VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Social explanations for ethnic differences in education

This thesis investigates how variations in individual social contexts account for the existence of ethnic differences in educational outcomes. Four questions are answered. First, how are school ethnic and poverty compositions associated with ethnic differences in educational progress? Second, how are individual and school cohort level religious attitudes and behaviours associated with ethnic differences in the likelihood of aspiring to university? Third, how are parenting behaviours and closed parental networks at the individual and school cohort levels associated with ethnic differences in positive schoolwork attitudes and behaviours? Fourth, how are variations in the duration of residence in England and in additional language use, at the individual and school cohort levels, associated with ethnic differences in English language proficiency?
English data from wave 1 of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Survey in Four European Countries (CILS4EU) and from the National Pupil Database (NPD) matched to the Pupil Level Annual School Census (PLASC) are used to answer these questions. Both datasets are used to analyse outcomes for a sample of the school cohort that turned 14 in the academic year 2009/10.
The key findings are as follows. First, increases in school ethnic minority density are associated with increased progress; increases in school average poverty are associated with decreased progress. Second, individual level religiosity is positively associated with university aspirations, but cohort level religiosity has no association. Third, positive parenting behaviours are associated with improved schoolwork attitudes, whilst parental closure has positive effects at the individual level but not at the cohort level. Fourth, the duration of residence in England is a positive predictor of English language proficiency, whilst there is no effect of using an additional language. This thesis addresses a highly relevant social issue from a novel perspective, and has important implications for both policy and future research on this topic.

Keywords: education
UK
youth
contextual effects
children
ethnicity
Advisor: Heath, A
Continuity and change in international institutions: the case of the United Nations environment regime

Analysts have had a long fascination with moments of significant change and discontinuity in political relations. Studies of “exogenous shocks,” “critical junctures,” “historical events,” “policy windows,” and “punctuated equilibria” have occupied a prominent place in qualitative assessments of policy and institutional change. Yet, despite analysts’ interest, these turning points remain poorly understood. Leading theoretical treatments are overwhelmingly descriptive, offering little in the way of explanatory capacity.
Introducing the concept of Temporal Focal Points, my thesis provides a temporal extension to Thomas C. Schelling’s focal point hypothesis. Temporal Focal Points—definite, exceptional phases along the temporal continuum—precipitate a convergence of expectations among actors in time that heightens the likelihood of agreement. Convergent expectations are a crucial means of overcoming temporal coordination problems among actors. By facilitating a spike in analytical activity, political entrepreneurship, and bargaining intensity, actors are able realize joint gains opened up by past shifts in key parameters. Prominent temporal signposts allow actors to recognize that existing institutional arrangements are not an equilibrium. I test the plausibility of this theory through an analysis of the record of change at four distinct phases of the history of the United Nations environment regime from 1962-1992, including the 1972 Stockholm conference, the 1982 Nairobi conference, the UN General Assembly’s response to the Brundtland report, and the 1992 Rio Earth Summit.

Keywords: Brundtland commission
international institutions
global environmental governance
Stockholm conference
Rio earth summit
Advisor: Snidal, D
Cross-modal matching in first school children

This research examines how cross-modal and within-modal matching differ. Three broad classes of difference are considered, that crossmodal matching requires (a) "translation" between modality-specific stores or (b) "transformation" of information when different information is available through each modality or (c) transformation, whatever the information available through each modality, owing to differences in encoding strategy.
Visual-kinaesthetic matching of the end-point of lever movements has been investigated. It is argued that adult cross-modal performance depends on information and strategy, not directly on modality. Results with children have been less clear, experiments were therefore undertaken, with subjects aged 6-9 years. The hypothesis was that childrens' performance also would be determined by available information, and strategy.
With information differences eliminated, modality conditions did not differ in within-subject variability, with up to 20 second unfilled retention intervals.
With visual information enhanced by background cues and emphasis of the body midline, visual matching was superior to kinaesthetic, and within-modal was superior to cross-modal matching. These differences disappeared with practice, together with coding relative to the midline in the cross-modal conditions. Midline-relative coding was the norm with the midline emphasised, and without background cues.
With or without variability differences, VV did not differ from KK in bias, but KV resulted in greater overshooting, VK greater undershooting. The most likely explanation is resistance to movement when perception is kinaesthetic, causing overestimation of distance moved.
Consideration of the information normally available to subjects, generated the hypothesis that temporal and spatial parameters should interact more with kinaesthetic than with visual perception. This was supported, since movement velocity biased only kinaesthetic judgements.
It is concluded that matching performance depends on the information encoded and used as the basis of matching, which depends on strategy; strategy depends on information (a) available during stimulus presentation, (b) normally available in each modality, (c) which it is anticipated will be available during response.

