VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Intimacy in contemporary digital cinema

Critical discourses on contemporary digital cinema tend to be either overtly negative, framed within a rhetoric of loss or disenfranchisement, or unilaterally positive, celebrating the user agency and freedom digital technologies enable. Both these conceptual positions are unhelpful because they either focus on what contemporary digital cinema fails to do or what it should do, without examining more closely how it actually functions. What is needed is a third, neutral approach which takes both sides into consideration but is also aware of their limitations and weaknesses.
This thesis takes as its impetus Giles Deleuze’s suggestion that, just like the cinemas of the movement-image and the time-image before it, contemporary digital cinema needs a basic will to art – a new aesthetic principle, a new function of the image, a new politics, a new representational potential distinct from those that have come before it. The aim of this thesis is therefore to establish this will to art and explore its ramifications for and manifestations in contemporary digital cinema.
Taking into consideration a variety of filmic texts from the 1980s to the present day which prominently feature diegetically recorded footage, as well as amateur film-making practices from the home movies of the 1960s to the video clips now uploaded to online media sharing platforms, the increasing relevance of home media in the reception of contemporary digital cinema, and most crucially the process of convergence inherent in digital media, this thesis argues that the will to art of contemporary digital cinema is intimacy.

Keywords: digital cinema
amateur film-making
intimacy
Digital media
Advisor: Due, R
Parody lost and regained

This thesis argues the case for the parodic voice in a range of works by Richard Strauss. In doing so, it challenges the long-held view of Strauss as a composer whose music has little to offer beyond superficial grandeur and shallow sentimentality; music which may be impressive in some respects but, ultimately, remains stubbornly one-dimensional. Parody — a double-voiced device — plays with texts and subtexts and, by definition, insists upon the presence of dimensions additional to the one located on the surface. Thus, the grandly pompous or sweetly sentimental exterior of a given passage may function within a context in which the pomposity or sentimentality is undone, critiqued, or, at very least, dented by the critical presence of a parodic voice. Indeed, I argue that we should be particularly sceptical of reading at face value those episodes in Strauss's works where the trivial, the banal, or, very often, the sublime is (apparently) projected, for this is frequently a cue for the parodic.
The emergence of Strauss's parodic voice can be traced to a work relatively early in his career: the Burleske for piano and orchestra (1886). Here, in this quasi piano concerto (or, indeed, anti-piano concerto) we find double-voiced strategies used to telling effect. This study therefore takes the Burleske as its starting point and uses the work as a means of introducing parody theory generally. Subsequent chapters consider in detail specific episodes in Der Rosenkavalier (1910), Ariadne auf Naxos (both the 1912 version and the 1916 revision), and Intermezzo (1923). Thus, the body of works that form the core of this investigation are firmly rooted in the period of Strauss's so-called 'volte-face', the post-Elektra period when the composer was conventionally thought to have turned his back on progressive trends and produced one shallow, empty, irrelevant work after another. Examination of the composer's parodic voice suggests otherwise.

Advisor: Franklin, P
The effect of uncertainty in composition on laser-induced grating thermometry

