VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Sleep slow wave oscillation: effect of ageing and preceding sleep-wake history

Sleep is well-established to become more superficial and fragmented as we age, with deficits in cognitive processing also commonly observed. While effects have been identified in both humans and mice (used in this thesis), there are important species differences in these findings and importantly, very little is known about the neural dynamics underlying these changes. By integrating several state-of-the-art approaches from putative single unit electrophysiological recordings to behavioural and pharmacological assessments, this thesis aimed to provide novel insights into the neural mechanisms involved in the age-dependent changes in sleep and cognition in mice. Firstly, this thesis investigated the neural activity underpinning the known global sleep changes that occur with ageing. Surprisingly, the majority of neuronal measures quantified in this study were resilient to the effects of ageing. Therefore the global sleep disruptions identified with ageing are unlikely to arise from changes in local cortical activity. Secondly, diazepam injection was found to suppress neural activity, in addition to previously reported effects on electroencephalography (EEG). Subtle differences in the effects of diazepam were identified across age groups, which may account for the variability seen in the efficacy of benzodiazepines in older individuals. Thirdly, ageing and sleep deprivation were found to have only a few effects on performance in a spatial learning task, the Morris water maze (MWM). Suggesting that spatial learning may be fairly resilient to the effects of ageing and sleep deprivation. Finally, this thesis presents preliminary analyses that showed mice were able to perform two novel paradigms of the visual discrimination task, suggesting their suitability in studying the link between ageing, sleep and cognition. Together the studies presented in this thesis provide insights into the differences between global and local mechanisms affected by ageing. Only by understanding local mechanisms will we be able improve on current treatments aimed at helping with the unwanted effects of healthy ageing, such as cognitive decline and sleep disruptions.

Keywords: Sleep deprivation
Ageing
Sleep and cognition
Cortical activity
Neuronal activity
Sleep
Advisor: Vyazovskiy, V
Wafford, K
Davies, K
Gender, age, and labour organization in the earliest texts from Mesopotamia and Iran (c. 3300–2900 BC)

Clay tablets in the Proto-cuneiform script (c. 3300–3000 BC) of ancient Iraq and the Proto-Elamite script (c. 3100–2900 BC) of ancient Iran represent two of the earliest inventions of writing in the world—both of which are only partially deciphered. The separate scripts share only a few signs between them, including signs representing ‘man’, ‘woman’ and ‘child’ in administrative contexts. However, there are significant differences in the use patterns of these shared signs, which have not previously been commented upon or explored. Building on recent advances in text accessibility and decipherment, this dissertation takes a top-down approach, delineating all the uses of the key gender and age signs to reveal to what extent their meanings were comparable between the scripts. The results highlight how social and economic roles overlapped with gender identities in the minds of the scribes who were devising signs to represent humans. They also show that proto-cuneiform scribes devised broader, more flexible applications for the signs studied here than the proto-Elamite scribes found for the equivalent set, hinting at differences in the nature and development of the two scripts.
The dissertation defines a number of proto-cuneiform and proto-Elamite accounting genres involving gendered and/or age-defined humans, and begins to clarify the manner in, and extent to which, scribes were involved in labour organization by listing individuals or groups of workers. The sign studies in this dissertation show that ‘herded humans’, as described by Englund (2009) are explicitly recorded in less than 1% of proto-cuneiform texts, which means that scholars in related fields (G. Algaze 2008; J. Asher-Greve 2008; J. C. Scott 2017) have misapplied Englund’s conclusions in arguing that uses of these signs in proto-cuneiform evidence direct, large-scale administration of dependent or coerced laborers. However, a very small number of these slave or captive texts did exist, which used the sign-set KUR (‘male’), SAL (‘female’), and TUR (‘child’) to describe humans. Discussion of ‘labour organization’ in proto-cuneiform should instead be refocused on the varieties of redistributive behaviors and the organization of diverse personnel in proto-cuneiform, using text format clues and corpus-wide analysis of sign use to draw conclusions. Paradoxically, while the absence of ‘ration lists’ for gendered workers in proto-cuneiform, as demonstrated in this dissertation, shows that over-reliance on later cuneiform can lead to mischaracterisations of the early script, in proto-Elamite the graphically equivalent ‘female’ and ‘child’ signs (M72 and M370-complex graphemes) were used almost exclusively in a small number of complex ration-and-worker texts that may in fact find strong parallel in mid-to late third millennium cuneiform rations lists, particularly those including many women and their children.

