VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
The observational consequences of primordial fields

The research presented in this thesis concerns three main topics. First, we investigate the presence of large scale magnetic fields in the universe. We focus on the possibility that they have originated in the primordial phases of the evolution of the universe, and derive a strong constraint on the intensity of causally generated fields. We also analyse the imprint of a helical magnetic field in the cosmic microwave background radiation. Second, we study the observational consequences of a hypothetical electric charge asymmetry in the universe, and we deduce upper limits on the charge of some fundamental particles, improving the current limits obtained from laboratory experiments or astrophysical observations. Third, we consider the theory of inflation, and in the context of the slow roll approximation we derive a constraint on the fourth derivative of the inflaton potential. The common methodology at the basis of these three analyses is the use of the observational properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation to constrain the presence of different components in the universe, which can act as a source of perturbation in the background metric. Part of the thesis is dedicated to the review of the theoretical framework at the basis of the topics considered. This is mainly done in the first three chapters. We start with a summary of the standard cosmological model, introducing the covariant formalism which is used in the analysis of the model of a charged universe. The details and results of this analysis are presented in the fifth chapter. The second chapter contains a review of the basic properties of cosmic magnetic fields, and then focuses on the derivation of strong upper limits on their intensity. The third chapter is an overview on cosmological linear perturbation theory, and on the formalism of the microwave background temperature anisotropies and polarisation. It introduces the technical tools used in the fourth chapter, where we analyse the temperature and polarisation signal induced in the microwave background by a primordial, helical magnetic field. We conclude by presenting, in the sixth chapter, the derivation of an upper bound on the fourth derivative of the inflaton potential, obtained using the inflationary flow equations.
The transport of mass and energy in toroidal fusion machines

To understand the physical mechanism underlying the cross-field transport of mass and energy in magnetoplasmas is a long-standing problem in fusion research. Woods (1987) has recently developed a second-order transport theory which has been used to explain a number of transport-related phenomena observed in tokamaks. Here, we apply second-order transport theory to the reverse field pinch (RFP) and a phenomenon observed in tokamaks known as 'snakes'.
Expressions for the mass and energy confinement times in the RFP, τp and τe, are deduced and agreement with experimental results from HBTX is found. For typical operating conditions the times τp ~ 0.1ms and τe ~ 0.2ms are observed in HBTX. Second-order transport theory predicts τp ~ 0.4ms and τe ~ 0.4ms for this machine. Scaling laws for βp versus ηe,βp versus Iφ and τe versus Iφ are compared with measurements from HBTX and agree well with observation.
Snakes are large density perturbations observed in JET after fuel pellet injection. Typical snakes in JET are remarkably stable and are found to have density decay times longer than predictions based on neoclassical theory (Stringer 1987). After their formation, snakes have even been observed to grow (Weller et al. 1987), which suggests the presence of an inward diffusion mechanism. There is also some evidence for a temperature depression in the snakes region. An explanation of the stability and energy balance in snakes based on second-order transport theory is proposed.
New party success and failure in Japan : the experiences of the Liberal Party, 1998-2003

This thesis examines the Liberal Party, a new party founded in 1998 in Japan, where numerous new parties have emerged in the 1990s following the disintegration of the existing political order. New parties have played important roles in the ongoing process of political change, but have failed to challenge the dominant Liberal Democratic Party, and most have faced difficulties in consolidating their positions within the emerging party system. The Liberal Party also failed to become a permanent player, but nevertheless played an important role, serving as a catalyst for change. The thesis examines its experiences to better understand its development, role, and character.
The thesis first discusses recent political developments in Japan, including an analysis of new party emergence and trends within the political realignment process. The case study of the Liberal Party discusses developments from 1998 until 2003, when the party was dissolved, and also examines three dimensions of party activity, covering 'policy', 'organization, leadership, and resources', and 'relations with the electorate'.
The thesis draws on existing scholarly literature, but also employs data from party publications, interviews, observations, newspaper reports, and political finance reports.
The analysis shows that the Liberal Party's attempts to influence the political structure and process were often frustrated. Although the presence of a strong leader positively impacted on the party's sustenance, it proved difficult to expand the organization and to secure sufficient resources. The Liberal Party's emphasis on policy set it apart from its contemporaries, and it succeeded in functioning as a dynamo of new ideas. It failed, however, to expand its electoral base significantly, which limited its options.
The thesis also finds that although the process of realignment has pushed Japan further towards a two-party set-up, developments at the elite level have failed to generate a corresponding realignment of the highly alienated and disinterested Japanese electorate.
The life and works of William and Philip Hayes (1708-77 &amp; 1738-97)

