1,232 research outputs found
Protection of big data privacy
In recent years, big data have become a hot research topic. The increasing amount of big data also increases the chance of breaching the privacy of individuals. Since big data require high computational power and large storage, distributed systems are used. As multiple parties are involved in these systems, the risk of privacy violation is increased. There have been a number of privacy-preserving mechanisms developed for privacy protection at different stages (e.g., data generation, data storage, and data processing) of a big data life cycle. The goal of this paper is to provide a comprehensive overview of the privacy preservation mechanisms in big data and present the challenges for existing mechanisms. In particular, in this paper, we illustrate the infrastructure of big data and the state-of-the-art privacy-preserving mechanisms in each stage of the big data life cycle. Furthermore, we discuss the challenges and future research directions related to privacy preservation in big data
Exploring reidentfication risk: is anonymization a promise we can keep?
The anonymisation of personal data has multiple purposes within research: as a marker of ethical practice, a means of reducing regulation and as a safeguard for protecting respondent privacy. However, the growing capabilities of technology to gather and analyse data have raised concerns over the potential reidentification of anonymised datasets. This has sparked a wide-ranging debate among both academic researchers and policy makers as to whether anonymisation can continue to be relied upon. This debate has the potential to create important implications for market research. This paper analyses the key arguments both for and against anonymisation as an effective tool given the changing technological environment. We consider the future position of anonymisation and question whether anonymisation can retain its key role given the potential impact on both respondent trust and the nature of self-regulation within market research
Expanding the medical physicist curricular and professional programme to include Artificial Intelligence
Purpose: To provide a guideline curriculum related to Artificial Intelligence (AI), for the education and training of European Medical Physicists (MPs). Materials and methods: The proposed curriculum consists of two levels: Basic (introducing MPs to the pillars of knowledge, development and applications of AI, in the context of medical imaging and radiation therapy) and Advanced. Both are common to the subspecialties (diagnostic and interventional radiology, nuclear medicine, and radiation oncology). The learning outcomes of the training are presented as knowledge, skills and competences (KSC approach). Results: For the Basic section, KSCs were stratified in four subsections: (1) Medical imaging analysis and AI Basics; (2) Implementation of AI applications in clinical practice; (3) Big data and enterprise imaging, and (4) Quality, Regulatory and Ethical Issues of AI processes. For the Advanced section instead, a common block was proposed to be further elaborated by each subspecialty core curriculum. The learning outcomes were also translated into a syllabus of a more traditional format, including practical applications. Conclusions: This AI curriculum is the first attempt to create a guideline expanding the current educational framework for Medical Physicists in Europe. It should be considered as a document to top the sub-specialties' curriculums and adapted by national training and regulatory bodies. The proposed educational program can be implemented via the European School of Medical Physics Expert (ESMPE) course modules and - to some extent - also by the national competent EFOMP organizations, to reach widely the medical physicist community in Europe.Peer reviewe
Beyond De-Identification Record Falsification to Disarm Expropriated Data-Sets
The wild enthusiasm for big data and open data has brought with it the assumptions that the utility of data-sets is what matters, and that privacy interests are to be sacrificed for the greater good. As a result, techniques have been devised to reduce the identifiability of expropriated data-records, on the assumption that privacy is to be compromised to the extent necessary. This paper argues for and adopts data privacy as the objective, and treats data utility for secondary purposes as the constraint. The inadequacies of both the concept and the implementation of de-identification are underlined. Synthetic data and Known Irreversible Record Falsification (KIRF) are identified as the appropriate techniques to protect against harm arising from expropriated data-sets
Obfuscation and anonymization methods for locational privacy protection : a systematic literature review
Dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial TechnologiesThe mobile technology development combined with the business model of a majority
of application companies is posing a potential risk to individuals’ privacy.
Because the industry default practice is unrestricted data collection. Although,
the data collection has virtuous usage in improve services and procedures; it also
undermines user’s privacy. For that reason is crucial to learn what is the privacy
protection mechanism state-of-art.
Privacy protection can be pursued by passing new regulation and developing
preserving mechanism. Understanding in what extent the current technology is
capable to protect devices or systems is important to drive the advancements
in the privacy preserving field, addressing the limits and challenges to deploy
mechanism with a reasonable quality of Service-QoS level.
