VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Methods for assessing the costs of transfusion management strategies in cardiac surgery
Keywords: Healthcare costs
Cardiac surgery
Economic evaluation
Health economics
Blood transfusion

A blood transfusion is one of the most common hospital procedures, yet there is a lack of reliable information on the costs of administering blood. This thesis aims to fill this information gap, and considers the impact on total costs of alternative transfusion management strategies in the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. A high user of blood transfusion, cardiac surgery, acts as a clinical exemplar.
Comprehensive estimates of the costs of administering blood are first produced. The costs of administering blood add substantially to the costs of the blood products themselves, costs for red blood cells are 40% higher when the costs of administration are added to red blood cell costs.
These cost estimates were used to more accurately cost blood products transfused (compared to the costs of blood products only) in two economic evaluations assessing firstly, the cost-effectiveness of a restrictive versus a liberal red blood cell transfusion threshold after cardiac surgery, and secondly, the cost-effectiveness of introducing bedside tests of haemostatic function in cardiac surgery. Both economic evaluations showed little difference in costs or outcomes between the groups and uncertainty around the cost-effectiveness results. While a restrictive threshold reduces costs associated with transfusion compared to a liberal threshold, there is no evidence based on detailed and comprehensive costings, to suggest that a restrictive threshold saves the NHS money overall.
Reliable resource use data are vital for economic evaluations, and a subgroup of patients in both economic evaluations enabled resource use data collected from alternative sources to be compared. There was strong agreement between primary (clinical trial) data and routine datasets for data available from both sources, however, primary data captured post-operative complications more comprehensively than routine datasets.
This thesis provides hospital managers and health economists with accurate information on the costs of administering blood for budget impact assessments and economic evaluations.
Between politics and preaching: the Tunisian al-Nahda movement in the city of Sousse, 1973-2014
Keywords: Tunisia
Islamism
Al-Nahda

Research on Islamist movements in the Middle East and North Africa has tended to focus on leaders and ideologues to explain transformation over time. This thesis, however, is a political ethnography of the Tunisian al-Nahda movement that focuses on one city to present a fine-grained micro-study of the shifting trajectories of an Islamist organisation. The main original finding is that the relationship between politics and preaching in the practice of Islamism can be conflicting and irreconcilable, rather than cohesive and interdependent. By privileging the experiences of non-elite activists, this thesis also identifies informal networks, an individual reimagining of the Islamist project, and peripheral activism as explaining resilience under repression. It argues that al-Nahda has undergone strategic and intellectual adaptations, which have incurred costs, culminating in a decision in 2016 to separate the political party from social, religious, and cultural work.
This thesis is based on fourteen months of fieldwork among current and former al-Nahda activists in the city of Sousse. It addresses the origins of the movement in Sousse to ask why the movement first emerged in the city and what mechanisms of mobilisation were deployed. It rethinks the politicisation of the movement in the 1980s to challenge previous assumptions that suggested the movement grew away from its preaching origins. The thesis addresses the effect of two decades of repression, excavating the prison experience and the period of social exclusion which followed and which disaggregated the movement into its constituent parts. It explains why the movement fragmented after 2011 even as activists rebuilt and redefined their project. In conclusion, the thesis accounts for the tension between politics and preaching within the movement, interrogates the party-movement separation of 2016, and asks what lessons similar Islamist experiences in the region might offer al-Nahda.
Near-field microwave addressing of trapped-ion qubits for scalable quantum computation
Keywords: trapped-ion quantum computing
microwave-driven quantum logic

This thesis reports high-fidelity near-field spatial microwave addressing of long-lived 43Ca+ "atomic clock" qubits performed in a two-zone single-layer surface-electrode ion trap. Addressing is implemented by using two of the trap's integrated microwave electrodes, one in each zone, to drive single-qubit rotations in the zone we choose to address whilst interferometrically cancelling the microwave field at the neighbour (non-addressed) zone. Using this field-nulling scheme, we measure a Rabi frequency ratio between addressed and non-addressed zones of up to 1400, from which we calculate an addressing error (or a spin-flip probability on the qubit transition) of 1e-6. Off-resonant excitation out of the qubit state is a more significant source of error in this experiment, but we also demonstrate polarisation control of the microwave field at an error level of 2e-5, which, if combined with individual-ion addressing, would be sufficient to suppress off-resonant excitation errors to the 1e-9 level.
Further, this thesis presents preliminary results obtained with a micron-scale coupled-microstrip differential antenna probe that can be scanned over an ion-trap chip to map microwave magnetic near fields. The probe is designed to enable the measurement of fields at tens of microns above electrode surfaces and to act as an effective characterisation tool, speeding up design-fabrication-characterisation cycles in the production of new prototype microwave ion-trap chips.
Finally, a new multi-layer design for an ion-trap chip which displays, in simulations, a 100-fold improvement in addressing performance, is presented. The chip electrode structure is designed to use the cancelling effect of microwave return currents to produce Rabi frequency ratios of order 1000 between trap zones using a single microwave electrode (i.e. without the need for nulling fields). If realised, this chip could be used to drive individually addressed single-qubit operations on arrays of memory qubits in parallel and with high fidelity.
Technology, labor, and mediation in Egyptian film production
Keywords: Labor
Technology
Film industry
Uncertainty
Egypt
Cinema

