VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Elected Police and Crime Commissioners: an experiment in democratic policing

In this thesis, I explore the ways in which Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) have met a declared policy intention to create greater democratic accountability around policing and crime. I conceptualise PCCs as a piece of a broader democratic puzzle and explore both how they have been positioned and shaped within the broader policing and crime nexus across England and Wales. In considering the positioning of PCCs, I use data from case studies and interviews with 32 (out of 41) PCCs to identify how they have begun to develop relationships with the public and local, regional and national partners. The findings suggest that with the exception of their abilities to join up local crime reduction services, PCCs occupy an awkward space – not local enough to be meaningfully representative of the public they serve, but not outwardly-facing enough to manage wider co-ordination of policing. Subsequently, I investigate the shape of the PCC model to deliver greater accountability by focusing on the ways in which PCCs have begun to envisage the role and develop relationships with other key stakeholders. Varied responses from PCCs across the country reflected the broad-ranging nature of the role, which in some cases appeared to undermine their ability to fully perform all aspects of the job. I argue that this became particularly accentuated in emerging relationships with chief constables and Police and Crime Panels, where the single PCC model exposes accountability to dangers of personalities and politics. I conclude by arguing that while many PCCs have facilitated various components of democratic accountability within the management of policing and crime-reduction services, the PCC model appears to be misplaced and misshaped to effectively complete the puzzle of democratic policing.

Keywords: Police
Advisor: Loader, I
Inhibition studies on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) hydroxylases

The hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) is a key regulator of transcriptional responses to hypoxia in animals. As part of the cellular response to decreased oxygen concentrations, the transcriptional activity of a heterodimeric complex consisting of HIFα and HIFβ activates the expression of hundreds of target genes, including those involved in cellular growth, apoptosis, energy metabolism and angiogenesis. HIFα prolyl hydroxylation, as catalysed by the HIF prolyl hydroxylases (PHDs), leads to subsequent HIFα polyubiquitination and proteasomal degradation. HIFα asparaginyl hydroxylation as catalysed by factor inhibiting HIF (FIH), blocks the binding of HIFα to the co-activators CBP/p300, leading to reduced HIF transcriptional activity. The activities of the HIF hydroxylases (the PHDs and FIH) can be suppressed under limiting oxygen, resulting in the stabilisation of HIFα and activation of the HIF pathway. The development of PHD inhibitors in order to mimic aspects of the natural hypoxic response has been reported, although the selectivity of the inhibitors has not been investigated. Identification of selective small molecule inhibitors for the PHDs would enable further investigations into the differential role of the HIF hydroxylases in mediating the transcriptional response to hypoxia. Both the PHDs and FIH are part of the Fe(II) and 2-oxoglutarate (2OG)-dependent dioxygenase family, which includes histone and nucleic acid demethylases that are involved in gene regulation. The transcriptional response to hypoxia and/or the effects of non-selective PHD inhibitors could thus be mediated by their effects on these closely related enzymes. In the work described in this thesis, in vitro hydroxylation assays for PHD2 were developed for the identification of PHD inhibitors and determination of their inhibitory potencies. The development of a cellular assay for HIF levels is also described and used to measure the efficacy of PHD inhibitors. The utilisation of these assays led to the identification of potent, selective and cell-permeable PHD inhibitors suitable for use as chemical probes to study the biological roles of the PHDs. To aid in selectivity studies with the PHD isoforms, a cellular model system was developed by the re-expression of individual PHD isoforms in PHD-null mouse embryonic fibroblast cells. PHD inhibitors, including one of the PHD chemical probes identified, were used in a pan-genomic study of the transcriptional response by hypoxia in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells. The results reveal that inhibition of the PHDs, together with FIH, does not fully induce the full set of hypoxia upregulated genes, suggesting that the activation of HIF transcriptional activity alone may not be sufficient to invoke the transcriptional response to hypoxia.

Advisor: Schofield, C
Genetic control of the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella L.)

