VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
General Dental Practitioners’ knowledge encounters: how do dentists build their knowledge-in-practice?

Evidence-based practice suggested that, to deliver good clinical care, clinicians should consult up to date clinical research whilst drawing on their own expertise and experience and the values and aspirations of patients. Despite there being a large interest in generating more robust research evidence and finding ways to disseminate it, there has been relatively little research interest in the moment-to-moment practice it is intended to be incorporated into. John Gabbay and Andrée Le May theorised that the work of good general practitioners was guided by internal, tacit, socially reinforced mindlines. The organisational literature developed concepts of practice as a provisional, ephemeral and socio-material accomplishment. This thesis was inspired by these works to explore the complexity of knowing and interaction when practising as a healthcare professional and, specifically, as a general dental practitioner. It reviews the development of the concept of practice before reporting on three studies: a mixed studies systematic review of how healthcare professionals encounter information and experiences; a mixed methods study of the sources of information and experience GDPs use; and a video-ethnographic study of how knowing in practice arises in clinical encounters in general dental practice. Together, these studies show how knowing in practice arises as GDPs, patients, nurses and things interact in time and space; how the GDPs’ performances in these practices are generated from their embodied and in-the-moment knowing; and how diverse the sources of knowing are that healthcare professionals interact with in developing their ostensive and performative knowing. The thesis discusses the implications of taking a more practice-orientated approach to how we think about quality improvement in general dental practice and professional learning generally.

Keywords: Systematic review
Video ethnography
Qualitative
Interviews
General Dental Practice
Faceted classification
Bliss Bibliographic Classification
Practice knowledge
Dentistry
Mixed methods
knowing in practice
Observation
Advisor: Greenhalgh, T
Mickan, S
Richards, D
Border contagion: transit migration from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic c. 1860-1914

My thesis looks at transit migration from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. I follow the development of both the legal and illegal trade in order to account for the persistence of clandestine flows despite the liberalisation of emigration, with the removal of bans on exit in emigration countries and the transition to the bureaucratic regulation of migration flows. This includes examining not only the causes behind clandestine migration, but also the ways in which clandestinity was legislated for, policed, classified and ultimately archived. Documentary checks on identity are thus considered alongside migration laws, the policing of emigration agents, the regulation of the hospitality industry in ports of transits, controls at embarkation and sanitary policy. Its chronology extends from the beginning of mass transatlantic migration from the Mediterranean, starting in the 1870s and 1880s, until the outbreak of World War One, which saw a sudden decrease in migration from Europe (including the Mediterranean) to the Americas and the hardening of migration controls in both countries of origin and arrival for the purpose of conscription and defence. This time arc was punctuated by various crises in migration control, resulting from a number of factors, such as disease epidemics or the feverish spread of propaganda. Although the thesis takes a comparative and interactionist approach to Mediterranean transit flows, ranging from the Ottoman empire and Greece in the east to the Levant in the south and Italy in the west, it focuses primarily on the ‘western transit corridor’ that linked the port cities of Beirut, Naples and Marseilles.

Keywords: Border controls
Transit migration
Mediterranean
Transatlantic migration
Borders
Advisor: Darwin, J
The political economy of institutions in Africa: Comparing authoritarian parties and parliaments in Tanzania and Uganda

This thesis presents an original theory of authoritarian party and legislative institutions in Africa, tracing their trajectories from an early period of regime consolidation through subsequent episodes of socio-economic and institutional change.
Contra a dominant rational choice literature on authoritarian institutions, as well as an Africanist analysis of “neo-patrimonialism”, I demonstrate how institutional variation reflects differences in the underlying distribution of power across African regimes. I argue, first, that variation in legislative strength and assertiveness is a function of the institutional strength and cohesion of ruling parties. The institutional make-up of these parties varies, in turn, depending on the early strategies of “politicized accumulation” and patronage distribution deployed by authoritarian leaders, as well as subsequent patterns of economic change. The legislature remains more marginal and subservient where authoritarian leaders work to centralise wealth accumulation, control patronage distribution and build up party institutions to channel and constrain elite contestation. By contrast, parliaments assert themselves where more diffuse patterns of accumulation fuel patron-client factionalism, undermine party cohesion and turn the legislature into an arena for intra-elite bargaining.
Beyond analysing when and how parliaments strengthen, I also reassess the significance of a more assertive legislature, particularly its implications for distributive outcomes. My explanation of institutional variation yields fresh insights regarding whose interests a stronger legislature is likely to represent. Once we appreciate the role of elite contestation in driving legislative activity, it follows that parliamentary interventions tend to serve elite interests, reinforcing an existing wealth inequality.
To demonstrate this argument, I use a combination of within- and cross-case analysis, drawing primarily on the Tanzanian and Ugandan cases with further reference to Kenya and Rwanda. I adopt a process tracing methodology to assess the validity of my causal argument and, for evidence, rely primarily on qualitative data drawn from elite interviews, archival work and observation of relevant party and legislative meetings.

