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Searches for new physics with the LUX-ZEPLIN experiment and research and development towards novel LUX-ZEPLIN detector upgrades
No full textThis dissertation presents progress towards discovery of physics beyond the Standard Model. Searches for dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) and a neutrinoless double beta decay search are presented. Both searches utilize the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment. World-leading constraints on WIMP dark matter are accomplished with LZ’s 7 ton dual-phase liquid/vapor xenon time projection chamber (TPC), in which the author’s contributions towards mitigating radon and accidental backgrounds are highlighted. The author additionally led a search for the neutrinoless double beta decay of 160Gd with the LZ Outer Detector.Instrumentation work of novel xenon detector concepts is then presented, with the goal of motivating potential upgrades to the LZ experiment. First, in work involving the crystaLiZe concept, usage of a crystalline/vapor xenon TPC (rather than liquid/vapor) is demonstrated to effectively eliminate radon progeny decays, the dominant background in LZ’s WIMP search analysis. A future crystalline/vapor xenon TPC could then potentially be more sensitive to WIMP dark matter compared to liquid/vapor. Next, a measurement of low-energy 4He nuclear recoils in liquid xenon shows such recoils may be identified in a similar manner as xenon nuclear recoils. This result supports the HydroX concept, light-element doping of liquid xenon to gain sensitivity to low-mass WIMP dark matter. In this case, a hydrogen or helium-doped liquid xenon detector would retain discrimination of nuclear recoils and electron recoils. Finally, the characterization of a pathological background in silicon photomultipliers, a potential photodetector for future xenon dark matter experiments, is presented. This instrumentation work lays the foundations for the next-generation of xenon TPC dark matter experiments
How are falls and fear of falling associated with objectively measured physical activity in a cohort of community-dwelling older men?
No full textFalls affect approximately one third of community-dwelling older adults each year and have serious health and social consequences. Fear of falling (FOF) (lack of confidence in maintaining balance during normal activities) affects many older adults, irrespective of whether they have actually experienced falls. Both falls and fear of falls may result in restrictions of physical activity, which in turn have health consequences. To date the relation between (i) falls and (ii) fear of falling with physical activity have not been investigated using objectively measured activity data which permits examination of different intensities of activity and sedentary behaviour
Web Services in Cloud Computing research: Insights from Scientometric
No full textThe research is the outcome of the investigation of 4035 papers on web services and cloud study, as covered in the Web of Knowledge core collection database during 2010 - 2019, going through an overall group author contribution of 29.00% during the period, Iosup, Alexandru, et al with a citation impact per paper of 44.10% and a journal impact per paper of 5.768 by Future generation computer systems-the international journal of science. The world\u27s web services and cloud research output is diverse, with the top three open access research journals accounting for 66.59% (All Open Access 44.03%, DOAJ Gold 17.41%, Green Published 14.37%).Conference Proceedings Citation Index-Science of global output during different periods. The foremost institutional contribution to web services and cloud research comes from universities, followed by Tsinghua University, Wuhan University, Chinese Academy of Science, and The University of Melbourne, Australia during the periods. During 2004-13, India\u27s global publication share was 5.66%, and it ranked fourth in global publication output. The top ten authors have 188 citations, and Buyya R, (132 citations), Dean J, (97 citations), Zeng LZ, (82 citations), and Mell Peter, (76 citations) share respectively during the periods. This study consequently increases the side by side of the wakefulness of web services and cloud computing and helps structure the knowledgeable success of web services through cloud computing
Plasma propellant interactions in an electrothermal-chemical gun
No full textThis Thesis covers work conducted to understand the mechanisms
underpinning the operation of the electrothermal-chemical gun. The
initial formation of plasma from electrically exploding wires, through to
the development of plasma venting from the capillary and interacting
with a densely packed energetic propellant bed is included. The prime
purpose of the work has been the development and validation of
computer codes designed for the predictive modelling of the
elect rothe rmal-ch em ical (ETC) gun.
