VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Spaces of uneventful disaster tracking emergency housing and domestic chemical exposures from New Orleans to national crises

In this thesis, I examine the politics, poetics, and logics of uneventful human harm in the United States by tracking the life and afterlife of a chemically contaminated emergency housing unit. In 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) deployed 120,000 trailers to the US Gulf Coast to house those displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Chemical testing, spurred by reports of inhabitant illness, revealed elevated levels of formaldehyde emanating from the plywood walls of the trailers. After being reclaimed by the federal government and beginning in 2010, the FEMA trailers were resold at auction to every corner of the country. Resold trailers gravitated to precarious populations at the poles of rural capital accumulation—from oil patches in North Dakota to reservations in Washington. These trailers serve as an exceptional substrate for an investigation into the anatomy of the uneventful as they once approached the apex of eventfulness as a national controversy and now reside in the shadows of the everyday.
This thesis apprehends and theorizes these dispersed and ordinary instruments of domestic harm across multiple registers: epistemological, material, spatial, and affective. I examine how failures of matter and meaning shaped and patterned the lives of those who inhabited the FEMA trailers as their lives became framed by chemical off-gassing, architectural insufficiency, material deterioration, and electrical short-circuiting. Crossing scales and venues, I interrogate the modalities of scientific incomprehension that erode the perception, admittance, or substantiation of mass chemical exposure. These technical processes, along with cultural horizons of eventfulness and the chronicity of disaster, foreclosed avenues of toxic harm accountability. These ‘economies of abandonment’ bring into relief the contemporary biopolitical priorities in which the FEMA trailer—an ostensible protection from harm that fosters illness—becomes possible. FEMA trailer residents attend to the minute, gradual, and ongoing symptoms of exposure to discern the reality and magnitude of residential contamination. The body of the exposed becomes both an epistemic instrument and, across time, the means of making low-level, chronic, and cruddy chemical exposures into eventful instances that drive individuals to action.

Keywords: New Orleans
Ethnography
Biopolitics
US
Emergency Housing
Housing
FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency)
Chemical Exposure
Advisor: Hsu, E
Lezaun, J
The theory of exponential differential equations

This thesis is a model-theoretic study of exponential differential equations in the context of differential algebra. I define the theory of a set of differential equations and give an axiomatization for the theory of the exponential differential equations of split semiabelian varieties. In particular, this includes the theory of the equations satisfied by the usual complex exponential function and the Weierstrass p-functions. The theory consists of a description of the algebraic structure on the solution sets together with necessary and sufficient conditions for a system of equations to have solutions. These conditions are stated in terms of a dimension theory; their necessity generalizes Ax’s differential field version of Schanuel’s conjecture and their sufficiency generalizes recent work of Crampin. They are shown to apply to the solving of systems of equations in holomorphic functions away from singularities, as well as in the abstract setting. The theory can also be obtained by means of a Hrushovski-style amalgamation construction, and I give a category-theoretic account of the method. Restricting to the usual exponential differential equation, I show that a “blurring” of Zilber’s pseudo-exponentiation satisfies the same theory. I conjecture that this theory also holds for a suitable blurring of the complex exponential maps and partially resolve the question, proving the necessity but not the sufficiency of the aforementioned conditions. As an algebraic application, I prove a weak form of Zilber’s conjecture on intersections with subgroups (known as CIT) for semiabelian varieties. This in turn is used to show that the necessary and sufficient conditions are expressible in the appropriate first order language.
Youth, aspiration, and mobility: young people debating their potential futures in Nepal

This study is centrally concerned with young people's capacity to identify and realise promising educational and occupational pathways. Whilst it is now well established among social scientists that young people have agency, much less is known about what types of agency young people might demonstrate. Based on field research conducted in 2011-2012 with a group of young people studying, working, and living in Nepal's capital city, Kathmandu, the present study scrutinises Western-inspired approaches prevalent in the scholarship on youth which equate agency to resistance and individuality. It does so, by bringing the literature on youth agency into conversation with theoretical work on the concepts of aspiration and mobility. Through an in-depth analysis of young people's time-space-strategies, the thesis contributes to existing literature in three ways: First, it shows that young people may grow in power as they learn to fulfil social obligations and foster stronger relationships with other people. Second, it illustrates that young people's agency may not only take the form of observable practices, but may also reside in young people’s active efforts to think through their options for improving their own and other people's situation. Third, it highlights the importance of young people's spatial mobilities and immobilities in negotiating various social pressures and in developing a sense of themselves as competent, educated, and successful people. The findings of this thesis are, therefore, of relevance to the interdisciplinary field of youth studies as well as to emerging debates in geography about the apparent need to produce 'aspirational citizens' and about the meanings attached to spatial (im)mobility in contemporary societies.

