Creating an effective security risk model for outsourcing decisions

Globalisation has had a fundamental impact on the way that business is conducted and approaches to sourcing work have evolved. Outsourcing is here to stay and the proportion of worldwide spend in this market-place will continue to rise. BT’s security community has successfully introduced a new risk model and supporting process to identify the key risk factors applicable to outsourcing, namely, specific environmental conditions, the number of third party personnel involved in the contract and the level of ‘trust’ given to these personnel. The importance of protective monitoring and audit regimes is highlighted from both a compliance and assurance perspective — and is being used to create effective engagement with outsourcing partners to raise security thresholds and discuss security issues. Globalisation, coupled with the requirement for more open networks, will continue to increase in the future and result in corporate infrastructure fragmentation and the breaking down of traditional boundaries. At the same time, approaches to security must also evolve — moving the focus from the infrastructure to the client, application and eventually the data level.     

Effect of reinforcer devaluation on discriminative control of instrumental behavior.

Two experiments examined the effect of reinforcer devaluation on the ability of a discriminative stimulus (Sd) to control instrumental behavior in Sprague-Dawley rats. In Experiment 1 reinforcer devaluation reduced, but did not eliminate, the ability of the Sd to control performance of the original response and to transfer its control to a new response trained with the same reinforcer. The effect of devaluation was more complete in Experiment 2, in which the reinforcer was delivered directly into the oral cavity. However, retraining the response with a different reinforcer partially restored the ability of the Sd to control performance of that response. These results suggest that an Sd may not augment its trained responses when the reinforcer has been completely devalued but may promote responses with which it shares a reinforcer, as long as those responses are associated with some reinforcer that retains its value. The implications of these results for the way that discriminative stimuli control instrumental behavior are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray fluorescence analysis of a fractionated urban aerosol

Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence and chemical analysis have been used to characterise a fractionated urban aerosol. Chemical analysis shows that the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon content of the total suspended particulate matter in the aerosol belongs uniquely to the sub-micron size fraction. X-ray fluorescence analysis confirms the absence of transitional metals Fe, Cu and Zn as well as crustal elements Al and Si in this sub-micron fraction.These findings effectively eliminate the possibility that these metals act as carriers of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons during their dispersion in the atmosphere or that they act as catalysts for promoting reaction between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other aerosol components.     

Information Assurance

There are many approaches to assuring the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information assets. Most large organisations are now dependent upon integrated information systems, including linkages to systems and processes outside their direct control and often across international boundaries. The integration and interconnection of systems and networks provides new opportunities for launching IT-based attacks. An effective approach to information assurance therefore requires the assessment of evolving threats and a review of traditional risk management methods. New approaches for reacting to cyber threats and incidents must also be implemented. BT has a well-established Information Assurance Programme to address these concerns.     

Psychology addresses women and work: Canadian research in 1980s.

Reviews recent Canadian research on women and work, with a focus on the following areas: stereotyping, prejudice and discrimination, workplace stress, and occupational choice and career development. (French abstract) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Postconditioning devaluation of a reinforcer affects instrumental responding.

Three experiments with 68 male Holtzman rats investigated performance of an instrumental response following postlearning changes in the value of the reinforcer, using a within-S design. Exps I and II used a conditioning manipulation (pairing with a toxin), and Exp III employed a motivational procedure (satiation) to reduce the reinforcer value. In both cases, performance of the instrumental response was substantially attenuated during a subsequent extinction test. Results suggest that these devaluation effects are mediated by the instrumental contingency and that a reasonably detailed representation of the reinforcer is encoded in instrumental learning. (38 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Instrumental responding remains sensitive to reinforcer devaluation after extensive training.

Four experiments, with 140 male rats, investigated performance of an instrumental response following postconditioning devaluation of the reinforcer. Exps I and II, which examined whether extended training would make the instrumental response insensitive to such devaluation, found substantial decreases in the performance of both moderately and extensively trained instrumental responses when their reinforcers were paired with an intraperitoneal injection of LiCl (.5 mg/kg). Both experiments revealed that there was some residual performance of a response whose reinforcer had been devalued. Exp III showed residual responding to be attributable neither to unconditioned levels of responding nor to the inadequacy of the devaluation procedure, while Exp IV revealed the amount of residual responding to be the same whether or not the reinforcer was earned by another response during aversion training. Results suggest that a portion of instrumental responding depends on response–reinforcer learning even after extensive training. However, with both moderate and extensive training, some portion of responding is independent of the current value of the reinforcer. (47 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Within-compound associations in unblocking.

Four experiments used rats in a conditioned suppression paradigm to investigate the role of associations between A and X in an unblocking procedure. Each experiment compared suppression to X after A had been followed by a single (+) or double (++) shock and AX had been followed by a single shock. In Exps I and II, 94 Holtzman female rats were trained to barpress for food before receiving combinations of a light, a tone, and footshock. In Exps III and IV, 64 male Sprague-Dawley rats received similar treatment before being tested for suppression. Suppression was greater to X after A++/AX+ training than after A+/AX+ training (unblocking). However, manipulations known to disrupt the association between X and A disrupted that unblocking. Exp I demonstrated both blocking and unblocking and showed that unblocking required pairing of the double shock with A. Exp II interposed separate nonreinforced presentations of A prior to testing X. Exps III and IV gave additional reinforced presentations of A, either before or after the AX+ trials. The success of these manipulations in attenuating unblocking suggests it is partly attributable to differences in the association between X and A rather than between X and reinforcer. That conclusion reduces the incompatibility between unblocking and the model of R. A. Rescorla and A. R. Wagner (1972). (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)