CONTEXT Factors that interfere with the ability to interpret assessment scores or ratings in the proposed manner threaten validity. To be interpreted in a meaningful manner, all assessments in medical education require sound, scientific evidence of validity. PURPOSE The purpose of this essay is to discuss 2 major threats to validity: construct under-representation (CU) and construct-irrelevan...

Inaccurate financial statements from major companies, dead people who still vote in elections, world-class gymnasts with uncertain birth dates: insiders often have the power and ability to make inappropriate changes to the content of electronic records. As electronic records replace paper records, it becomes easy to make such alterations without leaving behind evidence that can be used to detec...

In this paper we present a survey of the data protection systems in the presence of physical threats, such as theft, loss, damage and malicious use. Recent studies suggests that the aforementioned threats are real and happen with very high rates, e.g., it has been reported that more than 50% of Maimi city had experience with theft and loss of their device in 2011. In this paper we also present ...

This article analyses the threats which Information and Communications Technologies currently pose to individual liberties. Indeed, the information which is collected on individuals is becoming more and more complex: via RFID chips inserted into different cards (including transport, bank and customer loyalty cards), via visits to internet sites, over surveillance cameras posted in various place...

The smart grid architecture amalgamates the physical power grid and a communication grid into a single monolithic network. It poses several security threats that are well known (Li et al. in IEEE Trans Smart Grid 3:1540–1551, 2012 [1], McDaniel and McLaughlin in IEEE Secur Priv 7:75, 77, 2009 [2], Bisoi and Dash 2011 [3]). However, it faces unknown threats from the cyber-physical interfaces whe...

We discuss research issues and models for vulnerabilities and threats in distributed computing systems. We present four diverse approaches to reducing system vulnerabilities and threats. They are: using fault tolerance and reliability principles for security, enhancing role-based access control with trust ratings, protecting privacy during data dissemination and collaboration, and applying frau...

Over the last decade the advent of wireless sensor networks has enabled several novel classes of application, including monitoring and tracking. In the case of monitoring applications, the deployment of sensor networks will vary from mission critical applications, such as military, health and asset monitoring, to non-critical applications, such as temperature and humidity control. For some crit...

Modern trains rely on balises (communication beacons) located on the track to provide location information as they traverse a rail network. Balises, such as those conforming to the Eurobalise standard, were not designed with security in mind and are thus vulnerable to cyber attacks targeting data availability, integrity, or authenticity. In this work, we discuss data integrity threats to balise...

The proper management of oily sludge from petroleum products storage tanks is necessary because inappropriate methods for dredging of tanks may result in high costs and increased environmental pollution. The purpose of the current study is to rank the strategies outlined by strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis using data envelopment analysis model, which provides enriched i...