VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Implementing the financial provisions of the Higher Education Act (2004) – English universities in a new quasi-market

The financial provisions of the HE Act (2004) were intended to introduce market forces into the relationship between higher education institutions in England and their full-time Home/EU undergraduates. The policies that underpinned that legislation were established by Parliamentarians during a period of intense public and political debate which accompanied the passage of the Act and now, as suppliers in a nascent quasi-market, universities are de facto responsible for their delivery. With that market beginning to stabilise, this research compares those political objectives with observed outcomes of the introduction of the Act. Primary data has been collected through semi-structured interviews with key decision-makers in six sample universities – chosen to reflect both the spread of institutions in the sector and the range of pricing policies in operation – and with those involved nationally in shaping the legislation. From this material, supported by secondary quantitative and qualitative evidence, university pricing strategies are considered, in the context of theories of marketing and of higher education management, to provide an understanding of how institutions have structured their financial offerings with the aim of targeting specific markets for applicants. Data from the sample institutions is then used to build a profile of the quasi-market that the suppliers within it are generating. Even though members of the sample have taken diverse approaches to price-setting, there are some clear consistencies that typify this emerging national market: prices are set through adjustments to bursaries, not fees; and complex financial offerings have created barriers to effective communication. Furthermore, as institutional managers analyse the effects of their own pricing strategies locally, they are observing these trends and thus, where any changes are being made, these tend towards simplification of bursary schemes and hence increasing homogeneity across the sector. However, with the (index-linked) £3000 cap which currently applies to fees, it is increasingly apparent that the current quasi-market for full-time Home/EU undergraduates at English universities has not reached its price-sensitivity point and hence, this research argues, the market is not operating fully. Therefore, while this study offers an understanding of motivations behind current institutional actions and the nature of the resulting quasi-market, it also explains why it is not feasible to extrapolate from this information to forecast how the market might work were regulatory parameters to be changed significantly.

Keywords: participation in higher education
England
Higher Education
student funding
HE Act (2004)
Advisor: Ertl, H
The lattice of normal subgroups of an infinite group

This thesis deals with various problems about the normal and subnormal structure of infinite groups. We first consider the relationship between the number of normal subgroups of a group G and of a subgroup H of finite index in G. We prove
Theorem 1.5 There exists a finitely generated group G which has a subgroup H of index 2 such that H has continuously many normal subgroups and G has only countably many normal subgroups.
Proposition 1.7 Let k be an infinite cardinal. Then there exists a group G of cardinality k that has only 12 normal subgroups but which contains a subgroup H of index 2 having k normal subgroups.
We then consider partially ordered sets and investigate the subnormal structure of generalized wreath products. We deal with the question whether the number of subnormal subgroups of an infinite group is determined by the number of its n-step subnormal subgroups for an integer n. We prove
Theorem 5.3 Let G be a group. Then G has finitely many subnormal subgroups if and only if it has finitely many 2-step subnormal subgroups.
Theorem 5.5 Let m and n be infinite cardinals such that m ≤ n. Then there exists a group G with the following properties:
(1) The cardinality of G is n.
(2) The number of normal subgroups of G is .
(3) The number of 2-step subnormal subgroups of G is m.
(
4) The number of 3-step subnormal subgroups of G is 2n.
Finally we consider characteristically simple groups with countably many normal subgroups. We construct a new type of characteristically simple groups:
Corollary 6.15 Let ∧ be a partially ordered set such that for λ,∊∧ there exists an automorphism a of ∧ such that ≤ λa. Let (∧) be the distributive lattice of semi-ideals of ∧. Then there exists a group G with the following properties:
(
1) |G| ≤ max( of |(∧)|).
(2) All subnormal subgroups of G are normal in G.
(3) The lattice of normal subgroups of G is isomorphic to (∧).
(4) The group G is characteristically simple.

Advisor: Neumann, P
Internationalized armed conflicts in international law

In a world shaped by the simultaneous forces of globalization and fragmentation, very few armed conflicts remain isolated from any foreign involvement and confined to the territory of one State. On the contrary, many begin as internal conflicts that gradually acquire international characteristics of varying degree and nature. Yet, the law of armed conflict forces each such conflict into one of two legal categories: it must either be a non-international, or an international armed conflict. Accordingly, the prevailing approach in the literature is to examine what type of conflict, if any, corresponds to a certain situation in reality at a given time.
In contrast, this thesis opts for a dynamic approach, focussing on the combination of factors that transform a prima facie non-international armed conflict into an international armed conflict. It argues that four such modalities of internationalization have emerged thus far: (1) outside intervention; (2) State dissolution; (3) wars of national liberation; and (4) relative internationalization by way of recognition of belligerency, unilateral declarations, or special agreements. Since some situations feature more than two conflict parties, the thesis puts forward an autonomy-based interpretive model, which enables to determine whether such situations should be seen as a single internationalized armed conflict or a number of independent international and non-international armed conflicts.
On the basis of this comprehensive map of conflict internationalization, the thesis turns to the effects brought about by this process. It analyses two areas of the law of armed conflict considered to be regulated differently in the two respective types of conflict, namely matters of combatant status and belligerent occupation. It argues that fighters belonging to non-State armed groups participating in internationalized armed conflicts are in principle eligible for combatant status and it proposes an interpretive model for the determination whether they in fact meet the relevant criteria in practice. Finally, the thesis argues in favour of the applicability of the law of belligerent occupation to internationalized armed conflicts. To substantiate this claim, it delineates the temporal, geographical, and personal scope of the law of occupation in such conflicts.
In its totality, the thesis analyses the meaning, process, and effects of conflict internationalization and on this basis argues for a particular interpretation of the concept of internationalized armed conflict in international law.

