VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Health and responsibility: the relationship between parental illness and children's work in South Africa
Keywords: child caregivers
young carers
children and youth
Africa
parentification
orphaned and vulnerable children

South Africa faces a high disease burden and a limited public capacity to provide care to the ill. Research from the UK and sub-Saharan Africa suggests the burden often falls to children, who also take over domestic responsibilities necessary for household survival. To date, there is limited research exploring the relationship between parental illness and children’ responsibilities, or the moderating effect of socio-demographic variables.
The thesis is comprised of three research phases. The first is a literature review to summarise existing research and identify substantial gaps, which included limited amounts of quantitative evidence on this topic and a lack of a tool to as-sess child responsibility that had both been adapted to the South African context and included caring responsibilities. The second research phase consists of an exploratory study of n = 349 children living with ill adults in urban and rural communities in the Western Cape province of South Africa to investigate their range of responsibility, which included caring for an ill parent, household chores, childcare, and income-generation. The resulting data were used to create the Child Responsibility Measure, which assesses the range and time burden of re-sponsibilities among South African children.
The third research phase is a cross-sectional quantitative survey of n = 2,476 pairs of children and parents from urban and rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Resulting data on parental health, socio-demographics, and child responsibilities were analysed with multiple regres-sions to determine drivers of children’s responsibility. Among the findings were that parental illnesses increase the likelihood children provide care and have larger responsibility workloads, and girls are more likely to take on all types of responsibility excluding income-generating activities, which were more common in boys. Additionally, while urban children were more likely to provide personal care, rural children had greater responsibility workloads.
A fictitious domain approach for hybrid simulations of eukaryotic chemotaxis
Keywords: Finite Elements
Fictitious domain method
PDEs
Chemotaxis

Chemotaxis, the phenomenon through which cells respond to external chemical signals, is one of the most important and universally observable in nature. It has been the object of considerable modelling effort in the last decades. The models for chemotaxis available in the literature cannot reconcile the dynamics of external chemical signals and the intracellular signalling pathways leading to the response of the cells. The reason is that models used for cells do not contain the distinction between the extracellular and intracellular domains.
The work presented in this dissertation intends to resolve this issue. We set up a numerical hybrid simulation framework containing such description and enabling the coupling of models for phenomena occurring at extracellular and intracellular levels. Mathematically, this is achieved by the use of the fictitious domain method for finite elements, allowing the simulation of partial differential equations on evolving domains. In order to make the modelling of the membrane binding of chemical signals possible, we derive a suitable fictitious domain method for Robin boundary elliptic problems. We also display ways to minimise the computational cost of such simulation by deriving a suitable preconditioner for the linear systems resulting from the Robin fictitious domain method, as well as an efficient algorithm to compute fictitious domain specific linear operators. Lastly, we discuss the use of a simpler cell model from the literature and match it with our own model. Our numerical experiments show the relevance of the matching, as well as the stability and accuracy of the numerical scheme presented in the thesis.
Properties of foam/sand mixtures for tunnelling applications
Keywords: tunnelling
pipejacking

This thesis presents experimental work on foam/sand mixtures carried out in the Civil Engineering Laboratory at Oxford University, as well as the findings associated with it. This research represents the preliminary stage of a research project on Soil Conditioning Agents in Pipe Jacking and Mechanised Tunnelling, sponsored by the Pipe Jacking Association (PJA) and three water companies. The experimental work was carried out in order to evaluate the fundamental soil properties of foamed sand, in particular its compressibility, permeability and shear strength. The first chapter deals with the basic aspects of soil conditioning agents and their application to tunnelling, and provides an understanding of the fundamentals of foam behaviour. An introduction to the problems encountered in tunnelling is given. A brief study of foams and their properties is presented and the role of foams as soil conditioning agents is described. In the second chapter, a description of the foam generator used is provided. Two types of sand (fine and coarse), four types of foaming agents and a specific polymer mixture were employed for the testing. In some cases, sodium bentonite was used alone or in combination with foam and polymer. The sample preparation method, together with the results from measuring the reduction of the power input required to mix sand with foam, are presented. The third chapter presents the compression tests performed in a 75 mm Rowe cell. Results are presented as volume changed variation with the applied vertical stress. Quality control was carried out on the test results in order to evaluate the likely inconsistencies during the preparation and measurements. The most notable outcome was that for fine sand even at high pressure the final voids ratio of foam/sand mixtures after the compression remained higher than the maximum voids ratio of dry sand. Some measurements of the foam/sand mixtures permeability were also performed in the Rowe cell. Tests were carried out using the constant head principle with a "Marriotte bottle". Permeability values determined from testing are compared with indirect evaluation from the compression tests. In the fourth chapter direst shear tests in a standard shear-box are presented. Fine and coarse sand mixed with foam were test in shear under seven different vertical loads. Results are presented as plots of shear strength against horizontal deformation. Very low values of shear strength for foamed sand tests are recorded. The shear strength is plotted against the relative density index along with the experimental results from Bolton's correlation. Foamed sand shear strength values are scattered within a range below that of Bolton's Correlation. Finally, the conclusions form the test results are discussed.
Divine justification: Flavian imperial cult
Keywords: Cults - Rome
Emperor Worship - Rome
Rome - Religion
Rome - History - Flavians 69-96
Fratres Arvales

