VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Pension reform in Korea: the role of policy actors in the dynamics of policymaking

This study aims to understand the factors and dynamics that influenced a major social policy change. This is undertaken by unravelling the policymaking processes involved in the largest public pension scheme in Korea, the National Pension System (NPS). Changes to the NPS followed a very different direction to other expansionary welfare developments either in Korea or in similar East Asian welfare systems. This research set out to explain how and why this happened. This is examined via a case study approach with a particular focus on the role of policy actors. This provides an analysis of this single policy change across three time periods, which are characterised by different political and economic regimes: authoritarian rule; democratisation in the midst of a financial crisis; and finally a democracy in recovery from the financial crisis. Data was gained from 44 interviews with the actual policymakers and major policy actors involved, and was complemented by extensive archival data.
The findings suggest that, first, although authoritarian governments in Korea may pursue social policy to harness economic development in order to legitimise their non-democratic rule, subtle yet crucial policy competition can still exist among key policy actors. Second, democratisation does not necessarily lead to a dominant view favouring welfare system expansion. Third, new major policy actors – strengthened by a democratic, centre-left government – may not always favour an expansive welfare system. The analysis suggests that, despite the emergence of an increased range and number of policy actors as the democracy matured, there was a marked continuity in policy development in the case of the NPS. Key policy actors pursued a reform in line with liberal economic policy that had been the dominant tendency during the authoritarian era. This suggests that the major mechanism contributing to this continuity was the role of a persistent and powerful epistemic policy community, members of which continued to influence policymaking throughout its development. The conclusion points to how incremental changes in the pension system led to the path dependency of the original policy ideas. We suggest that future research could apply a similar analytical approach to understanding change processes in various policy domains and to other East Asian welfare systems.

Advisor: Walker, R
Immunosenescence in HIV infection

Immunosenescence is the progressive loss of immune tissue that result from (i) functional, (ii) clonal or (iii) systemic changes to the cells or tissue that make up the immune system. While this process occurs gradually during the ageing process, there is overwhelming evidence to implicate HIV infection in driving all three aspects of immunosenescence by inducing high levels of immune activation. In the current literature, there is a dearth of data on the impact of HIV-2 infection or untreated perinatal HIV-1 infection in driving immunosenescence, and the key goal of this thesis is to mend this gap in knowledge.
Both HIV-2 and paediatric HIV-1 infection provide excellent settings for verifying the mechanistic theories that relate to HIV-1-associated immunosenescence. The majority of HIV-2 infected individuals control their infection, which raises the question of how HIV-2 controllers are able to generate robust T-cell responses, when equivalent responses are rare in HIV-1 infected cohorts. Our hypothesis is that the former is an outcome of sustained or more robust homeostasis due to lower immune activation levels. Altogether, we show that primary immune resources are better preserved in HIV-2 than in HIV-1 infection – including more substantial HPC and naïve T-cell populations that correlate well with thymic output. The preservation of primary immune responses during HIV-2 infection is expected to contribute to robust effector functions and a younger phenotype of virus-specific memory T-cells. Accordingly, we show that HIV-2 specific memory T-cells reflect an earlier differentiated phenotype than HIV-1 specific T-cells, are highly polyfunctional and exhibit strong virus suppressive capabilities.
In perinatally HIV-1 infected children – who by virtue of their age represent slow progressors – the presence of a hyperactive thymus may be sufficient to compensate against the early onset of immunosenescence and result in younger immune cell phenotypes. Yet, in measuring leucocyte telomere length and mtDNA content by qPCR, which qualify as biomarkers of senescence, we observed that leucocytes from vertically-infected Zimbabwean children present with shortened telomeres and an increase in mtDNA content, which signals the onset of advanced cellular senescence.

Advisor: Rowland-Jones, S
Investigation of candidate risk genes for neuropsychiatric disease in vitro and in vivo using ENU mutagenesis

Schizophrenia is a complex mental disorder characterised by positive symptoms such as hallucinations and psychosis, negative symptoms such as avolition and anhedonia, and cognitive defects. Schizophrenia risk has a genetic component, and it is likely that this is caused by interaction between numerous genes with individually small effects. Environment also plays a role; factors associated with schizophrenia include drug use, prenatal stressors and living environment.
Candidate genes linked to schizophrenia have been identified through recent GWAS of human populations with the disorder, including ANK3, TCF4 and CACNA1C. GWAS associations alone are not sufficient to identify these as definitive risk genes for the disease. In order to validate these findings, animal models (in particular the mouse) can be used to study the effect of mutations in these genes of interest. Knockouts of these genes in the mouse are lethal, so we have used the ENU mutagenesis DNA archive at MRC Harwell to screen for additional allelic variants expressing more subtle and varied behavioural phenotypes. Endophenotypes associated with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, such as anxiety, cognitive deficits and sensorimotor gating deficits, can be characterised in these mutants and, together with molecular characterisation, this can validate these genes as risk factors. While mutations in Ank3 and Tcf4 proved to be non-functional, two mutations in Cacna1c have been associated with anxiety phenotypes and differences in EEG power spectra, as well as causing a cardiac phenotype.

