The US experience in contracting out security and lessons for other countries

The United States has gone further than any country in the "privatization of security". Other countries may find the economic or financial logic in the use of contractors persuasive. The US experience with contracting out security, particularly in Iraq, was problematic, and can serve as a cautionary tale in order that other countries might learn how to avoid the pitfalls.

A mobile systems interface protocol

Recent progresses in the software development world has assisted a change in hardware from heavy mainframes and desktop machines to unimaginable small devices leading to the prophetic "third computing paradigm", Ubiquitous Computing. Still, this novel unnoticeable devices lack in various capabilities, like computing power, storage capacity and human interface. Connectivity associated to this devices is also considered an handicap which comes generally associated expensive and limited protocols like GSM and UMTS. Considering this scenario as background, this paper presents a minimal communication protocol introducing better interfaces for limited devices. Special attention has been paid to the limitations of connectivity, storage capacity and scalability of the developed software applications. Illustrating this new protocol, a case-study is presented addressing car sensors communicating with a central

Cognitive intervention protocol for age-related memory impairments

With the number of elderly people increasing tremendously worldwide, comes the need for effective methods to maintain or improve older adults' cognitive performance. Using continuous neurofeedback, through the use of EEG techniques, people can learn how to train and alter their brain electrical activity. A software platform that puts together the proposed rehabilitation methodology has been developed: a digital game protocol that supports neurofeedback training of alpha and theta rhythms, by reading the EEG activity and presenting it back to the subject, interleaved with neurocognitive tasks such as n-Back and Corsi Block-Tapping. This tool will be used as a potential rehabilitative platform for age-related memory impairments.

Chagas' disease and social security: a case-control study in an urban area, Goiás, Brazil

One hundred and twenty subjects with Chagas' cardiopathy and 120 non-infected subjects were randomly selected from first time claimants of sickness benefits in the National Institute of Social Security (INPS) in Goiás. Cases of Chagas' cardiopathy were defined based on serological test, history of residence in an endemic area and, clinical and/or electrocardiogram (ECG) alterations suggestive of Chagas' cardiomyopathy. Controls were defined as subjects with at least two negative serological tests. Case and controls were compared in the analysis for age, sex, place of birth, migration history, socio-economic level, occupation, physical exertion at work, age at affiliation and years of contribution to the social security scheme, clinical course of their disease and ECG abnormalities. Chagas' disease patients were younger than other subjects and predominantly of rural origin. Non-infected subjects presented a better socio-economic level, were performing more skilled activities and had less changes of job than cases. No important difference was observed in relation to age at affiliation to INPS. About 60% of cases have claimed for benefits within the first four years of contribution while among controls this proportion was 38.5%. Cases were involved, proportionally more than controls, in "heavy" activities. A risk of 2.3 (95%CL 1.5 - 4.6) and 1.8 (95%CL 1.2- 3.5) was obtained comparing respectively "heavy" and "moderate" physical activity against "light". A relative risk of 8.5 (95%CL 4.9 - 14.8) associated with the presence of cardiopathy was estimated comparing the initial sample of seropositive subjects and controls. A high relative risk was observed in relation to right bundle branch block (RR = 37.1 95%CL = 8.8 - 155.6) and left anterior hemiblock (RR = 4.4, 95%CL = 2.1 - 9.1).

Biblioteca para a realização de security token services

A família de especificações WS-* define um modelo de segurança para web services, baseado nos conceitos de claim, security token e Security Token Service (STS). Neste modelo, a informação de segurança dos originadores de mensagens (identidade, privilégios, etc.) é representada através de conjuntos de claims, contidos dentro de security tokens. A emissão e obtenção destes security tokens, por parte dos originadores de mensagens, são realizadas através de protocolos legados ou através de serviços especiais, designados de Security Token Services, usando as operações e os protocolos definidos na especificação WS-Trust. O conceito de Security Token Service não é usado apenas no contexto dos web services. Propostas como o modelo dos Information Cards, aplicável no contexto de aplicações web, também utilizam este conceito. Os Security Token Services desempenham vários papéis, dependendo da informação presente no token emitido. São exemplos o papel de Identity Provider, quando os tokens emitidos contêm informação de identidade, ou o papel de Policy Decision Point, quando os tokens emitidos definem autorizações. Este documento descreve o projecto duma biblioteca software para a realização de Security Token Services, tal como definidos na norma WS-Trust, destinada à plataforma .NET 3.5. Propõem-se uma arquitectura flexível e extensível, de forma a suportar novas versões das normas e as diversas variantes que os Security Token Services possuem, nomeadamente: o tipo dos security token emitidos e das claims neles contidas, a inferência das claims e os métodos de autenticação das entidades requerentes. Apresentam-se aspectos de implementação desta arquitectura, nomeadamente a integração com a plataforma WCF, a sua extensibilidade e o suporte a modelos e sistemas externos à norma. Finalmente, descrevem-se as plataformas de teste implementadas para a validação da biblioteca realizada e os módulos de extensão da biblioteca para: suporte do modelo associado aos Information Cards, do modelo OpenID e para a integração com o Authorization Manager.

Children visual screening protocol: validation by a focus group panel of experts

Screening programs, particularly the inclusion of specific orthoptic tests to detect visual abnormalities, varies among countries. This study aims to: 1) describes expert perception of issues related with children visual screening; 2) identify specific orthoptic tests to detect visual abnormalities in children visual screening.

