Unwanted Intrusions Research Articles

Evaluating the efficiency of baited pitfall traps covered with mesh panels for sampling dung beetles

Baited pitfall traps represent a widely utilized method for dung beetle sampling. The effectiveness of this approach can be influenced by various factors, such as the type of bait used, trap size, and modifications to trap components. An important challenge during trapping is the inadvertent capture of non-target animals (such as: frogs, lizards, snakes, small rodents, and spiders), a concern that becomes more pronounced if endangered species are involved. To address these issues, incorporating a mesh panel into pitfall traps can help prevent unwanted intrusions. In this study, we assess the efficiency of baited pitfall traps covered with 2 cm mesh panels (BPTMP) for sampling dung beetles in tropical karst ecosystems within the Huu Lien Nature Reserve (northern Vietnam), comparing them with typical baited pitfall traps (BPT). The result revealed no significant differences in the species composition of dung beetles between the two trap types. Although the abundance of large-bodied dung beetles was significantly lower in BPTMPs compared to trap BPTs, the overall abundance and diversity of dung beetles did not significantly differ between the two trap types. Therefore, we strongly recommend adopting this sampling technique in studying on the diversity of dung beetles.

A Federated Learning-Based Approach for Improving Intrusion Detection in Industrial Internet of Things Networks

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a network of electrical devices that are connected to the Internet wirelessly. This group of devices generates a large amount of data with information about users, which makes the whole system sensitive and prone to malicious attacks eventually. The rapidly growing IoT-connected devices under a centralized ML system could threaten data privacy. The popular centralized machine learning (ML)-assisted approaches are difficult to apply due to their requirement of enormous amounts of data in a central entity. Owing to the growing distribution of data over numerous networks of connected devices, decentralized ML solutions are needed. In this paper, we propose a Federated Learning (FL) method for detecting unwanted intrusions to guarantee the protection of IoT networks. This method ensures privacy and security by federated training of local IoT device data. Local IoT clients share only parameter updates with a central global server, which aggregates them and distributes an improved detection algorithm. After each round of FL training, each of the IoT clients receives an updated model from the global server and trains their local dataset, where IoT devices can keep their own privacy intact while optimizing the overall model. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed method, we conducted exhaustive experiments on a new dataset named Edge-IIoTset. The performance evaluation demonstrates the reliability and effectiveness of the proposed intrusion detection model by achieving an accuracy (92.49%) close to that offered by the conventional centralized ML models’ accuracy (93.92%) using the FL method.

Addressing the cybersecurity vulnerabilities of advanced nanogrids: A practical framework

The rapid deployment of advanced nanogrids which has enabled utility customers to become energy suppliers, the so-called prosumers with power generation capabilities based on distributed energy resources, has raised issues concerning cybersecurity. The use of the internet of things (IoT) as an enabling technology, along with the bidirectional power flow which demands a bidirectional flow of information between the prosumers and the utility, have paved the way to smarter and more efficient nanogrids, hence the name “advanced nanogrid”. Despite the many advantages of this approach, it makes nanogrids subject to cyber-attacks, providing cybercriminals with the possibility of exploiting nanogrid vulnerabilities as never before. This clearly has an economic and physical impact on the nanogrid operation. In this context, this paper aims to develop a framework to identify assets, assess threats, quantify risks and implement protection mechanisms in future nanogrid developments. The effectiveness of the framework is demonstrated through a cybersecurity analysis of an experimental testbed of an advanced nanogrid based on a photovoltaic (PV) system and controllable loads. The nanogrid includes a blockchain-based energy purchase/sale system, as well as a weather station that sends climatic measurements through a particular communication protocol. This data is used to provide forecasts for making generation/consumption offers. Finally, a cost-benefit analysis has been carried out in which a systematic assessment of the protection mechanisms is proposed, so that a trade-off between the costs of implementing security mechanisms and the losses resulting from unwanted intrusions, can be achieved.

Altered predictive control during memory suppression in PTSD.

Aberrant predictions of future threat lead to maladaptive avoidance in individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). How this disruption in prediction influences the control of memory states orchestrated by the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is unknown. We combined computational modeling and brain connectivity analyses to reveal how individuals exposed and nonexposed to the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks formed and controlled beliefs about future intrusive re-experiencing implemented in the laboratory during a memory suppression task. Exposed individuals with PTSD used beliefs excessively to control hippocampal activity during the task. When this predictive control failed, the prediction-error associated with unwanted intrusions was poorly downregulated by reactive mechanisms. This imbalance was linked to higher severity of avoidance symptoms, but not to general disturbances such as anxiety or negative affect. Conversely, trauma-exposed participants without PTSD and nonexposed individuals were able to optimally balance predictive and reactive control during the memory suppression task. These findings highlight a potential pathological mechanism occurring in individuals with PTSD rooted in the relationship between the brain’s predictive and control mechanisms.

