VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Essays in the economics of subjective well-being

This thesis explores three major issues in the burgeoning empirical literature on the determinants of subjective well-being (SWB).
While economic theory assumes that it is current consumption that matters to SWB, empirical work has focused almost exclusively on the effect of income. In Part 1, we use household panel data from Russia and Britain to show that neither the standard theoretical account, nor the standard empirical practice may be adequate. Consumption, income, and wealth each contribute separately to SWB, in particular via perceptions of status and anticipation of the future; and omitting consumption from SWB equations significantly understates the importance of money to SWB.
Distinguishing between consumption and income is also important to identifying reference effects. In Part 2, we confirm earlier findings that others' income has a positive (informational) effect on SWB in Russia, but show that others' consumption has an offsetting negative (comparison) effect. The net effect depends on how we define individuals' reference groups. We develop a novel econometric model that lets us estimate these reference groups from the data. Contrary to previous results, we conclude that comparison dominates information.
Most SWB analyses focus on the average effects of money, relationships, and other outcomes across a given population; yet there may be significant differences in what is important to different people. In Part 3, we employ parametric and semi-parametric random coefficient models to show that there are large differences in the determinants of individual SWB in Britain, and (in contrast to previous work) that such differences cannot simply be attributed to differences in individuals' reporting functions. While individual differences correlate with (some) observable demographic variables, they do not generally correlate with individuals' perceptions about what is important to them. The results of SWB research may therefore be a useful source of information.

Keywords: Russia
subjective well-being
panel data
Britain
social comparison
heterogeneity
penalised maximum likelihood
penalised Gaussian mixture model
Advisor: Knight, J
Ailddarlleniadau o waith Dafydd ap Gwilym

Cynnwys y traethawd ymchwil hwn bedair astudiaeth ar waith Dafydd ap Gwilym. O ran methodoleg, defnyddir nifer o ddulliau, gan gynnwys beirniadaeth destunol a beirniadaeth lenyddol. Y mae penodau 1 a 3 yn destunol eu pwyslais, gan fynd i’r afael â llawysgrifau cymharol gynnar lle y ceir enghreifftiau o waith Dafydd ap Gwilym. Rhydd yr ail bennod sylw i lythrennedd yn yr Oesoedd Canol ac yn y bennod olaf eir i’r afael â barddoniaeth Dafydd ap Gwilym drwy roi sylw manwl i amwysedd ei farddoniaeth. Yn y bennod gyntaf cymhwysir beirniadaeth destunol at Beniarth 48, un o’r llawysgrifau cynharaf lle y ceir casgliad o gerddi gan Ddafydd ap Gwilym, gan roi sylw manwl i’r cywydd anorffenedig amheus ei awduraeth ‘Credaf i Naf y nefoedd’, gan gynnig y dylid ystyried ei fod o bosibl yn gerdd ddilys gan Ddafydd ap Gwilym. Trafodir dylanwad llythrenendd y bedwaredd ganrif ar ddeg ar farddoniaeth Dafydd ap Gwilym yn yr ail bennod, a chesglir bod Dafydd ap Gwilym yn gyfarwydd â’r ffenomen hon mewn cyd-destun seciwlar yn ogystal â chyd-destun eglwysig. Canolbwyntia’r drydedd bennod ar Beniarth 52, lle y ceir dau gywydd gan Ddafydd ap Gwilym yn ogystal â cherddi gan Ddafydd Nanmor. Cedwir mewn cof mai endid ansefydlog yw canon llenyddol a chodir cwr y llen ar ddylanwad Dafydd ap Gwilym ar Ddafydd Nanmor. Yn y bennod olaf, trafodir amwysedd ym marddoniaeth Dafydd ap Gwilym a dadleuir bod ei farddoniaeth yn fwy na chanu confensiynol neu loddest eiriol o ystrydebau serch oherwydd bod ei hamwysedd, o bob math—boed yn eiriau unigol, yn ddelwedd estynedig, yn strwythur tanorweddol neu’n gymhleth o emosiynau’r bardd—yn byrlymu i’r wyneb ac yn cynysgaeddu’i gerddi â phrofiad llenyddol ehangach.

