VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Sanctions and South Africa

This thesis studies sanctions and South Africa to show that sanctions can be an effective instrument of foreign policy. It provides a general study on sanctions and South Africa that is not limited to economic factors alone. It develops a framework for analysis using legal, economic and political factors that form the components of sanctions such as the legality of sanctions, the actors which impose sanctions, types of sanctions, the purposes and targets of sanctions, and the response of targets. The effectiveness of sanctions as an instrument of foreign policy is assessed, and factors that limit or enhance their effectiveness are identified.
The investigation is in two parts. The first part uses the framework to examine international cases other than South Africa. The second part uses the same framework to examine sanctions against South Africa. Fundamental to the study is the fact that although sanctions are widely used in the conduct of international relations, the research on them is meagre in comparison with the available literature on other instruments of foreign policy such as diplomacy and war.
The study finds that from a legal viewpoint there is no apparent rule in international law that prohibits the imposition of sanctions. For sanctions to succeed, sanctioners must commit themselves to making the sanctions work from the point of implementation and enforcement. Different types of sanctions achieve different levels of effectiveness. Even if sanctions do not fulfil their stated purpose, they do often fulfil other purposes which may, in fact, be more important. When faced with sanctions, targets invariably react to their imposition. The effectiveness of sanctions cannot be measured by economic and stated objectives alone. When additional criteria are used, it is found that contrary to conventional wisdom, sanctions are an effective instrument of foreign policy.
Neural mechanisms of suboptimal decisions

Making good decisions and adapting flexibly to environmental change are critical to the survival of animals. In this thesis, I investigated neural mechanisms underlying suboptimal decision making in humans and underlying behavioural adaptation in monkeys with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in both species.
In recent decades, in the neuroscience of decision making, there has been a prominent focus on binary decisions. Whether the presence of an additional third option could have an impact on behaviour and neural signals has been largely overlooked. I designed an experiment in which decisions were made between two options in the presence of a third option. A biophysical model simulation made surprising predictions that more suboptimal decisions were made in the presence of a very poor third alternative. Subsequent human behavioural testing showed consistent results with these predictions. In the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), I found that a value comparison signal that is critical for decision making became weaker in the presence of a poor value third option. The effect contrasts with another prominent potential mechanism during multi-alternative decision making – divisive normalization – the signatures of which were observed in the posterior parietal cortex.
It has long been thought that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and amygdala mediate reward-guided behavioural adaptation. However, this viewpoint has been recently challenged. I recorded whole brain activity in macaques using fMRI while they performed an object discrimination reversal task over multiple testing sessions. I identified a lateral OFC (lOFC) region in which activity predicted adaptive win-stay/lose-shift behaviour. In contrast, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) activity predicted future exploratory decisions regardless of reward outcome. Amygdala and lOFC activity was more strongly coupled for adaptive choice shifting and decoupled for task irrelevant reward memory. Day-to-day fluctuations in signals and signal coupling were correlated with day-to-day fluctuations in performance. These data demonstrate OFC, ACC, and amygdala each make unique contributions to flexible behaviour and credit assignment.

Keywords: Decision Making
Reinforcement Learning
Advisor: Rushworth, M
Walton, M
Structural studies of cell surface signalling molecules for neuronal guidance and connectivity

Signal transduction is critical during the lifetime of a neuron as it navigates to reach its targets, forms functional synaptic connections and adjusts the molecular architecture of these connections in an activity-dependent manner. Understanding the molecular organisation of components required for neuronal signalling will provide novel biological insight and can contribute to the design of therapeutics for neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders.
The focus of the thesis is on determining mechanistic molecular details of a number of distinct cell surface systems implicated in neuronal signalling. Crystallographic studies on the cell surface complex between Eph receptor A4 and ephrinA5 contributed to understanding how the modes of higher order arrangements of receptors involved in guidance affect signal transduction across the membrane. A set of structural and biophysical studies addressed the proteoglycan regulation of RPTPσ-TrkCtrans-synaptic interaction and contributed to deciphering the principles of the switch from axonal growth to synapse establishment and formation. A crystallographic and biochemical analysis of the neuronal C1q-like family, enabled mapping their interactions with potential synaptic partners, and guided functional studies aimed at elucidating their roles in the maintenance of synaptic integrity. Preliminary work on the neuronal Sigma-1 receptor chaperone laid the foundations for the structural determination of this receptor.

