VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The right to litigate in person
Keywords: access to court
litigation in person
fair trial
human rights
pro se litigants
law and language
access to justice
plan English movement
personal autonomy
litigants in person

Litigation in person is a widespread phenomenon in common law jurisdictions. A right to litigate in person is treated as a fundamental right, regardless of whether the litigant has the financial means to hire a lawyer or the capacity to conduct litigation effectively. Due to the high numbers of litigants in person and the various burdens placed on judicial resources by their lack of legal knowledge, they pose a serious challenge to the effective and efficient administration of justice.
This thesis assesses the theoretical value of a right to self-representation, and challenges the position that courts should not impose legal representation on a litigant nor require him to obtain such representation as a condition for litigation. It argues that a litigant who lacks the professional knowledge and skills to present his case effectively cannot legitimately insist upon representing himself if in doing so he is likely to inflict disproportionate costs on his opponent and on the administration of justice.
This thesis advances the case for mandatory representation in civil proceedings on three main fronts: a comparison with the criminal context, an assessment of the value of self-representation in terms of outcome, and an examination of its possible intrinsic justifications.
A retrospective study of orofacial clefts and associated anomalies at the Spires Cleft Centre, Oxford, United Kingdom, from 1995 to 2012.
Keywords: orofacial clefts
cleft lip
associated anomalies
epidemiology
cleft palate

Although it is well established that children with orofacial clefts (OCs) are often born with associated anomalies in addition to their cleft, the reported prevalence of associated anomalies varies widely between existing studies, ranging from 3% to 63%. Furthermore, details on the nature of these additional anomalies remain scant. With better antenatal diagnosis of OCs, accurate information is needed to aid parental counselling. Such data is also valuable in determining service provision, especially as few studies describe the incidence of such conditions in developed, multicultural societies such as the United Kingdom (UK). The aim of this study was to characterise children with OCs and to determine the frequency of associated anomalies in OCs within a geographically defined area within the UK.
Medical records of children with OCs born in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire between January 1995 and July 2012 were reviewed. Information was collected on socio-demographic and cleft characteristics, birth and family history, and associated anomalies. Information was cross-referenced with data from the regional birth registry.
A total of 791 infants were identified with OCs, giving a mean birth prevalence of 1.44 cases per 1,000 live births in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire over the duration of this study. There was a slight male predominance but no seasonal trends. Approximately 34% of infants with clefts had an associated anomaly, most frequently affecting the skeletal system and extremities, cardiovascular and central nervous systems. Associated anomalies were associated with non-live births, premature birth, low birth weight, cleft palate subtype, chromosomal defects and non-chromosomal syndromes.
It appears that the burden of care of multiple anomalies in children with OCs for families, carers and service providers has been widely underestimated. There is a need for a thorough investigation of infants born with a cleft, as anomalies occurred in approximately 1 in 3; and each child with a cleft should be examined with particular attention to the skeletal system and extremities, cardiovascular and central nervous systems. A significant proportion of those with additional anomalies had underlying chromosomal defects and non- chromosomal syndromes. There is also a provisionally unique group of children with OCs and additional anomalies without a unifying cause. This is a potential pool of patients with an undiscovered or undescribed genetic defect or syndrome. The findings from this study supports early genetic counselling and testing in all infants with OCs and associated anomalies.
Prejudice reconsidered: a defense of situated understanding
Keywords: hermeneutics
moral philosophy
Gadamer
political rhetoric
historicism
Kant
ethics
critique of the Enlightenment
Aristotle
continental philosophy
political judgement
ancient philosophy
judgment
prejudice
Heidegger
rhetoric

My dissertation draws upon ancient political philosophy (Plato and Aristotle) and 20th century hermeneutic thought (Heidegger and Gadamer) to argue that our judgment and understanding is always “situated” within a world, or horizon, shaped by the projects, practices, and traditions in which we are engaged. This means that judgment never starts from scratch. The exercise of judgment, in evaluating competing arguments in politics or law, in trying to understand a philosophical text, in deliberating about how to act in this or that circumstance, is always informed by preconceptions and commitments that we have not justified in advance. In this sense, our judgment is always “prejudiced.” But contrary to a familiar way of thinking, the prejudicial aspect of judgment is not some regrettable limitation. Certain prejudices, I argue, can actually enable good judgment rather than hinder it.
The primary goal of the dissertation is to clarify the concept of prejudice and to draw out its implications for politics, ethics, and philosophy. What does it mean to reason from within the world? What room does such reasoning allow for human agency and political reform?
By drawing upon Heidegger’s notion of “Being-in-the-World” and Gadamer’s notion of “horizon,” I develop the idea that our life circumstance is an intelligible perspective that informs our deliberation and judgment. Moreover, our life perspective provides the basis for a kind of situated agency.
After elaborating the situated conception of understanding, I show that it is implicit in Aristotle’s notion of practical wisdom (phronesis) and in Plato’s notion of dialectic. My goal is to bring out a link that is often overlooked between their philosophy and 20th century hermeneutic thought. By reading each in light of the other, we gain a deeper understanding of what it means to reason from within the perspective of our lives.
Random graph processes with dependencies
Keywords: probabilistic combinatorics
explosive percolation
percolation
random graphs
random graph processes