Keywords: Welsh
medieval Welsh
Welsh poetry
Dafydd ap Gwilym
Advisor: Charles-Edwards, T
Evans, D
A Numismatic History of the Early Islamic Precious Metal Coinage of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula

This dissertation uses all of the available evidence provided by coins to construct a numismatic history of the early Islamic precious metal coinage of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.
The dissertation begins with a review of the analysis undertaken by earlier scholars, followed by an explanation of the adopted methodology, including the approach to the primary and secondary sources and the description of the methods used in the metrological, metallurgical, and die estimation analyses.
The balance of the dissertation is divided into three sections. The first section is the typology, which divides the coinage into four series: Series 1, the Two Imperial Bust type; Series 2, the Latin Epigraphic type; Series 3, the Bilingual type; and Series 4, the Post-Reform type. The typology analyses each series in detail. This section also discusses the iconographical elements of the coinage, with a further chapter providing an analysis of certain anomalous examples that do not readily fit into the typology.
The second section encompasses the analysis of the metrological and metallurgical aspects of the coinage and the estimation of the number of dies for each series. The final section combines the numismatic evidence and the historical record provided by a variety of secondary sources into a numismatic history of the two regions. This section includes a discussion of the historical context prior to, during, and after the Muslim conquest of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula, as well as a discussion of find spots and circulation.
The dissertation concludes with a comparison of the evolution of the precious metal coinage in North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula to the evolution of Islamic coinage in other regions of the Umayyad Caliphate and an exploration of the underlying nature of the coinage (i.e. regional, Imperial, etc.).

Keywords: Islamic Numismatics
Umayyads
Arab-Latin Coinage
Iberian Peninsula
North Africa
Advisor: Treadwell, L
Systematics, ecology, and evolution of hydrothermal vent endemic peltospirids (Mollusca: Gastropoda) from the Indian and Southern oceans

This thesis centres around two genera of large peltospirid gastropods (Mollusca: Neomphalina: Peltospiridae) endemic to hydrothermal vent ecosystems. One is the 'scaly-foot gastropod', an emblematic species of the Indian Ocean vents with unique dermal sclerites covering the foot like roof tiles. The other was recently discovered from expeditions to the Southern and Indian oceans, lacks sclerites and possesses large opercula. As both genera and their assigned species remained undescribed, they were formally described herein which forms a basis to understanding their biology.
The 'scaly-foot gastropod' from both the Central Indian Ridge (CIR) and the Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR) were confirmed to represent a single species and is formally named as Chrysomallon squamiferum. Through molecular genetic analyses using the COI gene, genetic differentiation between SWIR and CIR populations was detected for the 'scaly-foot gastropod'. In contrast, the peltospirids with large opercula from the East Scotia Ridge (ESR) and the SWIR proved to be two distinct species within an undescribed genus. The ESR species was formally described as Gigantopelta chessoia and the SWIR species as G. aegis. The molecular genetic analyses of the COI gene, confirmed the genetic isolation of the two and consolidated their status as separate species.
A 3D tomographic model of Chrysomallon squamiferum was generated to characterise the soft anatomy and morphology as well as to understand its internal anatomy and adaptation which remained little-studied. Further to the enlarged esophageal gland already known to house chemosynthetic endosymbionts, C. squamiferum was discovered to have a hypertrophied circulatory system with a gigantic, muscular heart and large ctenidium to adapt to life in a hypoxic environment and to supply the endosymbionts with necessary chemicals. Histological examinations of the sclerites and operculum showed that it was unlikely that the sclerites originated from operculum duplication. Comparisons with polyplacophoran scales revealed starkly different secretion mechanisms despite the superficial similarity, which has implications on the placement of sclerite-bearing Cambrian taxa.
Overall, the results from this thesis ascertained the systematic positions of these large-sized, enigmatic peltospirids, and led to improved understanding of their ecology and evolution. The important role of larval dispersal in maintaining metapopulations across the distribution of a vent-endemic taxa is highlighted. The adaptations of vent-endemic taxa remains little-known even in well-studied species, warranting future studies on these and other species.

