VictorJuiz/thesis huggingface dataset:
Mitigating the cyber security skills shortage: The influence of national skills competitions on cyber security interest
Keywords: Interest
cyber security
cyber security skills shortage
cyber security skills competitions

There is a shortage of cyber security professionals in the current labour market, which is detrimental to countries' economic development and national security. Governments have attempted to deal with this issue by designing policies targeting both the supply and demand of cyber security skills. Among these policies, national cyber security skills competitions (NCSSCs) have been widely implemented to increase the pipeline of students entering the cyber security labour market. However, scientific studies on these interventions are scarce, and many questions are still unanswered: How do participants develop an interest in cyber security before joining a NCSSC? Do NCSSCs influence participants' interest in cyber security as a topic and as a career? What factors contribute the most to influence their interest? By answering these questions, this thesis aims to discuss the role of national skills competitions as a public policy to mitigate the lack of cyber security workers.
This research used the Italian NCSSC, the CyberChallenge.IT (CCIT), as a case study as it is the skills competition in Europe that provides cyber security training to the largest number of participants. This research employed a before and after design, collecting data from non-randomised comparison groups. Data were gathered following a mixed-method approach: quantitative data were collected through two online surveys and qualitative data through 50 interviews with competition participants.
This study found that CCIT students became interested in cyber security through a mix of “triggers,” most notably curiosity, formal and informal coursework, and the CCIT itself. Moreover, the CCIT increased interest in both cyber security as a topic and as a career. However, participants differentiated between the two, suggesting that theory should further investigate the relationship between interest development and vocational interest. Finally, this research recommends going beyond the concept of interest to fully appreciate NCSSCs’ impact, particularly by including other relevant outcome variables, such as educational and career planning, key choices, and competing interests.
This thesis argues that NCSSCs organized and implemented like the CCIT could be a valuable solution to mitigate the lack of cyber security professionals. However, on its own, a skills competition programme is unlikely to achieve what a concert of policies might in dealing with the shortage. As the shortage issue has several roots, there are limits to what a NCSSC alone can do. However, it would lay a strong foundation for other policies to further steer students into the cyber security sector.
This thesis contributes to important debates such as interest theory, the relationship between skills competitions and interest, the design and implementation of NCSSCs and ultimately cyber security education and skills policy.
Investigating the role of GWAS-identified NCX3 and Gas7 in pain
Keywords: pain
Central sensitisation
Gas7
NCX3

This thesis reports the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of experimental pain in healthy volunteers and focuses on the validation of the identified genes as targets for pain research. We found a significant association between SLC8A3 encoding the sodium-calcium exchanger type-3 (NCX3) and wind-up ratio; as well as an association between Gas7 (growth arrest specific protein 7) and secondary punctate hyperalgesia after mustard oil. We were able to validate the role of both of these genes in pain processing through behavioural tests in mice lacking either NCX3 or Gas7. We found increased response to the second phase of the formalin test in mice with an NCX3 genetic deletion. Using in vitro calcium imaging and in vivo electrophysiology in the same mouse line, we observed increased intracellular calcium following stimulation, slowed calcium clearance and increased wind-up which could be evoked at lower frequencies. On the other hand, mice with a Gas7 genetic ablation showed decreased pain behaviour after capsaicin treatment. We also performed in vivo electrophysiology and dorsal horn dendritic spine analysis, searching for functional and structural mechanisms linked to our behavioural results. While this work is still on-going, our attempt to back-translate GWAS results, has revealed and validated two important and novel pain genes, one of which, NCX3, showed a distinct mechanism of action in the spinal dorsal horn.
The Argentine navy as an autonomous actor in Argentine politics
Keywords: Argentine navy
Argentina
political activity
Armed forces
Argentine politics
autonomous actor

