VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Cultural interactions during the Zhou period (c.a. 1000-350 B.C.): a study of networks from the Suizao corridor

This thesis concerns about cultural interactions during the Zhou period of China (c.a. 1000-350 B.C.) between the Suizao corridor (near the present-day Yangtze River region) and its contemporaries within or outside the Zhou realm. It mainly, but not exclusively, concentrates on bronze ritual vessels from the Suizao corridor, and discusses the underlying social and political relations between the dominant cultures and the regional ones in this particular area (the Zeng state for example), which are central to understanding the ways in which the dominant cultures joined their disparate territories into a whole. Newly excavated archaeological evidence show that there were at least three periods when people in the Suizao corridor learned about the current traditions employed elsewhere, which are: 1) Yejiashan period (from the 11th to 10th century B.C.); 2) post-Ritual Reform period (from the mid-9th to mid-7th century B.C.); and 3) Marquis Yi’s period (from the mid-6th to mid-4th century B.C.). In these periods, local people in the Suizao corridor were involved in networks of enormous and constantly changing complexity, in which people, objects, practices, and ideas were mixed together through interregional contacts. The choices of local people in adopting foreign materials and ideas from either the dominant cultures or other places heavily depended on the subjective view of their social identity, which can be constructed, maintained, or transited to adapt to different social and political environments.

Advisor: Rawson, J
Capturing changes: applying the Oxford system to further understand the movement of metal in Shang China

The Bronze Age China presents to us a significant contrast to the rest of Eurasia in two aspects, the great commitment to the complicated bronze ritual vessels and the immense scale of production. Both features reached their zenith in the late Shang period in the late second millennium BC but left a delicate puzzle to archaeologists: through what trajectories was the metal moved and engaged with human societies in China?
The traditional approach is heavily confined to either cultural-historic paradigms or text-oriented researches. Whilst the increasing number of scientific studies in recent decades allows scholars to be more precisely focused on bronze artefacts, their sometimes overwhelming obsession on the provenance of metal provokes criticism in many ways.
Drawing from approximately 3000 alloying analyses, 1000 trace elemental data and 1100 lead isotopes, this thesis delivers a series of systematic comparative studies on copper-based artefacts with the newly developed Oxford system. The waning and waxing of various types of metal in different time and space depict a constantly and unpredictably changing pattern. People inhabited along the borderlands appeared to be greatly dependent on local supply of metal whereas Anyang undoubtedly absorbed metal from a variety of regions. Intriguingly, seen from the current database, very little evidence can be highlighted in support of some large-scale mixing or recycling, particularly for ritual vessels of top elites at Anyang. The newly discovered compositional difference of bronzes between Zhengzhou and Panlongcheng calls into question on the classical model on the relation between the two sites. Striking domination of clean copper in southwestern China shed new light on the issues of local production and local supply of metal.
In conclusion, the chemical and isotopic analyses of copper-based objects carry a huge amount of information not just on provenance but many others. People living in various parts of China had chosen differing strategies to obtain metal. The elaborate data structures are a result of a highly efficient and dynamic network supplying system. Through combining the changes in metal compositions with other archaeological information, it becomes viable to reveal more subtle knowledge about this remote world and give us better-defined questions.

Advisor: Pollard, A
Heteroscedastic Gaussian processes for uncertain and incomplete data

In probabilistic inference, many implicit and explicit assumptions are taken about the nature of input noise and the function fit to either simplify the mathematics, improve the time complexity or optimise for space. It is often assumed that the inputs are noiseless or that the noise is drawn from the same distribution for all inputs, that all the variables used during training will be present during prediction and with the same degrees of uncertainties, and that the confidence about the prediction is uniform across the input space. This thesis presents a more generalised sparse Gaussian process model that relaxes these assumptions to inputs with variable degrees of uncertainty, or completeness in the input, and produces variable uncertainty estimation over the output. The capabilities of sparse Gaussian processes are further enhanced to allow for non-stationarity which minimises the number of required basis functions, a prior mean function for better extrapolation performance and cost-sensitive learning for non-uniform weighting of samples. The results are demonstrated on an astrophysical problem of estimating galactic redshifts from their photometry. This problem, by its nature, can capitalise on the features of the proposed model as the noise on the photometry can vary across different galaxies or catalogues, not all photometry might be available during prediction or shared amongst different surveys, and the input-dependent uncertainty estimation gives astrophysicists the ability to trade off completeness for accuracy to answer a range of different questions related to astronomy and cosmology.

