VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Making cultures count: transforming indigenous health data in Australia

To date, national statistics have placed Indigenous Australians and their health in constant comparison with non-Indigenous Australians. This has generated a deficit discourse, reinforcing the notion of an ‘Indigenous problem’ in Australian society. In response, Indigenous and non-Indigenous health researchers have worked together to build momentum for ‘strengths-based’ research approaches, advocating for the positive influence which Indigenous cultures have on health outcomes, and the need to quantify this relationship at the population level to challenge the deficit discourse. This thesis focuses on the development of the first national survey to measure this relationship, designed and owned by Indigenous Australians — the Mayi Kuwayu National Study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing. Using an Indigenist research approach, this thesis navigates the influence of social, political, and historical factors on the development of the Mayi Kuwayu Study’s methodology and survey structure. It draws on multi-sited observations of focus groups across Australia and interviews with its key researchers and Indigenous community stakeholders conducted between May 2017 and November 2018.
This thesis shows that the Mayi Kuwayu Study researchers strategically mobilised the concept of culture within their epidemiological framework. The focus groups they conducted with Indigenous community members helped to establish the credibility and validity of the metrics used in their survey. The Indigeneity of the researchers and stakeholders was seen to mediate this operational translation of culture from its lived experience. I found that the Indigenous leadership and ownership of the study altered the epidemiological research process and enhanced its potential to produce meaningful data, empowering Indigenous Australian communities and decolonising the wider Indigenous health narrative. While the survey’s ability to ‘save’ culture was limited, it was able to maintain a sensitivity to cultural diversity, and demonstrated that cultural determinants of health is a promising, strengths-based framework for large-scale epidemiological research.

Keywords: Indigenous methodologies
Wellbeing
Indigenous Australians
Cultural determinants of health
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
Advisor: Ulijaszek, S
Exploring subspace-constrained approaches to low-rank fMRI acceleration

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a medical imaging technique that measures brain activity non-invasively. One of the fundamental quandaries in fMRI is the balance that must be struck between spatial fidelity and temporal resolution. An increase in sampling efficiency could improve either or both of these metrics, allowing images to be created from fewer data points than would otherwise be required. This process is referred to as acceleration.
Some degree of acceleration is already standard in fMRI scans. The most common acceleration methods are parallel imaging methods, which utilise the spatial sensitivity profiles of the receiver coils in order to separate the aliased artefacts that result from using fewer data to create each image. However, there are other mathematical properties which can also be incorporated into the reconstruction process in order to allow a higher degree of acceleration.
One such property is the inherently low-rank nature of fMRI data, which was introduced by Chiew et al. in 2015 as the k-t FASTER method (fMRI Accelerated in Space-Time via Truncation of Effective Rank). The authors also demonstrated in 2016 that the low-rank information could be combined with the coil sensitivity profiles to achieve a higher acceleration factor than either low-rank information or coil profiles could achieve alone.
In this thesis, the k-t FASTER approach is expanded upon by incorporating additional, subspace- specific constraints into the reconstruction process. First, k-t FASTER will be reformulated as an alternating minimisation problem in order to more easily allow subspace-specific regularisation terms. Then, a variety of constraints will be explored in an artificial framework. The constraints being tested are: Tikhonov constraints (which encourage the subspaces to take more minimal energy forms), low-resolution priors (which more greatly weight the oversampled central k-space in radial sampling), and a temporal subspace smoothing constraint (which minimises the variation between frames). These constraints will be applied to real fMRI data acquired with a TURBINE trajectory (Trajectory Using Radially Batched Internal Navigator Echoes), a hybrid radial-Cartesian 3D trajectory with Golden Ratio angle increments in the radial orientation.
The aforementioned subspace-constrained approaches could be seen to achieve better classification of the underlying functional activation over a k-t FASTER reconstruction in real data at R=16, or TRvol=0.5s. Ultimately, Tikhonov constraints are found to provide consistently high-quality reconstructions at a range of acceleration factors and SNR values, but in real data with a slow-paradigm task fMRI experiment at high acceleration (R=26, TRvol=0.3s), the temporal subspace smoothing constraints can outperform Tikhonov constraints.

Keywords: MRI
medical imaging
fMRI
mathematical optimisation
constrained optimisation
image reconstruction
low-rank
Advisor: Miller, K
Chiew, M
Radical nationalism in India, 1930-42 : the role of the All India Congress Socialist Party

The central problem to which this thesis addresses itself is the attempt of the All India Congress Socialist Party (CSP) to establish itself as a radical nationalist alternative to both the Gandhian leadership of the Indian National Congress and the Communist Party of India (CPI). The problem has two main dimensions: one, the role of the CSP as a left-wing of the Congress, in relation to its leadership and rank and file; the other, the CSP's role as an autonomous party outside the Congress, in its relations with the Communists and other radical groups in non-Congress mass organisations.
Continued in thesis ...

