VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Local engagement with the early English Reformation : Oxfordshire, 1520-1570

This thesis seeks, through the study of Oxfordshire, to explore how ordinary men and women negotiated religious change at a local level; to consider a wide and varied range of reactions to, and relationships with, religious alterations; and to investigate the dynamic between government and people in Tudor England.
The first section of the thesis uses Oxfordshire's churchwardens' accounts to explore the process of the Reformation within the county's parish communities. Virtually all the money with which Oxfordshire's churchwardens funded their churches' operations had been raised voluntarily by their parish communities - meaning that, although the parishioners' attitudes did not dictate the actions of their churchwardens, they did much to determine the level of financial support that the wardens received for them. Accordingly, the analysis of Oxfordshire's churchwardens' accounts - and particularly the wardens' funding regimes - is enlightening as to how Oxfordshire's parish communities collectively responded to the alterations that the Reformation wrought in their churches' worship.
The second section of the thesis explores the different ways in which individuals within communities such as those studied could, and did, engage critically with religious change. Oxfordshire was an outwardly 'conformist' county. Nonetheless, its commons engaged critically with religious change. Oxfordshire fostered both unlicensed evangelicalism and traditionalism throughout the Reformation period, with large numbers of the county's commonalty being in some way party to these. It was, however, unlicensed traditionalism which at times posed a very real threat to order within Oxfordshire. There was trouble at around the time of the Pilgrimage of Grace. The county was, moreover, the scene of two large-scale risings. In July 1549, several hundred of the Oxfordshire commons rebelled over matters of religion. Four years later, the county rose again in large number, this time under gentry leadership, in support of Mary Tudor's claim to the throne.
Structure and function of CD31

The regulated interaction of leukocyte with endothelium is of key importance during normal immune surveillance and leukocyte infiltration to sites of infection in the inflammatory response. This thesis is concerned with the structure and function of CD31 (platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1), one of the adhesion molecules implicated in these processes. Previous work has shown both in vivo and in vitro that CD31 is involved in the final step of leukocyte recruitment, transmigration across the endothelial monolayer.
CD31 mediated adhesion is complex, since it is capable of mediating multiple adhesive interactions, both to itself (homophilic adhesion) and to other ligands (heterophilic adhesion). In order to study homophilic adhesion, an heterologous cell-protein assay was used in combination with recombinant chimeric CD31Fc fusion proteins, ICAM-3/CD31 chimeras and chimeras between human and murine CD31. These reagents located the homophilic binding site to the NH2-terminal domains 1 and 2, but also define a non-binding accessory role for the membrane proximal domains. Using site-directed mutagenesis to target all of the exposed charged residues in domain 1 and a subset of charged residues in domain 2, five residues were identified, mutations in which resulted in inhibition of homophilic adhesion. These residues map to both faces of the domain 1 immunoglobulinlike fold, suggesting that each molecule of CD31 interacts with two others. A novel zipper model of homophilic adhesion involving CD31 lateral association analogous to that seen amongst cadherins is proposed on the basis of these results.
Evidence for lateral association of CD31 to form dimers was obtained from biophysical, biochemical and molecular biology techniques. These show that Cd31 exists in an equilibrium between monomeric and dimeric forms both in solution as soluble recombinant protein, and at the cell surface. In solution the affinity of the interaction was calculated to lie in the range 12-14μM.
A large panel of anti-CD31 monoclonal antibodies were generated and tested for their ability to effect homophilic adhesion. Inhibitory antibodies were identified, mapping throughout the extracellular domain, away from the ligand binding site. In addition possible stimulating antibodies mapping to the membrane proximal domains were also identified. This indicates that CDS 1 may be induced to undergo conformational changes which effect homophilic adhesion, and it is proposed that these conformational changes may be linked to the ability of CD31 to form laterally associated dimers.
Using the reagents described above, a screen of haematopoietic cell lines identified a novel heterophilic interaction, which was shown to be mediated by the integrin ανβ3. Proteinprotein assays were used to confirm a direct physical association between CD31 and ανβ3, and to map the integrin binding site to the third immunoglobulin-like fold of CD31. The functional significance of this interaction was assessed in neutrophil transmigration assays, in which both anti-CD31 and anti-ανβ3 antibodies were found to partially inhibit neutrophil transmigration.
Quantum mechanical wavepacket calculations on chemical reactions