The effect of uncertainty in gas composition on the accuracy of gas-phase thermometry using Laser-Induced Thermal Grating Spectroscopy, LITGS, is studied. Temperatures are obtained from measurements of the sound speed derived from the frequency of oscillations ƒOSC imposed upon the LITGS signal arising from the transit of acoustic waves across the density modulation feature. The dependence of the sound speed, cs on √γ/m, where γ is the ratio of specific heats and m is the mean molecular mass leads to a dependence upon gas composition.
LITGS signals were generated in acetone vapour in a variety of gas mixtures in a temperature controlled cell at 4 bar total pressure using pump pulses from a frequency quadrupled Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at 266 nm and a cw diode pumped solid state probe laser at 671 nm. Studies were undertaken of the variation in ƒOSC with gas composition using gas mixtures of O2 and N2 with component concentrations in the range 0-100 %, and was found to agree with theoretical predictions. Measurement precision of the data (one standard deviation in 50 measurements) was found to be typically ± 1.7 % for measurements at 4 bar total pressure.
The effect of varying concentrations in exhaust gas residuals (EGR) typical of pre-ignition gases in a spark ignition internal combustion engine were studied using synthetic air (N2/ O2 mixtures) containing variable amounts of simulated EGR components, CO2 and H2O. The effect of variation in CO2 concentration in dry synthetic air was measured at 4 bar and 30°C and found to agree with theoretical predictions. Experiments conducted at 30°C, with the addition of a saturated vapour pressure of water indicate that the effect of a saturated vapour pressure of water on the oscillation frequency in synthetic EGR is on the borderline of resolution.
The effect of variable amounts of typical hydrocarbon fuel vapour on ƒOSC was studied using 2,2,4-trimethyl-pentane in gas mixtures composed of synthetic air and variable amounts of EGR and water vapour at 80°C.
Kinetic theory was used in order to model the dependence of the oscillation frequency ƒOSC on various gas compositions containing fuel and EGR, in order to construct an error surface for comparison with experimental measurements. Experimental data were found to agree with the model predictions to within experimental error for a representative data set within the range of calculated values. The results indicate that uncertainties in temperature values derived from LITGS thermometry can be estimated with confidence within reasonable estimates of composition variations in an internal combustion engine, and should lead to absolute temperature accuracy of within 2-3 %.

Keywords: thermometry
engine
frequency doubling
laser
fuel temperature
Laser Induced Grating Thermal Spectroscopy
combustion engine
Laser physics
combustion
Advisor: Ewart, P
Glycine receptor antibodies: pathogenic mechanisms and clinical corrlates

Glycine receptor antibodies have been identified in a few patients with progressive encephalomyelitis with rigidity and myoclonus (PERM), a highly disabling disorder characterised by rigidity, spasm and brainstem symptomatology. The clinical characteristics of patients with glycine receptor antibodies have not yet been fully described and it is not clear whether GlyR-Abs are pathogenic or just an epiphenomenon.
This study examined the clinical features and immunotherapy responses of 45 patients; characterised the GlyR-Ab pathogenicity, subunit specificity and binding to different brain region in vitro, and examined mice injected with GlyR-Abs to model the disease in vivo.
Most of the patients were classified as PERM but some patients had symptomatology beyond the classical motor manifestations and there were four patients with tumours (thymomas and lymphomas). GlyR-Ab titres were varied in serum and CSF, but there was intrathecal synthesis in the six patients with suitable samples. Most patients were very disabled but almost all showed excellent responses to immunotherapies. The antibodies were mainly IgG1 and IgG3 subclasses, activated complement on glycine receptor-transfected HEK cells at room temperature, and caused internalisation and lysosomal degradation of the glycine receptors at 37°C. GlyR-Abs bound to rodent spinal cord and brainstem co-localising with monoclonal antibodies to GlyRα1 on the surface of neurons.
GlyR-IgG injected intra-peritoneally led to impairment in forced walking ability, sensorimotor function and coordination. Analysis of the brain showed that animals injected with patients' IgG, but not control IgG, had antibodies bound to the brainstem, spinal cord, cerebellum and caudate, co-localising with GlyRα1 monoclonal antibody. Intra-cerebroventricular injection of GlyR-IgG caused an anxiety-like behaviour in mice but no evident motor disturbances.
These results provide the first evidence of in vitro and in vivo pathogenicity of the GlyR-Abs, supporting the use of long term immunosuppression in these patients to provide them with a good prognosis.

