VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
A model study of the end bearing capacity of piles in layered calcareous soils
Keywords: piles
foundation
carbonate soil

The results of a series of over 120 model tests to study the end bearing capacity of piles in layered calcareous soils are described. The tests were carried out on samples enclosed in a cylindrical testing chamber, 450 mm diameter and 450 mm high, which allowed independent control of horizontal and vertical stress in the range 25 kPa to 500 kPa. The samples consisted of a loose, uncemented calcareous sand consisting predominantly of foraminifera and mollusc micro-organisms (D50 = 0.2 mm, calcium carbonate content 92%). Into this was built a layer of the same material artificially cemented by a gypsum plaster. The layer had similar properties to naturally cemented deposits, and layers with unconfirmed crushing strengths in the range 500 kPa to 4000 kPa have been prepared. All samples were tested dry. Closed end model piles of 16mm diameter were jacked at 0.1mm/s into the sample, and continuous profiles of end bearing capacity obtained during penetration. A parametric study has been carried out to examine the effects on the bearing capacity of stress level, K0, cemented layer thickness (0.5 pile diameters to 5.0 pile diameters) and layer strength. In addition, tests have been conducted with different pile geometry, multiple cemented layers, and using dynamic installation techniques. The study has identified ranges of parameters for which brittle failure of the cemented layer occurs (low stress levels and high layer strengths) and ranges where the failure is ductile (high stresses and low layer strengths). Characteristic patterns have been observed of the variation of end bearing with position as a layer is penetrated. Examination of the samples after testing has revealed details of failure mechanisms. Simple procedures are proposed for modelling the bearing capacity of such layered systems, and some implications of the results for design methods are discussed.
The New Hellenism: Oscar Wilde and ancient Greece
Keywords: Wilde
Greece
homosexuality
nineteenth-century
archaeology
Greek
theatre
Victorian
Oscar
Hellenism

I examine Wilde’s Hellenism in terms of the specific texts, editions and institutions through which he encountered ancient Greece. The late-nineteenth-century professionalisation of classical scholarship and the rise of the new science of archaeology from the 1870s onwards endangered the status of antiquity as a textual source of ideal fictions rather than a material object of positivist study. The major theme of my thesis is Wilde’s relationship with archaeology and his efforts to preserve Greece as an imaginative resource and a model for right conduct. From his childhood Wilde had accompanied his father Sir William Wilde on digs around Ireland. Sir William’s ethnological interests led him to posit a common racial origin for Celts and Greeks; thus, for Wilde, to read a Greek text was to intuit native affinity. Chapters 1–3 trace his education, his travels in Greece, his involvement with the founding of the Hellenic Society, and his defence of the archaeologically accurate stage spectaculars of the 1880s, arguing that in his close association with supporters of archaeology such as J.P. Mahaffy and George Macmillan Wilde exemplifies the new kind of Hellenist opposed by Benjamin Jowett and R.C. Jebb. Chapter 4 makes a case for Wilde’s final repudiation of archaeology and his return to the textual remains of Greek antiquity, present as an intertexual resource in his mature works. Thus I examine the role of Aristotle’s Ethics in 'The Soul of Man Under Socialism’ and of Platonism in the critical dialogues, The Picture of Dorian Gray and ‘The Portrait of Mr W.H.’ I present The Importance of Being Earnest as a self-conscious exercise in the New Comedy of Menander, concluding that Wilde ultimately returned to the anachronistic eclecticism of the Renaissance attitude to ancient texts.
Social mobilisation and the pure presidential democracies of Latin America
Keywords: social movements
Latin American politics
Executive-legislative relations

