Workflow patterns as web service compositions: the case of PEWS

In the past years, Web Services (WS) have become the standard for exposing services as application programming interfaces to be consumed from anywhere in the world. Since many operations require the collaboration between two or more WS, the need to have languages to express Web Service Compositions has emerged. Web Service Composition presents a problem very similar to Business Process Management (BPM), both disciplines aim to express complex combinations of operations to achieve broader goals. In BPM these combinations are generally known as Workflows. The current industry standard for representing Web Service Workflows is BPEL, a language developed by Microsoft, IBM and others. PEWS is another language proposed to describe Web Service Compositions. Simplicity and neatness of descriptions are two relevant features of this language. This work proposes some extensions to PEWS in order to support the most common workflow patterns. The extended version of PEWS is able to fully support 36 out of the 43 Workflow Control Patterns as defined in the literature. This new version creates the foundation for further studies on the language, especially future extensions to capture other patterns and features (such as data manipulation, error handling, etc.) as well as the addition of semantic information to compositions.Eje: Workshop Ingeniería de software (WIS)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Biodiversidade, população e economia: uma região de mata atlântica [Biodiversity, Population, and Economy: a region of atlantic forest]

biodiversity; Minas Gerais; Rio Doce; mata atlântica; atlantic forest; sustainable development; conservation; natural resources; environment; environmental economics

Effects of 2 or 5 consecutive exercise days on adipocyte area and lipid parameters in Wistar rats

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Exercise has been prescribed in the treatment and control of dyslipidemias and cholesterolemia, however, lipid responses to different training frequencies in hypercholesterolemic men have been inconsistent. We sought to verify if different frequencies of continuous moderate exercise (2 or 5 days/week, swimming) can, after 8 weeks, promote adaptations in adipocyte area and lipid parameters, as well as body weight and relative weight of tissues in normo and hypercholesterolemic adult male rats.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Normal cholesterol chow diet or cholesterol-rich diet (1% cholesterol plus 0.25% cholic acid) were freely given during 8 weeks to the rats divided in 6 experimentals groups: sedentary normal cholesterol chow diet (C); sedentary cholesterol-rich diet (H); 5× per week continuous training normal cholesterol chow diet (TC5) and cholesterol-rich diet (TH5); 2× per week continuos traning normal cholesterol chow diet (TC2) and cholesterol-rich diet (TH2).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No changes were observed in lipid profile in normal cholesterol chow diet, but both 2 a 5 days/week exercise improved this profile in cholesterol-rich diet. Body weight gain was lower in exercised rats. Decrease in retroperitoneal and epididymal relative weights as well as reductions in adipocyte areas under all diets types were observed only in 5 days/week, while 2 days/week showed improvements mainly in cholesterol-rich diet rats.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results confirm the importance of exercise protocols to control dyslipidemias and obesity in rats. The effects of 5 days/week exercise were more pronounced compared with those of 2 consecutive days/week training.</p

Status Update and Interim Results from the Asymptomatic Carotid Surgery Trial-2 (ACST-2)

Objectives: ACST-2 is currently the largest trial ever conducted to compare carotid artery stenting (CAS) with carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in patients with severe asymptomatic carotid stenosis requiring revascularization. Methods: Patients are entered into ACST-2 when revascularization is felt to be clearly indicated, when CEA and CAS are both possible, but where there is substantial uncertainty as to which is most appropriate. Trial surgeons and interventionalists are expected to use their usual techniques and CE-approved devices. We report baseline characteristics and blinded combined interim results for 30-day mortality and major morbidity for 986 patients in the ongoing trial up to September 2012. Results: A total of 986 patients (687 men, 299 women), mean age 68.7 years (SD ± 8.1) were randomized equally to CEA or CAS. Most (96%) had ipsilateral stenosis of 70-99% (median 80%) with contralateral stenoses of 50-99% in 30% and contralateral occlusion in 8%. Patients were on appropriate medical treatment. For 691 patients undergoing intervention with at least 1-month follow-up and Rankin scoring at 6 months for any stroke, the overall serious cardiovascular event rate of periprocedural (within 30 days) disabling stroke, fatal myocardial infarction, and death at 30 days was 1.0%. Conclusions: Early ACST-2 results suggest contemporary carotid intervention for asymptomatic stenosis has a low risk of serious morbidity and mortality, on par with other recent trials. The trial continues to recruit, to monitor periprocedural events and all types of stroke, aiming to randomize up to 5,000 patients to determine any differential outcomes between interventions. Clinical trial: ISRCTN21144362. © 2013 European Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved