Does traditional security risk assessment have a future in information security?

The current information security standards still advocate the use of risk assessment in the prioritisation of security investments. However, prior research on the use of risk assessment methodologies in organisational security has shown that the use of the traditional monolithic risk assessment process described in the current risk management standard is simply not practical at the organisational level. This paper first examines the problems in performing a systematic risk assessment and then discusses the limitations of a traditional risk assessment. To address these limitations, this paper proposes splitting up the current monolithic risk assessment process. The result is an information security assessment framework that puts greater emphasis on situational awareness and allows for better decision making on the prioritization of security investments.

Fostering resilience later in life: a narrative approach involving people facing disabling circumstances, carers and members of minority groups

Over the last two decades, the concept of resilience has become the focus of a growing body of gerontological research. However, there is a dearth of qualitative research that explores how socio-economic and socio-cultural factors shape older people's resilience. This study addresses this gap and explores the concept of resilience through the lens of 25 Australians from a variety of backgrounds, investigating the resilience strategies they employed in the face of different challenging life events. A qualitative narrative methodology involving one focus group and semi-structured interviews was employed. A stratified convenience sample of 34 people aged 60 and over participated in semi-structured interviews between 2009 and 2011. The study describes the meaning participants assigned to the term resilience, and focuses on the range of resilience responses and strategies they employed, bringing to light some key commonalities and differences. The study's findings suggest that access to economic and cultural resources and the nature of the adversity older people face can shape and limit their resilience strategies. The article outlines how the concept of resilience could be incorporated into aged care practice and argues that resilience-focused interventions that potentially broaden the resilience repertoire of older people should be explored within an aged care context.

Spatiotemporal variation in life history traits of three small fishes in streams of south-eastern Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

B-vitamins : past, present and future in the study of the coenzymes that built and maintain a habitable planet

Trabajo realizado por Sergio Sañudo-Wilhelmy, Danielle Monteverde and Laura Gomez-Consarnau

Lab-on-a-chip: the future in water quality detection

Interpretación realizada por las alumnas en prácticas de la Facultad de Traducción e Interpretación, Estíbaliz López-Leiton Trujillo, Danaide Rodríguez Hernández, Esther Ramírez Millares.

The future in action: neurophysiological and behavioral evidence of anticipatory motor simulation.

The motor system can no longer be considered as a mere passive executive system of motor commands generated elsewhere in the brain. On the contrary, it is deeply involved in perceptual and cognitive functions and acts as an “anticipation device”. The present thesis investigates the anticipatory motor mechanisms occurring in two particular instances: i) when processing sensory events occurring within the peripersonal space (PPS); and ii) when perceiving and predicting others’actions. The first study provides evidence that PPS representation in humans modulates neural activity within the motor system, while the second demonstrates that the motor mapping of sensory events occurring within the PPS critically relies on the activity of the premotor cortex. The third study provides direct evidence that the anticipatory motor simulation of others’ actions critically relies on the activity of the anterior node of the action observation network (AON), namely the inferior frontal cortex (IFC). The fourth study, sheds light on the pivotal role of the left IFC in predicting the future end state of observed right-hand actions. Finally, the fifth study examines how the ability to predict others’ actions could be influenced by a reduction of sensorimotor experience due to the traumatic or congenital loss of a limb. Overall, the present work provides new insights on: i) the anticipatory mechanisms of the basic reactivity of the motor system when processing sensory events occurring within the PPS, and the same anticipatory motor mechanisms when perceiving others’ implied actions; ii) the functional connectivity and plasticity of premotor-motor circuits both during the motor mapping of sensory events occurring within the PPS and when perceiving others’ actions; and iii) the anticipatory mechanisms related to others’ actions prediction.

