VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The energy heterologue: the EU-Russia energy dialogue, 2000-2012
Keywords: Energy Dialogue
Russia
EU
Energy

The EU-Russia Energy Dialogue was launched in October 2000. Its goal was a binding energy agreement between Russia and the European Union, and possibly a wider political partnership. Today, however, the Energy Dialogue seems all but forgotten. How and why did the EU-Russia Energy Dialogue fail to define and create a legally binding energy partnership?
There is scant literature about the Energy Dialogue. To the limited extent that the literature addresses the failure, it identifies either ideational, political, economic, geo- economic or institutional variables. But this separation is artificial. To bridge this divide I have developed a novel analytical framework using narratives and Bakhtin’s theory of dialogue. In this respect, the thesis is ideational or constructivist. However, unlike conventional constructivist accounts, which tend to downplay politics, this account emphasises power and conflict: Not dialogue as dual meaning, but many meanings, or ‘heterologue’. Narratives, as opposed to variables, are always in flux.
To answer the how question: The dialogue failed because it could not forge a common narrative for the EU-Russia energy trade. Russia sought investment, whereas the EU wanted legal reform. Yet, the Energy Dialogue was a heterologue of conflicting narratives, both between and within Russia and the EU. I have coined six narrative clusters, used as Weberian ideal types: The ‘EUropean’, ‘EU15/25/27’, ‘Euro-Asian’, ‘Dual State’, ‘Statist’ and ‘Post-Imperial’ narratives.
To answer the why question: Narratives unfold in time-space, and the initial misgivings were exacerbated by pre-existing narrative divergences (chapter 1), but also by subsequent political (chapter 2), business (chapter 3), geo-economic (chapter 4) and legal developments (chapter 5) – all influenced by the ebbs and flows of world oil prices. Thus, the failure of the Energy Dialogue was never pre-determined, or caused by a singular factor or event. It was shaped in the multidimensional, unfolding time-space of Russo-European relations.
The design of inducement prize contests for research and innovation
Keywords: Contests
Research and development
Economics
Prizes
Innovation

Inducement prize contests, where a monetary prize is offered for a specified technological achievement, are increasingly popular means of incentivising research and innovation. Such prizes are often modelled by the rent-seeking Tullock contest, or an all-pay auction. However, the direct application of such models can overlook some particular features of technological competition. This thesis addresses three such features.
The first model notes that preliminary prizes are often part of contest designs. A two-round Tullock model is used to investigate a potential motivation for offering such prizes when contestants have different productivities. A designer can identify and purchase the rights to the more productive technology where the award of the preliminary prize is conditional on the winner licensing his technology to other contestants. In this way, endowing a preliminary round results in the potential for increased second round productivity, but at the cost of a reduced second round prize. Such a structure is optimal when the productivities are sufficiently different.
In the second model, it is noted that expenditures in inducement prize contests are often too large to be explained by the cash prize alone. There usually exists a final consumer application of the research. This chapter examines how different types of prizes arise by considering the informational content of winning and the effect this has on quality differentiation in when there is an established quality leader. A purely informational 2 prize influences investment decisions and also the qualities offered in the market. The main result is that some prizes may aim to select the highest quality firm as often as possible, whereas other prizes may aim to reward the entrant only if a significant improvement in quality is made.
In the third model, prizes are not the only instruments available to contest designers. In particular, subsidy of spending may be possible. This chapter uses an intuitive interpretation of the Tullock contest to offer a matching-funds instrument to a budget constrained principal. It is shown that symmetric prize/subsidy contest designs may be optimal even in the context of contestant asymmetry, in contrast to most existing contest design models. It is also shown that if only one subsidy is offered, it is always to the weaker contestant. The role of contest accuracy in these findings is also considered
Local structure/property relationships in functional materials
Keywords: manganites
canonical systems
superconductors
magnetism

