VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Implications of global warming for African climate
Keywords: global warming
African rainfall
climate model projections
climate change

A 2°C increase in global mean temperature (ΔTg) has been widely adopted as a benchmark for dangerous climate change. However, there has been a lack of research into the implications of 2°C, or any other degree of warming, for Africa. In this thesis changes in African temperature and precipitation associated with 1°C, 2°C, 3°C, 4°C, and beyond are investigated for the first time, using output from 350 climate model experiments: a collection of simulations from international modelling centres (CMIP3), two Perturbed Physics Ensembles (PPEs), and a group of five regional models. The models project temperature and precipitation anomalies which increase in magnitude and spatial extent as global temperature rises, including a wet signal in East Africa, and drier conditions for African rainforests. The models consistently show that the evolution of change with global warming is gradual, even at 4°C and beyond; but the amplitude and direction of precipitation change at each ΔTg increment vary between models and between datasets. The PPEs project precipitation signals which are not represented by CMIP3, in particular a large drying (>0.5 mm day-1 °C-1) of western Africa. There are also important differences between global and regional models, especially in southern and West Africa (>1 mm day-1). Analysis of atmospheric circulation responses suggests that the higher resolution projections are no more credible in this case. Some of the variation between models can be understood as the result of untrustworthy simulations, leading to constraints on the PPEs, and casting doubt on the strong drying of west Sahel; but model evaluation is found to be limited by observations in the case of the Congo Basin. The implications of global warming are different depending on which models are consulted. The findings emphasise that caution should be exercised in the application of climate model data to inform mitigation debates.
The integration of earthquake engineering resources
Keywords: hybrid simulations
distributed simulations
Semantic Web
service-oriented architectures
ontologies
real-time
hazard mitigation
Integration
distributed systems
earthquake engineering
experimental data
distributed testing
interoperability

Earthquake engineering is increasingly focusing on large international collaborations to address complex problems. Recent computing advances have greatly contributed to the way scientific collaborations are conducted, where web-based solutions are an emerging trend to manage and present results to the scientific community and the general public. However, collaborations in earthquake engineering lack a common interoperability framework, resulting in tedious and complex processes to integrate results, which cannot be efficiently used by third-party institutions.
The work described in this thesis applies novel computing techniques to enable the interoperability of earthquake engineering resources, by integrating data, distributed simulation services and laboratory facilities. This integration focuses on distributed approaches rather than centralised solutions, and has been materialised in a platform called Celestina, that supports the integration of hazard mitigation resources.
The prototype of Celestina has been implemented and validated within the context of two of the current largest earthquake engineering networks, the SERIES network in Europe and the NEES network in the USA. It has been divided into three sub-systems to address different problems: (i) Celestina Data, to develop best methods to define, store, integrate and share earthquake engineering experimental data. Celestina Data uses a novel approach based on Semantic Web technologies, and it has accomplished the first data integration between earthquake engineering institutions from the United States and Europe by means of a formalised infrastructure. (ii) Celestina Tools, to research applications that can be implemented on top of the data integration, in order to provide a practical benefit for the end user. (iii) Celestina Simulations, to create the most efficient methods to integrate distributed testing software and to support the planning, definition and execution of the experimental workflow from a high-level perspective. Celestina Simulations has been implemented and validated by conducting distributed simulations between the Universities of Oxford and Kassel. Such validation has demonstrated the feasibility to conduct both flexible, general-purpose and high performance simulations under the framework.
Celestina has enabled global analysis of data requirements for the whole community, the definition of global policies for data authorship, curation and preservation, more efficient use of efforts and funding, more accurate decision support systems and more efficient sharing and evaluation of data results in scientific articles.
Enhancing board motivation for sustainable competitive performance of Thailand’s business co-operatives
Keywords: Performance
Board motivation
Co-operative
Thailand

