VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Processing, microstructure and properties of polymer-based nano-composite dielectrics for capacitor applications
Keywords: polymer nanocomposites
polarisation
dielectric thin films
layer-by-layer deposition
transmission electron microscopy

The processing and properties of novel polymer-based nano-composite (PNC) dielectrics for capacitor applications has been studied. PNCs were fabricated via a vacuum based deposition technique and their micro/nano-structure, chemical and dielectric properties investigated. After process development and optimisation, co-deposited Al and nylon-6 PNCs had a dielectric constant k∼7 at an approximate Al volume fraction of 0.3 that agreed with analytical predictions if it was assumed that the Al transformed to an oxide in-situ and/or after deposition. The significant effect of absorbed water vapour and temperature on PNC dielectric properties was revealed using different types of post-deposition heat treatment.
Alternately-deposited PNCs consisting of Al or Ag 2-20 nm layers sandwiched between nylon-6 layers were fabricated in which the overall PNC Al or Ag volume fraction was controlled by varying the nominal Al or Ag layer thickness. Ag layers comprised of discrete nano-islands that produced a nano-capacitor network effect that increased k to ∼11. In the case of Al layers, when the layer thickness was ≥ 5 nm, corresponding to a nominal volume fraction of 0.1, Al (core)-oxide (shell) nanoparticles were formed and the PNC dielectric constant increased to ∼19. The detailed nano-structure of the core-shell particles was studied using various types of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the elevations in dielectric constant ascribed to multiple-interface polarisation effects dependent on the formation of the core-shell structure.
PNCs based on alternate deposition of Ti sandwiched in nylon-6, and then both Ti and Ag in nylon-6 were also fabricated, with k reaching ∼73 for Ag+Ti/nylon-6 PNCs. As well as Ti-based core (metal)-shell (oxide) particles, the Ag volume fraction was sufficiently high in the 10 nm nylon-6 layers to again form a nano-capacitor network that contributed to the overall device capacitance and effective dielectric constant. Again, various types of high magnification TEM were critical in resolving the Ti-based core-shell structure and its role in high-k behaviour.
The vacuum-based alternate deposition technique has been developed to offer ease of operation, reliability, flexibility and applicability to chemically different filler and matrix systems in the fabrication of high-k PNC based capacitors, in which high-k performance relies critically on the formation of core (metal)-shell (oxide) particles in both Al and Ti based systems.
Copyright and collective authorship
Keywords: Collaboration
Social Norms
Intellectual Property law
Joint Authorship
Authorship
Intellectual Property
Law
Copyright

Many scholars have suggested that current copyright law is ill-equipped to the challenges of determining the authorship of collaborative work. This thesis analyses four case studies of large scale collaboration (Wikipedia, Indigenous art, scientific collaborations and film) in order to consider how best to determine the authorship of the creative works that they produce for the purposes of copyright law. Current scholarship and much of the case law has tended to favour a restrictive approach to the grant of joint authorship status, in order to minimise the number of potential authors of a work. This is motivated by instrumental/pragmatic concerns related to the ease of exploiting a copyright work. As joint authors are often joint first owners of copyright, proponents of this approach fear that a minor contributor might cause hold-up problems by refusing to consent to licence or assign their copyright interest. This thesis argues that an instrumental/pragmatic approach to the application of the joint authorship test is undesirable, because it distances the test both from the creativity reality of collective authorship and from copyright’s notion of the author. In addition, the instrumental/pragmatic approach relies upon assumptions about creators, the creative process and the exploitation of creative works which are not borne out in the case studies.
Building on the insights from the four case studies, the thesis argues that the best approach to applying the joint authorship test to works of collective authorship is one that is inclusive (of all those who have made a more than de minimis contribution of creative choices to the protected expression) and contextual (in that it takes the context of creativity into account). In coming to this conclusion the thesis also offers broader lessons about the nature of authorship and the ongoing relevance of copyright law standards for the regulation of collaborative creativity.
CSR innovation: a comparative study of India and the UK
Keywords: qualitative research
CSR
cross-cultural research

