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The Effects of Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage on the Human Response to Dynamic Exercise

REA Auditado

Exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) is a commonly experienced phenomenon, yet its effect on the human response to dynamic exercise is poorly understood. Therefore the intention of this thesis was to provide empirical evidence to advance the scientific knowledge and understanding of the phenomenon of EIMD; principally by investigating the physiological, perceived exertion and metabolic responses to the performance of dynamic exercise with EIMD.

Tema: general: 

• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas

The Theory of Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

REA Auditado

Within this work an investigation into the tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR)
will be presented. A base numerical model is developed to describe the tunnelling
through a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) so that a simple analytic model can be
compared. These models have been extended to the crystalline barrier MTJs. This
numerical model was based upon an enhanced Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (EWKB)
method to describe the tunnelling current density.

Tema: general: 

• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas

Sex peptide evolution and the impact of selfish genetic elements

REA Auditado

Sexual conflict can occur when a trait is expressed in both sexes but has different optima in each (intralocus conflict) or when a beneficial trait expressed exclusively in one sex is detrimental to the other (interlocus conflict). The Drosophila melanogaster accessory gland protein (Acps) “sex peptide” (SP) has been implicated in interlocus conflict as it benefits males while being costly to females. Selfish genetic elements (SGEs) such as the endosymbiont Wolbachia and transposable elements (TEs) also influence fitness.

Tema: general: 

• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas

Image Based Finite Element Modelling for the Mechanical Characterisation of Complex Material Systems

REA Auditado

There is been increasing interest in understanding the physical properties of cellular
solid for designing function specific architectures. A new approach has been adopted
for modelling those complex micro-systems using image based techniques. The image
based meshing is a novel method capable of generating the required volume discretisation
(finite element and finite volume meshes) directly and robustly from the image
data obtained from a range of imaging modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging
and computed tomography.

Tema: general: 

• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas

Molecular Line Transfer Calculations in Star Forming Regions

REA Auditado

This thesis describes the development, benchmarking and application of a non-LTE, co-moving frame Monte Carlo molecular line radiative transfer module for TORUS. Careful attention has been paid to the convergence, acceleration and optimisation of the code. I present the results of the application of the code to various benchmarking scenarios, including a collapsing cloud, a circumstellar disc and a very optically thick cloud of interstellar water. Benchmarking is an essential step in verifying the accuracy and efficiency of the code which is vital if it is to be used to analyse real data.

Tema: general: 

• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas

Geology, Geochemistry and Age of Intrusion-Related Mineralisation in Eastern Mexico

REA Auditado

Examination of igneous intrusions and related mineral deposits in eastern Mexico (including the determination of 26 new zircon U-Pb ages, 6 new mineral Ar-Ar ages and 26 new sulphide and feldspar Pb isotope and 61 new whole-rock geochemical data) revealed a spectrum of Eocene to Pleistocene mineral deposits and important aspects of the metallogenic history of Mexico.

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• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas

Predicting the habitat distribution and grazing of coral reef fish

REA Auditado

Although today coral reefs need to be managed to ensure their persistence in the challenging conditions imposed by a rapidly changing environment, practitioners worldwide often lack adequate tools to achieve this. Spatial patterns of the abundance of reef resources, but also of the processes that govern reef recovery after disturbance, need to be mapped at relevant scales to identify priority conservation measures. In this thesis I took important steps towards the construction of adequate tools for reef managers: towards creating maps of reef resilience.

Tema: general: 

• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas

Late assignment of syntax theory: evidence from Chinese and English

REA Auditado

The attraction of the well-structured arguments of the mental syntactic processing
device (parser) in Chomsky’s theory has led to an overemphasis on syntactic processing
to the exclusion of semantic and other processing in the initial sentence processing stage
(Frazier & Clifton, 1996; Gibson & Hickok, 1993; Pickering & van Gompel, 2006). The
current thesis joins some others (Green & Mitchell, 2006; MacDonald et al., 1994;
Townsend & Bever, 2001, etc.), investigating the timecourse of the information
processing of sentences.
The first interest centres on ambiguous sentence resolution.

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• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas

Changed by the Encounter’: The Learning and Change that Counsellors and Psychotherapists Experience as a Result of their Work with Clients

REA Auditado

This thesis focuses on the learning and change that counsellors and psychotherapists
experience as a consequence of their work with clients. It details two qualitative studies: a
constructivist grounded theory study, and a co-operative self-search inquiry (CSSI) that is
based on both the heuristic and co-operative inquiry methodologies.
As part of the grounded theory study, I compared the learning and change in two cohorts of
participants: a group of therapists who had had one or more significant experiences of
working with clients with HIV, and a group that had had no such experiences.

Tema: general: 

• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas

NON-INVASIVE NEAR-FIELD MICROWAVE DETECTION OF BREAST CANCER

REA Auditado

The spread of breast cancer worldwide and the need for new technologies to improve breast cancer detection present a challenge to the standard medical screening methods. Tumour detection, in the early stages, is crucial if patients are to be treated effectively and with minimally invasive procedures. Thus, any technique that can improve on, or add to, existing breast tumour detection methods is welcome. In this thesis just such a technique based on near-field microwave imaging is investigated, both theoretically and experimentally.

Tema: general: 

• General›Publicaciones Académicas y de Sociedades Doctas