Data security issues in cloud scenarios

The amount of data created, stored, and processed has enormously increased in the last years. Today, millions of devices are connected to the Internet and generate a huge amount of (personal) data that need to be stored and processed using scalable, efficient, and reliable computing infrastructures. Cloud computing technology can be used to respond to these needs. Although cloud computing brings many benefits to users and companies, security concerns about the cloud still represent the major impediment for its wide adoption. We briefly survey the main challenges related to the storage and processing of data in the cloud. In particular, we focus on the problem of protecting data in storage, supporting fine-grained access, selectively sharing data, protecting query privacy, and verifying the integrity of computations

Elaboração, cinética de secagem e caracterização físico-química e tecnológica de massas alimentícias.

Massa alimentícia é um alimento popularmente consumido em vários países. A utilização de ingredientes que alteram a cor, o sabor, o aroma e o conteúdo nutricional das massas alimentícias é uma boa alternativa para fabricação de um produto com características sensoriais e nutricionais atraentes ao consumidor. Todavia, os fatores temperatura, embalagem e tempo de armazenamento podem afetar a manutenção das características destes produtos. Diante disso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi elaborar, avaliar a cinética de secagem e analisar as características físico-químicas e tecnológicas destes produtos. Para isso, massas alimentícias de 16 sabores foram armazenadas em embalagens transparentes e metalizadas e as cinéticas de variação global de cor (ΔE) foram acompanhadas ao longo da vida útil (120 dias). Além disso, foram realizadas as caracterizações físico-química e tecnológica após a fabricação e no final da vida útil dos produtos. A massa alimentícia de espinafre armazenada em embalagem transparente foi a que apresentou o maior valor de ΔE em relação aos demais sabores no final dos 120 dias. Posteriormente, esta massa foi elaborada, submetida à secagem nas temperaturas de 35, 45, 55, 65 e 75 °C, até no máximo 11% de umidade e, por fim, os produtos foram caracterizados quanto a cor, atividade de água, pH, acidez total titulável, umidade, textura, carotenoides totais, atividade antioxidante (ABTS e DPPH), compostos fenólicos, clorofila total, cinzas e quanto a qualidade tecnológica (tempo de cozimento, absorção de água, expansão de volume e perda de sólidos solúveis). Os modelos de Henderson e Pabis, Lewis e Page foram ajustados aos dados experimentais de cinética de secagem e o consumo energético do processo foi monitorado no decorrer do tempo de secagem. A função desejabilidade foi utilizada a fim de escolher a temperatura ótima de secagem. O modelo de Page foi o que melhor representou o processo de secagem, apresentando os maiores valores de R²adj e menores valores de erro padrão da regressão. Todas as massas alimentícias obtidas das diferentes temperaturas de secagem apresentaram teor de umidade entre a faixa de 10 a 11%, conforme preconiza a legislação brasileira. O valor da desejabilidade global foi de 0,44, resultando, assim, na temperatura ótima de secagem de 52 ºC

Open world reasoning in semantics-aware access control: A preliminary study

We address the relationships between theoretical foundations of Description Logics and practical applications of security-oriented Semantic Web techniques. We first describe the advantages of semantics-aware Access Control and review the state of the art; we also introduce the basics of Description Logics and the novel semantics they share. Then we translate the principle underlying the Little House Problem of DL into a real-world use case: by applying Open World Reasoning to the Knowledge Base modelling a Virtual Organization, we derive information not achievable with traditional Access Control methodologies. With this example, we also show that a general problem such as ontology mapping can take advantage of the enhanced semantics underlying OWL Lite and OWL DL to handle under-specified concepts

Development of lens opacities with peculiar characteristics in patients affected by thalassemia major on chelating treatment with deferasirox (ICL670) at the Pediatric Clinic in Monza, Italy.

