WIRES: A Methodology for Developing Workflow Applications

Workflow management systems are becoming a relevant support for a large class of business applications, and many workflow models as well as commercial products are currently available. While the large availability of tools facilitates the development and the fulfilment of customer requirements, workflow application development still requires methodological guidelines that drive the developers in the complex task of rapidly producing effective applications. In fact, it is necessary to identify and model the business processes, to design the interfaces towards existing cooperating systems, and to manage implementation aspects in an integrated way. This paper presents the WIRES methodology for developing workflow applications under a uniform modelling paradigm – UML modelling tools with some extensions – that covers all the life cycle of these applications: from conceptual analysis to implementation. High-level analysis is performed under different perspectives, including a business and an organisational perspective. Distribution, interoperability and cooperation with external information systems are considered in this early stage. A set of “workflowability” criteria is provided in order to identify which candidate processes are suited to be implemented as workflows. Non-functional requirements receive particular emphasis in that they are among the most important criteria for deciding whether workflow technology can be actually useful for implementing the business process at hand. The design phase tackles aspects of concurrency and cooperation, distributed transactions and exception handling. Reuse of component workflows, available in a repository as workflow fragments, is a distinguishing feature of the method. Implementation aspects are presented in terms of rules that guide in the selection of a commercial workflow management system suitable for supporting the designed processes, coupled with guidelines for mapping the designed workflows onto the model offered by the selected system.     

Automatic Generation of Language-based Tools

Many tools can be automatically derived from formal language definitions, such as compilers/interpreters, editors, analyzers, visualizers/animators, etc. Some examples of language-based tools generated automatically by the LISA system are described in the paper. In addition the specification of an algorithm animator and program visualizer, Alma, generated from an extended LISA input-grammar is discussed; LISA principles and code are reused in Alma implementation.     

Electrochemical reduction of perchlorate ions on platinum-activated nickel

The electrochemical reduction of perchlorate anion has been studied in a cell with a nickel working electrode and a platinum counter electrode in concentrated solutions of HClO₄. Significant reduction of perchlorate to chloride ions occurs on the nickel cathode in the potential region where hydrogen evolution occurs. It is shown that the mechanism of this process involves platinum deposited in small amounts on the cathode as a result of oxidation of the platinum anode in the perchloric acid solution. The reduction of perchlorate is accompanied by oxidation of the nickel cathode, which is attributed to chlorate ions formed in the initial step of perchlorate reduction. Changes in the surface structure of the nickel electrode have been followed using atomic force microscopy.     

Reliable indirect competitive ELISA used for a survey of ochratoxin A in green coffee from the North of Paraná State, Brazil.

The performance of an indirect competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ic-ELISA) based on a monoclonal antibody (mAb) for ochratoxin A (OTA) detection was evaluated in a comparative study with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis using 68 freshly harvested coffee samples from the North of Paraná State, Brazil. The anti-OTA mAb showed high specificity and low cross-reactivity with OTA analogues (OTB and OTalpha), but cross-reacted with OTC. This ic-ELISA showed a detection limit of 3.75 ngg-1 sample, when compared to 0.80 ngg-1 by HPLC, with an ic-ELISA/HPLC correlation coefficient of 0.90. As regards OTA analysis of these coffee samples, natural contamination was detected in 10 samples (14.7%) by both methods, where the ic-ELISA values (range 3.9-7.3 ngg-1) were 1.1 to 1.6-fold higher than HPLC data (2.7-4.7 ngg-1). Five samples (7.4%) were OTA positive (range 0.84-1.30 ngg-1) only by HPLC assay, probably due to the higher detection limit reached by ic-ELISA. OTA was undetectable in 53 samples (77.9%) by both methods, while all positive samples (range 0.84-7.30 ngg-1) showed OTA levels lower than 8 ngg-1 (maximum limit recommended by the European Union). The matrix interference of green coffee was minimized by dilution of sample extracts before carrying out the ELISA assay. This mAb-based ic-ELISA can be effectively applied for OTA screening in coffee, because it is simple, sensitive and sample preparation is easy.     

Current and future therapies for HCV infection: what should the end point for treatment be?

Based upon all of the available data relating to the natural history, chemical course, and response to therapy of HCV, the following recommendations are made: 1) The primary end point for HCV therapy should be HCV clearance from all tissue sites, eg plasma, liver and others 2) Therapy should be provided for patients with early infections as they have the best chance of achieving a virologic response 3) Therapy should be offered to patients with cirrhotic disease, as prevention of hepatic decompensation and degeneration to hepatic cancer is possible 4) End stage decompensated disease should be treated, particularly if liver transplantation is being considered, in an effort to either eliminate or ameliorate disease recurrence 5) Combination therapies are preferable to monotherapy as they enhance the likelihood of a therapeutic response. Some of these include agents that reduce the frequency of IFN-induced untoward events (NSAIDs) 6) The approach to HCV infection should be to view it as an infectious disease. In this way, multi-agent therapy could be used to prevent the emergence of drug resistant mutants as well as to obtain earlier clearance of the infection than is possible with monotherapy.     

