, adapted or ignored between different nodes, and yet the network retains enough common discourse and shared knowledge to function as a whole. Despite power imbalances, local actors remain agents, not subjects, in these networks and produce knowledge that is prized by other organizations and individuals in the networks. Civil society knowledge networks thus sculpt the content and application of knowledge across global movements, development-focused civil society organizations and local communities in the developing world.
Tombs and territories: the epigraphic culture of Lycia, c. 450 - 197 BC
Keywords: ancient history
epigraphy
multilingualism
Lycian language
Greek language

In this thesis, I look at the use of inscriptions on stone in the Lycian peninsula during the fourth and third centuries BC, considering the effect of internal and external events on the production of inscriptions in the area, and looking at aspects of continuity and change across the two centuries.
In Chapter 1, I discuss the development of the Lycian alphabet, arguing that origins of the alphabet are far more complex than has usually been believed, and involved elements of both organic development and conscious devising of letters forms. Building on the work of earlier scholars, I consider the alteration of certain letters-forms over time, and use these – and other available indications of date - to allocated number of inscriptions from different sites to 'early' or 'later' periods; the results of this work are presented in the 'harts' at the back of my thesis.
In the subsequent chapters, I build on my conclusions from the first chapter to discuss certain aspects of the epigraphy of Lycia in a broadly chronological fashion, first setting out the what we know about the historical background of each period under discussion, and then considering inscriptions of particular interest.
In Chapter 2, dealing with the late-fifth and early-fourth century, I look at the earliest of the Lycian epitaphs, as well as the uniquely long inscriptions of the rulers of Xanthos. I consider the development and structure of the 'building formula' which is so common in Lycian inscriptions, and how this relates to other Anatolian epigraphy.
Chapter 3 looks at the effect of the internal strife in early-third century Lycia, and particularly the figure of Perikle, on the epigraphic culture of Lycia, with particular discussion of the ẽnẽ…χñtawata 'ruler formula', while Chapter 4 discusses the changes brought about by Hekatomnid rule over Lycia, and the beginnings of the use of Greek in private epigraphy.
Finally, Chapter 5 looks at the beginning of the Ptolemaic period, arguing that Lycian continued to be used in both official and private inscriptions, and discussing the ways in which official epigraphy became more similar to that of other Greek poleis – while retaining specifically Lycian features.
Searches for scharms and gluinos with the ATLAS Detector
Keywords: Large Hadron Collider
Charm
Gluino
Multijet
13 TeV
proton - proton collisions
ATLAS
Supersymmetry
8 TeV

Following the extremely successful operation of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN during its first years of operation, the ATLAS and CMS collaborations announced the discovery of a new particle compatible with the Higgs boson in July 2012, finishing the complement of particles in the Standard Model. However, no other new particle was even hinted at, confounding predictions of an early discovery of Supersymmetry that would resolve the hierarchy problem and retain low fine-tuning. This thesis presents two searches for new phenomena that would have evaded early efforts. The first, using the full 8 TeV dataset collected in 2012 by ATLAS, targets heavy particles decaying to charm quarks and non-interacting particles through the use of a recently developed charm-jet identification algorithm. No excess is observed over the Standard Model predictions, so results are interpreted in the context of supersymmetric charm production. This is constrained to the highest masses so far, with scharms excluded at the 95% confidence level for masses up to 550 GeV with neutralino masses below 200 GeV. The second search makes use of the 13 TeV dataset collected in 2015, and looks for heavier particles which are produced with far higher cross section at this increased collision energy. It is sensitive to particles decaying via cascades to large numbers (≥ 7 to ≥ 10) of hadronic jets, with sensitivity enhanced through requirements on the number of jets identified as arising from bottom quarks. Again, no excess is observed, and so limits are set on gluino production in two cascade decay scenarios, with a significant increase in reach obtained over 2012 searches for the same final state – gluino masses below 1400 GeV are excluded in the models considered.
The population structure of bacterial pathogens
Keywords: Metabolism
Bacterial strains
Bacterial population
Vaccination
Multilocus models

