VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Bias and discrimination in intra-household food allocation: case study of a rural labour population in northeast Brazil
Keywords: nutrition transition
mixed methods
Brazil
food systems
seasonality
gender
food security
discrimination
intra-household food allocation

My thesis examines food allocation and nutritional outcomes in a sample of 152 individuals in thirty-two households of sugarcane workers in the municipality of Gameleira, Northeast Brazil. Anthropometric data show that undernutrition and overnutrition coexist in the study population, and often within households – a consequence of the changes in diet and physical activity linked to the nutrition transition. Food allocation was examined using an indicator of the frequency of consumption of high status foods - non-staple foods which are considered more desirable than staples because they add variety and taste to an otherwise monotonous diet. I created an intra-household index of food allocation in order to observe each individual's consumption in relation to the average in his or her household at two seasonal points of the year. The sample was split into two groups, a group of more affluent households in which high status foods were eaten on the harvest and non-harvest dietary recalls, and a group of less affluent households in which no-one ate high status foods on the non-harvest recall.
I found gender biases in the allocation of food in favour of men relative to women, and girls relative to boys, in the higher income group, but no gender biases in the group of less affluent households. In relation to age, I found biases in favour of children relative to adults in less affluent households, but not during seasonal shortage in the higher income households. The biases were greater in households with higher incomes, but lower in households in which women controlled some household income relative to households in which men controlled all income. I considered whether discriminatory behaviour underpins these biases, based largely on periods of observation in a sub-sample of six households, and concluded that food distribution operates as a powerful medium for the expression of differential status among men and women, but not among boys and girls, who have equal status in this population.
Improvements to ensemble methods for data assimilation in the geosciences
Keywords: Ensemble Kalman filtering
State estimation
Data assimilation

Data assimilation considers the problem of using a variety of data to calibrate model-based estimates of dynamic variables and static parameters. Geoscientific examples include (i) satellite observations and atmospheric models for weather forecasting, and (ii) well-log data and reservoir flow simulators for oil production optimization. Approximate solutions are provided by the set of techniques deriving from the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), which combines a Monte Carlo approach with assumptions of linearity and Gaussianity. This thesis proposes some improvements to the accuracy and understanding of such ensemble methods.
Firstly, a new scheme is developed to account for model noise in the forecast step of the EnKF. The main aim is to eliminate the sampling errors of additive, simulated noise. The scheme is based on the previously developed "square root" schemes for the analysis step, but requires further consideration due to the limited subspace spanned by the ensemble. The properties of the square root scheme in general are surveyed.
Secondly, the "finite size" ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF-N) is reviewed. The EnKF-N explicitly considers the uncertainty in the forecast moments (mean and covariance), thereby not requiring the multiplicative inflation commonly used to compensate for an intrinsic bias of the analysis step of the standard EnKF. Thus, in the perfect model setting, it avoids the process of tuning the inflation factor. This presentation consolidates the earlier literature on the EnKF-N, substantiates the scalar inflation perspective, and rectifies a deficiency.
Thirdly, two ensemble "smoothers" expressed by different recursions, used in different applications, and hitherto thought to yield different results, are shown to be equivalent. The theory is revisited under practical considerations, where equivalence is broken due to inflation and localization, but the methods remain equally capable.
In each case, the theory is tested and the accuracy performance is benchmarked against standard methods using numerical twin experiments.
Irradiation damage of oxide dispersion strengthened steels
Keywords: Steel alloys
Nuclear fusion
ODS
Atom probe tomography
Fission energy
Irradiation damage

Advanced fission and fusion power offer long-term energy production from fundamentally carbon-free fuel sources, with high-energy densities and high reliability. However, for these power sources to be realised, many materials challenges need to be addressed. Oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) ferritic alloys are recognized as potential fission fuel cladding and fusion structural materials because of their high-temperature stability and swelling-resistance imparted by the nano-scale oxide clusters they contain.
This work presents the study of a set of model ODS alloys with a systematic variation in alloy chemistry in order to investigate the influence of chemical additions on the oxide cluster nature and the irradiation resistance. To investigate these properties, the high-resolution characterisation techniques of atom probe tomography and transmission electron microscopy were applied in combination with nanoindentation to assess mechanical properties and X-ray diffraction to study the crystallinity.
The quantification of the character of the oxide particles in these ODS alloys by atom probe tomography presented a number of challenges and I extend the conventional analysis techniques in order to overcome these difficulties.
By comparison of the addition of Ti, and then Cr, to a Fe-Y2O3 alloy, the influence of alloy chemistry on the oxide particles was evaluated. The main aims were to investigate the microstructure, the oxide cluster composition and to set a baseline to which the irradiated samples were compared.
The irradiation damage of the oxide clusters was investigated using ion irradiation as an analogue for neutron damage. Irradiation experiments were performed at a range of temperatures and the stability of the clusters was assessed based on their size, number density and chemistry. Subtle changes in cluster chemistry at elevated temperatures and the dramatic changes which occurred after irradiation at low temperatures lead to conclusions about the competition of thermal diffusion and irradiation damage.
The rites of spring: a cognitive analysis of ritual activity in the agricultural transition in south-west asia and north-western europe
Keywords: Prehistoric Ritual Practices
Cognitive Anthropology
Cognitive Archaeology
Generalized Linear Modelling
Modes of Religiosity
Neolithic  Transition

