VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Optimal policy and inconsistent preferences: behavioural policymaking and self-control

This thesis takes three different perspectives, using theoretical and experimental techniques, on time-inconsistent preferences and how the existence of multiple selves can affect both consumer behaviour and policy design. Across domains such as retirement saving, health, and educational achievement, intertemporal choice presents a challenge for both individuals and policymakers.
The first paper, 'Choosing When to Nudge: Designing Behavioural Policy around Decision-Making Costs,' considers how behavioural policy, which has proven increasingly popular with policymakers, affects welfare. I find that for present-biased consumers, behavioural policies help some consumers but can inefficiently discourage others from optimizing. Such policies therefore have an ambiguous effect on welfare, and similar to traditional policies, can impose equity-efficiency tradeoffs. Monopolies may increase welfare given their incentive to simplify consumer decisions instead of exploit switching costs.
The second paper, 'Virtue and Vice with Endogenous Preferences,' considers behaviour when preferences are affected by consumer decisions. I introduce agents whose temptation to consume in the present is affected by how much they choose to save for the future. I find that differences between agents can trap them in divergent paths of self-improvement -- saving more, they value the future more, making saving optimal -- or binging -- consuming more makes them indifferent to future costs, making consumption optimal. At the extreme, it is frequently an optimum for a consumer to consume their entire wealth.
The final paper, 'Bet You Can't Eat Just One: Consumption Complementarity and 'Self'-Control' considers an intrapersonal game between a moderate cold self and a hot self that wants to indulge. In equilibrium, sophisticated selves best respond to each other's behaviour: the cold self over-abstains and the hot self over-indulges to avoid inducing the other state. I test these ideas in the lab, and find that subjects on a diet who were induced to consume a piece of chocolate before the experiment indulge more in chocolate during the experiment, even when the initial indulgence was imposed by the experimenter. Eating a piece of chocolate, this suggests, can induce a period during which chocolate is more appealing.

Keywords: habits
willpower
intertemporal choice
policy design
self-control
consumption
preferences
Advisor: Roberts, K
Abeler, J
Poetry and national identity in Cyprus and Scotland

This thesis aims to engage with the poetry of Scotland and Greek-speaking Cyprus, and examine the relationship between poetry defined as high culture and articulations of national identity in the two places. Scotland and Cyprus share characteristics that make the establishment of a single, coherent national identity with the appearance of permanence challenging, including their relationships with culturally dominant neighbours, competition between local and official languages, and the insecurity of their status as nations.
Both Scotland and Cyprus have historically had hybrid identities; in Scotland, British identity is made problematic by England's cultural dominance, while in Cyprus Greek-speakers have a conflicted relationship with Greece. This is made more complex by the fact that Scotland's political union with England may be ending, while Cyprus is divided in half as a result of tensions between Christian and Muslim populations and the unsubtle past involvement of Greece and Turkey in the island's affairs. This thesis aims to locate trends of national identity through the analysis of poetry and its reception in three distinct contexts. Part 1 analyses the evolution of Scottish and Greek-speaking Cypriot 'national character' through the poetry of national poets Robert Burns and Vasilis Michailidis, and the poets Walter Scott and Dimitris Lipertis.
Part 2 explores the effects of modernity on the expression of national identities in literature through the lens of the Modernist movement, and how this was adopted and modified in Scotland and Cyprus. This is discussed with reference to three poets, Hugh MacDiarmid, Kostas Montis and Edwin Morgan, and their treatment of the national past and search for a national literary language. Finally, Part 3 analyses deliberate engagements of poets with national identity and issues of national importance, using Seamus Heaney's idea of 'adequate' poetry as a guide. Two functions of poetry are considered: the role it can play in transforming the landscape into the national homeland, and its potential to address communal trauma, and transform it into a unifying experience.

Keywords: kyriakos charalambides
robert crawford
nationalism
edwin morgan
national identity
hugh macdiarmid
kyriakos charalampides
small literatures
poetry
robert burns
adequate poetry
scotland
cyprus
Advisor: Lauxtermann, M
Mackridge, P
Topics in computational complexity

