EC

Cloud computing has gained a lot of publicity in the current IT world. After the internet, Cloud computing is the next big thing in the computer world. Cloud computing is the use of the Internet for the tasks performed on the computer and it is the nextgeneration architecture of IT Industry. Cloud computing is related to different technologies and the convergence of various technologies has emerged to be called cloud computing. Cloud Computing moves the application software and databases to the large data centers, where the management of the data and services may not be fully trustworthy. This unique attribute, however, poses many new security challenges which have not been well understood. In this paper, we discuss the design mechanisms that not only protect sensitive data with encrypted data, but also protect customers from malicious behaviors by enabling the validation of the computation result.

The term ‘Method Champenois’ connects champagne to its rich history, geographical location and image. Few words evoke luxury and good cheer as much as champagne. Behind the bubbles is an international trade rivalry between the EU and the US to control the lucrative champagne market.

The battle lines concern champagne’s recognition as a 'geographical indication'; a type of intellectual property cited primarily in the Trade - Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights Agreement. The conflict is hotly contested. The EU claims the label champagne must only be used for sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region in France. The US counterclaims that champagne is a generic word describing the type of sparkling wine.

Nanotechnology, which deals with features as small as a 1 billionth of a meter, began to enter into mainstream physical sciences and engineering some 20 years ago. Recent applications of nanoscience include the use of nanoscale materials in electronics, catalysis, and biomedical research. Among these applications, strong interest has been shown to biological processes such as blood coagulation control and multimodal bioimaging, which has brought about a new and exciting research field called nanobiotechnology. Biotechnology, which itself also dates back ∼30 years, involves the manipulation of macroscopic biological systems such as cells and mice in order to understand why and how molecular level mechanisms affect specific biological functions, e.g., the role of APP (amyloid precursor protein) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). This review aims (1) to introduce key concepts and materials from nanotechnology to a non-physical sciences community; (2) to introduce several state-of-the-art examples of current nanotechnology that were either constructed for use in biological systems or that can, in time, be utilized for biomedical research; (3) to provide recent excerpts in nanotoxicology and multifunctional nanoparticle systems (MFNPSs); and (4) to propose areas in neuroscience that may benefit from research at the interface of neurobiologically important systems and nanostructured materials.

Much is spoken and written about the liberal nature of global trade and its relation to democracy and freedoms. Trade representatives of the transatlantic free trade agreement (TAFTA | TTIP) have talked about the importance of the negotiations being transparent, accountable, and participative. However, a number of leaked draft texts of other free trade agreements being negotiated by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) indicate that these promises are mostly empty. A leaked European Commission (EC) communiqué further evidences an attempt to establish a “mainstream media narrative” about the TAFTA | TTIP in order to reduce the “anxiety” of EU citizens and consumers. This article carefully analyzes the manners in which the negotiations of the TAFTA | TTIP are proving to be untransparent, lacking in participation, and unaccountable. The purpose of these analyses is not merely to present evidence that this is actually the case at hand, but also to clarify why transparency, accountability, and participation are crucial to the negotiations on transatlantic trade. Lastly, the article suggests that the TAFTA | TTIP negotiations learn from the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) Marrakesh Treaty, characterized as an "exemplary exercise of transparency, civil society participation, and multilateral cooperation".

The way in which organisms detect specific volatile compounds within their environment, and the associated neural processing which produces perception and subsequent behavioural responses, have been of interest to scientists for decades. Initially, most olfaction research was conducted using electrophysiological techniques on whole animals. However, the discovery of genes encoding the family of human olfactory receptors (ORs) paved the way for the development of a range of cellular assays, primarily used to deorphan ORs from mammals and insects. These assays have greatly advanced our knowledge of the molecular basis of olfaction, however, while there is currently good agreement on vertebrate and nematode olfactory signalling cascades, debate still surrounds the signalling mechanisms in insects. The inherent specificity and sensitivity of ORs makes them prime candidates as biological detectors of volatile ligands within biosensor devices, which have many potential applications. In the previous decade, researchers have investigated various technologies for transducing OR:ligand interactions into a readable format and thereby produce an olfactory biosensor (or bioelectronic nose) that maintains the discriminating power of the ORs in vivo. Here we review and compare the molecular mechanisms of olfaction in vertebrates and invertebrates, and also summarise the assay technologies utilising sub-tissue level sensing elements (cells and cell extracts), which have been applied to OR deorphanisation and biosensor research. Although there are currently no commercial, “field-ready” olfactory biosensors of the kind discussed here, there have been several technological proof-of-concept studies suggesting that we will see their emergence within the next decade.▶ Discovery of olfactory receptor (OR) genes facilitated novel cellular assays used to deorphan ORs. ▶ There is agreement on vertebrate olfactory signalling but debate surrounds signalling in insects. ▶ Here we review and compare the molecular mechanisms of olfaction in vertebrates and invertebrates. ▶ We also summarise assay technologies applied to OR deorphanisation and biosensor research. ▶ Proof-of-concept studies suggest that commercial olfactory biosensors will soon appear.