Keywords: Crystallography
Neurobiology
Advisor: Jones, E
Aricescu, A
Prolegomena to a critical edition of the Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa, with a discussion of computer-aided methods used to edit the text

The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa is the primary Armenian-language historical source for the eleventh and early twelfth centuries. Matthew was a monk who lived in the ethnically mixed city of Edessa; within his Chronicle, he describes the apogee of independent Armenia, its fall to piecemeal Byzantine annexation, the subsequent loss of Byzantium's eastern territory to the newcomer Saljuq Turks, and the sectarian tension that accompanied the First Crusade. This thesis sets out the methodology adopted for the construction of a critical edition of the text, addresses the approach that Matthew took to the composition of the Chronicle, and gives the edited text of the prophecies attributed to Yovhannēs Kozeṙn and the author's prologues to Books Two and Three of the Chronicle. Chapters 2 and 3 comprise a review of the scholarship to date on the Chronicle, and a discussion of the approach taken to a critical edition of the text. The Chronicle survives in a large number of relatively recently copied manuscripts; it was therefore necessary to devise an approach to text collation and editing that takes full advantage of recent advances in computational methods of philology. I have developed a set of software tools to assist in the task of editing the Chronicle; these tools are useful for the creation of text editions in any language that can be represented through the TEI XML standard. Chapters 4–8 give an examination of the overall framework of Matthew’s Chronicle, and of his interpretation of recent history within that framework. Following a long tradition of the use of prophecy to explain Armenian history, Matthew uses two prophecies attributed to the eleventh-century clerical scholar Yovhannēs Kozeṙn, themselves extended in the twelfth century under the influence of the Apocalypse attributed to Methodius, to frame his argument that both the Byzantine emperors and the Armenian kings had abandoned their responsibility toward the Armenian people. His attitude toward recent history, and particularly toward the Latins of Outremer, may be used to demonstrate that he wrote the Chronicle no later than 1137.

Keywords: stemmatology
Edessa
computer collation
Armenia
text phylogenetics
Byzantium
Matthew of Edessa
first crusade
text criticism
Advisor: van Lint, T
The political economy of the interwar years

This thesis is a collection of essays on the political economy of the interwar years. It aims to address two of the most prominent and characteristic aspects of the interwar international economy; the break-up of the Gold Standard system and the rise of trade protectionism. I argue that extensions to the franchise are crucial to understanding both of these phenomena. Using evidence based on macro-level panel data analysis, micro-level public opinion surveys as well as numerous qualitative sources, I construct an argument that stresses the importance of these changes in voting rights to economic policy decisions; changes that can help explain the unusual nature of the interwar international economy. The effect of the extended franchise will not be examined in isolation however, with the influence of a number of other important aspects of the political and economic environment also taken into consideration. As arguably the most interesting and novel result of these analyses is the suggested effect of the granting of voting rights to women, the voting preferences of women are examined more closely in an additional chapter using a unique record of women’s voting from Weimar Germany. This allows for the difference between men and women’s actual voting preferences to be explored, something that is usually impossible due to the use of secret ballots. The fact that the separation of votes by gender occurred during one of the most important periods in modern history gives the analysis an even greater significance.

Keywords: Economic History
Political Economy
Advisor: O'Rourke, K
The emergence and crystallization of the poetics of Odysseas Elytis

This thesis examines the poetics of Odysseas Elytis, which, it is argued, emerged from his intense theoretical work on poetry in the period between 1944 and 1960, and was crystallized in the poems he published from 1960 to 1995. Elytis' poetics is examined in this thesis through the exploration of his ideas on the status and function of poetry, on the role of the poet, and on poetic writing; it is also examined through the exploration of the poetry in which these ideas are put into practice. It is argued in this thesis that Elytis' poetics emerged from his effort to provide his poetry with a concrete theoretical basis, an endeavour he deliberately undertook in the 1940s and 1950s; the evolution of his thought coincided chronologically with the period broadly between 1944 and 1960, that is, the period during which he wrote poems but did not proceed to publish any book of poetry. Elytis' thought reached a point of external stabilization before 1960, since in the poetry he published that year his ideas are systematically put into practice. With the publication of these poems, his poetics entered the dynamic phase of crystallization, which prevails throughout his poetic writing from 1960 to 1995, and constitutes a process during the course of which he explored the internal perspectives opened up by the theoretical frame he set for himself in the years 1944-1960. This thesis explores Elytis' theoretical endeavour and his poetic practice, and examines both the emergence of his ideas in the period between 1944 and 1960 and the crystallization of these ideas in the poetry he published from 1960 to 1995.
Investigation of expression quantitative trait loci and regulatory genetic variants in primary human immune cells

