VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Development and differentiation in rural Thailand

This thesis is a contribution to the study of rural development and social change. The economy, polity and society of rural Thailand has undergone enormous transformations in the past century and a half. These centre on the penetration of rural communities by structures of state and capital. An important aspect of this is the emergence of 'differentiation' (or 'stratification'): i.e., the development of disparities between the economic status and circumstances of households in the same locality. This thesis reports data pertaining to intra-village differentiation which were collected during an anthropological study of a rural community in Central Thailand.
Rural differentiation in Thailand is considered from a number of related perspectives. Macro-level, historical transformations of the Thai countryside are discussed, and an interpretive model of the consequent stratification discernible in the village study site is presented. Ongoing processes of differentiation, which focus on the monopolisation of local resources by rural elites in the context of the developing village, are delineated. Data pertaining to informants' economic related decisions and behaviours reveal that different strata of villagers hold dissimilar 'economic attitudes': rich villagers' economic decision-making accords with Western notions of economic 'rationality' , whilst poor villagers tended to be both non-accumulatory and apparently reckless in the economic arena. Middle ranking villagers tended toward economic quiescence. This phenomenon is explained by a reconstruction of some elements of poor villagers' underlying system of values of beliefs.
The consequences of intra-village differentiation for social identities and relations are discussed by reference to the 'class hypothesis': i.e., that the continued experience of increasing differentiation gives rise to class identities and, hence, class based social relations. Data suggest that, whilst stratification informs social identities and interactions to some extent, at present this is over-ridden by other, noneconomic factors.
Permanents: in defence of the moving spotlight theory

This thesis describes and defends the moving spotlight theory, a metaphysical theory concerning the fundamental temporal structure of reality. The moving spotlight theory has two essential components: first, a thesis about presentness; and second, a thesis about the existence (in the most general sense) of things over time. The first thesis is that exactly one instant of time is absolutely, objectively, non-relatively present. This thesis is usually called the ‘A-theory of time’. (The opposing view, according to which no instant of time is absolutely, objectively, non-relatively present, is usually called the ‘B-theory of time’.) The second thesis is that things neither begin nor cease to exist over time; in other words, that it is always the case that everything exists forever. Following Williamson (2013), I call this thesis permanentism. Historically, the moving spotlight theory has been among the least popular plausible theories of time. However, that is because the view has been badly misconstrued. In this thesis I provide a careful description of the moving spotlight theory and show that moving spotlighters can easily respond to the main arguments that have been raised against their view. I also show that the moving spotlight theory, when correctly understood, is the very best theory of time. In particular, the moving spotlight theory inherits the simplicity, explanatory power, and scientific respectability of permanentism, while at the same time describing a world in which there is genuine time and change. In terms of structure, the thesis has two parts, each containing three chapters. In Chapter One, I introduce the A-theory and defend it against some common objections. In Chapter Two, I describe a version of the moving spotlight theory which I call ‘classic MST’, and argue that if the moving spotlight theory is true, classic MST is true. In Chapter Three, I argue against the traditional method of characterising theories of time, and develop a new method in its place. In Chapter Four, I argue that the A-theory is true. In Chapters Five and Six, I argue that we think and speak as if permanentism is true, so we should accept permanentism. I conclude that the moving spotlight theory, and therefore classic MST, is true.
Identity and its relationship with borderline symptoms

Objectives Clinical and theoretical literature suggests that some people who present with psychological problems have a poorly developed sense of their own identity. It has also been suggested that cognitive theory and therapy does not always adequately identify, conceptualise, and address these identity problems. The current study aims to develop a self-report questionnaire measure to assess these identity problems. It also tests some specific hypotheses about the relationship between identity problems and other psychological constructs, including borderline personality disorder symptomatology, anxiety and depression.
Design The study is a cross-sectional questionnaire study, using a within-subjects design, in a non-clinical population.
Method The study was internet based and participants completed the questionnaire measures online. Questionnaires included the: new Identity Questionnaire; Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS); Borderline Symptom List-23 (BSL-23); Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) and Socially Desirable Response Set (SDRS-5). Participants (N =535) completed the questionnaires as listed above and also provided demographic information on gender, age, occupation and education.
Results Four coherent factors emerged from the exploratory factor analysis. These were examined to determine themes that characterised the items contained in them. The four subscales were respectively labelled as: no sense of self; self defined by social roles/context; internal regulation and lack of belonging/connectedness. The results suggested overall good convergent and divergent validity for the new Identity Questionnaire. Further analyses confirmed the predicted positive relationship between levels of borderline personality disorder symptomatology, anxiety and depression, and identity problems.
Conclusion The results suggested that the Identity Questionnaire might be a useful clinical and research tool. Replication of this study, and extension to a clinical population, is recommended to further establish the validity and reliability of the questionnaire's psychometric properties.
Community-based early learning in Solomon Islands: cultural and contextual dilemmas influencing program sustainability

