Education in IT Security: A Case Study in Banking Industry

The banking industry has been changing incessantlyand facing new combination of risks. Data protection andcorporate security is now one of the major issues in bankingindustry. As the rapid changing on technologies from time totime, the industry should be aware on new technologies in orderto protect information assets and prevent fraud activities. Thispaper begins with literature study of information security issuesand followed by focused-group interviews with five participantswithin the industry and survey analysis of “The global state ofInformation Security survey 2013” which published byPriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC). Trends and questions werediscussed as well as possible solution. The study suggests that ITsecurity education should be made to different level of staffs suchas executives, professional and general staffs. Besides, thebanking industry should increase company-wide securityawareness and the importance of corporate security which keepthe information and physical assets secure and in a proper way

Health and social care service utilisation and associated expenditure among community-dwelling older adults with depressive symptoms

AIMS: Late-life depression has substantial impacts on individuals, families and society. Knowledge gaps remain in estimating the economic impacts associated with late-life depression by symptom severity, which has implications for resource prioritisation and research design (such as in modelling). This study examined the incremental health and social care expenditure of depressive symptoms by severity. METHODS: We analysed data collected from 2707 older adults aged 60 years and over in Hong Kong. The Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) and the Client Service Receipt Inventory were used, respectively, to measure depressive symptoms and service utilisation as a basis for calculating care expenditure. Two-part models were used to estimate the incremental expenditure associated with symptom severity over 1 year. RESULTS: The average PHQ-9 score was 6.3 (standard deviation, s.d. = 4.0). The percentages of respondents with mild, moderate and moderately severe symptoms and non-depressed were 51.8%, 13.5%, 3.7% and 31.0%, respectively. Overall, the moderately severe group generated the largest average incremental expenditure (US$5886; 95$3849; 95% CI 2520-5177 or a 176% increase) and the moderate group (US$1843; 95$691; 95% CI 444-939), then gradually fell to negative between scores of 12 (US$- 35; 95$ -171; 95% CI - 417 to 76) and soared to positive and rebounded at the score of 23 (US$601; 95% CI -1652 to 2854). CONCLUSIONS: The association between depressive symptoms and care expenditure is stronger among older adults with mild and moderately severe symptoms. Older adults with the same symptom severity have different care utilisation and expenditure patterns. Non-psychiatric healthcare is the major cost element. These findings inform ways to optimise policy efforts to improve the financial sustainability of health and long-term care systems, including the involvement of primary care physicians and other geriatric healthcare providers in preventing and treating depression among older adults and related budgeting and accounting issues across services

Customer emotions in service failure and recovery encounters

Emotions play a significant role in the workplace, and considerable attention has been given to the study of employee emotions. Customers also play a central function in organizations, but much less is known about customer emotions. This chapter reviews the growing literature on customer emotions in employee–customer interfaces with a focus on service failure and recovery encounters, where emotions are heightened. It highlights emerging themes and key findings, addresses the measurement, modeling, and management of customer emotions, and identifies future research streams. Attention is given to emotional contagion, relationships between affective and cognitive processes, customer anger, customer rage, and individual differences

Reliability and convergent validity of the five-step test in people with chronic stroke

Objectives: (i) To estimate the intra-rater, inter-rater and test-retest reliabilities of the Five-Step Test (FST), as well as the minimum detectable change in FST completion times in people with stroke. (ii) To estimate the convergent validity of the FST with other measures of stroke-specific impairments. (iii) To identify the best cut-off times for distinguishing FST performance in people with stroke from that of healthy older adults. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: University-based rehabilitation centre. Participants: Forty-eight people with stroke and 39 healthy controls. Interventions: None. Main outcome measures: The FST, along with (for the stroke survivors only) scores on the Fugl-Meyer Lower Extremity Assessment (FMA-LE), the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Limits of Stability (LOS) tests, and Activities-specific Balance Confidence (ABC) scale were tested. Results: The FST showed excellent intra-rater (intra-class correlation coefficient; ICC = 0.866–0.905), inter-rater (ICC = 0.998), and test-retest (ICC = 0.838–0.842) reliabilities. A minimum detectable change of 9.16 s was found for the FST in people with stroke. The FST correlated significantly with the FMA-LE, BBS, and LOS results in the forward and sideways directions (r = –0.411 to –0.716, p < 0.004). The FST completion time of 13.35 s was shown to discriminate reliably between people with stroke and healthy older adults. Conclusion: The FST is a reliable, easy-to-administer clinical test for assessing stroke survivors’ ability to negotiate steps and stairs

A New Optimization Procedure for Extracting the Point-Based Lip Contour Using Active Shape Model

This paper presents a new optimization procedure for extracting the point-based lip contour using Active Shape Model (ASM). A 14-point ASM lip model is used to describe the lip contour. With the aid of fuzzy clustering analysis, a probability map of the color lip image is obtained and a region-based cost function is established. The new optimization procedure operates on the spatial domain (actual contour points) and all the points are pulled towards their desirable locations in each iteration. Hence, the lip contour evolution becomes better controlled and consequently fast convergence is achieved. The new procedure can also achieve real-time performance on lip contour extraction and tracking from lip image sequence