Keywords: Social Change
Young People
Development
Work
South Asia
Higher Education
Agency
Migration
Advisor: Jeffrey, C
McDowell, L
Gellner, D
Apollodoros the son of Pasion

This thesis is a study of the fourth century B.C. Athenian politician Apollodoros the son of Pasion of Acharnae, and of the speeches which he delivered and which are preserved in the Corpus Demosthenicum. Chapter 1 contains a chronological survey of the lives of Pasion and Apollodoros. In Chapter 2, which contains an examination of the financial circumstances of the family, I am concerned not merely to tackle the vexed question of the size of Pasion's estate, but also to analyse the sources of that wealth, and the uses to which it was put. In Chapter 3 I examine the question of the authorship of the speeches which Apollodoros delivered, including the performance of some simple stylistic tests, which reveal a clear difference of style between these speeches and the genuine private speeches of Demosthenes. In Chapter 4 I discuss the form and function of the speeches, examining how far they diverge from the practice of other Athenian orators, and how far they are influenced by rhetorical theory. I also seek to question the generally held view that they are incompetently composed, and suggest that any diverges from Demosthenic practice or from rhetorical theory should not necessarily be considered indicative of a lack of ability on the part of their author. In Chapter 5 I try to assess whether Apollodoros received a rhetorical education, and I examine the likely sources of his legal and historical knowledge. In Chapter 6 I examine in detail one particular aspect of the speeches: the inclusion of a long and detailed historical narrative in Against Neaera. I attempt to determine the sources of this account, and then to look for any signs elsewhere in the speeches of an historical interest on Apollodoros' part. Chapter 7 deals with Apollodoros' political career, whilst in Chapter 8 I examine the position of the family within Athenian society. I attempt to determine the social circles in which Pasion and Apollodoros moved, the extent to which they were accepted into Athenian high society, and the ways in which they tried to use their money to acquire social acceptance. The two appendices contain a discussion of the authenticity of documents preserved in the manuscripts of the speeches, and the data from two stylistic tests which I performed.
Analysis of the CD200R family

Paired receptor families, consisting of multiple genetically and structurally similar but functionally opposite activating and inhibitory cell surface receptors, are among the fine tuners of the immune regulation. Recent studies on the evolutionary origin of these receptor families have suggested links to pathogen driven diversification, according to which activating receptors continuously evolve in order to counterbalance pathogens that try to subvert the immune response by stimulating the inhibitory receptor through their virulence factors.
This thesis is about the CD200R paired receptor family. This family consists of an inhibitory receptor CD200R which is expressed on various leukocytes and delivers inhibitory signals upon engagement with its ligand CD200.
In this study, the possibility that the activating members of the family evolved under pathogen pressure was investigated. Genomic DNA from twenty two different mice strains was screened for the presence of members of CD200R family. The number of activating receptors varied, CD200RLe and CD200RLc were found to be mutually exclusive and three strains possessed previously unknown members of CD200R family.
In addition, the possibility that CD200R family members and other paired receptors interacted directly with bacteria was tested with a new assay but only the interaction of PIR-A1 with was found as previously reported.
The rabbit CD200R family has been characterized and ligand receptor interaction between rabbit CD200 and rabbit CD200R has been demonstrated. However, no interaction between rabbit CD200R and a candidate viral CD200 homologue, the M141R protein of myxoma viruses, could be shown. This finding suggested a CD200R independent role for M141R molecule and possibly other homologues in pox viruses.
Finally, two novel antibodies (OX131 and OX132) were characterized together with formerly generated antibodies against mouse CD200R family. The binding specificities and their effects on the CD200-CD200R interaction have been shown. This will help usage of these antibodies in various studies on the functionality and distribution of these receptors.

