VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Examination of the epidemiology of acute myocardial infarction in England using linked hospital and mortality data

Background: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a major public health concern. There are limited recent national-level population-based epidemiological data on AMI in England. As a result, the current burden of disease is difficult to quantify.
Aim: This thesis addresses gaps in knowledge on AMI in England. It aims to provide a comprehensive analysis of AMI epidemiology over the last decade.
Methods: This is a population-based study using person-linked routine hospital and mortality data for England for the period from 1 April 1998 to 31 March 2008. Main outcome measures include: trends in event rate, case fatality, and mortality for AMI, as well as trends in characteristics of, and hospital care for, the AMI patient population between 1999 and 2007; rates of occurrence and case fatality for first and recurrent AMI in 2007; and five-year survival and risk of a second AMI for 2003 to 2007.
Results
Conclusions: There have been substantial improvements in AMI occurrence, survival, and mortality over the last decade in England. This was driven by improvements in prevention and acute medical treatment. The results in this thesis emphasise the importance of both.

Keywords: survival
incidence
linked data
England
myocardial infarction
Advisor: Goldacre, MJ
Rayner, M
Wright, FL
A seismic interpretation of the Danish North sea

This study is based on a regional grid of seismic data acquired by Merlin Geophysical. The main emphasis of this thesis was on the detailed structural mapping of the Danish Central Graben, since this area has the highest density of well and seismic data. The principal objective of the study was to explain why the North Sea Rift changes strike in the Danish Sector, from the N-S trending Dutch Central Graben, to the NW-SE trending U.K/Norwegian Central Graben.
The Danish Central Graben opened initially in the Late Carboniferous, as part of a regional dextral transtensile deformation that affected much of Europe. The initial extensional structures developed by reactivation of a pre-existing basement fabric. The NNW trending Coffee Soil Fault bounding the rift, is interpreted as a planar structure transecting the entire crust, and is thought to have developed by extensional reactivation of an east-verging Caledonian thrust. Basement shear zones identified on the rift shoulders on the Ringkobing-Fyn High are interpreted as the along-strike continuation of the Caledonides of Southern Norway, offset to the east by syn-orogenic transform motion along fracture zone elements of the Tornquist Zone.
The WNW trending fault zones that dominate the structural grain in the Danish Central Graben are shown to be closely related to WNW trending fracture zones on the Ringkobing-Fyn High, which are regarded as splay shears of the Tornquist Zone. The WNW trending transverse fault zones segment the Danish Central Graben. The segmentation exerted a fundamental influence on the structural and stratigraphic development of the rift, in that individual segments were free to subside at different rates, in different styles, at different times. Two main phases of rifting are recognised, Permo-Triassic, and Middle and Upper Jurassic. These two phases have contrasting patterns of subsidence, and contrasting structural expression, particularly as regards the extent of the involvement of the transverse fault zones. The Permo-Triassic phase is characterised by parallelism of stratal configurations, and horizontal subsidence of the graben floor, whereas the Jurassic phase is characterised by strongly divergent configurations and asymmetric, rotational subsidence directed towards and controlled by the Coffee Soil Fault. Active rifting ceased at the end of the Jurassic, and Lower Cretaceous sediments are found to onlap extant fault scarps in a passive infill of the rift basin.
The major bounding structures of the rift change strike abruptly in several incremental steps across the points of intersection with the transverse segment boundaries. The re-orientation of the rift is therefore explained as a consequence of the underlying presence of the earlier transform dominated basement fabric. A model for the formation of the North Sea Rift is proposed, which draws heavily on observations of the fracture patterns in continental rifts such as the Oslo Rift and the Rio Grande Rift, and is a development of the Megashear-Rhombochasm concept of S.W.Carey.
Molecular beam investigations of open-shell Van der Waals molecules

