Critical analysis and comparative study of security for networked RFID systems

The Radio frequency identification (RFID) system is a new technology which uses the open air to transmit information. RFID technology is one of the most promising technologies in the field of ubiquitous computing which is revolutionizing the supply chain. It has already been applied by many major retail chains such as Target, Wal-Mart, etc. The networked RFID system such as supply chain has very unique and special business needs which lead to special sets of RFID security requirements and security models. However, very little work has been done to analyze RFID security parameters in relation to networked RFID systems business needs. This paper presents a critical analysis of the networked application's security requirements in relation to their business needs. It then presents a comparative study of existing literature and the ability of various models to protect the security of the supply chain in a RFID deployment.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of diabetes and risk of physical disability and functional impairment - protocol

Background
Diabetes and increased age are known risk factors for physical disability. With the increasing prevalence of diabetes within our aging population, the future burden of disability is expected to increase. To date, there has not been a pooled estimate of the risk for disability associated with diabetes or its precursor states, impaired glucose tolerance and impaired fasting glucose. We aim to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the association between prediabetes and diabetes with disability, and quantify the risk of association.

Methods/design
We will search for relevant studies in Medline via Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane library and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), as well as scan reference lists from relevant reviews and publications included in our review. We will review all publications that include studies on human adults (18 years and older) where information is included on diabetes status and at least one measure of disability (Activities of Daily Living (ADL), Instrumental ADL (IADL) or functional/mobility limitation), and where a risk association is available for the relationship between diabetes and/or prediabetes with disability, with reference to those without diabetes.

We will further conduct a meta-analysis to pool estimates of the risk of disability associated with prediabetes and diabetes. Sensitivity analysis will be conducted to assess for publication bias and study quality.Findings from this systematic review and meta-analysis will be widely disseminated through discussions with stake-holders, publication in a peer-reviewed journal and conference presentation.

Diabetes and risk of physical disability in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background
According to previous reports, the risk of disability as a result of diabetes varies from none to double. Disability is an important measure of health and an estimate of the risk of disability as a result of diabetes is crucial in view of the global diabetes epidemic. We did a systematic review and meta-analysis to estimate this risk.

Methods
We searched Ovid, Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature up to Aug 8, 2012. We included studies of adults that compared the risk of disability—as measured by activities of daily living (ADL), instrumental activities of daily living (IADL), or mobility—in people with and without any type of diabetes. We excluded studies of subpopulations with specific illnesses or of people in nursing homes. From the studies, we recorded population characteristics, how diabetes was diagnosed (by doctor or self-reported), domain and definition of disability, and risk estimates for disability. We calculated pooled estimates by disability type and type of risk estimate (odds ratio [OR] or risk ratio [RR]).

Results
Our systematic review returned 3224 results, from which 26 studies were included in our meta-analyses. Diabetes increased the risk of mobility disability (15 studies; OR 1·71, 95% CI 1·53—1·91; RR 1·51, 95% CI 1·38—1·64), of IADL disability (ten studies; OR 1·65, 95% CI 1·55—1·74), and of ADL disability (16 studies; OR 1·82, 95% CI 1·63—2·04; RR 1·82, 95% CI 1·40—2·36).

Interpretation
Diabetes is associated with a strong increase in the risk of physical disability. Efforts to promote healthy ageing should account for this risk through prevention and management of diabetes.

Funding
Monash University, Baker IDI Bright Sparks Foundation, Australian Postgraduate Award, VicHealth, National Health and Medical Research Council, Australian Research Council, Victorian Government.

Psychosocial working conditions in a representative sample of working Australians 2001–2008: an analysis of changes in inequalities over time

Background A number of widely prevalent job stressors have been identified as modifiable risk factors for common mental and physical illnesses such as depression and cardiovascular disease, yet there has been relatively little study of population trends in exposure to job stressors over time. The aims of this paper were to assess: (1) overall time trends in job control and security and (2) whether disparities by sex, age, skill level and employment arrangement were changing over time in the Australian working population. Methods Job control and security were measured in eight annual waves (2000–2008) from the Australian nationally-representative Household Income and Labour Dynamics of Australia panel survey (n=13 188 unique individuals for control and n=13 182 for security). Observed and model-predicted time trends were generated. Models were generated using population-averaged longitudinal linear regression, with year fitted categorically. Changes in disparities over time by sex, age group, skill level and employment arrangement were tested as interactions between each of these stratifying variables and time. Results While significant disparities persisted for disadvantaged compared with advantaged groups, results suggested that inequalities in job control narrowed among young workers compared with older groups and for casual, fixed-term and self-employed compared with permanent workers. A slight narrowing of disparities over time in job security was noted for gender, age, employment arrangement and occupational skill level. Conclusions Despite the favourable findings of small reductions in disparities in job control and security, significant cross-sectional disparities persist. Policy and practice intervention to improve psychosocial working conditions for disadvantaged groups could reduce these persisting disparities and associated illness burdens.