This thesis seeks for an explanation of social mobilisation by examining the nuts and bolts of the institutional design of democracies. Since the nature of executive-legislative relations in democracy is an important influence on the distribution of policy outcomes between actors in society, and consequently on the extent of support (or inclusion) of citizens to the way power is exercised, the present work investigates how pure presidentialism (and the whole range of institutional accessories that can be combined with this particular executive) affects the opportunities and constraints for social mobilisation. This is done by conducting a within-format comparison across pure presidential regimes in Latin America, where most pure presidential regimes are located.
The thesis is grounded in both quantitative and qualitative methods of research. Quantitatively, protest events are measured across time and space and the parameters are estimated through pooled cross-sectional time-series models for count data. Qualitatively, three case studies are examined: Bolivia (electoral rules), Ecuador (non-legislative and legislative presidential power) and Venezuela (party system). The main findings of this study are: Within presidential systems social mobilisation is more likely to occur whenever: (1) presidents are selected in runoff elections in the assembly, and (2) constitutions allow the immediate re-election of the president. However, the prospects for social mobilisation are not significantly affected by the extent to which electoral formulae promote the entry of parties to the assembly.
As regards to the relative powers of the presidency and the legislature, the extent of the decree and veto powers of the president do not affect the occurrence of social mobilisation. Instead, the probability of contentious action is greater whenever (3) the capacity of legislatures to censure and sanction the members of the executive is low; and (4) legislatures have weak authority over public spending. Lastly, it is shown that the probability of social mobilisation does not vary across majoritarian and minority governments; neither is social mobilisation susceptible to the levels of electoral volatility in the legislature. Rather, (5) social mobilisation is highest whenever the pro-presidential contingent in the legislature is dominated by one large political party.
The thesis thus concludes by strongly advocating for the inclusion of the format of the executive as an important variable in the comparative study of social mobilisation and of the substantive outputs of a democracy, in general.
The mechanism of Nov (CCN3) function in haematopoiesis
Keywords: Haematopoietic stem cells
Nov(Ccn3)
Haematopoiesis

Haematopoietic stem cells (HSC) are strictly regulated by intrinsic regulators and extrinsic signals from the microenvironment. Nov (CCN3), a matricellular protein of the CCN family, has been reported as a suppressor gene in solid tumours and chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). Recent study identified Nov as a positive regulator in human cord blood CD34+ stem cells. However, the functions of Nov in haematopoiesis and adult HSC remain largely unknown.
The performative construction of identity in the Shang and Zhou dynasties
Keywords: Grave Goods
identity
burials
Bronze Age China
performance
gender

Judith Butler’s theory of performativity can be productively used to analyse how identity at burial would have been created, sustained and rendered coherent through extended periods of time. Moreover, Heideggerean phenomenology offers us insights into the mechanism underlying the process of performing an identity. Using mortuary data from Shang and Zhou burials, I offer (a) an analysis of how the identity of the deceased might have been (re)constructed and (re)produced through structured burial deposits as well as (b) a Heideggerean account of the heritage inherent in the sets of bronze objects interred in graves. These sets of bronze objects would have been used in a performance within the mortuary sphere as part of an elaborate but recognisable process of producing an identity for a tomb occupant. Furthermore, a gendered identity would have also been reified and materialised through burial assemblages. These post-processual analyses might be taken as examples that can be generalised to a method for further investigating other identities, and the processes underlying their production and reproduction, that Chinese archaeologists theorising burials and identity may use to advance the field.
Deformable lung registration for pulmonary image analysis of MRI and CT scans
Keywords: medical image analysis
respiratory motion
multi-modality fusion
image registration