Random graph processes are basic mathematical models for large-scale networks evolving over time. Their systematic study was pioneered by Erdös and Rényi around 1960, and one key feature of many 'classical' models is that the edges appear independently. While this makes them amenable to a rigorous analysis, it is desirable, both mathematically and in terms of applications, to understand more complicated situations. In this thesis the main goal is to improve our rigorous understanding of evolving random graphs with significant dependencies.
The first model we consider is known as an Achlioptas process: in each step two random edges are chosen, and using a given rule only one of them is selected and added to the evolving graph. Since 2000 a large class of 'complex' rules has eluded a rigorous analysis, and it was widely believed that these could give rise to a striking and unusual phenomenon. Making this explicit, Achlioptas, D'Souza and Spencer conjectured in Science that one such rule yields a very abrupt (discontinuous) percolation phase transition. We disprove this, showing that the transition is in fact continuous for all Achlioptas process. In addition, we give the first rigorous analysis of the more 'complex' rules, proving that certain key statistics are tightly concentrated (i) in the subcritical evolution, and (ii) also later on if an associated system of differential equations has a unique solution.
The second model we study is the H-free process, where random edges are added subject to the constraint that they do not complete a copy of some fixed graph H. The most important open question for such 'constrained' processes is due to Erdös, Suen and Winkler: in 1995 they asked what the typical final number of edges is. While Osthus and Taraz answered this in 2000 up to logarithmic factors for a large class of graphs H, more precise bounds are only known for a few special graphs. We close this gap for the cases where a cycle of fixed length is forbidden, determining the final number of edges up to constants. Our result not only establishes several conjectures, it is also the first which answers the more than 15-year old question of Erdös et. al. for a class of forbidden graphs H.
News of Transylvania in the German printed periodicals of the Seventeenth Century,  from István Bocskai to György II Rákóczi
Keywords: Periodicals
Seventeenth Century
German Language
Transylvania
Newspapers

In the seventeenth century, news of the Transylvanian princes in weekly newspapers and biannual Messrelationen rarely comes from the principality itself, but from the cities which are the Transylvanians' allies, enemies and invaded neighbors. This thesis examines the German language periodicals of four periods: István Bocskai's rebellion against the Habsburg Emperor (1604-5), Gábor Bethlen's first march into Hungary (1619-21), György I Rákóczi's Hungarian offensive (1643-5) and György II Rákóczi's incursion into Poland-Lithuania and the subsequent Ottoman invasion of Transylvania (1657-8). Between these periods, political developments and postal improvements shift the reporting networks which carry the news of Transylvania. As a result, each prince is reported on by a different set of reporting regions altering the language of the news. Bocskai's rebellion is presented in the Messrelationen as an alliance of the unchristian Protestants and Ottomans, dependent on military success rather than political legitimacy and causing devastation in the region. This perspective continues in later periods in news from Vienna, the most consistent reporter on Transylvania, as the princes are shown to be capable of upsetting the Emperor's position in Hungary, but more feared for their association with the Ottomans. Bethlen's march is also reported on by Transylvania's allies in Prague, who present the prince with greater diplomatic importance, and supporters in Hungary, who detail the diet meetings where he is elected king, proving his legitimacy. György I's march does not benefit from a breadth of perspectives, and Vienna’s dominates the news with its concern for quick peace. György II’s invasion of Poland is largely reported from the new news centers along the Baltic, presenting him as a military commander with precedent for his claim to the Polish throne. With the Ottomans' invasion the following year, Vienna’s fears for the safety of Christendom once again dictate Transylvania’s portrayal in the news.
Towards understanding the mechanism of cohesin loading
Keywords: cell division
biochemistry
cohesin
biology
chromosome

