VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Explaining the rise and fall of trust in India's relations with Pakistan and China in the 1950s
Keywords: Global South
betrayal
trust-building between rivals
India's relations with China
spoilers and disappointment
India's relations with Pakistan

Jawaharlal Nehru’s trust-building efforts with his Pakistani and Chinese counterparts in the 1950s are important moments in global history to shed light on the nature of trust-building between rivals in international relations. Due to their inattention to its socially-contingent nature, existing theories of trust in IR cannot provide compelling explanations for how rivals can build trust in the absence of costly signals, institutions, and shared identities. To address this, I offer a “thick description” of trust and argue that social factors, which exist in the micro-environments of elites—such as discrepant information, the personal reputations of leaders, shared weaknesses, and initial reciprocity—are integral to explaining the trust-building process between rivals [something I refer to as “strategic trust”]. Uncovering them allows us to better understand when face-to-face diplomacy is likely to be more effective as a medium of trust-building and why there is variation in trusting outcomes even as actor’s dispositional traits remain constant. I also limit the scope conditions for these social factors by showing that trust can either be “blocked” by spoilers (leading to disappointment) or “overridden” if actors are unable to live up to positive expectations of behaviour (leading to betrayal). I use historical methods, case study research, and interpretive process tracing to study two cases of trusting success in India-Pakistan and India-China relations, viz. the Nehru-Liaquat Agreement [1950] and The Panchsheel Phase [1954-1957], and two cases of trusting failure, viz. Nehru-Bogra talks on Kashmir [1953-1955] and Nehru-Zhou border talks [1960]. I argue that trust is as much a social relationship as it is a psychological state of being and actors consider social factors associated with their counterparts before making trusting choices. However, while widening the possibilities of trust-building, I also caution against the risks of disappointment and betrayal. Trust is a useful tool to overcome rivalries, but only if leaders are equally attuned to its promises as well as pitfalls.
Responding to shocks: cash, transfers and imagery
Keywords: remittances
cash transfers
entrepreneurship
anticipatory action
imagery
disasters
social protection

This thesis consists of three standalone chapters that speak to the broad theme of responding to shocks in low- and middle-income countries. Chapter 1 investigates the impact of receiving cash transfers in anticipation of an extreme climate disaster, thereby enabling low-income households to cope with the shock on their own terms. We present quasi-experimental evidence showing the effectiveness of a timelier forecast-based cash transfer delivered to low-income households just before the peak of severe flooding in Bangladesh. We find that the `anticipatory’ cash transfer enabled households to change their behaviour and improve their welfare, both during the flood and three months after the intervention. Chapter 2 explores the role of mental imagery in overcoming trauma – largely induced by exposure to violence – by fostering the ability to imagine the future. We design and test a ten-session entrepreneurship training curriculum that teaches mental imagery in business decision making through a randomised control trial in Colombia. We find that mental imagery can be taught as a skill and those who receive imagery training improve their earnings, relative to those who receive a placebo entrepreneurship training. Chapter 3 explores the interaction between public and private cash transfers, recognising that social protection may interact with existing coping strategies. I estimate the extent to which receiving an old-age pension crowds out remittances in post-Apartheid South Africa, using a regression discontinuity design. I find evidence of substantial crowding out in a middle-income country context: for every 1 rand of pension received, 0.22 rand of remittances are displaced on average.
Micromechanics, microstructure and formation of zirconium hydrides in nuclear fission applications
Keywords: EBSD
microcantilever
micromechanical testing
SEM
hydrogen embrittlement
zirconium hydride
fracture toughness
indentation size effect
microstructure characterisation
micromechanics
XRD
FIB
nanoindentation

Hydride formation in zirconium based nuclear fuel cladding can lead to reduction of ductility and fracture toughness. This detrimental effect of hydrogen embrittlement is critically dependent on the morphology of hydrides in microscale and the Zr/hydride dual-phase microstructure. In this work Zr hydride thin film samples were prepared for microstructural and micromechanical characterisation. The microstructure near the Zr/hydride interface was examined with the use of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). A new model was developed to account for the effect of concentration-dependent diffusion on the formation of hydride precipitates. Microcantilever tests and nanoindentation were carried out to compare the deformation properties of the δ-hydride with those of the α Zr. Pre-notched microcantilevers were fabricated in the individual phases and across the phase boundary with the use of focused ion beam (FIB). The experimental results show that the δ-hydride exhibits isotropic micromechanical properties. All the 2-4 μm wide δ-hydride microcantilevers underwent brittle fracture and the conditional fracture toughness is 1.8-2.0 MPam^1/2 in a variety of crystallographic directions. The Young’s modulus of the δ-hydride is 88-94 GPa and its proportional limit in microscale (1016-1189 MPa) is approximately double that of the α-Zr (401-600 MPa). The indentation size effect (ISE) was experimentally investigated and the hardness increased by 65% to 5.1 GPa when the indenter penetration depth was reduced from 5 µm to 0.5 µm. Despite interfacial microvoids and secondary hydride microcracks were observed after applying the bending load, the interface-notched dual-phase microcantilevers predominantly underwent plastic deformation without primary crack propagation.
Cash, courts, and constitutions: democratic integrity in political finance law
Keywords: democratic integrity
money in politics
corruption
integrity as completeness
political trust
honest democracy
rights-structure debate
electoral integrity
political equality
integrity as trustworthiness
political liberty
campaign finance
democratic legitimacy
reliable democracy
equilibrium
core elements of democracy
non-domination
freedom of expression
integrity as coherence

