Technical Report on Deploying a highly secured OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure using BradStack as a Case Study

Cloud computing has emerged as a popular paradigm and an attractive model for providing a reliable distributed computing model.it is increasing attracting huge attention both in academic research and industrial initiatives. Cloud deployments are paramount for institution and organizations of all scales. The availability of a flexible, free open source cloud platform designed with no propriety software and the ability of its integration with legacy systems and third-party applications are fundamental. Open stack is a free and opensource software released under the terms of Apache license with a fragmented and distributed architecture making it highly flexible. This project was initiated and aimed at designing a secured cloud infrastructure called BradStack, which is built on OpenStack in the Computing Laboratory at the University of Bradford. In this report, we present and discuss the steps required in deploying a secured BradStack Multi-node cloud infrastructure and conducting Penetration testing on OpenStack Services to validate the effectiveness of the security controls on the BradStack platform. This report serves as a practical guideline, focusing on security and practical infrastructure related issues. It also serves as a reference for institutions looking at the possibilities of implementing a secured cloud solution.Comment: 38 pages, 19 figures

Digital Government Implementation in Chaotic Environment - Case Study of Libya

YesNot many studies are available to address whether it is possible to offer and implement e-Government services in places suffer from chaotic situation. This paper is intended to study the opportunity of implementing such services in a chaotic environment. An exploratory study was conducted in March/April 2015 using government officials of the state of Libya that survived a transition period upon the revolt of 2011. The study found that the Libyan government has recently and successfully implemented online services namely: National Identity Number - NID and e-Passport. The finding indicated that there are opportunities to establish e-services in countries regardless of their environmental status and clearly showed similar Critical Success Factors are need to be considered whether in chaotic or stable environment. However, their rank of importance will be differ. Lessons learned from the implementation of both services showed that Government determination has played crucial role in achieving this factual success

The Prospects of E-government Implementation in Chaotic Environment – Government and Citizens’ Perspectives - Case Study of Libya

yesUsing compulsory e-government services is increasingly difficult and challenging given the impact of corruption, political instability, armed conflict, and a chaotic environment. Post the 2011 uprising, Libya experienced serious and deep-rooted conflicts. The chaos destabilized and dismantled government institutions throughout the country. Utilizing the lens of institutional theory, this paper presents the pressures experienced by the formal institutions in the absence of law and safety, to implement the necessary e-government services and provide it to citizens all over the country. In addition, to explore the role of informal institutions in providing and using the compulsory services offered by the government and to what extent alternative services could be made available. Two qualitative pilot studies, conducted in 2015 and 2016, explored the feasibility of implementing e-government from both the government officials and the citizens’ perspectives, respectively. From the e-services provided during this time period, only the E-passport and National Identity number were found to be the only successful. Critical Success Factors - CSF of e-government implementation were defined from conducting an in-depth literature review; these were compared with our findings. Both the government officials and the citizens found corruption, infrastructure and geographical nature to be influencing factors. The social collaboration between citizens was found to be the driving factor in the success of the e-passport, despite the difficult geographical nature and the limited infrastructure all over the country

Implementation of a novel continuous fetal Doppler (Moyo) improves quality of intrapartum fetal heart rate monitoring in a resource-limited tertiary hospital in Tanzania: An observational study

