"SMEs, Information Risk Management, and ROI"

Recent research in the area of standards accreditation has shown that the rate of take up of the ISO27001 (Information Security Management) by organisations been disappointing in many Western countries, compared to the picture emerging in Asia, and the rollout of previous international standards that relate to information management, such as ISO9001. In this paper, a researcher and a practitioner from the UK investigate possible reasons for a lesser interest in pursuing certification for organisational Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) across Western countries. They also share their perceptions and concerns that current attitudes of UK of small businesses regarding complying with standards and legislation means that they may be taking unnecessary risks with their corporate and personal data under the possibly misguided notion that other priorities are more important during these current recessionary times. The authors use an economics-based approach in proposing a solution to the problem. On the one hand they review the research that has provided methods for putting a figure on the value of corporate and personal data in larger organisations, and applying the principles of managing information risk as appropriate to SMEs. On the other hand they look at economics-related issues such as market pressure, insurance, outsourcing, and the legal and regulatory matters regarding privacy of personal data. The result provides a case for showing SMEs that, apart from the moral matter of being “good for the business”, there are very sound economic reasons for an SME developing an ISMS and getting ISO27001 certified

Variability in Protoplanetary Nebulae: X. Multi-year Periods as an Indicator of Potential Binaries

New observations are presented of four evolved objects that display long, multi-year variations in their light curves. These are interpreted as good evidence of their binary nature, with the modulation caused by the barycenter motion of the evolved star resulting in a periodic obscuration by a circumbinary disk. Although protoplanetary nebulae (PPNe) commonly possess bipolar nebulae, which are thought to be shaped by a binary companion, there are very few PPNe in which a binary companion has been found. Three of the objects in this study appear to be PPNe, IRAS 07253-2001, 08005-2356, and 17542-0603, with long periods of 5.2, 6.9, and 8.2 yrs, respectively. The binary nature of IRAS 08005-2356 has recently been confirmed by a radial velocity study. Two samples, one of PPNe and the other of post-AGB star candidates, are investigated for further evidence on how common is a long-period light curve variation. Both samples suggest such light variations are not common. The fourth object, IRAS 20056+1834 (QY Sge), is an obscured RV Tau variable of the RVb subclass, with a long period of 3.9 yrs and pulsation periods of 102.9 and 51.5 days. The period of this object is seen to vary by 2%. Evidence is presented for a recent mass ejection in IRAS 17542-0603.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, 1 machine-readable tabl

Factors affecting use of unscheduled care for people with advanced cancer:a retrospective cohort study in Scotland

BACKGROUND: People with advanced cancer frequently attend unscheduled care, but little is known about the factors influencing presentations. Most research focuses on accident and emergency (A&amp;E) and does not consider GP out-of-hours (GPOOH).AIM: To describe the frequency and patterns of unscheduled care use by people with cancer in their last year of life and to examine the associations of demographic and clinical factors with unscheduled care attendance.DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective cohort study of all 2443 people who died from cancer in Tayside, Scotland, during 2012-2015. Clinical population datasets were linked to routinely collected clinical data using the Community Health Index (CHI) number.METHOD: Anonymised CHI-linked data were analysed in SafeHaven, with descriptive analysis, using binary logistic regression for adjusted associations.RESULTS: Of the people who died from cancer, 77.9% (n = 1904) attended unscheduled care in the year before death. Among unscheduled care users, most only attended GPOOH (n = 1070, 56.2%), with the rest attending A&amp;E only (n = 204, 10.7%), or both (n = 630, 33.1%). Many attendances occurred in the last week (n =1360, 19.7%), last 4 weeks (n = 2541, 36.7%), and last 12 weeks (n = 4174, 60.3%) of life. Age, sex, deprivation, and cancer type were not significantly associated with unscheduled care attendance. People living in rural areas were less likely to attend unscheduled care: adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 0.64 (95% confidence interval = 0.50 to 0.82). Pain was the commonest coded clinical reason for presenting (GPOOH: n = 482, 10.5%; A&amp;E: n = 336, 28.8%). Of people dying from cancer, n = 514, 21.0%, were frequent users (≥5 attendances/year), and accounted for over half (n = 3986, 57.7%) of unscheduled care attendances.CONCLUSION: Unscheduled care attendance by people with advanced cancer was substantially higher than previously reported, increased dramatically towards the end of life, was largely independent of demographic factors and cancer type, and was commonly for pain and palliative care.</p

