VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Short-time structural stability of compressible vortex sheets with surface tension

The main purpose of this work is to prove short-time structural stability of compressible vortex sheets with surface tension.
The main result can be summarised as follows. Assume we start with an initial vortex-sheet configuration which consists of two inviscid fluids with density bounded below flowing smoothly past each other, where a strictly positive fixed coefficient of surface tension produces a surface tension force across the common interface, balanced by the pressure jump. We assume the fluids are modelled by the compressible Euler equations in three space dimensions with a very general equation of state relating the pressure, entropy and density in each fluid such that the sound speed is positive. Then, for a short time, which may depend on the initial configuration, there exists a unique solution of the equations with the same structure, that is, two fluids with density bounded below flowing smoothly past each other, where the surface tension force across the common interface balances the pressure jump.
The mathematical approach consists of introducing a carefully chosen artificial viscosity-type regularisation which allows one to linearise the system so as to obtain a collection of transport equations for the entropy, pressure and curl together with a parabolic-type equation for the velocity. We prove a high order energy estimate for the non-linear equations that is independent of the artificial viscosity parameter which allows us to send it to zero. This approach loosely follows that introduced by Shkoller et al in the setting of a compressible liquid-vacuum interface.
Although already considered by Shkoller et al, we also make some brief comments on the case of a compressible liquid-vacuum interface, which is obtained from the vortex sheets problem by replacing one of the fluids by vacuum, where it is possible to obtain a structural stability result even without surface tension.

Keywords: Compressible Fluid Dynamics
Hyperbolic Conservation Laws
Free Boundary Problems
Existence and Uniqueness Theory
Vortex Sheets
Euler Equations
Partial Differential Equations
Contact Discontinuities
Advisor: Chen, G
Model systems for exploring new therapeutic interventions and disease mechanisms in spinal muscular atrophies (SMAs)

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 2D (CMT2D)/distal SMA type V (dSMAV) are two incurable neuromuscular disorders that predominantly manifest during childhood and adolescence. Both conditions are caused by mutations in widely and constitutively expressed genes that encode proteins with essential housekeeping functions, yet display specific lower motor neuron pathology. SMA results from recessive inactivating mutations in the survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1) gene, while CMT2D/dSMAV manifests due to dominant point mutations in the glycyl-tRNA synthetase (GlyRS) gene, GARS. Using a number of different model systems, ranging from Caenorhabditis elegans to the mouse, this thesis aimed to identify potential novel therapeutic compounds for SMA, and to increase our understanding of the mechanisms underlying both diseases. I characterised a novel C. elegans allele, which possesses a point mutation in the worm SMN1 orthologue, smn-1, and showed its potential for large-scale screening by highlighting 4-aminopyridine in a screen for compounds able to improve the mutant motility defect. Previously, the gene encoding three isoforms of chondrolectin (Chodl) was shown to be alternatively spliced in the spinal cord of SMA mice before disease onset. I performed functional analyses of the three isoforms in neuronal cells with experimentally reduced Smn levels, and determined that the dysregulation of Chodl likely reflects a combination of compensatory mechanism and contributor to pathology, rather than mis-splicing. Finally, working with two Gars mutant mice and a new Drosophila model, I have implicated semaphorin-plexin pathways and axonal guidance in the GlyRS toxic gain-of-function disease mechanism of CMT2D/dSMAV.

Keywords: drug screening
Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease
Drosophila melanogaster
survival motor neuron (SMN)
model organisms
Caenorhabditis elegans
neuromuscular junction (NMJ)
spinal muscular atrophy (SMA)
neuropathy
motor neuron
CMT2D
neuromuscular disease
Advisor: Talbot, K
Davies, K
Patient education, risk communication and informed choice

This thesis describes research carried out to explore the needs, expectations and experiences of the increasing number of women with a family history of breast cancer who present to primary care. This work was intended to inform clinical practice and policy, and to directly address women's needs where possible.
Although a great deal of research has looked at the experiences of women with a family history of breast cancer in a specialist setting, when this work began, no research had yet been published on women's needs in primary care. This is particularly important, as general practitioners (GPs) are the first port of call, and often the main source of information, advice and support. A qualitative interview study was used for the preliminary work exploring women's subjective experiences of consulting primary care about a family history of breast cancer and understanding their primary care consultation needs (Chapter 2). This work was further elaborated upon using a prospective descriptive study to quantify the extent to which women shared the same views or experiences, and therefore, would benefit from certain changes in health care provision (Chapter 3). The qualitative and quantitative research showed that women's main primary care consultation needs were to discuss their risks of breast cancer with their GP and to receive verbal as well as take-home information.
When this work was being carried out, no patient information was available suitable for a general population of women with breast cancer in the family who present to primary care. For this reason, a leaflet was developed based on women's information needs and the best available evidence (Chapter 4). The leaflet entitled Breast and/or Ovarian Cancer in the Family: Learning More about Your Risks and Options was evaluated with almost 200 women to ensure that it met their needs (Chapter 5). Over 90% of women were glad to have received the leaflet and felt that it provided the information they wanted to know.
The implications of the work described in this thesis are that GPs could greatly assist their patients by acknowledging family history concerns as a legitimate reason for presenting to primary care, by providing verbal and take-home information and by inviting patients to return for future discussions if needed. Nationally accepted management guidelines for breast cancer family history and accompanying educational materials for use in primary care will also be instrumental in meeting patient needs and promoting informed choice in this new and difficult area of medicine.

