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Integrative conjugative elements (ICEs) are important carriers for disseminating resistance genes. We have previously reported a novel element ICEHpa1 carrying seven antibiotic resistance genes, which could be self-transmissible relying on the novel T4SS. To identify novel ICEHpa1 variants from 211 strains and novel T4SS encoded in ICEHpa1, and to explore the relationships in these ICEs, four complete sequences of ICEs were identified by WGS analysis and antimicrobial susceptibility testing was determined by broth microdilution. In addition, a comparative analysis of these ICEs was conducted with bioinformatic tools, and the transfer abilities of these ICEs were confirmed by conjugation. Four ICEHpa1 variants ICEGpa1818, ICEGpa1808, ICEGpa1807, and ICEGpa1815 with different resistance gene profiles were characterized, and their hosts showed different resistance spectrums. All ICEs shared the same backbone and were inserted into the tRNALeu site, and all resistance regions were inserted into the same target site between the accessory and integration regions. This study analyzed complete sequences of ICEs from the ICEHpa1 family and identified novel T4SS and insertion element ISGpa2. Diverse resistance genes extensively exist in these ICEs, serving as a reservoir for resistance genes and facilitating their dissemination.

A few studies in the maritime domain utilize participatory design (PD) in ship design workshops, however, none of them addresses a full picture of how PD can make changes in simulation-based maritime education. In this reflection paper, we answer how PD can help to foresight future skills in the maritime domain, especially on how to use simulators to support increasing competence of seafarers and in turn to redesign simulators to support maritime education. In this paper, we aim to uplift the experimental skills of current debate from normal science to a socially embedded marine technology, addressing collaborative and innovative research activities, to enable all participants (seafarers, trainers, technicians, authorities etc.) to share their experiences so a joint recognition of needed future skills can be reached. Along with the exchange of experiences, we assert that the supported simulations and simulator techniques could be designed to achieve sustainable growth for all participants as well as the upcoming digitalisation era in the maritime domain. This chapter will not be available due to copyright restrictions (c) 2019 by Western Norway University of Applied Sciences

A maritime simulator is a training and research platform for marine operations. Such simulators are frequently used to prepare marine operators for maritime industries in western Norway. Although maritime simulators were not developed with a focus on the cooperative work practices of marine operators, marine operators are in practice trained in cooperative groups. Hence, there is a distance between simulated training and actual work, which could lead to high risks in the workplace. Thus, this interpretative-based ethnographic study was conducted to investigate how marine operators work cooperatively with specific systems, such as dynamic positioning (DP) systems and automatic integration systems (AIS). The study also investigates how artefacts in the workspace on a ship’s bridge at sea could be used to help systems developers redesign maritime simulators. The study uses actor-network theory (ANT) and concepts from computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) such as awareness and computational artefacts to analyse the ways in which cooperative work is conducted. Three workshops were conducted on land with maritime systems developers to explore visualisation techniques so as to represent the ethnographic outcomes that are used to inform the design process. Thus, this study contributes insights from the CSCW field to the maritime domain by considering social aspects of cooperative work in engineering. This manuscript also contributes to design research by exploring the cooperative work of marine operators. Researchers may use the outcomes of this study as a resource as they work with system developers who are outside the informatics field. This work shows how academic contributions can be used in work practices by configuring relations between ethnographic outcomes and design to convince other professionals such as systems developers in the maritime domain. This study shows how to use insights from ANT and CSCW in a visualisation approach, thereby to include the cooperative work of marine operators in the design process. By allowing two different work practices – those of marine operators and systems developers – to meet together, this study contributes a supportive tool by adding a new mechanism for making sense of ethnographic outcomes beyond artificial simulations and experimental results. To implement the findings of this study, maritime project managers should consider that ethnographic outcomes provide good resources for designing simulators that resemble, as closely as possible, the systems that are used in reality. The development of such simulators requires the collaboration of ethnographers and systems developers, and such collaboration is badly needed in the current maritime industry. Only through such collaboration will it be possible to configure the relations between work practices and maritime simulators in the design process and thereby envision how the latter could better support work practices in the future.

A list of the eleven tested antimicrobials, their classes, their concentrations, and their breakpoints used for susceptibility testing of E. coli. (DOC 58Â kb)

Modern operating systems are increasingly complex and require a large number of individual subsystems and procedures; operators also must cooperate to make them function. In this paper the authors consider usability from a broad perspective based on this understanding, recognizing the challenges a team of operators, complex subsystems, and other technical aspects pose as they work together. It seeks to expand usability by adding insights from Computer- Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW)-based fieldwork in offshore operations. To contribute to the current usability literature, we investigated and analyzed through a network- based approach how operators, ship bridge hardware and software, and other physical environments work together. We propose a process for evaluating the usability of complex systems: field observation and interviews to determine how work is organized and executed by human and nonhuman actors and to identify whether additional artifacts are being used to supplement the nonhuman components. The use of those artifacts often identifies usability issues in complex systems. © UPA, (2015). Reprinted from Journal of Usability Studies, VOL 10, ISS 3, May 2015, http://www.upassoc.org

In the course TDT4501 - Specialization Project - ReqSec project , the preparatory course to this thesis, through purely analytical evaluation of the eight modeling approaches, the advantages and disadvantages were illustrated based on the categories - i*-based modeling approach and Use Case-based modeling approach.However, only a purely analytical evaluation of the modeling approaches does not alwaysreflect their practical usefulness. Hence, the [motivation] of the thesis was selecting two modeling approaches, those are Secure Tropos and Misuse Cases, using an empirical investigation for such evaluations to guide the researchers and practitioners a better overview and understanding of the benefits of the two modeling approaches in a real life usage. The objective was to see if the advantages claimed analytically in the previous project also come true in practice. [Questions] Through a controlled experiment, two core problems shall be investigated: a) How about the participants performance when they applied the two modeling approaches to finish tasks in the experiment and b) Their preference for the two modeling approaches after the experiment. The [principle] was using two modeling approaches to perform the experiment, through the participants performance on the identified number of threats and mitigations for the experiment cases, and their perception of the two modeling approaches by means of asking them to estimate the usage of modeling diagrams, textual description of cases, and memory in the experiment. And combining with the evaluation of post-questionnaire analysis, the conclusions were summarized based on the empirical study of statistical results and the previous analytical study results, to investigate whether the empirical evaluation could match well with analytical evaluation or not.[Contribution] The experiment project was the first time to compare the Secure Troposand Misuse Cases comprehensibly. The results illustrated that both modeling techniqueshad no significant difference of identifying threats but they had significant difference of identifying mitigations in this controlled experiment with 50 students who apply to both modeling approaches with relevant cases. And through analyzing the same case with the same modeling approach or different modeling approach of the experiment, it was found that Net Shopping case was identified more mitigations and threats by the participants when considering the aspect of technique criteria of threats and mitigations. The participants were complementary regarding goal-based modeling approach in some security issues and performed non-techniques threats and mitigations in this controlled experiment. Hence, Secure Tropos was investigated perceiving more favorable. In the last, comparing with the six dimensions from previous analytical comparison, the investigation shows that most of the two modeling approaches advantages were confirmed, and the results also coincided to the previous analytical evaluation.Keywords: Secure Tropos, Misuse Case, Empirical Study, Security Modeling