VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Becoming global race women: the travels and networks of black female activist-intellectuals, 1920-1966
Keywords: black activist-intellectuals travel
networks

This thesis explores how a group of Caribbean and African American activist-intellectuals became global race women in the early to mid twentieth century. Global race women, is the term I use to describe middle-class, public women of African ancestry who were committed to aiding the progress of the darker races, especially, but not exclusively, blacks. They frequently travelled, both literally and imaginatively, which allowed them to develop a cosmopolitan sensibility, forge multiracial coalitions with Africans, Asians, Caribbeans, and Europeans, and practice transnational activism. Their globalism saw them identify, think, and act on a global basis that was tied to the global African diaspora. But it did not distract them from the local considerations that shaped their politics. For global race women, the global and the local were intertwined.
This study centres on three protagonists including the Jamaican writer and broadcaster Una Marson (1905-1965), the Martiniquan journalist Paulette Nardal (1896-1985), and the American anthropologist and writer Eslanda Robeson (1895-1965). While the three women did not call themselves global race women, they embodied its characteristics. Their identities as global race women saw them grapple with the race and gender problem as a global phenomenon. They participated in race-based civil rights organisations, anti-fascist campaigns, the League of Nations, United Nations, feminist, and women’s groups. By embracing a range of strategies, they forged networks that crossed ideological, religious, racial, and gendered divisions. The original contribution this thesis makes is the argument that physical or imagined travel and overlapping global social and professional networks were critical to the practice of becoming a global race woman. The significance of this work lays in its placing of black women at the centre of globally connected conversations about cosmopolitanism, anti-fascism, transnational activism, feminism, the end of empires, and the long global freedom struggle between the 1920s and 1960s.
Italy and the League of Nations: nationalism and internationalism, 1922-1935
Keywords: internationalism
History of International Organizations
League of Nations (History)
Fascist Italy
International Relations (20th century)
Europe-Foreign Relations-1918-1945
nationalism

This thesis investigates the relationship between Fascist Italy and the League of Nations (LoN) during the interwar period, with a particular focus on the years from 1922 to 1935. This relationship was contradictory, shifting from moments of active collaboration to moments of open disagreement. The existing historiography on the Italian membership of the League has not reflected this oscillation in policy, focusing disproportionally on the crises Italy caused at the League. However, Fascist Italy remained in the League for more than 15 years, ranking as the third-largest power, and was fully engaged in the institution's work. This dissertation investigates the dynamics that developed between Fascist Italy and the LoN through a systematic study of the Italians involved. In so doing, it contributes to the historiography of the LoN and of the Italian foreign policy in the interwar period. The thesis argues that there was more to the Italian membership of the LoN than the Ethiopian crisis. It reveals the extent of the Italian presence and activity in the institution from the beginning, and demonstrates that the organization was more important to the Italian government than previously recognized. Membership of the League was essential to guarantee Italy international legitimation and recognition. Through an active appropriation of internationalism, the Italian government hoped to obtain practical benefits in the colonial sphere. The thesis uncovers the depth and variety of interactions between nationalism and internationalism in the case of Italy and the League, establishing that they did not oppose each other but rather interacted. This dissertation illustrates the complexity of being an Italian working in the League, as well as the grey areas between nationalism and internationalism evident within individual experiences. Finally, it shows the continuity of actors and expertise in Italy's international cooperation between the interwar and the post-1945 period.
Evaluation of a potential vaccine against hyperinvasive serogroup B Neisseria meningitidis by assessment of the effects of surface-expressed Opacity-associated proteins on the immune system
Keywords: Neisseria meningitidis
serogroup B
vaccine
T cell
homologous recombination
phase variation
Opa protein