Virtually the entire corpus of literature on military intervention in politics treats "military" as synonymous with "army". In contrast, this thesis focuses on the Argentine Navy, other political actors being studied only tangentially, to the extent that they interact with the naval institution.
The thesis is divided into two parts. The first part is a study of the Argentine Navy as a political actor from 1810 to the present day. This part of the thesis seeks to analyse the extent of, and limits on, naval political autonomy. Periods in which the Navy played a leading rôle are therefore emphasised: the Revolucién Libertadora that overthrew Perón in September 1955, the Azul-Colorado factional struggles of September 1962 and April 1963, and the Proceso de Reorganisacién Nacional (1976-83) with the so-called "war against subversion" (or “dirty war") and the South Atlantic War of 1982.
The second part analyses the Argentine Navy thematically as a military institution and social group. It deals with factors such as the influence of foreign navies and the social origins of the officer corps, which have been suggested in the past as reasons for political differences between the Argentine Army and Navy. Explanations are sought for important characteristic features of the Argentine Navy such as its strong institutional cohesion and its laissez-faire liberal economic ideology. The indoctrination and socialisation process within the Navy and its presumed anti-clerical and/or masonic orientation are also considered. Various aspects of inter-Force relations are studied: the annual struggle over budgetary allocations and the Navy-Air Force rivalry over military aviation. Finally, naval "jurisdictional hegemony" with regard to certain regions (Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego and Antarctica) and issues (the atomic energy programme) is analysed.
The major conclusion is that the political behaviour of the Argentine Navy differs from that of the Army due to endogenous factors (naval comradeship and discipline) rather than to exogenous factors (social origins of naval officers and external institutional links). In other words, the political behaviour of the Argentine Navy differs from that of the Army not because it is Argentinian but because it is a navy, implying thereby a certain universality in naval political behaviour.
Continuity and change in the northeastern Sertão of Brazil
Keywords: Northeastern Brazil
Social change
Brazil
Social conditions
Sertão
Rural conditions

This work deals with cultural change in the semi-arid Sertão of Northeast Brazil. Since 1940, the Sertanejo way of life has undergone considerable modification provoked by a process of increasing economic and cultural integration into the national society.
The hardships caused by recurrent drought have been reduced and widescale famine no longer occurs. Also, improved transport facilities, together with new market opportunities, have enabled the limited introduction of irrigation and intensification of stock-raising. These activities are less susceptible to drought but dry farming has been little changed and crop failure is still frequent. This, combined with increasing population pressure and low produce prices, have depressed farming.
Monetarization of the local economy caused growth in other sectors but this was offset by greater unemployment problems created by large-scale substitution of local crafts by manufactured goods. Hence, emigration continues, although drought is no longer the principal cause.
Landless peasants have left the country, thus lessening class disparity here but only shifting it to town. The urban upper classes increasingly accept the national lifestyle and the poor have improved their lot, but the gap between the two is growing.
The kinship system has become more bounded because of the effects of monetarization and the shift away from a rural lifestyle. However, concepts of family honour and morality have changed little and feuding persists.
Political power has shifted from rural to urban groups but leaders are descendants of the traditional families of the past. The structure of the political system, with strict control of higher level politicians over county leaders and the latter over the local people, remains intact.
New religious sects have been introduced and are related to increasing urbanisation. Protestant and Afro-Brazilian sects appeal to some dissatisfied urban merchants and poor labourers but the sects have encountered many obstacles to wider acceptance and so the majority. of Sertanejos are still Catholics.
Structural changes in heart and kidney tissue in response to modification of substrate availability
Keywords: electron microscopy
engineered heart tissue
cardomyocytes
mitochondria