The increasing interest on the application of ionic liquids (ILs) to a wide range of processes and products has been hampered by a lack of toxicological data, mainly in what concerns novel cations, such as guanidinium, phosphonium, and functionalized and non-functionalized imidazolium-based ILs. The present study reports the toxicity of five guanidinium-, six phosphonium, and six imidazolium-based ILs, towards the luminescent marine bacteria Vibrio fischeri. These new results clearly show that guanidinium-, unlike the imidazolium- and phosphonium-based ILs, do not follow the trend of increasing toxicity with the increase in the alkyl chain length. Moreover, the introduction of oxygenated groups on the alkyl chains, such as ether and ester, leads to a decrease of the toxicity of guanidinium and also imidazolium compounds. In what respects the effect of the different cations, it is possible to recognize that the phosphonium-based ILs seem to be more toxic when compared to the analog imidazolium-based ILs (with the same anion and alkyl chains).► Toxicological profile of ILs towards Vibrio fischeri. ► Various ILs families guanidinium, phosphonium, and imidazolium tested. ► Two different established trends: “side chain effect” and “cut-off” effect. ► Decrease in toxicity with the oxygenation of the side chains. ► Affect of anion related with the elongation of the alkyl chains conjugated.

There has been a great deal of hype about Amazon’s simple storage service (S3). S3 provides infinite scalability and high availability at low cost. Currently, S3 is used mostly to store multi-media docu-ments (videos, photos, audio) which are shared by a community of people and rarely updated. The purpose of this paper is to demon-strate the opportunities and limitations of using S3 as a storage sys-tem for general-purpose database applications which involve small objects and frequent updates. Read, write, and commit protocols are presented. Furthermore, the cost ($), performance, and consis-tency properties of such a storage system are studied.

Protein Kinase C (PKC) is a family of serine/threonine kinases that play a central role in cellular signal transduction. The second messenger diacylglycerol having two long carbon chains acts as the endogenous ligand for the PKCs. Polyphenol curcumin, the active constituent of Curcuma longa is an anticancer agent and modulates PKC activity. To develop curcumin derivatives as effective PKC activators, we synthesized several long chain derivatives of curcumin, characterized their absorption and fluorescence properties and studied their interaction with the activator-binding second cysteine-rich C1B subdomain of PKCδ, PKCε and PKCθ. Curcumin (1) and its C16 long chain analog (4) quenched the intrinsic fluorescence of PKCδC1B, PKCεC1B and PKCθC1B in a manner similar to that of PKC activator 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA). The EC50s of the curcumin derivatives for fluorescence quenching varied in the range of 4-11 μM, whereas, EC50s for TPA varied in the range of 3-6 μM. Fluorescence emission maxima of 1 and 4 were blue shifted and the fluorescence anisotropy values were increased in the presence of the C1B domains similar to that shown by the fluorescent analog of TPA, sapintoxin–D, confirming that they were bound to the proteins. Molecular docking of 1 and 4 with novel PKC C1B revealed that both the molecules form hydrogen bonds with the protein residues. The present result shows that curcumin and its long chain derivatives bind to the C1B subdomain of novel PKCs and can be further modified structurally to improve its binding and activity.

Este estudo procurou investigar como a estrategia didatica da resolucao de situacoes-problema pode auxiliar no aprendizado de conceitos pelos alunos da 8a serie/ 9o ano do Ensino Fundamental de uma escola da rede Estadual de Calumbi, Pernambuco. Para isso, a partir das indicacoes propostas por Merieu (1998), foi elaborada, uma Situacao-problema, que teve sua tematica ligada ao efeito estufa. A obtencao dos dados foi feita usando, entre outros instrumentos, questionario impresso e entrevista semiestruturada (gravada em audio) com o professor de ciencias, e um questionario aplicado a dez alunos, apos a intervencao em sala de aula. A atividade realizada permitiu ao docente uma reflexao acerca do uso de situacoes-problema como estrategia didatica, alem de alguns aportes teoricos que fundamentam a abordagem de uso destas. As respostas dos alunos mostraram que houve de forma significativa a construcao do conhecimento em algum grau, como mostram os dados obtidos depois de analisados adequa...