Introduction to Iran's Judicial System

The function of the courts in the Iranian post-Islamic revolution constitutional law may be analyzed by reference to a number of different considerations of procedural reforms: the abolition of pre-revolution courts; the establishment of new courts such as the clerical and the revolutionary one; the matter of radical changes due to procedural criminal law aiming to "Islamicize" the judicial system; and the classes of situations in which court's jurisdiction may be raised. On the other hand, the introduction of Islamic decisive factors as the basis for judgments resulting in the obvious challenges to the international norms, the nature characteristics and effects of the remedies and sanctions they may award, and many other matters can be listed in the substantive evolutions. A comprehensive analysis would be unbearably wordy and recurring. However, a brief preliminary survey may help to provide a clearer image of the judiciary in Iran. Keywords: Iran; Human Rights; Islam; Judiciar

Abilities of European Court of Human Rights to protect environment from nuclear accidents

The aim of this study was to assess the abilities of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to adjudicate upon cases concerning violations to environment upraised from nuclear accidents. This was non-causal research, based on qualitative methods. With respect to information gathering, the document and library research process were employed, then qualitative method was applied to analyse the information, by which international rules governing the issue and related case law of ECtHR was studied, assessed and analysed. Findings indicated that ECtHR has accepted the environment rights by broad interpretation of article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). However, in the Court’s precedent, applications with no actual victim were not considered as violation in the convention. The latest approach taken by ECtHR, taking prevention principle into account, could improve its abilities to protect potential victims of violations caused by nuclear accidents due to environmental rights. In conclusion, despite some barriers against the complaint processes in the Court, new approach was recognised as a more protective one

Supporting User Query Relaxation in a Recommender System

Abstract. This paper presents a new technology for supporting flexible query management in recommender systems. It is aimed at guiding a user in refining her query when it fails to return any item. It allows the user to understand the culprit of the failure and to decide what is the best compromise to chose. The method uses the notion of hierarchical abstraction among a set of features, and tries to relax first the constraint on the feature with lowest abstraction, hence with the lightest revision of the original user needs. We have introduced this methodology in a travel recommender system as a query refinement tool used to pass the returned items by the query to a case-based ranking algorithm, before showing the query results to the user. We discuss the results of the empirical evaluation which shows that the method, even if incomplete, is powerful enough to assist the users most of the time.

Supracerebellar-supratrochlear and infratentorial-infratrochlear approaches: gravity-dependent variations of the lateral approach over the cerebellum

OBJECTIVE: Lateral supracerebellar-infratentorial approaches are established for lesions in ambient cistern and posterolateral midbrain, but published surgical experiences do not describe results with this approach in the sitting position. Gravity retraction of the cerebellum opens this surgical corridor and dramatically alters exposure, creating 2 variations of the lateral supracerebellar-infratentorial approach: the supracerebellar-supratrochlear approach and the infratentorial-infratrochlear approach. METHODS: We reviewed our experience treating cavernous malformations and arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) of the posteroinferior thalamus and posterolateral midbrain by use of supracerebellar-supratrochlear and infratentorial-infratrochlear approaches. Microsurgical technique, clinical data, radiographic features, and neurological outcomes were evaluated. RESULTS: During an 11-year surgical experience with 341 cavernous malformation patients and 402 AVM patients, 8 patients were identified, 6 with cavernous malformations and 2 with AVMs. Infratentorial-infratrochlear approaches were used in 4 patients (50%), including 3 with inferolateral midbrain cavernous malformations. Supracerebellar-supratrochlear approaches were used in 4 patients (50%), including 2 with posterior thalamic lesions surfacing on pulvinar. Resections were radiographically complete in all cases. There were no new, permanent neurological deficits, nor were there any medical or surgical complications. There has been no evidence of rebleeding or recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Gravity retraction of the cerebellum transforms the lateral supracerebellar-infratentorial approach, enhancing exposure and approach trajectories that can be achieved with patients in prone or lateral positions. The increased upward viewing angle of the supracerebellar-supratrochlear approach accesses the posteroinferior thalamus. The increased downward-viewing angle of the infratentorial-infratrochlear approach accesses cerebellomesencephalic fissure and posterolateral midbrain. These approaches open wide corridors for safe surgical resection of symptomatic cavernous malformations and AVMs

The azygos anterior cerebral artery bypass: double reimplantation technique for giant anterior communicating artery aneurysms

The authors introduce the azygos anterior cerebral artery (ACA) bypass as an option for revascularizing distal ACA territories, as part of a strategy to trap giant anterior communicating artery (ACoA) aneurysms. In this procedure, the aneurysm is exposed with an orbitozygomatic-pterional craniotomy and distal ACA vessels are exposed with a bifrontal craniotomy. The uninvolved contralateral A(2) segment of the ACA serves as a donor vessel for a short radial artery graft. The contralateral pericallosal artery (PcaA) and the callosomarginal artery (CmaA) are connected to the graft in the interhemispheric fissure using the double reimplantation technique. Three anastomoses create an azygos system supplying the entire ACA territory, enabling the surgeon to trap the aneurysm incompletely. Retrograde flow from the CmaA supplies the ipsilateral recurrent artery of Heubner, and the aneurysm lumen thromboses. The azygos bypass was successfully performed to treat a 47-year-old woman with a giant, thrombotic ACoA aneurysm supplied by the A(1) segment of the left ACA, with left PcaA and CmaA originating from the aneurysm base. The authors conclude that the azygos ACA bypass is a novel option for revascularizing PcaA and CmaA, as part of the overall treatment of giant ACoA aneurysms

Intelligent Query Management in a Mediator Architecture

This paper presents a new technology aimed at supporting the user in the process of building a query to a catalogue of products. It is shown how a mediator architecture can be extended to support the relaxation or tightening of query constraints when no or too many results are retrieved from the catalogue. This paper presents the architecture and the basic algorithms of this Intelligent Mediator. An application of this technology to a recommendation system for travel products selection is also illustrate

Feature selection methods for conversational recommender systems

This paper focuses on question selection methods for conversational recommender systems. We consider a scenario, where given an initial user query, the recommender system may ask the user to provide additional features describing the searched products. The objective is to generate questions/features that a user would likely reply, and if replied, would effectively reduce the result size of the initial query. Classical entropy-based feature selection methods are effective in term of result size reduction, but they select questions uncorrelated with user needs and therefore unlikely to be replied. We propose two feature-selection methods that combine feature entropy with an appropriate measure of feature relevance. We evaluated these methods in a set of simulated interactions where a probabilistic model of user behavior is exploited. The results show that these methods outperform entropy-based feature selection. 1