VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Ideal beauty in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century french art and art criticism with special reference to the role of drapery and costume
Keywords: Ideal Beauty
Quatremere de Quincy
Art Dictionaries
Drapery
Emeric-David
Costume
Pierre Chaussard
Salon Criticism
Winckelmann
Costume Dictionaries
Beauty
Grace

Scholarly attention to late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French art has focused on the importance that Johann Joachim Winckelmann attributed to the male nude figure in his definition of ideal beauty, and the impact of his work on debates over the 'beau idéal' in French art and art criticism. In contrast, Winckelmann's extensive interest in the detail of ancient costume, the folds of drapery, and the teleological and aesthetic significance that he ascribed to them, has been underplayed. The role played by costume and drapery as components of the 'beau idéal' in French art and aesthetics has also not been fully explored. This thesis examines the way in which costume and drapery formed an important component and embodiment of ideal beauty in the work of Winckelmann and in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century French artistic circles, providing new insights into the arguments over the meanings of Truth, Beauty and Nature in this period.
The thesis proposes that ideal beauty in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth- century France was conveyed in works of art through the accurate rendering of costume and the expressive qualities of drapery in combination with the perfect form and contour of the nude body. The first part of the thesis sets up a proposition that costume and drapery formed part of the definition of ideal beauty in the work of Winckelmann. Highlighting the significance of Winckelmann's work on costume and drapery in French art theory, it demonstrates how the definition of ideal beauty in France also incorporated the accurate rendering of costume and the aesthetic impact of drapery. In demonstrating the significance of costume and drapery to both Winckelmann and French theorists it is proposed that the application of a meta-historical approach of costume and drapery to French art theory can provide new understandings and readings of the definition of ideal beauty, the hierarchy of the genres and the broader aesthetic concerns of late eighteenth- and early nineteenth- century French art.
The second part of the thesis applies the proposed hermeneutic of costume and drapery to a small selection of theoretical work on the nature of ideal beauty and on a significant collection of Salon criticism. With this approach to the primary material this thesis demonstrates how French artists were able to express the 'beau idéal' within the traditional academic conventions and hierarchies, and negotiate the sense of public unease over the use of nudity in contemporary art.
Compression behaviour and shear strength characteristics of a natural silty clay sedimented in the laboratory
Keywords: clay
consolidation
shear strength

The compression behaviour, shear strength characteristics, and material properties of dense slurries and soft settled beds of natural fine-grained sediments were studied experimentally. Slurries of varying initial density, initial height, and pore fluid salinity were settled one-dimensionally, by self-weight, in the laboratory. Settling behaviour was studied in terms of slurry appearance, particle segregation, height of surface versus time, sediment surface and element settlement rates, and the redistribution of sediment with respect to height and time. Consolidation behaviour was studied in terms of sediment compressibility and pore fluid flow. Shear strength was examined "in situ" and elated to the parameters effective stress and specific volume. Instruments and techniques were developed to facilitate the measurement of low effective stresses, low strengths, and high specific volumes. A small scale sediment sampler was developed and used in an attempt to study the arrangement of particles within soft sensitive beds. The experimental results revealed numerous fundamental reasons why theoretical models of settling and consolidation are unsatisfactory when applied to dense flocculated slurries and beds of high specific volume, respectively. For the sediment studied, well-defined compressibility and shear strength relationships were observed. Pore fluid flow relationships were non-unique at high specific volumes. The compression behaviour of slurries was found to have a rational basis in terms of electrochemical forces and degrees of particle association. The experimental results are relevant to engineering practice. Recommendations are made regarding future research.
Functional analysis of cancer-causing FBXW7 mutations
Keywords: genetics
cancer
colorectal cancer
FBXW7

