VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
High-resolution interferometric diagnostics for ultrashort pulses

I present several new methods for the characterisation of ultrashort pulses using interferometry.
A generalisation of the concatenation algorithm for spectral shearing interferometry enables interferograms taken at multiple shears to be combined. This improves the precision of the reconstructed phase in the presence of detector noise, and enables the relative phase between disjoint spectral components to be obtained without decreasing the spectral resolution. The algorithm is applied to experimental data from two different implementations of spectral shearing interferometry for ultrashort optical pulses. In one, the shears are acquired sequentially, and in the other they are acquired simultaneously.
I develop a form of spatio-temporal ultrashort pulse characterisation which performs both spatial and spectral shearing interferometry simultaneously. It requires a similar geometrical setup to common implementations of spectral phase interferometry for direct electric-field reconstruction, but provides complete amplitude and phase characterisation in time and one spatial dimension.
I develop the theory of lateral shearing interferometry for spectrally resolved wavefront sensing of extended ultraviolet and soft x-ray pulses generated using high-harmonic generation. A comprehensive set of wavefront measurements of harmonics 13-25 in Krypton show good agreement with theory, validating the technique.
I propose and numerically demonstrate quantum-path interferometry mediated by a weak control field for high harmonic generation. This is a general technique for measuring the amplitude and relative phases of each contributing quantum path. The control field perturbatively modulates the phase of each path. The differing sensitivity of each path to the parameters of the control field allows their contributions to be distinguished from one another.

Keywords: interferometry
phase retrieval
nonlinear optics
high-harmonic generation
ultrafast optics
metrology
ultrashort pulses
Advisor: Walmsley, I
The computation of equilibrium solutions of forced hyperbolic partial differential equations

This thesis investigates the convergence of numerical schemes for the computation of equilibrium solutions. These are solutions of evolutionary PDEs that arise from (bounded, non-decaying) boundary forcing after the dissipation of any (initial data dependent) transients. A rigorous definition of the term 'equilibrium solution' is given. Classes of evolutionary PDEs for which equilibrium solutions exist uniquely are identified. The uniform well-posedness of equilibrium problems is also investigated.
Equilibrium solutions may be approximated by evolutionary initialization: that is, by finding the solution of an initial boundary value problem, with arbitrary initial data, over a period of time t ϵ [0,T]. If T is chosen large enough, the analytic transient will be small, and the analytic solution over t ϵ [T, T + T0] will be a good approximation to the analytic equilibrium solution.
However, in numerical computations, T must be chosen so that the analytical transient is small in comparison with the numerical error Eh, which depends on the fineness of the grid h. Thus T = Th, and, in general, Th→∞ as h→0. Convergence is required over t ϵ [Th,Th + T0].
The existing Lax-Richtmyer and GKS convergence theories cannot ensure convergence over such increasing periods of time. Furthermore, neither of these theories apply when the forcing does not decay. Consequently, these theories are of little help in predicting the convergence of finite difference methods for the computation of equilibrium solutions.
For these reasons, a new definition of stability - uniform stability — is proposed. Uniformly stable, consistent, finite difference schemes, for uniformly well posed problems, converge uniformly over t ≥ 0. Uniformly convergent schemes converge for bounded and nondecaying forcing.
Finite difference schemes for hyperbolic PDEs may admit waves of zero group velocity, even when the underlying analytic problem does not. Such schemes may be GKS convergent, provided that the boundary conditions exclude these waves. The deficiency of the GKS theory for equilibrium computations is traced to this fact. However, uniform stability finds schemes that admit waves of zero group velocity to be (weakly) unstable, regardless of the boundary conditions.
It is also shown that weak uniform instabilities are the result of time-dependent analogues of the 'spurious modes' that occur in steady-state calculations. In addition, uniform stability theory sheds new light on the phenomenon of spurious modes.

Advisor: Morton, K
Automated tracking and collective behaviour in locusts and humans

