Cybersecurity Leaders: Knowledge Driving Human Capital Development

Cybersecurity leaders must be able to use critical reading and thinking skills, exercise judgment when policies are not distinct and precise, and have the knowledge, skills, and abilities to tailor technical and planning data to diverse customers’ levels of understanding. Ninety-three percent of cybersecurity leaders do not report directly to the chief operating officer. While status differences influence interactions amid groups, attackers are smarter. With the aim of protecting organizations and reducing risk, knowledge about security must increase. Understanding voids are costly and increased breach chances are imminent. Burning questions exist. What are needed technological learnings for cybersecurity leaders to become smarter and remain ahead of attackers? How might these technologies hasten the understanding of the ‘what,’ ‘how,’ and ‘why’ reasons and key drivers for organizational behaviors. This article offers comparative analyses for cybersecurity leaders to engage in the questioning of practices, scrutinize entrenched assumptions about technology, customary practices, and query technology’s outputs by pursuing to comprehend all assumptions that could influence operations. Because understanding continues to rely upon progressively multifaceted epistemic technologies, outcomes of the research suggest that the salience of status distinctions is of central significance to the development of ongoing and proactive technological learning and up scaling solutions.

Effectiveness of web application as educational media in increasing the caries risk knowledge and decreasing the caries risk score among dental students in Indonesia

Background This study evaluating the effect of web application media in increasing the caries risk knowledge and decreasing the caries risk scores among dental students. Methods A quasi-experimental design along with a purposive sampling technique was used in this study. A total of 361 undergraduate pre-clinical dental students from 15 universities in Indonesia were divided into two groups: intervention (n = 282) and control (n = 79). The students in the intervention group received a web application media with educational materials to independently check their caries risk, whereas those in the control group received the application without any educational materials. The students were instructed to use the web application at least once a week for 21 days and complete the pretest and posttest questionnaires and web application evaluation questionnaires. In addition, they were required to independently examine their initial and final caries risk. Results A significant increase in the level of knowledge was observed in the intervention group, but not in the control group, after the use of the web application. Each group showed a decrease in the caries risk score, but the difference was not statistically significant before and after the use of a web application in both groups. Conclusion These findings indicate that health promotion and education about caries risk through web application media can improve the knowledge and reduce the caries risk in dental dentistry students.

Evaluation of an Access-Risk-Knowledge (ARK) Platform for Governance of Risk and Change in Complex Socio-Technical Systems

Three key challenges to a whole-system approach to process improvement in health systems are the complexity of socio-technical activity, the capacity to change purposefully, and the consequent capacity to proactively manage and govern the system. The literature on healthcare improvement demonstrates the persistence of these problems. In this project, the Access-Risk-Knowledge (ARK) Platform, which supports the implementation of improvement projects, was deployed across three healthcare organisations to address risk management for the prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). In each organisation, quality and safety experts initiated an ARK project and participated in a follow-up survey and focus group. The platform was then evaluated against a set of fifteen needs related to complex system transformation. While the results highlighted concerns about the platform’s usability, feedback was generally positive regarding its effectiveness and potential value in supporting HCAI risk management. The ARK Platform addresses the majority of identified needs for system transformation; other needs were validated in the trial or are undergoing development. This trial provided a starting point for a knowledge-based solution to enhance organisational governance and develop shared knowledge through a Community of Practice that will contribute to sustaining and generalising that change.

Validating a Tailored Disaster Risk Assessment Methodology: Drought Risk Assessment in Local PNG Regions

Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of natural hazards, causing adverse impacts on vulnerable communities. Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are of particular concern, requiring resilient disaster risk management consisting of two key elements: proactivity and suitability. User-centred Integrated Early Warning Systems (I-EWSs) can inform resilient risk management. However, an EWS is only effectively integrated when all components are functioning adequately. In Pacific SIDS, the risk knowledge component of an I-EWS is underexplored. Risk knowledge is improved through efficient risk assessment. A case study assessing drought risk in PNG provinces was conducted to demonstrate the development and validate the application of a tailored risk assessment methodology. Hazard, vulnerability, and exposure indicators appropriate for monitoring drought in PNG provinces were selected. Risk indices for past years (2014–2020) were calculated and mapped in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Risk assessment results were validated with a literature investigation of sources presenting information on previous droughts in PNG. The risk assessment indicated a strong drought event in 2015–2016, and a moderate event in 2019–2020. The literature corroborated this, confirming the validity of the risk assessment methodology. The methodology and results can be used to inform improved disaster risk management in PNG, by advising decision-makers of their risk and policymakers on which provinces are of priority for resource allocation. The methodology can also be used to enhance the risk knowledge component of a user-centred I-EWS and guide the implementation of such a system for drought in PNG and other Pacific SIDS.