This thesis concerns the computational complexity of several combinatorial problems.
Chapter 1 is notation and definitions. In Chapter 2 the subgraph homeomorphism problem, for fixed pattern graphs H, is considered. For the cases H and#x2245; C6,C7,W4 or W5, we obtain exact characterizations of graphs with no subgraph homeomorphic from H, and derive efficient algorithms for recognizing such graphs. We then consider counting homeomorphs, and show that if H is any finite nontrivial family of graphs then the problem of determining the number of subgraphs of a graph which are homeomorphic from a member of H is and#x2245; P-complete.
In Chapter 3 we consider languages in NP whose certificate size is bounded by a fixed, slowly growing function (say f(n)) of the input size. The classes f(n)-NP are defined in order to classify such languages; this is related to work of Kintala and Fischer. We show that several natural problems, involving Boolean satisfiability, graph colouring and Hamiltonian circuits are complete for f(n)-NP, and obtain in passing some new languages which are logspace complete for P.
Multicolouring is a natural generalization of graph colouring. We prove in Chapter 4 that determining whether a graph is (r,s)-colourable is NP-complete whenever s > 2r. This extends a result of Irving concerning the case s = 2r + 1. We also consider the complexity of some graph homomorphism problems.
In Chapter 5 we first give a polynomial time algorithm for 3-colouring graphs G whose minimum degree is > (8/ 15)|V(G)|. We then consider separability of disjoint pairs of languages, and obtain NP-hardness results for certain promise problems involving colouring.
The final Chapter concerns a problem of partitioning graphs subject to certain restrictions. We prove that several subproblems are NP-complete.

Advisor: Welsh, D
Politics, the military, and national security in Jordan, 1955-1967

This study argues that the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan survived the years between the signing of the Baghdad Pact in 1955 and the outbreak of the June 1967 war due primarily to the cohesion of its National Security Establishment (NSE), a ruling coalition of security and foreign policy professionals from the monarchy, the political elite, and the military. By examining the national security policymaking process in Jordan between 1955 and 1967, this study shows that NSE members often disagreed over the means of protecting Jordanian national security, but agreed on the ultimate end of security policy: the preservation of the Hashemite monarchy and the protection of the territorial integrity of Jordan.
This thesis examines in detail the foreign and domestic challenges to Jordanian national security during the kingdom's most turbulent period. The thesis makes extensive use of primary sources from the British, American, and Jordanian archives, Arabic and English language memoirs, and interviews with surviving Jordanian decisionmakers. In addition, the study builds on the work of previous scholars by making use of the published literature on Jordan. The first three chapters are organised thematically, while the remaining chapters are organised chronologically.
Biophysical studies of membrane protein structure and function

Membrane proteins play a key role in numerous physiological processes such as transport, energy transduction in respiratory and photosynthetic systems, and signal transduction, and are of great pharmaceutical interest, comprising more than 60% of known drug targets. However, crystallisation of membrane proteins, and G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) in particular, still relies heavily on the use of protein engineering strategies, which have been shown to hamper protein activity. Here, a range of biophysical methods were used to study the structure and function of two membrane proteins, a prokaryotic peptide transporter, PepTSo and a GPCR, neurotensin receptor 1 (NTS1), using different membrane reconstitution methods to study the proteins in a native-like environment. Firstly, using the pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) method of double electron-electron resonance (DEER) the conformation of PepTSo reconstituted into lipid bilayers was assessed and compared to previous structural data obtained from crystallography and modelling. The influence of the membrane potential and the presence of substrate on the conformational heterogeneity of this proton-coupled transporter were investigated. Secondly, NTS1 purification was optimized for biophysical study. Cysteine mutants were created and a labelling protocol was developed and optimized for fluorophore and nitroxide labelling studies. NTS1 was then studied by continuous-wave EPR, to assess the influence of ligand on local protein dynamics, and to assess the structure of a receptor segment known as helix 8, that was proposed to be an α-helix, but was only observed to be helical in one of the NTS1 crystallographic studies. Ensemble and single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET), and DEER were combined to study the dimerisation behaviour of NTS1, showing novel dynamics of the interfacial associations. Finally, the signalling mechanism of NTS1 was also investigated using microscale thermophoresis (MST) to assess the affinity of the receptor for G protein in vitro in the absence of ligand, or in the presence of agonist or antagonist. MST measurements were performed in detergent and in nanodiscs of different lipid compositions, to assess the influence of the lipid environment on receptor function. In summary, this thesis demonstrates the potential of biophysical techniques to study various aspects of membrane protein structure and function in native-like lipid systems, complementing e.g. structural data obtained from crystallographic studies with functional data for membrane proteins in more native environments, as well as shedding light on protein dynamics. The work presented here provides novel insights into PepTSo transport, and in particular into NTS1 structure, signalling, and oligomerisation, opening up several avenues for future research.

