Developing cybersecurity education and awareness programmes for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to focus on organisation’s cybersecurity strategy and propose a high-level programme for cybersecurity education and awareness to be used when targeting small- and medium-sized enterprises/businesses (SMEs/SMBs) at a city-level. An essential component of an organisation’s cybersecurity strategy is building awareness and education of online threats and how to protect corporate data and services. This programme is based on existing research and provides a unique insight into an ongoing city-based project with similar aims.Design/methodology/approachTo structure this work, a scoping review was conducted of the literature in cybersecurity education and awareness, particularly for SMEs/SMBs. This theoretical analysis was complemented using a case study and reflecting on an ongoing, innovative programme that seeks to work with these businesses to significantly enhance their security posture. From these analyses, best practices and important lessons/recommendations to produce a high-level programme for cybersecurity education and awareness were recommended.FindingsWhile the literature can be informative at guiding education and awareness programmes, it may not always reach real-world programmes. However, existing programmes, such as the one explored in this study, have great potential, but there can be room for improvement. Knowledge from each of these areas can, and should, be combined to the benefit of the academic and practitioner communities.Originality/valueThe study contributes to current research through the outline of a high-level programme for cybersecurity education and awareness targeting SMEs/SMBs. Through this research, literature in this space was examined and insights into the advances and challenges faced by an on-going programme were presented. These analyses allow us to craft a proposal for a core programme that can assist in improving the security education, awareness and training that targets SMEs/SMBs.</jats:sec

Oxalic, glyoxalic and pyruvic acids in eastern Pacific Ocean waters

A sensitive high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) technique has been used to determine the concentration and distribution of several α-keto acids and oxalic acid in seawater samples from a station (28°29′N, 128°38′W) in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Glyoxalic, pyruvic and oxalic acids were found to be present. Although the pyruvic acid profile at this station was in general featureless, the profiles for glyoxalic and oxalic acids showed variations which could be attributed to both primary production and heterotropic activity. Surface waters were found to have a combined concentration of glyoxalic and oxalic acids of ∼300 to 400 nm/liter which makes these two compounds some of the more abundant organic constituents of surface ocean waters

A Project-based Learning approach for teaching Robotics to Undergraduates

In this research we used a project-based learning approach to teach robotics basics to undergraduate business computing students. The course coverage includes basic electronics, robot construction and programming using arduino. Students developed and tested a robot prototype. The project was evaluated using a questionnaire. The evaluation result shows that students developed skills in circuit design, problem-solving and robot development for addressing real world problems and team work. The students had challenges of using limited resources for robot circuit design and construction. The research results indicate that robotics education through project-based learning  motivates students to learn and implement computer artefact that addresses real world problems.Keywords: Robotics; Project-based learning; ICT

ADOLESCENTS KNOWLEDGE OF SEX EDUCATION AND MORAL SEXUAL BEHAVIOUR IN ADO-EKITI, EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

The study investigated adolescents’ knowledge of sex education and their moral sexual attitude in Ado Ekiti. Specifically, it investigated adolescents knowledge about sex education, identified the risk associated with sexual activity among adolescents, examined the attitude of adolescents toward sex education, determined the importance of sex education and how it can influence the moral sexual behaviour of adolescents’ in Nigeria. The research design adopted for the study was descriptive design of the survey type. The sample consisted of 200 adolescent students. Multistage sampling procedure was used to select sample for the study. The instrument used for the study was a questionnaire designed by the researchers. The face and content validity was ascertained through experts in Psychology, Test, Measurement and Evaluation, while test-retest method was used to ensure the reliability which yielded reliability coefficient of 0.89. The data collected were analyzed using inferential statistics of t-test. All hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The result shows that it is important to impact knowledge about sex education on adolescents. From the study, it was evident that knowledge of sex education affects the level of morality among youths. The rapid change in body proportion excites the youths and encourages them to implore pornographic behaviours which invariably affect their moral thinking by engaging in fantasy. Conclusively, sex education should be part of school curriculum in order to educate adolescent. Parents should develop effective communication skill with their children, make friends with them and have positive attitudes toward sex.  Article visualizations

A Social Network Analysis and Comparison of Six Dark Web Forums

With increasing monitoring and regulation by platforms, communities with criminal interests are moving to the dark web, which hosts content ranging from whistle-blowing and privacy, to drugs, terrorism, and hacking. Using post discussion data from six dark web forums we construct six interaction graphs and use social network analysis tools to study these underground communities. We observe the structure of each network to highlight structural patterns and identify nodes of importance through network centrality analysis. Our findings suggest that in the majority of the forums some members are highly connected and form hubs, while most members have a lower number of connections. When examining the posting activities of central nodes we found that most of the central nodes post in sub-forums with broader topics, such as general discussions and tutorials. These members play different roles in the different forums, and within each forum we identified diverse user profiles.EPSRC Doctoral Training Studentship (Jack Hughes

