Too close for comfort: cyber terrorism and information security across national policies and international diplomacy

This article analyses the evolution and interplay of national policies and international diplomacy on cyber terrorism within and across the UNSC’s permanent five members and the UN process on cyber norms (GGE and OEWG). First, it reveals how – through the extension of preemptive measures to low-impact cyber activities and online content – national policies progressively articulate cyber terrorism as an issue of information security. Second, it problematizes how – through the adoption of comprehensive and imprecise definitions – the diplomatic language on cyber terrorism might lend international support to those authoritarian regimes keen on leveraging counter-terrorism to persecute domestic oppositions and vulnerable groups. Third, it concludes that – with UN diplomatic efforts increasingly discussing countering (dis)information operations – combining normative debates on cyber terrorism with those on information security requires precision of language to safeguard human rights globally.Cybersecurity en cybergovernanc

The Public’s Intended Uptake of Hypothetical Esophageal Adenocarcinoma Screening Scenarios:A Nationwide Survey

INTRODUCTION: Screening for early esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) may potentially reduce EAC-related mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to examine the Dutch population’s intended uptake of 3 hypothetical EAC screening test scenarios and preferences for potential future organization. METHODS: A total of 8,350 Dutch individuals aged 45–75 years were invited, of whom 2,258 completed a web-based survey. Participants were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 hypothetical screening test scenarios (i.e., transnasal endoscopy, ingestible cell collection device, or breath analysis). The primary outcome was intended uptake. Secondary outcomes included acceptance of screening eligibility criteria and preferences regarding invitation, counseling, and diagnostic follow-up. We performed exploratory univariable and multivariable regression analyses to assess which determinants were associated with EAC screening intent. RESULTS: Intended uptake of screening was highest in the breath analysis scenario (95%), followed by conventional upper endoscopy (78%), an ingestible cell collection device (75%), and transnasal endoscopy (68%) (P &lt; 0.001). Anticipating discomfort was most strongly associated with decreased intention to undergo transnasal endoscopy (odds ratio 0.18, 95% confidence interval 0.11–0.29) or swallow a cell collection device (odds ratio 0.20, 95% confidence interval 0.13–0.32). Cancer worry and high acceptance of test sensitivity/ specificity were consistently associated with a positive intention to participate in screening. Inviting persons for screening based on gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms, age, or the output of a risk prediction model was acceptable to 74%, 69%, and 66%, respectively. Inviting only men was acceptable for only 41% of women. The majority (58%) preferred to be invited by a public health organization, and 32% of the participants preferred to discuss their decision to participate with a healthcare professional. DISCUSSION: Participants in this study self-selected through a web-based survey, potentially introducing selection bias. Participants generally intended to participate in EAC screening, although the level of intent depended on the discomfort and performance associated with the offered screening test. Determining eligibility based on gastroesophageal reflux disease symptoms, age, or a risk calculator, but not sex, would be acceptable to most individuals.</p

Breast cancer risk in mothers of twins.

The risk of breast cancer associated with delivering a twin birth was examined in a population-based nested case-control study of nearly 4800 Swedish women with breast cancer and 47000 age-matched control subjects. All were aged less than 50 years and parous. After adjustment for age at first birth and parity, a 29% reduction in breast cancer risk was observed in mothers of twins relative to those who were not (odds ratio = 0.71, 95% confidence interval 0.55-0.91). These results provide evidence that women who bear twins are at reduced risk of breast cancer, one explanation for which may be their unusual levels of hormonal exposure

Hardware Sequencing of Inflatable Nonlinear Actuators for Autonomous Soft Robots

Soft robots are an interesting alternative for classic rigid robots in appli-cations requiring interaction with organisms or delicate objects. Elastic inflatable actuators are one of the preferred actuation mechanisms for soft robots since they are intrinsically safe and soft. However, these pneumatic actuators each require a dedicated pressure supply and valve to drive and control their actuation sequence. Because of the relatively large size of pres-sure supplies and valves compared to electrical leads and electronic control-lers, tethering pneumatic soft robots with multiple degrees of freedom is bulky and unpractical. Here, a new approach is described to embed hardware intelligence in soft robots where multiple actuators are attached to the same pressure supply, and their actuation sequence is programmed by the inter-action between nonlinear actuators and passive flow restrictions. How to model this hardware sequencing is discussed, and it is demonstrated on an 8-degree-of-freedom walking robot where each limb comprises two actua-tors with a sequence embedded in their hardware. The robot is able to carry pay loads of 800 g in addition to its own weight and is able to walk at travel speeds of 3 body lengths per minute, without the need for complex on-board valves or bulky tethers.ERC starting gran

Deep learning-based breast region segmentation in raw and processed digital mammograms:generalization across views and vendors

Purpose: We developed a segmentation method suited for both raw (for processing) and processed (for presentation) digital mammograms (DMs) that is designed to generalize across images acquired with systems from different vendors and across the two standard screening views. Approach: A U-Net was trained to segment mammograms into background, breast, and pectoral muscle. Eight different datasets, including two previously published public sets and six sets of DMs from as many different vendors, were used, totaling 322 screen film mammograms (SFMs) and 4251 DMs (2821 raw/processed pairs and 1430 only processed) from 1077 different women. Three experiments were done: first training on all SFM and processed images, second also including all raw images in training, and finally testing vendor generalization by leaving one dataset out at a time. Results: The model trained on SFM and processed mammograms achieved a good overall performance regardless of projection and vendor, with a mean (±std. dev.) dice score of 0.96 0.06 for all datasets combined. When raw images were included in training, the mean (±std. dev.) dice score for the raw images was 0.95 0.05 and for the processed images was 0.96 0.04. Testing on a dataset with processed DMs from a vendor that was excluded from training resulted in a difference in mean dice varying between −0.23 to þ0.02 from that of the fully trained model. Conclusions: The proposed segmentation method yields accurate overall segmentation results for both raw and processed mammograms independent of view and vendor. The code and model weights are made available.</p