VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
RAB-A5c GTPase and the regulation of cell geometry during Arabidopsis root organogenesis

A fundamental challenge in biology is to explain how different organisms develop the intricate anatomical forms observed in nature. During morphogenesis, biochemical, mechanical, and geometric information has to be integrated across multiple organisational scales, from multicellular organs over individual cells down to subcellular components. In multicellular plants, individual cells are fixed in their relative position in the tissue by their surrounding rigid cell wall. Therefore, plant organogenesis requires control over division plane orientation and anisotropic cell wall growth, which each require spatial patterning of cells. Polyhedral plant cells can display complex patterning in which individual faces are established as biochemically distinct domains by endomembrane trafficking. This thesis shows that the specification of an additional cellular spatial domain by the endomembrane system, a cell’s geometric edges, is crucial for lateral root organogenesis. Membrane vesicles lying immediately beneath the plasma membrane at cell edges were revealed through localisation of RAB-A5c, a plant GTPase of the Rab family of membrane-trafficking regulators. RAB-A5c compartments were enriched at growing edges, and associated with the cortical microtubule array.
Specific inhibition of RAB-A5c activity grossly perturbed cell geometry and organ growth in developing lateral organs. Quantitative 4D cell growth analysis revealed RAB-A5c inhibition indedependently caused perturbations of cell growth anisotropy and cytokinesis without disrupting default membrane trafficking. To investigate the underlying mechanism of RAB-A5c-mediated growth regulation, hypotheses for RAB-A5c function in modulating cortical microtubule array orientation and cell wall mechanical properties were tested.
Based on a combination of quantitative image analysis, pharmacological and genetic approaches, and mechanical modelling, RAB-A5c is proposed to locally modify cell wall properties during growth, and two possible models for RAB-A5c function and their implications for cell-, tissue- and organ-level growth control are discussed.

Advisor: Moore, I
Writing emigration: Canada in Scottish romanticism, 1802–1840

This thesis is a study of the representation of emigration to Canada in Scottish Romantic periodicals and fiction, and of the relationship between these genres and the little-studied genre of the emigrant's guide. Chapter One tracks the Edinburgh Review and Quarterly Review's reviews of books on Canadian topics and demonstrates how the rival quarterlies respond to, and intervene in, the evolving public debate about emigration. Chapter Two examines depictions of Canada in Blackwood's Magazine and Fraser's Magazine, and reveals connections between these magazines' engagement with Canadian affairs and the concurrent reception of Scottish Romanticism in early Canadian literary magazines. Chapter Three argues for an understanding of the emigrant's guide as a porous form that acts as a bridge between nonfictional and fictional representations of emigration. Chapter Four reads novels with emigration plots in relation to the pressures of American, Canadian and transatlantic canon formation, arguing that these novels trouble the stark division between the American and Canadian emigrant experiences which was insisted upon by contemporary commentators and which continues to underpin criticism of transatlantic literary works. Chapter Five considers the relationship between Scottish Romanticism and nineteenth-century Canadian literature, a relationship which has often been framed in terms of the portability of a 'Scottish model' of fiction associated most strongly with Walter Scott. Overall, this thesis contends that foregrounding the literature of emigration allows for greater understanding of the synchronicity of Scottish Romanticism and the escalation of transatlantic emigration, offering an alternative to conceptions of Canada’s colonial and transatlantic belatedness.

Advisor: Ballaster, R
The coronation ceremony during the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt: an analysis of three "coronation" inscriptions

This thesis provides a detailed interpretation of three key texts described in Egyptological research as "coronation inscriptions:" the Historical Inscription of Hatshepsut, Thutmose III's Texte de la jeunesse, and Horemheb’s Turin inscription. Similarities and differences between these texts, as well as other sources, both textual and pictorial, are discussed. A clear terminology is laid out, distinguishing between accession (the royal heir becoming king at the death of their predecessor), crowning (the action of placing the crowns on the new king’s head), and coronation ceremony (following the accession by some time on which occasion the new ruler would have been bestowed with the crowns and regalia of his office, perhaps for the first time). The main aim of this thesis is to determine whether it would be accurate to label the discussed texts as coronation inscriptions and, if not, how they can best be described. It is determined that the evidence supports the earlier conclusion reached by Redford, that it would be incorrect to speak of a “coronation ceremony” in the dynastic period, for new kings would have been crowned at their accessions in a palace setting, soon after the death of their predecessors, this followed some time later by a public “appearance ceremony” in a temple festival setting. While it is determined that Thutmose III's inscription describes the time when kingship was predicted to him, it is concluded that the Hatshepsut and Horemheb texts narrate exceptional events on which occasion their accessions in a palace and public "appearance ceremonies" intersected.