FBXW7 encodes the substrate recognition component of an SCF E3 ubiquitin ligase complex. This complex regulates the degradation of multiple targets, such as Notch1, c-Jun, c-Myc and cyclin E, that function in critical developmental and cancer pathways. FBXW7 mutations are found in cancers of diverse tissue origins, with one of the highest mutation rates in the colorectrum. FBXW7 mutations are typically missense mutations that disrupt the substrate recognition domain at critical arginine propellor-tips. Mutations are often mono-allelic suggesting that FBXW7 is not a typical tumour supressor gene. Despite this, most of the evidence on FBXW7 function to date comes from null systems.
Several Fbxw7 -null mouse models have been generated and suffer homozygous embryonic lethality due to disrupted vascular development. Conditional Fbxw7-null mice have been created but do not in general reflect the mutation spectrum found in human tumours. In order to analyse the functional effects of Fbxw7 propellor-tip missense mutations, mice carrying a commonly-occurring Fbxw7 R482Q mutation were generated.
This propellor-tip mutation was knocked-in constitutively and whilst heterozygous mice developed normally in utero, they died perinatally due to defective lung development. Cleft palate and eyelid fusion defects were also observed with incomplete penetrance. Fbxw7 substrates were screened in embryonic lungs and significantly elevated protein levels of Klf5 and Tgif1 were observed.
The Fbxw7 R482Q mutation was also conditionally knocked-in in the gut. In the heterozygous state, large adenomas in the small intestine were observed at a low multiplicity, in approximately 30% of mice at an age greater than 300 days. Upregulation of Wnt signalling and Ctnnb1 mutations have been identified in a selection of these tumours. Breeding the Fbxw7R482Q allele onto Apc-mutant backgrounds led to accelerated morbidity, in which compound R482Q/Apc-mutant mice exhibited polyps of increased number and size. Elevated protein levels of Fbxw7 substrates Klf5 and Tgif1 were observed in adenoma and normal intestinal tissue from these mice.
In vitro work using epitope-tagged murine wildtype and propellor-tip mutant Fbxw7 proteins showed that they were capable of dimerising, opening the prospect of investigating a dominant negative mechanism of action.
To conclude, an Fbxw7 propellor-tip mutation studied in vivo resulted in both disrupted embryonic development and intestinal tumorigenesis and was distinct from Fbxw7 -null alleles.
Killer immunoglobulin-like receptor polymorphism in a Chinese HIV-1 infection cohort
Keywords: KIR
HIV
polymorphism
HLA
AIDS
sequencing
alleles

Genetic and functional studies have demonstrated that KIR gene polymorphism, including different haplotypes, allelic polymorphisms and different expression levels of KIRs, may all play a part in the association with HIV-1 infection outcome. Currently, there are very few studies focusing on the association between KIR and HIV in the Chinese population.
In this project, we started to look at the polymorphism of KIRs in a unique chronic HIV-1 infected cohort (SM cohort), evaluating the impact of KIR and KIR-HLA interactions in terms of HIV-1 infection progression. The SM cohort is unique because the major factors such as viral strain, transmission route and timing of infection, which could affect the natural history of HIV-1, have been narrowly controlled. Through comparison with a healthy control population, some genetic associations were identified. The frequency of KIR2DL3 was lower in the “slow progressors” group; the compound genotype of KIR3DS1+ Bw4 homozygotes was significantly lower in the “slow progressors” group; additionally, group B genotypes (multiple activating genes) were shown to be likely to mount a greater immune pressure on HIV-1. In terms of KIR footprints, several amino acid positions were identified for which the substitution of an amino acid may be ascribed to the immune response from KIR-modulated NK cells rather than from HLA restricted CTL immune pressure.
In Chapter 4, we report a novel method to sequence the entire locus of KIR3DL1/S1. Two specific pairs of primers have been successfully designed and tested to amplify KIR3DL1 and KIR3DS1 exclusively. Using this novel sequencing method, we showed the polymorphism of this locus at a 6-digit level. 8 new KIR3DS1 alleles, 12 new KIR3DL1 alleles, 1 new KIR3DL1 gene and 1 new KIR3DS1 gene have been identified in this study.
In Chapter 5, we used a valuable acute HIV-1 infection cohort to further study associations between KIRs and the clinical outcomes. It was interesting to find that the frequency of KIR3DS1 was significantly lower in the slow progressors group (31%) than in the acute group (40.7%), which implies that KIR3DS1 plays a role in HIV-1 disease progression. There are two other trends demonstrated in this study. One trend was that positive KIR2DL2 and/or KIR2DS2 (they are in strong linkage disequilibrium with each other) were associated with a higher set point viral load (at 3 month) (p=0.06). Another trend was that KIR3DS1 might have an association with disease progression (p=0.057).
Overall, in this study, the role of KIRs and KIR/HLA interactions were evaluated in acute and chronic HIV-1 infection, which has provided important information for further study.
Borderline consciousness, phenomenal consciousness, and artificial consciousness: a unified approach 
Keywords: consciousness
natural kinds
consciousness science
vagueness
biological species
artificial consciousness

