VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Madhyamaka and Pyrrhonism: doctrinal, linguistic and historical parallels and interactions between Madhyamaka Buddhism &amp; Hellenic Pyrrhonism
Keywords: Sextus Empiricus
Scepticism
Nagarjuna
Pyrrhonism
Madhyamaka
Buddhism

There have been recent explosions of interest in two fields: Madhyamaka-Pyrrhonism parallels and Pyrrhonism itself, which seems to have been misunderstood and therefore neglected by the West for the same reasons and in the same ways that Madhyamaka traditionally has often been by the West and the East. Among these recent studies are several demonstrating that grounding in Madhyamaka, for example, reveals and illuminates the import and insights of Pyrrhonean arguments. Furthermore it has been suggested that of all European schools of philosophy Pyrrhonism is the one closest to Buddhism, and especially to Madhyamaka. Indeed Pyrrho is recorded to have studied with philosophers in Taxila, one of the first places where Madhyamaka later flourished, and the place where the founder of Madhyamaka, Nāgārjuna, may have received hitherto concealed texts which became the foundation for his school.
In this dissertation I explore just how similar these two philosophical projects were. I systematically treat all the arguments in the Pyrrhonist redactor Sextus Empiricus’ Outlines of Pyrrhonism and Against Dogmatists and compare them to the most similar arguments available in the Madhyamaka treatises and related texts. On this basis, I ask whether the Pyrrhonists and the Buddhists would satisfy each other’s self-identifying criteria, or what characteristics would disqualify either or both in the other’s eyes. I also ask what questions arise from the linguistic and historical evidence for interactions between the Pyrrhonist school and the Madhyamaka school, and how sure we can be of the answers. Did Pyrrho learn Buddhism in Taxila? Was Nāgārjuna a Pyrrhonist? Finally I bring the insights of the living commentarial tradition of Madhyamaka to bear on current scholarly controversies in the field of Sextan Pyrrhonism, and apply the subtleties of interpretation of the latter which have developed in recent scholarship to Madhyamaka and its various difficulties of interpretation, to scrutinize each school under the illumination of the other. With this hopefully illuminated view, I address for example whether Sextus was consistent, whether living Pyrrhonism implies apraxia, whether Pyrrhonism is philosophy at all, and whether Madhyamaka is actually nihilism.
Mathematical modelling of human sperm motility
Keywords: microbiological
Biofluid dynamics
spermatozoa dynamics

The propulsion mechanics driving the movement of living cells constitutes one of the most incredible engineering works of nature. Active cell motility via the controlled movement of a flagellum beating is among the phylogentically oldest forms of motility, and has been retained in higher level organisms for spermatozoa transport. Despite this ubiquity and importance, the details of how each structural component within the flagellum is orchestrated to generate bending waves, or even the elastic material response from the sperm flagellum, is far from fully understood.
By using microbiomechanical modelling and simulation, we develop bio-inspired mathematical models to allow the exploration of sperm motility and the material response of the sperm flagellum. We successfully construct a simple biomathematical model for the human sperm movement by taking into account the sperm cell and its interaction with surrounding fluid, through resistive-force theory, in addition to the geometrically non-linear response of the flagellum elastic structure. When the surrounding fluid is viscous enough, the model predicts that the sperm flagellum may buckle, leading to profound changes in both the waveforms and the swimming cell trajectories. Furthermore, we show that the tapering of the ultrastructural components found in mammalian spermatozoa is essential for sperm migration in high viscosity medium. By reinforcing the flagellum in regions where high tension is expected this flagellar accessory complex is able to prevent tension-driven elastic instabilities that compromise the spermatozoa progressive motility.
We equally construct a mathematical model to describe the structural effect of passive link proteins found in flagellar axonemes, providing, for the first time, an explicit mathematical demonstration of the counterbend phenomenon as a generic property of the axoneme, or any cross-linked filament bundle. Furthermore, we analyse the differences between the elastic cross-link shear and pure material shear resistance. We show that pure material shearing effects from Cosserat rod theory or, equivalently, Timoshenko beam theory or are fundamentally different from elastic cross-link induced shear found in filament bundles, such as the axoneme. Finally, we demonstrate that mechanics and modelling can be utilised to evaluate bulk material properties, such as bending stiffness, shear modulus and interfilament sliding resistance from flagellar axonemes its constituent elements, such as microtubules.
A study of regulatory T cells in allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation
Keywords: Haematopoietic stem cell transplantation
immune reconstitution
regulatory T cells
FOXP3
graft-versus-host disease

Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) is an established therapy for many haematological disorders. Unfortunately, the new donor-derived immune system may damage host cells (graft-versus-host disease (GvHD)), causing significant morbidity and mortality. Since regulatory T cells (Tregs) can modulate immune responses, it was hypothesised that Treg numbers in the haematopoietic stem cell grafts and/or peripheral blood may influence the development of GvHD and other transplant-related complications.
In this project, a prospective observational clinical study of putative Tregs in human alloHSCT was performed in Oxford. Flow cytometry and methylation-specific qPCR assays were developed to quantify putative Tregs and lymphocyte populations within the grafts and post-transplant blood samples. Although low CD4(+)CD25(+)FOXP3(+)CD127(-/dim) T-cell numbers were not associated with increased incidence of GvHD, low proportions of CD25(+)FOXP3(+)CD127(-/dim) cells in the graft (as a percentage of total CD4(+) T cells) were independently associated with poor engraftment, increased non-relapse mortality and inferior overall survival. Similarly, falling CD4(+)CD25(+)FOXP3(+)CD127(-/dim) T-cell counts over the first three months post-transplant were associated with higher non-relapse mortality and inferior overall survival. In view of these novel findings, strategies that increase CD4(+)CD25(+)FOXP3(+)CD127(-/dim) T cells in alloHSCT may improve clinical outcomes.
One possible route for increasing Tregs is through cellular therapy. This project therefore tested the hypothesis that CD4(+)CD25(+)FOXP3(+) Tregs can be produced in vitro from conventional CD4(+) T cells. In the presence of TGFβ and Azacitidine, FOXP3 was expressed in the majority of activated CD4(+) T cells. These cells also had a demethylated FOXP3 TSDR enhancer which is specific to natural Tregs. However, most of these cells produced pro-inflammatory cytokines, for example, TNFα. Therefore, under these conditions, FOXP3 expression was not sufficient to produce a Treg phenotype. It is proposed that current focus for generating Tregs for human clinical trials should be directed towards improving isolation and expansion of ex vivo isolated Tregs.
Preventing forced marriage: a comparative analysis of France and Great Britain
Keywords: comparative politics
harmful traditional practices
forced marriage
integration of immigrants
educational policies

This study aims at ascertaining via a cross-country/cross-city comparison why different national contexts characterized by allegedly opposite ideologies concerning the incorporation of immigrants (namely, the British Race Relations/multicultural model and French republicanism) have led to the adoption of similar policy tools in the prevention of forced unions amongst young people of ethnic minority background. In order to do so, the study will examine French republican and British multicultural rhetoric and policies aimed at the prevention of forced marriage at different institutional levels, with a focus on the preventive role played by the educational sector and within a historical institutionalist theoretical framework. The comparison begins with a consideration of French and British national rhetoric and policies against forced marriage from 1997 to 2008 to develop an adequate framework for the analysis of the preventive role attributed to educational policies in four major localities (the capital cities, Paris and London, and the second two largest cities per population size, Lyon and Birmingham). Despite differences in the policies and rhetoric adopted by multicultural Britain and republican France to tackle forced unions, the study hypothesizes a common trend in the ways French and British public authorities conceptualize the practice of forced marriage - intended mainly as the product of cultural difference. Similarities in the conceptualization of the practice, in turn, have contributed to the identification of similar policy tools despite dissimilar institutional contexts. Such a hypothesis contrasts with one of the key claims of historical institutionalism, according to which dissimilar institutions lead to different policy outcomes across different countries. The study will introduce the role of ideas – in the form of frames (Bleich 2003) – as a tool to explain the reasons why French and British policies aimed at the prevention of forced unions have led to similar policy outcomes despite dissimilar institutional contexts.
The etymological poetry of W. H. Auden, J. H. Prynne, and Paul Muldoon
Keywords: diction
close reading
modern poetry
difficulty
etymology
pedantry
dictionaries

