VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The establishment of the French war machine in the First World War

The First World War placed enormous pressures on the home fronts of all belligerents as they sought to provide the unprecedented levels of armaments required by twentieth century warfare. France proved to be both militarily and industrially unprepared for the task and was almost defeated in the early months of the war as the army was severely constrained by shortages of shells and artillery. However, by 1918 French industry was able to produce more materiel than Britain while also supplying the arriving American Expeditionary Force. This thesis explores how this tremendous feat was achieved by examining the actions and interests of the high command, the government and the industrialists. Throughout the war, the specific needs of the French commanders would fluctuate, but the desire for quantity and speed of delivery was constant, often at the expense of quality. The Ministry of War attempted to appease both the army and the industrialists in order to mobilise industry rapidly to meet the requirements of the front line. Despite the apparent success of its efforts, the government’s response to the pressures of war was ad hoc and reactionary. It had little time to formulate a cohesive plan, nor could it ignore the short-term necessities in favour of a longer-term strategy. Thus it created and faced a number of problems that complicated the mobilisation process, which the government sought to resolve through an increasing reliance on bureaucracy and state intervention in a previously liberal economy. Ultimately, as output expanded, constraints on the army eased, and industry was able to supply armaments in both high quality and large quantities, facilitating an operational approach that became ever more reliant on materiel as manpower resources dwindled. French efforts thus demonstrated the importance of economic management in wartime and greatly influenced post-1918 planning for future wars.

Keywords: France
war
artillery
industry
armaments
Advisor: Strachan, H
Modification of iron binding ligands in isopenicillin n synthase

Isopenicillin N synthase (IPNS) is a non-haem iron dependent dioxygenase which catalyses the oxidative conversion of anddelta;-(L-andalpha;-aminoadipoyl)-L-cysteinyl-D-valine (ACV) to isopenicillin N (IPN). Sequence comparisons between IPNS isozymes reveal the complete conservation of two histidine (His214, His270), one aspartate (Asp216) [also known as the '2-His-l-carboxylate' motif] and one glutamine (Gln330) residue. The crystal structure of IPNS (Aspergillus nidulans) active site (in the absence of ACV) revealed an octahedrally coordinated manganese atom surrounded by these four protein ligands and two water molecules.
The role of the four conserved metal binding ligands was investigated using site directed mutagenesis. The results demonstrated that ligation of the iron with Gln330 was not essential for the catalytic activity of IPNS. In contrast, ligation of the iron with the three remaining metal ligands was indispensable for catalytic activity. Additionally, it was demonstrated that the conserved Asp216 residue may be substituted by a glutamate residue (D216E) with significant retention of catalytic activity. Crystallographic and spectroscopic evidence suggested that the D216E mutant bound both iron and ACV in a similar way to wild-type IPNS.
The inactivation of wild-type IPNS was examined under in vitro assay conditions. This study showed that inactivation of IPNS results (minimally) from a slow non-oxidative pathway (in buffer alone) and a fast oxidative pathway via Udenfriend's chemistry (ferrous iron, ascorbate, and oxygen). The oxidative inactivation pathway was substantially reduced by the inclusion of catalase in the assay mixture, thus indicating that oxidative IPNS inactivation results (in part) from the generation of hydrogen peroxide in solution. Inactivation was also accompanied by a slow fragmentation of intact IPNS into (at least) five oligopeptides (observed by sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis). N-Terminal sequencing analyses confirmed that the fragmentation resulted from at least two cleavage sites within the active site (between Asp216-Val217 and Val272-Lys273).

Advisor: Schofield, C
Graded blocks of group algebras

In this thesis we study gradings on blocks of group algebras. The motivation to study gradings on blocks of group algebras and their transfer via derived and stable equivalences originates from some of the most important open conjectures in representation theory, such as Broue’s abelian defect group conjecture. This conjecture predicts the existence of derived equivalences between categories of modules. Some attempts to prove Broue’s conjecture by lifting stable equivalences to derived equivalences highlight the importance of understanding the connection between transferring gradings via stable equivalences and transferring gradings via derived equivalences. The main idea that we use is the following. We start with an algebra which can be easily graded, and transfer this grading via derived or stable equivalence to another algebra which is not easily graded. We investigate the properties of the resulting grading. In the first chapter we list the background results that will be used in this thesis. In the second chapter we study gradings on Brauer tree algebras, a class of algebras that contains blocks of group algebras with cyclic defect groups. We show that there is a unique grading up to graded Morita equivalence and rescaling on an arbitrary basic Brauer tree algebra. The third chapter is devoted to the study of gradings on tame blocks of group algebras. We study extensively the class of blocks with dihedral defect groups. We investigate the existence, positivity and tightness of gradings, and we classify all gradings on these blocks up to graded Morita equivalence. The last chapter deals with the problem of transferring gradings via stable equivalences between blocks of group algebras. We demonstrate on three examples how such a transfer via stable equivalences is achieved between Brauer correspondents, where the group in question is a TI group.

