VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Spider tracheaton

The problem of why spiders possess two types of respiratory structure, book-lungs and tracheae, was investigated.
The tracheal systems of a number of species of spider were visualized using a vacuum-injection method. A new technique for dissolving the soft-tissues of spiders, whilst leaving the tracheae unharmed, is described. Photographs and line-drawings illustrate a variety of tracheal structures.
The concentration of haemocyanin [Hc] in the blood of 26 species of spider was investigated. There was significant variation between the [Hc] of different species. Species with a highly-developed tracheal system typically had low [Hc]; however, some species with tracheae limited to the abdomen also had low [Hc]. No relationship was found between [Hc] and predation strategy.
A non-invasive laser/fibre-optic technique was developed to measure the heart-rates of active unrestrained spiders. The heart-rates of 15 species of spider were measured before, during, and after activity. In contrast to the opinion of some workers, heart-pumping was maintained during locomotion. Heart-rates decreased at the onset of forced fast running and a rise occurred when running ceased. Spiders with prosomal tracheae had lower heart-rates than spiders with tracheae limited to the abdomen. Dysdera had an atypical heart-beat. A possible association between maximum heart-rate and predation strategy is proposed.
The efficiency of tracheae in transporting gases around the body was investigated by measuring the metabolic rates of spiders with and without prosomal tracheae. Spiders with prosomal tracheae had lower resting metabolic rates, but similar maximum metabolic rates, compared with spiders with tracheae limited to the abdomen. The species with prosomal tracheae typically had faster recovery rates, after exercise, than species without prosomal tracheae.
The role of tracheae in spiders is discussed.

Advisor: Phillipson, J
The heroism of Byron's heroines

Byron’s women characters have typically been seen as, in Hazlitt’s early observation, ‘yielding slaves’. My study re-examines that assumption, finding instead, across Byron’s career, an abiding concern with the active individuality of women, and, more especially, with the creation of a specifically female form of heroism.
Recent critical attention has discussed women in Byron’s poetry in general, notably Nigel Leask (British Romantic Writers and the East: Anxieties of Empire, 2004) and Susan Wolfson (Borderlines: The Shiftings of Gender in British Romanticism, 2006), but Byronic female heroism has gone unstudied. Caroline Franklin’s sociologically couched work (Byron’s Heroines, 1992) is one of the few to tackle the heroine, but she understands the term merely as ‘female protagonist’: my interest, by contrast, is in the development of a specific, new kind of gendered heroism.
Byron’s representation of women takes shape within a number of discrete but inter-related discourses. The thesis examines the manner in which Byron engaged with previous literary and historical representations of proscribed gender roles. I remain alert to the literary heritage of Byron’s representation of female heroism, which extends beyond his own socio-historical context.
The thesis is organised within the three major influences: (i) contemporary writings on gender and women, and a consideration of how Byron has ‘resisted’ availability for feminist critique, this being a result of an insufficiently nuanced approach to his poetry; (ii) eighteenth-century writings on the Orient and Oceania, which examines the concepts of Orient and Other as central to the destabilization of fixed perimeters of gender spheres in Byron’s Turkish Tales; (iii) epic, which establishes Byron’s relationship with his literary predecessors as one of reformation and resistance before demonstrating how Byron’s particular form of heroism and epic was one way that he made room for the heroic female.
The thesis concludes with a brief coda, which extends the parameters of the governing concerns of the thesis, gender and heroism, arguing that Don Juan becomes a formal realization of the gendered heroics of Byron’s poetic consciousness.

Keywords: heroism
Byron
orientalism
epic
romanticism
gender
Advisor: Perry, S
Population genetics of rifampicin-resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa

Antibiotic resistance is generally associated with a cost in terms of reduced competitive fitness in the absence of antibiotics. Despite this `cost of resistance', the cessation of antibiotic treatment does not result in significant reductions in the prevalence of resistance. The maintenance of resistance, in spite of the costs, has been attributed to the rarity of reversion mutations, relative to compensatory mutations at other loci in the genome. However, the large size of bacteria populations, and the potential for migration, suggest that reversion mutations should occasionally be introduced to resistant populations. In this thesis, I show that additional mechanisms can prevent fixation of reversion mutations even if they do occur. Using an experimental evolution approach, with rifampicin resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa as a model system, I measured the costs of resistance in several environments and followed the adaptive dynamics of resistant populations where a sensitive lineage had invaded by migration. The results suggest that several additional mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of antibiotic resistance. Most rifampicin resistance mutations are not unconditionally costly in all environments, suggesting that migration between environments could maintain a resistant reservoir population. In environments where resistance is initially costly, the fixation of a revertant is not guaranteed, even if introduced through migration. Revertant fixation was impeded or prevented by clonal interference from adaptation in the resistant strain. Revertants that did successfully replace the resistant strain were forced to adapt to do so. Contrary to assumptions in the existing literature, fitness in the resistant strains was not recovered by general compensatory mutations, but instead by adaptive mutations specific to the environment. The data challenge several assumptions about the maintenance of antibiotic resistance: that resistance mutations are always costly, that the rarity of back mutations prevents the reversion of resistance, and that resistant strains recover fitness by compensatory mutations.

