Information security strategies: towards an organizational multi-strategy perspective

There considerable advice in both research and practice oriented literature on the topic of information security. Most of the discussion in literature focuses on how to prevent security attacks using technical countermeasures even though there are a number of other viable strategies such as deterrence, deception, detection and response. This paper reports on a qualitative study, conducted in Korea, to determine how organizations implement security strategies to protect their information systems. The findings reveal a deeply entrenched preventive mindset, driven by the desire to ensure availability of technology and services, and a comparative ignorance of exposure to business security risks. Whilst there was some evidence of usage of other strategies, they were also deployed in a preventive capacity. The paper presents a research agenda that calls for research on enterprise-wide multiple strategy deployment with a focus on how to combine, balance and optimize strategies.     

A Question Mark on Zinc Deficiency in 185 Million People in Pakistan—Possible Way Out

This paper reviews research published in recent years concerning the effects of zinc deficiency, its consequences, and possible solutions. Zinc is an essential trace element necessary for over 300 zinc metalloenzymes and required for normal nucleic acid, protein, and membrane metabolism. Zinc deficiency is one of the ten biggest factors contributing to burden of disease in developing countries. Populations in South Asia, South East Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa are at greatest risk of zinc deficiency. Zinc intakes are inadequate for about a third of the population and stunting affects 40% of preschool children. In Pakistan, zinc deficiency is an emerging health problem as about 20.6% children are found in the levels of zinc, below 60 μg/dL. Signs and symptoms caused by zinc deficiency are poor appetite, weight loss, and poor growth in childhood, delayed healing of wounds, taste abnormalities, and mental lethargy. As body stores of zinc decline, these symptoms worsen and are accompanied by diarrhea, recurrent infection, and dermatitis. Daily zinc requirements for an adult are 12–16 mg/day. Iron, calcium and phytates inhibit the absorption of zinc therefore simultaneous administration should not be prescribed. Zinc deficiency and its effects are well known but the ways it can help in treatment of different diseases is yet to be discovered. Improving zinc intakes through dietary improvements is a complex task that requires considerable time and effort. The use of zinc supplements, dietary modification, and fortifying foods with zinc are the best techniques to combat its deficiency.     

Enterprise web services-enabled translation framework

Managing multilingual documents is a time consuming, error prone and expensive task, particularly when dealing with dynamic documents such as web contents. A broad spectrum of organizations such as corporations, NGO’s and Governments are committed to offer such documents in a number of languages where the content is further localized to suit specific cultural settings. In this paper, we propose a business model supported by a web services-enabled framework, which facilitate all aspects related to multilingual web contents management, from negotiating translation-request quotations through production of final localized output as well as its verification, and delivery. This service is based on a collaborative internet-based translation framework, referred to in this paper as Translation Management System (TMS). Our approach uses XLIFF, a Web service standard developed by OASIS, in order to interoperate enterprise translation services and related Web applications. We present and implement a translation business model centered around standardized processes, which we validate through a case study in the context of a Web translation project. We also propose a QoS monitoring model to satisfy the quality-related requirements of a translation job. Finally, we evaluate the usability of our streamlined Web translation services through users’ perception in terms of flexibility, ease of use, and quality of translation. The results revealed interesting performance tradeoffs relative to translation workflows and content-translation accuracy as well as flexibility, and diversity of TMS provided services.     

Induction of Oxidative Stress and Mitochondrial Dysfunction by Juglone Affects the Development of Bovine Oocytes

Juglone, a major naphthalenedione component of walnut trees, has long been used in traditional medicine as an antimicrobial and antitumor agent. Nonetheless, its impact on oocyte and preimplantation embryo development has not been entirely clarified. Using the bovine model, we sought to elucidate the impact of juglone treatment during the in vitro maturation (IVM) of oocytes on their maturation and development of embryos. Results showed a severe reduction in oocyte nuclear maturation and cumulus expansion and a significant increase in mitochondrial dysfunction and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels in cumulus–oocyte complexes (COCs) treated with juglone (12.5, 25.0, and 50.0 µM). In addition, RT–qPCR showed downregulation of the expansion-related (HAS2, TNFAIP6, PTX3, and PTGS2) and mitochondrial (ATPase6 and ATP5F1E) genes in juglone-treated COCs. Moreover, the development rates of day 4 total cleavage and 8–16 cell stage embryos, as well as day 8 blastocysts, were significantly reduced following exposure to juglone. Using immunofluorescence, the apoptotic marker caspase-9 was overexpressed in oocytes exposed to juglone (25.0 µM) compared to the untreated control. In conclusion, our study reports that exposing bovine oocytes to 12.5–50.0 µM of juglone can reduce their development through the direct induction of ROS accumulation, apoptosis, and mitochondrial dysfunction.     

Designing a sustainable stochastic electricity generation network with hybrid production strategies

This paper aims to design a sustainable stochastic electricity production network where fossil fuels-based, biomass-based, and co-firing-based production strategies are simultaneously considered in order to take advantage of all the three production strategies. A multi-objective stochastic mixed integer linear programming model is proposed to achieve economic feasibility, as well as environmental and social benefits under multiple uncertainties. The model is solved by using the improved augmented epsilon constraint method. A case study is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. Pareto optimal analysis is conducted to understand the trade-off between economic, environmental, and social aspects of sustainability.     

A low complexity RF based sensor array for lung disease detection using inkjet printing

This article presents the design of a low complexity, low power, small‐sized, wearable, inkjet printed, cheap, and noninvasive radio frequency (RF) based sensor array for pulmonary edema and emphysema condition monitoring inside the patient chest. The RF sensor consists of 38 electrodes and 37 ports. The size of the sensor is 4 cm × 89.4 cm to cover the chest of an average adult. The sensor is optimized to operate at 60 MHz. The scattering coefficients S_i1 are measured at each passive port and then the Least Squares (LS) method is used to form an equation for average dielectric constant estimation. The dielectric constant estimation method is used to detect the presence of water/air in human and porcine lungs. The average measured dielectric constants of normal human lung tissue, edema, and emphysema infected lungs are estimated with errors of 3.54%, 4.83%, and 4%, respectively. The porcine lung tissue‐mimicking phantom with proper electrical properties is formed using a water and salt (NaCl) mixture. To detect the different stages of pulmonary edema, 200 mL water balls are inserted in the inner layer of the chest model. The measured errors were 2.68%, 0.87%, 2.18%, and 2.8% for normal porcine lung, adding 6 water balls, adding 12 water balls, and adding 18 water balls, respectively.     

Improved algorithms for interference suppression in non-contiguous orthogonal frequency division multiplexing-based cognitive radio systems

Neural Computing and Applications - Non-contiguous orthogonal frequency division multiplexing is considered as an auspicious scheme for the cognitive radio (CR) systems. It has the abilities such...