VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Fast growing and interpretable oblique trees via logistic regression models

The classification tree is an attractive method for classification as the predictions it makes are more transparent than most other classifiers. The most widely accepted approaches to tree-growth use axis-parallel splits to partition continuous attributes. Since the interpretability of a tree diminishes as it grows larger, researchers have sought ways of growing trees with oblique splits as they are better able to partition observations. The focus of this thesis is to grow oblique trees in a fast and deterministic manner and to propose ways of making them more interpretable. Finding good oblique splits is a computationally difficult task. Various authors have proposed ways of doing this by either performing stochastic searches or by solving problems that effectively produce oblique splits at each stage of tree-growth. A new approach to finding such splits is proposed that restricts attention to a small but comprehensive set of splits. Empirical evidence shows that good oblique splits are found in most cases. When observations come from a small number of classes, empirical evidence shows that oblique trees can be grown in a matter of seconds. As interpretability is the main strength of classification trees, it is important for oblique trees that are grown to be interpretable. As the proposed approach to finding oblique splits makes use of logistic regression, well-founded variable selection techniques are introduced to classification trees. This allows concise oblique splits to be found at each stage of tree-growth so that oblique trees that are more interpretable can be directly grown. In addition to this, cost-complexity pruning ideas which were developed for axis-parallel trees have been adapted to make oblique trees more interpretable. A major and practical component of this thesis is in providing the oblique.tree package in R that allows casual users to experiment with oblique trees in a way that was not possible before.

Keywords: pattern recognition
oblique
trees
machine learning
R
classification
Advisor: Ripley, B
Reassessing relocation: a comparative analysis of legal approaches to disputes over family migration after parental separation in England and New Zealand

Relocation cases are disputes between separated parents which arise when one proposes to move to a new locality with their child and the other objects. Relocation disputes are increasingly common and are becoming a topic of international concern. This thesis takes a comparative socio-legal approach to examining the legal responses to relocation cases in England and New Zealand.
In England, Payne v Payne [2001] 1 FLR 1052 continues to apply principles first enunciated in Poel v Poel [1970] 1 WLR 1469, and generally sees children’s welfare as being promoted by allowing primary carers to relocate, so long as such moves are bona fide and well-considered. New Zealand rejected this approach in the mid-1990s, and now places more emphasis on children having strong relationships with both parents. Consequently, where England is characterised as ‘pro-relocation’, New Zealand is ‘anti-relocation’.
Qualitative interviews with legal practitioners in both countries suggest that these characterisations are reflective of the law in practice. Looking at hypothetical case-studies, English practitioners are more likely to support proposed relocations than New Zealanders. Many English practitioners think their law to be outdated, and in particular that it gives too much weight to applicants well-being and too little to the value of children having strong relationships with both parents. However, in New Zealand, where an approach similar to that favoured by many English participants is applied, practitioners have the opposite concern, that applicants’ well-being is given insufficient weight, and promoting strong relationships with both parents has become overly dominant when assessing children’s welfare.
It is suggested that the current variation in approaches to relocation may fit broader trends in post-separation parenting in different countries. However, given the current ‘search for common principles’ which can be applied to relocation cases internationally, this thesis raises questions about the likelihood of international agreement being reached.

Keywords: Practitioners' Experiences
Comparison Between England and New Zealand
Welfare Principle
Law
Family Law
Relocation
Advisor: Maclean, M
The Hungarian Air Service, 1918-45

This thesis is a narrative and analytical history of the Hungarian air service. It follows its development from the Allied intervention of 1919 through the end of the Second World War. Denied an air force by the Treaty of Trianon, Hungarian airmen determined to thwart the inspection system and preserve national air power. The prohibition against military aviation persisted after the Commission was withdrawn, and through Hungarian diplomatic efforts, a relationship was established with Italy that included substantial assistance to the clandestine Hungarian air service.
This low-grade arms build-up continued through the 1930s, during which there was a robust discussion about air power theory and the nature of future aerial warfare in Magyar Katonai Szemle [Hungarian Military Review]. After the rise of Hitler, Germany offered arms credits and support for Hungary’s obsession with regaining the territory lost in the post-war settlement. The air service grew mainly through imported aeroplanes, the purchase of which ceased to be secret after the Little Entente recognised Hungary’s equality of arms.
The Hungarian air force became independent in 1939, and enjoyed public acclaim after decisive air-to-air victories over Slovak pilots during the occupation of Upper Hungary. The General Staff never accepted its autonomy, however, and succeeded in reclaiming control of the air force in 1941. After Hungary joined the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union, the air force provided air defence and interdiction in support of the Rapid Corps. Its mounting losses were made good by German aeroplanes, some of which were produced in Hungarian factories. As the Allied bombing campaign against Hungary intensified in 1944, most of its aircraft were devoted to homeland defence. The force ceased to exist as a true national service after the German-led coup in October 1944, but continued a fighting withdrawal to the west until captured by American forces.