Insect pests represent major threats to food production, biodiversity conservation, and human and animal health. Currently, the most widespread strategy to control their populations is through the spraying of synthetic chemical insecticides. However, the overuse of these compounds has had significant negative environmental consequences. Additionally, our reliance on insecticides has resulted in major reductions in their efficacy through pest-evolved resistance. To successfully manage insect pests, while avoiding environmental degradation, thus requires the development of novel, more sustainable, pest management strategies. Recent advances in our understanding of recombinant DNA methods and molecular biology have allowed the application of transgenic tools to pest management. Here, synthetic genes can be engineered, transformed into the genomes of pest species, and transported into wild target populations through the natural mating behaviour of the insect. A strategy in which these transgenes are lethal to those insects inheriting them in the field is known as RIDL – Release of Insects carrying a Dominant Lethal. A variant of RIDL limits this lethality to females – female specific RIDL (fsRIDL) – which explicitly targets the reproductive capacity of a target population. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the application of such an fsRIDL strategy to the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella L.). This economically important pest of brassica crops is highly adept at developing resistance to insecticides and is considered extremely difficult to manage effectively. I present findings which demonstrate the power of diamondback moth lines transformed with fsRIDL transgenes to eliminate target pest populations, and combine synergistically with other transgenic control strategies such as Bt crops in counteracting the evolution of pesticide resistance. Additionally, an exploration into an alternative gene expression system to that used in current RIDL strategies – the Q system – suggests that not all expression systems will be suitable for transgene control within this highly specific framework. It is hoped that this work will contribute towards the effective control of the diamondback moth, and form a model for the sustainable control of other lepidopteran species through genetic pest management.

Keywords: invasive species
integrated pest management
diamondback moth
RIDL
genetic modification
Flow and nutrient transport problems in rotating bioreactor systems

Motivated by applications in tissue engineering, this thesis is concerned with the flow through and around a free-moving porous tissue construct (TC) within a high-aspect-ratio vessel (HARV) bioreactor. We formalise and extend various results for flow within a Hele-Shaw cell containing a porous obstacle. We also consider the impact of the flow on related nutrient transport problems.
The HARV bioreactor is a cylinder with circular cross-section which rotates about its axis at a constant rate, and is filled with a nutrient-rich culture medium. The porous TC is modelled as a rigid porous cylinder with circular cross-section and is fully saturated with the fluid.
We formulate the flow problem for a porous TC (governed by Darcy's equations) within a HARV bioreactor (governed by the Navier-Stokes equations). We couple the two regions via appropriate interfacial conditions which are derived by consideration of the intricate boundary-layer structure close to the TC surface. By exploiting various small parameters, we simplify the system of equations by performing an asymptotic analysis, and investigate the resulting system for the flow due to a prescribed TC motion.
The motion of the TC is determined by analysis of the force and torque acting upon it, and the resulting equations of motion (which are coupled to the flow) are investigated. The short-time TC behaviour is periodic, but we are able to study the long-time drift from this periodic solution by considering the effect of inertia using a multiple-scale analysis. We find that, contrary to received wisdom, inertia affects TC drift on a similar timescale to tissue growth.
Finally, we consider the advection of nutrient through the bioreactor and TC, and investigate the problem of nutrient advection-diffusion for a simplified model involving nutrient uptake.

Keywords: Tissue engineering
Mathematical modelling
Matched asymptotics
Cation and anion doping of ZnO thin films by spray pyrolysis

ZnO is an n-type semiconducting material with high optical transparency in the visible range (400 - 750 nm) of the electromagnetic spectrum. When doped with group 13 or 14 metal oxides, ZnO exhibits almost metallic electrical conductivity. ZnO thin films have been recognised as promising alternative material for the currently widely-used but expensive indium oxide in the form of indium tin oxide (ITO), in terms of their low cost and the high abundance of zinc. At the moment, even the best solution-processed ZnO films still can not compete for ITO replacement especially in solar energy utilization and OLED lighting applications, and the performance of ZnO films needs to be further improved. The objective of this work was to enhance the electrical and optical properties of spray pyrolysed ZnO thin films by simultaneous cation and anion doping. This was achieved by growing several series of undoped, single-doped, and co-doped ZnO thin films over a wide range of conditions, in order to understand the growth behaviour of undoped and doped ZnO, and to establish the optimum growth procedure. Spray pyrolysis process has advantages over vacuum-based techniques in terms of its low-cost, high deposition rate, simple procedure and can be applied for the production of large area thin films. Various techniques were employed to characterize the properties of the prepared thin films, and thus determine the optimum growth conditions (i.e. X-ray difiraction (XRD), Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy and Hall effect measurement).
The growth of doped ZnO on glass substrates using Si and F as dopants, yielded highly conducting and transparent thin films. The co-doped thin films exhibited distinct widening of band gap upon increasing deposition temperature and doping concentration as a result of increasing electron concentration up to 4.8 x 1020 cm-3 upon doping with Si and F at the same time. The resistivity of the films deposited from Zn(acac)2 · xH2O solutions and at the optimum temperature of 450 °C, was found to decrease from 4.6 x 10-2 &ohm;cm for the best undoped ZnO film to 3.7 x 10-3 &ohm;cm, upon doping with 3% Si. The films co-doped with Si and F in the ratios of [Si] / [Zn]= 3 - 4 mol% and [F] / [Zn]=30 - 40 mol% were the most conducting (p &Tilde; 2.0 x 10-3 &ohm;cm). The associated optical transmittance of co-doped ZnO was above 85% in the whole visible range. Results compare favourably with In-doped ZnO deposited under similar conditions. Si&plus;F co-doped ZnO films offer a suitable replacement for ITO in many applications such as LCD and touch screen displays.

