Parent Perceptions of Residential Crowding and Child Behaviors in a Post-Migration Burundian Refugee Community

Residential crowding has been shown to negatively impact child socio-emotional development and behaviors. The current study explores residential crowding and positive social and distress behaviors of Burundian refugee children, aged 3 months-35 months, through naturalistic observations and interviews. Residential crowding was measured in three ways: the ratio of people per rooms in households, the number of people present during observations, and parents’ perceptions of crowding. Qualitative parent perceptions of crowding and conceptualizations of crowding were obtained through interviews. The results showed that child behaviors were not predicted by the ratio of people per rooms or the number of people present during observations. Rather, parent perceptions of crowding predicted the positive social behavior of children. Qualitative results showed that Burundian refugees conceptualize homes as crowded when non-family members are present and associate crowding with space constriction. This study expands the research on refugee children and indicates that Burundian parent perceptions of crowding predict child behaviors

Conversion of a mathematics course to CAL: A case study of a large‐scale rapid change of resources and organization

During 1994–95, first‐year maths for the BTechEd degree at the University of Glasgow was student‐centred, teacher‐supported A modular online maths course replaced a traditional, lecture‐based course. Students worked at their own pace, with timetabled and open access computer classes and/or paper handbooks. The course was evaluated by open‐ended measures, and study of examination outcomes, providing us with some pedagogical questions and some recommendations for change. With some adaptation, and with important questions still open, the new course will continue to run

A security review of local government using NIST CSF: a case study

Evaluating cyber security risk is a challenging task regardless of an organisation’s nature of business or size, however, an essential activity. This paper uses the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cyber security framework (CSF) to assess the cyber security posture of a local government organisation in Western Australia. Our approach enabled the quantification of risks for specific NIST CSF core functions and respective categories and allowed making recommendations to address the gaps discovered to attain the desired level of compliance. This has led the organisation to strategically target areas related to their people, processes, and technologies, thus mitigating current and future threats

Development of metal-organic framework (MOF) sensors for landmine detection

Rural populations in Colombia are significantly affected by anti-personnel mines used by revolutionary armed forces. These mines typically contain ammonium nitrate (AN) based explosive compositions. The international community is committed to tackling the danger posed by landmines and other improvised explosive devices (IEDs). This involves the removal of explosive materials installed in areas of conflict. Current technologies used for humanitarian demining can be separated into three distinct categories; metal detection, mechanical clearance, and detection using trained animals [1]. Metal detection is deemed to be most effective but as plastic-bodied IEDs are now also in use other detection approaches must be sought after. Cranfield University, Universidad Nacional de Colombia and Oxford University have proposed the development of a device capable of detecting AN based IEDs using an optoelectronic sensor. The goal of the project is to establish the scientific validity of the new sensing method for the detection of explosive materials found in landmines and IEDs, and to demonstrate its usefulness in locating buried explosive devices. This will entail optimising the sensitivity and selectivity of the sensor. A systematic series of MOFs comprising transition metal acetates/chlorides and terephthalic acid derivatives as linkers has been synthesised and structurally characterised. Cobalt and copper based salts have been paired with numerous organic ligands to create MOFs which have been responsive to concentrations of ~100 ppm ammonia in aqueous conditions. The developed MOFs have also been assessed for their response to ammonia in the gas phase and at representative concentrations throughout the project

Security vulnerabilities and cyber threat analysis of the AMQP protocol for the internet of things

The Internet of Things (IoT) expands the global Internet-connected network to encompass device-to-device, device-to-server, and server-to-server connectivity for an ever-increasing variety of end-user devices. IoT remains a somewhat amorphous entity, with little in the way of coordinated development, and is undermined largely by a manufacturer-driven scramble to be first-to-market with the latest innovation. Communication between IoT devices/servers relies on underlying protocols, which must be efficient and effective to establish and maintain reliability and integrity of data transfer. However, the lack of coordination during IoT’s expansion has resulted in a variety of communications protocols being developed. AMQP (Advanced Message Queuing Protocol) originated from the financial sector’s requirement for an improved messaging system that was fast, reliable and independent of end-user platform configurations. AMQP is an open-source server-to-server communications protocol which allows the addition of user-specific extensions. The software coding of such end-user-developed modules can be insufficient regarding threat-mitigation and can make the end product vulnerable to cyber-attack. Through this paper, we present vulnerability and threat analysis for AMQP-based IoT systems

