Spyware Research Articles

Применение показателя Хёрста для исследования интенсивности транспортного потока

Abstract. The relevance of the work is due to the predictive properties of the Hurst indicator (index), which make it possible to identify the presence/absence of a trend in the observed stochastic process, which it is advisable to use when regulating and controlling traffic to reduce congestion, traffic accidents based on processing information about traffic flows coming from stationary video recording complexes of traffic violations. The object of investigation is a section of road with intensive one-way traffic, equipped with a software and hardware complex that allows measuring the characteristics of the flow of motor transport. The subject of the study is the daily intensity of the cars flow during the week, from Monday to Sunday. The purpose of this study is to identify the patterns of evolution of the indicators included in the Hurst index, based on the processing of time series of the intensity of motor transport traffic on the road network. As a theoretical and methodological approach, the rescaled range analysis, or the definition of Hurst exponent, is used. The approach developed by the authors allowed us to establish the regularities of the evolution of mean values, standard deviations, accumulated and rescaled range, Hearst exponents, which is the scientific novelty of the performed analysis. Data processing of video surveillance software and hardware complexes made it possible to construct time-dependent indicators of the intensity of car traffic on a road with a consistently high flow of vehicles connecting the central and remote areas of the city of Perm, at various intervals of averaging by days of the week. As a result of the study of time series, dependences on the time of average values, standard deviations, accumulated and rescaled ranges, Hearst exponents were obtained. It is shown that the found characteristics of the traffic flow intensity on a road with a high traffic intensity differ significantly from similar characteristics obtained earlier for roads with a relatively low intensity. The practical significance lies in the use of predictive properties of the Hurst indicator in analyzing the intensity of the flow of vehicles for predicting the movement of vehicles, controlling the operation of traffic lights, monitoring the operation of equipment, etc. The direction of further research is to obtain, process and determine rescaled ranges and Hurst exponents for time series of traffic flow intensity on other sections of the road network.

Data innovation in response to COVID-19 in Somalia: application of a syndromic case definition and rapid mortality assessment method

ABSTRACT Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of reliable public health data has been highlighted, as well as the multiple challenges in collecting it, especially in low income and conflict-affected countries. Somalia reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 on 16 March 2020 and has experienced fluctuating infection levels since then. Objectives To monitor the impact of COVID-19 on beneficiaries of a long-term cash transfer programme in Somalia and assess the utility of a syndromic score case definition and rapid mortality surveillance tool. Methods Five rounds of telephone interviews were conducted from June 2020 – April 2021 with 1,046–1,565 households participating in a cash transfer programme. The incidence of COVID-19 symptoms and all-cause mortality were recorded. Carers of the deceased were interviewed a second time using a rapid verbal autopsy questionnaire to determine symptoms preceding death. Data were recorded on mobile devices and analysed using COVID Rapid Mortality Surveillance (CRMS) software and R. Results The syndromic score case definition identified suspected symptomatic cases that were initially confined to urban areas but then spread widely throughout Somalia. During the first wave, the peak syndromic case rate (311 cases/million people/day) was 159 times higher than the average laboratory confirmed case rate reported by WHO for the same period. Suspected COVID-19 deaths peaked at 14.3 deaths/million people/day, several weeks after the syndromic case rate. Crude and under-five death rates did not cross the respective emergency humanitarian thresholds (1 and 2 deaths/10,000 people/day). Conclusion Use of telephone interviews to collect data on the evolution of COVID-19 outbreaks is a useful additional approach that can complement laboratory testing and mortality data from the health system. Further work to validate the syndromic score case definition and CRMS is justified.