Keywords: Animal model
Progressive Encephalomyelitis with Rigidity and Myoclonus
Glycine receptor
Autoantibody
Stiff person syndrome
Advisor: Vincent, A
Functional dyes as tools for neurophysiology

The aim of the project described in this thesis is to synthesise new functional molecules which interact with light for neurophysiological applications. In particular, I describe a family of amphiphilic porphyrins with large first hyperpolarisabilities which are used as SHG contrast agents and voltage-sensitive probes. In addition I detail a methodological microscopy tool and a novel caged form of a neuronal ion-channel antagonist.
Chapter 1 introduces the key concepts underlying the use of dyes as SHG contrast agents. In particular it focuses on aspects of molecular design, covering both the amphiphilicity and nolinearity required by the target molecule. It covers quantification of the nonlinear properties of SHG stains, then surveys a number of examples which showcase the flexibility of SHG imaging as a biomedical technique.
Chapter 2 describes a family of amphiphilic porphyrins with large first hyperpolarisabilities. Working from the structure-property relationships identified in Chapter 1, we fully characterise these dyes and demonstrate that they can be used in SHG imaging. We demonstrate that these molecules may also be tuned by complexation of a metal ion which can modulate their photophysical and solubility behaviour.
Chapter 3 provides a description of how to determine the orientational distribution of dipolar dyes in a membrane by multiphoton microscopy. We measure the signal intensity of the dye in a model membrane system then find distributional moments which lead to the distribution itself.
Chapter 4 explores whether off-axis contributions to the first hyperpolarisability tensor can significantly augment the dominant on-axis contribution from the main dipolar charge-transfer band. We synthesise and characterise a series of cis-donor cis-acceptor porphyrin compounds and explore their biophysical characteristics.
Chapter 5 is the culmination of this project and after discussing method development, goes on to show how we measure the voltage sensitivity of an amphiphilic porphyrin SHG dye. We compare the archetypal porphyrin dye chromophore with three commercially available styryl dyes and demonstrate that our dye has greater sensitivity and a more rapid response.
Chapter 6 describes a side project, the use of a photolabile cage to protect MK801, a neuronal ion-channel antagonist. By developing a water soluble photolabile cage using molecular design techniques, we are able to release MK801 in neurons with precise spatiotemporal control, allowing us to pinpoint the locus of two key neurophysiological processes.

Keywords: Second Harmonic Generation
non-linear optics
Porphyrin
SHG
Advisor: Anderson, H
The Armenian merchants of New Julfa, Isfahan: a study in pre-modern Asian trade

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the merchants of Julfa, a town on the trade routes linking the Mediterranean with Iran, developed an extensive international trade network reaching from the Atlantic coast of Europe to the Indian Ocean. Part 1 of the dissertation traces the history of Julfa and examines the factors contributing to the Armenians' success - among them the significant growth of Iranian raw silk exports to Europe; the stimulus to East-West trade given by the influx of American silver to Europe and the consequent imbalance in the value of bullion between Europe, the Middle East and South Asia; the forced resettlement of the Julfans in Isfahan and the formation of a close economic relationship with the Safavi court.
Part 2 concentrates on social and economic organisation, examining the structure of the Armenian patriarchal household and its commercial operation as family firm, and the community and its provision of the institutions that upheld commercial law and the merchants' system of values and standards of behaviour. The discussion in Chapters 4 and 5 of partnership and agency and the credit system operated by the Julfans is based on research into surviving contracts and credit instruments.
These documents also provide the material for Part 3. The Julfan mercantile documents are a unique record of the commercial world of an Asian trading community in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. They also present numerous technical difficulties, which are discussed through the presentation of examples of documents in the original, with translation, notes and a glossary.
The history of the Julfa merchants affords a rare opportunity for close examination of the organisation and techniques of trade in Asia and provides a basis for comparison with other Asian merchants.