Van der Waals molecules are complexes of two or more atoms or molecules bound by weak intermolecular forces rather than a conventional chemical bond. This thesis contains a high resolution molecular beam study of the rotational spectra of two such species, ArNO and NeNO.
A new hamiltonian is presented to account for the spectra of these open-shell complexes. The theory is similar to that already known for the uncomplexed diatom, nitric oxide, but is modified to an asymmetric top form appropriate for these non-linear species. Two novel interactions require inclusion. The first models a slight quenching of the NO orbital angular momentum by the rare gas atoms. The second is a large centrifugal distortion associated with the effects of the bending motion on the projection of the electronic angular momentum on the complex's a-inertial axis.
A comparatively rich, though incomplete, spectrum is obtained for ArNO. Most of the transitions that originate from the lower rotational states are assigned and fitted to within a few MHz using the modified open-shell hamiltonian. Possible sources are suggested for the origins of the small residual errors between the observed and calculated transition frequencies. A vibrationally-averaged structure is derived from the fitted molecular parameters indicating an equilibrium geometry which is quite close to a T-shape. The hyperfine structure in the spectrum which is associated with the 14 N nucleus is well fitted by the hamiltonian; however, the magnetic hyperfine parameters are significantly perturbed from the values that best fit the lambda-doubling spectrum of the uncomplexed diatom. The implications of this with respect to the nature of the rare gas-nitric oxide intermolecular interaction are discussed.
Greater experimental difficulties are encountered in trying to record the radiofrequency and microwave spectrum of NeNO and so fewer transitions have been measured than for ArNO. A partial analysis yields approximate values for the structural parameters. The complex exhibits a larger deviation from the T-shaped geometry than is observed for ArNO. The spectrum also provides an estimate of the magnitude of the quenching of the orbital angular momentum. The quenching interaction is somewhat larger in the neon complex.

Advisor: Howard, B
The validity of optical dating based on feldspar

The potential for valid dating using feldspar minerals has recently been increasingly questioned with the recognition of a range of effects capable of giving rise to age shortfalls. The intention here was to investigate the more serious of these, and to simultaneously extend the surprisingly meagre body of knowledge on the luminescence of the feldspar minerals.
A suite of feldspars representative of all major mineral species of the feldspar ternary system was assembled and mineralogically classified by XRD and SEM techniques. Characterization of some luminescence properties relevant to dating (radiation dose-sensitivities, emission spectra, thermal sensitization and bleaching by IR and green light) was conducted to enable comparison of these properties with the anomalous fading behaviour in each feldspar (IRSL and OSL intensities being subsequently measured as a function of storage duration at 10°C and 100°C). Examples of feldspars representative of each major compositional regime of the ternary system were found to fade, and similarly some were stable; no luminescence characteristics or storage duration at these temperatures permitted reliable separation of stable signals. A new method for analysis of localised transition-type anomalous fading was successfully tested on zircon; however the fading mechanism operant in feldspars was found to be tunnelling-type fading. Such fading cannot be circumvented by any feasible laboratory procedure and it was concluded that monitoring of samples for the presence of fading is essential: discovery of fading is a rejection criteria.
The long-term trapping stability of the IRSL source traps was investigated by "conventional" kinetic means, and also by a combined optical and thermal approach in which the bleaching response curves of five selected feldspars were measured along with their low temperature (= 100-400 K) response. It was concluded that the IRSL signal originates from one trap type only in all feldspars, which possesses a constant ground state-to-excited state transition energy of 1.44 ± 0.01 eV. However, the excited state-to-conduction band energy varies depending on the major element composition of the feldspar. Lifetimes of microcline TL from glow curve temperatures > 300°C greatly exceed the minimum required for dating and this work and complementary experiments showed no physical basis for the existence of an age limit for coarse grain feldspars, other than dose saturation. Supplementary work supported the existence of an upper age limit of = 100 ka for fine grain materials.