It is increasingly being realised that localised deviations from the average structure can play an important role in a material's properties, and hence an understanding of these deviations is essential when constructing a coherent picture of a system. In this thesis, both neutron and X-ray total scattering data have been collected and used to reveal information on three canonical systems: the high-temperature superconductor YBa2Cu3O7-x; the parent compound of the colossal magnetoresistive manganites, LaMnO3; and the oldest known magnetic material, Fe3O4. Reverse Monte Carlo refinements-using the RMCProfile implementation of the algorithm-have been used as the principal analysis technique, and the functionality of the RMCProfile program has been extended to allow the refinement of magnetic systems involving substitutional disorder. For YBa2Cu3O7-x, the focus of this thesis is on the apical Cu{O bond length. This is shown to have a bimodal distribution, but correlations in the displacements of both atoms disguise this fact in the average structure, thus resolving the apparent controversy that had existed between local- and average-structure probes. LaMnO3 displays (what was thought to be) a simple order{disorder transition that results in the Jahn-Teller distortion becoming invisible in the average structure above ~ 750 K. Here it is shown that in fact the transition is more complicated, and involves a change in the symmetry of the Jahn-Teller distortion, whereby the long Mn-O bonds move from being opposite one another in the octahedra to being adjacent to one another. This new distortion still breaks the degeneracy of the system, and is consistent with a wide range of existing observations. Finally the low temperature structure of Fe3O4 is examined using the updated RMCProfile code. The refinements show sensitivity to local structure variations, producing a bimodal Fe atom bond valence distribution. In addition, the refined magnetic spin configuration is presented, providing the first detailed description of the low-temperature magnetic structure. It is found to be a canted ferrimagnet, and appears to be consistent with Cc symmetry.
Study of two mouse mutants to identify novel neurodegenerative pathways
Keywords: oxidative stress
neurodegeneration
transcription factor
ENU
mouse mutants

Neurodegenerative disorders (NDD) are an ever-increasing burden on healthcare; consequently, elucidating the mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration (ND) is critical for the development of effective treatments for these diseases. In order to unravel the molecular pathways underlying movement disorders and identify new genes involved in ND, two ataxic mouse mutants characterised by cell death in the cerebellum were studied in detail using a combination of in vitro and in vivo techniques. The robotic mouse demonstrated the key role of a transcription factor, Af4, in Purkinje cell (PC) survival and how only small changes in the levels of a single transcriptional cofactor could deleteriously affect normal cerebellum function. Expression array studies of the robotic PCs revealed the first confirmed targets of Af4-mediated transcription, including insulin-like growth factor 1 (Igf-1). It was demonstrated that Igf-1 is critical for PC survival, highlighting the role of the IGF-1 signalling pathway as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of cerebellar ataxia in humans. Detailed analysis of the bella mutant demonstrated that ataxia and apoptotic cerebellar degeneration is caused by loss of the oxidative resistance 1 (Oxr1) gene. In vitro modelling experiments went on to show that the levels of this previously uncharacterised gene are critical for controlling the sensitivity of neuronal cells to oxidative stress (OS). Moreover, this study showed that Oxr1 was up-regulated both in human and pre-symptomatic mouse models of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), demonstrating that Oxr1 was an early marker of ROS defence, prior to pathology, and potentially a novel neuroprotective factor in NDD. Preliminary interaction studies show that Oxr1 is likely to be a multi-functional protein that forms complexes with proteins known to be mutated in NDD. Thus, the study of both the robotic and the bella mouse has demonstrated the value of the phenotype-driven approach to investigate novel neurodegenerative pathways.
Some problems in algebraic topology
Keywords: MSC2010: 55P45
Hopf invariant
Lusternik-Schnirelmann
category
Whitehead product
nilpotency
fibration
cocategory

