Assentication: User Deauthentication and Lunchtime Attack Mitigation with Seated Posture Biometric

Biometric techniques are often used as an extra security factor in authenticating human users. Numerous biometrics have been proposed and evaluated, each with its own set of benefits and pitfalls. Static biometrics (such as fingerprints) are geared for discrete operation, to identify users, which typically involves some user burden. Meanwhile, behavioral biometrics (such as keystroke dynamics) are well suited for continuous, and sometimes more unobtrusive, operation. One important application domain for biometrics is deauthentication, a means of quickly detecting absence of a previously authenticated user and immediately terminating that user's active secure sessions. Deauthentication is crucial for mitigating so called Lunchtime Attacks, whereby an insider adversary takes over (before any inactivity timeout kicks in) authenticated state of a careless user who walks away from her computer. Motivated primarily by the need for an unobtrusive and continuous biometric to support effective deauthentication, we introduce PoPa, a new hybrid biometric based on a human user's seated posture pattern. PoPa captures a unique combination of physiological and behavioral traits. We describe a low cost fully functioning prototype that involves an office chair instrumented with 16 tiny pressure sensors. We also explore (via user experiments) how PoPa can be used in a typical workplace to provide continuous authentication (and deauthentication) of users. We experimentally assess viability of PoPa in terms of uniqueness by collecting and evaluating posture patterns of a cohort of users. Results show that PoPa exhibits very low false positive, and even lower false negative, rates. In particular, users can be identified with, on average, 91.0% accuracy. Finally, we compare pros and cons of PoPa with those of several prominent biometric based deauthentication techniques

Prospective investigation of complementary and alternative medicine use and subsequent hospitalizations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use has been estimated to be as high as 65% in some populations. However, there has been little objective research into the possible risks or benefits of unmanaged CAM therapies.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In this prospective study of active duty US Navy and Marine Corps personnel, the association between self-reported practitioner-assisted or self-administered CAM use and future hospitalization was investigated. Cox regression models were used to examine risk of hospitalization due to any cause over the follow-up period from date of questionnaire submission, until hospitalization, separation from the military, or end of observation period (June 30, 2004), whichever occurred first.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After adjusting for baseline health, baseline trust and satisfaction with conventional medicine, and demographic characteristics, those who reported self-administering two or more CAM therapies were significantly less likely to be hospitalized for any cause when compared with those who did not self-administer CAM (HR = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.17, 0.86). Use of multiple practitioner-assisted CAM was not associated with a significant decrease or increase of risk for future hospitalization (HR = 1.86; 95 percent confidence interval = 0.96-3.63).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>While there were limitations to these analyses, this investigation utilized an objective measure of health to investigate the potential health effects of CAM therapies and found a modest reduction in the overall risk of hospitalization associated with self-administration of two or more CAM therapies. In contrast, use of practitioner-assisted CAM was not associated with a protective effect.</p

Managing emerging challenges of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in dentistry

Dental centers have been referred to as a hub or reservoir for infection, where healthcare professionals and other staff, patients and the public together may potentially spread pathogenic microorganisms. This may occur via saliva, skin or indirectly through air, water, and contaminated surfaces or instruments. Everyone should therefore be considered as potential sources of infection. During a pandemic, limiting unnecessary care has been adopted as a clinical measure for some patient’s, to reduce the risk of cross-infection in the short term. However, in order to enable continuation of necessary and qualified care, dental processes need to follow specific infection control strategies in order to prevent transmission of emerging pandemic risks following COVID19. In this article, we develop a tool with practical recommendations to mitigate infection risks before, during and following pandemics to enable ongoing dental care provision in primary and secondary care based on national and global recommendations

Fatal meningitis in a previously healthy young adult caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 38: an emerging serotype?