What cognitive and cultural mechanisms facilitated the agricultural transition? In this thesis, I evaluated the hypothesis that ritual action involving large groups of people meeting regularly created a significant sense of collective purpose to bring about the social cohesion necessary for agriculture. I test this hypothesis against the archaeological record in two distinct regions: south west Asia and north-western Europe. Following Whitehouse’s (2000) Modes of Religiosity theory, I show that the agricultural transition in both regions is connected with a shift from an imagistic to an increasingly doctrinal mode of religious behaviour. This result is important because it brings together insights from the prehistoric archaeology and cognitive anthropology to generate new knowledge about the agricultural transition.
Portrait busts of Roman women in the third century AD
Keywords: portrait bust
Roman
portraiture
women

The purpose of this dissertation is to conduct a comprehensive study of Roman women's portrait busts of the third century AD. The free-standing portrait bust forms a discrete historical category through which to trace developments in third-century women's portraiture. The high-status, commemorative tradition of the bust and the durability of this format, which could be displayed and utilised in a large range of different contexts, made this an important portrait genre for women in the third century. These busts consequently offer powerful insight into the ideological function and status of Roman women in the third century.
By placing third-century women's busts in the context of their form, history and provenance, I hope to create a methodology that allows me to ascertain the ancient intention of these portraits. My hypothesis is that, while elements of self-styling and bust-format reveal innovation, the moral vocabulary of Empire as presented in women's portrait busts did not change dramatically in the third century. I will argue that these portraits reflect the heightened ideological status of certain forms of Roman femininity in this period. Rather than being expressive of spiritual escapism or emotional turmoil women's portrait busts functioned as a means of re-confirming the Roman rhetoric of feminine virtue in the third century.
Policy making in secondary education: evidence from two local authorities 1944-1972
Keywords: Buckinghamshire
grammar schools
history of education
Oxfordshire
comprehensive schools
education policy
secondary modern schools
policy making

The 1944 Butler Act laid the legal foundations for a new secondary education system in England, one which would see all children entitled to free and compulsory schooling up to the age of 15. The Act therefore represented a bold step forward in the pursuit of a fairer society: expanding access to training and qualifications, while promoting a more equal distribution of educational opportunities.
This thesis explores the process of constructing and delivering secondary education policy in England following the 1944 Butler Education Act. It offers a close examination of two Local Education Authorities- Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire- exploring how they interpreted and implemented 'secondary education for all' after the Second World War. The dissertation is composed of two parts: Part One looks at how selective secondary schooling was developed and operated in the respective areas between 1945 and 1962; Part Two explores the response of both authorities to the prospect of reforming secondary education after 1962.
By exploring the process of policy implementation after 1944, Part One of this thesis highlights the problems of delivering secondary education for all in an era of resource constraint. It is demonstrated in this thesis that Local Authority capacity to build new schools was firmly tethered to Ministerial control. The relatively low priority accorded to education created a decade-long delay between the announcement of policy change and its eventual delivery. The implications of this delay at the Local Authority and school level are explored in chapters three and six. Chapters four and seven question how resources were distributed between selective and non-selective school sectors, while chapters five and eight evaluate the treatment of selective education within each authority, asking how policy makers conceived of, and operated, the grammar school and secondary modern sectors.
Part Two of this thesis turns to the question of secondary organisation. Debates surrounding the question of comprehensive rather than selective systems of secondary schooling dominated discussions about secondary education policy in the later twentieth century. When it came to comprehensive re-organisation, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire opted for different paths: Oxfordshire adopted comprehensive schooling relatively early with a remarkable degree of county-wide consensus, while Buckinghamshire fiercely resisted external and internal pressure to reform. Chapter ten of this thesis is devoted to identifying the drivers of comprehensive reform in Oxfordshire. Chapters eleven and twelve explore the Buckinghamshire story establishing how and then why this county successfully held-out against wholesale policy change.
Charge-density-waves in quasi-one and quasi-two-dimensional metallic crystal systems
Keywords: Condensed Matter Physics
charge density waves