Keywords: mouse
genetics
bipolar disorder
schizophrenia
animal models
neurobehavioral genetics
Advisor: Nolan, P
Parsons, M
Szele, F
Nano-impact voltammetry

This thesis introduces new concepts to the study of nanoparticles by nano-impact voltammetry. Utilising the special chemistries of metal halide and metal oxide nanoparticles, the use of the nano-impact technique is expanded beyond quantitative sizing towards the study of the in-situ synthesis and detection of nanoparticles, reversible agglomeration behaviour and the fabrication of nanoelectrode arrays. Nano-impact voltammetry is also demonstrated to be an informative tool for the tracking of chemical and photochemical conversion reactions of metal halide nanoparticles and for the mechanistic determination of metallic nanoparticle growth during synthesis. The use of forced convection to gain improvements in the detection limit achievable for the direct-impact of metallic nanoparticles is also reported.
Initially, the work reported herein looks at the direct-impact voltammetry of previously unstudied nanomaterials; mercury(I) chloride, silver bromide and bismuth oxide. The first sizing of metal halide nanoparticles is reported as well as a method for synthesising particles through the electrolytic induced implosion of a nanoscale metal halide layer on a liquid electrode. The "upper-limit" of the nano-impact technique is also quantified through the use of silver bromide and silver nanoparticles with diameters approaching 100 nm successfully studied.
Next, bismuth oxide nanoparticles are studied by the nano-impact method to probe the reversible agglomeration of particles. By reducing impacting bismuth oxide nanoparticles at the electrode, bismuth deposits are shown to result and can be imaged by scanning electron microscopy. Through the analysis of these deposits, in combination with nanoparticle tracking analysis, experimental evidence for the voltammetrically induced de-agglomeration of nanoparticles is proposed.
In the subsequent chapter, nano-impact voltammetry is employed in the study of photochemical reactions. First, the photochemical reduction of silver bromide nanoparticles to silver nanoparticles is followed both by ultra-violet visible spectroscopy and nano-impacts, allowing mechanistic determination of the conversion process. Second, the nano-impact technique is used in combination with ultra-violet visible spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy for the mechanistic determination of the photochemical Ostwald ripening of silver nanoprisms from silver nanoseeds.
Finally, the inter-play between nano-impacts and electrode arrays is reported. Through the electrolysis of impacting silver bromide nanoparticles, it is shown that a functional silver nanoelectrode array can be formed. The formed nanoelectrode array is characterised by the electrocatalytic reduction of hydrogen peroxide. The lowest reported detection limit for silver nanoparticles is also reported, through the combination of a random array of microelectrodes and a specially developed, custom built, and characterised wall-jet flow cell.

Advisor: Compton, R
Ultra-cold atoms in optical lattices: simulating quantum spin systems

Optical lattices provide ideal experimental tools for simulating a wide variety of physical systems. They exhibit excellent coherence properties, their microscopic dynamics are well-understood, and they can be dynamically controlled with great precision. Recent advances in cooling and trapping gases of dipolar molecules and Rydberg atoms have further increased the versatility of optical lattices as quantum simulators, particularly for solid state systems possessing long-range interactions.
In this thesis we further examine the microscopic properties of cold atoms trapped in an optical lattice, going beyond the case where the lattice axes are orthogonal. We present a transformation of the single-particle energy eigenstates to a complete, orthonormal basis of so-called 'generalised Wannier functions' that are localised to each lattice site. Generalised Wannier functions, as opposed to ordinary Wannier functions, are formed by mixing states between bands and are required when the bands are degenerate. We modify an algorithm devised by Marzari and Vanderbilt (Phys. Rev. B 56(20) 12847) for calculating maximally localised generalised Wannier functions, specifically to determine these functions for optical lattice systems of arbitrary geometry, including those with degenerate lower bands. Moreover, we overcome an issue with the initialisation of the original algorithm to find the maximally localised set without fail. We then present results for a variety of optical lattice systems in one- and two-dimensions, including hexagonal and Kagomé geometries. In each case we use the generalised Wannier functions to calculate the hopping and interaction parameters, and thus determine a reduced form of the system's Hamiltonian that contains only local interactions.
We also study two spin-1/2 systems with long-range interactions as paradigm examples of the models that can be simulated using optical lattices loaded with dipolar molecules. We first examine the critical properties of a 1D spin-1/2 Ising chain possessing exponentially decaying interactions as the range of the interactions is increased. Using the infinite density matrix renormalisation group method, we calculate the location of the critical point and observe a smooth approach to the classical mean-field result in the limit of infinite-ranged interactions. We go on to consider the quantum dynamics of a single spin-1/2 coupled to a bath of interacting spins as a model for decoherence in solid state quantum memories. The large degree of symmetry of the bath, described by the infinite-ranged Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model, allows us to find parameter regimes where the initial qubit state is revived at well-defined times after the qubit preparation. We observe that these times may become independent of the bath size for large baths and thus enable faithful qubit storage even in the presence of strong coupling to the bath.

