VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Studies into the technical feasibility of the Transverse Horizontal Axis Water Turbine
Keywords: Tidal energy
THAWT
Darrieus turbine

The Transverse Horizontal Axis Water Turbine (THAWT) has been proposed as a tidal device which can be easily scaled and requires fewer foundations, bearings seals and generators than a more conventional axial-flow device. The THAWT device is a horizontally deployed variant of the Darrieus cross-flow turbine, in which the blades can be oriented into a truss configuration to produce long, stiff multi-bay rotors.
This thesis establishes and combines a set of numerical models, which predict the hydrodynamic and structural performance of the THAWT device, with sufficient confidence to assess the feasibility of such a device at a full scale installation and to optimise its performance.
Tests of 1/20th scale experimental models of the THAWT device have demonstrated that the truss configured device is capable of producing power with an efficiency close to that of the parallel configured turbine. In addition, variations in the configuration of the scale models have indicated how several design parameters affect the hydrodynamic performance of the device.
A two-dimensional Navier-Stokes blade element model has been developed, in which the THAWT device is represented using an actuator cylinder. The addition of a hydrostatic free surface deformation correction has resulted in a model which is capable of matching experimental results with sufficient fidelity and accuracy.
Blade loads from the numerical hydrodynamic model have been applied to a beam finite element analysis, to predict the stresses induced in the hydrofoils of the THAWT device.
The numerical and hydrodynamic models are combined with a Linear Channel Momentum model to predict the performance of the THAWT device at a full scale tidal location. The effect that the device has on the channel flow indicates how much energy is available for extraction and how this energy might be most efficiently obtained. When considering material fatigue the analysis suggests that the structural design considerations dominate over the hydrodynamic considerations.
Calcium isotopes in sheep dental enamel: a new approach to studying weaning and dairying in the archaeological record
Keywords: weaning
Neolithic
dairying
bone
milk
dental enamel
Calcium isotopes

Calcium isotope ratios (44Ca/42Ca) have shown promise as a milk dietary tracer. Previous studies have focused on bone but, due to homeostatic processes, δ44/42Ca values are highly variable. This has greatly complicated the identification of mammal milk consumption through bone analysis, resulting in a search for an alternative. This thesis describes controlled studies to assess the effects of milk consumption on δ44/42Ca values in bulk and sequential samples of dental enamel, using modern samples from Yorkshire, England, the Isle of Hoy, Scotland, and archaeological samples from Abu Hureyra, Syria. The samples from Yorkshire consisted of dental enamel, ewe milk, feed and bone. Dental enamel was sampled from the Hoy sheep.
Milk and plants are the greatest contributors of calcium in the mammal diet. Feed and ewe milk samples confirmed that milk has lower δ44/42Ca values than plants in the diet, and with a common diet between ewes, uniform milk δ44/42Ca values are produced. Also, there is a significant difference between bulk molar enamel δ44/42Ca values between males and females, with males having higher values. Additionally, analysis of bulk and sequential samples of Hoy mature sheep molar enamel, although mass fractionation effects were small, produced δ44/42Ca values with a clear isotopic offset between the enamel likely formed during nursing, weaning and the full conversion to a plant diet. The δ44/42Ca values, once associated with dental development chronologies, led to the identification of a clear pattern of nursing and weaning in the enamel of the first and second molars of sheep with known dietary and weaning histories. The modern results were used to identify patterns of ancient nursing and weaning. Although evidence was insufficient to establish early weaning of the Abu Hureyra sheep, this research successfully established the potential of this approach for investigating milk production and consumption in the archaeological record.
Biomechanically informed nonlinear speech signal processing
Keywords: speech
nonlinearity
discriminant analysis
surrogates
voice
time series
signal

