VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Social justice in the European Union: a social democratic ideal for an 'ever closer union'
Keywords: social justice
European Union
distributive justice
legitimacy
global justice
equality

In recent decades the European Union has moved from a multilateral treaty to a distinctive social, political, and economic order among European states. During the same period political philosophers have increasingly turned their attention to questions of justice beyond the state. But their discussions have largely focused on global justice, and have paid relatively little attention to the distinctive moral and political questions raised by the emergence of a new type of order among European states. This thesis fills this lacuna, by developing a conception of ‘social democratic’ or ‘egalitarian’ social justice for the specific institutional arrangements of the EU.
In Chapters one through three, I delineate a general conception of ‘pluralist egalitarianism’, the view that we have a variety of grounds for endorsing equality-inclined economic institutions domestically. Direct egalitarian arguments stress the internal requirements of institutional fairness to which basic economic institutions are subject. Indirect egalitarian arguments favour egalitarian economic outcomes based on concerns of social equality. I further differentiate between a transnationalist and an internationalist position. Direct transnationalist arguments stress the EU’s similarity to domestic institutions and derive egalitarian economic requirements for the EU as a whole. Indirect transnationalists argue that EU citizens stand in a distinctive kind of relationship such that the value of social equality has purchase amongst them, and social equality requires a limitation on economic inequalities at the EU level. By contrast, internationalists insist on the continuing importance of national self-determination. However, they endorse more substantive economic institutions at the EU level to protect existing social democratic welfare state arrangements.
In chapter four to seven, I assess the extent to which each of these arguments can support a more egalitarian organisation of basic economic institutions at the EU level. Finally, I offer one practical proposal that would help the EU to realise the social democratic vision I have defended. This is the idea of an EU social minimum. I explain how such a social minimum would be conceived and implemented, and I demonstrate why transnationalists and internationalists should endorse such a policy.
Novel aspects of layered double hydroxide chemistry
Keywords: synthesis
double
state
solid
hydroxide
materials
layered

A number of different aspects of the chemistry of layered double hydroxides and similar materials have been explored in this thesis. The intercalation chemistry of these compounds, in both aqueous and mixed solutions, has been explored to synthesise over forty new hybrid layered materials by ion-exchange and rehydration-reconstruction methods. The host used include both previously-reported layered hydroxide compounds, and novel host materials synthesised by the extension of heterogeneous reactions of solid oxides. The synthesis of these novel materials provides insights into the factors that control the compatibility of the metal ions that may form hydrotalcite-like structures, in addition to providing compounds that may act as the precursors of catalysts and other functional materials.
The new intercalation compounds synthesised show interlayer distances ranging from 7.1Å to 23.6Å, and demonstrate a variety of interlayer alignments as determined by powder X ray diffraction, dependent upon both the metallic content and the degree of hydration of the host compound. The anionic contents of the interlayer regions have been further characterised through infra-red spectroscopy, elemental microanalysis, solid-state NMR and thermogravimetric analysis techniques.
The mechanism and kinetics of the release of the intercalated anions from the hosts have been studied in situations approximating their real-world applications, and the degree of release quantified by UV/Visible spectroscopy. Both the rates and mechanisms of anion release have been found to be dependent on the anion, the host, the temperature and the solution into which the anions are released; as such, the release timescales of the anions may be fined tuned through modifications of the host materials. In addition, an explanation has been suggested for the observed change in mechanism observed in instances of release in which the host compound is in only partial contact with the release medium.
Growing up in the Third Reich: representations of childhood under Nazism in post-1990 German culture
Keywords: Third Reich
museum studies
literature
film
Childhood

