Planning, Managing and Monitoring Technological Security Infrastructures

Over the past few decades many different Information Technologies (IT) policies have been introduced, including COSO, ITIL, PMBook, CMM,ISO 2700x, Six Sigma, being COBIT IT (Control Objectives for IT) the framework that encompasses all IT and Information Systems (IS) governance activities at the organization’s level. As part of the applicability of quality services certification (ISO 9001) in all IT services of a public institution, it is presented a case study aimed at planning, managing and monitoring technological security infrastructures. It followed the guidelines for the ISO 2700x family, COBIT, ITIL and other standards and conducted a survey to complement the IT process’s objectives. With regard to an action-research methodology for problem-solving (i.e., a kind of attempt to improve or investigate practice) and according to the issue under analyze, the question is put into the terms, viz. “How can the ISO 2700x, COBIT, ITIL and other guidelines help with the planning, management and monitoring of technological security infrastructures and minimize the risk management of IT and IS?”. Indeed, it may be resolved that it is possible to achieve the goals of planning, managing and monitoring a technological security infrastructure. In the future, we will use Artificial Intelligence based approaches to problem solving such as Artificial Neural Networks and Cased Based Reasoning, to evaluate this issue

Toward a More Comprehensive Understanding of organizational influences On Implementation: the organization theory For Implementation Science Framework

INTRODUCTION: Implementation is influenced by factors beyond individual clinical settings. Nevertheless, implementation research often focuses on factors related to individual providers and practices, potentially due to limitations of available frameworks. Extant frameworks do not adequately capture the myriad organizational influences on implementation. Organization theories capture diverse organizational influences but remain underused in implementation science. to advance their use among implementation scientists, we distilled 70 constructs from nine organization theories identified in our previous work into theoretical domains in the Organization Theory for Implementation Science (OTIS) framework. METHODS: The process of distilling organization theory constructs into domains involved concept mapping and iterative consensus-building. First, we recruited organization and implementation scientists to participate in an online concept mapping exercise in which they sorted organization theory constructs into domains representing similar theoretical concepts. Multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analyses were used to produce visual representations (clusters) of the relationships among constructs in concept maps. Second, to interpret concept maps, we engaged members of the Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN) OTIS workgroup in consensus-building discussions. RESULTS: Twenty-four experts participated in concept mapping. Based on resulting construct groupings\u27 coherence, OTIS workgroup members selected the 10-cluster solution (from options of 7-13 clusters) and then reorganized clusters in consensus-building discussions to increase coherence. This process yielded six final OTIS domains: organizational characteristics (e.g., size; age); governance and operations (e.g., organizational and social subsystems); tasks and processes (e.g., technology cycles; excess capacity); knowledge and learning (e.g., tacit knowledge; sense making); characteristics of a population of organizations (e.g., isomorphism; selection pressure); and interorganizational relationships (e.g., dominance; interdependence). DISCUSSION: Organizational influences on implementation are poorly understood, in part due to the limitations of extant frameworks. to improve understanding of organizational influences on implementation, we distilled 70 constructs from nine organization theories into six domains. Applications of the OTIS framework will enhance understanding of organizational influences on implementation, promote theory-driven strategies for organizational change, improve understanding of mechanisms underlying relationships between OTIS constructs and implementation, and allow for framework refinement. Next steps include testing the OTIS framework in implementation research and adapting it for use among policymakers and practitioners

Towards data-driven cyber attack damage and vulnerability estimation for manufacturing enterprises

Defending networks against cyber attacks is often reactive rather than proactive. Attacks against enterprises are often monetary driven and are targeted to compromise data. While the best practices in enterprise-level cyber security of IT infrastructures are well established, the same cannot be said for critical infrastructures that exist in the manufacturing industry. Often guided by these best practices, manufacturing enterprises apply blanket cyber security in order to protect their networks, resulting in either under or over protection. In addition, these networks comprise heterogeneous entities such as machinery, control systems, digital twins and interfaces to the external supply chain making them susceptible to cyber attacks that cripple the manufacturing enterprise. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse, comprehend and quantify the essential metrics of providing targeted and optimised cyber security for manufacturing enterprises. This paper presents a novel data-driven approach to develop the essential metrics, namely, Damage Index (DI) and Vulnerability Index (VI) that quantify the extent of damage a manufacturing enterprise could suffer due to a cyber attack and the vulnerabilities of the heterogeneous entities within the enterprise respectively. A use case for computing the metrics is also demonstrated. This work builds a strong foundation for development of an adaptive cyber security architecture with optimal use of IT resources for manufacturing enterprises

Short Lag Times for Invasive Tropical Plants: Evidence from Experimental Plantings in Hawai'i

Background: The lag time of an invasion is the delay between arrival of an introduced species and its successful spread in a new area. To date, most estimates of lag times for plants have been indirect or anecdotal, and these estimates suggest that plant invasions are often characterized by lag times of 50 years or more. No general estimates are available of lag times for tropical plant invasions. Historical plantings and documentation were used to directly estimate lag times for tropical plant invasions in Hawai’i. Methodology/Principal Findings: Historical planting records for the Lyon Arboretum dating back to 1920 were examined to identify plants that have since become invasive pests in the Hawaiian Islands. Annual reports describing escape from plantings were then used to determine the lag times between initial plantings and earliest recorded spread of the successful invaders. Among 23 species that eventually became invasive pests, the average lag time between introduction and first evidence of spread was 14 years for woody plants and 5 years for herbaceous plants. Conclusions/Significance: These direct estimates of lag times are as much as an order of magnitude shorter than previous, indirect estimates, which were mainly based on temperate plants. Tropical invaders may have much shorter lag times than temperate species. A lack of direct and deliberate observations may have also inflated many previous lag time estimates. Although there have been documented cases of long lag times due to delayed arrival of a mutualist or environmenta

