Detecting semantic violations of lock-free data structures through C++ contracts

The use of synchronization mechanisms in multithreaded applications is essential on shared-memory multi-core architectures. However, debugging parallel applications to avoid potential failures, such as data races or deadlocks, can be challenging. Race detectors are key to spot such concurrency bugs; nevertheless, if lock-free data structures are used, these may emit a significant number of false positives. In this paper, we present a framework for semantic violation detection of lock-free data structures which makes use of contracts, a novel feature of the upcoming C++20, and a customized version of the ThreadSanitizer race detector. We evaluate the detection accuracy of the framework in terms of false positives and false negatives leveraging some synthetic benchmarks which make use of the SPSC and MPMC lock-free queue structures from the Boost C++ library. Thanks to this framework, we are able to check the correct use of lock-free data structures, thus reducing the number of false positives.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through Project Grant TIN2016-79637-P (BigHPC - Towards Unification of HPC and Big Data Paradigms) and the European Commission through Grant No. 801091 (ASPIDE - Exascale programmIng models for extreme data processing)

Risk factors associated with moderate-to-severe renal dysfunction among heart transplant patients: results from the CAPRI study

[Abstract] The longer survival of patients with heart transplantation (HT) favors calcineurin inhibitor–related chronic kidney disease (CKD). It behoves to identify risk factors. At 14 Spanish centers, data on 1062 adult patients with HT (age 59.2 ± 12.3 yr, 82.5% men) were collected at routine follow-up examinations. Glomerular filtration rate, GFR, was estimated using the four-variable MDRD equation, and moderate-or-severe renal dysfunction (MSRD) was defined as K/DOQI stage 3 CKD or worse. Time since transplant ranged from one month to 22 yr (mean 6.7 yr). At assessment, 26.6% of patients were diabetic and 63.9% hypertensive; 53.9% were taking cyclosporine and 33.1% tacrolimus; and 61.4% had MSRD. Among patients on cyclosporine or tacrolimus at assessment, multivariate logistic regression identified male sex (OR 0.44), pre- and post-HT creatinine (2.73 and 3.13 per mg/dL), age at transplant (1.06 per yr), time since transplant (1.05 per yr), and tacrolimus (0.65) as independent positive or negative predictors of MSRD. It is concluded that female sex, pre- and one-month post-HT serum creatinine, age at transplant, time since transplant, and immunosuppression with cyclosporine rather than tacrolimus may all be risk factors for development of CKD ≥ stage 3 by patients with HT

Final Report of the Andalusian Implementation of JA CHRODIS Workplace Health Promotion Good Practice

Informe de la implementación piloto en Andalucía de una buena práctica reconocida de Promoción de la Salud en Lugares de Trabajo, en el marco de la Acción Conjunta Europea CHRODIS PLUSChronic diseases such as chronic respiratory conditions, cardiovascular diseases, cancer and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability around the world. As the most important identified modifiable risk factors for chronic diseases are tobacco use, inadequate physical activity and poor diets, Workplace Health Promotioninterventions are thought to be strategic to avoid or delay the onset of chronic diseases.The present report documents the Andalusian pilotimplementation of certain elements of the “Lombardy Workplace Health Promotion (WHP) Network” (a Good Practice identified by the Joint Action CHRODIS for the prevention of chronic diseases). This implementation is the single one experience within the Joint Action CHRODIS PLUS (JAC+)focusing on a health promotion intervention on adults and, more specifically, in workplace settings. Following a common implementation strategy defined by JAC+ that enables an evidence-based reporting of the defined intervention, this report shares the systematic implementation process conducted and illustrates the experience of the cross-national transfer of a practice, providing useful guidance, ideas and suggestionsfor future similar attempts. With the collaboration of the Lombardy Region, the Andalusian Regional Ministry of Health coordinated the pilot implementation in two sites: a public-private venture and a trade union(amedium-and small-sizedorganization, respectively). The Lombardy model was identified to fit the Andalusian existing WHP Programme the best because of its comprehensive and detailed continuity system, as well as the high managerial and workforce engagement attained, and the rewarding accreditation system they defined. Based upon a series of situational analyses, five categories of actions and their quantitative and qualitative indicators were decided for the actual Pilot Action Plan aimingto ensure, among other objectives, the organizational endorsement of WHP, the workforce participation in the actions, and the sustainability and continuity of participating organizations. Introductory sessions (onthe implementation areas ofhealthy lifestyles)were first broadly presented to at least 50% of the total number of employees in each organization. Then, according to the Lombardy model, each organization chose, among a battery of health promotion actions, two specific areas to focus and carryout (mainly, but not exclusively,healthy eating and physical activity). Each organization was advised by qualified professionals who supported and provided guidance throughout all the implementation process (creation of an internal steering group, conducting the series of general and/or in-depth practical sessions, etc.). A quasi-experimental pre-post design without control group or randomization of participants was also conducted in an attempt to monitorapossibleshift in different life habits and/or health indicators among the participants. After the first 9 months of intervention, global results from the T-test were not found statistically significant, although specific results (comparing pre-post percentages) pointed out promising increases in physical activity among participants of both organizations, as well as an increase in healthy eating and a decrease in sweets consumption in participants of the larger organization. Yet, employees in both organizations were very satisfied with the actions initiated and they regarded them as being highly useful. The highest managerial level of each organization significantly contributed to the implementation and made conditions for employees to participate. The piloting will continue for an additional two-year period, to follow-up the complete implementation of the original Lombardy 3-year cycle.Barriers, enablersand were pointed out as well as useful suggestions for future implementations.Ye

