VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Chemical Composition, Thermodynamics, and Recycling: The Beginnings of Predictive Behavioral Modeling for Ancient Copper-based Systems

In their attempts to understand the unwritten past of human technology and progression, archaeologists have borrowed aspects of the natural sciences to answer big questions. In one such pursuit, fundamental aspects of the sciences have been employed towards the chemical compositional analysis of copper-based artifacts, often to simply classify which is bronze, brass, or pure copper, and to explain why they are significant in limited space and time. This thesis takes the variety of identified metal types and compositions from these analyses and builds the beginnings of an ambitious thermodynamic model based on the accepted premise of consistent and widespread recycling of ancient metals over time. Following the laws of thermodynamics, in systems at equilibrium, the model predicts the outcome of metal losses over the course of ancient pyrometallurgical processes from molten systems through both volatilization and oxidation using rigorous and established mathematics and theory. Elemental loss likelihoods are modeled for all binary copper-based metals, using activity coefficients, and ternary copper and zinc-based systems, with the excess Gibbs free energy, respectively. The calculations are performed using custom-written software designed to account for hundreds of thousands of compositional permutations after the method described by Redlich and Kister (1948). The results of these calculations are given as activity (binary) and isoactivity (ternary) contour lines. Quantified tables for the oxidation and volatilization of elements from a copper melt at 1200 ºC and 1 atm are also given as rough indicators of element loss in ancient pyrometallurgical systems. A proof of concept of the models viability is also provided for binary Cu-M and ternary Cu-M-Zn (M = Ag, As, Au, Bi, Co, Fe, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sn, Zn), Cu-Sn-Pb, and Cu-Sb-As systems from the Late Bronze Age to post-medieval periods in Britain, which is based on several substantial artifact chemical datasets. For each ternary system, the interaction parameters used for higher-order calculations from the fitted behavior of each contributing binary systems are provided. Comparison of the calculated models to available experimental system assessments, and to published archaeological chemical datasets, show that in both respects the proposed modeling of ancient copper-based metal losses works. And given the near ubiquity of ancient metal use around the world, the consistency in metal production and recycling technology, and the chemical analyses available, this preliminary model can be applied virtually anywhere the technology for smelting and recycling existed. In addition to loss modeling, this thesis has the additional offshoots of predicting ancient furnace conditions based on the calculated behavior of interacting metals, and of the controlling thermodynamic factors in the ancient calamine process.

Keywords: Volatility
Thermodynamic Modeling
Equilibrium
Oxidation
Activity
Advisor: Pollard, A
Experimental phonetics in Britain, 1890-1940

This study provides the first critical history of British developments in phonetic science from 1890 to the beginning of the Second World War. It draws on both published and unpublished documentary evidence, and on original digital analyses of contemporary images, experimental data, and sound recordings.
Experimental phonetics had diverse origins embracing medicine, physics and philology. A survey of the nineteenth century background shows that by 1890 significant British contributions in all three fields could have furnished the makings of a native approach to phonetics as an experimental science, but they failed to come together for a variety of bureaucratic, professional and personal reasons. Experimental phonetics—an academic fashion as much as a scientific specialism—was instead imported from Germany and France, and it had little continuity with British antecedents.
The study details the earliest British phonetics laboratories, their personnel, equipment, and research programmes, providing the first extensive account of the UCL laboratory, and bringing to light a forgotten 1930s laboratory in Newcastle. The major methods of empirical investigation of the period are scrutinised, rehabilitating long-neglected British origins.
The early work of Daniel Jones is extensively re-evaluated, establishing his scientific credentials, and the career of Stephen Jones, the first academic in Britain to earn a salary as an experimental phonetician, receives detailed treatment.
New light is thrown on many neglected figures, including W. A. Aikin, E. R. Edwards, John G. McKendrick, and Wilfred Perrett, while a detailed investigation of the work of Sir Richard Paget reveals the astonishing accuracy of his auditory analyses.
The study concludes with an account of the career of Robert Curry, the first recognisably modern and professional speech scientist to emerge in Britain.

