Here\u27s looking at You, Selfie

By the time you read this column this story may have lost all it relevance but it has made a bit of a dust up lately and so I think it deserves some further treatment. About two weeks ago, the cyberverse was all a twitter about naked selfies, mainly of celebrities, that had been hacked right out of the cloud. Imagine that. What goes online isn’t exactly private. Doh

The NPFIT strategy for information security of care record service

The National Programme for IT in England doesn’t have a one-document strategy for its information security of the Care Records Service, which is the national EHR system. This paper provides a comprehensive understanding of the information security strategy of England’s EHR system by presenting its different information security issues such as consent mechanisms, access control, sharing level, and related legal and regulations documents

Dietary supplements : sorting fact from fiction

Early scientific research into food and nutrition was directed towards identifying the essential nutrients1. Indeed, several of the Nobel prizes in Physiology and Medicine at the beginning of the last decade were awarded for work on discoveries related to vitamins and the recognition of their ability to cure deficiency diseases. The public and medical enthusiasm which resulted is reflected even today in the ‘magic bullet’ image of nutrition. It is also reflected in the consumption of ‘vitamin products’ in the belief that these provide essential or desirable supplementation even to a healthy diet.peer-reviewe

An explainable AI-based intrusion detection system for DNS over HTTPS (DoH) attacks

Over the past few years, Domain Name Service (DNS) remained a prime target for hackers as it enables them to gain first entry into networks and gain access to data for exfiltration. Although the DNS over HTTPS (DoH) protocol has desirable properties for internet users such as privacy and security, it also causes a problem in that network administrators are prevented from detecting suspicious network traffic generated by malware and malicious tools. To support their efforts in maintaining a secure network, in this paper, we have implemented an explainable AI solution using a novel machine learning framework. We have used the publicly available CIRA-CIC-DoHBrw-2020 dataset for developing an accurate solution to detect and classify the DNS over HTTPS attacks. Our proposed balanced and stacked Random Forest achieved very high precision (99.91%), recall (99.92%) and F1 score (99.91%) for the classification task at hand. Using explainable AI methods, we have additionally highlighted the underlying feature contributions in an attempt to provide transparent and explainable results from the model

Seismic collapsing behaviour of one-story wooden structure with thatched roof under strong earthquake ground motion

In Japan, there has existed a serious problem on seismic retrofit for a lot of one-story wooden structures such as temples and shrines in famous tourist resort areas, which were built by a Japanese traditional framedconstruction method and have some types of thatched roof instead of tiles. In order to investigate the seismic behaviour of an old one-story thatched roof wooden structure, “Yakushi-doh”, 3-D non-linear collapsing process analysis of Yakushi-doh structure was conducted against a strong earthquake ground motion with the Japan Meteorological Agency seismic intensity of “6 upper” level. A non-linear behaviour of timber elements in the wooden structure during a strong earthquake ground motion can be simulated by this 3-D non-linear collapsing process analysis based on the Distinct Element Method. The effect of the post fixing condition under wooden structure floor on seismic response of Yakushi-doh structure was numerically investigated in this paper

Week of September 6, 2016

NYMC and Westchester DOH Collaborate to Combat Opioid Overdoses Operations Updatehttps://touroscholar.touro.edu/in_touch/1240/thumbnail.jp

Use of Available Data To Inform The COVID-19 Outbreak in South Africa: A Case Study

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in February 2020. Currently, there are no vaccines or treatments that have been approved after clinical trials. Social distancing measures, including travel bans, school closure, and quarantine applied to countries or regions are being used to limit the spread of the disease and the demand on the healthcare infrastructure. The seclusion of groups and individuals has led to limited access to accurate information. To update the public, especially in South Africa, announcements are made by the minister of health daily. These announcements narrate the confirmed COVID-19 cases and include the age, gender, and travel history of people who have tested positive for the disease. Additionally, the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases updates a daily infographic summarising the number of tests performed, confirmed cases, mortality rate, and the regions affected. However, the age of the patient and other nuanced data regarding the transmission is only shared in the daily announcements and not on the updated infographic. To disseminate this information, the Data Science for Social Impact research group at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, has worked on curating and applying publicly available data in a way that is computer-readable so that information can be shared to the public - using both a data repository and a dashboard. Through collaborative practices, a variety of challenges related to publicly available data in South Africa came to the fore. These include shortcomings in the accessibility, integrity, and data management practices between governmental departments and the South African public. In this paper, solutions to these problems will be shared by using a publicly available data repository and dashboard as a case study.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Data Science Journa

