VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
From recklessness to prudence: a study of regulatory space change in Indonesian banking from 1997 to 2008

This thesis seeks to explore the question of what it is that brings about regulatory change. Traditionally, regulation studies tend to assume that, in circumstances where a regulatory change occurs, a state or governing structure is somehow present and sufficiently powerful to engineer or direct change processes. This thesis will explore the forces that come to bear on regulatory change by examining a case study where one cannot easily make such an assumption. Between 1997 and 2008, banks in Indonesia significantly changed their business practices and behaviour. In 1997, on the eve of the disastrous Asian Financial Crisis, they engaged in banking business in an unrestrained and risk tolerant way in relative disregard of the formal regulatory framework that demanded greater prudence from them. A decade later, however, the banks by and large had taken on a restrained, risk-adverse, and more law-abiding character. Although such prudent behaviour was in line with government policy at the time, one cannot assume that the government had the ability to coerce such a widespread change during that decade, given the massive social and political turmoil that came in the wake of the crisis wiping out the economy and causing President Soeharto’s 30-year regime to collapse.
This thesis deploys an adapted version of Hancher and Moran's 'regulatory space' approach to explain how such a dramatic behavioural turnaround could have nevertheless occurred in a context where the government was in a state of relative weakness. The approach will be modified, however, in order to address issues of behavioural change within a context of banking. Specifically, it will turn to notions of aggregation of micro-level actor behaviour across a space to show links between regulatory space change and behavioural change. In so doing, it will argue that the Indonesian case study reveals that regulatory change is the outcome of a space-wide process that results from the aggregated interdependent and interacting relationships of regulatory actors whose behaviour changes as they respond to contextual changes in their circumstances.

Keywords: Regulatory Change
Banks
Indonesia
Financial Crisis
Regulatory Space
Complexity
Banking Regulation
Advisor: Lange, B
Tailoring the synthesis of graphene and other 2D materials towards applications

This thesis focuses on using Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) technique to produce various classes of flat 2D materials and also their three-dimensional architectures. Graphene, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and tungsten disulfide (WS2) are the main examples presented in the study: a conductor, an insulator and a semiconductor respectively. Such materials are elementary "building blocks" in a variety of applications. Many novel advances to CVD synthesis of 2D materials are identified, developed and discussed in this thesis.

Keywords: Graphene
Nanotechnology
Metal chalcogenides
Chemical vapor deposition
Nanomaterials
Hexagonal boron nitride
Advisor: Grobert, N
Subjectivity in Sartre’s L’Idiot de la famille: Biography as a space for the development of theory

In the context of a renascent interest in the thought of Jean-Paul Sartre, this thesis proposes a close examination of one of his less studied texts, the study of Gustave Flaubert, L'Idiot de la famille (1971-72). The analysis focuses on theoretical developments that emerge from Sartre’s biographical enquiry, pursuing an interdisciplinary approach combining a consideration of literary theory and literary history with the perspective of Sartre’s philosophy of subjectivity.
L'Idiot is situated amongst a wide variety of texts by Sartre, from Qu'est-ce que la littérature? (1948) to the Critique de la raison dialectique (1960), identifying theoretical innovations within Sartre's understanding of the subject (ch. 1), his social theory (ch. 2), his theory of the imaginary (ch. 3), of literary production (ch. 4) and of reading (ch. 5). Additionally, hitherto largely unexplored passages highlight Sartre’s reflections on the situation of the late 1960s.
Previous analyses of the philosophical innovations presented in L'Idiot have often focused on the strictly theoretical passages in the biography. The present thesis also concentrates on the 'imagined' scenes presented throughout the text. Read as an integral part of Sartre's method, it is suggested that the dramatization facilitated by the biographical format is an integral part of the theoretical enquiry.
Despite the lack of explicit referencing provided by Sartre, the biography is explored in its open character, identifying a series of resonances and similarities with a diverse range of authors. The different chapters consider thinkers whose relationship with Sartre has received little or no attention (such as Pierre Bourdieu and Walter Benjamin), or whose work resonates with Sartre in ways that have so far gone unnoticed (Roland Barthes, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Maurice Blanchot).

