For interconnected and complex systems, security is paramount for establishing trust in their correctness and design adequacy. Thus, security needs to be assured and a corresponding security assurance case needs to be presented to system stakeholders, security assessors, as well as to system users. However, security is dynamic by its nature and to maintain its acceptable security level, frequent updates might be required. Traditionally, a security assurance case is built from scratch whenever a change occurs, however given the cost of resources needed for such a task, a more effective and less time consuming way of handling updates is needed. Hence, the challenge of security case run-time adaptation is considered in this work. We survey the state of the art in security assurance and security case development to refine the challenge and identify system decomposition as one the enablers for security case run-time adaptation. We propose to apply system decomposition in terms of services and use service choreographies to facilitate security case run-time adaptation. The proposed approach is illustrated on an E-gas example.

Fault location estimation is a very important question in electric power system, in order to isolate the fault as soon as possible, and to recover the system with minimal interruptions. In that way, electric equipment is less stressed, and buyers more satisfied. Electric power lines are exposed to environment and probability of line failure is generally higher than other system element failure. Current electric power systems are equipped with high sampling rate power quality meters that are installed in the places of common coupling with distribution systems or high voltage consumers. Data obtained by these power quality meters, especially the voltage and current harmonics present a valuable information about system behavior, even in the faulty conditions. In this paper fault location and fault resistance is estimated by using a combination of artificial neural networks and voltage and current harmonics measured by power quality meters installed only in important system busbars. Results obtained from the real 110 kV transmission system show that a proposed algorithm can be used successfully in fault location and fault resistance estimation in one part of the electric power system. This paper makes a contribution to the existing body of knowledge by developing and testing a new method whose application represents a natural and a feasible upgrade using the existing measurement and communication equipment.

Synchronization and ranging in internet of things $(IoT)$ networks are challenging due to the narrowband nature of signals used for communication between IoT nodes. Recently, several estimators for range estimation using phase difference of arrival $(PDoA)$ measurements of narrowband signals have been proposed. However, these estimators are based on data models which do not consider the impact of clock-skew on the range estimation. In this paper, clock-skew and range estimation are studied under a unified framework. We derive a novel and precise data model for PDoA measurements which incorporates the unknown clock-skew effects. We then formulate joint estimation of the clock-skew and range as a two-dimensional (2-D) frequency estimation problem of a single complex sinusoid. Furthermore, we propose: (i) a two-way communication protocol for collecting PDoA measurements and (ii) a weighted least squares (WLS) algorithm for joint estimation of clock-skew and range leveraging the shift invariance property of the measurement data. Finally, through numerical experiments, the performance of the proposed protocol and estimator is compared against the Cramér Rao lower bound demonstrating that the proposed estimator is asymptotically efficient.

Driven by higher energy demand, the complications of finding new corridors, construction, and slow commissioning procedures for transmission lines, an advanced technology has been innovated to adapt to the modern power system's needs. A new type of overhead conductor with a polymer composite core (ACCC) have a greater ampacity, lower sag, and are lighter than traditional ACSR conductors. Therefore, it is this innovative technology is optimal choice when the decommissioning of old lines takes place. This paper analyzes the impact of the gradual replacement of old transmission lines with all the benefits and disadvantages. It addresses the issues of equipment aging and proposes a replacement strategy for a cost-effective transition to a modernized power system functioning at improved performance. Calculations and analyses are performed on a real interconnected system, composed of several South East European (SEE) transmission grids.

Introduction: Population aging increases the number of people with dementia. Dementia is a set of symptoms that include memory difficulties, learning difficulties, speech and language difficulties, disorientation in time and space, difficulties in understanding and behavioral changes. Dementia is not part of natural aging and needs to be understood as such and have to be recognized at time to provide adequate support for people with dementia. Aim: To present the importance of communication: To present communication difficulties which are the result of dementia; To present adaptations in the way of communicating with people with dementia. Material and methods: The article has a descriptive character, and represents a review of the literature dealing with this topic. Results: Difficulties in area of language are a common symptom in people with dementia. Those communication difficulties are a consequence of nerve cell failure, and person with dementia should not be blamed of the symptoms that arise. People with dementia show lower results in the area of understanding and verbal expression, repetition, reading and writing. Syntax and phonology remain relatively intact in early stages, but semantic abilities are impaired. Conclusion: Communication for people with dementia and with people with dementia for all persons involved in care (including family members, medical staff and therapists, and members of the community) can be very challenging. It is often necessary to adapt the way of communication to avoid stress and negative feelings in a person with dementia. As the disease causing dementia progresses, communication problems are increasing as well. Many times caregivers and therapists are in situations where their communicative behavior (verbal, but also nonverbal) needs to show support, compassion, care, and desire to help.

This article deals with the normative trajectory of the constitutional right to a quality education, in the interdisciplinary perspective of Education and Law. It is linked to the activities of Master's Research in School of Education by Unesp – FCLAr and to the interdisciplinary studies of the Research Group on Educational Public Policies in Brazil, presented orally in the XII EIDE – Ibero-American Meeting of Education in Alcala in Spain. On methodological basis of qualitative research in education articulated to the hypothetical deductive methodology and argumentative-dialectical juridical analysis with emphasis on documental research with legal basis. It was prioritized to address the Brazilian Constitution of 1988 (CF), the Statute of the Child and Adolescent (ECA) and the Law of Basic Guidelines of Education – Law 9.394/96 (LDB). It is worth noting the social relevance of this issue, it was approached the importance in the training of legal professionals iterated on the subject for the effective realization of this subjective public right and the quality indicators for the community.

Abstract Background We applied machine learning to find a novel breast cancer predictor based on information in a mammogram. Methods Using image-processing techniques, we automatically processed 46 158 analog mammograms for 1345 cases and 4235 controls from a cohort and case–control study of Australian women, and a cohort study of Japanese American women, extracting 20 textural features not based on pixel brightness threshold. We used Bayesian lasso regression to create individual- and mammogram-specific measures of breast cancer risk, Cirrus. We trained and tested measures across studies. We fitted Cirrus with conventional mammographic density measures using logistic regression, and computed odds ratios (OR) per standard deviation adjusted for age and body mass index. Results Combining studies, almost all textural features were associated with case–control status. The ORs for Cirrus measures trained on one study and tested on another study ranged from 1.56 to 1.78 (all P < 10−6). For the Cirrus measure derived from combining studies, the OR was 1.90 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.73 to 2.09), equivalent to a fourfold interquartile risk ratio, and was little attenuated after adjusting for conventional measures. In contrast, the OR for the conventional measure was 1.34 (95% CI = 1.25 to 1.43), and after adjusting for Cirrus it became 1.16 (95% CI = 1.08 to 1.24; P = 4 × 10−5). Conclusions A fully automated personal risk measure created from combining textural image features performs better at predicting breast cancer risk than conventional mammographic density risk measures, capturing half the risk-predicting ability of the latter measures. In terms of differentiating affected and unaffected women on a population basis, Cirrus could be one of the strongest known risk factors for breast cancer.