Evaluating the Strategic Objectives of Cameroonian Higher Education: An application of the Balanced Scorecard

Contemporary higher education operates in an environment of dwindling and parsimonious resources; the increasing need for accountability and relevance to varying stakeholders with differing expectations. These relatively new trends in higher education have been faced by business organizations which have developed different ways of operating in response. This study outlines one way by which business organizations have addressed similar circumstances to show how the Cameroon higher education (HE) could learn from business organizations to manage strategic objectives. The balanced scorecard (BSC) has been used by business organizations to address similar trends. This study evaluates the strategic objectives of Cameroonian higher education using the balanced scorecard. The system level is used to identify the general strategic objectives and one state university is used to represent the translation and implementation of the objectives at the institution level. The BSC principles used include: operational strategic objectives; organizational alignment to the strategy; making strategy everyone’s everyday job; making strategy continual and; mobilizing the leadership for change. The underlying concepts in these principles are communication, consensus, relevance, and a participatory approach. The study employs data from policy documents, relevant literature, websites and semi-structured interviews. The research approach is qualitative and the analyses are done by making meaning of phenomena in their natural contexts. The results show that there is a general knowledge of the strategic objectives but there is disagreement on the relevance of these objectives to HE and on the type of approaches used in implementing the objectives. It was also found that the relevant stakeholders are known, but not all the respondents agree on the importance of these stakeholders. All stakeholders do not have the same level of influence-the state is the most influential. Reporting is sufficiently done but there are insufficient provisions for feedback from stakeholders. The study concludes that the BSC principles can be applied to the management of strategic objectives in Cameroon HE. For Cameroonian higher education, it is recommended that the focus should be first, on developing tools for strategy before the strategy itself. Even though the need for the BSC is confirmed the context does not seem sufficiently ready to implement the BSC as a strategic management tool. The proposed BSC framework can only be used as a communication tool. The barriers to managing strategic objectives in Cameroon HE are related to the communication, consensus, clarity and relevance. However, the system has prospects for improved management and eventual adoption of the BSC as both a strategic management and communication tool. In line with other BSC applications to higher education, this study concluded that it is more feasible to apply the balanced scorecard to a single higher education institution than to a higher education system. The study makes a contribution to the BSC by showing how its principles can be used in a non-business context. The study also opens up possibilities for future research on the same topic in a different context or the same context with a wider scope (more institutions and respondents); the same study with a deeper focus on the interrelationships between the different strategic objectives (strategy maps). The study could also be extended by including the perspectives of the identified stakeholders who are not directly part of the higher education system but constitute the environment in which higher education operates.Kamerunin korkeakoulutuksen strategisten tavoitteiden arviointi: Balanced scorecard – sovellus Korkeakoulut toimivat nykyään niukkenevien resurssien toimintaympäristössä ja niiden toimintaa leimaa lisääntyvä tilivelvollisuus eri sidosryhmille vaihtuvine odotuksineen. Liike-elämä ja