Advantaging Authoritarianism: The U.S. Electoral System & Antidemocratic Extremism

America's authoritarian faction is both more extreme and more successful than similar movements in other advanced democracies. Yet despite its ascendency, this faction does not enjoy broad-based support. So what explains its outsized success?In this report, Protect Democracy examines the links between escalating antidemocratic extremism and the U.S. electoral system. In particular, it interrogates how specific features of the U.S. electoral system may be structurally favoring political extremism, such as by exaggerating one party's electoral wins over the other, diluting minority voting power, weakening competition between the major parties, preventing an electorally viable new center-right party, and rewarding extreme factions at the ballot box, among other effects

Peace made, peace built?: Participation, countryside, and politics in the 2010s Colombian peace process

This thesis argues that the pursuit of participation and inclusion of all the society and inform well the citizenry about the terms of the accord is vital to achieving peacemaking on the one hand; and, a rural restructure, changing political parties’ informal coercive institutions and shifting the social norm of war towards peacebuilding on the other, are crucial coordinates so as to a routing a genuine development for Colombia. A nation that during the 2010s faced the challenge to end its long-standing civil war between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia − People's Army (FARC-EP) rebels. I advance the argument in two parts: first, peacemaking is divided in two chapters. One examines participation and inclusion in the 2016 peace settlement based on democratic innovation and the ladder of citizen participation, arguing in a constructivist way, and applying hermeneutics that inclusion does not necessarily mean a civil society's control over the peacemaking process, being the participation of the political society and insurgency a precondition. The second chapter of this section focuses on the 2016 peace plebiscite, conceptually argues that personal, relational, cultural, and structural causes are intimately related to voters’ attitudes. And quantitatively discloses from municipal data that spaces with rural poverty, coca crops, victims, remote from the centre and an intense presence of the rebels had positive associations with the yes vote, a heterogeneous influence of the warring parties, and that the vote for no won at higher population and high abstention. The second part of this thesis addresses peacebuilding through three chapters. The first, argues that civil war has been encouraged by the grievance to reduce rural poverty, so, based upon Latin American Structuralism and original data empirically finds a paradox of land redistribution, intense positive effects of technical progress to defeat rural poverty, a dependency that undermines the better rural standard of living, ditches that become greater between centre-periphery, and the egregious effects of forced displacement for the countryside. The second chapter of this section examines the brutality, narcotics trafficking, and corruption enforced by active Colombian political parties (19 parties and one social movement) from 2011 to 2020. To do so, I addressed historical contingencies of the party politics and build a novel panel data set where the brutality composite indicator, the corruption indicator and coca crops are response variables for the explanatory matrix of political parties elected to executive branch positions. The findings unmask political parties who enforced or rejected these three coercive and violent informal institutions beside divergent causes. Lastly, in chapter five, the third part of section two, posits eight individual political preferences (kinship, funding, perpetuation, ideology, decision-making, religion, military, and media) that cement the norm of civil war. Hence, I carry out an experiment with all members of the 2018- vi 2022 Colombian Congress cohort (102 subjects in the Senate and 170 in the House of Representatives). The results indicate that the population is dominated by a selfish adapted community with heterogeneous preferences according to subjects’ chamber or the experimental groups (i.e., self-enforcers, dodgers, and scofflaws).A tese argumenta que a procura da participação e inclusão da sociedade, e informar bem à cidadania sobre os termos do acordo é vital para a formulação da paz, por um lado; e a reestruturação rural, mudar as instituições informais coercitivas dos partidos políticos, e virar a norma social da guerra orientando-a à construção de paz, de outro lado, são coordenadas cruciais para o roteamento de um desenvolvimento genuíno para Colômbia. Uma nação que durante a década dos 2010 defrontou o desafio de concluir sua guerra civil de longa duração entre o governo e a guerrilha das Forças Armadas Revolucionarias da Colômbia – Exército do Povo (FARC-EP). Levo a cabo o argumento em duas partes: A primeira, pacificação, é dividida em dois capítulos. Um examina a participação e inclusão no acordo de paz de 2016 baseado na inovação democrática e a escada da participação cidadã, a discutir de uma forma construtivista e aplicando hermenêutica que a inclusão não necessariamente significa um controle da sociedade civil no processo de pacificação, sendo a participação da sociedade política e da insurgência uma precondição. O segundo capítulo desta secção foca-se no plebiscito de paz de 2016, conceitualmente trata que causas pessoais, relacionais, culturais e estruturais estão intimamente conexas com as atitudes dos votantes. E quantitativamente revela a partir de data municipal que espaços com pobreza rural, culturas de coca, vítimas, distantes do centro e com uma intensa presença de rebeldes têm associações positivas com o voto sim, uma influência heterogênea das partes em conflito, e que o voto pelo não ganhou em lugares de alta densidade demográfica e de elevada abstenção. A segunda parte da tese aborda a construção de paz mediante três capítulos, por tanto, o primeiro fundamentado no estruturalismo latino-americano e data original, empiricamente descobre um paradoxo na distribuição da terra, efeitos positivamente intensos do progresso técnico a fim de vencer à pobreza rural, uma dependência que abate um melhor standard de vida no campo, fossos que se engrandecem entre o centro e a periferia, e os atrozes efeitos do deslocamento forçado para o campo. O segundo capítulo da segunda parte examina a brutalidade, o narcotráfico, e corrupção reforçada pelos partidos políticos colombianos ativos (19 partidos e um movimento social) de 2011 até 2020, para fazê lo, abordei contingências históricas da política partidária e construo um conjunto de dados painel onde o indicador composto de brutalidade, o indicador de corrupção e as culturas de coca são variáveis de resposta para a matriz de partidos políticos eleitos em cargos do ramo executivo. As descobertas desmascaram partidos políticos que reforçam ou rejeitam essas três viii instituições informais coercitivas e violentas além de causas divergentes. Por fim, no capítulo cinco, a terceira secção da parte dois da tese, postula oito preferências políticas individuais (parentesco, financiamento, perpetuamento, ideologia, tomada de decisões, religião, militares e média) que cimentam a norma de guerra civil. Assim sendo, levo a cabo um experimento com todos os integrantes do Congresso de Colômbia da coorte 2018-2022 (102 sujeitos no Senado e 170 na Câmara de Representantes). Os resultados indicam que a população é dominada por uma comunidade egoísta adaptada com preferências heterogêneas segundo à câmara e grupo experimental (i.e., auto executores, trapaceiros, e burla leis) dos sujeitos

