Consent for processing children’s personal data in the EU: following in US footsteps?

With the recent adoption of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the European Union (EU) assigned a prominent role to parental consent in order to protect the personal data of minors online. For the first time, the GDPR requires parental consent before information society service providers can process the personal data of children under 16 years of age. This provision is new for Europe and faces many interpretation and implementation challenges, but not for the US, which adopted detailed rules for the operators that collect personal information from children under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) almost two decades ago. The article critically assesses the provisions of the GDPR related to the consent of minors, and makes a comparative analysis with the requirements stipulated in the COPPA in order to identify pitfalls and lessons to be learnt before the new rules in the EU become applicable.     

Information provision for challenging markets: The case of the accessibility requiring market in the context of tourism

The paper investigates the requirements of users with disabilities and the implications that these tourists have for developing accessible tourism information systems. A series of focus groups and interviews revealed the informational needs of people with disabilities, as well as the relevant technical difficulties involved in addressing these needs. The results indicated that the indispensable requirements include the following: (1) the veto or absolutely minimal prerequisites principle; (2) an indication of holistic accessibility paths; and (3) door-to-door access maps. The technical challenges identified focus on interoperability, content integration and personalization. The paper concludes by demonstrating how the tourism industry can overcome these challenges and address disabled travelers’ needs.     

Implantable Organic Electronic Ion Pump Enables ABA Hormone Delivery for Control of Stomata in an Intact Tobacco Plant

Electronic control of biological processes with bioelectronic devices holds promise for sophisticated regulation of physiology, for gaining fundamental understanding of biological systems, providing new therapeutic solutions, and digitally mediating adaptations of organisms to external factors. The organic electronic ion pump (OEIP) provides a unique means for electronically‐controlled, flow‐free delivery of ions, and biomolecules at cellular scale. Here, a miniaturized OEIP device based on glass capillary fibers (c‐OEIP) is implanted in a biological organism. The capillary form factor at the sub‐100 µm scale of the device enables it to be implanted in soft tissue, while its hyperbranched polyelectrolyte channel and addressing protocol allows efficient delivery of a large aromatic molecule. In the first example of an implantable bioelectronic device in plants, the c‐OEIP readily penetrates the leaf of an intact tobacco plant with no significant wound response (evaluated up to 24 h) and effectively delivers the hormone abscisic acid (ABA) into the leaf apoplast. OEIP‐mediated delivery of ABA, the phytohormone that regulates plant's tolerance to stress, induces closure of stomata, the microscopic pores in leaf's epidermis that play a vital role in photosynthesis and transpiration. Efficient and localized ABA delivery reveals previously unreported kinetics of ABA‐induced signal propagation.     

Composites of novel biodegradable copolyamides based on adipic acid, 1,6-hexane diamine,and L-glycine with short E-glass fibers. II. Preparation and properties

A study was conducted on the preparation of composite materials based on novel biodegradable copolyamides reinforced with E glass fibers by using the hand lay-up technique. Differential thermal analysis (DTA) and wide angle x-ray diffraction patterns were employed for investigating the effect of transcrystallinity on percentage crystallinity of composites. The thermal properties of composites (T_g and T_m) were determined with DTA and dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer (DMTA) measurements. Void fractions were evaluated from density measurements and correlated to glass fiber contents. The stress–strain curves and compression strength measurements were recorded and correlated with the glass fiber content, void content, and the percentage amino acid content of the copolymers. Although high α-amino acid contents caused a decrease in T_g and T_m and the tensile strength of copolyamides, the introduction of glass fibers was found to counterbalance this effect by initiating an increase in the percentage crystallinity. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The effect of preparation method on the catalytic activity of amorphous aluminas in ethanol dehydration

The known heterogeneous catalytic dehydration of ethanol on amorphous aluminium oxide samples was adopted as a measure of catalytic activity and selectivity. The aluminium oxide samples were prepared by hydrolysis of aluminium chloride using propylamine, as proton acceptor, in pure and mixed aqueous ethanolic and acetonic media, freeze dried and activated. The catalytic activity and selectivity of the samples was measured in the temperature range 623–698 K for various flow rates of ethanol. The apparent activation energies were calculated (53–78 kJ mol^?1) and depended on the solvent used in the preparation of the aluminas. The effect of solvent medium on the activity and selectivity was discussed. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry     

