VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Rome in ninth-century Anglo-Saxon England
Keywords: ninth century
papacy
kingship
King Alfred
religion
Anglo-Saxon history
early medieval Europe
travel
early medieval history
geography
Rome
Anglo-Saxon England

This thesis explores the impact of Rome upon Anglo-Saxon politics, religion, and culture in the ninth century. From the Gregorian mission onwards, Rome helped shape the ecclesiastical and devotional contexts of Anglo-Saxon Christianity and occupied a central place in the imaginations of early English writers. Yet the extent to which these links continued into and throughout the ninth century remains obscure, with scholarship about religion and culture often treating the period as a hiatus. In political narratives, the ninth century is treated as a crucial period, and Roman involvement is most visible in this sphere. By redressing the imbalance between religion and politics, this thesis achieves a thorough appreciation of the part played by Rome in these various fields of experience, as well as showing how Anglo-Saxon writers located themselves and their pasts in relation to the city. It does so over the course of five thematic chapters, which progress from an analysis of the most fundamental issues to more imaginative ones. Chapter one examines contact and communication between England and Rome, arguing that the two areas were closely and constantly connected across the century. The second and third chapters explore the impact of Rome on religion and kingship respectively, finding that while Roman influence on the church was most pronounced in the first half of the century, in political terms the city played a significant and changing role throughout the period. Chapters four and five consider the position of Rome in Anglo-Saxon historical thought and geographical understanding, examining how writers continued to define their position in a wider Christian world with reference to the city and its past. This thesis argues that, in the ninth century, Rome continued to play an important role in English life, while also influencing Anglo-Saxon thought and experience in new and dynamic ways.
Conversion as a narrative, visual, and stylistic mode in William Blake's works
Keywords: Jakob Boehme
William Blake
Moravians
conversion

This study suggests that Blake’s works can be understood as ‘conversion works,’ which seek to facilitate a broadly defined perceptual, spiritual, and intellectual conversion in the reader/viewer. This conversion is manifested in various ways in the texts, images, narrative structures, and style of Blake’s works. Part I discusses the genesis of the narrative of Blake’s own conversion and introduces critical discussions of the conversion narrative as a genre, showing how the predominant interpretative paradigm of the conversion narrative (as an autobiographical reportage describing a one-off experience) is challenged by the shapes that conversion narratives have taken throughout history, suggesting a broader definition of conversion literature. In Part II, I analyze Blake’s depictions of Christ in his illustrations to Night Thoughts in relation to eighteenth-century Moravian art, and the way in which they are later used in The Four Zoas. I discuss how Milton can be understood as a multilayered conversion narrative, how the manifestation of conversion in Jakob Boehme’s works might have influenced it, and how a related conversion is manifested in Jerusalem (1804-20). Finally, I show how Blake represents conversion in his illustrations to Pilgrim’s Progress and the Book of Job, emphasizing the importance of vision and the inclusion of protagonist and viewer in the divine body. Together, these analyses show conversion as a gradually developing presence in Blake’s works, exploring the conversion moment as a way into the shared salvific space of the body of Christ for fictive characters, author, and reader or viewer together.
Wilson loops and their gravity duals in AdS4/CFT3
Keywords: M2-branes
gravity duals
Wilson loops
gauge/gravity duality

