VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Photochemical functionalisation of arenes and hetereoarenes

This thesis describes work focused on the application of potently oxidising organophotocatalysts to synthetic methodologies. The main motivation for this work is to enable chemical transformation of otherwise unreactive species. There are many organophotocatalysts described in the literature, and they often exhibit from high reduction potentials. However, most of the work herein is centered around the common reagent 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano- 1,4-benzoquinone (DDQ), 1.
An overview of the relative benefits of organophotochemistry and a discussion of DDQ photochemistry is given in Chapter 1. Also included in this chapter is an analysis of the chemistry of aryl radical cations – a key intermediate in the work that follows. Chapter 2 covers our investigations into net oxidative organophotochemistry. Chapter 3 covers the work undertaken on net redox neutral transformations. This later class was more productive on the whole, and led to a new defluorinative organophotochemical SNAr process. The conclusions of this thesis, and an outline for future work, is then provided in Chapter 4. Finally, all pertinent experimental details are provided from Chapter 5 onward.

Keywords: Organic Chemistry
Photochemistry
Photocatalyst
DDQ
SNAr
Advisor: Burton, J
Exploring the links between dengue epidemiology, population immune response, and vaccination

Dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral disease in humans, causing around 58.4 million symptomatic cases and leading to 10,000–20,000 deaths annually. The only licensed dengue vaccine to date—Dengvaxia®—has been found to increase the chance of severe illness among naive recipients, and thus is recommended to be used only in seropositive individuals. Therefore, assessment of the long-term risk and benefit of future routine vaccination (with a Dengvaxia®-like vaccine) is a complex task that requires an understanding of multiple aspects of dengue transmission and vaccination, such as: [1] the link between the dynamics of dengue and the immune response of the population, [2] how this link may affect the performance of a selected pre-vaccination sero-screening method (employed toidentify seropositive individuals), and [3] how vaccination may alter transmission and population immunity. This thesis consists of 3 major analyses that were designed to tackle the research questions above. The first analysis provides a statistical method to quantify the transmission intensity of dengue and to estimate the distribution of immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibody levels, using serological samples from 3 populations across Vietnam. The results of this work suggest the potential of using a quantitative approach to IgG levels to identify individuals with only 1 past infection (the primary targets of dengue vaccination). The second analysis develops a mathematical model to reconstruct the transmission dynamics of dengue in Hồ Chí Minh City (the most populous city in Vietnam) from case-record data of 2 major paediatric hospitals. Via this inference, the effect of maternal immunity on infants’ risk of hospitalisation was also estimated. The final analysis combines the findings of the 2 prior investigations in a simulation study to examine how routine vaccination may affect the number of dengue hospitalisations in Hồ Chí Minh City. Collectively, the methodology developed throughout this thesis provides a modelling framework for evaluating the future epidemiological impacts of dengue vaccination on a vaccine-free population, if a Dengvaxia®-like vaccine is to be used.

Keywords: Vietnam
vaccination
mathematical modelling
epidemiology
dengue
maternal immunity
Advisor: Clapham, H
Rabaa, M
Boni, M
Dynamic modelling of overhead power lines for electric trains

Electric and hybrid trains are popular across Europe and many overhead lines have been installed. The train collects electrical power from a high-voltage contact wire using a pantograph, which is a metal framework attached to the roof of the train. The contact wire is supported by a messenger wire through a series of vertical droppers, while registration arms maintain the horizontal stagger of the contact wire. The modelling of the pantograph-catenary interaction is an important part of overhead-system design and it is desirable to maximise the speed of simulation software while maintaining realism.
A Galerkin approach, also known as modal analysis, is used to solve the Euler-Bernoulli wire equations, as opposed to the typical finite-element methods. This approach was chosen to improve simulation speed and allow dynamically chosen velocity profiles to be modelled. Elimination of variables is then used to reduce the index-three differential-algebraic equation to an ordinary differential equation after eigenvector decomposition is used to diagonalise the system.
The model is validated against the 2002 and 2018 European Standards for pantograph-catenary simulation. Each of these standards provides an idealised model of an overhead system and requires that the simulation software produce results that are in agreement with the standard’s benchmark. The model is then tested against real data from the Old Dalby test track.
The model is shown to produce realistic results at excellent simulation speeds. The final model includes up to two pantographs, contact-wire transitions and dropper unloading. The equations used to produce the model are explained in detail, many results are presented and numerous ideas to further improve the model are described.