A phenomenological analysis of the experience of security and contentment for latency aged children in shared-time parenting arrangements

This study explored the lived experience of security and contentment, and their absence, for latency-aged children (aged 8-12) living in shared-time parenting arrangements following their parents' separation. A descriptive phenomenological methodology was utilized (Giorgi, 1985, 2009; Giorgi & Giorgi, 2003, 2008). Sixteen children living in shared-time were interviewed about their experiences of two phenomena: "feeling secure and content living in shared-time" and "not feeling secure and content living in shared-time." The eight richest protocols were selected for analysis. The two resultant general structures and their core constituents are presented, and individual variations discussed. Central to each phenomenon is the parent/s' capacity, or incapacity, to create and sustain a physical and emotional space in which the child feels secure and held in the mind, feels the arrangements are responsive to their needs, feels free to access the "absent" parent, and experiences integration between the two parental homes. Implications for phenomenological human science research are considered, including the use of descriptive phenomenology with children.

Minimising post-operative risk using a Post-Anaesthetic Care Tool (PACT): protocol for a prospective observational study and cost-effectiveness analysis

Introduction: While the risk of adverse events following surgery has been identified, the impact of nursing care on early detection of these events is not well established. A systematic review of the evidence and an expert consensus study in post-anaesthetic care identified essential criteria for nursing assessment of patient readiness for discharge from the Post-Anaesthetic Care Unit. These criteria were included in a new nursing assessment tool, the Post-Anaesthetic Care Tool (PACT), and incorporated into the post-anaesthetic documentation at a large health service. The aim of this study is to test the clinical reliability of the PACT and evaluate whether use of PACT will i) enhance the recognition and response to patients at risk of deterioration in PACU; ii) improve documentation for handover from PACU nurse to ward nurse; iii) result in improved patient outcomes; and iv) reduce health care costs.

Methods and analysis: A prospective, non-randomised, pre- and post-implementation design comparing: (i) patients (n=750) who have surgery prior to the implementation of the PACT and (ii) patients (n=750) who have surgery after PACT. The study will examine the use of the tool through the observation of patient care and nursing handover. Patient outcomes and cost effectiveness will be determined from health service data and medical record audit. Descriptive statistics will be used to describe the sample and compare the two patient groups (pre- and post-intervention). Differences in patient outcomes between the two groups will be compared using the Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel test and regression analyses and reported as odds ratios with the corresponding 95% confidence intervals.

Conclusion: This study will test the clinical reliability and cost-effectiveness of the PACT. It is hypothesised that the PACT will enable nurses to recognise and respond to patients at risk of deterioration, improve handover to ward nurses, improve patient outcomes, and reduce health care costs.

Risk factors for violence in psychosis: systematic review and meta-regression analysis of 110 studies

Background

Previous reviews on risk and protective factors for violence in psychosis have produced contrasting findings. There is therefore a need to clarify the direction and strength of association of risk and protective factors for violent outcomes in individuals with psychosis.

Method

We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis using 6 electronic databases (CINAHL, EBSCO, EMBASE, Global Health, PsycINFO, PUBMED) and Google Scholar. Studies were identified that reported factors associated with violence in adults diagnosed, using DSM or ICD criteria, with schizophrenia and other psychoses. We considered non-English language studies and dissertations. Risk and protective factors were meta-analysed if reported in three or more primary studies. Meta-regression examined sources of heterogeneity. A novel meta-epidemiological approach was used to group similar risk factors into one of 10 domains. Sub-group analyses were then used to investigate whether risk domains differed for studies reporting severe violence (rather than aggression or hostility) and studies based in inpatient (rather than outpatient) settings.

Findings

There were 110 eligible studies reporting on 45,533 individuals, 8,439 (18.5%) of whom were violent. A total of 39,995 (87.8%) were diagnosed with schizophrenia, 209 (0.4%) were diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and 5,329 (11.8%) were diagnosed with other psychoses. Dynamic (or modifiable) risk factors included hostile behaviour, recent drug misuse, non-adherence with psychological therapies (p values<0.001), higher poor impulse control scores, recent substance misuse, recent alcohol misuse (p values<0.01), and non-adherence with medication (p value <0.05). We also examined a number of static factors, the strongest of which were criminal history factors. When restricting outcomes to severe violence, these associations did not change materially. In studies investigating inpatient violence, associations differed in strength but not direction.

Conclusion

Certain dynamic risk factors are strongly associated with increased violence risk in individuals with psychosis and their role in risk assessment and management warrants further examination.

On the security of compressed sensing-based signal cryptosystem

With the development of the cyber-physical systems (CPS), the security analysis of the data therein becomes more and more important. Recently, due to the advantage of joint encryption and compression for data transmission in CPS, the emerging compressed sensing (CS)-based cryptosystem has attracted much attention, where security is of extreme importance. The existing methods only analyze the security of the plaintext under the assumption that the key is absolutely safe. However, for sparse plaintext, the prior sparsity knowledge of the plaintext could be exploited to partly retrieve the key, and then the plaintext, from the ciphertext. So, the existing methods do not provide a satisfactory security analysis. In this paper, it is conducted in the information theory frame, where the plaintext sparsity feature and the mutual information of the ciphertext, key, and plaintext are involved. In addition, the perfect secrecy criteria (Shannon-sense and Wyner-sense) are extended to measure the security. While the security level is given, the illegal access risk is also discussed. It is shown that the CS-based cryptosystem achieves the extended Wyner-sense perfect secrecy, but when the key is used repeatedly, both the plaintext and the key could be conditionally accessed.