Background Intrapartum Fetal Heart Rate (FHR) monitoring is crucial for the early detection of abnormal FHR, facilitating timely obstetric interventions and thus the potential reduction of adverse perinatal outcomes. We explored midwifery practices of intrapartum FHR monitoring pre and post implementation of a novel continuous automatic Doppler device (the Moyo). Methodology A pre/post observational study among low-risk pregnancies at a tertiary hospital was conducted from March to December 2016. In the pre-implementation period, intermittent monitoring was conducted with a Pinard stethoscope (March to June 2016, n = 1640 women). In the post-implementation period, Moyo was used for continuous FHR monitoring (July-December 2016, n = 2442 women). The primary outcome was detection of abnormal FHR defined as absent, FHR160bpm. The secondary outcomes were rates of assessment/documentation of FHR, obstetric time intervals and intrauterine resuscitations. Chi-square test, Fishers exact test, t-test and Mann-Whitney U test were used in bivariate analysis whereas binary and multinomial logistic regression were used for multivariate. Results Moyo use was associated with greater detection of abnormal FHR (8.0%) compared with Pinard (1.6%) (p Conclusion Implementation of the Moyo device, which continuously measures FHR, was associated with improved quality in FHR monitoring practices and the detection of abnormal FHR. These improvements led to more frequent and timely obstetric responses. Follow-up studies in a high-risk population focused on a more targeted description of the FHR abnormalities and the impact of intrauterine resuscitation is a critical next step in determining the effect on reducing perinatal mortality

Prevalence and correlates of depressive disorders in people with Type 2 diabetes: results from the International Prevalence and Treatment of Diabetes and Depression (INTERPRET‐DD) study, a collaborative study carried out in 14 countries

Aims To assess the prevalence and management of depressive disorders in people with Type 2 diabetes in different countries. Methods People with diabetes aged 18–65 years and treated in outpatient settings were recruited in 14 countries and underwent a psychiatric interview. Participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire and the Problem Areas in Diabetes scale. Demographic and medical record data were collected. Results A total of 2783 people with Type 2 diabetes (45.3% men, mean duration of diabetes 8.8 years) participated. Overall, 10.6% were diagnosed with current major depressive disorder and 17.0% reported moderate to severe levels of depressive symptomatology (Patient Health Questionnaire scores >9). Multivariable analyses showed that, after controlling for country, current major depressive disorder was significantly associated with gender (women) (PPPPP<0.0001). The proportion of those with either current major depressive disorder or moderate to severe levels of depressive symptomatology who had a diagnosis or any treatment for their depression recorded in their medical records was extremely low and non-existent in many countries (0–29.6%). Conclusions Our international study, the largest of this type ever undertaken, shows that people with diabetes frequently have depressive disorders and also significant levels of depressive symptoms. Our findings indicate that the identification and appropriate care for psychological and psychiatric problems is not the norm and suggest a lack of the comprehensive approach to diabetes management that is needed to improve clinical outcomes

1-Allyl-3,3-diphenyl­indolin-2-one

In the title compound, C23H19NO, the oxindole residue is essentially planar and is almost perpendicular to the phenyl rings [dihedral angles = 72.1 (6) and 77.6 (6)°]. The mol­ecular packing is stabilized by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds and C—H⋯N inter­actions

Effect of biosynthesized Silver nanoparticles on growth and development of Helicoverpa armigera (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae): Interaction with midgut protease

We investigated the effect of Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on the gut protease activity of insecticide resistant gram caterpillar, Helicoverpa armigera. The leaf extracts of Peepal tree, Ficus religiosa (FR) and banyan tree, Ficus benghalensis (FB) mediated biogenic AgNPs were synthesized to modulate the function of gut protease activity in H. armigera (Ha). Bioassay with FR and FB AgNPs significantly reduced both larval weight and survival rate of H. armigera. The FR and FB AgNPs inhibited the Ha-Gut protease activity by 50 and 70% at 100 μg concentration respectively. The FR and FB Silver nanoparticles were interacted and binds with high affinity with protease. The inhibition studies on Ha-gut protease activity may contribute towards developing new IRM (Insecticide Resistant Management) strategies against H. armigera to overcome insecticidal resistance issues

1-Allyl-3,3-di-p-tolyl­indolin-2-one

In the title compound, C25H23NO, the indoline system is essentially planar. The mol­ecular structure is stabilized by weak intra­molecular C—H⋯N inter­actions and the crystal packing is determined by inter­molecular C—H⋯π inter­actions