VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The pluriverse of disasters: knowledge, mediation and citizenship 
Keywords: Knowledge
Governance
Disaster Studies
Citizenship

This thesis looks at a variety of stakeholders and how they inform the conversations around disasters and disaster sites. In particular it focuses on the way knowledge frameworks of different actors informs this dialogue and defines the nature of their response. The thesis argues that this has an implication for debates on democracy, governance and citizenship.
The thesis looks at four sets of actors: individuals confronting and coping with the everydayness of disasters.; the states of Gujarat and Orissa in India which innovate in the face of disasters to either create a techno-managerial response and institute different methodologies or use the existing structures to embed themselves further and perpetuate the poverty and disaster industry; the Christian and secular humanitarian groups: the former make a transition from charity to rights discourse while intervening in disasters. The latter focus on building methodologies which institute certain norms of responding to disasters and catering to those it considers as more vulnerable when disaster strikes. The thesis finally turns its attention to the response of four Hindu groups who draw on civilizational categories to engage with issues of pain, suffering, healing. Each stakeholder, the thesis argues, in articulating its response to disasters, presents a 'counter model' or at least a complementary understanding of how to think and respond to disasters. This plurality of engagement by questioning the preconceived frameworks adds not just to the democratic imagination but also to the debates on what constitutes governance and citizenship.
Methodologically, the thesis is an ethnographic exploration located in two sites in India: Gujarat and Orissa. It keeps storytelling, ethnography, analysis, policy documents together and tries to show that they become a weave in disaster studies.
Distributed dynamics and learning in games
Keywords: decentralized markets
bounded rationality
game theory

In this thesis we study decentralized dynamics for non-cooperative and cooperative games. The dynamics are behaviorally motivated and assume that very little information is available about other players' preferences, actions, or payoffs. For example, this is the case in markets where exchanges are frequent and the sheer size of the market hinders participants from learning about others' preferences.
We consider learning dynamics that are based on trial-and-error and aspiration-based heuristics. Players occasionally try to increase their performance given their current payoffs. If successful they stick to the new action, otherwise they revert to their old action. We also study a dynamic model of social influence based on findings in sociology and psychology that people have a propensity to conform to others' behavior irrespective of the payoff consequences.
We analyze the dynamics with a particular focus on two questions: How long does it take to reach equilibrium and what are the stability and welfare properties of the equilibria that the process selects? These questions are at the core of understanding which equilibrium concepts are robust in environments where players have little information about the game and the high rationality assumptions of standard game theory are not very realistic.
Methodologically, this thesis builds on game theoretic techniques and prominent solution concepts such as the Nash equilibrium for non-cooperative games and the core for cooperative games, as well as refinement concepts like stochastic stability. The proofs rely on mathematical techniques from random walk theory and integer programming.
Towards the synthesis of anthecularin and anthecotulides
Keywords: antimalarial
chromium allylation
natural product synthesis

The work presented in this thesis mainly describes the discovery and development of methodology for the synthesis of anthecularin and anthecotulides, a family of unusual sesquiterpene lactones.
Firstly, two 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition approaches toward anthecularin have been evaluated, using either oxidopyrylium ylide chemistry (Path A) or carbonyl ylides, generated by rhodium-catalysed decomposition of diazo ketones (Path B). Synthesis of the key precursor for the diazo strategy was achieved but unfortunately no desired cycloadduct was isolated.
Secondly, an experimentally straightforward method to stereoselectively synthesise β-hydroxymethyl-α-methylene-γ-butyrolactones was developed using chromium or zinc. The synthetic utility of this methodology was demonstrated in syntheses of (±)-methylenolactocin, (±)-hydroxymatairesinol and, ultimately, (±)-hydroxyanthecotulide using a gold-catalysed Meyer-Schuster rearrangement.
Finally, the first asymmetric synthesis of (+)-anthecotulide has been achieved, in 6 steps from commercially available materials. During this synthesis the absolute configuration was established. Furthermore, a novel rhodium-catalysed enantioselective ene-yne cycloisomerisation was used to form the α-methylene-��-butyrolactone core.
An historiographical study of Abū Ḥanīfa Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd ibn Wanand al-Dīnawarī’s Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl (especially of that part dealing with the Sasanian kings)
Keywords: Byzantium
Late Antiquity
Ferdowsi
Noldeke
Dinawari
Tabari
Persian
Sasanian History
Persia
Shahnameh
Arabic
Constantinople
Iran
Islamic Historiography
Ctesiphon

