PORGY: a Visual Analytics Platform for System Modelling and Analysis Based on Graph Rewriting

PORGY is a visual environment for rule-based modelling based on port graphs and port graph rewrite rules whose application is steered by rewriting strategies. The focus of this demonstration is the visual and interactive features offered by PORGY, which facilitate an exploratory approach to model, simu- late and analyse different ways of applying the rules while recording the model evolution, as well as tracking and plotting system parameters

The Asian Drivers and Africa: Learning from Case Studies

When the OECD Development Centre launched research in 2005 to document the economic, political and social impacts of China's and India's economic growth on sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, the arrival (or resurgence) of new important players had triggered concerns among traditional donors. Accusations ran from free riding on Western debt relief over violation of governance standards and unfair company competition to fragmentation of aid delivery. At the same time, there was a tendency to neglect the diversity of SSA in terms of resource endowments, trade links and industrial development. It was time then to promote African voices from various backgrounds to reflect Africa's heterogeneity. The introductory section presents a summary of findings about the economic impact of the two Asian giants in SSA countries by Africa-based economists, with three practical conclusions. First, African countries should favour strategies that minimise areas of direct competition with the Asian giants. Second, industrialisation strategies are required to exploit opportunities complementary to the Asian development path. Third, sectors of mutual interest should be identified in order to develop long-term views on how to cooperate with China and India and these views should be mainstreamed into national development plans

Reconstruction of Schiaparelli and Comars Flight Data

ESA recently flew an entry, descent, and landing demonstrator module called Schiaparelli that entered the atmosphere of Mars on the 19th of October, 2016. The instrumentation suite included heatshield and backshell pressure transducers and thermocouples (known as AMELIA) and backshell radiation and direct heatflux-sensing sensors (known as COMARS and ICOTOM). Due to the failed landing of Schiaparelli, only a subset of the flight data was transmitted before and after plasma black-out. The goal of this paper is to present comparisons of the flight data with calculations from NASA simulation tools, DPLR/NEQAIR and LAURA/HARA. DPLR and LAURA are used to calculate the flowfield around the vehicle and surface properties, such as pressure and convective heating. The flowfield data are passed to NEQAIR and HARA to calculate the radiative heat flux. Comparisons will be made to the COMARS total heat flux, radiative heat flux and pressure measurements. Results will also be shown against the reconstructed heat flux which was calculated from an inverse analysis of the AMELIA thermocouple data performed by Astrium. Preliminary calculations are presented in this abstract. The aerodynamics of the vehicle and certain as yet unexplained features of the inverse analysis and forebody data will be investigated

Bilateral Multi-Electrode Neurophysiological Recordings Coupled to Local Pharmacology in Awake Songbirds

Here we describe a protocol for bilateral multielectrode neurophysiological recordings during intracerebral pharmacological manipulations in awake songbirds. This protocol encompasses fitting adult animals with head-posts and recording chambers, and acclimating them to periods of restraint. The adaptation period is followed by bilateral penetrations of multiple electrodes to obtain acute, sensory-driven neurophysiological responses before versus during the application of pharmacological agents of interest. These local manipulations are achieved by simultaneous and restricted drug infusions carried out independently for each hemisphere. We have used this protocol to elucidate how neurotransmitter and neuroendocrine systems shape the auditory and perceptual processing of natural, learned communication signals. However, this protocol can be used to explore the neurochemical basis of sensory processing in other small vertebrates. Representative results and troubleshooting of key steps of this protocol are presented. Following the animal\u27s recovery from head-post and recording chamber implantation surgery, the length of the procedure is 2 d

Musical Courts: Plaintiff Picks a Court But Can Defendant Trump the Choice? An Analysis of Breuer v. Jim\u27s Concrete of Brevard, Inc.

This article previews the Supreme Court case Brewer v. Jim\u27s Concrete of Brevard, 538 U.S. 691 (2003). The author expected the Court to address the issue of whether the language of the Fair Labor Standards Act providing that an action . . . may be maintained in any federal or state court constitutes an express provision prohibiting removal to federal court when the plaintiff has chosen to maintain its lawsuit in state court

The Role of British Colonial Policy in the South Sudanese Civil War: A Postcolonial Conflict Analysis (2018)

Between 1899 to 1956 the United Kingdom ruled Sudan through the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium. During this period of colonial rule, British administrators divided the country into two distinct regions, North and South Sudan. Through a process called the ‘Southern Policy’, South Sudan was administered separately from the more economically developed North. The policy was intended as a protectionist barrier to prevent the exploitation of the economically underdeveloped south by the north. However, due to Britain’s laissez-faire economic policy in South Sudan, the southern regions were excluded from the government-sponsored economic development of the north, such as the Gezira Irrigation Scheme. The result of Britain’s colonial policies was the hegemonic domination of the North over the South. Furthermore, the incorporation of Northern elites into the colonial administration ensured that this unjust and inequitable power structure would continue throughout the postcolonial era. The economic, educational, and political benefits rendered upon the North, compared to the neglect and expropriation inflicted upon the South led to a vastly disproportionate balance of power in the independent Sudanese Government. This power disparity was the direct cause of the Sudanese Civil War, fought between 1956 and 2005. When South Sudan gained full independence in 2011, it entered statehood as one of the poorest, least developed nations in the world. The century of neglect under the British and of violence and oppression under the North Sudanese left the fledgling country with an insecure future. Two years after gaining its independence, South Sudan was again thrust back into civil conflict. South Sudan’s history of civil war is a result of the oppression and underdevelopment inflicted by Britain’s colonial administration and the Northern-dominated Sudanese Government

Stop the Integration Principle?

Lord Slynn of Hadley is probably not primarily known as an environmental lawyer. His contributions to the development of European environmental law are, however, considerable. On May 24, 1988, Slynn delivered his famous opinion in the so-called Danish Bottles case. In that case, the European Court of Justice ( ECJ ) held that a system requiring manufacturers and importers to market beer and soft drinks only in reusable containers (which had to be approved by a National Agency for the Protection of the Environment) was subject to what is now article 34 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union ( TFEU ) since the Lisbon Treaty entered into force. The importance of this judgment is that it enabled and facilitated the integration of environmental considerations into the market freedoms of the European Community (later the European Union). This Essay, in memory of Lord Slynn of Hadley, is therefore devoted to the process of integrating environmental requirements in other areas