VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Revolutionary discourse and policy process: the complexities of operation production in Mozambique, 1962–1992
Keywords: Mozambique
Policy Process
Operation Production
Development

In 1983, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frelimo) adopted Operation Production (OP), aiming, at least in discourse, at transforming the “unproductive people” deemed to be the cause of urban chaos into “productive people”, largely through agriculture in rural Mozambique. At its end in 1988, between 40,000 to 100, 000 people had been sent to rural Mozambique. Based on the analysis of the Frelimo leadership’s ideology and values, triangulated with oral stories of those subject to OP, information from the local and international press, in-depth interviews with members of the Frelimo leadership, mid-low-level state officials, Mozambican National Resistance (Renamo) members, workers from state companies, and observation from the field, this thesis tells the story of the making, implementation and end of OP through a retrospective analysis. It starts with a discussion of the colonial-period ideological construction that led to its urban management model. Then, it explores the trajectory of the Frelimo leadership, the origin of their ideas before tackling the ways in which this past shaped Frelimo’s imaginary of urban order that led to OP. The thesis then explores the relationship between ideology, imaginary and policy choice, and its implementation. Finally, it addresses the ways in which OP ended. I argue that the Frelimo leadership’s ideas, values and imaginary, shaped by their experience of colonial order, by their military experience during the liberation struggle, and by the socio-economic and political context of the 1970s and the 1980s, was decisive in the making and implementation of OP. It resulted from the Frelimo leadership’s ideology and imaginary, framed in their discourse, associated with the context of economic crisis and war of the late 1970s and the 1980s. More than increased production, emphasized in discourse, the main goal of OP was to achieve Frelimo’s urban order (the “socialist city”), which was inspired by the historical trajectory of its leadership. The way OP ended, against the Frelimo leadership’s wishes, reveals the limitation of ideology and values to maintain policy. The thesis demonstrates the importance of understanding the social and historical origins of the Frelimo leadership, their experiences and history, their ideological predisposition, and the context in which they constructed and used discourse to disentangle African politics, particularly in a highly centralized and ambitious party-state with no strong bourgeoisie or independent state bureaucracy, such as “socialist” Mozambique. The Frelimo leadership had their own perception of urban development, which can be explained through a retrospective and contextualized analysis of their discourse.
Deep learning for time series prediction and decision making over time
Keywords: bayesian filtering
deep neural networks
time series forecasting

In this thesis, we develop a collection of state-of-the-art deep learning models for time series forecasting. Primarily focusing on a closer alignment with traditional methods in time series modelling, we adopt three main directions of research -- 1) novel architectures, 2) hybrid models, and 3) feature extraction. Firstly, we propose two new architectures for general one-step-ahead and multi-horizon forecasting. With the Recurrent Neural Filter (RNF), we take a closer look at the relationship between recurrent neural networks and Bayesian filtering, so as to improve representation learning for one-step-ahead forecasts. For multi-horizon forecasting, we propose the Temporal Fusion Transformer (TFT) -- an attention-based model designed to accommodate the full range of inputs present in common problem scenarios. Secondly, we investigate the use of hybrid models to enhance traditional quantitative models with deep learning components -- using domain-specific knowledge can be used to guide neural network training. Through applications in finance (Deep Momentum Networks) and medicine (Disease-Atlas), we demonstrate that hybrid models can effectively improve forecasting performance over pure methods in either category. Finally, we explore the feature learning capabilities of deep neural networks to devise features for general forecasting models. Considering an application in systemic risk management, we devise the Autoencoder Reconstruction Ratio (ARR) -- an indicator to measure the degree of co-movement between asset returns. When fed as an input into a variety of models, we show that the ARR can help to improve short-term predictions of various risk metrics.
On top of improvements in forecasting performance, we also investigate extensions to enable decision support using deep neural networks, by helping users to better understand their data. With Recurrent Marginal Structural Networks (RMSNs), we introduce a general framework to train deep neural networks to learn causal effects over time, using ideas from marginal structural modelling in epidemiology. In addition, we also propose three practical interpretability use-cases for the TFT, demonstrating how attention weights can be analysed to provide insights into temporal dynamics.
Four essays on applied and methodological issues in the study of subjective life satisfaction
Keywords: ordinal choice
interpersonal welfare comparisons
adaptation
differential item functionting
social class
social comparison
life satisfaction
diagonal reference model
social mobility
vignettes
reference effects
subjective wellbeing