Keywords: Existentialism
Biography
Subjectivity
Advisor: Howells, C
Writing letters in Song China (960-1279): a study of its political, social, and cultural uses

Even though there has been no lack of scholarly attention to Chinese epistolary texts as a source of information, discussions of the functions and practices of letter writing in imperial China are very limited. This thesis deals with how elites in Song dynasty (960–1279) China exchanged personal and political information by writing and sending letters to each other, and how the genre of letters functioned in its various forms throughout the socially transformative and culturally active period. Through contextualizing epistolary material—such as letters in manuscript and print form, letter collections, and epistolary manuals, as well as sources in other genres that describe letter writing practices—I explore the multifaceted uses of letter writing for literati officials. The study provides a systematic view of the functions of Song letter writing in political, social, and cultural realms by investigating its complex practices. Using letters in several sub-genres by important literati figures such as Mi Fu, Li Gang, and Sun Di, it illustrates the main aspects of letter writing, including format, rhetoric, topical content, and handwriting. In view of the roles played by letters exchanged among Song scholars, this research on literati correspondence provides a window on how interpersonal relationships were conducted by written exchanges during that period. It also sheds light on how epistolary culture was transformed by the literati community during one of the key periods of Chinese civilization. These insights will contribute to the research of Chinese literati culture and related fields, such as the social history of middle period China, and will also be useful for comparing China’s epistolary culture with the world’s other letter writing traditions.

Keywords: Song China
epistolary culture
premodern China
letter writing
Advisor: Haar, B
Intravascular haemolysis, oxidative stress and acute kidney injury in severe falciparum malaria

Acute kidney injury (AKI) complicating severe falciparum malaria is an independent predictor of death in children and adults, however the magnitude of the problem in both populations is unclear due to divergent AKI definitions. Late recognition of this serious complication results in a mortality of up to 75% without renal replacement therapy, which is frequently unavailable. The aim of this thesis was to characterise malaria-associated AKI along the spectrum of this syndrome, evaluate the pathophysiology and assess the role of paracetamol as a renoprotective adjunctive therapy for the management of severe and moderately severe falciparum malaria.
The main findings of the studies described here include: (1) The incidence of malaria-associated AKI is underrecognised as mild AKI is underreported. AKI defined by the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) consensus definition identifies mild AKI and is strongly associated with mortality. (2) Sequestered parasite burden, immune activation, cell-free haemoglobin and lipid peroxidation contribute to the pathophysiology of AKI in severe malaria. The proposed mechanism of kidney injury mediated by cell-free haemoglobin is oxidative damage by ferryl (Fe4+)-haemoglobin, which can be reduced by paracetamol. (3) Paracetamol tablets administered at the maximum recommended adult dose (4 g/day) results in sub-therapeutic steady state concentrations for antipyresis in severe and moderately severe malaria in adults, and simulations suggest a loading dose might be indicated. (4) In a randomised controlled trial, it was shown that paracetamol reduces kidney dysfunction and the odds of developing AKI in severe and moderately severe malaria in adults. The protective effect was particularly prominent in patients with high plasma concentrations of cell-free haemoglobin resulting from pronounced intravascular haemolysis.
In conclusion, this thesis shows that AKI defined by the harmonized KDIGO classification system is associated with mortality in falciparum malaria. Multiple mechanisms contribute to the pathophysiology of AKI in malaria and targeted preventative treatment with paracetamol reduces kidney dysfunction associated with high cell-free haemoglobin. The definition of AKI in the WHO malaria guidelines should be reconsidered. A larger trial of the use of paracetamol to reduce kidney dysfunction in severe malaria is warranted.

Advisor: White, N
Dondorp, A
An investigation of a possible non-neuronal cholinergic system in the vasculature

Vascular endothelial cells express muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, which lead to NO- and endothelium derived hyperpolarization responses that constitute major pathways for vasodilation. As evidence suggests that perivascular nerves may not represent a viable source of innervating ACh, we investigated whether suggestions of a 'non-neuronal cholinergic system’ within the vasculature might act as a source of ACh that is able to influence the endothelium.
Rat mesenteric arteries were cut open and held as an en-face preparation with the endothelial cell (EC) layer exposed to measure EC [Ca2+]i. Furthermore we present the first example of EC tubes isolated from rat mesenteric arteries, used to measure EC [Ca2+]i. Immunohistochemistry was performed on intact arteries to demonstrate localization of important cholinergic proteins.
Direct application of rat whole blood induced increased Ca2+ activity in ECs that did not appear to rely on shear stress or other mechanical interaction of the blood with the endothelial cells. This response, shown to rely on IP3 mediated Ca2+ release, was attenuated by the muscarinic antagonist atropine; it was concluded that blood contains or induces the release of non-neuronal ACh.
The localization of the ACh synthesizing protein, choline acetyltransferase by immunohistochemistry provides evidence for a source of ACh originating within the endothelium. In accordance with this, the blocker of high affinity choline uptake, hemicholinium-3, had a significant effect in reversing choline potentiated responses in ECs. Taken together, we proposed that ACh is released potentially via organic cation transporter proteins located in the endothelium, upon stimulation by blood in response to an as yet undetermined signal.
The ability to influence EC Ca2+ highlights a role for blood in the local control of these cells and the data presented suggest ACh produced locally may provide physiological relevance by exerting influence on endothelial M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors.