Introduction
Diabetes is a disease of impaired metabolism caused by a disparity between the insulin secretion necessary to maintain normoglycaemia and the ability of β-cells to secrete insulin. In all types of diabetes this results in hyperglycaemia which may lead to tissue damage. This project investigates the structural changes in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM) as a result of maturation and insulin resistance.
Separately, this project also briefly investigates the effects of hyperglycaemia on the structure of glomeruli in a mouse model of diabetic nephropathy (βV59M).
Methods
hiPSC-CM in monolayer and in 3D as engineered heart tissue (EHT) were treated with oleic acid to increase maturity, and with palmitic acid and high insulin to induce insulin resistance. Previous work in the Carr group had shown that both treatment with oleic acid and culture as EHT induced a switch from glycolysis to oxidative metabolism and induction of insulin resistance impaired glucose metabolism. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) was used to produce high magnification images which were assessed for quantitative analysis of muscle, nuclear area and mitochondrial area and structure. Statistical analysis was performed using R.
Sections of diabetic and control mouse kidney were stained with periodic acid Schiff’s assay (PAS), and confocal microscopy was used to observe mesangial matrix expansion. The glomeruli in these images were graded to produce quantitative data.
Results
Nuclear area, muscle area, as well as mitochondrial size, number and total area, were all increased by culturing hiPSC-CM in EHT. However only mitochondrial size and muscle area were further increased by oleic acid treatment. Insulin resistance had a significant effect only on average muscle area and on the distribution of the data for mitochondrial size and nuclear area.
There was a significant increase in mesangial matrix expansion in 12-week diabetic mice compared to non-diabetic mice.
Conclusions
Transmission electron microscopy images of hiPSC-CM showed changes in muscle area and mitochondrial morphology in hiPSC-CM cultured in 3D as EHT. Induction of insulin resistance caused increased disorder of mitochondria. Image analysis using FIJI and statistical analysis using R enabled some conclusions to be supported quantitatively. Orientation of slicing and separating mitochondrial populations would be important aspects of future work.
The βV59M mouse model shows significant indications of mesangial matrix expansion. Further work should include identifying the cause of the PAS staining using glycogen anti-bodies.
Energy sector development and carbon abatement challenges in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar
Keywords: Energy Sector
Carbon Taxation
Arabian Gulf
Oil
GCC
Renewable Energy
Natural Gas
Carbon Markets
Gulf Cooperation Council
Carbon Trading
Persian Gulf
OPEC
Climate Change
Paris Agreement

The issue of climate change is high on the global agenda, and the hydrocarbon-rich countries of the Gulf region are no exception. While the Gulf countries initially resisted the drafting of an international climate agreement for many years, they have now finally realized that decarbonization is not only necessary for their continued existence due to the threat of climate change, but that it would assist in reducing their hydrocarbon demand and meeting their economic diversification goals.
This research focuses on how Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar could achieve the decarbonization goals of their Paris Agreement (COP 21) pledges by analyzing the potential impact that various carbon reduction frameworks, such as carbon trading, carbon taxation, and command and control regulations, would have on their economic development. The key questions posed in this paper are whether carbon reduction mechanisms could be a viable way to reduce domestic hydrocarbon demand, and if so, which carbon reduction model would be preferable, and how it should be optimally designed to meet the Paris Agreement commitments?
These questions are answered by examining the contours of the energy sectors of the three selected countries, the evolution of their negotiating positions during the various international climate negotiations, and an analysis of the various carbon reduction frameworks and how they might best be designed to optimally decarbonize their macroeconomies.
My principal findings are that Saudi Arabia and the UAE would be best placed to implement national carbon markets in their respective jurisdictions, due to their large industrial bases and downstream sectors, as well as their relatively mature economies and growing populations. In Qatar’s case, my research discovered that a command-and-control carbon reduction framework would work optimally because Qatar’s small size, both in population and industrial base, would more efficiently allow direct regulation.
This research is an important contribution because as it showed that the Gulf countries may have taken a circuitous route to recognize the importance of combatting climate change, but now they are investing billions of dollars in alternative (nuclear+renewable) projects, implementing robust energy efficiency codes, and announcing, in the case of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, ambitious net-zero goals. As a result, understanding how they may arrive at their Paris Agreement pledges is critical for understanding the potential evolution of the region’s development and the contours of the future global energy market.
Strategically training and evaluating agents in procedurally generated environments
Keywords: procedurally generated environments
deep reinforcement learning
overfitting
evaluation