This study aims to answer the main questions "Does the motivation of Co-operative Board of Directors affect the Co-operative's performance in Thailand, and to what extent?", and "Which factors affect the motivation of Co-operative's Board of Directors?" The methods used consist of both quantitative and qualitative approaches: Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and in-depth interview, respectively.
The study result suggests that the motivation of Co-operative Board of Directors significantly affects the Co-operative's performance with a standardized factor loading of 0.144. Surprisingly, the types of motivation that affect the Co-operative's performance are not those of altruism, but they are those of personal interests, i.e. to gain reputation from the community or society, to obtain honors or awards, and to gain the feelings of accomplishment from working. However, this result is subject to the condition that cooperative performance is measured solely in financial terms and quality of management. This is due to the current limitation in standardizing the measurement of cooperative performance in social terms and should be left for future research.
Factors that are found to affect Board Member motivation include the knowledge, skills and experience possessed by the Board Members, Board authority and function, the composition of the Board (the presence of external persons) and lastly, the quality of the Board meetings. Specifically, Board authority and function is the characteristic determining whether the Board is involved in the Co-operative operation. Factors whose relationship with Board motivation was not found included the one person one vote principle, Board size, chairman-manager duality, Board term, and Board structure (the presence of a compound Board).
Development of polarizable force fields and hybrid QM/MM methods for the study of reaction mechanisms
Keywords: QM/MM
GAMESS
CADPAC
polarizable force fields
MOPAC
fluctuating charge
CHARMM

Computational chemists have successfully simulated many systems by applying the principles of quantum mechanics, while approximate molecular mechanical models have seen great utility in problems of biochemical interest. In recent years, a number of methods have been developed to combine the advantages of both techniques. In this study the so-called QM/MM method is developed and applied to the determination of the free energy of a simple Menshutkin SN2 chemical reaction. This is an extremely demanding process, well beyond the computational capacity of an average workstation, and thus a Beowulf-class Linux cluster is constructed to perform the calculations, and tested for a variety of computational chemistry applications.
A number of methods for improving the QM/MM approach are considered in this work. The Fluctuating Charge, or FlucQ, polarizable molecular mechanics force field is implemented in a flexible manner within the CHARMM package and tested for a variety of systems, including the SN2 test case. Several drawbacks of the original method are addressed and overcome.
Both molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo techniques are used within the QM/MM framework to investigate the SN2 reaction, and the two methods are compared. Techniques are developed and tested to increase the efficiency of QM/MC calculations to the point where they become competitive with QM/MD.
Extremely expensive QM treatments are shown to be required to obtain accurate energies for the Menshutkin reaction. A method is developed and tested, and compared with the traditional ONIOM technique, for dramatically reducing the computational time required to use these treatments for QM/MC simulations, paving the way for fully ab initio high basis set QM/MM simulation.
Pre-charge detention of terrorist suspects and the right to liberty and security
Keywords: liberty and security
human rights
counter-terrorism
terrorism

This thesis assesses the UK Terrorism Act 2000’s stop and search and pre-charge detention powers against liberty and security rights. It proposes that criminalizing ‘terrorism’, and legitimacy of counter-terrorism laws, depends on moral and legal norms defining legitimate sovereign power. External norms of territorial sovereignty and non-intervention define and legitimize external defensive actions by the state to protect nation state security. Individual liberty and security rights, specifically pursuant to article 9, ICCPR and article 5 ECHR, have a special moral and legal status externally, but are not universally determinative of sovereign legitimacy. The thesis argues that these external norms accommodate contrasting paradigms of internal legitimacy, the ‘security state’ and the ‘liberal state’. Conceptually, sovereign legitimacy in the former is grounded on heteronymous collective or ideological values, grounding fundamental obligations legitimizing ‘balancing’ of individual liberty and security against security of those ultimate norms. The ‘balancing metaphor’ and exceptionalist theories are conceptually located within the security state paradigm. Conversely, political and individual autonomy (liberty and security of the person) circumscribe legitimacy of liberal state action, grounding fundamental obligations to prevent and punish harms, and to refrain from violating individual autonomy unless justified by those obligations. Liberal rule of law standards, including due process rights, are legitimized by the instrumental role of law as the primary source of justification in the liberal state. Evaluating the policy justifications, enactment, and scope of the TA provisions against those norms, the thesis concludes they contradict liberal norms, violate international norms and individual legal rights to liberty and security, and undermine the rule of law and due process rights. The pre-emptive counter-terrorism policy, balancing national security against individual liberty, and degradation of due process rights, belies a security state approach.
Third generation of reoxidant for osmium: extension and novel applications
Keywords: osmium
intramolecular
aminoacids
amide
tethered aminohydroxylation
intermolecular