Variability in Proto-Planetary Nebulae: VI. Multi-Telescope Light Curves Studies of Several Medium-Bright (V=13-15), Carbon-Rich Objects

We present ten years of new photometric monitoring of the light variability of five evolved stars with strong mid-infrared emission from surrounding dust. Three are known carbon-rich proto-planetary nebulae (PPNe) with F$-$G spectral types; the nature of the other two was previously unknown. For the three PPNe, we determine or refine the pulsation periods of IRAS 04296+3429 (71 days), 06530$-$0213 (80 days), and 23304+6147 (84 days). A secondary period was found for each, with a period ratio P$_2$/P$_1$ of 0.9. The light variations are small, 0.1-0.2 mag. These are similar to values found in other PPNe. The other two are found to be giant stars. IRAS 09296+1159 pulsates with a period of only 47 days but reaches pulsational light variations of 0.5 mag. Supplemental spectroscopy reveals the spectrum of a CH carbon star. IRAS 08359$-$1644 is a G1III star that does not display pulsational variability; rather, it shows non-periodic decreases of brightness of up to 0.5 mag over this ten-year interval. These drops in brightness are reminiscent of the light curves of R Corona Borealis variables, but with much smaller decreases in brightness, and are likely due to transient dust obscuration. Its SED is very similar to that of the unusual oxygen-rich giant star HDE 233517, which possesses mid-infrared hydrocarbon emission features. These two non-PPNe turn out to members of the rare group of giant stars with large mid-infrared excesses due to dust, objects which presumably have interesting evolutionary histories.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 1 electronic table, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

The real-world problem of care coordination: a longitudinal qualitative study with patients living with advanced progressive illness and their unpaid caregivers.

OBJECTIVES: To develop a model of care coordination for patients living with advanced progressive illness and their unpaid caregivers, and to understand their perspective regarding care coordination. DESIGN: A prospective longitudinal, multi-perspective qualitative study involving a case-study approach. METHODS: Serial in-depth interviews were conducted, transcribed verbatim and then analyzed through open and axial coding in order to construct categories for three cases (sites). This was followed by continued thematic analysis to identify underlying conceptual coherence across all cases in order to produce one coherent care coordination model. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-six purposively sampled patients and 27 case-linked unpaid caregivers. SETTINGS: Three cases from contrasting primary, secondary and tertiary settings within Britain. RESULTS: Coordination is a deliberate cross-cutting action that involves high-quality, caring and well-informed staff, patients and unpaid caregivers who must work in partnership together across health and social care settings. For coordination to occur, it must be adequately resourced with efficient systems and services that communicate. Patients and unpaid caregivers contribute substantially to the coordination of their care, which is sometimes volunteered at a personal cost to them. Coordination is facilitated through flexible and patient-centered care, characterized by accurate and timely information communicated in a way that considers patients' and caregivers' needs, preferences, circumstances and abilities. CONCLUSIONS: Within the midst of advanced progressive illness, coordination is a shared and complex intervention involving relational, structural and information components. Our study is one of the first to extensively examine patients' and caregivers' views about coordination, thus aiding conceptual fidelity. These findings can be used to help avoid oversimplifying a real-world problem, such as care coordination. Avoiding oversimplification can help with the development, evaluation and implementation of real-world coordination interventions for patients and their unpaid caregivers in the future