Keywords: Microcirculation
Acetylcholine
Mesenteric arteries
Choline acetyltransferase
Endothelium
Choline transport
Non-neuronal cholinergic system
Muscarinic receptors
Atropine
Organic cation transporters
Calcium imaging
En-face
Acetylcholinesterase
Vasculature
Endothelial cell tubes
Advisor: Garland, C
Dora, K
Latent variable models for analysing multidimensional gene expression data

Multi-tissue gene expression studies give rise to 3D arrays of data. These experiments make it possible to study the tissue-specific nature of gene regulation and also the relationship between genotypes and higher level traits such as disease status. Analysing these multidimensional data sets is a statistical challenge, as they contain high noise levels and missing data. In this thesis I introduce a new approach for analysing multidimensional gene expression data sets called SPIDER (SParse Integrated DEcomposition for RNA-sequencing). SPIDER is a sparse Bayesian tensor decomposition that models the data as a sum of components (or factors). Each component consists of three vectors of scores or loadings that describe modes of variation across individuals, genes and tissues. Sparsity is induced in the components using a spike and slab prior, allowing for recovery of sparse structure in the data. The decomposition is easily extended to jointly decompose several data types, handle missing data and allow for relatedness between individuals, another common problem in genetics. Inference for the model is performed using variational Bayes.
SPIDER is compared to existing approaches for decomposing multidimensional data via simulations. Results suggest that SPIDER performs comparably to, or better than, existing approaches and particularly well when the underlying signals are very sparse. Additional simulations designed to contain realistic levels of signal and noise suggest that SPIDER has the power to recover gene networks from gene expression data.
I have applied SPIDER to gene expression data measured using RNA-sequencing for 845 individuals in three tissues from the TwinsUK cohort. Estimated components were tested for association with genetic variation genome-wide. Five signals describing gene regulation networks driven by genetic variants are uncovered, building on the current understanding of these pathways. In addition, components uncovering effects of experimental artefacts and covariates were also recovered from the data.

Advisor: Marchini, J
Validation of a climate model for extreme event attribution studies

Probabilistic event attribution (PEA) presents a method of quantifying the change in risk of extreme weather events, both in magnitude and probability of occurrence, due to an- thropogenic climate change. Studies have so far covered numerous different extreme events in different regions (Stott et al., 2016). One method of PEA relies on computing large ensembles of climate models for two different climate scenarios, one which represents the observed climate forcings, and another the climate forcings with anthropogenic greenhouse gas contributions removed. Other PEA studies using different methodologies have also been conducted.
Until now there has been no formal validation of the climate models used in PEA studies. This thesis presents two ways of validating the models and applies these methods to a very large ensemble of a climate model simulating the observed climate for the period 1960 to 2010. The premise is, that for an attribution statement to be meaningful, the model should be able to accurately represent relevant weather statistics over a range of climate scenarios. In order to compare to observations, the period 1960–2010 is used as the range of scenarios.
Conceived as an e–Science project, this thesis presents technical development of method- ologies in the detection and attribution of extreme weather events to climate change. The first method identifies and tracks storm–like features in meteorological data. A novel set of algorithms transforms the meteorological data to a hierarchical equal–area triangular grid, identifies storm–like feature points in the data and grows the points into objects. These objects are tracked as they evolve over time by a hybrid prediction–optimisation routine, which minimises a cost function to find a locally optimal set of feature tracks. Applying the algorithms to the large ensemble of climate models, and also to the ERA–Interim data, shows that the model can successfully capture the track length, persistence and position of low–pressure systems over Europe. However, the depression depth of the systems is not as well represented.
The second method applies a forecast verification technique to the distributions of climate variables. Comparing the temperature, precipitation, mean sea level pressure (MSLP) and winds between the large ensemble and ERA–40 and ERA–Interim shows that the model can accurately represent temperature, precipitation and windspeed variables over Europe, after a bias correction has been applied. However, for low MSLP, there are irreparable biases in the low tails of the distribution. Overall, it is shown that using a large ensemble of climate models is a valid method of investigating the change in risk of extreme weather events due to climate change, as long as the variable to be attributed is carefully chosen.

Keywords: Extreme event attribution
Large ensemble climate modelling
Storm tracking
Advisor: Allen, M
Edifice and education: structuring thought in twelfth-century Europe