Keywords: microscale thermophoresis
fluorescence
peptide transport
GPCR
membrane protein
FRET
G protein-coupled receptor
PepTSo
electron paramagnetic resonance
EPR
neurotensin receptor
MST
Advisor: Watts, A
Penelope: a study in the manipulation of myth

Mythological figures play a number of roles in literature: they may, of course, appear in person as developed characters, but they may also contribute more indirectly, as part of the substratum from which rhetorical argument or literary characterisation are constructed, or as a background against which other literary strategies (for example, the rewriting of epic or the appropriation of Greek culture by the Romans) can be marked out. This thesis sets out to examine the way in which the figure of Penelope emerges from unknown origins, acquires portrayal in almost canonical form in Homer's Odyssey, and then takes part in the subsequent interplay of Homeric and other literary allusions throughout later Classical literature (with chapters focusing particularly on fifth-century Greek tragedy, Hellenistic poetry, and Augustan poetry). In particular, it focuses on the manner in which, despite the potential complexities of the character and the possible variants in her story, she became quintessentially a stereotypical figure. In addition to considering example where Penelope is evoked by name, a case is also made for the thesis that allusion, or intertextual reference, could also evoke Penelope for an ancient audience. A central point of discussion is what perception of Penelope would be called to mind by intertextual reference. The importance of approaching relationships between ancient texts in intertextual terms rather terms of strict "allusion" is thus demonstrated. The formation of the simplified picture is considered in the light of folk-tale motifs, rhetorical simplification of myth, and favoured story patterns. The appendices include a summary of the myth of Penelope with all attested variants, and a comprehensive list of explicit references to her in classical literature.

Keywords: Penelope
Hellenistic poetry
Greek tragedy
Augustan poetry
Homer
Advisor: Rutherford, R
Lenoir, Quatremère and the hermeneutic significance of the Musée des Monuments français

This thesis proposes an interpretation of the Musée des Monuments français in Paris (1795-1816) in conjunction with Quatremère de Quincy's contemporary writings on the museum in general. The aim of this is twofold: Firstly, to identify and explore the significance of the Musée as an important instance in the history of the modern museum institution; and, secondly, to offer new insight into Quatremère's celebrated critique against the institution in general, and the Musée des Monuments in particular. Through an examination of the Musée's history and its intellectual context, alongside a detailed description of its layout/ its collections and their arrangement, informed by contemporary reports and criticism, as well as the lengthy writings of its creator and curator Alexandre Lenoir, the project's key features are identified and analysed. Subsequently, the main aim of the Musée is seen as a quest for identity and order in history, through the medium of art. Furthermore, the Musée is identified as ultimately transcending its historicist basis, through a poetic engagement with its various fragments - both literal and metaphorical. At the same time, a close reading of Quatremère's texts relating to the museum reveals that, across considerable ambiguity, the concerns which led him to address the institution in the first place also centred around the problem of history and its representation in art. Through an examination of numerous points of rapprochement, the conflict between Quatremère and the Musée des Monuments is revealed as largely circumstantial, while a final difference emerges through this reconciliation, pertaining to the Musée's ultimately poetic character.
Tree cover in the early Holocene in temperate Europe and implications for the practice of re-wilding in nature conservation

This thesis addresses the methodological challenges of determining the variability of large herbivore populations through time and their impact on European vegetation.
Large herbivores are at the heart of conservation policy. However, opinions widely diverge on whether we should aim for fewer herbivores and managed populations or, on the contrary as advocated by the rewilding movement, more herbivores and self-regulating populations acting as ecosystem engineers. This controversy has roots in a debate regarding the nature of ecosystems before the prevalence of human activities. Baseline ecosystems are either described as continuous forest cover with passive large herbivores, or, in contrast, as mosaics with patchy forest cover driven inter alia by bison, aurochs and horses, now rare or extinct in Europe. The main obstacle in moving this debate forward is a poor understanding of large-herbivore densities in the past.
I analysed modern pollen and spore assemblages from known environmental settings to improve palaeoecological interpretation of fossil assemblages dating from the pre-human (baseline) period. The sites investigated are the rewilded grasslands of the Oostvaardersplassen (The Netherlands), the mosaic habitats of The New Forest (UK) and the old-growth closedcanopy forest of Białowieża (Poland).
I demonstrate that the common practice of interpreting pollen percentages fails to estimate past forest cover in situations with natural grazing. As an explanation, I suggest that pollen productivity fluctuates with biotic factors such as herbivory and canopy shading. As a result, new insights into the baseline debate require additional lines of evidence. In this thesis, I develop an existing methodology to reconstruct past herbivore presence using fossil dung fungal spores. I synthesise current knowledge of this method with an emphasis on spore identification and, finally, I demonstrate that dung fungal spore abundance in lake sediments can be translated into large herbivore numbers.
The evidence presented in this thesis contributes to the debate on re-wilding and addresses a fundamental challenge of nature conservation in the human-dominated landscapes of Europe.