Populations of many bacterial pathogens are structured into discrete strains despite frequent genetic exchange. Although insights from several studies suggest that different selection pressures operate in different areas of the genome, few theoretical and conceptual frameworks of bacterial population structure examine the effects of distinct competitive processes acting on different loci in the genome, and fewer still have considered the metabolic genes despite their increasingly-recognised importance in virulence. Buckee et al. (2008) investigated the combined effects of ecological competition operating at metabolic genes and immunological competition at antigenic genes on strain diversity using a stochastic model. A key prediction was that prevalent strains should show stable, non-overlapping associations between alleles of antigenic and metabolic genes. In this work, the roles of ecological and immunological competition in structuring bacterial pathogen populations is explored further using a multidisciplinary approach of mathematical modelling and whole genome analysis, focusing in particular on the well-characterised pathogens Neisseria meningitidis and Streptococcus pneumoniae as detailed case studies. We find support for the hypothesis that ecological and immunological competition play roles in structuring pathogen populations – even if present at relatively low levels – including support at the whole genome level. After extending the mathematical framework to encompass virulence-associated genes, we explore the effects of strain-targeted vaccination. We find that metabolic and virulence-associated genes from vaccine-strains are observed following vaccination in association with non-vaccine strains. The final chapter demonstrates how multilocus mathematical models coupled with whole genome analysis can be used together to gain additional insight into the evolution and population structure of bacterial pathogens.
Psychiatric compulsion and long-term social outcomes for patients with psychosis: is there an association?
Keywords: Social outcomes, outcome assessment, psychosis, psychotic illness, community treatment orders, CTO, out patient commitment, coercion, compulsory treatment, involuntary treatment, involuntary detention, forced treatment, social networks, social inclusion, social and community opportunities profile (SCOPE), capabilities, capability approach, OxCAP-MH, follow up, RCT, longitudinal,

Compulsory interventions are widely used in general adult psychiatry for the treatment and care of patients with severe mental illness. While involuntary hospitalisation is established in practice around the world, the use of compulsory interventions outside of hospital – so called community treatment orders (CTOs) – is a more recent development. Three randomised controlled trials of CTO effectiveness have been conducted to date finding no benefits for patients in terms of reduced relapse and readmission to hospital. However, these trials have been relatively short (11-12 months) and focused almost exclusively on CTO effects on clinical functioning and service use. Little attention has been given to patients' social outcomes and broader welfare despite their recognised importance. A sub-sample (n = 121) from the Oxford Community Treatment Order Evaluation Trial (OCTET) were interviewed 48-months after randomisation to assess whether the duration of the CTO intervention was associated with more or less favourable social outcomes at follow-up. Social outcomes were assessed using three main concepts: social networks (Study 1), social inclusion (Study 2), and capabilities (Study 3). No significant associations between the duration of the CTO intervention and social outcomes at follow-up were found. The association between involuntary hospitalisation and social outcomes was also tested but no significant associations were found. Because the field of social outcome measurement is relatively undeveloped, a further aim was to contribute to the validation and testing of two recently developed instruments: the Social and Community Opportunities Profile (SCOPE) (Study 4) and the Oxford Capability Questionnaire for Mental Health (OxCAP-MH) (Study 5). The SCOPE performed well overall as a measure of social inclusion but questions were raised about its feasibility (length) and the reliability of one of its sub-scales. The OxCAP-MH demonstrated good psychometric properties (reliability and validity) and represents a promising new multi-dimensional patient-reported outcome measure for use in mental health research.
Structural studies of PCM scaffold assembly in Drosophila melanogaster
Keywords: Structural biology
PCM assembly

