VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Regulation of stemness and differentiation in colorectal cancer
Keywords: oncology
stem cell biology
colon
gastroenterology
cancer stem cells
colorectal cancer
cancer biology

The cancer stem cell (CSC) model of carcinogenesis and progression posits that within a tumor lies a subpopulation of cells that solely possess the ability to initiate a tumor and to differentiate into tumor cell lineages. Although the behavior of such cells is known, the challenge is to identify factors that characterize the CSC subpopulation. In this thesis, cell lines were identified that, when grown in three-dimensions, gave rise to organized colonies containing lumens originating from differentiating cells (“lumen lines”) and to densely-packed, spherical colonies originating from non-differentiating cells (“dense lines”). A microarray comparison of the pair identified genes upregulated in dense lines, including CD55 and BMI1, and in lumen lines, including CDX1 (Chapter 3). CD55 was used to isolate CD55high CSCs via flow cytometry that are able to self-renew, differentiate, initiate more colonies, proliferate more rapidly and exhibit an increased G2/M cell cycle population as opposed to unfractionated cells. Furthermore, the CD55high cells were able to give rise to more differentiated, lumen colonies in vitro, indicating that CD55 enriches for cells possessing a capacity to differentiate, and were able to enrich the CD24highCD44high putative CSC population further (Chapter 4). CDNA induction of BMI1 and CDX1 expression led to increased clonogenicity/proliferation and decreased clonogenicity/proliferation, respectively, and incorporation of a CDX1 reporter construct into the SW1222 cell line identified CDX1+ cells as a low-expressing population of CD55 (Chapter 5). Finally, co-culture of cell lines in an in vivo-like environment with intestinal myofibroblasts promoted the CSC population by enhancing clonogenicity, proliferation and expression of CD55 (Chapter 6). The results of this thesis implicate CD55 as a potent marker of colorectal cancer stemness, link the expression of BMI1 and CDX1 to cancer stemness and differentiation, respectively, and identify a role for the in vivo stem cell niche in maintaining the CSC population.
Step IV of the muon ionization cooling experiment (MICE) and the multiple scattering of muons
Keywords: MICE
multiple scattering
muon
MuScat
ionization cooling

The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) is the first technical demonstration of muon ionization cooling, using a prototype section of a Neutrino Factory cooling channel. MICE is currently under construction at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory in the UK and will make the first cooling measurements in 2015, in Step IV of the experimental programme.
Cooling predictions in Monte Carlo simulations of Step IV were found to disagree with the predictions of the 'cooling formula', a widely-used approximation, by up to 30% in liquid hydrogen (LH2). This disagreement was shown to originate, largely, from the multiple scattering expression used in the cooling formula. It was necessary to go back to the fundamental physics of scattering to derive a more accurate expression that includes scattering from atomic electrons. A modified form of the cooling formula was derived using this expression and gave better agreement with the Monte Carlo in LH2. Predictions are given for the equilibrium emittance, using the new expression, for seven low Z materials at muon momenta of 140, 200 and 240 MeV/c.
Theories which predict the distribution of multiple scattering angles are briefly reviewed, focusing on Moliere theory and its variants, which are the most widely-used theories. The distributions predicted by these theories are used in most Monte Carlo codes but their implementation is not transparent, especially regarding the treatment of scatters with atomic electrons, which are important in low Z materials. A simple Monte Carlo model to predict multiple scattering distributions was developed that correctly treats scatters off electrons. The model gives very good agreement with measurements by the MuScat Experiment.
Investigations were made into the possibility of measuring multiple scattering in MICE Step IV, both with and without the magnetic field. Preliminary results suggest that measurements are easier with no magnetic field, where tracks are straight. Corrections to account for the resolution of the scintillating-fibre trackers are required in both cases, but these are substantially smaller when straight tracks are used.
Rethinking federalism
Keywords: federation
integration
confederation
sovereignty
federalism

