VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Immigration and public opinion in Europe: the case of the 2004 enlargement
Keywords: public opinion
immigration
enlargement
European Union

After the enlargement of the European Union in 2004, large numbers of Central and Eastern Europeans moved to work in Western Europe. The aim of this thesis is to use the case of migration after the enlargement to further our understanding of the relationship between immigrant group size and natives’ attitudes. Recent scholarly debates raise questions about how immigration affects European societies and the political durability of European welfare states. This research puts forward two questions: Does an increase in Eastern European immigration after the enlargement explain differences in civic attitudes in Western Europe? And second, does this relationship (if any) depend on national contextual factors? The relationship between immigration and three categories of public attitudes are examined: attitudes towards immigration, attitudes towards welfare and attitudes of trust. This thesis draws on ethnic competition theory, which postulates that group competition over resources provokes the natives to perceive immigration as a threat to their own or their group’s interests. To test this theory, this study uses data from the European Social Survey from 2002 to 2010 to build multi-level pooled time series models. The results find only partial support for ethnic competition theory. When a greater proportion of E-8 migrants live in the country, individuals tend to have more positive views about immigration. The results also show that this positive relationship is weakened when national economic conditions are more precarious. Additionally, the results do not find that E8 migration is negatively related to Western European attitudes regarding trust or welfare. This implies that as more immigrants arrive, Europeans can potentially acknowledge immigration’s economic and cultural benefits. Moreover, these results challenge pessimistic scholarly predictions that immigration erodes trust and support for welfare in Europe. This thesis offers two academic contributions. First, it considers the case of E8 migration, which has been ignored by existing comparative attitudinal studies about immigration. Second, focusing on post-enlargement migration helps this thesis to overcome common empirical obstacles such as cross-country differences in immigrant composition and admission criteria.
Need we kill to dissect? Attempt at a contextual approach to the EU economic freedoms
Keywords: EU law; Free Movement; Constitutional Law; Rights Theory; Intercontextuality

A different type of polity requires a different type of constitution; more importantly, it also requires a different way of thinking, a new constitutionalism able to address the relevant descriptive and normative questions facing this new political entity. This thesis tries to contribute to the development of EU constitutionalism by focusing on the interplay between the different normative concerns behind the EU’s market freedoms identified in traditional legal discourse – as results mainly from court decisions and academic discussions –, and the institutional environment which mediates the freedoms’ application. It is hypothesised that such interplay can be better understood by reference to the findings of some disciplines ‘external’ to internal legal discourses such as economics, philosophy, or political science. Normatively, it is hoped that debates concerning the market freedoms that take into account ‘external elements’ will be more attractive to the legal community than those that do not include such considerations. Descriptively, it is submitted that the incorporation of insights arising from these ‘external’ disciplines into the traditional modes of discourse and analysis on the EU market freedoms – in effect, the internalisation of these ‘external’ elements – can provide better descriptive fits of the law and its development than theories that do not take them into account. An incidental result of this approach is that by the end of this thesis a theory of the market freedoms will have been sketched: by combining ‘internal’ and ‘external’ elements, an analytical framework can be developed that is able to make descriptive sense, formally and substantively, of free movement law at both its most general – where formal common structures seem to be undeniable, and a minimum common substantive content can be found –, and at its most detailed levels – where substantive variations and greater normative specification seem to exist.
Polymer carriers of toll-like receptor-7/8 agonists as vaccine adjuvants
Keywords: cellular immunology
nanobiotechnology
drug delivery
vaccines
adjuvants
polymer chemistry

There is currently a need for vaccine adjuvants that are effective for eliciting Th1-type CD4 and CD8 T cell responses when formulated with protein and peptide-based subunit vaccines. Some of the most promising adjuvants in this regard are combined small molecule Toll-like receptor-7/8 agonists (TLR-7/8a). However, poor pharmacokinetic properties have precluded TLR-7/8a for use in vaccines.
In this thesis, polymer carriers were used to control pharmacokinetics and to modulate activity of TLR-7/8a for use as vaccine adjuvants. Combinatorial synthesis and in vivo structure-activity studies were used to evaluate how properties of Polymer-TLR-7/8a conjugates (Poly-7/8a) influence innate immune activation in lymph nodes that drain the site of vaccine administration. The most striking finding was that particle formation by Poly-7/8a strongly enhances the magnitude and duration (>14 days) of innate immune activation in lymph nodes by restricting agonist biodistribution and promoting uptake by dendritic cells. Particle-forming Poly-7/8a optimized for activity were found to induce only local innate immune activation (not systemic) and were effective for eliciting Th1-type CD4 and CD8 T cells that mediated protection against infectious challenge. Based on the importance of particle formation for activity of Poly-7/8a, thermo-responsive Poly-7/8a were developed that exist as single water-soluble macromolecules in solution but undergo temperature-driven particle formation in vivo. In conclusion, polymer carriers of TLR-7/8a represent a versatile and effective platform for modulating innate immune activity and warrant further investigation as a class of adjuvants for vaccines.
Network flux analysis of central metabolism in plants
Keywords: radiorespirometric
steady state flux analysis
isotopic steady state
flux maps
13C NMR
14N NMR
metabolic flux analysis in plants
metabolic networks
Arabidopsis thaliana
pool correction
phosphate limitation
central carbon metabolism
nitrogen source
systems biology
phosphorus starvation
13C MFA
mathematical modeling
nitrate
metabolic modeling
subcellular compartmentation
stable isotope labelling
suspension cultures
Pi levels
GC-MS
carbon conversion efficiency
carbohydrate oxidation