In the first part of this thesis, we study the duality of Wilson loops and M2-branes in AdS4/CFT3. We focus on supersymmetric M-theory solutions on AdS4xY7 that have a superconformal dual description on S3 &equals; ∂AdS4. We will find that the Hamiltonian function hM for the M-theory circle plays an important role in the duality. We show that an M2-brane wrapping the M-theory circle is supersymmetric precisely at the critical points of hM, and moreover the value of this function at those points determines the M2-brane actions. Such a configuration determines the holographic dual of a Wilson loop for a Hopf circle in S3. We find agreement in large classes of examples between the Wilson loop and its dual M2-brane and also that the image hM(Y7) determines the range of support of the eigenvalues in the dual large N matrix model, with the critical points of hM mapping to points where the derivative of the eigenvalue density is discontinuous. We will then move away from the three-sphere and construct gravity duals to a broad class of N&equals;2 supersymmetric gauge theories defined on a general class of three-manifold geometries. The gravity backgrounds are based on Euclidean self-dual solutions to four-dimensional gauged supergravity. As well as constructing new examples, we prove in general that for solutions defined on the four-ball the gravitational free energy depends only on the supersymmetric Killing vector. Our result agrees with the large N limit of the free energy of the dual gauge theory, computed using localisation. This constitutes an exact check of the gauge/gravity correspondence for a very broad class of gauge theories defined on a general class of background three-manifold geometries. To further verify that our gravitational backgrounds are indeed dual to field theories on their boundaries, we compute Wilson loops and their M2-brane duals in this general setting. We find that the Wilson loop is given by a simple closed formula which depends on the background geometry only through the supersymmetric Killing vector field. The supergravity dual M2-brane precisely reproduces this large N field theory result. This constitutes a further check of AdS4/CFT3 for a very broad class of examples.
Toying with the book: children’s literature, novelty formats, and the material book, 1810–1914
Keywords: toy and movable books
book design
illustration
children's literature

This thesis examines the book in the nineteenth century by way of an unusual corpus: movable and novelty books for children, drawn from the Opie Collection of Children’s Literature at the Bodleian Library. It argues that these items, which have been either ignored or actively dismissed by scholars of children’s literature, are of two-fold significance for the history of the book: they encourage a sense of the book as a constitutively (rather than an incidentally) material object, and they demand an understanding of reading as not just a mental activity, but a physical one as well.
Each of the first five chapters of the thesis centres on a different format. The opening chapter discusses the Regency-era paper doll books produced by Samuel and Joseph Fuller, exposing the tension between form and content in these works. The second chapter looks at Victorian panorama books for children, showing how the panorama format affects space, time, and the structure of any text accompanying the image. The third chapter reads the pop-up book’s key tension—the tension between surface and depth in the pursuit of an illusion of three dimensions—in terms of flat, theatrical, and stereoscopic picture-making, three other nineteenth-century pictorial modes in which an illusion of three-dimensionality is important. The fourth chapter traces self-reflexive accounts of printing, publishing, and the material book in dissolving-view books produced by the German publisher and printer Ernest Nister at the end of the nineteenth century. The fifth chapter positions the late nineteenth-century mechanical books designed and illustrated by Lothar Meggendorfer in terms of two material analogies, the puppet and the mechanical toy or automaton. The final chapter synthesizes evidence as to how the movable book could and should be read from across formats, foregrounding in particular the ways in which the movable embodies reading.
Global retrievals of upper-tropospheric phosphine from the Cassini/CIRS Jupiter encounter
Keywords: outer planet atmospheres
infrared observations
atmospheric dynamics
Cassini-Huygens
phosphine
atmospheric structure
Jupiter
atmospheric chemistry
CIRS

On December 30th 2000, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft reached the perijove milestone in its continuing journey to the Saturnian system. During an extended six-month encounter, the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) returned spectra of the Jovian atmosphere, rings and satellites from 10 to 1400 cm^-1 (1000 to 7 µm) at a programmable spectral resolution of 0.5 to 15 cm^-1. The improved spectral resolution of CIRS over previous infrared instrument-missions to Jupiter, the extended spectral range and higher signal-to-noise performance provide significant advantages over previous data-sets. Both optimal-estimation retrieval and radiance-differencing are used to investigate the global variation of upper-tropospheric temperature, ammonia, phosphine and cloud opacity between ± 60˚ latitude. The analysis methods are shown to successfully reproduce Jovian conditions with results consistent with previous investigations. The composition results in particular are well characterised and suggest an important role played by mixing and transport within the upper-troposphere. Interpretation and validation of the retrieved results is conducted via the construction of a simple dynamic model incorporating transport, diffusion and (photo)chemistry.
Comparative analysis of polysomnographic signals for classifying obstructive sleep apnoea
Keywords: app
audio
OSA
actigraphy
machine learning
PPG