Advisor: Millar, S
Search orders and Anton Piller relief: past, present, and future

The need to tackle infringement of intellectual property rights prompted judges to develop a remedy that allowed rightholders to enter the infringers’ premises for the purpose of retrieving and preserving evidence. This remedy was called the ‘Anton Piller’ order, after the first case that allowed it in a higher court. Very soon, this remedy became popular and started being used as a means to obtain evidence in many different types of proceedings outside of the scope of intellectual property (IP) and in other common law jurisdictions which followed the English practice. It then received a statutory form under the Civil Procedure Act 1997 and was renamed a ‘search order’ by CPR 25.1(1)(h). In general, such an order is available to an applicant who has a cause of action against another person in possession of vital evidence which substantiates the applicant’s cause of action, and there is good reason to assume that such evidence may be destroyed if the other person becomes aware of any legal action against him. Nevertheless, the order has been notoriously known for its oppressive nature, and was in fact characterised by Donaldson LJ in Bank Mellat v Nikpour as one of the law’s two nuclear weapons, the other one being the Mareva injunction. This thesis first discusses the basic features and origin of the Anton Piller jurisdiction. It then examines the conditions to be satisfied for a search order to be granted under the current legal framework in England and Wales, and asks whether these conditions are adequate for the protection of the parties. Emphasis is also given to the execution of a search order, which is another very controversial issue.

Keywords: search order
Anton Piller order
Advisor: Zuckerman, A
Utility and limitations of cardiac tissue slices for the study of cardiac electrophysiology 

Cardiac tissue slices, a rarely used pseudo two-dimensional preparation, have gained increasing popularity for applications such as drug testing over the last ten years as they combine ease of handling with patho-physiologically relevant cell-type representation, distribution and inter-connection.
The most well-established methods to measure electrophysiology in cardiac tissue are sharp electrodes and multi-electrode-arrays, techniques which are limited in spatial resolution or signal content. In this work, we have applied dual voltage Ca2+ optical mapping on cardiac slices, allowing us to record these two key parameters simultaneously at high spatio-temporal resolution, yielding better visualisation of conduction waves, spatial dispersion in action potential (AP) characteristics, and intracellular Ca2+ transient (CaT). The slice preparation method and the measurement protocols were refined to yield good reproducibility. Data analysis routines were developed to extract relevant parameters reliably.
Despite being a promising candidate for drug testing, little is known about how slice and intact whole-heart AP properties are interrelated, and how to scale-up from observations in two dimensions (2D) to the three dimensional (3D) heart. In this thesis, we present a method to compare directly AP properties of intact whole-heart and tissue slices, and show the extent to which slices preserve AP characteristics.
We have explored the suitability of tissue slices as an experimental model to study stretch induced changes in AP and CaT. During axial stretch, a dynamic profile of both AP and CaT was observed with an initial shortening of both AP and CaT duration, followed by a gradual recovery/prolongation.
We have also used tissue slices to study spatial heterogeneity of AP and CaT properties in the rabbit left ventricular free wall. A transmural gradient can be captured in CaT and AP (with the longest APD and CaT durations being captured in the subendocardium). No large AP prolongation was found in the mid-myocardium.
We conclude that the cardiac tissue slice preparation preserves some key functional parameters of the whole heart and is a promising model to study cardiac electrophysiology.

Keywords: Cardiac Electrophysiology
Intracellular Calcium Transient
Cardiac Slices
Optical Mapping
Advisor: Gavaghan, D
Mirams, G
Kohl, P
Deterrence and counterproliferation in an age of weapons of mass destruction

Faced with America's conventional military superiority, many countries are turning to weapons of mass destruction as a means to deter U.S. intervention in their affairs. At the same time, 11 September 2001 awakened the United States to a degree of vulnerability it had never experienced before, making it increasingly unwilling to tolerate such weapons in the hands of unstable and unpredictable regimes, particularly those with connections to terrorist organizations. These twin fears of American encroachment and American vulnerability create a modern security dilemma, forming a vicious cycle of insecurity that challenge straditional notions of deterrence. It is unquestionable that the United States possesses the strategic capabilities to retaliate with devastating effect to any attack, but regional asymmetries of interest may tip the scales of brinksmanship in favor of potential adversaries, thereby dissuading American involvement in responding to global security threats. While this might be a welcome change to some, the United States is developing Counter proliferation options to prevent, protect against, or destroy threatening weapons reserving the right to use preemptive force in order to retain freedom of action abroad and protect the homeland. This is a worthwhile objective, but deterrence will never be guaranteed by American strength, and unprovoked wars of disarmament will inevitably spark yet further proliferation and hatred toward the United States. Ultimately, the only reliable road to peace lies in nurturing and broadening friendly relations with nations that share the goal of destroying the threat posed by catastrophic weapons of mass murder and terror.