This thesis examines the way in which imponderable problems are mediated in the everyday work of commercial film production in Egypt. By 'imponderable problem', I mean a working problem encountered in an extended production process whereby the individual worker, in the present, cannot account for all courses of action leading onto the process’s expected outcome. I argue that workers in film production can never entirely solve this kind of problem: they 'mediate' it. They rely on various assumptions and material mediators to break this overall imponderability into a series of contingent tasks, thereby modifying the expected outcome. I situate this mediation in the wider context of the contemporary Egyptian film industry, with its interpersonal mode of interaction, its labor hierarchy, its socio-technical process of production, and its technological implements. This thesis analyzes three imponderable problems in particular: how to coordinate a shooting day; how to visualize the film; and how to anticipate the audience's composition and reaction.
The overall argument is situated within media anthropology, where media production tends to be examined as a 'social' phenomenon inscribed on an invisible technological substratum, without exploring the material implications of everyday technological objects in a temporally extended process of production. This literature, moreover, tends to be inattentive to the gap between the way in which the film unfolds and the way in which social agents involved in its making anticipate this unfolding. This thesis, by contrast, considers how Egyptian filmmakers try to anticipate the future of their activity. In addition to being an ethnographic account of the Egyptian film industry, this thesis contributes to the anthropological literature on media production by exploring how workers concretely mediate between the present and the near-/far-future.
Novel fluorescence and fluorine labelling methods for viruses and virus-like particles
Keywords: Virus-like particles
Fluorine NMR
Fluorescent labelling

Molecular imaging involves the development of probes which can specifically label a certain object in the body at cellular or subcellular level. This thesis consists of three parts, each involving the development of novel labelling methods for viruses or virus-like particles with specific applications.
Virus-like particles (VLP) derived from the E. coli bacteriophage Qβ are widely employed as a nano-carrier for drugs and vaccines, but a powerful method for tracing its circulation without affecting its structure is yet to be developed. In the first part of the thesis, the electrophilic fluorine source 19F-SelectfluorTM was employed for introducing single fluorine atoms on Qβ VLPs. For the 'tag-and-modify' approach, site-selective electrophilic C-F bond formation was achieved on the dehydroalanine (Dha) amino acid tag of VLPs under aqueous conditions. Chemoselective electrophilic aromatic fluorination on tyrosine residues were also achieved using the same reagent by manipulating the amino acid sequence. Similar results were observed in conditions required for 18F-SelectfluorTM reaction, indicating the potential of this technique for positron emission tomography (PET) imaging.
In addition, there is a lack of in situ technique for tracking the functional status of Qβ VLPs and hence the release of cargos. In the second part of the thesis, a simple way to monitor the disassembly of 19F-labelled Qβ VLPs by 19F NMR spectrosocpy is reported. Analysis of resonances, using experiments under a range of conditions, allowed determination not only of the intact particle but also the disassembled multimeric species and even smaller peptides upon digestion by cells. This in turn allowed mutational redesign of disassembly and testing in both bacterial and mammalian systems as a strategy for the creation of putative, targeted-VLP delivery systems.
In the third part of the thesis, a new type of rhodamine B fluorescent dye functionalised with a 2-imino-2-methoxyethyl (IME) group is reported. The amidine linkage formed between the IME group and lysine residue retains the pKaH of the original side chain, which cannot be achieved using commercially available conjugating dyes. This in turn minimises the change in net charge hence virus infectivity following virus labelling. By employing adenovirus (AV) as an example, the IME dye was shown to be a better choice in retaining virus infectivity compared to dyes linked with other coupling groups. In addition, preliminary experiments on dengue virus with the synthesised dyes were also performed.
Synthesis of the CDE &amp; EFG ring systems of pectenotoxin-4
Keywords: pectenotoxin
total synthesis
organic chemistry
synthetic organic chemistry