Clinical Pharmacology and Dosing Regimen Optimization of Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome Treatments

In this paper, we review the management of neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) and clinical pharmacology of primary treatment agents in NOWS, including morphine, methadone, buprenorphine, clonidine, and phenobarbital. Pharmacologic treatment strategies in NOWS have been mostly empirical, and heterogeneity in dosing regimens adds to the difficulty of extrapolating study results to broader patient populations. As population pharmacokinetics (PKs) of pharmacologic agents in NOWS become more well-defined and knowledge of patient-specific factors affecting treatment outcomes continue to accumulate, PK/pharmacodynamic modeling and simulation will be powerful tools to aid the design of optimal dosing regimens at the patient level. Although there is an increasing number of clinical trials on the comparative efficacy of treatment agents in NOWS, here, we also draw attention to the importance of optimizing the dosing regimen, which can be arguably equally important at identifying the optimal treatment agent

Cost-effectiveness of pin-in-fibreglass cast versus Kirschner-Ehmer type I external skeletal fixator in the management of transverse radius-ulna fractures in dogs

The cost of medical care is an important issue all over the world. With worsening global economy and the poverty inherent in low earning  economies in the third world countries, economic considerations have always remained a major determinant factor in the choice of treatment. In this study, the cost-effectiveness of pin-in-fibreglass cast fixator (PFCF) was comparatively evaluated against a commercially available fixator  (Kirschner-Ehmer type I external fixator) (KESF) in the management of induced closed transverse mid-shaft radius-ulna fractures in dogs. Four adult (2 males and 2 females) dogs with closed transverse mid-shaft radius-ulna fractures were used for this study. These dogs were randomly assigned to two groups (A and B) with each group made up of two dogs. Radius-ulna fractures were created in all the dogs under injectable anaesthesia as follows: Group A; PFCF, and Group B; KESF. A cost analysis was performed using the duration of operative and post-operative procedures, duration of morbidity period, direct and indirect labour cost, and cost of dog-hour lost during the morbidity period as economic indices. The overall duration of the operative and the entire post-operative procedures were 5.5±0.14 and 22±0.21 hours (1:4.4) for PFCF and KESF (P&gt;0.05) respectively. The morbidity period was 9 and 8 weeks for PFCF and KESF respectively. The average cost of medical care (in 2015 $1 US ≈ N198 Nigerian Naira) was$81.8 and $294 (1:3.6) for PFCF and KESF respectively. The cost benefit analysis based on the economic loss due to dog-hour lost during the morbidity period were$990. 9 and $1103 (1:1.1) for PFCF and KESF respectively. In conclusion, PFCF is faster and easier to perform, and more economical than the KESF technique despite the longer morbidity period associated with it. This is accounted for by the lower cost of fixative and hospital charges.Keywords: Dog, Cost effectiveness, Pin-in-fiberglass cast, Kirschner-Ehmer external fixative, Radius-ulna, fracture

Cyber Security Awareness Campaigns: Why do they fail to change behaviour?

This paper by Dr. Maria Bada and Professor Angela Sasse focuses on Security Awareness Campaigns, trying to identify factors which potentially lead to failure of these in changing the information security behaviours of consumers and employees. Past and current efforts to improve information security practices have not had the desired effort. In this paper, we explain the challenges involved in improving information security behaviours. Changing behaviour requires more than giving information about risks and correct behaviours – firstly, the people must be able to understand and apply the advice, and secondly, they must be willing to do – and the latter requires changes to attitudes and intentions. These antecedents of behaviour change are identified in several psychological models of behaviour (e.g. theory of reasoned action, theory of planned behaviour, protection motivation theory). We review the suitability of persuasion techniques, including the widely used fear appeals. Essential components for an awareness campaign as well as factors which can lead to a campaign’s failure are also discussed. In order to enact change, the current sources of influence-whether they are conscious or unconscious, personal, environmental or social, which are keeping people from enacting vital behaviours, need to be identified. Cultural differences in risk perceptions can also influence the maintenance of a particular way of life. Finally, since the vast majority of behaviours are habitual, the change from existing habits to better information security habits requires support. Finally, we present examples of existing awareness campaigns in U.K., in Australia, in Canada and Africa

Identification of OBO nonalignments and its implications for OBO enrichment

Motivation: Existing projects that focus on the semiautomatic addition of links between existing terms in the Open Biomedical Ontologies can take advantage of reasoners that can make new inferences between terms that are based on the added formal definitions and that reflect nonalignments between the linked terms. However, these projects require that these definitions be necessary and sufficient, a strong requirement that often does not hold. If such definitions cannot be added, the reasoners cannot point to the nonalignments through the suggestion of new inferences