Advisor: Khong, Y
Absolute distance metrology using frequency swept lasers

This thesis describes and evaluates two new interferometric distance measurement methods based upon the well known method of Frequency Scanning Interferometry (FSI). These new methods are known as Dynamic FSI and Cascaded FSI.
Dynamic FSI addresses the two problems, commonly seen in previous FSI implementations, of not being able to measure a moving target and having a slow measurement rate. This method measures stationary and moving targets equally well, and can determine the distance to the target at all times during the measurement, in contrast to previous methods, which obtain only a single measured length from a measurement process which can take up to a second to make.
Cascaded FSI was developed with the aim of increasing the accuracy and precision of FSI. This method allows for measurements with precision equal to that of displacement interferometry, and also provides a way of measuring length relative to the frequencies of atomic absorption lines, which are inherently more stable length references than a physical length artefact.

Keywords: dimensional metrology
metrology
interferometry
Advisor: Urner, D
Reichold, A
Calculus of variations and its application to liquid crystals

The thesis concerns the mathematical study of the calculus of variations and its application to liquid crystals.Throughout the thesis we will be looking to minimise integral functionals of the form
I(n) = ∫Ω F(x,n,∇n)dx.
In the first chapter we examine vectorial problems in the calculus of variations with an additional pointwise constraint so that any admissible function n ε W1,1(ΩM), and M is a manifold of suitable regularity. We formulate necessary and sufficient conditions for any given state n to be a strong or weak local minimiser of I. This is achieved using a nearest point projection mapping in order to use the more classical results which apply in the absence of a constraint. In the subsequent chapters we study various static continuum theories of liquid crystals. More specifically we look to explain a particular cholesteric fingerprint pattern observed by HP Labs. We begin in Chapter 2 by focusing on a specific cholesteric liquid crystal problem using the theory originally derived by Oseen and Frank. We find the global minimisers for general elastic constants amongst admissible functions which only depend on a single variable. Using the one-constant approximation for the Oseen-Frank free energy, we then show that these states are global minimisers of the three-dimensional problem if the pitch of the cholesteric liquid crystal is sufficiently long. Chapter 3 concerns the application of the results from the first chapter to the situations investigated in the second. The local stability of the one-dimensional states are quantified, analytically and numerically, and in doing so we unearth potential shortcomings of the classical Oseen-Frank theory.
In Chapter 4, we ascertain some equivalence results between the continuum theories of Oseen and Frank, Ericksen, and Landau and de Gennes. We do so by proving lifting results, building on the work of Ball and Zarnescu, which relate the regularity of line and vector fields. The results prove to be interesting as they show that for a director theory to respect the head to tail symmetry of the liquid crystal molecules, the appropriate function space for the director field is S BV2 (Ω,𝕊2). We take this idea and in the final chapter we propose a mathematical model of liquid crystals based upon the Oseen-Frank free energy but using special functions of bounded variation. We establish the existence of a minimiser, forms of the Euler-Lagrange equation, and find solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equation in some simple cases. Finally we use our proposed model to re-examine the same problems from Chapter 2. By doing so we extend the analysis we were able to achieve using Sobolev spaces and predict the existence of multi-dimensional minimisers consistent with the known experimental properties of high-chirality cholesteric liquid crystals.

Keywords: Modelling
Calculus
Cholesteric
Variations
Crystal
Bounded
Variation
Liquid
Advisor: Ball, J
Buying a balance: The 'individual-collective' and the commercial new age practices of yoga and Sufi dance

The individual's experience of inner authority takes centre stage in the majority of scholarship on New Ageism, with many writers highlighting this theme as a defnitive characteristic of the spiritual culture. The aim of this thesis is to explore this topic and to ascertain the place of the individual and the collective within two commercial New Age feld sites in London. The qualitative data which lead this investigation were collected from a yoga centre called Shanti and a Suf dance organisation called the Suf Order. From this data, the thesis identifes an individual-collective dialectic, one which manifests in particular forms and with divergent orientations; the result is a multiplicity of types of individualisms which include collective forces. The study makes the case for this argument by focusing on four modes in which, at both sites, the individual and the collective co-produce each other. One, the (collective) class culture of the practitioners informs and is informed by the (individual) ideologies of self that the informants assert. Two, the (collective) capitalist context of the organisations infuence and are perpetuated by the ways the (individual) representatives of those organisations express themselves. Three, (collective) shared principles regarding 'positivity' and 'energy' enforce and are sustained by the (individual) feelings of the student. Four, the (collective) communities of practitioners depend on and contribute to the (individual) set apart status of the teacher. These four manifestations of the individual-collective dynamic appear with different orientations in each feld context; in all versions and in both settings, individual and collective are both present and mutually- constituting forces, but at Shanti the dialectics lean more towards the personal and at the Suf Order, the 'same' dialectics lean more towards the social. Each organisation refects and adds to the intersections, both in their forms and their orientations. In so doing, the two New Age centres present divergent balances of the individual-collective dynamic that correlate with the personal and social dispositions of their respective student bodies.

