VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The influence of teachers' backgrounds and educational experiences on attitudes to state school students' applications to elite universities, such as the University of Oxford


Researchers have long sought to understand disparities in access to elite universities between students from different social groups and school types. Previous studies have focused on students’ social backgrounds and different practices found in independent and state schools. Focussing on the University of Oxford, this study is a detailed quantitative exploration of the influence teacher backgrounds, beliefs and knowledge has on support offered to students. 109 teachers from state secondary schools with existing outreach links to the University completed an online cross sectional anonymous quantitative survey. As well as giving details of social (parent education level) and educational background (type of secondary school and university attended), teachers stated how frequently they advised academically qualified students apply to Russell Group universities and the University of Oxford. Teachers also self-rated their levels of belief in selected statements and knowledge about Oxford and the admissions process. Alongside a significant difference between the frequency teachers advised their academically qualified students apply to Russell Group universities and the University of Oxford, differing beliefs, levels of knowledge and confidence about Oxford and the admissions process were also found. Differences between teachers were largely explained by having attended a more selective university or Oxbridge themselves. The results show that first-hand experience of the admissions process and life at Oxbridge confers valuable knowledge capital and the confidence required to support student applications. This study concludes that outreach efforts should be made to develop sustained programmes of support through which individual state schoolteachers access information about the University, develop their knowledge and understanding of the application process, receive guidance and support at key time points throughout the academic year, and are helped to build confidence to support their students’ progression. Programmes should also aim to target beliefs found to be associated with lowered frequencies of advising qualified students apply. This could be transformational for teachers and the support they offer qualified students to apply to the University. It would increase access to the most underrepresented groups and in turn contribute to social mobility.

Keywords: access to Oxbridge
disadvantaged groups
teacher beliefs
University of Oxford
teacher confidence
knowledge capital
teacher habitus
teacher attitudes
Russell Group
teacher support
student habitus
applications to elite universities
under-represented groups
social background
post-18 progression
cultural capital
teacher knowledge
teacher backgrounds
progression
education
Advisor: Mills, D
Virtuous partisanship: Mary Astell and Catharine Macaulay

Critics of partisanship argue that partisans lack independence of thought, and that their righteousness and zeal pose a threat to compromise, deliberation, civility and reasonableness. These very contemporary concerns about partisanship echo eighteenth-century complaints in Britain, where worries about partisans’ independence, righteousness and zeal were rife. This is therefore a fruitful period to turn to for insights into virtuous partisanship. Historians of early modern political thought on party and partisanship have exclusively turned to canonical men, however, who are primarily concerned with harmony and unity. By contrast, I explore the political thought and lives of two eighteenth-century English female political thinkers and partisans, Mary Astell (1666–1731) and Catharine Macaulay (1731–1791). Whilst they were excluded from formal institutions of politics, they were to some extent also politically included, in that they were involved partisans who belonged to a political group and contributed to political debates.
This thesis shows that when we consider the marginalised perspective of Astell and Macaulay on partisanship, we find an innovative, radical and alternative way of thinking about partisanship, as well as a critique of the ethics of partisanship presented by Anglo-Saxon political theorists today. Astell and Macaulay argued that a partisan was virtuous provided she was zealous, righteous, sincere and independent. As such, their theories differ greatly from both those conceptions found in their male contemporaries, such as Lord Shaftesbury, Charles Davenant, Edmund Burke and David Hume, but also from those found in the present-day political theory literature. These conceptions tend to be grounded in compromise, loyalty, friendship and reasonableness, which Astell and Macaulay decidedly rejected as partisan virtues. Before we heed calls for striving towards civic friendship or attempting to seek harmony and denounce discord, we would do well to listen to Astell and Macaulay. By recovering their loudest voices, that is, their partisan voices, this thesis not only brings to the fore unduly neglected figures in the history of political thought, but also enriches our understanding of partisanship by considering it from the perspective from the margins.

Keywords: Feminist Political Theory
Mary Astell
History of Political Thought
Catharine Macaulay
Partisanship
Advisor: Bejan, T
Devotional rupture: Bengali Vaiṣṇavism and colonial modernity

This thesis probes the dynamics of modernity in the context of colonial Hinduism. It challenges prevailing assumptions that the encounter with British colonialism effected a wholesale historical rupture within Hindu traditions and, moreover, that this rupture is constitutive of their modernity. It urges, in sum, that modern Hinduism need not in every case imply a Hinduism severed from its pre-colonial moorings.
The thesis grounds this undertaking in an investigation of colonial-era developments within the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava tradition, a prominent Hindu devotional current that traces its roots to the sixteenth-century ecstatic Bengali Vaiṣṇava devotee Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya (1486–1533). It examines in particular the life and thought of the influential colonial Gauḍīya intellectual and religious leader Kedarnath Datta Bhaktivinod (1838–1914). A member of the cosmopolitan Bengali elite, Bhaktivinod’s theological, journalistic, and organisational endeavours played a key role in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Vaiṣṇava flourishing in Bengal. This work proved pivotal for subsequent globalising developments within the tradition. Nevertheless, for much of the last century, Bhaktivinod – like almost every other Bengali Vaiṣṇava figure of the period – has been almost wholly bypassed in scholarship on modern Hinduism. And on the handful of occasions when he has been a subject of scholarly attention, he has largely been held up as a way of further extending the notion of historical disjuncture within the colonial Hindu landscape.
This thesis proposes that both of these treatments of Bhaktivinod¬ – that is, categorical occlusion and the imputation of rupture – betray the workings of a deeply entrenched diffusionist master-narrative surrounding modernity’s emergence within the Indian subcontinent. Against this narrative, the thesis argues that paying proper attention to the work of colonial representatives of sampradāyic Hindu currents such as Bhaktivinod proffers fecund resources for a re-evaluation of the dynamics of modern Hinduism – one that better reflects the forceful persistence of pre-colonial religious modalities amidst and, at times, contra colonial transformation.

Keywords: Sampradaya
Chaitanya
Modernity
Gaudiya Vaishnavism
Bhakti
Colonialism
Bengal
Hinduism
Self-determination in the kindergarten classroom: understanding the role of the teacher's utilization of 'precise praise'

The ways in which teachers use language to interact with their students can have significant implications for children’s academic and behavioral outcomes. It has long been suggested that praise is an important teaching strategy, especially in early education classrooms. However, not all types of praise may result in the desired classroom outcomes. Using a newly operationalized term for praise that conveys pedagogically relevant information, i.e., ‘precise praise,’ we developed and delivered a professional development (PD) program for kindergarten teachers and explored relationships between teachers’ precise praise usage and their students’ psychological need satisfaction of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. Teacher participants were 13 general education kindergarten teachers from a public-charter school system that operates across the southern and southwestern United States. All teachers had high confidence with the language/literacy curriculum (M=8.62, SD=0.65), which was the target subject of the PD intervention. Exploratory in nature, a within-subjects design was adopted to address three main research questions: (1) Is there a change in kindergarten teachers’ utilization of precise praise following their participation in a fully remote, three-session PD coaching program? (2) Does teachers’ change in practice (i.e., increased precise praise usage) predict students’ psychological needs satisfaction of competence, autonomy, and relatedness, as outlined by self-determination theory, measured at a one-week follow-up? (3) Do teacher participants report experiencing their own needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness as met during the PD program? A repeated-measures ANCOVA model revealed that the PD program was successful at increasing teachers’ precise praise usage over the 5–6-week intervention period, after controlling for teachers’ own expectations for change (p < .001). There were positive correlations between teachers’ precise praise usage and student autonomy and relatedness that were approaching significance, however linear regressions to test whether increased precise praise usage predicted students’ psychological needs satisfaction at follow-up did not yield significant results. Responses on a theoretically-based questionnaire confirmed that teacher participants experienced their own psychological need satisfaction met throughout the PD program. Future research is needed to establish a linkage between teachers’ precise praise usage and students’ psychological need satisfaction, but the study presents interesting new evidence for effective ways that PD can be delivered to teachers, such as fully remote PD designs that are responsive to the psychological needs of a heterogenous teacher workforce. Implications and futures directions for research on praise, teacher professional growth, and psychological need satisfaction are discussed.

Keywords: praise
coaching
teachers
CDE2022
self-determination theory
video coding
quantitative
CDE
professional development
kindergarten
Advisor: Nag, S
Turbines for flexible power plant operation