200. The effect of a multidisciplinary spine clinic on treatment rates and lead times to care

<h3>BACKGROUND CONTEXT</h3> Back pain is a leading cause of years lived with disability and economic burden, exceeding more than $20 billion in health care costs not including indirect costs such as absence from work and caregiving. The multifactorial nature of back pain leads to treatment modalities administered by a variety of specialists which are often disjointed. Multiple studies have found that patients receiving delayed physical therapy for lower back pain had higher medical-related costs from increased health service utilization as well as a reduced improvement in pain severity compared to early management. Uncoordinated health care delivery can exacerbate the physical and economic toll of the chronic condition, thus improvements in interdisciplinary, shared decision-making may improve outcomes. <h3>PURPOSE</h3> To assess whether a multidisciplinary spine clinic (MSC), consisting of orthopedic surgery, neurosurgery, pain medicine, and physiatry, alters interventional and noninterventional planning and treatment compared to a traditional unidisciplinary spine clinic (USC) including only orthopedic surgery. <h3>STUDY DESIGN/SETTING</h3> We conducted a retrospective cohort study with patients initially presenting for spine care to orthopedic surgeons at both the outpatient unidisciplinary spine clinic and multidisciplinary spine clinic in the Bronx, NY. <h3>PATIENT SAMPLE</h3> We included adult patients of age 18 years or older initially presenting to orthopedic surgeons for spine care at our institution from July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. Eligible patients were identified through a health care surveillance software package (Clinical Looking Glass) and EMR review. <h3>OUTCOME MEASURES</h3> Time to treatment recommendation, time to treatment, and rates of treatment recommendations were assessed, including physical therapy, injections, and surgery. <h3>METHODS</h3> Treatment rates were compared between MSC and USC using Pearson's chi-squared test logistic regression. Time to treatment recommendation and time to treatment were compared using log-rank test and Cox proportional hazard regression. All analyses were repeated for the propensity score (PS) matched subsample. <h3>RESULTS</h3> This study included 1,764 patients, with 692 at MSC and 1,072 at USC. Patients in MSC were more likely to be recommended injection when compared to USC (8.5% vs 5.4%, p=0.01). When adjusted for confounders, the likelihood of injection recommendation remained greater in MSC than USC (odds ratio [OR]=2.22, 95% CI: (1.39, 3.53), p=0.001). MSC was also associated with a shorter time to receiving injection recommendation vs USC (median: 21 vs 32 days, log-rank: p<0.001; hazard ratio [HR]=1.90, 95% CI: (1.25, 2.90), p=0.003). MSC was associated with a higher likelihood of injection treatment (OR=2.27, 95% CI: (1.39, 3.73), p=0.001) and shorter lead time (HR=1.98, 95% CI: (1.27, 3.09), p=0.003). PS-matched analyses yielded similar conclusions. <h3>CONCLUSIONS</h3> Care delivered at a multidisciplinary spine clinic was associated with a higher likelihood of recommending injection and a shorter lead time to injection administration when compared to a traditional unidisciplinary spine surgery clinic. Multidisciplinary clinics may facilitate coordinated care amongst different specialties resulting in increased utilization of less invasive treatment modalities while also improving care efficiency. The multidisciplinary clinic model is an important advancement in care delivery and communication, which can be used as a powerful method of improving patient outcomes as treatment guidelines evolve. <h3>FDA DEVICE/DRUG STATUS</h3> This abstract does not discuss or include any applicable devices or drugs.

Comparative Use of Direct Oral Anticoagulants and Warfarin in the Treatment of Atrial Fibrillation and Venous Thromboembolism and Prophylaxis: A Retrospective Single Center Utilization Study

