VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Accurate telemonitoring of Parkinson’s disease symptom severity using nonlinear speech signal processing and statistical machine learning
Keywords: statistical machine learning
pattern recognition
Parkinson's disease
Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS)
feature selection
signal processing

This study focuses on the development of an objective, automated method to extract clinically useful information from sustained vowel phonations in the context of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The aim is twofold: (a) differentiate PD subjects from healthy controls, and (b) replicate the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) metric which provides a clinical impression of PD symptom severity. This metric spans the range 0 to 176, where 0 denotes a healthy person and 176 total disability. Currently, UPDRS assessment requires the physical presence of the subject in the clinic, is subjective relying on the clinical rater’s expertise, and logistically costly for national health systems. Hence, the practical frequency of symptom tracking is typically confined to once every several months, hindering recruitment for large-scale clinical trials and under-representing the true time scale of PD fluctuations.
We develop a comprehensive framework to analyze speech signals by: (1) extracting novel, distinctive signal features, (2) using robust feature selection techniques to obtain a parsimonious subset of those features, and (3a) differentiating PD subjects from healthy controls, or (3b) determining UPDRS using powerful statistical machine learning tools. Towards this aim, we also investigate 10 existing fundamental frequency (F_0) estimation algorithms to determine the most useful algorithm for this application, and propose a novel ensemble F_0 estimation algorithm which leads to a 10% improvement in accuracy over the best individual approach. Moreover, we propose novel feature selection schemes which are shown to be very competitive against widely-used schemes which are more complex. We demonstrate that we can successfully differentiate PD subjects from healthy controls with 98.5% overall accuracy, and also provide rapid, objective, and remote replication of UPDRS assessment with clinically useful accuracy (approximately 2 UPDRS points from the clinicians’ estimates), using only simple, self-administered, and non-invasive speech tests.
The findings of this study strongly support the use of speech signal analysis as an objective basis for practical clinical decision support tools in the context of PD assessment.
The synthesis of branched sugars and iminosugars
Keywords: natural products
iminosugars
swainsonine
pyrrolidine
synthesis
pharmaceuticals

Iminosugars, carbohydrate analogues in which nitrogen replaces the endocyclic oxygen, have attracted much interest due to their biological activity. Iminosugars inhibit carbohydrate-processing enzymes, thereby affecting many biological processes. Several iminosugars are licensed drugs, with many more compounds undergoing clinical trials. The main subject of this thesis is the synthesis and evaluation of novel iminosugars, particularly the effects of structural modifications on the biological activity of these compounds.
Chapter 1 describes the role of carbohydrate-processing enzymes in the body, and explores the therapeutic applications of iminosugars that arise from their activity against these enzymes. Examples of substituted iminosugars are reviewed, and the effects of substituents on enzyme inhibition are described.
Chapter 2 concerns methyl-branched swainsonine derivatives. Swainsonine has shown potential as a cancer treatment through its inhibition of α-mannosidase. The synthesis of (6R)- and (6S)-C-methyl D-swainsonine is described; both compounds were potent and selective α-mannosidase inhibitors (IC50 3.8 μM, 14 μM). Although less active than the parent compound, their selectivity for Golgi mannosidase over lysosomal mannosidase may be more important than the absolute value against the model enzyme.
Chapter 3 describes the synthesis of a 2-C-methyl L-fucose derivative. A diastereoselective Kiliani reaction allowed the formation of a single lactone bearing a new quaternary centre. The utility of this intermediate in accessing di-branched iminosugars was explored; however, attempts to introduce nitrogen to the lactone lacked the necessary stereoselectivity.
Chapter 4 relates to the synthesis of pyrrolidine iminosugars, specifically methyl amides. Two enantiomeric dihydroxyproline amides were synthesised; the D-proline derivative was a potent β-N-acetylhexosaminidase inhibitor (IC50 values of up to 3.6 μM), but the L-enantiomer was completely inactive. Inhibition of N-acetylhexosaminidases is relevant to the treatment of cancer and lysosomal storage diseases, and this work contributed to a wider project investigating the effects of altered stereochemistry on the biological activity of pyrrolidine amides.
The organisation of the illegal tiger parts trade in China
Keywords: smuggling
wildlife
sociology
organised crime
trust