Exploring stream parallel patterns in distributed MPI environments

In recent years, the large volumes of stream data and the near real-time requirements of data streaming applications have exacerbated the need for new scalable algorithms and programming interfaces for distributed and shared-memory platforms. To contribute in this direction, this paper presents a new distributed MPI back end for GrPPI, a C++ high-level generic interface of data-intensive and stream processing parallel patterns. This back end, as a new execution policy, supports distributed and hybrid (distributed+shared-memory) parallel executions of the Pipeline and Farm patterns, where the hybrid mode combines the MPI policy with a GrPPI shared-memory one. These patterns internally leverage distributed queues, which can be configured to use two-sided or one-sided MPI primitives to communicate items among nodes. A detailed analysis of the GrPPI MPI execution policy reports considerable benefits from the programmability, flexibility and readability points of view. The experimental evaluation of two different streaming applications with different distributed and shared-memory scenarios reports considerable performance gains with respect to the sequential versions at the expense of negligible GrPPI overheads.This work was partially supported by the EU project No. 801091 "ASPIDE: Exascale programming models for extreme data process ing"; and the project TIN2013-41350-P "Scalable Data Management Techniques for High-End Computing Systems" from the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad , Spain

Implementation in Andalusia of a JA-CHRODIS Workplace Health Promotion Good Practice

Implementación de la Buena Práctica CHRODIS de Promoción de la Salud en los Lugares de TrabajoYe

Transfer and Implementation Process of a Good Practice in Workplace Health Promotion

The procedure developed by the European Joint Action CHRODIS PLUS (JAC+) to transfer and implement good practices from one setting to another was tested in the context of a workplace health promotion good practice identified in the Region of Lombardy (Italy) and transferred and implemented in two organisations in Andalusia (Spain). This article provides a detailed account on how the JAC+ implementation methodology, which included the use of the SQUIRE (Standards for QUality Improvement Reporting Excellence) guidelines, was applied. It offers a practical overview for the uptake of this methodology and of the good practice itself. The account of how this systematic and rigorous implementation reporting model was applied can be of value to those with an interest in workplace health and in the transfer of good practice and implementation sciences.This work arises from the Joint Action CHRODIS PLUS implementing good practices for chronic diseases, funded by the 3rd Health Programme (2014–2017) of the European Union. Grant Number 761307.Ye

Participando se entiende la gente : metodología para la mejora de las competencias instrumentales