This thesis is motivated by uncertainty in the academic literature surrounding the meaning of federalism and the appropriate usage of the concept to describe political systems. In particular, its use in characterising systems of regional integration which have moved beyond a strictly inter-governmental character, but not yet reached Statehood, is today highly contested, as in the case of the European Union. The established consensus that this entity constitutes a wholly novel ‘sui generis’ form, neither federal nor confederal in character, has been tempered in recent years by a growing willingness among scholars to deploy the lens of comparative federalism to analyse the polity. However, the precise relevance of the concept in this new context remains unsettled.
Can political science achieve any more definite understanding that removes such doubt? I consider this question through the perspective of the history of ideas, by examining the evolution of federalism from inception to the present day.
I argue that the history of the federal idea in the United States reveals that the heart of the problem lies in confusion over the nature of sovereignty. Ever since Philadelphia federalism has been thought to mean ‘a division of sovereignty’. However, the subsequent Civil War did appear to demonstrate that the notion of sovereignty shared between two levels of government was a false construction: either the whole or the parts could be sovereign, but not both simultaneously. This point, it seems - the indivisibility of sovereignty - was not fully taken on board afterwards in the United States and elsewhere. The thesis seeks to put this right and to systematically relate the evolving concept of federalism with the evolving and contested nature of sovereignty.
On this ground, I suggest that we clarify the definition of federalism as ‘a division of the powers flowing from sovereignty’. This in turn yields two specific varieties of ‘compound polity’ where before only one was known: the single State and multi-State federal forms. The latter has to date been an unobserved species, which, it would seem, the fact of the EU’s existence now forces us to recognize.
Religious reform, transnational poetics, and literary tradition in the work of Thomas Hoccleve
Keywords: Roman de la Rose
Regiment of Princes
Late-Medieval Italian Poetry
Nicholas Brigham
Thomas Hoccleve
George Ashby
John Lydgate
Christine de Pizan
Archbishop Thomas Arundel
Late-Medieval French Poetry
Archbishop Henry Chichele
John Gower
Eustache Deschamps
The Series
Chaucerian writing
Religious Reform
Jean de Meun
Canterbury Tales
Divine Comedy
Epistle of Cupid
Late-Medieval Religious Writing
Late-Medieval English Poetry
William Langland
Transnational Poetry
Ecclesiastical Reform
Literary Criticism
English literary tradition
Late-Medieval Church Reform
Commedia
Troilus and Criseyde
Dante Alighieri
Geoffrey Chaucer
Mum and the Sothsegger
Piers Plowman
Orthodoxy
Richard the Redeless
Heresy

This study considers Thomas Hoccleve’s role, throughout his works, as a “religious” writer: as an individual who engages seriously with the dynamics of heresy and ecclesiastical reform, who contributes to traditions of vernacular devotional writing, and who raises the question of how Christianity manifests on personal as well as political levels – and in environments that are at once London-based, national, and international. The chapters focus, respectively, on the role of reading and moralization in the Series; the language of “vice and virtue” in the Epistle of Cupid; the moral version of Chaucer introduced in the Regiment of Princes; the construction of the Hoccleve persona in the Regiment; and the representation of the Eucharist throughout Hoccleve’s works.
One main focus of the study is Hoccleve’s mediating influence in presenting a moral version of Chaucer in his Regiment. This study argues that Hoccleve’s Chaucer is not a pre-established artifact, but rather a Hocclevian invention, and it indicates the transnational literary, political, and religious contexts that align in Hoccleve’s presentation of his poetic predecessor. Rather than posit the Hoccleve-Chaucer relationship as one of Oedipal anxiety, as other critics have done, this study indicates the way in which Hoccleve’s Chaucer evolves in response to poetic anxiety not towards Chaucer himself, but rather towards an increasingly restrictive intellectual and ecclesiastical climate.
This thesis contributes to the recently revitalized critical dialogue surrounding the role and function of fifteenth-century English literature, and the effect on poetry of heresy, the church’s response to heresy, and ecclesiastical reform both in England and in Europe. It also advances critical narratives regarding Hoccleve’s response to contemporary French poetry; the role of confession, sacramental discourse, and devotional images in Hoccleve’s work; and Hoccleve’s impact on literary tradition.
British naval manpower during the French Revolutionary wars, 1793-1802
Keywords: naval history

