VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The role of spatial scale in binocular stereopsis

A model of stereopsis is proposed in which information from each eye's image is organised as a scale-based hierarchy before binocular comparison. The algorithm incorporates coarse-to-fine matching (like Marr and Poggio, 1979) but differs from previous models in that the position, and hence disparity, of features is defined relatively rather than by their retinal co-ordinate. Thus, fine scale disparities are measured and recorded relative to coarse scale disparities. Local surface slant and curvature is represented explicitly at a range of spatial scales. The theory is based on a hierarchical model of encoding position (Watt, 1988).
The first experiment investigates the time course of shape discrimination in random dot stereograms. The results are compatible with a model in which the scale of analysis changes from coarse to fine over the first second of viewing. The second experiment measures the magnitude of a new "3-D" Müller-Lyer illusion and compares it to that of the classical (2-D) illusion. Both these and the cyclopean Müller-Lyer illusion are consistent with a model in which hierarchical encoding of position is used by the visual system for 2-D (length comparison) and 3-D (slant) judgements. The third experiment compares the detection of large disparities and large displacements. "Dmax" for the motion and stereo tasks is shown to be similar over a wide range of dot densities. The results are interpreted as evidence that similar spatial primitives are used in the correspondence process in both domains. The spacing of MIRAGE centroids (Watt and Morgan, 1985) fit the data well.
The proposed hierarchical model is similar to that put forward by Mitchison and McKee (1987), although their scheme was not based on spatial scale. The model bridges the gap between a primal and a 2 1/2-D sketch (Marr, 1982) and has important implications for many issues within stereopsis.

Advisor: Rogers, B
Explaining inter-state variation in aid for children at private religious schools in the United States, up to 2012

This American Political Development research explains cross-state variation in aid for children at private religious schools in the United States up to the end of 2012. Using a mixed-methods approach I examine how the institutional orderings of Federalism, Constitution, Church and Party affect policymaker decisions to instigate and sustain programmes of aid. By ‘aid’ I mean education vouchers and tax credits, transportation, textbook loans, equipment, nursing and food services, and tax exemptions for private religious school property. I conduct Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis across all fifty states, supported by interview and archival research in six case-study states – California, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New York and Utah – and by statistical treatment of the constitutional amendments known as ‘No-Aid Provisions’. All of the aid policies examined here are ‘submerged’ in Mettler’s terms, in that they help private organizations to take on state functions, re-frame such functions in terms of the marketplace, and are poorly understood by the public. In this thesis I extend Mettler’s conception of submergedness to explain when institutions matter, which institutions matter, and why they matter for religious school student aid. State decentralization is necessary for high levels of aid and a high proportion of Catholics is sufficient for high levels of aid. Republican control of the state offices is a necessary condition for the passage of tax credit or voucher scholarships but not for other types of aid. No-Aid Provisions are unrelated to aid. Of the four institutional explanatory conditions, Federalism and Church have the most important effects on aid for children at private religious schools. Party explains some types of aid but not all, and Constitution is surprisingly lacking in explanatory power.

Keywords: US politics
Religion and politics
Education
QCA
Advisor: King, D
Hood, C
We the burden: equal citizenship and its limits in EU law

The dynamic interpretation of EU citizenship as a 'fundamental status of all Member State nationals' has opened the door for more horizontal conceptions of equality in European Union law. At the same time, the meaning and purpose of equal treatment in the case of economically inactive and dependent EU citizens has remained ambiguous. The objective of this study is to clarify what normative justifications, other than to eradicate the obstacles to the internal market, can be offered for more just and equal relationships between EU citizens within the existing constitutional order of the EU.
What defines EU citizenship as an equal status is how those individuals who hold this status are treated in relation to one another. The thesis discusses in detail how the rationale for discrimination analysis under Article 18 TFEU has changed in parallel with the evolution of EU citizenship. The question of how unlawful discrimination differs from legitimate differential treatment under the so-called 'real link' case law leads to a more theoretical question of what philosophical justifications underlie the EU principle of equality.
The democratic theory of equality is used to support the argument that the current bias in favour of 'activity' at the expense of ‘status’ in EU equality law is rooted in a narrow and individualistic view of agency. The thesis, then, argues that recognizing the inherent connection between EU citizens' agency and their subjectivity can provide a justification for a more relational conception of equality even in the absence of a full democratic pedigree in EU law. This analysis contributes a perspective which is usually not there by examining how EU citizenship can benefit from the psycho-dynamic theories of subjectivity that underlie the feminist critique of 'citizenship as agency'.