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a common disorder involving repeated cessations of breathing due to airway collapse, causing disruption of sleep cycles. The condition is under-diagnosed and the side effects are many and varied. Currently, the ‘gold standard’ diagnostic tool for OSA is a polysomnogram (PSG) which is carried out overnight in a hospital using multiple sensors. A PSG is expensive to set-up, run and analyse, and some subjects experience different sleep patterns due to the artificial conditions of the sleep laboratory.
The aim of this thesis was to find a parsimonious and easy-to-collect set of signals (from the superset of signals recorded in sleep clinics) and other related information (such as demographics), and a set of automated methods that reliably determine which subjects are suitable for standard treatments, i.e. classify subjects requiring treatment (moderate OSA, severe OSA) from those not requiring treatment (normal, snorer, mild OSA), using a smartphone. Data were collected from 1354 subjects in the home using the Grey Flash polysomnographic recording device (Stowood Scientific Instruments, Oxford, UK). Analysis of the audio signal was initially performed using standard speech processing methods, where individual events were annotated and classified. The results achieved (accuracy (Ac) = 69.6%) using this approach were lower than those required for clinical acceptance. In all subsequent work in the thesis, subjects were classified from entire recordings rather than events. Multiscale entropy (MSE) was used to identify non-linear correlations in the audio data and quantify the irregularity of the data over many time scales. The inter-snore interval (ISI) was developed, motivated by clinical intuition. MSE and ISI were then applied to both actigraphy and photoplethysomgraphy (PPG) data, and different combinations of features were analysed. The features which displayed the highest predictive accuracy were derived from the PPG signal (Ac = 89.2%). This work demonstrated that, although audio- and actigraphy-based OSA screening is possible, to achieve clinically acceptable performance PPG remains an important key factor in diagnosis.
Variant surface glycoprotein synthesis and cell cycle progression in Trypanosoma brucei
Keywords: Trypanosoma brucei. Variant Surface Glycoprotein
cell cycle

The unicellular eukaryote Trypanosoma brucei causes African Sleeping sickness and multiplies extracellularly in the bloodstream of the infected host. The parasite evades antibody-mediated lysis by switching its Variant Surface Glycoprotein (VSG) coat. Blocking VSG synthesis results in an abrupt growth inhibition and a precise pre-cytokinesis cell cycle arrest, with an accumulation of cells with two nuclei and two kinetoplasts. Additionally, induction of VSG RNAi triggers a global block in translation, which is not due to a general decrease in transcript levels. The mechanism behind this translation arrest was investigated. It was observed that it correlated with a decrease in polysomes, indicating that translation was blocked at the level of initiation. It was also shown that the VSG RNAi-triggered growth inhibition was reversible, which suggests that this is not a lethal phenotype.
The VSG221 RNAi-induced growth arrest could be alleviated if a second different VSG (VSG117), which was not recognised by the VSG221 RNAi, was expressed immediately downstream of the promoter of the active VSG221 Expression site. Further, it was possible to delete the telomeric VSG221 in these VSG double-expressors, leaving the cells completely reliant on the second complementing VSG117 gene. VSG117 expressed from a promoter-adjacent position in the active Expression site was shown to form a functional surface coat that protected the parasites from complement-mediated lysis in vitro.
Transiently transfecting cells with anti-VSG221 morpholino oligonucleotides allowed us to specifically block translation of VSG221 mRNA without degrading it. This resulted in a pre-cytokinesis cell cycle arrest similar to that induced by VSG221 RNAi. This indicates that the VSG RNAi-triggered growth inhibition was due to a lack of VSG protein or its synthesis rather than the ablation of the abundant VSG mRNA. In addition, it was shown that blocking VSG synthesis reduced the rate of surface VSG internalisation in cells that were stalled precytokinesis, but had no effect on other endocytic markers. These experiments give us further insight into the importance of the protective VSG coat for pathogenicity in T. brucei.
Connecting man and nature: philosophical meanings of Zhu Xi's poetry
Keywords: Zhu Xi
chinese poetry
Neo-Confucianism