IntroductionThe recent approval of direct oral anticoagulants (apixaban, dabigatran and rivaroxaban) for the risk reduction of stroke for nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis and treatment opened up more choices of oral anticoagulants for the clinician to choose from, in addition to warfarin. This presents a unique opportunity to study practice trends and to examine preferred use, bleeding complications and length of stay (LOS) at a teaching hospital.MethodsThis was a retrospective single center analysis of the prescribing pattern of oral anticoagulation at Winthrop University Hospital from January 1, 2016 to June 30, 2016. Patients were identified by CareFusion Medmined Surveillance software. Inclusion criteria were > 18 years and initiated on apixaban, dabigatran, rivaroxaban, or warfarin. Exclusion criteria included oral anticoagulant change or discontinuation during hospitalization, pregnancy, and patients who were transitioned to hospice or expired during their hospital stay.The primary endpoint was to evaluate the patterns of use for oral anticoagulation. Secondary endpoints included determining the indication for anticoagulation, LOS from initiation of anticoagulation, and major bleeding events. Major bleeding events were defined by a drop in hemoglobin >2 grams/dL, or overt signs of a gastrointestinal bleed.ResultsA total of 1511 patients (apixaban 464, dabigatran 80, rivaroxaban 322 and warfarin 645) were included in this study. Patients treated with warfarin had significantly higher serum creatinine compared to all other groups. Patients treated with rivaroxaban had significantly lower serum creatinine compared to patients treated with apixaban (Table 1).There was an increasing trend towards initiating apixaban for thrombosis treatment and atrial fibrillation/flutter compared to DVT prophylaxis with warfarin (Table 3). Patients treated with rivaroxaban were more likely to have bleeding complications (151 patients, 46.9%) compared to apixaban (86, 18.5%), dabigatran (13, 16.3%) and warfarin (122, 18.9%) with p value <0.001. Patients treated with warfarin had a significantly longer LOS (5 days, 3- 8), compared to apixaban (3 days, 2 - 5), dabigatran (3 days, 2 - 6.5) and rivaroxaban (3 days, 2 - 6), p value < 0.001 (Table 2). Rivaroxaban showed decreased LOS by 20.6%, apixaban by 36.2% and dabigatran by 21.3% when compared to warfarin (Table 4). Patients >80 years had 16.18% increase in LOS compared to patients < 80 (Table 11). Post hoc analysis revealed that there were no differences in the odds of bleeding complications in the new anticoagulants compared to warfarin in the multivariable model after adjustment. (Table 15)ConclusionsDespite the availability of direct oral anticoagulants, warfarin is still widely used in the hospital setting (43%). This is especially true in patients with renal insufficiency where the use of rivaroxaban and dabigatran use is contraindicated. The most common indication for oral anticoagulation at our center was for atrial fibrillation. Rivaroxaban was associated with the highest incidence of bleeding. Treatment with apixaban, dabigatran and rivaroxaban demonstrated a significantly decreased length of stay compared to warfarin and may result in significant cost savings for the hospital. [Display omitted] DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Use of Retired Infection Preventionists to Supplement Infection Prevention Department Staffing

Background Infection Prevention (IP) programs are facing national shortages due to a workforce nearing retirement age and challenges recruiting and retaining incoming Infection Preventionists (IPs). This study assesses the use of retiring IPs to continue working remotely in an as needed (PRN) status to support centralized surveillance as part of a plan to address staffing shortages. Methods IP department staffing was assessed at a 1543 licensed bed hospital system in Texas comprising 12 acute care hospitals, including 2 critical access hospitals, and one acute psychiatric hospital. The staffing complement was 1 IP for every 171 licensed beds. This includes 8.0 full time IPs and one IP director. Requests for additional full-time IP resources were deferred due to COVID constraints. A staffing model using retired IPs was developed to increase on-site IP capacity during a period of increased IP program demand. Results Two IPs had been retained in a PRN status at the time of their retirement to support specific projects. Another IP retired in March 2020 and approval was received to maintain that IP in PRN status. The three PRN IPs agreed to perform remote surveillance and electronic COVID reporting, as required, beginning in March 2020. The IPs required no onboarding or training due to prior knowledge of surveillance methodology, electronic health records, and surveillance software systems. A PRN status was preferred over full or part-time status by both the IPs and the organization. Full-time IPs reported increased availability for unit-based activities. Conclusions Use of retiring IPs as remote centralized surveillance support is a viable model to increase the capacity of hospital-based IPs on a short or intermediate-term basis. In departments with lean staffing complements, reducing surveillance burden can also ease the training demand of new novice or becoming proficient IPs and support retention of new staff.