This thesis contributes to the field of research on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and explores the underresearched phenomenon of CSR innovation. It sheds light on this phenomenon by comparing CSR innovation in two nations with differing degrees of economic development, namely the UK and India. An interpretive, multicase study approach was chosen to compare CSR initiatives of British and Indian retailers. Data were collected through interviews, archival research, and observation.
The research used sensemaking theory as a theoretical lens to examine how actors made sense of CSR innovation and communicated it to others. Data analysis was guided by a conceptual framework focussing on the triggers of sensemaking for CSR initiatives, formalisation as a key sensemaking process for CSR innovations, and the legitimation strategies employed by the case companies. The analysis shows that CSR leaders, close followers, and aspirants think differently about CSR; it also points to broader patterns of CSR innovation in the UK and India. CSR innovations were identified in both the British and Indian retail industries, contextual differences between the innovations in the two countries were observed, and the complex nature and role of these innovations were illustrated. CSR innovation was seen as involving complex constellations of continuity and newness. The British companies studied engaged in deliberate CSR leadership, actively tried to change CSR practises, and communicated these efforts externally. In contrast, the Indian companies mainly discussed CSR initiatives within the business, experimented with nonphilanthropic CSR, and tried to determine the role of CSR in the emerging Indian retail industry. The observed differences were traced back to country-specific regulatory and market environments and differences in field level conditions were highlighted. The study also examined the impact of environmental uncertainty on the management of CSR innovation and discussed strategies that the case companies use to deal with challenges related to CSR innovation.
Use of Isaiah in the fourth gospel in comparison to the Synoptics and other places in the New Testament
Keywords: SYNOPTICS
NEW TESTAMENT
EARLY JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN LITERATURE
OLD TESTAMENT CITATIONS IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
OLD TESTAMENT
THE GOSPEL OF JOHN
ISAIAH

Isaiah, along with Psalms and Zechariah, is one of the most quoted OT books in the Fourth Gospel (FG). There are thorough studies regarding the citations from Psalms and Zechariah in the FG. However, a monograph-length study on the use of Isaiah in that book is still lacking. The present research aims to fill this gap.
This study proposes not only to research into Isaianic citations in the FG (Is 40:3; Is 54:13; Is 53:1; Is 6:9-10), but also to complete a comparative study of their other occurrences in the NT. This is done by analysing eleven citations in total, of which nine are found in the FG and Synoptics, while the other two are found in Acts and in the Letter to the Romans (one citation in each).
This comparative study leads to the conclusion that the same citation, even with the same Vorlage, can be used with two different meanings in two different places in the NT. Indeed, even where similar meanings are to be inferred, the exact uses of the citations have some nuances. Moreover, the deviations in the form of the citations should not be understood simply as due to defective memory: they may be explained by “application of exegetical techniques and devices” (Menken) or they may not. It seems rather that the Fourth Evangelist crafted them well, according to his genuine theological aims/agenda. In fact, he is much freer in the composition of his citations than the Synoptics. In common with the Synoptics, however, he mentions Isaiah in order to gain prophetic authority for some difficult claims and not merely to indicate the source of the citation. Finally, it is observed that all of the Isaianic quotations in the FG have one pattern in common: where the OT writer refers to the God of Israel, the Fourth Evangelist refers to Jesus Christ.
Applications of quantum coherence in condensed matter nanostructures
Keywords: radical pair model of avian compass
adiabatic quantum gates
phase gates
entanglement
quantum dots
phonons

This thesis is concerned with studying the fascinating quantum properties of real-world nanostructures embedded in a noisy condensed matter environment. The interaction with light is used for controlling and manipulating the quantum state of the systems considered here. In some instances, laser pulses also provide a way of actively probing and controlling environmental interactions. The first two research chapters assess two different ways of performing all-optical spin qubit gates in self-assembled quantum dots. The principal conclusion is that an `adiabatic' control technique holds the promise of achieving a high fidelity when all primary sources of decoherence are taken into account. In the next chapter, it is shown that an optically driven quantum dot exciton interacting with the phonons of the surrounding lattice acts as a heat pump. Further, a model is developed which predicts the temperature-dependent damping of Rabi oscillations caused by bulk phonons, finding an excellent agreement with experimental data. A different system is studied in the following chapter: two electron spin qubits with no direct interaction, yet both exchange-coupled to an optically active mediator spin. The results of this study show that these general assumptions are sufficient for generating controlled electron spin entanglement over a wide range of parameters, even in the presence of noise. Finally, the Radical Pair model of the avian compass is investigated in the light of recent experimental results, leading to the surprising prediction that the electron spin coherence time in this molecular system seems to approach the millisecond timescale.
X-ray reverberation in Active Galactic Nuclei
Keywords: active galaxies
x-rays
reverberation