William and Philip Hayes, father and son, between them occupied the Heather Chair of Music at Oxford for over half a century (1741-97). They were two of the most important provincial musicians of their age, who as composers contributed to all the main genres of the time except opera. The Hayeses' musical style reflects both a reverence for Handel (particularly in their choral works) and also an awareness of the insurgent galant idiom (clearly apparent in their sonatas). William Hayes was also active as a writer on music, publishing three substantial pamphlets between 1751 and 1768. He is perhaps best remembered today for his Remarks on Mr. Avison's Essay on Musical Expression (1753), in which he not only championed Handel against the apparent attacks of Avison, but also outlined his own musical aesthetic. The Hayeses were both ardent Handelians, and William was probably the single most active conductor of Handel's oratorios and choral works outside London during the composer's lifetime. Father and son were also important and knowledgeable collectors and copyists whose activities are well documented and whose unusually catholic tastes may be gathered from the surviving sale catalogue of their library. The fortunate survival of most of their autograph scores and many complete sets of performing parts considerably increases our knowledge of eighteenth-century performance practice. Their wide-ranging activities in all these fields are considered in two biographical chapters and six appendices. The thesis includes a complete descriptive catalogue of their works (with music incipits for instrumental items), and provides detailed consideration of their achievements in five major areas: sacred vocal music; cantatas, songs and convivial vocal music; concerti grossi and keyboard concertos; trio and accompanied sonatas; and large-scale vocal works (oratorios, odes and masques).
The isolation and characterisation of the genes coding for the calcium channel affected by Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome antibodies in NG108-15 cells

Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic and autoimmune disorder affecting the presynaptic voltage gated calcium channels at the neuromuscular junction. The aim of this project was to isolate the genes coding for the α1 and α2 subunits of the voltage-gated calcium channel from hybrid neuronal cell lines including NG108-15 whose potassium stimulated 45Ca2+ flux is reduced by IgG from patients with Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome.
The cDNA libraries were constructed in λgt10 from NG108-15 mRNA and screened with PCR products derived from the rabbit skeletal muscle α1 and α2-δ genes. A 2230 bp portion of the NG108-15 α2-δ gene homologous to bp 1000- 3304 of the rabbit gene has been isolated and sequenced. This shows 48% homology to the amino acid sequence of the rabbit gene and 56% nucleotide homology with particular conservation of the C-tenninal domains.
The NG108-l5 α2 mRNA is 8.5 kb long and was found in the N18TG2 mouse neuroblastoma cell line from which NG108-15 is derived and in mouse brain. Rabbit α2-δ gene PCR primers were used to screen a rodent tissue cDNA panel to detect highly homologous sequences by PCR amplification. These products were detected only in mouse brain and lung and in rat skeletal muscle. The mouse brain and lung product amino acid sequences were 87% homologous to the rabbit gene while the rat skeletal muscle product was 81% homologous and both differed significantly from the homologous region of the NG108-15 gene.
This suggests that some of the diversity of voltage gated calcium channels arises from the expression of different α2-δ subunits within the 5 subunit VGCC complex as well as from diversity in the other subunits.
Money politics and the transformation of the Japanese political system

In 1994, in response to repeated scandals of political corruption, or of money politics as it was also called, the Japanese Diet passed a comprehensive package of political reform laws. By placing the focus on a change in the election system, this package suggested that money politics was primarily a problem of the incentive structures that the political system provided. This dissertation is based on the premise that political reforms and the debate that produces them are a good indicator of how the Japanese themselves evaluated money politics and what they hoped to change about it.
The dissertation shows that both money politics and the political reforms designed to address it have not been a recent phenomenon but have existed more or less continuously for at least 70 years. It analyses the history of three case studies of political reforms that were aimed partly or exclusively at changing money politics: first a political education initiative, second the establishment and amendment of the law controlling political finance and fund-raising, and finally the attempted creation of a law on defining and regulating political parties.
These three case studies suggest that reformers saw money politics predominantly as a function of political culture, not of the electoral system. Specifically, they placed this political culture in an evolutionary process of modernisation which sometimes did, sometimes did not resemble Westernisation. They were concerned especially about the role of organisations such as labour unions, companies and political parties as mediators in the relationship between the Japanese voters and the state. Finally, the fact that a changing coalitions of politicians, bureaucrats and independent activists supported the modernisation of the political culture suggests that this interpretation of money politics was widely shared.
The eukaryotic flagellum in health and disease

