VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
‘The most companionable composer’: sociability, Robert Schumann, and his chamber music

This thesis explores the notion of sociability as a framework by which to interpret Robert Schumann’s ‘chamber music year’ of 1842. Schumann’s own sociability is examined both biographically and through music analysis. The first part of the thesis is a case study, tracing Schumann’s friendships during his youth in Zwickau and his first year in Leipzig, and analysing his first completed chamber work, the Piano Quartet in C minor, which can be understood as a tribute to his friends. The second part examines Schumann’s subsequent years in Leipzig, establishing that he was a sociable and active contributor to a circle of friends around his wife Clara Schumann, the Gewandhaus director Felix Mendelssohn, and the violinist Ferdinand David. This part of the thesis concludes that, especially in the context of chamber music making within this circle, the spheres of social and musical interaction merged. These findings are contextualised through discussions of musical salon culture in Germany and the distinctions made between public and private spheres. In the third part of the thesis, musical sociability is discerned as a musical motivic web in connection with narrative strategies of evoking a past tense, which is complemented by a discussion of narrative theories in nineteenth-century music. Through the analysis of Schumann’s three String Quartets, op. 41, and the Piano Quintet, op. 44, I suggest that, ultimately, Schumann exemplified the Romantic ideal of chamber music making by portraying his circle of friends in these chamber works. This interpretation of Schumann’s chamber music through a biographic lens exemplifies the importance of and serves as a model for the notion of sociability when writing about nineteenth-century music in general and chamber music in particular.

Keywords: Sociability
Narrative
Chamber Music
Schumann
Advisor: Tunbridge, L
Molecular and cellular analysis of the membrane binding C2 domain of Notch ligands in health and disease

The Notch signalling pathway is evolutionarily conserved across metazoan species and plays key roles in many physiological processes. Aberrant Notch signalling causes a wide variety of diseases including various cancers and developmental disorders. Both Notch ligands and receptors are single-pass transmembrane proteins with large extracellular domains that mediate signal transduction in adjacent cells. Several domains within Notch ligands and receptors have been identified as important for Notch activation. In particular, the N-terminal C2 domain, with distinct lipid-binding and Notch-binding faces, present in all canonical mammalian Notch ligands, has been suggested to modulate activation through its membrane-binding capacity.
The focus of this project was to further characterise the role of the C2 domain in Notch activation modulation and gain mechanistic insight, using in vitro biochemical and cell biological assays. A series of somatic missense mutations affecting the C2 domain of human Jagged1, obtained from the COSMIC cancer database, were expressed as Fc-His tag fusion proteins containing the N-terminal region (C2-EGF3) of the ligand using HEK293T cells. Out of 13 COSMIC variants, all but one showed loss of function, predominantly through effects on Notch activation measured in two reporter cell lines. One of the variants T145N, which altered an N-glycosylation consensus sequence on the b5-6 lipid binding loop, showed dramatically low Notch activation capability. The role of the C2 N-glycan was therefore further studied using additional site-directed variants designed to remove the consensus asparagine within the NXT/S N-glycan recognition sequence. The C2 N-glycan, but not a DSL N-glycan, was shown to be essential for Jagged1’s ability to activate Notch. These data were recapitulated using a primary vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation assay emphasising the likely physiological importance of the Jagged1 C2 N-glycan. Further mechanistic insight was provided by development of a novel FACS-based liposome binding assay, and loss of the C2 N-glycan was shown to impair both lipid and Notch binding, suggesting global effects on C2 domain structure. Additional insight into loss of function mechanisms associated with other COSMIC variants was also obtained, with all but three variants explained by effects on protein folding, Notch- or lipid binding. In parallel, a new high expression system for DLL4 constructs was established using HEK293F cells. This facilitated study of C2 variants of DLL4, also identified from cancer databases. Variants which had altered C2 lipid-binding loops showed equivalent or enhanced Notch activation capability, in contrast to the loss of function associated with Jagged1 variants with lipid-binding loop changes. These data suggest different roles for membrane-binding loops in the two ligand families, with the Jagged C2 N-glycan facilitating formation of a ternary complex necessary for Notch cleavage at the membrane.

