Information Hiding Based on DNA Sequences

يعد أمن المعلومات مصدر قلق رئيسي، خاصة في ضوء التوسع السريع في استخدام الإنترنت في السنوات الأخيرة. نتيجة لهذا التوسع، كانت هناك حالات وصول غير قانوني، والتي تم تخفيفها من خلال اعتماد مجموعة متنوعة من بروتوكولات الاتصال الآمن، بما في ذلك التشفير وإخفاء البيانات. في السنوات الأخيرة، كانت هناك زيادة في استخدام الحمض النووي للتشفير وإخفاء البيانات كناقل، مع الاستفادة من قدراته الجزيئية الحيوية. في إخفاء البيانات. نتيجة لذلك، في نهج إخفاء البيانات، يتم استخدام قواعد الحمض النووي كناقل للمعلومات لتعزيز الأمن. يندمج علم إخفاء المعلومات والتشفير المستند إلى الحمض النووي بين السمات البيولوجية والتقنيات التقليدية من أجل تحقيق خوارزمية مؤمنة جيدًا تستغلها. لذلك، توفر تسلسلات الحمض النووي قدرة عالية على البيانات بما في ذلك الحفاظ على الخصائص الكيميائية والبيولوجية لتسلسل الحمض النووي.Information security is a major source of worry, especially in light of the rapid expansion of internet use in recent years. As a result of this expansion, there have been incidences of illegal access, which have been mitigated by the adoption of a variety of secure communication protocols, including encryption and data concealment. DNA's bio-molecular properties have seen an uptick in popularity as a carrier for cryptography and data hiding in recent years. when information needs to be hidden. Therefore, DNA bases are utilized as information carriers in the data concealing strategy to increase safety. DNA-based steganography and cryptography combine a biological property with conventional methods to provide an algorithm with increased security. Because of their ability to maintain their chemical and biological characteristics, DNA sequences also have a high data capacity

Are Market GM Plants an Unrecognized Platform for Bioterrorism and Biocrime?

This article discusses a previously unrecognized avenue for bioterrorism and biocrime. It is suggested that new gene editing technologies may have the potential to create plants that are genetically modified in harmful ways, either in terms of their effect on the plant itself or in terms of harming those who would consume foods produced by that plant. While several risk scenarios involving GMOs—such as antibiotic resistant pathogens, synthetic biology, or mixing of non-GMO seeds with GMO seeds—have previously have been recognized, the new vulnerability is rooted in a different paradigm—that of clandestinely manipulating GMOs to create damage. The ability to actively inflict diseases on plants would pose serious health hazards to both humans and animals, have detrimental consequences to the economy, and directly threaten the food supply. As this is the first study of this kind, the full scope and impact of suck attacks—especially those involving the intended misuse of technologies such as gene-drives—merits further investigation. Herein, the plausibility of some of the new risks will be analyzed by, (1) Highlighting ownership and origination issues (esp. of event-specific GM-plants) as unrecognized risk factors; (2) Investigating the unique role of GMOs, why—and how—certified GMOs could become a new venue for such attacks; (3) Analyzing possible dual-use potentials of modern technologies and research oriented toward the advancement of GMOs, plant breeding and crop improvement. The identification and analysis of harmful genetic manipulations to utilize (covertly modified) plants (GMOs and non-GMOs) as an attack vector show that these concerns need to be taken seriously, raising the prospect not only of direct harm, but of the more likely effects in generating public concern, reputational harm of agricultural biotechnology companies, law-suits, and increased import bans of certain plants or their derived products

Refinement and standardization of storage procedures for clonal crops. Global Public Goods Phase 2. Part 3: Multi-crop guidelines for developing in vitro conservation best practices for clonal crops

Among the collective actions of the World Bank-funded Global Public Goods Phase II Project (GPG2), the following collaborative activity: “Refinement and standardization of storage procedures for clonal crops” was given to the CGIAR’s In Vitro Genebanks, represented by the Clonal Crop Task Force (CCTF) composed of genetic resources research staff from the four centres: Bioversity International, CIAT, CIP and IITA. These hold the in trust collections of Musa, cassava, potato, sweetpotato, yam and Andean root and tuber crops (ARTCs). The overarching aims of this activity were to: (1) review the status of vitro conservation in the context of the GPG2 project with an emphasis on the mandated clonal crops; (2) survey the facilities, storage protocols and practices of CGIAR’s clonal crop genebanks; (3) collate and review this information with a view to developing quality and risk management systems to support the production and validation of multi-crop best practice guidelines. Outputs from this activity are designated as a three part ‘trilogy’: Part III, “Multi-crop guidelines for developing in vitro conservation best practices for clonal crops” is a compilation of quality and risk management best practices and guidelines from both plant and other bioresources communities. This collective knowledge provided the foundation for developing the GPG2 multi-crop best practice guidelines. They are compiled in two parts. Section I comprises general operational guidelines for quality and risk management in in vitro plant genebanks. Section II provides generic, multi-crop technical guidelines for the medium-term (slow growth) and long-term (cryopreservation) storage of crop germplasm held in In vitro active genebanks (IVAGs) and In vitro base genebanks (IVBGs) respectively