Keywords: law of armed conflict
internationalization
international law
international humanitarian law
Advisor: Talmon, S
Party system effects and the scope for corruption in modern democracies

This dissertation seeks to examine why democratic systems and electoral competition can sometimes fail to secure clean government in the interest of the electorate. The question of why voters support corrupt politicians, despite disapproving of corruption itself, is of critical importance if it is to be believed that corruption has a detrimental effect on development. The core argument of this dissertation is that party system features that improve accountability by shaping the efficacy of elections as tools to select and control politicians, play a vital and overlooked role in conditioning the scope for corruption. I conceive of governmental corruption as a classical principal-agent model, in which voters‘ relationships with their representatives are mediated by the extent to which party systems enable the electorate to select non-malfeasant politicians who seek to curb corruption and to hold accountable those who do not. This thesis purports that party systems which reduce agency problems confronting voters, by making available information regarding the quality of their incumbents and potential challengers and structurating effective, choices at the polls, decrease the latitude for governmental corruption. This thesis probes this argument through a controlled comparative analysis of corruption in 91 contemporary democracies and three nested-design case studies. The large-N analysis and the case studies of Panama, India, and Mexico offer broad support for these hypotheses.

Keywords: government accountability
party systems
political corruption
Corruption
Advisor: Schleiter, P
Measurement and manipulation of quantum states of travelling light fields

This thesis is concerned with the generation of non-classical quantum states of light, the photon-level manipulation of quantum states and the accurate tomography of both quantum states and quantum processes. In optics, quantum information can be encoded and processed in both discrete and continuous variables. Hybrid approaches combining for example homodyne detection with conditional state preparation and manipulation are gaining increasing prominence.
The development and characterization of a time-domain balanced homodyne detector (BHD) is presented. The detector has a bandwidth of 80 MHz, a signal-to-noise ratio of 14.5 dB and an efficiency of 86% making it well-suited to pulse-to-pulse measurement of quantum optical states. The BHD is employed to perform quantum state tomography (QST) of non-classical multi-photon Fock states generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. A detailed investigation of the mode-matching between the local oscillator used for homodyne detection and the generated Fock states is presented. The one-, two- and three-photon Fock states are reconstructed with a combined preparation and detection efficiency exceeding 50%.
Fock states have a number of applications in quantum state engineering, where non-classical ancilla states and conditional measurements enable photon-level manipulation of quantum states. Fock state filtration (FSF) is investigated - an example of a post-selected beam splitter which is a basic building block for many quantum state engineering protocols. A model is developed incorporating the effect of experimental imperfections. An experimental implementation of a Fock state filter is fully characterized by means of coherent-state quantum process tomography (QPT). The reconstructed process is found to be consistent with the model. The filter preferentially removes the single-photon component from an arbitrary input quantum state.
Calibration of optical detectors in the quantum regime is discussed. Quantum detector tomography (QDT) is reviewed and contrasted with a new technique for performing QST with a calibrated detector known as the fitting of data patterns (FDP). The first experimental characterization of a BHD is performed by probing the detector with phase-averaged coherent states. The FDP method is shown to be applicable to the estimation of quantum processes, where a detector response is not assumed - thus demonstrating the versatility of the FDP approach as a new method in the quantum tomography toolbox.