Keywords: Party
parties
Socialist
India
nationalism
politics
Congress
Advisor: Gallagher, JA
Pagan philosophers in late antique society : with special reference to Iamblichus and his followers

The purpose of this study is to examine, from an historical point of view, the character of pagan philosophical life in late antiquity (A.D. 200-400). The primary vocation of the philosopher is in all ages the cultivation and propagation of wisdom; and in the eyes of contemporaries and posterity alike, his reputation rests upon his teaching, whether oral or committed to writing. His personal circumstances and actions are of secondary interest. Yet philosophers have been known to stir revolutions through their words; and any man who teaches plays a part, however minute, in the shaping of society. The study of the lives of philosophers, in other words, is a legitimate part of the historian's concern - and of the philosopher's too, in so far as a teacher illustrates his doctrines in the conduct of his own affairs.
Continued in thesis ...

Keywords: society
Rome
Iamblichus
ancient
civilisation
philosophy
philosophers
civilization
antique
Advisor: Chadwick, H
Phosphorus-based anode materials for alkali-ion batteries

The development of high energy density Li-ion batteries required for electric vehicle and portable device applications requires the advancement of electrode materials, specifically the increase of their specific capacity many-fold. Moreover, the high demand for these devices is likely to cause concerns, stemming from the geographical concentration and scarce availability of Li in the long term, which will likely result in an increase in cost of Li-ion batteries. Therefore, research toward technologies based on similar chemistries, such as Na-ion and K-ion has shown increasing popularity. Red phosphorus (RP) is a promising anode material because it can host all three alkali ions, and is also able to deliver a very high theoretical capacity of 2596 mAh/g for Li and Na and 865 mAh/g for K, compared to graphite with Li and K (372 mAh/g and 279 mAh/g, respectively). However, it suffers from poor electronic conductivity (10-14 S/cm) and, being an alloying material, also suffers from severe volume expansion/contraction upon cycling, which cause damage to the electrode material, leading to poor cycle life. In this thesis, I focus my attention on studying the properties of RP that could lead to the failure of the anode material. This study was first conducted at the particle level, where the mechanism of the alloying reaction was simulated by a computational model to understand the generation and development of stresses on the particle and the possibility that these could lead to its catastrophic failure. This was done by accurate measurement of the mechanical properties of RP, elastic and plastic, and the diffusivity of alkali ions in RP, provided here for the first time. Moreover, a study at the composite level of a RP-graphite electrode is provided. The effect of properties of the composite, such as the particle-size distribution of RP and the mixing time of RP with graphite were investigated, in order to optimize the synthesis of a composite that can achieve high capacity and long cycle life.
Finally, the research focused on how different electrolytes influence the performance of the material, which led to the identification of electrolyte compositions that improve the performance of the material for each alkali ion. This research provides a comprehensive study of the aspects that influence the cyclability and therefore the application of RP in electrochemical devices; ranging from the behaviour of the material at a particle level, then expanding to the composite and finally to the interaction between the electrode material and the electrolyte.

Keywords: graphite
phosphorus
potassium
sodium
carbon
lithium
mechanical properties
anode
Advisor: Pasta, M
In utero HIV infection in South Africa: the potential for cure

It is well established that for HIV-infected infants, early combination antiretroviral therapy initiation reduces morbidity, mortality, and latent viral reservoir size. The latter, in addition to the uniquely tolerant neonatal immune response, raises the question of whether there is potential for HIV cure or remission by treating HIV-infected infants in the first hours of life.
I coordinated the recruitment of nearly 200 in utero HIV-infected infants in KwaZulu- Natal, South Africa, half of which were identified using point-of-care testing within 48 hours of birth, which enabled significantly earlier treatment initiation. Due to exposure to transplacental maternal antiretroviral therapy, and prophylaxis postnatally, these HIV-infected infants had low to undetectable HIV RNA and even DNA levels pre-treatment, creating diagnostic uncertainty. Despite this promising start to life, the mortality and study attrition rates were high. For those infants who remained on the study, treatment failure was common, and not associated with HIV drug resistance, but instead non-adherence to treatment. Prophylaxis exposure, along with this sub-optimal treatment adherence meant that there was no discernible difference in reservoir size or decline for those infants who started treatment very early, compared to those starting at the standard age of one to two weeks. Females were found to be at higher risk of in utero HIV-infection, which may also have implications for HIV cure potential.
Where mother-to-child HIV prevention measures are available, in utero HIV-infection occurs in a vulnerable subset of mothers for whom antiretroviral therapy self-administration, and administration to their infected child, is difficult to achieve, no matter how early it is started. There is an urgent need to address the particular challenges facing mothers of HIV-infected infants, and at the same time to explore long-acting therapeutic options or cure interventions.