Advisor: Austoker, J
"It made our eyes get bigger:" Youth filmmaking and citizenship in London

This thesis explores the ways in which discourses of citizenship are circulated and incorporated into the practice of non-formal educational filmmaking initiatives for young people in London. I utilise an ethnographic approach focusing on young participants, adult facilitators and funders to demonstrate how youth filmmaking facilitates an exploration of abstract conceptions of citizenship with the on-the-ground reality of young peoples’ “practice” as citizens. To provide context for this material, I present both a theoretical overview of the heady yet labile term “citizenship” and a historical narrative of youth filmmaking, particularly in its relationship to wider political economies of funding and youth policy.
Although discourses of citizenship in youth filmmaking have changed subtly over time, the youth filmmaking programmes considered here marshal three central conceptions of citizenship; “engagement,” “empowerment” and “belonging.” To explore each of these notions, I draw on case studies to show how these citizenship discourses become operationalised. First, I consider the Reelhood project for young Muslims, which aimed at encouraging “political engagement.” I demonstrate how young people challenge notions of “disengagement” and operate as “justice-oriented” citizens, in contradistinction to the premise of the funding source itself.
Second, I use the example of the This is My Story project, amongst other films that dealt with youth violence, to explore discourses of “empowerment.” Using the metaphor of the “shot/reverse shot” sequence, I demonstrate how youth filmmaking projects situate themselves as an alternative to the representation of young people in mainstream press. Finally, I describe the River Lea project in which the sensory and technological processes of filmmaking became a means for young people to “focus in” and attune their sensory and perceptive faculties to the experience of “place-making.” Each of these case studies exhibits how the creative, social and technical processes of filmmaking provide a challenge to or re-interpretation of citizenship discourse.

Keywords: education
participation
gangs
youth
film
media studies
citizenship
anthropology
visual culture
Advisor: Banks, M
The pluriverse of disasters: knowledge, mediation and citizenship 

This thesis looks at a variety of stakeholders and how they inform the conversations around disasters and disaster sites. In particular it focuses on the way knowledge frameworks of different actors informs this dialogue and defines the nature of their response. The thesis argues that this has an implication for debates on democracy, governance and citizenship.
The thesis looks at four sets of actors: individuals confronting and coping with the everydayness of disasters.; the states of Gujarat and Orissa in India which innovate in the face of disasters to either create a techno-managerial response and institute different methodologies or use the existing structures to embed themselves further and perpetuate the poverty and disaster industry; the Christian and secular humanitarian groups: the former make a transition from charity to rights discourse while intervening in disasters. The latter focus on building methodologies which institute certain norms of responding to disasters and catering to those it considers as more vulnerable when disaster strikes. The thesis finally turns its attention to the response of four Hindu groups who draw on civilizational categories to engage with issues of pain, suffering, healing. Each stakeholder, the thesis argues, in articulating its response to disasters, presents a 'counter model' or at least a complementary understanding of how to think and respond to disasters. This plurality of engagement by questioning the preconceived frameworks adds not just to the democratic imagination but also to the debates on what constitutes governance and citizenship.
Methodologically, the thesis is an ethnographic exploration located in two sites in India: Gujarat and Orissa. It keeps storytelling, ethnography, analysis, policy documents together and tries to show that they become a weave in disaster studies.