The quantum mechanical time-dependent wavepacket method is introduced in the context of the field of chemical dynamics. The theory of the method is presented for two processes of interest in dynamics: molecular photodissociation, and reactive scattering. For the first of these processes, an expression is derived for the absorption spectrum of a molecule undergoing an electronic bound-continuum transition. For the second process, a time-dependent formulation is obtained for the S-matrix, and the "flux formulation" for the calculation of initial state-selected reaction probabilities (ISSRPs) is shown to be equivalent to summing over appropriate S-matrix elements.
The time-dependent wavepacket theory for molecular photodissociation is used in the calculation of the photodetachment spectrum of the FH̅₂ anion. Spectra are calculated for two different energy resolutions, and previously unobserved structure is seen in the higher resolution spectrum. The structure is assigned by studying energy-dependent wavefunctions corresponding to each peak in the spectrum. Some peaks are assigned to direct scattering states, while others are assigned to quantum mechanical resonance states localised in the reactant and product valleys of the potential energy surface. The implication of this is that a high-resolution photodetachment experiment may provide the first experimental evidence for resonances in the F + H2 reaction.
For reactive scattering, the time-dependent wavepacket method is used (in conjunction with the rotationally adiabatic approximation for J > 0 calculations) to calculate ISSRPs for various initial states of the nearly-thermoneutral ionmolecule reaction: N+(3P)+H2(1Σ+g)→NH+(X2II)+H(2S). Dense resonance structure in the reaction probabilities for J = 0 is attributed to the influence of the deep wells in. the potential energy surface for the reaction. The ISSRPs are used to calculate initial state-selected cross sections and rate constants which are compared with the results of some earlier trajectory calculations and with experimental data. The implications of the results for the astrophysical significance of the reaction are discussed.
Microstructural characterisation of epitaxial rare earth metal based films

Epitaxial rare earth films and superlattices grown by molecular beam epitaxy, MBE, can be designed to investigate theoretical predictions of the magnetic and electronic properties of the metals. These investigations ideally require smooth epitaxial layers with atomically flat interfaces and therefore the microstructure of selected epitaxial rare earth systems has been characterised by a combination of techniques. These systems were grown on a (110) niobium ∥ (11̅20) sapphire substrate. Because the crystallographic quality of the subsequent layers is influenced by the quality of the substrate, the niobium-sapphire interface was studied with transmission electron microscopy, TEM, and high resolution electron microscopy, HREM, to identify uniquely the misfit dislocation network. Conventional TEM specimen preparation techniques were inappropriate for the preparation of metallic foils, and so appropriate specimen preparation techniques were developed. HREM was used to characterise the strain relief mechanisms within a partially relaxed holmium/yttrium superlattice.
Rare earth hydrides are also of interest because of the ability of some rare earths to absorb up to three hydrogen (H) atoms per rare earth atom. Loading between RH2 (R - rare earth) and RH3 is completely reversible and the system undergoes a metal-insulator transition. A film subjected to such H-loading is observed to switch from mirror-like to transparent. TEM specimens of RH2 (R = Ho, Y) were characterised and the structural changes that occur during H-loading were investigated using controlled environment TEM and a combination of scanning probe techniques. The applicability of electron diffraction for the characterisation of structures containing hydrogen is presented. Finally single crystal neutron diffraction techniques have been applied to epitaxial samples of HoD2 to probe the effect of the addition of extra deuterium atoms on the magnetic properties.
Relationships between different measures of glycaemia and their relevance to diabetic complications

Diabetes is a chronic disease characterised by high blood glucose levels. Monitoring of blood glucose plays an important role in the management of diabetes. Although, several different glycaemic measures are used in clinical practice, glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) is increasingly accepted as the standard on which many clinical decisions are based. In this thesis, the relationship between HbA1c and different blood glucose measures will be examined and their relevance to diabetic complications will be investigated. This work is for people at increased risk of type 2 diabetes and for those with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes.
Using the blood glucose profiles available from continuous glucose monitoring, the relationships between HbA1c and derived blood glucose measures were studied. Mean blood glucose and blood glucose peaks equally predicted HbA1c. The correlation of FPG to HbA1c was weaker than that of mean blood glucose.
The haemoglobin glycation index (HGI) is defined as the difference between a subject's HbA1c and that expected from regression of HbA1c on FPG and captures the variation in HbA1c not attributable to FPG. I used Early Diabetes Intervention Trial (EDIT) and UK prospective diabetes study (UKPDS) data to determine whether HGI is reproducible and whether differences relate to potential confounders. In both studies, HGI was reproducible and not explained by the potential confounders examined.
I examined whether there were additive effects of FPG, HbA1c or HGI on diabetic complications using UKPDS data since it was found previously that either HbAlc or FPG was related to diabetic complications in UKPDS. For microvascular complications, both FPG and HbA1c were independent risk factors. When HGI was related to microvascular complications, HGI made an independent contribution adjusting for either FPG or HbA1c. For macrovascular complications, HbA1c but not FPG was an independent risk factor. HGI did not make an independent contribution to macrovascular complications adjusting for HbA1c.
My work showed that the same HbA1c level does not necessarily have the same clinical meaning in two different subjects. There can be marked differences in individual levels of HbA1c relative to FPG values in people with type 2 diabetes. Thus, HbA1c levels should be interpreted with caution and treatment decisions need to be made considering individual glycaemic control. HGI may be useful, informing healthcare professionals of the likely magnitude and direction of difference between observed HbA1c levels and those expected in the light of prevailing blood glucose levels.
Anaphora and the bilingual