The Solomon Islands (SI), a small developing nation in the South Pacific, demonstrates an emergent community-based kindergarten model with the potential to promote context and culture relevant early learning and development. SI early childhood education (ECE) particularly rose in prominence with a 2008 national policy enactment requiring all children to attend three years of kindergarten as prerequisite for primary school entry. However, these ECE programs remain severely challenged by faltering community support.
Internationally, many ECE programs dramatically resemble a universalized Western-based model, with a decidedly specific discourse for “high quality” programs and practices for children ages 0-8. Often these uncritical international transfers of Euro-American ideologies promote restricted policies and practices. This has resulted in a self-perpetuating set of practices and values, which arguably prevent recognition of, and efforts to reinvent, more culturally-relevant, sustainable programs for the Majority World.
Based on the Kahua region (est. pop. 4,500) of Makira-Ulawa Province, this collaborative, ethnographically-inspired, case study explores how community characteristics have affected the cultural and contextual sustainability of community-based ECE in remote villages. The study traces historical and cultural influences to present-day SI ECE. Subsequently, it explores the re-imagined SI approach to formal ECE program design, remaining challenges preventing these programs from being sustained by communities, and potential community-wide transformations arising from these initiatives. To achieve this, the study collaborated with stakeholders from all levels of SI society through extensive participant-observations, interviews, and participatory focus groups.
Findings aspire to enlighten regional sustainable developments and resilient behaviors relating to ECE. Key research findings suggest five overarching principles influencing kindergarten sustainability: presence of “champion” for the ECE vision; community ownership-taking, awareness-building, and cooperation-maintenance; and program cultural/contextual sensitivity and relevance. These elements were found to be strongly linked with an intergenerational cultural decay in the Kahua region, as conceptualized through a model of Cyclically-Sustained Kindergarten Mediocrity.
1 + 1 dimensional cobordism categories and invertible TQFT for Klein surfaces

We discuss a method of classifying 2-dimensional invertible topological quantum field theories (TQFTs) whose domain surface categories allow non-orientable cobordisms. These are known as Klein TQFTs. To this end we study the 1+1 dimensional open-closed unoriented cobordism category K, whose objects are compact 1-manifolds and whose morphisms are compact (not necessarily orientable) cobordisms up to homeomorphism. We are able to compute the fundamental group of its classifying space BK and, by way of this result, derive an infinite loop splitting of BK, a classification of functors K &rightarrow; ℤ, and a classification of 2-dimensional open-closed invertible Klein TQFTs. Analogous results are obtained for the two subcategories of K whose objects are closed or have boundary respectively, including classifications of both closed and open invertible Klein TQFTs. The results obtained throughout the paper are generalisations of previous results by Tillmann [Til96] and Douglas [Dou00] regarding the 1+1 dimensional closed and open-closed oriented cobordism categories. Finally we consider how our results should be interpreted in terms of the known classification of 2-dimensional TQFTs in terms of Frobenius algebras.
The interaction of HVEM generated point-defects with dislocations in Fe-Ni-Cr alloys

The climb of dissociated dislocations in FCC materials is known to be complex: Observations of climb under HVEM irradiation in CuAl suggest that it, proceeds via the nucleation of interstitial loops directly onto individual partials. In silver, however, dissociated dislocations appear to constrict at an early stage in the irradiation, and dense vacancy cluster damage is seen to form in their vicinity.
This thesis presents results and analysis of a study aimed at the determination of the interaction of HVEM generated interstitials and vacancies with pre-existing dislocations in a range of Fe-17Cr-Ni ternary alloys (with the nickel content varying between 15 and 40%). Two quaternary alloys (Fe-15%Ni-17%Cr-l%Si and Fe-15%Ni-17%Cr-2%Mo) arc also studied. As with earlier studies in CuAl and Ag, pre-existing dislocations in a (111) orientated foil were first characterized at subthreshold voltages employing the weak-becim technique, then irradiated with IMeV electrons at temperatures in the range 400-430°C and finally returned to the low voltage microscope for postirradiation characterization of the observed damage.
Analysis of the post-irradiation microstructures indicates that interstitial climb only occurs at particularly favourable sites, such as pre-existing jogs: For the ternary alloys, constrictions are removed along edge and mixed dislocations, whilst zig-zagging of screw and near-screw dislocations may also be attributable to jog climb. After the annihilation of constrictions evidence of climb is not seen and pipe diffusion is thought to be occurring. The precipitation of small clusters, many of which are identifiable as vacancy SFT, is reminiscent of observations in silver.
The addition of silicon to the matrix apparently leads to the creation of favourable sites for interstitial climb, as evidenced by the formation of high densities of new jogs after irradiation. Loops are seen to precipitate close to dislocations in the Mo-doped material. The origin of these loops is unclear at this stage. The relevance of the results to the phenomenon of void swelling is discussed.
Creation and control of entanglement in condensed matter spin systems