Keywords: host-pathogen interactions
paired receptors
CD200R
Advisor: Barclay, A
Brown, M
The role of factor VIII in blood coagulation

Factor VIII, a component of the intrinsic pathway of blood coagulation, has yet to be purified to homogeneity. It appears that, in vivo, the factor VIII coagulant protein is closely associated with one or more other proteins (factor VHI-related antigen and platelet aggregating factor). The material normally isolated from bovine plasma as 'factor VIII' possesses all three activities and is therefore either a mixture or a complex of the various proteins. In the present study, bovine factor VIII:C was purified approximately fivethousand- fold by a combination of ion-exchange chromatography and fractional precipitation. The factor VIII coagulant activity can be separated from the other activities of the 'factor VIII complex' but the procedures involved are not suitable for preparative use as the factor VIII:C which is obtained is unstable.
During coagulation, factor VIII:C is required during the activation of factor X. Studies with purified bovine clotting factors indicate that factor IXa is the enzyme responsible for the cleavage of factor X, in a calcium-dependent reaction which is stimulated by phospholipid. Factor VIII:C further accelerates the rate at which factor Xa is generated. Preliminary investigations of the kinetic parameters of the reaction indicate that the stimulation by factor VIII:C occurs through a marked increase in the Vmax of the reaction; factor VIII:C does not affect the Km for factor X.
The coagulant activity of factor VIII is enhanced by exposure to thrombin, but the 'activated' factor VIII:C which is produced is not itself capable of activating factor X in the absence of factor IXa. Thus, the 'activation' of factor VIII:C, in contrast to the activation of, for example, factors IX and X, does not appear to result in the formation of an enzyme. That is, factor VIII:C is a non-enzymic, high molecular weight cofactor for factor IXa.

Advisor: Esnouf, M
Practical improvements to the deformation method for point counting

In this thesis we investigate practical aspects related to point counting problems on algebraic varieties over finite fields. In particular, we present significant improvements to Lauder’s deformation method for smooth projective hypersurfaces, which allow this method to be successfully applied to previously intractable instances.
Part I is dedicated to the deformation method, including a complete description of the algorithm but focussing on aspects for which we contribute original improvements. In Chapter 3 we describe the computation of the action of Frobenius on the rigid cohomology space associated to a diagonal hypersurface; in Chapter 4 we develop a method for fast computations in the de Rham cohomology spaces associated to the family, which allows us to compute the Gauss–Manin connection matrix. We conclude this part with a small selection of examples in Chapter 6.
In Part II we present an improvement to Lauder’s fibration method. We manage to resolve the bottleneck in previous computation, which is formed by so-called polynomial radix conversions, employing power series inverses and a more efficient implementation.
Finally, Part III is dedicated to a comprehensive treatment of the arithmetic in unramified extensions of Qp , which is connected to the previous parts where our computations rely on efficient implementations of p-adic arithmetic. We have made these routines available for others in FLINT as individual modules for p-adic arithmetic.

Keywords: deformation method
Arithmetic geometry
point counting
Advisor: Lauder, A
The bureaucratization of the dental health services in Britain

Despite an annual expenditure of the order of £400 million and administrative arrangements which in a number of respects are significantly different from the other arms of the National Health Service, the dental health services have attracted little scholarly attention. The recent Royal Commission on the National Health Service drew attention to this point (Report, para. 9.1) and in a sense the thesis represents an attempt to fill this particular lacuna.
The central question addressed is why the performance of the dental health services has neither realised the more general goals (such as equal treatment for all or the relating of access to treatment to need) which were behind the assumption of public responsibility for health care nor overcome the more particular problems associated with the provision of dental services. The thesis seeks to locate the answers in the particular approach adopted to public supply and to this end some considerable space has been given to both the origins and character of this approach.
An examination of the pressures that led to public involvement in the provision of dental care is followed, in the main part of the thesis, by an account of the implementation and subsequent operation of the services. Using material from the files of the Ministry of Health and the British Dental Association as well as the numerous public enquiries which have focussed on different aspects of the services, an attempt is made to relate the shortcomings in performance to the adopted approach to supply and more particularly to the inadequacies of the assumptions which underpinned it.
The central conclusion is that problems associated with both the power of those involved in the services and the values inherent in the processes of public administration have been responsible for the untenability of these assumptions and that in consequence neither the administrative capacity nor the degree of political control on which policy achievement had been postulated have in fact been realised. The whole policy has become centred on the arrangements for paying individual practitioners in which wider community goals have generally been ignored and in which considerations other than equity or dental need have governed both the supply of, and access to, the available treatment.
New approaches to stereocontrolled glycosylation