Advisor: Collins, P
Dahl, J
Expressing our fallibility: a conception of public reason

This thesis is about the reasonable agreement principle, a principle which holds that the exercise of political power must be acceptable to all reasonable citizens in order to be morally legitimate. Though this principle has become popular in contemporary political philosophy, it has been formulated and defended in a variety of often conflicting ways.
I argue first that a successful defence of the principle will have to meet three conditions. First, it must explain who reasonable citizens are. Second, it must offer a compelling a rationale for tying the legitimacy of the exercise of political power to what these citizens accept. Third, it must show that the rules or principles that would be acceptable to reasonable citizens are not implausible. In the first part of the thesis, I examine some of the most significant ways in which the principle has been formulated and defended, and argue that none meets these three conditions.
In the second part of the thesis, I develop an account of the reasonable agreement principle which can meet these three conditions. I argue that reasonable citizens should be understood as agents in circumstances where their powers of moral judgment operate free of distortions, offer an account of what these circumstances consist in, and suggest that a compelling rationale for the principle can be given when they are understood in this way. I then go on to consider what citizens in such circumstances would accept, arguing that they would accept principles of political morality that express a commitment to the fact that they are fallible choosers of their final ends.

Keywords: Legitimacy
Public reason
Political liberalism
Advisor: Caney, S
Methodology research in clinical studies for Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) of the skin: Addressing design, conduct and relevance for context and target population

Buruli Ulcer (BU) and Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) are two Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) of the skin. Both are ‘diseases of poverty’ and can cause long-term disabilities. This work comprises two research methodology studies, suggesting novel approaches to design and conduct of clinical studies in order to make research more relevant for their context, and for patients.
The first is a study evaluating a diagnostic test for BU at a point-of-care (PoC) setting in rural Ghana, complemented by interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with relevant stakeholders. It reports results from the diagnostics trial and points out roles for a Bayesian statistical framework using existing data on the one hand, and qualitative research in diagnostics development on the other hand, addressing challenges such as those related to the context or small sample sizes. The second, qualitative, study sought to address methodological issues of clinical trials for CL interventions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 74 CL patients from seven endemic countries about their disease experiences, and analysed for their preferred outcomes.
Patients reported a number of treatment outcomes as important; the majority had only been insufficiently or not included in trials so far. Recommendations made include consideration of a group of outcomes into future trials via suitable outcome measures, and suggest information and/or psychological support for patients to address their fears related to other, undesired ones.
The thesis shows a role for qualitative research to enrich clinical studies for skin NTDs. It emphasizes the importance of consulting appropriate stakeholders via suitable methods in order to make trials more relevant and suitable for the context and the intended target population. It also identifies areas that could be addressed with targeted capacity development or further operational research, and seeks to facilitate the conduct of pragmatic trials in low-resource areas.

Advisor: Lang, T
Marsh, K
Olliaro, P
Essays in macroeconomics

This thesis consists of three self-contained chapters.
In the first chapter, I present analytical expressions for fiscal multipliers under the Fiscal Theory of the Price Level. In the associated 'fiscal regime', taxation multipliers turn positive, while the government spending multiplier has the same functional form as its counterpart in the 'monetary regime', augmented by a nominal wealth effect. As a result, fiscal multipliers tend to be larger in the fiscal regime, with the degree of price stickiness being a key determinant of their exact sizes. I also analyze the effectiveness of money-financed fiscal stimulus. In the fiscal regime, money-financed stimulus is equivalent to a particular form of debt-financed stimulus. The effectiveness of money-financed stimulus in raising output (relative to in inflation) decreases as monetary policy becomes more responsive to inflation.
In the second chapter, I analytically study the effects on economic activity from expected changes to future fiscal variables. I document four transmission mechanisms, the sizes of which depend crucially on the level of nominal rigidities. In general, news shocks to fiscal policy produce larger effects when the policy rate is unresponsive to inflation and when the fiscal authority has the power to issue unbacked nominal debt. Within this framework, I show that 'forward guidance' of fiscal policy can expand economic activity without ever increasing the real value of government debt.
In the third chapter, I use the falling relative price of investment to explain the growing divergence between gross and net asset positions in the U.S. A lower investment price leads shadow banks to increase their borrowing and lending (i.e. gross balance sheet) to profit from better investment returns. Although more investment increases the capital stock, a lower investment price also lowers the replacement cost and, by extension, the per-unit market value of capital. Net asset positions remain, as a result, relatively unchanged. I present a stylized model that accounts for these facts.