Throughout the age of sail, with the exception of finance, there was no aspect of naval warfare that exhibited as much difficulty and anguish as manning the fleet. Finding the necessary skilled seamen to man warships was the alpha and omega of problems for the Royal Navy, as in wartime it was the first to appear with mobilisation and the last to be overcome. Manning the Royal Navy was an increasing problem throughout the eighteenth century as the Navy and British sea trade continuously expanded. This resulted in a desperate struggle for the scarce resource of skilled manpower, made most evident during the initial mobilisation from peacetime to wartime footing.
There is no doubt that the Royal Navy depended on able seamen as if they were the very lifeblood of the ships on which they served. In manning its fleets the Royal Navy had to also consider the merchant marine, which depended upon skilled mariners and supplied the British Isles with food, stores, and the economic income generated by sea trade. The task of manning the fleets proved extremely difficult and was only accomplished under great stress as both the Royal Navy and the merchant marine struggled to obtain the services of vitally important skilled mariners. Therefore the fruits of the Royal Navy’s avid search for seamen during the French Revolutionary Wars must be viewed in light of its success in dominating the oceans of the world. This research proves that the Admiralty of the British Royal Navy was as concerned and as cautious in manning warships as they were in fighting them. It also shows that much of what history has said about naval manning has been based on conjecture rather than fact. This research utilizes statistics to reanalyze naval manning and provide a basis for future research.
The impact of freedom of establishment on private international law for corporations
Keywords: corporations
regulatory competition
insolvency
freedom of establishment
applicable law
jurisdiction
forum shopping

The present thesis is concerned with private international law for corporate and insolvency disputes in the context of freedom of establishment. First, it presents the traditional rules of conflict applicable to corporate disputes that have been implemented in some major jurisdictions. Second, it analyses the relevant leading judgments of the European Court of Justice and it demonstrates the way in which, contrary to popular belief, the real seat theory has not been held contrary to freedom of establishment. The thesis then deals with the concept of letter-box companies and examines the limitations that are being placed to the use of freedom of establishment. This is followed by a juxtaposition of the factors that have lead and could lead to regulatory competition for corporate law in the USA and the EU respectively. A modest approach is taken towards the possibility of the latter occurring in the EU. Third, the thesis examines the treatment of insolency disputes in this context. A substantial part of it is dedicated to the definition of the basis for international jurisdiction for the opening of insolvency proceedings, namely the centre of main interests. It argues in favour of an objective test for the identification of the centre of main interests (COMI) and the allocations of certain burdens on both the debtor and the creditors. It then focuses on the treatment of forum shopping in the context on international insolvencies. Based on considerations of consent and economic efficiency, it suggests a definition, according to which certain transfers of the COMI should not amount to forum shopping. Finally, the thesis examines the possibility of a regulatory competition for insolvencies in the EU and seeks to demonstrate that the conditions for such a competition are more analogous between US corporate law and EU insolvency, rather than company, law.
Stable strontium isotope fractionation in marine and terrestrial environments
Keywords: geochemical cycles
strontium
foraminifera
Himalayan rivers
non-traditional stable isotopes
coccolithophores
glacial cycles
isotope proxy