Keywords: trade
merchants
historiography
Armenians
New Julfa
Europeans
Safavi Iran
Advisor: Gurney, J
Understanding the evolutionary ecology of dispersal

Understanding dispersal is a central aim of evolutionary ecology. Theoretical analyses of dispersal have been crucial in identifying key variables which contribute to its evolution and maintenance, but the supporting empirical data remains elusive. Microbes offer a powerful model system on which ecological and evolutionary theory can be experimentally tested with controlled and replicated experiments, and with the convenient malleability of selective pressures and bacterial genomics. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an ubiquitous, opportunistic pathogen that is able to induce acute or chronic infections in a broad array of hosts. As well as in vivo environments, P. aeruginosa can be found in a range of ecological habitats, from solid to aqueous, and as such requires a variety of dispersal mechanisms (including swimming, gliding on a surfactant and ‘crawling’) for effective colonisation and infectivity. In this thesis, I present a collection of papers which outline empirical ecological and evolutionary experiments to identify the abiotic and biotic forces that shape the evolution of these different dispersal mechanisms, with particular focus on the theoretically important role of kin competition and the structure of the abiotic environment.

Keywords: experimental evolution
bacterial motility
kin competition
Advisor: Buckling, A
Extend the ideas of Kan and Zhou paper on Optimal Portfolio Construction under parameter uncertainty

In this dissertation, we extend the ideas of Raymond Kan and Guofu Zhou for optimal portfolio construction under parameter uncertainty. Kan and Zhou proved analytically that under parameter uncertainty, investing in the sample tangency portfolio and the riskless is not optimal. Based on this idea we will approach the portfolio construction under parameter uncertainty in a different way. We will optimise the expected out-of-sample performance of a portfolio using a numerical approach. Using Monte Carlo simulations we will develop an algorithm that calculates the expected out-of-sample performance of any portfolio rule. We will then extend this algorithm in order to be able to input new portfolio rules and test their performance. The new portfolio rules we introduce are based on shrinkages for the mean and covariance matrix of the assets returns. These shrinkages will have some parameters that will be chosen so that we optimise the expected out-of-sample performance of the input portfolio rule. A comparison is then done between the portfolio rules we introduce and Kan and Zhou portfolio rules.
Free will in device-independent cryptography

Device-independent cryptography provides security in various tasks whilst removing an assumption that cryptographers previously thought of as crucial -- complete trust in the machinations of their experimental apparatus. The theory of Bell inequalities as a proof of indeterminism within nature allows for secure device-independent schemes requiring neither trust in the cryptographers' devices nor reliance on the completeness of quantum mechanics. However, the extreme paranoia attributable to the relaxed assumptions within device independence requires an explicit consideration of the previously assumed ability of the experimenters to freely make random choices. This thesis addresses the so-called `free will loophole', presenting Bell tests and associated cryptographic protocols robust against adversarial manipulation of the random number generators with which measurements in a Bell test are selected.
We present several quantitative measures for this experimental free will, otherwise known as measurement dependence. We discuss how an eavesdropper maliciously preprogramming the experimenters' untrusted devices can falsely simulate the violation of a Bell inequality. We also bound the amount of Bell violation achievable within a certain degree of measurement dependence. This analysis extends to device-independent randomness expansion, bounding the guessing probability and estimating the amount of privacy amplification required to distil private randomness. The protocol is secure against either arbitrary no-signalling or quantum adversaries. We also consider device-independent key distribution, studying adversarial models that exploit the free will loophole.
Finally, we examine a model correlated between the random number generators and Bell devices across multiple runs of a Bell test. This enables an explicit exposition of the optimal cheating strategy and how the correlations manifest themselves within this strategy. We prove that there remain Bell violations for a sufficiently high, yet non-maximal degree of measurement dependence which cannot be simulated by a classical attack, regardless of how many runs of the experiment those choices are correlated over.