Keywords: experimental evolution
Advisor: MacLean, R
Mathematical modelling and optimal control of constrained systems

This thesis is concerned with mathematical modelling and optimal control of constrained systems. Each of the systems under consideration is a system that can be controlled by one of the variables, and this control is subject to constraints. First, we consider middle-distance running where a runner's horizontal propulsive force is the control which is constrained to be within a given range. Middle-distance running is typically a strategy-intensive race as slipstreaming effects come into play since speeds are still relatively fast and runners can leave their starting lane. We formulate a two-runner coupled model and determine optimal strategies using optimal control theory. Second, we consider two applications of control systems with delay related to R&D; expenditure. The first of these applications relates to the defence industry. The second relates to the pharmaceutical industry. Both applications are characterised by a long delay between initial investment in R&D; and seeing the benefits of R&D; realised. We formulate models tailored to each application and use optimal control theory to determine the optimal proportion of available funds to invest in R&D; over a given time horizon. Third, we consider a mathematical model of urban burglary based on the Short model. We make some modifications to this model including the addition of deterrence due to police officer presence. Police officer density is the control variable, which is constrained due to a finite number of police officers. We look at different control strategies for the police and their effect on burglary hot-spot formation.

Keywords: middle-distance running
calculus of variations
burglary
crime
R&amp;D expenditure
optimal control
Advisor: Ockendon, JR
Johnson, SD
Measurement of the CP violating phase βs in B0s → J/ψφ decays

The CP violating phase βJ/ψφs is measured in decays of B0s &rightarrow; J/ψφ. This measurement uses 5.2 fb-1 of data collected in √—s = 1.96 TeV p̅p collisions at the Fermilab Tevatron with the CDF Run-II detector. CP violation in the B0s-̅B0sbar system is predicted to be very small in the Standard Model. However, several theories beyond the Standard Model allow enhancements to this quantity by heavier, New Physics particles entering second order weak mixing box diagrams. Previous measurements have hinted at a deviation from the Standard Model expectation value for βJ/ψφs with a significance of approximately 2σ. The measurement described in this thesis uses the highest statistics sample available to date in the B0s rightarrow; J/ψφ decay channel, where J/ψ &rightarrow; μ&plus; μ− and φ &rightarrow; K&plus;K−. Furthermore, it contains several improvements over previous analyses, such as enhanced signal selection, fully calibrated particle ID and flavour tagging, and the inclusion of an additional decay component in the likelihood function. The added decay component considers S-wave states of KK pairs in the B0s &rightarrow; J/ψK&plus;K− channel. The results are presented as 2-dimensional frequentist confidence regions for βJ/ψφs and ΔΓ (the width difference between the B0s mass eigenstates), and as a confidence interval for βJ/ψφs of [0.02,0.52] Ｕ [1.08, 1.55] at the 68 % confidence level. The measurement of the CP violating phase obtained in this thesis is complemented by the world's most precise measurement of the lifetime τs = 1.53 &pm; 0.025 (stat.) &pm; 0.012 (syst.) ps and decay width difference ΔΓ = 0.075 &pm; 0 .035 (stat.) &pm; 0.01 (syst.) ps−1 of the B0s meson, with the assumption of no CP violation.

Keywords: B_s mesons
Tevatron
CP violation
CDF
Advisor: Azfar, F
Sonoelectroanalysis