Medical imaging has seen a rapid development in its clinical use in assessment of treatment outcome, disease monitoring and diagnosis over the last few decades. Yet, the vast amount of available image data limits the practical use of this potentially very valuable source of information for radiologists and physicians. Therefore, the design of computer-aided medical image analysis is of great importance to imaging in clinical practice. This thesis deals with the problem of deformable image registration in the context of lung imaging, and addresses three of the major challenges involved in this challenging application, namely: designing an image similarity for multi-modal scans or scans of locally changing contrast, modelling of complex lung motion, which includes sliding motion, and approximately globally optimal mathematical optimisation to deal with large motion of small anatomical features. The two most important contributions made in this thesis are: the formulation of a multi-dimensional structural image representation, which is independent of modality, robust to intensity distortions and very discriminative for different image features, and a discrete optimisation framework, based on an image-adaptive graph structure, which enables a very efficient optimisation of large dense displacement spaces and deals well with sliding motion. The derived methods are applied to two different clinical applications in pulmonary image analysis: motion correction for breathing-cycle computed tomography (CT) volumes, and deformable multi-modal fusion of CT and magnetic resonance imaging chest scans. The experimental validation demonstrates improved registration accuracy, a high quality of the estimated deformations, and much lower computational complexity, all compared to several state-of-the-art deformable registration techniques.
Antihypertensive drug class effects on inter-individual blood pressure variability and the associated risk of stroke
Keywords: meta-analysis
systematic review
blood pressure variability
hypertension
stroke
antihypertensives

Visit-to-visit variability in systolic blood pressure (SBP) predicts the subsequent risk of stroke, independent of mean SBP. It was reduced by amlodipine and increased by atenolol in the ASCOT-BPLA and MRC randomized controlled trials (RCTs), explaining the difference in risk of stroke between treatment groups that was not explained by mean SBP. Therefore, I performed a series of systematic reviews to examine the effects of all antihypertensive drugs in RCTs and how these effects relate to the risk of stroke.
Cochrane and Medline databases were searched for systematic reviews and RCTs of antihypertensive drugs. Baseline and follow-up data for mean (SD) SBP and DBP were extracted. Differences in inter-individual variance (SD2) in BP were expressed as a ratio (VR) and risk of stroke was compared by odds ratios (OR). Estimates were pooled by random-effects meta-analysis.
Compared to all other drugs, variability in SBP was reduced by randomization to calcium channel blockers (CCB: VR=0.81 95%CI 0.76-0.86, p<0.0001) and non-loop diuretics (0.87, 0.79-0.96, p=0.007), and increased by ACE-inhibitors (1.08, 1.02-1.15, p=0.008), angiotensin-receptor blockers (1.16, 1.07-1.25, p=0.0002) and beta-blockers (1.17, 1.07-1.28, p=0.0007). Across all trials, effects of treatment on VR SBP (r²=0.372, p=0.0006) and on mean SBP (r²=0.328, p=0.0015) explained effects on stroke risk. Randomization to a CCB reduced the subsequent risk of stroke (OR=0.88, 0.83-0.94, p=0.0002). These effects on VR-SBP were dose-dependent and persisted when drugs were used in combination. Randomisation to a non-selective beta-blocker increased VR more than β1-selective agents (VR=1.23, 1.03-1.47, p=0.03), probably explaining the markedly increased risk of stroke in patients randomized to propranolol in the MRC-mild trial. Effects were not explained by changes in the incidence of new-onset atrial fibrillation.
Effects of antihypertensive drug classes on visit-to-visit variability in SBP explain effects of these drugs on the risk of stroke. CCBs are indicated for patients at increased risk of stroke due to episodic or variable systolic hypertension, but higher doses are required either as monotherapy or in combinations. Non-loop diuretics have smaller benefits, but beta-blockers are associated with increased variability in SBP and risk of stroke, particularly due to non-selective beta-blockers. These should be avoided in patients at an increased risk of stroke.
Society, Community and Power in Northern Spain: 700-1000
Keywords: Social Structures
Political Power
Local Societies
Settlement Patterns
Social History