Keywords: military history
airpower theory
Second World War
aviation history
inter-war innovation
Hungary
Advisor: Evans, R
Strachan, H
Natural and therapy-induced immune control of HIV-1

The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response is important in the control of HIV-1 infection. Due to the virus having a high rate of mutation, immune pressure can select for variants that are no longer recognised by CTLs to dominate the viral quasispecies. This is similar to how antiretroviral resistance emerges. HIV-1 is therefore adapting to both human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-restricted immune responses and antiretroviral therapy. This thesis initially focused on the natural CTL response to an HLA-B*51-restricted epitope in integrase. This HLA class I allele is associated with slow progression to AIDS; however, as no CTL-driven escape mutation has been fully defined within this integrase epitope, we cannot determine what contributes to the association of HLA-B*51 and natural control of infection. By longitudinally studying a cohort of early HIV-infected individuals, we observed the emergence of polymorphisms that abrogate a CTL response to this epitope. CTL escape may also prove to be the downfall of current immunotherapy strategies attempting to combat HIV infection. T cell receptors (TCRs) have been genetically modified to enhance their binding affinity to an HLA-A*02-peptide complex and transduced into CD8+ cells to create an HIV adoptive therapy. We demonstrate through in vitro selection pressure assays that escape from these cells may be a difficult task for the virus given that the TCR is able to recognise the majority of variants of this epitope. Antigen processing mutations may represent the only option for escape. How this may translate clinically will only be determined through in vivo studies, which must be meticulously monitored. Finally, when this high affinity TCR was fused to an anti-CD3 single chain variable fragment to create proteins capable of redirecting non-HIV-specific CTLs to HIV-infected cells, we found that the result was specific lysis. These proteins may supersede the use of TCR-transduced cells when used in synergy with antiretroviral therapy.

Keywords: cytotoxic T-lymphocytes
Advisor: Phillips, R
Intergroup contact and collective action: an integrative approach

This thesis investigated the effects of intergroup contact on different types of collective action tendencies among advantaged and disadvantaged groups. Studies 1 and 2 tested the simultaneous effects of intergroup contact and established predictors of collective action on collective action tendencies and ingroup and outgroup oriented policies among Blacks and Whites in South Africa, and compared the effects of intergroup contact and social identity on collective action tendencies via relative deprivation and group efficacy. The findings revealed that while social identity was positively associated with collective action tendencies, both directly and indirectly, effects of contact were negative and indirect via relative deprivation and group efficacy. Studies 3 and 4 investigated the effects of contact and social identity on collective action tendencies via perceived threats. Using data from Turkish and Kurdish groups in Turkey, I found that social identity predicted collective action tendencies positively, both directly and indirectly, while it predicted outgroup attitudes negatively and indirectly via perceived threats. Intergroup contact, on the other hand, predicted outgroup attitudes positively, both directly and indirectly, and collective action tendencies negatively via perceived threats. In Study 5, intergroup contact was positively associated, both directly and indirectly, via perspective taking and collective guilt, associated with outgroup oriented collective action tendencies. In Study 6, the effect of social identity on ingroup oriented collective action was positive and direct. Intergroup contact with the weaker minority group, on the other hand, was positively associated with outgroup oriented collective action tendencies via perspective taking. Additionally, intergroup contact with the majority outgroup moderated this relationship. When participants reported more contact with the majority group, intergroup contact with the weaker minority was not associated with outgroup oriented collective action tendencies. However, when the participants reported less contact with the majority group, intergroup contact positively predicted outgroup oriented collective action tendencies. Finally, Study 7 investigated the effects of two different dimensions of contact, contact with the majority and minority on collective action, via outgroup attitudes, dual-identification, and common ingroup identity in a three wave longitudinal design (N=610) among Turkish Cypriots in northern Cyprus. While the results did not support findings from the previous studies on the so-called paradoxical effects of contact on collective action tendencies, they revealed a robust negative reciprocal relationship between outgroup attitudes toward Greek Cypriots and collective action tendencies.