Social welfare analysis in a simple financial economy with risk regulation

In the last years, regulating agencies of rnany countries in the world, following recommendations of the Basel Committee, have compelled financiaI institutions to maintain minimum capital requirements to cover market risk. This paper investigates the consequences of such kind of regulation to social welfare and soundness of financiaI institutions through an equilibrium model. We show that the optimum level of regulation for each financiaI institution (the level that maximizes its utility) depends on its appetite for risk and some of them can perform better in a regulated economy. In addition, another important result asserts that under certain market conditions the financiaI fragility of an institution can be greater in a regulated econolny than in an unregulated one

Funding social sector activity in Brazil: a case study analysis of agency risk incidence and mitigation

Empresas e organizações sociais têm um papel cada vez mais importante no mercado brasileiro. Essas organizações - sejam elas com ou sem fins lucrativos –têm como objetivocausar um profundo e positivo impacto social.Ambas enfrentamtambém o mesmo desafio: financiar as suas operações. Recentemente, dois modelos inovadores de financiamento, o fundo de venture capitalVox Capital e o fundo de empréstimo social SITAWI, entraram no mercado brasileiro para solucionar esse desafio. Este estudo analisa ambos os fundos,associando o problema do financiamento de empresas e organizações sociais às teorias tradicionais de negócio. Mais especificamente, por meio de um estudo de caso,é avaliado se o risco de agência (agency risk) explica as práticas e o designcontratual utilizados pelos fundos. A pesquisa é baseada num estudo de Alemany e Scarlata (2010) sobre a estruturação dos negócios de fundos filantrópicos de capital empreendedor (PhVC, na sigla em inglês) na América do Norte e na Europa. Uma definição chave desse estudo é que organizações sem fins lucrativos, ao contrário daquelas com fins lucrativos, estão sujeitas a uma restrição de distribuição de lucros. Embora Alemany e Scarlata (2010) tivessem descobertoque parceria (stewardship), mais do que o problema de agência (agency problem), explica a estrutura dos negócios dos fundos PhVC, as implicações do presente estudo de caso para o Brasil são diferentes. Os resultados sugerem que o problema de agência,mais do que a parceria,descreve adequadamente os contratos analisados de financiamento. Detectou-seque cláusulas contratuais não foram apenas usadas para mitigar o risco de agênciaresultanteda ausência de uma restrição de distribuição de lucros, mas também para reger as estruturas cooperativas com organizações sem fins lucrativos. No caso de SITAWI, a restrição dos destinatários de fundos de distribuir lucros provou-se uma ferramenta efetiva para alinhar os interesses entre os financiadores e os destinatários dos fundos. Apesar daimplicação da presença de parceria, os contratos do fundo social contiveram cláusulas geralmente usadas para reduzir o risco de agência. No caso de Vox Capital, os destinatários dos fundos eram empresas com fins lucrativos, portanto não sujeitas à restrição de distribuição de lucros. O modelo de negócio de Vox Capital é organizado para impedir qualquer incidência potencial do problema de agência. Ambos os fundos, independentemente da estrutura jurídica dos beneficiários destes fundos, evidenciaram o intuito de garantir a aplicação de práticas de negócio utilizadas pelas empresas tradicionais do setor corporativo em vez daquelas utilizadas no setor social.

Need and opportunity: what are the main security threats to the pharmaceuticals industry in Latin America?

Os preços altos de produtos farmacêuticos patenteados sempre têm sido uma polêmica na América Latina. Considerando as disparidades económicas na região e a falta histórica do desenvolvimento, muitas vezes os preços altos servem como barreiras contra o acesso aos medicamentos essenciais. Por um lado, as companhias farmacêuticas dizem que os preços elevados são necessários para financiar os processos de pesquisa e desenvolvimento e para gerar um retorno do investimento lucrativo. Por outro lado, os consumidores, tanto privados como públicos, dizem que os preços altos têm resultado em uma falta histórica de medicamentos baratos. Neste debate, ambos lados têm realizado uma série de manobras e contramanobras que têm exposto algumas das vulnerabilidades do setor. Utilizando vários métodos de análise e entrevistas com profissionais no setor, este projeto analisa as vulnerabilidades do setor para determinar o risco, ao mesmo tempo tentando a responder à pergunta: Quais são as ameaças principais na segurança da indústria farmacêutica na América Latina? Justificação deste projeto é o aumento dos crimes relacionados aos produtos farmacêuticos na última década, que têm exposto os pacientes a um número de riscos mais alto. Uma compreensão das ameaças principais é necessária para melhor mitigar o risco, garantir a integridade de produtos e preservar a saúde pública.