Centrosomes are the major microtubule (MT) organising centres in most animal cells, and they play important roles in many cellular processes. Centrosomes comprise a pair of centrioles surrounded by a matrix of proteins known as the pericentriolar material (PCM). Centrosomes assemble around the mother centriole when the PCM is recruited to nucleate and organise the MTs. For decades, the PCM has been viewed as an amorphous cloud of proteins. Although there are hundreds of PCM proteins, a small number of these are thought to assemble an underlying PCM scaffold that extends around the mitotic centriole and subsequently recruits other mitotic PCM proteins. In flies, Centrosomin (Cnn) and Spindle-defective protein 2 (Spd-2) are such essential proteins, and Asterless (Asl) helps recruit these proteins to the mother centriole. However, it is unclear how these proteins assemble into a scaffold at the centrosome, and none of these core PCM assembly proteins have been characterised at a structural level.
In this thesis, I have identified and recombinantly expressed functional domains of Cnn, Spd-2 and Asl in order to characterise them in vitro. In collaboration with colleagues in the laboratory, the biological significance of these domains has been investigated in vivo.
I define a Phospho-Regulated Multimerisation (PReM) domain within Cnn that is phosphorylated by Polo kinase in vitro, that dimerises via a leucine zipper, and that can form higher order oligomers when phospho-mimicking mutations are incorporated into the protein in vitro. In vivo, forms of Cnn that cannot be phosphorylated in the PReM domain cannot efficiently assemble a Cnn scaffold, while phospho-mimicking forms can spontaneously assemble into scaffold structures. I show that the Centrosomin-Motif-2 (CM2) domain of Cnn is also required to promote Cnn scaffold assembly. The crystal structure of CM2 reveals an unusual asymmetric dimer that further assembles into a tetramer in crystallo. Strikingly, Cnn-CM2 demonstrates a zinc-binding activity that stabilises the dimer, and preliminary in vivo studies indicate that the tetramer interface is essential for Cnn scaffold assembly in vivo. Finally, I show that Cnn-CM2 exhibits a weak interaction with the first of three ASPM, Spd-2, Hydin (ASH) domains in Spd-2, and that this domain facilitates Spd-2 expansion into the PCM region. The structure of two of the Spd-2 ASH domains has been investigated using X-ray crystallography and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy, revealing an Immunoglobulin (Ig)-like protein fold. These studies provide the first atomic insights into the molecular mechanism underlying mitotic PCM assembly, and reveal how the assembly of a Cnn scaffold may be controlled to ensure robust centrosome assembly in vivo.
Reading associations in England and Scotland, c. 1760-1830
Keywords: reading associations

This thesis examines provincial literary culture in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, through the printed and manuscript records of reading associations, the diaries of their members, and a range of other print materials. These book clubs and subscription libraries have often been considered to be polite and sociable institutions, part of the cultural repertoire of a new urban, consumer society. However, this thesis reconsiders reading associations’ values and effects through a study of the reading materials they provided, and the reading habits they encouraged; the intellectual and social values which they embodied; and their role in the performance of gender, local and national identities. It questions what politeness meant to associational members, arguing for the importance of morality and order in associational conceptions of propriety, and downplaying their pursuit of structured sociability. This thesis examines how provincial individuals conceived of their relationship to the reading public, arguing that associations provided a tangible link to this abstract national community, whilst also having implications for the 'public' life of localities and families. The thesis also considers how these institutions interacted with enlightenment thought, suggesting that both the associations' reading matter and their philosophies of corporate improvement enabled 'ordinary' men and women to participate in the Enlightenment. It assesses English and Scottish associations, which are usually subjected to separate treatment, arguing that they constituted a shared mechanism of British literary culture in this period. More than simply a 'polite' performance, reading, through associations, was fundamentally linked to status, to citizenship, and to cultural participation.
Investigations into novel enzymatic glycosylation methods
Keywords: EndoA
EndoS
PglB

Glycosylation is one of the most prevalent post-translational modifications found on human proteins. There is a great interest in developing new methodologies for the synthesis of glycoproteins, both to elucidate the functions of glycans on proteins and to exploit the beneficial properties they can confer on biotherapeutics. Here, research was carried out investigating enzymatic techniques to achieve the formation of homogenous glycoproteins.
EndoS was the first enzyme investigated. EndoS natural activity is for the hydrolysis of glycans specifically from IgG, yet there has been research into its use for the opposite reaction and for glycan extension reactions. Here, a number of EndoS mutants were formed and investigated for this reaction, with a number of novel constructs giving a moderate yield of the glycosylated product. Structural investigations of EndoS were also conducted.
In addition, research was conducted into the use of PglB in vitro for the direct glycosylation of an asparagine reside on a peptide with GlcNAc. Studies here demonstrate that it is possible to use far simpler glycan donor substrates with PglB. Additional studies showed that it was possible to conduct further enzymatic glycosylation reactions with GalT and EndoA after the initial PglB reaction.
Further research was undertaken with EndoA, with it being desired to investigate whether it could catalyse the formation of a thioglycosidic linkage between two glycans, with the thiol bearing glycan acceptor to be attached to a peptide using PglB. After the successful synthesis of all the substrates, disappointingly, neither of the two enzymatic reactions were successful.
Finally, the use of a glycal donor in an EndoA catalysed glycosylation was investigated. Unfortunately, no consumption of the glycan was observed in this reaction.
Synthesis, characterisation and transfer of CVD graphene for high-resolution structural analysis and surface force measurements
Keywords: Graphene
CVD
Surface force measurements
Nanotechnology