In his thesis we are concerned with certain numerical invariants of homotopy type akin to the Lusternik-Schnirelmann category and cocategory. In a series of papers I. Bernstein, T. Ganea, and P.J. Hilton developed the concepts of the category and weak category of a topological space. They also considered the related concepts of conilpotency and cup product length of a space and the weak category of a map. Later T. Ganea gave another definition of category and weak category (which we shall write as G-cat and G-wcat) in terms of vibrations and cofibrations and hence this dualizes easily in the sense of Eckmann-Hilton. We find the relationships between these invariants and then find various examples of spaces which show that the invariants are all different except cat and G-cat. The results are contained in the following theorem. The map e:B−>OmegaSigmaB is the natural embedding. All the invariants are normalized so as to take the value 0 on contractible spaces. THEOREM Let B have the homotopy type of a simply connected CW-complex, then catB=G−catBgeqG−wcatBgeqwcatBgeqwcategeqconilBgeqcup−longB and furthermore all the inequalities can occur. All the examples are spaces of the form B=Sqcupalphaen where alphainpin−1(Sq). When B is of this form, we obtain conditions for the category and the weak categories of B to be less than or equal to one of the terms of Hopf invariants of alpha. We use these conditions to prove the examples. We then prove the dual theorem concerning the relationships between the invariants cocategory, weak cocategory, nilpotency and Whitehead product length. THEOREM Let A be countable CW-complex, then cocatAgeqwcocatAgeqnilAgeqW−longA and furthermore all the inequalities can occur. The proof is not dual to the first theorem, though the examples we use to show that the inequalities can exist are all spaces with two non-zero homotopy groups. The most interesting of these examples is the space A with 2 non-zero homotopy groups, mathbbZ in dimension 2 and mathbbZ4 in dimension 7 with k-invariant u4inH8(mathbbZ,2;mathbbZ4). This space is not an H-space, but has weak cocategory 1. The condition wcocatAleq1 is equivalent to the fact that d is homotopic to 0 in the fibration D−d−>A−e−>OmegaSigmaA. In order to show that wcocat A = 1 we have to calculate to cohomology ring of OmegaSigmaK(mathbbZ,2). The method we use to do this is the same as that used to calculate the cohomology ring of OmegaSigmaSn+1 using James' reduced product construction. Finally we show that for the above space A the fibration OmegaA−g−>AS−f−>A has a retraction ho such that hocircg is homotopic to 1 even though A is not an H-space.
Cryogenic phonon-scintillation detectors  with NTD germanium readout
Keywords: Particle Physics
NTD germanium
Dark Matter

Cryogenic detectors are an advanced technology for both dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay searches, having the key advantage of a range of possible absorber materials that can be used for the detectors. Neutron transmutation doped germanium sensors are highly sensitive thermometers ideal for use at milli kelvin temperatures, with a simple repeatable resistance temperature relation. To discriminate between candidate events and background events simultaneous measurements can be made of the energy deposited in the detector as phonons and the energy emitted by the absorber crystal as scintillation light.
Phonon detectors with a calcium tungstate or calcium molybdate crystal as the target and an NTD sensor as a thermometer were made in Oxford, along with a light detector with a light-absorbing silicon layer on a sapphire crystal, also with an NTD thermometer. A system of electronics was designed and tested in Oxford to bias and readout the NTD thermometers, while the setup inside the cryostat was developed to provide a thermally and mechanically stable shielded environment for the detectors. As part of this, prototype semi-rigid kapton cabling for use in the EDELWEISS experiment was installed and tested in the cryostat.
Three different NTD germanium sensor types were characterized and calibrated in the cryostat and two of these selected for use on the phonon and light detectors. The detectors were operated at temperatures as low as 9 mK and tested with radioactive sources to produce energy spectra. Baseline resolutions of 1.7 keV and 2.5 keV, respectively, were achieved for the calcium molybdate and calcium tungstate phonon detectors. A working scintillation light detector was demonstrated as part of a phonon-scintillation detector module with a suggested application in double-beta decay searches.
The role of Wee1 in the hypoxia-induced DNA damage response and its potential as a therapeutic target
Keywords: Wee1 inhibitor
DNA damage response
Hypoxia