The conceptually simple process of linking carbohydrate units by glycosylation has proven to be one of the most difficult synthetic processes to control from a stereochemical perspective. In particular it is the stereocontrolled synthesis of 1,2-cis glycosyl linkages (e.g. α-glucosides, β-mannosides) which poses the most difficult challenge. The research presented in this thesis describes new ways in which stereocontrol in glycosylation reactions can be achieved. New methods of neighbouring group participation have been explored, utilising novel protecting groups at the 2-postion of a series of glycosyl donors.
In particular the use of glycosyl donors bearing a (thiophen-2-yl)methyl protecting group at the 2-hydroxyl have shown exceptional α-selectivity especially when used in conjunction with a sterically hindered glycosyl acceptor.
Work within this thesis also describes the first use of chiral Brønsted acid catalysts in the activation of glycosyl donors. It has been clearly demonstrated that not only can such catalysts be used in glycosylation reactions, but also that the chirality of the catalyst can dictate the stereochemical outcome of the reaction. The preliminary studies presented demonstrate that this methodology warrants further investigation.

Keywords: Neighbouring Group Participation
Carbohydrate Chemistry
Glycosylation
Stereocontrol
Chiral Acid
Advisor: Fairbanks, A
Schizophrenia: neural architecture, brain regional differences, and changes with age

Schizophrenia is a heterogeneous and life-altering disorder. Although a multitude of research has been published on schizophrenia since its first iteration as dementia praecox, there is still much to be learned about this disease. Neuroscientific research has revealed important findings on brain changes; some of these have become consistent with the disease, such as the decrease in whole-brain gray matter and the enlargement of the ventricles. However, other findings remain controversial, including the posited increase in neuron density. New techniques are being implemented every day to study these changes, including the use of diffusion tensor imaging. A novel application of this method in the gray matter in the current study reveals increased diffusivity in schizophrenia, potentially implicating decreased tissue integrity and a loss of neuropil. Relationships with asymmetry are also explored in conjunction with altered neurodevelopment. An examination of the microstructure literature using meta-analysis suggests that overall there is an increase in density in schizophrenia. This provides support for a neurodevelopmental origin of schizophrenia, and has implications for the reduced neuropil hypothesis; additionally, a finding of decreased inhibitory neurons in schizophrenia provides support for the theory of dysfunctional inhibitory cortical circuits. A focus on the microstructure in the inferior parietal lobule, a neglected region in schizophrenia research, reveals a difference in structure in schizophrenia, as well as important relationships with age that support a progressive course to the disease. The effect of clinical variables such as medication and length of illness were examined in each of these studies, and these relationships provide important insight into the progression of the disease, as well as the nature of the impairment in those who have schizophrenia. The various techniques used in this project combine to create a picture of profound and comprehensive alterations in brain structure at both the macro- and micro-scale.

Keywords: neuropathology
schizophrenia
changes with age
neuroscience
neuroanatomy
microstructure
DTI
Advisor: Chance, S
A numerical study of the Schrödinger-Newton equations

The Schrödinger-Newton (S-N) equations were proposed by Penrose [18] as a model for gravitational collapse of the wave-function. The potential in the Schrödinger equation is the gravity due to the density of |ψ|2, where ψ is the wave-function. As with normal Quantum Mechanics the probability, momentum and angular momentum are conserved. We first consider the spherically symmetric case, here the stationary solutions have been found numerically by Moroz et al [15] and Jones et al [3]. The ground state which has the lowest energy has no zeros. The higher states are such that the (n+1)th state has n zeros. We consider the linear stability problem for the stationary states, which we numerically solve using spectral methods. The ground state is linearly stable since it has only imaginary eigenvalues. The higher states are linearly unstable having imaginary eigenvalues except for n quadruples of complex eigenvalues for the (n+1)th state, where a quadruple consists of {λ,
ˉ
λ
,−λ,−
ˉ
λ
}. Next we consider the nonlinear evolution, using a method involving an iteration to calculate the potential at the next time step and Crank-Nicolson to evolve the Schrödinger equation. To absorb scatter we use a sponge factor which reduces the reflection back from the outer boundary condition and we show that the numerical evolution converges for different mesh sizes and time steps. Evolution of the ground state shows it is stable and added perturbations oscillate at frequencies determined by the linear perturbation theory. The higher states are shown to be unstable, emitting scatter and leaving a rescaled ground state. The rate at which they decay is controlled by the complex eigenvalues of the linear perturbation. Next we consider adding another dimension in two different ways: by considering the axisymmetric case and the 2-D equations. The stationary solutions are found. We modify the evolution method and find that the higher states are unstable. In 2-D case we consider rigidly rotationing solutions and show they exist and are unstable.