Money in politics is seen as a global, existential threat to democracy and presents unique and difficult challenges for courts when they review political finance regulation. The objective of this dissertation is to develop a normative framework for apex courts, which may guide them reviewing political finance law in a range of constitutional systems. The dissertation thus advances a conception of democratic integrity, which permits considerable legislative choice and appropriately guides courts based on a democratic minimum. Reflecting on the existing rights-structure debate, Part I argues that a new approach should respect the duality of rights and structure in election law, openly mediate between fundamental democratic values, and be based on a richer concept of integrity than that currently in the literature. In developing a theoretical framework that meets these aims, Part II advances three related but distinct strands of democratic integrity: trustworthiness, completeness, and coherence. Trustworthiness describes a democratic system that, through its reliability and honesty, engenders people’s trust or confidence. Reliable democracy depends on the other two strands of democratic integrity, which describe the possession and arrangement of democracy’s core elements of political liberty and political equality, respectively. Meanwhile, honest democracy is concerned with whether there is reasonable transparency and information about democratic processes. As trust or confidence in democracy generally mirrors its trustworthiness, the dissertation shows how public opinion evidence might be used as an indicator for courts before they assess democratic integrity’s objective requirements of reliable and honest democracy. Using this framework, Part III then assesses political finance law jurisprudence in three comparative systems: the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. For each system, the dissertation discusses the legal and political context, explores if public opinion evidence justifies greater judicial concern, and identifies ways each system might better achieve democratic integrity’s reliability and honesty requirements.
Higher education and knowledge in Slovak political life
Keywords: critical phenomenology
interviews
higher education
HE
institutional design
case study
student self-formation
Slovakia
political participation
HE2022

This research focuses on the promise that expanding education and scientific progress will enhance social harmony. It explores this question in elite interviews with Slovak politicians, analysing their answers through the use of critical phenomenology and messy approaches, with an emphasis on active reflexivity. The issues are presented in a broader historical context, accounting for current political and educational challenges, and institutional structures. Participants’ experiences from interviews are complemented with educational biographic data of Slovak politicians. The first part of the research focuses on the relationship between education and political life. A compiled database of the educational biographical data of politicians was used to map the Slovak educational cleavage within political representation, confirming the thesis of diploma democracy (Bovens & Wille, 2017). However, participants reject the simplified binary division of people with and without HE. Hence, the research moved to explore the absolute and relative contributions of education to political participation. It uncovered nuanced ways that certain educational experiences in combination with affluent background and the associated predispositions, help individuals to accumulate advantages that place them in proximity to political power. The research introduces the concept of higher education immersion, which shows the impact of educational hierarchies on stratifying access to transformative higher education-related experiences and through that limit space for self-formation. In the second part of the dissertation, the relationship between knowledge and political life is explored, mapping various rationalities used to justify policies. The dissertation identifies the need to rethink the relationship of science to policy and the need to critically reflect on the limits of public reason in the context of confirmation bias, the Dunning-Kruger effect, and social media.
'Is it worth it?': Austrian postgraduate's perception of studying at Loxbridge in terms of personal and professional outcomes
Keywords: value perception
Bourdieu
international students
HE
postgraduates
HE2022
higher education
qualitative interviews
Brexit

This dissertation examines the worth perception of Austrian postgraduate students pursuing a degree at the prestigious English Loxbridge institutions in times of the twin challenges of COVID-19 and Brexit. Increased tuition fees and restricted social activities impacted the experience broadly and developed a more consumerist lens specifically among self-funded students. This opens up the question of how students reflect on their educational journey in terms of personal and professional outcomes – the personal value, social value, skills value, career value and the overall cosmopolitan value as we live in a globalized world.
By conducting qualitative in-depth interviews, this study demonstrates that students’ value perception is hugely dependent on their individual aspirations, expectations, and cost of studying beyond financial aspects. It argues for a proper information and funding structure for Austrian degree mobile students. These demands are particularly urgent as international students experience extensive price discrimination, a status quo that is troubling due to the cultural aspiration of whiteness and the colonial legacy in and beyond the academy.
Phosphorylation and dephosphorylation regulate the Fanconi anaemia DNA repair pathway