This thesis explores new synthetic routes for the formation of CDE & EFG fragments of pectenotoxin-4.
Chapter 1: Introduction and Previous Work
This chapter reviews the discovery and biological activities of members of the pectenotoxin family. Two previous total syntheses are discussed, and previous work regarding the synthesis of ABC, E and FG fragments within the group is introduced.
Chapter 2: Synthesis of the E Ring Fragment of Pectenotoxin-4
The synthesis of the E ring fragment is discussed. Key reactions include Negishi coupling and osmium mediated oxidative cyclisation.
Chapter 3: First Generation Strategy for the Synthesis of the D ring
A simple model towards the D ring core was completed using alkyne-epoxide opening strategy. The application on a more sophisticated system was tested.
Chapter 4: Second Generation Strategy for the Synthesis of the D ring
Sonogashira coupling was successfully tested as key step to unite two coupling partners; and further functionalisation towards the D ring skeleton was studied.
Chapter 5: Third Generation Strategy for the Synthesis of the D ring
The new strategy including a Lewis acid assisted coupling and mercury mediated hydration of alkyne sequence was completed on a simple model. The application on a more sophisticated system was tested.
Chapter 6: Synthesis of EFG Fragment of Pectenotoxin-4
Key Julia−Kocienski olefination between E ring fragment and FG ring fragment was examined. The further functionalisation of the resulting coupling product towards EFG fragment was finished.
Chapter 7: Experimental
Full experimental procedures and characterisation of compounds are reported.
Building the countryside: a regional perspective on the architecture and settlement of rural Tripolitania from the 1st c. BC to the 7th c. AD
Keywords: Tunisia
Roman North Africa
Libya
Roman Archaeology
Tripolitania

In this thesis, data collected from both previously published material and new surveys conducted using satellite imagery on the architecture and construction of over 2,400 rural structures in nine different regions of Tripolitania and dating between the 1st c. BC and the 7th c. AD are brought together and analysed on a regional scale. The synthesis and standardisation of these data and the creation of new typologies, applicable to structures in all parts of the region have, for the first time, facilitated meaningful comparisons between buildings and settlements across Tripolitania during the period under the study, in a more systematic fashion and on a wider scale than has previously been possible.
This first part of this study contextualises the material with discussions on the historical background of Tripolitania, previous investigations and methodological foundations, the evidence for pre-Roman architectures and settlement, and the chronology of rural settlement during the period under study based on ceramic evidence. This is followed by a discussion of the known military buildings in the region, with particular reference to how these structures related and potentially contributed to the development of civilian settlement and architecture. The second part of this study presents quantitative and qualitative analyses of the physical characteristics of the main group of buildings under investigation: unfortified and fortified farm buildings. Discussions of how different spaces may have been utilised and the spatial relationships between the settlement groups formed by these buildings provide insight into how and why different types of buildings developed in the countryside between the 1st c. BC and the 7th c. AD. These analyses demonstrate that the rural buildings of Tripolitania can be seen as meaningful reflections not only of the wide variety of activities taking place in the buildings themselves, but also of the varying histories and patterns of land-use in different parts of the region and even the status, wealth, and socio-cultural structures of the people who constructed and lived in them.
Emerging landscapes: memory, trauma and its afterimage in post-apartheid Namibia and South Africa
Keywords: post-apartheid
fine art
apartheid
post-colonialism
post-documentary
landscape theory
video
South Africa
history of photography
African studies
documentary
cultural geography
Namibia
history of art
colonialism

Visual records of place remain to a large degree inadequate when attempting to make visible the ephemeral states of consciousness that underlie the damage wrought by brutal regimes, let alone make visible the extraordinary histories and power structures encoded in images and views.
This practice-led dissertation examines an emerging critical landscape genre in post-apartheid South Africa and Namibia, and its relationship to specific themes such as identity, belonging, trauma and memory. The landscape genre was traditionally considered inadequate to use in expressions of resistance under apartheid, particularly in the socially conscious and reformist discourse of South African documentary photography. I argue that, as a result of historical and cultural shifts after the demise of apartheid in 1994, a shift in aesthetic and subject matter has occurred, one that has led to a more rigorous and interventionist engagement with the landscape genre.
I demonstrate how, after 1994, photographers of the long-established documentary tradition, which was meant to record 'what is there' in a sharp, clear, legible and impartial manner, would continue to draw on devices of the documentary aesthetic, but in a more idiosyncratic way. I show how these post-apartheid, documentary landscapes both disrupt and complicate the conventional expectations involved in converting visual fields into knowledge. I further investigate, through my own experimental documentary work, the ideologically fraught aspects of landscape representation with their links to Calvinist and German Romantic aesthetics. I appropriate and disrupt certain tropes still prevalent in popular landscape depictions. I do this in an effort to reveal the complex and troubled relationship that these traditions share with issues of willed historical amnesia and recognition in contemporary Namibia.
Through my practice and the examination of other photographers' and artists' work, this project aims to further a self-reflective and critical approach to the genre of landscape and issues of identity in post-apartheid South Africa and Namibia.
The prehistory of Madagascar: microbotanical and archaeological evidence from coastal and highland sites
Keywords: Madagascar
Phytoliths
Palaeoecology
Archaeological Science