This thesis is comprised of four empirical papers. Paper 1, entitled “People do not adapt. New analyses of the dynamic effects of own and reference income”, uses yearly GSOEP and UKHLS data to show that there is no significant adaptation to the effects of own and reference income on life satisfaction. The paper gives an in-depth explanation of why almost all previous studies found adaptation to income and explores the implications of this finding for the estimation of equivalence scales. Paper 2 (with Nhat An Trinh), entitled “Positional, mobility and reference effects: How does social class affect life satisfaction in Europe?”, assesses the effects of social class on life satisfaction. Using ESS data, the paper gives an account of the separate effects of class position, intergenerational class mobility, and reference effects of social class on life satisfaction. The paper also gives an extended discussion of the assumptions underlying Sobel’s (1981) influential ‘diagonal reference model’, which is often used in seeking to separate the effects of class destination and origin from those of class mobility. Paper 3 (with Maarten Vendrik), entitled “How threatening are transformations of happiness scales to subjective wellbeing research?”, investigates the possibility and plausibility of reversing the signs of estimated effects of explanatory variables on happiness and life satisfaction by means of positive monotonic transformations of the response scale. The paper responds to previous papers that purport to show that such reversals are possible and plausible, which would undermine the validity of most subjective wellbeing research. Fortunately for this literature, we show that such reversals are in most cases either impossible or highly implausible. Paper 4, entitled “Memories as anchors: Theoretical reflections and empirical analyses on the intrapersonal comparability of wellbeing reports”, explores the consequences of explanatory variables affecting how respondents report their wellbeing. The paper first shows that such scale-shift effects are to be expected and subsequently analyses the biases that result from them. The paper then proposes a method based on recollections of past wellbeing to correct for intrapersonal scale shifts. The proposed method is then applied to BHPS data, showing that unemployment and bereavement are likely to be associated with strong scale-shift effects.
By popular demand: voter decision making under risk
Keywords: risk
insurance
quantitative methods
causal inference
voting

What is the role of risk in voters’ political behaviour? By Popular Demand provides a bottom up framework exploring voter decision making under risk. The manuscript explores across three distinct settings how citizens’ exposure or tolerance to risk impact their utility and how their demands translate into support for welfare spending, vote choice or the status-quo. Together, the three papers make several important theoretical and empirical contributions. The papers introduce novel measures of risk and clarify best measurement practices to avoid ecological fallacies, they emphasize the importance of private insurance, and show that risk aversion is time variant, and decreases in wealth. The manuscript concludes that risk is central to understanding changes in support for redistribution, the Left, and the status quo. Relying on research designs that account for time-invariant unobserved individual level heterogeneity, quasi-random assignment of treatment, or directly randomize the treatment, the theoretical framework is substantiated with causal evidence.
Template-directed synthesis of supramolecular heterometallated nanorings
Keywords: Porphyrins
Template-Directed Synthesis
Supramolecular Chemistry
Quantum Interference

This thesis presents the synthesis, characterization and study of a range of heterometallated porphyrin nanorings. These studies revealed some fascinating electronic and supramolecular properties.
Chapter 1 summarizes some of the work done in the Anderson group on porphyrin nanostructures and reviews the literature regarding template-directed synthesis.
Chapter 2 describes the discovery of the novel technique “shadow mask templates”. We show that oligopyridine ligands can be used to dictate the sites of demetallation when a magnesium porphyrin nanoring is treated with acid. Magnesium centers that are coordinated to the template are protected whereas uncoordinated magnesium centers are removed. After site‐selective demetallation, the template can be removed, and other cations, such as zinc(II), copper(II), and silver(II) can be inserted into the free‐base porphyrin centers. This strategy provides a simple route to a wide range of heterometallated porphyrin arrays.
Chapter 3 describes the investigation of quantum interference phenomena in bis copper and bis-silver six-porphyrin nanorings by EPR spectroscopy via measurement of the exchange coupling between the paramagnetic centers. Using orientationally selective DEER and RIDME, we investigate how various factors affect the exchange coupling between two spin centers in a porphyrin nanoring.
Chapter 4 describes the thermodynamic and kinetic investigation of complexes where two oligopyridine templates stack on top of each other inside porphyrin nanorings. Using UV/vis/NIR titrations and kinetic 1H NMR experiments, it was found that in a 12-porphyrin nanoring where there is space for the templates to bend, there is high positive allosteric cooperativity. In a 6-porphyrin nanoring where the templates are more constrained, there is negative cooperativity. In the case of the negatively cooperative systems, there is a high kinetic barrier for exchange of templates and reaching equilibrium can take up to several weeks.
Chapter 5 describes how stacked templates can be used in a novel type of Vernier template-directed synthesis because they fit a favorable conformation of the targeted complex and does not require the complex to twist. This turns out to be a significant advantage when synthesizing complexes with sterically bulky solubilizing groups, and is the most efficient method to prepare a 12-porphyrin nanoring with THS-solubilizing groups.
Design, development, characterisation and operation of ATLAS ITk strip staves
Keywords: Silicon Microstrips
ITk Strip Staves
ATLAS ITk Strip Detector
Front-End Electronics