ACARORUM CATALOGUS IX. Acariformes, Acaridida, Schizoglyphoidea (Schizoglyphidae), Histiostomatoidea (Histiostomatidae, Guanolichidae), Canestrinioidea (Canestriniidae, Chetochelacaridae, Lophonotacaridae, Heterocoptidae), Hemisarcoptoidea (Chaetodactylidae, Hyadesiidae, Algophagidae, Hemisarcoptidae, Carpoglyphidae, Winterschmidtiidae)

The 9th volume of the series Acarorum Catalogus contains lists of mites of 13 families, 225 genera and 1268 species of the superfamilies Schizoglyphoidea, Histiostomatoidea, Canestrinioidea and Hemisarcoptoidea. Most of these mites live on insects or other animals (as parasites, phoretic or commensals), some inhabit rotten plant material, dung or fungi. Mites of the families Chetochelacaridae and Lophonotacaridae are specialised to live with Myriapods (Diplopoda). The peculiar aquatic or intertidal mites of the families Hyadesidae and Algophagidae are also included.Publishe

Pathways to Online Hate: Behavioural, Technical, Economic, Legal, Political & Ethical Analysis.

The Alfred Landecker Foundation seeks to create a safer digital space for all. The work of the Foundation helps to develop research, convene stakeholders to share valuable insights, and support entities that combat online harms, specifically online hate, extremism, and disinformation. Overall, the Foundation seeks to reduce hate and harm tangibly and measurably in the digital space by using its resources in the most impactful way. It also aims to assist in building an ecosystem that can prevent, minimise, and mitigate online harms while at the same time preserving open societies and healthy democracies. A non-exhaustive literature review was undertaken to explore the main facets of harm and hate speech in the evolving online landscape and to analyse behavioural, technical, economic, legal, political and ethical drivers; key findings are detailed in this report

Development and modernization of the legal systems of eastern Europe: experience of Poland and prospects of Ukraine

The exploration of the complex of causes and conditions conducive to terrorism are often being overlooked. In other words, outside laws’ active influence is the issue of determinism and determinants. The ignorance or concealment of the deterministic mechanism of terrorism, its nature and essence might result in the incorrect and counter-productive formation of norms or distortion in the object of regulation of law. This article is devoted to justification the application of determinism into law and the formation of a pioneering deterministic approach that is completely grounded on the analysis of determinism and determinants of terrorism. It creates a basis for discovering how the evaluation of terrorism via the «determinism» comprehension can serve as a powerful instrument towards the improvement and optimization of law-making (in terms of effectiveness) in the area of anti-terrorism Law at the International and EU, domestic levels. The findings will have both theoretical and practical aspects. It offers a profound analysis of the specificity of terrorism deterministic mechanism. 57 The criteria for the international legal evaluation of terrorism and its objectivity and adequacy/clarity will be elaborated in order to avoid norms distortion and eclecticism. The clarity of legal provisions provides us with an opportunity to influence the determinants of terrorism at an International and EU Law levels and vice versa: the enhanced Law will be capable of regulating it and with the prospect of eradicating the incentives of terrorism. Hence, the innovative approach covering both the advancement in the lawmaking phase and its efficient enforcement in International and domestic law that is the most fundamental contributions in the field. Thus, this is a pioneering study of terrorism through the «prism» of determinism with the practical application of its results into International as well as EU Law

Vagueness as a political strategy: weasel words in security council resolutions relating to the second gulf war

Over the last few years the diplomatic language of UN resolutions has repeatedly been questioned for the excessive presence of vagueness. In an era of expanding international contacts between different legal systems, international institutions such as the UN are constantly faced with the need to overcome cultural divergences of their recipient countries. In order to meet these requirements, UN diplomatic texts may use vague words quite extensively. Such terms, whose meaning is very flexible, variable and strictly dependent on context and interpretation, have been defined by Mellinkoff (1963: 21) as “weasel words”. The use of vague terms could be connected to the genre of diplomatic texts, as resolutions should be applicable to every international contingency. However, excessive vagueness could also lead to biased or even strategically-motivated interpretations of resolutions, undermining their legal impact and triggering conflicts instead of diplomatic solutions. This doctoral thesis is based on two main research aims: A first section aims at investigating on whether the use of strategic vagueness in Security Council resolutions relating to Iraq has contributed to the breakout of the second Gulf war instead of a diplomatic solution of the controversy. Using the qualitative Discourse-Historical approach (Wodak 2000) and quantitative analysis tools (Antconc and Sketch Engine), special attention is given to the historical/political consequences of vagueness used in that framework, and to the study of vague ‘weasel words’ (Mellinkoff 1963), modals, and adjectives contained in the corpus. The hypothesis of intentional vagueness is further reinforced through an analysis of the American legislation related to the outbreak of the war, to reveal how the U.S. has interpreted UN legislation and to understand the purposes and consequences of vague language contained in it. A second section of the study was originated by the desire to understand whether the same patterns would be used in resolutions relating to the Iranian 2010 nuclear crises revealing a relationship between the choice of vague linguistic features and intent to use intentional vagueness as a political strategy. The findings indicate that: - Vagueness in resolutions has triggered the Iraqi conflict instead of diplomatic solutions. - Similar patterns can also be found in resolutions relating to the Iranian 2010 nuclear crises: although being less vague than the resolutions relating to Iraq in order to avoid the same historical consequences, the legislation related to the Iranian nuclear controversy still suggests the UN intentional use of some vague linguistic patterns as a political strategy

Benign Environment and Safe Food

The proceedings give an overview of the current status of organic agriculture and organic agriculture research in Asia