Anaphora interpretation is the cornerstone of Binding Theory. But is the bilingual 's interpretation of the anaphora identical to that of the monolingual? And what does this indicate about the number and type of bilingual grammars?
To investigate these issues, two sets of experiments were carried out. The pilot was carried out in Oxford, using Oxford students and Japanese studying English in local language schools. The main experiment was carried out in Tokyo using school children and University students (none of them linguists). Subjects were divided into three groups: Anglophones, Japanese monolinguals, and Japanese/English bilinguals. Subjects completed, under controlled conditions, a socio-linguistic questionnaire, and a linguistic questionnaire asking for acceptability judgements of given interpretation of statements containing anaphora or acceptability judgements of statements containing anaphora. The linguistic questionnaires for bilinguals could be presented in Japanese or English. Combined with a priming text (which was in either Japanese or English, the contents of which had no relevance to the linguistic questionnaires) a bilingual could receive one of four different combinations.
The two sets of experiments used identical socio-linguistic questionnaires and priming texts. Both used an acceptability scoring system of 1 to 6 and scanner readable data input sheets.
The first experiment indicated that for some constructions monolinguals disagreed among themselves and that in most cases the bilinguals followed suite, although there were a number of cases for which the bilinguals' behaviour appeared to be different from that of the monolinguals.
The second experiment used the results of the first to enlarge the number of constructions under consideration in the Japanese questionnaire.
From the results of the two experiments it appears that bilinguals have separate sets of rules for their two languages. These are similar but not identical to those of their monolingual counterparts. In most, but not all, cases, the differences can be clearly traced to the influence of the second language. Additionally a non-negligible number of constructions, particularly in Japanese, do not behave as expected from the literature. In particular, respondents to the Japanese questionnaire, be they monolingual or bilingual, reject ambiguity. A relatively high degree of inconsistency is found across monolinguals, and an even higher degree of lack of self-consistency across Japanese monolinguals. There appears to be no mainstream grammar of a non-statistical nature capable of explaining all these results. A statistical type grammar would appear to be more adequate.
A number of ways are proposed for deepening the research in terms of bilingual.acquistion, Japanese monolinguals' acceptance of ambiguity, etc. as well as in terms of a statistically versus a non-statistically based grammar.
Biophysics and biochemistry of the pancreatic β-cell

The β-cells of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans are the endocrine cells which secrete the hypoglycaemic hormone insulin. The primary stimulus for insulin secretion is an increase in the plasma glucose concentration, although secretion can be modulated by a variety of hormones and neurotransmitters. The immediate signal for insulin release is calcium entry through the β-cell plasma membrane. Primary secretagogues are glucose and those other secretagogues capable of initiating insulin secretion (e.g. glyceraldehyde, leucine, 2- ketoisokaproate); secondary secretagogues are those which potentiate the effect of glucose but which cannot initiate insulin secretion in the absence of glucose (glucagon, ACh, Forskolin, phorbol esters). Both glucose and the various agents which modulate insulin secretion do so by altering the pattern of B-cell electrical activity, and hence Ca2+ influx. This thesis examines the ionic basis of B-cell electrical activity and the mechanism of its initiation by glucose.
The representation of morphology in children's spelling

This thesis examines 5- to 9-year-old children's ability to represent spelling patterns determined by morphology. The first question was whether children come to understand the morphological basis for these patterns relatively early in their experience with writing, or relatively late. The second question was whether children's morphological awareness is related to their ability to represent morphological spelling patterns.
Experiments 1 and 2 investigated children's understanding of the stem-plus-inflection structure of past regular verbs. The children were no more likely to use -ed to spell such verbs when they were shown a verb's stem (e.g., peck for pecked) as when they were shown a meaningless fragment of the verb (e.g., pe or pecke). It is concluded that these children had not yet understood the morphological basis for the use of -ed.
The next experiments examined children's spelling of the regular plural inflection, -s, when it is pronounced /z/. Experiments 3 and 4 showed that children know that /z/ can be represented with either s or z. Experiment 5 revealed that children rely heavily on a rule based on sound structure to spell plurals correctly. Experiments 6 and 7 confirmed this finding with pseudowords, and showed also that only better spellers (Experiment 6) and adults (Experiment 7) use the "plural rule" at all, and even then to only a limited extent.
Experiments 8 and 9 tested whether children could use their knowledge of the spelling of base words to spell their derived forms. The idea was supported: children chose the correct letter (s or z) more often to represent the /z/ sound of words derived from base words (e.g., noisy, from noise) than of monomorphemic control words (e.g., busy). Experiment 10 confirmed this finding with pseudowords, and showed that children performed equally well on derived and inflected words.
Support was gained for the existence of a strong relationship between children's morphological awareness and their spelling of morphological spelling patterns.
It is concluded that children should not be seen to learn to represent morphology simply "early" or "late" in their spelling development, but to acquire individual morphological patterns at different times. Implications for existing models of spelling development, and for education, are discussed.
The first Monagas administration in Venezuela, 1847-1851