The post human genome sequence era has begun to explore various aspects of the functional genome in relation to disease including gene expression, genetic variation and epigenetics. The genetic determinants of common and complex phenotypes are difficult to resolve even though their heritability is recognised. Recent genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for common diseases has identified many new disease susceptibility associated loci. These loci often lie in non-coding regions of the genome and disease associated genetic variants are proposed to act by modulating gene expression.
This thesis investigated genetic variation as determinants of gene expression in the context of the immune system especially focused on the innate immune and inflammatory responses. Different primary human immune cell types were collected from healthy volunteers of European ancestry to achieve this. In order to identify genetic variants associating with gene expression, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) mapping was conducted in a cell type specific manner.
The primary dataset (n=288) consists of CD19+ B-cells from the adaptive immune system and CD14+ monocytes from the innate immune system. 78% of the total cis eQTL were found to be cell type specific and include genes relating to their roles in the immune response. Trans eQTL showed greater cell type specificity and include master regulatory eQTL on the LYZ locus at chromosome 12q15 in monocytes and the KLF4 (9p31) in B-cells. The identified eQTL are implicated in association with autoimmune disease susceptibility including inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis.
The second analysed dataset (n=64) consists of CD14+ monocytes and macrophages differentiated ex vivo. Macrophages are involved in many inflammatory diseases as well as in the innate immune response. The differential gene expression and eQTL mapping analyses were conducted to investigate macrophages specific gene expression signatures and associations to genetic variants. Macrophage eQTL are involved in signal transduction for the inflammatory response (IL1RN and STAT4) and lipid metabolism (PPARG) with implication for metabolic disease association.
The eQTL analyses using primary immune cell types provide insights into genetic variation in association to gene expression which is involved in autoimmunity and disease susceptibility.

Keywords: Macrophages
Immune response
Gene expression
Genome-wide association study
monocytes
eQTL
Inflammation
B-cells
Advisor: Knight, J
Fairfax, B
Focal femoral osteolysis in cemented total hip replacement

As implant survival extends into the second and third decades focal osteolysis around cemented femoral components in total hip replacement is emerging as an important failure mechanism. Whilst the problem of focal osteolysis is well recognised, there are many aspects of its development which are poorly understood. The broad aim of this thesis is to try to provide some insights into how, why and where focal osteolysis develops around the cemented femoral component.
There are broadly two sections to this thesis, chapters 2-5 present clinical and geometrical studies and chapters 6-10 a series of experimental studies. The aim of the first section was to establish what is observed in clinical practice, the aim of the second to try to explain these findings.
A mid-term clinical study showed that focal osteolysis is more common with rough than polished stems that differed in no aspect other than their surface finish. Further studies established that focal osteolysis is probably always associated with defects in the cement mantle. These defects occur anteriorly at the mid-stem of the prosthesis and posteriorly at the component tip. The distribution of focal osteolysis and its strong association with cement mantle defects suggests the importance of the stemcement interface as a pathway for fluid and debris to reach the distal femur. However, at 15-25 years, osteolysis rarely develops with the polished Exeter stem even in the presence of confirmed defects in the cement mantle, suggesting that the stem seals the stem-cement interface against fluid and debris.
In an attempt to explain the clinical findings a series of bench top experiments were undertaken. These studies showed that the behaviour of fluid and dye at the stemcement interface was significantly influenced by component surface finish. Bonded and debonded stem-cement interfaces of rough stems provided an incomplete barrier to fluid movement along this interface. In contrast, polished stems both bonded and debonded were able to provide a seal at the stem-cement interface. The seal at this interface was improved with component subsidence in the presence of rotational stability.
It is believed that this thesis provides a rationale explanation for why focal osteolysis rarely develops around the Exeter stem in clinical practice. It also explains how, where, and why osteolysis develops around certain designs of cemented femoral components used in total hip replacement.
Understanding typhoid disease; a controlled human infection model of typhoid fever