The thesis is a study of how Chinese illegal tiger parts trading networks are organized. In particular, this thesis tests in a qualitative manner the causal relationship between three independent variables and the network organizations of these markets. The three independent variables are “ethnicity”, “level of enforcement” and “proximity to the source country”. The thesis also discusses the dynamics of the illegal transactions of tiger parts products. Legitimate meditators or dispute resolutions mechanisms are lacking in the underworld so the risks, which the parties undertake during trading, are far higher. This thesis explores how illegal transactions are enforced, carried out and honored in this trade. In order to map the organization of the tiger trade, I conducted fieldwork in three trading hubs across China: Lhasa. Kunming and Xining.
I discovered five tiger parts trading networks, three of which specialized in the trading of tiger skins and two in tiger bones. Within these networks, the level of perceived but not the actual level of risk influences the decisions of the actors in the network. Entry into the network is easy when the perceived level of enforcement is low. In these settings, there is no ethnic restriction for entering the network; the supplier is willing to trade with anyone with a trustworthy reputation. On the other hand, accessibility to the network is strictly controlled when actors perceive a high level of enforcement in their operating environment. Under this setting, the organization of the network becomes more exclusive and ethnically homogenous, as shown in the Tibetan tiger skin-trading network in Lhasa and the tiger bone-trading network in Kunming. The proximity of the tiger source country to the re-distribution sites (fieldwork cities) also influences the organization of the networks. When the level of enforcement is low and the tiger source country is far away from the re-distribution sites, a monetary deposit is required in order to show that the buyer is serious about his/her request, as shown by the tiger skin-trading network in Kunming.
Fleets and Prouinciae in the Roman Republic: institutions, administration and the conceptualisation of empire between 260 and 49 B.C.
Keywords: Roman provinces
Roman magistrates
Antonius Creticus
ora maritima
Roman imperialism
Roman fleets
provincia
prouinciae
Roman triumph
Roman promagistrates
special commands
Lex Porcia
Roman History
terra marique
imperium
provinciae
ancient Mediterranean
Roman Republic
Pompeius
Roman navy
naval triumph
prouincia
extraordinary commands
Pompey
Roman Senate

This research examines how, when and why the Romans assigned and defined the tasks of preparing and commanding fleets during the Republic. In doing so, it brings new evidence to bear on the wider debates about the nature of the prouincia and the institutional and administrative development of the Roman empire.
The communis opinio is that a prouincia originally represented a functional “sphere of operation” that was allotted or assigned to a magistrate and that it only later developed a geographical meaning with territorial connotations through the process of “provincialisation.” This research challenges that view through an analysis of the evidence for the definition, assignment and practical use of the prouincia classis and other prouinciae connected with the command of fleets. Drawing upon and analysing the lists of administrative arrangements to be found in the “annalistic” sections of the surviving books of Livy’s History, it argues that prouinciae were defined in specific geographical and functional terms long before the development of permanent territorial empire. This offers a new perspective which points to and elucidates the flexible use of the prouincia as a means of separating magistrates and promagistrates in space or by function in space. It argues that the rationale for this was to limit conflicts between commanders over command and triumphal rights.
By combining evidence from a wide range of sources after the loss of Livy’s History from 167, the research shows that the above rationale for demarcating prouinciae still applied in the first century B.C. However, it also demonstrates that there were significant changes with the assignment of vast Mediterranean-wide naval prouinciae in the first half of the first century B.C. It argues that the definition of these prouinciae was made possible by the development of a singular collective Mediterranean-wide ora maritima, which was brought about by the Romans’ increasing “acknowledgement of empire.” The negative political and institutional implications of these developments are also assessed.
Finally, in discussing the above, this research also provides new insights into the role and auctoritas of the Senate, the function and freedom of magistrates, and the Romans’ conceptualisation of their empire.
West African labour and the development of mechanised mining in southwest Ghana, c.1870s to 1910
Keywords: Headmen
Recruitment
Wassa
Liberia
Ghana
colonial commerce
Mining