More than 70 percent of power in the world is generated by gas and steam turbines. Whilst renewables are desirable and continue to provide a growing contribution to the energy portfolio, turbine technology is projected to play an important role in power generation to 2060. The increased capacity from renewables is imposing new challenges and operational requirements on conventional power systems. Traditional designs, optimised for peak performance at constant load, must be adapted for load-levelling flexible operation, accepting more frequent and demanding start-stop cycles.
These challenging operating conditions are driving the need for advanced online diagnostic and monitoring tools. The harsh internal conditions of power turbines mean limited access and data is available to measure the thermal behaviour directly. These restrictions force the need for fast simulation methods to remotely assess the turbine condition. Detail knowledge of the thermal profile, and associated clearances, is essential for optimising transient control without compromising reliability.
Numerical methods for the fast simulation of thermal behaviour in 1D and 3D have been evaluated. New solution methods are presented to support fast 1D modelling of transient heat flow and allow the accuracy of traditional methods to be quantified. A novel hybrid methodology is developed, enabling data from multiple fidelity sources to be combined, thereby bridging the limitations in the independent analyses. New concepts in hybrid data transfer and thermal network modelling are demonstrated in the case of analysing temperatures in a Mitsubishi Heavy Industries steam turbine. A new multi-fidelity thermal analysis software is developed utilising plant measurements, thermal networks, neural networks and simulation data.
Validation cases and future developments are explored, highlighting the potential of the hybrid modelling concept. Demonstrated in the case of thermal analysis for flexible operation of power turbine, the hybrid methods offer new and exciting opportunities for rapid design and online diagnostic monitoring.

Keywords: neural network
thin film gauge
thermal network
impulse response
heat transfer
Advisor: Rosic, B
Investigating the communication of mismatch recognition and strand incision in the DNA mismatch repair pathway

DNA Mismatch Repair (MMR) is crucial for preventing DNA replication errors that escape the proofreading mechanisms of DNA polymerases from becoming permanent mutations. MMR is initiated when MutS recognises a mismatch and recruits MutL to signal the degradation and resynthesis of the nascent DNA. The distinction between the nascent and template DNA strands is a critical aspect of Mismatch Repair in all organisms. In Escherichia coli, this problem is solved by MutH endonuclease, which incises the nascent strand specifically at hemimethylated GATC sequences. However, it remains unclear how the MutS-MutL complex communicates with MutH to activate strand incision, given that GATC sites can be located hundreds of bases away from a mismatch. To tackle this long standing question, we used single-molecule tracking of fluorescently-labeledMutS,MutL, andMutH proteins in live E. coli cells. Our quantitative measurements address how MutH is recruited to hemimethylated GATC sites. We find that it is neither dependent on MutS/L nor on the presence of DNA mismatches suggesting that MutH binds to hemimethylated GATC sites independently and becomes activated by interaction withMutL. Furthermore, we show that MutH competes with SeqA and Dam proteins when binding to GATC sites. Hence, there is a brief time window during which MutH has to be activated before the strand discrimination signal is lost. We used Fluorescence Recovery after Photobleaching (FRAP) to measure the stoichiometry and turnover of proteins during Mismatch Repair. Our results complement previous studies, leading to a refined model for the coordination of the E. coli Mismatch Repair pathway in vivo.

Keywords: muth
frap
muts
mutl
dam
GATC
seqa
single molecule tracking
methyl directed mismatch repair
Escherichia Coli
Advisor: Uphoff, S
Sherratt, D
The role of vault RNA-derived small RNA in gene expression regulation

Vault RNA are small non-coding polymerase III transcribed RNA, which are a crucial com- ponent of a large ribonucleoprotein complex called Vault. Despite only 5% of vault RNA being associated with the Vault complex, little is known about their Vault-independent cellular roles. Here I show that vtRNA are processed by Dicer into functional small vault RNA (svtRNA) fragments that associate with Argonaute 2. Nascent RNA sequencing revealed the highest number of predicted svtRNA1-2 target genes among up-regulated genes, in AGO2 and Dicer Knock Down cells, compared to other svtRNA. svtRNA1-2 target sites were detected predominantly in the intronic regions. Genomic deletion of vtRNA1-2 results in the severe inhibition of proliferation and up-regulation of genes sig- nificantly associated with cell membrane physiology, including ERBB4 and cell adhesion. Finally, I show that svtRNA1-2 hybridises to target genes in a dual-region complemen- tarity and loop protrusion is required for intron targeting. These results show a novel small vault RNA1-2 with a role in gene expression regulation, possessing unique molecular features for targeting genes in introns leading to nascent RNA silencing.

Advisor: Gullerova, M
Baena Lopez, LA
Chelysheva, I
The geometry and superconformal algebras of string compactifications with a G-structure