Advisor: Handford, P
Redfield, C
Objects and agents: women, materiality, and the making of contemporary theatre

This thesis uses embedded research to inform understanding of the complex nature of agency in contemporary British theatre-making. The close observation of activities in the rehearsal rooms, workshops, and auditoria of two British theatres – The Theatre Chipping Norton in Oxfordshire and the Royal & Derngate in Northampton – highlights a collaborative creative agency that challenges the tendency to privilege the singular intention of director or playwright in theatre and performance studies. Drawing upon new materialist thinking, agency is conceived as a process enacted across a diverse assemblage of participants that includes the production team, backstage professionals, and performers, as well as the material resources of theatrical production such as costumes and props. Tracing expressions of material agency, I seek to uncover hidden narratives that have been marginalised within accounts of the theatre-making process. I argue, particularly, for methodological resonances between a new materialist turn to matter and feminist strategies for recovering women’s experiences. The materiality of the stage is taken up as a critical lens to unpack material processes engaged in the gendering of labour, performing bodies, and theatrical space.
Five productions staged at The Theatre Chipping Norton and the Royal & Derngate between 2017 and 2019 serve as case studies for my exploration of gendered material agency. Four chapters are divided into two parts. The first, Gendering Bodies: Theatre-Makers and Objects, encompasses Chapter One: Costume and Chapter Two: Props and Puppets which both examine embodied encounters that take place between practitioners and objects in the staging of gendered bodily experience. The second part, Staging Gendered Experience: Theatre Apparatus and Character, sustains the inquiry of the first two chapters but considers how gendered experience is staged through the transformation of the staged environment, rather than through individual entanglements of bodies and stage objects: Chapter Three addresses the gendering of the material apparatus of form in contemporary realist theatre, and Chapter Four examines the how the gendered spatial dynamics of the staged home are reconfigured by contemporary theatre-makers. The local focus of this study, rooted in the observation of live practice, argues for the value of the specific in generating pertinent insights that introduce new perspectives to wider critical discussions; here, the complex question of collaborative agency and the gendering of practice that underpins contemporary theatre-making.

Keywords: scenography
agency
gender
performance
women
new materialism
theatre
costume
props
materiality
Advisor: Ballaster, R
Shepherd-Barr, K
The changing nature of monastic historical writing in late medieval England

The idea for this thesis began by questioning the perceived decline in late-medieval monastic historical writing. It quickly expanded, however, into an exploration of how historical writing was used within the administrative, commemorative, and performative culture of late medieval English monasteries. It is therefore divided into two parts, the first addressing questions of potential decline and identifying trends of change, the second exploring how these changes were manifested in the use of historical texts within a monastic context.
The historiography of historical writing and monasticism provides a contextual grounding for both parts of the study and a number of theoretical literatures inform the discussion including those on social memory and its specific application in monastic commemorative practice, and on the intersections between literary style, material form and monastic function. This theoretical groundwork is elaborated in Chapter One.
Chapter Two undertakes a quantitative assessment of over 340 historical works produced in England between 400 and 1540. The analysis of this dataset provides an indication of the trends in the religious order affiliation and topic focus between 400-1349 and 1350-1539. These trends are then examined through a closer reading of relevant works.
Chapter Three examines the presentation of historical texts in church tablets and as libri vitae, two forms through which historical texts impacted the visual setting of monastic communities and reflected commemorative practice. Chapter Four explores the interconnections between historical writing, the liturgies of late medieval saints, and monastic sermons. Brought together, the influence of historical writing on monastic culture is seen as a central element not only in the creation of monastic identity but a major tool in the monastic response to late medieval criticism of the monastic way of life.

Keywords: monasticism
libraries and archives
historiography
Advisor: Thompson, B
Mathematical modelling of cereal extrusion

In this thesis we analyse a mathematical model for an industrial process known as extrusion, and develop techniques for finding solutions to this model. The model for extrusion describes the evolution of a viscous liq- uid containing small vapour bubbles. The lengthscales corresponding to different features in this model can differ by orders of magnitude; so, we first distinguish a macroscale and a microscale. The parameters govern- ing the dynamics of the system also vary over orders of magnitude. We exploit the asymptotic structure of the model to develop reduced systems of equations that are easier to solve, and give physical insight more readily.
In Chapter 1 we describe extrusion, and existing models for extrusion. In Chapter 2 we describe the model for extrusion used throughout this thesis. This model is decomposed into a macroscale model, describing the flow of a viscous, compressible fluid on lengthscales comparable to the extruder; and a microscale model, describing the evolution of vapour bubbles in the mixture. In Chapter 3 we consider the microscale model. We develop reduced models in different parameter regimes and estimate a macroscopic lengthscale for bubble growth, from which we predict param- eter regimes for which the extruded product is long and thin. In Chapter 4 we exploit the slenderness of the product to construct reduced macroscale models, similar to the Trouton model for incompressible flows. In Chapter 5 we develop a numerical scheme capable of solving the full system de- scribed in Chapter 2, and compare these solutions to those of the reduced models developed in Chapters 3 and 4. Finally, in Chapter 6 we provide some concluding remarks on the model for extrusion we have considered, and on the key findings of Chapters 3, 4, and 5.

