VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Ubering while poor: the socio-political implications of digital platforms in underdeveloped contexts

Digital platforms that employ algorithmic technologies to facilitate transactions have become popular in many contexts characterised by underdevelopment. What does it mean for society and its politics when people in such contexts become pervasive users of digital transaction platforms?
I address this by venturing out to Manila and Jakarta—Southeast Asia’s largest megacities—to study ride-hailing platforms through interviews, ethnography, and document analysis. I present three studies, which tackle different aspects of the question. The first study examines how digital platform companies employ strategies to win legitimacy in new markets. The second study investigates how the adoption of digital transaction platforms affects the social clamour to improve public systems. The third study explores the strategies that consumers develop to protect themselves against the algorithms and rules that represent the platform’s interests.
I make two important contributions to digital platforms research. First, I uncover previously unexamined ways in which platforms’ characteristics provide powerful advantages to platform companies in shutting down opposition and strengthening society’s reliance on their services. For example, since workers buy assets for the platform, the investment compels them to defend the platform’s interests, enhancing the platform’s power to resist and influence authorities. Second, I show how adverse conditions shape the socio-political impacts of digital platforms by amplifying the advantages of platform companies, sometimes triggering socio-political feedback loops that perpetuate underdevelopment. For example, deficiencies in pre-existing public systems can drive platform users to politically support technological solutions that benefit few, while devaluing public systems that benefit many, thus weakening the social clamour for improvements in public services.
The lessons from underdeveloped contexts need not be confined to developing countries. Adverse conditions that hinder people from living a good life exist everywhere, even in so-called developed countries. Thus, my findings can help many governments and societies who are “Ubering while poor”—that is, using digital platforms in adverse contexts—to better understand the perils and potentials of digital technologies.

Keywords: Algorithmic Control
Development
Politics of Platforms
Digital Platforms
Platform Strategy
Ride-hailing Platforms
ICT for Development
Algorithms
Advisor: Meyer, E
Lehdonvirta, V
What the f*ck do I know?: Knowledge of and encounters with English profanity by Japanese learners

Little research has been done on knowledge of and encounters with English profanity in EFL populations. Moreover, no research has been done in Japanese EFL learners, whose language background creates unique challenges to understanding and learning this language. Therefore, a two-part research design was used to provide insight on this topic with this group of learners. First, a questionnaire was developed to study three aspects of profanity knowledge, background factors related to this knowledge, and frequency of encounters with profanity in various daily life activities. Results found low productive scores and that overall higher scores were significantly related to the factors of English proficiency and time spent living in English-speaking countries. Participants reported the situations where they most frequently encountered profanity to be from watching movies and reading comments online. Using results from the questionnaire, two simulated real-world scenarios were designed to study what elements negotiated learner engagement with profanity when encountered in these two situations. Data was collected via a stimulated recall interview and analyzed to find 7 contributory factors that negotiated engagement with taboo language: stimulus format, subtitles, word form, emotional impact, frequency, L1, and abroad experience. The addition of three deviant cases allowed for one further element of attitude to be found. Results are followed by implications for pedagogy, materials design, and future research.
Note. Please be advised that this study contains frequent usage of strong language both in English and in Japanese.

Keywords: EFL taboo language
EFL cursing
EFL swearing
EFL profanity
Advisor: Rose, H
Elucidating the mechanism of action of novel small molecule activators of differentiation in acute myeloid leukemic cells

Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) is a haematopoietic malignancy which comprises of different genetic subtypes with a common hallmark of differentiation arrest. In abnormal haematopoiesis, overcoming the differentiation blockade has emerged as an attractive therapeutic strategy. While current approaches target specific genetic mutations, herein we were interested in identifying novel agents which may be effective in multiple patient populations. In a small phenotypic screen, compounds were identified which increased the expression of CD11b- a cell surface receptor known to indicate differentiation of myeloid lineages. In an assay with six genetically distinct AML cell lines, clinical histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) and some novel derivatives were observed to cause an upregulation in CD11b expression. These were further validated by a change in cell morphology and a block in proliferation, with a cell cycle arrest at G1 phase. The novel derivatives were successfully resynthesized along with potential inactive ones devoid of the zinc ion active site binding motif. Recombinant HDAC inhibitory assays and in situ HDAC inhibitory assays were performed which allowed to understand the profile of all the derivatives synthesized and be distinguished as HDACi and non HDACi. To elucidate the mechanism of action of these novel HDACi in detail, we explored various cell cyclins and cell cyclin inhibitors related to G1 arrest. By western blot it was seen that the novel HDACi causing G1 arrest did not cause the concomitant increase of cell cyclin inhibitor p21 unlike mocetinostat, suggesting a potential secondary downstream target for some of the effects observed. Further work using RNA sequencing allowed us to better understand the molecular events that underpin these responses and helped us confirm the selectivity of our novel HDACi. It was interesting to observe that the derivatives serving as mechanistic probes devoid of zinc ion active site binding motif were not HDACi but still initiated differentiation, further confirmed by the observed block in proliferation and the change in morphology and were recognised as non HDACi. However, the cell cycle arrest with these non HDACi was observed at G2 phase in HL60 cells. Moreover, the sequencing results of these derivatives highlighted the role of cell cycle regulatory kinases leading to G2 arrest and the concomitant increase in CD11b expression suggesting these may be future therapeutic targets for differentiation agents in AML.

