Monitoring Data Integrity in Big Data Analytics Services

Enabled by advances in Cloud technologies, Big Data Analytics Services (BDAS) can improve many processes and identify extra information from previously untapped data sources. As our experience with BDAS and its benefits grows and technology for obtaining even more data improves, BDAS becomes ever more important for many different domains and for our daily lives. Most efforts in improving BDAS technologies have focused on scaling and efficiency issues. However, an equally important property is that of security, especially as we increasingly use public Cloud infrastructures instead of private ones. In this paper we present our approach for strengthening BDAS security by modifying the popular Spark infrastructure so as to monitor at run-time the integrity of data manipulated. In this way, we can ensure that the results obtained by the complex and resource-intensive computations performed on the Cloud are based on correct data and not data that have been tampered with or modified through faults in one of the many and complex subsystems of the overall system

Colorization of the Tomato Fruit due to Infestation with Helicoverpa Armigera Larvae

Helicoverpa armigera (Hub.) is one of the most serious and highly polyphagous species causing damage in vegetative and reproductive plant stages. The present experiment was performed on a tomato field in Mirtia, Ilia, Greece. The color of the fruits transformed from green to yellow within 7 days post infestation by H. armigera larvae and converted to black within 14 days. This work indicates conversion color linked to infestation from H. armigera larvae and in the degradation rate of tomato fruit Keywords: Helicoverpa armigera, tomato cultivation, coloriztion

The state of European nursing research : dead, alive, or chronically diseased? a systematic literature review

Background: Reviews of nursing research have suggested that most is descriptive; with no more than 15% providing strong evidence for practice. No studies have examined this from the perspective of nursing research conducted in Europe. Objective: The aim of this study was to review reports of European clinical nursing research in the top 20 nursing journals in 2010 to establish a baseline of nursing research activity in the year immediately prior to the launch of a European Science Foundation network to increase the proportion of intervention research in Europe. Methods: We identified eligible reports that were then data-extracted by two independent reviewers. Disagreements were resolved through pair discussion and independent arbitration. We appraised and synthesized topics, methods, and the extent to which studies were programmatic. We synthesized data as proportions of study reports meeting our a priori categorization criteria. Results: We identified 1995 published reports and included 223 from 21 European countries, of which 193 (86.6%) reported studies of primary research only, 30 (13.5%) secondary research, and three (1.4%) a mix of primary and secondary. Methodological description was often poor, misleading, or even absent. One hundred (44.8%) articles reported observational studies, 87 (39.0%) qualitative studies. We found 26 (11.7%) articles reporting experimental studies, 10 (4.5%) of which were randomized controlled trials. We found 29 (13.0%) reports located within a larger program of research. Seventy-six (34.1%) articles reported studies of nursing interventions. Linking Evidence to Action: European research in nursing reported in the leading nursing journals remains descriptive and poorly described. Only a third of research reports concerned nursing interventions, and a tiny proportion were part of a programmatic endeavor. Researchers in nursing must become better educated and skilled in developing, testing, evaluating, and reporting complex nursing interventions. Editors of nursing journals should insist on systematic reporting of research designs and methods in published articles

Study on the combined action of the entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki and the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora

Στην παρούσα εργασία μελετήθηκε η συνδυασμένη δράση του εντομοπαθογόνου βακτηρίου Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki (B.t.k.) και του εντομοπαθογόνου νηματώδη Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Nematoda: Rhabditida) επί προνυμφών του λεπιδοπτέρου Ephestia kuehniella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) σε σπόρους σίτου. Στις δοκιμές χρησιμοποιήθηκαν ομάδες 10 προνυμφών 4ης προνυμφικής ηλικίας, τοποθετημένες σε τρυβλία Petri που περιείχαν 10g αποστειρωμένων σπόρων σίτου, τα οποία είχαν προηγουμένως ψεκαστεί με υδατικό διάλυμα βακίλου στις συγκεντρώσεις 500ppm, 1000ppm και 3000ppm. Εν συνεχεία, οι προνύμφες λούζονταν με 1ml υδατικού διαλύματος νηματωδών (1000IJs/ml), τα τρυβλία κλείνονταν καλά με υδατοστεγή ταινία και τοποθετούνταν σε θάλαμο ελεγχόμενων συνθηκών (25οC, 80% Σ.Υ.). Η αλληλεπίδραση των εντομοπαθογόνων παραγόντων υπολογίστηκε με την βοήθεια του διωνύμου Robertson και Preisler και η αποτελεσματικότητα κάθε παθογόνου παράγοντα με τον τύπο του Abbott μετά το πέρας του πειράματος. Από τα αποτελέσματα διαπιστώθηκε ότι η χρήση και των δύο παθογόνων παραγόντων προκάλεσε υψηλή θνησιμότητα στις προνύμφες του εντόμου E. kuehniella. Οι θνησιμότητες που προέκυψαν μετά από 28 ημέρες ήταν για τον B.t.k. 500ppm: 20%, για τον B.t.k 1500ppm: 25%, για τον B.t.k 3000ppm: 40%, για τον νηματώδη 1000IJs/ml: 27% και για τους συνδυαστικούς χειρισμούς B.t.k 500ppm + νηματώδη 1000IJs/ml: 85%, για το B.t.k 1500ppm + νηματώδη 1000IJs/ml: 40%, για το B.t.k 3000ppm + νηματώδη 1000IJs/ml: 50%, ενώ για τους μάρτυρες (χειρισμός με H20): 7%. Αξιοσημείωτη είναι τόσο η υψηλή δραστικότητα του συνδυασμού.The interaction between the entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. Kurstaki and the entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis bacteriophora (Heterorhabditidae) was examined against larvae of Ephestia kuehniella (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days post treatment, in laboratory conditions. Three different combinations of the aforementioned pathogens were tested on 4th instar larvae, namely 500ppm B. thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki (B.t.k.) and H. bacteriophora infective Juveniles (1000IJs/ml), 1500ppm B.t.k. and H. bacteriophora (1000IJs/ml) and 3000ppm B.t.k. and H. bacteriophora (1000IJs/ml). At 7, 14 and 21 days, the interaction between the pathogens was additive in two of the treatments and synergistic in one, whereas at 28 days, it was negative in two of the treatments and synergistic in one. Overall, the application of the lowest dose of B.t.k. (500ppm) in combination with H. bacteriophora (1000IJs/ml), turned out to be highly effective. The interaction between B. thuringiensis and H. bacteriophora is to be further examined