Keywords: Fluid mechanics
Asymptotics
Cereal
Extrusion
Industrial mathematics
Advisor: Oliver, J
Griffiths, I
Parker, R
Süli, E
Harnessing bioreactivity for protein covalent probes against endogenous targets

Various small-molecule drugs that covalently modify their targets have been discovered and designed to date. Covalent reaction has also been identified in the interaction between the cells of the human body and microorganisms, both from the immune system to pathogens and from pathogens to host cells. Harnessing bioreactivity found in covalent pathogen adhesion, in this work I have demonstrated the use of a self activating protein domain from Neisseria meningitidis for covalent reaction against endogenous targets.
N. meningitidis iron-regulated protein C (FrpC) contains a ‘self-processing module’ (SPM); subject to calcium-activation, SPM cleaves the protein backbone at an Asp-Pro bond, forming a reactive anhydride from the Asp-Pro cleavage site. This protein anhydride can facilitate protein protein crosslinking via reaction with lysine residues. SPM can also be introduced recombinantly to introduce a reactive anhydride to non-FrpC proteins. In this thesis I established ‘NeissLock’, a method for targeted protein protein conjugation after SPM-mediated biochemical activation. First, I designed and implemented ‘NeissDist’, a tool to identify protein complexes in which a binder protein activated by SPM is suitably positioned for covalent attachment to a target protein of interest. I identified the complexes of Ornithine Decarboxylase Antizyme (OAZ) binding to Ornithine Decarboxylase (ODC) and Transforming Growth Factor alpha (TGFα) binding to Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) as model systems to study NeissLock conjugation.
NeissLock-mediated conjugation of OAZ to ODC shows effective (>50% yield) and specific coupling to the target protein, over a broad pH range. Using the OAZ/ODC system, I characterised conjugation to multiple target residues, showing flexibility in the site of reaction, and gained insight into linker design for efficient anhydride formation. Having shown specific conjugation of TGFα to EGFR on cells, NeissLock technology may allow broad compatibility with further protein-protein complexes as well as a range of therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Advisor: Howarth, M
Seymour, L
Design of mixed ionic-electronic polymeric conductors for organic electrochemical transistors

Organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) are electronic devices that have gained significant attention for many biomedical applications, including as electrophysiological recording elements, cell activity monitors, and biomolecule sensors. Compared to conventional transistors, one distinguishing feature of OECTs is the requirement of the employed channel material to conduct both ionic and electronic charge carriers. Currently, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), has established itself as OECT benchmark channel material, predominantly due to its widespread commercial availability. PEDOT:PSS-based OECTs, however, display several disadvantages, such as moderate steady-state performances and PEDOT:PSS’ limited chemical tunability preventing the formulation of structure-property relationships to guide future material design. Based on these limitations, this thesis focuses on the development of ethylene glycol (EG) functionalised conjugated polymers capable of conducting both ionic and electronic charge carriers to advance OECT performance, while concomitantly also establishing molecular design guidelines for the development of future channel materials.
In Chapter 2 a series of four polythiophenes with pendant EG side-chain lengths ranging between two and six EG repeat units is synthesised and characterised. Specifically, p(g3T2- T), the polymer employing triethylene glycol side-chains is shown to incur the highest OECT performance, with both EG side-chain length shortening and lengthening proving to be detrimental towards OECT performance.
Chapter 3 builds on the results of Chapter 2 and explores how variation in the relative distribution of the EG side-chains in polythiophenes impacts their swelling and therefore their OECT performance and stability. While intermediate degrees of polymer swelling boost device performance, minimising the polymers’ swelling improves device stability.
The importance of maximising OECT device performance and stability are highlighted by employing one of the newly developed polymers as the channel material in a SARS-CoV-2 OECT biosensor, incurring better sensing performances compared to the PEDOT:PSS benchmark.
Chapter 4 investigates the use of the diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) unit to improve the p-type performance of donor-acceptor copolymers in OECTs, whose performance has lagged far behind their all-donor counterparts. In particular, control over both the overall and relative energy levels in these polymers is demonstrated to be of utmost importance to tune their performance and stability in devices.