This thesis describes the development of new osmium-mediated methodologies providing novel applications through the use of a third generation of reoxidant for osmium.
Chapter 1 The introduction
Summary of past and present methodologies towards the synthesis of the 1,2 amino alcohol motif.
Chapter 2 Intramolecular processes
The studies of the tethered aminohydroxylation (TA) of amide and urea derivatives are being investigated.
Chapter 3 Investigations towards an intermolecular process
The transposition of the TA methodology to an intermolecular process and the requirements involved are discussed. The role of acetamide is being investigated.
Chapter 4 Successful transition to an intermolecular process
Amino acid derivatives became for the first time possible nitrogen sources and were efficiently employed through osmium-mediated reaction to afford interesting biological scaffolds.
Chapter 5 Experimental
Full experimental procedures and characterisation of compounds are reported.
References
A complete list of citations employed in the previous five chapters is provided.
Appendix
Full documentation of X-ray crystal structures, key NMR spectra and HPLC traces is provided.
Markets and payments for ecosystem services: engaging REDD+ on Peru's Amazonian frontier
Keywords: buffer zone
tropical forest
climate change
Peru
Amazon
national park
REDD+
conservation
rural development
governance
Latin America
livelihoods

The impacts of tropical deforestation and forest degradation are felt at multiple levels, bringing about local ecosystem degradation, regional biome fragmentation and global contributions of 12-15% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. In response to this, markets and payments for ecosystem services have emerged to financially value the services forests provide, most notably in the form of mechanisms to reduce deforestation and enhance forest conservation (REDD+). REDD+ has received much attention at the international level, but the pressing contemporary challenge is its engagement at the local scale.
This thesis examines the potential local-level engagement of REDD+ on the Amazon frontier as an approach to altering patterns of anthropogenic encroachment on the world's greatest expanse of tropical forest. Case studies are taken from the buffer zones of protected areas along Peru's Amazonian frontier, Yanachaga-Chemillen National Park (YChNP) in central Peru and Manu National Park (MNP) in the SE of the country. A political ecology approach is taken to examine the influences and implications of existing land use governance structures, local livelihoods and preferences, and smallholder production and land economy, in the context of REDD+. Adopting mixed methods comprising semi-structured interviewing and land user surveys, data were collected between July 2008 and September 2009.
I show that the two sites' histories and geographies have shaped distinct challenges for REDD+. The proximity of YChNP to Lima has fuelled agricultural expansion and higher land use incomes, yet institutions – particularly those belonging to the state – are exceedingly weak. The pace of land use change here obliges certain urgency for REDD+ interventions to provide livelihood alternatives, divert the current development path and restore the landscape. MNP’s rurality has protected it to date from expansive deforestation, yet weak institutions, poverty and increasing threats from national development processes highlight the importance of REDD+ interventions. In an analysis of land economy, an innovative conceptual framework is presented, the '3Rs' (rewarding, regulating and reshaping) to tackle local heterogeneity in REDD+ engagement. This thesis contributes knowledge to the practical and theoretical advancement of REDD+, and proposes the mechanism as an important new arena for academic investigation.
Essays in consumption habits and the environment
Keywords: petrol demand
rational habits
gasoline demand

The dynamics of demand for energy goods such as gasoline are complicated by investment decisions and behavioral habits. Both types of complication can be captured by a habits model, in which past consumption enters into an agent's current utility function. If the agent is forward-looking, or 'rational', then habits imply his consumption of the habit-forming good will be sensitive to his expectation of future market conditions, in particular future prices. This sensitivity implies, in turn, that demand and price elasticity will depend upon price volatility, and that the agent will respond differently to different types of price changes. Price elasticity measured over the mixture of price changes that occur in a given market will therefore underestimate the power of policy instruments that act through permanent or long-run price changes.
This thesis examines the implications of rational habits on demand behavior in a multi-good setting, drawing motivation from and considering applications to gasoline demand. Chapter 1 introduces the theory of rational habits, examines a simple perfect-foresight model, and uses microeconometric techniques to look at an application to U.S. gasoline demand. Chapter 2 builds a theory model in which agents have rational habits and future prices are uncertain. The implications of this model are then utilized in Chapter 3, which uses macro-type econometric techniques to test for rational habits in international gasoline demand. The empirical evidence suggests that rational habits may indeed shape demand for gasoline and that traditionally-measured price elasticity should not be used to project consumers' responses to policy interventions.
Adaptive deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease: closed loop stimulation for Parkinson's.
Keywords: deep brain stimulation
parkinsons