This thesis is a study of the pre-Islamic passages of Abū Ḥanīfa Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd ibn Wanand Dīnawarī's Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl. This is to say that it stops at the beginning of the Arab conquest of Iran. It is intended for scholars of Late Antiquity. Special emphasis is placed on Dīnawarī's exposition of the rule of the Sasanian dynasty and questions relating to the mysterious Ḫudāynāma tradition which are intimately connected with it. Beginning with a discussion of Dīnawarī and his work, the thesis moves into a discussion of indigenous Iranian historiography. Speculation on the sources of Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl follows, and the historiographical investigation of the most substantial portion of Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl's notices on the Sasanian dynasty comes next. The conclusion summarises the findings of the thesis. The final section (an appendix) is a translation of the relevant part of Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl running from the beginning of that text to the reign of Šīrūya.
This thesis was written with one main question in mind: what does Dīnawarī's Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl have to say about pre-Islamic Iranian history? A host of other questions arose immediately: who was Dīnawarī; when did he live; what did he do; how was his work perceived by others; where did Dīnawarī get his information and how did he present it; is Dīnawarī's information reliable? These questions are addressed one by one in my thesis.
Coordinated search with unmanned aerial vehicle teams
Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles
multi-robot systems
multi-robot coordination
robotic search
robot teams
search and rescue

Advances in mobile robot technology allow an increasing variety of applications to be imagined, including: search and rescue, exploration of unknown areas and working with hazardous materials. State of the art robots are able to behave autonomously and without direct human control, using on-board devices to perceive, navigate and reason about the world. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are particularly well suited to performing advanced sensing tasks by moving rapidly through the environment irrespective of the terrain. Deploying groups of mobile robots offers advantages, such as robustness to individual failures and a reduction in task completion time. However, to operate efficiently these teams require specific approaches to enable the individual agents to cooperate.
This thesis proposes coordinated approaches to search scenarios for teams of UAVs. The primary application considered is Wilderness Search and Rescue (WiSaR), although the techniques developed are applicable elsewhere. A novel frontier-based search approach is developed for rotor-craft UAVs, taking advantage of available terrain information to minimise altitude changes during flight. This is accompanied by a lightweight coordination mechanism to enable cooperative behaviour with minimal additional overhead. The concept of a team rendezvous is introduced, at which all team members attend to exchange data. This also provides an ideal opportunity to create a comprehensive team solution to relay newly gathered data to a base station. Furthermore, the delay between sensing and the acquired data becoming available to mission commanders is analysed and a technique proposed for adapting the team to meet a latency requirement.
These approaches are evaluated and characterised experimentally through simulation. Coordinated frontier search is shown to outperform greedy walk methods, reducing redundant sensing coverage using only a minimal coordination protocol. Combining the search, rendezvous and relay techniques provides a holistic approach to the deployment of UAV teams, meeting mission objectives without extensive pre-configuration.
The of endothelial cells in the regulation of the vascular response to Angiotensin II
Keywords: redox signalling
NADPH oxidase
mouse model
Nox 2
aortic dissection

Aortic dissection is a detrimental disease with a high mortality. However, the mechanisms regulating the susceptibility to aortic dissection remain unknown. We hypothesize that endothelial oxidative stress due to the activation of the reactive oxygen species (ROS)-generating Nox2 enzyme may play an important role in the development of aortic dissection. To investigate this, we generated transgenic mice (C57BL/6J background) with endothelial specific over-expression of Nox2 (Nox2 Tg) under the control of a tie-2 promoter. Expression of the human Nox2 transgene was confirmed by qRT-PCR to be found only in endothelial cells (EC) isolated from transgenic mice, and not in Wt EC or vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMC) and macrophages isolated from either genotype.
Wild-type (Wt) littermates and Nox2 Tg male mice (22-24 weeks old, n=11) were treated with saline or Ang II (1mg/kg/day) via subcutaneous mini-pump for 28 days. There was no significant difference in the pressor responses to Ang II between Wt and Nox2 Tg mice (Wt 121±7mmHg vs. Nox2-Tg 122±6mmHg). However, 5/11 Nox2 Tg mice developed aortic dissections compared to 0/11 Wt mice (P<0.05). Immunohistochemistry revealed significant increases in endothelial VCAM-1 expression, MMP activity and CD45+ inflammatory cell recruitment in the aortas of Nox2 Tg mice after 5 days of Ang II infusion. Inflammatory cell recruitment was confirmed by FACS analysis of cells from digested aortas (P<0.05). Explanted aortas from Nox2-Tg mice had significantly greater secreted pro-inflammatory cytokine, Cyclophilin A (CypA) both at baseline and after 5 days of Ang II infusion compared to Wt littermates. Compared to primary Wt EC and VSMC, Nox2-Tg primary EC, but not primary VSMC, had increased ROS production which was accompanied by increased endothelial CypA secretion and ERK1/2 activation. Furthermore, conditioned media from Nox2-Tg EC induced greater ERK1/2 phosphorylation compared to conditioned media from Wt controls. Knockdown of CypA from sEND.1 endothelial conditioned media by siRNA knockdown abolished VSMC Erk1/2 phosphorylation.
In conclusion, we demonstrate for the first time that a specific increase in endothelial ROS through the over-expression of Nox2 was sufficient to induce aortic dissection in response to Ang II stimulation. Endothelial secreted CypA could be the signalling mechanism by which increased endothelial ROS regulates the inflammatory response and the susceptibility to aortic dissection.
Finite element simulation of a poroelastic model of the CSF system in the human brain during an infusion test
Keywords: poroelasticity
cerebrospinal fluid
brain
hydrocephalus
infusion test

