Fine-grained access control via policy-carrying data

W. W. Vasconcelos acknowledges the support of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, UK) within the research project “Scrutable Autonomous Systems” (SAsSY, http://www.scrutable-systems.org, Grant ref. EP/J012084/1). Also in: Journal ACM Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems (TRETS) - Special Section on FCCM 2016 and Regular Papers TRETS Homepage archive Volume 11 Issue 1, March 2018 Article No. 31 ACM New York, NY, USAPeer reviewedPostprin

Picturing the nation : The Celtic periphery as discursive other in the archaeological displays of the museum of Scotland

Using the archaeological displays at the Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, this paper examines the exhibition as a site of identity creation through the negotiations between categories of same and Other. Through an analysis of the poetics of display, the paper argues that the exhibition constructs a particular relationship between the Celtic Fringe and Scottish National identity that draws upon the historical discourses of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland as a place and a time \u27apart\u27. This will be shown to have implications for the display of archaeological material in museums but also for contemporary understandings of Scottish National identity. <br /

Normative design using inductive learning

In this paper we propose a use-case-driven iterative design methodology for normative frameworks, also called virtual institutions, which are used to govern open systems. Our computational model represents the normative framework as a logic program under answer set semantics (ASP). By means of an inductive logic programming approach, implemented using ASP, it is possible to synthesise new rules and revise the existing ones. The learning mechanism is guided by the designer who describes the desired properties of the framework through use cases, comprising (i) event traces that capture possible scenarios, and (ii) a state that describes the desired outcome. The learning process then proposes additional rules, or changes to current rules, to satisfy the constraints expressed in the use cases. Thus, the contribution of this paper is a process for the elaboration and revision of a normative framework by means of a semi-automatic and iterative process driven from specifications of (un)desirable behaviour. The process integrates a novel and general methodology for theory revision based on ASP.Comment: Theory and Practice of Logic Programming, 27th Int'l. Conference on Logic Programming (ICLP'11) Special Issue, volume 11, issue 4-5, 201

Anosmia impairs homing orientation but not foraging behaviour in free-ranging shearwaters

Shearwaters deprived of their olfactory sense before being displaced to distant sites have impaired homing ability but it is unknown what the role of olfaction is when birds navigate freely without their sense of smell. Furthermore, treatments used to induce anosmia and to disrupt magneto-reception in displacement experiments might influence non-specific factors not directly related to navigation and, as a consequence, the results of displacement experiments can have multiple interpretations. To address this, we GPS-tracked the free-ranging foraging trips of incubating Scopoli's shearwaters within the Mediterranean Sea. As in previous experiments, shearwaters were either made anosmic with 4% zinc sulphate solution, magnetically impaired by attachment of a strong neodymium magnet or were controls. We found that birds from all three treatments embarked on foraging trips, had indistinguishable at-sea schedules of behaviour and returned to the colony having gained mass. However, we found that in the pelagic return stage of their foraging trips, anosmic birds were not oriented towards the colony though coastal navigation was unaffected. These results support the case for zinc sulphate having a specific effect on the navigational ability of shearwaters and thus the view that seabirds consult an olfactory map to guide them across seascapes

The potential role of environmentally associated DNA methylation in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia subtypes

\ua9 2025 The Author(s). International Journal of Cancer published by John Wiley &amp; Sons Ltd on behalf of UICC.Various genetic aberrations are suggested to initiate the development of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) but alone are insufficient for disease onset. Epigenetic alteration, such as DNA methylation changes, plays a key role in human health. Evidence suggests DNA methylation may be an intermediate mechanism through which the environment contributes to ALL manifestation. ALL is categorized into subtypes based on leukaemia-associated genetic events, and it is plausible that different exposures pose differing risks for given subtypes. Using our previously established meet-in-the-middle approach, we performed CpG-level analysis to investigate DNA methylation as an intermediate mechanism between risk exposures and ALL. Differentially methylated CpGs (DMCs) were integrated, identifying overlapping methylation, with hypergeometric tests used to assess the probability of concurring methylation considering directionality. DMC analysis reinforced previous gene-level findings suggesting altered DNA methylation associated with maternal radiation exposure, alcohol intake, and plasma folate during pregnancy is also present in the disease. Whilst maternal folate-associated and leukaemia-associated methylation appear consistent across most subtypes, the effect of other exposures appears subtype-specific. We suggest environmentally associated methylation includes driver and/or ‘navigator’ changes, the latter influencing biological pathways contributing to ALL. This analysis aids understanding of which risk factors may contribute to specific subtypes or which influence ALL risk more generally