Keywords: Royal texts
Coronation
Ancient Egypt
Accession
Eighteenth Dynasty
Royal succession
18th Dynasty
Advisor: Smith, M
The anti-dam protest cycle: evidence from Asia

A major surge in dam construction is under way, and Asia is a hotspot of it. Various policymakers in Asia frame dams as avenues for economic development, yet project-affected communities and civil societies frequently oppose these projects due to their negative environmental and social impacts. While resistance against dam projects in Asia is well documented in the popular press, such environmental activism remains underresearched by scholars. This dissertation addresses this gap. For this purpose, more than 130 semi-structured interviews were carried out via snowball sampling in Myanmar, Thailand, China and Singapore over the course of two years, complemented by online surveying and document analysis. Based on these data, an anti-dam protest cycle is proposed that conceptualizes root causes, strategies and impacts of anti-dam movements in Asia. It also highlights the significant influence of antidam activists on Southeast Asia's dam industry. The cycle commences with the attempt to construct a dam, which can induce significant protests even in countries with limited political opportunity structures, if limited social safeguards in a project coincide with significant environmental risk and rampant corruption. Even if the movement is operating with an extremely limited budget, these protests can cause project suspension and thus continue the cycle — provided that the dam project is framed in a manner that appeals to a broad popular base and/or the movement operates with a sophisticated strategy. Project suspension has been found to have far-reaching effects, with the suspension of Myanmar's Myitsone Dam being identified as a game changer. While Chinese dam developers had previously adopted limited social safeguard norms prior to this dam's suspension, international norms have been increasingly adopted after this incident, since these norms are seen as a pathway to mitigate protests. Yet the negative effects of dams' remaining non-mitigated can continue the anti-dam protest cycle.

Advisor: Charles, K
Walton, M
Incentives, reputation and learning

Many economic interactions are characterized by imperfect information and imperfect enforcement. This thesis analyzes the use and the effectiveness of incentives, reputation and learning and how economic agents use them to mitigate the problems caused by both.
Chapter 1 presents experimental evidence on the use of price incentives and reputational incentives from gift-exchange game lab experiments in Ghana and the United Kingdom. While in the United Kingdom, like in other experiments, participants assigned the role of employers reward high effort by increasing wages and punish low effort by decreasing wages, it appears that Ghanaian participants refrain from doing so. This results in lower average effort in Ghana compared to the United Kingdom. Introducing competition for workers or a reputation mechanism does not improve effort.
Chapter 2 further examines low worker productivity in Ghana by empirically testing two other incentive mechanisms: the employer giving feedback and the worker making a pledge in advance. While these incentives on average do not affect effort, they do increase conditional reciprocity of the worker's behalf. Workers receiving a high wage are more likely to exert high effort when feedback and promises are possible.
Chapter 3 presents a partial-equilibrium model showing how business networks can lead to higher quality firms overall. The presence of such networks leads to a filtering effect, which means that fewer low-quality firms produce, but also to a lock-out effect, implying that networks redistribute demand to their own members and make production outside the network less viable.
Chapter 4 presents a model and experimental evidence on learning and strategic experimentation in the context of a repeated ultimatum game. The model predicts that Proposers make low offers in early periods, hoping that learning will benefit them in later periods. However, when Responders also have strategic considerations, the Responders will strategically reject low offers, which will optimally lead to higher offers. A series of online experiments finds evidence that Responders reject low offers, but cannot disentangle this from distributional preferences and reciprocity concerns.

