VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The performance of soil reinforcement in bending and shear

Previous experimental studies of soil-reinforcement interaction have generally concentrated on the effect of reinforcement working in axial tension; this study looks at reinforcement working in bending and shear. The experimental programme was carried out in a large scale direct shear apparatus able to contain a cubic soil sample of side 1m. A previous study showed that the apparatus required improvements to its boundaries. Modifications to the apparatus resulted in a significant improvement in the performance of the apparatus. The data being comparable with those from direct shearboxes with similar symmetrical boundary conditions. The effect of reinforcement in shear and bending was studied by varying the reinforcement cross section reinforcement orientation, method of installation, and the relative soil- reinforcement stiffness and strength. All tests were carried out on a well graded and uniform quartz sand. The reinforcement was typically mild steel circular bar. Data from tests on instrumented reinforcement bars allowed the distribution of lateral loading to be observed. This led to the development of a mathematical model for predicting the shear force available from reinforcement in soil. A comparison of this model with the test data and from data in the literature revealed it to provide an accurate upper estimate of reinforcement shear force are much greater than those required for axial force. The conclusions in this dissertation address much of the ambiguity over the use of soil reinforcement in shear and bending for soil nailing and dowelling design.

Keywords: soil reinforcement
Advisor: Milligan, G
The evolution of eukaryotic cilia

Eukaryotic cilia are complex, highly conserved microtubule-based organelles with a broad phylogenetic distribution. Cilia were present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor and many proteins involved in cilia function have been conserved through eukaryotic diversification. The evolution of these ciliary functions may be inferred from the distribution of the molecular components from which these organelles are composed. By linking protein distribution in 45 diverse eukaryotes with organismal biology, I define an ancestral ciliary inventory. Analysis of these core proteins allows the inference that the cenancestor of the eukaryotes possessed a cilium for motility and sensory function. I show that the centriolar basal body function is ancestral, whereas the centrosome is specific to the Holozoa, and I use this information to predict a number of roles for proteins based on their phylogenetic profile. I also show that while remarkably conserved, significant divergence in ciliary protein composition has occurred in many lineages, such as the unusual centriole of Caenorhabditis elegans and the transitional changes throughout the land plants. I exemplify this divergence through ultrastructural studies of the fern Ceratopteris richardii and the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha both of which have cilia that exhibit a number of distinctive morphological features, the most conspicuous of which is a general breakdown of canonical microtubule arrangements. Cilia have also been lost multiple times in different lineages: at least twice within the land plants. During these evolutionary transitions proteins with ancestral ciliary functions may be lost or co-opted into different functions. I have interrogated genomic data to identify proteins that I predict had an ancestral ciliary role, but which have been maintained in non-ciliated land plants. I demonstrate that several of these proteins have a flagellar localisation in protozoan trypanosomes and I use expression data correlation to predict potential non-ciliary plant roles.

Keywords: basal body
flagella
cilia
centriole
evolution
Advisor: Langdale, J
Gull, K
Structural analysis of vitamin A transport system

The method of isoraorphous replacement has been used to determine the crystal structure of human plasma prealbumin (Mwt. 56 000)
Three derivatives were measured to a resolution of 2.5 Å and a mercury derivative was re-measured with a long x-ray count time to improve the quality of the estimates of anomalous scatter.
A protein Fourier synthesis has been calculated using phases determined from the anomalous and isomorphous differences. The conformation of the two polypeptide chains in the asymmetric unit of P21212 (the crystal space group) has been determined. The chains in each monomer have an apparently identical conformation They are nearly fully extended and form an extensive network of (beta)-structure, Eight strands of (beta)-sheet in each monomer form a flattened cup shape the interior of which appears to be entirely hydrophobic. The ends and bottom of the cup are closed by loops in a random coil conformation. One loop contains a right-handed (alpha)-helix of about two turns. The top of the cup is closed by the second monomer,so that the front of this unit is a continuous 8-stranded (beta)-pleated sheet. The back of this is also formed by an 8-stranded p-sheet,but this is less regular. The dimers formed in this way interact so that their front sheets are opposed at a distance of 10 Å.
The thyroxine-binding site has been identified within the channel formed by the (beta)-sheets of opposed dimers. There are two possible binding sites, only one of which may be occupied in one molecule (on chemical evidence).
British women missionaries in India, c.1917-1950