Keywords: EU citizenship
EU constitutional law
nationality discrimination
equal treatment
Advisor: Ziegler, K
Tying down the Gullivers: tripartite strategic balancing in unipolar international systems

This dissertation seeks to conceptualise and operationalise the concept of soft balancing in international relations by articulating a “theory of tripartite strategic balancing” which is applicable to both international and regional unipolar systems. It has a twofold purpose: one theoretical and the other empirical. First, it seeks to develop a theory of tripartite strategic balancing which encompasses three forms of strategic balancing: internal, external, and soft balancing. The second part seeks to test the theory’s utility in explaining international political outcomes in the post-Cold War international system. In particular, it seeks to ascertain whether and how “second-tier great powers” have strategically balanced against the United States on a global level since the end of the Cold War. The analyses will focus largely on the foreign policies of Russia and France – the chief soft balancers.
However, this dissertation also seeks to extend the concept of soft balancing into the regional level of analysis by examining whether and how minor-regional powers soft balance against regional unipolar leaders. For instance, it will examine whether and how the Russian Federation has been soft balanced against by states in the “European Near Abroad.” The analyses will focus primarily on the foreign policies of Poland – the chief soft balancer in the region. The dissertation will employ three in-depth case studies – the Kosovo Crisis (1999), the Iraqi wars (1991-2003), and the Georgia Crisis (2008) – to verify whether or not tripartite strategic balancing is actually occurring as the theory predicts. It will heavily rely on sources and interviews conducted during my time working at the United Nations Security Council and the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These findings seek to contribute a more nuanced strand of thinking to the realist paradigm in international relations, and they offer practical implications for both US and Russian foreign policymaking.

Keywords: United Nations
Polarity
French Foreign Policy
International Relations
Polish Foreign Policy
Great Power Politics
Russian Foreign Policy
Balance of Power
Soft Balancing
International Relations Theory
International Law
Advisor: Khong, Y
Aspects of low Reynolds number microswimming using singularity methods

Three different models, relating to the study of microswimmers immersed in a low Reynolds number ﬂuid, are presented. The underlying, mathematical concepts employed in each are developed using singularity methods of Stokes ﬂow.
The ﬁrst topic concerns the motility of an artiﬁcial, three-sphere microswimmer with prescribed, non-reciprocal, internal forces. The swimmer progresses through a low Reynolds number, nonlinear, viscoelastic medium. The model developed illustrates that the presence of the viscoelastic rheology, when compared to a Newtonian environment, increases both the net displacement and swimming efficiency of the microswimmer.
The second area concerns biological microswimming, modelling a sperm cell with a hyperactive waveform (vigorous, asymmetric beating), bound to the epithelial walls of the female, reproductive tract. Using resistive-force theory, the model concludes that, for certain regions in parameter space, hyperactivated sperm cells can induce mechanical forces that pull the cell away from the wall binding. This appears to occur via the regulation of the beat amplitude, wavenumber and beat asymmetry.
The next topic presents a novel generalisation of slender-body theory that is capable of calculating the approximate ﬂow ﬁeld around a long, thin, slender body with circular cross sections that vary arbitrarily in radius along a curvilinear centre-line. New, permissible, slender-body shapes include a tapered ﬂagellum and those with ribbed, wave-like structures.
Finally, the detailed analytics of the generalised, slender-body theory are exploited to develop a numerical implementation capable of simulating a wider range of slender-body geometries compared to previous studies in the ﬁeld.

Keywords: singularities
slender-body theory
low Reynolds number
swimmer
viscoelastic fluid
viscous fluid
Advisor: Gaffney, E
On affluence and poverty: morality, motivation and practice in a global age

This thesis looks at the failure of individual people living in affluent societies to do more to help those living in conditions of extreme poverty at the present moment. Affluent people have the capacity to assist, by contributing additional funds to aid and humanitarian organisations. Given an understanding of what is at stake, the fact that they fail to do so is both morally problematic and difficult to explain. Yet, without an understanding of the causes of inaction, it is difficult to know what measures may be taken to alleviate extreme suffering in the world today.
The thesis draws upon different philosophical accounts of practical reason to argue that the conduct of the affluent can only be understood in one of three ways: these people may lack decisive reason to assist, they may be misinformed, or they may be rationally deficient in some regard. Considering each possibility in turn, it advances two central arguments. Firstly, the normative reasons claim is sound: affluent people, who do not incur minor costs by assisting, ought to do more. Secondly, these people tend to have false beliefs about the nature of poverty, to make substantive errors of judgement, and to follow flawed patterns of reasoning when they deliberate about what to do. Taken together, these factors explain their failure to act.
Building upon this diagnosis, the thesis then considers how to respond to the problem of inaction, advancing a solution that is institutional in character. It argues for the construction of a division of labour between state and citizen, at the national level, which would see political institutions take on responsibility for poverty eradication, thereby leaving individuals freer to pursue their own personal goals and objectives. In order to perform this function effectively, wealthy nations would have to improve the quantity and quality of assistance that they provide to low-income countries. They would also have to cease partaking in practices that harm the global poor. This approach has a number of advantages over reliance on private philanthropy alone: it forms part of a fair and effective solution to the problem of motivating assistance, the arrangement it proposes is both stable and legitimate, and it is also something that could be achieved in practice. Therefore, it represents part of the best possible way in which to proceed.