Synergistic tumor suppression by combined inhibition of telomerase and CDKN1A

Tumor suppressor p53 plays an important role in mediating growth inhibition upon telomere dysfunction. Here, we show that loss of the p53 target gene cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 1A (CDKN1A, also known as p21WAF1/CIP1) increases apoptosis induction following telomerase inhibition in a variety of cancer cell lines and mouse xenografts. This effect is highly specific to p21, as loss of other checkpoint proteins and CDK inhibitors did not affect apoptosis. In telomerase, inhibited cell loss of p21 leads to E2F1- and p53-mediated transcriptional activation of p53-upregulated modulator of apoptosis, resulting in increased apoptosis. Combined genetic or pharmacological inhibition of telomerase and p21 synergistically suppresses tumor growth. Furthermore, we demonstrate that simultaneous inhibition of telomerase and p21 also suppresses growth of tumors containing mutant p53 following pharmacological restoration of p53 activity. Collectively, our results establish that inactivation of p21 leads to increased apoptosis upon telomerase inhibition and thus identify a genetic vulnerability that can be exploited to treat many human cancers containing either wild-type or mutant p53

The Vehicle, 1967, Vol. 9 no. 2

Table of Contents Commentarypage 3 SketchAnn Butlerpage 4 I Take A Long-Out-of-Use BookAnthony Griggspage 5 The Leaf StemDianne Cochranpage 6 The Four MusketeersJim Courterpage 7 Status QuoAdrian Beardpage 7 SketchAnn Butlerpage 8 NocturneMike Baldwinpage 9 Oh Impatient HeartK. H. Shariffpage 9 Letter to a FianceeMaurice Snivelypage 10 Listen!Bonnie Blackpage 11 The Water\u27s EdgeStephen W. Gibbspage 12 TogetherDavid Reifpage 13 SketchAnn Butlerpage 14 Evening TimeSharon Nelsonpage 15 Japanese HaikuBev Hensonpage 15 Of Love and WarBruce Czeluscinskipage 16 Always AloneKib Voorheespage 17 the end of loveJackie Bratcherpage 18 1-20-66Sharon Nelsonpage 19 Blessed Are WeBonnie Marie Beckpage 19 The Time To LiveNeil Tracypage 20 Imminent AwakeningHelen Coxpage 21 The Dead Panther LairMolly J. Evanspage 21 Good SheepMike Tilfordpage 22 The Flame of LifeJacki Jacquespage 23 Then Arrives The Day Of DarkMolly J. Evanspage 23 Sketch: To love is to rememberAnn Butlerpage 24 Hidden RiversCharles J. Mertzpage 25 SilenceLinda G. Phillipspage 26 December - 1964Bonnie Blackpage 26 LoveHazel Thomaspage 27 To Praise A Good Man Neil Tracypage 28 Definitions \u2767Sharon Nelsonpage 29 To Wish Is a CrimeBonnie Marie Beckpage 30 College MadhatterMaurice Snivelypage 31 No. 8Sharon Nelsonpage 32 The Open FireSusan Williamspage 32https://thekeep.eiu.edu/vehicle/1017/thumbnail.jp

Repetition Suppression and Reactivation in Auditory–Verbal Short-Term Recognition Memory

The neural response to stimulus repetition is not uniform across brain regions, stimulus modalities, or task contexts. For instance, it has been observed in many functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that sometimes stimulus repetition leads to a relative reduction in neural activity (repetition suppression), whereas in other cases repetition results in a relative increase in activity (repetition enhancement). In the present study, we hypothesized that in the context of a verbal short-term recognition memory task, repetition-related “increases” should be observed in the same posterior temporal regions that have been previously associated with “persistent activity” in working memory rehearsal paradigms. We used fMRI and a continuous recognition memory paradigm with short lags to examine repetition effects in the posterior and anterior regions of the superior temporal cortex. Results showed that, consistent with our hypothesis, the 2 posterior temporal regions consistently associated with working memory maintenance, also show repetition increases during short-term recognition memory. In contrast, a region in the anterior superior temporal lobe showed repetition suppression effects, consistent with previous research work on perceptual adaptation in the auditory–verbal domain. We interpret these results in light of recent theories of the functional specialization along the anterior and posterior axes of the superior temporal lobe