BACKGROUND: In December 2001, a fatal case of pneumococcal meningitis in a Marine Corps recruit was identified. As pneumococcal vaccine usage in recruit populations is being considered, an investigation was initiated into the causative serotype. CASE PRESENTATION: Traditional and molecular methods were utilized to determine the serotype of the infecting pneumococcus. The pneumococcal isolate was identified as serotype 38 (PS38), a serotype not covered by current vaccine formulations. The global significance of this serotype was explored in the medical literature, and found to be a rare but recognized cause of carriage and invasive disease. CONCLUSION: The potential of PS38 to cause severe disease is documented in this report. Current literature does not support the hypothesis that this serotype is increasing in incidence. However, as we monitor the changing epidemiology of pneumococcal illness in the US in this conjugate era, PS38 might find a more prominent and concerning niche as a replacement serotype

PENGARUH TEKNOLOGI INFORMASI DAN SALING KETERGANTUNGAN TERHADAP KINERJA MANAJERIAL DENGAN KARAKTERISTIK SISTEM AKUNTANSI MANAJEMEN SEBAGAI VARIABEL INTERVENING (Survey pada BUMN Sektor Industri Pengolahan di Kota Bandung )

ABSTRAK Penelitian ini tentang faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi rancangan sistem akuntansi manajemen (SAM) yang masih sangat terbatas. Akhir-akhir ini perhatian peneliti telah dicurahkan untuk memahami bagaimana variabel kontinjensi yang berbeda mempengaruhi SAM. Banyak penelitian yang telah dilakukan menunjukkan hasil yang tidak konsisten, karenanya diperlukan penelitian-penelitian lanjutan. Penelitian ini mengkaji peran karakteristik sistem akuntansi manajemen terhadap hubungan teknologi informasi dan saling ketergantungan terhadap kinerja manajerial. Karakteristik sistem akuntansi manajemen didefinisikan sebagai tingkat dimana manajer menggunakan SAM untuk mengambil keputusan manajerial. Respon yang diperoleh dari 42 manajer yang bekerja di Departemen Anggaran, Divisi Renkinrus dan Teknologi Informasi pada BUMN Sektor Industri Pengolahan di Kota Bandung dalam pengambilan sampel dengan menggunakan rumus slovin. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa SAM memiliki peran sebagai mediasi pengaruh antara teknologi informasi dan saling ketergantungan terhadap variabel kinerja manajerial. Kata kunci : Teknologi Informasi, Saling Ketergantungan, Kinerja Manajerial

Pengaruh Penerapan Akuntansi Sektor Publik Dan Pengawasan Internal Terhadap Kinerja Instansi Pemerintah (Studi Di Kecamatan Jaten, Kabupaten Karanganyar)

This study aims to obtain empirical evidence about the effect of Application of Public Sector Accounting and Internal Control on the Performance of Government Agencies in Jaten District, Karanganyar Regency in the period of April - September 2022. The research was conducted using a causal associative method with a quantitative approach. This study measures the effect of the independent variables on the dependent variable using multiple linear regression analysis. The data collection technique used was a closed questionnaire technique. The result of this study indicates that the Application of Public Sector Accounting and Internal Control has a significant effect on the Performance of Government Agencies in the District of Jaten

Strong habitat-specific phenotypic plasticity but no genome-wide differentiation across a rainforest gradient in an African butterfly

Habitat-specific thermal responses are well documented in various organisms and likely determine the vulnerability of populations to climate change. However, the underlying roles of genetics and plasticity that shape such habitat-specific patterns are rarely investigated together. Here we examined the thermal plasticity of the butterfly Bicyclus dorothea originating from rainforest and ecotone habitats in Cameroon under common garden conditions. We also sampled wild-caught butterflies from forest and ecotone sites and used RADseq to explore genome-wide population differentiation. We found differences in the level of phenotypic plasticity across habitats. Specifically, ecotone populations exhibited greater sensitivity in wing eyespot features with variable development temperatures relative to rainforest populations. Known adaptive roles of wing eyespots in Bicyclus species suggest that this morphological plasticity is likely under divergent selection across environmental gradients. However, we found no distinct population structure of genome-wide variation between habitats, suggesting high level of ongoing gene flow between habitats is homogenizing most parts of the genome