Keywords: Institutional Design
Moral Psychology
Global Justice
Cosmopolitanism
Advisor: Caney, S
Immunomodulatory properties of IgG glycosylation and the anti-inflammatory mechanism of intravenous immunoglobulin

The IgG Fc domain mediates a range of antibody effector functions, including antibody dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC), complement activation, phagocytosis, and the recently emerged general anti-inflammatory effect of immunoglobulin therapy (IVIg). The conserved N-glycan attached to Fc N297 maintains the Fc structural integrity for the effector functions, while its glycoform is known to modulate the affinity for the Fc γ-receptors (FcγRs), complement, and the C-type lectin DC-SIGN. IgG Fc exhibits protein-directed glycosylation characterized by a series of biantennary complex type glycoforms, with a small population of sialylated species. The sialylated Fc has been proposed to bind DC-SIGN and initiate an anti-inflammatory signalling pathway. The restricted Fc glycan processing is partially attributed to the hydrophobic interaction between Fc glycan and the hydrophobic Fc protein backbone. Mutations within the hydrophobic Fc protein-glycan interface dramatically increases Fc glycan processing, while concomitantly decreases Fc affinity for the FcγRs. However, it is unclear whether this disrupted Fc-FcγR interaction was due to the increased terminal glycan processing, or the perturbed Fc protein-glycan interface. Here, the integrity of the Fc protein-glycan interface was demonstrated to be important in maintaining the productive Fc-FcγR interaction independently of glycoform. This glycoform-independent effect was exploited to generate novel inhibitory Fc variants. In addition, the interaction between sialylated IgG and the putative IVIg receptor DC-SIGN was re-evaluated. Analysis shows that IVIg binds DC-SIGN in a glycan-independent, Fab-mediated manner. Furthermore, the effect of IVIg sialylation on human antigen presenting cells was examined; evidence presented here indicate that IVIg deglycosylation, not desialylation, has an anti-inflammatory effect on human dendritic cells (DCs). These data suggest the need for a general re-evaluation of the current mechanistic model of anti-inflammatory IVIg.

Keywords: IgG
IVIg
sialylation
Fc glycosylation
Fc gamma receptors
antibody engineering
Advisor: Scanlan, C
Crispin, M
Law’s author, things personated, political representation

This dissertation proposes a normative theory of political representation grounded in popular sovereignty and positive law, rather than in democracy and efficient labour allocation. The first three chapters assess the contributions to the idea of representation of three early modern thinkers. Hobbes proposes a formal model of authorised action at a distance, but, contrary to a long-standing consensus in political thought, not an actual theory of representation. Rousseau, a well-known opponent of representation, proposes ideas about government, sovereignty, and positive law, which, despite his contrary intentions, form a foundation for a normative theory of representation. Sieyes refines concepts from both to create a more mature practical statement on representation which he attempts to implement in three revolutionary constitutions in France in the 1790's.
The next three chapters make an argument connecting representation to law creation. First the concept of a decision is defined, and then abstracted through various levels of political authority and action. Law creation is distinguished from all other classes of authorised political decision making by four unique properties which tie in with problems initially raised by the early modern philosophers regarding popular sovereignty. Various numbers of authorised actors are considered as constituting political bodies credentialed to carry out the relevant decisions identified as meeting the minimal conditions of law, and ultimately only assembly — a body numbering in the hundreds, with a reserved place for making recognised decisions, and a formal connection to expressed popular preferences — meets the conceptual requirements of the class of decisions mooted. The thesis ends with an argument connecting law to representation as the solution to the problem of plurality.

Keywords: Representative Democracy
Rousseau
Democracy
Hobbes
Representative Government
Advisor: Philp, M
Bayesian Gaussian processes for sequential prediction, optimisation and quadrature

