Insider threats: the major challenge to security risk management

Security risk management is by definition, a subjective and complex exercise and it takes time to perform properly. Human resources are fundamental assets for any organization, and as any other asset, they have inherent vulnerabilities that need to be handled, i.e. managed and assessed. However, the nature that characterize the human behavior and the organizational environment where they develop their work turn these task extremely difficult, hard to accomplish and prone to errors. Assuming security as a cost, organizations are usually focused on the efficiency of the security mechanisms implemented that enable them to protect against external attacks, disregarding the insider risks, which are much more difficult to assess. All these demands an interdisciplinary approach in order to combine technical solutions with psychology approaches in order to understand the organizational staff and detect any changes in their behaviors and characteristics. This paper intends to discuss some methodological challenges to evaluate the insider threats and its impacts, and integrate them in a security risk framework, that was defined according to the security standard ISO/IEC_JTC1, to support the security risk management process.

Limitations and improvements to the risk assessment process in Olive Oil Mills: the views of OSH practitioners

Although most of the accidents occurred in Olive Oil Mill (OOM) resulted from “basic” risks, there is a need to apply adequate tools to support risk decisions that can meet the specificities of this sector. This study aims to analyse the views of Occupational, Safety & Health (OSH) practitioners about the risk assessment process in OOM, identifying the key difficulties inherent to the risk assessment process in these sector, as well as identifying some improvements to the current practice. This analysis was based on a questionnaire that was developed and applied to 13 OSH practitioners working at OOM. The results showed that the time available to perform the risk assessment is the more frequent limitation. They believe that the methodologies available are not an important limitation to this process. However, a specific risk assessment methodology, that includes acceptance criteria adjusted to the OOM reality, using risk metrics supported on the frequency of accidents and workdays lost, were indicated as being also an important contributions improve the process. A semi-quantitative approach, complemented with the use of the sector accident statistics, can be a good solution for this sector. However, further strategies should also be adopted, mainly those that can lead to an easy application of the risk assessment process.

Systematic design analysis and risk management on engineered nanoparticles occupational exposure

The production of nanotechnology-based products is increasing, along with the conscience of the possible harmful effects of some nanomaterials. The “safety-by-design” approaches are getting attention as helpful tools to develop safer products and production processes. The Systematic Design Analysis Approach could help to identify the solutions to control the workplace risks by defining the emission and exposure scenarios and the possible barriers to interrupt them. By applying this approach in a photocatalytic ceramic tiles development project it was possible to identify relevant nanoparticles emission scenarios and related barriers, and defining possible ways to reduce it.

Predicting type of delivery by identification of obstetric risk factors through data mining

In Maternity Care, a quick decision has to be made about the most suitable delivery type for the current patient. Guidelines are followed by physicians to support that decision; however, those practice recommendations are limited and underused. In the last years, caesarean delivery has been pursued in over 28% of pregnancies, and other operative techniques regarding specific problems have also been excessively employed. This study identifies obstetric and pregnancy factors that can be used to predict the most appropriate delivery technique, through the induction of data mining models using real data gathered in the perinatal and maternal care unit of Centro Hospitalar of Oporto (CHP). Predicting the type of birth envisions high-quality services, increased safety and effectiveness of specific practices to help guide maternity care decisions and facilitate optimal outcomes in mother and child. In this work was possible to acquire good results, achieving sensitivity and specificity values of 90.11% and 80.05%, respectively, providing the CHP with a model capable of correctly identify caesarean sections and vaginal deliveries.

Intelligent decision support to predict patient barotrauma risk in intensive care units

The occurrence of Barotrauma is identified as a major concern for health professionals, since it can be fatal for patients. In order to support the decision process and to predict the risk of occurring barotrauma Data Mining models were induced. Based on this principle, the present study addresses the Data Mining process aiming to provide hourly probability of a patient has Barotrauma. The process of discovering implicit knowledge in data collected from Intensive Care Units patientswas achieved through the standard process Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining. With the goal of making predictions according to the classification approach they several DM techniques were selected: Decision Trees, Naive Bayes and Support Vector Machine. The study was focused on identifying the validity and viability to predict a composite variable. To predict the Barotrauma two classes were created: “risk” and “no risk”. Such target come from combining two variables: Plateau Pressure and PCO2. The best models presented a sensitivity between 96.19% and 100%. In terms of accuracy the values varied between 87.5% and 100%. This study and the achieved results demonstrated the feasibility of predicting the risk of a patient having Barotrauma by presenting the probability associated.