Keywords: Speech research
Phonetics laboratory
Phonetics
Experimental phonetics
Instrumental phonetics
Advisor: Coleman, J
Place and power: the landed gentry of the West Solent Region in the eighteenth century

This regional study examines the character and pace of change in landed society in the eighteenth century and the impact of change on social stability. It offers new perspectives on why the landed gentry, the 'untitled aristocracy', retained their estates and their influence throughout the period. Members of this distinct social group had to make more careful, strategic choices than the wealthier peerage, and their behaviour served as a barometer of the effects of socio-economic and cultural developments on society as a whole. In spite of this, there have been few regional studies of eighteenth-century landed gentry in recent years.
The study's in situ holistic approach builds on the earlier historiography of landed elites but also on more recent scholarship on culture, performance, and polite behaviour. It uses archival records to study the fifty-two landed-gentry families in the New Forest and the Isle of Wight. It shows that the landed gentry of this region was open to newcomers, who added to the numbers rather than displacing established families. Furthermore, there was no evidence of elite withdrawal or of a separation into so-called 'old and local' and 'new and national' groups.
This thesis adds an important new dimension by identifying two characteristics of successful families. They were social and cultural amphibians, able not only to move between their estates and London but also to adapt to the polite norms of behaviour of different groups. In addition, they used 'social power', which stemmed principally from their behaviour, to achieve their aims in spite of the greater wealth and status of the peerage. As a group, the landed gentry presented a picture of social continuity and stability in 1800, but they had achieved this through a process of gradual social accommodation. They had changed in order to preserve their place and their power.

Advisor: Gauci, P
Diffeomorphism-equivariant configuration spaces with twisted partial summable labels

We construct the configuration space of points in a smooth manifold with twisted noncommutative partial summable labels. The theory of twisted operads is developed to encode twisted noncommutative summations. We also define a diffeomorphism-equivariant scanning map from the configuration space to a section space and show that it is a weak equivalence. To achieve the equivariance the configuration space is mapped to a section space over the space of all disks in the ambient manifold.

Advisor: Tillmann, U
Understanding the plasma and improving extraction of the ISIS Penning H- ions source

A Penning-type surface-plasma negative hydrogen (H-) ion source has been delivering beam at the ISIS pulsed spallation neutron and muon facility for over thirty years. It is one of the most powerful and well-renowned H- sources in the world. Although long-term experience has allowed the source to be operated reliably and set up in a repeatable way, it is treated as something of a 'black box': the detailed plasma physics of why it works has always been unclear.
A vacuum Vessel for Extraction and Source Plasma Analyses (VESPA) has been developed to understand the ISIS ion source plasma and improve the beam extracted from it. The VESPA ion source is operated in a completely new regime whereby the analysing sector dipole magnet housed inside a refrigerated 'cold box', presently used on ISIS, is replaced by an on-axis extraction system. The new extraction system incorporates a novel einzel lens with an elliptical aperture. This is the first demonstration of an elliptical einzel being used to focus an asymmetric H- ion beam.
With the dipole magnet removed, the ion source has been shown to produce 85 mA of H- beam current at normal settings; of which 80 mA is transported through the new einzel lens system, with a normalised RMS emittance of 0.2 π mm mrad. Optical emission spectroscopy measurements have shown a plasma density of 1019 m–3, an H2 dissociation rate of 70%, an almost constant electron temperature of 3.5 eV and an atomic temperature which linearly increases above the electron temperature.
In support of these principal measurements, rigorous particle tracking, electrostatic and thermal simulations were performed. In addition, a suite of new equipment was manufactured by the author. This includes a fast pressure gauge, a temperature controller, a high voltage einzel lens circuit, a fast beam chopper and a caesium detection system.

Keywords: Plasma
Accelerator
Spectroscopy
Cesium
Caesium
Ion beam
Ion source
Extraction
Einzel
H-minus
Negative hydrogen
Advisor: Seryi, A
Faircloth, D
Letchford, A
Persian petroleum and the British Empire: from the D'Arcy concession to the First World War

This thesis has used public and private archives, as well as newly discovered private papers, to provide new interpretations and new analytical insights regarding the early history of a British investment in Persia. This has given rise to broad questions regarding the interaction of economic and political power within the British empire and the interaction of foreign economic forces with domestic political forces in Persia. Within those overarching themes, the role of intermediation, the Anglo-Russian rivalry over Persia, British naval developments, differing legal cultures and Persian political developments have been examined in detail. Investigating the extent of official British intervention in the venture’s affairs and the effects of the Persian Constitutional Revolution, in particular, have advanced the current understanding of the company’s early history. In-depth archival research has thus allowed this thesis to demonstrate the shortcomings of the existing literature and provide the most complete account of the Persian oil venture’s early developments to date.