Advisor: Roberts, S
Jarvis, M
Twilight of the pollsters: a social theory of mass opinion in late modernity

This thesis examines how the occupations people hold, and the social classes in which they are situated, affect the way in which they form and express opinions. At a theoretical level, it unites the 'deep-structure' macroanalysis of social theory with the individualised microanalysis of how subjects form and express opinions in opinion research, reviving an approach that has not been pursued since early-20th-century social research. At a practical level, it responds to several recent and prominent failures of prediction by the opinion polling industry, and asks whether a broader understanding of 'mass opinion' can help avert such failures in future. The thesis argues that opinions are subjects' judgments about their social conditions, based on mental pictures they have of these conditions that combine the values and attitudes they hold with the information they have about their environment. Subjects form opinions based on these pictures via three 'means of thinking'-personality-traits, emotions, and reason-and express them using two kinds of 'means of articulation'-bodily organs and media. The thesis shows how the variety of occupations subjects hold, and the extremity of class differentials between them, introduce substantial plurality into their values and attitudes, the way they acquire information, how they think, and how they articulate themselves. In particular, it highlights the considerable asymmetries between higher- and lower-class subjects regarding: which parts of their social conditions they are experts about, and how far they are influenced by others; whether they think about their conditions more emotionally or with reasoning; and how great a range and quality of opportunities they have to articulate their views. The thesis closes by suggesting that these findings offer opinion researchers and social theorists clear directions for measuring 'mass opinion' in new ways, and potentially emancipating the voices of subjects whose opinions are suppressed in late-modern society.

Keywords: Sociology
Political theory
Social theory
Louis Althusser
Marxism
Political science
Public opinion
Martin Heidegger
Opinion polls
Pierre Bourdieu
Advisor: Freeden, M
Sea surface temperatures from oxygen isotopes in marine molluscs in middle and later stone age sites, South Africa

The southernmost coast of South Africa has been proposed to have been a uniquely important region in later human evolution, in part due to the abundance of nutritious and dense coastal resources. Yet, strong contrasts in the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and subsequent Later Stone Age (LSA) archaeological records cast uncertainty on the significance of shellfish utilisation for processes of human evolution. Further, climatic shifts are frequently advanced as drivers of widespread technological change but few climate proxy records correspond adequately to the archaeological evidence at a temporal or spatial level to be unambiguously linked to human cultural activity. This thesis presents a temporally and spatially distributed record of near-shore seasonal sea surface temperatures (SSTs) from serial δ18O shell measurements of archaeological Turbo sarmaticus opercula. In addition, the annual timing of shellfish harvesting captured in the temperature signal of the shells' final few growth increments is indicative of the scheduling of foraging behaviours and social organisation.
A non-destructive method for evaluating the preservation of the original aragonitic shell carbonate using Fourier transform infrared spectrometry with an attenuated reflectance attachment is presented, allowing for robust SST reconstructions. Near-shore SST reconstructions are presented from the LSA levels of Nelson Bay Cave and Byneskranskop 1, with new radiocarbon chronologies spanning the terminal Pleistocene and the Holocene, and the MSA deposits at Pinnacle Point 5-6 and Klasies River Main site, dated to periods in Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 and across the MIS5/4 transition. These reconstructions confirm the utility of near-shore SST records for terrestrial climate reconstructions, indicating summer rainfall shifts during the Holocene and across MIS5/4. The annual timing of shellfish foraging is shown to be markedly different between the MSA and LSA, and more nuanced assessments of foraging behaviours within the MSA and LSA emerge.

Advisor: Lee-Thorp, J
Sealy, J
Influences of cell shape in microbial communities

By growing together in dense communities, microorganisms (microbes) have a huge impact on human life. Microbes also come in a wide variety of shapes, but we have yet to understand the importance of these shapes for community biology. How are multi- species communities, such as biofilms and colonies, affected by the morphologies of constituent cells? Which morphologies might these environments select for in turn? To address these questions, we use individual-based modelling to investigate the effects of cell shape on patterning and evolution within microbial communities. We develop a flexible simulation framework, coupling a continuum model of the biofilm chemical environment to a cellular-level description of biofilm growth mechanics. This modelling system allows competitions between different microbial cell shapes to be simulated and studied, in different community contexts.
Our models predict that cell shape can strongly affect spatial structure and patterning within competitive communities. Rod cells perform better at colonising surfaces and the expanding edges of colonies, while round cells are better at dominating the upper surface of a community. Our predictions are supported by experiments using Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria, and demonstrate that particular shapes can confer a selective advantage in communities.
In summary, the work presented in this thesis predicts and examines new mechanisms of self-organisation driven by cell shape, demonstrating a new significance for microbial morphology as a means for cells to succeed in a dense and competitive environment.