Integration of biometrics and steganography: A comprehensive review

The use of an individual’s biometric characteristics to advance authentication and verification technology beyond the current dependence on passwords has been the subject of extensive research for some time. Since such physical characteristics cannot be hidden from the public eye, the security of digitised biometric data becomes paramount to avoid the risk of substitution or replay attacks. Biometric systems have readily embraced cryptography to encrypt the data extracted from the scanning of anatomical features. Significant amounts of research have also gone into the integration of biometrics with steganography to add a layer to the defence-in-depth security model, and this has the potential to augment both access control parameters and the secure transmission of sensitive biometric data. However, despite these efforts, the amalgamation of biometric and steganographic methods has failed to transition from the research lab into real-world applications. In light of this review of both academic and industry literature, we suggest that future research should focus on identifying an acceptable level steganographic embedding for biometric applications, securing exchange of steganography keys, identifying and address legal implications, and developing industry standards

XMPP architecture and security challenges in an IoT ecosystem

The elusive quest for technological advancements with the aim to make human life easier has led to the development of the Internet of Things (IoT). IoT technology holds the potential to revolutionise our daily life, but not before overcoming barriers of security and data protection. IoTs’ steered a new era of free information that transformed life in ways that one could not imagine a decade ago. Hence, humans have started considering IoTs as a pervasive technology. This digital transformation does not stop here as the new wave of IoT is not about people, rather it is about intelligent connected devices. This proliferation of devices has also brought serious security issues not only to its users but the society as a whole. Application layer protocols form an integral component of IoT technology stack, and XMPP is one of such protocol that is efficient and reliable that allows real-time instant messaging mechanism in an IoT ecosystem. Though the XMPP specification possesses various security features, some vulnerabilities also exist that can be leveraged by the attacking entity to compromise an IoT network. This paper will present XMPP architecture along with various security challenges that exist in the protocol. The paper has also simulated a Denial of Service (DoS) attack on the XMPP server rendering its services unresponsive to its legitimate clients

Security vulnerabilities in android applications

Privacy-related vulnerabilities and risks are often embedded into applications during their development, with this action being either performed out of malice or out of negligence. Moreover, the majority of the mobile applications initiate connections to websites, other apps, or services outside of its scope causing significant compromise to the oblivious user. Therefore, mobile data encryption or related data-protection controls should be taken into account during the application development phase. This paper evaluates some standard apps and their associated threats using publicly available tools and demonstrates how an ignorant user or an organisation can fall prey to such apps

A systematic review of measures of HIV/AIDS stigma in paediatric HIV-infected and HIV-affected populations

Introduction: HIV-related stigma impacts the quality of life and care management of HIV-infected and HIV-affected individuals, but how we measure stigma and its impact on children and adolescents has less often been described. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of studies that measured HIV-related stigma with a quantitative tool in paediatric HIV-infected and HIV-affected populations. Results and discussion: Varying measures have been used to assess stigma in paediatric populations, with most studies utilizing the full or variant form of the HIV Stigma Scale that has been validated in adult populations and utilized with paediatric populations in Africa, Asia and the United States. Other common measures included the Perceived Public Stigma Against Children Affected by HIV, primarily utilized and validated in China. Few studies implored item validation techniques with the population of interest, although scales were used in a different cultural context from the origin of the scale. Conclusions: Many stigma measures have been used to assess HIV stigma in paediatric populations, globally, but few have implored methods for cultural adaptation and content validity

Interventions for Developmental Delays in Children Born to HIV-infected Mothers: A Systematic Review

Children born to HIV-infected mothers have worse developmental outcomes compared to HIV-unexposed children. However, little is known about interventions to improve developmental outcomes in this population. This study systematically reviews the literature on interventions to improve development in children born to HIV-infected mothers. We systematically searched the following electronic bibliographic databases: Ovid MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, Education Resources Information Center, and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Studies were selected on the basis of defined inclusion criteria and excluded if antiretroviral medication was the only intervention. Titles, abstracts, and full texts were assessed by 2 independent reviewers. Data were collected on characteristics of the study design, intervention, and developmental outcomes measured. Risk of bias and strength of evidence were assessed on all included articles. Our search resulted in 11,218 records. After our initial review, 43 records were appraised in their entirety and 9 studies met all inclusion criteria. Six were performed in sub-Saharan Africa, while the remaining 3 were performed in the United States. Eight were randomized-controlled trials and one was a retrospective chart review. Four studies focused on caregiver-training, 2 studied massage therapy, and the remaining studies focused on maternal vitamin supplementation, video-based cognitive therapy, or center-based interventions. Massage therapy had the most consistent improvements in the domains measured, while caregiver training and cognitive therapy interventions had limited benefits. The center-based intervention showed no benefit. Only 3 studies had a low risk of bias, and 4 studies had good strength of evidence. Most studies found some benefit. However, these findings are limited by the quality of the study designs, small sample size, and heterogeneity of the interventions and assessments used to measure outcomes. There is a critical need for the creation of evidence-based interventions to promote development in this vulnerable population