This thesis reports the development of sonoelectrochemistry as a technique for sample analysis. Complementary modelling gives an insight into the mass transport and electrode reaction mechanisms. Separate studies were conducted as follows:
- Initially an copper(II) acetate buffer system was used as its speciation can be determined. In order to establish under which conditions analysis could be conducted the effect of speciation was examined. These were applied to the Anodic Stripping Voltammetry (ASV) determination of copper in the acetate solution and to facilitate the use of a traditionally inhospitable electrochemical medium: real ale with minimal pre-treatment. Both gave detection limits of the range (1-100) μg L-1 and in quantitative agreement with Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy.
- The effect of acoustic streaming under mild insonation was studied by modelling Square Wave Voltammetry (SWV) of ASV and was found, when compared to experiment, to be the dominating factor. When the latter is strongly present two distinct mass.transport regimes were identified. Studies of chemical and electrochemical processes suggested that the acoustic streaming model fails under more extreme conditions.
- SWV voltammetry was modelled for reversible electrochemical reactions leading to a refinement of existing analytical theory and the ASV modelling extended to account for surface morphology and finite electrode kinetics.
Droplets on an electrode surface subjected to a potential sweep give rise to voltammetric traces attributed to charge insertion. Three mechanisms for this are proposed: (i) charge injection at the droplets surface, (ii) charge injection at the three phase boundary and (iii) the droplet is saturated with counter ions and electron transfer occurs at the electrode surface. These are solved numerically and incorporate Regular Solution Theory to account for non-ideal interactions. Comparing with experimental data an approximate model identified the processes occurring for small droplets. A Marangoni-type convection is suggested for larger droplets.

Advisor: Compton, R
Investigation of a Behavioural Model for Financial Decision Making

Many economic models assume that individuals make decisions by maximizing their expected utility. Expected utility theory was developed to explain the way people behave when faced with choices under risk and uncertainty. However, the explanatory power of this theory has come into question because of systematic violations that have been observed in practice. This paper summarizes these violations and analyses a new theoretical framework that was introduced to overcome these violations called prospect theory. This theory was first proposed by Kahneman and Tversky in 1979, but the theory was later modified to become cumulative prospect theory. The purpose of this paper is to examine this new theory and to apply its framework to the lottery market. The parameters of the functional form of cumulative prospect theory are estimated. A value function with rapidly diminishing sensitivity, and a decision weighting function that was essentially a step function is found. The implications of these results are examined, and these results are compared to estimates given in the literature.
Ist einer unter Ihnen, der seine ganze Bestimmung noch nicht fühlt

The present thesis traces Lenz's development during the decisive period of 1774-76, focusing on his own sense of 'Bestimmung' as a writer. The method adopted has a dual aspect. Firstly, a substantial number of unpublished manuscripts related to Lenz's military reform project, written during his stay in Weimar - widely acknowledged as the 'Wendepunkt' of his career - are edited and analysed for the first time. Secondly, these manuscripts will be read in conjunction with a series of existing texts so as to give an overview of the process of Lenz's development. 1774 is a pivotal date, for in Meinungen eines Laien Lenz sets what he himself terms the 'Grundstein' of his entire oeuvre. A close analysis of this much ignored text is key to an understanding of the ethos which underpins his subsequent development. At its conclusion Lenz also articulates his desire to play a more active role in society than the limitations of literature allow. It is with his military reform project that Lenz hopes to effect such a transition. Die Soldaten is read as an initial attempt to voice his ambition of gaining a position in court. Such a reading has only been made possible by the edition of a number of manuscripts from the Kraków Lenziana. Thus the thesis seeks to fill a vital gap in Lenz scholarship: an investigation into Lenz's political aspirations as reflected in his writings whilst in Weimar, and particularly during his stay in his Berka 'Einsiedelei'. An understanding of the historical events, particularly those unfolding in France, which gave rise to the project is long overdue and is addressed here in the analysis of the 'lettre à Maurepas'. Der Landprediger, written after his expulsion from Weimar following his notorious 'Eseley' of November 1776, is read as an epitaph to Lenz's abortive career of writer as reformer.
The long run evolution of inequality and macroeconomic shocks

This thesis is concerned with two main questions. Do systemic banking crises substantially affect the income distribution in a country? Is income inequality a destabilising factor for the macro-economy? In order to answer the first question, this thesis examines a panel of 26 countries since 1900 and assembles a new database of crises, finding that the impact of major banking crises on the national income shares detained by the income groups within the richest decile is mostly small in magnitude. Indeed, the estimated impact is never bigger than a standard deviation of the specific top shares under investigation. Results are also confirmed in a separate analysis for the United States and are robust to a series of checks. These findings lend indirect support to the structuralist hypothesis that only substantial changes in government policies and institutional frameworks can bring about radical changes in income distribution. The analysis also highlights interesting heterogeneity across different income groups, country groups and time periods. The second question is addressed by making use of a newly assembled database on different dimensions of economic inequality. The new data helps to reject the statistical validity of the hypotheses that either growing inequality or a high level of inequality may systematically precede the onset of major banking crises. In addition, simulations based on the UK Family Expenditure Survey data find that even a full equalisation of income would increase the aggregate consumption by 3 percentage points at most. These findings, taken together, point out that an increase in income inequality may not concur to reduce the pressure on aggregate demand or be adduced as a structural factor of financial instability. Nonetheless, the evidence is not yet clear cut as the work further documents that periods of increasing income inequality in the UK were also associated with a reduction of the saving rates across the whole income distribution since 1968. The analysis contends that such evidence of under-saving behaviour may be consistent with the relative income hypothesis and some of its recent formulations such as the ’expenditure cascades’ theory.