Keywords: Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick
quantum simulation
optical lattice
Ising
Wannier
quantum physics
laser
Advisor: Jaksch, D
The role of UHRF1 in Fanconi anemia pathway

Fanconi Anemia (FA) is a genetic disease caused by mutations in any one of the identified 16 genes. The corresponding proteins are known as FA proteins and compose the FA pathway, which is critical for the cellular response to DNA inter-strand cross-links (ICLs). Many efforts have been drawn to understand the individual role of the FA proteins, yet the mechanism of the initiation of the pathway remains elusive, and in particular, no sensor protein for ICLs has been identified. The aims of this study are to identify such a putative factor and to investigate the role of this factor in DNA ICL repair.
We have analyzed the DNA binding activity of two up-stream players in the FA pathway, i.e. FANCD2 and FANCI, which do not seem to be able to detect the damage directly. We then designed a novel biochemical purification strategy using biotin-labeled ICL DNA to isolate ICL interacting proteins from HeLa nuclear extract. By using mass-spectrometry following the purification, we identified an E3 ligase named UHRF1. We cloned, expressed and purified UHRF1 from Sf9 cells. In vitro data demonstrate that UHRF1 specifically and directly interacts with cross-linked DNA. In vivo experiments indicate that UHRF1 participates in the FA pathway, potentially by recruiting FANCD2 to the sites of DNA damage, and the reduction of cellular levels of UHRF1 by RNA interference (RNAi) sensitizes cells to MMC. We also identified the SRA domain as the region of UHRF1 that is responsible for DNA ICL binding, and the interference of this region results in defects in the cells in ICL repair.
With the unique feature of ICL DNA binding, UHRF1 is identified as a new player in the FA pathway. Future clinical studies will help to determine if UHRF1 is indeed an FA gene of which mutations can generate phenotypes of the disease. Also, a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying UHRF1 in the FA pathway will enable us to develop better and more targeted modes of cancer therapies.

Keywords: Fanocni Anemia pathway
DNA repair
DNA damage sensor
Advisor: Cohn, M
Lakin, N
'Under the general designation of socialist': the many-sided-radicalism of John Stuart Mill

This thesis examines why John Stuart Mill thought his political philosophy to be 'under the general designation of socialist' – an ideological position often thought to be antithetical to liberalism, of which Mill is regularly considered an exemplar. It suggests that in order to understand Mill's self-designation, one has to understand the changes his political theory underwent during his 'crisis', and how he developed a new, 'many-sided-radicalism' to replace the one-sided, Benthamite 'philosophical-radicalism' of his youth, in which he had lost his faith. It explains the core principles of many-sided-radicalism (happiness, liberty, equality, progress and harmony), and the institutions Mill felt would foster and uphold them. Finally, it seeks to situate Mill's many-sided-radicalism within three socialist contexts: his definition; contemporary understandings; and a conceptual definition. I utilise Mill's Collected Works to examine a wide range of his writings, bearing in mind the problems of interpretation caused by his 'crisis', in particular changes to the meaning of concepts (not least happiness); his philosophy of history; and his method of persuasion, along with writings by contemporaries, and modern historians and theorists. I conclude that Mill was a socialist on his own understanding of the word, committed to communal ownership of the means of production combined with private, unequal ownership of articles of consumption; work-place democracy; an egalitarian concept of justice; and the achievement of social harmony through co-operation. Historically, although sometimes linked to utopian socialism, he is a co-operative socialist, akin to Edward Vansittart Neale, William Thompson, Louis Blanc, and Phillipe Buchez and his followers. Conceptually, he is a liberal socialist, equally committed to core principles of liberty, equality and community. Recognising Mill's socialism should make us re-evaluate Mill, and the relationship between liberalism and socialism. It also hints at possible answers to questions of social justice which are neither totalitarian nor illiberal.