In this thesis I present experimental measurements on a number of different quasi-one and quasi-two-dimensional metallic crystal systems susceptible to density-wave formation.
I outline the discovery of a density-wave superstructure found via X-ray diffraction measurements in the quasi-two-dimensional Na2Ti2As2O and Na2Ti2Sb2O compounds. Na2Ti2Sb2O and Na2Ti2As2O are members of the Ti-based oxy-pnictides a group of compounds which exhibit complex phase diagrams and share structural similarities with the high temperature superconductors. Temperature-dependent X-ray diffraction measurements confirmed the superstructure in both materials to be concomitant with transitions seen in resistivity and magnetic data. The observation of the superstructure combined with results from other experimental techniques demonstrated the transition to be a charge-density-wave.
I also present results on a series of intercalated charge-density-wave compounds NixZrTe3. NixZrTe3 was measured using X-ray diffraction and ARPES to investigate the effects of chemical pressure on charge-density-wave formation. The transition temperature for density-wave formation in this series of compounds had been previously shown to vary as a result of Ni-content. X-ray diffraction measurements on the series revealed no changes in the wavevector of the associated superstructure modulation across the series. However ARPES measurements on NixZrTe3 showed subtle changes in the binding energy of the one-dimensional band associated with the charge-density-wave thought to be a result of the Ni-intercalation. Through a combination of XPS, EDX and ARPES measurements the Ni-content in these crystals was deduced to be much lower than growth parameters suggested.
Finally I describe the construction and testing of a straining device designed specifically for use with X-ray synchrotron type measurements. The straining device was successfully tested at the I16 beamline at the Diamond Light Source and shown to induce dynamic strain in a test sample of M2Mo6Se6. Further testing at the ID28 beamline at the ESRF revealed that the strain induced in a M2Mo6Se6 was significant and resulted in a change in the lattice dynamics of the material.
Imaginary lines? 'Islam,' 'secularism,' and the politics of family law in Bangladesh
Keywords: law
Bangladesh
development
Secularism
Islam,
women

With the world's fourth-largest Muslim population, Bangladesh is an important case study in the exploration of what it means to be a 'secular' country with Islam as a state religion. One important mechanism through which to analyse the relationship between religion and the state is through the country's laws, and family laws are especially significant in that they represent the state’s determination of which long-standing social and religious practices find their way into legislation as a representation of societal values. As with many other countries with significant Muslim populations, personal status legislation has remained relatively static in the years following independence, despite attempts at change.
Inspired by studies of negotiations between state and civil society actors in bringing about changes in law, this study analyses the evolution of family laws for Muslims in Bangladesh, revealing a range of voices using such laws in their negotiations between competing notions of 'Islam' and 'secularism' and their role in governance. Using parliamentary and Supreme Court records, newspaper archives, expert interviews, and secondary literature, I show that there has been little change in personal status legislation beyond procedural simplification, and that the judiciary and policymakers have had a tendency to support freedom of religious practice except in family laws. This study explores why this is the case, and focuses on the discourse around the National Women Development Policy and its clause on property and inheritance as the greatest point of contention in enhancing women’s rights in family laws.
Genetic variability of the microalga Emiliania huxleyi (Haptophyta): a temporal and geographical study
Keywords: coccolithophore
molecular marker

The Earth's climate is changing at a pace that was never observed before, and this may result in species migration to new habitats or, more drastically, to extinction. Nevertheless, certain species which have a fast turnover might evolve and become resilient to the effects of a rapidly changing environment. This resiliency-scenario better applies to species with large population size and rapid generation times, such as the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi, which plays a fundamental role in the marine ecosystem since it produces calcium carbonate coccoliths and it is responsible of circa 80% of carbonate precipitation in seawater. E. huxleyi shows both morphological and genetic intraspecific variability, with A and B being its two main coccolith morphological types, corresponding to its two main genotypes characterised by coccolith morphology motif (CMM) I & II respectively.
Here I present the results of a temporal and geographical study, aimed to investigate the extant diversity of E. huxleyi in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres and its genetic standing stock over a 6-year time period. I found that only genotypes CMM I & CMM IV persist and dominate throughout the years, and they are both representative of E. huxleyi A morphotype, which dominates North-eastern Atlantic, Western English Channel (WEC) and North Sea E. huxleyi bloom events.
Additionally, my study confirms the genetic variability in the global E. huxleyi community and reveals that the intraspecific variability is defined by geophysical features, with E. huxleyi morphotype A being dominant in temperate regions (10-18 °C), while morphotypes B & B/C as defined by CMM II & IIb, respectively, being dominant in polar regions (&LT;10 °C).
Finally my results show that cultures maintained in laboratory collections might not be representative of real extant stocks, and therefore may not necessarily describe the genetic composition of wild biogeographic populations.
Designing higher education curricula in innovation & entrepreneurship
Keywords: Experiential learning
Curriculum development