The period from c.718 to c.1000 oversaw the reconquest of a significant part of the Iberian Peninsula by the Kingdom of Asturias (718–910) and its successor in León (910–1037); the study of this process of Reconquista has in recent years focused on two broader social changes: the increasing exploitation of the peasantry, and the eclipse of public power. In the Introduction, I argue that it is necessary to integrate the study of peasant societies with analyses of royal and aristocratic power; reframing the subject in this way, we are able to appreciate the diversity of social experience which characterized both peasant and aristocratic life across the two case studies here examined, Southern Galicia, and the Liébana. I argue that the tenth century must be seen on its own terms, and without the benefit of hindsight, if we are to characterize it fairly.
Chapter Two discusses the source material I have used in the elaboration of this thesis, highlighting its uses and problems from a critical perspective. In Chapter Three I show that fluid social structures allowed a family to rise to power from amongst the village inhabitants of the Liébana. Public officials such as counts were not able to impose themselves frequently upon this society. In Chapter Four, I show how a rich and aristocratic family of lay magnates, based in southern Galicia, were major political operators from the ninth century, but only came to exercise significant social influence amongst local society after the construction of the monastery of Celanova in 936.
My Conclusion contextualizes these changes; it also argues that more nuanced and less schematic approaches to social relations demonstrate that peasants retained considerable autonomy in this period, and that factional politics influenced the stability of kingship far more than the supposed eclipse of public power.
Genome-wide mapping of the hypoxic response
Keywords: ChIP-seq
RNA-seq
Hypoxia
Hypoxia inducible transcription factors
Renal cancer

Hypoxia regulates many hundreds of genes with important roles in ischemic and neoplastic disorders. Central to this response are the hypoxia inducible transcription factors (HIF). This work aimed to better understand the direct transcriptional response to HIF by mapping HIF-binding sites across the genome using chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled to high-throughput sequencing (ChIP-seq). ChIP-seq for HIF in MCF-7 breast cancer cells under hypoxic conditions revealed more than 400 high-stringency HIF-binding sites genome-wide. Each member of the HIF heterodimer was present with near complete concordance. Binding of the two principle isoforms revealed a high degree of overlap with no differences in the DNA-binding motif. HIF-binding was associated with upregulation, but not downregulation of genes indicating that it functions as a transcriptional activator but not as a repressor. HIF-binding occurred preferentially at gene promoters, but was also present at promoter-distant sites, which were also associated with gene regulation, implicating long-range interactions in hypoxic gene activation. HIF-binding was associated with markers of open chromatin and active enhancers that were present in normoxia, indicating that HIF-binding sites are already “prepared” to bind HIF before the hypoxic stimulus. Analysis of normoxic and hypoxic RNA pol2 and H3K4me3 signals revealed distinctive hypoxia-inducible changes unique to HIF-binding genes. Comparable numbers of HIF-binding sites were observed in a second cell line (von Hippel-Lindau defective 786-O renal cancer cells) as in MCF-7 breast cancer cells, although approximately 65% were unique to 786-O cells. These unique sites were more frequently promoter-distant. Correlation with expression analyses from renal tumours indicated that many HIF-binding genes were upregulated in renal cancer. One such RCC unique promoter-distant HIF-binding site was identified at an intergenic locus on chromosome 11q13.3 that has been associated with renal cancer in Genome-Wide Association Studies. The HIF-binding site was in high linkage disequilibrium with the disease associated SNP and had the epigenetic hallmarks of an enhancer. Analysis of pan-genomic expression analyses identified the cell-cycle regulator cyclin D1 as highly HIF-regulated, and a physical association between the HIF-binding site and the CCND1 promoter could be determined. Furthermore, in a renal cancer cell line heterozygous at this locus, the RCC-protective allele disrupted HIF-binding leading to an allelic imbalance in cyclin D1 expression.
Numerical modelling of building response to tunnelling
Keywords: tunnelling
settlement