Keywords: Knowledge
Governance
Disaster Studies
Citizenship
Advisor: Rayner, S
Distributed dynamics and learning in games

In this thesis we study decentralized dynamics for non-cooperative and cooperative games. The dynamics are behaviorally motivated and assume that very little information is available about other players' preferences, actions, or payoffs. For example, this is the case in markets where exchanges are frequent and the sheer size of the market hinders participants from learning about others' preferences.
We consider learning dynamics that are based on trial-and-error and aspiration-based heuristics. Players occasionally try to increase their performance given their current payoffs. If successful they stick to the new action, otherwise they revert to their old action. We also study a dynamic model of social influence based on findings in sociology and psychology that people have a propensity to conform to others' behavior irrespective of the payoff consequences.
We analyze the dynamics with a particular focus on two questions: How long does it take to reach equilibrium and what are the stability and welfare properties of the equilibria that the process selects? These questions are at the core of understanding which equilibrium concepts are robust in environments where players have little information about the game and the high rationality assumptions of standard game theory are not very realistic.
Methodologically, this thesis builds on game theoretic techniques and prominent solution concepts such as the Nash equilibrium for non-cooperative games and the core for cooperative games, as well as refinement concepts like stochastic stability. The proofs rely on mathematical techniques from random walk theory and integer programming.

Keywords: decentralized markets
bounded rationality
game theory
Advisor: Young, H
Tarres, P
Towards the synthesis of anthecularin and anthecotulides

The work presented in this thesis mainly describes the discovery and development of methodology for the synthesis of anthecularin and anthecotulides, a family of unusual sesquiterpene lactones.
Firstly, two 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition approaches toward anthecularin have been evaluated, using either oxidopyrylium ylide chemistry (Path A) or carbonyl ylides, generated by rhodium-catalysed decomposition of diazo ketones (Path B). Synthesis of the key precursor for the diazo strategy was achieved but unfortunately no desired cycloadduct was isolated.
Secondly, an experimentally straightforward method to stereoselectively synthesise β-hydroxymethyl-α-methylene-γ-butyrolactones was developed using chromium or zinc. The synthetic utility of this methodology was demonstrated in syntheses of (±)-methylenolactocin, (±)-hydroxymatairesinol and, ultimately, (±)-hydroxyanthecotulide using a gold-catalysed Meyer-Schuster rearrangement.
Finally, the first asymmetric synthesis of (+)-anthecotulide has been achieved, in 6 steps from commercially available materials. During this synthesis the absolute configuration was established. Furthermore, a novel rhodium-catalysed enantioselective ene-yne cycloisomerisation was used to form the α-methylene-��-butyrolactone core.

Keywords: antimalarial
chromium allylation
natural product synthesis
Advisor: Hodgson, D
An historiographical study of Abū Ḥanīfa Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd ibn Wanand al-Dīnawarī’s Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl (especially of that part dealing with the Sasanian kings)

This thesis is a study of the pre-Islamic passages of Abū Ḥanīfa Aḥmad ibn Dāwūd ibn Wanand Dīnawarī's Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl. This is to say that it stops at the beginning of the Arab conquest of Iran. It is intended for scholars of Late Antiquity. Special emphasis is placed on Dīnawarī's exposition of the rule of the Sasanian dynasty and questions relating to the mysterious Ḫudāynāma tradition which are intimately connected with it. Beginning with a discussion of Dīnawarī and his work, the thesis moves into a discussion of indigenous Iranian historiography. Speculation on the sources of Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl follows, and the historiographical investigation of the most substantial portion of Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl's notices on the Sasanian dynasty comes next. The conclusion summarises the findings of the thesis. The final section (an appendix) is a translation of the relevant part of Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl running from the beginning of that text to the reign of Šīrūya.
This thesis was written with one main question in mind: what does Dīnawarī's Kitāb al-Aḫbār al-Ṭiwāl have to say about pre-Islamic Iranian history? A host of other questions arose immediately: who was Dīnawarī; when did he live; what did he do; how was his work perceived by others; where did Dīnawarī get his information and how did he present it; is Dīnawarī's information reliable? These questions are addressed one by one in my thesis.

Keywords: Byzantium
Late Antiquity
Ferdowsi
Noldeke
Dinawari
Tabari
Persian
Sasanian History
Persia
Shahnameh
Arabic
Constantinople
Iran
Islamic Historiography
Ctesiphon
Advisor: Howard-Johnston, J
Institutions, the common agricultural policy, and the European Community's enlargement to Spain, 1977-1986

