Picking battles: The impact of trust assumptions on the elaboration of security requirements

This position paper describes work on trust assumptions in the con-text of security requirements. We show how trust assumptions can affect the scope of the analysis, derivation of security requirements, and in some cases how functionality is realized. An example shows how trust assumptions are used by a requirements engineer to help define and limit the scope of analysis and to document the decisions made during the process

Peroxiredoxin 4, a novel circulating biomarker for oxidative stress and the risk of incident cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality

BACKGROUND: Oxidative stress has been suggested to play a key role in the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The aim of our study was to investigate the associations of serum peroxiredoxin 4 (Prx4), a hydrogen peroxide-degrading peroxidase, with incident CVD and all-cause mortality. We subsequently examined the incremental value of Prx4 for the risk prediction of CVD compared with the Framingham risk score (FRS). METHODS AND RESULTS: We performed Cox regression analyses in 8141 participants without history of CVD (aged 28 to 75 years; women 52.6%) from the Prevention of Renal and Vascular End-stage Disease (PREVEND) study in Groningen, The Netherlands. Serum Prx4 was measured by an immunoluminometric assay in baseline samples. Main outcomes were: (1) incident CVD events or CVD mortality and (2) all-cause mortality during a median follow-up of 10.5 years. In total, 708 participants (7.8%) developed CVD events or CVD mortality, and 517 participants (6.3%) died. Baseline serum Prx4 levels were significantly higher in participants with incident CVD events or CVD mortality and in those who died than in participants who remained free of outcomes (both P<0.001). In multivariable models with adjustment for Framingham risk factors, hazard ratios were 1.16 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.27, P<0.001) for incident CVD events or CVD mortality and 1.17 (95% CI 1.06 to 1.29, P=0.003) for all-cause mortality per doubling of Prx4 levels. After the addition of Prx4 to the FRS, the net reclassification improvement was 2.7% (P=0.01) using 10-year risk categories of CVD. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated serum Prx4 levels are associated with a significantly higher risk of incident CVD events or CVD mortality and all-cause mortality after adjustment for clinical risk factors. The addition of Prx4 to the FRS marginally improved risk prediction of future CVD

Defining and measuring displacement: is relocation from restructured neighbourhoods always unwelcome and disruptive?

Current regeneration policy has been described as ‘state-led gentrification’, with comparisons made with the ‘social disruption’ caused by slum clearance of the 1950s and 1960s. This article takes issue with this approach in relation to the study of the restructuring of social housing areas. The terms ‘forced relocation’ and ‘displacement’ are often too crude to describe what actually happens within processes of restructuring and the effects upon residents. Displacement in particular has important dimensions other than the physical one of moving. Evidence from a recent study of people who have moved out of restructured areas shows that although there is some evidence of physical displacement, there is little evidence of social or psychosocial displacement after relocation. Prior attitudes to moving and aspects of the process of relocation—the degree of choice and distance involved—are important moderators of the outcomes. Issues of time and context are insufficiently taken into consideration in studies and accounts of restructuring, relocation and displacement

News discourses on distant suffering: A critical discourse analysis of the 2003 SARS outbreak

News carries a unique signifying power, a power to represent events in particular ways (Fairclough, 1995). Applying Critical Discourse Analysis and Chouliaraki's theory on the mediation of suffering (2006), this article explores the news representation of the 2003 global SARS outbreak. Following a case-based methodology, we investigate how two Belgian television stations have covered the international outbreak of SARS. By looking into the mediation of four selected discursive moments, underlying discourses of power, hierarchy and compassion were unraveled. The analysis further identified the key role of proximity in international news reporting and supports the claim that Western news media mainly reproduce a Euro-American centered world order. This article argues that news coverage of international crises such as SARS constructs and maintains the socio-cultural difference between 'us' and 'them' as well as articulating global power hierarchies and a division of the world in zones of poverty and prosperity, danger and safety

Control of electron dynamics, radical and metastable species generation in atmospheric pressure RF plasma jets by Voltage Waveform Tailoring