Este proyecto quiere favorecer el desarrollo de las competencias en el área de razonamiento y cálculo numérico; y en el área de comprensión y expresión oral y escrita. Los objetivos generales son reducir el índice de fracaso escolar, mejorar las competencias matemáticas, mejorar también las estrategias de escritura y lectura y potenciar el rendimiento académico del alumnado. En relación a la lectura y escritura destacan objetivos específicos como conocer los principales tipos de texto y las diferentes formas de elocución; ampliar el vocabulario; comprender y analizar todo tipo de textos; crear o producir textos con criterio personal y respetar las opiniones ajenas; valorar la lectura y la bilioteca como fuentes de información; y respetar las normas que rigen el intercambio comunicativo en diálogos, coloquios o debates. Para la mejora de competencias científico-matemáticas se busca apoyar el trabajo de los alumnos y resolver sus dudas y dificultades con mediante el desdoble, refuerzos o agrupamientos de clase. El instituto pone en práctica cuatro medidas para llevar a cabo estos objetivos. La primera consiste en incluir en el aula dos profesores, de este modo ambos comparten un mismo espacio y un mismo grupo en el que se encuentran alumnos de compensatoria e integración. De esta forma, se pueden atender las necesidades de todos más eficazmente. la segunda consiste en hacer grupos heterogéneos y flexibles de cuatro o cinco alumnos para trabajar en equipo y se evita el descuelgue de algunos chicos del ritmo de la clase. La tercera es un taller de creación literaria con tres tipos de relatos de aventuras, de miedo y un relato que incluye una receta de cocina. Además se organizan tertulias literarias en las que profesores y alumnos tienen que leer, sustraer las ideas principales de la obra seleccionada y debatirla y comentarla. Por último, se diseña en turno de tarde unas clases de apoyo escolar a las materias científico-matemáticas para dar respuesta y explicación a las dudas planteadas en las clases. Para desarrollar la evaluación se utilizan instrumentos como cuestionarios, grupos de discusión y entrevistas individuales. Se aportan como anexos modelos de los distintos custionarios, actividades para grupos y modelos de evaluación..Madrid (Comunidad Autónoma). Consejería de Educación. Dirección General de Mejora de la Calidad de la EnseñanzaMadridMadrid (Comunidad Autónoma). Subdirección General de Formación del Profesorado. CRIF Las Acacias; General Ricardos 179 - 28025 Madrid; Tel. + 34915250893ES

Las mujeres y el tabaco : enfoque de género en el control de la epidemia en Andalucía

YesEn este documento se podrá encontrar una presentación de la evolución histórica del fenómeno del tabaquismo en la población femenina, las dificultades y limitaciones que existen para las mujeres, las intervenciones generales sobre tabaquismo y experiencias que muestran la eficacia cuando se diseñan acciones específicas y accesibles para ellas

Comparison of 1-year outcome in patients with severe aorta stenosis treated conservatively or by aortic valve replacement or by percutaneous transcatheter aortic valve implantation (data from a multicenter Spanish registry)

The factors that influence decision making in severe aortic stenosis (AS) are unknown. Our aim was to assess, in patients with severe AS, the determinants of management and prognosis in a multicenter registry that enrolled all consecutive adults with severe AS during a 1-month period. One-year follow-up was obtained in all patients and included vital status and aortic valve intervention (aortic valve replacement [AVR] and transcatheter aortic valve implantation [TAVI]). A total of 726 patients were included, mean age was 77.3 ± 10.6 years, and 377 were women (51.8%). The most common management was conservative therapy in 468 (64.5%) followed by AVR in 199 (27.4%) and TAVI in 59 (8.1%). The strongest association with aortic valve intervention was patient management in a tertiary hospital with cardiac surgery (odds ratio 2.7, 95% confidence interval 1.8 to 4.1, p <0.001). The 2 main reasons to choose conservative management were the absence of significant symptoms (136% to 29.1%) and the presence of co-morbidity (128% to 27.4%). During 1-year follow-up, 132 patients died (18.2%). The main causes of death were heart failure (60% to 45.5%) and noncardiac diseases (46% to 34.9%). One-year survival for patients treated conservatively, with TAVI, and with AVR was 76.3%, 94.9%, and 92.5%, respectively, p <0.001. One-year survival of patients treated conservatively in the absence of significant symptoms was 97.1%. In conclusion, most patients with severe AS are treated conservatively. The outcome in asymptomatic patients managed conservatively was acceptable. Management in tertiary hospitals is associated with valve intervention. One-year survival was similar with both interventional strategies