Keywords: Organic Bioelectronics
Conjugated Polymers
Organic Electrochemical Transistors
Organic Semiconductors
Mixed Ionic-Electronic Conductors
Advisor: McCulloch, I
Impacts of tree diversity and drought on forest resilience to pathogens

The area of planted forest around the globe is increasing. Most new plantations are planted as monocultures, but evidence shows that mixed species forests can provide higher levels of multiple ecosystem functions without compromising productivity. In addition, mixed species forests are often purported to be more resilient to natural disturbances such as pest and pathogen outbreaks. In European forests, widespread species such as oak (Quercus robur) are currently under threat from multiple interacting abiotic and biotic threats, including pathogen damage and drought, both of which could increase under conditions of climate change.
In this thesis, I used planted experiments in which tree species and genetic diversity had been varied and studied the impacts on a specific, widespread forest pathogen (oak powdery mildew, Erysiphe spp.), and how it interacted with the insect herbivore community on oak. I found that the effects of tree diversity were strongly dependent on environmental context. In my UK field study, results were variable between years and study sites. I also found no evidence for local adaptation of the insect and pathogen community on oak to local hosts. In my field study from SW France, in which both tree species diversity and drought were experimentally varied, I did find evidence for lower pathogen damage at higher diversity levels, as well as effects of tree neighbour identity. Drought did not alter pathogen damage, but it did alter the strength of the diversity effects on insect herbivory. I also found evidence for tripartite interactions between host, pathogen and insects, showing that interactions between multiple damage agents can play an important role in determining tree health.
Lastly, I synthesised evidence of the effects of mixed species forests on pathogen damage using meta-analysis and systematic review of previous studies. I found a negative effect of tree diversity on pathogens that was only significant in temperate forests. Synthesis of both quantitative and qualitative evidence again showed the importance of tree neighbour identity rather than host abundance in determining diversity effects.
Overall, I show that tree diversity can lower forest pathogen damage, but that consideration of specific interacting abiotic and biotic variables is also crucial to provide evidence-based recommendations to practitioners.

Keywords: forest diversity experiment
forest resilience
tree diversity
forestry
biodiversity ecosystem functioning
forest pathogens
climate change
Advisor: Hector, A
Schönrogge, K
Gibbs, M
Barsoum, N
Diet and health in a time of transition: Pictish and Viking Age Orkney

There have long been conflicting interpretations of the archaeological and written evidence for the nature of interactions between the Orcadian Pictish populations and Scandinavian migrants during the Viking Age, with theories ranging from peaceful intermarriage to violent domination of the Picts (Bäcklund 2001; Leonard 2011; Smith 2001; etc.). However, changes in diet and health from the Pre-Viking phase (PVP, 500-790) through the Viking Age (VA, 790-1050) and Late Norse phase (LNP, 1050-1200) suggest more nuanced changes, reflecting evolving subsistence practices and differences in social constructs of ethnicity, religion and status.
The results of previous archaeobotanical and zooarchaeological analysis from excavated VA and LNP sites throughout Orkney have indicated large-scale socioeconomic developments characteristic of an emerging market-based economy. From an increased specialisation and evolving hierarchical structure of site functions to an expansion of marine resource exploitation and an increased focus on agricultural production and dairying for the purpose of skat payment, these changes in subsistence practices had substantial consequences on the health and diet of the population at large.
This thesis examines diachronic changes in overall health and diet of communities in Orkney over this transitional period through osteological and isotopic (strontium, oxygen, carbon and nitrogen) analysis of human remains. The decreased prevalence of osteoarthritis among both males and females from the PVP through the LNP throughout Orkney suggests an increased reliance on traction animals for manual labour. Additionally, the decreased prevalence of mandibular tori among males could suggest an influx of Scandinavian genes into the population. Overall, increases in δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values among both males and females from the PVP through the LNP support previous findings and interpretations of increased marine resource consumption (Barrett et al. 2000a; 2000b; Barrett and Richards 2004; Richards et al. 2006), though no significant differences were found between sexes in any phase. Moreover, differences in mean δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values by site and variation in the prevalence rates of nutritional deficiencies and indicators of load-bearing and occupational stress between sites suggest a growing contrast in subsistence practices between the eastern and western portions of the archipelago. Finally, while burial with Scandinavian grave goods does not appear to have been limited to those growing up in Scandinavia or to those with Scandinavian genealogy (Margaryan et al. 2020), differences in mean δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values, prevalence rates of nutritional deficiencies and indicators of load-bearing suggest enduring perceptions of ethnic differences and identity.

Keywords: Isotopes
Orkney
Osteoarchaeology
Mobility
Viking Age
Late Norse Phase
Picts
Advisor: Hamerow, H
Schulting, R