VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Essays on banking in the post-crisis era

This thesis aims to advance our understanding of banking in the post-crisis era. It makes three distinct contributions to the literature on banking.
The first chapter examines whether "too-big-to-fail" (TBTF) factors affect estimates of scale economies for large banks. Based on a standard model of bank production that does not control for any TBTF factors, we find evidence of scale economies for our sample of large banks. However, once we control for TBTF factors, we instead find evidence of constant returns to scale. These results suggest that estimates of scale economies for large banks are affected by TBTF factors.
The second chapter examines the impact of forbearance lending on firm dynamics and performance in Europe since the sovereign debt crisis. We develop a quantitative model, which features endogenous forbearance lending and endogenous firm defaults, as well as information asymmetry faced by the lender. We fit the model to key Euro Area firm statistics over the period 2011 to 2014. We show that in the absence of forbearance lending, the average firm sales growth, investment and productivity are higher than in the benchmark scenario with forbearance lending. These results suggest that forbearance lending practices have contributed to the recent economic stagnation across the Euro Area.
The third chapter introduces a novel way to identify the causal effect of bank capital on risk-taking. We use provisions for misconduct issues as an instrument for bank capital. We show that misconduct provisions are an appropriate instrument due to their strong and negative impact on bank capital, and are otherwise unrelated to asset risk-taking. Our main finding is subsequently that a negative shock to bank capital leads to an increase in risk-taking, as measured by detailed information on mortgage underwriting standards.

Advisor: Ferrero, A
Mavroeidis, S
Single photon counting x-ray diffraction techniques for the investigation of shock compressed condensed matter

X-ray diffraction has now become a key tool in dynamic compression experiments, with a rich variety of mature diagnostics available. It is a technique which measures the arrangement of atoms in solid material, a direct measurement of the structure and density of materials. This thesis presents two new diffraction diagnostics where the key innovation is the use of a single photon counting CCD to measure energy resolved diffraction signal. Using CCDs in this way has not been done before in a high power laser experiment. The first diagnostic measures diffraction from a poly-crystalline sample and along with experimental results, a simulation code was created to support the development of the technique. The second technique is for use with single crystal samples. The energy resolving ability of the CCD is shown to give extra information about the state of the compressed material it is probing. As an extension to the experimental work, Molecular Dynamics simulations of germanium are presented which show qualitative agreement with previous work in which a phase transition occurs. The structure of the phase changed material is covered in detail.

Advisor: Wark, J
Language and identity in a transnational context:  a sociophonetic study of the Polish of a group of migrants living in the UK

This thesis examines the process of identity formation among a group of 30 young Polish adults who moved to the UK to study and stayed to work. By examining the speakers' self-representations aided by observations from the fieldwork, two distinct sociocultural identities emerge: Polish Poles, who express nationally Polish identities, maintain Polish culture and language as well as orient themselves towards Poland and the Polish diaspora community, and Polish Cosmopolitans, who reject the concept of nationality as a basis for identity, bind their future to the English language and global economy and do not consciously maintain either the culture or the language. Between the two contrasting groups, there is an intermediate group of speakers who still identify themselves as Polish and maintain selected aspects of Polish culture, including the language, but orient themselves more towards Britain and the world. Linguistic analysis demonstrates that those three ways of experiencing the world go together with different ways of speaking: while Polish Poles and "In-betweens" maintain Standard Polish, Polish Cosmopolitans are developing new ways of speaking drawing on selected phonetic English features. In this thesis, two features, aspirated stops and fall-rises used as a floor control mechanism in narratives, are examined. Quantitative methods and conversation analysis are employed to show how phonetic detail is used in the context of the narrative of the self. It is argued that the new speaking styles developed by Polish Cosmopolitans result from negotiation of norms from two distinct linguistic and cultural systems, which allow for the creation of a new sociopragmatic order where the new ways of speaking are perceived as desirable and in order. The use of variation is inflected by gender, which also shows that the ideological frameworks guiding one's linguistic behavior are based on the speaker’s sociocultural positioning and rights and obligations.