Keywords: Pattern formation
Morphology
Simulation
Biofilm
Self-organisation
Advisor: Osborne, J
Pitt-Francis, J
Foster, K
Davit, Y
The environmental rule of law in India

This thesis offers a new conceptual framework—the environmental rule of law—to describe weaknesses in the development of Indian environmental law, and uses this description to critique the dominant discourse on environmental institutional reform. A secondary framework—fragmentation is also used to supplement the analysis of Indian environmental law.
Part I develops the conceptual framework of the environmental rule of law by considering the special challenges that the inherent polycentric and interdisciplinary nature of environmental law present for commonly understood rule of law values such as clarity, certainty and consistency. It also relies on Jeremy Waldron’s conception of articulated governance to demonstrate that the rule of law is linked to the principle of separation of powers. This conception lays emphasis on the role of the three institutions of government—the legislature, the executive and the judiciary—in strengthening or weakening the rule of law. To determine institutional contribution to the rule of law, I develop three broad indicators to assess the legal quality of the instruments of each of these institutions of government. These indicators are: a) capacity of statutes to guide executive and judicial behaviour by goal-setting and balancing competing interests; b) the ability of the executive to make flexible yet reasoned decisions grounded in primary legislation; and c) the use of statutory interpretation and consistent standards of judicial review by the courts as they give effect to environmental rights and principles. Through the use of case studies in Part II that span environmental impact assessment, forest conservation, and indigenous rights, I demonstrate that the lack of adherence to these indicators produces a body of environmental law that is fragmented i.e. one characterised by multiple overlapping yet self-contained legal regimes with conflicting provisions and the absence of unifying norms.
In Part III, I use this understanding of fragmentation to critically analyse environmental legal and institutional reform proposals. I show that existing proposals address only the structure, rather than the process of functioning of the institutions of government. The rule of law framework that I develop also has potential for application to other areas of the law.

Keywords: fragmentation
rule of law
Advisor: Fisher, E
Monstrous soundscapes: listening to the voice of the monster in Greek epic, lyric, and tragedy

Although mythological monsters have rarely been examined in any collective and comprehensive manner, they constitute an important cosmic presence in archaic and classical Greek poetry. This thesis brings together insights from the scholarly areas of 'monster studies' and the 'sensory turn' in order to offer readings of the sounds made by monsters. I argue that the figure of the monster in Greek poetry, although it has positive attributes, does not have a fixed definition or position within the cosmos. Instead of using definitions of monstrosity to think about the role and status of Greek monsters, this thesis demonstrates that by listening to the sounds of the monster's voice, it is possible to chart its position in the cosmos. Monsters with incomprehensible, cacophonous, or dangerous voices pose greater threats to cosmic order; those whose voices are semiotic and anthropomorphic typically pose less serious threats.
The thesis explores the shifting depictions of monsters according to genre and author. In Chapter 1, 'Hesiod's Theogony: The Role of Monstrosity in the Cosmos', I consider Hesiod’s genealogies of monsters that circulate and threaten in the nonhuman realm, while the universe is still undergoing processes of organisation. Chapter 2, 'Homer's Odyssey: Mingling with Monsters', discusses the monster whom Odysseus encounters and even imitates in order to survive his exchanges with them. In Chapter 3, 'Monsters in Greek Lyric Poetry: Voices of Defeat', I examine Stesichorus’ Geryoneis and the presence of Centaurs, Typhon, and Gorgons in Pindar’s Pythian 1, 2, 3, and 12. In lyric, we find that these monsters are typically presented in terms of the monster’s experience of defeat at the hands of a hero or a god. This discussion is followed by two chapters that explore the presence of the monster in Greek tragedy, entitled ‘Centripetal Monsters in Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and Oresteia' and 'Centrifugal Monsters in Greek Tragedy: Euripides and Sophocles.' Here, I argue that in tragedy the monster, or the abstractly 'monstrous', is located within the figure of the human being and within the polis. The coda, 'Monstrous Mimesis and the Power of Sound', considers not only monstrous voices, but monstrous music, examining the mythology surrounding the aulos and looking at the sonic developments generated by the New Musicians.