An IR-UWB Multi-Sensor Approach for Collision Avoidance in Indoor Environments

This article aims to propose new techniques to detect and distinguish humans from moving machines in indoor environments. Although many research efforts have been already dedicated to humans’ indoor detection, most of the work has been focused on counting people and crowd measurement for consumer business applications. Our objective is to develop a reliable approach for humans’ indoor detection and localization aiming at avoiding collisions inside a mixed Industry 4.0 manned and unmanned environment to enhance personal and equipment safety and to prevent unwanted intrusions. An original aspect of our research is that we have worked on the real-time estimation of humans’ and moving machines’ positions while addressing the problems of multipath components and noise clutter detection. A multipulse constant false alarm rate detection algorithm is also proposed for removing the misdetections due to heavy clutter components in the indoor environment. Four impulse radio ultrawideband transceivers are placed in a specific geometry and data fusion is performed to reduce the influence of multipath and noise on the detection process. A convolutional neural network (CNN) is then used to extract the patterns corresponding to a moving machine and humans and classify them accordingly. Experiments have been carried out in two different indoor environments to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithms.

Prosocial behaviour reduces unwanted intrusions of experimental traumatic memories

Following trauma exposure, people often experience involuntary intrusions of traumatic memories, i.e., flashbacks. How to reduce such unwanted intrusions attracts attention from basic and translational memory research, with a goal to safeguard mental well-being and promote resilience. Here, based on prosocial behaviour's well-documented psychological benefits, we hypothesized that post-trauma prosocial behaviour would causally reduce trauma-related symptoms, including involuntary intrusions. To test this novel hypothesis, we conducted two pre-registered lab studies (N = 180) using trauma films to induce lab-analogue trauma exposure. Following trauma exposure, participants were randomly assigned to prosocial or non-prosocial conditions. Specifically, in the prosocial condition, participants donated money to their preferred charities. In the non-prosocial conditions, participants completed either a neutral, number judgement task (Experiment 1) or a proself task (Experiment 2). Participants completed a 1-week intrusion diary and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), to assess frequencies of traumatic intrusions and post-trauma stress disorder symptoms, respectively. Results showed that compared to non-prosocial behaviour, prosocial engagement (i.e. performing charitable donations) reduced involuntary traumatic intrusions in both lab settings and in their daily life as evidenced by 1-week intrusion diaries. While exploratory mediation analyses suggested that intrusion reduction was partly driven by enhanced positive affect afforded by prosocial behaviour, future studies are required to illuminate the underlying mechanisms. To the extent that post-trauma prosociality alleviated trauma-related symptoms, future research is warranted to investigate how various forms of prosocial behaviour in naturalistic setting could promote resilience following trauma exposure.

Through the Open Window: How Does the Brain Talk to the Body?

The brain controls the activities of the body, including food digestion, drinking, sleep cycles, temperature, blood pressure, and more. These functions are essential to keep the body in homeostasis, which is the state of being steady and balanced. To control homeostasis, the brain talks to the body with the help of chemical messengers called hormones. Hormones travel through the blood stream from the brain to the body and back. However, in order to protect the delicate brain cells from unwanted intrusions, the blood vessels of the brain are tightly sealed, preventing the passage of most molecules. How, then, does the brain bypass this barrier to communicate with the body? The answer is that, in certain parts of the brain, the blood vessels contain special window-like openings that allow passage of hormones. Scientists are investigating why and how some blood vessels open their windows while others remain sealed.

Data Breaches and Potemkin Privacy: How FTC Regulation Can Restore Authority and Agency to Online Users and Destroy the Data Oligarchy

Data Breaches and Potemkin Privacy: How FTC Regulation Can Restore Authority and Agency to Online Users and Destroy the Data Oligarchy

It\u2019s the thought that counts: Trait self-control is positively associated with well-being and coping via thought control ability