Effects of a 4-year intervention on hand hygiene compliance and incidence of healthcare associated infections: a longitudinal study

PurposeStudies have demonstrated improvements in hand hygiene (HH) compliance through interventions, noting the negative association of HH and healthcare associated infections (HAIs), but how to sustain long-term improvement is still unknown in the Chinese population. This study sought to determine the extent of change in HH compliance after multimodal HH interventions, and to evaluate the relationship between that change and HAI incidence.MethodsWe conducted a longitudinal study in a general teaching hospital in China from 2017 to 2020. Trained investigators observed HH practices based on the World Health Organization’s 5 moments for HH. We identified the incidence of HAIs using semi-automated constant surveillance software. We used the Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel test to assess the secular trend of HH compliance and HAIs. The Spearman correlation coefficient (rs) was used to evaluate the relationship between the incidence of HAIs and compliance with HH.ResultsThe study made 480,943 observations, where HH was occurring between 2017 and 2020. HH compliance increased from 68.90 to 91.76% during that period (Ptrend < 0.01), while the incidence of HAIs decreased from 1.10 to 0.91%. Compliance also increased for each moment type and for each healthcare worker (Ptrend < 0.01). Lower HH compliance was observed in before-patient contact and after contact with patient surroundings, and among interns and cleaners. We also observed a weak but statistically significant negative correlation between the monthly HH compliance and incidence of HAIs (rs = − 0.27; P = 0.037).ConclusionsThe multimodal HH implementation delivered sustained improvement in HH compliance, and this change was associated with a decline in the incidence of HAIs.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s15010-021-01626-5.

A Remote Surveillance Platform to Monitor General Care Ward Surgical Patients for Acute Physiologic Deterioration.

BACKGROUND:The traditional paradigm of hospital surgical ward care consists of episodic bedside visits by providers with periodic perusals of the patient’s electronic health record (EHR). Vital signs and laboratory results are directly pushed to the EHR but not to providers themselves. Results that require intervention may not be recognized for hours. Remote surveillance programs continuously monitor electronic data and provide automatic alerts that can be routed to multidisciplinary providers. Such programs have not been explored in surgical general care wards.METHODS:We performed a quality improvement observational study of otolaryngology and ophthalmology patients on a general care ward from October 2017 to March 2019 during nighttime hours (17:00–07:00). The study was initiated due to the loss of on-site anesthesiology resources that historically helped respond to acute physiologic deterioration events. We implemented a remote surveillance software program to continuously monitor patients for severe vital signs and laboratory abnormalities and automatically alert the ward team and a remote critical care anesthesiology team. The primary end point was the true positive rate, defined as the proportion of alerts that were associated with a downstream action that changed the care of the patient. This was determined using systematic chart review. The secondary end point, as a measure of alarm fatigue, was the average number of alerts per clinician shift.RESULTS:The software monitored 3926 hospital visits and analyzed 1,560,999 vitals signs and 16,635 laboratories. It generated 151 alerts, averaging 2.6 alerts per week. Of these, 143 (94.7%) were numerically accurate and 8 (5.3%) were inaccurate. Hypoxemia with oxygen saturation <88% was the most common etiology (92, 63%) followed by tachycardia >130 beats per minute (19, 13.3%). Among the accurate alerts, 133 (88.1%) were true positives with an associated clinical action. Actions included a change in management 113 (67.7%), new diagnostic test 26 (15.6%), change in discharge planning 20 (12.0%), and change in level of care to the intensive care unit (ICU) 8 (4.8%). As a measure of alarm fatigue, there were 0.4 alerts per clinician shift.CONCLUSIONS:In a surgical general care ward, a remote surveillance software program that continually and automatically monitors physiologic data streams from the EHR and alerts multidisciplinary providers for severe derangements provided highly actionable alarms at a rate that is unlikely to cause alarm fatigue. Such programs are feasible and could be used to change the paradigm of monitoring.

A market of black boxes: The political economy of Internet surveillance and censorship in Russia

ABSTRACT In recent years, the Russian Internet has developed according to strong centralizing and State-controlling tendencies, both in terms of legal instruments and technical infrastructure. This strategy implies a strong push to develop Russian-made technical solutions for censorship and traffic interception. Thus, a promising market has opened for Russian vendors of software and hardware solutions for traffic surveillance and filtering. Drawing from a mixed-methods approach and perspectives grounded primarily in Science and Technology Studies (STS), infrastructure studies and the political economy of information networks, this paper aims at exploring the flourishing sector of Russian industry of censorship and surveillance. We focus on two kinds of “black boxes” and examine their influence on the market of Internet Service Providers: surveillance systems known as SORM (System for Operative Investigative Activities), and traffic filtering solutions used to block access to websites that have been blacklisted by Roskomnadzor, the Russian federal watchdog for media and telecommunications. This research sheds light on the vivid debates around controversial technologies which Internet actors must adopt in order to avoid government fines, but which are expensive and complex to implement and raise a number of ethical and political concerns.