Keywords: stable equivalences
group algebras
gradings
symmetric algebras
quivers
derived equivalences
Advisor: Erdmann, K
Rouquier, R
Vision and laser for road based navigation

This thesis presents novel solutions for two fundamental problems associated with autonomous road driving. The first is accurate and persistent localisation and the second is automatic extrinsic sensor calibration.
We start by describing a stereo Visual Odometry (VO) system, which forms the basis of later chapters. This sparse approach to ego-motion estimation leverages the efficacy and speed of the BRIEF descriptor to measure frame-to-frame correspondences and infer subsequent motion. The system is able to output locally metric trajectory estimates as demonstrated on many kilometres of data.
We then present a robust vision only localisation system based on a two-stage approach. Firstly we gather a representative survey in ideal weather and lighting conditions. We then leverage locally accurate VO trajectories to synthesise a high resolution orthographic image strip of the road surface. This road image provides a highly descriptive and stable template against which to match subsequent traversals. During the second phase, localisation, we use the VO to provide high frequency pose updates, but correct for the drift inherent in all locally derived pose estimates with low frequency updates from a dense image matching technique. Here a live image stream is registered against synthesised views of the road image generated form the survey. We use an information theoretic measure, Mutual Information, to determine the alignment of live images and synthesised views. Using this measure we are able to successfully localise subsequent traversals of surveyed routes under even the most intense lighting changes expected in outdoor applications. We demonstrate our system localising in multiple environments with accuracy commensurate to that of an Inertial Navigation System.
Finally we present a technique for automatically determining the extrinsic calibration between a camera and Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) sensor in natural scenes. Rather than requiring a stationary platform as with prior art, we actually exploit platform motion allowing us to aggregate data and adopt a retrospective approach to calibration. Coupled with accurate timing this retrospective approach allows for sensors with non-overlapping fields of view to be calibrated as long as at some point the observed workspaces overlap. We then show how we can improve the accuracy of our calibration estimates by treating each single shot estimate as a noisy measurement and fusing them together using a recursive Bayes filter. We evaluate the calibration algorithm in multiple environments and demonstrate millimetre precision in translation and deci-degrees in rotation.

Keywords: mapping
calibration
computer vision
multi-modal calibration
life long robotics
localisation
robot navigation
Advisor: Newman, PM
The stress process in occupational settings

This thesis is concerned with the direct and indirect mechanisms through which psychosocial stressors affect well-being, within the framework of the Michigan Model (House, 1981). An additional aim is to examine the stress process during workplace transitions. Empirical studies were conducted in three occupational settings: a cross-sectional pilot study with a sample of white-collar employees of several companies (N=144), and two longitudinal studies with samples drawn from a single retail chain, the "manager study" (N=261) and the "relocation study" (N=175).
Although statistical control for individual differences (including response style) attenuated associations between work characteristics and strain outcomes, in all three samples work characteristics jointly contributed to the explanation of job satisfaction and psychological distress. More specifically, perceptions of control and social support were associated with job satisfaction, while work demands played a significant role in explaining symptom report. Furthermore, symptom levels predicted work absence in a combined sample of retail employees (N=221).
In addition to direct effects, mediation and moderation patterns were examined. Results suggested that work perceptions partially mediated relations between personality (specifically locus of control beliefs and neuroticism) and strain. A similar pattern of mediation was apparent for social support. However, evidence for moderation of the stress process by individual and work characteristics was equivocal. Cross-sectional analyses using the manager sample data revealed significant interactions of control and Type A behaviour with work characteristics, but these interactions were not consistent in form with theory and past research. In contrast, in the longitudinal relocation study interactions were consistent with expectations: the negative impact of change was buffered by social support from senior colleagues and perceptions of control.
Longitudinal analyses also demonstrated negative effects of workplace change; decreasing job satisfaction was observed during organisational restructuring, and transfer to a new branch was associated with increased psychological distress. Furthermore latent variable models revealed that changes in support, role ambiguity, and control over time were predictive of changes in job satisfaction.
Overall, the present studies emphasise the need to examine simultaneously the joint influences of individual and work characteristics in occupational stress research. In this way the direct and indirect mechanisms through which psychosocial factors influence strain may be more fully understood, and strain-reducing interventions devised.