Keywords: acute myeloid leukemia
differentiation
Advisor: Russell, A
Divergence and mismatches in Portuguese morphology and syntax

This thesis proposes an integration of Paradigm Function Morphology (PFM) as the morphological component within the Lexical-Functional Grammar (LFG) architecture, applying the combined theoretical framework LFG-PFM to account for diachronic data. The theory is developed by application to two case studies from Portuguese involving mismatches between different levels of grammatical structure and resulting in divergence between varieties of the language. In each case, I give a new presentation of the Portuguese phenomena, which have not previously been treated in LFG or PFM.
The first case study is the double past participle phenomenon, in which an arbitrary set of verbs unexpectedly have two past participle forms split between active and passive contexts, where most verbs only have one form. There is significant variability in the application of the phenomenon to lexemes over time and across varieties of Portuguese. I show that this can be successfully analysed in LFG-PFM using lexical specification and inflection classes. In addition, I clarify the role of irregular stem roots in the double past participles and identify possible trajectories of change. The second case study is Portuguese grammaticalised pronouns, which have developed from noun phrases and show interesting mismatch behaviour in their agreement patterns. My analysis uses distinctions in the PERSON feature at the levels of semantic structure and functional structure to capture various mismatch patterns seen across varieties of European and Brazilian Portuguese, including differences in the choice of coreferent pronouns and verb agreement.
The two case studies together demonstrate the success of the LFG-PFM approach of treating separate modules of the grammar independently. This allows a fine-grained account of the incremental changes that contribute to the development of distinct varieties of a language, and offers new insights into the morphological and syntactic phenomena at issue.

Keywords: diachronic
Lexical Functional Grammar (LFG)
mismatches
syntax
Portuguese
Paradigm Function Morphology (PFM)
Romance linguistics
morphology
Advisor: Mycock, L
Development of all-in-one CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPRi AAV constructs to treat autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa

Dominant mutations in RHO (rhodopsin) are the most common cause of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (RHO-adRP). RHO-adRP causes progressive loss of rod cells, followed by cone cells, leading to blindness. This disease is a candidate for CRISPR gene editing, as reduction of mutant rhodopsin is associated with phenotypic rescue. This thesis optimises all-in-one CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPRi adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) and explores their potential as RHO-adRP gene therapy vectors.
Following construct optimisation in vitro, a CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPRi plasmid carrying SaCas9 and dSaCas9.KRAB, respectively, were generated. Both demonstrated knock down of endogenously expressed EGFP in a transgenic cell line. For allele-specific knock down of RHO, the CRISPR constructs must target a region unique to the mutant allele. Bioinformatic screening of RHO identified seven non-pathogenic single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that were targetable with SaCas9. Two of these SNPs could be targeted allele-specifically, with high CRISPR/Cas9 gene disruption and CRISPRi gene repression rates of 38.5-73.2 % and 43.1-65.8 %, respectively. In heterozygous patients, targeting the SNP on the mutant RHO offers a mutation-independent allele-specific targeting strategy.
As a proof-of-concept for targeting rod cells, the AAV were subretinally injected into Nrl-EGFP mice, in whom enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) expression is limited to rod photoreceptors. To restrict Cas9 expression to rods cells only, a novel 154 bp rod cell-specific promoter was identified. This shortened promoter from the PDE6B gene was active in human retinal explants, the human retinoblastoma-derived cell line Y79, and drove strong rod cell-specific expression in mice. The CRISPRi AAV was unable to repress EGFP, despite high transgene expression. The CRISPR/Cas9 AAV however, drove strong EGFP disruption. It produced 4.1 % EGFP indels, resulting in a reduction of EGFP mRNA and fluorescence of 55.3% and 36.5 %, respectively. The all-in-one CRISPR/Cas9 AAV is therefore able to drive strong gene disruption in rod cells in vivo, making it a useful vector for the treatment of RHO-adRP.
This thesis describes in detail the development of these all-in-one CRISPR/Cas9 and CRISPRi AAV vectors from proof-of-concept to in vivo study and advances the potential for using such therapies in future treatments of RHO-adRP.