Safety climate and its relationship with furniture companies’ safety performance and workers’ risk acceptance

This study aims to analyse the relationship between safety climate and the level of risk acceptance, as well as its relationship with workplace safety performance. The sample includes 14 companies and 403 workers. The safety climate assessment was performed by the application of a Safety Climate in Wood Industries questionnaire and safety performance was assessed with a checklist. Judgements about risk acceptance were measured through questionnaires together with four other variables: trust, risk perception, benefit perception and emotion. Safety climate was found to be correlated with workgroup safety performance, and it also plays an important role in workers’ risk acceptance levels. Risk acceptance tends to be lower when safety climate scores of workgroups are high, and subsequently, their safety performance is better. These findings seem to be relevant, as they provide Occupational, Safety and Health practitioners with a better understanding of workers’ risk acceptance levels and of the differences among workgroups.

Microphysical evidence of the transition between predominant convective/stratiform rainfall associated with the intraseasonal oscillation in the Southwest Amazon

The distinction between convective and stratiform precipitation profiles around various precipitating systems existent in tropical regions is very important to the global atmospheric circulation, which is extremely sensitive to vertical latent heat distribution. In South America, the convective activity responds to the Intraseasonal Oscillation (IOS). This paper analyzes a disdrometer and a radar profiler data, installed in the Ji-Paraná airport, RO, Brazil, for the field experiment WETAMC/LBA & TRMM/LBA, during January and February of 1999. The microphysical analysis of wind regimes associated with IOS showed a large difference in type, size and microphysical processes of hydrometeor growth in each wind regime: easterly regimes had more turbulence and consequently convective precipitation formation, and westerly regimes had a more stratiform precipitation formation.

Attachment orientation and caretaking memories in fathers during the transition to parenthood

Dissertação de mestrado em Psicologia Aplicada

Influence of glucose concentration on the structure and quantity of biofilms formed by Candida parapsilosis

Candida parapsilosis is nowadays an emerging opportunistic pathogen and its increasing incidence is part related to the capacity to produce biofilm. In addition, one of the most important C. parapsilosis pathogenic risk factors includes the organisms\textquoteright selective growth capabilities in hyper alimentation solutions. Thus, in this study, we investigated the role of glucose in C. parapsilosis biofilm modulation, by studying biofilm formation, matrix composition and structure. Moreover, the expression of biofilm-related genes (BCR1, FKS1 and OLE1) were analyzed in the presence of different glucose percentages. The results demonstrated the importance of glucose in the modulation of C. parapsilosis biofilm. The concentration of glucose had direct implications on the C. parapsilosis transition of yeast cells to pseudohyphae. Additionally, it was demonstrated that biofilm related genes BCR1, FKS1 and OLE1 are involved in biofilm modulation by glucose. The mechanism by which glucose enhances biofilm formation is not fully understood, however with this study we were able to demonstrate that C. parapsilosis respond to stress conditions caused by elevated levels of glucose by up-regulating genes related to biofilm formation (BCR1, FKS1 and OLE1).

Predicting harsh discipline in at-risk mothers: the moderating effect of socioeconomic deprivation severity

Socioeconomic disadvantage is an important predictor of maternal harsh discipline, but few studies have examined risk mechanisms for harsh parenting within disadvantaged samples. In the present study, parenting stress, family conflict, and child difficult temperament are examined as predictors of maternal harsh discipline among a group of 58 mothers from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds and their young children between the ages of 1- to 4-years-old. Maternal harsh discipline was measured using standardized observations, and mothers reported on parenting stress, family conflict, and child temperament. Severity of socioeconomic deprivation was included as a moderator in these associations. Results showed that parenting stress and family conflict predicted maternal harsh discipline, but only in the most severely deprived families. These findings extend prior research on the processes through which socioeconomic deprivation severity and family functioning impact maternal harsh discipline within a high-risk sample of low-income families. They suggest that the spillover of negative parental functioning into parent–child interactions is particularly likely under conditions of substantial socioeconomic deprivation. Severity of socioeconomic stress seems to undermine maternal adaptive forms of coping, resulting in harsh disciplining practices. Intervention efforts aimed at improving parenting and family relations, as well as an adaptive coping style assume especial relevance.