Narrow Line Type-1 Seyfert active galaxies can exhibit a high degree of variability in the X-ray regime. This thesis examines that variability in the context of reverberation models, in which a flare in activity has an extended, energy dependent, response. A novel method is developed for estimating the response function in different energy bands. This method is then applied to three AGN: Ark 564, 1H 0707{495, and NGC 4051. The striking evidence for reverberation revealed in Ark 564 leads to a more thorough examination of that object, combining spectral and temporal approaches to develop a plausible physical model for its behaviour. The preferred model is one in which the reverberation is due to scattering from hot Comptonizing material approximately 1500 light-seconds from the central source. This conclusion is reinforced by a simulation of the angular dependence of reflection by Comptonizing gas.
'Au milieu d'un tel et si piteux naufrage': the dynamics of shipwreck in Renaissance France
Keywords: shipwreck
early modern
France

This thesis examines the interweaving metaphorical and material aspects of shipwreck in Renaissance French writing. In a period marked by proliferating transatlantic and other exploration on the one hand, and, on the other, by religious civil wars, the ship was freighted with new political and religious, as well as poetic, significance. This rich symbolism reaches its height in the moments where ships—both real and symbolic—are threatened with disaster. The thesis demonstrates that shipwreck does not function merely as an emblem or poetic motif, but as a part, or the whole, of significant modes of narrative. Shipwreck in this period is rarely, if ever, recounted as a purely aesthetic embellishment: the ethics of spectatorship and of co-operation are of constant concern. I argue that the possibility of ethical distance from shipwreck—imagined through the Lucretian suave mari magno commonplace—is constantly undermined, not least through a sustained focus on the corporeal. Examining the ways in which the ship and the body are made analogous in Renaissance shipwreck writing, I show how bodies are allegorised in nautical terms, and, conversely, how ships themselves become animalised and humanised. Secondly, in many of the texts in my corpus it is shown or anticipated that the description, narration and dramatisation of shipwreck has an impact not only on the bodies of its victims, but on those of spectators, listeners, and readers, too. This insistence on the physicality of shipwreck is also reflected in the dynamic of bricolage that, I argue, informs the production of shipwreck texts in the Renaissance. The dramatic potential of both the disaster and the processes of rebuilding is exploited throughout the century, culminating, as I show, in a shipwreck tragedy. By the late Renaissance, shipwreck is not only the end of a story; it forms, more often than not, its beginning.
The molecular basis for ER tubule formation
Keywords: Endoplasmic reticulum
NMR
Yop1p
reticulon
membrane proteins
nuclear magnetic resonance
amphipathic helix
DP1
tubular ER

Integral membrane proteins of the DP1 and reticulon families are responsible for maintaining the high membrane curvature required for both smooth ER tubules and the edges of ER sheets. Mutations in these proteins lead to motor neurone diseases such as hereditary spastic paraplegia. Reticulon/DP1 proteins contain Reticulon Homology Domains (RHD) that have unusually long (≈30 aa) hydrophobic segments and are proposed to adopt intramembrane helical hairpins that stabilise membrane curvature. I have uncovered the secondary structure and dynamics of the DP1 protein Yop1p and identified a C-terminal conserved amphipathic helix that on its own interacts strongly with negatively charged membranes and is necessary for membrane tubule formation. Analyses of DP1 and reticulon family members indicate that most, if not all, contain C-terminal sequences capable of forming amphipathic helices. Together, these results indicate that amphipathic helices play a previously unrecognised role in RHD membrane curvature stabilisation. This work paves the way towards full structure determination of Yop1p by solution state NMR and marks the first high structural resolution study on an RHD protein.
The segregated lambda-coalescent
Keywords: Coalescent
Probability
Population

We study a natural generalization of the Λ-coalescent to a spatial continuum. We introduce the process, which is known as the Segregated Λ-coalescent, via its connections to the (non-spatial) Λ-coalescent and the Spatial Λ-Fleming-Viot process.
The main new results contained in this thesis are as follows. The Segregated Λ-coalescent has a non-trivial construction which we present here in terms of stochastic flows. We describe the qualitative behaviour of the Segregated Λ-coalescent and compare it to the behaviour of the Λ-coalescent, showing in particular that the Segregated Λ-coalescent has an extra phase transition which is directly related to the introduction of space. We finish with some results concerning the rate at which the Segregated Λ-coalescent comes down from infinity.
Targeting efficiency and take-up of Oportunidades, a conditional cash transfer, in urban Mexico in 2008
Keywords: health
social policy
education
human capital
income poverty
conditional cash transfers
children