Keywords: income distribution
macroeconomic crises
inequality
financial instability
banking crises
top income shares
consumption
Advisor: Atkinson, A
The identification and validation of Auger electron-emitting radiopharmaceuticals targeting telomerase for cancer therapy

Telomerase is expressed in the majority (>85%) of tumours but not in differentiated normal tissue. This enzyme catalyses the elongation of telomeres – a process critical for continued cell proliferation. Telomerase is a potential novel target for molecularly-targeted radiotherapy (mRT), due to its nuclear localization and expression profile. The radiolabelling of telomerase inhibitors may accelerate and enhance the cytotoxicity of such molecules, as a result of irradiation of the DNA.
An oligonucleotide targeting telomerase RNA (hTR), shown to inhibit enzyme activity in vitro, was selected for study. Complementary and non-targeting control oligonucleotides were conjugated to a metal chelator (DTPA) to allow radiolabelling with indium-111. The radioiodination of MST-312, BIBR-1532 and flavonoid-derived small molecule inhibitors of telomerase was also pursued. The inhibitory activity of the candidate molecules was analysed using the telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP). The internalization of inhibitors was assessed by gamma-counting following cell lysis. The clonogenic assay was employed to measure the effect of modified inhibitors on cell survival.
Small molecule telomerase inhibitors were modified for labelling with iodine-123, which led to a modest decrease in inhibitory potency, compared to the parent molecules. Radiolabelled small molecules exhibited poor stability and internalization into cancer cells, so were unsuitable for mRT. Modified oligonucleotides potently inhibited telomerase activity, whereas a non-targeting oligonucleotide exhibited no inhibitory activity. Indium-111 radiolabelled oligonucleotides decreased the clonogenic survival of telomerase-positive breast cancer cells but not telomerase-negative cells, in a sequence-specific manner. Accordingly, complementary radiolabelled oligonucleotides were found to induce the DNA damage marker γH2AX. Oligonucleotides localized to nuclear Cajal bodies, the sites of telomerase assembly, in a proportion of cancer cells.
Telomerase inhibitors of different classes were radiolabelled with Auger electron-emitting radionuclides, and delivered to cells. Radiolabelled oligonucleotides targeting telomerase significantly reduced the clonogenicity of cancer cells in vitro. This study represents a novel approach for the mRT of telomerase-positive cancers.

Keywords: molecularly-targeted radiotherapy
telomerase
cancer therapy
Auger electron
radiopharmaceutical
systemic radiotherapy
Advisor: Vallis, K
Periodic pattern formation in developmental biology: a study of the mechanisms underlying somitogenesis

Somitogenesis, the sequential formation of a periodic pattern along the antero-posterior axis of vertebrate embryos, is one of the most obvious examples of the segmental patterning processes that take place during embryogenesis and also one of the major unresolved events in developmental biology. The principal aim of this thesis is to develop a series of mathematical models for somite formation. We begin by reviewing the current models for somitogenesis in the light of new experimental evidence regarding the presence of a segmentation clock and graded expression of FGF8. We conduct a preliminary investigation into the wavefront of FGF8 along the antero-posterior axis and integrate this model into the framework of an existing model for a signalling process. We demonstrate that this new “Clock and Wavefront” model can produce coherent series’ of somites in a manner that is tightly regulated in both space and time, and that it can also mimic the effects seen when FGF8 expression is perturbed locally. We then use the model to make some experimentally testable predictions. The latter part of the thesis concentrates on building more biologically accurate model for the FGF8 gradient. We move to consider a model for the FGF8 gradient which involves a complex network of biochemical interactions with negative feedback between FGF8 and retinoic acid. The resulting system of seven coupled non-linear equations, including both ordinary and partial differential equations, is difficult to analyse. To facilitate our understanding of the non-linear interactions between FGF8 and retinoic acid, we finally consider a reduced model which can display travelling wavefronts of opposing FGF8 and retinoic acid concentrations moving down the antero-posterior axis. The model allowed us to calculate a minimum wave speed for the wavefronts as a function of key model parameters such as the rate of FGF8 and retinoic acid decay; strong dependence on the values of these parameters is a result that is hypothesised to occur in vivo.