My thesis closely analyzes the shi poetry of the Song dynasty philosopher Zhu Xi (1130-1200). I look at its deep structure, especially the tensions embedded therein between literature and philosophy, and between his inner mind and the external world, manifested in ways different from what he taught in his philosophical works. Although his poetry itself is not considered to be aesthetically outstanding, I suggest that it is crucial to a better understanding of the evolution of Zhu’s philosophical project on the relationship between humans and the natural world. Zhu Xi wanted to establish and defend a coherent and practical self-cultivation theory, which would enable people to recognize the dao through daily experiences. Nevertheless, in his poetry production, he was facing a long-entrenched influential poetic tradition with its emphasis on the outer world described by embellished words and spontaneous overflow of emotions, while leaving an open end for the meanings or less discriminatively appealing to the Daoist or Buddhist idea of transcendence, the logic of which fundamentally contradicts that of daoxue construction. This made it impossible to achieve the dao in a this-worldly fashion. The contradiction had to be reconciled by Zhu Xi in his poems, an issue that he actually wrestled with throughout his life. Consequently, the style of Zhu Xi’s poetry was differentiated from both that of other Neo-Confucians and indeed that of any other poets in Chinese history. In his poetic texts, the tension between the outer world, inner emotions and philosophical inclination is more intensified, and the exploration of the relationship between man and nature more focused and conscious. In this thesis, I present an aesthetic world of Zhu Xi beyond all his ambiguous philosophical discussions, unfavorable comments on poetry, and his profoundly contradictory attitudes towards versifying.
Solution reactivity studies of group 15 Zintl ions
Keywords: Zintl ions
clusters

The reactivity of group 15 Zintl ions, E73– (E = P, As), towards a number of transition and post-transition metal reagents has been studied. The synthesis and characterisation of the resulting novel cluster anions are described herein.
The reactions of E73– with [Cu5(mes)5], MPh2 (M = Zn, Cd) and InPh3 yielded the Cu–Cu bridged species [Cu2(E7)2]4– (E = P, As), the group 12 bridged cluster anions [M(E7)2]4– (M = Zn: E = P, As; M= Cd: E = P), and the In-functionalised Zintl ions [E7InPh2]2–, respectively.
P73– and As73– have been found to react with a number of metal salts, namely [M(nbe)3][SbF6] and MCl (M = Ag, Au), InCl3, TlCl and MI2 (M = Sn, Pb). These reactions formed the Ag–Ag and Au–Au bridged complexes [M2(HP7)2]2– (M = Ag, Au), the In-bridged species [In(E7)2]3– (E = P, As), the Tl-derivatised Zintl ions [TlE7]2– (E = P, As), and the sixteen vertex cluster anions [ME15]3– (M = Sn, Pb; E = P, As).
The reactivity of P73– towards a series of group 8 compounds has also been studied. The reactions of P73– with FeCl2 and [Ru(PPh3)3Cl2] produced [M(HP7)2]2- (M = Fe, Ru). NMR studies showed that these species can be deprotonated to form [M(P7)2]4– (M = Fe, Ru). These Fe and Ru complexes are isoelectronic with ferrocene. In addition, P73– reacts with [Ru(COD)(η3-CH2C(CH3)CH2)2] to form [(C4H7)P7Ru(COD)]2–.
Both P73– and As73– undergo transition metal mediated activation reactions in the presence of [Co(PEt2Ph2)(mes)2], yielding [Co(η5-P5){η2-HP2(mes)}]2– and [Co([η3-As3){η4-As4(mes)2}]2–, respectively.
At-sea behaviour in marine birds: a life-history perspective
Keywords: wildlife telemetry
bio-logging
seabirds