Research Data Management Plan Policy: Indonesian Researchers' Literacy and Behaviour as Postgraduate Students in the UK Universities

Indonesian Institute of Science implements national scientific repository to store the raw data files of research in order to preserve the research sustainability. Based on the research data management lifecycles, the research’s scope of discussion is only limited to data management policy and planning. Data were collected through eight semi-structured interviews with researchers and research supporting staffs from various backgrounds. The interviews were transcribed and be the primary resources for identifying the objectives of the study. The result of this research is delivered in a narrative presentation about the participants’ view on their data management skills in conducting their dissertation or projects. Because the participants are from different backgrounds, the results of identifying their behaviour towards data management are relatively diverse. It is also based on their personality, knowledge, and policy that is delivered by the universities. The result of this study is that we could see that participants, who are working as researchers and being a student, mostly aware of the importance of managing data well, so do research supporting staffs who have administrative tasks. They got the understanding of RDM from induction or university training, especially in the context of data management policy and planning. Indonesia could also adopt the concept of RDM training, especially data management planning to RDM users. From the studies, it can be seen that socialisation and internalisation are vital to be delivered to the participants as the implementation of RDM and its regulation is mainly relied on the practicality of research activities that are conducted by them in the first phase, such as research proposal. The participants also suggested early career researchers put more attention on the regulation of data citation for acknowledgement, accessibility and data integration to help in executing the data management planning during research projects

Anomalous behaviour detection for cyber defence in modern industrial control systems

A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the University of Wolverhampton for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.The fusion of pervasive internet connectivity and emerging technologies in smart cities creates fragile cyber-physical-natural ecosystems. Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are intrinsic parts of smart cities and critical to modern societies. Not designed for interconnectivity or security, disruptor technologies enable ubiquitous computing in modern ICS. Aided by artificial intelligence and the industrial internet of things they transform the ICS environment towards better automation, process control and monitoring. However, investigations reveal that leveraging disruptive technologies in ICS creates security challenges exposing critical infrastructure to sophisticated threat actors including increasingly hostile, well-organised cybercrimes and Advanced Persistent Threats. Besides external factors, the prevalence of insider threats includes malicious intent, accidental hazards and professional errors. The sensing capabilities create opportunities to capture various data types. Apart from operational use, this data combined with artificial intelligence can be innovatively utilised to model anomalous behaviour as part of defence-in-depth strategies. As such, this research aims to investigate and develop a security mechanism to improve cyber defence in ICS. Firstly, this thesis contributes a Systematic Literature Review (SLR), which helps analyse frameworks and systems that address CPS’ cyber resilience and digital forensic incident response in smart cities. The SLR uncovers emerging themes and concludes several key findings. For example, the chronological analysis reveals key influencing factors, whereas the data source analysis points to a lack of real CPS datasets with prevalent utilisation of software and infrastructure-based simulations. Further in-depth analysis shows that cross-sector proposals or applications to improve digital forensics focusing on cyber resilience are addressed by a small number of research studies in some smart sectors. Next, this research introduces a novel super learner ensemble anomaly detection and cyber risk quantification framework to profile anomalous behaviour in ICS and derive a cyber risk score. The proposed framework and associated learning models are experimentally validated. The produced results are promising and achieve an overall F1-score of 99.13%, and an anomalous recall score of 99% detecting anomalies lasting only 17 seconds ranging from 0.5% to 89% of the dataset. Further, a one-class classification model is developed, leveraging stream rebalancing followed by adaptive machine learning algorithms and drift detection methods. The model is experimentally validated producing promising results including an overall Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) score of 0.999 and the Cohen’s Kappa (K) score of 0.9986 on limited variable single-type anomalous behaviour per data stream. Wide data streams achieve an MCC score of 0.981 and a K score of 0.9808 in the prevalence of multiple types of anomalous instances. Additionally, the thesis scrutinises the applicability of the learning models to support digital forensic readiness. The research study presents the concept of digital witness and digital chain of custody in ICS. Following that, a use case integrating blockchain technologies into the design of ICS to support digital forensic readiness is discussed. In conclusion, the contributions of this research thesis help towards developing the next generation of state-of-the-art methods for anomalous behaviour detection in ICS defence-in-depth