When a cell divides into two, it is imperative that each resultant daughter receives a full complement of chromosomes; DNA is ultimately responsible for all cellular processes. Cohesion between sister chromatids from the moment of their generation in S phase is central to ensuring the fidelity of chromosome segregation. Smc1 and Smc3 proteins interact with each other via their hinges and with a bridging kleisin subunit via their heads to form the cohesin ring. It is cohesin, through entrapment of sister chromatid within its ring, that confers sister chromatid cohesion. The process of cohesin’s loading onto DNA is poorly understood. While it is thought to depend on ATP hydrolysis, opening of the ring at one of its three interfaces, and the as yet undefined action of the kollerin complex, comprising Scc2 and Scc4 proteins, the sequence of events as they occur are yet to be defined.
A recent screen for suppressors of a thermosensitive scc4 allele in budding yeast revealed a mutation within Smc1’s hinge that could bypass the kollerin subunit. Here, the Smc1 suppressor mutation is investigated. Through targeted mutagenesis, the Smc1D588Y mutant identified in the screen and two additional point mutants, Smc1D588F and Smc1D588W, are herein proven able to bypass Scc4 function completely. Thus we provide the strongest evidence to date to suggest that cohesin’s hinge is a critical factor in its loading. Biochemical evidence shows that isolated Smc1 hinge mutants are defective in their binding to Smc3 hinges. This, together with the genetic link made between the hinge and loading complex, suggests that hinge opening might be a requisite for loading.
Through mutagenesis of Scc2 and Scc4 we show that the N-terminus of each protein is responsible for their dimerisation. Furthermore, the N- terminus of Scc2 confers no function other than in its binding to Scc4. Finally, we show that Scc4 is required for the enrichment of both Scc2 and cohesin at centromeres, but not at arm loci. Our results are therefore indicative of there being two different pathways of cohesin loading.
Aspects of early Greek and Babylonian hymnic poetry
Keywords: Greek
Babylonian

This thesis is a case study of early Greek poetry in comparison to the literature of the ancient Near East, especially Mesopotamia, based on a selection of hymns (or: songs in praise of gods) mainly in Sumerian, Akkadian, Hittite and Greek.
Chapters 1–3 present the core groups of primary sources from the ancient Near East: Old Babylonian Sumerian, Old Babylonian Akkadian, Hittite. The aim of these chapters is to analyse the main features of style and content of Sumerian and Akkadian hymnic poetry, and to show how certain compositions were translated and adapted beyond Mesopotamia (such as in Hittite). Chapter 4 contains introductory remarks on early Greek hymnic poetry accompanied by some initial comparative observations.
On the basis of the primary sources presented in Chapters 1–4, the second half of the thesis investigates selected elements of form and content in a comparative perspective: hymnic openings (Chapter 5), negative predication (Chapter 6), the birth of Aphrodite in the Theogony of Hesiod (Chapter 7), and the origins and development of a phrase in Hittite prayers and the Iliad of Homer (Chapter 8). The conclusion of Chapters 4–6 is that, in terms of form and style, early Greek hymns were probably not indebted to ancient Near Eastern models. This contradicts some current thinking in Classical scholarship, according to which Near Eastern influence was pervasive in early Greek poetry in general. Chapters 7–8 argue that such influence may nevertheless be perceived in certain closely defined instances, particularly where supplementary evidence from other ancient sources is available, and where the extant sources permit a reconstruction of the process of translation and adaptation. Hence this thesis seeks to contribute to the current debate on early Greek and ancient Near Eastern literature with a detailed analysis of a selected group of primary sources.
Historians and the Church of England: religion and historical scholarship, c.1870-1920
Keywords: historiography
universities
Anglicanism
constitutionalism
Tractarianism
Church of England
reformation
medievalism
national identity
providence
secularization

The years 1870 to 1920 saw an extraordinary efflorescence of English historical writing, dominated by historians who were committed members of the Church of England, many of them in holy orders. At a time when both history and religion were central to cultural life, when history was becoming a modern academic discipline, and when the relationship between Christianity and advanced knowledge was under unprecedented scrutiny, this was a phenomenon of considerable intellectual significance.
To understand why this came about, it is necessary to understand the intellectual and institutional conditions in the Church of England at the time. The Oxford Movement and the rise of incarnational theology had drawn Anglicans in ever greater numbers towards the study of the past. At the same time, it was still widely held that the Church of England should be a ‘learned church’: it therefore encouraged scholarship, sacred and secular, amongst its laity and clergy.
The result was to produce historians who approached the past with a new set of priorities. The history of the English nation and its constitution was rewritten to show that the church – and especially the medieval church – was the originator and guarantor of modern nationality and liberty. Attitudes to the Reformation shifted from the celebratory to the sceptical, or even the downright hostile. Economic historians even came to see the Reformation as a social revolution – as the origin of modern poverty or capitalism. New and distinctive ideas about progress and divine providence were developed and articulated.
Most of all, an examination of Anglican historical scholarship shows the continued vitality of the Church of England and the limitations to the idea that intellectual life was secularised over the course of the nineteenth century. Instead, historiography continued to be shaped by Anglican thought and institutions at this critical stage in its development.
Income inequality and consumer markets
Keywords: access to banking
segregation
search
income inequality