The 9 + 2 microtubule axoneme of flagella and cilia represents one of the most iconic structures built by eukaryotic cells and organisms. Some cilia are motile, whilst others serve as sensory organelles, and can variously possess 9+2, 9+0 axonemes and other associated structures. The recent emergence of ciliary dysfunction as a cause of human disease has renewed interest in these organelles, with several genomic and proteomic studies of cilia and flagella now published from various systems. I identified ten genes from such screens, and functionally characterised them in the flagellate protozoan parasite Trypanosoma brucei. One further gene was identified by searching a gene locus for polycystic kidney disease, a disease linked to malfunction of the primary cilium. I carried out a bioinformatic screen on the selected genes to determine their phylogenetic distribution. Cell lines expressing GFP fusion proteins were made to assess the localisation of this set of proteins, which were found to localise to a range of flagellar compartments including the axoneme and regions of the basal body. The well established inducible RNA interference system in T. brucei was then used to assess function of this set of proteins. In procyclic form trypanosomes the ablation of five proteins produced motility phenotypes when ablated; in some, but not all, this was accompanied by defects in axonemal ultrastructure. Two of these are closely related homologues and showed functional redundancy; when ablated independently there was no difference in motility, however simultaneous ablation produced flagellar paralysis. RNAi-mediated ablation of proteins affecting flagellar motility in bloodstream form trypanosomes produced rapid cytokinesis defects, suggesting that impairment of flagellar function may provide a novel avenue for disease control.
Ideas and action : emergence of technical innovation and financial discourse

This thesis investigates how people's ideas lead to technical innovations, and looks at the problems and setbacks along the way. The research uses data gathered from two major case-studies, several minor ones, and from a wide range of potential sources of finance for innovation. The majority of this data was obtained through free-format interviews with the people involved, although one of the major case-studies used personal letters to access an innovation at the turn of the century. This demonstrated the utility of 'historical' data for management research.
The orientation is qualitative and interpretive, but the thesis demonstrates the utility of a rigorous and procedural approach to data and analysis in accomplishing its interpretation. Four distinct discourses, or world-views, emerge from the data, and a framework comprising these is proposed to aid understanding of innovation. This tentative model encompasses the agency and actions of individuals together with their social systems, and follows Giddens in seeing the former as recursively implicated in reproducing the latter. The model allows the progress of an innovation to be charted through the four discourses.
The argument of the thesis is sensitive to recent anthropological and sociological uses of ideas drawn from Saussure's structural linguistics. French structuralist developments of these ideas, particularly those of Derrida, are used to investigate problems with the proposed fourdiscourse model of innovation. Derrida allows a more complete synthesis of structure and process than Giddens; his complex ideas thus enable a better explanation of the observation that people involved in innovation can apparently talk within all four discourses at once without excessive anxiety.
Thomas Boston (1676-1732) as preacher of the Fourfold state

Thomas Boston is best known for his pastoral labours in the Scottish border parish of Ettrick, for his defence of the The Marrow of Modern Divinity during the Marrow Controversy (1717-1722), and for his collection of sermons entitled Human Nature in its Fourfold State (1720). The thesis attempts to provide fresh insight into Boston's work in four ways. First, it satisfies the need for a critical analysis sensitive to the homiletical genre of his writings. It is unified not so much by a single argument about his theology as by a single perspective -- Boston as preacher -- from which his theology should be understood. Second, the structure of the thesis is governed by the structure the Fourfold State inherited and developed from Augustine's distinction between grace posse non peccare and non posse peccare: innocence, nature, grace, and eternity. Among the more important reasons for selecting the work for this purpose are the centrality of its major themes to Boston's preaching as a whole and its status as the most frequently published Scottish book of the eighteenth century. Third, it aims to read the Fourfold State against the fullest possible background of Boston's sources, locating the sermons within the continuous theological tradition of international Calvinism and the unified homiletic tradition of English Puritanism and Scottish Presbyterianism. Particular attention is given to the aims and strategies of his preaching on the covenant of works, the faculties of the soul, the free offer of the gospel, preparation for conversion, the new birth, the syllogismus practicus, union with Christ, heaven, and hell. Fourth, the thesis has been written with the benefit of original sermon manuscripts rediscovered at King's College Library, Aberdeen, in July of 1993. The Aberdeen manuscripts have special importance because they are Boston's first sermons and include the announcement of his intention to preach the sermons which became the Fourfold State , thus giving new insight into the way those sermons were the product of his understanding of his calling as a preacher.
A biography of Archbishop Richard Neile (1562-1640)

