VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Agreement, case assignment and nominal coordination
Keywords: case assignment
Serbian/Croatian
Bulgarian
coordination
English
agreement

The topic of this dissertation is agreement and case assignment, with particular reference to conjoined noun phrases. The initial chapters look at the different possibilities available in such contexts, including agreement with the features of each individual conjunct, agreement with the features of only one conjunct, or agreement with features computed on the basis of those of the individual conjuncts but not necessarily possessed by them. We propose a way of handling all of these patterns with a single formal mechanism, later applying the same intuitions to the assignment (or non-assignment) of case values by a head to its dependents. Attempts are also made to explore in greater depth some of the factors that might influence the choice of alternative agreement configurations, as well as to extend the scope of the model which we elaborate as we go along to non-conjoined environments where variable agreement occurs. Special emphasis is laid throughout on fluctuations in agreement, either because the controller has mismatched attributes or because the syntactic structure and/or the semantic interpretation allow variation. The final conclusion is that a modular approach to grammar is best placed to deal with the empirical facts. The complexities of the data call for bringing together purely morpho-syntactic, declensional information, syntactic hierarchy, order and constituency, coupled with semantics and pragmatics. The successful, appropriately regulated, interaction of these modules is shown to offer a satisfactory explanation which is difficult to obtain by exclusively relying on syntax or semantics alone.
TbISWI and its role in transcriptional control in Trypanosoma brucei
Keywords: chromatin remodelling
transcriptional regulation
ISWI
African trypanosome
trypanosomiasis
VSG expression sites

ISWI is a member of a versatile family of ATP-dependent chromatin remodelling complexes involved not only in transcription regulation (initiation, elongation and termination), but also in other cellular functions like maintenance of higher order chromatin structure and DNA replication. TbISWI, a novel ATPase of the ISWI family in Trypanosoma brucei, is involved in the transcriptional repression of silent VSG expression sites (ESs) in both bloodstream form (BF) and procyclic form (PF) life cycle stages of the parasite.
Using in silico analysis, I have found that TbISWI is well conserved across the eukaryotic lineage, including those members of the order Kinetoplastida that do not exhibit antigenic variation. Compared to the ISWIs of higher eukaryotes, TbISWI has greater representation of random coils within its structure, an indicator of more structural fluidity and flexibility of interaction with multiple protein partners.
Using an eGFP reporter based assay, I have studied the role of TbISWI in transcriptional repression of silent areas of the T. brucei genome. TbISWI was found to be involved in preventing inappropriate transcription of the silent VSG repertoires. TbISWI was also found to downregulate transcription in RNA pol I, but not pol II, transcription units. These results argue for the presence of at least two functionally distinct TbISWI complexes in T. brucei.
Using DNA staining and fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), I have investigated the potential effect of TbISWI depletion on cell cycle progression and minichromosome segregation. I did not find any evidence for the role of TbISWI in the maintenance of centromeric heterochromatin in T. brucei.
Topics in Ricci flow with symmetry
Keywords: homogeneous spaces
Ricci solitons
cohomogeneity one manifolds
Ricci flow

In this thesis, we study the Ricci flow and Ricci soliton equations on Riemannian manifolds which admit a certain degree of symmetry. More precisely, we investigate the Ricci soliton equation on connected Riemannian manifolds, which carry a cohomogeneity one action by a compact Lie group of isometries, and the Ricci flow equation for invariant metrics on a certain class of compact and connected homogeneous spaces.
In the first case, we prove that the initial value problem for a cohomogeneity one gradient Ricci soliton around a singular orbit of the group action always has a solution, under a technical assumption. However, this solution is in general not unique. This is a generalisation of the analogous result for the Einstein equation, which was proved by Eschenburg and Wang in their paper "Initial value problem for cohomogeneity one Einstein metrics".
In the second case, by studying the corresponding system of nonlinear ODEs, we identify a class of singular behaviours for the homogeneous Ricci flow on these spaces. The singular behaviours that we find all correspond to type I singularities, which are modelled on rigid shrinking solitons. In the case where the isotropy representation decomposes into two invariant irreducible inequivalent summands, we also investigate the existence of ancient solutions and relate this to the existence and non existence of invariant Einstein metrics. Furthermore, in this special case, we also allow the initial metric to be pseudo- Riemannian and we investigate the existence of immortal solutions.
Finally, we study the behaviour of the scalar curvature for this more general situation and show that in the Riemannian case it always has to turn positive in finite time, if it was negative initially. By contrast, in the pseudo-Riemannian case, there are certain initial conditions which preserve negativity of the scalar curvature.
The biomechanics of turning gait in children with cerebral palsy
Keywords: biomechanics
kinetics
walking
turning
motion capture
kinematics
gait
cerebral palsy
simulation