Typically in reinforcement learning, agents are trained and evaluated on the same environment. Consequently, fine-tuning to the specific nuances of the environment is encouraged for both the researchers and the agents in order to maximise evaluation performance. However, while this train/test methodology can produce impressive results, it can also lead to the risk of overfitting. In such occurrences, even minor variations in the environment can cause dramatic reductions in performance or lead to unintended behaviours emerging. Indeed, for many practical applications such as self-driving cars, healthcare, and finance, the consequences of overfitting can be catastrophic. It is therefore crucial to develop training methods which can produce robust agents that can generalise to unseen settings, as well as evaluation techniques to quantitatively analyse their capabilities.
A promising approach to help alleviate the concern of overfitting is the use of procedurally generated environments. As such environments are created automatically using algorithms rather than by hand, a single procedurally generated environment is able to provide significant variation for agents during training. Therefore, agents are encouraged to learn general strategies for solving the problem rather than overfit to a specific instance. However, despite the increasing prevalence of procedurally generated environments in the literature, their use remains relatively understudied.
This thesis helps to address this gap in the literature by presenting an investigation into the use of procedurally generated environments for training and evaluating deep reinforcement learning agents. To begin, the generalisation benefits of training agents on procedurally generated environment are demonstrated with improved average-case performance at test time. Next, the failures that can emerge from training using these environments are highlighted through a worst-case analysis of state-of-the-art agents. This is achieved through the introduction of various methods for finding adversarial examples which lead agents to catastrophic failure, with such examples shown to be simple, robust, and transferable across agents. To help alleviate these failures, an adversarial training approach is then presented which improves the performance of agents by incorporating adversarial examples into training. The thesis is concluded with the proposal of a general method for evaluating agents and influencing their emergent behaviour through modifying the environment.
Women's voices in Old Norse-Icelandic poetry
Keywords: prosimetrum
skáldkonur
verses
poetry
gender
voice
composition
poetics
women
Old Norse

This thesis examines the multiplicity of ways in which Old Norse-Icelandic authors represented women’s voices in poetic form, in a wide variety of genres. It undertakes a detailed analysis of a selection of these verses, considering how they function as poetry, how they function in relation to their prose context, and the (literary) effect of the prose author’s attribution of the verses to a woman. It considers the many and varied ways in which poets and saga authors represent the female poetic voice, including ways in which this voice may be used to evoke a mythological past, create a sense of nostalgia, destabilize or support established gender norms, function as performative speech, structure an episode or a longer poem, or allow an author/compiler to engage with contemporary societal tensions and concerns. It is not a comprehensive survey of all existing examples of women’s voices within Old Norse-Icelandic poetry, but examines a range of (largely secular) verses along a continuum from the entirely fictional to the ostensibly historical.
The introduction provides a survey of existing scholarship, including relevant scholarship in women’s studies and gender studies, and problematizes the frequent separation of eddic-style and skaldic-style verses in past analyses. Chapter 1 examines supernatural and legendary women’s voices, and draws parallels between the structural effects of verses within prosimetric texts, and the structural effects of speech acts within longer poetic works. Chapter 2 analyzes women’s dream verses, particularly in Sturlunga saga, and the effects of women’s roles as both speakers and dreamers of verse. Chapter 3 briefly charts the representation of women’s relationship with literary culture in indigenous romance, and considers the fusion of skaldic verse and chivalric tradition in the verses spoken by women in Víglundar saga. Chapter 4 turns to the women of the Íslendingasögur and konungasögur, including both the traditionally recognized skáldkonur as well as many other women whose verses have regularly been subject to questions surrounding attribution. The chapter conducts a detailed analysis of the many ways such verses function within the sagas.
Throughout, this thesis reveals the extent to which careful arrangement of verses allows an author or compiler to highlight relationships between characters, argues for the (intentional) effectiveness of women’s verses as structural markers, and demonstrates that women’s roles, and women’s engagement with poetic composition – far from being a monolithic or fixed state of affairs – are a site of tension, conversation, and ongoing debate throughout these texts.
Urban precarity: affordable art studios in contemporary London
Keywords: urban precarity

This thesis contributes to critical understandings of the changing geographies of artist studios by examining how political-economic change and urban precarity manifest themselves in different working conditions for artists in those studios. Against the backdrop of recent debates in geography about the status of the art studio, as well as a series of changes around the organisation and delivery of artists workspace in London since the mid-2000s, this thesis determines what effect a series of recent transformations in London’s political economy is having on the availability and organisation of affordable studios and the consequences of this for the ways in which artists use, experience and value studios. Taking the growing precariousness of affordable workspace to be both symptomatic and expressive of London’s political economic condition, it poses a number of questions about the spatial and material practices through which precarity is made present within the studio, and how urban precarity is being brought to bear in artists’ everyday studio activities and practices. These questions are addressed through interviews with those involved in the organisation and delivery of affordable artist workspaces in London, and the visual artists who rent and occupy these spaces. Bringing these two sets of responses together, this thesis develops the argument that the relationship between the studio and the city is one that is not only economic but also affective, material and experiential, and as such, it is impossible to think about studio provision in London without thinking about urban precarity. In other words, we cannot think about the artist’s studio outside of the political-economic specificities of its urban context.