Atmospheric pressure capacitively coupled radio frequency discharges operated in He/N2 mixtures and driven by tailored voltage waveforms are investigated experimentally using a COST microplasma reference jet and by means of kinetic simulations as a function of the reactive gas admixture and the number of consecutive harmonics used to drive the plasma. Pulse-type 'peaks'-waveforms, that consist of up to four consecutive harmonics of the fundamental frequency (f = 13.56 MHz), are used at a fixed peak-to-peak voltage of 400 V. Based on an excellent agreement between experimental and simulation results with respect to the DC self-bias and the spatio-temporal electron impact excitation dynamics, we demonstrate that Voltage Waveform Tailoring allows for the control of the dynamics of energetic electrons, the electron energy distribution function in distinct spatio-temporal regions of interest, and, thus, the generation of atomic nitrogen as well as helium metastables, which are highly relevant for a variety of technological and biomedical applications. By tuning the number of driving frequencies and the reactive gas admixture, the generation of these important species can be optimised. The behaviour of the DC self-bias, which is different compared to that in low pressure capacitive radio frequency plasmas, is understood based on an analytical model

Substantiating a political public sphere in the Scottish press : a comparative analysis

This article uses content analysis to characterize the performance of the media in a national public sphere, by setting apart those qualities that typify internal press coverage of a political event. The article looks at the coverage of the 1999 devolved Scottish election from the day before the election until the day after. It uses a word count to measure the election material in Scottish newspapers the Herald, the Press and Journal and the Scotsman, and United Kingdom newspapers the Guardian, the Independent and The Times, and categorizes that material according to discourse type, day and page selection. The article finds a number of qualities that typify the Scottish sample in particular, and might be broadly indicative of a political public sphere in action. Firstly, and not unexpectedly, it finds that the Scottish newspapers carry significantly more election coverage. Just as tellingly, though, the article finds that the Scottish papers offer a greater proportion of advice and background information, in the form of opinion columns and feature articles. It also finds that the Scottish papers place a greater concentration of both informative and evaluative material in the period before the vote, consistent with their making a contribution to informed political action. Lastly, the article finds that the Scottish sample situates coverage nearer the front of the paper and places a greater proportion on recto pages. The article therefore argues that the Scottish papers display features that distinguish them from the UK papers, and are broadly consistent with their forming part of a deliberative public sphere, and suggests that these qualities might be explored as a means of judging future media performance

Calculated electron impact dissociation cross sections for molecular chlorine (Cl-2)

Electron impact dissociation of Cl2 is a key process for the formation of Cl atoms in low-temperature plasmas used for industrial etching processes. Despite this, relatively little cross section data exist for this process. In this work, electron impact dissociation cross sections were calculated for Cl2 molecules using the UK molecular R-matrix code in the low electron energy range and extended to high energies using a scaling depending on the specific nature of each transition. Our results are compared with both previous calculations and with experimental measurements, and the similarities and differences are discussed. In addition, the rate coefficients for electron impact dissociation of Cl2 are calculated by integrating the cross sections derived in this (and previous) work, with electron energy distribution functions representative of those normally found in low-temperature plasmas used in industry. Depending on the shape and effective temperature of the distribution function, significant differences arise between the rate coefficients calculated from our cross sections and those calculated using previous data. Deviations between the two sets of rate coefficients are particularly pronounced at the low electron temperatures typical of electron beam and remote plasma sources of interest for atomic layer etching and deposition. These differences are principally caused by the higher energy resolution in the near-threshold region in this work, emphasising the importance of accurate, high-resolution cross sections in this energy range

Stigma narratives: LGBT transitions and identities in Malta

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2011 A B Academic Publishers.This article considers narratives of transition experiences of a group of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) young people in Malta. The article draws on Goffman's concept of stigma and uses this to explore transitions in a society that retains some traditional characteristics, particularly the code of honour and shame, although mediated by aspects of modernity. Interviews were undertaken with 15 young people with the goal of producing narratives. The article analyses the experience of stigma, its effects and how young people manage its consequences. It concludes by drawing attention to the pervasive nature of stigma and the importance of structure, agency and reflexivity in youth transitions. In particular stigma remains an important feature of societies in which hetero-normative sexuality remains dominant