Wassa in southwest Ghana was the location of the largest mining sector in colonial British West Africa. The gold mines provide an excellent case study of how labour was mobilised for large-scale production immediately after the legal end of slavery, in the context of an expansive independent labour market. Divided into three sections, this thesis examines the practice of indirect labour recruitment for the mines during the formative years of colonial rule; the incorporation of ‘traditional’ credit relationships into ‘modern’ commerce. The starting point for this study is the analysis of precolonial strategies for mobilising labour. Part one examines the most pervasive and coercive employer-employee relationship in precolonial West Africa, namely the master-slave relationship. Even enslaved Africans could expect individual economic opportunity, and related to such, debt protection, and the power of labourers increased significantly after abolition. Starting in the 1870s, mine management found that the most effective way of recruiting long-term wage earners was through headmen; African authorities who established temporary patronage relationships with a group of labourers by offering them credit. Moreover, administrative and court records indicate that there were various forms of headship, some which the mines managed to impose greater regulation over than others. Therefore, part two demonstrates that issues of cost and control of recruitment differed depending on whether the labour recruiter had been furnished with the capital of a mining firm to conduct his business, whether he had done so with his own personal savings, or whether he was in the employment of the colonial government. Finally, part three takes a comparative look at headship and recruitment through rural chiefs, which began in 1906; two successive forms of non-free wage labour mobilisation. In 1909, mine management reverted to the headship system that many colonial commentators regarded as being more compatible with the colonial political order, albeit under considerably stricter regulations.
Life in the rural Shanxi house: seasonal resonances and techniques of transformation in north-central China
Keywords: gender
tourism
labor
ecology
season
kinship
development
women
life cycle
generation
China
reproduction
family
ritual
fertility
body
house
home
anthropology
Shanxi

This thesis gives an experiential account of notions of the home in contemporary rural China. Based on a year of fieldwork in a mountain village in rural Shanxi Province, the thesis explores everyday and ritual practices to investigate how people make themselves at home under conditions of political economic transformation. Villagers accommodate and resist conflicts of interest by negotiating boundaries of insiders and outsiders through the home. Differences of gender and generation come to the fore as people compromise between aspiration and pragmatism within the home under conditions of resurgent market competition. The theoretical concern of the thesis lies in connecting wider social processes to personal life projects through the intimate sphere of the home.
The rhythm of the seasons patterns the thesis into spring, summer, autumn and winter chapters, as the seasons were pivotal in ordering people’s everyday practices and ritual activities within a shared social and ecological environment. The opening chapter on the autumn harvest coincided with my arrival in the village. The chapter explores how labour, and particularly women’s labour, transforms the earth into affective belonging, and how women negotiate conflicts over food consumption between the agricultural and market economy. The winter chapter parallels tales of personal life history with wider kinship networks across various generations, while simultaneously tracing bodily pathways from the domain of the hot stove in the home to the cold grave in the fields. The next chapter begins with the celebratory periods of springtime during the New Year Festival, a time of ritual renewal in the home when women partook in a local domestic ritual of propitiating the little spirits of the house. At Qingming Festival villagers’ practices of worshipping the ancestors in the fields were juxtaposed with a tour company’s staging of an elaborate ritual revival of star worship in the village. Conflicting aspirations over the future of the past thereby tore fissures into the emerging ritual terrain between outside spectacle and inside convergence. The last ethnographic chapter looks at the summer as a time for regenerating life, particularly through marriage and children. Reciprocal caring cycles between different generations of women are central to balancing domestic and occupational aspirations in negotiation with the local implementation of the family planning policy. House-based rituals at children’s birthday parties and bridal farewell ceremonies formally celebrate the roles of matrilateral relatives.
Structural studies of malaria proteins
Keywords: ATS
KAHRP
Plasmodium
Malaria cytoadherence
PHIST Domain
PfEMP1