Keywords: collective action
intergroup contact
Advisor: Hewstone, M
Heath, A
The role(s) of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) in the development of renal cysts in mice deficient in fumarate hydratase (Fh1)

Fumarate hydratase (FH) encodes a Krebs cycle (also called TCA cycle) enzyme which converts fumarate to malate and also functions as a tumour suppressor gene. Germline mutations in FH predispose to hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer (HLRCC). Affected individuals develop benign smooth muscle tumours (leiomyomas) of the skin and uterus and renal cysts and cancers; specifically type II papillary and collecting duct carcinomas. Kidney-specific deletion of Fh1 (the murine orthologue of FH) recapitulates HLRCC in part and mice develop renal cysts that are proliferative and express constitutively hypoxia inducible factors -1α and -2α (Hif-1α and Hif-2α). This phenomenon of pseudo-hypoxia (HIF expression in normal oxygen tension) is also evident in cultured cells deficient in FH and is proposed as a possible mechanism for initiation and/or progression of carcinogenesis. We have utilised our mouse model to investigate the role of Hif-1α and Hif-2α and Fh1 in renal cyst development and show remarkably that combined genetic inactivation of Hif-1α and Fh1 increased both cyst size and frequency. However, kidneys deficient for both Fh1 and Hif-2α were comparable to those deficient for Fh1. Immunohistochemical analyses show that Fh1 inactivation leads to increased proliferation, DNA damage and affects the cell cycle in the renal cysts. Hif-1α and Hif-2α inactivation is not shown to contribute to these. Through genome-wide mRNA expression analysis we have identified that Ccnd1 is significantly upregulated (or the most significantly upregulated gene) in Fh1/Hif-1α knockout kidneys compared to wild type and Fh1 knockout kidneys. Other upregulated genes in the double knockout kidneys include genes involved in cell cycle, proliferation and structural organization of the cell.

Keywords: hypoxia inducable factors
renal tumours
fumarate hydratase
renal cysts
Advisor: Ratcliffe, P
Pollard, P
Commonwealth bills of rights

The thesis surveys and analyses Commonwealth Bills of Rights. It examines the content of these Bills of Rights and considers their origin and political implications.
The first chapter reviews the political history of Bills of Rights generally. This is followed by a chapter dealing with the initiation and introduction of Commonwealth Bills of Rights. Particular attention is given to the attitudes and influences of British officials and advisors. The third chapter considers the general forms of Commonwealth Bills of Rights and the ways in which such guarantees are qualified. The next three chapters examine the substance of the particular guarantees and note judicial cases that are of particular interest. In the seventh chapter some of the political implications of these Bills of Rights are considered. The eighth chapter concerns judicial attitudes toward the enforcement of a Bill of Rights. This is followed by concluding remarks.
The Proportionale musices of Iohannes Tinctoris

The core of this study is a new edition and translation of the Proportionale musices of Iohannes Tinctoris (c.1435-1511). The text is preceded by two introductory sections devoted, first, to reviewing the evidence for Tinctoris's biography and the chronology of his treatises as a whole, and, secondly, to examining the sources employed in the edition. In the section on chronology some new information is presented concerning the printing of the incunabulum De inuentione et usu musice, and on the scope of the original compilation from which the contents of the print were excerpted. In the discussion of sources, the first detailed description of the principal Brussels manuscript is given, in which some evidence is adduced for believing this to be an authorial holograph. Some refinements are also made to current knowledge regarding the dating and provenance of the Valencia and Bologna University Library sources. Following the translation of the Proportionale, some notes on the text are offered. Appendices present (a) the documentary biographical material discussed at the opening; (b) a littie-studied letter from Tinctoris to Joanmarco Ginico; (c) Tinctoris's translation into Italian of the Statutes for the Order of the Golden Fleece; and (d) a transcription of some new fragments of De inuentione et usu musice, rediscovered recently in Cainbrai.
Multi-channel security protocols in personal networks

Personal computing devices are becoming more and more popular. These devices are able to collaborate with each other using wireless communication technologies, and then support many applications. Some interesting examples of these are healthcare, context-aware computing, and sports training.
In any such applications, security is of vital importance. Firstly, sensitive personal data is always collected in these applications, thus confidentiality is usually required. Secondly, authenticity and integrity of data or instructions are always critical; incorrect data or instructions are not only useless, but also harmful in some cases.
This thesis analyses the security requirements of personal networks, and develops a number of multi-channel security protocols. With the help of out-of-band channels, especially no-spoofing and no-blocking out-of-band channels, these protocols can bootstrap security in personal networks. In particular, three kinds of security protocols have been studied: protocols that use human-controlled channels, protocols that use visible light communications, and protocols that use intra-body communications. Interesting trade-offs have been discovered among communication, computation and security, resulting from different channel implementations and protocols.