Effects of isoflavones (soy phyto-estrogens) on serum lipids: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effects of isoflavones (soy phyto-estrogens) on serum total cholesterol (TC), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and triglyceride (TG). METHODS: We searched electronic databases and included randomized trials with isoflavones interventions in the forms of tablets, isolated soy protein or soy diets. Review Manager 4.2 was used to calculate the pooled risk differences with fixed effects model. RESULTS: Seventeen studies (21 comparisons) with 853 subjects were included in this meta-analysis. Isoflavones tablets had insignificant effects on serum TC, 0.01 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.17 to 0.18, heterogeneity p = 1.0); LDL, 0.00 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.14 to 0.15, heterogeneity p = 0.9); HDL, 0.01 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.05 to 0.06, heterogeneity p = 1.0); and triglyceride, 0.03 mmol/L (95% CI: -0.06 to 0.12, heterogeneity p = 0.9). Isoflavones interventions in the forms of isolated soy protein (ISP), soy diets or soy protein capsule were heterogeneous to combine. CONCLUSIONS: Isoflavones tablets, isolated or mixtures with up to 150 mg per day, seemed to have no overall statistical and clinical benefits on serum lipids. Isoflavones interventions in the forms of soy proteins may need further investigations to resolve whether synergistic effects are necessary with other soy components

Brukarens roll i välfärdsforskning och utvecklingsarbete

Tekstene er fra forelesninger samt fra doktorantkurset "Brukarmedverkan i forskning och utvecklingsarbete inom hälso- och sjukvård, socialt arbete och omsorg". Kurset ble avholdt våren 2009.Fra omslag: På 1980-talet blev ”brukare” ett modeord i offentlig förvaltning och förvaltningsforskning. Termen betecknar den som använder sig av välfärdsservice (jfr. engelskans service user), eller ”slutmottagare” av offentlig nyttighet eller åtgärd. Brukare av välfärdstjänster vet hur hjälp och service fungerar i praktiken och kan därför ge synnerligen viktig återkoppling enligt devisen: ”Den som har skorna på fötterna vet var de skaver”. Välfärdsorganisationer har all anledning att involvera brukare i planering och policyarbete i syfte att utveckla förmågan att göra rätt saker. Det finns inte mycket dokumentation och forskning kring brukarmedverkan i utvecklingsarbete och forskning på välfärdsområdet. I synnerhet saknas kunskap om hur välfärdstjänster tas emot och realiseras i brukarens livssammanhang. En ambition i doktorandkursen ”brukarmedverkan i forskning och utvecklingsarbete inom hälso- och sjukvård, socialt arbete och omsorg” var att samla och presentera kunskaper på området. Kursen genomfördes våren 2009 i ett unikt samarbete mellan Karlstads Universitet, Sheffield University i England, Högskolan i Hedmark i Norge, Hälsohögskolan i Jönköping och Högskolan i Borås/FoU Sjuhärad Välfärd. Texterna i denna bok härrör från kursens föreläsningar och paperarbeten. De ger många exempel på hur brukare kan involveras i forskning och utvecklingsarbete, och presenterar en rad praktiska metoder för brukarsamverkan. Boken rekommenderas till välfärdens politiker och yrkespersoner, till studenter som förbereder sig för välfärdens yrken liksom till forskare och utvecklingsarbetare som vill utveckla samarbete med brukare och brukarorganisationer. Den vänder sig givetvis även till brukare och brukarorganisationer som vill engagera sig i forskning och utvecklingsarbete

Inverse modeling of geochemical and mechanical compaction in sedimentary basins through Polynomial Chaos Expansion

We present an inverse modeling procedure for the estimation of model parameters of sedi- mentary basins subject to compaction driven by mechanical and geochemical processes. We consider a sandstone basin whose dynamics are governed by a set of unknown key quantities. These include geophys- ical and geochemical system attributes as well as pressure and temperature boundary conditions. We derive a reduced (or surrogate) model of the system behavior based on generalized Polynomial Chaos Expansion (gPCE) approximations, which are directly linked to the variance-based Sobol indices associated with the selected uncertain model parameters. Parameter estimation is then performed within a Maximum Likeli- hood (ML) framework. We then study the way the ML inversion procedure can benefit from the adoption of anisotropic polynomial approximations (a-gPCE) in which the surrogate model is refined only with respect to selected parameters according to an analysis of the nonlinearity of the input-output mapping, as quanti- fied through the Sobol sensitivity indices. Results are illustrated for a one-dimensional setting involving quartz cementation and mechanical compaction in sandstones. The reliability of gPCE and a-gPCE approxi- mations in the context of the inverse modeling framework is assessed. The effects of (a) the strategy employed to build the surrogate model, leading either to a gPCE or a-gPCE representation, and (b) the type and quality of calibration data on the goodness of the parameter estimates is then explored