Colossal magnetocapacitance and scale-invariant dielectric response in phase-separated manganites

Thin films of strongly-correlated electron materials (SCEM) are often grown epitaxially on planar substrates and typically have anisotropic properties that are usually not captured by edge-mounted four-terminal electrical measurements, which are primarily sensitive to in-plane conduction paths. Accordingly, the correlated interactions in the out-of-plane (perpendicular) direction cannot be measured but only inferred. We address this shortcoming and show here an experimental technique in which the SCEM under study, in our case a 600 Angstrom-thick (La1-yPry)0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (LPCMO) film, serves as the base electrode in a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) trilayer capacitor structure. This unconventional arrangement allows for simultaneous determination of colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) associated with dc transport parallel to the film substrate and colossal magnetocapacitance (CMC) associated with ac transport in the perpendicular direction. We distinguish two distinct strain-related direction-dependent insulator-metal (IM) transitions and use Cole-Cole plots to establish a heretofore unobserved collapse of the dielectric response onto a universal scale-invariant power-law dependence over a large range of frequency, temperature and magnetic field.Comment: 32 pages, 4 figures, Supplementary section included, Submitted to Nature Physic

TSC22 in mammary gland development and breast cancer

Mammary gland involution is characterised by a high degree of apoptosis. By identifying genes that are upregulated at this developmental stage, we aimed to discover key factors that are involved in the induction of mammary epithelial cell death and therefore present potential tumour suppressors for breast cancer. Among 96 genes recently identified as specifically upregulated early during involution were the transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ)-stimulated clone 22 homologue (TSC-22/TGFβ1-induced transcript 4) and TGFβ3 [1]. TGFβ3 has recently been shown to be necessary for induction of apoptosis during mammary gland involution, while TSC-22 overexpression can lead to cell death. We have therefore tested whether TSC-22 mRNA expression can be induced by TGFβ3 and whether it is involved in or necessary for TGFβ-induced apoptosis. We further show that TSC-22 can enhance TGFβ3-induced Smad response and epithelial cell death. In addition, overexpression of TSC-22 alone can induce a Smad response and apoptosis in mammary epithelial cell cultures, which is independent of p53. Further, we have performed tests to study the necessity for Smad proteins during TSC-22-induced apoptosis, and to establish the intracellular localisation of TSC-22. A pilot study on a small cohort of archival breast cancer cases, representing all stages of malignant progression, shows that TSC-22 protein was reduced or undetectable in 60% of breast carcinomas when compared with adjacent normal breast tissue, suggesting that TSC-22 could indeed be a potential novel tumour suppressor gene. We shall present data showing that methylation of the TSC-22 promoter is not involved in the reduction of TSC-22 protein in breast cancer

Development of a novel, impurity-scavenging, corrosion-resistant coating for Ni-based superalloy CMSX-4

Sulfur, a common impurity arising from atmospheric and environmental contamination, is highly corrosive and detrimental to the lifespan of nickel superalloys in jet engines. However, sulfur-scavenging coatings have yet to be explored. Our study presents the successful development of a stable, uniform, impurity-scavenging Ni-Mn coating on Ni-based superalloy CMSX-4, through electroplating. The coating was characterised via combined scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. An optimal coating thickness of > 600 nm was deposited. The coated alloy was exposed to corrosive salt mixture 98% Na2SO4–2% NaCl at 550 °C for 100 h, mimicking engine exposure conditions, thereby proving that the coating successfully trapped sulfur and prevented its diffusion into an underlying alloy. This work presents a promising development for the prevention of sulfur-induced corrosion in industrial setting such as gas turbine engine, where the effects of sulfur diffusion into the bulk alloy could lead to premature failure