The majority of tumours have a poor vasculature which results in low oxygen supply. This, coupled with the high oxygen demand often leads to regions of hypoxia. The physiological relevance of this includes resistance to radiotherapy and chemotherapy, as well as activation of specific signalling cascades. Chk1, a component of the DNA damage response, is activated in acute hypoxia even in the absence of DNA damage. Loss or inhibition of Chk1 sensitises cells to hypoxia/reoxygenation. Wee1 is purportedly a downstream target of Chk1 and this study suggests this is the case in mammalian cells. Wee1 is involved in G2-M progression; inhibitors of Wee1 force cells into premature mitosis causing damage as well as radiosensitising cells even under hypoxic conditions.
Wee1 also regulates genomic stability via inhibition of the endonuclease Mus81-Eme1 in S phase cells. Previous reports suggest damage induced by Wee1 inhibition is Mus81 dependent however no evidence for this was seen in this study in normoxia or hypoxia. However, a novel finding was the involvement of Mus81 in reoxygenation-induced restart suggesting this nuclease does play a significant role in cellular adaptation to hypoxia.
Overall Wee1 inhibitors have been shown to be effective in normoxic and hypoxic conditions and successfully radiosensitise hypoxic cells which are usually resistant to therapy. This suggests this combination treatment should be investigated further in clinical studies.
Terence and the verb ‘to be’ in Latin: contractions, sigmatic ecthlipsis, and some clitic characteristics of esse
Keywords: sigmatic ecthlipsis
esse
Terence
Copula
clitics

The main topic of the thesis is a discussion of the contraction of esse (-st < est , -'s < -es), a widespread phenomenon in Latin comedy, generally known as ‘prodelision’.
The thesis collects evidence for contracted forms from a large variety of sources (e.g. inscriptions, Sabellian languages and ancient grammarians) and analyses their transmission in the manuscript tradition of Latin authors. Contracted forms appear to be widespread but are neglected by or puzzling to editors. They are not misspellings, abbreviations, or representations of a sandhi phenomenon related to elision (‘prodelision’), but are clitic forms of the verb esse, showing phonetic reduction. The thesis discusses their linguistic significance, relying in particular on analysis of their behaviour in Terence: auxiliary or copula esse is clitic and its standard position seems to be clause-final, attached to the participle or predicate noun or adjective.
Second, the thesis analyses another complex phenomenon of early Latin, the prosodical omission of final -s before a consonant (sigmatic ecthlipsis), relying on a database of all Terence's lines potentially involving it. Metrical evidence appears to be limited to cases in which a participle or predicate noun or adjective precedes a form of esse beginning with s-, thus confirming the prosodical distinctiveness of such a sequence. The evidence of sigmatic ecthlipsis thus ties in closely with that of contraction.
The findings of the thesis have philological and editorial implications. First, they throw light on orthographic, phonetic, prosodic, and syntactic aspects of the verb ‘to be’ in Latin. It has a strong bond with the participle and predicate noun or adjective and may either be reduced phonetically in combination with such hosts, or participate in a simplification of -ss- which it may share with its host. Second, transmitted contracted spellings or readings betraying a misunderstanding of them should be given full consideration by editors and not disregarded. Contracted spellings might be restored in other conditions since manuscripts are often not trustworthy when transmitting uncontracted forms. Contracted forms may be stylistically motivated. They occur in comedy particularly in spoken metres, and in late Latin become a spelling archaism. Finally, sigmatic ecthlipsis in Terence occurs for certain only in restricted conditions: the editorial practice of printing it wherever it is possible even if not necessary is misleading.
The molecular epidemiology of HCV and related viruses in Africa
Keywords: emergence
Hepatitis C Virus
recombination
phylogeography
phylogenetics

