Cyber Threat Intelligence : Challenges and Opportunities

The ever increasing number of cyber attacks requires the cyber security and forensic specialists to detect, analyze and defend against the cyber threats in almost realtime. In practice, timely dealing with such a large number of attacks is not possible without deeply perusing the attack features and taking corresponding intelligent defensive actions, this in essence defines cyber threat intelligence notion. However, such an intelligence would not be possible without the aid of artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced data mining techniques to collect, analyse, and interpret cyber attack evidences. In this introductory chapter we first discuss the notion of cyber threat intelligence and its main challenges and opportunities, and then briefly introduce the chapters of the book which either address the identified challenges or present opportunistic solutions to provide threat intelligence.Comment: 5 Page

Evaluation of Optic Nerve Head Examination in a Resident Based Hospital

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of glaucomatous optic neuropathy diagnosis in a resident based hospital. Patients and Methods:  Four hundred twenty eyes of 210 patients underwent ocular examination including intra ocular pressure and optic nerve head measurements by third and fourth year residents and suspect cases were referred to a glaucoma specialist for validation. After reevaluation by the specialist a comparison between these two examination results was performed to evaluate the over diagnosis of disease by residents. Results: In this prospective study, eighteen eyes out of 420 evaluated eyes were diagnosed as either glaucoma suspect (14 eyes) or glaucoma (4 eyes) by residents. After reevaluation by the glaucoma specialist only one eye had suspect optic nerve head which was referred for optic nerve head imaging. All other eyes had normal optic nerve head and retinal nerve fiber layer in examination by the specialist. Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate a high rate of glaucomatous optic neuropathy over diagnosis by third and fourth year ophthalmology residents. Further studies are needed to find if this over diagnosis is related to poor training or anxiety among residents to miss a real case of glaucoma.Keywords: Glaucoma, Examination, Optic Nerves, Diagnosis

Scheduling of Air Conditioning and Thermal Energy Storage Systems Considering Demand Response Programs

The high penetration rate of renewable energy sources (RESs) in smart energy systems has both threat and opportunity consequences. On the positive side, it is inevitable that RESs are beneficial with respect to conventional energy resources from the environmental aspects. On the negative side, the RESs are a great source of uncertainty, which will make challenges for the system operators to cope with. To tackle the issues of the negative side, there are several methods to deal with intermittent RESs, such as electrical and thermal energy storage systems (TESSs). In fact, pairing RESs to electrical energy storage systems (ESSs) has favorable economic opportunities for the facility owners and power grid operators (PGO), simultaneously. Moreover, the application of demand-side management approaches, such as demand response programs (DRPs) on flexible loads, specifically thermal loads, is an effective solution through the system operation. To this end, in this work, an air conditioning system (A/C system) with a TESS has been studied as a way of volatility compensation of the wind farm forecast-errors (WFFEs). Additionally, the WFFEs are investigated from multiple visions to assist the dispatch of the storage facilities. The operation design is presented for the A/C systems in both day-ahead and real-time operations based on the specifications of WFFEs. Analyzing the output results, the main aims of the work, in terms of applying DRPs and make-up of WFFEs to the scheduling of A/C system and TESS, will be evaluated. The dispatched cooling and base loads show the superiority of the proposed method, which has a smoother curve compared to the original curve. Further, the WFFEs application has proved and demonstrated a way better function than the other uncertainty management techniques by committing and compensating the forecast errors of cooling loads

Comparing parental monitoring, affiliation with delinquent peers, and high-risk behaviors in single-parent and two-parent male adolescents

Single-parent families maybe exposed of personal, interpersonal and family problems. Thus, the aim of the current research wasthe comparison of parental monitoring, affiliation with delinquent peers and high risk behaviors between single parent and two-parent adolescents. 100 single-parent adolescents and 100 two-parent adolescents in Eslamabad-e Gharb city of Kermanshah, Iran, were selected through Convenience sampling method, and responded to parental monitoring and affiliation with peers delinquent questionnaires and adolescent risk-taking scale. The results showed a significant difference between single parent and two-parent adolescent in terms of all three compared variables. Actually, single parent adolescents obtained lower score in parental monitoring and higher scores in affiliation with delinquent peers and high risk behaviors in comparison with two-parent adolescents. According to the results, it can be said that single-parent families are more exposed to problems. Therefore interventions to teach appropriate parenting style forparentsof single-parent adolescents and proper trainingsareessentialto prevent affiliation with delinquent peers and high risk behaviors among single-parent adolescents.Single-parent families maybe exposed of personal, interpersonal and family problems. Thus, the aim of the current research wasthe comparison of parental monitoring, affiliation with delinquent peers and high risk behaviors between single parent and two-parent adolescents. 100 single-parent adolescents and 100 two-parent adolescents in Eslamabad-e Gharb city of Kermanshah, Iran, were selected through Convenience sampling method, and responded to parental monitoring and affiliation with peers delinquent questionnaires and adolescent risk-taking scale. The results showed a significant difference between single parent and two-parent adolescent in terms of all three compared variables. Actually, single parent adolescents obtained lower score in parental monitoring and higher scores in affiliation with delinquent peers and high risk behaviors in comparison with two-parent adolescents. According to the results, it can be said that single-parent families are more exposed to problems. Therefore interventions to teach appropriate parenting style forparentsof single-parent adolescents and proper trainingsareessentialto prevent affiliation with delinquent peers and high risk behaviors among single-parent adolescents

