Cybersecurity threat and incident managers in large organizations, especially in the financial sector, are confronted more and more with an increase in volume and complexity of threats and incidents. At the same time, these managers have to deal with many internal processes and criteria, in addition to requirements from external parties, such as regulators that pose an additional challenge to handling threats and incidents. Little research has been carried out to understand to what extent decision support can aid these professionals in managing threats and incidents. The purpose of this research was to develop decision support for cybersecurity threat and incident managers in the financial sector. To this end, we carried out a cognitive task analysis and the first two phases of a cognitive work analysis, based on two rounds of in-depth interviews with ten professionals from three financial institutions. Our results show that decision support should address the problem of balancing the bigger picture with details. That is, being able to simultaneously keep the broader operational context in mind as well as adequately investigating, containing and remediating a cyberattack. In close consultation with the three financial institutions involved, we developed a critical-thinking memory aid that follows typical incident response process steps, but adds big picture elements and critical thinking steps. This should make cybersecurity threat and incident managers more aware of the broader operational implications of threats and incidents while keeping a critical mindset. Although a summative evaluation was beyond the scope of the present research, we conducted iterative formative evaluations of the memory aid that show its potential.
In the dynamic environment of increasing regulations, increasing patient demand, decentralization of budgets and enforcement of efficiency, small sized healthcare institutions in the Netherlands are having a difficult time. Although these service providers are usually capable of flexibly delivering healthcare, the investment and overhead for implementing and executing on required quality management standards like ISO 9001 is difficult. In this paper we construct a method for the implementation of an IT-enabled quality management system for small sized healthcare institutions, which is applied through case study. The case organisation provides intra- and extramural care for mentally handicapped persons and young adults with a psychiatric disorder. The quality management system implementation is based on 1) a lightweight IT infrastructure (based at a secure data centre and accessible through remote login) implying secure storage of patients' medical and personal information. Furthermore, the Deming (Deming, 1982) cycle enabled processes and protocols are 2) described in an e-handbook and prototyped via an open source process management system which supports the quality regulation demanded for providing care to patients. The case study supports the validity of our method and the fact that small sized healthcare institutions are able to execute their care while adhering to ISO 9001-like standards, with limited initial costs and relatively low cost of ownership
A Magnet-related program has been recently adopted in the Netherlands. Support for staff nurses from nurse middle managers (NMMs) is a key component of such a program. A Bourdieusian ethnographic organizational case study in four hospitals in the Netherlands and the United States (Magnet, Magnet-related and non-Magnet) was conducted to explore NMMs’ supporting role behavior. Bourdieus concepts of habitus, dispositions, field and capital guided the analysis. Eight dispositions constitute NMMs habitus. A caring, clinical and scientific disposition enhance NMMs’ capital in particular organizations-as-fields. Further research is necessary to link Magnet (related) program characteristics to various configurations of dispositions of NMMs habitus.
Due to the existing pressure for a more rational use of the water, many public managers and industries have to re-think/adapt their processes towards a more circular approach. Such pressure is even more critical in the Rio Doce region, Minas Gerais, due to the large environmental accident occurred in 2015. Cenibra (pulp mill) is an example of such industries due to the fact that it is situated in the river basin and that it has a water demanding process. The current proposal is meant as an academic and engineering study to propose possible solutions to decrease the total water consumption of the mill and, thus, decrease the total stress on the Rio Doce basin. The work will be divided in three working packages, namely: (i) evaluation (modelling) of the mill process and water balance (ii) application and operation of a pilot scale wastewater treatment plant (iii) analysis of the impacts caused by the improvement of the process. The second work package will also be conducted (in parallel) with a lab scale setup in The Netherlands to allow fast adjustments and broaden evaluation of the setup/process performance. The actions will focus on reducing the mill total water consumption in 20%.
The objective of CW4N is to identify opportunities for wood reuse through the use of advanced digital production technologies1, and develop related implementation strategies for public organisations, in particular housing corporations and municipalities. Strategies include concrete proposals on how to: a) collect and process wood waste from residential buildings; b) add value to reclaimed wood by means of digital production; c) increase tenant involvement and acceptance for waste wood collection and circular reuse; d) create impactful applications for a circular economy. The research is carried out in four work packages. The first identifies the nature of residential wood waste (volume, type, application) from past case projects of housing corporations Ymere and Rochdale. Their upcoming renovation plans are evaluated, to identify resources and hotspots for future implementations. The second workpackage explores what applications can be conceived, given the available wood and digital production tools at the AUAS Robot Lab. In the third workpackage case studies are carried out for actual projects of the housing corporations. Physical prototypes are used as conversation pieces to involve tenants and increase their acceptance for circular applications. In the fourth workpackage all findings are combined in a set of implementation strategies. High-quality data-collection is crucial for the project, since it will determine the nature of the materials for designing and manufacturing applications. In this proposal, additional resources are added to the project to take care of data-collection. Due to covid-19, project managers at Ymere and Rochdale must focus on day-to-day work to get ongoing and planned building projects done, reducing their time for data collection from previous projects. In addition, because of teleworking, non-digital data such as drawings and reports are not easily accessible. To enhance data-collection, student-assistants will be added to the project to survey ongoing renovation projects in the field.
Er wordt continu ‘reuzenarbeid’ verricht in het rivierengebied in het teken van hoogwaterbescherming, vaarwegbeheer, natuurontwikkeling en delfstoffenwinning. Bij veel van deze rivierprojecten maakt grondverzet het grootste deel uit. Het is onder andere bepalend voor de kosten, de CO2-footprint en de omgevingshinder van dergelijke projecten, en de ruimtelijke kwaliteit van het rivierlandschap. Slim omgaan met grond is daarom een sleutelfactor van duurzaam rivierbeheer. Het onderwerp heeft daarom een prominente plek in verschillende kennis- en innovatieagenda’s, zoals de KIA Landbouw, Voedsel en Water, de KIA Circulaire Economie, en de KIA van het Hoogwaterbeschermingsprogramma. Deze articuleren een behoefte aan praktijkgericht onderzoek dat bijdraagt aan verduurzaming en kostenreductie van grondverzet, zodat grondverzet in 2030 energieneutraal is, de kosten per m3 tussen 2020 en 2030 aanzienlijk gedaald zijn en dat er in 2030 een gezonde slibeconomie is voor circulair materiaalgebruik. Desondanks moet er nog heel wat water door de Rijn voordat bovenstaande ambities in de praktijk kunnen worden gehaald. Het doel van dit project is om praktische inzichten en tools voor duurzaam grondmanagement in riviergebieden te ontwikkelen. Een consortium van 22 partijen (publiek, privaat, kennis) zal onder leiding van HAN lectoraat Sustainable River Management praktijkgericht onderzoek doen ter ondersteuning van technisch managers, ontwerpers, risicomanagers, projectmanagers en beheerders van dijken en uiterwaarden. Door middel van o.a. materiaalonderzoek, ontwerpend onderzoek en evaluaties worden praktische handvatten ontwikkeld voor realisatiestrategieën voor grondstoffenwinning volgens het DNA van de rivier, en het bruikbaar maken van sediment en gebiedseigen grond voor toepassing in de dijkenbouw. Bovendien worden verbeterde werkwijzen en tools ontwikkeld voor het op riviertakniveau afstemmen van vraag en aanbod van delfstoffen in natuur- en dijkversterkingsprojecten in het rivierengebied. Hiermee levert het project een concrete bijdrage aan de invulling van het Grondstoffenakkoord en het Rijksprogramma ‘Nederland Circulair in 2050’.