Advisor: Aitken, M
Intracellular message localisation in Drosophila melanogaster

The blastoderm embryo of Drosophila melanogaster consists of a unicellular syncytium with a large number of peripheral nuclei. The cytoplasm surrounding each peripheral nucleus is compartmentalised into apical periplasm above each nucleus and basal periplasm below it. The expression of different genes in the syncytial blastoderm is crucial for the genetic control of development. The pair-rule genes are involved in controlling the pattern of metamerisation of the embryo. Pair-rule mRNAs are expressed in alternate metameres, in a pattern of stripes. Within each stripe, mRNA is found in the apical periplasm of the syncytial blastoderm.
By analysing the distribution of mRNA of a number of hybrid constructs, I show that the 3' untranslated part of three pair-rule genes are required for the apical localisation of their transcripts. A 1.2kb region in the 3' end of fushi tarazu (ftz), a 700bp region in the 3' end of hairy (h) and a 160bp fragment of the 3' untranslated part of the even-skipped (eve) pair-rule gene are shown to contain apical localisation signals.
I show that the mechanism of apical localisation is unlikely to involve a cytoplasmic process and that the 3' untranslated part of the bicoid (bed) gene contains sequences necessary for apical localisation. I propose that apical localisation involves a nuclear mechanism which exports mRNA from the apical side of the nuclear membrane. I demonstrate that apical localisation is achieved by an RNA-mediated process and not by a DNA-mediated mechanism.
Finally, I demonstrate that the intracellular localisation of transcripts encoding cytoplasmic proteins influences the distribution of the protein in the periplasm. I propose that the function of apical localisation is to limit the diffusion of pair-rule proteins so that the pattern of protein expression resembles precisely the transcriptional domain.

Advisor: Ish-Horowicz, D
Thresholds and the structure of sparse random graphs

In this thesis, we obtain approximations to the non-3-colourability threshold of sparse random graphs and we investigate the structure of random graphs near the region where the transition from 3-colourability to non-3-colourability seems to occur. It has been observed that, as for many other properties, the property of non-3-colourability of graphs exhibits a sharp threshold behaviour. It is conjectured that there exists a critical average degree such that when the average degree of a random graph is around this value the probability of the random graph being non-3-colourable changes rapidly from near 0 to near 1. The difficulty in calculating the critical value arises because the number of proper 3-colourings of a random graph is not concentrated: there is a `jackpot' effect. In order to reduce this effect, we focus on a sub-family of proper 3-colourings, which are called rigid 3-colourings. We give precise estimates for their expected number and we deduce that when the average degree of a random graph is bigger than 5, then the graph is asymptotically almost surely not 3-colourable. After that, we investigate the non-k
-colourability of random regular graphs for any k≥3
. Using a first moment argument, for each k≥3
we provide a bound so that whenever the degree of the random regular graph is bigger than this, then the random regular graph is asymptotically almost surely not k
-colourable. Moreover, in a (failed!) attempt to show that almost all 5-regular graphs are not 3-colourable, we analyse the expected number of rigid 3-colourings of a random 5-regular graph. Motivated by the fact that the transition from 3-colourability to non-3-colourability occurs inside the subgraph of the random graph that is called the 3-core, we investigate the structure of this subgraph after its appearance. Indeed, we do this for the k
-core, for any k≥2
; and by extending existing techniques we obtain the asymptotic behaviour of the proportion of vertices of each fixed degree. Finally, we apply these results in order to obtain a more clear view of the structure of the 2-core (or simply the core) of a random graph after the emergence of its giant component. We determine the asymptotic distributions of the numbers of isolated cycles in the core as well as of those cycles that are not isolated there having any fixed length. Then we focus on its giant component, and in particular we give the asymptotic distributions of the numbers of 2-vertex and 2-edge-connected components.
The politics of brokerage and transnational advocacy for LGBT human rights