Keywords: dynamic modelling
differential-algebraic equation
electric train
pantograph
pantograph-catenary
train
Advisor: Duncan, S
Conceptions of transgression and its consequences in the Mesopotamian exorcistic corpus

My doctoral thesis aims to develop a new approach to Mesopotamian conceptions of transgression and its consequences, in particular according to the first-millennium BC exorcistic corpus (āšipūtu). I begin by assessing key ancient terminology and concepts, including those relating to transgression and its punishment. The role of māmītu-curse, for example, as a ‘self-curse’ that punishes transgression has long been recognized in the modern secondary literature. A more in-depth study of the concept of māmītu-curse, including newly published and unpublished material, allows me to expand our understanding of its scope and function, as well as recognize that arratu-curse formed a complementary concept.
The remainder of the thesis follows a tripartite structure. The first part examines the portrayal of acts of transgression as potential causes of divine punishment, including aspects of this portrayal that problematize the idea of individual responsibility, such as contagion and the demonization of self-curse. In the second part, I investigate how the punishment of transgression manifested in cultic, social, and economic problems, as well as physical and psychological symptoms within the patient. Analogical thinking linking cause and manifestation offer further insights into the conceptualization of transgression and its punishment. In the third part, I assess the methods employed by the exorcist to remove the patient’s state of suffering, which offer further insights into how this state and its causes were conceptualized.
Some of the key aspects of Mesopotamian conceptions of transgression that I have identified include the fact that a transgression did not need to be identified to release its consequences, and the role the ideology of divine punishment played in maintaining the balance and structures governing the proper function of the universe and human society. Overall, my findings provide a significant new approach to the understanding of transgression and divine punishment in late Mesopotamian scholarship. This will have further applications for the study of āšipūtu material, as well as for the comparative study of religious thought in Mesopotamia and beyond.

Advisor: Reynolds, F
Interfacial strategies for improved solid-state lithium batteries

This project aims to help facilitate the step change in battery energy density (per volume) needed for improved consumer electronics and greatly increased electric vehicle adoption. The work in this thesis is focussed on enabling a lithium metal electrode to be successfully employed in a rechargeable battery as a negative electrode by using a protecting solid electrolyte.
In Chapter 4, the viability of using a solid-electrolyte (Li3N) to protect a lithium metal anode is explored and the phenomena that occur at this metal/ceramic interface during the passage of current are determined.
Chapter 5 explores a novel strategy of using a solid-electrolyte (Li3N) as a separator in a solid-electrolyte/liquid-electrolyte hybrid battery. By using liquid electrolyte, the cathodic instability of Li3N, as well as the volume expansion issues of cathodes with solid-electrolytes and the self-discharge problems associated with Li3N should theoretically be eliminated. The universality of solid-electrolyte/liquid-electrolyte interfacial phenomena are also examined by investigating an alternative solid-electrolyte (LLZTO) with a state of the art liquid-electrolyte used in commercial Li+ ion batteries (LP30).
Chapter 6 explores the chemistry of Li3N·P2S5 solid-electrolytes, as it is speculated that the electrochemical reduction of a nitrogenous electrolyte would form an SEI rich in Li3N, and would therefore produce self-healing and low resistance SEIs in contact with Li.

Keywords: lithium nitridothiophosphate
nitride electrolyte
SSB
lithium metal anode
SLEI
dendrite
critical current density
Advisor: Bruce, P
Non-state actors and norms of responsible behaviour in cyberspace

Computer systems and networks have become key determinants for the proper func- tioning of global markets, political institutions, and societies at large. Given their extensive reach into almost all areas of human activity, their safekeeping has become of strategic importance for a diverse range of actors. The proliferation of offensive cyberoperations, such as WannaCry or Petya/NotPetya, has spurred calls for normative measures of restraint, and behaviour-guiding rules of the road.
Despite surging numbers of academic publications pertaining to cybersecurity generally, and norm-making processes specifically, the contributions of non-state actors to global cybersecurity governance efforts have remained under-theorised.
With a view to offering correctives, this thesis examines the roles assumed by non-state actors in global cybersecurity norm formation processes. Specifically, it analyses how, in which capacities, and how effectively non-state protagonists engage in norm cultivation endeavours by surveying nine exploratory case studies, grouped into three stakeholder clusters, i.e. (a) civil society and academia, (b) corporate actors, and (c) expert communities.
Triangulating different qualitative means and methods of data collection and analysis, this thesis suggests that non-state actors have come to exert discernible politico- legal influence over discussions about norms of responsible behaviour in cyberspace. Advancing empirically more informed and varied conceptualisations of the parts played by non-state actors in cybersecurity norm creation projects, this dissertation suggests that their roles can be systematised along the following profiles: (a) knowledge brokers, (b) awareness raisers, (c) norm leaders and cooperation incubators, (d) diplomatic change agents, (e) discussion feeders and gap fillers, (f) implementation assistants and capacity builders, and (g) custom shapers.
The case studies reveal noteworthy variations in how non-state entities seek to shape actor behaviour and realise regulatory effects. The results of this inquiry go to show that non-state actors have to be taken seriously as key contributors to global cybersecurity steering efforts, and that their actions and authority have come to extend beyond advocacy or lobbying.