Neisseria meningitidis causes 500,000 cases of meningitis and septicaemia annually worldwide, with a mortality rate of approximately 10%. Most disease in developed countries is caused by serogroup B infection, against which there is no universal vaccine. Opa proteins are major meningococcal outer membrane proteins, and a limited number of Opa variants have been associated with hyperinvasive serogroup B meningococci, suggesting their use as a potential novel vaccine. Immunisation of mice with recombinant Opa elicited high levels of meningococcal-specific serum bactericidal antibody (SBA), demonstrating proof in principle of this approach. Opa proteins mediate bacterial adherence to host cells and modulate human cellular immunity, and there are conflicting data regarding their effects on CD4⁺ T cells.
opa genes from N. meningitidis strain H44/76 were cloned into the plasmid vector pBluescript, disrupted using antibiotic resistance cassettes and transformed into H44/76 to sequentially disrupt the four opa genes. This produced a unique panel of 15 isogenic Opa-deficient strains, including an Opa-negative strain, which enabled investigation of the immunomodulatory role of surface-expressed Opa proteins.
There was no consistent effect of Opa expressed on the surface of OMVs and inactivated bacteria on CD4⁺ T cells, with significant heterogeneity of responses between individuals. The rate of Opa phase variation was between 10-3 and 10-4, and increased 180-fold following transformation of bacteria with unrelated DNA.
These data support further investigation of Opa as a potential meningococcal vaccine component, and highlight the importance of host and bacterial factors in the development of OMV vaccines.
Spectroscopic analysis of primeval galaxy candidates
Keywords: high-redshift universe
astrophysics
Lyman-alpha emission
galaxy formation
physics
starburst galaxies
reionisation
observational cosmology
galaxy evolution
high-redshift galaxies
galaxies

This thesis presents spectroscopic observations of z ≥ 7 galaxy candidates in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, which were selected with HST WFC3 imaging, using the Lyman-Break technique. Four z-band (z ≈ 7) dropout galaxies were targeted with Gemini/GNIRS, one z-band dropout galaxy and three Y -band (z ≈ 8 − 9) dropout galaxies with VLT/XSHOOTER, and 22 z-band dropouts with VLT/FORS2, where 15 of the latter are strong candidates. No evidence of Lyman-α emission is found, and the upper limits on the Lyman-α flux and the broad-band magnitudes are used to constrain the rest-frame equivalent widths for this line emission. Amongst the targeted objects, observations were made of HUDF.YD3, a relatively bright Y -band dropout galaxy likely to be at z ≈ 8 − 9 on the basis of its colours in the HST ACS and WFC3 images. Lehnert et al. (2010) observed this galaxy using the VLT/SINFONI integral field spectrograph and claim that it exhibits Lyman-α emission at z = 8.55. In observations of this object described in this thesis, which were made with VLT/XSHOOTER and Subaru/MOIRCS, this line was not reproduced despite the expected signal in the combined MOIRCS & XSHOOTER data being 5σ. Hence it appears unlikely that the reported Lyman-α line emission at z > 8 is real.
Accounting for incomplete spectral coverage, in total (across all spectro- graphs) 9.63 z-band dropouts and 1.15 Y -band dropouts are surveyed to a Lyman-α rest-frame Equivalent Width better than 75 ̊A. A model where the fraction of high rest-frame equivalent width emitters follows the trend seen at z = 3−6.5 is inconsistent with these non-detections at z = 7−9 at a confidence level of ∼ 91%, which may indicate that a significant neutral HI fraction (χHI) in the intergalactic medium suppresses the Lyman-α line at z > 7. In particular, the lack of detection of Lyman-α emission in this spectroscopy is compared with results at lower redshift by Stark et al. (2010), who derive a mapping between Lyman-α fractions and χHI based on radiative transfer simulations by McQuinn et al. (2007). These results suggest a lower limit of χHI ~ 0.5.
Blood oxygen level dependent imaging of cerebral mesostructure
Keywords: MRI
Oxygen Metabolism