Keywords: Iran
Persia
Oil
Middle East
Gentlemanly Capitalism
British Empire
Advisor: Darwin, J
Poverty, remoteness and social mobility of the indigenous population in Mexico

The thesis seeks to understand the differences between the indigenous and the non-indigenous populations in Mexico in terms of poverty and to analyse what explains these differences. The thesis departs from the official multidimensional poverty measure that has been adopted in Mexico. The thesis distinguishes from the official results in at least four areas: 1) the main poverty indicator and how it is estimated; 2) a deeper understanding of the indigenous and non-indigenous; 3) the analysis of robustness and redundancy across dimensions and; 4) the use of standard errors to compare groups and across time.
This dissertation then focuses on remoteness, since a high percentage of the indigenous population live in small isolated rural communities, and there is a relationship between the locality size and the standard of living. In order to quantify the remoteness, and to be able to compare indigenous and non-indigenous populations, a measure of remoteness is proposed.
Then also explores how different the social mobility for the indigenous is, compared to non-indigenous. While there are studies that allow comparisons of indigenous and non-indigenous in relation to social mobility, this thesis suggests a measure of absolute social mobility that uses the framework of the Alkire-Foster methodology for multidimensional poverty. Finally, this thesis explores the role of ethnic discrimination using the Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions. Also, an innovative method to study discrimination is also presented, based on the propensity score match techniques.
At the end, this dissertation argues there is a vicious cycle of indigenous poverty in Mexico. In a nutshell, the fact that the indigenous are poorer means they rely more on state intervention while being discriminated against in the labour markets. Discrimination is an incentive to remain geographically isolated and lowers their intergenerational social mobility. As a result, the indigenous live in remote rural localities, where harder and more expensive for the state to reach. Thus, the indigenous have less access to state support.
The thesis follows a mixed-methods approach, that combines quantitative analysis based on information at national level with analysis of data collected during fieldwork in 2011.

Keywords: Indigenous population
Multidimensional poverty
Mexico
Social mobility
Remoteness
Advisor: Alkire, S
Factors influencing the dispersal of Pseudomonas fluorescens NZI7 by Caenorhabditis elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans is a natural predator of the mushroom pathogen Pseudomonas fluorescens NZI7. The bacterial mechanisms for reducing predation by the nematode through the secretion of secondary metabolites have been described, but not yet fully explored. The behaviour of nematodes is influenced by the different factors produced by the pseudomonads.
In this thesis we develop a range of assays to link the behaviour of C. elegans to these factors to identify their role in bacteria–nematode interactions. We show that these factors play two distinct roles: they may either repel nematodes, or harm them. This permits the classification of mutants of P. fl. NZI7 lacking these factors as either attractive, edible or both.
Many studies of C. elegans behaviour have demonstrated that the nematode can distinguish between different food sources. Our results show two distinct types of response: chemotaxis drives the response to attractive or repellent stimuli, and nematodes also show a choice behaviour that is independent of chemotaxis. This choice behaviour is determined by bacterial edibility and requires nematodes to come into contact with the bacteria. This contact is the foundation of the bacterial dispersal by nematodes. By making use of the luminescence property of the available bacterial mutants, we demonstrate an intimate link between the behaviour of C. elegans and the success with which bacteria are disseminated: if nematodes are induced to regularly leave a bacterial colony, whether through their genotype or the low edibility of the food, then they will spread bacteria effectively.
Throughout this thesis, we use computational simulations based on a hybrid cellular automaton model to represent the nematode–bacteria interactions. These simulations recreate the observed behaviour of the system, thus they help to confirm our hypotheses and establish the fundamental aspects of the interactions between the two species.

Keywords: Cellular automaton
Pseudomonas fluorescens
Behaviour
Nematode
Defence against predators
Advisor: Preston, G
Hodgkin, J
Yates, C
Investigation on cytoophidium function and filament-forming proteins

In 2010, three independent groups reported that cytidine-5'-triphosphate synthase could form a filamentous structure. The term "cytoophidium" was coined in recognition of its observed serpent-like structure in Drosophila cells. In the last seven years of study on cytoophidia, lots of models and hypotheses related to cytoophidia have been put forward. In 2014, three independent studies pointed out that the CTP synthase-based cytoophidium is a functionally inactive structure. These studies built models for the inhibition of the enzyme by filamentation; research on cytoophidia had transited from descriptions to mechanisms. In this thesis, I study the function of the cytoophidium from two major aspects. Firstly, I describe the effects of dimerization and tetramerization interphases of CTP synthase mutants on filament assembly in Drosophila melanogaster, suggesting that the cytoophidium is an enzymatically inactive structure. Secondly, through a genome-wide screening of filament-forming proteins in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, I identify nine novel filament-forming proteins and select one candidate, asparagine synthetase, for further study of the stress regulation of cytoophidia. Results show that heat shock, cold shock, osmotic stress and oxidative stress induce filament formation of asparagine synthetase. These results provide new insights into the function of cytoophidia, the components of cytoophidia and filamentation regulation, indicating new possibilities in cell biology and enzymology.