Although by 1900, over 60% of the British missionary workforce in South Asia was female, women’s role in mission has often been overlooked. This thesis focuses upon women of the two leading Anglican societies – the high-Church Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (SPG) and the evangelical Church Missionary Society (CMS) – during a particularly underexplored and eventful period in mission history. It uses primary material from the archives of SPG at Rhodes House, Oxford, CMS at the University of Birmingham, St Stephen’s Community, Delhi, and the United Theological College, Bangalore, to extend previous research on the beginnings of women’s service in the late-nineteenth century, exploring the ways in which women missionaries responded to unprecedented upheaval in Britain, India, and the worldwide Anglican Communion in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. In so doing, it contributes to multiple overlapping historiographies: not simply to the history of Church and mission, but also to that of gender, the British Empire, Indian nationalism, and decolonisation.
Women missionaries were products of the expansion of female education, professional opportunities, and philanthropic activity in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Britain. Their vocation was tested by living conditions in India, as well as by contradictory calls to marriage, career advancement, familial duties, or the Religious Life. Their educational, medical, and evangelistic work altered considerably between 1917 and 1950 owing to ‘Indianisation’ and ‘Diocesanisation,’ which sought to establish a self-governing ‘native’ Church. Women’s absorption in local affairs meant they were usually uninterested in imperial, nationalist, and Anglican politics, and sometimes became estranged from the home Church. Their service was far more than an attempt to ‘colonise’ Indian hearts and minds and propagate Western ideology. In reality, women missionaries’ engagement with India and Indians had a far more profound impact upon them than upon the Indians they came to serve.

Keywords: missions
Anglican communion
religion
India
women
British history - 20th century
Advisor: Brown, J
Magnetic microbubbles: investigation and design of new formulations for targeted therapy

Targeted therapy is a significant area of research in pharmaceutical and biomedical science. Its overall aim is to achieve maximum impact on malignant cells with minimum side effects to healthy tissue. In this thesis the capabilities of magnetic microbubbles as targeted therapeutic delivery vehicles are explored. New characterisation techniques were developed in order to understand and improve the current magnetic microbubble formulation. Electron microscopy was used to analyse the nanoscale structure of microbubble shells and observe nanoparticles attached to the shell surface. A new flow phantom was developed and the targeting of magnetic microbubbles against flow conditions corresponding to those in the human body was found to be feasible in numerous vessel sizes and flow conditions. Magnetic targeting of microbubbles was also observed in a perfused porcine liver model. Magnetic targeting was then attempted against flowing blood and a decrease in targeting efficiency observed. This was also seen for biochemical targeting and collisions with red blood cells identified as the most likely cause. Importantly, the number of magnetically targeted microbubbles significantly exceeded those targeted via biochemical interactions in both blood and water. In the second part of the thesis new types of magnetic microbubble were developed. The first exploits the fusion of nano-scale magnetic droplets with phospholipid microbubbles. In the second magnetic nanoparticles were incorporated directly into the lipid shell. The new magnetic microbubble formulation could be magnetically targeted, observed via contrast ultrasound and was successfully used to deliver siRNA to neuroblastoma cells.

Keywords: Microbubbles
Magnetism
Drug delivery
Ultrasound
Advisor: Stride, E
Memory T cell responses in influenza A infection and vaccination in humans

Protective immunity against influenza virus infection is believed to be mediated by neutralising antibodies. Despite substantial evidence in animal models which suggests critical roles for T cells in viral clearance, the precise role of cellular immunity in human influenza immunity remains uncertain. The first aim of this project was to determine cellular immune responses in seronegative human volunteers following nasal challenge with live seasonal H3N2 or H1N1 viruses. T cell responses before and during infection were mapped. A large increase in both breadth and magnitude in influenza-specific CD4+ T cell responses was seen in the blood by day 7, when virus was completely cleared from nasal samples and serum antibodies were still undetectable. These acutely expanded T cells were shown to be highly activated (CD38+) and proliferating (Ki-67+). Pre-existing CD4+ T cells, but not CD8+, specific to internal proteins nucleoprotein and matrix proteins, were associated with lower virus shedding and less severe illness. These influenza-specific T cells also responded to A/California/07/2009 (H1N1) peptides, were able to kill antigen-loaded autologous B cell lines in vitro and were polyfunctional in cytokine production. The second aim was to assess the cellular immune responses to unadjuvanted, inactivated seasonal and pandemic A/California/07/2009 (H1N1) influenza vaccines. 151 healthy adult volunteers were vaccinated: modest influenza-specific T cell responses were induced, and specific responses to HA and NA peptide pools were found to be mediated by CD4+ T cells. Activated and proliferating cells induced during vaccination were found to be of a central memory phenotype. Lastly, I explored the link between antibody production and CD4+ T cells. The ability of CXCR5+ CD4+ T cells from peripheral blood to support antibody production was examined and antigen-specific CD4+ T cells with helper functions could be found in the peripheral blood of healthy volunteers with memory influenza-specific T cells. This thesis suggests that influenzaspecific CD4+ T cells have an important role in limiting the severity of influenza infection in the absence of specific antibody responses through a number of mechanisms. This work provides information on how cellular immunity can be targeted in conferring broad protection against different subtypes of influenza A viruses in the development of universal flu vaccine.