Keywords: PP2A
PPP2R3A
ICL repair
FANCD2
Fanconi anaemia
protein phosphorylation/dephosphorylation

Interstrand crosslink (ICL) is a highly deleterious form of DNA damage as crosslinked DNA double strands block DNA replication, transcription machinery and prevent chromosome segregation. One of the major pathways for resolving DNA ICL damage is the Fanconi anaemia (FA) pathway, of which recruitment of the FANCD2/FANCI complex to sites of ICL damage is crucial for its repair by the FA pathway. The activity of FANCD2/FANCI complex is tightly regulated by post-translational modifications. Monoubiquitination of the FANCD2/FANCI complex lead to their retention on chromatin, which is essential for subsequent repair events to occur. However, it is believed that ubiquitination takes place after the recruitment of the FANCD2/FANCI complex to DNA, thus how recruitment of the complex is regulated still remains to be investigated. Our group reported a previously unknown kinase CK2 dependent phosphorylation event on FANCD2 at a six-residue cluster spanning from residue 882-898, which reduces the activity of FANCD2/FANCI complex, hence blocking subsequent events in the FA pathway. Phosphorylation of FANCD2 by CK2 restrains not only recruitment of FANCD2/FANCI complex to DNA but also FANCD2 monoubiquitination, pointing to an inhibitory effect on the function of the complex to prevent cells from spurious activation of repair in unperturbed conditions. We speculated that an unknown phosphatase may antagonize the effect of CK2 and promote the repairing function of FANCD2/FANCI complex during ICL repair. Here we identified one of the members belonging to the protein serine/threonine phosphatase PP2A family, PPP2R3A/PP2A, as the major phosphatase that specifically dephosphorylates and therefore activates CK2-phosphorylated FANCD2 during ICL repair. Silencing the catalytic activity of PPP2R3A/PP2A led to reduced recruitment and ubiquitination of FANCD2 upon induction of ICL damage. Importantly, cells lacking active PPP2R3A/PP2A displayed a deficient activation of the FA pathway, including increased sensitivity to ICL inducing reagent MMC. Our results describe a novel regulatory mechanism in which the function of FANCD2/FANCI complex is tightly regulated by the dynamic phosphorylation and dephosphorylation events mediated by CK2 and PP2A. In addition, PPP2R3A/PP2A that activates FANCD2 could serve as a potential druggable target to overcome chemotherapy resistance to ICL inducing reagents such as cisplatin, as the major mechanism of developing drug resistance is via an over-activated FA pathway.
Exploring agency enactments of women farmworkers in South Africa's Western Cape province
Keywords: Amartya Sen
women's empowerment
agency
concept of the self
conceptions of the self
decision-making
farmworkers
financial control
women's work
capability approach
South Africa
gender and development

This thesis explores the subjective meanings inhering in individual purposeful agency among women who are, or have been, farmworkers in South Africa’s Western Cape province. Existing research has highlighted gendered dimensions of farm labor on commercial farms in South(ern) Africa (Addison, 2019; Hall, 2013; Lazzarini, 2017; Rutherford, 2001; Rutherford & Addison, 2007) and the Western Cape (Eriksson, 2017; Randle, 2014; Scully, 1997; Visser, 2016; Waldman, 1996). These findings firstly reveal the gendered experiences of farmworkers. Secondly, they underscore the need to understand the processes through which women enact agency to/through work.
To gain a deeper understanding of these processes, this study pursues a conceptually- rooted examination of empirical findings from qualitative research conducted in Western Cape. It explores women’s agency enactments by analyzing the motivations behind their choices and the meanings they attach to particular behaviors. It frames the research through Amartya Sen’s (1999, 2009) capability approach and integrates individual interviews, focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and observations in its analysis of women’s individual agency. The thesis presents ground-up conceptualizations of the forms of agency women have, value, and/or pursue. Furthermore, it discusses how individual agency can also, sometimes, be ‘other-related’ when individuals’ choices and actions can be linked to their relational considerations.
The thesis investigates the link between agency and the meaningfulness of individual women’s choices and actions, grounded in understanding what women value instrumentally (as a means to an end) and/or intrinsically (as an end in itself). The project does so by examining women’s control over income (chapter 5), decisions to work (chapter 6), and ideas about the ‘self’ (chapter 7). Thus, the main empirical contributions of this research are: analytically distinguishing control over income as strategic and/or executive; understanding how women’s decisions to work (or not) helps them pursue what they value, and developing a conceptual link between those values and their identities; and examining how the ‘good woman’, a concept of the self that emerged from the data, is an exemplar that relates to some women’s agency. This study contributes to improving our understanding of the subjective dimensions of women’s individual agency.
Chinese multinational enterprises’ corporate political capabilities in overseas markets
Keywords: corporate political capabilities
China
geopolitics
business-government relations
nonmarket strategy