Oportunidades is a Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) that uses a proxy means-test targeting model to select eligible households for the programme. According to the Income and Expenditure Household Survey of 2008, approximately two in every three eligible rural households participate in Oportunidades, whereas only one in every three eligible urban households receives the Oportunidades cash transfer. This research explores the factors behind this lack of take-up, the costs of participation and the implications of targeting inefficiency on the programme’s impact on income poverty. It argues that a sample selection model is a pertinent tool of analysis as it informs on the distribution of cash transfers conditional on household eligibility. This conditional distribution is also used to understand the costs of participation as a latent variable. Eligible households are less likely to invest in human capital and neither the cash transfer nor the income forgone by children and teenagers are sufficient to overcome these costs of participation. By identifying a method to quantify behavioural change of households, I associate the costs of participation to the difficulties of inducing health-related behavioural change among recipients and eligible non-recipients. At an aggregate state level, targeting inefficiency is not fully explained by only looking at the budget constraints of the programme. In fact, targeting efficiency is positively associated to aggregate behavioural change and negatively associated to aggregate costs for participation at state level. Yet, targeting efficiency does not guarantee impact on income poverty and Oportunidades’ highest impact on income poverty also associated with the inclusion of non-eligible households in the programme. This research reconsiders the importance of the context in which CCTs are implemented and informs on the conflicting aims of CCTs: providing income poverty relief via cash transfers and incentivizing behavioural change by conditioning the cash transfer in health and education investment.
The syntax and prosody of interrogatives: evidence from varieties spoken in northern Italy
Keywords: Dolomitic Ladin
syntax
interrogation
prosody
interrogatives

The vast majority of work on question formation examines interrogatives from the perspective of just one single component of grammar, usually the syntax or the prosody. The present dissertation offers a comprehensive account of question formation addressing both the syntax and the prosody of interrogatives and the interaction between these two components of grammar in signalling the question meaning of an utterance.
The present work examines question formation on the basis of four genealogically related and geographically closely located Romance varieties spoken in northern Italy: Gherdëina, Badiot, Fascian and Nònes. Given that these varieties differ only with respect to certain microparametric values whereas others remain constant, they constitute an ideal research area to study the interaction between the syntax and the prosody in question formation. The syntactic and prosodic analyses proposed are based on new empirical data. The syntactic analysis is couched within the cartographic approach and the prosodic analysis is based on Autosegmental-Metrical Phonology.
This dissertation is motivated by five main research goals:
to provide a detailed description of the syntactic variation found in interrogatives in the four varieties Gherdëina, Badiot, Fascian and Nònes based on data collected by the author;
to propose a unified syntactic analysis of the interrogatives;
to offer a prosodic analysis of statements and questions providing new data from varieties not studied up to now in the literature;
to establish the relation between the syntax and the prosody in question formation;
to determine how the syntax and the prosody interact in providing clues to interrogative force for the listener as well as the speaker.
The main conclusions are as follows: The syntactic structure and the intonational tune are autonomous in question formation. Three aspects matter for interrogative clause typing: (i) syntactic marking, (ii) prosodic marking and (iii) tune-text-alignment.
Anaerobic treatment of a metalworking fluid and overcoming the toxic effects on the biodegradation process
Keywords: Metalworking fluids-Microbial diversity-Anaerobic Degreadation

Metalworking fluids (MWFs) are petroleum emulsions employed for metal machining processes as coolants and lubricants. To date, they have been irreplaceable in modern heavy and manufacturing industries, with annual usage exceeding two billion litres worldwide. However, the large amount of MWFs, the highly concentrated complex recalcitrant and toxic petroleum components contained in them continue to cause significant concern in terms of sustainable routes of end-of-life treatment and disposal. Compared with other treatment methods, the anaerobic treatment method has significant advantages, such as the low capital, operating and maintenance costs and energy recovery. This latter factor has the potential benefit of generating bio-energy from waste organic matter whilst aerobic route leads to CO2 emission. However, the bio-toxicity of MWFs is a huge challenge in terms of employing bio-treatment of waste MWFs. In this study, the anaerobic biodegradability of a typical MWF was investigated employing an activated sludge experimental system. Furthermore, the toxic effects of the MWF on the anaerobic ecosystem, particularly on methanogen species, were investigated using bio-molecular analytical methods and a biosensor. In order to overcome its toxicity, the indigenous anaerobic bacteria isolated from spent MWFs were employed in the treatment of the MWF since they were assumed to be acclimated to the conditions. The major findings include: (1) approximately 80% of the MWF (5,000mgCOD/L) was found to be anaerobically biodegradable, with around 35% of the biodegraded COD could be converted to methane; (2) the MWF appeared to be toxic to the anaerobic ecosystem, especially to methanogen species; and (3) however, treatment employing the anaerobic bacteria successfully reduced the toxicity of the MWF and enhanced the methane production in the process.