In this thesis I investigate blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) MRI methods of imaging the cerebral blood volume (CBV), mean vessel radius and oxygen extraction fraction (OEF). Through the investigation of these individual techniques a new framework is proposed for the simultaneous measurement of all three parameters, providing a comprehensive assay of the cerebral mesostructure.
A new method for the segmentation of blood filled voxels from the sagittal sinus is presented. The implemented method is completely automated and thus removes user bias in voxel selection. The segmentation method is used in a volunteer study to calculate CBV from a hyperoxic challenge according to an existing technique. CBV measurements from this study are found to be significantly overestimated. However, a new derivation of the hyperoxic CBV equation is presented that reveals significant errors in the original method, corresponding to the observed overestimates in CBV. Modelling studies are presented that investigate the discrepancy in reported BOLD MRI measurement of mean vessel size. A significant degree of the variation in the results is found to arise from the noise sensitivity of the analysis methods. This finding is confirmed with experimental data from healthy volunteers that show good agreement with the modelling studies.
Comprehensive modelling of the BOLD response to hyperoxia and hypercapnia is used to develop a new framework for OEF calculation. The new method is based on the calibration of the BOLD signal response against a change in intravascular susceptibility. The OEF calculation is extended by introducing a spin-echo readout into the acquisition scheme. This extension of the acquisition scheme provides a further independent probe of the BOLD signal, enabling the simultaneous calculation of the mean vessel size and CBV. The new framework is shown to provide OEF and vessel size estimates over a wider range of physiological parameters, providing greater scope for the clinical implementation of these techniques.
Essays in industrial organisation
Keywords: consumer protection
competition policy
vertical relations
information transmission

The first chapter considers a common agency model where two competition authorities share information about a firm under investigation. It shows that information-sharing can sometimes be welfare detrimental unless the authorities coordinate their enforcement policies as well as share information. The reason behind is that the authorities may have different leniency levels and the firm may decide to provide less precise information to one in an attempt to appeal the other. Furthermore it shows that the authorities may want to distort their policies in order to prevent the firm from obscuring the information it provides.
The second chapter studies the seller's incentives to provide misleading advice about complex goods such as consumer electronics, banking or phone services. It shows how the incentives to give biased and imprecise advice are affected by the possibility of ex-post litigation, when a court or consumer protection authority investigates how biased the advice is and penalises accordingly. It finds that a more biased advice will also be less precise, thus, a stricter punishment for deceiving consumers also increases precision.
The third chapter analyses the impact of trade credit on a relational contract between two vertically related firms. The firms operate in an environment with unobservable shocks, like a developing country or a black market, which create moral hazard in the repayment decision. It shows that the quantity sold in the market will be distorted downwards in order to curb the constrained firm's incentives to steal the credit and derives the optimal repayment scheme.
Beyond the piano: the super instrument. Widening the instrumental capacities in the context of the piano music of the 21st century
Keywords: piano
electroacoustic music
performance
algorithmic composition techniques
super instruments

Thanks to the development of new technology, musical instruments are no more tied to their existing acoustic or technical limitations as almost all parameters can be augmented or modified in real time. An increasing number of composers, performers, and computer programmers have thus become interested in different ways of "supersizing" acoustic instruments in order to open up previously-unheard instrumental sounds. This leads us to the question of what constitutes a super instrument and what challenges does it pose aesthetically and technically? This work explores the effects that super instruments have on the identity of a given solo instrument, on the identity of a composition and on the experience of performing this kind of repertoire. The super instrument comes to be defined as a bundle of more than one instrumental lines that achieve a coherent overall identity when generated in real time. On the basis of my own personal experience of performing the works discussed in this dissertation, super instruments vary a great deal but each has a transformative effect on the identity and performance practice of the pianist. This discussion approaches the topic from the viewpoint of contemporary keyboard music, showcasing examples of super instrument compositions of the 21st century. Thus, the main purposes of this practise based research project is to explore the essence and role of piano or toy piano in a super instrument constellation, as well as the performer's role as a "super instrumentalist". I consider these issues in relation to case studies drawn from my own compositional work and a selection of works composed by Karlheinz Essl and Jeff Brown.