Why did EC enlargement negotiations with Spain take so long? This thesis argues that agricultural issues dominated negotiations despite the political and strategic aims of stabilizing Western Europe's southern flank that underpinned the raison d'être of this enlargement. The framework of Historical New Institutionalism is used to argue that several 'biases' operating at three levels account for the length and nature of these negotiations. At the first level, the 'bilateral' format of the negotiation procedure between Spain and the EC favoured existing EC members and protected the acquis communautaire. The Community's negotiating positions, as bargains in themselves, tended to be inflexible, and reduced Spain's input in the discussions and in the agenda-setting process.
At the EC level, the CAP exhibited an unusual capacity to withstand the changes required by enlargement. This was because the EC's decisionmaking structure was fragmented into sectors and levels which allowed a closely knit 'policy community' to run the CAP in a way that was relatively insulated from other issue-areas. Change in the CAP occurred to cope with enlargement, but in a path-dependent way, passing the cost of adaptation on to Spain.
At the national level, member states' so-called national interests with regard to enlargement were mixed, with no clear priority, and conflicting sectoral views. This resulted from the mechanisms of interest intermediation and inter-departmental co-ordination, which shaped the formulation and representation of national views in Brussels.
Spain's accession was finally made possible when new redistributive policies for the Mediterranean and fresh budgetary resources were agreed. These were approved as part the wider package-deals surrounding the Single Market project and the Single European Act.
HNI provides a new and persuasive framework with which to understand the difficulties of institutional change associated with enlargement negotiations.

Advisor: Deighton, A
Coordinated search with unmanned aerial vehicle teams

Advances in mobile robot technology allow an increasing variety of applications to be imagined, including: search and rescue, exploration of unknown areas and working with hazardous materials. State of the art robots are able to behave autonomously and without direct human control, using on-board devices to perceive, navigate and reason about the world. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are particularly well suited to performing advanced sensing tasks by moving rapidly through the environment irrespective of the terrain. Deploying groups of mobile robots offers advantages, such as robustness to individual failures and a reduction in task completion time. However, to operate efficiently these teams require specific approaches to enable the individual agents to cooperate.
This thesis proposes coordinated approaches to search scenarios for teams of UAVs. The primary application considered is Wilderness Search and Rescue (WiSaR), although the techniques developed are applicable elsewhere. A novel frontier-based search approach is developed for rotor-craft UAVs, taking advantage of available terrain information to minimise altitude changes during flight. This is accompanied by a lightweight coordination mechanism to enable cooperative behaviour with minimal additional overhead. The concept of a team rendezvous is introduced, at which all team members attend to exchange data. This also provides an ideal opportunity to create a comprehensive team solution to relay newly gathered data to a base station. Furthermore, the delay between sensing and the acquired data becoming available to mission commanders is analysed and a technique proposed for adapting the team to meet a latency requirement.
These approaches are evaluated and characterised experimentally through simulation. Coordinated frontier search is shown to outperform greedy walk methods, reducing redundant sensing coverage using only a minimal coordination protocol. Combining the search, rendezvous and relay techniques provides a holistic approach to the deployment of UAV teams, meeting mission objectives without extensive pre-configuration.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicles
multi-robot systems
multi-robot coordination
robotic search
robot teams
search and rescue
Advisor: Cameron, S
Design of non-linear optical materials based on inorganic compounds

This Thesis is concerned with the prediction, synthesis, characterization and testing of inorganic materials for Second Harmonic Generation (SHG).
Chapter One describes the fundamentals of non-linear optics, and poses the problems, and some of their solutions which confront the synthetic chemist and the theoretical prediction of the second order hyperpolarizability constant β using CNDOVSB calculations.
Chapter Two describes the design, implementation and calibration of an apparatus for measurements of the second harmonic generating efficiency of solids based on the Kurtz powder technique, and a solvatochromic method for the determination of β.
Novel compounds with potential chirality due to atropisomerism, asymmetric octahedral structures, and asymmetric tetrahedral symmetry of metal centers are discussed in Chapters Three to Five.
Chapter Three surveys the use of pentane-2,4-dionato- ligands and their coordination compounds as possible NLO active materials. The single crystal X-ray structures of bis(triphenylphosphine)(4-nitrobenzoylacetonato)palladium(II) tetrafluoroborate and tris(triphenylphosphine)[3-(2,4-dinitrophenyl)-pentane-2,4-dionato]palladium(II) tetrafluoroborate were determined.
Chapter Four describes the syntheses, characterization and SHG properties of trans-β-ionylidenecyanoacetic acid (2-cyano-3-methyl-5-(2,6,6-trimethyl-l-cyclohexen-1- yl)-2,4-pentadienoic acid) and some of its metal and non-metal salts.
Chapter Five describes the synthesis, characterization and second harmonic generation properties of some platinum(II) and palladium(II) complexes of β- ionylidenecyanoacetic acid.
Chapter Six describes the use of conventional asymmetric carbon centers to introduce chirality into centrosymmetric compounds. The chiral compound (L)-N-[2-cyano- 3-methyl-5-(2,6,6-trimethyl-1 -cyclohexene-1 -yl)-2,4-pentadiene-1 -one]-L-proline and some of its salts were synthesized from β-ionylidenecyanoaeetic acid and tested for SHG.

Advisor: Mingos, D
Mingos, M