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) fills a system of cavities at the centre of the brain, known as ventricles, and the subarachnoid space surrounding the brain and the spinal cord. In addition, CSF is in free communication with the interstitial fluid of the brain tissue. Disturbances in CSF dynamics can lead to diseases that cause severe brain damage or even death. So-called infusion tests are frequently performed in the diagnosis of such diseases. In this type of test, changes in average CSF pressure are related to changes in CSF volume through infusion of known volumes of additional fluid.
Traditionally, infusion tests are analysed with single compartment models, which treat all CSF as part of one compartment and balance fluid inflow, outflow and storage through a single ordinary differential equation. Poroelastic models of the brain, on the other hand, have been used to simulate spatial changes with disease, particularly of the ventricle size, on larger time scales of days, weeks or months. Wirth and Sobey (2008) developed a two-fluid poroelastic model of the brain in which CSF pressure pulsations are linked to arterial blood pressure pulsations. In this thesis, this model is developed further and simulation results are compared to clinical data.
At first, the functional form of the compliance, which governs the storage of CSF in single compartment models, is examined by comparison of two different compliance models with clinical data. The derivations of a single-fluid and a two-fluid poroelastic model of the brain in spherical symmetry are laid out in detail and some of the parameters are related to the compliance functions considered earlier. The finite element implementation of the two-fluid model is described and finally simulation results of the average CSF pressure response and the pressure pulsations are compared to clinical data.
The facilitatory crossmodal effect of auditory stimuli on visual perception
Keywords: Vision
Attention
Multisensory Perception
Audition
Object

The aim of the experiments reported in this thesis was to investigate the multisensory interactions taking place between vision and audition. The focus is on the modulatory role of the temporal coincidence and semantic congruency of pairs of auditory and visual stimuli. With regards to the temporal coincidence factor, whether, and how, the presentation of a simultaneous sound facilitates visual target perception was tested using the equivalent noise paradigm (Chapter 3) and the backward masking paradigm (Chapter 4). The results demonstrate that crossmodal facilitation can be observed in both visual detection and identification tasks. Importantly, however, the results also reveal that the sound not only had to be presented simultaneously, but also reliably, with the visual target. The suggestion is made that the reliable co-occurrence of the auditory and visual stimuli provides observers with the statistical regularity needed to assume that the visual and auditory stimuli likely originate from the same perceptual event (i.e., that they in some sense 'belong together'). The experiments reported in Chapters 5 through 8 were designed to investigate the role of semantic congruency on audiovisual interactions. The results of the experiments reported in Chapter 5 revealed that the semantic context provided by the soundtrack that a person happens to be listening to can modulate his/her visual conscious perception in the binocular rivalry situation. In Chapters 6-8, the timecourse of audiovisual semantic interactions were investigated using categorization, detection, and identification tasks on visual pictures. The results suggested that when the presentation of the sound leads the presentation of a picture by more than 240 ms, it induces a crossmodal semantic priming effect. In addition, when the presentation of the sound lags a semantically-congruent picture by about 300 ms, it enhances performance, presumably by helping to maintain the visual representation in short-term memory. The results indicate that audiovisual semantic interactions constitute a heterogeneous group of phenomena. A crossmodal type-token binding framework is proposed to account for the parallel processing of the spatiotemporal and semantic interactions of multisensory inputs. The suggestion is that the congruent information in the type and token representation systems would integrate, and they finally bind into a unified multisensory object representation.
Physiological and biological mechanisms of bisphosphonate action
Keywords: osteocytes
bone
mineral binding
bisphosphonates