Appendix: Contents of CD and DVD

CD
Track 1: Maria Kallionpää: Zusammenbindenbinden.Winden? –Hommage a Schumann. Tuuli Lempa, piano; Marko Myöhänen, electronics. Helsinki 2012.
Track 2: Maria Kallionpää: Trinity Mania. Maria Kallionpää, piano; Florian Hartlieb, electronics. Vienna 2010.

DVD
Track 1: Karlheinz Essl: Sequitur V. Maria Kallionpää, toy piano; Karlheinz Essl, electronics
Statistical HLA type imputation from large and heterogeneous datasets
Keywords: immunology
MHC
autoimmune
Human Leukocyte Antigen
HLA
imputation
population genetics
prediction
major histocompatibility complex
graph

An individual's Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) type is an essential immunogenetic parameter, influencing susceptibility to a variety of autoimmune and infectious diseases, to certain types of cancer and the likelihood of adverse drug reactions.
I present and evaluate two models for the accurate statistical determination of HLA types for single-population and multi-population studies, based on SNP genotypes. Importantly, SNP genotypes are already available for many studies, so that the application of the statistical methods presented here does not incur any extra cost besides computing time.
HLA*IMP:01 is based on a parallelized and modified version of LDMhc (Leslie et al., 2008), enabling the processing of large reference panels and improving call rates. In a homogeneous single-population imputation scenario on a mainly British dataset, it achieves accuracies (posterior predictive values) and call rates >=88% at all classical HLA loci (HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C, HLA-DQA1, HLA-DQB1, HLA-DRB1) at 4-digit HLA type resolution.
HLA*IMP:02 is specifically designed to deal with multi-population heterogeneous reference panels and based on a new algorithm to construct haplotype graph models that takes into account haplotype estimate uncertainty, allows for missing data and enables the inclusion of prior knowledge on linkage disequilibrium. It works as well as HLA*IMP:01 on homogeneous panels and substantially outperforms it in more heterogeneous scenarios. In a cross-European validation experiment, even without setting a call threshold, HLA*IMP:02 achieves an average accuracy of 96% at 4-digit resolution (>=91% for all loci, which is achieved at HLA-DRB1). HLA*IMP:02 can accurately predict structural variation (DRB paralogs), can (to an extent) detect errors in the reference panel and is highly tolerant of missing data. I demonstrate that a good match between imputation and reference panels in terms of principal components and reference panel size are essential determinants of high imputation accuracy under HLA*IMP:02.
Measurement of the Z to TlTh cross-section and search for the standard model vector boson fusion produced Higgs to TlTh at ATLAS
Keywords: Tau Leptons
Z boson
Particle Physics
Higgs

This thesis presents a cross-section measurement of the Z → τιτh process performed using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. The data used were collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV during 2010 and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 36 pb−1. This measurement uses the final state where one τ lepton decays leptonically, to an electron or muon, plus neutrinos, and the other τ lepton decays hadronically. The γ*/Z → ιι, ttbar and di-boson background processes are estimated using Monte Carlo simulation, the W → τν Monte Carlo background prediction is estimated using a semi data-driven method. The multijet background is estimated with a fully data-driven ‘ABCD’ method using three exclusive control regions built by inverting uncorrelated requirements on the isolation of the electron or muon and the product of the electric charge of the identified electron or muon and hadronically decayed τ lepton.
The measured cross-sections in each channel are corrected for the individual branching ratios and yield the total cross-section σ(Z -> ττ,minv 66 - 116 GeV) = 1142 ± 135.5(stat.) ± 206.2(syst.) ± 40.19(lumi.) ± 3.6(theo.) pb for the electron channel and σ(Z → ττ,minv 66 - 116 GeV) = 857.6 ± 81.4(stat.) ± 132.5(syst.) ± 30.19(lumi.) ± 2.8(theo.) pb for the muon channel, where the invariant mass of the Z boson is between 66 and 116 GeV. These are in good agreement with the theoretical prediction of 960 ± 49.5 pb. Performing a measurement of a well-known Standard Model process using the ATLAS detector in this new high energy regime is essential for validating the τ lepton identification in particular, which is essential for any new physics search such as H → τιτh.
A cut-based analysis for the Vector Boson Fusion produced Higgs boson decaying to two τ leptons channel is introduced and the possibility of using the more complex analysis technique, the Matrix Element method, to increase sensitivity is discussed.
Fighting Power: Interpretive Issues. The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, 1950
Keywords: Marines
Pusan Perimeter
Korea
U.S. Marine Corps
Fighting Power