A hierarchical key pre-distribution scheme for fog networks

Security in fog computing is multi-faceted, and one particular challenge is establishing a secure communication channel between fog nodes and end devices. This emphasizes the importance of designing efficient and secret key distribution scheme to facilitate fog nodes and end devices to establish secure communication channels. Existing secure key distribution schemes designed for hierarchical networks may be deployable in fog computing, but they incur high computational and communication overheads and thus consume significant memory. In this paper, we propose a novel hierarchical key pre-distribution scheme based on “Residual Design” for fog networks. The proposed key distribution scheme is designed to minimize storage overhead and memory consumption, while increasing network scalability. The scheme is also designed to be secure against node capture attacks. We demonstrate that in an equal-size network, our scheme achieves around 84% improvement in terms of node storage overhead, and around 96% improvement in terms of network scalability. Our research paves the way for building an efficient key management framework for secure communication within the hierarchical network of fog nodes and end devices. KEYWORDS: Fog Computing, Key distribution, Hierarchical Networks

Global investments in pandemic preparedness and COVID-19: development assistance and domestic spending on health between 1990 and 2026

Background The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted gaps in health surveillance systems, disease prevention, and treatment globally. Among the many factors that might have led to these gaps is the issue of the financing of national health systems, especially in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), as well as a robust global system for pandemic preparedness. We aimed to provide a comparative assessment of global health spending at the onset of the pandemic; characterise the amount of development assistance for pandemic preparedness and response disbursed in the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic; and examine expectations for future health spending and put into context the expected need for investment in pandemic preparedness. Methods In this analysis of global health spending between 1990 and 2021, and prediction from 2021 to 2026, we estimated four sources of health spending: development assistance for health (DAH), government spending, out-of-pocket spending, and prepaid private spending across 204 countries and territories. We used the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s Creditor Reporting System (CRS) and the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database (GHED) to estimate spending. We estimated development assistance for general health, COVID-19 response, and pandemic preparedness and response using a keyword search. Health spending estimates were combined with estimates of resources needed for pandemic prevention and preparedness to analyse future health spending patterns, relative to need. Findings In 2019, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, US$9·2 trillion (95$7·3 trillion (95% UI 7·2–7·4) in 2019; 293·7 times the $24·8 billion (95$43·1 billion in development assistance was provided to maintain or improve health. The pandemic led to an unprecedented increase in development assistance targeted towards health; in 2020 and 2021, $1·8 billion in DAH contributions was provided towards pandemic preparedness in LMICs, and$37·8 billion was provided for the health-related COVID-19 response. Although the support for pandemic preparedness is 12·2% of the recommended target by the High-Level Independent Panel (HLIP), the support provided for the health-related COVID-19 response is 252·2% of the recommended target. Additionally, projected spending estimates suggest that between 2022 and 2026, governments in 17 (95% UI 11–21) of the 137 LMICs will observe an increase in national government health spending equivalent to an addition of 1% of GDP, as recommended by the HLIP. Interpretation There was an unprecedented scale-up in DAH in 2020 and 2021. We have a unique opportunity at this time to sustain funding for crucial global health functions, including pandemic preparedness. However, historical patterns of underfunding of pandemic preparedness suggest that deliberate effort must be made to ensure funding is maintained

Global investments in pandemic preparedness and COVID-19: development assistance and domestic spending on health between 1990 and 2026