Advisor: Ferrero, A
Democratic enfranchisement beyond citizenship: the all-affected principle in theory and practice

This is a collection of four papers about the All-Affected Principle (AAP): the view that every person whose morally weighty interests are affected by a democratic decision has the right to participate in that decision.
The first paper (“Narrow Possibilism about Democratic Enfranchisement”) examines how we should distribute democratic participation rights: a plausible version of AAP must avoid treating unlike cases alike, which would be procedurally unfair. The solution is to distribute participation rights proportionately to the risk that a person’s interests will be affected. AAP thus implies an account of political equality that requires adherence to the ‘one person—one vote’ model only if interests are indeed equally affected.
The second paper (“Economic Participation Rights and the AAP”) argues that AAP supporters have paid insufficient attention to economic participation rights. The exercise of such rights raises unique worries about democratic accountability, which is why their exercise is constrained by a number of duties.
The third paper (“What AAP Is, and How (Not) to Fight It”) explores how AAP fares in light of possible objections from desirability and feasibility. Unlike crude versions of AAP, a plausibly restricted version of AAP cannot be dismissed as easily as many AAP sceptics may have thought. My reflections here are useful for AAP supporters and sceptics alike: this paper helps clarify what kind of objection can cast serious doubt on AAP.
The fourth paper (“Criminal Disenfranchisement, Political Wrongdoing, and Affected Interests”) asks: is AAP compatible with criminal disenfranchisement? AAP, when endorsed in combination with a plausible theory of punishment, is compatible with disenfranchising a narrow set of criminal wrongdoers only: those guilty of ‘political wrongdoing’, which is wrong primarily because it undermines democratic procedures and institutions for private gain. The upshot is that current blanket policies of criminal disenfranchisement are incompatible with AAP.

Keywords: democratic inclusion
all affected interests
inclusion of noncitizens
democratic theory
all-affected principle
democratic boundary problem
political participation
criminal disenfranchisement
economic participation
Advisor: Fabre, C
Scholarly solutions: the development of American political science from the Gilded Age to the Great Society

This thesis describes the development of the discipline of Political Science in the United States between the so-called ‘Gilded Age’ of the late nineteenth century and the heyday of expertise ushered in by the ‘Great Society’ programmes of the 1960s. It assumes a novel approach to the history of American Political Science by focusing on the interface between the discipline and society. This marks a break from, on the one hand, ‘internal’ disciplinary histories which pay scant attention to the broader social and political environment in which the discipline of Political Science was situated and, on the other hand, historical surveys that give only limited attention to the intellectual concerns and preoccupations of its practitioners. As a discipline oriented to the challenges of an expanding government in a nation that – despite a massive growth of government during the twentieth century – has been characterised by suspicions of both centralization and of ‘experts’, the development of the discipline was never unproblematic. But this thesis describes how leading proponents of the discipline have responded to these challenges and established the study of American politics within the American academy. It argues that the first generation of American political scientists were stimulated into existence by the rapid maturation of American government and politics at the end of nineteenth century, and subsequent generations were animated by its ongoing growth and rapid development during the twentieth. The development of the discipline was also shaped by the rising lot of the ‘expert’ in American life more generally – although their claims never went unchallenged. In describing the past of American Political Science, this thesis illuminates broader trends relating to the growth of American government in the twentieth century, the rise of experts in American society and a peculiar dilemma of our own time: as American political scientists find it harder to think of the ‘big picture’ of American politics today.