Advisor: Beggs, A
Fafchamps, M
Enhancing progenitor cells for cell therapy after myocardial infraction

Based on data from the World Healthcare Organisation, cardiovascular diseases are the primary cause of disease-related death globally, with myocardial infarction (MI) being the most prevalent. If not treated effectively, MI can progress to heart failure (HF). With 70 million prescriptions for HF in 2014 and 515 people in the UK being hospitalised daily with MI, the British Heart Foundation calls for novel robust treatments. Even though cardiac stem cell (CSC) therapy for MI has been under investigation for more than a decade, there still has not been a consensus over the identity of the adult endogenous CSC. Recent clinical trials, using selected Ckit+ cells or the cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) have shown moderate results.
The aim of this thesis was to develop a digestion-based method for isolation of cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) from the mouse atria. The resulting "CTs" were isolated by collagenase/trypsin (where their name has resulted from) digestion with a prolonged period step for cell attachment. CTs were compared to isolated CDCs for their marker expression, using RT-PCR and Immunocytochemistry, showing cells with a mesenchymal phenotype which expressed SCA1 and CKIT. The CDCs had more of a fibroblast phenotype with higher Ddr2 and Wt1 expression.
Using a TGF-β1 differentiation protocol, the CTs could be differentiated more effectively to a CM lineage than could the CDCs. In addition, Oleic acid (OA) supplementation stimulated the Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha pathway and led to maturation of the CT cells, both before and after differentiation. The differentiated CTs begin to express Tnnt2, while OA led to Myh7 increase and upregulated their oxidative metabolism. Finally, the CTs were more able to survive under serum-starvation than the CDCs, and transfection with miR-210 could enhance CT survival under these conditions and increased VEGF secretion.
By digestion of the whole atria and allowing a prolonged time for attachment, we have developed a novel isolation protocol which generates a cell population containing a range of progenitors. Cells within this population can survive under serum starvation and can be differentiated to a CM lineage, making them a promising therapeutic population.

Keywords: Endogenous progenitor cells
Stem cell metabolism
Cardiac stem cells
Myocardial infarction
Advisor: Carr, C
Smart, N
Using genealogical trees to examine admixture between modern humans and Neandertals

This thesis uses genealogical trees to identify, date, and quantify patterns of admixture between Neandertals and individual modern human populations, using a combination of high quality data and parametric methodology. Previous methods on this subject have either approximated features of trees, or inferred them indirectly. Here, genealogical trees are used directly to understand the admixture process between humans and Neandertals by extending a recently developed method named CEPHi: Coalescent Estimation of Population History. CEPHi uses recombinationally cold regions of the human genome to build genealogical trees specifying the relationships between individuals in two input populations (one Neandertal, one human), including estimated population size histories, split times, and coalescence and mutation times.
Using CEPHi, a Neandertal-human population split time of &Tilde;712,000 years in the past is estimated, as well as uncovering loci introduced by Neandertal-human admixture, revealing distinct bimodal distributions of estimated coalescence times between non-African and Neandertal haplotypes. A Neandertal population history is inferred, from the time of their split with humans up to &Tilde;50,000 years ago (the fossil age), showing this archaic species to have suffered a bottleneck at this time, consistent with leaving Africa, followed by a further reduction to extinction.
Contrasting African-Neandertal and Eurasian-Neandertal analyses are used to define admixture using genealogical trees, and test our procedures in CEPHi via coalescent-based simulations. This region-level definition of admixture is used to specify sets of introgressed coldspots across 13 modern human populations. These sets are compared between pairs of populations, revealing information about the possible timing of interactions between Neandertals and modern humans, and sharing of admixture events between human groups, especially with respect to the split time between European and Asian populations. Online sets of introgressed regions for each of the four continents in our dataset are provided: African, American, Asian, and European.
Finally, in order to investigate the variation in time of contact between Neandertals and individual human populations, a novel method is described and implemented which dates admixture between individual human populations and Neandertals, using information from genealogical trees. Dates of admixture are estimated as ~50-60,000 years in the past in European populations, and &Tilde;80-90,000 years in the past in Asian populations, suggestive of potentially somewhat distinct histories between European and Asian populations. This method can be applied to date any set of introgressed regions, including those shared between particular populations, enabling a clearer picture of the joint evolutionary history of modern humans, Neandertals, and other archaic species.

