On Context-Aware Publish-Subscribe

Complex communication patterns often need to take into account the characteristics of the environment, or the situation, in which the information to be communicated is produced or consumed. Publish-subscribe, and particularly its content-based incarnation, is often used to convey this information by encoding the “context ” of the publisher into the published messages, taking advantage of the expressiveness of content-based addressing to encode context-aware communication patterns. In this paper we claim that this approach is both inadequate and inefficient and propose a context-aware publish-subscribe model of communication as a better alternative. In particular, we describe the API of a new publish-subscribe model that is both content and context-based, and we explore possible routing schemas to implement this new model in a distributed publish-subscribe system potentially improving traditional content-based routing

Trace checking of Metric Temporal Logic with Aggregating Modalities using MapReduce

Modern complex software systems produce a large amount of execution data, often stored in logs. These logs can be analyzed using trace checking techniques to check whether the system complies with its requirements specifications. Often these specifications express quantitative properties of the system, which include timing constraints as well as higher-level constraints on the occurrences of significant events, expressed using aggregate operators. In this paper we present an algorithm that exploits the MapReduce programming model to check specifications expressed in a metric temporal logic with aggregating modalities, over large execution traces. The algorithm exploits the structure of the formula to parallelize the evaluation, with a significant gain in time. We report on the assessment of the implementation - based on the Hadoop framework - of the proposed algorithm and comment on its scalability.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, Extended version of the SEFM 2014 pape

AIOCJ: A Choreographic Framework for Safe Adaptive Distributed Applications

We present AIOCJ, a framework for programming distributed adaptive applications. Applications are programmed using AIOC, a choreographic language suited for expressing patterns of interaction from a global point of view. AIOC allows the programmer to specify which parts of the application can be adapted. Adaptation takes place at runtime by means of rules, which can change during the execution to tackle possibly unforeseen adaptation needs. AIOCJ relies on a solid theory that ensures applications to be deadlock-free by construction also after adaptation. We describe the architecture of AIOCJ, the design of the AIOC language, and an empirical validation of the framework.Comment: Technical Repor

Blocking Zika virus vertical transmission.

The outbreak of the Zika virus (ZIKV) has been associated with increased incidence of congenital malformations. Although recent efforts have focused on vaccine development, treatments for infected individuals are needed urgently. Sofosbuvir (SOF), an FDA-approved nucleotide analog inhibitor of the Hepatitis C (HCV) RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) was recently shown to be protective against ZIKV both in vitro and in vivo. Here, we show that SOF protected human neural progenitor cells (NPC) and 3D neurospheres from ZIKV infection-mediated cell death and importantly restored the antiviral immune response in NPCs. In vivo, SOF treatment post-infection (p.i.) decreased viral burden in an immunodeficient mouse model. Finally, we show for the first time that acute SOF treatment of pregnant dams p.i. was well-tolerated and prevented vertical transmission of the virus to the fetus. Taken together, our data confirmed SOF-mediated sparing of human neural cell types from ZIKV-mediated cell death in vitro and reduced viral burden in vivo in animal models of chronic infection and vertical transmission, strengthening the growing body of evidence for SOF anti-ZIKV activity

Wheat Poisoning of Cattle.

4p

Intraneural synovial sarcoma of the median nerve

Synovial sarcomas are soft-tissue malignancies with a poor prognosis and propensity for distant metastases. Although originally believed to arise from the synovium, these tumors have been found to occur anywhere in the body. We report a rare case of synovial sarcoma arising from the median nerve. To our knowledge, this is the twelfth reported case of intraneural synovial sarcoma, and only the fourth arising from the median nerve. Because the diagnosis may not be apparent until after pathological examination of the surgical specimen, synovial sarcoma should be kept in mind when dealing with what may seem like a benign nerve tumor

Detailed study of N,N'-(diisopropylphenyl)- terrylene-3,4:11,12-bis(dicarboximide) as electron acceptor for solar cells application

We report on terrylene-3,4:11,12-bis(dicarboximide) (TDI) as electron acceptor for bulk-heterojunction solar cells using poly(3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) as complementary donor component. Enhanced absorption was observed in the blend compared to pure P3HT. As shown by the very efficient photoluminescence (PL) quenching, the generated excitons are collected at the interface between the donor and acceptor, where they separate into charges which we detect by photoinduced absorption and electron-spin resonance (ESR). Time-of-flight (TOF) photoconductivity measurements reveal a good electron mobility of 10-3 cm2 V-1 s-1 in the blend. Nevertheless, the photocurrent in solar cells was found to be surprisingly low. Supported by the external quantum efficiency (EQE) spectrum as well as morphological studies by way of X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy, we explain our observation by the formation of a TDI hole blocking layer at the anode interface which prevents the efficiently generated charges to be extracted.Comment: Original research article, 9 pages, 10 figures, 1 tabl

Author Correction: Blocking Zika virus vertical transmission.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper

Survival and Recurrence of Endocarditis following Mechanical vs. Biological Aortic Valve Replacement for Endocarditis in Patients Aged 40 to 65 Years: Data from the INFECT-Registry

Background: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a serious disease, and in many cases, surgery is necessary. Whether the type of prosthesis implanted for aortic valve replacement (AVR) for IE impacts patient survival is a matter of debate. The aim of the present study is to quantify differences in long-term survival and recurrence of endocarditis AVR for IE according to prosthesis type among patients aged 40 to 65 years. Methods: This was an analysis of the INFECT-REGISTRY. Trends in proportion to the use of mechanical prostheses versus biological ones over time were tested by applying the sieve bootstrapped t-test. Confounders were adjusted using the optimal full-matching propensity score. The difference in overall survival was compared using the Cox model, whereas the differences in recurrence of endocarditis were evaluated using the Gray test. Results: Overall, 4365 patients were diagnosed and operated on for IE from 2000 to 2021. Of these, 549, aged between 40 and 65 years, underwent AVR. A total of 268 (48.8%) received mechanical prostheses, and 281 (51.2%) received biological ones. A significant trend in the reduction of implantation of mechanical vs. biological prostheses was observed during the study period (p < 0.0001). Long-term survival was significantly higher among patients receiving a mechanical prosthesis than those receiving a biological prosthesis (hazard ratio [HR] 0.546, 95% CI: 0.322–0.926, p = 0.025). Mechanical prostheses were associated with significantly less recurrent endocarditis after AVR than biological prostheses (HR 0.268, 95%CI: 0.077–0.933, p = 0.039). Conclusions: The present analysis of the INFECT-REGISTRY shows increased survival and reduced recurrence of endocarditis after a mechanical aortic valve prosthesis implant for IE in middle-aged patients