Abstract
Programming directly with diagrams offers potential advantages such as visual intuitions, identification of errors (debugging), and insight into the dynamics of the algorithm. the purpose of this paper is to put forward one particular graphical formalism, interaction nets, as a candidate for visual programming which has not only all the desired properties that one would expect, but also has other benefits as a language, for instance sharing computation.

Abstract
Those who enjoy programming enjoy programming competitions, either as contestants or as coaches. Often coaches are teachers, who, aiming at better results in the future, would like to have more and more students participating, from earlier stages. Learning all the basic algorithms takes some time, of course; on the other hand, competition environments can be introduced right from the beginning as a pedagogical tool. If handled correctly, this can be very effective in helping to reach the goals of the course and, as a side-effect, in bringing larger crowds of students into the programming competition arena. © 2008 Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Vilnius.

Abstract
In this work a new nano-biofilm is proposed for the detection of celiac disease (CD). A long-period fiber grating (LPFG) is used as a transducer and the surface of the fiber is coated with a precursor layer of SiO2-nanospheres using the electrostatic self-assembly technique (ESA). This layer has been designed in order to create a substrate of high porosity where the gliadins could be deposited. Under the presence of specific antibodies antigliadin antibodies (AGA) the refractive index of the overlay changes giving a detectable shift in the resonance wavelength of the LPFG. Concentrations as low as 5 ppm were detected.

Abstract
This paper proposes a framework for a virtual classroom application based on a Virtual Collaboration System (VCS), which is being developed under the VISNET II Network of Excellence (NoE)(1), and discusses adaptation technologies that enable seamless access to classroom sessions while intellectual property and digital rights are managed. The proposed virtual classroom framework enables academic institutions to conduct their collaborative lecture series, to which registered students will be able to attend remotely and interactively over the Internet. Furthermore, the general public may also follow the classroom sessions under certain restrictions imposed by the participating institutions. In order to facilitate seamless access to a heterogeneous audience that is composed of users with various preferences and privileges accessing the classroom sessions over different network infrastructures and using terminal devices with diverse capabilities, context-aware content adaptation is required to meet constraints imposed by the usage context and enhance the quality of the user experience. Thus, this paper describes the concepts and functionalities of a context-aware content adaptation platform, that suits the requirements of such multimedia application scenarios. This platform is able to consume low-level contextual information to infer higher-level contexts, and thus decide the need for and type of adaptation operations to be performed upon the content. In this way, it is aimed to meet usage. constraints while also satisfying restrictions imposed by the Digital Rights Management (DRM) to govern the use of protected content.

Abstract
This paper further develops an architecture and design elements for a resource management and a signalling system to support the construction and maintenance of a mid-long term hybrid multicast tree for multimedia distribution services in a QoS guaranteed way, over multiple IP domains. The system called E-cast is composed of an overlay part - in inter-domain and possible IP level multicast in intra-domain. Each E-cast tree is associated with a given QoS class and is composed of unicast pipes established through Service Level Specification negotiations between the domain managers. The paper continues a previous work, by proposing an inter-domain signalling system to support the multicast management and control operations and then defining the resource management for tree construction and adjustment procedures in order to assure the required static and dynamic properties of the tree.

Abstract
UV-VIS spectroscopy is a powerfull qualitative and quantitative technique used in analytical chemistry, which gives information about electronic transitions of electrons in molecular orbitals. As in UV-VIS spectra there is no direct information on characteristic organic groups, vibrational spectroscopy (e.g. infrared) has been preferred for biological applications. In this research, we try to use state-of-the-art fiber optics probes to obtain UV-VIS-SWNIR diffusive reflectance measurements of yeasts and bacteria colonies on plate count agar in the region of 200-1200nm; in order to discriminate the following microorganisms: i) yeasts: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Saccharomyces bayanus, Candida albicans, Yarrowia lipolytica; and ii) bacteria: Micrococcus luteus, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Escherichia coli, Bacillus cereus. Spectroscopy results show that UV-VIS-SWNIR has great potential for identifying microorganisms on plate count agar. Scattering artifacts of both colonies and plate count agar can be significantly removed using a robust mean scattering algorithm, allowing also better discriminations between the scores obtained by singular value decomposition. Hierarchical clustering analysis of UV-VIS and VIS-SWNIR decomposed spectral scores lead to the conclusion that the use of VIS-SWNIR light source produces higher discrimination ratios for all the studied microorganisms, presenting great potential for developing biotechnology applications.