ATLAS (A Toroidal LHC ApparatuS) is a general purpose particle physics experiment designed to exploit the physics potential of the Large Hadron Collider. Two further upgrades are planned to increase the luminosity of the LHC, the latter of which ("Phase 2" scheduled for 2023/2026) will give rise to the High Luminosity Large Hadron Collider (HL-LHC). With peak luminosity increased by a factor of 3.75 beyond today's values, a new Inner Tracker (ITk) will be required for ATLAS. An all-silicon design is chosen with a mixture of Pixel and Strip layers.
This thesis documents the electronic system design of the ITk Strip Staves to be used in the barrel region, and presents results from tests of front-end chips, modules and staves built using prototype chipsets made in the same 130 nm technology as will be used in the experiment. Most of the results come from systems using the first of these chipsets, HCC130 / ABC130, but the final chapter documents wafer screening and single chip results using a later prototype chipset, HCCStar / ABCStar, which has a revised front-end amplifier design and an updated data transfer topology which makes greater use of the available bandwidth. Although beyond the scope of this thesis, the first staves built with the latter chipset have recently been completed. The HCCStar and ABCStar designs are presently being reworked to give improved tolerance to Single Event Effects (SEE), leading toward the assembly of the first pre-production staves later this year. The production phase is due to start next year with commissioning of the completed system, in the ATLAS cavern, scheduled to take place in 2025.
Ecstasy or justice? The sexual author and the law, 1855-1885
Keywords: John Addington Symonds

John Addington Symonds (1840-1893) was a British poet, critic and biographer who wrote what may be the first manifesto in English calling for legal equality for homosexual men, "A Problem in Modern Ethics: Being an Inquiry into the Phenomenon of Sexual Inversion, Addressed Especially to Medical Psychologists and Jurists" (1895). "Ecstasy or Justice? The Sexual Author and the Law, 1855-1885," explores Symonds' work in the context of his epistolary relationship with the American poet Walt Whitman, whose influential 1860 edition of "Leaves of Grass," with its frank treatment of homoerotic themes, inspired a generation of British writers, feminists and activists, in addition to provoking Symonds himself into more direct, though textually veiled and coded, engagement with homoerotic themes. "Ecstasy or Justice? The Sexual Author and the Law, 1855-1885," also examines the impacts of laws criminalizing publications with sexual themes, and laws criminalizing same-sex offences, as background for analysis of certain texts by Symonds' contemporaries, including Algernon Charles Swinburne, Dante Gabriel and William Michael Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, the painter Simeon Solomon, the activists for women's rights Josephine Butler and Annie Besant, and later, the young Oscar Wilde. The thesis addresses ways in which these "sexual dissidents'' work may show certain impacts of pressure from the passage of the Obscene Publications Act and other laws managing privacy and speech in Britain in the 19th century. It also makes the case that pressures of this kind on literary texts in Britain may have affected outcomes for writers such as Whitman eventually in the United States as well, as the passage of the Comstock Act in 1873 led to comparable restrictions on literary freedoms for American writers, and helped lead to the withdrawal of a print run of "Leaves of Grass." The thesis argues that we can't fully assess the work of many writers in Britain after 1857 and in America after 1873, without taking into account the possible impacts on literary texts of restrictions on freedoms of speech and on private sexuality.
Addressing syntactic privacy for privacy-preserving data analysis and data release
Keywords: privacy-preserving data mining
privacy
Trustworthy Remote Entity
privacy-preserving data analysis
Software Guard Extensions
SGX
differential privacy
MPC
multi-party computation
TRE
privacy games

Existing approaches to tackle the challenges of privacy-preserving data analysis and data release are subject to vulnerabilities from certain attacks (which is the case for syntactic privacy models) or suffer in terms of efficiency, scalability or utility (which is the case for techniques based on secure multi-party computation). In addition, definitions of privacy (or any associated properties and notions) remain open to different interpretations among various stakeholders due to privacy’s multi-dimensional and multi-faceted nature. In such environments, individuals who are not necessarily privacy experts, such as software developers or system designers, may struggle to select an appropriate privacy model or mechanism to protect their systems. This dissertation presents simplifications, analyses, considerations and promotions in the context of privacy-preserving data analysis and data release to support utility, flexibility and privacy.
As a first step, we facilitate understanding, application and analysis of syntactic privacy notions via abstraction to games. Via these games, we clarify understanding of, and relationships between, different privacy notions. Further, we give an unambiguous understanding of adversarial actions.
We analyse previously defined privacy games with regards to their applicability and relationships to each other, and define policies to support predominantly non- experts to establish an overview and to select the ‘fitting’ privacy notion / game for their applications. In this context, we utilise our game-based definitions to analyse and reason about privacy properties in a content-based clustering recommendation system as well as a collaborative-filtering based classification recommender system.
The second part is focused on the application to practice. Important in this context is the specification of requirements, which we derive from an analysis of multiple real world applications. Our use cases are predominately placed in distributed multi-party settings, where data remains split between mutually distrustful parties.
Given these real world constraints, we adapt and investigate a novel approach (based on trusted computing techniques) that remains resilient to many implementation-specific vulnerabilities, and increases efficiency and scalability. Our investigation comprises an advanced threat analysis covering high-level privacy model attacks to low-level side-channel vulnerabilities; furthermore, we present benchmarking results illustrating the superiority in performance of our approach compared to existing solutions.
Overall, we aim to foster understanding of privacy and applicability in data analysis and data release applications.
Prediction and inference of dynamics in quantum plasmas
Keywords: Stochastic Calculus
Bohmian Mechanics
Warm Dense Matter
Markov Chain Monte Carlo
Plasma Physics
Quantum Plasmas

