In case of a major cyber incident, organizations usually rely on external providers of Cyber Incident Response (CIR) services. CIR consultants operate in a dynamic and constantly changing environment in which they must actively engage in information management and problem solving while adapting to complex circumstances. In this challenging environment CIR consultants need to make critical decisions about what to advise clients that are impacted by a major cyber incident. Despite its relevance, CIR decision making is an understudied topic. The objective of this preliminary investigation is therefore to understand what decision-making strategies experienced CIR consultants use during challenging incidents and to offer suggestions for training and decision-aiding. A general understanding of operational decision making under pressure, uncertainty, and high stakes was established by reviewing the body of knowledge known as Naturalistic Decision Making (NDM). The general conclusion of NDM research is that experts usually make adequate decisions based on (fast) recognition of the situation and applying the most obvious (default) response pattern that has worked in similar situations in the past. In exceptional situations, however, this way of recognition-primed decision-making results in suboptimal decisions as experts are likely to miss conflicting cues once the situation is quickly recognized under pressure. Understanding the default response pattern and the rare occasions in which this response pattern could be ineffective is therefore key for improving and aiding cyber incident response decision making. Therefore, we interviewed six experienced CIR consultants and used the critical decision method (CDM) to learn how they made decisions under challenging conditions. The main conclusion is that the default response pattern for CIR consultants during cyber breaches is to reduce uncertainty as much as possible by gathering and investigating data and thus delay decision making about eradication until the investigation is completed. According to the respondents, this strategy usually works well and provides the most assurance that the threat actor can be completely removed from the network. However, the majority of respondents could recall at least one case in which this strategy (in hindsight) resulted in unnecessary theft of data or damage. Interestingly, this finding is strikingly different from other operational decision-making domains such as the military, police and fire service in which there is a general tendency to act rapidly instead of searching for more information. The main advice is that training and decision aiding of (novice) cyber incident responders should be aimed at the following: (a) make cyber incident responders aware of how recognition-primed decision making works; (b) discuss the default response strategy that typically works well in several scenarios; (c) explain the exception and how the exception can be recognized; (d) provide alternative response strategies that work better in exceptional situations.
Introduction: To determine if athletes with coordination impairment (CI) can continue playing wheelchair rugby (WR), while an evidence-based classification system, including impairment tests for CI is not yet available. This is a defensible practise if they show similar activity limitations as athletes with other eligible impairment types (OI) within the same sports class. Methods: Standardised activities were measured in 58 elite WR athletes; 14 with CI and 44 with OI. Wheelchair activities consisted of 20-meter sprint, 12-meter sprint with full stop, intermittent sprint (3-meter sprint, stop, 3-meter sprint, stop, 6-meter sprint with full stop), sprint-curve-slalom-curve, turn on the spot 180°, turn on the spot 90°, stop, turn 90°in the same direction, X-test (short circuit with sharp turns) without the ball. Ball activities consisted of maximal throwing distance, precision throwing short (25% of maximum throw) and long (75% of maximal throw) distance and X-test with the ball (pick-up the ball and dribble whilst pushing). Descriptive statistics were used and Spearman’s Rank correlation was assessed for athletes with CI and OI for each outcome measure. Differences between athletes with CI and OI were assessed using a Mann-Whitney U test. Results: Most activities showed a high correlation with the athlete class in both athletes with CI and athletes with OI. Furthermore, outcome measures of athletes with CI overlapped with athletes with OI in the same sports class for all activities. There was a trend for worse performance in athletes with CI in turn on the spot 90°, stop, turn 90°in the same direction, the short distance one handed precision throw (P 0.11)and in the X-test with the ball (P 0.10). Discussion: Despite the current lack of evidence based impairment tests for CI, it is a defensible practise to not exclude athletes with CI from WR with the current classification system. The trends for differences in performance that were found can support athletes and coaches in optimising performance of athletes with CI.
Background: Sexual deviance is regarded as an important risk factor for sexual offending. However, little is known about the development of deviant sexual interests. The transfer of arousal between emotions, i.e., excitation transfer, could attribute sexual salience to stimuli that would otherwise not be sexual in nature. As such, excitation transfer could contribute to the very beginning of unusual or deviant sexual interests. The current protocol proposes a study to investigate to what extent excitation transfer occurs, i.e., to what extent genital and subjective sexual arousal to sexual stimuli is higher in an emotional state than in a neutral state. Following a prior pilot study, several adjustments were made to the study protocol, including a stronger emotional manipulation by using 360-degree film clips and the inclusion of a larger and more sexually diverse sample. Methods: We will recruit 50 adult male volunteers with diverse sexual interests. We will induce sexual arousal in four different emotional states (aggression/dominance, endearment, fear, disgust) and a neutral state. Sexual arousal will be measured genitally using penile plethysmography and subjectively via self-report. Using paired samples t-tests, sexual arousal in the emotional states will be compared with sexual arousal in the neutral state. Discussion: We aim to show that arousal in response to emotional stimuli that are initially nonsexual in nature, can enhance sexual arousal. These findings have potentially important implications for the development of unusual and/or deviant sexual interests and possibly for the treatment of such sexual deviant interests in people who have committed sexual offenses.
Can computers talk like humans? Look like humans? Behave like humans? Project Virtual Humans in the Brabant Economy (VIBE) focuses on developing and testing virtual humans to make this happen. The virtual humans developed by VIBE will be able to communicate with normal people in a natural way, both verbal and non-verbal, and deliver a valuable contribution to the training of healthcare professionals. The agents developed by VIBE can be used in any training simulation in various instances, including virtual, mixed and augmented reality.VIBE agents are designed to also allow customization for other domains to enhance training and education programs even beyond the healthcare domain.Funding:EU EFRO, Province of Noord Brabant, municipalities.
