Russian Palindromes

The following article by V. Khromov, entitled Palindromes: Sound Play, or a Regular Case of Sound Distribution, originally appeared in the Nauka i Zhizn of 1970 (No. 9) Various amplifications of the material in the article for the benefit of the American reader appear in brackets

Poetry and the Palindrome

Editor\u27s Note: In the February 1984 Word Ways, Haim Kilov and his associate S. El\u27man translated an article by V. Khromov on Russian palindromes originally appearing in Nauka i Zhizn 9 (1970). This article alluded to an earlier one by Semyon Kirsanov (1906-1972), a well-known Soviet poet, in Nauka i Zhizn 7 (1966). The following is a translation of that article, with various amplifications in brackets. Note that certain Cyrillic letters transliterate into groups of English letters (ch, kh, sh, shch, ya, ye, yu, zh), marring the palindromic appearance. In addition there appear to be a few lines where Kirsanov did not adhere to strict palindromy

Second ECOOP Workshop on Precise Behavioral Semantics (with an Emphasis on OO Business Specifications)

Business specifications are essential to describe and understand businesses (and, in particular, business rules) independently of any computing systems used for their possible automation. They have to express this understanding in a clear, precise, and explicit way, in order to act as a common ground between business domain experts and software developers. They also provide the basis for reuse of concepts and constructs ("patterns") common to all - from finance to telecommunications -, or a large number of, businesses, and in doing so save intellectual effort, time and money. Moreover, these patterns substantially ease the elicitation and validation of business specifications during walkthroughs with business customers, and support separation of concerns using viewpoints.Comment: 21 pages, 0 figure

Information exchange in chatroom conversations of people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI)

This study describes how people with and without traumatic brain injury (TBI) exchange information in small chatroom groups. Each of the ten participants with moderate-severe TBI and twelve control participants conversed with two unknown communication partners in a moderated chatroom on two occasions. Rates of information exchange were measured. Statistically significant differences were found in the: (1) frequency of information requests made by TBI participants and (2) frequency of information giving and negotiation/repair by communication partners of TBI participants (both reduced in the TBI group). Further research is required to validate results and explore the impact of alternate chatroom compositions

Enhancing dependability through flexible adaptation to changing requirements

This paper describes an architectural approach that facilitates the dynamic adaptation of systems to changing domain rules. The approach relies on 'coordination contracts', a modelling and implementation primitive we have developed for run-time reconfiguration. Our framework includes an engine that, whenever a service is called, checks the domain rules that are applicable and configures the response of the service before proceeding with the call. This approach enhances dependability in two essential ways: on the one hand, it guarantees that system execution is always consistent with the domain logic because service response is configured automatically (i.e., without any need for programmer intervention); on the other hand, it makes it possible for changes to be incorporated into existing domain rules, and from new rules to be created, with little effort, because coordination contracts can be superposed dynamically without having to change neither the client nor the service code. Our approach is illustrated through a case study in financial systems, an area in which dependability arises mainly in the guise of business concerns like adherence to agreed policies and conditions negotiated on a case-by-case basis. We report on an information system that ATX Software developed for a company specialised in recovering bad credit. We show in particular how, by using this framework, we have devised a way of generating rule-dependent SQL code for batch-oriented services

Use of 50/50 premixed insulin analogs in Type 2 Diabetes: systematic review and clinical recommendations

IntroductionPremixed insulin analogs represent an alternative to basal or basal–bolus insulin regimens for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D). “Low-mix” formulations with a low rapid-acting to long-acting analog ratio (e.g., 25/75) are commonly used, but 50/50 formulations (Mix50) may be more appropriate for some patients. We conducted a systematic literature review to assess the efficacy and safety of Mix50, compared with low-mix, basal, or basal–bolus therapy, for insulin initiation and intensification.MethodsMEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ClinicalTrials.gov, LillyTrials.com, and NovoNordisk-trials.com were searched (11 or 13 Dec 2016) using terms for T2D, premixed insulin analogs, and/or Mix50. Studies (randomized, nonrandomized, or observational; English only) comparing Mix50 with other insulins (except human) and reporting key efficacy [glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting and postprandial glucose] and/or safety (hypoglycemia, weight gain) outcomes were eligible for inclusion. Narrative reviews, letters, editorials, and conference abstracts were excluded. Risk of bias in randomized trials was assessed using the Cochrane tool.ResultsMEDLINE and EMBASE searches identified 716 unique studies, of which 32 met inclusion criteria. An additional three studies were identified in the other databases. All 19 randomized trials except one were open label; risk of other biases was generally low. Although not conclusive, the evidence suggests that Mix50 may provide better glycemic control (HbA1c reduction) and, particularly, postprandial glucose reduction in certain patients, such as those with high carbohydrate diets and Asian patients, than low-mix and basal therapy. Based on this evidence and our experience, we provide clinical guidance on factors to consider when deciding whether Mix50 is appropriate for individual patients.ConclusionsMix50 may be more suitable than low-mix therapy for certain patients. Clinicians should consider not only efficacy and safety but also patient characteristics and preferences when tailoring insulin treatment to individuals with T2D

