VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Paolo Beni

The thesis is divided into three parts. Part One treats Beni's life and works from his birth in 1553 to 1604. His birth, his ancestry, his early education, his early careers, his Jesuit career and its aftermath are described from documentary evidence. His works of this period, most of which are inextricably connected with his life, are also briefly treated, Part Two narrates the events of the remainder of his life: his writing, his teaching, his publishing, his polemical writing, his relationship with his family, his last illness and death. Part Three provides a more ample critical assessment of his major writings after 1604, grouped according to subject-matter. Chapters are devoted to his criticism of Tasso, to his linguistic writings, to his theory and practice of poetry, history and rhetoric. The conclusion summarizes the pattern of his life and reassesses his importance. The Bibliography is divided into two parts. The first contains Beni's writings in three sections: (a) published works, with a note on the Opera omnia; (b) MS works; (c) a chronological reference list of his (mostly unpublished) letters. Part Two contains all other works consulted, MS and printed.
Irish and Jewish women's experience of childbirth and infant care in East London, 1870-1939

This thesis examines Irish and Jewish mothers' experience of maternity provision and infant care services in East London in the years 1870-1939. As newcomers these immigrants not only had to cope with poverty but also the barriers of language and different cultural customs. Leaving their family and kinship networks behind them, Irish and Jewish mothers had to find new sources of support when incapacitated through pregnancy or childbirth.
Living in one of the poorest areas of London and unfamiliar with the local medical and welfare services, these immigrants might be expected to have suffered very poor health. On closer examination, however, Irish and Jewish immigrants appear to have had remarkably low rates of infant and maternal mortality. Despite the difficulties they faced as newcomers, Irish and Jewish mothers had certain advantages over the local population in East London. They were not only able to rely on the prolific and diverse services already present in East London, but could also call upon their own communal organisations. This provision offered a wide range of care and was a vital support to the newcomers.
After examining the social and economic background to Irish and Jewish emigration and settlement the thesis examines what impact this had on their health patterns, particularly infant and maternal mortality. The following chapters explore what forms of support were available to married Irish and Jewish mothers through their own family and local neighbourhood and communal agencies. Chapter five concerns the unmarried mother and what provision was made specifically for her. The care offered by the host society to immigrant mothers and their infants is explored in chapters 6 to 8. Institutions covered by these chapters include voluntary hospitals, Poor Law infirmaries, and charitable organisations such as district nursing associations and medical missions.
The thesis examines not only the services available to Irish and Jewish mothers, but also the attitudes of health professionals and philanthropists towards immigrants and how these affected the accessibility and acceptability of maternity and infant welfare services to Irish and East European Jewish mothers.
Systems-level analysis of the mitotic entry switch

Entry into mitosis in eukaryotes depends on the activation of the Cyclin-dependent kinase 1 (Cdk1), which phosphorylates many mitotic protein substrates. Activation of Cdk1 requires formation of a complex with Cyclin B (CycB), which gradually rises in concentration during interphase. However, in most organisms Cdk1 activation is not gradual but switch-like, because phosphorylation of the Cdk1-CycB complex by the Wee1 kinase normally keeps Cdk1-CycB inactive during interphase. Mitotic entry is induced when rapid dephosphorylation of Cdk1-CycB by the Cdc25 phosphatase causes abrupt activation of Cdk1-CycB. Cdk1-CycB in turn phosphorylates both Wee1 and Cdc25 leading to Cdc25 activation and Wee1 inhibition. This regulation creates both a positive and a double-negative feedback loop in the system, which are thought to generate a sharp, bistable switch that controls mitotic entry. Bistability is known to require positive feedback and ultrasensitivity, however, how ultrasensitivity arises in the mitotic switch is subject to extensive research efforts both experimentally and theoretically. In this thesis I explore several possible sources of ultrasensitivity in the mitotic switch through mathematical modelling. Based on theoretical considerations and experimental evidence, I show that the existence of multiple positive feedback loops, multisite phosphorylation, and Cdk1-CycB-dependent regulation of Cdk1-counteracting phosphatase activity can all contribute to ultrasensitivity and bistability in the mitotic switch. I analyse models of the mitotic switch including these bistability-generating mechanisms, to simulate and explain experimental data and make testable predictions. I argue that it is unlikely that a single mechanism is responsible for ultrasensitivity in this system, and that bistability requires a combination of different sources, including the ones studied here and others such as enzyme saturation and sequestration effects. I also highlight the importance of network architecture and coherent regulation of opposing reactions in generating efficient biochemical switches. Finally, I draw on recent experimental evidence and ideas derived from this analysis to propose a revised network of the mitotic switch.