Advisor: Edwards, P
Dilworth, J
The impact of health insurance on financial risk protection in Ningxia, China

In 2009 China launched an ambitious health care reform to ensure equal and affordable access to basic health care for all by 2020. The reform was not only a response to changing patterns of disease, rising health expenditures, and widening regional inequalities, but part of a wider strategy to improve the social security system covering residents in order to increase domestic consumption. Its success will be defined by the efficient use of funds in financing and delivering health care.
Against this backdrop, this dissertation evaluates the importance of health insurance characteristics on measures of financial risk protection, household saving and consumption, and preference for health care providers. It uses an experimental design to study the effect of more generous outpatient coverage and a tiered reimbursement structure that sets rates higher at primary care facilities than tertiary hospitals.
While middle income households benefitted most in terms of financial risk protection, poorer and sicker households increased utilization at primary care facilities and food consumption – two pathways by which health insurance can improve health outcomes. This suggests that as outpatient coverage improves those most vulnerable will increase their access to health care, where there was previous underutilization, but not necessarily see an improvement in financial risk protection. The increased cover would also offer greater protection for those already using healthcare, but on its own not necessarily change their utilization patterns or reduce household savings. Looking at the quality-price trade-off in choice of provider reveals that, while at lower levels of household consumption demand for outpatient care is elastic with respect to price, as living standards rise past subsistence, individuals begin to value other provider characteristics. Together, these findings highlight the importance of benefit design and quality improvements at lower levels of care to shift patterns of utilization and ensure health services are accessed cost-effectively. (Thesis word count: ˜ 44,800 plus references and appendices)
Roles of the two chemotaxis clusters in Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Bacteria swim towards improving conditions by controlling flagellar activity via signals (CheY) sent from chemosensory protein clusters, which respond to changing stimuli. The best studied chemotactic bacterium, E. coli, has one transmembrane chemosensory protein cluster controlling flagellar behaviour. R. sphaeroides has two clusters, one transmembrane and one cytoplasmic. The roles of the two clusters in regulating swimming and chemosensory behaviour are explored here.
Newly-developed software was used to measure the effect of deleting or mutating each chemotaxis protein on unstimulated swimming and on the chemosensory response to dynamic change. New behaviours were identified by using much larger sample sizes than previous studies. R. sphaeroides chemotaxis mutants were classified as (i) stoppy unresponsive; (ii) smooth unresponsive or (iii) stoppy inhibited compared to wildtype swimming and chemosensory behaviour. The data showed that the ability to stop during free-swimming is not necessarily connected to the ability to respond to a chemotaxis challenge. The data suggested a new model of connectivity between the two chemosensory pathways.
CheY3 and CheY4 are phosphorylated by the transmembrane polar cluster in response to external chemoeffector concentrations. CheY6-P produced by the cytoplasmic cluster is a requirement for chemotaxis, whether or not the polar cluster is able to produce CheY6-P. CheY6-P stops the motor, whereas CheY3,4-P allow smooth swimming. When chemoeffector levels fall, the signals through CheY3,4 fall, allowing CheY6-P to bind and stop the motor. As the polar cluster adapts to the fall by the action of the adaptation proteins CheB1 and CheR2, the concentration of CheY3,4-P increases again, to compete with CheY6-P and allow periods of smooth swimming. Under aerobic conditions, the cytoplasmic cluster controls the basal stopping frequency and does not appear to respond to external chemoeffector changes.
The role of the adaptation proteins in resetting the signalling state in R. sphaeroides is unclear, particularly the roles of the proteins associated with the cytoplasmic cluster, CheB2 and CheR3. Tandem mass spectrometry was used to identify glutamate and glutamine (EQ) sites on the cytoplasmic R. sphaeroides chemoreceptor TlpT that are deamidated and methylated by the R. sphaeroides adaptation homologues. In E. coli, adaptation sites are usually EQ/EQ pairs. However the sites reported in TlpT vary at the first residue in the pair. Mutation of the putative EQ adaptation sites caused changes in adaptation, suggesting that CheY6-P levels are controlled and reset by CheB2 and CheR3 controlling the adaptation state of TlpT.