Keywords: quantum tomography
optics
quantum optics
quantum information.
quantum physics
Advisor: Smith, BJ
Human-structure interaction in cantilever grandstands

There is a risk that excessive vibration in long span cantilever grandstands can be triggered by the spectators synchronising their jumps to the music played. If the jumping frequency excites a resonance of the grandstand, large force could be generated. This thesis studies human-structure interaction in cantilever grandstands, with emphasis on modelling the passive and jumping crowds, and analysing the response of a single degree-of-freedom (SDOF) structural system. Preliminary work on analysing a cantilever occupied by seated humans shows that it is acceptable to use a SDOF structural system for analysis which meant emphasis of later work could be placed on understanding the interaction between a passive crowd and the structure. Human dynamic models from published biomechanics studies are used to develop a passive crowd model. A transfer function, fitted to the crowd apparent mass, is used to define the crowd model. It is found that the passive crowd can be approximated well by using a single 2DOF system. The combined passive crowd-structure system is modelled as a feedback system and a parametric study is conducted. It is found that the passive crowd adds significant mass and damping to the structure and these effects vary with the natural frequency of the structure. Records of forces of people jumping to a beat are used to develop a probabilistic model of crowd jumping loads. Key parameters are introduced to characterise the timing and shape of the jumping impulses. An analytical function is used to approximate the impulse shape. All parameters are characterised with probability distribution functions. Using the fitted probability distribution functions, the Monte Carlo method is used to simulate individual jumping load-time histories and to obtain the structural responses due to group jumping loads. The variations of the structural response with the natural frequency of the empty structure and the size of the active crowd are presented in charts. As expected, the worst response is found on structures with natural frequencies coinciding with the first three harmonics of the crowd jumping loads. For structures occupied by passive crowds, a significant reduction in the structural response is found at resonance excited by the second and third harmonics, due to high levels of damping provided by the passive crowds. On variation of the structural response with the crowd size, it is found that the structural response becomes asymptotic for groups larger than 16 people. Experimental individual jumping and bobbing tests are conducted at six distinct beat frequencies to look at the variations of the impulse shape and degree of synchronisation with the beat frequency. The bobbing action is found to have a higher inherent variability between individuals compared to jumping. Jumping tests involving two people facing each other are also conducted. The results show that there is a better synchronisation when two people are jumping together compared to when jumping alone.

Keywords: dynamics
Advisor: Williams, M
Blakeborough, A
Interactions of the OX-2 lymphoid/neuronal glycoprotein

Lymphocytes play a key role in the mammalian immune system and migrate around the body interacting with both soluble factors and tissues in their role of detecting and eliminating disease causing pathogens. These interactions are mediated by the molecules expressed at the cell surface of the leukocyte which have become a popular paradigm for the study of intercellular communication. Proteins which belong to the immunoglobulin superfamily (IgSF) are the most abundant of these cell surface molecules and one of these (OX-2) is the major focus of this thesis.
The OX-2 glycoprotein is expressed in both the neuronal and lymphoid compartments of rats and has no known function. However, a highly avid OX-2 binding reagent was previously shown to specifically interact with a cell surface receptor expressed by macrophages. A monoclonal antibody, MRC OX-102, which bound rat macrophages and blocked the binding of OX-2 was raised and used to molecularly identify the receptor on the macrophage by a combination of protein purification and PCR-based strategies.
The rat OX-2 receptor (OX-2R) was identified as a novel member of the IgSF and had a close evolutionary relationship to the OX-2 protein itself. The two glycoproteins interacted with an affinity of 2.5μM and Koff 0.8 sec-1, values typical of interactions between cell surface proteins. A mouse form of the OX-2 receptor was also cloned. The cytoplasmic region of the OX-2R contained conserved tyrosine residues which were shown to be phosphorylated upon pervanadate treatment of macrophages. Preliminary distribution data suggest that the receptor is restricted to cells of myeloid origin and the functional consequences of the interaction are discussed.
A monoclonal antibody, MRC OX-104, was raised to the human OX-2 protein to initiate the translation of this work from rodent models to humans. OX-2 showed highly conserved patterns of expression between the two species.
Harm and responsibility in hate speech

The legal restriction of hate speech – i.e. speech that expresses contempt for people on the basis of their ethnicity, religion, or sexuality – is now commonplace in liberal legal systems outside the United States. This thesis takes up the question of whether restrictions on hate speech are generally justifiable. I begin by explaining why liberals should not dismiss anti-hate speech law from the outset as an intolerable violation of free speech. My analysis of the case for anti-hate speech law is thereafter framed by two main concerns. Firstly, I stress that if we are to impose legal restrictions on hate speech, we must establish not just that there are harmful outcomes associated with hate speech, but that those who engage in hate speech are responsible for those outcomes. Secondly, I argue that restrictions on hate speech should be assessed in two distinct classes. Inquiries into the justificatory bases of anti-hate speech law are typically conducted as if informative generalisations can be made about how the law should respond to anything that is properly called hate speech. Against this approach, I argue that while the liberal state can and should impose restrictions on directly harmful hate speech (in which hate speech is used to threaten, harass, and incite violence), restrictions on indirectly harmful hate speech – in which hate speech (allegedly) contributes to identity-based social hierarchies and their concomitant harms – are not justifiable. The problem with restrictions on indirectly harmful hate speech is not the structure of the liability-ascription framework under which they operate. Rather, I argue, the problem is epistemic: we cannot confidently judge that hate-speakers are in fact responsible for contributing, more than trivially, to the harmful patterns of identity-based inequality and disadvantage in light of which restrictions on indirectly harmful hate speech may be defended in principle.