Despite nearly one hundred years of archaeological and palaeoecological research in Madagascar, the human colonisation of the island remains poorly understood. Long- standing narratives of this colonisation described the arrival of Austronesian- speaking peoples by AD 400, eventually reaching the Central Highlands by the 12th century. The recent discovery of microlithic tools at the rockshelter of Lakaton'i Anja has radically disrupted conventional narratives for this colonisation by more than doubling the known period of Madagascar's human history, and questioning the presumed Austronesian origins of these first Malagasy peoples. This discovery also challenges existing models for the late Holocene extinction of the island's megafauna. This thesis constitutes the first systematic review in the last thirty years of literature relating to the colonisation of the island, as well as the first to approach this multidisciplinary material in light of new archaeological evidence from Lakaton'i Anja.
This study also represents the first comprehensive and comparative phytolith analysis conducted on Madagascar. Despite the wide application of phytolith analysis across regional archaeological and palaeoecological contexts, it has never before been applied here. This thesis explores the botanical impact of these early colonists in and around sites of occupation, as well as tracing the introduction of Asian rice (Oryza sativa) and domesticated bananas (Musa acuminata). New methods of phytolith analysis were developed, adapted, and applied to sediments collected from two seasons of excavations in 2012 and 2013. The sites of Lakaton'i Anja, Mahilaka, and Ankadivory D’Ralambo were re-excavated, as well as the new site of Ampasimahavelona, near Vohémar. This thesis presents and discusses these excavations as well as the earliest evidence for the cultivation of both Musa acuminata and Oryza sativa on Madagascar, and an ultra-high resolution botanical perspective on the last four millennia of Madagascar's prehistory.
Genetic, structural, and functional exploration of the restrictive capacity of TRIM proteins against immunodeficiency viruses
Keywords: West Africa
HIV-2
TRIM22
HIV-1
TRIM5

HIV-2 differs from HIV-1 in that many infected people experience normal survival, whilst only 20% progress rapidly to AIDS. Understanding mechanisms of delayed HIV-2 disease progression could provide new insights into HIV control. The Caio Community Cohort was established in Guinea-Bissau in the setting of high HIV-2 prevalence. This thesis investigates the role of polymorphic host restriction factors of the TRIM family in HIV-2 outcome. TRIM proteins are a family of E3 ubiquitin-ligases, where closely-related TRIM5α and TRIM22 are thought to inhibit HIV-1 transcription, uncoating and budding.
There was an association between TRIM5α amino acid substitution R136Q and reduced HIV-2 viral load/prolonged survival. Conversely, P479L was enriched among HIV-2 infected participants and progressors with CD4+ T cell decline. TRIM22 was highly polymorphic in this cohort, revealing three novel coding variants. Although most substitutions were located in the putative virus-interacting PRYSPRY domain, two in the coiled-coil, D155N and R242T, showed significant and divergent associations with survival. R242T was enriched in HIV-2 infected participants, who progressed to death at twice the rate of wild-type controls. In silico studies predicted D282, D360, and R321 of TRIM22 to be highly conserved, exposed residues, for which polymorphisms would be deleterious. When aligned with sequences from the potent HIV-1 restriction factor, rhesus macaque TRIM5α, TRIM22 substitutions R321K, T415I, and D360Y were spatially relevant to residues involved in HIV-1 restriction. The role of TRIM22 in HIV restriction was supported by in vitro pilot studies showing that TRIM22 was upregulated by HIV-1 infection in a lymphoid cell line and co-localised with the HIV-1 capsid protein p24. Overexpression of TRIM22 resulted in the restriction of VSV-G pseudotyped HIV-1 and SIVmac. The R242T substitution diminished TRIM22's restriction of HIV-1 and SIVmac: protein analysis suggested that this may be due to the inability of the R242T mutant to fully dimerise.