Advisor: Cheeseman, N
An investigation of relaxor ferromagnets

Q–dependent diffuse scattering was observed at low angles in a neutron diffraction experiment performed on the relaxor ferromagnet La3Ni2SbO9 using a spin–polarised beam. The nuclear component could be modelled using direct Monte–Carlo methods if it was assumed that short (~5.5 Å) Sb–Sb contacts were energetically disfavoured. The magnetic component of the diffuse scattering at 110 K (TC = 108 K) was analysed using both direct and reverse Monte–Carlo techniques. When antiferromagnetic nearest–neighbour coupling was assumed to be dominant in this perovskite, second neighbour coupling was found to be weak but non–zero with third–neighbour coupling being negligible. The short–range structural and magnetic orderings were found to have correlation lengths of 15 and 9 Å, respectively.
The consequences of replacing d10 Sb5+ by d0 pentavalent cations were investigated; all the compounds reported are isostructural with La3Ni2SbO9. La3Ni2TaO9 was found to be a relaxor ferromagnet but La3Ni2NbO9 behaved as a spin glass below 35 K. Solid solutions La3Ni2SbxTayNb1–x–yO9 were synthesised and characterised. It was again shown that the relaxor behaviour is incompatible with the presence of Nb5+ in the system. In contrast, doping La3Ni2B’O9 (B’ = Sb, Ta or Nb) with Cu2+ cations was found to increase TC and the bulk magnetisation. For example, La3Ni1.75Cu0.25NbO9 exhibits ferrimagnetic behaviour below ~90 K with the development of long–range G–type magnetic ordering. It is proposed that relaxor regions and long–range ordered regions coexist in this system.
The sensitivity of cation ordering, and hence magnetic behaviour, to the charge difference between Ni2+ and the diamagnetic six–coordinate cation was studied by replacing Sb5+ by Te6+ or W6+. Electron microscopy revealed a significant level of cation disorder in a severely–twinned sample of SrLa2Ni2TeO9; spin–glass and antiferromagnetic phases coexist below 35 K. The Ni2+ cations in CaLn2Ni2WO9 (Ln = La, Pr or Nd) form a spin glass, although the behaviour of each composition reflects the magnetic properties of Ln3+.

Keywords: Magnetism
Solid-state Chemistry
Advisor: Battle, P
Automated analysis of system-wide malware propagation

In contrast to most benign applications, malware infects its host system. It does so via system-wide execution by injecting code into otherwise benign applications, executing via code-reuse attacks, dynamically generating code and much more. These unconventional, albeit perfectly valid, execution paradigms are used for evasion and obfuscation tactics and pose significant problems to automatic malware analysis environments.
In this thesis, we investigate the problem of system-wide malware execution. We focus on building general and precise techniques to analyse malware that execute throughout the entire system. To demonstrate our techniques, we implement them as part of a malware analysis system called Minerva. We use Minerva to perform extensive empirical studies based on synthetic benchmarks that explore corner-case behaviours as well as real-world malware samples collected from the wild.
The core idea behind our techniques is to analyse system-wide malware execution with a bottom-up approach. To this end, we develop a fundamental technique for capturing the system-wide execution trace of a given malware sample that is independent of the techniques malware use to propagate through the system. We then incrementally build abstractions upon this trace to identify code injections, malware droppers, code-reuse attacks, packed malware and more.
In the final part of our thesis, we extend Minerva with several capabilities to perform large-scale studies. We use these features to characterise system-wide malware propagation at large and extract many interesting high-level views on malware based on our precise and general analysis.

Keywords: Program analysis
Security
Taint analysis
Malware
Reverse engineering
Advisor: Roscoe, B
O’Halloran, C
Ricci flow in Milnor frames

In this work, we are going to find sufficient conditions on the initial metric on some 4-dimensional manifolds foliated by homogeneous S3 for a Type I singularity to occur when it is flowed under the Ricci flow. This work generalises the study on rotationally symmetric manifolds done by Angenent and Isenberg as well as the work of Isenberg, Knopf, and Sesum, in which they introduced some ansatz for the problem setup. In the latter study, a global frame for the tangent bundle called the Milnor frame was used to set up the problem. We begin with some discussions on the symmetries of the manifold and its ansatz metric derived from Lie groups as well as the global tangent bundle frame developed by Milnor. The curvature quantities and the Ricci flow equation of this ansatz metric will then be explicitly computed. Numerical simulations of the Ricci flow on these manifolds are done, which provides insight and conjectures for the main problems. Some analytic results will be proven for the manifolds S1xS3 and S4 using maximum principles from parabolic PDE theory and sufficiency conditions for a neckpinch singularity will be provided. Finally, a problem from general relativity with similar metric symmetries but endowed on manifolds homeomorphic to CPM2\B4 and B4 will be discussed, which will provide a possible direction for future work.