Coordination between mid-term maintenance outage decisions and short-term security-constrained scheduling in smart distribution systems

Distribution systems are the first volunteers experiencing the benefits of smart grids. The smart grid concept impacts the internal legislation and standards in grid-connected and isolated distribution systems. Demand side management, the main feature of smart grids, acquires clear meaning in low voltage distribution systems. In these networks, various coordination procedures are required between domestic, commercial and industrial consumers, producers and the system operator. Obviously, the technical basis for bidirectional communication is the prerequisite of developing such a coordination procedure. The main coordination is required when the operator tries to dispatch the producers according to their own preferences without neglecting its inherent responsibility. Maintenance decisions are first determined by generating companies, and then the operator has to check and probably modify them for final approval. In this paper the generation scheduling from the viewpoint of a distribution system operator (DSO) is formulated. The traditional task of the DSO is securing network reliability and quality. The effectiveness of the proposed method is assessed by applying it to a 6-bus and 9-bus distribution system.

Contexts-management strategy in considering the security in urban computing based on urban design

Urban Computing (UrC) provides users with the situation-proper information by considering context of users, devices, and social and physical environment in urban life. With social network services, UrC makes it possible for people with common interests to organize a virtual-society through exchange of context information among them. In these cases, people and personal devices are vulnerable to fake and misleading context information which is transferred from unauthorized and unauthenticated servers by attackers. So called smart devices which run automatically on some context events are more vulnerable if they are not prepared for attacks. In this paper, we illustrate some UrC service scenarios, and show important context information, possible threats, protection method, and secure context management for people.

A novel flow cytometric protocol for assessment of yeast cell adhesion

Microbial adhesion is a field of recognized relevance and, as such, an impressive array of tools has been developed to understand its molecular mechanisms and ultimately for its quantification. Some of the major limitations found within these methodologies concern the incubation time, the small number of cells analyzed, and the operator's subjectivity. To overcome these aspects, we have developed a quantitative method to measure yeast cells' adhesion through flow cytometry. In this methodology, a suspension of yeast cells is mixed with green fluorescent polystyrene microspheres (uncoated or coated with host proteins). Within 2 h, an adhesion profile is obtained based on two parameters: percentage and cells-microsphere population's distribution pattern. This flow cytometry protocol represents a useful tool to quantify yeast adhesion to different substrata in a large scale, providing manifold data in a speedy and informative manner.

Gestão e monitorização de uma rede departamental: um caso de estudo

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Efficient implementation of a dominance protocol for wireless medium access

Mestrado em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

Interface HL7 para observation patterns

Com a generalização das tecnologias de informação e comunicação na área da saúde, a monitorização remota de pacientes, a partir de dispositivos móveis, é uma realidade que contribui para uma melhor qualidade de vida dos pacientes. Mas, não são só os pacientes que ganham com a introdução destas tecnologias, também os profissionais de saúde e os hospitais retiram as suas vantagens. Os profissionais de saúde são munidos de uma ferramenta móvel de monitorização permanente de sinais vitais, aumentando desta forma a ligação médico-paciente. Relativamente aos hospitais, estes vêem os custos de manutenção reduzirem, em virtude da possibilidade dos pacientes puderem ser monitorizados a partir dos seus lares. Neste projecto pretende-se identificar mecanismos que possibilitem responder de forma eficaz à necessidade de partilha de informação, nomeadamente protocolos de comunicação, segurança e sistemas de integração. Foi projectado um protótipo, constituído por um middleware e uma aplicação cliente móvel, onde o middleware tem como missão garantir a interoperabilidade entre um servidor HL7 e a aplicação cliente, utilizada pelo profissional de saúde. A normalização da informação médica trocada entre o servidor HL7 e o middleware obedece à norma internacional HL7.

A study on security grade assignment model for mobile users in urban computing

The relation between the information/knowledge expression and the physical expression can be involved as one of items for an ambient intelligent computing [2],[3]. Moreover, because there are so many contexts around user/spaces during a user movement, all appplcation which are using AmI for users are based on the relation between user devices and environments. In these situations, it is possible that the AmI may output the wrong result from unreliable contexts by attackers. Recently, establishing a server have been utilizes, so finding secure contexts and make contexts of higher security level for save communication have been given importance. Attackers try to put their devices on the expected path of all users in order to obtain users informationillegally or they may try to broadcast their SPAMS to users. This paper is an extensionof [11] which studies the Security Grade Assignment Model (SGAM) to set Cyber-Society Organization (CSO).

Lower protocol layers for wireless sensor networks: a survey

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been attracting increasing interests in the development of a new generation of embedded systems with great potential for many applications such as surveillance, environment monitoring, emergency medical response and home automation. However, the communication paradigms in Wireless Sensor Networks differ from the ones attributed to traditional wireless networks, triggering the need for new communication protocols and mechanisms. In this Technical Report, we present a survey on communication protocols for WSNs with a particular emphasis on the lower protocol layers. We give a particular focus to the MAC (Medium Access Control) sub-layer, since it has a prominent influence on some relevant requirements that must be satisfied by WSN protocols, such as energy consumption, time performance and scalability. We overview some relevant MAC protocol solutions and discuss how they tackle the trade-off between the referred requirements.