Typhoid disease, caused by infection with S. Typhi, is a significant cause of mortality and morbidity in resource–poor countries. Efforts have been made to generate a new generation of vaccines that are efficacious and can be given to infants, but have been hindered by a poor understanding of the protective immune response to S. Typhi infection, and in particular by the absence of a correlate of protection.
Controlled human infection studies (‘challenge studies’) provide a model for investigating infectious diseases and appraising novel vaccines, including in typhoid disease. This DPhil described the development of a human challenge model of typhoid fever using S
. Typhi Quailes strain administered to healthy adults in a sodium bicarbonate buffer. The careful characterisation and manufactured of the strain is described. Following ingestion of 103 CFU of S. Typhi 55% of participants developed typhoid disease, whilst ingestion of 104 CFU gave a higher attack rate of 65%. At this attack rate vaccine efficacy against human challenge should be demonstrable with a modest sample size. Validity of the model in the appraisal of vaccines was demonstrated using Ty21a, a live, oral, attenuated vaccine. Protective efficacy of Ty21a compared to placebo against challenge was 35%, comparable to that observed in some endemic settings, and the estimated protection in the first year after vaccination in Cochrane meta-analysis.
Clinical, microbiological and humoral immune responses were investigated in participants challenged during model development. Typhoid disease was associated with a high fever in most, but not all participants, and a range of symptoms. Severity of disease was variable, and included asymptomatic bacteraemia, as well as fever and symptoms in participants in whom bacteraemia could not be demonstrated. Typhoid disease was associated with a strong humoral immune response to the flagellin and lipopolysaccharide antigens of S. Typhi but not the Vi polysaccharide capsule. Humoral immune responses were not demonstrated in participants without typhoid fever. There was a dose-response relationship to the clinical, microbiological and humoral responses with participants challenged with 104 CFU having more marked responses than those challenged with 103 CFU. Future success of challenge studies relies on the willing participation of healthy adult volunteers. The motivations for participation, and experiences of participants, were appraised by questionnaire. Whilst financial compensation was an important motivator, it was not the sole motivator. Participants were positive about their experiences, and most would participate again.

Keywords: typhoid-fever salmonella-Typhi enteric-infection controlled-humnan-infection human-challenge-study
Advisor: Pollard, A
Angus, B
Investigation of ultra-wideband wireless communication inside electromagnetically ultra small confined environments

Ultra-wideband (UWB) communication has been the subject of extensive research in recent years due to its unique capabilities and potential applications, particularly in short-range multiple access wireless communications. However, many important aspects of UWB-based communication systems have not yet been thoroughly investigated. The propagation of UWB signals inside very small enclosed environments is one of the important issues with significant impacts on the future direction, scope, and generally the extent of the success of UWB technology. The objective of this thesis is to obtain a more thorough and comprehensive understanding of ultra-small UWB channels for communication applications and design issues for enhancing the data rate of UWB systems. This works supports the postulation of a high capacity UWB wireless interconnect scheme for communicating devices within conducting enclosures – a wireless “backplane”.
This thesis proposes the use of an Ultra-Wide Bandwidth (UWB) ultra-small scale wireless interconnect scheme for use within electrically small enclosures. Such ultra-small environments (size ≤ 10 wavelengths) are topologically much more complex, being more cluttered, than typical indoor environments (size ≥ 10 wavelengths). The concept is presented through two different scenarios. Firstly, a PC Tower case is presented as a model environment and the work seeks to present the optimum channel performance, where EMI issues are discussed and problem avoidance proposed. Secondly, in order to extrapolate the different results from the study inside the PC, an investigation is carried out using an Aluminium tower case as a more generic model environment. The analysis is based on the behaviour of box modes within a conducting resonator enclosure and the effective communications bandwidth for UWB systems for different sizes and components within.
From these general considerations the research presents theoretical and experimental results from which are derived the communications metrics measured within enclosures. Simulations of the different scenarios are performed using different techniques such as ray tracing and a full wave model, based on CST Microstripes. Empirical data is recorded using a vector network analyser (VNA)-based wideband channel sounding system where channel measurements are carried out in every scenario regarding different aspects such as frequency response and time domain analysis, evaluation of the channel capacity, power delay study and the nature of the environment.

Keywords: ultra wide band
wireless
channel characterization
Advisor: Stevens, C
Edwards, D