Advisor: Parkes, K
Yugoslavia in Western Cold War policies, 1948-1953

When Yugoslavia was expelled from the Cominform in 1948, the Western Powers (Britain, the USA, France) were taking action to counter a perceived Soviet threat. This included the policy of liberating Eastern Europe from Communist domination. Tito's expulsion was misinterpreted by the Western Powers: assuming that Tito had initiated it, the Western Powers hoped for similar "defections" by other Communis regimes. The sowing of discord between the Satellite leaders (including Mao) and Stalin became a new facet of the Liberation policy. Yugoslavia was treated as show-case to demonstrate to Satellite leaders that they could obtain aid from the West if they ceased to support Stalin.
In the case of the European Satellite leaders, this policy was a miscalculation: they had no intention of breaking with Stalin and the alternative of obtaining help from the Western Powers had little credibility in view of their anti-Communist propaganda and subversive secret operations. The Americans for other reasons failed to encourage existing emancipatory trends among the Chinese Communist leaders. British recognition of Mao's regime was not enough to draw Mao away from Stalin.
Yugoslavia's other role was strategic and it gained particular importance for the West in the context of increased defensive measures after the outbreak of the Korean War. The Western Powers gave Yugoslavia arms and economic aid to strengthen her as a shield for the defence of NATO territory. Yet Yugoslavia was discouraged from committing herself to the West by Western reluctance to give away NATO information. Italo- Yugoslav defence co-ordination would have been necessary but was made impossible by disagreements about Trieste, also involving the Western Powers. The Trieste crisis of late 1953 set back Western-Yugoslav relations significantly, perhaps irretrievably. The ephemeral Balkan defence pact of 1954 between Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey was no substitute, and with the waning of the Soviet threat for Yugoslavia after Stalin's death in 1953 Tito became less interested in defence-cooperation with the Western Powers.
SO(N) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions

We calculate the string tensions, mass spectrum, and deconfining temperatures of SO(N) gauge theories in 2+1 dimensions. After a review of lattice field theory, we describe how we simulate the corresponding lattice gauge theories, construct operators to project on to specific states, and extrapolate values to the continuum limit. We discuss how to avoid possible complications such as finite size corrections and the bulk transition.
SO(N) gauge theories have become recently topical since they do not have a fermion sign problem, are orbifold equivalent to SU(N) gauge theories, and share a common large-N limit in their common sector of states with SU(N) gauge theories. This motivates us to compare the physical properties of SO(N) and SU(N) gauge theories between 'group equivalences', which includes Lie algebra equivalences such as SO(6) and SU(4), and particularly a large-N equivalence. We discuss the large-N orbifold equivalence between SO(N) and SU(N) gauge theories, which relates the large-N gauge theories perturbatively. Using large-N extrapolations at fixed 't Hooft coupling, we test to see if SO(N) gauge theories and SU(N) gauge theories share non-perturbative properties at the large-N limit. If these group equivalences lead to similar physics in the gauge theories, then we could imagine doing finite chemical potential calculations that are currently intractable in SU(N) gauge theories by calculating equivalent quantities in the corresponding SO(N) gauge theories.
We show that the SO(N) and SU(N) values match between group equivalences and at the large-N limit.

Keywords: SO(N) gauge theories
lattice field theory
Advisor: Teper, M
The influence of parenting on the development of callous-unemotional behaviors from ages 2-9

The purpose of this thesis was to examine associations between parenting and child callous-unemotional (CU) behavior in a high-risk sample of children aged 2-9 years. First, a narrative review examined the construct of CU behavior, focusing specifically on definitions and measurement of the affective and interpersonal dimensions of psychopathy, and their applicability to youth. Second, a systematic review examined evidence from 30 studies that had investigated associations between dimensions of parenting and CU traits. Studies were classified as testing one of five different research questions. Third, five different empirical studies tested various research questions pertaining to associations between parenting and CU behavior. Data from mother-child dyads N = 731; 49% female) were collected from a multi-ethnic and high-risk sample, and included multi-method observed measures of parenting. Study 1 found that observed harsh and positive parenting predicted child CU behavior from ages 2-4, controlling for earlier child behavior and various demographic covariates. Study 2 employed a moderator design, and found that harsh and warm parenting were more strongly related to the conduct problems of children with high versus low levels of CU behavior. Study 3 tested cross-lagged simultaneous and reciprocal effects models, and found that parental warmth (observed and expressed by parents in speech samples) uniquely predicted child CU behavior versus conduct problems. Study 4 tested the factor structure of Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU; Frick, 2004), finding support for a three-Bifactor structure. Finally, Study 5 found that parent-child affective interactions at ages 2-3 predicted CU traits at age 9, over and above general behavior problems. Taken together, the results of this thesis suggest that CU features are more malleable than previously thought. In particular, aspects of parental affect and warm parenting behavior appear to be important key targets of investigation for future empirical and intervention studies.

