Strategies for Improving Data Protection to Reduce Data Loss from Cyberattacks

Accidental and targeted data breaches threaten sustainable business practices and personal privacy, exposing all types of businesses to increased data loss and financial impacts. This single case study was conducted in a medium-sized enterprise located in Brevard County, Florida, to explore the successful data protection strategies employed by the information system and information technology business leaders. Actor-network theory was the conceptual framework for the study with a graphical syntax to model data protection strategies. Data were collected from semistructured interviews of 3 business leaders, archival documents, and field notes. Data were analyzed using thematic, analytic, and software analysis, and methodological triangulation. Three themes materialized from the data analyses: people--inferring security personnel, network engineers, system engineers, and qualified personnel to know how to monitor data; processes--inferring the activities required to protect data from data loss; and technology--inferring scientific knowledge used by people to protect data from data loss. The findings are indicative of successful application of data protection strategies and may be modeled to assess vulnerabilities from technical and nontechnical threats impacting risk and loss of sensitive data. The implications of this study for positive social change include the potential to alter attitudes toward data protection, creating a better environment for people to live and work; reduce recovery costs resulting from Internet crimes, improving social well-being; and enhance methods for the protection of sensitive, proprietary, and personally identifiable information, which advances the privacy rights for society

Assessment of the mental health of Irish Adolescents in the community

Aim: This study aims to assess a community of Irish adolescents using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for behavioural difficulties and mental health disorders. Method: All fifth and sixth class pupils attending eight primary schools were eligible to participate. The self-report version of the SDQ was administered to the pupils in the classroom. Results: Thirty participants (8.7%) had an abnormal SDQ score and 53 (15.3%) had a borderline abnormal SDQ score. Abnormal SDQ scores were more common among females (9.7%; mean score = 11.86; sd = 5.4) than among males (7.6%; mean score = 10.96; sd = 5.26). The difference was most pronounced on the emotional symptoms subscale (females received a mean score of 4.03 [sd = 2.1] compared to a mean male score of 2.90 [sd = 2.1]). Conclusions: Mental health problems are widespread among Irish adolescents. The SDQ is a useful preliminary assessment tool of the mental health profile of Irish adolescents and highlights the need for childhood mental health promotion in schools. The SDQ could also be used in a primary care setting to screen adolescents for mental disorder

Capsid Properties Contributing to Norovirus Persistence in Humans

Human noroviruses (NoVs) are the leading cause of acute gastroenteritis in adults and contribute to an estimated 30-50% of all foodborne illnesses in the United States. They are listed on the US EPA's drinking water contaminant list and have been detected in environmental waters. No routine cell culture or small animal model is yet available, so there are limited options for testing the efficacy of prevention and control strategies. Recently, several areas of research have provided us with new tools for addressing important questions about the fate of NoV outside the human host. In this study, we examined the role of unique properties of the viral capsid protein involved in histo-blood group antigen (HBGA) receptor binding and the stability of the virus in the environment to better understand NoV persistence in human populations. Using a novel murine norovirus surrogate, we determined that NoVs are likely stable at extremes of pH, after treatment with organic solvents, and after incubation at ambient and refrigerated temperatures, but are inactivated at high temperatures. Exploiting human NoV binding to HBGA receptors, we demonstrated that potentially infectious virus can be concentrated and recovered from environmental waters. Finally, using a surrogate neutralization assay, we compared differences in the ability of human NoV outbreak convalescent patient sera collected over a 21 year period to block NoV virus-like particle (VLP) binding to HBGAs. Our results suggest that outbreak patient sera supports antigenic drift of genogroup II, genocluster 4 NoVs in the face of herd immunity. Taken together, the results of this study will enable researchers with novel tools for evaluating the efficacy of prevention and control strategies for human NoVs

Conquering APA Style: Advice From APA Style Experts

Learning and teaching APA style is often a challenge because of the detailed rules for the writing style. Resources that provide accurate information about APA style that are easy for learners to consume can be useful tools for students and instructors. The goal of this article is to provide information to help writers become more competent and comfortable with APA style. The first section of this article contains lists of common APA style mistakes that are made when papers are submitted for publication. Editors look for very specific APA formatting and style, and this section will cover these issues. Moreover, the second section includes a list of APA style rules frequently encountered by an APA style tutor. The third section has information to help students navigate writing assignments in a research methods class. The fourth section addresses additional APA style rules that many writers do not know about. Finally, this information can serve as a guide for writers to use when writing APA style papers

Attachment anxiety and avoidance and counseling self-efficacy among counseling students: examining the moderating role of mindfulness