Keywords: Partial differential equations
Geometric flows
Advisor: Dancer, A
Steppe and local identities on the frontier of the state and empire of Qin during the 7th to 3rd centuries BC

This thesis studies group identities among inhabitants of the western frontiers of the State and Empire of Qin during the 7th to 3rd centuries BC. The inhabitants are known to us through the Chinese historical records and their tombs found in eastern Gansu Province and southern Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, People’s Republic of China. Based on descriptions in Chinese historical records, it has generally been believed that the inhabitants were conquered and assimilated by the Zhou (1045–221 BC) and Qin (221–206 BC) Dynasties, a process represented by, for example, the wheeled vehicles and ritual vessels found in their tombs. This thesis offers a new reading of the inhabitants’ identities, arguing that they retained distinctive local identity that was closely related to others expressed by people living in the Eurasian steppe, as a way to cope with the difficult geopolitical situation. Meanwhile, the inhabitants served the Qin State and Empire as mercenaries rather than subjects. This is demonstrated through analysis of the Chinese historical sources and a contextual approach to archaeological remains. The textual analysis is used to highlight the usefulness of available historical texts in understanding the period. On this basis, similarities and variations between the material remains of the inhabitants of eastern Gansu, southern Ningxia, and the steppe people are established. The analysis also contextualises Zhou and Qin type weapons and ritual vessels that have been discovered in the tombs. These artefacts reveal the role inhabitants of eastern Gansu and southern Ningxia played as Qin mercenaries. The discussion incorporates identification of steppe, Achaemenid, and Hellenistic traits in the material assemblage that are suggested to have been transmitted to Qin through this border region, showing reciprocal relationships between the two groups. In addition to presenting an alternative approach to understanding identities on the western frontier of Qin during the 7th to 3rd centuries BC, this thesis redraws the political map of the region.

Advisor: Rawson, J
Hein, A
Secession and EU law

Secession is a live issue in today’s Western Europe. In the last years, we have witnessed the failure of two pro-independence attempts in Scotland and Catalonia. In the near future, we might see their re-emergence, or the rise of other pro-secession movements in other European regions. The response of the EU institutions to secession within EU Member States may well be based mainly on political considerations. However, since the EU is a community of law based on the Rule of Law, it has also to justify its position with normative arguments of principle. This thesis aims to provide such normative support. The intention is to offer legal reflection that goes beyond a case-specific approach, which could be of relevance to any EU Member State.
The main research question of this thesis is the following: how should EU law respond to secessionist attempts within EU Member States? The central claim of the thesis, based on Article 4 (2) TEU, is that the EU duty to respect national identity and fundamental constitutional structures generates obligations in the context of secession to respect Member States constitutional orders, provided that the values enshrined in Article 2 TEU are not violated by the Member State affected. The thesis draws on a pluralist reading of the relation between EU law and national law, to support the conclusion that EU law should respect domestic constitutional orders, with the consequence that if domestic law considers that secession is unlawful (based on the legal criteria established by each EU Member State constitutional legal order), EU law should respect that position by not recognizing the statehood of the secessionist entity. If, on the contrary, the domestic legal order has authorized the secessionist attempt, EU law should respect that outcome by recognizing the new entity as a sovereign State and by entering negotiations in good faith. This means, in effect, that the features of the secession determine the different types of EU responses.

Advisor: Craig, P
Towards optical Raman quantum memories with colour centres in diamond

Quantum memories are a key technology enabling arbitrarily-scalable optical quantum information processing architectures via active synchronisation and multiplexing of quantum information. Optically active confined impurities, called colour centres, in a spin-free and highly transparent diamond host material are promising systems to realise such devices in the solid-state, suitable for integration in a scalable guided-wave on-chip photonic platform.
In this thesis, the transition from optical Raman quantum memories in atomic vapours to solid-state systems is prepared, exploring two diamond-based systems:
On the basis of ensembles of neutrally charged nitrogen vacancy centres, desirable properties and criteria of solid-state systems used for optical quantum memories are developed. These include non-vanishing off-resonant Raman coupling, variable acceptance bandwidth for broadband pulses and cross-linear polarised optical transitions to prevent the generation of noise during the Raman memory protocol, which have been realised experimentally by applying external uniaxial stress to the system. However, attempts to measure the very short orbital ground state lifetime affirmed unfavourable theoretical estimations, rendering this centre unsuitable for memory applications.
As a potential alternative, the negatively charged silicon vacancy centre has been investigated, which offers a large ground state splitting with extended life and coherence times and narrow inhomogeneous spectral lines due to its inversion symmetry. In an ensemble of silicon vacancy centres, the ground state lifetime is measured and coherent manipulation via resonant Ramsey interference and Hahn echo is demonstrated. In a second step, off-resonant two-photon transitions are achieved implementing stimulated Raman adiabatic passage between the orbital ground states. Finally, strong light-matter interaction of a weak signal field with the ensemble via phase-sensitive four-wave mixing is shown forming the basis for integrated Raman-based memories and single photon nonlinearities in ensembles of silicon vacancy centres and closely related defects.

