Advanced Cloud Privacy Threat Modeling

Privacy-preservation for sensitive data has become a challenging issue in cloud computing. Threat modeling as a part of requirements engineering in secure software development provides a structured approach for identifying attacks and proposing countermeasures against the exploitation of vulnerabilities in a system . This paper describes an extension of Cloud Privacy Threat Modeling (CPTM) methodology for privacy threat modeling in relation to processing sensitive data in cloud computing environments. It describes the modeling methodology that involved applying Method Engineering to specify characteristics of a cloud privacy threat modeling methodology, different steps in the proposed methodology and corresponding products. We believe that the extended methodology facilitates the application of a privacy-preserving cloud software development approach from requirements engineering to design

Impact assessment of food policy research a stocktaking workshop: synthesis report

"This stocktaking workshop provided an opportunity for several groups with active interest in impact assessment relating to agricultural policy research to share experiences and views about what constitutes good practice in this field. The sponsoring organizations have had a long-standing concern for the relevance and effectiveness of agricultural and food policy research in general and at IFPRI in particular. That concern has been addressed in past meetings and the time seemed right for a further stocktaking. The focus of this 2004 meeting was on impact assessment experience at IFPRI. IFPRI has, since the mid-1990s, carried out a variety of activities aimed at assessing the impact of its policy research, capacity strengthening, and policy communications programs. The workshop brought together practitioners of such impact assessment work, users of such information, as well as researchers whose activities have been the subject of impact assessment. The cogency and necessity of such impact accounting work was reaffirmed in general terms. There was constructively critical commentary on the merits of particular approaches and instruments, such as narrative recordings and more quantitative methods of attempting to measure effects of research investments. The perennial issue of challenging counterfactuals was necessarily addressed, and the practicality of experimental and quasi-experimental methods considered. The need for consistency of assessment approaches between ex post studies (which have been the bulk of IFPRI's experience to date) and ex ante assessment efforts that represent an increasing share of the assessment portfolio was also discussed. There has long been a commitment to work towards a strong impact-orientation “culture” within IFPRI; the workshop concluded that, while there has been progress in working toward mainstreaming such a culture, there is still far to go, and efforts must continue in this direction." from Author's AbstractImpact assessment, Agricultural policy, Food policy Research, Capacity strengthening, Research methods,

Time-series cross-sectional environmental performance and disclosure relationship:specific evidence from a less-developed country

This paper relies on ‘vulnerability and exploitability’ framework to submit new insights into legitimacy theory and voluntary disclosure theory using specific empirical evidence from the Nigerian oil and gas industry. The study connects the voluntary and legitimizing disclosure behaviors, regarding carbon emission due to gas flaring, of dominant companies in the Nigerian upstream petroleum sector to the vulnerability and exploitability of Nigeria as a less developed country. The hypothesized relations between gas flaring-related environmental performance and two forms of its disclosure (volume and substance) are estimated and tested using Prais-Winsten regression with Panel Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE). While the paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure gas flaring-related carbon performance, the two forms of gas flaring-related disclosures are measured using content analysis. We document significant positive and negative association between gas flaring-related carbon emission performance, on one hand, and the volumetric disclosure and disclosure substance on the other hand. These results imply that while the positive relation confirms the vulnerable nature of Nigeria as a less developed country, the negative relation is linked to the country’s exploitability. It is also empirically established that environmental performance is one of the key factors responsible for the undulating trend in the volume of environmental disclosures by large corporations operating in less-developed countries

Enterprise Architecture Specification Case Study

A graduate course in enterprise architecture had a team project component in which a real-world business case, provided by an industry sponsor, formed the basis of the project charter and the architecture statement of work. The paper aims to share the team project experience on developing the architecture specifications based on the business case of an accountable health care organization. Students collaborated as a team in various roles to develop the architecture specifications for a new business initiative of the sponsoring organization, XYZ ACO. The teaching case describes the case study approach and the architecture approach adopted for the architecture process, and is accompanied by Teaching Case Notes which provide a selection of the models developed by members of the project team towards the architecture specifications. The course started with coverage of enterprise architecture theory, best practices and standards, and the team project gave students the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge and “learn by doing”. Students were challenged to interpret the business case, the project charter and project requirements, and each team member was allocated an architecture viewpoint and a role to play. The Teaching Case presents a summary of the team project and the lessons learned in performing the project

Towards Design Principles for Data-Driven Decision Making: An Action Design Research Project in the Maritime Industry

Data-driven decision making (DDD) refers to organizational decision-making practices that emphasize the use of data and statistical analysis instead of relying on human judgment only. Various empirical studies provide evidence for the value of DDD, both on individual decision maker level and the organizational level. Yet, the path from data to value is not always an easy one and various organizational and psychological factors mediate and moderate the translation of data-driven insights into better decisions and, subsequently, effective business actions. The current body of academic literature on DDD lacks prescriptive knowledge on how to successfully employ DDD in complex organizational settings. Against this background, this paper reports on an action design research study aimed at designing and implementing IT artifacts for DDD at one of the largest ship engine manufacturers in the world. Our main contribution is a set of design principles highlighting, besides decision quality, the importance of model comprehensibility, domain knowledge, and actionability of results