The aim of this thesis was to develop stable-isotope steady-state metabolic flux analysis (MFA) based on 13C labeling to quantify intracellular fluxes of central carbon metabolism in plants. The experiments focus on the analysis of a heterotrophic cell suspension culture of Arabidopsis thaliana (L) Heynh. (ecotype Landsberg erecta). The first objective was to develop a robust methodology based on combining high quality steady-state stable labeling data, metabolic modeling and computational analysis. A comprehensive analysis of the factors that influence the outcome of MFA was undertaken and best practice established. This allowed a critical analysis of the subcellular compartmentation of carbohydrate oxidation in the cell culture. The second objective was to apply the methodology to nutritional perturbations of the cell suspension. A comparison of growth on different nitrogen sources revealed that transfer to an ammonium-free medium: (i) increased flux through the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway (oxPPP) by 10% relative to glucose utilisation; (ii) caused a substantial decrease in entry of carbon into the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA); and (iii) increased the carbon conversion efficiency from 55% to 69%. Although growth on nitrate alone might be expected to increase the demand for reductant, the cells responded by decreasing the assimilation of inorganic N. Cells were also grown in media containing different levels of inorganic phosphate (Pi). Comparison of the flux maps showed that decreasing Pi availability: (i) decreased flux through the oxPPP; (ii) increased the proportion of substrate fully oxidised by the TCA cycle; and (iii) decreased carbon conversion efficiency. These changes are consistent with redirection of metabolism away from biosynthesis towards cell maintenance as Pi is depleted. Although published genome-wide transcriptomic and metabolomic studies suggest that Pi starvation leads to the restructuring of carbon and nitrogen metabolism, the current analysis suggests that the impact on metabolic organisation is much less extreme.
Elemental growth of oxide thin films
Keywords: barium oxide
barium titanate
titanates
nanostructures
scanning tunnelling microscopy
surface science

This thesis reports on the elemental growth of oxide thin films including TiOx, BaOx and BaxTiyOz by Ti/Ba deposition and oxidation. The films were grown on two different substrates, Au(111) and SrTiO₃(001), and studied using a variety of surface characterisation techniques.
On the reconstructed Au(111) surface, three different TiOx structures were obtained with increasing Ti amounts deposited: a (2 × 2) Ti₂O₃ honeycomb structure, a pinwheel structure that is the result of a Moiré pattern, and a triangular island TiO1.30 structure. The structures arise from raised Ti coverages and have increased Ti densities. Although Ba deposited on the reconstructed Au(111) has a weak interaction with the substrate, the BaOx thin films can grow epitaxially and lift the Au(111) reconstruction. Two well-ordered phases, a (6 × 6) and a (2√3 × 2√3) BaOx structure, were obtained which may have octopolar-based surface structures. For Ba & Ti deposition on Au(111), a locally ordered (5 × 5) BaxTiyOz structure was observed in the sub-monolayer regime. What is more interesting is the possible formation of a BaO-TiO surface alloy with short-range ordering achieved by Ba deposition on the (2 × 2) Ti₂O₃-templated Au(111) surface. This is the first time that surface-alloying has been observed for oxides.
When Ti is deposited onto the SrTiO₃(001) surface, it is incorporated into the substrate by forming a variety of Ti-rich SrTiO₃ surface reconstructions, such as c(4 × 2), (6 × 2), (9 × 2) and (√5 ×√5)-R26.6°. Ti deposition provides a completely different route to obtaining these reconstructions at much lower anneal temperatures than the previously reported preparation procedures involving sputtering and annealing the SrTiO₃ sample. Anatase islands with (1 × 3) and (1 × 5) periodicities were also formed by increasing the Ti deposition amount and post-annealing. Reconstructed SrTiO₃ substrate surface has a lattice that differs from the bulk crystal and affects the epitaxial growth of BaO, however, a locally ordered BaOx structure was observed on the sputtered substrate with a growth temperature of 300 °C. Depositing Ba & Ti on SrTiO₃(001) results in the formation of BaOx clusters and the Ti incorporation into the substrate, forming the familiar Ti-rich SrTiO₃ surface reconstructions.
Contested childhoods: law and social deviance in wartime China, 1937-1945
Keywords: China's War of Resistance Against Japan
Kuomintang Government
childhood
law and society