In the present study, we reason that the ability to keep unwanted thoughts and intrusions at bay – thought control ability – might explain part of the relationship between trait self-control and positive psychological outcomes. We predict that the ability to keep unwanted thoughts at bay causes people high in trait self-control to report higher subjective well-being (Study 1), and makes them to be more likely to cope with stressful life events in an adaptive rather than maladaptive manner (Study 2). Two cross-sectional studies among healthy individuals were conducted (Study 1 n = 284; 70% female; Mage = 22.15 years; Study 2 n = 210, 65.7% female, Mage = 28.07) in which trait self-control, thought control ability, subjective well-being (study 1), and coping styles (study 2) were measured. Additionally, we investigated the mediating role of thought control ability and the conditional effect of gender on this mediation. The results of Study 1 indicate that trait self-control is positively related to subjective well-being. Moreover, thought control ability fully mediated the relationship between trait self-control and subjective well-being, and this effect was particularly strong for women. In Study 2, trait self-control was positively associated with adaptive forms of coping, but negatively with maladaptive coping. Moreover, thought control ability partially mediated the relationship between trait self-control and both types of coping, with stronger results for women than for men. These results suggest that trait self-control affects positive life outcomes in part through an ability to keep unwanted thoughts at bay, thereby facilitating a focus on goal pursuit.

LONGING FOR BELONGING BEYOND BELONGINGS: THE ECONOMICS OF SONG OF SONGS

The intimate and “monogamous” eroticism in the Song of Songs can be considered as a critique of economic materialism where multiple women may be “bought” in some sense or another. It is the female lover, however, who regards the lovers as belonging to each other and visualises her beloved’s body as made up of precious metals and gemstones which she then owns. It therefore appears that this protest is partially self-subversive in that it equates the celebrated body with the very currency it sets out to denounce. Added to that is the body with its boundaries imaged as a building blocking out unwanted intrusions and so as expression of private property. This conflict of class psychologies might therefore contain an element of envy and the question can be asked which party is actually compensating by overinvestment for unmet needs.

Data Mining Usage in Corporate Information Security: Intrusion Detection Applications

Abstract Background: The globalization era has brought with it the development of high technology, and therefore new methods of preserving and storing data. New data storing techniques ensure data are stored for longer periods of time, more efficiently and with a higher quality, but also with a higher data abuse risk. Objective: The goal of the paper is to provide a review of the data mining applications for the purpose of corporate information security, and intrusion detection in particular. Methods/approach: The review was conducted using the systematic analysis of the previously published papers on the usage of data mining in the field of corporate information security. Results: This paper demonstrates that the use of data mining applications is extremely useful and has a great importance for establishing corporate information security. Data mining applications are directly related to issues of intrusion detection and privacy protection. Conclusions: The most important fact that can be specified based on this study is that corporations can establish a sustainable and efficient data mining system that will ensure privacy and successful protection against unwanted intrusions.

Everyday Utopias: The Conceptual Life of Promising Spaces

Everyday Utopias: The Conceptual Life of Promising Spaces

Commentary: Playing the computer game tetris prior to viewing traumatic film material and subsequent intrusive memories: examining proactive interference.

Unwanted visual intrusions are characteristic of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). One innovative intervention for inhibiting unwanted intrusions is playing the Tetris videogame, described as a “cognitive vaccine” in preventing intrusions after traumatic events (Holmes et al., 2009). Playing Tetris consumes heavy visuospatial working memory resources that potentially compete with cognitive resources required for elaboration of visual imagery. Since Holmes et al.'s (2009) study, other studies have used Tetris to inhibit intrusive imagery (Holmes et al., 2010; Skorka-Brown et al., 2014, 2015; James et al., 2015a,b). However, these have not assessed the role of videogame content after playing in relation to Game Transfer Phenomena (GTP) (Ortiz de Gortari and Griffiths, 2014a,b,c, 2015a,b). GTP research has investigated non-volitional experiences (e.g., altered sensorial perceptions and automatic mental processes/behaviors) mostly experienced after gaming. Gamers often report sensorial (visual/auditory) intrusions after playing (e.g., visual and auditory imagery, hallucinations) (Ortiz de Gortari et al., 2011; Ortiz de Gortari and Griffiths, 2014a,b). In a survey of 2362 gamers, most (77%) had visualized images from a variety of videogames (including tile-puzzle games) with closed-eyes, and one-third (31%) had visualized images with open-eyes (Ortiz de Gortari and Griffiths, 2015b). Other studies have experimentally induced videogame-related visualizations at sleep onset (Stickgold et al., 2000; Wamsley et al., 2010; Kusse et al., 2012). James et al. (2015a,b) study was the first to make explicit reference to GTP (referred to as the “Tetris effect” [TE]). Ortiz de Gortari and Griffiths (2012) argued the TE term is misleading as it suggests repetition is the core of transfer effects. However, other factors are involved. Research concerning GTP makes the distinction between sensorial modalities facilitating the assessment of non-volitional phenomena with videogame content that occur along the continuum from mild to severe (Ortiz de Gortari and Griffiths, under review). Moreover, the descriptive constructs of GTP are empirically based on analysis of 3500 + gamers and have been examined via confirmatory factor analysis demonstrating good reliability and validity (Ortiz de Gortari et al., 2015). James et al. (2015a,b) tested if playing Tetris offered a protective mechanism against re-experiencing traumatic events. Healthy participants (n = 56) were randomly assigned to either playing Tetris for 11 min, or doing nothing before exposure to a 12-min traumatic film. Image-base memories about the film were then registered in a 1-week dairy. However, playing Tetris as a proactive interference task before watching the film did not show significant results. James and colleagues offered different explanations including: (i) duration of the task in relation to film length, (ii) temporal contingencies between the tasks, (iii) differences between the task types, (iv) videogame types used, and (v) reactivation of gameplay during the film for aided interference. These explanations are discussed in relation to GTP literature.

