Traditional models of concurrency resort to peculiarly indirect means to express interaction and study its properties. Formalisms such as process algebras/calculi, concurrent objects, actors, shared memory, message passing, etc., all are primarily action-based models that provide constructs for the direct specification of things that interact, rather than a direct specification of interaction (...

In this issue of Neuron, Bergquist and colleagues study a rapid form of presynaptic homeostatic regulation at the Drosophila neuromuscular junction. They show that the K(+) channel genes shal and shaker are reciprocally regulated in the central nervous system and suggest a hierarchical organization of intrinsic and synaptic homeostatic regulatory processes.

We are interested in the development of a database management layer which is completely portable and, therefore, “pluggable” on top of multiple host platforms. This layer, so called Peer Database Management System (PDBMS), must be able to remotely connect with its database and to connect it with other peer databases. We realize mobility by storing PDBMS on a flash drive. We realize network inde...

E ective coordination of distributed human planners requires timely communication of relevant information to ensure the overall coherence of activities and the compatibility of assumptions. The CODA system provides targeted information dissemination among distributed human planners as a way of improving coordination. Within CODA, each planner declares interest in di erent types of plan changes ...

The fundamental paradigm shift from traditional value chains to agile service value networks implies new economic and organizational challenges. As coordination mechanisms, auctions have proven to perform quite well in situations where intangible and heterogeneous goods are traded. Nevertheless traditional approaches in the area of multiattribute combinatorial auctions are not quite suitable to...