This research aims to display and discuss the current privacy preserving
schemes, its capabilities, limitations and challenges
Creating business value from big data and business analytics : organizational, managerial and human resource implications
This paper reports on a research project, funded by the EPSRC’s NEMODE (New Economic Models in the Digital Economy, Network+) programme, explores how organizations create value from their increasingly Big Data and the challenges they face in doing so. Three case studies are reported of large organizations with a formal business analytics group and data volumes that can be considered to be ‘big’. The case organizations are MobCo, a mobile telecoms operator, MediaCo, a television broadcaster, and CityTrans, a provider of transport services to a major city. Analysis of the cases is structured around a framework in which data and value creation are mediated by the organization’s business analytics capability. This capability is then studied through a sociotechnical lens of organization/management, process, people, and technology. From the cases twenty key findings are identified. In the area of data and value creation these are: 1. Ensure data quality, 2. Build trust and permissions platforms, 3. Provide adequate anonymization, 4. Share value with data originators, 5. Create value through data partnerships, 6. Create public as well as private value, 7. Monitor and plan for changes in legislation and regulation. In organization and management: 8. Build a corporate analytics strategy, 9. Plan for organizational and cultural change, 10. Build deep domain knowledge, 11. Structure the analytics team carefully, 12. Partner with academic institutions, 13. Create an ethics approval process, 14. Make analytics projects agile, 15. Explore and exploit in analytics projects. In technology: 16. Use visualization as story-telling, 17. Be agnostic about technology while the landscape is uncertain (i.e., maintain a focus on value). In people and tools: 18. Data scientist personal attributes (curious, problem focused), 19. Data scientist as ‘bricoleur’, 20. Data scientist acquisition and retention through challenging work. With regards to what organizations should do if they want to create value from their data the paper further proposes: a model of the analytics eco-system that places the business analytics function in a broad organizational context; and a process model for analytics implementation together with a six-stage maturity model
Data Collection for Mental Health Studies Through Digital Platforms : Requirements and Design of a Prototype
Background: Mental and behavioral disorders are the main cause of disability worldwide. However, their diagnosis is challenging due to a lack of reliable biomarkers; current detection is based on structured clinical interviews which can be biased by the patient’s recall ability, affective state, changing in temporal frames, etc. While digital platforms have been introduced as a possible solution to this complex problem, there is little evidence on the extent of usability and usefulness of these platforms. Therefore, more studies where digital data is collected in larger scales are needed to collect scientific evidence on the capacities of these platforms. Most of the existing platforms for digital psychiatry studies are designed as monolithic systems for a certain type of study; publications from these studies focus on their results, rather than the design features of the data collection platform. Inevitably, more tools and platforms will emerge in the near future to fulfill the need for digital data collection for psychiatry. Currently little knowledge is available from existing digital platforms for future data collection platforms to build upon. Objective: The objective of this work was to identify the most important features for designing a digital platform for data collection for mental health studies, and to demonstrate a prototype platform that we built based on these design features. Methods: We worked closely in a multidisciplinary collaboration with psychiatrists, software developers, and data scientists and identified the key features which could guarantee short-term and long-term stability and usefulness of the platform from the designing stage to data collection and analysis of collected data. Results: The key design features that we identified were flexibility of access control, flexibility of data sources, and first-order privacy protection. We also designed the prototype platform Non-Intrusive Individual Monitoring Architecture (Niima), where we implemented these key design features. We described why each of these features are important for digital data collection for psychiatry, gave examples of projects where Niima was used or is going to be used in the future, and demonstrated how incorporating these design principles opens new possibilities for studies. Conclusions: The new methods of digital psychiatry are still immature and need further research. The design features we suggested are a first step to design platforms which can adapt to the upcoming requirements of digital psychiatry.Peer reviewe
Data science strategies leading to the development of data scientists’ skills in organizations
The purpose of this paper is to compare the strategies of companies with data science practices and methodologies and the data specificities/variables that can influence the definition of a data science strategy in pharma companies. The current paper is an empirical study, and the research approach consists of verifying against a set of statistical tests the differences between companies with a data science strategy and companies without a data science strategy. We have designed a specific questionnaire and applied it to a sample of 280 pharma companies. The main findings are based on the analysis of these variables: overwhelming volume, managing unstructured data, data quality, availability of data, access rights to data, data ownership issues, cost of data, lack of pre-processing facilities, lack of technology, shortage of talent/skills, privacy concerns and regulatory risks, security, and difficulties of data portability regarding companies with a data science strategy and companies without a data science strategy. The paper offers an in-depth comparative analysis between companies with or without a data science strategy, and the key limitation is regarding the literature review as a consequence of the novelty of the theme; there is a lack of scientific studies regarding this specific aspect of data science. In terms of the practical business implications, an organization with a data science strategy will have better direction and management practices as the decision-making process is based on accurate and valuable data, but it needs data scientists skills to fulfil those goals.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio
The Users' Perspective on the Privacy-Utility Trade-offs in Health Recommender Systems
Privacy is a major good for users of personalized services such as
recommender systems. When applied to the field of health informatics, privacy
concerns of users may be amplified, but the possible utility of such services
is also high. Despite availability of technologies such as k-anonymity,
differential privacy, privacy-aware recommendation, and personalized privacy
trade-offs, little research has been conducted on the users' willingness to
share health data for usage in such systems. In two conjoint-decision studies
(sample size n=521), we investigate importance and utility of
privacy-preserving techniques related to sharing of personal health data for
k-anonymity and differential privacy. Users were asked to pick a preferred
sharing scenario depending on the recipient of the data, the benefit of sharing
data, the type of data, and the parameterized privacy. Users disagreed with
sharing data for commercial purposes regarding mental illnesses and with high
de-anonymization risks but showed little concern when data is used for
scientific purposes and is related to physical illnesses. Suggestions for
health recommender system development are derived from the findings.Comment: 32 pages, 12 figure
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