This thesis describes an alternative approach to graphene research. It puts forward that the concept of graphene as a "miracle" material largely differs from the reality. The thesis describes high-resolution characterisation of commonly seen imperfections in graphene and a new application for graphene that overcomes such defects.
The thesis is divided into two main areas; high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) characterisation of naturally occurring defects in CVD graphene; and the synthesis and transfer of CVD graphene for the creation of the first graphene surface force balance (gSFB). The HRTEM work focuses on the thorough characterisation of "real" graphene and hence analyses the quality of the graphene that is likely to be used in research laboratories and industry. The creation of the gSFB has not only provided an instrument for novel surface force measurements of graphene but has also provided a new ultra-smooth transfer technique which can be further used elsewhere. The work undertaken in both of these areas is beneficial, not solely in graphene terms, but also for other 2D materials. For example, the gSFB has the potential to be altered to measure 2D chalcogenides and hBN interactions, and similar high-resolution characterisation of common defects in other 2D materials will also provide information on their synthesis, transfer and hence feasibility of industrial production. The research in this thesis is positioned between the pristine, flawless graphene portrayed in the literature, and the real material which will eventually be used in applications on the larger scale.
Essays on the pricing of financial and human wealth
Keywords: risk
equity
unemployment
human capital
currencies

This thesis presents three empirical analyses on the systematic risk exposure that global and domestic asset holders face. Each paper investigates a distinct source of macroeconomic risk, but they all stem from the premise that holding human capital and financial assets is risky. This ultimately affects agents' optimal consumption choices. The first paper, The International CAPM Redux, proposes a novel empirical model to price international assets. Building on recent advances in asset pricing research on currency markets, it documents that investors are compensated for bearing exposure to currency risk when investing in foreign equity, either directly or via delegated portfolios of international assets. The second paper, One Central Bank To Rule Them All, shows that while global investors demand a premium to bear risks associated with Federal Reserve decisions, there is no comparable result for other major central banks. This puzzling finding points to the uniqueness of the Federal Reserve for global investors, that does not simply stem from the size and importance of the U.S. economy. The third paper, Human Capital, Unemployment Risk and Asset Prices, relates the riskiness of human capital to uncertainty in the labour market and documents a role for unemployment as a determinant of human wealth. Sorting U.S. industry-level portfolios by differential exposure to unemployment risk yields a novel cross-section of average excess returns. High risk-premia are consistent with less income-constrained highly educated workers willing to take financial risk beyond hedging their labour income risk. Taken together, these three studies contribute to the empirical asset pricing literature and open the door to further theoretical and empirical research in the field.
The power of government to make contracts
Keywords: Legal basis of government contracts
Third Source
Government power to contract
Government contracts
Judicial review of government contracts
Government power to make contracts

This thesis examines why the British central government can make contracts without statutory power. It argues that, to bear contractual rights, 'government' must be a legal person with legal personality extending to those rights. This constitutes a requirement for positive legal authorisation for government action with legal effect akin to that of natural persons' actions (including contracting). Further, government contracting power is subject to judicial review, which constrains the purposes and manner of its exercise. This makes wholesale comparisons with the contracting power of natural persons inappropriate.
The thesis next examines and rejects two commonly advanced explanations of government contracting power: the 'third source' and 'the Crown' as corporation sole. The 'third source' theory — that government is free to act absent some prohibition — fails altogether to identify what legal person 'government' is and to explain the extent of its legal personality. The view that because it is a corporation sole 'the Crown' (here seen as a separate legal person from the Sovereign) has contracting power is also flawed: historical legal material suggests corporations sole were not separate legal persons and that the only legal effects of sole corporateness were property descending to the corporator’s successors (not heirs) and limits on dispositive power; for the Sovereign even this is doubtful in view of the prerogative.
This thesis then argues that the best explanation of government contracting power is that the Sovereign is a natural person and, for that reason, has power to contract (subject to judicial review constraints). 'The Crown' simply means 'the Sovereign'; government officers act as her agents when placing contracts. This view has explicit Commonwealth and implicit English support in authority. Academic objections are unpersuasive. While further conceptual possibilities may exist, the natural person explanation of government contracting is conceptually coherent and best represents the law.