Advisor: Temple, R
Asymmetric syntheses of polyhydroxylated 1-hydroxymethylpyrrolizidines

This thesis is concerned with the development of methodology for the asymmetric syntheses of polyhydroxylated 1-hydroxymethylpyrrolizidines.
Chapter 1 introduces the biological activities of pyrrolizidine alkaloids and highlights their importance both in Nature and as therapeutic agents. Selected procedures for the syntheses of these compounds are discussed, with a particular focus on the formation of 1-hydroxymethylpyrrolizidines.
Chapter 2 describes studies into the asymmetric syntheses of (–)-isoretronecanol and (–)-trachelantamidine via oxidation of the C=C double bond within two diastereoisomeric 7-aminocyclohept-3-ene-carboxylate substrates via either osmium-mediated dihydroxylation or ammonium-directed epoxidation, followed by oxidative cleavage, N-deprotection and in situ double reductive cyclisation to give the target pyrrolizidine alkaloids.
Chapter 3 details the syntheses of three 1-hydroxymethyl-7-hydroxypyrrolizidines via the doubly diastereoselective hydroamination of an enantiopure γ-silyloxy-α,β-unsaturated ester followed by diastereoselective enolate allylation. Oxidative cleavage of the C=C double bonds followed by the application of an N-deprotection and in situ double reductive cyclisation protocol, gave (-)-hastanecine, (-)-turneforcidine and (-)-platynecine.
Chapter 4 discusses studies into the aldol reaction of β-amino enolates derived from two differently substituted α,β-unsaturated esters culminating in the asymmetric syntheses of the four 1-hydroxymethyl-2-hydroxypyrrolizidines, (-)-macronecine, (-)-1-epi-macronecine, (-)-petasinecine and (-)-1-epi-petasinecine, and the 1-hydroxymethyl-2,7-dihydroxypyrrolizidine (-)-2-epi-rosmarinecine.
Chapter 5 contains full experimental procedures and characterisation data for all compounds synthesised in Chapters 2, 3, and 4.

Advisor: Davies, S
Functional characterisation of multiple sclerosis-­associated single nucleotide polymorphisms in the Eomesodermin region

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a common inflammatory neurological disease affecting young adults, causing significant disability and increased mortality. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have uncovered over 100 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with MS susceptibility, most of which lie outside transcribed DNA and therefore do not have obvious consequences. SNPs in two such non-coding DNA segments upstream of the EOMES gene, encoding Eomesodermin (Eomes) have been consistently associated with MS, as well as with the two other autoimmune diseases rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Eomes has been shown to be important for embryonic and neural development, as well as in the immune system, the latter of which was the focus of this investigation.
The association of genetic polymorphisms in the EOMES region with MS was interrogated using computational methods. Imputation analysis enabled detection of new variants, which aligned with regions of epigenetic significance and possible regions of DNA-interaction, implying an effect on regulation of gene expression.
Subsequently, Eomes expression was characterised in peripheral blood cell populations, with the highest expression detected in natural killer cells and effector/memory T cell subsets, including MAIT cells, an innate-like lymphocyte population. To investigate potential genotype dependent changes in Eomes expression and the effect on downstream pathways, studies were performed using samples from healthy donors prospectively genotyped for the two MS associated loci. Despite observing significant differences in expression between genotype groups in a pilot study, findings in a larger cohort did not reach the threshold for significance. Finally, the presence of MAIT cells was investigated in the context of MS and these cells were detected in MS lesions.
Collectively, in this D.Phil project I have illustrated potential ways in which the functional relevance of disease-associated SNPs in non-coding regions can be studied. This has been thoroughly investigated through computational studies, analysis of gene expression in peripheral blood cells, and in genotype-dependent studies of both expression and downstream function.

Keywords: Eomesodermin
MAIT cells
Multiple sclerosis
Advisor: Fugger, L
Modelling preferences in economics

This thesis considers the economics of preferences in two different contexts.
First it examines damages from climate change. I argue that our ignorance of the welfare implications of higher levels of warming, as well as scientific uncertainty in precisely what might trigger these scenarios, imply that our tastes and beliefs are incomplete (in the sense of Galaabaatar and Karni, 2013). That is, there are many 'plausible' ways to evaluate a given scenario.
In Chapter 1, then, I develop this theory, and use it to formally separate climate impacts into three sorts: those understood well, those understood badly, and those representing the worst possible scenario. I provide a generalisation of the 'dismal theorem' of Weitzman (2009a), and address the question of policy choice: prices versus quantities (cf. Weitzman, 1974).
Chapter 2 is an example of the analysis propounded in Chapter 1. I explore the sensitivity of the social cost of carbon to assumed damages from 4C warming, to the assumed extent of CO2 emissions, and to the modelling of the climate and carbon cycles. The analysis shows that differing prior assumptions can alter our evaluation of policy by orders of magnitude.
The second part of this thesis regards preferences for indivisible goods. In Chapter 3, which is joint work with Paul Klemperer, I introduce to this field the 'tropical hypersurface', being those prices at which an agent's demand changes. Simple geometric features of this set tell us the precise trade-offs that interest the agent. Thus we develop a new taxonomy of valuations, demandtypes′;familiar¬ionssuchas⊂stitutesandcomp≤mentsareexamp≤s.F∈ally,weprovidea≠cessaryandsufficientconditiononthesedemand types' for existence of competitive equilibrium, which implies several existing results, as well as new and quite different examples.