Literary ethnography of evidence-based healthcare : accessing the emotions of rational-technical discourse

In this article I revisit the idea of literary ethnography (proposed by Van de Poel-Knottnerus and Knottnerus, 1994) as a method for investigating social phenomena constituted principally through literature. I report the use of this method to investigate the topic of evidence-based healthcare, EBHC. EBHC is a field of discourse much built upon a dichotomy between rationality and emotionality. In this context literary ethnography, a particular type of discourse analysis, is valuable for allowing researchers to bring the emotional currents of technical-rational discourse into conscious awareness. In such discourses, emotions are not written out by name. The researcher must discern emotional phenomena by experiencing the discourse, and (try to) bring them into intelligible expression. As I clarify this process I develop Van de Poel-Knottnerus and Knottnerus’ method theoretically, look to destabilise the rationalityemotionality dichotomy foundational to discourse around EBHC, and so transgress its conventional lines of thought.PostprintPeer reviewe

Runtime monitoring of security SLAs for big data pipelines: design implementation and evaluation of a framework for monitoring security SLAs in big data pipelines with the assistance of run-time code instrumentation

The Big Data processing ecosystem has been constantly growing in recent years. This has been significantly reinforced by the advent of cloud computing platforms where Big Data analytics can be offered on an as-a-service basis. The ease with which users can leverage the capabilities of Big Data processing frameworks in the cloud has made them a popular solution with low up-front expenditure and a flexible deployment model. In spite of their cost benefits and flexibility of use, Big Data services in cloud platforms present us with an array of new challenges compared to traditional web services especially in the domain of data security and privacy. Their distributed nature makes them more dynamic with regards to deployment and execution but at the same time it exacerbates challenges related to data and operation security since both data and operations are shared across multiple nodes. Inevitably, distributing data and operations on multiple nodes leads to an increase in the attack surface. Given the need for systems that react fast and produce results as quickly as possible, more emphasis has been placed on performance and less so on security. Having said that, as the use of cloud computing is becoming more widespread, concerns with regards to non-functional properties such as data security are becoming more pronounced for the users. Runtime security monitoring is a mechanism that can be employed to alleviate some of the issues that emerge with respect to the activity of security monitoring for Big Data analytics services that are outsourced in the cloud. In this thesis we make the case for a monitoring framework where monitoring events are collected and evaluated against a set of monitoring rules that describe monitorable security properties of the system. The framework that we put forward can be used to assess the level of security of Big Data analytics pipelines at runtime. For our proof of concept we examine three security properties namely the service response time, the location of execution of service operations and the integrity of the intermediate data produced during the service execution

A Sense of Control and Wellbeing in Older People Living with Frailty: A Scoping Review

A sense of control is important for supporting older people living with frailty to develop adaptive functioning to optimize wellbeing. This scoping review examined the literature on the sense of control and wellbeing in older people living with frailty within their everyday life and care service use. Nine databases were searched using the timeframe 2000 to 2021 to identify key ideas regarding control and wellbeing in older people with frailty. The review highlighted three major themes: a) Control as conveyed in bodily expressions and daily activities, b) Sense of control and influence of place of residence, and c) Control within health and social care relationships. Maintaining a sense of control is not only an internal feeling but is impacted by physical and social environments. Greater focus is needed on the nature of relationships between older people living with frailty and those who work alongside them, which support control and wellbein