Keywords: T cells
vaccines
influenza
Advisor: McMichael, A
Xu, X
A study of a late antique corpus of biographies  [Historia Augusta]

This thesis provides a fresh investigation of a collection of Roman imperial biographies conventionally known as the 'Historia Augusta'. The thesis supports the authenticity of the texts included in this corpus, in particular the claims they make about their dates, authorship, and scope, through philological, literary, prosopographical, and historical arguments. It shows that this corpus of texts, if the main conclusions are accepted, potentially improves our understanding of the tetrarchic-Constantinian era. It also explores the wider implications for the historiography of the fourth century; the transmission and formation of multi-author corpora in antiquity and the middle ages. It also suggests that the canon of Latin imperial biographies be widened.
The thesis has two parts. Part I explores the actual state of the corpus, its textual transmission, and relation to other texts. It shows that the ancient and medieval paratexts presented the corpus as a collection of imperial biographies. The paratexts are compatible with the authorial statements in the main text. It then explores the corpus' medieval transmission, and the interest medieval scholars had in such texts. This part suggests that the corpus’s current state explains well the inconsistencies found in it. Finally, it shows that words and phrases, once thought peculiar to the corpus and the holy grail of the forgery argument, are intertextual links to earlier texts.
Part II explores chronological statements and historical episodes relevant to the Diocletianic-Constantinan period. It establishes the actual dates of each author, and suggests that the confusion found in these biographies is similar to that of other contemporaries. The few apostrophes are shown to be authentic, and the historical and prosopographical passages are shown to represent, and improve our understanding of, the zeitgeist and history of the period.
The final conclusion weaves the various arguments together, and emphasises the authenticity and significance of the corpus' texts. It suggests separating the composition of the texts from the disinterested formation of the corpus as a whole, as part of a new hypothesis and further lines of enquiry.

Keywords: Latin Language
Ancient Biography
Biographical Writing
Roman Empire
Biography
Advisor: McLynn, N
Radiolabelled copper complexes for cancer imaging

Chapter One introduces molecular imaging and the modalities available for oncological imaging. The radioisotopes and imaging agents for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) are discussed together with the bifunctional chelator approach for radiolabelling of biomolecules. Finally, the chemistry and radioisotopes of copper are described, and copper bis(thiosemicarbazonato) complexes introduced in the context of PET imaging.
Chapter Two describes the synthesis and characterisation of novel carboxylate- and maleimidefunctionalised bis(thiosemicarbazonates) and their conjugation to biologically active molecules. Radiolabelling of a chelator-bombesin conjugate demonstrated site-specific labelling at room temperature and preliminary in vitro and in vivo studies confirmed its potential as an imaging agent. Bioconjugation to a model protein and subsequent radiolabelling was also investigated.
Chapter Three introduces molecular imaging of hypoxia with a focus on CuATSM. An overview of the currently accepted mechanism of hypoxia selectivity is presented. The emphasis is placed on the relationship between oxygenation status, uptake and retention which display cell- and tumourline dependency.
Chapter Four presents the synthesis of copper bis(thiosemicarbazonates), radiolabelled either at the metal (64Cu) or at the ligand (18F or 123I) for mechanistic studies. The physicochemical characteristics of the copper complexes were measured and the complexes evaluated for their in vitro hypoxia selectivity.
Chapter Five describes in vitro and in vivo studies of the orthogonally radiolabelled complexes, inclusive of control experiments with [64Cu]CuATSM, the radiolabelled proligand and [64Cu]Cu2+ salts. In vitro cellular assays, as well as in vivo biodistribution studies including dynamic PET and SPECT were performed. Stability studies contrasting the in vitro and in vivo behaviour were carried out. The collective data suggest that the currently proposed redox trapping mechanism might not provide a full understanding of the factors governing biodistribution and tumour uptake.
Chapter Six contains full experimental details for the work described in this thesis.