This thesis examines post-1990 representations of growing up in the Third Reich within German culture. It has two primary aims: to demonstrate how childhood is recalled, represented, and imagined by those with, and without first-hand experience of Nazism; and to situate these narratives as a central part of the post-Unification discourse about identity in the Berlin Republic.
The material is organised into five chapters: it begins with an analysis of recent museum displays and exhibitions, followed by German cinema (Hitlerjunge Salomon, NaPolA: Elite für den Führer); autobiographical works, by former members of the Hitler Youth (Günter de Bruyn, Martin Walser, Günter Grass) and by Jewish children (Ruth Klüger, Georges-Arthur Goldschmidt, Günter Kunert); and finally, imagined accounts of growing up in the Third Reich (W.G. Sebald, Binjamin Wilkomirski, Gudrun Pausewang). Through close readings of primary sources, and analysis of their reception, including the public debates which they sparked, this study shows how these narratives interact with historical and contemporary notions of childhood. They are informed by the concern, embedded within post-Unification discourse, that the wealth of documentary and technical accounts of Nazism obscures the individual’s understanding of those events and what it was like to experience them.
I argue that because of the close conceptual association between childhood and origins, these narratives contribute to a discourse about how the Third Reich is to be remembered, performing a 'search for a usable childhood'. This is situated within the context of Harald Welzer's notion of 'gefühlte Geschichte'; that is a mode of historical discourse focused on experience, rather than 'factual knowledge', and which appeals to emotions. In assessing narratives of growing up – which take a developmental view of childhood – this study seeks to open up previously rigid categorisations of childhood as found in literary studies which focus on the function of the child’s perspective as a literary device. Thus within a crowded research area the present study offers a differentiated treatment of these works.
Development of highly active internal steam methane reforming catalysts for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells
Keywords: catalyst
steam reforming
SOFC
LDH
methane

Fuel processing is one of the essential parts for development of intermediate solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFC). Natural gas (methane) is considered as the most abundant and cost effective fuel for the production of hydrogen for IT-SOFC. The primary aim of this thesis is to use a novel precursor material—layered double hydroxide (LDH) – for developing a new type of cost effective, highly active and long lasting catalyst which can reform natural gas in IT-SOFC anode environment. Small amount of noble metals Pd, Rh and Pt are used as promoters to enhance the catalyst’s performance as while maintaining the cost relatively low. The research objectives are achieved by a series of studies including catalysts synthesis, characterisation and the catalytic activities.
The thesis initially gives a comprehensive review on fuel cell and SOFC technology, steam methane reforming and reforming catalyst to provide better understanding of the research.
Experimental studies include the effects of the synthetic conditions of the LDH precursors and thermal treatments on the physical, chemical behaviours and catalytic activities of the catalysts and promotional effects by noble metals.
The LDH derived catalysts compositions, promoter quantities and operating conditions are optimised for the best performance in the IT-SOFC anode environment.
A new method for the development of precursor sol for easy coating of the anode is developed and studied. The sol preparation is achieved by acid attack. The sol developed is found to produce better coating and has very high catalytic properties after activation.
The catalysts developed were tested for their stability and self-activation ability to ensure its use in the commercial cells.
The findings of the present study indicate that the catalysts developed show excellent catalytic performance and these catalysts have very high potential for further commercialisation in IT-SOFC.
Motherhood in Oxfordshire c. 1945-1970: a study of attitudes, experiences and ideals
Keywords: maternity
gender
motherhood
Oxfordshire
women
history

This thesis examines women’s experiences of, and attitudes towards, motherhood between 1945 and 1970. The thesis is based on ninety-two oral history interviews with women from different locations in Oxfordshire – rural, urban and suburban. Oral history is a methodology that can provide objective information about women’s lives, but also reveals their thoughts and feelings through the subjectivity of their accounts. The thesis forms a qualitative study looking at six aspects of motherhood. The first is the portrayal of motherhood in contemporary social surveys and community studies. The second is the issue of education for motherhood and questions over whether mothering was innate to women or needed to be taught. Thirdly, the thesis investigates maternity care provision and disputes over who should provide it (namely midwives, GPs or consultants); where this care should take place; and whether pregnancy and childbirth were medical conditions at all. Next it discusses theories of child development and discourses of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ mothers, in order to look at women’s relationship with authorities on childcare. Then it considers critiques of working mothers and debates over whether women should work outside the home; if so, when they should do so; and what strategies they should employ so that work and motherhood could be combined. Finally it analyses popular conceptions of motherhood, marriage and the family, and how the interviewees related to representations of the ideal mother figure during the immediate post-war decades and beyond. The thesis concludes by demonstrating the real difficulties mothers faced during the period 1945-1970; that interviewees from all types of background shared an understanding of how ‘normal’ women should behave; and also that the stereotyping of the period as one of conservatism before the changes that began in the later 1960s and 1970s means the ways in which women were already organising themselves to improve their lives has tended to be disregarded.
Probabilistic localization and mapping in appearance space
Keywords: SLAM
appearance based navigation
FAB-MAP