Background The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted gaps in health surveillance systems, disease prevention, and treatment globally. Among the many factors that might have led to these gaps is the issue of the financing of national health systems, especially in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), as well as a robust global system for pandemic preparedness. We aimed to provide a comparative assessment of global health spending at the onset of the pandemic; characterise the amount of development assistance for pandemic preparedness and response disbursed in the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic; and examine expectations for future health spending and put into context the expected need for investment in pandemic preparedness. Methods In this analysis of global health spending between 1990 and 2021, and prediction from 2021 to 2026, we estimated four sources of health spending: development assistance for health (DAH), government spending, out-of-pocket spending, and prepaid private spending across 204 countries and territories. We used the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s Creditor Reporting System (CRS) and the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database (GHED) to estimate spending. We estimated development assistance for general health, COVID-19 response, and pandemic preparedness and response using a keyword search. Health spending estimates were combined with estimates of resources needed for pandemic prevention and preparedness to analyse future health spending patterns, relative to need. Findings In 2019, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, US$9·2 trillion (95$7·3 trillion (95% UI 7·2–7·4) in 2019; 293·7 times the $24·8 billion (95$43·1 billion in development assistance was provided to maintain or improve health. The pandemic led to an unprecedented increase in development assistance targeted towards health; in 2020 and 2021, $1·8 billion in DAH contributions was provided towards pandemic preparedness in LMICs, and$37·8 billion was provided for the health-related COVID-19 response. Although the support for pandemic preparedness is 12·2% of the recommended target by the High-Level Independent Panel (HLIP), the support provided for the health-related COVID-19 response is 252·2% of the recommended target. Additionally, projected spending estimates suggest that between 2022 and 2026, governments in 17 (95% UI 11–21) of the 137 LMICs will observe an increase in national government health spending equivalent to an addition of 1% of GDP, as recommended by the HLIP. Interpretation There was an unprecedented scale-up in DAH in 2020 and 2021. We have a unique opportunity at this time to sustain funding for crucial global health functions, including pandemic preparedness. However, historical patterns of underfunding of pandemic preparedness suggest that deliberate effort must be made to ensure funding is maintained

Regionala innovationssystem: en tillämpning och ett ramverk

Boosting economic growth and competitiveness in different spatial contexts such as national, regional, metropolitan etc. has always been in the epicenter of both large and small-scale planning efforts pursued at different levels of government from local to extra- regional and their significance is still, and probably will always be, on the rise given the ever increasing competition in today’s, and yet-to-come future world. In order to achieve this, relevant authorities have devised and implemented a vast variety of policies and approaches which are, more often than not, based on abundance of theoretical contributions in the field of economic geography. This thesis explores one of the main theoretical contributions to this field being Innovation Systems theory and tries to adapt the concept, originally intended for application at a larger scale, to the perspective of an individual firm rather than a whole production system while briefly using empirics from the spatial context of Adelaide/South Australia, loosely defined as a region, and the sectoral context of electricity infrastructure. The initial conclusion here is that applying the concept to the more manageable context of an individual firm, may have the potential to enable one to identify the relevant organizational and institutional setup more effectively and present a better explanatory description of their role in the whole Innovation system and in turn, can contribute to a more informed planning and policy- making process for regional economic growth.

The Frequency of Diabetic Ketoacidosis and Hyperglycemia in New Cases of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus in Children Hospital of Qazvin City, Iran, during the Years 2006 to 2016

Background: Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is the most common chronic endocrine-metabolic disorder of childhood and adolescence. Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is one of the most important acute complications of T1D, and associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study was to survey the frequency of DKA in new cases of T1D. Methods: Data from 144 new cases of T1D admitted to the children hospital of Qazvin City, Iran, between 2006 and 2016 were reviewed. The studied variables included age, sex, new case of disease, season, place of living, family history of T1D, cause of admission, duration of hospitalization, recovery of DKA, blood glucose level, and arterial pH at admission. The data were collected using a questionnaire, and analyzed using SPSS software. Findings: Out of 144 patients, 60.4% were girls. 84.3% of new patients admitted with DKA, and 15.7% with hyperglycemia. 24.7%, 24.6%, and 50.7% of patients were less than 5 years, 5 to 7 years, and ≥ 8 years, respectively. The highest incidence was in the autumn (31.6%). 11.9% of patients had a positive family history of T1D. The mean glucose level was 496.91 ± 154.38 mg/dl. Mean age at diagnosis was 7.38 ± 3.23 years. 2.5%, 28.0%, and 69.5% of patients had mild, moderate, and severe DKA, respectively. Mean days of hospitalization was 2.21 ± 7.54 days in ketoacidosis and 0.91 ± 4.66 in hyperglycemia, and the difference was significant (P < 0.001). Conclusion: A greater incidence of DKA in the onset of the disease was due to insufficient awareness of families about diabetes mellitus. Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, type 1; Diabetic ketoacidosis; Hypoglycemia; Chil