Bisphosphonates (BPs) are stable analogues of pyrophosphate widely used for the treatment of bone diseases characterised by increased bone resorption. Studies over the years have shown that the pharmacological potencies of BPs are dependent both on their binding affinities for bone mineral and on their inhibitory actions on osteoclasts. In addition, potential effects on other cell types present locally in the environment of skeletal tissues have been reported.
The present study systematically evaluated the relative mineral-binding affinities of individual BPs of clinically relevance in mixtures of these compounds and the changes with elution pH by using column chromatography with ceramic hydroxyapatite and fluoroapatite combined with mass spectrometric identification and quantitation of the individual BPs. The results indicate that pH has a profound effect on the ionisation of the phosphonate and R2 functional groups, with BPs having greater affinities at lower pH as shown by increased retention times. Moreover, two other approaches, namely using Langmuir adsorption isotherms and competition assays based on fluorescent BP, have been developed to assess the mineral-binding capacities and dissociation constants of BPs. These results suggest that there are substantial differences among BPs in their binding to hydroxyapatite.
From the cellular aspect of my study, I present evidence for the anti-apoptotic effects of BPs in osteocytes and osteoblasts. However, the study of prosurvival signalling pathways involved in these cells needs to be optimised.
The work described in this thesis provides novel insights into the physiological and biological mechanisms of BP action. My project has provided a better knowledge of the physicochemical properties of BPs, which are highly relevant to their differential distributions within bone, their biological potencies, and their durations of action. Additionally, the cell culture studies may provide new information on the cellular effects of BPs on osteocytes and osteoblasts.
The Interaction Point Collision Feedback System at the International Linear Collider and its sensitivity to expected electromagnetic backgrounds
Keywords: Accelerator
ILC
Backgrounds
FONT

An Interaction Point Collision Feedback System is necessary to achieve design luminosity at the future International Linear Collider (ILC). This is proposed to include a stripline beam position monitor (BPM) positioned 3 m from the Interaction Point (IP). The BPM is required to be able to measure the position of the outgoing electron or positron beam with a resolution of 1 m. Prototype feedback systems have been built and tested at the Next Linear Collider Test Accelerator (NLCTA) at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center in the USA (SLAC) and also at the Accelerator Test Facility (ATF) at the High Energy Research Laboratory in Japan (KEK). The successful correction of position osets is demonstrated with the lowest latency achieved 24 ns, the best position resolution 4 m and the best correction ratio 23:1. To make the feedback system a more powerful tool, a digital processor is added. It raises the total latency of the feedback system to 140 ns. Its ability to perform algorithms is demonstrated with charge normalisation. Preliminary results indicate a resolution of 8 m and correction ratio 7:1. Backgrounds at the ILC comprise mainly electron-positron pairs from the beam-beam interaction. For the high luminosity 1TeV accelerator parameters, 105 pairs are produced per bunch crossing. This is the worst case for ILC pair backgrounds. These pairs produce 5 105 particle hits on a stripline of the IP feedback BPM. In two experiments at End Station A (ESA) at SLAC, a stripline BPM was exposed to secondary particle backgrounds to determine if the particle hits degraded the ability of the stripline BPM to resolve micron-level position osets. The experiments agree that the worst ILC pair backgrounds degrade the resolution by less than 8.5 nm (95% confidence level). It is concluded that micron-level resolution will not be aected by the ILC pair backgrounds. Studies of stripline signals caused by backgrounds led to the development of a GEANT3- based tool that could predict the signals. The prediction tool was tested against one of the experiments at ESA and used to predict the signals on the ILC feedback BPM striplines. The results confirm that the ILC pair backgrounds do not produce micron-level errors in position measurement, indicating that the degradation in resolution by the worst pair backgrounds expected was under 13 nm.
Ethics and recognition in postcolonial literature: reading Amitav Ghosh, Caryl Phillips, Chimamanda Adichie and Kazuo Ishiguro
Keywords: ethics
Kazuo Ishiguro
postcolonial literature
ethics and literature
Caryl Phillips
Chimamanda Adichie
anagnorisis
Amitav Ghosh
recognition
postcolonial theory

This thesis undertakes a critical study of ethics in the postcolonial novel. Focusing on four authors, namely Amitav Ghosh, Chimamanda Adichie, Caryl Phillips, and Kazuo Ishiguro, I conduct a comparative analysis of the ethical engagement offered in a selection of their novels. I argue that the recognitions and related emotional responses of characters are integral to the unfolding of these novels’ ethical concerns. The ethics thus explored are often marked by the complexity and impurity characteristic of the tragic – an impurity which is productively thought together with Jacques Derrida’s understanding of “radical evil”. I arrive at this through deploying an approach to ethics in the postcolonial novel that is largely drawn from the work of Martha Nussbaum, David Scott, and Terence Cave. This approach is attentive to both the particular contexts in which the novels’ ethical concerns unfold, as well as the general ethical questions in relation to which these can be understood. Crucial to this is the concept of anagnorisis, that is, the recognition scene. Functioning as both a structural and a thematic element, it serves as a hinge between the general and the specific ethical considerations in a novel. There are three ethical themes that I consider across the thesis: the ethics of remembrance, the human, and religion. The works of these four authors cluster around these concerns to differing degrees and with differing perspectives. What emerges is that while each engagement is focused on the particular details that the novel represents, the range of perspectives can nevertheless be productively read alongside one another as interventions into these general concerns. Following from this I also conclude that as a suitable, if not privileged, form in which to engage questions of the ethical, the postcolonial novel hosts the ethical difficulty that I name as the tragic, and which is characterised by the term radical evil.