This thesis explores the diverse range of textual and visual architectural representations in twelfth-century didactic texts. It argues that these representations are not arbitrarily chosen frameworks for holding data; instead, architecture can perform a certain pedagogical role. In this role architectural representations mediate between imperceptible abstract concepts in the text and the tangible world of the reader. By focusing on the relationship between text and image this thesis argues that the two play a meaningful part in conveying intangible elements of the world to the reader. The thesis creates an alternative to the historiography on architecture and its representations by redirecting focus from the development of technical drawings and onto the intellectual context of the drawings, and ultimately questions why architecture, in particular, appears so frequently in didactic manuscripts of the period.
The argument is framed by two points. First, it recognises the manifold ways in which architectural representations appear by focusing on three particular examples: quadrivial texts, Richard of Saint Victor's In visionem Ezechielis, and Honorius Augustodunensis' Gemma animae. These texts provide case studies to argue the primary point of thesis, namely, that architectural representations were used to provide tangible or kinaesthetic models to aid readers' understanding of difficult material. Second, the language and structure of the three studies reflect a dimensional framework that was used to articulate particular aspects of the drawings. The dimensional aspects of the drawings appear in texts as references to length, width, height, and the typological qualities of architecture.
Overall the thesis has two important implications. First by recognising the important relationship between text and image it is possible to draw out the pedagogical aims and processes present in some twelfth-century didactic works. Second, common examples of architectural representations, such as Gospel canon tables, are recognised as part of a broader spectrum of heuristic images and diagrams.

Keywords: Art
Medieval
Education
Architecture
Advisor: Smith, L
Characterisation of the Notch receptor/ligand interaction using C. elegans as a model

The core aim of this project was to use the nematode worm C. elegans to probe the function of the N-terminus of Notch ligands using com- plementary molecular and in vivo approaches. Sequence analysis and structural predictions suggested that the N-termini of C. elegans Notch ligands LAG-2 and APX-1 may comprise a C2 domain, although it was concluded structural information would be necessary to confirm this. Eu- karyotic expression systems were used to produce recombinant protein fragments, and ultimately yielded a large quantity of the fragment APX- 1NE1FcHis that was purified and used for crystallography studies, although no structural information has yet been obtained from this. In parallel, assays were established to assess rescue of the mutant phenotypes associ- ated with the lag-2(q420) allele. Extrachromosomal expression of LAG-2 and APX-1 partially rescued the Lag phenotype, although overexpres- sion of ligand appeared to cause an increase in embryonic lethality. An alternative assay was established, to assess rescue of the anchor cell du- plication phenotype. Using this assay, it was demonstrated that deletion of the N-terminal MNNL or DSL domains of APX-1 abolished rescue of the phenotype observed for WT APX-1 confirming the importance of these domains in Notch signalling. Rescue was still achieved after dele- tion of the EGF-like 1 domain of APX-1, and substitutions targeting loop regions in the DSL and MNNL (DSL(ETSD), I80-K86/SS, respec- tively), but the extent of this rescue appeared to be reduced in all three constructs, suggesting these regions are required for optimised Notch signalling.

Keywords: Notch
Advisor: Handford, P
Aspects of nonelementary stability theory

This thesis aims to contribute to neostability and in particular to the stability theory of nonelementary classes. The central themes of the thesis are quasiminimality and excellence. We explore both classical and geometric aspects of stability theory for such classes. In particular our methods aim to utilise the topology on the space of types in these settings.
Chapter 1 is introductory and sets the necessary background on nonelementary classes. In Chapter 2 we use infinitary methods to study quasiminimal excellent classes. We give a simplified proof of the Categoricity Theorem. In Chapter 3 we study quasiminimality from the first order perspective. We look for conditions on a first order theory that allow us to build quasiminimal models with various additional properties. In Chapter 4 we look at excellent groups. We aim to generalise various results from (geometric) stability theory to this nonelementary setting.

Advisor: Zilber, B
A qualitative study to identify an appropriate regulatory framework for human stem cell research in Malaysia

Human stem cell research (hSCR) is known as the future of medical intervention of the 21st century. It is one of the most rapidly progressing emerging technologies in the areas of science, with promising and potential benefits to develop therapy to cure many degenerative diseases that are incurable by the conventional medical procedures. Notwithstanding its importance, this field is rather controversial and ethically contentious as well as legally challenging. Malaysia is among the countries that recognise the importance of this technology. However, its current regulatory system does not seem adequate to ensure ethical compliance. In the light of this situation, one would question as to what would be the appropriate and suitable regulatory approach to this matter? What ought to be done to ensure this area progresses in an ethical fashion?
This thesis was carried out with an aim to examine the regulatory landscape of this area, by looking at the roles and techniques of regulation and its application in hSCR arena across the globe, with a focus on Commonwealth countries. An empirical study was also undertaken, using qualitative interview methods, to find out more about Malaysia's system. The empirical findings obtained, supported by the comparative analysis between Malaysia's system and of other jurisdictions, suggest that Malaysia's framework is lacking of important regulatory measures that are necessary to secure compliance.
This thesis concluded that to achieve an optimal regulatory outcome, the framework would require some improvements by adopting a combination of different regulatory techniques and strengthening its rules enforcement strategies. In addition, there are regulatory options have been identified to improve the current framework including legal transplants, however, there are challenges that need to be recognised.

Keywords: stem cell research
regulation
bioethics
embryonic stem cell research
Advisor: Kaye, J
Morrison, M