The work reported in this thesis applies a new isotope tracer, stable strontium isotopes (δ88/86Sr), to address questions concerning changes in global climate that occur in response to continental weathering processes, and to constrain the modern marine geochemical Sr cycle.
Stable Sr isotopes are a relatively new geochemical proxy, and as such their behavior needs to be understood in differing forms of marine calcium carbonate, the archives from which records of past stable Sr variability in the oceans can be constructed. Foraminifera, coccoliths and corals (both aragonite and high Mg calcite) acquire δ88/86Sr values lighter than that of modern day seawater, (approximately 0.11, 0.05, 0.2 and 0.19 ‰ lighter than seawater at ~25°C respectively) providing a measureable offset which can be used to constrain the modern Sr outputs from the ocean and provide a better understanding of the modern Sr cycle.
Using foraminifera as a sedimentary archive the first marine δ88/86Sr record of seawater over the last two glacial cycles has been constructed, and used to investigate changing carbonate input and output over this 145 kyr period. Modelling of the large excursion of δ88/86Sr to heavier values during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, reveals that this is more likely to be due to local changes in seawater or post-depositional alteration, rather then whole ocean changes.
In the terrestrial environment δδ88/86Sr has been measured in the dissolved load of rivers from the Himalaya. It is found that, in general, rivers draining carbonate catchments possess lighter isotopic δ88/86Sr values than those from rivers draining silicates. Covariations of either δ88/86Sr vs. δ30Si or δ88/86Sr vs. 1/[Sr] can be used to distinguish between rivers draining different catchment areas.
A novel foldable stent graft
Keywords: structures
deployable

This dissertation concerns the structural design of medical stent grafts. A new type of an innovative stent graft has been developed. Unlike the conventional stent grafts which consist of a wire mesh and a covering membrane, the proposed stent graft can be made from a single folded sheet of material. Firstly, a detailed symmetric design of a foldable cylindrical tube for the new stent graft has been presented. Folding is achieved by dividing the structure into a series of identical elements with hill and valley folds as in origami (Japanese art of paper folding). The folding patterns allow the stent graft to be folded and expanded both radially and longitudinally. The relationships among the design of the elements, the number of elements in the circumferential and longitudinal directions and the folded dimensions of the stent graft have been derived. It has been found that compact folding in the radial direction can be achieved by increasing the number of circumferential elements. A geometric mismatch during deployment has also been identified. The elements have to deform when the structure is expanded. Optimum designs which minimise the deformation have been found. Secondly, a new stent graft with helical folds has also been designed to improve radial strength and ease the deployment process. Helical folds are introduced by adjusting the joining position of the two edges of a sheet that had been symmetrically jointed in the symmetric design. The relationships among the number of elements in one complete circumference of a helix, the helical angle and the radius of the helical type stent graft have been established. The locations for the helical folds are optimised for easy folding by considering both geometric aspects of folding and the buckling patterns of a thin-walled tube under torsion, which are found analytically. Thirdly, using numerical analysis of the finite element method (FEM) the strain level and overall deformation of the stent graft during deployment has been calculated. Finally, the stent graft has been manufactured to verify the concept. A number of prototypes of the stent graft, which are the same size as standard oesophageal and aortal stent grafts, have been produced successfully using the same materials as current stent grafts of stainless steel and shape memory alloy (SMA) sheets. The patterns of folds on the materials are produced by photochemical etching. It has also been demonstrated that the SMA stent grafts self-expand smoothly and gradually by a near body temperature.
'Destiny is not where you are now': Fashioning new Pentecostal subjectivities among young women in Calabar, Nigeria
Keywords: Nigeria
hope
futures
fashion
Pentecostalism
youth