ALAM: Anonymous Lightweight Authentication Mechanism for SDN-Enabled Smart Homes

The smart connected devices are the first choice of cybercriminals for spreading spy wares and different security attacks. The current security standards and protocols for Internet of Things (IoT) have failed in providing security to these devices. In addition, IoT market giants are producing nonsecure smart products in order to grab the open market. Furthermore, low resources of IoT devices, limits the traditional host-based protection solutions like anti-virus, IDS, IPS, etc. To overcome the resource constraintness and security barriers of smart devices, a network-level security architecture based on lightweight cryptographic parameters is required. Software-defined networking (SDN) is a new networking paradigm to overcome the control, management, and security issues in traditional networking. The SDN controller handles all the computation and complexities at the network level, rather than smart devices. In this research, we first present a new privacy-preserving security architecture for SDN-based smart homes. Subsequently, an anonymous lightweight authentication mechanism (ALAM) is designed based on the proposed security architecture core foundations. Furthermore, the security characteristics of the proposed protocol are formally analyzed using Burrows-Abadi-Needham (BAN) logic and ProVerif, followed by informal security analysis. Finally, performance evaluation and comparative analysis of the scheme is carried out.

Teletrabajo y capitalismo de vigilancia

El confinamiento generado por la pandemia Covid-19 en marzo de 2020, aceleró el cambio tecnológico, llevando a los gobiernos y a las empresas a definir medidas de distinto tipo, no solo para atender la emergencia sanitaria, sino para continuar con sus actividades durante el aislamiento. Entre las modificaciones organizativas de mayor trascendencia se encuentra el teletrabajo o trabajo en casa, vanagloriado por sus bondades tanto en la autonomía del trabajador, la flexibilidad de horarios como en un mayor equilibrio entre la vida laboral y la vida familiar. El objetivo de este artículo es analizar el teletrabajo y sus principales características en el marco de un capitalismo de vigilancia que implementa mecanismos de control digital exacerbando la vigilancia y el monitoreo de las actividades de los trabajadores. Se revisa a Shoshana Zuboff (2019a, 2019b), Byung Chul Han (2014; 2013) y Michael Foucault (2002) como soportes teóricos para comprender la versión del Capitalismo Digital que transformó los diversos espacios de relacionamiento fundamentalmente la relación capital/trabajo que acrecentó la individualización del trabajo, así como la incorporación de nuevos métodos de control y vigilancia. La metodología que se utiliza es cualitativa con base en la revisión documental y de análisis reflexivo en el que la inmersión del investigador es sensible en la interpretación del mundo social. Con base en el análisis se concluye que las empresas y los empleados digitales han modificado la manera en que trabajadores y empresas se relacionan, transformado el mundo laboral; y que en un escenario de virus y crisis civilizatoria, el ordenamiento de los teletrabajadores se agudiza con los software de monitoreo como métodos de control cada vez más eficaces y sutiles.

An evaluation of COVID-19 surveillance system in New Juaben South Municipality of Ghana: a cross-sectional study.