Keywords: practice
dance
Yoga
Sufi
commercialisation
collectivism
Spirituality
New Age
individualism
Sufism
commodification
Individual
Collective
Advisor: Hausner, S
Control, ideology and identity in civil war: the Angolan Central Highlands 1965-2002

This thesis examines the relationship between political movements and people during the civil war between Angola’s MPLA government and the UNITA rebels in the Central Highlands region. It shows how conflicting ideas about political legitimacy originating in anticolonial struggle informed leaders’ decisions and formed the basis of their efforts to politicise people.
Much existing literature sees civil conflict in terms of rebellion against a state, motivated by grievance or by the desire for loot. I argue against such an approach in the Angolan case, since the MPLA and UNITA originated from different strands of nationalism, and neither achieved complete control over Angola’s territory and people. Instead, I draw on constructivist approaches to statehood in analysing the war as a contest in which both sides invoked ideas of the state in asserting their legitimacy.
The MPLA state controlled the cities while UNITA established rural bases and a bush capital, Jamba. Violence, often involving the capture of people, occurred at the margins of the areas of influence. Within each zone, each movement controlled public discourse to make its control hegemonic. Each presented itself as the authentic representative of the Angolan nation and condemned the other movement as the agent of foreign interests. These nationalist claims were given substance by processes of state building, more fully realised by the MPLA than by UNITA. Each movement’s claim to statehood served to legitimise its own violence while criminalising the violence of the other side.
Public dissent was prohibited in either zone, but people’s responses to politicisation ranged from genuine support, to co-operating only as necessary to avoid punishment, depending largely on their degree of involvement in the state building process. War itself was central to constituting perceptions of common interest, and political actors’ capacity to manipulate perceptions depended largely on military control.

Keywords: MPLA
politics
Angola
civil war
UNITA
political identity
Africa
Advisor: Alexander, J
Soares de Oliveira, R
Iterative methods for roots of polynomials

We describe iterative methods for polynomial zero finding and, specifically, the Laguerre method and how it is used in the NAG subroutine C02AFF. We also investigate a bug that has been in this subroutine for ten years. In chapter two, we give a brief survey of some zero finding methods. These include Bairstow's method, Bernoulli's method, Graeffe's root-squaring method, Müller's method, the Newton-Raphson method and the Jenkins-Traub and Laguerre methods. In chapter three, we look at the Laguerre method as used in C02AFF in further detail, describe the behaviour of the bug and how the problem has been solved. We also describe general tests for zero finding algorithms and results of comparisons between NAG's C02AFF and other zero finding programs. Chapter 4 involves comparisons of C02AFF with other methods and a note on error bounds. Finally, we make our proposals and conclusions in chapter 5.
An army crossing a one-log bridge

This thesis studies the place of English in middle school students' educational experiences in China by describing students' encounters with English and their experiences of English learning in both the formal and the informal situations. Observations, semi-structured oral and written interviews are conducted to investigate students' perceptions of English and their reflections on English learning. Open-ended surveys are used to explore the interactions between students' learning experiences and their life aspirations. The study seeks to identify important themes in English learning in China, and in particular, how students' reflections influence their learning and how their experiences shape their perceptions. It attempts to interpret the meaning of English learning at the public and private levels and to examine the convergence and conflict of learning needs and teaching agenda. To encourage the learner perspective in students' own voice in the discourse of English language teaching, the study heavily draws on students' personal statements. The study identified the quantification of education through examination and the mediation of English in changing ideas and shaping identity as two important themes in the learning of English language in China. While students' perception of English as a tool appears highly instrumental in nature, their motivation of learning for self-improvement reflects the dominant belief in science and technology in China. Such contradictions contribute to the situation in which formal learning organised according to the public agenda for national modernisation does not always meet students' individual needs for personal improvement. In addition, learner autonomy emerged as a crucial factor in making English learning a personally engaging and enriching experience. The study confirmed the importance of self-reflection on English learning by learners and all those concerned with English learning.

Advisor: Davies, C