This thesis provides a biography of a man whose importance in Church and State in the first half of the seventeenth century has never been fully appreciated. It is divided into eight sections, the first of which considers Neile's humble origins, education at Westminster and Cambridge, and patronage at the hands of the Cecil family and Archbishop Bancroft.
It was as Dean of Westminster that Neile's exceptional talents as an administrator first became generally apparent. It was also at this time that he won the affection of King James I - the decisive factor in Neile's elevation to the episcopate and rapid advancement through the dioceses of Rochester, Lichfield and Coventry, Lincoln and Durham. Attention is focused on Neile's role as a bishop and on factors behind his administrative success, such as his ability to select and train able subordinates - clergymen and civil lawyers alike.
Other chapters highlight more unusual facets of his career, such as his role as Lord Lieutenant of Durham County Palatine. Even his work in the House of Lords reveals wider interests than those normally expected of a bishop.
Discussion of Neile's religious beliefs contributes to our knowledge of English Arminianism. Neile emerges as the great patron of this party and the practical effects of his views can be seen in his work as a Privy Councillor and as a judge in the courts of Star Chamber and High Commission. The implementation of Arminian policies at Winchester and after his final appointment as Archbishop of York was one of the major causes of the English Civil War.
Geography and modernity : changing land, law, and life on Cranborne Chase in the nineteenth century

Cranborne Chase is distinctive not only for its predominantly rural landscape but also for its history as a hunting franchise. A vast expanse stretching into three counties - Dorset, Wiltshire, and Hampshire - it remained subject to premodern laws and land use patterns well into the modern period.
This thesis sets out to examine the interaction and changing relationships between land, law, and life both immediately preceding and immediately following the Chase's 1830 disfranchisement, itself the culmination of a forty years' 'disfranchisement debate' between Lord Rivers and his neighbours, known collectively as 'the proprietors'. At the heart of the debate were two seemingly incompatible views of property, one distinctly premodern and the other distinctly modern, and yet with some interesting parallels.
Lord Rivers sought to retain his franchise despite its being deemed an obstacle to innovation and improvement, a temptation towards crime, and a financial burden by the proprietors, whose own concerns were private profit and game preservation. His Lordship was keen to point out the social status and paternal feelings it engendered - its value was as much symbolic as financial - the local commoners being particular beneficiaries. In fact, in many ways, the preservation of deer promoted, rather than prevented, social unity and ecological stability.
The Chase was not without its problems, though. Not only did the deer destroy certain crops and prevent the cultivation of others, but they were also much sought-after by generations of deer stealers, many of whom stole to supply a lucrative black market. Documents relating to numerous and often lengthy legal proceedings provide an abundance of information about the Chase's management and protection, as well as an insight into local criminal and social patterns.
We will thus pursue three themes, or aspects, of the Chase's history, as well as their origins in, and implications for, its geography: firstly, land use and management; secondly, crime, particularly deer, game, and wood theft; and thirdly, hunting, including its cost, social significance, and modernisation. Many of these issues are discussed within their wider context, for although Cranborne Chase was in some ways very distinctive, it was also a prime example of national changes in law and lifestyle effecting local changes, with implications for both the land and its inhabitants.
The prediction of growth and wood quality parameters for plantation grown Pinus radiata D. Don. in New Zealand

Most of the wood harvested in New Zealand comes from plantations of the exotic species Pinus radiata D. Don. Because forest yield exceeds demand much of the expanding forest production is available for export. Analysis of the export potential for forest products has shown that wood quality will be important to market success. Yet there is concern that intrinsic properties will decline after 1985 with an inevitable reduction in rotation age.
This work develops parameters which link silviculture to the two most important intrinsic properties, wood density and tracheid length. Both of these properties vary more or less regularly with geographic region. Within individual trees values depend on wood-age (= rings from pith). The properties of a stand of trees can be assessed if volume per tree can be partitioned into wood age categories. The parameter suggested here as best indicating wood quality whilst also having relevance to silviculture is volume of mature-wood, that is volume of wood age greater than ten years.
A replicated spacing/thinning trial of 75, 0.06ha plots provided the data source. Models were developed to predict the wood quality parameter. Diameter growth is projected for a plot by means of an individual tree, distance dependent model based on multiple linear equations. Height is predicted from age and diameter by a system of homologous non-linear equations and volume per tree by a function of diameter squared and height. From diameter, height and age, mean wood age is predicted using a multiple linear equation and the distribution of volume by wood age is predicted using the Weibull function. The distribution is applied to each tree and totalled for the stand.
Comparing results at a fixed age for a wide range of silvicultural regimes reveals that silviculture has a greater influence on wood quality than hitherto believed.