In this thesis we study string compactifications on manifolds equipped with a G-structure, placing a special emphasis on the interplay between geometry and physics. We follow two complementary approaches.
In the first part of the thesis we adopt a sigma model perspective and focus on the worldsheet superconformal field theory. We consider compactifications on 7-dimensional Extra Twisted Connected Sum (ETCS) G2 manifolds as well as 8-dimensional Generalized Connected Sum (GCS) Spin(7) manifolds. These are special holonomy manifolds obtained by gluing together two open manifolds along isomorphic asymptotic ends in a particular fashion. We find that this geometric construction is reproduced in the worldsheet algebra via a diamond of algebra inclusions. A study of the automorphisms of these algebras leads us to conjecture new mirror maps for GCS manifolds. Finally, we explore—making use of the worldsheet algebras—whether these constructions produce manifolds of generic special holonomy.
In the second part of the thesis we change gears and consider string compactifications from a supergravity point of view. In particular, we focus on compactifications of the heterotic string down to three spacetime dimensions preserving minimal supersymmetry N = 1. These are described by the heterotic G2 system, which is the 7-dimensional analogue of the Hull–Strominger system. Finding solutions to this system involves the study of 7-dimensional manifolds with integrable G2-structures and the construction of G2-instantons on bundles over them. In addition, the anomaly cancellation condition mixes the different degrees of freedom of the theory in a highly non-trivial way. As a result, explicit background solutions are difficult to obtain. We construct new families of solutions to the system on homogeneous 3-Sasakian manifolds—that means either the 7-sphere or the Aloff-Wallach space N(1,1)—equipped with squashed metrics. Our solutions present constant dilaton and AdS3 spacetime. Some of these families can be regarded as finite deformations from a given solution, providing an explicit description of a particular direction in the moduli space.

Keywords: mirror symmetry
G2 manifolds
G-structures
heterotic G2 system
superconformal field theory
string theory compactifications
spin(7) manifolds
Advisor: de la Ossa, X
Settler literature and the Booker Prize: transnational literatures and metropolitan reception, 1985-2000

This thesis explores the influence of the Booker Prize on transnational literary circulation — specifically that of Anglophone settler novels from New Zealand, Australia and Canada. Drawing distinctions between the desires of local and international audiences in these countries, the thesis examines work that has been locally but not transnationally canonized. It compares this work in each case to texts from the same country which have circulated transnationally and been recognized by the Booker Prize. The three winners of the prize examined here (Keri Hulme, Peter Carey and Margaret Atwood) found international success according to distinguishing criteria that discouraged reading for settler commonalities in favour of giving information about a particular place or group whose uniqueness is emphasised. Meanwhile, texts which remained locally circulated (by John Mulgan, Gerald Murnane, Leonard Cohen and Sheila Watson) are more productively read for commonalities.
In the first chapter, the Māori Keri Hulme’s Booker winner The Bone People is read to show how features common to a literary tradition shared with the Pākehā John Mulgan’s Man Alone, and theorised across settler contexts, are read as markers of indigeneity because of prize culture. In the second chapter, Peter Carey (primarily in his True History of the Kelly Gang ) is read as dealing with cultural cringe by emphasising Australian quiddity and uniqueness, as well as by presenting (Irish) Australians as colonised rather than colonisers. The less well-known Gerald Murnane, especially in The Plains, avoids this by emphasising individual subjectivity over group identity, but the individual subjectivities he presents have been shaped by a settler colonial context. The third chapter examines how the state funding of literary production in Canada has created a bifurcated model where certain texts — Margaret Atwood’s earlier work, Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losers and Sheila Watson’s The Double Hook — respond closely to the concerns of different groups within and shaped by a settler state, especially when read hermeneutically. Meanwhile literature for export, such as Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin, instead responds to mimetic readings — such as in the context of the Booker — that establish a unitary and exotic Canadian identity for metropolitan readers. The conclusion briefly examines a final text, the South African Damon Galgut’s Booker-winning The Promise, to show the recurrence of patterns already identified throughout the thesis.

Keywords: settler literature
new zealand
settler
canada
booker prize
australia
Advisor: Boehmer, E
Synthesis and reactivity of [3.1.1]propellane

In this thesis, the question about reactivity and character of a higher propellane, [3.1.1]Propellane (TCHep), is posed which was so far only synthesised on milligram scale. Chapter 1 gives an introduction into strained molecules, especially the reactivity of the well-explored [1.1.1]propellane and bioisosteres in a medicinal chemistry context. In Chapter 2 a novel multigram scale synthesis of TCHep is developed. This made exploration of the chemistry of TCHep possible for which a scope on a variety of reliable reactions is prepared yielding bridgeheaded substituted bicyclo[3.1.1]heptanes (BCHep). Chapter 2 continues with computational and mechanistic approaches to decipher characteristic differences between TCP and TCHep. Chapter 3 recognises that the BCHep substitution pattern maps precisely onto the geometry of meta-substituted benzenes. Functionalisation reactions of BCHep iodides were explored. The BCHep-pharmaceutical analogues of Sonidegib and URB597 were prepared. These drugs revealed enhanced ADME properties to their parent drugs, validating the potential of this meta-arene analogue as an sp3-rich motif in drug design.

Keywords: Computational Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Propellane
Bioisosteres
Advisor: Anderson, E