Advisor: Davies, G
Soft law, hard stakes? State commitment to non-binding international instruments and the case of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Soft law is a common feature of international governance, occupying a grey zone between the realms of politics and law. The multifaceted concept can refer to vague provisions or norms generally, but is most useful when defined as international instruments adopted in a non-binding form. Whilst the advantages and appeal of soft law have been widely studied, with its effects explored in both International Relations (IR) and International Law (IL) scholarship, states’ behaviour on commitment to soft law per se has remained underexplored. It is often assumed that its non-binding status upon adoption makes commitment to soft law a relatively inconsequential endeavor, at least in comparison to hard law. In this thesis, incorporating insights from public international law into rationalist IR approaches, I argue that soft law instruments can have important effects over time and bring substantial costs for states to bear. This is particularly the case for soft law instruments ‘hardening’ through domestic law, treaties or customary international law, increasing the sovereignty and implementation costs attached to commitment. I further argue that those potential costs of soft law are taken into account by states when making decisions on commitment. Depending on the importance and likelihood of the costs foreseen, states can craft their commitment to mitigate these costs or block them from arising. Empirical evidence for the place of the costs of soft law in states’ decision-making on commitment is offered through an in-depth case study of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, with a focus on the opposition it faced upon adoption – an unusual occurrence for a UN declaration in the field of human rights. Recognizing the potential costs of soft law and their impact on state commitment helps to bridge theory and practice regarding the creation of non-binding instruments and sheds light on challenges raised by the use of soft law by states and non-state actors at the frontiers of international law-making.

Keywords: United Nation Declarations
Soft Law
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Public international law
UNDRIP
Advisor: Milewicz, K
Where to turn?: A case study of Czech student and local advisor experiences of writing personal statements for undergraduate Anglophone admissions

At the intersection of language learning and international student mobility, the personal statement (PS) in United States and United Kingdom university undergraduate admissions is often an English as a foreign language (EFL) learner’s first exposure to the use of English for academic purposes. This case study was inspired by an EFL secondary school student’s emotional experience confronting this challenge in the semi-peripheral context of the Czech Republic and designed around the hypotheses that this problem occurred because of a lack of familiarity with the PS genre in Czech- and EFL-writing instruction, a lack of PS information and resources, and unstructured PS feedback.
In adopting a pragmatist stance, the study design aggregated practitioner voices to interrogate these hypotheses, as sources of the PS genre as a problem, and uncover solutions through research questions that probed (1) the student’s and three local Czech advisors’ experiences; (2) the input and feedback available from these local advisors and two Anglophone university gatekeepers; and (3) existing best practices. Semi-structured interviews, informed by narrative inquiry, served to elevate the six participants’ voices and incorporate contextual factors based on sociocultural theory and academic literacies. This study uniquely contributes to PS genre research in its juxtaposition of student, advisor, and gatekeeper voices, selected theoretical lenses, and attention to the Czech educational context and undergraduate admissions level.
The narrative analysis findings confirm that the PS was problematic because of conflicts between aspects of the student’s Czech background and six identified features of the PS genre. The construction of knowledge networks and comparison of feedback provision demonstrate that input and feedback informed by genre expertise are not equally available in the Czech EFL context to address these conflicts and mediate emotional consequences. Given the pragmatist urgency to find solutions, participants’ pedagogical recommendations span PS input and feedback, and EFL teacher training.

Keywords: genre
second language writing
personal statements
second language writing feedack
English for academic purposes
Czech Republic
Advisor: Briggs, J
Deep learning for reading and understanding language

This thesis presents novel tasks and deep learning methods for machine reading comprehension and question answering with the goal of achieving natural language understanding.
First, we consider a semantic parsing task where the model understands sentences and translates them into a logical form or instructions. We present a novel semi-supervised sequential autoencoder that considers language as a discrete sequential latent variable and semantic parses as the observations. This model allows us to leverage synthetically generated unpaired logical forms, and thereby alleviate the lack of supervised training data. We show the semi-supervised model outperforms a supervised model when trained with the additional generated data.
Second, reading comprehension requires integrating information and reasoning about events, entities, and their relations across a full document. Question answering is conventionally used to assess reading comprehension ability, in both artificial agents and children learning to read. We propose a new, challenging, supervised reading comprehension task. We gather a large-scale dataset of news stories from the CNN and Daily Mail websites with Cloze-style questions created from the highlights. This dataset allows for the first time training deep learning models for reading comprehension. We also introduce novel attention-based models for this task and present qualitative analysis of the attention mechanism. Finally, following the recent advances in reading comprehension in both models and task design, we further propose a new task for understanding complex narratives, NarrativeQA, consisting of full texts of books and movie scripts. We collect human written questions and answers based on high-level plot summaries. This task is designed to encourage development of models for language understanding; it is designed so that successfully answering their questions requires understanding the underlying narrative rather than relying on shallow pattern matching or salience. We show that although humans solve the tasks easily, standard reading comprehension models struggle on the tasks presented here.

Keywords: Deep Learning
Reading Comprehension
Semantic Parsing
Advisor: Blunsom, P