Keywords: Early infant diagnosis
HIV cure
paediatric HIV
Early antiretroviral therapy
Mother-to-child transmission
Latent HIV reservoirs
Advisor: Goulder, P
Matthews, P
Ndung'u, T
Who rules where over whom when the fighting stops? Explaining state and secessionist post-war strategies for controlling territory and people

This study explains the causes of state and secessionist post-war strategies for controlling territory and people. The objective is to improve our understanding of how secessionist wars end and what happens next by providing new insights into two important cases and using these cases to build a more general framework, thereby contributing to a growing research agenda on war to peace transitions and post-war environments. The study uses a theory building research strategy with two case studies – the Georgia-Abkhazia conflict (covering the period 1994-2006) and the Serbia-Kosovo conflict (1999-2008) – to develop an empirically-grounded theoretical framework. The resulting framework does four things. First, it conceptualises strategies in terms of the constitutive features of territorial and demographic control (territorial and demographic control strategies, the outcome of interest). Second, it theorises states’ and secessionists’ post-war objectives in terms of a cleavage of reincorporation versus full separation which is broken down into objectives about de facto control and reflect the constraints of a post-war environment (constrained objectives, the main explanatory factor). Third, it identifies territorial and demographic features of post-war environments that actors use to translate objectives into strategies (links and levers). Fourth, it provides an argument about how the parts fit together. Objectives explain strategies, mediated by the constraints and opportunities of the environment: demographic and territorial control strategies are explained in terms of the actors’ constrained objectives, and the links and levers which are used to translate objectives into strategies. The framework provides expectations about which control strategies are associated with particular constrained objectives (the observable implications of the framework), and through the theory building case studies and additional ‘shadow cases’, I provide evidence from seven post-war environments in the Caucasus and the Balkans in support of my argument, drawing on extensive empirical research from multiple sources, including fieldwork and archival research.

Keywords: secessionist conflict
Kosovo
Abkhazia
Serbia
postwar
Georgia
Advisor: Caplan, R
T cell-mediated immune regulation in spondyloarthritis

CD4+ T cells are essential components of the immune system. Dysregulated or excessive T cell responses can cause, in susceptible individuals, a group of immune-mediated conditions termed Spondyloarthritis (SpA), characterized by chronic inflammation and structural damage of various musculoskeletal structures. While well-documented genetic and immunological alterations in SpA explain the overactivation of effector T cells, the intrinsic regulatory functions exerted by a specialized T cell subset (Tregs) have been studied only marginally. Exploring the natural suppressive functions of Tregs could reveal novel regulatory pathways that can be leveraged for patient benefit.
In its first part, this thesis focuses on the phenotypic and transcriptional diversity of regulatory T cells in the peripheral blood and synovial fluid in Spondyloarthritis. Through the use of high-resolution techniques and unbiased analytical methods, I identify and characterize specialized regulatory subsets in the blood and joints of patients with SpA. One of these subsets, which presents features shared with Th17 cells and similarities with intestinal Tregs, preferentially expresses the regulatory markers IL-10 and LAG-3. LAG-3, in particular, is an emerging inhibitory receptor expressed on T cells. I show that LAG-3 is able to control blood-derived monocyte activation in vitro, reducing production of the inflammatory cytokines IL-12/23 and TNF, and downregulating costimulatory molecules necessary for T effector activation. This mechanism is predicted to restrain inflammatory responses, making LAG-3-based therapeutic interventions promising novel strategies for immune driven diseases such as SpA.
A further emerging therapeutic strategy for SpA and other inflammatory arthritides consists in targeting inflammatory signaling pathways. The intracellular kinase MK2 is involved in the post-transcriptional regulation of cytokine expression. In the last part of the thesis I show that a novel small molecule MK2 inhibitor is effective in reducing T cell mediated inflammatory responses, including Th17, making it a promising novel therapeutic agent for SpA.