This thesis is concerned with the problem of place recognition for mobile robots. How can a robot determine its location from an image or sequence of images, without any prior knowledge of its position, even in a world where many places look identical? We outline a new probabilistic approach to the problem, which we call Fast Appearance Based Mapping or FAB-MAP. Our map of the environment consists of a set of discrete locations, each with an associated appearance model. For every observation collected by the robot, we compute a probability distribution over the map, and either create a new location or update our belief about the appearance of an existing location. The technique can be seen as a new type of SLAM algorithm, where the appearance of locations (rather than their position) is subject to estimation. Unlike existing SLAM systems, our appearance based technique does not rely on keeping track of the robot in any metric coordinate system. Thus it is applicable even when informative observations are available only intermittently. Solutions to the loop closure detection problem, the kidnapped robot problem and the multi-session mapping problem arise as special cases of our general approach. Abstract Our probabilistic model introduces several technical advances. The model incorporates correlations between visual features in a novel way, which is shown to improve system performance. Additionally, we explicitly compute an approximation to the partition function in our Bayesian formulation, which provides a natural probabilistic measure of when a new observation should be assigned to a location not already present in the map. The technique is applicable even in visually repetitive environments where many places look the same. Abstract Finally, we define two distinct approximate inference procedures for the model. The first of these is based on concentration inequalities and has general applicability beyond the problem considered in this thesis. The second approach, built on inverted index techniques, is tailored to our specific problem of place recognition, but achieves extreme efficiency, allowing us to apply FAB-MAP to navigation problems on the largest scale. The thesis concludes with a visual SLAM experiment on a trajectory 1,000 km long. The system successfully detects loop closures with close to 100% precision and requires average inference time of only 25 ms by the end of the trajectory.
Decision making under uncertainty
Keywords: optimal decision making
Gaussian Process
approximate inference
inference
artificial intelligence
decision making
Reinforcement Learning
uncertainty
Bayesian
probability theory
Multi-armed Bandit
machine learning
managing uncertainty

Operating and interacting in an environment requires the ability to manage uncertainty and to choose definite courses of action. In this thesis we look to Bayesian probability theory as the means to achieve the former, and find that through rigorous application of the rules it prescribes we can, in theory, solve problems of decision making under uncertainty. Unfortunately such methodology is intractable in realworld problems, and thus approximation of one form or another is inevitable.
Many techniques make use of heuristic procedures for managing uncertainty. We note that such methods suffer unreliable performance and rely on the specification of ad-hoc variables. Performance is often judged according to long-term asymptotic performance measures which we also believe ignores the most complex and relevant parts of the problem domain. We therefore look to develop principled approximate methods that preserve the meaning of Bayesian theory but operate with the scalability of heuristics.
We start doing this by looking at function approximation in continuous state and action spaces using Gaussian Processes. We develop a novel family of covariance functions which allow tractable inference methods to accommodate some of the uncertainty lost by not following full Bayesian inference. We also investigate the exploration versus exploitation tradeoff in the context of the Multi-Armed Bandit, and demonstrate that principled approximations behave close to optimal behaviour and perform significantly better than heuristics on a range of experimental test beds.
Education and employment: transitional experiences in Nepal
Keywords: international development
employment transitions
Education: employment and transitions
marginalised communities
inequality
Nepal

This thesis explores the relationship between education and employment, particularly as it affects the socio-economic mobility of people from poor and marginalized communities in Nepal. I carry out a multi-sited, inter-generational analysis to investigate the aspirations, expectations, and experiences of young people. Based on ethnographic and participatory fieldwork in a village and a school in the outskirts of Lalitpur in 2012, this research grows organically to provide a detailed review of current schooling practices and their employment as well as wider implications in Nepal.
Theoretically, this thesis investigates the experiences of the marginalized in terms of the relevance, level, and quality of their education. I examine the role of education as a socializing institution as well as its characteristics as a social and a positional good. I assess the outcomes of their education through internal measures (such as exam scores and pass rates) but also extend the analysis to include external ones (such as job opportunities and life trajectories). I focus on the deterministic life-stages model of transition to challenge the expectation that children go to school, acquire skills, obtain jobs, and become 'adults'.
People have historically placed high hopes on education, but the potential for socio-economic mobility for the poor and marginalized are limited by the failures of the school system, sustained challenges to higher education access, limited relevance of education to employment opportunities, and continued prominence of social and cultural capital to secure jobs. Yet, their educational engagement has provided some benefits even as their expectations for gainful employment have not been met. Schooling has become an integral part of childhood, but foreign migration is emerging as a prominent alternative avenue for the aspirant youth. Further, the distinctions between children and adults are also blurred as students balance their transitions between school, work, and home to succeed within the system.
Emission targets for avoiding dangerous climate change
Keywords: carbon emissions
Climate change
emission floor
cumulative emissions
emission targets