Borderline conscious creatures are neither definitely conscious nor definitely not conscious. In this thesis, I explain what borderline consciousness is and why it poses a significant epistemological challenge to scientists who investigate phenomenal consciousness as a natural kind. When these scientists discover more than one overlapping kind in their samples of conscious creatures, how can they identify the kind to which all and only conscious creatures belong? After assessing three pessimistic responses, I argue that different groups of scientists can legitimately use the concept of phenomenal consciousness to refer to different kinds, in accord with their empirical interests. They can thereby resolve three related impasses on the status of borderline conscious creatures, the neural structure of phenomenal consciousness, and the possibility of artificial consciousness.
The thesis has three parts: First, I analyse the concept of borderline consciousness. My analysis counters several arguments which conclude that borderline consciousness is inconceivable. Then I explain how borderline consciousness produces the multiple kinds problem in consciousness science. Second, I assess three recent philosophical responses to this problem. One response urges scientists to eliminate the concept of consciousness, while another judges them to be irremediably ignorant of the nature of consciousness. The final response concludes that scientific progress is limited by the concept's referential indeterminacy. I argue that these responses are too pessimistic, though they point to a more promising approach. Third, I propose that empirically constrained stipulation can solve the multiple kinds problem. Biologists face the same problem because of their longstanding controversy over what counts as a species. Building on new arguments for stipulating the reference of species concepts, I demonstrate that this use of stipulation in biology is neither epistemologically complacent nor metaphysically capricious; it also need not sow semantic confusion. Then I defend its use in consciousness science. My approach is shown to be consistent with our understanding of natural kinds, borderline cases, and phenomenal consciousness.
Investigating molecular mechanisms of Dali, an intergenic chromatin-associated lincRNA regulating genes locally and neural differentiation genome-wide
Keywords: RNA
DNA methylation
non-coding RNA
transcription
lncRNA
epigenetics
chromatin

Recently, long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) emerged as important regulators of many cellular functions. Many nuclear lncRNAs regulate the expression of geomically proximal or overlapping protein coding genes. Less clear is whether intergenic lncRNAs can regulate transcription by modulating chromatin at genomically distant loci in an RNA-dependent manner. This thesis investigated molecular functions of Dali, an intergenic central nervous system expressed lncRNA conserved in therian mammals. Dali is transcribed from a locus 50 kb downstream of the Pou3f3 transcription factor gene and performs both genomically local and distal RNA-dependent roles. Its depletion disrupts the differentiation of neuroblastoma cells. Locally, Dali regulates transcription of the Pou3f3 locus. Distally, it preferentially binds near to and regulates active promoters across the genome, including by physically associating with the POU3F3 transcription factor. Dali also interacts with the DNMT1 DNA methyltransferase in mouse and human and regulates CpG island-associated promoters by modulating their DNA methylation levels in trans. This work is the first to demonstrate that a lncRNA can regulate the DNA methylation of CpG island-associated promoters in trans and one of the first large scale studies to identify direct transcriptional targets of a lncRNA genome-wide. It also provides a more detailed molecular dissection of the extended Pou3f3 locus and a framework for the prioritisation and comprehensive functional characterisation of nuclear lncRNAs.
Cameron's conservatisms and the problem of ideology
Keywords: Conservatism
limited politics
neo-liberalism
British politics
Cameronism
big society
Thatcherism
Conservative Party
austerity