Keywords: Alpha-proteobacteria
Rhodobacter sphaeroides
Advisor: Armitage, J
The Soviet-Afghan War in Russian Literature

This thesis is an historical and literary investigation of the treatment of the 1979- 89 Soviet-Afghan War in contemporary Russian literature. The texts chosen for study include official and unofficial literature, written within the former USSR as well as abroad, and cover publicistic writing, poetry, and prose fiction. These works are described and analyzed with a two-fold purpose: to explore creative trends found in the literature of this subject, and to evaluate the extent to which the genre of Afghan War literature in Russian has changed over the past decade.
In order to provide a context for this literature, the introduction describes the method of socialist realism as it applies to military themes, and the legacy of World War Two novels in Russian. The first chapter provides a brief history of Russian-Afghan relations, and an account of the ten-year intervention. The second chapter documents the dissolution of official censorship during the 1980s, revealing dissent over the Soviet military role in Afghanistan. Chapter Three discusses the evolution of the genre of publicistic writing, and documents its unprecedented frankness through revelations made in Soviet journalistic investigations. Chapter Four provides an overview of song and poetry about the conflict, beginning with magnitizdat produced by amateur songwriters, and later including works by professional poets. Chapter Five discusses novels and short stories about the war. A range of fictional works is traced, from propagandistic portrayals, both pro-and anti-Soviet, to non-ideological, personal interpretations which incorporate lyricism, satire, and fantasy. Chapter Six focuses on the works of Aleksandr Prokhanov, a writer who initially used his fiction to support the war effort, and whose oeuvre charts the disintegration of Party consensus on interpretation and depiction of the events in Afghanistan. The final three chapters treat the works of Oleg Ermakov, whose lyricism and stylistic experimentation mark a new direction for recent Russian war fiction.
The analysis shows Afghan War literature to signal a radical break with recent official Soviet military writing as shaped by socialist realism. This break is evident in the frankness and subjectivity of publicistic writing, and the anti-war sentiment found in a significant minority of published songs and poems. In particular, Oleg Ermakov's prose continues the past legacy of unofficial, dissident war fiction.

Keywords: Russia
USSR
contemporary literature
Soviet-Afghan War
Literature
Advisor: Smith, G
Vegetius and the Anonymus De Rebus Bellicis

The name, title, literary persona and office of Vegetius are discussed in ch. 1, and although a firm decision is unjustified, comes stabuli seems bettter-attested than praefectus praetorio, come sacrarum largitionum or comes rei privatae. It is suggested that 'Vegetius' is only a cognomen to a true gentilicium 'Flavius'. The author's self-presentation as the Emperor's director of studies-cum-secretary is noticed.
Ch. 2 provisionally locates Vegetius in Spanish horse-breeding senatorial circles, and treats his conventional Latin education with little or no Greek, his Vergil-reverence and orthodox Christianity.
The date of Vegetius' Epitoma Rei Militaris is analysed in ch. 3 as being before the sack of Rome but in the aftermath of the battle of Adrianople. The Emperor-dedicatee is provisionally identified as Theodosius I. Scholarly debate on the question is thoroughly aired.
The genre, literary persona and date of the Anonymus De Rebus Bellicis are argued in ch. 4 against the comparison of Vegetius. The Anonymus is characterized as a thaumaturgical sophist who complied his 'inventions' from older mechanical sources. A late-4th. or early 5th. century date is supported in opposition to the A.D. 360's.
Ch. 5 argues that Vegetius' Epitome was intended to describe a Republican legionary organization adapted to late-antique Field armies with the unstated aim of reversing in detail and with specific advantages in mind the rapidly increasing barbarization of the army.
Ch. 6 addresses the extent to which tactics and strategic constraints, arms and equipment and siegecraft were understood by Vegetius in contemporary terms, particularly as shown by Ammianus Marcellinus.
It is argued in ch. 7 that the sources Vegetius used were late epitomes of the named sources, Cato, Celsus, Frontinus and Paternus, apart from Varro whom he used directly. Massive authorial intervention by Vegetius in the organization and content of the text is analysed.

Keywords: Roman Empire
Roman Army
Advisor: Tomlin, R