Model-driven performance evaluation for service engineering

Service engineering and service-oriented architecture as an integration and platform technology is a recent approach to software systems integration. Software quality aspects such as performance are of central importance for the integration of heterogeneous, distributed service-based systems. Empirical performance evaluation is a process of measuring and calculating performance metrics of the implemented software. We present an approach for the empirical, model-based performance evaluation of services and service compositions in the context of model-driven service engineering. Temporal databases theory is utilised for the empirical performance evaluation of model-driven developed service systems

Quality-aware model-driven service engineering

Service engineering and service-oriented architecture as an integration and platform technology is a recent approach to software systems integration. Quality aspects ranging from interoperability to maintainability to performance are of central importance for the integration of heterogeneous, distributed service-based systems. Architecture models can substantially influence quality attributes of the implemented software systems. Besides the benefits of explicit architectures on maintainability and reuse, architectural constraints such as styles, reference architectures and architectural patterns can influence observable software properties such as performance. Empirical performance evaluation is a process of measuring and evaluating the performance of implemented software. We present an approach for addressing the quality of services and service-based systems at the model-level in the context of model-driven service engineering. The focus on architecture-level models is a consequence of the black-box character of services

The dual role of BCAT1 in glioblastoma: a metabolic enzyme with a twist

Glioblastoma is the most common central nervous system malignancy in adults with a very poor outcome due to its invasiveness, intratumoral heterogeneity, poorly differentiated features, and immunosuppressive microenvironment. Previous work suggested that Branched-chain amino acid transaminase 1 (BCAT1) is often highly expressed in glioblastoma and multiple modes of action for its oncogenic potential have been proposed. In this thesis, I focus on investigating a novel role of BCAT1 in maintaining mitotic fidelity, and how it impacts the cellular plasticity of glioblastoma cells and the tumor immune microenvironment. We have found that BCAT1 localizes to the key mitotic structures during cell division as well as in the nucleus during interphase. Using co-immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry, I showed that BCAT1 associates with many components of the mitotic spindle and the kinetochore during mitosis. Through proteomic and phosphoproteomic analysis I showed that the central kinases of the spindle assembly checkpoint, TTK and AURKB, showed significantly decreased activity during mitosis upon BCAT1-KO. By analyzing the expression patterns of human and mouse glioblastoma cells and tumor samples of the TCGA-GBM cohort, I found that BCAT1 expression is strongly correlated with the cellular state of glioblastoma, with high expression being indicative of a mesenchymal phenotype and low or no expression with a neuronal cellular state. I further confirmed these observations through a series of differentiation experiments of murine glioblastoma stem cells where the Bcat1-KO showed a much higher tendency towards differentiation and lacked the plasticity of the control cells. Consistently, in vivo findings corroborated these results with a complete lack of tumor outgrowth of the Bcat1-KO cells in immunocompetent mice, and a significant growth delay in immunodeficient mice. Lastly, I explored the impact of tumor BCAT1 expression on the immune microenvironment. I found that low BCAT1 expression was associated with a higher immune infiltration of both myeloid and T-cells in human tumor samples. These findings were additionally confirmed in in vivo experiments in immunocompetent mice. Furthermore, Bcat1-KO tumors did develop in the immunodeficient NSG and Rag2KO mouse models, highlighting the importance of the immune compartment in completely abrogating their growth. In conclusion, the data presented here confirm the novel role of BCAT1 in maintaining mitotic fidelity of glioblastoma cells. Furthermore, it shows that BCAT1 expression is necessary for maintaining the plasticity of glioblastoma cells and an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment

Review of Hemerijck, A. (2017). The Uses of Social Investment. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Erosion of the golden era of the welfare state has brought in different views of how it should be developed Immediate neoliberal response appears to be still alive and present not only in the academic debates but also in practice However there is a growing concern of the consequences of the neoliberal approach and especially after the economic crisis of 2008 and later Social investment is an approach or set of policies that came into the focus of the attention in the 1990s but since then the interest for it has only increased The economic downturn propelled the question of inclusiveness growth employment and human capital just to name a few to be the major points of interest There is now a surge of scientific articles on the topic and Hemerijck s volume is one of the most encompassing Moreover introduction of social investment in the European Union s social policy through the Social Investment Pact and OECD s stronger emphasis on it support the need of further debate Hemerijck s edited book provides ample evidence for this thinkin