Malaria is a disease of global importance, causing hundreds of thousand of deaths a year. The majority or deaths are caused by Plasmodium falciparum, a parasite transmitted by the mosquito Anopheles. Its pathogenicity largely results from an ability to transform infected erythrocytes by creating knob-like structures that result in endothelial adhesion. Two major components of these knob structures have been identified as P. falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) and knob-associated histidine rich protein (KAHRP). The extracellular fragment of PfEMP1 is responsible for antigenic variability and cytoadherence while its intracellular domain (ATS) connects to the cytoskeleton via interactions with other plasmodium-encoded proteins. In addition, perforin-like proteins (PLPs) with a MACPF domain have been identified in the genome of Plasmodium. PLPs are highly conserved and are expressed in various life-cycle stages of the parasite. They are believed to form pores in membranes of the host cell but their structure is yet unknown. The aim of the work in this thesis was to obtain new information about the structure and role of malaria proteins, thus giving a better understanding of the disease and its possible treatment. Studies of numerous designed constructs of the ATS family were carried out using biophysical methods including high resolution NMR and CD. These revealed that ATS domains are mainly unstructured with a relatively small folded core, consisting of a bundle of α-helices. Surprisingly, no evidence could be found for ATS binding to KAHRP in solution conditions although previous pull-down data had indicated an interaction. Bioinformatics analysis and yeast-two-hybrid data suggested, however, that there is a conserved protein interaction epitope on the central flexible part of ATS. It was shown, using fluorescence anisotropy measurements, that this part of ATS associates with a parasite protein containing a PHIST (Plasmodium helical interspersed sub-telomeric) domain. Expression constructs of the PLP protein family were designed and manufactured, with the aim of enabling structural studies of this putative pore protein.
Charge state manipulation of silicon-based donor spin qubits
Keywords: Selenium
Solid State Physics
Qubit
EPR
Spin
Quantum Information
Silicon

Spin properties of donor impurities in silicon have been investigated by electron spin resonance (ESR) techniques for more than sixty years. These studies gave us a contribution towards understanding some of the physics of doped semiconductor materials in general, which is the platform for much of our current technology. Despite the fact that donor electron and nuclear spins have been researched for so long, ESR studies of their properties are still giving us interesting insights. With the introduction of the concept of quantum information in the 1980s, some properties of donor spins in silicon, that were known from the fifties (such as long relaxations), have been reinterpreted for their potential application in this field. Since then, incredible experimental results have been achieved with magnetic resonance control, including manipulation and read-out of individual spins. However, some open questions are still to be answered before the realisation of a spin-based silicon quantum architecture will be achieved. Currently, ESR studies still contribute to help answering some of those questions. In this thesis, we demonstrate electrical and optical methods for donor charge state manipulation measured by ESR. Recent experiments have demonstrated that coherence time of nuclear spins may be enhanced by manipulating the state of donors from neutral to singly charged.
We investigate electric field ionisation/neutralisation of arsenic donors in a silicon SOI device measured by ESR. Below ionisation threshold, we also measure the hyperfine Stark shift of arsenic donors spins in silicon. These results have, for instance, implications on how fast individual addressability of donor spins may be achieved in certain quantum computer architectures. Here, we also study optical-driven charge state manipulation of selenium impurities in silicon. Selenium has two additional electrons when it replaces an atom in the silicon crystal (i.e. double donor). The electronic properties of singly-ionised selenium make it potentially advantageous as spin qubit, compared to the more commonly studied group-V donors. For instance, we find here that the electron spin relaxation and coherence times of selenium are up to two orders of magnitude longer than phosphorus at the same temperature. Finally, we demonstrate that it is possible to bring selenium impurity in singly-charged state and subsequently re-neutralise them leaving a potential long-lived 77Se nuclear spin.
Synthesis of the pyrrolidinone core of oxazolomycin A
Keywords: Antibiotics
Total synthesis
Natural products