Microstructure and domain configurations in ferroelectric PbTiO3 and Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin fims

Ferroelectric domain configurations in PbTiO₃ and Pb(Zr_xT_1−x)O₃ (PZT, x = 0.3 or 0.5) thin films have been studied by transmission electron microscopy. The PbTiOg and PZT thin films have been deposited by the ionized cluster beam technique and radio frequency sputtering, respectively. The grain size in these thin films is typically less than 0.5 μm. Lamellar 90°-domain features have been observed in both PbTiO₃ and PZT (30/70) samples. The domain walls correspond to the {011} twin boundaries. La-doping and Ca-modification are shown to affect the microstructure of the PZT films. No clear domain feature occurs in the PZT thin film that has composition near the morphotropic phase boundary. The effects of grain sizes are briefly discussed.     

Evidence against a direct role for the induction of c-jun expression in the mediation of drug-induced apoptosis in human acute leukemia cells

Previous reports have demonstrated that a variety of anticancer drugs, e.g., 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine (ara-C), mitoxantrone, etoposide, camptothecin, and cisplatin, induce the expression of c-jun oncogene in leukemic cells prior to producing internucleosomal DNA fragmentation and the morphological features of apoptosis. This has led to the impression that the induction of c-jun expression may be directly involved in the molecular signaling of the final common pathway of programmed cell death or apoptosis. In the present study, we examined the role of c-jun expression in three different settings of anticancer drug-induced apoptosis in human leukemic cells. First, exposure of human myeloid leukemia HL-60 cells to high-dose ara-C for 4 h produced internucleosomal DNA fragmentation preceded by c-jun induction. However, pretreatment of HL-60 cells with staurosporine, a protein kinase C inhibitor, repressed c-jun yet enhanced DNA fragmentation and apoptosis due to ara-C. Second, in human pre-B leukemia 697/BCL-2 cells which are transfected with the cDNA of the bcl-2 oncogene and overexpress p26BCL-2, although ara-C or mitoxantrone treatment caused greater c-jun induction than in the 697/neo cells, significantly reduced endonucleolytic DNA fragmentation and apoptosis was observed in 697/BCL-2 cells. Finally, taxol-induced internucleosomal DNA fragmentation and morphological features of apoptosis in HL-60 cells were not associated with the induction of c-jun expression. These lines of evidence indicate that the induction of c-jun expression may not have a direct role in the molecular signaling of anticancer drug-induced apoptosis, and that the anticancer drug-induced apoptosis can occur by a mechanism that does not involve the induction of c-jun expression.     

On the exterior crack with contact zones

The paper discusses the exterior crack with possible contact zones, and shows by an example that contact between the crack faces exists for most combinations of the stress resultants applied at infinity.     

Engaging strangers in proximal interaction: Infants' social initiative.

Observed 72 infants aged 12, 18, and 24 mo in the presence of their mothers and 2 adult female strangers to assess their willingness to initiate proximal interaction (PI) with unfamiliar adults. Mothers and strangers were asked to be warmly responsive to infant overtures but not to invite interaction from the infant. A majority of the infants at the 3 ages initiated PI with one or both strangers, often repeatedly. For those who engaged in 2 or more PI bouts with the strangers, a significant upward trend in bout duration and intensity was noted. Older infants gave more toys to the strangers and initiated more mutual play. Stranger–mother distance affected amount of proximity, not PI. Mother–stranger conversation was associated with less PI with the conversing stranger. At all ages infants sought more PI with their mothers than with the strangers. Although infants initiated an appreciable amount of PI with the strangers during the 40-min observation, comparison with other studies indicates that a stranger who takes the initiative by inviting play can establish more rapport much sooner. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

1H-NMR of the amidation of syndiotactic poly(methacrylic acid) with carbodiimide

Summary The reaction of syndiotactic poly(methacrylic acid) with dicyclohexylcarbodiimide in the presence of benzylamine yields syndiotactic methacrylic acid-methacryloyl-N-benzylamide copolymers. A limiting conversion to amide of about 62% and a tendency of alternation for the monomer units is observed by¹H-NMR. The amidation is accompanied by the formation of a smaller amount of cyclic imide as a side reaction. The imide portion can also be transformed into amide by a consecutive hydrolysis step.