Turning while walking is a crucial component of locomotion; yet, little is known about how the biomechanics of turning gait differ from those of straight walking. Moreover, it is unclear how populations with restricted gait ability, such as children with cerebral palsy (CP) adapt to turning, compared to their typically developing (TD) peers. Thus, the aims of this thesis were to quantify the biomechanical differences between turning gait and straight walking in TD children and to explore if further, pathology specific, changes present during turning in children with CP. Biomechanical data, including three-dimensional body motion, ground reaction forces, and muscle activity from both groups were collected during straight walking and 90 degree turning gait using motion capture technology. Experimental data were used to compute joint kinematics (angles) and joint kinetics (moments and power) as well as more novel measures to quantify turning fluency and dynamic stability. These data were also used to derive walking simulations using a musculo-skeletal model of the human body in order to quantify muscle contributions to medio-lateral center of mass (COM) acceleration. The results show that both groups preferred to redirect their body during turning about the inside, rather than the outside, limb (with respect to the turn center). For TD children, substantial biomechanical adaptations occurred during turning, compared to straight walking. Furthermore, turning gait simulations reveal that proximal (hip abductors) and distal (ankle plantarflexors) leg muscles were mainly responsible for the redirection of the COM towards the new walking direction during turning. For children with CP, the results suggest that turning gait may be better able to reveal gait abnormalities than straight walking for a number of kinematic and kinetic gait variables. Potentially, analysis of turning gait could improve the identification and management of gait abnormalities in children with CP.
Organic materials for quantum computation
Keywords: molecular nanomagnets
electron spin resonance
quantum computer
relaxation times

Quantum mechanics has a long history of helping computer science. For a long time, it provided help only at the hardware level by giving a better understanding of the properties of matter and thus allowing the design of ever smaller and ever more efficient components. For the last few decades, much research has been dedicated to finding whether one can change computer science even more radically by using the principles of quantum mechanics at both the hardware and algorithm levels. This field of research called Quantum Information Processing (QIP) has rapidly seen interesting theoretical developments: it was in particular shown that using superposition of states leads to computers that could outperform classical ones. The experimental side of QIP however lags far behind as it requires an unprecedented amount of control and understanding of quantum systems. Much effort is spent on finding which particular systems would provide the best physical implementation of QIP concepts. Because of their nearly endless versatility and the high degree of control over their synthesis, organic materials deserve to be assessed as a possible route to quantum computers. This thesis studies the QIP potential of spin degrees of freedom in several such organic compounds. Firstly, a study on low-spin antiferromagnetic rings is presented. It is shown that in this class of molecular nanomagnets the relaxation times are much longer than previously expected and are in particular long enough for up to a few hundred quantum operations to be performed. A detailed study of the relaxation mechanisms is presented and, with it, routes to increasing the phase coherence time further by choosing the suitable temperature, isotopic and chemical substitution or solvent. A study of higher-spin systems is also presented and it is shown that the relaxation mechanisms are essentially the same as in low-spin compounds. The route to multi-qubit system is also investigated: the magnetic properties of several supermolecular assemblies, in particular dimers, are investigated. Coupling between neighbouring nanomagnets is demonstrated and experimental issues are raised concerning the study of the coherent dynamics of dimers. Finally a study of the purely organic compound phenanthrene is reported. In this molecule the magnetic moment does not result from the interactions between several transition metal ions as in molecular nanomagnets but from the photoexcitation of an otherwise diamagnetic molecule. The interest of such a system in terms of QIP is presented and relaxation times and coupling to relevant nuclei are identified.
Logical abstract interpretation
Keywords: Logic
Lattice Theory
Abstract Interpretation