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes severe illness in millions of people worldwide, but the epidemic strains responsible for most infections arose within the past hundred years and represent only a small part of total HCV diversity. In this thesis I combine laboratory and computational methods to study HCV in Africa. I aim to characterize its current genetic diversity and its historical transmission prior to the global HCV epidemic.
In Chapter 2 I begin by screening samples from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for HCV and the related human pegivirus. I find high HCV sequence diversity, including a putative new subtype, and find significantly higher HCV prevalence in those born before 1950.
Chapter 3 continues this screening, and combines the sequences obtained with those from online databases. Using molcular clock methods I estimate that genotype 4 originated in central Africa around 1733, and that multiple lineages, including subtype 4a which dominates the HCV epidemic in Egypt, have moved to north Africa since ~1850.
In Chapter 4 I analyse sequences sampled from an elderly population in Kinshasa to estimate HCV’s transmission history there during the 20th century. The results indicate a rapid increase in HCV transmission between 1950 and 1970 in multiple independent lineages. Possible causes of this increase are discussed. This study population also exhibits high HCV genetic diversity, including the second genotype 7 sample discovered to date.
Finally, Chapter 5 uses a range of sequencing techniques, including RNAseq, to characterise two putative HCV recombinants from Cameroon. I confirm that both sequences are recombinants, and generate a full genome sequence for one. I also develop new tools to distinguish between dual infection and recombination in next-generation sequencing data, and discuss how recombination might affect HCV diversity and treatment.
The synthesis and reactivity of Group 4 metal hydrazides
Keywords: Organometallics
Hydrazides
Kinetics
Mechanism
Group 4
Stoichiometric Reactivity

This thesis describes the synthesis, characterisation and reactivity of diamide-amine and bis(cyclopentadienyl) supported Group 4 hydrazido(2-) compounds towards unsaturated molecules.
The mechanisms of these transformations are probed using a range of structural, kinetic and computational methods.
Disorder in an exactly solvable quantum spin liquid
Keywords: disorder
Kitaev
spin liquid

We investigate the properties of the Kitaev honeycomb model with both site dilution and exchange randomness. Embarking on this work, we review disorder in some strongly correlated electron systems, including spin-½ and spin-1 Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chains, two dimensional Heisenberg antiferromagnets, the cuprates and graphene. We outline some aspects of resonating valence bond phases, valence bond solids, spin liquids and quantum computation that are pertinent to an understanding of the Kitaev model. The properties of the Kitaev model without disorder are discussed and it is found to be a critical spin liquid, with algebraic correlations in two spin operators sigma^{alpha}_{i}sigma^{alpha}_{j}, where i and j are either end of a link of type alpha = x, y or z on the honeycomb lattice.
The Kitaev model is exactly solvable and we show that this remains so in the presence of site dilution and exchange randomness. We find that vacancies bind a flux. In the gapped phase, a vacancy forms an effective paramagnetic moment. With two or more vacancies we describe the interaction of their effective moments and show that a finite density of vacancies leads to a divergent macroscopic susceptibility at small fields.
In the gapless phase the effective moment has a susceptibility that is, to leading order at small fields, chi(h)~log(1/h). Interaction between the moments from two vacancies on opposite sublattices cuts off this divergence in susceptibility at a large but finite constant. Two vacancies on the same sublattice behave quite differently and we find the combined susceptibility is parametrically larger than that of an isolated vacancy, chi(h)sim [h(log(1/h))^{3/2}]^{-1}.
We also investigate the effects of slowly varying, quenched disorder in exchange coupling. We demonstrate that this does not qualitatively affect the susceptibility but show that the heat capacity C ~ T^{2/z}, where z is a measure of the disorder and increases from one with increasing disorder strength.
Non-Gaussian fluctuations in active suspensions
Keywords: stochastic processes
statistical physics
fluid mechanics
elasticity
diffusion

An active particle converts energy to motion. An active suspension is a population of active particles, typically microscale, that are immersed in a viscous and/or elastic medium.
This thesis is about the statistics of active suspensions. Unlike a suspension at thermodynamic equilibrium, we show that an active suspension inherently has non-Gaussian fluctuations due to an interplay between self-driven constituents and microscopic physics. Consequently, the diffusion of a tracer in an active suspension is not Gaussian.
Our results explain some experiments with active suspensions that contain either swimming microorganisms or molecular motors. We provide different models for the fluctuations in dilute active suspensions, ranging from phenomenological to exact. The fundamental ingredient of such non-Gaussian fluctuations is an ultraslow convergence to the central limit theorem caused by truncated power-laws. Without any truncation, there is an intimate relation to the generalized central limit theorem.
We suggest similar effects occur in many other systems. These may be associated with probability distributions that appear to be exponential.