This thesis investigates the roles played by etymology in the work of three late modernist poet-critics: W. H. Auden, J. H. Prynne, and Paul Muldoon. The relationship between poetry and etymology has a long history, but the advent of modern linguistics at the beginning of the twentieth century brought about a change in this relationship. Structuralism developed a more comprehensive condemnation of the etymological fallacy – the view that historical forms and meanings are relevant to current ones - that both isolated etymology as an abstract field of study and undermined its scientific validity. One reaction to this state of affairs has been to re-evaluate etymological discourse itself as poetic or rhetorical. But it is the tension created by what Paula Blank has called 'the quasi-disciplinarity of etymological desire' that motivates Auden, Prynne, and Muldoon's concerns with linguistic historicity.
Etymological poetry encourages, even necessitates, very close reading. While this thesis accepts the challenge to read arguably too closely, it also examines the limits of such an approach and its implications for the relationship between poetry and criticism. The first three chapters consider how Auden, Prynne, and Muldoon invoke etymologies in their own criticism, and how etymology affects the ways their poetry may be said to communicate. The second three develop these analyses into new interpretations of commonly debated aspects of their work: Auden's landscape poetry, Prynne's lyricism, and Muldoon's onomastics. It is argued that the fact of obsolescence is key to the etymological poetic; obsolete forms and meanings make poetry difficult, but in the process they intimate that a truer way of representing the world may be (re)discovered. All three poet-critics confront and absorb the consequences of etymological obscurity. Their preoccupation with the history of words is self-consciously and unavoidably pedantic, and it is this pedantry that plays the most significant role in the poetic power they accord to etymology.
Complexity, innovation and the dynamics of OTC derivatives regulation
Keywords: financial regulation
derivatives

Conventional financial theory has played an important – and yet largely unexamined – role in shaping how we regulate modern financial markets. This thesis explores the influence of conventional financial theory on the regulation of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives markets in the U.S. and U.K. prior to the global financial crisis. More specifically, it explores how conventional financial theory failed to adequately account for both the complexity of OTC derivatives markets and the nature and pace of financial innovation and, ultimately, how these blind spots became reflected in a ‘non-interventionist’ approach toward their regulation now widely viewed as suboptimal.
This thesis yields three important contributions to the scholarly and public policy debates surrounding the regulation of modern financial markets. First, it articulates a more robust theoretical framework for understanding complexity, financial innovation, and the relationship between these powerful market dynamics. This, in turn, facilitates an examination of the implications of complexity and financial innovation in terms of the ongoing debates respecting the optimal source, form and scope of financial regulation. It also facilitates an examination of both the shortcomings of the pre-crisis regulatory regimes governing OTC derivatives markets and, looking forward, the prospective strengths and weaknesses of embryonic post-crisis reforms. Finally, and more broadly, this thesis enhances our understanding of the relationship between the important insights of financial theory and how we conceptualize and pursue the objectives of financial regulation.
Measurement of properties of the lunar surface using the Diviner Lunar Radiometer experiment on the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
Keywords: moon
spectroscopy
infrared
lunar
mineralogy
instrument calibration

The Diviner Lunar Radiometer is a nine-channel radiometer on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched in June 2009 and currently orbiting the Moon. Diviner is the first orbiting multi-spectral instrument to observe the lunar surface in the mid- and far- infrared, therefore this thesis details the first steps towards utilising observations in this new spectral region.
The author, as part of the Diviner instrument team, contributed to the pre-launch testing and calibration of Diviner. Specifically, the transmission profiles of the B2 and B3 filters, which could not be measured after integration into the instrument due to their long wavelength passbands, were determined. Further investigations of the far-infrared mesh filters were also conducted, as the spectral responses of similar mesh filters were found to have broadened after integration into the Mars Climate Sounder instrument, the pre-cursor instrument to Diviner. To test if this would occur in Diviner also, a new setup was made to approximately re-create the instruments' optical layout. No such spectral broadening was measured in the B1, B2 or B3 filters. The linearities of Diviner's detectors were also confirmed through analysis of the pre-flight calibration data.
Laboratory emission spectra taken under ambient conditions differ from those taken in a lunar environment, which induces a temperature gradient in soil and mineral samples. Due to a lack of spectra measured under such conditions, which are directly comparable to Diviner‟s measurements, a new chamber for performing high-resolution emission measurements in a simulated lunar environment was built and calibrated. This setup induces a temperature gradient in each sample by heating it from below while it is surrounded by a cooled radiation shield, all enclosed in a very low pressure vacuum chamber. Lunar analogue minerals have been measured, first in reflectance, and then in simulated lunar conditions, forming the basis of a new lunar spectral library.
The uses of the mid- and far-infrared have been described herein, utilising calibrated Diviner observations to: [1] map the temperatures of the lunar poles; [2] investigate regions containing higher than average abundances of rocks; and [3] determine the composition of regions of the lunar surface by combining observations with the new spectral library made during this project.
Life before birth: abortion and prenatal personhood in morality and law
Keywords: personhood
abortion