Keywords: rhodopsin
crispr-cas9
retinitis pigmentosa
crispr
gene therapy
aav
gene silencing
crispr/cas9
crispri
Advisor: MacLaren, RE
McClements, ME
Subgrain-size piezometry as a tool for measuring stress in polymineralic rocks

We present a new subgrain-size piezometer calibrated using electron backscatter diffraction data from experimentally deformed quartz and olivine. Subgrain size is found to be inversely proportional to the applied stress. We tested a variety of different critical misorientations to define a subgrain boundary and concluded that a 1- or 2-degree threshold provides the optimum piezometric relationship.
The efficacy of subgrains to record the stress within individual phases in a polymineralic rock was tested using mixtures of olivine and orthopyroxene in a Deformation-DIA apparatus situated on a synchrotron X-ray beamline. For samples with grain sizes large enough to contain subgrains, piezometric measurements in olivine within the original calibration range displayed a good agreement with stresses measured through X-ray diffraction. Results indicated that a fine grain size severely limits the application of subgrain-size piezometry. For orthopyroxene, subgrains were too sparse to conclusively state whether the Goddard et al. (2020) piezometer can be applied to this mineral. Comparison of stresses measured through X-ray diffraction in each phase indicated that orthopyroxene supported a greater proportion of the load than olivine.
To explore stress partitioning further, we deformed olivine-orthopyroxene mixtures of various phase proportions in a gas-medium apparatus. The sample with intermediate composition was found to be weaker than would be expected simply from the grain-size sensitivity of traditional deformation mechanisms. Results from subgrain-size piezometry indicated that orthopyroxene is solely responsible for the weakening.
We apply the subgrain-size piezometer to quartz in polymineralic aggregates from the Great Slave Lake shear zone. To calculate the depth associated with each stress measurement, we conducted geothermometry. These stress measurements from subgrains are higher than those measured in other equivalent shear zones using grain-size piezometry, suggesting that the two microstructural features might record different portions of the deformation history

Keywords: piezometry
shear zone
rheology
Advisor: Hansen, L
Wallis, D
Kumamoto, K
L2 listener attitudes towards speaker intelligibility, comprehensibility, and teaching quality

Intelligibility and the associated concepts of comprehensibility and accentedness are not objective features of speech, but are at least partially constructed by listener factors. Studies using a matched-guise technique, where listeners are led to believe that they are listening to two different speakers of different ethnicities, while they actually listen to the same native speaker, have found that listeners who believe a speaker to be non-Caucasian may judge them to sound less like a native speaker, to be a poorer quality teacher, and to be less intelligible. While the effects of native listener biases against non-native speakers and marginalised ethnicities have been well explored, fewer studies have focused on non-native listeners, especially in English as a foreign language (EFL) contexts. This study therefore aimed to determine whether the speech and teaching evaluations of English learners in Korea were affected by biases regarding the speaker’s ethnicity. 74 Korean L1 university students listened to a speech sample by the same native English speaker. Photographs displayed while listening implied to the listeners that the speaker was either Asian or Caucasian. Listeners rated the speaker on various measures, including personal attributes, comprehensibility, accentedness, and teaching quality, and completed tasks to measure comprehension and intelligibility. It was found that listeners who saw an Asian face were more likely to rate the speaker as having a less native-like accent, and found him less intelligible than listeners who saw a Caucasian face. However, no differences were found in listeners’ attitudes towards the speaker’s personal qualities or teaching ability. Listeners’ knowledge of L2s other than English and their exposure to English speakers were not found to mediate the effects of speaker ethnicity on ratings or listening performance.

Keywords: Intelligibility
Comprehensibility
English as a foreign language
Native English speaking teachers
Accentedness
Non-native English speaking teachers
L2 attitudes
Reverse linguistic stereotyping
Listening
Advisor: Rose, H
High resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry analysis of boron in high strength steels and polycrystalline superalloys