Keywords: mitosis
ultrasensitivity
biological switches
bistability
Advisor: Novak, B
Strategic partisan policy-seekers

This dissertation begins from a desire to explain situations in which left-wing parties appear to adopt policies that are more typically associated with right-wing thinking. A standard explanation for such behaviour is that relatively weak left-wing parties are drawn to adopt those policies as a way of getting elected — commonly expressed as convergence on the median voter. The puzzle, however, is that this explanation often seems to fall foul of the empirical reality that left-wing parties adopt these policies when they are relatively strong, not weak. The explanation for this advanced here is that parties, seeking to improve outcomes for their constituencies both now and in the future, often operate in political environments which lead them to assign a high probability that today’s policy choices will not survive the predations of government by opposing parties tomorrow. Where this is the case, there is incentive to pursue policies that are less efficient, but which have inbuilt political defence mechanisms: with the main such mechanism focused upon here being the power of organised public sector labour. The effect of partisanship is, therefore, conditioned by expectations about the future political power of parties. Where left-wing parties expect to be weak, they will tend to adopt the highly statist, bureaucratised, nationalised policies that are traditionally associated with the Left as these will tend to embody large amounts of organised labour that will be a counter to future right-wing governments. Where left-wing parties expect to be strong, the costs associated with such policies come to outweigh the beneﬁts, with the result that they do not need to pursue such ‘left-wing’ policies. These ideas are developed heoretically within an institutionalist framework, yielding a synthesis between the historical and rational choice institutionalisms. Empirically, the theoretical framework is applied to the development of welfare states and to the issue of privatisation of state-owned enterprises.

Keywords: European democracies
health and health policy
Welfare state reform and change
Advisor: Rueda, D
Soskice, D
Human genetic susceptibility to common infectious diseases in Europe

Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) are one of the most common infectious diseases in Europe and worldwide. Very little is known about the genetic factors associated with susceptibility to LRTI and so far studies have only analysed candidate gene loci.
This work aimed to find genetic loci associated with susceptibility to severe and mild LRTI. To analyse severe LRTI, a European cohort of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) sepsis patients was used. To analyse mild LRTI, patients attending primary care with a cough were recruited across Europe.
Two important candidate genes for susceptibility to severe and mild LRTI were studied. None of the four functional polymorphisms analysed in MBL2 were associated individually or when combined with susceptibility to LRTI or survival from severe LRTI. Rare homozygotes for rs12252 in the IFITM3 gene were found to associate with susceptibility to mild and severe viral LRTI, particularly influenza infection.
Using a combination of genome-wide and candidate gene methods, 93 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were chosen to genotype and analyse for susceptibility to mild LRTI. A gene region containing the MPHOSPH8, TPTE2, PSPC1 and ZMYM5 genes was found to associate with susceptibility to rhinovirus infection. A functional promoter SNP in the IL6 gene and a gene region containing the SAP18, MRP63 and SKA3 genes were associated with susceptibility to mild LRTI in smokers. A GWAS was performed for susceptibility to CAP sepsis in Europe. Genotypes were imputed for eight GWAS data sets comprising over 1000 CAP sepsis cases and over 4000 controls. Preliminary analysis results suggest an association in a chromosome 1 region containing the genes VASH2, ANGEL2 and RPS6KC1.
This thesis presents results of the largest known genetic association study for susceptibility to CAP sepsis, and the only known genetic association study for mild LRTI. These novel findings will facilitate further research which may lead to better treatment and outcome for LRTI.

Keywords: infectious disease
Genetics
Advisor: Hill, A
Rautanen, A
The Lipopolysaccharide of Haemophilus parainfluenzae

Haemophilus parainfluenzae (Hp) and H. influenzae (Hi) are closely related members of the Pasteurellaceae family and are common commensal bacteria of the human nasopharynx. Whilst Hi is frequently implicated in meningitis, otitis media and respiratory tract infections, reports of pathogenic behaviour by Hp are very rare. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is a key component of the Gram negative cell wall, and its structure influences the ability of Haemophilus to interact with the host and evade immune clearance. A better understanding of the differences in LPS structure between Hi and Hp could help to ascertain which parts of the molecule are important for commensal and pathogenic behaviour.
Hi LPS comprises lipid A, a conserved oligosaccharide inner core, and an oligosaccharide outer core that differs between strains. The latter is partly phase variable by the slipped strand mispairing during replication of DNA repeat tracts within several LPS biosynthesis genes. Very little was known about LPS in Hp so we investigated its biosynthesis and structure in a panel of 20 Hp carriage isolates. Using PCR, DNA sequencing and Southern analysis we demonstrated that Hp possesses homologues of the Hi lipid A and inner core LPS synthesis genes and a few of the genes for outer core synthesis; however, homologues of the Hi phase variable outer core genes were largely absent and did not contain repeat tracts. The results of immunoblotting and collaborative structural analysis were consistent with this data. Phosphocholine, a phase variable Hi LPS epitope that has been implicated in otitis media, was found to be absent in Hp LPS due to the lack of four genes required for its biosynthesis and incorporation. The introduction of these genes into Hp led to the phase variable addition of phosphocholine to the LPS, indicating that there is no fundamental reason why Hp could not use a similar mechanism of variation to Hi if it was advantageous to do so.
SDS-PAGE data suggested the presence of O-antigens (repeated chains of sugars) in many of the Hp strains, an unusual feature for Haemophilus, and all of the strains were found to contain a potential O-antigen synthesis locus. Each locus encodes homologues of several glycosyltransferases in addition to either the Wzy polymerase- or ABC transporter-dependent mechanisms of O-antigen synthesis and transport. Comparisons of wild type and isogenic mutant strains showed that the O-antigen enhances resistance to complement-mediated killing and appears to affect adhesion to epithelial cells in vitro. Hp is a successful commensal organism but lacks the flexibility of adapting its LPS using repeat-mediated phase variation, potentially limiting its range of host niches.