In a world of rising political uncertainty, it is increasingly challenging for firms to navigate the political landscape. Political challenges can severely affect firms' operations in overseas markets, particularly during home-host country geopolitical confrontations. Hence, it is crucial for firms to develop organisational capabilities to manage political risks and challenges. Prior research argues that variations in firms' strategic responses to host countries' political challenges are shaped by the home country's political environment. However, the existing literature appears to overlook firm-level variations within the same home country: firms may develop different relationships with the home government and, subsequently, manage government relations in different ways. Hence, my thesis seeks to address the research question: “Why do firms originating in the same country develop different political capabilities in overseas markets?” I approached this question empirically by conducting an in-depth qualitative study to investigate how Chinese firms handled host governments' national security concerns. I utilised interview and archival data to present six detailed case studies. My research findings illustrate that the heterogeneity of Chinese firms' political capabilities is shaped by their relationships with the Chinese government. My thesis first contributes to the corporate political capabilities literature by suggesting two additional antecedents – ownership and strategic importance – to explain firms' divergent responses to similar political challenges. Second, it provides an alternative explanation for firms' strategic choices between deploying internal political capabilities and/or relying on external political actors. Finally, my thesis offers practical guidance for business leaders to manage overseas political challenges.
Diabetes prevention: economic evaluation of individual case-based and population-wide prevention programmes and implications for public policy
Keywords: sugar tax
diabetes prevention programme
prevention
menu labelling
diabetes

This thesis aims to inform diabetes prevention policy through economic evaluation of individual-case based and population-wide prevention programmes for type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Two broad approaches are described: i) individual case-based programmes focusing on individuals at high risk of T2DM and ii) population-wide programmes that seek to modify an entire population’s risk of developing T2DM.
Published evidence on individual case-based interventions is described, with both lifestyle programmes and metformin appearing effective at reducing incidence of T2DM and being cost-effective at a willingness-to-pay threshold of £20,000/QALY. However, key differences were identified between current clinical guidelines/national policy in England and published economic evaluations. The implications of these different approaches to individual case-based programmes, in terms of cost-effectiveness, budget impact and incidence of T2DM, are quantified using a de novo Markov model. This analysis found that whilst current UK national guidance and policy is likely to be cost-effective and have the most favourable budget impact, it will prevent fewer than 5% of incident cases of T2DM over 50 years.
Alternative approaches to diabetes prevention, using population-wide programmes, are therefore identified. Their impact on T2DM, or its major risk factor of adiposity, is summarised through an overview of systematic reviews. Four population-wide actions were associated with lower BMI, including sugar sweetened beverage tax, menu labelling, food store interventions and multi-component community interventions. However, impact on T2DM was impossible to quantify precisely due to lack of primary studies. A pre-existing micro-simulation model was utilised to quantify the potential impact of these interventions on healthcare costs associated with T2DM, QALYs and cumulative incidence of T2DM. This analysis found that these four interventions were associated with reduced costs relating to T2DM and increased QALYs. However, costs and benefits outside the health system precluded meaningful assessment of cost-effectiveness and the interventions resulted in only a small reduction in incidence of T2DM.
These findings support a more comprehensive, complex systems approach to diabetes prevention policy that encompasses both individual case-based and population-wide programmes. They suggest that, even if all the available evidence-based policies described in this DPhil were implemented, they may still be insufficient to substantially reduce the prevalence of T2DM in England. This moves the diabetes prevention policy debate on from considering which single approach to adopt (individual case-based or population-wide) to considering how to implement a combination of programmes concurrently and continuing to search for new, promising interventions at both an individual and population level.
Categorical tools for natural language processing
Keywords: Python
pragmatics
formal semantics
formal grammar
quantum
category theory
NLP

This thesis develops the translation between category theory and computational linguistics as a foundation for natural language processing. The three chapters deal with syntax, semantics and pragmatics. First, string diagrams provide a unified model of syntactic structures in formal grammars. Second, functors compute semantics by turning diagrams into logical, tensor, neural or quantum computation. Third, the resulting functorial models can be composed to form games where equilibria are the solutions of language processing tasks. This framework is implemented as part of DisCoPy, the Python library for computing with string diagrams. We give a hierarchy of categorical and linguistic notions and an overview of their applications in compositional natural language processing.