The understanding of the motion of animal groups, such as birds, fish and insects, has been greatly advanced by applying principles of self-organisation – the emergence of global patterns from simple, local, interactions between individuals. The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria, provides a useful model system for the experimental study of collective behaviour. During plague years, the desert locust can form aggregations extending over hundreds of km. Before developing wings, juvenile locusts form marching ‘bands’ which can maintain group cohesion as they migrate over large distances. In this thesis I investigate locust aggregation, group motion and individual interactions. I also apply the same principles to a study of human behaviour.
In Chapter 2, I describe the automated tracking methods that I developed and used to collect the data for the rest of the thesis. In the experiments described in Chapter 3, the relative strengths of the attraction to conspecifics and environmental heterogeneities were explored by presenting groups of locusts with two aggregation sites. I found that locusts had a preference to enter the site with the higher population. The locusts formed dynamic aggregations on the sites; no site was consistently more populated than the other, but individuals were significantly more attracted to the site with the higher current population. In Chapter 4, I consider the effect of marching experience on locust behaviour. Groups of locusts that had experience of directed marching, followed by a sudden reduction in density, behaved indistinguishably from those that had only experienced the lower density throughout, indicating a lack of hysteresis effects in collective responses to change in local population density. In Chapter 5, I investigate a locust’s response to its nearest neighbour. I quantified a locust’s propensity to start or stop moving according to the relative position, orientation and movement of its nearest neighbour. In Chapter 6 the techniques developed studying the locusts were applied to human groups. The response of people to different sized groups was quantified, replicating an earlier study in New York. The response was weaker in Oxford but had the same characteristics of the previous study, showing an initially linear response which saturated. The spatial distribution of gaze copying was anisotropic, tending to occur behind the group.

Keywords: automated tracking
animal behaviour
humans
locusts
Advisor: Simpson, S
Sumpter, D
Couzin, I
Taylor, G
An ageing population in a family and welfare state: the dynamics of family support and public pension systems, and their impact on late-life happiness in contemporary South Korea

The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the dynamics of family support and public pension systems, and their impact on late-life happiness in contemporary South Korea. For this, three specific research questions, namely (1) the dynamics of intergenerational solidarity, public pension systems, and happiness; (2) the association between intergenerational solidarity and happiness; and (3) the association between public pension systems and happiness, are analysed by exploiting the Korean Longitudinal Study of Ageing.
The analyses show that (1) the structural solidarity of older people is relatively stronger than of middle-aged people; (2) contacting is the key player in associational solidarity in later life; (3) middle-aged people supply more financial aid to their adult children than they receive from them, but the reverse applies to older people. Both middle-aged and older people actively exchange food, household items, and health-care supplies; (4) more older men receive the National Pension Scheme benefit than older women but the reverse is true for the Basic Old-Age Pension benefit; (5) the level of happiness in later life is very high but decreases as people age; (6) the number of adult children, frequency of contact, and amount of financial support are positively associated with the happiness of older people; and (7) the National Pension Scheme is positively associated with the happiness of older men while the Basic Old-Age Pension is negatively associated with the happiness of older people.
The results suggest some policy implications for late-life happiness in contemporary South Korea. At the individual level, increased frequency of contact, availability of the children, and the amount of financial support can enhance late-life happiness. At the governmental level, the research suggests that the gendered structure of the National Pension Scheme and means-tested structure of the Basic Old-Age Pension should be reformed.

Keywords: national pension scheme
South Korea
intergenerational solidarity
Korean longitudinal study of ageing
happiness
basic old-age pension
middle-aged and older people
Advisor: Leeson, G
Ports of empire: immigration, communication, and cholera in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, 1830-1870

This study explores the relationship between emigration and cholera in British North American port towns, between 1832 and 1866. It focuses specifically on three established and growing port towns located directly off of the Atlantic Ocean – St. John's, Newfoundland, Halifax, Nova Scotia and Saint John, New Brunswick. The pressures of mass immigration from the British Isles, the transmission of highly-feared diseases from emigrant and cargo ships to port towns in British North America, and the dependence, vulnerability and constraints felt by colonial governments and their citizens are three important themes that emerge and are continually challenged throughout this dissertation. This thesis presents the way in which colonial port towns managed the recurrent and unpredictable threats to their health, wellbeing and prosperity during this period, and highlights the increasing strain and growing dislocation felt by British North Americans under colonial rule.
The history of cholera in Canada has focused overwhelmingly on Upper and Lower Canada, with little exploration or comparative analysis of the outbreaks in the Atlantic region. The following research examines the interconnected, complex and at times distant relationship between Britain and its North American colonies, under the influence of emigration and transmission of disease from coloniser to colonised. High points of calamity and upheaval clarified the extent to which the colonies were responsible for themselves, forcing many towns to re-evaluate their ability to control emergencies on their soil, with or without the help of the mother country. This study contributes not only to the historical understanding how cholera was managed in British North American ports, but it also provides a unique perspective on understanding the greater struggles of nineteenth-century colonial life.