Boron is added to high strength steels to increase hardenability and as grain strengthener in polycrystalline superalloys, but is difficult to study by many conventional techniques. The main aim of this study was to explore the application of high resolution secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) to analyse boron distributions in a range of high strength steels after different commercial heat treatments. New findings on the behaviour of boron at four stages of the manufacturing process (as-rolled, as-quenched, quenched and tempered and direct quenched) are demonstrated, and particularly information on how Ti plays an important role in maximising the beneficial effect of boron on hardenability. Boron was found to segregate at prior austenite grain boundaries during isothermal heat treatments by equilibrium segregation, and also during cooling by non-equilibrium segregation. In hot rolled samples, boron particles started to precipitate out during the hot rolling process, and during subsequent air cooling boron also segregated to prior austenite grain boundaries. Strong grain boundary segregation was observed in the as-quenched samples, with small precipitates near the grain boundaries as well as in the grain interiors. Finally, in quenched and tempered samples, small boron-containing precipitates were created during the tempering stage that were not visible in other samples. A longer heating time in the austenite region also gives higher boron segregation at grain boundaries. As a result, the direct quenching method can be an alternative process to reduce costs and increase overall efficiency in steel manufacturing as it shows a similar boron distribution to that developed by the conventional thermomechanical process. As well as these qualitative observations, quantitative analysis of boron segregation to a large number of grain boundaries has been demonstrated using the NanoSIMS, because it can map large areas in a short time. This is the only extensive quantification of grain boundary segregation performed with a NanoSIMS instrument to date with 100s of grain boundaries analysed. Quantification of boron-containing precipitate densities and size has also been reported. In another set of experiments on samples of a new polycrystalline Ni superalloy, the primary effect of boron addition has been shown to be the suppression of Cr-rich M23C6 carbides and the formation of Cr-rich M5B3 borides. NanoSIMS analysis of these superalloys was shown to provide complementary information to SEM, APT and TEM studies carried out by other researchers on the same alloys. The data presented in this thesis shows that NanoSIMS can be added to and can complement conventional techniques to guide the development of materials for industrial applications and understand the affect that heat treatments have on microstructure and materials properties.

Keywords: grain boundaries
NanoSIMS
steels
boron
superalloys
segregation
SIMS
Advisor: Grovenor, C
Moore, K
Structural results for total search complexity classes with applications to game theory and optimisation

While the celebrated theory of NP-completeness has been very successful in explaining the intractability of many interesting problems, there still remain many natural and seemingly hard problems that are not known to be NP-hard. Several of these problems lie in the class of total NP search problems (TFNP), namely the class of NP search problems that always have a solution. Importantly, these problems cannot be NP-hard unless NP = co-NP. Notable examples of TFNP problems include FACTORING (given a natural number, compute its prime factorisation) and NASH (given a game, compute a mixed Nash equilibrium). In order to shed light on the complexity of these problems, researchers have attempted to classify them in various subclasses of TFNP such as PPAD, PPA, PPP, PLS, and CLS. A celebrated result in this line of research is the PPAD-completeness of NASH, yielding strong evidence that the problem is not polynomial-time solvable.
In this thesis we provide new structural results for TFNP subclasses and show how they can be used to classify natural problems arising from application areas such as game theory and optimisation. In the first part of this work, we construct more powerful tools for proving membership in PPAD, as well as PPAD-hardness. We directly apply these tools to show that the Hairy Ball theorem from topology ("you can't comb a hairy ball flat without creating a cowlick"), as well as the equilibrium computation problem in First Price Auctions with subjective priors, are both PPAD-complete.
In the second part of this thesis, we present our main result: the collapse CLS = PPAD ∩ PLS. We prove this surprising collapse by exhibiting the first non-artificial PPAD ∩ PLS-complete problem - a problem arising naturally from the famous gradient descent algorithm. Our result puts PPAD ∩ PLS on the map as a TFNP subclass that captures the complexity of natural problems.
In the third and final part, we provide various structural results for the classes PPA-k (corresponding to arguments modulo k), including the first topological characterisations of these classes. As a direct application, we prove that NECKLACE-SPLITTING with k thieves - a notorious problem in combinatorics and fair division - lies in PPA-k under Turing reductions.

Keywords: computational complexity
TFNP
Advisor: Goldberg, P
Koutsoupias, E
Duties in tort law and its theory

This thesis has three aims. The primary aim is to consider the widespread claim that torts are wrongs or (equivalently) breaches of duty. This claim is often presented as essential to understanding tort law’s true nature and, relatedly, to the refutation of ‘instrumentalism’. I argue against the claim and in favour of duty-scepticism. This requires me to disambiguate the claim, reject some of its meanings as trivial or tautologous, and argue that those that remain fail to identify a necessary or general feature of tort law. Importantly, however, I also reject the common association between duty-scepticism and instrumentalism. The insistence that torts are breaches of duty has therefore become a distraction in the debate against the instrumentalists, who would be better refuted in other ways. The second aim of my thesis is to do this, by explaining how the defendant’s liability may be justified (non-instrumentally) by his harm-causing conduct (whether or not that conduct is a breach of duty). Here I rely upon the well-known ‘continuity thesis’, which I defend from certain objections. One of its implications is that defendants’ duties of repair arise strictly (that is, regardless of fault) and that this is indeed the logically primary case. That then leads to my third and final aim, which is to explain why tort liability is conditional, in the vast majority of cases, upon defendant fault. I do this by identifying several benefits in having a fault standard, while arguing that these remain, in an important sense, secondary. My thesis as a whole therefore decentres fault and wrongdoing, two concepts often taken to be integral to anti-instrumentalism, while nevertheless showing, through the continuity thesis, that anti-instrumentalism is ultimately correct.

Keywords: Duties
Tort Law
Advisor: Steel, S