Assessing local community resilience to tsunami in a small port (Case Study: Sadeng Port, Indonesia)

Coastal community is vulnerable to hazards including tsunami hazard. Coastal communities suffer the most both physical and psychological impacts. The main purpose of this research to assess local community resilience to tsunami in small port which has a unique characteristic. Main data of this research was collected by field observation and interview. Interview process were addressed to key persons and households. USAID coastal community assessment is used as main method in this research. There are eight elements of resilience for coastal community resilience: governance, society and economy, coastal resource management, land use and structural design, risk knowledge, warning and evacuation, emergency response and disaster recovery. The results show that overall rating for eight elements of community resilience is 2,5 or 50 %. It is only halfway to reach an ideal criterion for community resilience. Strong elements in this community are risk knowledge and warning and evacuation, while weak elements are society and economy, coastal resource management, and disaster recovery. The community should gain more effort especially in developing a sustainable economy and strengthening integration among stakeholders for disaster recovery.

The COVID-19 Pandemic Led to a Small Increase in Changed Mentality Regarding Infection Risk without Any Change in Willingness to Be Vaccinated in Chronic Diseases Patients

The objective of this study was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patients’ perceptions regarding infection risk and vaccination in subjects suffering from chronic diseases. A prospective observational multicentric study conducted from December 2020 to April 2021 in three French University Hospitals. Patients with chronic diseases were proposed to complete a questionnaire regarding the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on infectious risk knowledge and vaccination. A total of 1151 patients were included and analyzed (62% of which were people with diabetes). The COVID-19 pandemic increased awareness of infectious risks by 19.3%, significantly more in people with diabetes (23.2%, from 54.4% to 67.0%, p < 0.01) when compared to the other high-risk patients (12.5%, from 50.5% to 56.8%, p = 0.06). Respectively, 30.6% and 16.5% of patients not up-to-date for pneumococcal and flu vaccines reported wanting to update their vaccination due to the COVID-19 pandemic. By contrast, the proportion of patients against vaccines increased during the COVID-19 pandemic (6.0% vs. 9.5%, p < 0.01). The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a small increase in awareness regarding the risks of infection in patients with chronic diseases, including people with diabetes, but without any change in willingness to be vaccinated. This underlines the urgent need to sensibilize people with diabetes to infection risk and the importance of vaccination.

Ontology-Based Risk Knowledge Construction for Integrated Pipeline Corridors

In the construction process of different integrated pipe corridors, there exist a large number of similar and reusable risk analysis results. In order to improve the efficiency of risk analysis and the efficiency of dealing with accidents in the process of construction management of integrated pipeline corridors and systematize the fragmented risk analysis knowledge, this paper will build ontology-based knowledge for risk response in integrated pipeline corridors. This ontology knowledge base can not only standardize and informatize knowledge through the definition of knowledge attributes and classification of knowledge, which can help reuse risk management metaknowledge at different levels and greatly improve the efficiency of risk management, but also reason out the risk-causing mechanism and response strategy of new integrated pipeline corridor risk through the similarity between risks and the correlation between risk-causing factors, so as to realize the repeated application of risk knowledge.

A Comprehensive Assessment of Exposure and Vulnerabilities in Multi-Hazard Urban Environments: A Key Tool for Risk-Informed Planning Strategies

Although the increase in the frequency and intensity of disasters assigns a key role to disaster risk management in current debate on sustainable development, the efforts of national and local authorities to develop risk-informed planning strategies and increase disaster preparedness are still limited. In multi-hazard urban environments, the main criticality to support risk-informed planning strategies is the persisting lack of effective knowledge bases focused on the vulnerability of exposed assets to different hazards. Hence, this contribution, according to the first priority of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction—understanding disaster risk—and by tidying up methods and indicators developed in both EU research projects and scientific studies devoted to multi-risk and vulnerability assessment, aims at better using available knowledge to guide risk-informed spatial planning. In detail, an indicator-based method to carry out a comprehensive exposure and vulnerability analysis has been outlined and tested on a case study area, the multi-hazard urban area of Campi Flegrei, located in the western part of the metropolitan city of Naples in the South of Italy. The proposed method may contribute to the building up of an effective risk knowledge base, enabling planners to easily access information on exposure and vulnerabilities to different hazards, and to differently combine them into output maps capable of supporting risk- informed planning strategies.

Towards an improved understanding of participation in natural hazard early warning systems

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to improve the conceptual understanding of the process of participation in early warning systems (EWS) through a review of participatory EWS examples in the academic literature. Specifically, this paper asks: who is involved, what responsibilities do participants hold, what activities are they involved in, and what are the associated successes, issues and outcomes? Design/methodology/approach A total of 30 cases of participation in EWS documented in the academic literature were identified through online searches. Existing concepts in participation (power and responsibility, communication) and people-centred early warning (risk knowledge, monitoring and warning, communication and dissemination and response capability) were used to examine each paper. Findings Participation was found to take place through a range of activities across all elements of the EWS. Participation also varied in breadth of inclusion, ranging from the general public to selected volunteers. The majority of cases received support and facilitation from other actors, such as government and NGOs, but the extent of power and responsibility held by participants varied greatly within this. Common successes and issues associated with participatory EWS and the potential outcomes are presented, and the opportunities, challenges and gaps in knowledge are discussed. Originality/value This paper links participation and EWS literature to form a clearer conceptualisation of participation in EWS in support of future research in the field. It provides unique insights into who participates, their roles and relations with other actors and the outcomes of participation.