It is the aim of this thesis to examine and contrast three aspects of the Roman state imperial cult as it existed under the Julio-Claudians and Domitian: the official state cult recorded by the Arval brothers (chapter one), and the roles of the Genius of the princeps (chapter two) and the divi (chapter three) in Roman state imperial cult. I will identify fundamental remodelling of several key aspects of the cult, and argue that this reflects changes to the ideology of imperial power that the cult expressed. Specifically I will argue that the imperial cult under the Julio-Claudians expressed the dynastic and earthly sources of their power – their hereditary claim to power and the powers they were invested with by the senate – and also created a cult of personality around each individual princeps, treating them as a prince of Rome. I will show that it was exactly these aspects that were largely removed from the form of the imperial cult by the reign of Domitian. Under Domitian, rather than concentrating on the claim to power of an individual charismatic princeps, cult focussed on the Principate as an important institution in Rome that had to be maintained over individual reigns and even dynasties. As a result of these changes the princeps was also largely represented as a chief magistrate who acted for the benefit of the state. The subsidiary goal of this thesis is to suggest the possibility that the majority of this remodelling in fact took place during the reign of Vespasian, but the evidence surviving from his reign is too limited to confirm this suggestion with certainty.
Defining and explaining positive psychological outcomes in people with physical health conditions
Keywords: psychology
spinal cord injury
resilience
posttraumatic growth
physical health

Experiencing a physical health condition can have wide ranging physical and psychological outcomes for an individual, impacting on many aspects of daily living. The psychological outcomes can vary widely, from extreme psychological distress to psychological growth, and are complex and dynamic. Traditionally, research has focused on those experiencing psychological distress, despite evidence showing that many individuals are able to achieve positive psychological outcomes. The literature is unclear in defining different positive psychological outcomes, and indeed distinguishing different outcomes and processes from one another. Attention needs to be paid to the definition applied to individuals who are reporting positive psychological outcomes following physical health difficulties and further understanding the process through which individuals achieve these outcomes.
This empirical study aimed to address some of the gaps in the literature, by exploring how six individuals reporting positive psychological outcomes following spinal cord injury described and explained these outcomes. Interpretative phenomenological analysis was used to investigate the experience of these individuals. Three superordinate themes were extracted: "Living a normal life, just doing things differently", "Overcoming challenges: Determination to succeed" and "Using the resources available to me". The research supported the idea that positive psychological outcomes arise through a complex interplay between personality, cognitive and environmental factors. Theoretically, this research has implications for defining positive psychological outcomes following spinal cord injury, in addition to contributing towards future theoretical frameworks that aim to provide a basis for understanding the process through which positive psychological outcomes following spinal cord injury are achieved. Clinically, this research provides a narrative that can be used with people following spinal cord injury and also provides evidence for the use of cognitive screening measures such as appraisal style, to identify individuals who may be showing less adaptive cognitions.
An invisible terrain: John Ashbery and nature
Keywords: nature writing
John Ashbery
American poetry
nature poetry
eco-theory