Keywords: callous unemotional
intervention design
conduct problems
structural equation modeling
parenting
Advisor: Gardner, F
Glanvill after Glanvill

This thesis provides a new consideration of the late twelfth-century legal treatise commonly known as Glanvill. Detailed analysis of the extant Glanvill manuscripts has enabled a number of important new conclusions about the nature of the treatise itself and its textual history and development over time relative to the changing common law. The function and ongoing usage of the treatise are discussed in detail and conclusions are drawn about how, when and why the treatise continued to be copied and/or engaged with and what this may reveal about the history of the English common law. Some traditional views about the treatise and its textual history have been challenged, not least the general perception of its two textual traditions as monolithic.
This study adds substantively to the scholarship on the two so-called 'versions' of the treatise, Glanvill Continued and Glanvill Revised, both of which have been reassessed. The traditional view that Glanvill Continued represented a significant and 'official' attempt at modernizing the treatise for a mid thirteenth-century audience has been challenged. In contrast, new study of the nature and text of Glanvill Revised has re-emphasized its importance in the treatise's history and the uniqueness of its bipartite revision and re-revision, differentiating and describing these clearly for the first time.
An attempt has also been made to see the treatise in the context of the later legal literature that followed it and to link such literature back to Glanvill. It is suggested that the explosion of English legal literature in the thirteenth century at once represents the treatise's success as the written starting point of the common law and its failure, given that, with the notable exception of Bracton, such literature moves substantively away from the earlier treatise. Having said this, Glanvill arguably continued to play a role, direct and indirect, through the later literature of the law and continued to be copied, read and used alongside it. More systematic study has been undertaken of the Scottish text based upon Glanvill, the Regiam Majestatem, and it is argued that the Regiam is a much more genuine attempt at re-editing Glanvill than has traditionally been thought and that the twelfth-century English treatise may have been surprisingly applicable in early fourteenth-century Scotland.
Finally, this study has involved a new assessment of the later history of Glanvill from the fifteenth century to today, considering both the later ownership and use of its manuscripts and early printed editions and its legal and political citations. Consideration of the varying function and usage of the treatise over time enables light to be thrown upon Glanvill, the later periods in which it was read and used and the beginnings of legal history.

Advisor: Brand, P
Aspects of philistinism in nineteenth-century German literature

The thesis aims to explore philistinism as a German literary topos, in the nineteenth century. It begins with an examination of the extra-literary metaphorical usage of key words like Philister and proceeds to a summary of its impact on writers in the period. By so doing, I have tried to present an image of the developing tradition of the literary depiction of philistines. The main part of the thesis is devoted to three writers - Richendorff, Keller, Fontane - whose work presents us with contrasting responses to the problem of philistinism.
Unlike previous investigations, my approach is not only through explicit linguistic and visual markers, but also implicit depictions of philistines in the work of the three writers. To achieve this, attention is focussed on tone and literary devices, comic mode, irony, metaphor. I aim thereby to show the function of philistinism in these writings, an analysis not previously attempted.
Eichendorff's work is shown to be imbued with a fundamental antithesis between the lives of Dichter and Philister, so comprehensive as to include eschatological implications. In Keller we notice a questioning of such a dichotomy, an unwillingness to acquiesce in its distinctions and an emphasis on society in determining the worth of his characters. Fontane's work represents the most radical reassessment of the Romantic position and displays a clear shift from categorical thinking to a pervasive ambivalence. Whilst philistinism is an issue for all three writers, the differences in their approach and consequent portrayals are revealing: my Epilogue suggests that their different modes of presentation reflect changes of ethos from Romanticism to realism, which in turn reflect changes in social values over the course of the nineteenth century. The interest of the present thesis is its demonstration that such changes can, in German literary culture, be so precisely observed in the changing treatment of the topos of philistinism.