The thesis examines young women’s livelihoods in Calabar, southeastern Nigeria. It discusses how young women aim to realise their believed ‘destinies of greatness’, reconciling aspirations of fortune with present insecurities. Pinpointing a time when the city’s universities were on indefinite strikes, the discussions depict young women’s industriousness as they ‘wait’ amid uncertainty. The thesis focuses explicitly on young women’s engagement with Pentecostalism, the religion encouraging action, timeliness, and knowledge of the self and God. Understanding how young women fashion Pentecostal subjectivities attuned with ideals of urban success, the chapters focus on various ‘sites’ in their lives: church ministries, the home, sewing shops, beauty pageants. The thesis argues that young women believe they can realise future fortune by constantly partaking in acts of self-preparation. However, as action is driven by the competing forces of fear and faith, the acts young women believe will fashion subjectivities conducive to urban success are always gambles.
Illuminating the emic concept of ‘destiny’ – a classic concept in West African Anthropology, denoting personhood and lifecourse (Fortes 1987) – the thesis builds upon recent analyses of how action underpins concepts of hope (Miyazaki 2004), doubt (Pelkmans 2013), and fortune (da Col 2012; Graeber 2012). Illuminating action and futures, the discussion contributes to recent analyses of time, productivity and youth (Honwana 2012; Jeffrey 2010; Masquelier 2013a). By examining the often-ignored category of young women, the thesis develops an understanding of ‘feminine cultures of waiting’. The discussion of how Pentecostal subjectivities are fashioned, which draws different ‘sites’ of young women’s lives together, also furthers analyses of African youth by countering salient narratives of youth in violence (e.g. Vigh 2006). Focusing on young women’s livelihoods, the thesis contributes to an Anthropology of (Pentecostal) Christianity by illustrating how religious rhetoric and practice are carried out and negotiated outside formal church institutions.
A commentary on Plutarch's Cato Minor
Keywords: Plutarch
Cato
Rome

The INTRODUCTION is concerned with the antecedents, the circumstances of writing and the structure of the biography.
Its first chapter surveys the successive treatments of Cato's figure in the Roman literature: immediately after his suicide at Utica a great literary controversy around Cato came into being: cicero, and later Brutus, Fadius Gallus and Munatius Rufus wrote laudatory accounts while Caesar and A. Hirtius composed defamatory Anticatones. This theme was also central a few years later in Salluet's Catilinarian Conspiracy and was taken up by the aged Augustus in a rhetorical reply to Brutus. With the completion of the Roman revolution the theme of Cato lost its urgency and relevance and during the early Principate Cato's figure is reduced to a few stereotyped acts and situation discussed in the schools of Rhetoric. Yet under the reign of Claudius and Nero a revival in the interest in Cato takes place: Seneca regards him as the Stoic Saint Incarnate, his nephew Lucan makes him the chief hero of his Pharsalia, while Thrasea Paetus composes a full scale Life of Cato: for the senatorial opposition under Nero Cato's figure again has a political relevance. The reign of Domitian ensures the end of the literary preoccupation with Cato: hero worshippers found in Thrasea Paetus and Helvidius Priscus a more recent vintage of martyrs for the cause of libertas.
Scalable multi-parametric imaging of excitable tissue
Keywords: fluorescence
electrophysiology
multi-parametric
imaging
cardiac

The field of cardiac electrophysiological imaging has advanced tremendously in the past three decades with developments in fluorescent dyes, photodetectors, optical filters, illumination sources, computers and electronics. This thesis describes several scalable multi-parametric imaging systems and their application to cardiac tissue preparations at various levels of complexity. Using off-the-shelf components, single-camera multi-parametric optical mapping systems are described for various fluorescent dye combinations and single-element photodiode-based fibre-optic detection systems are described for drug-testing applications. The instruments described take advantage of modern voltage-sensitive dyes, multi-band optical filters and powerful light-emitting-diodes, from the ultraviolet to the red.
The two electrophysiological parameters focused on were transmembrane voltage and the intracellular calcium concentration. Several voltage and calcium dye combinations were established, which produce no signal cross-talk. Furthermore, second- and third-generation voltage dyes were characterized in cardiac tissue, in vitro and in vivo.
The developed systems were then applied to isolated Langendorff-perfused whole-hearts, in vivo whole-hearts, thin ventricular tissue-slices and human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiac tissue. The interventions applied include accurately-timed electrical and mechanical local stimulation of the whole-heart to generate ectopic beats, cardiotoxic drugs and flash-photolysis of caged-compounds.
With the high-throughput demands of drug discovery and testing, further development of scalable optical electrophysiological systems may prove critical in reducing attrition and costs. And for in vivo optical mapping, development of minimally-invasive and clinically-relevant optical systems will be essential in validating existing theories based on in vitro experiments and exploring cardiac function and behaviour with the heart intact in the organism.