Fighting Power: Interpretive Issues The 1st Provisional Marine Brigade, 1950 Hammes, Thomas Xavier Lincoln College Submitted for Doctor of Philosophy in History Trinity Term 2008 When the Korean War broke out on 25 June 1950, the Marine Corps was ordered to deploy an air-ground brigade from California in less than ten days. Due to five years of massive budget and manpower cuts, the Marine Corps did not have even a brigade immediately available. The only way to meet the sailing timeline was to organize, man and equip the force while actually embarking it. As it embarked, the brigade had to incorporate marines flown in from posts all over the western United States; draw equipment from war reserves held hundreds of miles away; reorganize many of the existing units under new tables of organization; and add an experimental helicopter detachment from the east coast of the United States. Despite these enormous handicaps and numerically superior enemy forces, the brigade won every engagement. This performance was in stark contrast to the performance of all other US forces at this stage of the war. The brigade’s brief existence (7 July to 6 Sept 1950), combined with its exceptional combat record under adverse conditions, provides the opportunity to study the impact of institutional culture, education, doctrine, organization, training and leadership on performance in combat. Research showed that a key element of the brigade’s success was the Marine Corps’ institutional culture. In particular, the culture of remembering ensured marines understood the unchanging aspects of war and provided its men with the education, training, doctrine and organization to cope with its enduring friction, fog and chance. At the same time, the culture of learning ensured the marines understood what was changing in the character and tools of war so the brigade was well adapted to the realities of modern war from its first day in combat.
On local constraints and regularity of PDE in electromagnetics. Applications to hybrid imaging inverse problems
Keywords: Maxwell's equations
hybrid imaging
inverse problems
medical imaging
Regularity theory

The first contribution of this thesis is a new regularity theorem for time harmonic Maxwell's equations with less than Lipschitz complex anisotropic coefficients. By using the Lp theory for elliptic equations, it is possible to prove H1 and Hölder regularity results, provided that the coefficients are W1,p for some p = 3. This improves previous regularity results, where the assumption W1,∞ for the coefficients was believed to be optimal. The method can be easily extended to the case of bi-anisotropic materials, for which a separate approach turns out to be unnecessary.
The second focus of this work is the boundary control of the Helmholtz and Maxwell equations to enforce local constraints inside the domain. More precisely, we look for suitable boundary conditions such that the corresponding solutions and their derivatives satisfy certain local non-zero constraints. Complex geometric optics solutions can be used to construct such illuminations, but are impractical for several reasons. We propose a constructive approach to this problem based on the use of multiple frequencies. The suitable boundary conditions are explicitly constructed and give the desired constraints, provided that a finite number of frequencies, given a priori, are chosen in a fixed range. This method is based on the holomorphicity of the solutions with respect to the frequency and on the regularity theory for the PDE under consideration.
This theory finds applications to several hybrid imaging inverse problems, where the unknown coefficients have to be imaged from internal measurements. In order to perform the reconstruction, we often need to find suitable boundary conditions such that the corresponding solutions satisfy certain non-zero constraints, depending on the particular problem under consideration. The multiple frequency approach introduced in this thesis represents a valid alternative to the use of complex geometric optics solutions to construct such boundary conditions. Several examples are discussed.