Introductionamong others, the objectives of Ghana’s COVID-19 surveillance system are to rapidly detect, test, isolate and manage cases, to monitor trends in COVID-19 deaths and to guide the implementation and adjustment of targeted control measures. We therefore aimed to examine the operations of the COVID-19 surveillance system in New Juaben South Municipality, describe its attributes and explore whether its objectives were being met.Methodswe utilized a mixed method descriptive study design to evaluate the COVID-19 surveillance system in the New Juaben South Municipality of the Eastern Region of Ghana. Desk review and key informant interviews were carried out from 1st February to 31st March 2021 to measure nine surveillance system attributes as an approximation of its performance using the CDC’s 2013 updated surveillance system guidelines.Resultswhile the COVID-19 surveillance system in New Juaben South (NJS) was highly representative of its population, it was rated ‘moderate’ for its stability, flexibility, sensitivity and acceptability. The system was however characterized by a low performance on data quality, simplicity, timeliness and predictive value positive. The sensitivity and predictive value positive (PVP) of the system were 55.6% and 31.3% respectfully.Conclusionwhile the surveillance system is only partially meeting its objectives, it is useful in the COVID-19 response in New Juaben South Municipality. System performance could improve with stigma reduction especially among health care workers, timely testing and simplification of surveillance forms and software.

Spatial and space-time clusters of brain tumor and CNS incidence and mortality in the contiguous USA: 2000–2014

Abstract Objective Investigate geographical variations in brain/central nervous system (CNS) cancer incidence and mortality, and test associations between covariates and brain/CNS cancer for the years 2000–2014 in the contiguous USA. Methods The disease surveillance software (SaTScanTM) was used to measure observable geographical variation in brain/CNS cancer incidence and mortality rates and identify and test spatial and space-time clusters with elevated relative risk. The analysis was done with age-adjusted brain/CNS cancer mortality and incidence counts data, including ICD codes C710–C719, C379, C740–C749, and C750–C759. The cancer data were then adjusted for covariates or risk factors, such as obesity, smoking, poverty, race, arsenic, air pollution, land pollution, water pollution, gender, health insurance, diabetes, glyphosate, superfund site density, and proximity to nuclear power plants. Results Several significant spatial clusters of brain/CNS cancer exist for incidence in the Northeast and the Northwest, while spatial mortality clusters cover additional parts of the US. There also exist several significant space-time clusters for incidence and mortality. Conclusions There exist significant and non-random brain/CNS cancer incidence and mortality clusters after adjusting for multiple covariates or risk factors. The thirteen covariates studied can assist in a better understanding of possible associations in geographical areas where the incidence or mortality rates are higher than expected. There is a significant association between several of the studied risk factors and the incidence rates of brain/CNS cancers, and the mortality rates. These results have the potential to provide a scientific framework that is based on surveillance, allowing health agencies to intervene to try to reduce the elevated rates of brain/CNS cancer in some parts of the contiguous US.

10. The Impact of the Verigene® Gram-positive Blood Culture Panel on the Management of Vancomycin Resistant enterococci Bloodstream Infections in a Multi-site Cohort Study

BackgroundVancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) bloodstream infections (BSIs) are associated with high morbidity and mortality. PCR-based rapid diagnostic tests provide prompt identification of infectious etiologies within hours. This study evaluated the impact of the Verigene® Gram-positive blood culture (GP-BC) panel on the outcomes on patients with VRE BSIs.MethodsA multi-center pre- and post-implementation retrospective cohort study was conducted at four large HCA Healthcare facilities. The implementation of Verigene® GP-BC and VigiLanz® surveillance software with real-time notifications to clinical pharmacists occurred in 2015. Adults > 18 years with VRE BSIs were evaluated over two time periods; pre-implementation (Pre; May 2011 - May 2013) and post-implementation (Post; May 2015 - May 2017). Patients were excluded if not admitted or were discharged/deceased before blood culture results. The primary outcome of this study was to compare time to optimal therapy (TOT). Secondary outcomes included hospital mortality, length of stay (LOS), and TOT comparing clinical pharmacy staffing models. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify independent predictors. Adjusted ORs (aOR) and their 95% CIs were reported.ResultsA total of 104 patients with VRE BSIs were included in the study; 50 and 54 in the pre- and post-implementation periods, respectively. There were no differences in baseline characteristics between the groups. TOT was significantly shorter in the post vs. pre group (29 hrs ± 36 vs. 67 hrs ± 124, p=0.03). There was significantly lower hospital mortality when comparing the pre- and post-implementation periods (32% vs. 11%, p< 0.01). After adjusting for age, sex, severity of illness, treatment/dose, the post implementation period was independently associated with reduced hospital mortality (aOR 0.21, CI 0.61–0.73, p=0.01). There were no significant differences in LOS or clinical pharmacy staffing models on TOT.Baseline Characteristics Primary and secondary outcomes data ConclusionThe implementation of the Verigene® BC-GP with VigiLanz® substantially decreased TOT for VRE BSIs and was associated with reduced hospital mortality. This study highlights the positive impact of RDTs on shorter TOT and associated clinical outcomes.Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures

The Spatial Analysis of the Malicious Uniform Resource Locators (URLs): 2016 Dataset Case Study

In this study, we aimed to identify spatial clusters of countries with high rates of cyber attacks directed at other countries. The cyber attack dataset was obtained from Canadian Institute for Cybersecurity, with over 110,000 Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), which were classified into one of 5 categories: benign, phishing, malware, spam, or defacement. The disease surveillance software SaTScanTM was used to perform a spatial analysis of the country of origin for each cyber attack. It allowed the identification of spatial and space-time clusters of locations with unusually high counts or rates of cyber attacks. Number of internet users per country obtained from the 2016 CIA World Factbook was used as the population baseline for computing rates and Poisson analysis in SaTScanTM. The clusters were tested for significance with a Monte Carlo study within SaTScanTM, where any cluster with p &lt; 0.05 was designated as a significant cyber attack cluster. Results using the rate of the different types of malicious URL cyber attacks are presented in this paper. This novel approach of studying cyber attacks from a spatial perspective provides an invaluable relative risk assessment for each type of cyber attack that originated from a particular country.

Role of Spy-ware Analysis in the Arena of Cybersecurity

This research aims to investigate the seriousness of the Cybersecurity for spyware including various types of spyware and the ways to enhance the security for reducing the spyware threats.

#IStayhome and Guarantee Seismic Surveillance and Tsunami Warning during the COVID-19 Emergency in Italy

Abstract The continuity of monitoring operations at national earthquake centers during crisis is an important challenge. In 2020, because of the COronaVIrus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) health emergency, monitoring centers all over the world faced new, unexpected problems. In Italy, the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) has the duty to perform earthquake and volcano monitoring, seismic surveillance and tsunami alerting, and maintaining effective communication with the National Civil Protection agency and the public. During the lockdown, that started on 9 March 2020, INGV set up a series of sanitary and organizational measures and improved the technological infrastructures in the control room in Rome for remote use of software for seismic network monitoring, seismic surveillance, and tsunami alerting. Our main goal was to protect the researchers and technicians on duty as much as possible and develop the remote use of software tools necessary to perform service activities when needed to limit the presence in the control room to the essential. In the first month of lockdown, we implemented the organizational controls, the health aids, and the tools for remote surveillance and alerting, and gave online training courses for about 100 shift workers. At the end of March 2020, most of the technicians, researchers, and tsunami experts on duty were able to access the new monitoring tools from home. During these months, the shifts in the control room were done in person and we performed remote seismic surveillance and tsunami alerting only during the weekly disinfections of the control room and at the beginning of each week. The tools developed during the COVID health emergency are going to be useful in the future especially in the case of other emergencies including the occurrence of a strong earthquake.

Epidemiologic profile of nosocomial infections among paediatric patients in a referral hospital in Hamadan, west of Iran

Healthcare-associated infections (HC-AI) are major health problem with high financial impact. HC-AIs are one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in paediatric hospitals. This study was performed to determine the epidemiology of HC-AIs in children admitted to medical wards of Besat Hospital in Hamadan, west of Iran. Data on cases of HC-AIs in paediatrics were collected from March 2017 to February 2018 in Besat Hospital. The medical records of eligible cases were extracted from Iranian Nosocomial Infections Surveillance Software. During the study period, a total of 355 HC-AIs in children were detected, 213 (60%) in boys and 214 (60.3%) in the 0–4-year age group. Of these, bloodstream infection was the most frequent infection in both age groups (37.38% in 0–4 years and 34.75% in 5–14 years). Escherichia coli was the common detected microorganism in girls (25.84% in those aged 0–4 years and 24.53% in 5–14 years), whereas Staphylococcus was more prevalent in boys (33.6% in those aged 0–4 years and 29.55% in 5–14 years). HC-AIs were more prevalent in burn, haematology and intensive care unit wards. In Besat Hospital, bloodstream infection and urinary tract infection were the most frequent infections among paediatric patients, and E. coli and Staphylococcus were the commonest detected microorganism in girls and boys respectively. Preventive activities should be targeted to reduce the rate of HC-AIs in wards associated with more contamination.