Advisor: Liu, J
Ontario's empire: liberalism and 'Britannic' nationalism in Laurier's Canada, 1887-1919

This thesis examines the nexus of politics, ideology, and identity among Anglo-Canadian liberal intellectuals during Wilfrid Laurier's leadership of the Canadian Liberal party from 1887 to 1919. This 'Laurier era' was characterised by explosive demographic and economic expansion, the consolidation of Canada's political and constitutional order, and its rising international stature within British Empire. But it also witnessed divisive disputes over the nature and development of the new Confederation. These debates over 'Dominion nation-building' were central to Canadian political and intellectual life, shaping the evolution of liberal ideology and the growth of national and imperial sentiment. In particular, the thesis focuses on a group of liberal intellectuals and politicians who resided in or originated from the province of Ontario and associated with Laurier during his reign as Prime Minister and leader of the Opposition. It reinterprets their debates in global and local contexts, specifically through the lens of a 'Greater Ontario' - a virtual province of Canada and the British world comprised of 'Old' Ontario, with its metropolis at Toronto, and the 'neo-Ontarian' settler empire of the Prairie West. Its argument is threefold. First, it argues these liberals envisaged Canada, with 'Greater Ontario' at its heart, as a 'British nation' rooted in North America. Their growing sense of Canadian nationalism was distinctly 'Britannic' - indeed, 'British-American' - and drew upon civic as well as racial ideas of 'Britishness.' Second, it maintains that the political, ideological, and regional fault lines within Ontario's liberal tradition consequently shaped their competing visions of the Dominion, the British Empire, and the wider Anglo-world. And third, it contends that these debates illuminate the rise and subsequent disintegration of Wilfrid Laurier's Liberal party in 'Greater Ontario.' The thesis thus contributes a new perspective to the political and intellectual history of Canada and the British world.

Keywords: Wilfrid Laurier
Ontario
Liberalism
Nationalism
Imperialism
British Empire
Canada
Advisor: Belich, J
North Koreans in South Korea: humanitarian subjects and neoliberal governance

This thesis uses the narratives of North Koreans living in South Korea (t'albungmin) to understand how they make sense of their positioning in South Korean society. Based on 21 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Seoul, this study attempts to illuminate the contradictory nature of citizenship for young t'albungmin living under the dictates of neoliberal humanitarian governance in contemporary South Korea. As a result of the specific geopolitical configuration of the Korean peninsula, there are contradictory perceptions of North Koreans as compatriots, victims, and enemies: perceptions both affecting and affected by the role of t'albungmin in South Korea's political economy. I consider citizenship a site of negotiation, influenced by South Korean modes of neoliberal humanitarian governance, which encourage t'albungmin to become autonomous, self-managed subjects at the same time as subjecting them to humanitarian reason which, conversely, rewards passivity and compliance. There is a further contradiction between their automatic entitlement to South Korean citizenship and the neoliberal imperative to demonstrate productivity and deservingness. In light of these contradictory imperatives, perceptions and discourses surrounding issues such as accent, deservingness, and responsibility come to take on significant explanatory power in the lives of young t'albungmin. In this context, South Korean policies and NGOs both discursively and practically construct t'albungmin as different and naturalise them as dependent, with this sense of unequal relations structuring their subsequent relations with South Koreans. I argue that this sense of differentiation reflects a particular mode of governance, which in turn illuminates the workings of citizenship in the South Korean context. I also consider the implications for t'albungmin when supporting them is conceptualised as a humanitarian act. While South Koreans portray their society as a 'community of value' in which t'albungmin are constructed as humanitarian subjects, this thesis illustrates how the narratives of t'albungmin contest this interpretation.

Keywords: North Korean defectors
refugees
migration
narrative
resettlement
Advisor: Gellner, D
Biao, X
Time inconsistent portfolio selection and indifference pricing

In this thesis, we study three time inconsistent portfolio selection and option pricing problems with regime switching via the equilibrium approach. We first completely solve a type of time inconsistent utility maximisation problems. We obtain the equilibrium policy laws for both the time inconsistent CARA and CRRA utility maximisation problems and point out that, for the CARA utility maximisation problem, the equilibrium policy law coincides with the naive policy law. We next study a time inconsistent option pricing problem in an incomplete market via the indifference pricing approach. We provide both the equilibrium utility and mean-variance indifference pricing rule. For the equilibrium utility indifference pricing rule, we give the PDE system characterising the equilibrium utility indifference price and show the local existence and uniqueness of this PDE system in a simplified model; for the equilibrium mean-variance indifference pricing rule, we give the explicit formula for the equilibrium mean-variance indifference price. We also discuss the marginal equilibrium indifference prices and some properties of the equilibrium pricing rules.

Advisor: Jin, H