This thesis is about the legal and moral status of abortion. It is primarily concerned with the metaphysical status of the foetus, with particular attention to the question whether the foetus is properly characterised as a person in the philosophical sense. The argument of the thesis proceeds in two parts. The first part surveys certain lines of argument to the effect that the question of prenatal personhood is immaterial to the moral and legal permissibility of abortion. Against these claims, it argues that the personhood status of the foetus is indeed central to the moral and legal appraisal of abortion practice.
The second part focuses on the metaphysical question in its own right. The thesis proposes a theoretical underpinning for the ‘gradualist’ view of human life before birth, according to which the human foetus is a fuller instantiation of a person the more biologically developed it is. It sets out to defend the kernel of the gradualist thesis against a cluster of criticisms, commonly advanced by those who endorse the belief that the personhood of human beings begins at conception. One notable challenge of this sort, which the thesis aims to address, asserts that any graduated account of personhood before birth is logically inconsistent with basic human equality. Finally, the thesis considers a few practical implications for the legal regulation of abortion stemming from the gradualist thesis, and the rule of law standards by which a regulatory framework must abide.
New technologies for fluorescence image-guided surgery
Keywords: Surgery
Fluorescence
Optics
Imaging

To date, surgery is the most common and successful way to treat cancer. Tumour identification during surgery, however, can be challenging as it relies on the surgeon’s ability to differentiate healthy from diseased tissue, based on visual appearance and palpation. Additional contrast mechanisms are needed to further improve cancer detection during surgery.
In this work, I explore the possibility of improving surgical outcomes by using intra-operative fluorescence imaging technologies to identify otherwise invisible lesions. A theoretical model is developed to quantify and characterise the imaging performance of fluorescence image-guided surgery (FIGS) and to guide the development of imaging systems. This model shows excellent potential for performance characterisation of FIGS devices, particularly when small lesions are involved.
The design, development and testing of FIGS devices for open and keyhole surgery are described. These devices exploit near infrared (NIR) wavelengths to achieve a superior depth penetration while minimising tissue autofluorescence. Unlike existing systems, the devices described in this work use a single miniaturised camera to simultaneously detect bright-field and fluorescence from multiple dyes. Practical tests indicate nano-molar detection of clinically approved fluorescence dyes.
The proposed technology is tested in a clinical study for detecting the sentinel lymph node (SLN) in gynaecological cancers. Results using two non-specific NIR dyes show excellent SLN detection rate in real time during open surgery and laparoscopy. In addition, multi-spectral fluorescence allows independent visualisation of different lymphatic pathways, crucial for understanding the mechanisms of metastasis through the lymphatic system. The FIGS devices are also used to test novel tumour-specific markers in vivo, ex vivo and in vitro. Promising results are reported, suggesting that this imaging technology is suitable for fluorescence molecular imaging.
In conclusion, I report the development and applications of a novel multi-spectral FIGS technology that can effectively improve outcomes in surgical oncology.
Angiogenesis in endometriosis: the role of circulating angiogenic cells and the endometrium
Keywords: endothelial progenitor
circulating angiogenic cells
angiogenesis
endometrium
Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a common cause of subfertility and pelvic pain, affecting up to 10% of women of reproductive age. It is characterised by the presence of endometrial-like tissue outside the uterus. The development of the disease is still poorly understood and, currently, the diagnosis relies on visualisation of typical lesions during surgery. There is great interest in identifying biomarkers to assist in diagnosis and disease management.
Blood vessel development is known to be a crucial feature of endometriosis, but the mechanisms involved in angiogenesis are not well described for this disease. Most vessel development relies on the proliferation and migration of pre-existing endothelial cells. However, there may also be roles for cells derived from peripheral blood (circulating angiogenic cells) and surrounding stromal cells. In this thesis, the contribution of these different cell types to vessel development in endometriosis is assessed.
In chapter 2, a robust protocol was optimised to identify circulating angiogenic cells (CACs) with flow cytometry. The reliability of the protocol was verified, and the level of these cells was found not to fluctuate with the menstrual cycle in healthy women (P=0.279, F=1.359, 3 d.f.). In chapter 3, levels of CACs in women with and without endometriosis were found to be equivalent (0.0835% ± 0.0422 compared to 0.0724% ± 0.0414), demonstrating that they have no use as a disease biomarker.
In chapter 4, isolation and culture of endothelial cells from the endometrium was attempted. However, a pure culture of endometrial endothelial cells could not be obtained, which may be due to contamination by other cell types or cellular transdifferentiation.
Finally, in chapter 5, the contribution of endometrial stromal cells to vessel development was considered. Stromal cells were found not to differentiate towards an endothelial cell phenotype, but were able to participate in tube formation assays. However, the presence of endometriosis did not influence this behaviour.