The challenges and the limitations in Life Cycle Impact Assessment for metal oxide nanoparticles, a case study on nano- TiO2

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a chain-oriented tool to evaluate the environment performance of products focussing on the entire life cycle of these products: from the extraction of resources, via manufacturing and use, to the final processing of the disposed products. Through all these stages consumption of resources and pollutant releases to air, water, soil are identified and quantified in Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) analysis. Subsequently to the LCI phase follows the Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) phase; that has the purpose to convert resource consumptions and pollutant releases in environmental impacts. The LCIA aims to model and to evaluate environmental issues, called impact categories. Several reports emphasises the importance of LCA in the field of ENMs. The ENMs offer enormous potential for the development of new products and application. There are however unanswered questions about the impacts of ENMs on human health and the environment. In the last decade the increasing production, use and consumption of nanoproducts, with a consequent release into the environment, has accentuated the obligation to ensure that potential risks are adequately understood to protect both human health and environment. Due to its holistic and comprehensive assessment, LCA is an essential tool evaluate, understand and manage the environmental and health effects of nanotechnology. The evaluation of health and environmental impacts of nanotechnologies, throughout the whole of their life-cycle by using LCA methodology. This is due to the lack of knowledge in relation to risk assessment. In fact, to date, the knowledge on human and environmental exposure to nanomaterials, such ENPs is limited. This bottleneck is reflected into LCA where characterisation models and consequently characterisation factors for ENPs are missed. The PhD project aims to assess limitations and challenges of the freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity potential evaluation in LCIA phase for ENPs and in particular nanoparticles as n-TiO2.

Flow Field–Flow Fractionation for size analysis and characterization of nanoparticles for applications in Life Sciences

Nanotechnologies are rapidly expanding because of the opportunities that the new materials offer in many areas such as the manufacturing industry, food production, processing and preservation, and in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry. Size distribution of the nanoparticles determines their properties and is a fundamental parameter that needs to be monitored from the small-scale synthesis up to the bulk production and quality control of nanotech products on the market. A consequence of the increasing number of applications of nanomaterial is that the EU regulatory authorities are introducing the obligation for companies that make use of nanomaterials to acquire analytical platforms for the assessment of the size parameters of the nanomaterials. In this work, Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation (AF4) and Hollow Fiber F4 (HF5), hyphenated with Multiangle Light Scattering (MALS) are presented as tools for a deep functional characterization of nanoparticles. In particular, it is demonstrated the applicability of AF4-MALS for the characterization of liposomes in a wide series of mediums. Afterwards the technique is used to explore the functional features of a liposomal drug vector in terms of its biological and physical interaction with blood serum components: a comprehensive approach to understand the behavior of lipid vesicles in terms of drug release and fusion/interaction with other biological species is described, together with weaknesses and strength of the method. Afterwards the size characterization, size stability, and conjugation of azidothymidine drug molecules with a new generation of metastable drug vectors, the Metal Organic Frameworks, is discussed. Lastly, it is shown the applicability of HF5-ICP-MS for the rapid screening of samples of relevant nanorisk: rather than a deep and comprehensive characterization it this time shown a quick and smart methodology that within few steps provides qualitative information on the content of metallic nanoparticles in tattoo ink samples.

Back to the future in one week - implementing a Smalltalk VM in PyPy

We report on our experiences with the Spy project, including implementation details and benchmark results. Spy is a re-implementation of the Squeak (i.e., Smalltalk-80) VM using the PyPy toolchain. The PyPy project allows code written in RPython, a subset of Python, to be translated to a multitude of different backends and architectures. During the translation, many aspects of the implementation can be independently tuned, such as the garbage collection algorithm or threading implementation. In this way, a whole host of interpreters can be derived from one abstract interpreter definition. Spy aims to bring these benefits to Squeak, allowing for greater portability and, eventually, improved performance. The current Spy codebase is able to run a small set of benchmarks that demonstrate performance superior to many similar Smalltalk VMs, but which still run slower than in Squeak itself. Spy was built from scratch over the course of a week during a joint Squeak-PyPy Sprint in Bern last autumn.

Studying changes in life circumstances and personality: It's about time

Most theories of personality development posit that changes in life circumstances (e.g. due to major life events) can lead to changes in personality, but few studies have examined the exact time course of these changes. In this article, we argue that time needs to be considered explicitly in theories and empirical studies on personality development. We discuss six notions on the role of time in personality development. First, people can differ before the event. Second, change can be non-linear and discontinuous. Third, change can be reversible. Fourth, change can occur before the event. Fifth, control groups are needed to disentangle age-related and event-related changes. Sixth, we need to move beyond examining single major life events and study the effects of non-normative events, non-events, multiple events, and minor events on personality. We conclude by summarizing the methodological and theoretical implications of these notions.