Keywords: lipooligosaccharide
phosphocholine
O-antigen
bacteria
LPS
phase variation
endotoxin
Haemophilus
lipopolysaccharide
parainfluenzae
influenzae
otitis media
simple sequence repeats
Advisor: Hood, D
Moxon, R
Investigating the effects of a point mutation in the TRPC3 channel – cause of cerebellar ataxia in Moonwalker mice – on the Purkinje cells in mice

The Moonwalker (Mwk) mouse is a mouse model of cerebellar ataxia that harbours a point mutation in the Trpc3 gene. TRPC3 is a non-selective cation channel, most highly expressed in the Purkinje cells of the cerebellum. The gain-of-function mutation in the TRPC3 protein affects the development of Purkinje cell dendrites by reducing their branching, and also leads to abnormal motor coordination and cerebellar ataxia in Mwk mice at the age of 3 weeks. The aim of this thesis was to determine how the mutation in the TRPC3 channel results in the observed pathology.
Proper function of the TRPC3 channel relies on its interaction with other proteins, hence we investigated binding partners of TRPC3. The study revealed PI synthase and CaMKIV as novel interaction partners of TRPC3. PI synthase is implicated in the upstream signalling events leading to TRPC3 activation, whereas CaMKIV is activated by Ca2+, possibly due to TRPC3 activation. We have identified alterations in phosphorylation of several key Ca2+ signalling proteins (CaMKII, CaMKIV, CREB and ERK), which indicates that there are changes in Ca2+ homeostasis in Mwk cerebella. Down-regulation of CaMKIV and up-regulation of CREB phosphorylation occurs as early as P21, which indicates that their abnormal activity could contribute to the Mwk phenotype. Microarray analysis comparing wild-type and Mwk Purkinje cells has revealed gene expression changes, which are likely due to abnormal Ca2+ signalling. Genes Ipo5, Opn3 and Sv2c are up-regulated at P11; Car2 and Stk17b are down-regulated at P14; and Cntn3 is up-regulated at P18 in Mwk Purkinje cells. High quality RNA from Purkinje cells was extracted using an optimised laser-capture microdissection method.
Work on the Mwk mice points to the importance of TRPC3 activity for the proper development of Purkinje cell dendrites and depicts TRPC3 as a possible target for cerebellar ataxia treatment.

Keywords: TRPC3
neuroscience
cerebellum
brain
Advisor: Davies, K
The structure and metamorphic evolution of the High Himalayan Slab in SE Zanskar and NW Lahaul

This thesis attempts to unravel the complex thermal and structural history of part of the High Himalayan Slab in NW India and combines reconnaissance-style field structural mapping of an area covering ~10,000 km2 with petrography, microstructural analysis, thermobarometry and geochronology techniques.
The results of this work show that the oldest protoliths of the High Himalayan Slab are at least Cambrian in age and that they may have experienced a major pre-Himalayan metamorphism at c.500 Ma. The youngest protoliths are Mesozoic in age (the Tandi Group) and demonstrate that the High Himalayan Slab represents the metamorphosed equivalents of the Tibetan Sedimentary Series. Metamorphism was achieved via substantial crustal shortening and thickening following the India-Asia collision at 50-54 Ma ago. Phase relationships demonstrate that metamorphism was a regional Barrovian-type event associated with the growth of biotite-, garnet-, staurolite-, kyanite- and sillimanite-bearing assemblages in metapelites. Quantitative thermobarometry demonstrates that near-peak conditions of c.6-8 kbar and 550-650°C were attained in the deepest exposed levels. Growth of metamorphic assemblages was underway by at least 30 Ma, as indicated by U-Pb ages of metamorphic monazites.
Exhumation of the High Himalayan Slab was achieved through a combination of extensional unroofing along major detachments (namely the Zanskar Shear Zone), thermal doming, thrusting along the Main Central Thrust and surface erosion. Exhumation is closely associated with the growth of sillimanite- and cordierite-bearing assemblages in pelites and the generation and emplacement of crustal melt leucogranites in the upper parts of the slab. U-Pb dating of accessory phases from one of the crustal melt leucogranites (the Gumburanjon leucogranite) constrains its crystallisation and emplacement age at c.21-22 Ma. This is only slightly older than its 40Ar/39Ar muscovite and biotite cooling ages of c.20-21 Ma, which is attributed to the emplacement of the Gumburanjon leucogranite into the immediate footwall of the ZSZ. Field and geochronological data therefore support a strong temporal and spatial relationship between upper crustal melting and extension in a convergent orogen.
"'The master's tools': Bolivia's landless peasant movement, the international legal turn, and the possibilities and perils of law-based resistance to neoliberalism"