Linear digital signal processing based around linear, time-invariant systems theory finds substantial application in speech processing. The linear acoustic source-filter theory of speech production provides ready biomechanical justification for using linear techniques. Nonetheless, biomechanical studies surveyed in this thesis display significant nonlinearity and non-Gaussinity, casting doubt on the linear model of speech production. In order therefore to test the appropriateness of linear systems assumptions for speech production, surrogate data techniques can be used. This study uncovers systematic flaws in the design and use of exiting surrogate data techniques, and, by making novel improvements, develops a more reliable technique. Collating the largest set of speech signals to-date compatible with this new technique, this study next demonstrates that the linear assumptions are not appropriate for all speech signals. Detailed analysis shows that while vowel production from healthy subjects cannot be explained within the linear assumptions, consonants can. Linear assumptions also fail for most vowel production by pathological subjects with voice disorders. Combining this new empirical evidence with information from biomechanical studies concludes that the most parsimonious model for speech production, explaining all these findings in one unified set of mathematical assumptions, is a stochastic nonlinear, non-Gaussian model, which subsumes both Gaussian linear and deterministic nonlinear models. As a case study, to demonstrate the engineering value of nonlinear signal processing techniques based upon the proposed biomechanically-informed, unified model, the study investigates the biomedical engineering application of disordered voice measurement. A new state space recurrence measure is devised and combined with an existing measure of the fractal scaling properties of stochastic signals. Using a simple pattern classifier these two measures outperform all combinations of linear methods for the detection of voice disorders on a large database of pathological and healthy vowels, making explicit the effectiveness of such biomechanically-informed, nonlinear signal processing techniques.
Structural and electronic properties of metal oxides
Keywords: transparent conducting oxides
X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
photocatalysis
reciprocal space mapping
X-ray diffraction
metal oxides
sol-gel

Metal oxides are of immense technological importance. Their wide variety of structural and electronic characteristics leads to a flexibility unrivalled by other groups of materials. However, there is still much debate about the fundamental properties of some of the most widely used oxides, including TiO2 and In2O3. This work presents high quality, in-depth characterisation of these two oxides in pure and doped form, including soft and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. Bulk samples as well as thin film samples were prepared analysed. For the preparation of thin films a high quality sol-gel dip-coating method was developed, which resulted in epitaxial films.
In more detail the organisation of the thesis is as follows: Chapter 1 provides an introduction to key ideas related to metal oxides and presents the metal oxides investigated in this thesis, In2O3, Ga2O3, Tl2O3, TiO2, and SnO2. Chapter 2 presents background information and Chapter 3 gives the practical details of the experimental techniques employed.
Chapters 4 presents reciprocal space maps of MBE-grown In2O3 thin films and nanorods on YSZ substrates. Chapters 5 and 6 investigate the doping of In2O3 bulk samples with gallium and thallium and introduce a range of solid state characterisation techniques. Chapter 7 describes the development of a dip-coating sol-gel method for the growth of thin films of TiO2 and shows 3D reciprocal space maps of the resulting films. Chapter 8 concerns hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of undoped and Sn-doped TiO2. Chapter 9 interconnects previous chapters by presenting 2D reciprocal space maps of nano structured epitaxial samples of In2O3 grown by the newly developed sol-gel based method. Chapter 10 concludes this thesis with a summary of the results.
Uses and misuses of criminalisation
Keywords: Political Philosophy
Philosophy of Law
Criminalisation
Criminal Law Theory

Which uses of the power to criminalise are misuses of that power? When, in other words, is an exercise of the power to create a criminal offence an exercise of that power which cannot be morally justified? This thesis seeks to provide one part of the answer, by addressing an aspect of the question little discussed by criminal law theorists. Thus it seeks not classes of conduct which it is impermissible to criminalise, nor classes of objective which offence-creators cannot permissibly pursue. Rather the thesis addresses the distinct issue of means – of how criminal offences (are set up to) bring about their creators’ objectives. It asks which means of achieving objectives it is impermissible to employ or make available, and how the power to criminalise must be used to avoid their employment or availability.
In answering these questions the thesis distinguishes a number of types of criminal offence, by reference to the means by which the tokens of each (are set up to) achieve objectives. The argument is that to create tokens of these types is often to misuse power, because it is often to employ, or make available, impermissible means. This judgment of impermissibility is a function of a number of principles of political morality, some of which are developed at length in the course of the thesis. No single principle (or set of principles) is presented as an absolute limit on the power to criminalise; but each is part of a complete picture of how that power can permissibly be used, and contributes to vindicating the thesis defended within these pages. That thesis, to repeat, is that some uses of criminalisation are no better than misuses, on account of the means by which the resulting offences (are set up to) achieve their creators’ ends.
Functional characterisation of microRNAs encoded by avian herpesviruses
Keywords: HVT
MDV-2
miRNA
microRNA
MDV
BAC