This thesis describes the development of synthetic strategies towards the densely functionalised pyrrolidinone core of the polyene β-lactone-γ-lactam antibiotic oxazolomycin A.
Chapter 1 The oxazolomycins
The oxazolomycins, a unique class of biologically active molecules containing a spiro-fused β-lactone-γ-lactam ring system are introduced. The isolation, structural elucidation and biological properties of the oxazolomycins as well as those of the structurally related inthomycins are reviewed.
Chapter 2 Previous syntheses
The two total syntheses of neooxazolomycin and the synthetic approaches to the pyrrolidinone core of oxazolomycin A and KSM-2690 B are evaluated.
Chapter 3 Project aims
An outline of the synthetic strategy employed in this project and details of the novel retrosynthesis of the pyrrolidinone core of oxazolomycin A are discussed.
Chapter 4 Synthetic studies towards the pyrrolidinone core of oxazolomycin A
The synthetic studies carried out towards the pyrrolidinone core of oxazolomycin A are described in detail. The preparation of an advanced intermediate containing the five chiral centres, four of which are contiguous, was achieved in twenty steps as a single diastereomer and as a single enantiomer.
Chapter 5 Synthetic studies towards the middle fragment of oxazolomycin A
A novel synthetic approach to the diene fragment contained in oxazolomycin A is reported. The formal synthesis of a dienyl iodide, in four fewer steps than previously reported was accomplished.
Chapter 6 Conclusions and future work
A summary of the synthetic work reported in this thesis and proposals for future study are presented.
Chapter 7 Experimental
Full experimental procedures and characterisation of compounds are reported.
Chapter 8 References
A complete list of citations employed in the previous seven chapters is provided.
The touchable and the untouchable: an investigation of touch in modern Japanese literature
Keywords: Skinship
Touch
Incorporation
Mediation
Membrane
Senses

This thesis examines how the experience of touch is depicted in modern/contemporary Japanese literature and culture. Employing touch-related 20th century French thought (Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, Nancy) and psychoanalytic theory (Klein, Anzieu, Kimura), it discusses how the representations of touch illuminate various aspects of human existence, specifically: the mediated nature of touch, the process of the bodily encounters, the formation of subject identity, sexual differences, and the way memories of touch depicted in literature affect our sense of temporality.
Touch is a particularly interesting way of approaching Japanese literature because touching between people (apart from mother and child, called skinship) has been considerably repressed at least until after WW2, due to the relative absence of public practices of touch, authors’ aesthetic choices and censorship. Opposing this tendency, female authors born postwar write freely about touch. In comparison to Judeo-Christian cultures, Japanese culture has historically not been open to tactile communication, nor is explicit articulation of internal experience, as in psychoanalysis, particularly prominent. Japanese literary characters are thus especially self-conscious about touch.
Following a theoretical and historical overview regarding touch and contact in the Introduction, Chapter 1 discusses different ways of mediating touch in the works of Yoshiyuki Junnosuke, Tanizaki Jun’ichirō, and Abe Kōbō. Chapter 2 argues how high levels of mediation affect the manners of engaging in direct encounters with others in Yoshiyuki, Kawabata Yasunari, and Matsuura Rieko. Chapter 3 discusses the temporality of tactile memories in Yoshiyuki, Kawabata, and Ogawa Yoko.
Reflecting on such a complicated portrayal of touch in Japanese culture will help fill a gap in the existing scholarship regarding touch in literature. By critically examining the relationship between theories and literature in the East and West, this thesis also significantly contributes to the field of comparative literature and cultural studies as an example of cross-cultural research on touch.