A number of recent studies have found a strong link between peak global warming due to anthropogenic carbon dioxide and cumulative carbon emissions from the start of the industrial revolution. This thesis builds on this work by using a simple climate model to apply the concept of cumulative emissions to emission floors, by comparing cumulative emissions with other types of emissions target, and by extending the work to apply to noncarbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gases and short-lived climate forcers (SLCFs).
Though peak global warming correlates well with cumulative carbon emissions, the link to emissions over shorter periods or in the years 2020 or 2050 is shown to be weaker. It is also shown that the introduction of emissions floors does not reduce the importance of cumulative emissions, but may make some warming targets unachievable. For pathways that give a most likely warming up to about 4°C, cumulative emissions from pre-industrial times to year 2200 correlate strongly with most likely resultant peak warming in the simple model used, regardless of the type of emissions floor used. The maximum rate of CO2- induced warming is not determined by cumulative emissions but is shown to be limited by the peak rate of CO2 emissions. A simple model of non-CO2 greenhouse gases is also developed and used to investigate SLCFs. It is shown that emissions of SLCFs today have little impact on peak warming, and that delaying near-term reductions in SLCFs would not have a significant impact on peak warming. Only once CO2 emissions are falling do SLCF emissions have a significant impact on peak warming. A global climate policy framework is presented as an example of how the work in this thesis could be used in policy. Future work is also discussed, particularly verification of these results in a more complex model.
The performance of future wireless communication systems
Keywords: ofdm
mimo
amcmc
antenna selection

Multimedia services provided through wireless networks, such as mobile television and video calls, have recently attracted great attention. These systems require higher data rates, better communication quality, and wider channel bandwidth compared with traditional wireless network services, such as voice calling and text messaging. In response to these demands, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) employing multiple antennas at both transmitter and receiver, has been investigated in recent years. Nevertheless, the major impediment in MIMO based wireless systems is the cost of the hardware due to the requirement of the complete radio frequency (RF) chain for each transmit and receive path. One technique named antenna subset selection has been proposed which can reduce the hardware complexity, for example, provide and smaller number of RF chains which are reconfigurable to serve multiple antennas, but retain good communication performance, such as increasing data rates and improving communication quality. On the other hand, network service providers have in recent years established wideband communication systems in order to provide more services and higher bandwidth to customers. However, this development lowers the communication link quality, since signals transmitted in wideband communication systems suffer frequency-selective fading. In order to reduce the fading, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) as a potential infrastructure in the fourth generation mobile communication networks is developed. Referring to the cost-performance ratio, an attractive future wireless system named antenna selection based MIMO-OFDM is considered to be widely utilized in civil wireless communications in near future. The working theory of antenna selection based MIMO-OFDM systems can be simply represented as that a data stream at each selected transmit/receiver antenna is sent/receive over a number of narrow band orthogonal subcarriers.
This thesis addresses analysis of wireless channel and performance investigation of future wireless communication systems, such as MIMO and OFDM structures. Moreover, a novel significantly low computational complexity algorithm is introduced in this thesis, which is proposed for antenna selection MIMO-OFDM systems on the basis of multiple selection criteria. It is shown that the proposed selection algorithm clearly reduces the computational complexity load of the selection process and efficiently selects the optimum antenna subset of antenna selection MIMO-OFDM systems. The thesis concludes by outlining the advantage of the proposed antenna selection technique and points out its potential role in future wireless communications.
The synthesis and applications of cyclic alkenylsiloxanes
Keywords: cross coupling
natural product synthesis
silicon

This thesis describes the development of robust methodology to access cyclic alkenylsiloxanes, and their subsequent application in Hiyama-Denmark cross couplings. An early chapter shows the identification of Lindlar reduction conditions capable of generating cyclic alkenylsiloxanes from alkynylsiloxanes in high yields. The use of such species in Hiyama-Denmark cross coupling is then examined, with particular emphasis on the development of fluoride-free conditions, previously unreported for this class of organosilane.
A ring-size dependent orthogonality is revealed, where 5-membered cyclic alkenylsiloxanes cross couple under basic conditions, while 6-membered analogues are inert. The origins of this effect are investigated experimentally and theoretically, leading to the proposal of detailed mechanisms for coupling. In the final chapter, the methodology that has been developed is applied to total synthesis. The great potential of the orthogonality uncovered is demonstrated with the highly convergent construction of anti-inflammatory natural product resolvin D3 by sequential, one-pot, orthogonal cross couplings.