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have now been identified in a vast array of organisms and a great deal of research has been carried out to elucidate the role they play. The dysregulation of miRNA expression has been implicated in a number of disease states and their importance has been highlighted by the beginning of their utilisation as therapeutics.
The focus of this study was to identify the role played by miRNAs encoded by the Marek’s disease vaccine viruses, Marek’s disease virus serotype 2 (MDV-2) and Herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT). In order to better understand the functions of these miRNAs we wanted to identify their targets within the host cell. Using a combination of bioinformatic and biochemical approaches we were able to build up a library of potential targets. Three viral miRNA targets; AKT3, RAP1A and DEK, were further validated using dual-luciferase assays to highlight the exact site of miRNA targeting, and western blots to demonstrate an effect of miRNA targeting on protein abundance. An attempt at using label-free proteomics to observe the viral miRNA mediated changes in the host proteome is also described, however this proved to be unsuccessful.
Additionally the function of one particular MDV-2 miRNA, mdv2-miR-M21, was explored in more detail, describing its role as a potential ortholog of the host miRNA; gga-miR-29b. By using the observation that the viral miRNA contained an identical 'seed' region to the host miRNA, we were able to use the data collected from existing studies on miR-29b to search for targets of mdv2-miR-M21. We demonstrated that mdv2-miR-M21 targeted DNMT3B, crucial for epigenetic modification of the genome.
The final part of this study aimed to understand the wider context the viral miRNAs played in the viral biology and protective ability of the vaccine viruses. The miRNAs were deleted from the viruses, and then the miRNA-deletion viruses were used to vaccinate birds before challenge with the oncogenic Marek's disease virus serotype 1 (MDV-1), survival rates to the 'wild-type' MDV-2 and HVT vaccine viruses were then compared.
An investigation into the role of analogy in instructed second language acquisition
Keywords: Usage-Based Approaches
Second Language Acquisition
Task-Based Learning

Usage-based approaches to Second Language Acquisition (SLA) hold that grammatical development can at least in part be explained by a trajectory from initially entrenched formulaic chunks of linguistic material through partially abstract low-scope patterns to abstract constructions. Although earlier empirical research found little to support such a trajectory, more recent research suggests that when the methodological focus is on the breakdown of tokens not on the acquisition of abstract morphology formulaic chunks do seem to develop into at least low-scope patterns. What is not clear from these later studies, however, is why users select tokens from the environment, how these selections are repurposed to meet communicative needs and what grammatical development may be the result of such repurposing.
Drawing on insights into usage-based approaches to SLA in general, and specifically predictions that the analogical processing of similar tokens can explain in part a trajectory from tokens in the linguistic environment to abstract constructions, this study investigates whether intervention in the form of task demands and written task productions can drive the selection and repurposing of task-relevant input, and whether such repurposing may influence the development of past-counterfactual constructions in instructed SLA. The study uses a classroom-based pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design with pre-sessional university students in intact classes (n=92). Out of the three groups in the study, one group were exposed to instances of past counterfactuals which were identical to the forms needed for task completion in terms of function and lexical items (Literal Group). A second group were exposed to instances which called for the same function but different lexical items for successful task completion (Analogous Group), while a third group were not exposed to input.
Results show that the analogous processing of task-relevant tokens led to positive and significant gains on most acceptability judgment and production test measures. Regression models further show that the selection of tokens explained very little variance, while analogical processing, operationalised as the repurposing of tokens to fit task demands, explained a significant amount of the variance in the same models. These findings highlight the importance of analogical processing in SLA and the significant implications such processing has for cognitive accounts of SLA and for second language teaching.
Ultra-wideband imaging techniques for medical applications
Keywords: microwave imaging
Huygens principle
medical imaging
UWB antennas
ultra wideband