In this project, I look at the work of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) and the role that brokers at the organization play in constructing, promoting, and institutionalizing a body of LGBT human rights. While a great deal is being written about the diffusion of LGBT politics and human rights discourses from the Global North, there are few ethnographic analyses of who is doing the exporting, how, and toward what ends. Based on a year of fieldwork in IGLHRC’s New York and Cape Town offices, I look at the history of IGLHRC, the interactions among brokers and how these shape their daily work, how brokers understand their mandate and the hybridity that it so often requires, and how partnership with groups in the Global South, the production, verification, and circulation of information, and the possibilities and constraints of the formal human rights arena all shape the work that brokers do. Ultimately, I conclude that human rights advocacy must be understood holistically if it is to be understood at all. Such advocacy always necessarily involves a degree of theoretical elaboration, promotion, and codification by human rights defenders and NGOs, and focusing exclusively on one or another of these aspects paints a skewed portrait of what it means to work within a human rights framework. Drawing from the anthropology of sexuality, queer theory, literature on brokerage, and interdisciplinary studies of transnational advocacy networks, this project aims to deepen understandings of how LGBT NGOs and the brokers that animate them regularly engage in the construction, promotion, and institutionalization of particular understandings of sexuality and the claims that can be made by sexual subjects globally.

Keywords: activism
anthropology
human rights
organizational ethnography
LGBT
Advisor: Pratten, D
Pirie, F
Unamuno in exile, 1924-30

This thesis provides a much-needed study of all the major aspects of Unamuno's experience of exile from the Spain of Primo de Rivera (1924-30).
It sheds light on the reasons for Unamuno's exile and on his understanding of his public role during exile itself. It shows how Unamuno saw himself at this time as the representative of certain essential Spanish values which he believed were being debased by the Dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, and how he came to feel in Paris that he had a mission to make those values known to his new European audience. A study of this mission helps to illuminate one of Unamuno's more complex exile works, La agonía del cristianismo.
The thesis also sheds light on the effects that exile had on Unamuno, both man and writer, showing that he could not function in his usual fashion as a public figure and a writer outside Spain. This state of affairs led to a severe personal crisis which affected the writings he produced in Paris and Hendaye.
This thesis has set out to show that Unamuno's exile crisis was principally a writer's crisis. To be able to do this, it has been necessary to set Unamuno's exile works in the context of his lifelong ideas on selfhood, self-creation and writing. It has thus been possible to show how the circumstances of exile forced Unamuno to confront once again his fundamental doubts concerning the effects that playing a public role and writing have on his sense of selfhood. A study of Cómo se hace una novela, the work in which he gives expression to this crisis, serves to reveal how the activity of writing lies at the very heart of his philosophy of self-creation.
Amino sugars and their glycosides

This thesis describes approaches to the transformation of simple carbohydrates into a polyhydroxylated pyrrolidine and the formation of its glucosides.
Chapter one describes the synthesis of the naturally occurring pyrrolidine 2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-D-mannitol. Synthesised from di-O-isopropylidene-D-glucose, the key steps are the introduction of nitrogen at C-5 with retention of configuration. Then cyclisation of the nitrogen onto the C-2 position with inversion to form the pyrrolidine ring. Reduction of the aldehyde furnished the polyhydroxylated heterocycle in 3.4% yield over 16 steps. The synthetic compound matched the naturally occurring compound in all respects.
Chapter two contains a review of commonly used glycosylation methods. It also describes the glycosylation of di-O-isopropylidene-α-D-glucose as a model system comparing the Koenig-Knorr method to the trichloroacetimidate method using several reaction conditions. Glycosylation of 2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-D-mannitol was carried out using the trichloroacetimidate method to synthese all four glucosides. Boron trifluoride etherate and trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulphonate were used as catalysts in dichloromethane, diethyl ether and acetonitrile under strictly anhydrous conditions. All four glucosides were prepared 1-O-(αβ-D-glucopyranosyl)-2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-D-mannitol and 3-O-(αβ-D-glucopyranosyl)-2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-D-mannitol. Biological screening carried out against a wide range of glycosidases and glycosyl transferases indicated that the glucosides showed little inhibition in comparison to 2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-D-mannitol.
Chapter three describes the isolation and identification of 1-O-(β-D-glucopyranosyl)- 2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-D-mannitol from Nephthytis poisonii N.E.Br. a member of the Araceae family found in tropical Africa. Identification was made by comparison with the previously synthesised glucosides of 2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-Dmannitol. Investigations of Hyacinthoides non-scriptus (L.) chouard ex Rothm are also discussed.
Chapter four describes the synthesis of a diazidolactone that could be used to form a 1,5 disubstituted tetrazole. This would have a second nitrogen functionality in the molecule allowing the possibility of the inclusion of the tetrazole into a peptide sequence. The synthesis was carried out from L-gulono-1,4-lactone. An azido group was introduced selectively at C-2, this unexpectedly occurred with retention of configuration. A second azide was then introduced at C-5, this occurring with the more commonly observed inversion of configuration to afford the 2,5-diazido-2,5-dideoxy-D-manno-1,4-lactone.