The impact of the retention of traffic and location data on the internet user

Summary  The data retention directive brings along both promise and peril, while it is not clear which will prevail. The wording of the directive allows for broad interpretation at several points during its implementation in the national legislations of the Member States. Upper goal of the directive was the fight against terrorism and organised crime and the collection of semi-permanent storage of data makes it definitely possible to capture some criminals, especially if their communication consists mainly in email traffic and the servers used are located within the European Union. In this paper we have discussed possibilities and methods to achieve a similar high rate of identification with less privacy invading techniques, like it is the case in web surfing. In addition, we listed a number of threats that are imminent due to the amount and types of data collected, which can turn against every Internet user, by disclosing their private communication and social networks to the public. Finally we have shown that the circumvention of the effect of the directive is possible for technically educated people and technologically savvy criminals, thus rendering it practically ineffective against them.

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Zusammenfassung  Die Autoren diskutieren die Vorratsdatenspeicherung kritisch vor dem Hintergrund der Auswirkungen auf die „durchschnittlichen“ Internet-User.

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Lexi Pimenidis Researcher at RWTH Aachen University on Computer Science, specialized in Privacy, Communication, and IT-Security

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Eleni Kosta Legal researcher, ICRI — K.U.Leuven Eleni is conducting research on privacy and data protection, focusing on electronic communications and new technologies     

Säulen griechischer Tempel unter Erdbebenbeanspruchung

Columns of Greek Temples under seismic loading: Columns of ancient Greek Temples consist of accurately dressed individual blocks in total absence on binding mortars. The seismic response of such multi‐drum structures is completely different than the corresponding one of modern continuous structures. Their stability is governed by independent sliding and rocking of drums, which creates an external energy absorption mechanism. This paper presents numerical studies on the dynamic behaviour of ancient columns which exhibits a highly non‐linear response. Alternative modeling methods are used and calibrated to experimental results. It is concluded that ancient columns may be less vulnerable to seismic events compared to modern structures. The perfection of the form unified esthetical, architectural and structural requirements.     

Copper and zinc concentrations in serum of healthy Greek adults

Serum copper and zinc concentrations of 506 (414 males and 92 females) apparently healthy Greek blood donors aged 18-60 years old were determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The mean copper and zinc concentrations were 115.46+/-23.56 microg/dl and 77.11+/-17.67 microg/dl, respectively. The mean value for copper and zinc in females was higher than in males, although the difference for zinc was smaller than the one observed for copper. When the subjects were divided into various age groups there appeared to be some increase in copper concentration as a function of age, whereas zinc concentration did not change. There were no significant variations in serum copper and zinc concentrations due to place of residence, occupation and socioeconomic status. This study is the first one evaluating the serum status of copper and zinc in healthy Greeks and it has shown that they are at the highest concentration range for copper and the lowest for zinc compared to literature data on copper and zinc levels for various countries.     

Selenium content in selected foods from the Greek market and estimation of the daily intake

The total selenium content of foods purchased from the North West part of Greece was determined using hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectroscopy. The results of this study were within the range from other countries. The overall mean average of selenium concentration of the foods examined, in decreasing order, was found in sesame seeds (783.1 ng g(-1)), fish (246 ng g(-1)), legumes (162.5 ng g(-1)), eggs (123 ng g(-1)), bread (91.9 ng g(-1)), meat (71.7 ng g(-1)), cheese (69.8 ng g(-1)), yoghurt (23.6 ng g(-1)), nuts (19.6 ng g(-1)), milk (15.4 ng g(-1)), vegetables (6.5 ng g(-1)) and fruits (3.4 ng g(-1)). Considering the average daily individual consumption of these foods by Greeks, the average daily dietary intake of selenium supplied by this source is 39.3 microg per capita.     

Refractoriness in Poisson and Gaussian First-order Neural Nets with Chemical Markers

In this work first order probabilistic Poisson and Gaussian neural nets with chemical markers are investigated, analytically and by computer simulations. The investigation of steady-state behavior of these systems is extended here to systems in which the refractory period is assigned to be 1 for all or some of the subpopulations of the net, whereas the remainder are characterized by zero refractory periods. The interest is focused on the effects of refractoriness on the neural activities. Results obtained show the existence of several critical points at high initial activities, which are a consequence of the nonzero refractory periods. For these points a larger initial activity, above a certain critical level, results in the reduction of activity to a lower stable steady-state, instead of the highest one. We also find that in the Gaussian nets each critical point is lower than the corresponding one as in the Poisson nets. Finally, a discussion of the results is made.