This thesis reads John Ashbery as a major poetic thinker about nature whose work convenes a multitude of nature writing traditions, from classical pastoral to the 21st-century eco-sublime. Challenging a critical consensus that would cast Ashbery as either a belated romantic in search of lost nature or an arch-postmodernist who dissolves "nature" into text, this study reveals his deep historical awareness of the transmission and collision of literary ecologies. The poet who emerges delights in putting different poetic natures into contact with each other—and in humorously making nature unnatural. Surveying Ashbery’s long historical moment, the thesis uses four terms of critique—transparency, vagrancy, flow, and badness—to map his "invisible terrain."
Chapter one historicizes Ashbery’s turn to a poetics of contradictory "transparencies" during his sojourns in France from 1956-1965 and his concurrent dream of writing poems that would be like "natural landscapes" in a world of "painted ones." Chapter two considers the pastoral and anti-pastoral topoi of Ashbery’s Vietnam-era poetry and his tendency to "wander away" from political commitment. Chapter three examines Ashbery's recurrent tropes of "flow" and his tendency to literalize the stream-of-consciousness metaphor and "dissolve" his own style at decisive moments of his career. Chapter four reads the "bad" nature poetry of Ashbery’s late period (1987 to the present) as the culmination of a career-long investment in camp irony’s "good taste of bad taste" and as a response to ecological crisis. The coda, a survey of Ashbery’s critical prose, examines his penchant for “a completely new kind of realism."
Functional specialisation of GABAergic cells in the basolateral amygdala
Keywords: pain
in vivo
amygdala
GABA
hippocampus
theta oscillations
histochemistry
electrophysiology
interneuron
juxtacellular

The amygdala, in particular its basolateral part (BLA), plays a critical role in binding affective qualities to otherwise neutral stimuli, and in eliciting emotional behaviors. Plasticity of inputs to BLA projection neurons involved in emotional memory has been extensively studied. However, how BLA neurons collectively process sensory information to encode and stabilize emotional memories is unknown. Precise coordination of BLA network activities seems critical. Specifically, timed integration of salient stimuli, and synchrony with hippocampal theta oscillations appear to be important.
Recent reports suggest that GABAergic neurons may be instrumental in shaping ensemble activity in the BLA. Studies of neocortex and hippocampus showed that diverse GABAergic interneuron types play highly specific roles in coordinating network operations. The presence of similar interneuron populations in the BLA suggests comparable mechanism may govern its activities. However, GABAergic cell types and their functions have not been characterized.
In this thesis, I tested the hypothesis that GABAergic neurons innervating the BLA contribute to noxious stimulus integration and are engaged in hippocampal-amygdala synchrony in a type-dependent manner. I combined the analysis of in vivo firing of BLA neurons with their post hoc anatomical characterization. Local field potentials were recorded in dorsal hippocampus simultaneously with unit activity in the BLA of urethane-anesthetized rats. Hindpaw pinches and electrical footshocks were used as noxious stimuli. After recording, neurons were filled with Neurobiotin using juxtacellular labeling. Cells were identified on the basis of their axonal and dendritic patterns, neurochemical contents and postsynaptic targets, using light and electron microscopy.
Five types of GABAergic neurons innervating distinct targets in the BLA were unambiguously characterized. Their firing was differently coupled to hippocampal theta oscillations and noxious stimuli. This work provides a first evidence of GABAergic cell type-specific roles in coordinating BLA activities. In addition, I show that amygdala and cortical activities follow distinct rules. The cooperative actions of GABAergic neurons in the BLA may ensure timed integration of salient stimuli and ongoing brain oscillations, thereby contribute to form precise and stable emotional memories.
Nature, power and participation: an exploration of ecology and equity in Kingston, Jamaica
Keywords: Kingston
urban
environment
political ecology
Jamaica

Kingston is a city facing serious environmental challenges. In common with other Third World cities, these have usually been documented from the perspective of affluent and powerful urban residents. Very little research has explored the spatial and social distribution of environmental problems in the city, or has examined the ways that individual citizens from a variety of backgrounds understand the urban environment. These problems have often been packaged as discrete issues, when in fact they cannot be understood or alleviated without knowledge of their economic, political, and cultural aspects. Urban environmental problems require political solutions that address uneven power relations and ineffective structures of urban governance. In this thesis, I address these issues in Kingston through an application of the themes of nature, power and participation. A mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods were used to explore the ways in which urban residents from different age, gender and class backgrounds construct the city and its environmental problems. The knowledge of marginalised individuals and groups is placed in the foreground and is used to provide an alternative analysis of Kingston’s ecology. These understandings are then used to assess critically the structures of urban governance, and to suggest possible changes that could be made to these. The research confirms that there are significant environmental problems in Kingston, and that these have serious negative impacts on many urban residents. It shows that these problems are understood differently by the various social groups within the city, and that the burdens of environmental problems vary socio-spatially across the Kingston Metropolitan Area. Despite this, there is a general consensus that environmental improvement is desirable. However, for this to be achieved there need to be fundamental alterations in the social structures and political organisation of the city.
Music and text: centre and absence
Keywords: Boulez
composition
music
contemporary