Keywords: network
mobile computing
security
sensor network
body area network
Advisor: Roscoe, B
Understanding molecular dynamics with coherent vibrational spectroscopy in the time-domain

This thesis describes the development of several spectroscopic methods based on impulsive vibrational spectroscopy as well as of the technique itself.
The first chapter describes the ultrafast time domain Raman spectrometer including the development of two noncollinear optical parametric amplifiers for sub-10 fs pulse generation with 343 or 515 nm pumping.
In the first spectroscopic study we demonstrate, for the first time, that impulsive vibrational spectroscopy can be used for recording transient Raman spectra of molecules in excited electronic states. We obtain spectra of beta-carotene with comparable, or better, quality than established frequency domain based nonlinear Raman techniques.
The following two chapters address the questions on the fate of vibrational coherences when generated on a reactive potential energy surface. We photoexcite bacteriorhodopsin and observe anharmonic coupling mediated vibrational coherence transfer to initially silent vibrational modes. Additionally, we are able to correlate the vibrational coherence activation with the efficiency of the isomerisation reaction in bR. Upon generation of vibrational coherence in the second excited electronic state of beta-carotene, by excitation from the ground electronic state, we are able to follow the wavepacket motion out of the Franck-Condon region. We observe vibrationally coherent internal conversion, through a conical intersection, into the first excited electronic state and are hence able to demonstrate that electronic surface crossings can occur in a vibrationally coherent fashion. Additionally, we find strong evidence for vibronic coupling mediated back and forth crossing between the two electronic states.
As a combination of this work we develop a IVS based technique that allows for the direct recording of background and baseline free Raman spectra in the time domain. Several proof of principle experiments highlight the capabilities of this technique for time resolved Raman spectroscopy.
In the final chapter we present work on weak-field coherent control. Here, we address the question of whether a photochemical reaction can be controlled by the phase term of an electric excitation field, in the one photon excitation limit. We study the systems rhodamine 101, bacteriorhodopsin, rhodopsin and isorhodopsin and, contrary to previous reports, find no evidence for one photon control.

Keywords: time-domain Raman
ultrafast spectroscopy
vibronic coupling
conical intersections
nonlinear optics
Advisor: Kukura, P
The boundaries of liberty and tolerance

The problem of any political system is that the principles which underlie and characterize it might also, through their application, endanger it and bring about its destruction. Democracy is no exception. Moreover, because democracy is a relatively young phenomenon, it lacks experience in dealing with pitfalls involved in the working of the system. This is what I call the "catch" of democracy.
The primary aims of this research are (1) to formulate percepts and mechanisms designed to prescribe boundaries to liberty and tolerance conducive to safeguard democracy; and (2) in the light of the theory to analyze a case of a democratic selfdefence. Hence, I employ the formulated philosophical principles to the study of the Israeli democracy, evaluating the political and legal measures to which it resorted in its struggle against Kahanism.
In the first part of the thesis I examine two of the main arguments which are commonly offered as answers to the question: 'why tolerate?' The first is the 'Respect for Others Argument', and the second is the 'Argument from Truth'. I introduce some qualifications to these arguments, asserting that our primary obligation should be given to the first, and that in case of conflict between the two principles, this former principle should have preference over the latter.
Through the review of the Millian theory and some more recent theories I try to prescribe confines to liberty. With regard to freedom of expression, I state two arguments: the first under the Harm Principle, and the second under the Offence Principle. Under the Harm Principle I argue that restrictions on liberty may be prescribed when there are sheer threats of immediate violence against some individuals or groups. Under the Offence Principle I explicate that expressions which intend to inflict psychological offence are morally on a par with physical harm and therefore there are grounds for abridging them. In this connection, I review the Illinois Supreme Court decision, which permitted the Nazis to hold a demonstration in Skokie.
Moving from theory to practice, in the second part I apply the theory and the conclusions reached to the Israeli democracy, observing its struggle against the Kahanist phenomenon as it has been developed through the last two decades, and increasingly following the election of Meir Kahane to the Knesset in 1984. I examine the mechanisms applied in this anti-'Kach' (Kahane's party) campaign, the justifications given for the limitations that were set, and how justified they were, according to the formulated philosophical and legal guidelines.