Advisor: Nunn, J
Walmsley, I
Home data security decisions

The most common solution to securing data in the home remains increased awareness. However, studies and increasing numbers of cyberattacks targeting the home point to very limited success of this intervention. Awareness campaigns can lead to information overload, do not impart security skills, implicitly assume that every home user is an administrator, and are largely ignorant of the specific context of the user. Unfortunately, little research has been done to understand the home user, the home context, and related security practices in order to inform the design of appropriate security interventions. A more grounded understanding of the home and security practices therein is required to address this gap.
The research presented in this dissertation focuses on understanding security practices in the home, and how they can inform the design of appropriate security technology to support such practices. The work was conducted in three steps: (a) empirical exploration of security support behaviours and factors that influence the outcome of security decisions in the home through 65 semi-structured interviews followed by a survey of 1128 UK participants; (b) development of a framework to guide the design of security technology for the home; and (c) a case study demonstrating applicability of the framework to the design of a network security toolkit for the home.
Grounded Theory was applied to analyse data from the interviews focussing on understanding security support behaviours. Thematic Analysis was also used to analyse the interview data to identify important concepts for understanding the security context in the home and factors that influence security decisions. Data from the survey was analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics to validate the previous qualitative results. Key findings include evidence of: (1) social networks serving as informal support networks in home security; (2) perceived competence being used to evaluate the quality of security support sources and work; and (3) visibility of harm influencing security decisions.
From this research, we propose the Home-Appropriate Network and Digital Security (HANDS) framework: a data-driven descriptive framework that enables designers of home technology to ground their design decisions in relevant contextual information. We demonstrate its application in a Case Study designing a network security toolkit for the home. The design was evaluated through 4 focus groups of 3 participants each, followed by a survey involving 616 UK participants. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data from the focus groups, while descriptive and inferential statistics were applied to analyse the quantitative data.

Keywords: Security design
Security
Decision making
Security behaviour
Usable security
Grounded Theory
Advisor: Flechais, I
A study of stellar populations in the last 5 billion years using Integral Field Spectroscopy

In this thesis, I study the properties of quiescent and star-forming galaxies with integral field spectroscopy. The study of quiescent galaxies focuses on inferring the low-mass end of the stellar initial mass function (IMF). To accomplish this, we make spatially resolved measurements of a number of “gravity-sensitive” absorption features in the spectra of three nearby early-type galaxies. These vary in strength between otherwise identical (low-mass) dwarf and giant stars, allowing for measurement of the dwarf-to-giant ratio and hence the low-mass IMF.
In NGC 1277 and IC 843, I use the Oxford SWIFT instrument to study the variation of these features as a function of radius. I find strong gradients in NaI0.82 absorption but flat FeH0.99 profiles in both cases, although the data cannot distinguish between chemical abundance gradients or a gradient in the IMF being the cause. I then fit models to the integrated spectrum of each galaxy, finding an IMF slope of x = 2.27±0.17 IC 843 and x = 2.69±0.11 in NGC 1277. Next, I use MUSE to make quantitative inferences about an IMF gradient in NGC 1399. I use full spectral fitting in 18 annular bins to measure a super-Salpeter IMF slope in the galaxy’s centre, which is radially constant out to 0.7 effective radii before becoming consistent with a Milky-Way IMF at Re. These findings add weight to the theory of a two-stage formation process for massive elliptical galaxies.
I then introduce K-CLASH, which uses KMOS to observe star-forming galaxies in four galaxy clusters from the CLASH survey. I describe the observations, data reduction and analysis process, and present a novel probabilistic method of determining whether a target resides in a cluster or field environment. I compare and contrast the properties of field and cluster galaxies, finding that the cluster sample follow a star-formation rate “Main Sequence” relation which is offset to smaller SFR by 0.18 dex. Furthermore, I measure the size of galaxies in optical light and Hα emission and find the average ratio r50Hα/r50Rc to be significantly smaller in cluster galaxies than in the field comparison sample. I find no significant differences in ISM conditions. These observations are evidence for environmental reduction of star-formation, al- though deeper observations are required to discriminate between a global effect (due to ISM heating) or outside-in processes (such as ram-pressure stripping).

Keywords: Integral Field Spectrogphy
Galaxy Quenching
Initial Mass Function
Galaxy Formatiom
Galaxy Evolution
Galaxy Environment
Stellar Populations
Advisor: Davies, R