COWAN, Jane K. (organizadora) 2000. Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference

Review of Macedonia: The Politics of Identity and Difference, edited by Jane Cowan, published in 2000

EUROPEAN SOCIAL MODEL IN THE 21 CENTURY: REVISITED AND TOWARDS SOCIAL INVESTMENT

Discussing future of the European Union largely depends on understanding the key principles on which the Union was built. Strong welfare was one among its corner stones and has been ever since. However, numerous crises have affected the way European welfare state is structured and there is a need of modernising it through the European Social Model. It is the model of regulating social policy across the member states, despite the differences among them and it can serve as a good starting point for making sustainable, just and equal union. The new social model needs to be based on the social investment state, as a way of uniting political and economic affairs in order to create competent citizens. On the other hand, the state should be organised in a way to be service oriented with carefully planned ways of investing and spending, so the potential future crises can be overcome with greater ease.&nbsp

Ponovni razmislek o zakonodaji, ki ureja akademsko integriteto v evropskem kontekstu

This paper argues that legislative intervention rather than deontological rules could be an adequate tool to address academic integrity concerns, particularly in civil law jurisdictions, which is the case in the majority of European countries. The recently enacted Montenegrin law on academic integrity offers a promising foundation for developing such an intervention in the European context, along with suggested improvements drawing upon four years of the implementation experience. Analysis of the law is also conducted with regard to several provisions of the Council of Europe’s recently adopted Recommendation on Education Fraud. The paper does not offer a ready-made concept, but its deliberation can serve as an inspiration for governments trying to improve existing rules on academic integrity. A legal approach will be taken in examining the problems and the relevant legislation. (DIPF/Orig.

The "Intersubjective Turn" and the Question of Subject in Contemporary Anthropology: A Review Article

The notions related to the the self and subjectivity inspire different responses and different strategies. In his relatively recent book (Minima Ethnographica, 1999) Michael Jackson postulates a whole new theory based on the existential/phenomenological framework of relationships not only between individuals, but also between nations, peoples and various groups. The article presents a summary and an analysis of this theory, comparing it to some recent works about transcending individuality (Nigel Rapport, Transcendent Individual, 1997), as well as to some not-so-recent, but still extremely viable approaches (Mauss, Lévi-Strauss). The article points to some problems with the intersubjective turn, especially inasmuch it requires that one accepts (in advance) the whole set of philosophical premises on which it is based. But what happens when one does not accept these premises? I suggest that the notion of subjectivity could be actually a more useful one especially if limited to the actual cultural context where it is used. I also suggest that what we need more than ever in contemporary anthropology is turning our attention to the people we study and the ways in which they themselves formulate and organize the world we all live in

Axionic instabilities and new black hole solutions

The coupling between scalar and vector fields has a long and interesting history. Axions are one key possibility to solve the strong CP problem and axion-like particles could be one solution to the dark matter puzzle. Given the nature of the coupling, and the universality of free fall, nontrivial important effects are expected in regions where gravity is strong. Here, we show that i. A background EM field induces an axionic instability in flat space, for large enough electric fields. Conversely, a homogeneous harmonic axion field induces an instability in the Maxwell sector. When carried over to curved spacetime, this phenomena translates into generic instabilities of charged black holes (BHs). ii. In the presence of charge, BH uniqueness results are lost. We find solutions which are small deformations of the Kerr-Newman geometry and hairy stationary solutions without angular momentum, which are `dragged' by the axion. Axion fields must exist around spinning BHs if these are immersed in external magnetic fields. The axion profile can be obtained perturbatively from the electro-vacuum solution derived by Wald. iii. Ultralight axions trigger superradiant instabilities of spinning BHs and form an axionic cloud in the exterior geometry. The superradiant growth can be interrupted or suppressed through axionic or scalar couplings to EM. These couplings lead to periodic bursts of light, which occur throughout the history of energy extraction from the BH. We provide numerical and simple analytical estimates for the rates of these processes. iv. Finally, we discuss how plasma effects can affect the evolution of superradiant instabilities.Comment: 28 pages, RevTeX4. v2: overall improvements, typos corrected; version to appear in Physical Review