Teaching the principles and practice of innovation and entrepreneurship (I&E) constitutes a growing focus in many universities, but this is a relatively new field in management studies, and so the means by which courses and curricula are designed are not well established. This thesis is composed of a portfolio of studies submitted as part of the Post-Graduate Diploma in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (DipLATHE) at the University of Oxford. I cover the aspects of curricula and course design within I&E that may be particularly important given the applied nature of this topic and the relative youth of the discipline. The objectives of this work are to: 1. Provide a research-led assessment of the key components expected in an I&E curriculum; 2. Summarize experiments in teaching I&E material; 3. Investigate lessons from I&E courses and curricula from several other universities; and 4. Provide a specific framework for thinking about effective I&E curricula design. This framework, which I call “The Three Dimensions of I&E Learning,” provides a three-level approach to curricula design in I&E encompassing specific tools, abstract concepts, and experiential engagement.
Higher-Order Cycloisomerisations of Enynamides
Keywords: Catalysis
Cycloisomerisation
Ynamide

This thesis describes the development of a novel transformation of ynamides, and addresses more general questions of asymmetric cycloisomerisation. The rhodiumcatalysed [5+2] cycloisomerisation of ynamide vinylcyclopropanes A1 to [5.3.0]- heterobicycles A2 is established (Scheme i). We design a versatile substrate synthesis, which allows the preparation of diversely substituted enynamide substrates. Under achiral rhodium catalysis, the extent of substrate diastereo- and regioselectivity is investigated.
The reaction is rendered asymmetric with the use of chiral phosphoramidite ligands; where a mechanistic hypothesis for stereoselectivity leads to the development of a powerful catalyst system for the preparation of enantioenriched A3. A theoretical reaction analysis elucidates the mechanistic pathway, and gives an energetic rationale for our model of ligand stereoinduction. Our asymmetric catalyst system is applied to the [5+2] cycloisomerisation of chiral substrates in double stereodifferentiating transformations, where it is possible to synthesise previously inaccessible diastereomers of product A4.
Synthesis and biological characterization of natural and designed sugars
Keywords: Antiviral
Glycosidase
Iminosugar
Enediyne
Synthesis

Carbohydrates represent a keystone among biological molecules. Well known as a source of energy, sugars also form the backbone of various biopolymers, act as markers and receptors for cellular communication and modulate lipid and protein functions. As such a powerful class, carbohydrates represent a useful pool from which both nature and man have drawn structures to produce biologically active compounds with a variety of modes of action. Beyond their importance to biology, sugars have represented attractive synthetic targets to chemists given their densely functionalized scaffolds.
The work presented in this thesis aims to employ synthetic chemistry to provide both natural and designed carbohydrates in order to carry out biological studies to improve our understanding of these compounds' particular effects. In the first part, a synthesis is developed for the carboline disaccharide domain of the cytotoxic enediyne, shishijimicin A. The route employs a Reetz–Müller-Starke reaction to install the domain’s quaternary center, with addition of a carboline dianion to complete the target.
Iminosugars represent the focus of the second portion of the thesis. These polyhydroxylated alkaloids have long been investigated for their ability to mimic single sugars, inhibiting various glycosidases and glycosyltransferases. The endocyclic nitrogen atom of members of this class can act as a functional handle for alkylation, with increased chain length increasing both potency of enzyme inhibition and toxicity in cellula. Specific iminopyranose structures with D-gluco stereochemistry have broad-spectrum antiviral activity, while those with D-galacto stereochemistry are antiviral with respect to hepatitis C, but not other genetically related viruses. Reported herein are syntheses of classes of iminosugars to determine the influence of both N-alkylation chain length and iminopyranose stereochemistry on the spectrum of antiviral activity. Complementing antiviral activity with isolated enzyme inhibition assays, the work aims to identify new targets for next generation antivirals.
Finally, the prototypical iminosugar, D-deoxynojirimycin, is conjugated to a second natural product, D-α-tocopherol. By replacing the more common normal alkyl group with a lipid, the goal was to reduce cellular toxicity, while also taking advantage of the natural active transport for the lipid to increase uptake of the drug. Surprisingly, this change provided a marked shift in selectivity of enzyme inhibition and antiviral ability. In order to fully characterize the mechanism, the mentioned enzymatic and antiviral studies were supplemented with lipidomic, STED-microscopy and pharmacokinetic investigations.