Synergistic activities of Panobinostat and doxorubicin in soft tissue sarcomas

Background: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are rare diseases typically arising from connective tissues in children and adults. However, chemotherapies involved in the treatment of STS may cause toxic side effects and multi-drug chemoresistance, making the treatment even more challenging. Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are epigenetic agents which have shown anti-tumor effects as single agent as well as combination use with other drugs. Our project intends to prove the same effects in STS. Methods: Panobinostat (LBH589) plus doxorubicin was selected for investigations based on our previous research. Tumor xenografts were tried in an epithelioid sarcoma model to validate good synergy effects in vivo and a leiomyosarcoma model was used as a negative comparison group. Gene profile changes were studied afterwards. The possible pathway changes caused by HDACi were explored and validated by several assays. Results: Synergy effect of LBH589 plus doxorubicin was successfully validated in STS cell lines and an epithelioid sarcoma mice model. We tried to reduce the dose of doxorubicin to a lower level and found the drug combination can still inhibit tumor size in mice. Furthermore, gene profile changes caused by LBH589 was studied by RNA-Sequencing analysis. Results showed LBH589 can exert effects on a group of target genes which can regulate potential biological functions especially in the cell cycle pathway

N–TiO2-coated polyester filters for visible light—Photocatalytic removal of gaseous toluene under static and dynamic flow conditions

The present work aims to utilize N-TiO2 coating for decontamination of gaseous pollutants under normal room light irradiation. N-TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared by incomplete thermal oxidation of TiN at different temperatures to achieve self-doping of TiO2 to improve simultaneously the structural, morphological, and electronic properties of conventional TiO2 photocatalyst. The thermal evolution of TiN to oxygen-rich titanium oxynitride (N-TiO2) and subsequently TiO2 at different temperatures is characterized systematically by different tools including XRD, TEM, XPS, UV–vis diffuse reflectance and SPV responses. The synthesized N-TiO2 was coated onto polyester filters using a facile spray coating method. The excellent photocatalytic performance was successfully demonstrated on mineralization of gaseous toluene with fluorescent light irradiation under both static and dynamic flow conditions in a comprehensive custom-built photocatalytic test system. Therefore, it shows promising potential to be utilized in practical air purification applications.ASTAR (Agency for Sci., Tech. and Research, S’pore)Accepted versio

Electrographic indices in migraine patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and aim Migraine patients can exhibit autonomic dysregulation, in turn leading to cardiac conduction and repolarization abnormalities. This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the electrocardiographic changes in migraineurs. Method PubMed and Embase databases were searched for human studies using the search terms ‘migraine’ and ‘electrocardiogram’ until 15th December 2018, identifying 108 and 131 studies. Results Thirteen studies involving 667 migraineurs and 208 normal subjects included (mean age=30.7, total male percentage=19.8%) were included. A longer mean QTc interval (standard mean difference=7.89, 95% confidence interval=[3.29, 12.49], p=0.0008) and higher frequency of QTc prolongation (risk ratio [RR]=6.23, [2.86–13.58], p <0.00001), but no difference in PR-interval (SMD=4.33, [−3.90–12.56], p =0.30) were observed during migraine attacks compared to pain-free periods. P-wave dispersion was higher in migraine patients compared to controls (mean difference=3.62, [1.03–6.21], p =0.006). RR-interval were statistically indistinguishable between migraine patients and controls (SMD=0.08, [−0.65–0.81], p =0.83), or between migraineurs with and without aura (SMD=−0.03, [−0.44–0.38], p =0.89). Deep breathing ratio was significantly lower in migraineurs compared to controls (SMD=−0.27, 95% CI=[−0.46, −0.08], p =0.006) but similar between migraineurs with and without aura (SMD=−0.04, [−0.27–0.19], p =0.74). No significant difference in Valsalva ratio is found between migraineurs and controls (SMD=0.10, [−0.32–0.53], p =0.63) or between migraineurs with and without aura (SMD=−0.17, [−0.40–0.06], p =0.14). Root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD) (SMD=−0.07, [−1.10–0.95], p =0.89) and standard deviation of NN intervals (SDNN) (SMD=−0.10, [−0.61–0.41], p =0.71) did not significantly differ between migraine patients and control. Conclusion Electrocardiographic alterations are observed in migraine patients compared to controls, especially during migraine attacks

KLK4 induces anti-tumor effects in human xenograft mouse models of orthotopic and metastatic prostate cancer

Recent reports have suggested the role of kallikrein-related peptidase 4 (KLK4) to be that of remodeling the tumor microenvironment in many cancers, including prostate cancer. Notably, these studies have suggested a pro-tumorigenic role for KLK4, especially in prostate cancer. However, these have been primarily in vitro studies, with limited in vivo studies performed to date. Herein, we employed an orthotopic inoculation xenograft model to mimic the growth of primary tumors, and an intracardiac injection to induce metastatic dissemination to determine the in vivo tumorigenic effects of KLK4 overexpressed in PC3 prostate cancer cells. Notably, we found that these KLK4-expressing cells gave rise to smaller localized tumors and decreased metastases than the parent PC-3 cells. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an anti-tumorigenic effect of KLK4, particularly in prostate cancer. These findings also provide a cautionary tale of the need for in vivo analyses to substantiate in vitro experimental data.</p