About the 11–14% of patients with thalassemia major (TM) treated with deferasirox (DFO) develops retinopathy and/or lens opacities with an unclear pathogenesis but with a clear age related pattern.[1][1],[2][2] Possible causes can be either iron overload itself or DFO toxicity, with variou

A single liver metastasis from pleural biphasic mesothelioma

Virtually any malignancy can metastasize to the liver. Large solitary metastases are rare and can be difficult to distinguish from primary tumors. Malignant mesothelioma is often considered as a locally invasive cancer but tumor dissemination to extra-thoracic sites is possible, and the liver can be involved. Herein, we present a rare case of pleural mesothelioma with a solitary large liver metastasis diagnosed postmortem in a ninety-two-year-old man with 35 years of exposure to asbestos. Results of immunohistochemical staining of the pleural and liver tumor were similar, both positive for low-molecular weight keratins, calretinin, vimentin, and podoplanin, and negative for Claudin-4, TTF1, CEA, BerEP4, CK7, CK19, CK20, BAP1, Hep Par1, p40, and WT1. Fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) for p16/CDKN2A was also performed and a homozygous deletion was detected in both tumors, supporting the diagnosis of mesothelioma. Reporting this case, we would like to point out that extra-thoracic dissemination from pleural mesothelioma, even if exceptional, can occur. In cases where differential diagnoses are challenging, the value of ancillary techniques and a practical approach to diagnostic work-up is of primary importance

Autologous stem cell transplantation for aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas

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Are Italian medical societies bridging the distance from citizen and patients? associations? Results of a survey.

Introduction. In the framework of PartecipaSalute ? an Italian research project aimed to involve lay people, patients? associa- tions and scientific-medical representatives on the health debate ? we carried out a survey with the Italian Federation of Medical Societies. The aims of the survey were to know medical socie- ties attitude vs. patients involvement in research activities and healthcare setting and to find out possible projects conducted in partnership with patients associations. Results. A web-questionnaire with 17 closed questions, and three open questions has been prepared on the basis of some experiences published on the literature and through the col- laboration of members of the Italian Federation of Medical Societies. A total of 205 medical societies has been contacted by e-mail with a cover letter explaining the aims of the survey. At the end 74 medical societies completed the survey. Medical societies participating to the survey varied widely in terms of years of activity, number of members, and geographical distri- bution. Remarkably, 36 medical societies respondent organized collaborative initiatives with patients/consumers associations during the last three years. Among these, the most frequent were the preparation of written material for patients, organiza- tion of conferences or workshops, and health awareness cam- paigns. Moreover, 6 medical societies published documents on patients? rights but patients or their associations were involved in only 2 of these initiatives. Advantages and disadvantages reported by medical societies answering are also presented and discussed. Conclusions. In conclusion, to our knowledge this is the first survey on the value of patients? involvement conducted together with medical societies in Italy, and the results point the way to stronger collaboration in future between patients? associations and medical societies

Privacy in Microdata Release: Challenges, Techniques, and Approaches

Releasing and disseminating useful microdata while ensuring that no personal or sensitive information is improperly exposed is a complex problem, heavily investigated by the scientific community in the past couple of decades. Various microdata protection approaches have then been proposed, achieving different privacy requirements through appropriate protection techniques. This chapter discusses the privacy risks that can arise in microdata release and illustrates some well-known privacy-preserving techniques and approaches

Supporting Users in Cloud Plan Selection

Cloud computing is a key technology for outsourcing data and applications to external providers. The current cloud market offers a multitude of solutions (plans) differing from one another in terms of their characteristics. In this context, the selection of the right plan for outsourcing is of paramount importance for users wishing to move their data/applications to the cloud. The scientific community has then developed different models and tools for capturing users\u2019 requirements and evaluating candidate plans to determine the extent to which each of them satisfies such requirements. In this chapter, we illustrate some of the existing solutions proposed for cloud plan selection and for supporting users in the specification of their (crisp and/or fuzzy) needs