We develop a family of Bayesian algorithms built around Gaussian processes for various problems posed by sensor networks. We firstly introduce an iterative Gaussian process for multi-sensor inference problems, and show how our algorithm is able to cope with data that may be noisy, missing, delayed and/or correlated. Our algorithm can also effectively manage data that features changepoints, such as sensor faults. Extensions to our algorithm allow us to tackle some of the decision problems faced in sensor networks, including observation scheduling. Along these lines, we also propose a general method of global optimisation, Gaussian process global optimisation (GPGO), and demonstrate how it may be used for sensor placement.
Our algorithms operate within a complete Bayesian probabilistic framework. As such, we show how the hyperparameters of our system can be marginalised by use of Bayesian quadrature, a principled method of approximate integration. Similar techniques also allow us to produce full posterior distributions for any hyperparameters of interest, such as the location of changepoints. We frame the selection of the positions of the hyperparameter samples required by Bayesian quadrature as a decision problem, with the aim of minimising the uncertainty we possess about the values of the integrals we are approximating. Taking this approach, we have developed sampling for Bayesian quadrature (SBQ), a principled competitor to Monte Carlo methods.
We conclude by testing our proposals on real weather sensor networks. We further benchmark GPGO on a wide range of canonical test problems, over which it achieves a significant improvement on its competitors. Finally, the efficacy of SBQ is demonstrated in the context of both prediction and optimisation.

Keywords: changepoint detection
observation selection
global optimisation
Bayesian inference
Bayesian quadrature
Gaussian processes
sensor networks
Advisor: Roberts, S
Towards a Nigerian objectives based triple peaks financial regulation	

This is a normative research on how best to structure financial regulatory agencies and principles consistently with the core objectives of financial regulation in such a manner that can yield an effective regulatory framework for Nigeria. It moves forward the debate on what an effective financial regulatory ought to be relative to a country's national context, its developmental stage and how international financial regulatory best practice principles can be 'woven' into the design of an enduring regulatory architecture in a developing economy such as Nigeria.
The thesis contributes to three areas namely: the literature on comparative financial regulation, financial legal transplantation, and financial regulatory reform. On comparative financial regulation, it contributes a developing world perspective on the legal and institutional challenges of financial regulation and how to deal with these challenges. On financial regulatory transplantation, it contributes to the debate on how best to conceptualise a financial regulatory architecture that mirror contemporary international best practices and that fits into the Nigerian context. In relation to financial regulatory reform, the thesis makes two major sub-contributions. First, it links financial regulation in Nigeria with robust and multi-layered regulatory accountability mechanisms including judicial and democratic accountability. Second, it generates principles that can be transformed into laws and policies to achieve the following: (a) the imposition of mandatory inter-agency co-ordination among financial regulators; (b) imposition of a statutory duty on financial regulators to prevent regulatory failure; (c) the imposition of liability for a supervisory failure induced collapse of a financial institution and (or) a financial crisis; (d) the use of irreversible convertible debentures as a corporate governance disciplinary mechanism to deter imprudent business model and to serve as a forward looking strategy to address the 'historical inevitability of financial crises' in the unlikely event that the financial regulatory system fails.

Keywords: Comparative Financial Regulation
Advisor: Oditah, F
Galician cultural identity in the works of Ramón Otero Pedrayo (1888-1976)

In the 1920's, the grouping of Galician intellectuals known as the Xeración Nós began, through their wide-ranging literary output and more specifically political activities, to articulate and reinterpret essential notions of Galician cultural identity after several centuries of cultural repression and centralisation. This thesis examines both the nexus of inherited positions informing this cultural recovery, and its original reformulation, through the works of the most prominent intellectual of the Xeración Nós, Ramón Otero Pedrayo (1888 1976). Otero was an important figure in Galician intellectual and cultural life over the larger part of the twentieth century, especially when expression of Galician distinctiveness, whether political or cultural, was severely limited and largely discouraged by the Franco regime. He is particularly deserving of an in-depth study, especially since this theme so intrinsically associated with him has not yet been written upon from a perspective of cultural history.
In order to provide as accurate an analysis as possible of Otero's conception of Galician reality and the developmental nature of his ideas, I have consulted a large number of texts, ranging from brief journalistic sketches to dense biographical tomes. In particular, I focus on the large body of essays written by Otero such as the Ensaio histórico sobre a cultura galega (1932) and the more imaginative configuration of Galician identity contained in the trilogy of novels Os camiños da vida (1928), Arredor de si (1930) and Devalar (1935). This allows for an analysis of the writer's perspective on the essential bases of Galician culture via the recuperation through literature (most notably the influence of the broad cultural revival initiated in the 1860's, or Rexurdimento, and the influence of historical and cultural co-ordinates ultimately derived from Romantic thought). Crucial in shaping Otero's definitive vision is an eclectic array of references from cultural history both ancient and modern, ideological import through the Celtic ideal, and contemporary social issues (such as the political climate of the Second Republic).
To be seen firmly within the parameters of an intellectual history, this thesis has as its objective an explanation how these intrinsic and extrinsic sources of influence condition Otero's evaluation of Galician distinctiveness, and what that quality actually embodies, within the context of the cultural activity prevalent in Galicia from 1918 to 1936 and beyond.

Advisor: Dr Rutherford, D