Keywords: socialism
John Stuart Mill
Advisor: Leopold, D
The talk of the town: oral communication and networks of information in sixteenth-century St. Gallen

This thesis explores oral communication in St. Gallen through the lens of the linen merchant Johannes Rütiner (1501–1556/7). By reconstructing Rütiner's network of informants and probing four genres of communication within their respective social contexts – jokes, gossip, rumour, and memory narratives –, it explores early modern sociability, the circulation of information, and the relationship between oral testimony, manuscript, and print.
Sixteenth-century St. Gallers relied heavily on informal, oral networks to provide them with news and information of all kinds. An individual's access to information was thus to a large degree determined by the social networks within which they spent their life. As St. Gallers sought to secure a place for themselves in such circles, they in turn used jokes, gossip, and information of all kinds as a form of "communicative social capital", allowing them to present themselves as witty, well-connected, and knowledgeable. Rather than treating the instability of oral narratives as evidence of the inherent unreliability of the spoken word, this study proposes to analyse their evolution as a key to early modern mentalities. It also calls into question some of the dominant narratives regarding the printing revolution. Not only did oral communication continue to play a central role in the dissemination of information in the first half of the sixteenth century, but existing systems of "source criticism", developed in the context of dominantly oral networks, moreover cast doubt on the reliability of anonymous prints: because they made their trust in a piece of news conditional on their trust in the messenger, Rütiner and his fellow citizens often preferred oral narratives provided by familiar, trustworthy informants.

Keywords: Communication
Gossip
Humour
Orality
News
Networks
Rumour
Advisor: Roper, L
Defects in liquid crystals: mathematical and experimental studies

Nematic liquid crystals are mesogenic materials that are popular working materials for optical displays. There has been an increased interest in bistable liquid crystal devices which support two optically distinct stable equilibria. These devices typically exploit a complex geometry or anchoring conditions, which often induces defects in the equilibria. There remains a great deal to be understood about the structure of the defects and how they stabilize multiple equilibria in modern devices.
This thesis focuses on four problems: the first three explore the effect of confinement and defects on nematic equilibria in simple geometries, with the aim of exploring multistability in these geometries; the fourth problem concerns the fine structure of point defects, essential for future modelling of nematic equilibria in more complex geometries. Firstly, we study nematic liquid crystals confined to two-dimensional rectangular wells using the Oseen-Frank theory. Secondly, we study equilibria within a semi-infinite rectangular domain with weak tangential anchoring on the surfaces. Thirdly, we study nematic equilibria within two-dimensional annuli. We derive explicit expressions for the director fields and free energies of equilibria within these geometries and discuss the stability of the predicted states.
These three problems are motivated by the experimental work on colloidal nematic liquid crystals, which we interpret in the context of our results.
Finally, we study the fine structure and stability of the radial hedgehog defect in the Landau-de Gennes theory with a sixth order bulk potential, relevant to the observability of global biaxial phases in a model with higher order potential terms.

Keywords: Radial hedgehog
fd-virus
Defects in liquid crystals
Advisor: Majumdar, A
Howell, P
Aarts, D
Heralds of change? On the societal function of Weimar Republic journals, 1918-1933

This thesis investigates how societal change is represented and negotiated in Weimar Republic journals. I advance the idea that journals serve as unique crystallisations of the negotiation of social change within social communities due to their inherent periodicity, polyphony and materiality. I elucidate how these journals function, both as material objects with their own specific identities and within Weimar society more generally. To do so, I examine six selected journals: Die Weltbühne, Kladderadatsch, Simplicissimus, Die Gartenkunst, Sport im Bild and Fürs Haus. Together, these journals cover a wide range of bourgeois communities, exemplifying a multiplicity of strategies in order to negotiate the challenges posed by modernisation to their communal identities as well as to the individual identities of their creators and readers. This thesis thus establishes a history of small steps visible in the continuous development of the journals’ content and material form, offering an understanding of history as a continuous development of social practices rather than a history of caesuras and breaks.
Accordingly, I propose that journals tell us about culture, their material Eigenlogik setting them apart from newspaper and book alike. I then develop a notion of culture as dynamic and of journal communities as communities of practice. Next, I provide a case study of the Simplicissimus's communal practices materialised in shifts of its editorial content and material form, before generalising these findings to include non-authorial voices in advertisements and letters to the editor. Finally, I investigate the negotiation of modernisation in the form of sport and the "New Woman" in the journals, highlighting the concurrency of discourse and active participation, and the coexistence of rejection and incorporation. Ultimately, Weimar journal communities exhibit a continuity of social practices and identities that span from the Kaiserreich to Nazi Germany, both negotiating and furthering modernisation in the process.

Keywords: Periodicals
Weimar Republic
Social history
Advisor: Morgan, B