The construction of underground tunnels in soft ground in urban areas involves the potential for ground movements caused by the tunnelling to affect existing surface structures. Masonry structures are at particular risk of crack damage. Conventional empirical building assessments do not fully capture all aspects of this soil-structure interaction situation. Numerical methods are increasingly used for such problems. It is common practice in empirical and numerical methods to model a building as an elastic beam in 2D. The objective of this thesis is the development of a new approach to the numerical modelling of masonry buildings using surface beams in 3D. In phase one of this project, finite element analyses of elastic and masonry facades are undertaken and the traditional beam method of modelling them is assessed. New equivalent elastic surface beams are developed, the properties of which account for the dimensions and openings in facades which were found to influence the response to settlements. Equivalent masonry beams are also developed which have a constitutive model that accounts for the different response of masonry buildings in hogging and sagging. Timoshenko beams are chosen to model the facades and these beams were implemented into the OXFEM finite element program with full 3D capability along with the new constitutive beam models. Example masonry structures were modelled in 3D using the new surface beams in phase two. Tunnel construction was simulated under the buildings and the response of the beams compared to a full masonry building model. Example analyses included buildings both symmetric and oblique to the tunnel. Results showed that the equivalent elastic beams accurately simulate full masonry building response in sagging regions. Parametric studies confirmed the choice of equivalent beam parameters and the impact of different relative stiffnesses. The equivalent masonry beams displayed the same good agreement in sagging but were less accurate in hogging. In phase three, finite element models are used to compare ground movements and structural response of buildings using the 3D equivalent masonry beam method and observed data from the construction of the London Underground Jubilee Line Extension. The surface beams showed good agreement with the observed building responses in both sagging, where the building response was essentially rigid and in hogging where a more flexible response was observed.
The evolution of social systems in human and non-human primates
Keywords: Evolution
Language
Bantu
Primates
Kinship
Marriage
Bayesian Phylogenetics
Monogamy
Sociality

From a Darwinian perspective, both history and environment are causal factors for change in animal social behaviour. Because behaviour leaves no fossil evidence researchers have focused on how social systems help animals and humans adapt to their current environments and have only been able to make tentative suggestions about how such systems may have evolved. However, a new theoretical framework, based on Darwin’s insights, allows phylogenetic relatedness to be incorporated into comparative analyses to discover the ancestral states of social behaviour and the ultimate drivers of change in human and primate societies.
This thesis uses these new methods to investigate the history and drivers of change in human and primate sociality and proposes a new model of primate social evolution. Analyses of mating systems suggest that social monogamy in humans and other primates is the result of infanticide risk brought about by life history changes. These methods were also able to reveal how changes in inheritance rules to matriliny among Bantu-speaking societies, contributed to a switch to matrilocal residence, which in turn contributed to a change from polygynous marriage to monogamy. Cultural history effects change in both descent and residence patterns, while geographical proximity also affects descent, but residence and environmental factors drive changes in marriage. This approach may provide a way for the various schools for the study of human and primate social behaviour to collaborate more closely and provide ultimate answers to the drivers of change in human society.
A hyperplasticity model for clay behaviour: an application to Bangkok clay 
Keywords: hyperplasticity
clay

The main purpose of this thesis is the development of a new constitutive soil model emphasising the use of thermodynamic principles. This new approach to plasticity modelling, termed ‘hyperplasticity’, was first developed by Collins and Houlsby (1997) and Houlsby and Puzrin (2000). This idea has been further extended to continuous hyperplasticity in which smooth transitions between elastic and plastic behaviour can be modelled (Puzrin and Houlsby, 2001b). Applying hyperplasticity to this research, a kinematic hardening model specified by means of two scalar functionals is used to accommodate the effect of stress history on stiffness. A rate-dependent calculation for an approximation of the incremental stress-strain response is introduced. The model developed in the research is named ‘kinematic hardening modified Cam-clay (KHMCC) model’ and requires eight parameters (plus an extra parameter for rate-dependent analysis). Triaxial test results from the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) and cyclic undrained triaxial data from Chulalongkorn University are employed to establish the soil parameters for the new model. The model is initially developed in terms of triaxial stress-strain parameters for the purpose of comparison with the experimental data on Bangkok clay. The model is expressed in FORTRAN code for implementation into the OXFEM finite element program. Two examples of real geotechnical projects in Bangkok (a road embankment and tunnelling in soft ground) are analysed under plane strain conditions. Comparisons of the numerical analysis results with field data are made. In addition, factors affecting the results of the analysis such as stress history and K0, are investigated.