Our understanding of the pathophysiology Parkinson’s disease has transformed over the last decade as we have come to appreciate the importance of changes in neuronal firing pattern that occur within the motor network in the dopamine deficient state. These changes in firing pattern, particularly increased synchrony result in oscillations that can be recorded as local field potentials. This thesis concerns itself with the study of beta oscillations which are characteristic of Parkinson’s disease. Firstly, I investigate whether beta oscillations play a pathophysiological role in Parkinson’s disease or whether they are purely epiphenomenal by augmenting beta with low frequency deep brain stimulation. In this study I show that rigidity is increased by ~25% with low frequency stimulation providing significant further evidence for a patho-physiological role of beta in Parkinson’s disease. Next I investigate whether beta oscillations correlate with Parkinsonian severity at rest and could therefore potentially be used as a biomarker of clinical state. I demonstrate that the variability of beta amplitude recorded from the subthalamic nucleus strongly correlates with symptom severity at rest and also in response to levodopa administration. I then use beta amplitude as a biomarker for a trial of adaptive deep brain stimulation in Parkinson’s disease. I show that by using beta amplitude to control stimulation, time on stimulation is reduced by >50% but despite this, clinical outcome is improved by 25% relative to conventional continuous high frequency stimulation. Finally, I investigate the bilateral subcortical beta network and its response to levodopa. I report statistically significant bilateral functional connectivity in the beta range which is driven by phase locking and modulated by levodopa in the low beta range with implications for bilateral adaptive deep brain stimulation. These findings further our understanding of the pathophysiological role of beta oscillations in Parkinson’s disease and provide new avenues for treatment development.
The determinant method and applications
Keywords: determinant method
square-free
polynomials
trilinear
multilinear
forms
power-free
bilinear

The thesis is structured into 5 chapters as follows:
Chapter 1 is an introduction to the tools and methods we use most frequently.
Chapter 2 Pairs of k-free Numbers, consecutive square-full Numbers. In this chapter, we refine the approximate determinant method by Heath-Brown. We present applications to asymptotic formulas for consecutive k-free integers, and more generally for k-free integers represented by r-tuples of linear forms. We also show how the method can be used to derive an upper bound for the number of consecutive square-full integers. Finally, we apply the method to make a statement about the size of the fundamental solution of Pell equations.
Chapter 3 Power-Free Values of Polynomials. A conjecture by ErdŐs states that for any irreducible polynomial f of degree d≥3 with no fixed (d-1)-th power prime divisor, there are infinfinitely many primes p such that f(p) is (d-1)-free. We prove this conjecture and derive the corresponding asymptotic formulas.
Chapter 4 Integer Points on Bilinear and Trilinear Equations. In the fourth chapter, we derive upper bounds for the number of integer solutions on bilinear or trilinear forms.
Chapter 5 In the fifth chapter, we present a method to count the monomials that occur in the projective determinant method when the method is applied to cubic varieties.
A re-evaluation of the evidence of Anglian-British interaction in the Lincoln region
Keywords: Anglo-Saxons
history (Anglo-Saxon Period)
place-names
archaeology (Anglo-Saxon Period)
Lincolnshire
Britons

This thesis offers an interdisciplinary approach to the period between c. AD 400 and 650 in the Lincoln region, considering in depth not only the archaeological evidence, but also the historical, literary and linguistic. It is argued that by using all of this material together, significant advances can be made in our understanding of what occurred in these centuries, most especially with regard to Anglian-British interaction in this period. It is contended that this evidence, when taken together, requires that a British polity named *Lindēs was based at Lincoln into the sixth century, and that the seventh-century Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Lindsey (Old English Lindissi < Late British *Lindēs-) had an intimate connection to this British political unit. In addition to investigating the evidence for Anglian-British interaction in this region and the potential legacies of British *Lindēs, this thesis also provides a detailed analysis of the nature of the Anglo-Saxon population-groups that were present in the Lincoln region from the mid-fifth century onwards, including those of *Lindēs-Lindissi and also more southerly groups, such as the Spalde/Spaldingas. The picture which emerges is arguably not simply of importance from the perspective of the history of the Lincoln region but also nationally, helping to answer key questions regarding the origins of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the nature and extent of Anglian-British interaction in the core areas of Anglo-Saxon immigration, and the conquest and settlement of Northumbria.