Advisor: Myers, S
Credita res auctore suo est: narrative authority in the poetry of Ovid

Despite the prevailing interest in authority in Ovidian studies, studies have often focussed on Ovid's response to political authority in his individual works rather than narrative authority, the means by which the poet claims authority to narrate and constructs a persona that his audience will find persuasive and believable. Evidence of Ovid's interest in authority can be found throughout his body of work, but it is particularly explicit in the Metamorphoses, Fasti, Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto, whose contrasting genres, content and mood allow Ovid to entertain an exceptionally broad range of different perspectives on authority. The primary bases of narrative authority in Ovid’s poetry are age and memory, references to tradition, the prophetic/poetic status of vates, and sight, all of which had acquired a strong cultural and literary currency in Augustan Rome. Ovid challenges his readers not to believe things simply because of the authority of their narrator, encouraging them instead to engage with narratives and to critically evaluate their authority. He thereby undermines the traditional perception of authority as monumental and unchanging. Ovidian authority is a far more fluid concept, which acknowledges the inherent flaws in narrative as a transmitted medium. Narrative authority can be undermined, destroyed, or transformed, and is always open to being questioned. As such, it is in a constant state of change, and the reader is an active participant in its negotiation.

Advisor: Morgan, L
Measuring financial literacy and its correlates: a study of fifteen-year-olds in Oxfordshire and Greater London

Financial literacy refers to one's ability to apply knowledge and skills in order to make informed financial decisions. Both internationally and within the UK, there have been many initiatives designed to improve people's financial literacy. In particular, there has been much emphasis placed on providing financial education for young people at school. However, there has been a lack of research evidence from the UK about the levels of young people’s financial knowledge, skills and attitudes. In this study, an instrument was designed to measure these key aspects. There is a personal finance test within the instrument which can produce a combined measure of financial knowledge and skills. There is also a separate section to measure levels of desired financial attitudes towards various personal finance topics. Background information was also collected from respondents in order to allow us to examine the correlates of financial literacy. The initial instrument was piloted on a group of students and validated by some subject matter experts. The final instrument was used to assess the financial literacy of a convenience sample of 3115 fifteen-year-olds from 28 schools in Oxfordshire and Greater London. The results of the personal finance test illuminated the specific topics that young people were weak in, such as understanding the workings of credit cards and compound interest. In terms of financial attitudes, the majority indicated that they were very confident about managing their own money; there was a high propensity to save money and to want to become financially independent. However, levels of desired attitudes towards spending and debt were found to be relatively low. The main correlates of financial knowledge and skills were literacy and numeracy levels, whilst financial attitudes were more strongly associated with personal characteristics. The relationships between the personal finance test scores and financial attitudes were mostly positive.

Advisor: Mayhew, K
Strand, S
Regional identities and cultural contact in the literatures of post-conquest England

This thesis explores the geographic complexity of English identity in the High Middle Ages by examining texts that reflect moments and spaces of cultural contact. While interaction with a cultural Other is often thought to reinforce national identity, I challenge this notion, positing instead that, in the texts analysed here, cultural meetings prompt the formation or consolidation of regional identities. These identities are often simultaneously local and cross-cultural, inclusive but based in community ties and a shared sense of place. Each of the four chapters examines a different kind of regional identity and its relation to Englishness through romances and historiographical texts in Anglo-Latin, Anglo-Norman, and Middle English. Discussion primarily focuses on the Gesta Herwardi, Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis, Fouke le Fitz Waryn, Gui de Warewic, Boeve de Haumtone, Le roman de toute chevalerie, and Richard Coer de Lyon. Each of these texts negotiates English identity in relation to a cultural Other, and balances various aspects of cultural identity and scales of geographic affiliation. While some focus exclusively on a particular locality, others create inclusive regional identities, draw together the foreign and the familiar, or depict England as a region on the edge of an interconnected world. These texts show that Englishness can carry different meanings, nuances, and identitary strategies that depend on context, location, or ideology. Together, they forge an image of England that is diverse and multinucleated. Its borders become spaces of meeting, connection, and cultural overlap, as well as division. These works establish a strong English identity while articulating England’s necessary relationship with other places, spaces, and peoples, challenging not the borders of England, but the borders of Englishness.

Keywords: medieval borders
Gaimar
Fouke le Fitz Waryn
Gesta Herwardi
Anglo-Norman romance
Boeve de Haumtone
medieval romance
Gui de Warewic
medieval historiography
regional identity
Gesta Herewardi
English identity
Advisor: Ashe, L