Two main discussions in this Thesis are:
a proposed electrically insulating vapour barrier located around
condensed exploding conductors and
the deposition of metallic vapour resulting in a high energy flux to
the surface of propellant, leading to propellant ignition.
The vapour barrier hypothesis is important in a number of fields where
the passage of current through condensed material or through plasma
is significant. The importance may arise from the need to disrupt the
fragments by applying strong magnetic fields (as in the disruption of
metallic shaped charge jets); in the requirement to generate a metallic
vapour efficiently from electrically exploding wires (as per ETC ignition systems); or in the necessity to re-use the condensed material after a
discharge (as with lightning divertor strips).
The ignition by metallic vapour deposition hypothesis relies on the
transfer of latent heat during condensation. It is important for the
efficient transfer of energy from an exploded wire (or other such
metallic vapour generating device) to the surface of energetic material.
This flux is obtained far more efficiently through condensation than
from radiative energy transfer, because the energy required to
evaporate copper is far less than that required to heat it to
temperatures at which significant radiative flux would be emitte
Contemporary Art in Japan and Cuteness in Japanese Popular Culture
No full textThis thesis is an art historical study focussing on contemporary Japan, and in particular the artists Murakami TakashL Mori Mariko, Aida Makoto, and Nara Yoshitomo. These artists represent a generation of artists born in the 1960s who use popular culture to their own ends. From the seminal exhibition 'Tokyo Pop' at Hiratsuka Museum of Art in 1996 which included all four artists, to Murakami's group exhibition 'Little Boy: The Arts of Japan's Exploding Subculture' which opened in April 2005, central to my research is an exploration of contemporary art's engagement with the pervasiveness of cuteness in Japanese culture.
Including key secondary material, which recognises cuteness as not merely something trivial but involving power play and gender role issues, this thesis undertakes an interdisciplinary analysis of cuteness in contemporary Japanese popular culture, and examines howcontemporary Japanese artists have responded, providing original research through interviews with Aida Makoto, Mori Mariko and Murakami Takashi. Themes examined include the deconstruction of the high and low in contemporary art; sh6jo (girl) culture and cuteness; the relation of cuteness and the erotic; the transformation of cuteness into the grotesque; cuteness and nostalgia; and virtual cuteness in Japanese science fiction animation, and computer games.
Director of Studies: Toshio Watanabe
Supervisors: David Ryan and Omuka Toshihar
Managerial Safety and Soundness and Maximization of Shareholder Interests: Sifting Through Bifurcated Governance Strands over Managerial Conduct of United States Banking Organizations
No full textPhDThe recent trend reflecting the erosion of the traditional boundaries between banking and other
financial businesses by virtue of financial deregulation and liberalization has resulted in a more
complex and dynamic risk-profile for banking institutions. One upshot of this transformation is,
whilst promoting safe and sound banking still remains the overriding hank regulatory objective,
the focal point shifts more and more to managerial function and responsibility, a subject
traditionally more generally associated with the corporate-law domain but now being recognized
as a core subject-matter for banking regulation and supervision. This text will analyze the
subject of managerial function and responsibility in the context of United States banking
institutions, specifically the national hank, the bank holding company and the financial holding
company.
The primary thesis to be presented and supported is in banking the governance order
concerning the "control and direction" mechanism over managerial conduct can only be fully
appreciated by not only looking into the economy specific dimension, as informed primarily by
applicable corporate law standards addressed generally to and among the shareholder, the board
and the senior management as they interact with the corporate entity, but also by investigating
the industry specific dimension (in the instant case as to banking institutions), as reflected by
required regulatory standards enshrined in statutes, regulations and other regulatory
pronunciations addressed specifically to their industrial particularities and their derived
implications on the society as whole. In the context of the United States, the governance order of
banking institutions, as such, is placed in the applicable (i) state law corporate governance
framework tinder the Delaware General Corporate Law and related Delaware case law and (ii)
federal statutes and the prudential regulations and practices of federal banking regulators.