Keywords: device-independent cryptography
Bell inequalities
Bell nonlocality
quantum cryptography
determinism
free will
Advisor: Ekert, A
“Better” regulation through social entrepreneurship? - innovative and market-based approaches to address the digital challenge to copyright regulation

After the initial excitement about the Internet as a space outside of governmental control has evaporated and courts in several states have applied national laws to ‘Cyberspace’, there is now a consensus among scholars that regulators have in principle the authority and capacity to regulate the Internet. Nevertheless, the application of the established tools of regulation - legislation and adjudication - to the current challenges to copyright regulation posed by the Internet has proven to be ineffective and produced undesirable side effects. Although market self-regulation has been suggested as a more efficacious approach to regulating the Internet and has proven effective in content regulation and Internet governance, the market has so far been unsuccessful in providing an effective and efficient remedy to the challenges to copyright regulation. The purpose of this thesis is to examine a novel approach to regulation and analyse its benefits and limitations. The novel approach defies the conceptualisation as co- and self-regulation, but introduces the solution from outside the regulated environment through entrepreneurship and innovation, and relies on the forces of the market to become effective. In this thesis, I analyse the regulatory systems implemented by two private organisations, Noank Media and Creative Commons, in China’s reportedly ineffective copyright law environment and find that their market-based and innovative approach to regulation can be understood as a form of social entrepreneurship. Social enterprises have been claimed to deliver social goods more effectively and efficiently than governmental intervention, because they are said to rely on local knowledge, to be driven by the demand of the stakeholders, and to be focused on social value creation. Based on quantitative and qualitative fieldwork with Noank Media’s and Creative Common’s stakeholders in China I analyse to what extent these two enterprises managed to successfully leverage the assets of social entrepreneurship. I conclude that while the novel approach has demonstrated the potential to produce more effective and more efficient regulation, it does not automatically result in Better Regulation. Further efforts are required to ensure participation, transparency, and public accountability, and to avoid regulatory fragmentation.

Keywords: social entrepreneurship
creative commons
legal innovation
China
blanket license
self-regulation
co-regulation
copyright regulation
copyright law
better regulation
legal entrepreneurship
Advisor: Brown, I
Nicholls, A
Comparison of the effects of vitamin D metabolites on osteoblast and osteocyte bone cells

While the major source of vitamin D is D3 from ultraviolet exposure, some supplements supply D2. The relative potency of vitamin D2 versus vitamin D3 remains controversial.
The aims of the current study were, 1. To optimize the in vitro model, including use of cell lines, vitamin D concentrations, and outcome biomarkers. 2. To compare the potency of vitamin D2 and D3 metabolites on mouse and human bone cellular activity. 3. To explore the expression of VDR in osteoarthritic (OA) bone tissues as well as cellular responses to vitamin D2 and D3 metabolites ex-vivo.
In mouse 2T3 osteoblasts, at physiological doses, both vitamin D2 and D3 metabolites increased ALP activity and mineralisation and up-regulated osteoblastic signature genes and proteins. At supra-physiological doses D3 metabolites were more potent inhibitors of 2T3 function than D2 metabolites. Although hBMS cell proliferation was inhibited by both 25(OH)D2 and D3, ALP activity was enhanced by both metabolites. However, 25(OH)D3 was a more potent stimulator of ALP and mineralisation of hBMSCs. D2 and D3 equally stimulated expression of CX43 and PHEX markers in osteocytic cell lines. Immunohistochemistry of femoral heads showed much reduced VDR expression in OA osteocytes and osteoclasts, yet both 25(OH)D2 and D3 increased OA-hBMSCs mineralisation more than non-OA-hBMSCs ex-vivo.
While vitamin D2 or D3 increased mouse 2T3 osteoblastic activity at physiological doses, OA and non-OA hBMSCs differentiation was more responsive to 25(OH)D3. Key bone cells such as osteocyte and osteoclasts expressed less VDR in OA. For the first time vitamin D2 metabolites have been thoroughly examined and emerged as a potent stimulator of bone cell differentiation, at least in vitro. Vitamin D3 in contrast is confirmed as highly potent in bone cells, but with toxicity at much lower doses than D2.

Keywords: Osteocyte
1
25(OH)D2
Osteoblast
25(OH)D3
25(OH)2D2
25(OH)2D3
Advisor: Sabokbar, A
Javaid, K
Hulley, P
Moravat, R