Keywords: cholera; migration; history of disease; colonialism; port towns; Newfoundland; Nova Scotia; New Brunswick; Atlantic Canada
Advisor: Harrison, M
Aspects of the ecology of Holcus lanatus L., alone and in mixture with Lolium perenne L

This thesis contains a literature review of Holcus lanatus and records studies on both the growth and spread of the species and the response of it and of Lolium perenne to several management and edaphic factors. Holcus lanatus is an adaptable, competitive species with ecotypes growing in a wide range of environments. It is valuable on hill land, acid, low nutrient soils and to prevent erosion. Beef cattle grazing it have made greater liveweight gains than on L. perenne.
Experiments used plants growing in pots and small field plots. A growth study of spaced H. lanatus plants showed they can produce up to 240,000 seeds, most of which germinated shortly after being shed onto moist soil. Seedlings established poorly in a closed sward. Spaced plants produced runners in autumn whose plantlets established better when plants were cut regularly in spring. Holcus lanatus plants needed vernalization in order to flower. This was enhanced by and to a small extent replaced by short days. When H. lanatus plants in bud were cut, useful summer vegetative regrowth resulted. The New Zealand cultivar Massey Basyn was more productive than Oxfordshire H. lanatus in a pot trial.
Holcus lanatus dominated a mixture with L. perenne in a glasshouse experiment, especially under high or infrequent cutting, but it was not so dominant in a field experiment. Cattle treading damaged H. lanatus more than it did L. perenne. Holcus lanatus responded to a high water table by producing adventitious and surface roots. Propyzamide at 2.24 and linuron at 1.12 kg a.i./ha in early summer and asulam at 1.12 or 2.24 kg a.i./ha in early September gave good control of established H. lanatus in L. perenne in preliminary trials. The agricultural significance of these results is discussed.
Chemostratigraphy of Jurassic-cretaceous Italian carbonate platforms

Samples of shallow-water carbonates were collected from Jurassic and Cretaceous Italian carbonate platforms and subjected to petrographic, diagenetic and chemostratigraphic analyses (87Sr/86Sr, δ13Ccarb, δ13Corg, δ18O). In general, the new chemostratigraphic data generated reflect trends established by previous work, some of which has been carried out on biostratigraphically calibrated reference sections.
Consequently, chemostratigraphic correlations (87Sr/86Sr, δ13Ccarb) of isotope profiles taken from platform carbonates with well-dated reference sections have allowed the application of high-resolution dating frameworks to the biostratigraphically poorly constrained carbonate platforms.
The increased resolution in dating of the Italian carbonate platforms has, furthermore allowed a detailed investigation into the facies response of these carbonate platforms to major geological events. In particular, platform responses to oceanic anoxic events and other periods of major perturbation in the global carbon cycle are analysed (early Toarcian, Aalenian-Bajocian, Oxfordian-Tithonian, Valanginian-Hauterivian, Aptian-Albian, Cenomanian-Turonian, Coniacian-Santonian).
Lower Jurassic levels of the Trento Platform record platform devastation in the early Toarcian synchronous with a major negative δ13Ccarb excursion, followed by platform recovery synchronous with a pronounced δ13Ccarb positive excursion and return to background values. The Campania-Lucania Platform shows negligible response to the oceanographic events of the early Toarcian even though the characteristic carbon-isotope profile is readily identifiable. The Trento Platform drowned at approximately the Aalenian-Bajocian Stage boundary, synchronously with a reproducible negative followed by positive δ13Ccarb excursion, whereas the Campania-Lucania Platform underwent a facies transition from oolite to cyclically bedded micrite. The Friuli Platform showed negligible depositional response to the carbon-cycle perturbations of the Kimmeridgian-Tithonian, Valanginian-Hauterivian, Aptian-Albian and Cenomanian- Santonian (as registered in the δ13Ccarb record). The Campania-Lucania Platform registered flooding and increased levels of organic-matter preservation coincident with pronounced positive δ13Ccarb excursions at Cenomanian-Turonian and Coniacian-Santonian levels.
Observations on the responses of carbonate platforms to oceanographic conditions during periods of global carbon burial lead to the conclusion that temperature excess is a hitherto neglected control on global carbonate accumulation rates.

Advisor: Jenkyns, H
Understanding the Book of Job: 11Q10, the Peshitta and the Rabbinic Targum. Illustrations from a synoptic analysis of Job 37-39