Keywords: taxonomy
evolution
gastropod
mollusc
hydrothermal vent
systematics
Advisor: Rogers, A
Copley, J
Linse, K
Peer learning among a group of heroin addicts in India : an ethnographic study

This is an ethnographic account of peer learning among a group of heroin 'addicts' in Delhi, India. This study responds to the limited attention given to 'naturalistic' or 'informal' peer learning patterns in the educational literature, and the lack of explicit exploration of the phenomenon among drug user populations. The study involved seven and a half months of fieldwork with the predominant use of participant observation and semi-structured interviews to generate data. Analysis was inductive and interpretive with the use of situated learning theory to 'tease out' patterns in the data. The participants were using and non-using addicts affiliated to SHARAN, a non-governmental organization (NGO) in the religious marketplace of Yamuna Bazaar. The group included approximately 300-500 members, 20 of whom were main informants. Analysis of the group organization revealed community-based and masculinity-based characteristics that enabled the group to manage stigma, promote 'positive' ideals, and co-construct nonhegemonic masculinities. Peer-based outreach was identified as a form of 'institutional' peer learning in which peer educators performed the roles of 'doctor', 'role model', and 'counsellor' during interactions with 'clients' that had the effect of disempowering clients in many cases. The practice of poetry in which peers created couplets in alternating exchanges was identified as one form of naturalistic peer learning that entailed processes of legitimate peripheral participation, meaning negotiation, and reflective learning. Street 'doctory' in which peers provided medical care in the form of procedures, illness discussions, and health consultancy was identified as another naturalistic peer learning pattern involving processes of legitimate peripheral participation, meaning negotiation, and learning through teaching. These findings suggest that naturalistic peer learning involved co-participatory processes that manifested in a diversity of everyday practices. It is recommended that engaging these processes and practices would be useful for interventions, while further research should explore such patterns in other contexts.

Advisor: Walford, G
The width of verbal subgroups in profinite groups

The main result of this thesis is an original proof that every word has finite width in a compact p-adic analytic group. The proof we give here is an alternative to Andrei Jaikin-Zapirain's recent proof of the same result, and utilises entirely group-theoretical ideas. We accomplish this by reducing the problem to a proof that every word has finite width in a profinite group which is virtually a polycyclic pro-p group. To obtain this latter result we first establish that such a group can be embedded as an open subgroup of a group of the form N₁ M₁, where N₁ is a finitely generated closed normal nilpotent subgroup, and M₁ is a finitely generated closed nilpotent-by-finite subgroup; we then adapt a method of V. A. Romankov. As a corollary we note that our approach also proves that every word has finite width in a polycyclic-by-finite group (which is not profinite). As a supplementary result we show that for finitely generated closed subgroups H and K of a profinite group the commutator subgroup [H,K] is closed, and give examples to show that various hypotheses are necessary. This implies that the outer-commutator words have finite width in profinite groups of finite rank. We go on to establish some bounds for this width. In addition, we show that every word has finite width in a product of a nilpotent group of finite rank and a virtually nilpotent group of finite rank. We consider the possible application of this to soluble minimax groups.