The central aim of the thesis is to investigate the myriad ideological 'thought-practices' of Cameronism by placing the composition and content of Cameronism in the context of the problem of Thatcherism's legacy. This problem is namely a problem of the gap between intentions and outcomes. The thesis identifies three discreet, but also overlapping, ideological developments that take root in the late 1980s/early 1990s: (1) the steadfast commitment to reducing the size and scope of the central state; (2) the recognition that neo-liberal economics is a necessary but insufficient precondition for the delivery of wider Conservative outcomes; and (3) the rediscovery and commitment to the renewal of civil society as an alternative to state intervention in response to the perceived failures of neo-liberalism. The thesis examines the application of these ideological developments in Cameronism, both in theory and practice. Furthermore, it examines the political-thought practices of Cameronism in the context of the Coalition Government. Finally, the thesis analyses a serious Conservative ideological threat to Cameronite Conservatism, concluding that Cameronism is a distinct, decodable and distinctive Conservatism, which has been quickly eclipsed by other Conservatisms, namely the Conservatism of the New New Right, which is much closer to the Thatcherism that Cameronism was resolutely trying to adjust. British Conservatism has thus come full circle: the market society vision of Thatcherism, which Cameronism was trying to ideologically supplement, has been restored as the best and surest way to achieve the Conservative aim of a limited conception of politics.
The costs of integration - an attitudinal study of ethnic Danes, non-western immigrants and policymakers
Keywords: Muslims
non-Western immigrants
policymakers
integration

This comparative study attempts to explain the perceived unsatisfactory level of integration of non-Western immigrants in Denmark by examining a possible schism between attitudes towards integration of elite policymakers and ethnic Danes and non-Western immigrants. So far no in-depth studies of attitudes towards immigrant related issues have investigated the attitudes of policymakers. This thesis addresses this gap with a study of attitudes, which applies a theoretical framework combining rational choice theory with dimensions of social capital.
The study focuses on the non-economic costs, especially social transaction costs that immigrants and Danes encounter in the process of integrating immigrants. An on-line questionnaire was distributed to Danes and non-Western immigrants collecting attitudinal quantitative data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with policymakers: politicians and bureaucrats at local and national level and representatives of ethnic councils.
The study suggests that ethnic Danes and non-Western immigrants have rather similar attitudes towards structural integration, but they differ significantly in their attitudes towards cultural integration. While education, trust and having an out-group friend are significant determinants of the attitudes of Danes and their acceptance of social transaction costs, education and trust in out-group have limited impact on attitudes of non-Western immigrants. It is suggested that ethnic and religious factors are important predictors of attitudes of non-Western immigrants.
Policymakers and ethnic Danes seem to have a similar pattern of social contact with immigrants. There are, however, indications that differences of attitudes between Danes and immigrants may be provoked by policymakers’ way of discussing integration. This is more salient among Parliamentarians and bureaucrats. This study shows that social interaction between immigrants and ethnic Danes is important in order to incorporate immigrants on equal terms with Danes, but the policymakers’ discussion of integration may alienate Danes and immigrants and influence negatively their readiness to integrate.
Genome annotation and selectional analysis of viral evolution
Keywords: selection
virus
HMM
overlapping reading frames