Keywords: Homer
Advisor: Macintosh, F
Budelmann, F
The role of catechol-O-methyltransferase in processing affective stimuli

Introduction: Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is involved in the catabolism of dopamine and is one of the key regulators of dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex. COMT is known to modulate cognitive functions, such as working memory and executive function; however, its role in other cognitive processes, such as emotional processing, is relatively unexplored. The aim of this thesis is to examine the hypothesis that COMT activity, as influenced by the Val158Met polymorphism or by acute COMT inhibition, influences the processing of affective stimuli.
Methods: I performed a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, experimental medicine study in a sample of healthy males (n=63) looking at the effects of COMT Val158Met genotype and a single, 200mg dose of the COMT inhibitor tolcapone on tests of emotional processing. I used the Oxford P1Vital emotional test battery (ETB) and an affective startle reflex modulation (ASRM) paradigm to detect attentional bias and emotional reactivity in the processing of affective stimuli.
Results: There was no effect of COMT Val158Met or tolcapone on indices of emotional processing assessed using the ETB. Acute administration of tolcapone was associated with a trend for greater startle response towards positive, negative and neutral picture stimuli in the ASRM paradigm.
Conclusion: This study is the first to examine the influence of COMT Val158Met or tolcapone on emotional processing using the ETB and has given insight into possible methodological limitations of using it as a tool to probe the effects of the genetic variant. These results may help further our understanding of COMT's role in underlying normal variation in emotional processing and contributing to penetrance and severity of psychiatric disorders.

Advisor: Harrison, P
Tunbridge, E
Understanding the genetic relationship between key effectors of DNA interstrand crosslink repair

With each cell division, our whole genome is duplicated in an error-free and controlled manner. Failure to do so leads to genomic instability. DNA interstrand crosslinks (ICLs) are particularly toxic DNA lesions as when left unrepaired, they are able to block replication producing devastating health conditions such as the genetic syndrome Fanconi Anemia (FA) that predisposes its patients to cancer.
The repair of ICLs is thought to be initiated by the concerted action of multiple nucleases, some of which are defective in FA patients. In particular, the 5'-3' exonuclease SNM1A works in a common pathway with the heterodimeric endonuclease XPF (ERCC4/FANCQ)–ERCC1 during replication-associated ICL repair. We wish to investigate the role of the less well-characterised nuclease FAN1. It has previously been shown that cells deficient in key nucleases XPF-ERCC1, SNM1A and FAN1 all show increased sensitivity to widely used crosslinking anticancer drugs, underlining the clinical importance of exemplifying the exact mechanism of ICL repair.
The project both focuses on a biochemical and cellular characterization of the nuclease FAN1. Through nuclease assays on radioactively end-labelled synthetic DNA substrates mimicking replication fork intermediates, FAN1 was characterised as a 5’ flap endonuclease as well as a 5' to 3' exonuclease. On a cellular level, a functional redundancy between the two repair nucleases FAN1 and SNM1A was identified. In order to better understand the genetic relationship between FAN1 and the key exonuclease XPF-ERCC1, I generated a XPF -/- human cell line using the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology. In future, this tool will enable us to better understand the genetic relationship between XPF-ERCC1 and FAN1 leading to a more complete understanding of ICL repair.
Altogether, the project offers an overview of the biochemical and genetic relationship between key nucleases of the DNA ICL repair and can offer interesting mechanistic insight in ICL incision, unhooking and repair, potentially identifying new therapeutic targets.

Advisor: McHugh, P
Creative responses to Australian material culture in the Pitt Rivers Museum collection: parallels between We Bury Our Own and Mining the Museum

This theoretical dissertation is a comparative assessment of two exhibitions responding to a museum archive: the work of African-American artist Fred Wilson (b. 1954), Mining the Museum, at the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore, 1993, and my own exhibition We Bury Our Own at the Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford, 2012. I explore the emergence of the museum as a context and medium for artists as institutional critique. The following research outlines a range of artistic practices and engages a process of ekphrasis to give detailed comprehensive accounts of both exhibitions, demonstrating how studio-based research is able to reveal hidden or previously unseen histories obscured by the imperial gaze. I discuss the differences between my own and Wilson’s approaches in order to expose how the work might shift in significance or meaning when it is placed inside and outside the museum context. This thesis introduces the idea of spiritual repatriation, outlines how museum collections are able to contribute to artistic practice and how artists can contribute to the ongoing exhibition, critique and appreciation of museum collections. This thesis also elaborates on the Pitt Rivers Museum Collection and its subsequent influence on recent work, and redefines the title We Bury Our Own as a metaphor applied to a wider picture.

Advisor: Catling, B
Warr, T