Advisor: Williams, RA
Dunn Cavelty, M
Challenges in probing inflation with primordial gravitational waves

It is still not yet understood how structure in the Universe was seeded. The theory of inflation provides a framework to understand the origins of structure as quantum fluctuations of the vacuum, whilst maintaining an attractive simplicity, and giving a natural explanation of how the Universe is so flat, homogeneous, and isotropic. If inflation occurred, it would have produced a gravitational wave background, indirectly observable today through its effect on the polarization of the cosmic microwave background.
We present a new model for the polarized microwave sky, combining data from the Planck and WMAP satellites, and legacy radio surveys, with theoretical models for Galactic foreground SEDs. We present an example use-case of this model by forecasting the effect of Galactic foregrounds on a future satellite mission.
We then move on to consider an extension to the simplest inflationary scenario in which an additional set of SU(2) gauge fields are present during inflation, and may source a chiral gravitational wave background. We show that future CMB missions will not be able to distinguish such a scenario from the simplest single field slow-roll model using standard two- point statistical techniques, and that space-based laser interferometers will provide a complementary probe by constraining the short wavelength behavior of the blue-tilted gravitational wave spectrum.
Finally, we demonstrate the efficacy of a new method to account for complex Galactic foregrounds in the analysis of high-sensitivity polarized CMB data from the upcoming Simons Observatory. We first show that ignoring the spatial variation could lead to a false detection of a gravitational wave background, and that this can be corrected for by introducing additional parameters describing the spatial variation of the foreground spectral energy dependence.

Keywords: cosmology
primordial gravitational waves
cosmic microwave background
foregrounds
inflation
Advisor: Dunkley, J
Collective motion in active nematic liquid crystals

Active matter is based on understanding the physical mechanisms that give rise to large scale flows in aggregates of self-propelling particles. If the particles have a head-tail, or nematic, symmetry, then their structure resembles that of a passive nematic liquid crystal. However, unlike passive liquid crystals, the active injection of energy into the system by the particles’ self-propulsive motion results in collective motion, which gives rise to a class of fluids known as active nematic fluids. Experimental examples of such fluids include cytoskeleton biopolymers, bacterial suspensions, and cell monolayers. The topic of this thesis is to understand the physical mechanisms that result in, and how to control the often-times turbulent, collective motion of active nematic fluids.
First, continuum simulations are used to investigate how confinement can tame the motion of an active nematic fluid in a closed channel, and then compared to results from experiments. By regulating the width of the channel, which screens the active flows, we find a novel flow state and recover a variety of flow states. The characteristic wavelength is found to be dependent on the channel width but independent of the activity.
Secondly, we examined how active nematic droplets can migrate towards a chemical source that regulates the activity. The active nematic droplet is found to direct flows towards its interface, which when coupled to the symmetry breaking in the chemical field, results in a net migration towards the chemical source. We find that while small and large droplets migrate with the same root-mean-square velocity, the larger droplets are more direct in their migratory motion.
Finally, we apply the theory of active nematics at the cellular level by modelling a cluster of distinct cells using a multi-phase field approach. We drive the motion within the cluster using nematic forces that orient towards the direction of least cell-cell contact, as motivated by contact-inhibition-of-locomotion. Cell clusters are found to display a rich variety of dynamics, ranging from jammed and fluid-like motion in confluence, to wound healing and migration in open space.

Keywords: Active Nematic Fluids
active nematic liquid crystals
Active Nematics
Active Matter
Soft Condensed Matter Theory
Advisor: Yeomans, J
Women and seventeenth-century manuscript culture : miscellanies, commonplace books, and song books compiled by English and Scottish women, 1600-1660