Self-Based Concepts and Obsessive-Compulsive Phenomena

Background/Aims: Using a cognitive framework, this paper examined self-perceptions as a vulnerability to phenomena in obsessive-compulsive disorder. Specifically, Guidano and Liotti's model of self-ambivalence (from 1983) and the notion of self-worth contingent upon moral standards were investigated as possible mechanisms to explain how individuals come to notice their unwanted intrusions. Method: Using an analogue framework, participants were first-year undergraduate psychology students (95 females, mean age = 22.49 years, SD = 7.96, and 25 males, mean age = 21.64 years, SD = 7.26) who were administered a battery of self-report questionnaires. Results: Results indicated that self-ambivalence moderated the relationship between high moral standards and obsessive-compulsive (OC) phenomena; individuals who had high moral standards and high self-ambivalence showed increased OC vulnerability. Conclusions: The findings suggest that ambivalence about moral self-worth may constitute a particular vulnerability to OC symptoms. Directions for future research are discussed and implications of the findings explored.

Acceptance in Blame: How and why we Blame the Victims of Street Harassment

Globally, and on a daily basis, women are subjected to unwanted verbal and/or physical intrusions such as catcalling, leering, honking, sexually explicit or sexist comments, touching or grabbing, amongst other actions that are all considered street harassment. This paper is a review of some of the literature available, which focuses on the psychological and feminist aspects of street harassment and victim blaming through social, cognitive, intersectional, and economic lenses. Regarding psychological theories, I will examine reasons why victim blaming happens through the theories of the just-world hypothesis, cognitive dissonance, and the bystander effect. The feminist theories touch on the basics of objectification and power dynamics found within gender, which can help us understand why street harassment happens. Lastly, I will emphasize the importance of starting a conversation about the pervasiveness of street harassment and victim blaming, and why it is important to know where the blame should be instead of where it is almost always placed.

Exposure to unwanted intrusions, neutralizing and their effects on self-worth and obsessive-compulsive phenomena

BackgroundAlthough there is a growing body of literature to support the importance of understanding self processes in the experience of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), no experimental research has directly examined the relationship between self-construals and phenomena central to OCD. The current study examined the effect that unwanted intrusions and neutralizing responses have on self-worth, distress and urge to neutralize. MethodsAfter listening to repeated audio recordings of idiosyncratic unwanted intrusions, a combined nonclinical and clinical OCD sample were asked to respond with either their chosen neutralizing strategy (experimental) or a refocus counting strategy (control). Each condition comprised of a 12-min responding period (respond) followed by an equivalent non-response period (listen). Participants completed each condition, and were randomly allocated into the condition completed first. Ratings of discomfort, urge to neutralize, and self-worth were measured throughout. ResultsNeutralizing and refocussing responses were both associated with decreases in discomfort and higher self-worth. The expected rebound effect for discomfort and urge to neutralize for the listen period after neutralizing was found. LimitationsMethodological problems lead to missing data, although this was corrected with the use of Multi Level Modelling (MLM) analysis on a combined sample. The small clinical sample meant that comparison between the two populations was not possible. ConclusionsFindings support cognitive accounts that neutralizing is involved in the development and maintenance of OCD, and suggest that neutralizing is a purposeful response aimed to help reinstate self-worth. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.