Quantum plasmas arise in a range of physical contexts, from planetary interiors to Inertial Confinement Fusion experiments. We require sophisticated numerical approaches to find the structural and dynamic properties of these complex, many-body quantum systems; diverse in accuracy and applicability, these computational approaches each have their own strengths and (often ignored) weaknesses. By combining existing techniques with newly developed algorithms, this thesis addresses some weaknesses that are common to many state-of-the-art calculation methods for quantum plasmas, and opens up paths to calculating properties that were not previously accessible. The focus of the thesis is a method based on Bohmian mechanics for dynamic structure calculations; alongside this, stochastic gradient Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods are developed for inferring plasma properties from experimental data.
Ketone metabolism in the heart
Keywords: metabolomics
glycolysis
glycogen
redox states
D-β-hydroxybutyrate oxidation

The aphorism “fat burns in the flame of carbohydrate” leads to the question of whether the oxidation of the ketone body, D-β-hydroxybutyrate (βHB), is facilitated by anaplerosis via glycogen and/or glucogenic amino acids. The work in this thesis aimed to investigate the importance of anaplerosis in ketone body metabolism in the isolated heart. The first study (Chapter 3) determined whether glycolysis from glycogen affected the heart’s ability to oxidise βHB. The glycogen content of isolated rat hearts was altered by perfusion with or without glucose, before perfusing with Krebs-Henseleit (KH) buffer containing [14C]-βHB or [5-3H]-glucose to measure βHB oxidation and glycolytic rates, respectively. βHB oxidation in hearts with low glycogen (LG) was 2-fold lower than those with high glycogen (HG), and βHB oxidation rates directly correlated with glycogen content. βHB oxidation decreased glycolytic rates to ~0.2 μmol. gww-1.min-1 in all hearts, redirecting glucose into glycogen in LG heart, but not in HG hearts. βHB alone or with glucose increased the Krebs cycle intermediates, citrate, 2-oxoglutarate and succinate, and the total nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP/H) pool measured using metabolomics. Thus, glycogen is required for βHB oxidation. The second study (Chapter 4) determined the effect of βHB oxidation on cardiac energetics using 31P-NMR spectroscopy. In HG hearts, βHB oxidation increased the free energy of ATP hydrolysis (∆GATP) by increasing the concentration of phosphocreatine ([PCr]) and the phosphorylation potential, calculated from the [ATP]/[ADP][Pi] ratio. βHB oxidation was unable to increase the low ∆GATP in LG hearts due to low glycolytic flux through pyruvate. The third study (Chapter 5) defined the effect of the glucogenic amino acids, asparagine, valine and glutamine, on βHB oxidation in hearts with decreased flux through pyruvate to oxaloacetate (glycogen-depleted and perfused with low glucose buffer). Asparagine increased βHB oxidation 2-fold by increasing the metabolites of the malate-aspartate shuttle and purine nucleotide cycle, aspartate, fumarate and guanosine triphosphate. Neither valine nor glutamine increased βHB oxidation rates. The final study (Chapter 6) determined the effect of substrates and loading conditions on cardiac efficiency (the ratio between hydraulic work and oxygen consumption) in working rat hearts. Fatty acids were found to decrease cardiac efficiency, via increased oxygen consumption and decreased hydraulic work, at both low and high pre- and afterloads. At high, but not at low, pre- and after-loads, βHB plus acetoacetate (AcAc) increased efficiency by increasing hydraulic work. Thus, βHB plus AcAc increased cardiac efficiency more than glucose alone or with fatty acids at high pre- and after-loads. In conclusion, βHB oxidation and glycolysis from glycogen have a synergistic relationship in heart, which serves to increase the ∆GATP and thereby cardiac efficiency.