The importance of risk assessment in the context of investment project management: a case study

Risk management is an important component of project management. Nevertheless, such process begins with risk assessment and evaluation. In this research project, a detailed analysis of the methodologies used to treat risks in investment projects adopted by the Banco da Amazonia S.A. was made. Investment projects submitted to the FNO (Constitutional Fund for Financing the North) during 2011 and 2012 were considered for that purpose. It was found that the evaluators of this credit institution use multiple indicators for risk assessment which assume a central role in terms of decision-making and contribute for the approval or the rejection of the submitted projects; namely, the proven ability to pay, the financial records of project promotors, several financial restrictions, level of equity, level of financial indebtedness, evidence of the existence of a consumer market, the proven experience of the partners/owners in the business, environmental aspects, etc. Furthermore, the bank has technological systems to support the risk assessment process, an internal communication system and a unique system for the management of operational risk.

PTX3-based genetic testing for risk of aspergillosis after lung transplant

PTX3-based genetic testing for risk of aspergillosis after lung transplant

Development of a methodology to incorporate risk and uncertainty in electricity power planning

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia Industrial

Risk of multiple myeloma is associated with polymorphisms within telomerase genes and telomere length

Compelling biological and epidemiological evidences point to a key role of genetic variants of the TERT and TERC genes in cancer development. We analyzed the genetic variability of these two gene regions using samples of 2,267 multiple myeloma (MM) cases and 2,796 healthy controls. We found that a TERT variant, rs2242652, is associated with reduced MM susceptibility (OR?=?0.81; 95% CI: 0.72-0.92; p?=?0.001). In addition we measured the leukocyte telomere length (LTL) in a subgroup of 140 cases who were chemotherapy-free at the time of blood donation and 468 controls, and found that MM patients had longer telomeres compared to controls (OR?=?1.19; 95% CI: 0.63-2.24; ptrend ?=?0.01 comparing the quartile with the longest LTL versus the shortest LTL). Our data suggest the hypothesis of decreased disease risk by genetic variants that reduce the efficiency of the telomerase complex. This reduced efficiency leads to shorter telomere ends, which in turn may also be a marker of decreased MM risk.

Clinical characteristics of women diagnosed with carcinoma who tested positive for cervical and anal high-risk human papillomavirus DNA and E6 RNA

High-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) is an essential cause of cervical carcinoma and is also strongly related to anal cancer development. The hrHPV E6 oncoprotein plays a major role in carcinogenesis. We aimed to evaluate the frequency of hrHPV DNA and E6 oncoprotein in the anuses of women with cervical carcinoma. We analyzed 117 women with cervical cancer and 103 controls for hrHPV and the E6 oncogene. Positive test results for a cervical carcinoma included 66.7 % with hrHPV-16 and 7.7 % with hrHPV-18. One case tested positive for both HPV variants (0.9 %). The samples from the anal canal were positive for HPV-16 in 59.8 % of the cases. Simultaneous presence of HPV in the cervix and anal canal was found in 53.8 % of the cases. Regarding expression of E6 RNA, positivity for HPV-16 in the anal canal was found in 21.2 % of the cases, positivity for HPV-16 in the cervix was found in 75.0 %, and positivity for HPV-18 in the cervix was found in 1.9 %. E6 expression in both the cervix and anal canal was found in 19.2 % of the cases. In the controls, 1 % tested positive for HPV-16 and 0 % for HPV-18. Anal samples from the controls showed a hrHPV frequency of 4.9 % (only HPV16). The presence of hrHPV in the anal canal of women with cervical cancer was detected at a high frequency. We also detected E6 RNA expression in the anal canal of women with cervical cancer, suggesting that these women are at risk for anal hrHPV infection.