This thesis attempts an impartial enquiry into the events surrounding the power struggle between José Tadeo Monagas and José' Antonio Páez, 1847-1851 . The political, economic, and social aspects of Venezuela at that time are considered. The contribution of Monagas to the country's historical process is then examined: how the country changed during this time, and how Monagas changed it.
Chapter I considers Monagas's background and his ascendancy at a local level before and during the War of Independence. Chapter II examines the post-independence period until his election as president, 1829-1847, with particular emphasis on the growth of his prestige at a national level.
Monagas's first year in power is covered in chapter III, including discussion of the issues he had to face, and the tensions created with the conservative ruling group. Chapter IV examines the event of 24 January 1848 in depth for a clearer picture of the break between the Conservatives and the Congress they controlled and Monagas and his Liberal supporters.
Civil war breaks out in chapter V. Liberal policy and the efforts made by both sides to maintain the struggle are covered in chapter VI. Páez's defeat and exile and Monagas's policies are considered in chapter VII. Chapter VIII shows the consolidation of Monagas's power and his success in having his brother elected to succeed him.
Chapter IX argues that Monagas was a clever political and military leader who was able to challenge Páez successfully and to perpetuate his own rule. He presided with some skill over a necessary evolution in Venezuelan politics.
Experimental studies of the effects of magnetic fields on radical recombination reactions in vesicular and micellar environments

This thesis is concerned with an experimental study into the effects of weak static magnetic fields on radical recombination reactions, weak magnetic fields being defined as those which are similar to the average hyperfine coupling of the radical pair. It is the aim of this thesis to examine the effect of these weak magnetic fields on the recombination reactions of neutral radical pairs, as influenced by the microenvironments in which they are created, using the technique of time resolved optical absorption spectroscopy.
In the introductory chapters the theoretical concepts underlying the phenomenon of magnetic field effects (MFEs) are presented, and experimental methods applied to study these effects are discussed. A variety of structures used to confine the radical pairs after creation are introduced, and their relevant properties are listed. A discussion of the experimental apparatus used to study the MFEs in neutral radical pairs is presented, alongside the methods used for data analysis.
The opening two results chapters are concerned with neutral radical pairs contained in synthetic micelles. A variety of minor alterations to both the radical pair and the micelle structure are introduced, such as addition of hydrogen donor molecules to the micelle, and deuteration of one or both members of the radical pair. An experimental investigation is also presented which tests the theoretical prediction that changing the magnetic field strength from absolute zero magnetic field to a very weak field will lead to a large alteration in radical recombination rate.
For the first time at weak magnetic field strengths MFEs are demonstrated in synthetic vesicles, and optimised as a function of concentration and temperature, both above and below the phase transition temperature of the vesicle.
Lysophospholipid micelles, formed by phospholipid derivatives are investigated, and form a stepping stone between the synthetic micelles and vesicles investigated in earlier chapters and the biologically relevant vesicles formed by phospholipid molecules. A new probe molecule is introduced, and the MFEs are investigated as a function of chemical concentration and solution temperature.
Finally, MFEs are investigated in phospholipid vesicles. Experiments are performed in systems of differing chemical composition, and the effect of solution preparation is evaluated.
The role of psychodynamics in linguistics : applying the tradition of Melanie Klein to the analysis of conversational interaction

Linguistics has developed elaborate accounts of the social aspects of language use - 'how to do things with words' - but the emotional-dynamic aspects have hitherto received less attention. Such discussions of emotive or affective meaning as there have been have tended to concentrate on the linguistic resources that are coded into the language system, rather than the dynamics of emotional interaction enacted through language use.
The clinical discipline of Kleinian psychoanalysis, by contrast, has made emotional dynamics its central concern. Furthermore the main tool of the psychoanalyst's trade is the verbal interpretation of the patient's material, much of which is itself verbal. These factors have led to the development in Kleinian psychodynamic theory of a particularly rich vocabulary for understanding emotional-dynamic interaction, and specifically those aspects which are verbally enacted.
The goal of this thesis is to outline a linguistic theory of emotional dynamics based on insights derived from Kleinian psychoanalysis. It aims to extrapolate from a clinical context Kleinian ideas that can be integrated with those of the school of Linguistic thought that has emphasised the dynamic aspects of locally-managed discourse meaning.