“Contested Childhoods” links together three major areas of historical inquiry: war and criminality, law and social change, and the law as it relates to children, in the first half of twentieth-century China. The founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 has eclipsed the historical significance of Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Government and the importance of its role during the wartime period. This study examines how the outbreak of China’s War of Resistance against Japan (1937-1945) served as a crucial catalyst to the construction of ideas of criminality and its relation to children during the wartime period. It examines the different measures by which Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist Government (1928-1949) attempted to handle the rise in levels of criminality involving juveniles. The study analyses how an increase in criminality during the wartime period challenged how ideas on and about children and childhood were in understood within Chinese society. Moreover, it argues that wartime conditions served as a crucial catalyst prompted the construction of a new judicial and legal framework that was aimed at delineating the boundaries between childhood and adulthood during this period.
EPR investigations of iron-sulfur cluster relays in enzymes
Keywords: Electron paramagnetic resonance
iron-sulfur clusters
enzymes

Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy is a powerful tool for obtaining structural information about chemical centres with unpaired electrons. In complex biological systems, EPR spectroscopy can be used to probe these paramagnetic centres and the long-range interactions between them. This thesis investigates two important types of enzymes, and in particular the role of the iron-sulfur electron-transfer centres they contain, with a variety of EPR techniques.
Complex I (NADH:Ubiquinone Oxidoreductase) plays a key role in the electron transfer chain essential to the formation of ATP, and its malfunction has been related to numerous human diseases. It is a giant enzyme that contains the longest relay of iron-sulfur clusters known. EPR experiments conducted on complex I from bovine mitochondria yield crucial insight into the mechanism of efficient long-range electron transfer and bring us a step closer to understanding the functioning of this important complex. Hydrogenases are produced by micro-organisms and catalyse the reversible oxidation of H2. Most hydrogenases, including Hyd-2 from Escherichia coli, are very air-sensitive, but some, including E. coli Hyd-1 and Salmonella Hyd-5, are able to function in the presence of atmospheric levels of O2.
Understanding the origins of this 'O2-tolerance' is of paramount importance if hydrogenases are to be exploited in future energy technologies. In this thesis, native E. coli Hyd-1 and Hyd-2, Salmonella Hyd-5, as well as O2-tolerant and O2-sensitive variants of E. coli Hyd-1 are characterised using EPR. The EPR investigations elucidate properties of the active site and the electron-transfer relay and, in conjunction with other techniques, reveal structural and mechanistic details of how a highly unusual iron-sulfur cluster in the electron-transfer chain enables some hydrogenases to sustain catalytic activity in the presence of O2.
Stark deceleration and reactivity of polyatomic molecules and ions at low temperatures
Keywords: angular momentum
cold and ultracold chemistry
ion trapping
reaction dynamics
Stark deceleration

This thesis describes the development of a new experimental technique for studying tunable-collision-energy, quantum state-selected, low-temperature ion-molecule reactions. This has been achieved through the combination of a Stark decelerator for neutral dipolar molecules, and a linear Paul ion trap.
The Stark deceleration process for ND3 was examined in detail, through the analysis of experimental data in combination with newly written molecular dynamics simulation programs. In order to prepare a sample of molecules appropriate for collision studies, additional beamline components were introduced after the decelerator. These components were: two hexapoles, to provide transverse focussing, maximising the molecular density; a molecular buncher, providing increased longitudinal velocity resolution; and a fast-opening shutter, to separate decelerated molecules from undecelerated molecules. The sympathetic-cooling of Xe+ ions and ND+3 ions by laser-cooled, Coulomb crystallised 40Ca+ ions with the ion trap was also studied. In particular, the stable trapping of Xe+ was demonstrated for the first time, and the experimental developments that led to this are discussed.
The work in this thesis represents significant progress towards studying the reaction of tunable-energy ND3 in the |j,mk> = |1,−1> quantum state with cold Xe+ ions. Ion-molecule reactions utilising ND3 molecules electrostatically guided through the Stark decelerator were performed. It was observed that the main source of error in these experiments was in the calculation of the initial number of Xe+ ions that had been sympathetically cooled into the Coulomb crystal. The sensitivity of the crystal morphology to the number of Xe+ ions was evaluated using molecular dynamics simulations. Strategies have been developed to reduce this uncertainty in future studies.
In addition to experimental work, the theory of low temperature ion-molecule reactions has been developed further. The temperature at which classical and quantum mechanical calculations diverge due to purely statistical effects has been investigated using different model intermolecular potentials, for closed-shell and open-shell species, and in the ground and rotationally excited states. From the results of these calculations, several promising candidate reactions have been suggested that might exhibit statistical quantum behaviour at experimentally achievable temperatures.
Recent modelling frameworks for systems of interacting particles
Keywords: stochastic processes
hybrid models
interacting particles