Logical deduction and abstraction from detail are fundamental, yet distinct aspects of reasoning about programs. This dissertation shows that the combination of logic and abstract interpretation enables a unified and simple treatment of several theoretical and practical topics which encompass the model theory of temporal logics, the analysis of satisfiability solvers, and the construction of Craig interpolants. In each case, the combination of logic and abstract interpretation leads to more general results, simpler proofs, and a unification of ideas from seemingly disparate fields.
The first contribution of this dissertation is a framework for combining temporal logics and abstraction. Chapter 3 introduces trace algebras, a new lattice-based semantics for linear and branching time logics. A new representation theorem shows that trace algebras precisely capture the standard trace-based semantics of temporal logics. We prove additional representation theorems to show how structures that have been independently discovered in static program analysis, model checking, and algebraic modal logic, can be derived from trace algebras by abstract interpretation.
The second contribution of this dissertation is a framework for proving when two lattice-based algebras satisfy the same logical properties. Chapter 5 introduces functions called subsumption and bisubsumption and shows that these functions characterise logical equivalence of two algebras. We also characterise subsumption and bisubsumption using fixed points and finitary logics. We prove a representation theorem and apply it to derive the transition system analogues of subsumption and bisubsumption. These analogues strictly generalise the well studied notions of simulation and bisimulation. Our fixed point characterisations also provide a technique to construct property preserving abstractions.
The third contribution of this dissertation is abstract satisfaction, an abstract interpretation framework for the design and analysis of satisfiability procedures. We show that formula satisfiability has several different fixed point characterisations, and that satisfiability procedures can be understood as abstract interpreters. Our main result is that the propagation routine in modern sat solvers is a greatest fixed point computation involving abstract transformers, and that clause learning is an abstract transformer for a form of negation.
The final contribution of this dissertation is an abstract interpretation based analysis of algorithms for constructing Craig interpolants. We identify and analyse a lattice of interpolant constructions. Our main result is that existing algorithms are two of three optimal abstractions of this lattice. A second new result we derive in this framework is that the lattice of interpolation algorithms can be ordered by logical strength, so that there is a strongest and a weakest possible construction.
Novel layered double hydroxide chemistry for application in cement and other building materials
Keywords: layered materials

The investigation into the syntheses and the intercalations of LDHs is the focus of the work described in this thesis. An introduction to Layered Double Hydroxide (LDH) materials with an emphasis on the possible host lattices and to their applications is given in Chapter 1. The application of LDHs in cement including; history of cement, cement production process, and cement hydration is detailed.
The synthesis of the Ga-doped Ca2Al(OH)6Cl•nH2O LDHs (Ca2GaxAl(1–x)-Cl; where 0 < x < 1) via the co-precipitation method is reported in Chapter 2. The effect of doping Ga3+ on a parameter of Ca2GaxAl(1–x)-Cl was determined by using Vegard’s law and the correlation between a parameter and x value was derived. The intercalation of organic anions including; sodium styrene sulfonate, sodium butene dicarboxylate, sodium fumarate and ammonium poly(styrene sulfonate), in Ca2Ga-Cl structure is described.
The intercalation of lignosulfonate, naphthalene sulfonate and polycarboxylate into Ca2Al(OH)6NO3·6H2O (Ca2Al-NO3) is detailed in Chapter 3. The release behaviour for the LDHs and the kinetic modelling of the release are reported. The effects of these LDHs on cement hydration studied by using the in situ X-ray diffraction and the ultrasound shear-wave reflection are discussed.
In Chapter 4, the synthesis of Ca2Al(OH)6NO3·nH2O via a non-ionic surfactant reverse microemulsion is reported. The effects of the amount and the solubility [Hydrophile-Lipophile Balance (HLB)] of non-ionic surfactant on the morphology and the size distribution of the LDHs are discussed.
Two new nitrite intercalated Ca2Al-LDHs [Ca2Al(OH)6NO2·nH2O] synthesised via both the co-precipitation and the reverse micro-emulsion method are detailed in Chapter 5. The hydration of Portland cement samples with additive nitrate- and nitrite-intercalated Ca2Al-LDH made using co-precipitation is discussed.
The synthesis of dispersed, uniform nanoplatelet [Ca2Al(OH)6DDS]•H2O LDHs is reported in Chapter 6. The effects of the amount of the surfactant on the morphology and size distribution of the LDHs are described.
The experimental procedures and characterising techniques employed in this study are listed in Chapter 7. Additional data are provided in the Appendices.
Metabolic adaptations to micro-environmental stress in tumour spheroids
Keywords: Micro-Environmental Stress
Cancer
tumour spheroids
metabolism