Keywords: adaptive immunity
spondyloarthritis
T cell
immunology
Advisor: Klenerman, P
Al Mossawi, H
Bowness, P
Exodus and the literary representations of pilgrimage in Anglo-Saxon England

This thesis examines the literary representations of pilgrimage in Anglo-Saxon England by focusing upon the dense and difficult Old English poem, Exodus, that, since it bridges the vernacular and Latinate literary worlds, provides a lens through which the complex interaction between mimesis and metaphor, as well as the literal and figurative types of exegesis (often conceptualized as the letter and the spirit of scripture), can be analysed in order to reveal a sophisticated literary depiction of the physical act of pilgrimage rooted in Anglo-Saxon religious practice in the landscape.
Exodus undoubtedly contains both complex metaphors and literal depictions of biblical events; yet these literal descriptions have often been subsumed into a figurative reading of pilgrimage which emphasizes a person’s interior spiritual progress, allegorized as a Christian’s journey through life towards the heavenly homeland (‘life pilgrimage’), rather than physically journeying to a holy place. The realistic depiction in the poem is generally seen simply to derive from the historical account embedded within the scriptural book of Exodus, where the poetic reinterpretation has been rendered into the idiom and diction of Old English heroic poetry. Few critics have considered whether the Old English Exodus might contain a literary representation of a journey undertaken for religious motives to a holy place rooted in the practices of the contemporary Anglo-Saxon Church (the ‘material practice of pilgrimage’). This thesis proposes that, by revisiting the literary-historical accounts of Anglo-Saxon pilgrimage in Anglo-Latin hagiography and letters, and by introducing the idea of a processional pilgrimage akin to a Rogation as depicted in historiographical writings and anonymous homilies, the Old English Exodus can profitably be read as an example of the material practice of pilgrimage, particularly suited to its putative eighth-century context.

Keywords: Anglo-Saxon England
Old English Exodus
Pilgrimage
Literary Representations
Advisor: Orchard, A
High rate properties of particulate composites

The main aim of the research presented in this thesis was to better understand the high strain rate mechanical properties of particulate composites. As the mechanical response of these materials is sensitive to rate and temperature, they must be experimentally characterised at various strain rates and temperatures, interrogating their dependences. In polymer composite materials, the rate and temperature dependence originates from the polymeric binder, which motivated the starting place for this research.
Preliminary modelling frameworks were developed, based on observed rate-temperature equivalence in the mechanical properties, and the time-temperature superposition principle. By suitably representing the viscoelasticity, hyperelasticity, and viscoplasticity, the modelling frameworks enabled the high rate behaviour of neoprene rubber and (plasticised) poly(vinyl chloride) to be captured.
It was shown that in order to better capture the high rate response, the temperature rise from self-heating must be related to the thermal relaxation of the elastic modulus. By calibrating the model parameters with data from quasi-static experiments performed at different temperatures, the stress-strain response at high strain rates was predicted and validated with carefully conducted experiments.
The insights developed from the initial modelling frameworks were used in the latter part of the project to model the behaviour of particulate composites. These composites were based on a vulcanised, natural rubber binder filled with different grades of glass microspheres. This allowed the effect of filler volume fraction and mean particle diameter to also be investigated. These materials were chosen as their varied (rubbery through to glassy) response provided an interesting challenge for its experimental characterisation under dynamic loading.
The dataset generated, partly as a result of experimental technique development, enabled the resulting insights and data to be used to develop modelling frameworks allowing the high strain rate response of unfilled and filled natural rubber to be predicted above the glass transition temperature.

Keywords: High strain rate
Time-temperature superposition
Polymer composites
Dynamic behaviour of materials
Advisor: Siviour, C
Metal-insulator-metal plasmonic colour filters for CMOS image sensor applications

Significant improvement in using plasmonic nanostructures for practical colour filtering and multispectral imaging applications is achieved by exploiting the coupling of surface plasmon polaritons with dielectric optical cavity resonances within a hexagonal array of subwavelength holes in a thin CMOS-compatible metal-insulator-metal (MIM) stack. This architecture overcomes the limitations of all previously reported plasmonic colour filters, namely poor transmission and broad band-pass characteristic, effectively providing a compact approach to selectively filter light. The physical insights established from the electromagnetic near-field patterns and parametric simulation studies are used to accurately tailor the optical properties of the filters.
Measured transmission efficiencies up to 60% and full-width at half-maximum between 45 nm and 55 nm along the entire visible spectrum are achieved - an impressive and unique combination of features that has never been reported before. The non-ideality of the fabrication at the nanoscale is addressed, the issues encountered highlighted and alternative solutions proposed and verified, demonstrating that the working principle of the MIM structure can be successfully extended to other materials and structural parameters.

Keywords: Cavity resonators
Multispectral Imaging Sensor
Nanofabrication
Extraordinary Optical Transmission
Magnetic and Electric dipoles
CMOS image sensor
Surface Plasmon Polaritons
Hexagonal nanohole arrays
Metal-Insulator-Metal
Plasmonic Colour Filters
Narrow-band Optical Filters
Advisor: Collins, S