In the past few years we have witnessed an explosion in the viral genomic data available. GenBank alone holds over 80,000 close to complete viral genomes, and numbers are rising fast. For example, since the submission of the first SARS genome in May 2003, over 140 more have been published. With this genomic data at hand we hope to finally be able to improve our understanding of viruses. Several papers have been dedicated to the study of genome annotation and selection on viral genomes, in particular focusing attention on the evolutionary behaviour of overlapping reading frames. This is a feature common to viruses, where due to the three periodicity of the genetic code, up to three genes may be encoded simultaneously in one direction. The constraints placed on a nucleotide involved in such a multiple coding region will naturally have an effect on its mutational behaviour, and as a result the pattern of evolution will be more complex. Additionally, due to their fast evolution time, we observe changes in gene structure between viruses of the same family. Finally, as a result of this high divergence, alignments between two genomes will tend to be unreliable, thus complicating the issue of comparative analysis further. Our goal is to present methods which may deal with the above mentioned complications. We first introduce an ab initio pairwise comparative annotation method, which not only accounts for the presence of overlapping reading frames in genomes, but also for differences in gene structure between the two compared sequences. Secondly, we develop a hidden Markov model for the annotation of selection strengths across a viral genome accommodating for inter- as well as intragenic differences in selection. Thirdly, we investigate the effect of using a fixed alignment on the inference of selection by incorporating statistical alignment into our selection analysis. All three methods presented here improve on their respective equivalents in the field. We investigate the nature of selection in overlapping regions in several studies, in particular on the genomes of Hepatitis B and HIV2. We provide a full annotation of selection strengths on a nucleotide level for both viral sequences, highlighting fast evolving regions such as the gp120 protein. We also analyse the mutational behaviour of overlapping regions in both genomes and find that in Hepatitis B selection seems to be of equal strength for single and double coding regions. In HIV2, however, single coding regions appear to be under twice as stringent selection as double coding regions, with a tendency for a fast evolving region to overlap a slow evolving one. Each chapter of our work relates to one of our publications. We introduce in turn each method, its academic context and its results. We subsequently in chapter 5 discuss for each method its achievements, its shortcomings and future possible extensions and improvements to it.
The socio-spatial boundaries of an ‘invisible’ minority: a quantitative (re)appraisal of Britain’s Jewish population
Keywords: quantitative methods
Britain
Jews
assimilation
partnership formation
ethnicity
boundaries
demography
religion
cohabitation
socio-spatial
exogamy
marriage
household living arrangements
census
concentration
scale
geographical
Jewish
residential segregation
geography
intermarriage
identity
second demographic transition

This study, located in the disciplines of human geography and demography, explores the socio-spatial boundaries encapsulating Britain’s Jewish population, particularly at micro-scales. It highlights and challenges key narratives of both Jewish and general interest relating to residential segregation, assimilation, partnership formation, exogamy and household living arrangements. It presents a critical exploration of the dual ethnic and religious components of Jewish identity, arguing that this ‘White’ group has become ethnically ‘invisible’ in British identity politics and, as a consequence, is largely overlooked. In addition, the key socio-demographic processes relating to Jewish partnership formation are addressed and a critical assessment of data pertaining to the decline of marriage, the rise of cohabitation and the vexed topic of Jewish exogamy, is presented. The analysis culminates by linking each of these issues to the micro-geographical scale of the household and develops a critical assessment of this key unit of Jewish (re)production. Jewish population change is contextualised within the framework of the second demographic transition. This deliberately quantitative study is designed to exploit a recent glut of data relating to Jews in Britain. It interrogates specially commissioned tables from Britain’s 2001 Census as well as four separate communal survey data sources. It highlights and challenges recent geographical critiques of quantitative methodologies by presenting a rigorous defence of quantification in post-‘cultural turn’ human geography. It emphasises the importance and relevance of this fruitful shift in geographical thought to quantitative methods and describes the role quantification can now play in the discipline. Above all, it synthesises two disparate sets of literature: one relating to geographical work on identity and segregation, and the other to work on the identity, demography and cultural practices of Jews. As a result, this thesis inserts the largely neglected ethno-religious Jewish case into the broader geographical literature whilst developing a critical quantitative spatial agenda for the study of Jews.