In this thesis we study three different modelling frameworks for biological systems of dispersal and combinations thereof. The three frameworks involved are individual-based models, group-level models in the form of partial differential equations (PDEs) and robot swarms. In the first two chapters of the thesis, we present ways of coupling individual based models with PDEs in so-called hybrid models, with the aim of achieving improved performance of simulations. Two classes of such hybrid models are discussed that allow an efficient simulation of multi-species systems of dispersal with reactions, but involve individual resolution for certain species and in certain parts of a computational domain if desired. We generally consider two types of example systems: bacterial chemotaxis and reaction-diffusion systems, and present results in the respective application area as well as general methods. The third chapter of this thesis introduces swarm robotic experiments as an additional tool to study systems of dispersal. In general, those experiments can be used to mimic animal behaviour and to study the impact of local interactions on the group-level dynamics. We concentrate on a target finding problem for groups of robots. We present how PDE descriptions can be adjusted to incorporate the finite turning times observed in the robotic system and that the adjusted models match well with experimental data. In the fourth and last chapter, we consider interactions between robots in the form of hard-sphere collisions and again derive adjusted PDE descriptions. We show that collisions have a significant impact on the speed with which the group spreads across a domain. Throughout these two chapters, we apply a combination of experiments, individual-based simulations and PDE descriptions to improve our understanding of interactions in systems of dispersal.
The segmentation of sparse MR images
Keywords: symmetry
medical imaging
sparse
MRI
brain

This thesis develops a methodology for the segmentation of anatomical structures within sparse'' MR images. Sparse images were acquired in large numbers prior to the emergence of high-resolution MRI and they form the basis of many long term imaging studies.
The term sparse refers to the fact that the volumetric image has very poor spatial resolution in the direction perpendicular to the slice plane. This leads to a significant degradation in image quality and effectively destroys the spatial continuity of the imaged object. Consequently, generic segmentation schemes --- particularly those based on voxel classification --- will yield poor results unless they have been augmented in some manner.
Our Segmentation approach is based on a deformable simplex mesh surface, which iteratively interpolates extracted boundary point data. Prior information is mobilised at two levels. Boundary points are found using a matching algorithm based on a database of pre-specified piecewise constant models. These models represent possible idealised intensity profiles for the object boundary. In addition to the boundary model, there is a shape template. The template is generated from a training set of pre-segmented structures, which means that only shapes similar to those in the training set will be recovered. The segmentation proceeds in two phases. The first recovers the normal shape component, determined by the training set, whilst the second deforms smoothly from this constrained solution to produce a more veridical boundary representation.
The segmentation scheme is applied to a number of sparse brain images. Qualitative validation --- accomplished by registering the surface extracted from the sparse data to a high resolution scan acquired at the same time-point --- indicates that a good approximation to the underlying boundary is obtainable from such images.
Reducing domestic energy consumption through behaviour modification
Keywords: non intrusive appliance load monitoring
fuzzy clustering
smart-meter
disaggregated feedback
membership generation
energy

This thesis presents the development of techniques which enable appliance recognition in an Advanced Electricity Meter (AEM) to aid individuals reduce their domestic electricity consumption. The key aspect is to provide immediate and disaggregated information, down to appliance level, from a single point of measurement.
Three sets of features including the short term time domain, time dependent finite state machine behaviour and time of day are identified by monitoring step changes in the power consumption of the home. Associated with each feature set is a membership which depicts the amount to which that feature set is representative of a particular appliance. These memberships are combined in a novel framework to effectively identify individual appliance state changes and hence appliance energy consumption.
An innovative mechanism is developed for generating short term time domain memberships. Hierarchical and nearest neighbour clustering is used to train the AEM by generating appliance prototypes which contain an indication of typical parameters. From these prototypes probabilistic fuzzy memberships and possibilistic fuzzy typicalities are calculated for new data points which correspond to appliance state changes. These values are combined in a weighted geometric mean to produce novel memberships which are determined to be appropriate for the domestic model.
A voltage independent feature space in the short term time domain is developed based on a model of the appliance’s electrical interface. The components within that interface are calculated and these, along with an indication of the appropriate model, form a novel feature set which is used to represent appliances.
The techniques developed are verified with real data and are 99.8% accurate in a laboratory based classification in the short term time domain. The work presented in this thesis demonstrates the ability of the AEM to accurately track the energy consumption of individual appliances.