Semantic and Knowledge Engineering Using ENVRI RM

The ENVRI Reference Model provides architects and engineers with the means to describe the architecture and operational behaviour of environmental and Earth science research infrastructures (RIs) in a standardised way using the standard terminology. This terminology and the relationships between specific classes of concept can be used as the basis for the machine-actionable specification of RIs or RI subsystems. Open Information Linking for Environmental RIs (OIL-E) is a framework for capturing architectural and design knowledge about environmental and Earth science RIs intended to help harmonise vocabulary, promote collaboration and identify common standards and technologies across different research infrastructure initiatives. At its heart is an ontology derived from the ENVRI Reference Model. Using this ontology, RI descriptions can be published as linked data, allowing discovery, querying and comparison using established Semantic Web technologies. It can also be used as an upper ontology by which to connect descriptions of RI entities (whether they be datasets, equipment, processes, etc.) that use other, more specific terminologies. The ENVRI Knowledge Base uses OIL-E to capture information about environmental and Earth science RIs in the ENVRI community for query and comparison. The Knowledge Base can be used to identify the technologies and standards used for particular activities and services and as a basis for evaluating research infrastructure subsystems and behaviours against certain criteria, such as compliance with the FAIR data principles

General Practice Management of Type 2 Diabetes: 2016–18

[Extract] Diabetes is a national health priority. The Australian National Diabetes Strategy 2016–2020was released by the Australian Government in November 2013. The number of people with type 2 diabetes is growing, most likely the result of rising overweight and obesity rates, lifestyle and dietary changes, and an ageing population. Within 20 years, the number of people in Australia with type 2 diabetes may increase from an estimated 870,000 in 2014, to more than 2.5 million.1The most socially disadvantaged Australians are twice as likely to develop diabetes. If left undiagnosed or poorly managed, type 2 diabetes can lead to coronary artery disease (CAD), stroke, kidney failure, limb amputations and blindness. The early identification and optimal management of people with type 2 diabetes is therefore critical. General practice has the central role in type 2 diabetes management across the spectrum, from identifying those at risk right through to caring for patients at the end of life. These guidelines give up-to-date, evidence-based information tailored for general practice to support general practitioners (GPs) and their teams in providing high-quality management.1In the development of the 2016–18 edition of General practice management of type 2 diabetes, The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has focused on factors relevant to current Australian clinical practice. The RACGP has used the skills and knowledge of your general practice peers who have an interest in diabetes management and are members of the RACGP Specific Interests Diabetes Network. This publication has been produced in accordance with the rules and processes outlined in the RACGP’s conflict of interest (COI) policy. The RACGP’s COI policy is available at www.racgp.org.au/support/policies/organisationalThis edition represents 19 years of a successful relationship between the RACGP and Diabetes Australia. We acknowledge the support of the RACGP Expert Committee – Quality Care, the Medical Education and Scientific Committee of Diabetes Australia, and RACGP staff in the development of these guideline

Applying formal methods to standard development: the open distributed processing experience

Since their introduction, formal methods have been applied in various ways to different standards. This paper gives an account of these applications, focusing on one application in particular: the development of a framework for creating standards for Open Distributed Processing (ODP). Following an introduction to ODP, the paper gives an insight into the current work on formalising the architecture of the Reference Model of ODP (RM-ODP), highlighting the advantages to be gained. The different approaches currently being taken are shown, together with their associated advantages and disadvantages. The paper concludes that there is no one all-purpose approach which can be used in preference to all others, but that a combination of approaches is desirable to best fulfil the potential of formal methods in developing an architectural semantics for OD

DAS Writeback: A Collaborative Annotation System

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Centralised resources such as GenBank and UniProt are perfect examples of the major international efforts that have been made to integrate and share biological information. However, additional data that adds value to these resources needs a simple and rapid route to public access. The Distributed Annotation System (DAS) provides an adequate environment to integrate genomic and proteomic information from multiple sources, making this information accessible to the community. DAS offers a way to distribute and access information but it does not provide domain experts with the mechanisms to participate in the curation process of the available biological entities and their annotations.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We designed and developed a Collaborative Annotation System for proteins called DAS Writeback. DAS writeback is a protocol extension of DAS to provide the functionalities of adding, editing and deleting annotations. We implemented this new specification as extensions of both a DAS server and a DAS client. The architecture was designed with the involvement of the DAS community and it was improved after performing usability experiments emulating a real annotation task.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We demonstrate that DAS Writeback is effective, usable and will provide the appropriate environment for the creation and evolution of community protein annotation.</p