Professional counselors have the task of helping individuals cope with a vast range of mental health and developmental issues. In 2015, approximately 43 million Americans over the age of 18 had experienced a mental health issue within the past year (SAMHSA, 2015). Recognizing that there are a growing number of mental health counselors entering the field each year (CACREP, 2016; U.S. Department of Labor, 2017), it is important that counselor training programs take steps to ensure that trainees are prepared to provide competent counseling services. Researchers and scholars (Auxier, Hughes, & Kline, 2003; Greason & Cashwell, 2009; Skovholt & McCarthy, 1988; Skovholt & Ronnestad, 2003) have determined many factors that influence counselor development. One such factor, counselor self-efficacy (CSE), seems imperative to counselor development (Goreczny, Hamilton, Lubinski, & Pasquinelli, 2015; Kozina, Grabovari, De Stefano, & Drapeau, 2010; Larson & Daniels, 1998; Lent et al., 2009; Lent, Hill, & Hoffman, 2003). Further, attachment anxiety and avoidance may be important in the development of CSE. Accordingly, it is important to understand the influence of attachment anxiety and avoidance on trainee’s counselor self-efficacy during training because trainees with elevated attachment-related anxiety and/or avoidance may experience negative consequences on their development as counselors. Mindfulness training however, may be key to increasing CSE and buffering the effects of attachment anxiety and/or avoidance. Researchers have examined the relationship between attachment and counselor self-efficacy (Marmarosh et al., 2013; Smothers, 2009), mindfulness and counselor self-efficacy (Greason & Cashwell, 2009), and attachment strategies and mindfulness (Caldwell & Shaver, 2013; Davis, Morris, & Drake, 2016; Walsh, Balint, Smolira, Fredericksen, & Madsen, 2009). To date, however, researchers had not considered how the three may interact. The purpose of this study was to address an important gap in the counselor training literature by examining whether mindfulness moderates the relationships between attachment-related anxiety and avoidance and CSE among trainees. The researcher implemented a correlational design, using multiple regression and multiple regression with the interaction term in order to explore the relationships among attachment anxiety, attachment avoidance, mindfulness, and counselor self-efficacy. Bivariate correlations were found among several of the variable including mindfulness and CSE, attachment avoidance and CSE, mindfulness and attachment anxiety, and mindfulness and attachment avoidance. Although mindfulness did not emerge as a predicted moderator variable findings from this study support previous researchers findings that mindfulness is related to CSE. Implications for counselor educators and counselor trainees are discussed

The relationship between tendency to attend to detail, sensory sensitivity, and affective response to food cues:a registered report

Understanding the underlying drivers of food choice remains a challenge and has highlighted the need for measures that capture data over and above that offered by self-reporting tools. Consequently, a growing body of research has set out to interpret facial responses to food cues to offer a greater insight into the emotional responses that may drive food acceptance. However, interpreting facial responses is challenging, as there are numerous factors that may influence affective response to foods, including expectation, context, and individual differences. Existing findings suggest there is a link between autistic traits and sensory sensitivities; research highlights further links between sensory sensitivities and eating behaviour, and autistic traits and eating behaviour, with a body of research focusing on the autistic trait attention to detail (ATD). As such, the current study aimed to examine rapid facial activity in response to foods cues while capturing these individual differences present in the general population. This study found no evidence to suggest facial responses to food pictures were linked with attention to detail or hyper-sensitivity. The findings did support a general link between self-reported pleasantness ratings of viewed foods and activity of facial muscles. Post-hoc analyses suggested scoring on the social skills sub-scale of the Autism Quotient (AQ) was associated with levator activity while viewing pictures low in pleasantness. This study offers a greater understanding of variations, at the individual level, which are associated with affective response to foods, and may help to inform the development of tools that set out to predict food acceptance. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Oligomerization Properties of Heme a Synthase Provides Insights into Its Function in Eukaryotes

Heme a is an essential cofactor for function of cytochrome c oxidase in the mitochondrial electron transport chain. Several evolutionarily conserved enzymes have been implicated in the biosynthesis of heme a, including the heme a synthase Cox15. However, the structure of Cox15 is unknown, its enzymatic mechanism and the role of active site residues remain debated, and recent discoveries suggest additional chaperone-like roles for this enzyme. Here, we investigated Cox15 in the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae via several approaches to examine its oligomeric states and determine the effects of active site and human pathogenic mutations. Our results indicate that Cox15 exhibits homotypic interactions, forming highly stable complexes dependent upon hydrophobic interactions. This multimerization is evolutionarily conserved and independent of heme levels and heme a synthase catalytic activity. Four conserved histidine residues are demonstrated to be critical for eukaryotic heme a synthase activity and cannot be substituted with other heme-ligating amino acids. The 20-residue linker region connecting the two conserved domains of Cox15 is also important; removal of this linker impairs both Cox15 multimerization and enzymatic activity. Mutations of COX15 causing single amino acid conversions associated with fatal infantile hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and the neurological disorder Leigh syndrome result in impaired stability (S344P) or catalytic function (R217W), and the latter mutation affects oligomeric properties of the enzyme. Structural modeling of Cox15 suggests these two mutations affect protein folding and heme binding, respectively. We conclude that Cox15 multimerization is important for heme a biosynthesis and/or transfer to maturing cytochrome c oxidase

Reduced duration mismatch negativity in adolescents with psychotic symptoms: further evidence for mismatch negativity as a possible biomarker for vulnerability to psychosis

Background: Deficits in the mismatch negativity (MMN) and P3a components are the most reliable and robust findings in schizophrenia. These abnormalities have also been recently documented in individuals clinically at risk for psychosis, indicating that the MMN may be a potential biomarker for psychosis. However, the at risk samples included in MMN studies are characterised by pre-existing clinical symptomatology and significant functional decline which are related to MMN amplitude. These factors may be potential confounds in determining whether deficient MMN is present prior to clinical manifestation of the disorder. Therefore, investigating the MMN in the extended psychosis phenotype comprising adolescents with psychotic symptoms from the general population may provide important information on whether abnormal MMN is apparent in the earliest stages of risk. Methods: Thirty six adolescents completed a duration deviant MMN task. Fourteen adolescents with psychotic symptoms comprised the at risk group and 22 with no psychotic symptoms comprised the Controls. The task consisted of 85% standard tones (25 ms) and 15% deviant tones (50 ms). The groups were compared on MMN and P3a amplitude and latency across frontocentral and temporal electrodes. Results: Adolescents with psychotic symptoms were characterised by a reduction in MMN amplitude at frontal and temporal regions compared to the controls. Conclusions: This is the first study to demonstrate impaired auditory discrimination for duration deviant tones in nonclinical adolescents with psychotic symptoms. These findings suggest that MMN amplitude may be a possible biomarker for vulnerability to psychosis