A spatio-temporal cluster analysis of structurally deficient bridges in the contiguous USA

The disease surveillance software SaTScan™ is used to identify spatial and space-time clusters of counties with unusually high counts or rates of SD bridges. Initially, a descriptive data analysis of over 600,000 bridges, on which data were available for 2017, identified the kind of material and design of all bridges. This was followed by analyzing data on SD bridges for the 3108 counties. The clusters were tested for significance with Monte Carlo study to designate significant SD clusters. While the purely spatial analysis was based on data for 2017, the space-time analysis used data for the years 2006–2017. A Negative Binomial regression model was used in addition to a cluster analysis. Regression analysis was performed to adjust SD counts for several covariates or risk factors. This study identified counties with high rates of SD bridges as rural counties with old bridges where there is cold weather and low daily traffic.

It Takes a Team: NHSN Validation with Internal Audit Services

<h3>Background</h3> The objective of this project was to conduct the first retrospective validation of CAUTI and CLABSI surveillance for our 8 care site healthcare system. The system infection prevention (SIP) team solicited the support of Internal Audit Services (IAS) to aid in developing the methodology and conducting the validation audit. <h3>Methods</h3> IAS conducted a validation audit on a 5% judgmentally selected sample of cases for each of the eight care sites from 2018 positive urine and blood cultures where an applicable device as also present. The IAS reviewer excluded potential cases where timelines suggested the patient could not meet NHSN surveillance definitions based on culture date, device placement and admission date. Potential cases were then reviewed by IAS and SIP to determine if local infection prevention teams accurately applied NHSN surveillance definitions. <h3>Results</h3> A total of 59 potential CAUTI cases and 34 potential CLABSI cases were reviewed. After reviewing the cases it was determined that 9 CAUTI and 3 CLABSI healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) were originally misidentified by local infection preventionists or were never flagged by our surveillance software for review. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Overall, there was evidence of inconsistent application of NHSN surveillance definitions for CAUTI and CLABSI. Beyond the CAUTI/CLABSI HAIs found there were several errors in applying NHSN surveillance definitions that resulted in other HAIs being identified. There were also two instances where HAIs identified in the validation audit were not originally flagged for review by our surveillance software. Partnering with IAS allowed the SIP team to conduct the first retrospective surveillance audit for our system and uncovered the need for continuing education for infection preventionists on the use of NHSN surveillance definitions and identified gaps within our current surveillance software. This audit also established our need to create an ongoing validation process that will allow for more frequent and timely audits.

Mapping Interfacial Regimes of Control: A Qualitative Analysis of America’s Post-9/11 Security Technology Infrastructure

Recent technological advancements in surveillance and data analysis software have drastically transformed how the United States manages its immigration and national security systems. In particular, an increased emphasis on information sharing and predictive threat modeling following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has prompted agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security to acquire powerful data analysis software from private sector vendors, including those in Silicon Valley. However, the impacts of these private sector technologies, especially in the context of privacy rights and civil liberties, are not yet fully understood. This article interrogates those potential impacts, particularly on the lives of immigrants, by analyzing the relational database system Investigative Case Management (ICM), which is used extensively by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to track, manage, and enforce federal immigration policy. As a theoretical framework, the we use Benjamin Bratton’s concept of the “interfacial regime,” or the layered assemblages of interfaces that exist in modern networked ICT infrastructures. By conducting a document analysis, we attempt to visually situate ICM within the federal government’s larger interfacial regime that is composed by various intertwined databases both within and outside the government’s realm of management. Furthermore, we question and critique the role ICM plays in surveilling and governing the lives of immigrants and citizens alike.