This dissertation examines Boulez's notion of 'centre and absence' in relation to his use of text in composition and how his ideas have acted as a springboard for my own compositions. Boulez's writings about 'centre and absence' are investigated as well as its implementation in two vocal works: Improvisation II of Pli selon Pli and Cummings ist der Dichter. This is followed by a detailed commentary on my own music, demonstrating why and how I became interested in Boulez's notion of 'centre and absence' and the effect this has had on both my vocal and my instrumental music. The culmination of this study is my work Sense of Place, for large ensemble, which uses the novel Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino as a 'centre and absence'.
Anion-templated synthesis of functional interlocked architectures
Keywords: rotaxane
anion
templation
supramolecular
molecular machine
sensor
catenane

This thesis explores the use of anions in the design and construction of interlocked architectures for applications in anion recognition and sensing, and to function as molecular machines upon a given stimulus.
Chapter One introduces the field of anionic supramolecular chemistry focusing on host-guest chemistry and directed self-assembly. A review of the recognition and sensing of anionic guest species is given before strategies for the construction of interlocked architectures are discussed, and the potential functions of these structures considered.
Chapter Two details the development of a novel anion-templation route for the synthesis of macrocycles and rotaxanes. The versatility of this route in constructing new [2]rotaxanes is explored by varying several features of the macrocyclic component, with emphasis on creating the most powerful anion complexant. Proton NMR spectroscopy is used to probe the anion binding properties of the rotaxanes, and X-ray crystallography and MD simulations are used to rationalize anion binding trends. The possibility of synthesizing catenanes for anion recognition via this new synthetic route is also investigated.
Chapter Three investigates the appendage of transition metal complexes to rotaxanes to create interlocked host architectures capable of sensing anions via luminescence spectroscopy. The incorporation of rhenium(I) and ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes into the macrocyclic and axle component of [2]rotaxanes are described, before the anion binding studies of these structures using ¹H NMR and luminescence spectroscopy are reported.
Chapter Four describes the strategic synthesis of [2]rotaxanes designed to undergo molecular motion upon a given stimulus. Initially, the possibility of exploiting anions to stimulate the macrocyclic component of the [2]rotaxanes to translocate to a second station on the axle is investigated. The use of pyridine N-oxide as an integrated template for rotaxane formation is reported before the ability of these rotaxanes to undergo anion and pH driven molecular motion is explored. This chapter concludes with the construction of a calix[4]diquinone N-oxide containing [2]rotaxane capable of undergoing sodium- and barium-induced molecular pirouetting.
Chapter Five provides synthetic procedures and characterisation details for compounds listed in this thesis.
Chapter Six reports supplementary experimental information including titration protocols, X-ray crystal structures and MD simulations.
Palladium-catalysed cyclisations of bromoenynamides in the synthesis and applications of amidodienes
Keywords: palladium-catalysed
ynamides
organic chemistry

The aim of this work was to investigate palladium-catalysed cyclisations of bromoenynamides in the synthesis of amidodienes, which on further reaction or oxidation can lead to a diverse range of heteroaromatic systems.
Building upon work within the Anderson group on the palladium-catalysed cyclisations of bromoenynes, we have been able to successfully apply a palladium-catalysed carbopalladation/Stille coupling/electrocyclisation cascade to bromoenynamides and then further develop this to incorporate a Suzuki coupling, leading to bicyclic amidodienes which can undergo selective oxidation to a range of heteroaromatics including indolines, indoles, tetrahydroquinolines and benzazepines.
During the investigations into the cascade cyclisation, a reductive cyclisation was discovered which enabled access to a range of monocyclic amidodienes. These could subsequently be subjected to a series of Diels-Alder cycloadditions (thermal, Lewis acid-catalysed, arynes) and oxidations to afford a complimentary range of heteroaromatic systems.
Whilst this methodology was successful with bromoenynamides, extension of its application to bromoenynhydrazides, with the hope of accessing a relatively unusual range of heteroaromatic structures including indazoles, cinnolines and diazepines, proved to be more problematic.
Finally, expansion of the cascade methodology into a fully intramolecular cyclisation, enabled studies towards the synthesis of the trikentrin family of natural products to be conducted.