The highly parallel nature of the fundamental principles of quantum mechanics means that certain key resource-intensive tasks --- including searching, code decryption and medical, chemical and material simulations --- can be computed polynomially or even exponentially faster with a quantum computer. In spite of its remarkably fast development, the field of quantum computing is still young, and a large-scale prototype using any one of the candidate quantum bits (or 'qubits') under investigation has yet to be developed.
Spin-based qubits in condensed matter systems are excellent candidates. Spins controlled using magnetic resonance have provided the first, most advanced, and highest fidelity experimental demonstrations of quantum algorithms to date. Despite having highly promising control characteristics, most physical ensembles investigated using magnetic resonance are unable to produce entanglement, a critical missing ingredient for a pure-state quantum computer. Quantum objects are said to be entangled if they cannot be described individually: they remain fundamentally linked regardless of their physical separation. Such highly non-classical states can be exploited for a host of quantum technologies including teleportation, metrology, and quantum computation.
Here I describe how to experimentally create, control and characterise entangled quantum ensembles using magnetic resonance. I first explore the relationship between entanglement and quantum metrology and demonstrate a sensitivity enhancement over classical resources using molecular sensors controlled with liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. I then examine the computational potential of irreversible relaxation processes in combination with traditional reversible magnetic resonance control techniques. I show how irreversible processes can polarise both nuclear and electronic spins, which improves the quality of qubit initialisation. I discuss the process of quantum state tomography, where an arbitrary quantum state can be accurately measured and characterised, including components which go undetected using traditional magnetic resonance techniques. Lastly, I combine the above findings to initialise, create and characterise entanglement between an ensemble of electron and nuclear spin defects in silicon. I further this by generating pseudo-entanglement between an ensemble of nuclear spins mediated by a transient electron spin in a molecular system. These findings help pave the way towards a particular architecture for a scalable, spin-based quantum computer.
A longitudinal twin study of Chinese children learning to read English as a second language

This thesis investigated reading and related skills in Chinese children learning English as a second language (ESL) in 279 Chinese twin pairs aged from 3 to 11 years. Children were tested twice, a year apart, with measures of visual word recognition, receptive vocabulary, phonological awareness, phonological memory and speech perception in both Chinese and English and Chinese tone awareness. The thesis was divided into two sections with the first section exploring the phenotypic relationships and the second section estimating the genetic and environmental influences. In the first section, the causal relationships among the five ESL skills were modelled (chapter 4) and the relationships between Chinese and ESL skills were sought (chapter 4). In section two, the univariate heritability (chapter 6), the cross-linguistic genetic overlap (chapter 7) and the stability and instability of heritability estimates (chapter 8) for all skills were examined. Findings have shown that ESL speech perception is important to the development of ESL phonological awareness, phonological memory and receptive vocabulary, in turn, has an impact on ESL reading development. Genes play an important role in ESL and Chinese reading development. The differential environmental effects may be due to the differences in the ESL and Chinese acquisition ecologies.
Brood parasitism by shiny cowbirds

Brood parasitic birds lay eggs amongst the clutches of other species, which then assume all costs of parental care on their behalf. This thesis addresses several puzzles of avian brood parasitism, using field studies and theoretical modelling of the generalist parasite, the shiny cowbird (Molothrus bonariensis) and select hosts in Argentina. Key findings and conclusions were:
High parasitism intensity in a host population can result in a cost to hosts of removing parasite eggs from their clutches, and so help to maintain host’s acceptance of parasite eggs in evolutionary equilibrium. The cost is to host egg survival: hosts that remove parasite eggs from the clutch increase the risk that their eggs are destroyed by subsequent parasites that visit the nest.
The principal benefit of mobbing as a front-line defence of hosts may be to reduce egg loss due to parasite attack, rather than prevent parasitism itself.
Differences in the acoustic structure of begging calls between parasites and their host’s young can be to the parasite’s advantage. Parents provisioned unparasitized broods more during broadcast at the nest of shiny cowbird calls than calls of their own species’ chicks, in both a common host and a non-host. The long tremulous quality of a cowbird’s call functions analogously to a rapid call rate, thereby exploiting a common provisioning rule of avian parents.
A trade-off for maximum growth in parasite nestlings will variously favour or not favour the evolution of nestmate-killing behaviour, depending on a parasite’s abilities, relative to host young, to solicit and attain provisions from host parents. Generalist parasites can encounter both sides of the trade-off in different hosts. Meanwhile, indirect fitness costs are unlikely to constrain the evolution of nestmate-killing in shiny cowbirds, as they rarely, if ever, share the nest with siblings.
Genetic studies of African horse sickness virus