Keywords: words
profinite
width
pro-p
verbal subgroups
Advisor: Segal, D
The spatial epidemiology of the Duffy blood group and G6PD deficiency

Over a third of the world’s population lives at risk of potentially severe Plasmodium vivax malaria. Unique aspects of this parasite’s biology and interactions with its human host make it harder to control and eliminate than the better studied Plasmodium falciparum parasite. Spatial mapping of two human genetic polymorphisms were developed to support evidence-based targeting of control interventions and therapies.
First, to enumerate and map the population at risk of P. vivax infection (PvPAR), the prevalence of this parasite’s human blood cell receptor – the Duffy antigen – was mapped globally. Duffy negative individuals are resistant to infection, and this map provided the means to objectively model the low endemicity of P. vivax across Africa. The Duffy maps helped resolve that only 3% of the global PvPAR was from Africa.
The second major research focus was to map the spatial distribution of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase enzyme deficiency (G6PDd), the genetic condition which predisposes individuals to potentially life-threatening haemolysis from primaquine therapy. Despite this drug’s vital role in being the only treatment of relapsing P. vivax parasites, risks of G6PDd-associated haemolysis result in significant under-use of primaquine. G6PDd was found to be widespread, with an estimated frequency of 8.0% (50% CI: 7.4-8.8%) across malarious regions.
Third, it was important to represent more detailed descriptions of the genetic diversity underpinning this enzyme disorder, which ranges in phenotype from expressing mild to life-threatening primaquine-induced haemolysis. These variants’ spatial distributions were mapped globally and showed strikingly conspicuous distributions, with widespread A- dominance across Africa, predominance of the Mediterranean variant from the Middle East across to India, and east of India diversifying into a different and diverse array of variants, showing heterogeneity both at regional and community levels.
Fourth, the G6PDd prevalence and severity maps were synthesised into a framework assessing the spatial variability of overall risk from G6PDd to primaquine therapy. This found that risks from G6PDd were too widespread and potentially severe to sanction primaquine treatment without prior G6PDd screening, particularly across Asia where the majority of the population are Duffy positive and G6PDd was common and severe.
Finally, the conclusions from these studies were discussed and recommendations made for essential further research needed to support current efforts into P. vivax control.

Keywords: geostatistical modelling
malaria
G6PD deficiency
primaquine
epidemiology
Duffy blood group
Plasmodium vivax
spatial maps
Advisor: Hay, S
Piel, F
Vernacular mapping: affect, virtuality, performance

In diagramming the recent, global proliferation in quotidian cartographic technologies and practices, this thesis is concerned with the re-imagining of durable geographic motifs and refrains; those of maps and mappings. Conceptually, the thesis works to explore and interrogate the underplayed non-representational registers of cartography. Specifically, this entails unsettling the assumed ontological security of maps as representational artefacts, at the same time accentuating their affective and virtual vectors through an attentiveness to their spatial emergence and performance. In doing so, maps are rendered here not as mimetic, static grids of existence, but as intensive performances, productive of an unqualified geographic and political potential; that is to say, spaces of the virtual. Empirically, these conceptual concerns are worked through a series of fieldwork traces that animate and narrate a number of quite distinct yet resonant cartographic performances; namely geographic encounters with a counter-cartography group in North Carolina; a digital, open-source mapping organisation in both the UK and Peru and finally with two examples of an institutional cartography: Google and Ordnance Survey. Through these mappings, these fieldwork traces, what the thesis works towards is a micropolitical diagramming of contemporary cartographic practices, a diagramming that complicates deliberately the representational certitude of maps, but moreover, one that affirms the (im)material, anticipatory and minor geopolitics of mapping; a mapping of and for the everyday; a mapping of and for the vernacular.

Keywords: affect
virtuality
performance
mapping
Advisor: McCormack, D
Whatmore, S
Population dynamics at a diploid-polyploid contact zone in Mercurialis annua L. 