Keywords: Knightian uncertainty
duality
auction
Catastrophes
competitive equilibrium
indivisible goods
product-mix auction
Incomplete preferences
Social cost of carbon
convex geometry
complements
Policy choice
tropical geometry
substitutes
Climate change
Advisor: Klemperer, P
Socio-political identity in Chosŏn Korea during the Japanese and Manchu invasions 1567-1637: Barbarians at the gates

This thesis explores social and political identities in Chosŏn Korea between the years 1567 and 1637, particularly during the Imjin War (1592-1598) and the Manchu Invasions (1627 and 1636-1637). During the Imjin War, the Japanese caused widespread destruction over the entire Korean peninsula and the Ming army entered the country. The Later Jin briefly invaded in 1627 and launched a large scale invasion in 1636. The Manchus overran Chosŏn’s feeble defenses and forced Chosŏn to become a vassal state of the Qing Empire.
Scholars are at odds over the form of socio-political identity during this period of foreign invasion. Some claim these wars created the 'Korean nation' for the first time, while others contend that no such socio-political concepts could have existed before the twentieth century. However, researchers often use the same philosophical approaches and merely select aspects of certain theorists' frameworks that best support their arguments. Both the theories and historian's methodologies are limited in their explanation of socio-political identity of the premodern Korean past and even more so for the time of the Imjin and Manchu Invasions.
My research attempts to solve these theoretical problems by creating a 'fusion of horizons' between past and modern concepts of socio-political identity in order to explore the political and cultural environments of the Chosŏn people before and during the wars (bildung). This is achieved firstly by relying on official government histories and individually written diaries that, together, create a more complete picture of former socio-political identity. Secondly, I propose understanding Chosŏn by looking at the definitions of the king, state, people, culture, history, and foreign world using their own definitions from their own times.

Keywords: nationalism
Manchu invasions
socio-political identity
Imjin War
Advisor: Lewis, J
Mathematical models of liquid crystals and related materials

In the broadest sense, the focus of this thesis concerns the role of entropy in macroscopic systems related to liquid crystals in equilibrium. We be- gin by defining a broad generalisation of the Ball-Majumdar potential, applicable to a wide variety of order parameter models relevant to liquid crystals. First we provide a geometric characterisation of the set of ad- missible order parameters for general systems. We demonstrate the key properties of convexity, regularity, and blow up at the boundary of the singular potential. This is then followed by a discussion of applications to Onsager type models and enforcing physicality constraints in Landau expansion-type models.
Next we consider the recently proposed Onsager-type model of Zheng, Taylor and Palffy-Muhoray. Unlike Onsager’s free energy density, the non-trivial solutions to the new model all have non-trivial support, im- plying two-sided variations cannot find solutions. In order to overcome this issue, we apply similar heuristics to the previous chapter to split the minimisation into two steps, a strictly convex minimisation problem with linear constraints and a finite dimensional, C1 minimisation problem, the latter of which provides an Euler-Lagrange-type equation satisfied by all Lp -local minimisers. We also perform a more direct analysis on the model to obtain the qualitative features of its phase behaviour.
Finally, we consider an extension of the Kuhn-Grün model of polymer elasticity, adapted for use in the modelling of main-chain nematic elas- tomers. This is a particular case of the generalised singular potential, where the anisotropy of the polymer network is included as a further pa- rameter in the energy. This shows the expected energetic coupling between the anisotropy of the system and the extension of a single chain. Further- more, the polymer chain is finitely extensible, with the energy blowing up as the chain reaches the taut-chain limit, and an implicit force/extension relationship is provided. We conclude with a discussion of network theo-ries for describing macroscopic deformations, with particular focus on the rigidity properties that arise from the growth rate of the chain energy.

Advisor: Ball, J
Contingent capital: a theoretical and empirical analysis

This thesis is about the design of contingent capital (CoCos) to induce monitoring and to therefore reduce the expected size of taxpayer funded bailouts. CoCos are debt instruments that either convert into debt or are written down when a bank approaches distress—based on a reduction in the bank's capital.
The thesis begins with a moral hazard model that provides a stylised illustration of the circumstances where either shareholders or CoCo investors can be induced to monitor. It predicts that shareholders will monitor if conversion reduces their claim to zero and CoCo investors will monitor if conversion reduces the value of their claim below what they paid when the CoCo was issued. It then assess different elements of the model—including the social cost that gives rise to the need for bailouts, the usual mechanisms to reduce the need for bailouts, and the bank specific insolvency regime adopted in the European Union.
The focus then turns to monitoring incentives induced by CoCos. It discusses triggers and advocates higher minimum trigger levels. It then defines monitoring in the context of CoCos, assesses the extent to which monitoring is undertaken in CoCo markets, and makes recommendations about how incentives to monitor might be strengthened.