Advisor: Fleet, G
Writing religious communities: the spiritual lives and manuscript cultures of English women, 1740-90

This thesis examines the spiritual lives of eighteenth-century English women through an analysis of their personal writings. It explores the manuscripts of religious women who practised their faith by writing letters, diaries, poetry, and other highly personal texts—texts that give unique access to the interior, spiritual lives of their authors. Concerned not only with the individual meaning of those writings but with their communal meanings, it argues that women’s informal writing, written within personal relationships, acted to undergird, guide, and indeed shape religious communities in vital and unexplored ways. Through an exploration of various significant personal relationships, both intra- and inter-generationally, this thesis demonstrates the multiple ways in which women were active in ‘writing religious communities’. The women discussed here belonged to communities that habitually communicated through personal writing. At the same time, their acts of writing were creative acts, powerful to build and shape religious communities: these women wrote religious community.
A series of interweaving case studies guide my analysis and discussion. The thesis focuses on Catherine Talbot (1721–70), Anne Steele (1717–78), and Ann Bolton (1743–1822), and on their literary interactions with friends and family. Considered together, these subjects and sources allow comparison across denomination, for Talbot was Anglican, Steele Baptist, and Bolton Methodist. After an introductory chapter, Chapter Two focuses on spiritual friendship, showing how women used personal writings within peer relationships to think through religious ideas and encourage faith commitments. Chapter Three considers older women as spiritual elders, arguing that elderly women sometimes achieved honoured status in religious communities and were turned to for spiritual direction. Chapter Four explores the ways in which women offered religious instruction to spiritual children through the creative use of informal writings, including diaries and poetry. And Chapter Five considers women’s personal writings as spiritual legacy, as they were preserved by family and friends and continued to function in religious communities after the death of their authors.

Keywords: women
life writings
diaries
letters
religion
Advisor: Garnett, J
Gleadle, K
Continuous Time Mean-Variance Portfolio Selection Problem

This thesis is devoted to Markowitz's mean-variance portfolio selection problem in continuous time financial markets, where we aim to minimise the risk of the investment, which is expressed by the variance of the terminal wealth, with a given level of expected return. This thesis consists of an existing literature review and my original extension work. Stochastic linear-quadratic (LQ) control approach and martingale approach are two main methods in dealing with continuous time mean-variance portfolio selection problem. Half of the thesis is allocated to the review of these approaches. The background and motivation, the development, the current status, and the open questions of both approaches are introduced and studied. After the literature review, my extension work is done by martingale approach to find the explicit form of optimal portfolio in an incomplete market when the market parameters are random processes. Speci¯cally, the explicit forms of optimal wealth process and optimal portfolio are obtained for an incomplete market when the market parameters are some simple kind of random processes.