As will be seen, these two regulatory strands that impact the U. S. hank governance order
have separately evolved tinder separate statutory and regulatory frameworks with separate
policy underpinnings. Traditionally, banks as corporate entities have been treated under general
corporate governance principles developed under corporate statutes and case law. For lcdcral
banking institutions, the federal regulators have generally deferred to the fiduciary standards
under Delaware corporate law. The policy of the Delaware statute and case law directs corporate
directors and officers towards maximizing corporate value fier the shareholders: the law
recognizes that corporate management is engaged in business risk-taking and grants corporate
management considerable leeway as to their good-faith decisions and activities, while placing
constraints on grossly negligent, illegal, had taith and sell-dealing decisions and activities. The
U. S. federal bank regulators' primarily are concerned with the "satcty and soundness" of'
banking institutions and the stability of the U. S. banking system. In pursuing the prudential
objective, the U. S. Congress and these bank regulators have externally imposed numerous
regulatory requirements on bank management, backed by intensive supervision and vigorous
enforcement. This text will argue that these federal banking laws and regulations have
significantly intruded- in depth and in breadth- into the traditional state law domain of corporate
governance of banking institutions, and, as a result of which, the ensuing contusion and
inconsistence in governance standards to be addressed. This intrusion refers to a stand-alone
bank, as well as a bank held by a corporate parent.
An appreciation of this "push and pull" tension between these two bifurcated strands
influencing the governance structure facing bank management is critical as management plans
its prudent profit-seeking strategies. Whilst a needed, comprehensive reform able to bring about
a set of uniform and industry-specific governance standards is outside the scope of this work,
this text will consider possible ways to reconcile conflicts generated and will make some modest
recommendations in this connection as conclusions thereof
Patterns, timing and predictors of recurrence following pancreaticoduodenectomy for distal cholangiocarcinoma: An international multicentre retrospective cohort study
No full textPatterns, timing and predictors of recurrence following pancreaticoduodenectomy for pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma: An international multicentre retrospective cohort study
No full textHalf-Sandwich Imido into related complexes of niobium and tantulum - relative of the zirconocene family
No full textThis thesis describes studies directed towards the preparation of half- sandwich niobium and tantalirai compounds containing imido and phosphino-carbene ligands, with particular emphasis on the relationship of such species with bent metallocene complexes of the Group 4 triad. Chapter 1 highlights areas of transition metal chemistry of relevance to the general theme of this thesis, including reviews of metal imido and zirconocene chemistry. Chapter 2 describes the use of silylated anilines for convenient solution syntheses of half-sandwich imido complexes of niobium and tantalum of the type Cp'M(N-2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))Cl(_2)(Cp' = Cp, Cp*). In addition, the syntheses and reactivities of mono- and bis-alkyl derivatives (methyl, neopentyl, and benzyl) are presented. The bis-neopentyl complexes CpNb(NR)(CH(_2)CMe(_3))(_2) (R = CMe(_3); 2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3)), reveal multiple a-agostic interactions which have been primarily studied via an X-ray crystal structure determination and NMR spectroscopy. Thermolysis of Cp*Nb(N-2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))(CH(_2)Ph)(_2) in die presence of PMe(_3) affords die benzylidene complex Cp*Nb(N-2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))(η(^1)-CHPh)(PMe3) whose X-ray crystal structure has been determined. Chapter 3 describes the preparation of the niobium and tantalum imido complexes Cp'M(N-2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))(L)(PMe(_3)) (M = Nb, L = C(_2)H(_4), C(_3)H(_6), CO, Me(_2)C(_2). Ph(_2)C(_2), C(_6)H(_4), PMe(_3); M = Ta, L = C(_2)H(_4), C(_3)H(_6), CO). Single crystal structure determinations on CpNb(N-2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))(η(^2)-C(_3)H(_6))(PMe(_3)) and CpNb(N-2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))(η(_2)-C(_6)H(_4))(PMe(_3)) have been undertaken and their relationship to Group 4 metallocenes noted. Treatment of Cp*Ta(N-2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))(L)(PMe(_3)) (L = C(_2)H(_4),C(_3)H(_6)) with a-olefins was found to lead to displacement of PMe(_3) and the generation of tantallacycle containing species. Chapter 4 compares the reactivity of tantalum imido and phosphino-carbenederivatives of the form Cp*Ta(E)(H)(X)(PMe(_3)) (E = N-2,6-(^i)Pr2-C(_6)H(_3), η(^2)-CHPMe(_2); X = H, I) with a number of a-olefins. Investigations into die mechanism of catalytic oligomerisation of a-olefins by Cp*Ta(η(^2)-CHPMe(_2))(H)(_2)(PMe(_3)) reveal that pathways involving metallacycle intermediates are most probable, whereas Cp*Ta(N-2,6-(^i);Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))(H)(_2)(PMe(_3)) reacts with a-olefins to afford stable tantallacycle complexes. The reactivity of die dihydrido species has been moderated by the preparation of mono- iodide derivatives and their reactivity towards a-olefins studied. Cp*Ta(η(^2)-CHPMe(_2))(H)(I)(PMe(_3)) dimerises ediylene selectively to but-1-ene, while Cp*Ta(N-2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))(H)(I)(PMe(_3)) reacts with ethylene to form die stable ethyl species Cp*Ta(N-2,6-(^i)Pr(_2)-C(_6)H(_3))(Et)(I). Furtherrmore, studies investigating a variety of niobium and tantalum imido species as possible catalysts for die oligomerisation and polymerisation of a-olefins under industrially relevant conditions have been undertaken in collaboration with B.P. Chemicals Ltd.. Chapter 5 gives experimental details for chapter 2-4
The Church of Christ in early Bernicia: forerunners and foundation
No full textA firmly multidlsciplinary approach starts from a theological definition of the Church as the Body of Christ, and Christians as empowered by the Holy Spirit, the possibility of miracle, and the reality of warfare with demons are taken seriously, and scholarly belief in them defended. They are made the subject of excursuses. Hagiographic writings are treated with cautious respect. Bernicia, land and people, and its relationship to its neighbours are considered. In a demographic excursus the view that Dark Age life-span was short is rebuffed. Part two discusses the life and mission of the Church in sub-Roman Britain. In our area evidence for this proves to be largely limited to the shadowy activities of Ninian and Kentigern, therefore further evidence of the status of the British church in the fifth and sixth centuries is sought in Patrick’s Confession and Gildas's De Excidlo Britɸmniae. A new model for the latter - the sermon of the protomartyr Stephen - is proposed; as is a new exegesis of D. E. B. c.69, which may have Implications for our understanding of the persistence of Pelagian beliefs. An excursus considers the significance of white stones in association with Christian burial. The origins of the mission of Augustine are considered briefly. Part three considers the mission of Paulinus in detail, in particular the reasons for its collapse; in contrasting it with the Celtic mission misslological principles are cited. A reappraisal of Paulinus's retreat, more favourable to him than that normally held, is reached by invoking wartime experience. The discipline of obstetrics is involved to advance the theory that /Ethelburh's delivery was premature; also earlier to re-examine the Herbert Ian account of Kentigern's conception, where the 'something contrary to sound doctrine' is identified, against the hitherto standard view, as the apparent approval, by Servanus, of extramarital coitus. The final establishment of the Church in Bernicia is seen as occurring principally as the result of Aidan's mission, but with valid contributions from the British and Roman traditions. That Simeon of Durham gave the credit for this foundation to Oswald is found Justifiable. A new genealogical tree of Oswy has been constructed, and maps have been provided