Keywords: Basel
monitoring
contingent convertible
market discipline
Contingent capital
Advisor: Davies, P
Morrison, A
Identification and characterisation of the haematopoietic stem/progenitor cells at risk for leukaemia development following radiation exposure

A variety of epidemiological studies have provided support for an increased leukaemia incidence following exposure to both high and low dose radiation. There is a close histopathological similarity between human and murine acute myeloid leukaemia with mouse models of the disease being most often used. We report here, for the first time, that allogeneic haematopoietic stem cells can compete for niches in the nonmyeloablated NSG bone marrow compartment and that the nonmyeloablated NSG bone marrow microenvironment is capable of supporting allogeneic long-term HSC engraftment and differentiation. Using this NSG transplantation model, we then provided evidence of a reduced contribution of low dose irradiated HSCs towards longterm haematopoiesis. We further report on the generation and characterisation of a novel Chr2MDRmCh mouse model where a construct positioned in the minimal deleted region following radiation exposure carries the fluorescent protein mCherry, which is expressed under control of the ubiquitous Rosa26 promoter. Crossing these mice with Sfpi1GFP mice allowed the early detection of an expanding haematopoietic clone which had lost mCherry fluorescence following radiation exposure (and so also the chromosome 2 homologue carrying the fluorescent construct and the Sfpi1 gene). Finally, we report on a gender-dependent leukaemic progression and characterisation where 3 Gy irradiated male mice only present with acute myeloid leukemia and irradiated female mice mainly develop leukaemia with a lymphoid phenotype. In conclusion, the work in this thesis postulates data obtained from two novel mouse models and which could help to further identify key molecular mechanisms involved in leukaemia initiation and development.

Keywords: Acute myeloid leukaemia
Radiation
Nod-scid gamma
Haematopoietic stem cell
Advisor: O'Neill, P
Badie, C
Carry-over and consequences of social connections amongst wild birds

Ecological factors are known to influence the spatial distribution of individuals, which in turn governs social structure. However, social interactions can have important individual- and population-level consequences and may shape various ecological processes (Chapter 1). In this thesis, I examine the factors shaping social networks amongst wild birds (Paridae). I demonstrate that these social connections are biologically important, and influence numerous processes, including spatial structure itself.
First, I demonstrate that both the spatial occurrence and dynamic social decisions of individuals underpin the non-random composition of foraging flocks (Chapter 2). Reciprocally, I show that the spatial arrangement of individuals’ breeding locations is predicted by the previous winter's social network, as birds breed nearer to, and share territory boundaries with, those they held the strongest connections to (Chapter 3).
I then use experiments to directly assess the consequences of social structure. I show that birds exhibit compensatory shifts in their social network position upon removal of their flock mates (Chapter 4). Following this, I introduce a novel experimental system that automatically controls which individuals could feed together. These externally-imposed foraging constraints cause social segregation at non-experimental food patches (Chapter 5), which also carries over into breeding site prospecting (Chapter 5). I show that social information transmission, regarding the location of novel food patches, also changes to correspond to the experimentally imposed social network structure (Chapter 6). Furthermore, social foraging associations are found to influence social learning, as birds appear to prioritise learning from those who provide relevant information on a regular basis. Finally, I demonstrate that birds choose to forgo maximising their own food intake to sustain their relationships (Chapter 7). Through prioritising their pair-bond over their own preferences, this also changes the social composition of foraging flocks, indicating how a single relationship can govern wider social network position. Additionally, I show how social relationships can influence individual behavioural plasticity and the learning of foraging strategies.
This thesis thus contributes to elucidating the relationship between spatial structure and social networks within wild populations. It also demonstrates how social systems respond to external changes, and the direct causal implications of this for shaping spatial structure, information flow and individuals' social and foraging strategies. Together, these findings form a foundation for expanding our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary implications of social networks and the mechanisms underpinning this (Chapter 8).

Keywords: Social Relationships
Animal Behaviour
Scrounging
Social Structure
Social Networks
Ornithology
Evolution
Social Information
Ecology
Great tits
Blue tits
Information transmission
Paridae
Spatial Structure
Zoology
Biology
Advisor: Sheldon, B