Keywords: orthogonal radiolabelling
hypoxia
copper-64
bis(thiosemicarbazones)
Advisor: Gouverneur, V
Dilworth, J
The literary science of the 'Kafkaesque'

This study provides a precise definition of the term 'Kafkaesque' by enriching literary criticism with scientific theory and practice, including an experiment on readers' responses to Kafka. Dictionary definitions justify taking the term back to its textual origins in Kafka's works, and the works can fruitfully be analysed by investigating how readers engage with them through cognitive processes of imagination. Modern scientific developments posit that vision, imagination, and consciousness should be conceived of not in terms of static pictorialism – reducible to the notion of 'pictures in the head' – but in terms of enaction, i.e. as an ongoing interaction with the external world around us. Most traditional nineteenth-century Realist texts are based on pictorialist assumptions, while Kafka's texts evoke perception non-pictorially and are therefore more cognitively realistic. In his personal writings, Kafka wrestles with problems entailed by pictorialist conceptions of vision, imagination, and the function of language, and comes to enactivist solutions: evocation of perception that does not result in painting static tableaux with words. In his fictional works, Kafka correspondingly evolves a cognitively realistic way of writing to evoke fictional worlds that directly engage the cognitive processes of their readers; Der Proceß is a prime example of the 'Kafkaesque' text and reading experience, defined by being compelling yet simultaneously unsettling. Modulations in narrative perspective and evocation of emotion as enactive also contribute to the experience of the 'Kafkaesque' as compelling; yet Kafka's texts simultaneously unsettle by preventing straightforward emotional identification with the protagonists, and destabilising deep-rooted concepts of selfhood as singular and unified. The theoretical discussion of the 'Kafkaesque' experience as compelling yet unsettling is complemented and refined by an experiment testing readers' responses to a short story by Kafka. The term 'Kafkaesque realism' denotes Kafka's compelling yet unsettling non-pictorial evocation of perception of the fictional world. Kafkaesque realism falls into the broader category of 'cognitive realism', which provides a framework for analysing fictional texts more generally.

Keywords: perception
realism
Kafkaesque
German literature
empirical study of literature
fictional worlds
imagination
vision
modernism
reader-response
Kafka
cognitive science
cognitive literary studies
Advisor: Kohl, K
Prices as signals of quality

I consider the workings, under free entry, of some plausible mechanisms enforcing product quality when it is not readily observed by buyers, but is chosen by sellers: there is a moral hazard problem to be overcome. In equilibrium, uninformed buyers can often take price as indicating quality. This is however not the sarne as Spence's signalling notion, since quality is chosen by sellers. It is fruitful to consider price as a commitment, which changes the quality-incentives in a common-knowledge way.
In the introduction, I note briefly much of the relevant literature, including my M. Phil, thesis.
In Chapter 1, on Repeat-Sales, I consider a continuous model of that incentive to quality. With strong simplifying assumptions, I am able to solve for 'competitive' equilibrium, which involves a bunding of buyers at the minimum quality level, price premia for higher qualities, and consequent inefficiencies.
The second chapter is the theory of cheating. It is possible, but costly, for buyers to be 'vigilant'; but equilibrium cannot involve their all being vigilant. There are various externalities between buyers. Different prices can exist in equilibrium, with different honesty levels. I identify a key feature of the cost function, which (together with buyers' tastes, etc.) determines equilibrium.
In Chapter 3, I consider introductory offers and their role in entry and quality-signalling, when buyers are very rational. When buyers are identical, a single entrant will never use introductory offers. If there are many entrants, a low first-period price will be observed, but it conveys no information. Only some quality levels can (credibly) be promised by an entrant, and the result is that an incumbent can make positive profits but prevent entry.
Evolving access control: formal models and analysis

Any model of access control has two fundamental aims: to ensure that resources are protected from inappropriate access and to ensure that access by authorised users is appropriate. Traditionally, approaches to access control have fallen into one of two categories: discretionary access control (DAC) or mandatory access control (MAC). More recently, role-based access control (RBAC) has offered the potential for a more manageable and flexible alternative. Typically, though, whichever model is adopted, any changes in the access control policy will have to be brought about via the intervention of a trusted administrator. In an ever-more connected world, with a drive towards autonomic computing, it is inevitable that a need for systems that support automatic policy updates in response to changes in the environment or user actions will emerge. Indeed, data management guidelines and legislation are often written at such a high level of abstraction that there is almost an implicit assumption that policies should react to contextual changes. Furthermore, as access control policies become more complicated, there is a clear need to express and reason about such entities at a higher level of abstraction for any meaningful analysis to be tractable, especially when consideration of complex state is involved. This thesis describes research conducted in formalising an approach to access control, termed evolving access control (EAC), that can support the automatic evolution of policies based on observed changes in the environment as dictated by high-level requirements embodied in a metapolicy. The contribution of this research is a formal, conceptual model of EAC which supports the construction, analysis and deployment of metapolicies and policies. The formal EAC model provides a framework to construct and describe metapolicies and to reason about how they manage the evolution of policies. Additionally, the model is used to analyse metapolicies for desirable properties, and to verify that policies adhere to the high-level requirements of the metapolicy. Furthermore, the model also allows the translation of verified policies to machine-readable representations, which can then be deployed in a system that supports fine-grained, dynamic access control.

Keywords: formal model analysis
evolving access control
Advisor: Simpson, A