Cognitive-based therapy for OCD: Role of behavior experiments and exposure processes

The current manuscript describes the rationale and pragmatics for conducting exposures (termed “behavioral experiments”) in Cognitive Therapy (CT) for OCD. Given that the cognitive model of OCD focuses upon the assumptions and belief systems (e.g., threat perception) that underlie the misinterpretation of unwanted intrusions, CT employs cognitive strategies, such as behavioral experiments, to modify maladaptive interpretations and produce symptom reduction. We outline how to prepare for behavioral experiments through psychoeducation and empirically supported assessment procedures. Next, we describe how to operationalize the behavioral experiment and propose patient and therapist-related behaviors that will facilitate (or interfere with) the experiment׳s success. Lastly, we discuss how to process the findings of the behavioral experiment by integrating other CT strategies, such as calculation of harm and the downward arrow, to consolidate learning and ultimately strengthen and generalize skills use.

Intrusive Thoughts in Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder and Eating Disorder Patients: A Differential Analysis

The present study aims to compare the unwanted intrusions experienced by obsessive-compulsive (OCD) and eating disorder (ED) patients, their appraisals, and their control strategies and analyse which variables predict the intrusions' disruption and emotional disturbance in each group. Seventy-nine OCD and 177 ED patients completed two equivalent self-reports designed to assess OCD-related and ED-related intrusions, their dysfunctional appraisals, and associated control strategies. OCD and ED patients experienced intrusions with comparable frequency and emotional disturbance, but OCD patients experienced greater disruption. Differences appeared between groups on some appraisals and control strategies. Intolerance to uncertainty (OCD group) and thought importance (ED group) predicted their respective emotional disturbance and disruption. Additionally, control importance (OCD group) and thought-action fusion moral (OCD and ED groups) predicted their emotional disturbance. OCD and ED share the presence of intrusions; however, different variables explain why they are disruptive and emotionally disturbing. Cognitive intrusions require further investigation as a transdiagnostic variable.

Introduction: A global perspective on unwanted intrusive thoughts

Because of Rachman and de Silva׳s (1978) influential research on normal and abnormal obsessions, it is now a basic tenet of cognitive behavioral theories (CBT) that clinical obsessions have their origins in the normal intrusive thought phenomena that characterizes the stream of consciousness. However much of the empirical research on unwanted intrusive thoughts has utilized retrospective self-report questionnaires that have weak construct validity and the samples have been drawn primarily from Western European and North American populations. To enhance the measurement precision and investigate the universality of unwanted intrusions, a structured intrusive thoughts interview was developed and administered to 777 nonclinical individuals drawn from 13 countries. The three papers in this special issue present findings based on this large data set. Together it was found that unwanted intrusive thoughts are reported by the majority of individuals in all countries, that significant cross-cultural differences are apparent in primary intrusive thought content, that faulty appraisals and confrontational control strategies are related to the distress of intrusions, and that the frequency of dirt/contamination, doubt, and miscellaneous intrusions are specifically related to obsessive compulsive symptom distress. The authors discuss these findings in terms of their consistency with predictions derived from the CBT perspective on obsessions. The special issue concludes with a discussion paper by Professor Jack Rachman, originator of the obessional intrusions concept.

Family Physicians’ Sharing of Personal Information on Facebook

Aims: Online social networks, such as Facebook, are growing in popularity amongst physicians, and represent a potential avenue for the compromising of their privacy and professional boundaries. We sought to determine the extent to which family doctors are sharing personal information on Facebook. Study Design: Observational. Place and Duration of Study: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Data was collected between May and August of 2012. Methodology: From the website of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario, all 1000 family physicians active in the Ottawa region were identified. A database was then created of subjects’ publicly shared information (i.e., information available to the general public) for those with accessible profiles on Facebook. Chi square and t-tests were performed to explore demographic patterns for those with viewable profiles; binary logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with Facebook visibility. Results: While only 10.2% of family physicians had publicly viewable profiles, 81.4% of those featured a visible profile photo; 91.2% could be messaged directly by any member of the public; a majority shared limited personal information, including recent online activities and place of education; 24% shared their place of work; 15% had visible lists of family members; and 14% disclosed their relationship status. From logistic regression, there were no significant factors associated with whether a physician was viewable on Research Article British Journal of Medicine & Medical Research, 4(1): 244-251, 2014 245 Facebook. Conclusion: While a minority of physicians have a publicly accessible Facebook profile, those that do are sharing personal information that may expose them to unwanted intrusions into their personal lives and unexpected patient interactions outside of the office. Physicians should be aware of options for making their online information less publicly accessible.