Recent bio-logging technology and associated techniques have uncovered the distribution, behaviour, and phenology of marine predators at remote locations, providing us with insights of not only scientific merit, but also in terms of conservation and management. This thesis explores the at-sea behaviour of marine birds using field studies and ethoinformatic approaches by using multiple data loggers, focusing on four species of free-ranging seabirds breeding in the UK. Key findings and conclusions are:
Extending travel distance in central place foragers in the wild is associated with higher prey quality as estimated by an indirect method based on dive profiles. This result is consistent with a prediction of optimal foraging theory, but my results show empirically that seabirds are able to increase reward with distance at the extended scale of the marine environment.
Razorbills Alca torda are capable of adjusting their foraging behaviour in response to proximate environmental conditions. The potential mechanisms underlying this adaptive behaviour are independent of breeding stage, but the magnitude of flight orientation is scale-dependent. These results suggest that Razorbills are capable of optimising their foraging adaptively, possibly reading cues from the environment or conspecifics.
Diving behaviour in sympatric Atlantic Puffins Fratercula arctica and Razorbills is very similar, in contrast to the predictions of the competitive exclusion principle. They are likely to be near carrying capacity for the location and this may explain why Skomer’s Razorbill population is declining while its puffin population is stable.
Differences in foraging trip duration of chick-rearing Manx Shearwaters Puffinus puffinus reflect differences in resource allocation between provisioning offspring and self-feeding. I developed a model based on patch quality and travel time to show that birds should use bimodal foraging trip durations to optimise feeding rates for their offspring.
Individual reproductive performance in Manx Shearwaters can be predicted from previous breeding phenology and is linked to differences in overwintering behaviour patterns. This carry-over effect reveals the existence of a trade-off between current parental investment and future reproductive performance.
Transcriptional regulators of arterial-specific endothelial and mural cell development
Keywords: Enhancer
Vascular Biology
Transcription Factor
Developmental Biology

The vertebrate vasculature is formed by populations of endothelial and mural cells that arrange into functionally and molecularly distinct arterial, venous and capillary beds. Although a number of signalling pathways and transcriptional regulators have been implicated in these processes of vascular differentiation, a clear picture of how arterial-specific gene regulation is achieved is yet to emerge. In this study I have investigated the transcriptional regulation of arterial identity from two different directions: characterisation of enhancers to identify the transcription factors that bind and direct arterial specification; and direct study of the function of one particular transcription factor expressed specifically in the arterial vasculature.
I have identified a novel gene enhancer that directs arterial-specific expression of Flk1 (Vegfr2) in transgenic mouse and zebrafish models. Dissection of inputs from individual transcription factor binding sites within this enhancer shows a requirement for Gata factors for enhancer function in endothelial cells, whereas arterial-specification is directed by Rbpj-mediated repression of enhancer activity in veins. This work demonstrates that Flk1 expression in arterial endothelial cells is downstream of the Notch/Rbpj pathway, and also describes a novel transcriptional mechanism of arterial differentiation.
In parallel, I have uncovered a novel role for the transcription factor Tbx2 in the regulation of arterial mural cell identity. Histological analysis demonstrates the previously unreported expression of Tbx2 exclusively in mural cells of peripheral arteries and microvessels, and genetic deletion experiments in mice suggest a role for Tbx2 in mural cell recruitment, survival, proliferation, and differentiation upstream of Notch3 and Pdgfrβ.
Together, these results contribute valuable insights into our understanding of the establishment of vascular identity by identifying novel transcriptional regulators of arterial fate in both endothelial and mural cells.