The thesis analyzes the extent to which English and Scottish women participated in the thriving manuscript culture of the first half of the seventeenth century. It considers in detail the manuscripts of four women, paying particular attention to the poetry they have chosen to copy, alter, or create. In the first three chapters the following manuscripts are examined: the commonplace book of Ann Bowyer (Bodleian Library Ashmole MS 51), Lady Anne Southwell's miscellany (Folger Shakespeare Library MS V.b.198), and the miscellany of Constance Aston Fowler (Huntington Library MS HM 904). The fourth chapter examines women's participation in the musical life of England and Scotland, with a special focus on the song book of Lady Margaret Wemyss (National Library of Scotland Dep. 314/23).
Each of these manuscripts reflects in some way the personality of its compiler, but also the literary community of which she formed a part. This thesis considers both the material communities of like-minded people to which these women had access, and also the intellectual literary networks in which women could participate.
Women from the "middling sort," the gentry, and the aristocracy are all represented in the sample of manuscripts examined in the thesis. Puritan, via media or "Anglican," and Catholic positions are evident from the manuscripts. The women who compiled them lived in England, Ireland, and Scotland. A remarkably large range of women participated in manuscript culture, but the factors of class, religious affiliation, and location influenced the type of literary worlds which these women could tap into.
Poems circulating in manuscript often invited alteration, appropriation, and response. I argue that manuscript circulation could offer women and men a malleable medium for their reading and writing, but that this type of literary dissemination has particular significance for women, who traditionally were not encouraged to express themselves through the written word.

Keywords: song books
17th century
seventeenth-century
manuscript culture
manuscripts
commonplace books
miscellanies
Advisor: Black, G
The writings of Walter Sickert and the new art criticism

This thesis looks at the writing and the painting of Walter Sickert and in particular at his part in the critical debate in art at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth centuries. Falling between the period in which Ruskin’s theories of art had been influential on the work of contemporary painters and the advent of the Modernist orthodoxy heralded by the writing of Roger Fry and Clive Bell, this period was viewed with extreme pessimism by many of the art critics of the day. The younger generation of English painters was looking towards France for its ideas, and an examination of the New Art Criticism reveals the influence of French art criticism. Sickert’s earliest art criticism is largely unknown but examined here, in the context of the other New Critics, it reveals the full extent of his understanding of French art and the significance he attached to the subject matter of paintings. It also helps to explain why he later found the theories of Fry and Bell so noxious. By examining Sickert’s earliest writing on art and by following the development of his ideas through both his painting and his later writing it is possible to place his late, and somewhat idiosyncratic, paintings within the context of a consistent ideology. While Sickert’s ideas may have appeared somewhat reactionary at the time, the subsequent decline of the Modernist ideology and the aesthetics that have developed since, all suggest that Sickert’s theory and practice was striving towards a definition of modern painting defined by its concern with the modern human condition.

Keywords: Walter Sickert
art criticism
The Theravādin doctrine of momentariness : a survey of its origins and development

The idea of the impermanence and transience of life is absolutely fundamental to Buddhist teachings. The first of the Three Characteristics (ti-lakkhana, dukkha, anatt), 'impermanence', is a doctrine constantly and emphatically insisted upon in the canonical texts. The radical and extended interpretation of this doctrine gave rise to the idea that the world is not made of enduring substances with changing qualities. Rather, reality is made only of events that flash into and out of existence, not only through the causal power of their chief cause but also through the influence of an entire causal complex. This is referred to as ksanikav¡da, the doctrine of momentariness.
There is disagreement among Buddhist thinkers about the exact meaning of the doctrine of momentariness. Some thinkers hold that no conditioned phenomenon can endure for more than a single moment, after which it stops existing. Others, though, argue that momentariness is not incompatible with duration; things are produced, endure and disappear. In particular, the Theravadins attempts to model the thought process in terms of the relative duration of material and mental phenomena. In fact, the Theravādin exegetes hold that a moment of matter lasts for as long as sixteen or seventeen thought moments.
The central part of this thesis examines the origin and development of this version of the doctrine of momentariness. There is difficulty in establishing when it appeared. Some scholars think that the Theravādins did not develop the doctrine early on in their history. They believe that it may have been interpolated into Theravādin textual sources at a later date, possibly by Buddhaghosa in the fifth century CE. I take quite a different position. My hypothesis is that the Theravādin doctrine of momentariness was embedded in the early Sinhalese commentaries. To prove it, I have made a close study of the textual evidence. All of it seems to confirm that the doctrine was formed early in the Theravādin tradition and that Buddhaghosa did not introduce the doctrine.
In its attempt to trace the textual history of the Theravādin doctrine of momentariness, this thesis contributes to the study of the early history of Buddhist thought, by examining the parallel textual sources of the early Southern and Northern traditions (between the first century BCE and the second century CE) before they are formalised, in the Visuddhimagga and the Abhidharmako'abh'sya respectively, in the fifth century CE.

Keywords: momentariness