Factors Influencing Small Construction Businesses from Implementing Information Security: A Case Study

This qualitative study described the influence of small businesses’ failure to properly implement information security technologies resulting in the loss of sensitive and proprietary business information. A collective case study approach was used to determine the most effective way to gain a holistic picture of how small construction businesses make security technology implementation decisions to support their workforce. The theory guiding this study was the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model which is related to the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Technology Acceptance Model which helped explain the intentions of individuals to use information systems. Security policies and threats (insider and cyber) were also looked at during this study. Data collection methods included questionnaires, interviews, document reviews, journaling, and webpage scans to provide insight into security information technology use. The results of this study indicated small construction businesses rely heavily on third-party information technology venders to perform security functions. This security model has led to several of the businesses experiencing cyber security incidents and the businesses being more reactive in responding to cyber-attacks. Deficiencies with planning for system implementations also impacted how employees thought and used the businesses’ security information systems. The study’s results indicated employee’s behavior intention and use behavior was highly impacted by the age moderator with older employees more likely to display a lower behavior intention and use behavior for using systems

Inkjet Printing of Polyacrylic Acid-Coated Silver Nanoparticle Ink onto Paper with Sub-100 Micron Pixel Size

Printed electronics (PE) technology shows huge promise for the realisation of low-cost and flexible electronics, with the ability to pattern heat- or pressure-sensitive materials. In future developments of the PE market, the ability to produce highly conductive, high-resolution patterns using low-cost and roll-to-roll processes, such as inkjet printing, is a critical technology component for the fabrication of printed electronics and displays. Here, we demonstrate inkjet printing of polyacrylic acid (PAA) capped silver nanoparticle dispersions onto paper for high-conductivity electronic interconnects. We characterise the resulting print quality, feature geometry and electrical performance of inkjet patterned features and demonstrate the high-resolution printing, sub-100 micron feature size, of silver nanoparticle materials onto flexible paper substrate. Printed onto photo-paper, these materials then undergo chemically triggered sintering on exposure to chloride contained in the paper. We investigated the effect of substrate temperature on the properties of printed silver material from room temperature to 50 °C. At room temperature, the resistivity of single layer printed features, of average thickness of 500 nm and width 85 μm, was found to be 2.17 × 10−7 Ω·m or 13 times resistivity of bulk silver (RBS). The resistivity initially decreased with an increase in material thickness, when achieved by overprinting successive layers or by decreasing print pitch, and a resistivity of around 10 times RBS was observed after overprinting two times at pitch 75 μm and with single pass print pitch of between 60 and 80 μm, resulting in line thickness up to 920 nm. On further increases in thickness the resistivity increased and reached 27 times RBS at print pitch of 15 μm. On moderate heating of the substrate to 50 °C, more compact silver nanoparticle films were formed, reducing thickness to 200 nm from a single pass print, and lower material resistivity approaching five times RBS was achieved

Sensitivity enhancement of lossy mode resonance-based ethanol sensors by graphene oxide coatings

A layer by layer (LbL) coating made of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and graphene oxide (GO) is deposited onto an optical fiber ethanol sensor based on lossy mode resonances (LMR) in order to improve its response. The new sensor including the PEI/GO coating shows a better linearity and a sensitivity four times higher than the sensor without the coating. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a LbL coating made of PEI and GO is included in an optical fiber sensor based on LMR

Aspects of performance practice in works for recorder composed for Carl Dolmetsch between 1939 and 1989 (2 Volumes)

Carl Dolmetsch (1911-1997) is regarded as the first recorder virtuoso of the twentieth century, and the legacy of new music he commissioned and premiered was fundamental to the establishment of a contemporary repertoire for the instrument. The performing material for much of this music is preserved in the Dolmetsch archive, and contains not only his own annotations, but also those of his musical colleague of over sixty years, the harpsichordist Joseph Saxby. Careful examination of this material, together with a study of their extant recordings, and correspondence with the composers, provides evidence of Dolmetsch's performing practice related to alternative fingering, note alteration (for technical and aesthetic reasons), articulation, dynamics, tempo, ornamentation and cadenzas. We also gain insight into the use of two devices Dolmetsch developed and added to the recorder: the bell key, to complete and extend the instrument's chromatic compass, and the lip key, to enable greater dynamic contrast. Saxby's annotations in the harpsichord parts, relate mainly to registration. These and other performance practices must be seen in the context of the instruments originally played, since the manner in which these differed from those presently in use directly affected aspects of Dolmetsch and Saxby's performance and interpretation. The annotations in the performing material and, to an extent, the recordings of these works, reveal a performing style that owed something to early music performance practice, no doubt inherited from Dolmetsch's father Arnold, a seminal figure in the early music revival. They also reflect a desire to concentrate first and foremost on communicating the shape and progress of the music rather than striving for the accurate reproduction of the musical text, a characteristic of performance practice from the first half of the twentieth century. Performers coming fresh to this music will naturally arrive at their own interpretation. Nevertheless, an awareness of what is revealed by the original performing material and other primary sources can only serve to inform the modem performer - whatever their eventual interpretational decisions

Graphene Oxide in Lossy Mode Resonance-Based Optical Fiber Sensors for Ethanol Detection

The influence of graphene oxide (GO) over the features of an optical fiber ethanol sensor based on lossy mode resonances (LMR) has been studied in this work. Four different sensors were built with this aim, each comprising a multimode optical fiber core fragment coated with a SnO2 thin film. Layer by layer (LbL) coatings made of 1, 2 and 4 bilayers of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and graphene oxide were deposited onto three of these devices and their behavior as aqueous ethanol sensors was characterized and compared with the sensor without GO. The sensors with GO showed much better performance with a maximum sensitivity enhancement of 176% with respect to the sensor without GO. To our knowledge, this is the first time that GO has been used to make an optical fiber sensor based on LMR

Lossy Mode Resonance Generation by Graphene Oxide Coatings onto Cladding-Removed Multimode Optical Fiber

In this work, we have studied the suitability of graphene oxide-based thin films to be not only excellent sensitive coatings but also lossy mode resonance (LMR)-generating materials. Thin films of graphene oxide (GO) and polyethylenimine (PEI) fabricated by means of layer-by-layer assembly were selected in this study. Two optical fiber devices with 8 and 20 bilayers of the LMR-generating coating were fabricated and characterized as refractometers. Both devices show no hysteresis and high sensitivity, improving previously reported values. This research opens very promising and exciting possibilities in the field of optical fiber sensors based on LMR, strategically including specific recognition groups to the device surface to exploit this high sensitivity for monitoring a range of target analytes. The carboxylate functional groups at the edges of the GO sheets should provide excellent attachment sites for the required coupling chemistry to realize such devices

A rapid-screening approach to detect and quantify microplastics based on fluorescent tagging with Nile Red

A new approach is presented for analysis of microplastics in environmental samples, based on selective fluorescent staining using Nile Red (NR), followed by density-based extraction and filtration. The dye adsorbs onto plastic surfaces and renders them fluorescent when irradiated with blue light. Fluorescence emission is detected using simple photography through an orange filter. Image-analysis allows fluorescent particles to be identified and counted. Magnified images can be recorded and tiled to cover the whole filter area, allowing particles down to a few micrometres to be detected. The solvatochromic nature of Nile Red also offers the possibility of plastic categorisation based on surface polarity characteristics of identified particles. This article details the development of this staining method and its initial cross-validation by comparison with infrared (IR) microscopy. Microplastics of different sizes could be detected and counted in marine sediment samples. The fluorescence staining identified the same particles as those found by scanning a filter area with IR-microscopy