Hybrid zones offer ‘natural laboratories’ for studying the origin, maintenance and demise of species, serving as examples of evolution in action. Understanding the processes that mediate the simultaneous invasions and extinctions of a hybrid zone is therefore essential to understanding the range limits of species and the maintenance of their genetic identity.
Populations of diploid (2n = 16) and hexaploid (2n = 48) Mercuralis annua L. s.l. (Euphorbiaceae) have migrated from glacial refugia towards a zone of secondary contact that now exists in north-east Spain. Rapid movement of this zone in favour of the diploids over the past 50 years has been attributed to an interaction of endogenous and exogenous selection, and has lead to the formation of a narrow ‘tension hybrid zone’ that limits the spatial mixing of these lineages.
This work systematically disentangles the factors underlying the stability of the diploidhexaploid contact zone in its current position in the north-east Spain to understand the fate of this hybrid zone if it follows its current trajectory into what I have characterised as a low-density trough. I examine the importance of demographic factors such as founding size, reproductive assurance in polyploids, and differences in the rate of seed bank formation for the persistence of both lineages in this area. This provides an estimate of ambient rates of extinction in this zone for each lineage, independent of their interactions with one another, and highlights their susceptibility to density-dependent processes at each life history stage.
I then examine asymmetries in hybridisation dynamics between lineages in experimental field populations of controlled density as well as in naturally occurring mixed populations in this zone, assessing the effect of biased gene flow of diploids on the outcome of these apparently rare contact events. I also refine an earlier form of the mass-action pollen pool model to account for the spatial context of individuals and their individual-based contribution to the pollen pool. Using this enables a prediction of hybridisation rates in the field for given mixed assemblages.
Results are interpreted in the context of tension zone dynamics and the long-term fate of sexual system variation in this species complex. The identification of long-run negative growth rates in both lineages, and the fact that a small fraction of sites remained by the end of a four-year time course of study, are both indicative of a region that represents a low-density trough into which the diploid-hexaploid contact zone will settle if movement continues along its density-dependent trajectory.

Keywords: Genetics
Androdioecy
Dioecy
Mercurialis
Metapopulation Dynamics
Sexual Systems
Ecology
Monoecy
Advisor: Pannell, J
Bonsall, M
Jewish hermeneutics of divine testing with special reference to the epistle of James

The nature of trials, tests, and temptation in the Epistle of James has been extensively debated in New
Testament scholarship. However, scholarship has underexamined the tension between the author’s mitigation of divine agency in testing ( Jas 1:13–14) and the author’s appeal to well-known biblical testing narratives such as the creation account (1:15– 18), the Binding of Isaac ( Jas 2:21–24), and the Trials of Job ( Jas 5:9–11). This juxtaposition between the author’s theological apologetic and his biblical hermeneutic has the potential to reveal either the author’s theological incoherence or his rhetorical and hermeneutical creativity.
With these tensions of divine agency and biblical interpretation in mind, this dissertation compares the Epistle of James against other examples of ancient Jewish interpretation, interrogating two points of contact in each Jewish work: their portrayals of the cosmic drama of testing, and their resulting biblical hermeneutic. The dissertation assembles a spectrum of positions on how the divine, satanic, and human roles of testing vary from author to author. These variations of the dramatis personae of the cosmic drama exercise a direct influence on the reception and interpretation of the biblical testing narratives.
When the Epistle of James is examined in a similar light, it reveals a cosmic drama especially dependent on the metaphor of the divine law court. Within this cosmic drama, God stands as righteous judge, and in the place of divine prosecutor stand the cosmic forces indicting both divine integrity and human religious loyalty.
These cosmic and human roles have a direct impact on James’ reading of biblical testing narratives. Utilising an intra-canonical hermeneutic similar to that found in Rewritten Bible literature, the Epistle appeals to a constructed ‘Jobraham’ narrative in which the Job stories mitigate divine agency in biblical trials such as those of Abraham, and Abraham’s celebrated patience rehabilitates Job’s rebellious response to trial.
In conclusion, by closely examining the broader exegetical discourses of ancient Judaism, this project sheds new light on how the Epistle of James responds to theological tensions within its religious community through a hermeneutical application of the dominant biblical narratives of Job’s cosmic framework and Abraham’s human perfection.

Keywords: Epistle of James
James
temptation
Testing
Cosmology
Advisor: Bockmuehl, M