This thesis consists of three chapters that analyze theoretically the role of income inequality in consumer markets. Each chapter introduces distributional considerations into an economic model where previously inequality did not play a major role.
Chapter one uses a consumer search model to show under what conditions the distribution of income within a community is related to the type of firms that exist within that community, impacting the level of prices. We show that if time and money costs of search are high enough, only the middle class have incentive to search and therefore are the most aggressive shoppers. Using a supply side model, we argue that firms located in more informed communities are more likely to enter the market as large low-priced retailers. Connecting these two results, the model shows under what conditions the size of the middle class can have a negative relationship with the level of prices.
Chapter two demonstrates how firm pricing strategy and determinants of household location can interact to determine city structure. In this city, consumers and firms live on a continuous line interval. The model consists of two types of firms; many high-cost perfectly competitive firms located in the Central Business District, and one large low-cost "Superstore", choosing its price strategically. We show how the shopping habits of the consumer population, as determined by the relative price of the Superstore and the Corner Stores, can contribute to the various income segregation outcomes described in previous literature. In addition we consider the impact of city population structure on the pricing decision of a monopolist facing a competitive fringe.
Chapter three uses a simple model of banking services to consider how deposit-taking banks price for their services and choose the type of deposit customers that they target. This chapter goes beyond previous theoretical work on consumer banking, identifying the role of household income in the access to deposit services. We show that a higher rate of return on investments available to banks lowers financial exclusion, increasing the profitability of low-income consumers for deposit-taking institutions. This suggests that the possibility of financial exclusion increases in periods of recession. The chapter demonstrates how an increase in income dispersion can lead to a greater proportion of consumers excluded from mainstream banking.
T cell responses in Kenyan infants: impact on  HIV-1 evolution during infection and an assessment of vaccine-induced memory responses in  HIV-exposed uninfected infants
Keywords: vaccine
infants
HIV
evolution
HIV-exposed uninfected
T cell
virus

The past 10 years has seen mother to child transmission (MTCT) of HIV-1 shift from being one of the predominant forces in the global epidemic to a phenomenon that is largely preventable and envisioned as being on the path to elimination. This thesis is based on two cohorts of Kenyan infants recruited before and after the development of effective antiretroviral interventions to prevent MTCT. Two main lines of enquiry are pursued with the aim to contribute to improved health outcomes of infants affected by HIV-1. The first seeks to further our understanding of the capacity of the infant cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response to influence viral evolutionary dynamics in early infection. Chapter 3 presents a modern phylogenetic analysis of longitudinal viral sequences derived from infants following in utero or peripartum infection. The results indicate that despite high levels of viral replication, infant CTL selection pressure plays a significant role in shaping early viral evolution. The second stems from an accumulating body of evidence that suggests that infants born to HIV-1 infected mothers who themselves are free from infection, termed HIV-1 exposed uninfected (HEU) infants, nevertheless face significantly higher rates of infectious disease- associated morbidity and mortality than HIV-1 unexposed infants. This study therefore sought to characterise the immunological status of HEU infants with particular emphasis on the phenotypic and functional properties of the T cell compartment. Chapter 4 presents the immunological characterisation of a cohort of healthy Kenyan infants recruited as a control population at two time points in early life. Chapter 5 present a cross-sectional comparison of HEU and control infant cohorts. The results suggest a level of altered immunological reactivity with respect to the T helper type 1 (Th1) response to polyclonal stimulation. In addition a compromised memory Th1 response was observed following polyclonal stimulation and following stimulation with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin and tetanus toxoid vaccine antigens.
Intergenic long noncoding RNAs provide a novel layer of post-transcriptional regulation in development and disease
Keywords: noncoding RNA
Spinocerebellar ataxia type 7
long noncoding RNA
microRNA
competitive endogenous RNA
mouse embryonic stem cells
autism spectrum disorders

Recent genome-wide sequencing projects revealed the pervasive transcription of intergenic long noncoding RNAs (lincRNAs) in eukaryotic genomes (reviewed in Ponting et al. 2009). For the vast majority of lincRNAs, their mechanisms of function remain largely unrecognized. However, the genome-wide signatures of functionality associated with many lincRNAs, including apparent evolutionary sequence conservation, spatial and temporal-restricted expression patterns, strong associations with epigenetic marks, and reported molecular and cellular functions, reinforce their biological relevance. My work investigates lincRNAs that post-transcriptionally regulate gene abundance by competing for the binding of common microRNAs (miRNAs) with protein-coding transcripts, termed competitive endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs) acting lincRNAs (lnceRNAs). First, I examine the biological relevance of this post-transcriptional regulation of gene abundance by ceRNAs. Next, I estimate the genome-wide prevalence of lnceRNAs in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) and characterize their properties. Finally, using two specific examples of lnceRNAs, I show the contributions of lnceRNAs to human monogenic and complex trait diseases. Collectively, these results illustrate that lnceRNAs provide a novel layer of post-transcriptional regulation via a miRNA-mediated mechanism that contributes to organismal and cellular biology.