yritykset ovat jo aiemmin kohdanneet vastaavat kehityssuunnat ja ovat myös kehittäneet erilaisia tapoja vastata niihin. Tämä tutkimus tarkastelee yhtä menettelytapaa, balanced scorecard (BSC), jolla yritykset ovat reagoineet tilanteeseen; tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää mitä Kamerunin korkeakoulutus voisi oppia yritysten tavasta hallita strategisia tavoitteita. Tässä tutkimuksessa arvioidaan Kamerunin korkeakoulutuksen strategisia tavoitteita balanced scorecard -menetelmän avulla. Järjestelmätasolla identifioidaan yleiset strategiset tavoitteet ja yhden valtion yliopiston kautta tarkastellaan miten tavoitteet toimeenpannaan instituutiotasolla. Periaatteet, joita BSC-menetelmä käyttää ovat: strategisten tavoitteiden toimintakelpoisuus, organisaation linjaukset suhteessa strategiaan, strategian toteuttaminen jokapäiväisessä työskentelyssä, strategian vakiinnuttaminen ja johdon mobilisointi toteuttamaan muutoksia. Näiden periaatteiden perustana olevat käsitteet ovat tiedotus, yhteisymmärrys, merkityksellisyys ja osallistuvuus. Tutkimusaineistona ovat toimenpideasiakirjat, relevantti kirjallisuus, verkkosivut ja semi-strukturoidut haastattelut. Tutkimuksen lähestymistapa on laadullinen ja analyyseissä keskeistä on ymmärtää ilmiöiden merkitykset niiden omassa kontekstissaan. Tulokset osoittavat, että strategisista tavoitteista on olemassa yleisluontoista tietoa, mutta niiden relevanssista korkeakoulutukselle on eriäviä käsityksiä, kuten myös tavoitteiden toimeenpanon menettelytavoista. Yksi tulos on, että vaikka relevantit sidosryhmät tiedetään, vastaajat ovat eri mieltä eri sidosryhmien tärkeydestä. Kaikki sidosryhmät eivät ole yhtä vaikutusvaltaisia; valtiovalta on selvästi vaikutusvaltaisin. Raportointi on määrällisesti riittävää, sen sijaan sidosryhmillä ei ole tarpeeksi mahdollisuuksia antaa palautetta. Tutkimuksen keskeinen johtopäätös on että BSCn suosittamia periaatteita voidaan soveltaa strategisten tavoitteiden hallintaan Kamerunin korkeakoulutuksessa. Tutkimuksen mukaan Kamerunin korkeakoulutuksen olisi syytä keskittyä ensin strategisten työkalujen kehittämiseen ja vasta sitten itse strategiaan. Vaikka BSC-arvioinnille on kiistatta tarve, konteksti ei ole vielä riittävän valmis BSC-sovelluksen käyttöönottoon strategisen johtamisen välineenä. Toistaiseksi BSC viitekehystä voidaan käyttää lähinnä vain viestintätarkoituksiin. Strategisten tavoitteiden hallinnan hankaluudet Kamerunin korkeakoulutuksessa nivoutuvat ongelmiin kommunikaatiossa, puuttuvaan yhteisymmärrykseen ja selkeyteen sekä merkityksellisyyden jakamiseen. Kuitenkin Kamerunin korkeakoulujärjestelmällä on mahdollisuuksia kehittyneempään johtamiseen ja ottaa ajan mittaan käyttöön BSC sekä strategisen johtamisen että kommunikaation välineenä. Yhtäpitävästi muista korkeakoulutukseen sovelletuista BSC-asetelmista tehtyjen havaintojen kanssa tämä tutkimus päätyy siihen johtopäätökseen, että on toteuttamiskelpoisempaa soveltaa balanced scorecardia korkeakoulu kerrallaan kuin koko korkeakoulujärjestelmään. Tutkimuksen kontribuutio BSC-traditiolle on siinä, että se osoittaa kuinka BSCn periaatteita voidaan käyttää liiketoimintaympäristön ulkopuolella. Tutkimus myös avaa uusia mahdollisuuksia siihen miten samaa asetelmaa voitaisiin soveltaa eri ympäristöön tai samaan ympäristöön laajemmassa tarkastelussa (enemmän instituutioita ja respondentteja); ja jatkotutkimus voitaisiin kohdistaa esimerkiksi eri strategisten tavoitteiden väliseen tarkasteluun (strategiset kartat). Tutkimusta voitaisiin myös laajentaa tuomalla mukaan myös sellaisten sidosryhmien näkökulma, jotka eivät ole suoranaisesti osa korkeakoulujärjestelmää, mutta muodostavat ympäristön, jossa korkeakoulutus toimii.Siirretty Doriast

Trending Time Series and Macroeconomic Activity: Some Present and Future Challenges

Some challenges for econometric research on trending time are discussed in relation to some perceived needs of macroeconomics and macroeconomic policy making.Breaks, growth, policy intervention, production, trend mechanisms, unit roots