African horse sickness virus (AHSV) is a ten-segmented, dsRNA virus, classified as a distinct species within the genus Orbivirus, family Reoviridae. There are nine serotypes of AHSV, any of which can cause African horse sickness (AHS), an extremely severe ‘transboundary’ and notifiable disease of horses, listed by OIE. AHS is currently restricted to sub-Saharan Africa, but has occasionally emerged causing major outbreaks in other geographic regions.
Complete genome nucleotide sequences were determined for nine reference-strains of AHSV (different serotypes). The selection-pressure on each genome-segment and its encoded proteins, in relation to protein function were analysed in phylogenetic comparisons. This initial AHSV sequence database also provided a basis for molecular-epidemiology studies. In particular, the role of the Seg-2 in determination of virus-serotype was used to identify viruses involved in a multi-serotype outbreak, identifying Ethiopia as an important area of AHSV circulation. Phylogenetic-relationships were also investigated between different isolates of AHSV serotypes 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9, from various locations in Africa.
Two real-time RT-PCR assays were developed for detection of the highly conserved genome segments 1 and 3, and molecular diagnosis of AHSV. Real-time RT-PCR assays were also developed, targeting Seg-2, for detection and identification of the nine AHSV serotypes. These assays are suitable for ‘high throughput’ characterisation of AHSV outbreak-strains, from either endemic or AHSV-free zones. The results obtained would facilitate rapid design and implementation of appropriate virus control measures.
Cross-contamination was detected in four of the original AHSV reference-strains. A new set of plaque-cloned and monotypic reference-strains was therefore identified and characterised, and is available through the Orbivirus Reference Collection (http://www.reoviridae.org/dsRNA_virus_proteins/ReoID/AHSV-Nos.htm). Serological relationships were analysed using antibodies against VP2 of AHSV-9 (expressed by recombinant MVA) and the nine monotypic reference-strains, showing neutralisation of both AHSV-9 and AHSV-6, in agreement with their closer phylogenetic relationship within Seg-2/VP2.
Systematising glyph design for visualization

The digitalisation of information now affects most fields of human activity. From the social sciences to biology to physics, the volume, velocity, and variety of data exhibit exponential growth trends. With such rates of expansion, efforts to understand and make sense of datasets of such scale, how- ever driven and directed, progress only at an incremental pace. The challenges are significant. For instance, the ability to display an ever growing amount of data is physically and naturally bound by the dimensions of the average sized display. A synergistic interplay between statistical analysis and visualisation approaches outlines a path for significant advances in the field of data exploration. We can turn to statistics to provide principled guidance for prioritisation of information to display. Using statistical results, and combining knowledge from the cognitive sciences, visual techniques can be used to highlight salient data attributes.
The purpose of this thesis is to explore the link between computer science, statistics, visualization, and the cognitive sciences, to define and develop more systematic approaches towards the design of glyphs.
Glyphs represent the variables of multivariate data records by mapping those variables to one or more visual channels (e.g., colour, shape, and texture). They offer a unique, compact solution to the presentation of a large amount of multivariate information. However, composing a meaningful, interpretable, and learnable glyph can pose a number of problems. The first of these problems exist in the subjectivity involved in the process of data to visual channel mapping, and in the organisation of those visual channels to form the overall glyph. Our first contribution outlines a computational technique to help systematise many of these otherwise subjective elements of the glyph design process.
For visual information compression, common patterns (motifs) in time series or graph data for example, may be replaced with more compact, visual representations. Glyph-based techniques can provide such representations that can help users find common patterns more quickly, and at the same time, bring attention to anomalous areas of the data. However, replacing any data with a glyph is not going to make tasks such as visual search easier. A key problem is the selection of semantically meaningful motifs with the potential to compress large amounts of information. A second contribution of this thesis is a computational process for systematic design of such glyph libraries and their subsequent glyphs.
A further problem in the glyph design process is in their evaluation. Evaluation is typically a time-consuming, highly subjective process. Moreover, domain experts are not always plentiful, therefore obtaining statistically significant evaluation results is often difficult. A final contribution of this work is to investigate if there are areas of evaluation that can be performed computationally.