Security decay: The erosion of effective security

The discipline of security lacks formal conceptual tools which can be used by security managers, advisers and consultants when attempting to provide effective security. This is because of security\u27s relative age as a discipline, it is very new. The aim of the thesis was to contribute to the security discipline by taking Underwood\u27s ( 1989) idea of security decay and to a certain extent exploring and formalising it. The security decay theory is primarily concerned with the influence apathy has on security and how management react to risk materialisation when decay is evident. The thesis focused on the first of these two components only. In focusing on the influence apathy has on security, a number of Likert tests were administered to a stratified sample of both security specialists and non- security people. The security specialist sample provided good indications that effective security will be provided when a synergy of functions and elements are implemented. This sample also believed that apathetic attitudes towards security would cause the effectiveness of security to decrease. The results derived from the non - security sample were inconclusive, with no determinations to be made. This sample were unsure as to whether or not effective security was achievable, whether effective security would cause a lack of security incidence and whether a lack of security incidence would result in apathy towards security. The results achieved are only representative of the attitudes of the respondents from within the sample. The two tests that derived conclusive results can not be generalised across the whole security specialist population. This was the major limitation of the thesis. The recommendations resulting from the study include the need to further research the security decay theory in a longitudinal study, as well as researching the section of the theory which was excluded in this thesis. The implications for security specialists are that they need to have an awareness of the ramifications of having effective security. Also, the fact that the non - security sample were generally unsure about all sub-concepts put to them highlights the need for efficient and effective awareness and education programs

Brown Tumor as a Result of Hyperparathyroidism in an End-Stage Renal Disease Patient

A 49-year-old male with known history of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) presents with an intraoral exophytic mass of the right mandible. This lesion was given a histologic diagnosis of a Brown tumor. Purpose. To allow physicians to include this lesion in a differential diagnosis when evaluating patients with primary, secondary, or tertiary hyperparathyroidism

Earlier Nesting by Generalist Predatory Bird is Associated with Human Responses to Climate Change

Warming temperatures cause temporal changes in growing seasons and prey abundance that drive earlier breeding by birds, especially dietary specialists within homogeneous habitat. Less is known about how generalists respond to climate-associated shifts in growing seasons or prey phenology, which may occur at different rates across land cover types. We studied whether breeding phenology of a generalist predator, the American kestrel (Falco sparverius), was associated with shifts in growing seasons and, presumably, prey abundance, in a mosaic of non-irrigated shrub/grasslands and irrigated crops/pastures. We examined the relationship between remotely-sensed normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and abundance of small mammals that, with insects, constitute approximately 93% of kestrel diet biomass. We used NDVI to estimate the start of the growing season (SoGS) in irrigated and non-irrigated lands from 1992 to 2015 and tested whether either estimate of annual SoGS predicted the timing of kestrel nesting. Finally, we examined relationships among irrigated SoGS, weather and crop planting. NDVI was a useful proxy for kestrel prey because it predicted small mammal abundance and past studies showed that NDVI predicts insect abundance. NDVI-estimated SoGS advanced significantly in irrigated lands (β = −1·09 ± 0·30 SE) but not in non-irrigated lands (β = −0·57 ± 0·53). Average date of kestrel nesting advanced 15 days in the past 24 years and was positively associated with the SoGS in irrigated lands, but not the SoGS in non-irrigated lands. Advanced SoGS in irrigated lands was related to earlier planting of crops after relatively warm winters, which were more common in recent years. Despite different patterns of SoGS change between land cover types, kestrel nesting phenology shifted with earlier prey availability in irrigated lands. Kestrels may preferentially track prey in irrigated lands over non-irrigated lands because of higher quality prey on irrigated lands, or earlier prey abundance may release former constraints on other selective pressures to breed early, such as seasonal declines in fecundity or competition for high-quality mates. This is one of the first examples of an association between human adaptation to climate change and shifts in breeding phenology of wildlife