Alterations in energy metabolism due to factors including cellular stress from the hostile tumour micro-environment are a emerging cancer hallmark. Distinct hypoxic and quiescent cell populations develop, which are resistant to chemotherapy due to lack of proliferation, drug inactivity in the altered redox status of the cell and enhanced drug biotransformation. The present study characterises the metabolic strategies employed by these distinct populations of cancer cells. The in vitro 3-dimensional tumour spheroid model, which reflects tumour architecture and behaviour, cultured under different micro-environmental conditions was utilized in this study. Metabolic enzyme activity and expression, overall metabolic flux rates for nutrients, metabolomics profiles of specific pathways and tissue status were assessed. Metabolic adaptations consistent with the Warburg effect were observed in fully oxygenated, proliferative tumour spheroids, with glucose being metabolised to produce lactate. Additionally, metabolomics investigations determined glucose was metabolised by the pentose phosphate pathway, demonstrated by high enrichment of glucose-derived carbon in 6-phophogluconate. The extraction of 39.7 ± 7.6 μ moles (mg protein) -1 glutamine from the medium over 24 hours was observed in these spheroids, consistent with glutaminolysis pathway activity. A 2-fold higher rate of glycolytic flux (measured by production of 3h2O from 5-3H-glucose) was measured in hypoxic tumour spheroids, despite reduced levels of glycolytic enzymes being determined. Surprisingly, although lower rates of glycolysis (2.6-fold) were measured in quiescent spheroids, increased glycolytic enzyme activities (HK 1.9 fold, PK 2 fold and LDH 1.8 fold), glucose (1.9 fold over 24 hours) and glutamine uptake (5.5 fold over 12 hours) as well as lactate production (1.8 fold) were measured, relative to their proliferating counterparts. This study demonstrates that metabolic strategies employed by tumour spheroids differ upon exposure to distinct micro-environmental stresses, additionally identifying hexokinase as a potential therapeutic target for the inhibition of glycolysis under all micro-environmental stress conditions analysed.
The depiction of the widow in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German literature
Keywords: fiction
sexuality
death
widow

This thesis examines the depiction of the widow by men and women in novels and short stories written between 1842 and 1913. The representation of the widow is analysed in the context of dominant views about widowhood at the time, such as those expressed in the writings of politician and statesman, Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel (1741-1796). These ideas are set out in chapter I. The first chapter also examines the social reality of widowhood in nineteenth-century Germany.
In the first chapter of the thesis Hippel argues that real widows are superfluous beings and men’s second-hand goods, but they were also perceived by theologians and moralists of the time as a threat due to their ungoverned lust. Many nineteenth-century widows internalised the idea espoused by Hippel and felt alienated and invisible. In German fiction, however, male writers in the works discussed repeat the latter theory that once deprived of their husbands widows are sexually voracious. In the works written by men, the figure of the widow is generally presented as a dangerous sexual predator. Female authors, however, highlight the invisibility of the widow and portray her as a figure alienated from society and her family.
Henriette Hanke is the first author to be examined in chapter II. Her novel, Die Wittwen (1842), portrays five widows, who range from the self-sacrificing Lucie von Gardemer, to the liberated and financially independent Frau von Kleist. Hanke depicts widowhood as a process of education for her two key widows, Lucie von Gardemer and Franzisca Weihland. They must learn to love the right man, and at the end of the story they revert from widowhood to marriage. Fourteen years later, the first version of Gottfried Keller’s Der grüne Heinrich (1854/55) was published. Chapter III explores the way in which Keller portrays the threatening sexuality of his widow Judith and emphasises her power to destabilise the narrator. Chapters IV and V also focus on the widow as a predatory and dangerous figure, as exemplified in works by Paul Heyse, Eduard Grisebach, C. F. Meyer and Arthur Schnitzler. In chapter VI Hedwig Dohm presents a contrast to the dominant representations of widowhood in her story Werde, die du bist! (1896). Dohm challenges prevalent stereotypes of the widow, though with limited success. Gabriele Reuter, the final author to be discussed, reverts to male stereotypes of the widow in her stories. This chapter thus shows that women writers are not always more positive, or original, in their representation of the widow.
The thesis as a whole demonstrates the overwhelmingly negative portrayal of the widow in nineteenth-century German fiction. She is a figure to be at best re-educated and at worst to be feared and guarded against. She is a cynical man-trap in Heyse’s and Grisebach’s stories, a murderess in Meyer’s story, and an incestuous mother in Schnitzler’s texts. Hanke and Dohm, themselves both widows, show from the inside what it is like to be a widow in such a society.
The Rangatira - chieftainship in traditional Maori society
Keywords: New Zealand
Maori

This thesis is a study of Maori chiefship, based on historical evidence. Very soon after the discovery of New Zealand by Cook in 1769 the Maori began to change and the traditional way of life was left behind. At the same time the Maori are one of the world's most documented people. In the accounts of the early explorers, missionaries, traders, and settlers, from Cook's time onwards there is a wealth of ethnographic material. the accounts were taken up by surveyors, native agents, and Maoris themselves either deliberately recording the passing way of life, or indirectly revealing many of its features while giving evidence in the land courts. Throughout the period we have the observations of amateur ethnographers as Colenso, Maning, White, Gudgeon, Tregear, Downes and others. The era of such observers culminated in the works of Elsdon Best.
[Abstract continued in thesis]