Cyber Law and Espionage Law as Communicating Vessels

Professor Lubin\u27s contribution is Cyber Law and Espionage Law as Communicating Vessels, pp. 203-225. Existing legal literature would have us assume that espionage operations and “below-the-threshold” cyber operations are doctrinally distinct. Whereas one is subject to the scant, amorphous, and under-developed legal framework of espionage law, the other is subject to an emerging, ever-evolving body of legal rules, known cumulatively as cyber law. This dichotomy, however, is erroneous and misleading. In practice, espionage and cyber law function as communicating vessels, and so are better conceived as two elements of a complex system, Information Warfare (IW). This paper therefore first draws attention to the similarities between the practices – the fact that the actors, technologies, and targets are interchangeable, as are the knee-jerk legal reactions of the international community. In light of the convergence between peacetime Low-Intensity Cyber Operations (LICOs) and peacetime Espionage Operations (EOs) the two should be subjected to a single regulatory framework, one which recognizes the role intelligence plays in our public world order and which adopts a contextual and consequential method of inquiry. The paper proceeds in the following order: Part 2 provides a descriptive account of the unique symbiotic relationship between espionage and cyber law, and further explains the reasons for this dynamic. Part 3 places the discussion surrounding this relationship within the broader discourse on IW, making the claim that the convergence between EOs and LICOs, as described in Part 2, could further be explained by an even larger convergence across all the various elements of the informational environment. Parts 2 and 3 then serve as the backdrop for Part 4, which details the attempt of the drafters of the Tallinn Manual 2.0 to compartmentalize espionage law and cyber law, and the deficits of their approach. The paper concludes by proposing an alternative holistic understanding of espionage law, grounded in general principles of law, which is more practically transferable to the cyber realmhttps://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facbooks/1220/thumbnail.jp

The American UnReformation: The Undoing of American Evangelical Prominence and the Rise of the Religiously Unaffiliated Nones

With over sixty percent of Protestant churches in America experiencing either plateaued or declining numbers, the ineffectiveness or outright inattention to evangelistic efforts is magnified by the aggressive growth of the Nones population; therefore, this dissertation project seeks to answer one central question related to the current increase in the number of Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated: Are there identifiable religious resurgence mechanisms in American religious history that address the current rise of the Nones and if initiated would facilitate future religious resurgence? Lower levels of religious affiliation reveal a weakening of the heart of the Evangelical position on evangelization and carrying out the Great Commission. The strength of the religiously unaffiliated conversion and retention rates further highlights the increasing ineffectiveness of Evangelical efforts to engage a culture that is becoming altogether disinterested in organized religion, exclusive truth claims, and the faith of their forefathers (parents). a few conclusions must be proposed. First, religious alignment with political authority tends to diminish religious influence. Second, the primacy of prayer and preaching has served in each period as the impetus that sparked Evangelical resurgence. Third, the importance of the family unit in transmitting the Christian faith to the next generation was viewed as a primary responsibility of parents, and fourth, as the authority of Scripture is diminished there is a corresponding ebbing of intense religiosity. When the Evangelical message has evolved from the conversion of the individual so the individual can influence the greater culture, to interests in transforming the greater culture to affect the morality of individuals there is a declension in the effectiveness of Evangelicalism in the culture