This synoptic analysis of verses from Job chapters 37-39 in 11Q10, the Peshitta version (PJob) and the rabbinic targum (RJob) aims to identify the translators’ methods for handling the Hebrew text (HT) and to assess the apparent skills and knowledge brought by them to their task. Additionally, the study engages with recent discussion which challenges the nature of 11Q10 as targum. To this end, PJob and RJob provide accepted models of ‘translation’ and ‘targum’ alongside which to assess 11Q10. The following translation methods are identified, described, compared and contrasted in the three versions: selection,extension, alternative translation, expansion, substitution, adjustment of the consonantal HT, adjustment of the Hebrew word order or division, omission, and conjecture. PJob is confirmed as an attempt to transpose the difficult Hebrew of Job into Syriac. RJob is confirmed as a conservative translation with clear underpinnings in allusion to scripture and to rabbinic traditions attested elsewhere. Significant observations are made regarding an interpretative quality in 11Q10, and new light is cast on its richness and subtlety as an allusive translation. It is proposed that the translation displays deep knowledge of scripture and skill in applying this knowledge. It is further proposed that careful comparison with methods which have been identified in Onqelos is warranted. 11Q10 is identified as an important early witness to scripturally-based motifs which are also found in other intertestamental and rabbinic sources. It is argued that 11Q10’s nature suggests that its purpose was not simply to translate but to understand and subtly explicate the HT, and that it was intended for use alongside it, not as a replacement. The study refutes the categorization of 11Q10 as ‘translation’ rather than ‘targum’, and agrees with its orginal editors that its value lies in its unique witness to the early nature of targum.

Keywords: translation techniques
intertestamental
development of targum
early targum
Targum to Job
Job targum
rabbinic targum
scriptural interpretation
Qumran targumim
Peshitta
origins of targum
biblical interpretation
scriptural translation
Peshitta Job.
Dead Sea Scrolls
targum
Qumran
Targum of Job
Qumran targum
11Q10
Book of Job
Onqelos
targumim
Job
Advisor: van Boxel, P
Public architecture and civic identity in classical and Hellenistic Ionia

The main objective of this thesis is to investigate how works of public architecture, both alone and as components of the general urban layout, were related to the selfperception and identity of the ancient Greek polis community. And further, how the gradual evolution and change of this identity affected the history and associations of the buildings and the overall appearance of the city.
The study concentrates on the Classical and Hellenistic periods with emphasis on the process of transition, and the geographical region of Ionia, which in that particular period lay at the centre of the historical developments that would bring important changes to Greek poleis and their communities. Miletus and Priene were selected as case studies because both were founded in the Classical period and continued to develop throughout the Hellenistic, are extensively excavated and published, and offer sufficient material for study. Miletus allows insight into large and influential polis communities, while Priene offers evidence for small ones with more limited means.
In the first chapter, fundamental concepts such as 'collective identity,' 'cultural community,' 'cultural memory,' 'monumentality,' etc. and also those of 'city,' 'citystate' and 'polis community' are defined and analyzed, and their relation to each other and to architecture is discussed.
In the second and third chapters, the architectural development of Miletus and Priene is examined against its historical background, in the light of the principles and associations observed in the first, theoretical part.
In the final chapter, the developments and tendencies observed in Miletus and Priene are placed into context with similar phenomena that occurred in other poleis of the region and the Greek world in general during the process of transition from the Classical to the Hellenistic era. The discussion is based around the main axes of civic life i.e. the economic-political, socio-cultural, religious etc., and around issues of particular concern at the time such as the effects of monarchy and the growing role of the individual.

Advisor: Coulton, J
Genetic studies in ulcerative colitis

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), encompassing ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD), are lifelong inflammatory disorders of complex and multifactorial aetiology. Genetic studies have played an important role in the identification of immunological pathways involved in the pathogenesis of IBD. Genome wide association studies have revealed more than 160 genetic polymorphisms associated with IBD, although the expected heritability in UC is smaller than for CD, and the relationship between genotype and phenotype in UC is unclear. The source of the missing heritability in UC, may be at least accounted for by rare variants which carry a larger effect size. In this thesis, the influence of polygenic burden on disease phenotype in UC is investigated. In addition, functional characterisation of a rare genetic variant is performed, in order to investigate for a pathogenic association with a very early onset colitis phenotype.
Polygenic risk burden, as measured using genetic risk scores (GRS), is assessed amongst a well-phenotyped cohort of patients with UC. GRS are shown to be greater amongst patients diagnosed with UC before the age of 10 years, as compared to those diagnosed in adulthood. GRS are also shown to be greater amongst patients with a history of acute severe UC (ASUC), as compared to those with a mild UC disease course. Although lacking in power, variance analysis suggests enrichment of genetic polymorphisms within the IL-10 cytokine signalling pathway amongst patients with a history of ASUC.
Exploration of a possible causal relationship between a novel and rare mutation in the NOX1 gene, encoding NADPH oxidase 1, and a clinical phenotype of very early onset colitis in a single patient is undertaken in this thesis. It is shown that NOX1 mRNA is highly expressed in colonic epithelial cells and that the NOX1 p.N122H variant impairs function of the gene product. The findings implicate that the NOX1 p.N122H variant contributes to development of severe and early onset colitis by attenuating colonic epithelial superoxide production.

Keywords: inflammatory bowel disease
ulcerative colitis
NOX1
genetics
Advisor: Uhlig, H
Travis, S
Powrie, F