A neural network based tool for semi-automatic code transformation

A neural network based tool has been developed to assist in the process of code transformation. The tool offers advice on appropriate transformations within a knowledge-driven, semi-automatic parallelisation environment. We have identified the essential characteristics of codes relevant to loop transformations. A Kohonen network is used to discover structure in the characterised codes thus revealing new knowledge that may be brought to bear on the mapping between codes and transformations or transformation sequences. A transform selector based on this process has been developed and successfully applied to the parallelisation of sequential codes.

Exploring the Views of Police Officers on the Use of Video Taped Evidence in Child Abuse Cases in Northern Ireland

This paper sets out to explore the views and attitudes of police officers in the Greater Belfast area, concerning the process and use of video taped interviews with child witnesses, subsequently used as court evidence in child abuse cases. The information was collected by means of a postal questionnaire, completed by police officers who had all experienced joint interviews with social workers of child witnesses. With the increased use of video evidence as an alternative to the distressing experience of a child appearing in court to give evidence, the research findings and conclusions provide clear messages about future developments both nationally and internationally.

Continuous MLL-ENL expression is necessary to establish a "Hox Code" and maintain immortalization of hematopoietic progenitor cells

The t[(11;19)(p22;q23)] translocation, which gives rise to the MLL-ENL fusion protein, is commonly found in infant acute leukemias of both the myeloid and lymphoid lineage. To investigate the molecular mechanism of immortalization by MLL-ENL we established a Tet-regulatable system of MLL-ENL expression in primary hematopoietic progenitor cells. Immortalized myeloid cell lines were generated, which are dependent on continued MLL-ENL expression for their survival and proliferation. These cells either terminally differentiate or die when MLL-ENL expression is turned off with doxycycline. The expression profile of all 39 murine Hox genes was analyzed in these cells by real-time quantitative PCR. This analysis showed that loss of MLL-ENL was accompanied by a reduction in the expression of multiple Hoxa genes. By comparing these changes with Hox gene expression in cells induced to differentiate with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, we show for the first time that reduced Hox gene expression is specific to loss of MLL-ENL and is not a consequence of differentiation. Our data also suggest that the Hox cofactor Meis-2 can substitute for Meis-1 function. Thus, MLL-ENL is required to initiate and maintain immortalization of myeloid progenitors and may contribute to leukemogenesis by aberrantly sustaining the expression of a "Hox code" consisting of Hoxa4 to Hoxa11.

A Blueprint for Democratic Policing Anywhere in the World? Police Reform, Political Transition and Conflict Resolution in Northern Ireland

This article provides an overview of the police reform process undertaken in Northern Ireland since 1999 as part of a broader program of conflict resolution. It considers the recommendations of the Independent Commission on Policing (ICP), which proposed a number of changes to policing structures and arrangements in Northern Ireland, and it assesses the degree to which these have been operationalized in the 8 years since the ICP published its report. It suggests that although the police reform process in Northern Ireland has been moderately successful and provides a number of international best practice lessons, the overall pace of change has been hindered by difficulties of implementation and, more fundamentally, by developments in the political sphere and civil society.