Advisor: Willis, K
Bhagwat, S
Under Mount Roraima: the revitalization of a shamanic landscape and practice

Humans have unique capacities to enhance and degrade landscapes. Many indigenous peoples embody conceptual systems that perceive, value and interact within landscapes differently than capitalist models of conservation and development. This thesis examines the spiritual ecology of the circum-Roraima landscape atop the Guiana Shield in South America. An extensive interdisciplinary literature review contextualizes primary data collected during 15 months of multi-sited ethnogeographic fieldwork among Pemon and Ka'pon members of the Carib linguistic family. Data in the form of narratives are interpreted within the theoretical framework of landscape that links subfields of historical, spiritual and political ecology. A detailed research program designed to collect qualitative emic data draws methods from ethnography, ethnoecology, historical ecology, grounded theory and decolonizing methodologies. An analysis of the adaptive capacities of situated spiritual ecological knowledge and practices is an important component of this research, since this dimension of landscape is often neglected in conservation and development studies. Ultimately, the project documents and analyzes endangered knowledge systems, reveals new historical details of the syncretic Areruya highland revitalization movement and articulates a shamanic land ethic.

Keywords: Guyana
shamanism
Amerindian
spiritual ecology
Advisor: Thornton, T
Modelling the transition from channel-veins to PSBs in the early stage of fatigue tests

Dislocation channel-veins and persistent slip bands (PSBs) are characteristic dislocation configurations that are of interest to both industry and academia. However, existing mathematical models are not adequate to describe the mechanism of the transition between these two states. In this thesis, a series of models are proposed to give a quantitative description to such a transition. The full problem has been considered from two angles.
Firstly, the general motion and instabilities of arbitrary curved dislocations have been studied both analytically and numerically. Then the law of motion and local expansions are used to track the shapes of screw segments moving through channels, which are believed to induce dislocation multiplication by cross-slip.
The second approach has been to investigate the collective behavior of a large number of dislocations, both geometrically necessary and otherwise. The traditional method of multiple scales does not apply well to describe the pile-up of two arrays of dislocations of opposite signs on a pair of neighbouring glide planes in two dimensional space. Certain quantities have to be more accurately defined under the multiple-scale coordinates to capture the much more localised resultant stress caused by these dislocation pairs. Through detailed calculations, one-dimensional dipoles can be homogenised to obtain some insightful results both on a local scale where the dipole pattern is the key diagnostic and on a macroscopic scale on which density variations are of most interest. Equilibria of dislocation dipoles in a two-dimensional regular lattice have been also studied. Some natural transitions between different patterns can be found as a result of geometrical instabilities.

Keywords: fatigue
plasticity
multi-scale analysis
persistent slip bands
dislocations
Advisor: Chapman, S
Music, dances, and videos: identity making and the cosmopolitan imagination in the southern Philippines

This ethnography examines the processes in which rooted but overlapping forms of cosmopolitan engagements implicate the Tausug imagination of collectivity. It investigates Tausug expression of connection and belonging as they find themselves entangled into global cultural flow and caught up in the state and secessionist politics of attachment. Utilising methodological and theoretical approaches engendered by visual and material anthropology, the ethnography locates rooted cosmopolitan imagination in the works and lives of creative but marginalised and often silenced Tausug cultural agents engaged in street-based production, circulation, and consumption of popular music and dance videos on compact discs. The ethnography follows these cosmopolitan expressions as they are being imagined, embodied, reproduced, and shared by and across Tausug communities in the Zamboanga peninsula, the Sulu archipelago, and beyond through the digital spaces of the internet and cross-border flow of the videos. How the translocality of imaginaries reflected on the videos play out in everyday life and the broader politics of representation are demonstrated here as vital to the understanding of Tausug imagined community as an open, flexible, and dynamically engaging Muslim society despite long-standing political turbulence and economic uncertainty in their midst. Saliently, the thesis argues that Tausug cosmopolitanism cannot be reduced into a phenomenon driven by the expansive currents of Western-led globalisation. Rather, Tausug cosmopolitanism constitutes both continuity of and departure from past forms of translocal connections of Zamboanga and Sulu, which as a region was once integrated to a pre-colonial Southeast Asian emporium and continually through varying ways of connectedness. Old and new global processes come into play in shaping the everyday production of Tausug imaginaries inevitably rendering Tausug identity formation as a trajectory rather than an unchanging fact of being. Drawing from the Tausug ethnographic experience, the thesis contends that rooted cosmopolitanism does not necessarily constitute a singular condition but rather a contested and distinctively multifaceted phenomenon.

Keywords: ethno-nationalism
improvisation
Islam
dance
identity
ethnicity
small media
cosmopolitanism
materiality
embodiment
music
creativity
collaborative ethnography
media piracy
Advisor: Banks, M
A Bayesian approach to optimal sensor placement

By "intelligently" locating a sensor with respect to its environment it is possible to minimize the number of sensing operations required to perform many tasks. This is particularly important for sensing media which provide only "sparse" data, such as tactile sensors and sonar. In this thesis, a system is described which uses the principles of statistical decision theory to determine the optimal sensing locations to perform recognition and localization operations. The system uses a Bayesian approach to utilize any prior object information (including object models or previously-acquired sensory data) in choosing the sensing locations.

Advisor: Durrant-Whyte, H