A perennial question amongst social movement strategists is to what extent movements can use the tools of the system they are struggling against in their efforts to change that system. Whilst this debate traditionally distinguishes between two camps – radical and reformist approaches – this thesis investigates one movement that breaks this mould. The thesis uses the example of Bolivia's Landless Peasants' Movement (MST) to intervene into renewed theoretical discussion about the possibilities and perils for such movements of using the legal system in the pursuit of systemic social change. Through its tactic of land occupation, the MST breaks the law by occupying unused land on large estates, whilst also invoking other laws stipulating that unused land must be redistributed to those who will work it. The thesis situates the MST's approach to law in the context of an intensified process of juridification in the neoliberal period, through which the logic and language of law increasingly have come to structure political debate and dissent, creating particular pressures for radical movements to engage with the law. Yet it also suggests that movements like the MST have developed subversive ways of engaging the law in response. By examining the MST's tactic as it interacts with this broader context of intensified juridification, the thesis clarifies and nuances the theoretical discussion by identifying how the particular conditions of political mobilisation in the neoliberal period bear on this theoretical debate. Moreover, by examining specifically how this movement's approach to law is differentiated from traditional radical and reformist approaches, and from other attempts to combine the two, the thesis reveals further potential options for radical movements seeking to engage the law. The thesis ultimately suggests that the transformative potential of law may not lie in employing the content of individual laws but in strategic manipulations of the contradictions inherent in the liberal legal form.

Keywords: law; social movements; neoliberalism; Bolivia; Landless Peasants' Movement
Advisor: Craven, M
Vertical transport through an InAs/GaSb heterojunction at high pressures and magnetic fields

The conduction band of InAs lies lower in energy than the GaSb valence band. In order to preserve continuity of the Fermi level across the interface, charge transfer takes place resulting in a confined quasi two dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in the In As and a confined quasi two dimensional hole gas (2DHG) in the GaSb.
This is the first detailed study into vertical transport in an n-InAs/p-GaSb single heterojunction (SHET). Application of a forward bias (InAs negative with respect to GaSb) increases the 2DEG and 2DHG concentrations and, therefore, their confinement energies. Eventually a critical bias is reached where the electron confinement energy moves above the hole confinement energy (the theoretical voltage induced semimetallsemiconductor transition Vc). Any subsequent increase in voltage is expected to result in a current decrease, and a region of negative differential resistance (NDR) should occur.
The SHET can be grown with two distinct interface types, 'InSb-like' and 'GaAslike'. This study shows for the first time that the SHET vertical transport characteristic is very dependent upon this interface monolayer. For example, the temperature dependence of the I/V trace in a SHET with a 'GaAs-like' interface is found to be weak, with similar current peak to valley ratios (PVR) at 300 and 77K. The 'InSblike' SHET, however has a PVR that is very close to 1 at 300K, rising above 2 at 77K.
Hydrostatic pressure is used to alter reversibly the InAs conduction/GaSb valence band overlap Δ. Vertical transport measurements taken at pressure confirm that Δ reduces at the same rate for both interface types and that it is larger for the 'InSb-like' interface. Experimental I/V traces at various pressures are compared with the corresponding results from self-consistent band profile calculations. The subsequent discoveries are that NDR occurs after Vc for both interfaces, and that each interface supports a different conduction mechanism - with the 'GaAs-like' interface exhibiting NDR when the band overlap is calculated to be ~ -100 meV.
Magnetic fields have been applied both perpendicular and parallel to the SHET interface. The perpendicular field results provide additional evidence that the conduction process must be different at both interfaces and that NDR occurs after Vc. Parallel field I/V traces reveal an entirely different response for the two interface types.