Keywords: harm
free speech
responsibility
hate speech
Advisor: Green, L
Identification and characterisation of determinants of genome stability in response to a double-strand break

Chromosomal rearrangements can lead to loss of heterozygosity (LOH) and oncogene activation, both of which represent possible causative events in cancer development. Such outcomes can result from the misrepair of DNA damage arising from a variety of events including DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), collapsed replication forks, and dysfunctional telomeres. In response to a DSB, chromosomal stability is principally maintained through the two major DNA repair pathways; non- homologous DNA end-joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR).
The objective of this thesis was to identify novel factors functioning in prevention of chromosomal instability in response to a DSB in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. To achieve this, a central aim was to identify the genes mutated in a number of radiation-sensitive mutants in fission yeast, previously isolated by the laboratory. These include the ‘loh’ mutants loh-2, loh-5, loh-6 and loh-7, which were found to harbour mutations in known DNA repair genes rad3, rad17, and rad57.
Further, a pan-genomic screen for novel HR repair factors was carried out. The Bioneer Version 2 deletion-library, consisting of 3308 haploid deletion strains, was screened for strains displaying hypersensitivity to the DNA damaging agents MMS, bleomycin and camptothecin. This screen yielded 209 hits which were further characterised, utilising a set of non-essential Ch16 minichromosomes . The minichromosome Ch16-LMYAU harbours an HO endonuclease recognition sequence and a centromere-distal ade6-M216 heteroallele. Following break-induction, failed repair of the DSB leads to loss of the ade6 allele, indicated by pink sectoring on low adenine plates. 39 sectoring hits were identified and further characterised to quantify levels of gene conversion via HR in response to a DSB, utilising Ch16-RMYAH. As a result of this study, a group of novel genes functioning in HR repair were identified.
Finally, one of these hits, putative RNA metabolism protein Nrl1, was subjected to further characterisation, associating this protein with DNA damage repair for the first time.
The work presented here, documents the approaches taken to successfully identify novel DNA repair factors in fission yeast.

Keywords: DNA damage repair
oncology
Advisor: Humphrey, T
Studies of elementary reactions of interest in hydrocarbon pyrolysis

A novel hydrogen atom source, involving the 193.3 nm photolysis of nitrous oxide in the presence of hydrogen, is described. The system is shown to provide a very clean source of hydrogen atoms, particularly at temperatures above 400K. The H + C2H4 addition reaction is studied as a function of pressure (50-750 Torr He) and temperature (285-604K). Resonance fluorescence was used to monitor hydrogen atom concentrations in real time, following excimer (ArF) photolysis of the N20/H2 precursor. The data are analysed using the Troe factorisation method. A model is developed, which allows the accurate calculation of the rate constant for the H + C2H4 reaction over a wide range of temperature and pressure.
The direct observation of equilibration in the H + C2H4 = C2H5 system is reported for the first time, at temperatures between 775 and 850K. Hydrogen atom concentrations were monitored by resonance fluorescence, following 193.3 nm photolysis of the ethylene substrate. The equilibrium constant for the system Kc is determined much more precisely than has previously been possible. The standard heat of formation of the ethyl radical, ΔHof, 298(C2H5), is evaluated from the measured values of Kc(T), using Third Law methods and the known molecular and atomic parameters of H, C2H4 and C2H5 giving ΔHof 298(C2H5) = 28.36 ± 0.40 kcalmol . The quoted errors refer to 95.45% confidence limits and include contributions from the scatter of the data and from estimates of possible systematic errors.
An excimer laser flash photolysis/ gas chromatographic end product analysis apparatus is described. The design of the photolysis cell allows its entire contents to be transferred to the analysis column, and enables total C3 hydrocarbon yields as low as 2.6x1012 molecules to be detected. A study of the photolysis of acetone at 193.3 nm is presented. The dependence of product yields on pressure (10-500 Torr He), temperature (300,600K), laser pulse energy and the presence of radical scavengers (NO,C2H4) is described. Under all experimental conditions, methyl radicals account for >95% of the radical products of the photolysis. The ArF photolysis of acetone is demonstrated to provide a very clean source of methyl radicals, suitable for use in conventional laser flash photolysis /kinetic spectroscopy experiments, at temperatures of up to 825K.
Experiments are described, in which ethane and ethane/propylene mixtures, diluted to ∿5% in nitrogen, were pyrolysed in a quartz jetstirred reactor. Temperatures and conversions comparable to those achieved in industrial pyrolysis were employed. A kinetic model of ethane pyrolysis is developed, which qualitatively reproduces the experimental results. It is shown that the model predictions are extremely sensitive to a number of poorly defined rate constants.

Advisor: Pilling, M