Enriching information extraction pipelines in clinical decision support systems

Programa Oficial de Doutoramento en Tecnoloxías da Información e as Comunicacións. 5032V01[Resumo] Os estudos sanitarios de múltiples centros son importantes para aumentar a repercusión dos resultados da investigación médica debido ao número de suxeitos que poden participar neles. Para simplificar a execución destes estudos, o proceso de intercambio de datos debería ser sinxelo, por exemplo, mediante o uso de bases de datos interoperables. Con todo, a consecución desta interoperabilidade segue sendo un tema de investigación en curso, sobre todo debido aos problemas de gobernanza e privacidade dos datos. Na primeira fase deste traballo, propoñemos varias metodoloxías para optimizar os procesos de estandarización das bases de datos sanitarias. Este traballo centrouse na estandarización de fontes de datos heteroxéneas nun esquema de datos estándar, concretamente o OMOP CDM, que foi desenvolvido e promovido pola comunidade OHDSI. Validamos a nosa proposta utilizando conxuntos de datos de pacientes con enfermidade de Alzheimer procedentes de distintas institucións. Na seguinte etapa, co obxectivo de enriquecer a información almacenada nas bases de datos de OMOP CDM, investigamos solucións para extraer conceptos clínicos de narrativas non estruturadas, utilizando técnicas de recuperación de información e de procesamento da linguaxe natural. A validación realizouse a través de conxuntos de datos proporcionados en desafíos científicos, concretamente no National NLP Clinical Challenges(n2c2). Na etapa final, propuxémonos simplificar a execución de protocolos de estudos provenientes de múltiples centros, propoñendo solucións novas para perfilar, publicar e facilitar o descubrimento de bases de datos. Algunhas das solucións desenvolvidas están a utilizarse actualmente en tres proxectos europeos destinados a crear redes federadas de bases de datos de saúde en toda Europa.[Resumen] Los estudios sanitarios de múltiples centros son importantes para aumentar la repercusión de los resultados de la investigación médica debido al número de sujetos que pueden participar en ellos. Para simplificar la ejecución de estos estudios, el proceso de intercambio de datos debería ser sencillo, por ejemplo, mediante el uso de bases de datos interoperables. Sin embargo, la consecución de esta interoperabilidad sigue siendo un tema de investigación en curso, sobre todo debido a los problemas de gobernanza y privacidad de los datos. En la primera fase de este trabajo, proponemos varias metodologías para optimizar los procesos de estandarización de las bases de datos sanitarias. Este trabajo se centró en la estandarización de fuentes de datos heterogéneas en un esquema de datos estándar, concretamente el OMOP CDM, que ha sido desarrollado y promovido por la comunidad OHDSI. Validamos nuestra propuesta utilizando conjuntos de datos de pacientes con enfermedad de Alzheimer procedentes de distintas instituciones. En la siguiente etapa, con el objetivo de enriquecer la información almacenada en las bases de datos de OMOP CDM, hemos investigado soluciones para extraer conceptos clínicos de narrativas no estructuradas, utilizando técnicas de recuperación de información y de procesamiento del lenguaje natural. La validación se realizó a través de conjuntos de datos proporcionados en desafíos científicos, concretamente en el National NLP Clinical Challenges (n2c2). En la etapa final, nos propusimos simplificar la ejecución de protocolos de estudios provenientes de múltiples centros, proponiendo soluciones novedosas para perfilar, publicar y facilitar el descubrimiento de bases de datos. Algunas de las soluciones desarrolladas se están utilizando actualmente en tres proyectos europeos destinados a crear redes federadas de bases de datos de salud en toda Europa.[Abstract] Multicentre health studies are important to increase the impact of medical research findings due to the number of subjects that they are able to engage. To simplify the execution of these studies, the data-sharing process should be effortless, for instance, through the use of interoperable databases. However, achieving this interoperability is still an ongoing research topic, namely due to data governance and privacy issues. In the first stage of this work, we propose several methodologies to optimise the harmonisation pipelines of health databases. This work was focused on harmonising heterogeneous data sources into a standard data schema, namely the OMOP CDM which has been developed and promoted by the OHDSI community. We validated our proposal using data sets of Alzheimer’s disease patients from distinct institutions. In the following stage, aiming to enrich the information stored in OMOP CDM databases, we have investigated solutions to extract clinical concepts from unstructured narratives, using information retrieval and natural language processing techniques. The validation was performed through datasets provided in scientific challenges, namely in the National NLP Clinical Challenges (n2c2). In the final stage, we aimed to simplify the protocol execution of multicentre studies, by proposing novel solutions for profiling, publishing and facilitating the discovery of databases. Some of the developed solutions are currently being used in three European projects aiming to create federated networks of health databases across Europe

Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Digital Preservation

The 12th International Conference on Digital Preservation (iPRES) was held on November 2-6, 2015 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA. There were 327 delegates from 22 countries. The program included 12 long papers, 15 short papers, 33 posters, 3 demos, 6 workshops, 3 tutorials and 5 panels, as well as several interactive sessions and a Digital Preservation Showcase