Grid Computing Security - An Introduction

Grid computing is widely regarded as a technology of immense potential
in both industry and academia. The evolution pattern of grid technologies
is very similar to the growth and evolution of Internet technologies that
was witnessed in the early 1990s. Similar to the Internet, the initial grid
computing technologies were also developed mostly in the universities and
research labs to solve unique research problems and to collaborate between
different researchers across the globe. Recently, the high computing industries
like finance, life sciences, energy, automobiles, rendering, etc. are
showing a great amount of interest in the potential of connecting standalone
and silo based clusters into a department and sometimes enterprisewide
grid system. Grid computing is currently in the midst of evolving
standards, inheriting and customizing from those developed in the high
performance, distributed, and recently from the Web services community.
Due to the lack of consistent and widely used standards, several enterprises
are concerned about the implementation of an enterprise-level grid system,
though the potential of such a system is well understood. Even when the
enterprises have considered grid as a solution, several issues have made
them reconsider their decisions. Issues related to application engineering,
manageability, data management, licensing, security, etc. have prevented
them from implementing an enterprise-wide grid solution. As a technology,
grid computing has potential beyond the high performance computing
industries due to it's inherent collaboration, autonomic, and utility based
service behavior. To make this evolution possible all the above-mentioned
issues need to be solved. Some of the issues are technical and some of
them have business and economic overtones like the issue related to licensing.
Each of the issues mentioned above is important and deserves a close
look and understanding. In this post we will solely concentrate on the issue
related to grid computing security.
As an issue, security is perhaps the most important and needs close
understanding as grid computing offers unique security challenges. In this
blog we look at different security issues pertaining to the grid system;
some of them are of immediate concern and some are long term issues. We
will also look at security issues in other areas of computer science like
networks and operating systems which may affect the design of future
grids in the upcoming posts.

Bubble Memory

Magnetic bubble memory
Bubble memory is a sophisticated method of storing data that gets rid of the need for
moving parts such as are required in tape machines and disk drives. This type of memory
is used in large computer systems, because it allows the storage, retrieval, and
transfer of great quantities of data. The bits of data are stored as tiny magnetic fields, in
a medium that is made from magnetic film and semiconductor materials.
148 Magnetism
8-10 On recording tape, particles are magnetized in a pattern that follows
the modulating waveform.
A full description of the way bubble memory systems are made, and the way they
work, is too advanced. Bubble memory makes use of all the advantages of
magnetic data storage, as well as the favorable aspects of electronic data storage. Advantages
of electronic memory include rapid storage and recovery, and high density (a
lot of data can be put in a tiny volume of space). Advantages of magnetic memory include
nonvolatility (it can be stored for a long time without needing a constant current
source), high density and comparatively low cost.
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Internal conflict hampers debate on stem cells.

Internal conflict hampers debate on stem cells.

Emiliano Feresin

Stem-cell researchers in Italy are worried that a shake-up of the country's bioethics advisory body could hinder a balanced representation of their ethical position on embryonic stem-cell research.

Members of the National Bioethics Committee are nominated directly by the Italian prime minister, and have in the past been predominantly Catholic. The group expresses opinions on and suggests solutions to bioethical issues, and helps prepare legislation on relevant topics.

In October 2000, the committee, which at the time included a number of scientists and independent thinkers, expressed a favourable opinion toward embryonic stem-cell research. But in 2002, then prime minister Silvio Berlusconi renewed the committee, and since then there has been increasing conflict between its Catholic and secular members. Then in 2004, the parliament approved one of the most restrictive laws worldwide on stem-cell research.

Last year, the current prime minister, Romano Prodi, streamlined the committee from 52 to 40 members, and increased the percentage of women from 25% to almost 40%. The proportion of Catholic members remained at well over 50%.

Francesco Casavola has made big changes to the committee.E. OLIVERIO/AP

Prodi also appointed as the committee's president 76-year-old Francesco Casavola, a former president of Italy's supreme court, who is currently director of the Treccani Institute. Casavola, a moderate Catholic, appointed two secular members and one Catholic member as vice-presidents. They were Cinzia Caporale, a bioethicist and former president of the UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee; Elena Cattaneo, a stem-cell researcher at the University of Milan; and Luca Marini, a lecturer in European Union Law at the University of Rome La Sapienza.

The new committee was fractious from the start. Almost half its members advocated changing the voting system from a simple majority — perhaps to a system that describes, with justifications, the range of views across the committee. This is similar to the way in which the German National Ethics Council works. “Such a procedure encourages a constructive discussion and diminishes conflicts,” says Jens Reich, former deputy chair of the German group.

On 18 September, three members of the Italian committee wrote an internal memo criticizing what they called Casavola's unilateral way of making decisions. In particular, they criticized his decision to choose members of the influential public group Science and Life, which strongly opposes research on embryonic stem cells, as committee representatives on important national and international panels. For example, the committee's representative on the commission that is revising the reproductive-technology law is the president of Science and Life.

The letter was leaked to the press, and Casavola tendered his resignation. At the end of September, Prodi asked him to stay and ratified Casavola's proposal to replace the three vice-presidents with new ones: a rabbi, a Catholic who takes secular positions, and a member of Science and Life.

On 8 October, Casavola wrote in a letter to the committee that the former vice-presidents had not adequately defended him against growing criticism. Prodi's undersecretary Giampaolo D'Andrea, defending Casavola's decision to a parliamentary commission, said that there were “inner conflicts between the vice-presidents”, a point that members of the committee strongly contest.

The current situation worries Cattaneo. “Italian science needs to rise to the level of other European countries,” she says, “which means also having an institution able to make decisions that can strike an appropriate balance between medical benefits and justified ethical concerns of the nation.”

In what is likely to be a turbulent meeting on 26 October, the committee will have to produce advice about the time at which an embryo can be considered dead and could be used for research. “But with the current unbalanced representation,” says Carlo Redi, a stem-cell researcher and scientific adviser at the San Matteo Hospital in Pavia, “I can hardly imagine that there could be good news for science”.