Ultra-wideband (UWB) radio techniques have long promised good contrast and high resolution for imaging human tissue and tumours; however, to date, this promise has not entirely been realised. In recent years, microwave imaging has been recognised as a promising non-ionising and non-invasive alternative screening technology, gaining its applicability to breast cancer by the significant contrast in the dielectric properties at microwave frequencies of normal and malignant tissues.
This thesis deals with the development of two novel imaging methods based on UWB microwave signals. First, the mode-matching (MM) Bessel-functions-based algorithm, which enables the identification of the presence and location of significant scatterers inside cylindrically-shaped objects is introduced. Next, with the aim of investigating more general 3D problems, the Huygens principle (HP) based procedure is presented. Using HP to forward propagate the waves removes the need to apply matrix generation/inversion. Moreover, HP method provides better performance when compared to conventional time-domain approaches; specifically, the signal to clutter ratio reaches 8 dB, which matches the best figures that have been published.
In addition to their simplicity, the two proposed methodologies permit the capture of a minimum dielectric contrast of 1:2, the extent to which different tissues, or differing conditions of tissues, can be discriminated in the final image. Moreover, UWB allows all the information in the frequency domain to be utilised, by combining information gathered from the individual frequencies to construct a consistent image with a resolution of approximately one quarter of the shortest wavelength in the dielectric medium. The power levels used and the specific absorption rates are well within safety limits, while the bandwidths satisfy the UWB definition of being at least 20% of the centre frequencies. It follows that the methodologies permit the detection and location of significant scatterers inside a volume. Validation of the techniques through both simulations and measurements have been performed and presented, illustrating the effectiveness of the methods.
'Now try and recollect if you have done any good today'. Household, individual and community in the early fiction of Harriet Martineau, c. 1825-41.
Keywords: unitarianism
Victorian literature
Harriet Martineau
community history

A re-evaluation of the early fiction of Harriet Martineau (1802-76) is timely. In failing to interrogate the reciprocity between Martineau’s interpretation of personal experience and her fiction, scholars have not fully appreciated its purpose. Thus, modern criticism has accepted Martineau’s dismissive judgement of her earliest tales. Five Years of Youth (1831) has been labelled a pastiche of Jane Austen, and the Illustrations of Political Economy (1832-4), which established Martineau’s fame, have also been subject to bruising attack – as poor art, and ideologically mendacious. Most scholars see the novel Deerbrook (1839) as a conventional romance.
Although Linda Peterson and Lana Dalley rightly identify in Martineau’s fiction the trope of domesticity and its political dimension, the argument of this thesis is more specific. Message and discourse, whether couched as political economy, children’s adventure or romance, were shaped by Martineau’s ‘heartland concepts’. The product of her subjectivity, these core values were a sense of duty (initially allied to a previously-unacknowledged soteriology of ‘safety’); a welcome offered to adversity as a stimulus to progress; an attack on superstition as an enemy to intellectual and moral progress; and household relationships which were inclusive of children and servants and stimulated community engagement.
Martineau’s definition of community, predicated on a sense of belonging, initially reflected the networking of her Norwich household. It was subsequently redefined as wherever her own household could meet a local need. This interpretation is supported by an analysis of Martineau’s engagement with her adopted community of Ambleside, where, in putting into practice her fictional teachings, she demonstrated reciprocity in action.
The political economy of "local foods" in Eastern Kansas
Keywords: political economy
political ecology
network analysis
sustainable agriculture
local foods
alternative agri-food networks
conventions
urban development

Alternative agriculture and counter-cuisine movements have grown to a strong cultural current in Western European and North American societies. In recent years,these movements have begun to converge and coalesce around the concept of localizing agri-food relations and commodity chains as a way of redressing the deleterious environmental, social, and economic consequences of what are seen as dominant globalized food relations. This dissertation reports on a regional study in Eastern Kansas of the political economy of local food relations that has arisen through this producer and consumer response. It is an effort to recognize the regional interplay of disparate forces in constructing local food systems in the interest of framing more contextualized and nuanced questions about the environmental, social, and economic outcomes of alternative agri-food development. Network, conventions, and spatial analysis theories and methods were customized and put into practice in the service of these aims, using triangulation among them to mitigate each of their individual weaknesses in representing the variable embeddedness, politics, and spaces of local food in Eastern Kansas. It was found that local food generally represents a marketing niche in urban consumerism that is served primarily by regional rural producers. The distances, agricultural and food ecologies, forms of organization, and values underpinning local food linkages were all found to vary quite considerably throughout the region, creating a diverse combination of development agendas and impacts from local food networks and making food localization a highly contested concept. Local food development in its current form is thus highly dependent on urban/rural dialectics and projects of urbanization that lack open, transparent, and reflexive governance. Critical acknowledgement of these development interdependencies is important as a step toward encouraging social, economic, and environmental justice through local food development.