Considerations on the Least Upper Bound for Mixed-Criticality Real-Time Systems

5th Brazilian Symposium on Computing Systems Engineering, SBESC 2015 (SBESC 2015). 3 to 6, Nov, 2015. Foz do Iguaçu, Brasil.Real-time mixed-criticality systems (MCS) are designed so that tasks with different criticality levels share the same computing platform. Scheduling mechanisms must ensure that high criticality tasks are safe independently of lower criticality tasks’ behaviour. In this paper we provide theoretical schedulability properties for MCS by showing that: (a) the least upper bound on processor utilisation of MCS is in general null for both uniprocessor and multiprocessor platforms; (b) this bound lies in interval [ln 2, 2( √2 − 1)] if higher criticality tasks do not have periods larger than lower criticality ones; and (c) if the task of these uniprocessor systems have harmonic periods, the least upper bound reaches 1

Efficient schedulability tests for real-time embedded systems with urgent routines

Task scheduling is one of the key mechanisms to ensure timeliness in embedded real-time systems. Such systems have often the need to execute not only application tasks but also some urgent routines (e.g. error-detection actions, consistency checkers, interrupt handlers) with minimum latency. Although fixed-priority schedulers such as Rate-Monotonic (RM) are in line with this need, they usually make a low processor utilization available to the system. Moreover, this availability usually decreases with the number of considered tasks. If dynamic-priority schedulers such as Earliest Deadline First (EDF) are applied instead, high system utilization can be guaranteed but the minimum latency for executing urgent routines may not be ensured. In this paper we describe a scheduling model according to which urgent routines are executed at the highest priority level and all other system tasks are scheduled by EDF. We show that the guaranteed processor utilization for the assumed scheduling model is at least as high as the one provided by RM for two tasks, namely 2(2√−1). Seven polynomial time tests for checking the system timeliness are derived and proved correct. The proposed tests are compared against each other and to an exact but exponential running time test

Essentialism as a form of resistance: An ethnography of gender dynamics in contemporary home births

Feminist scholars have criticised the essentialist construction of femininity associated with ‘natural’ childbirth movements. Along these debates, planned midwife-attended home births stand as the typical representation of this counterculture. In this article, we present data from a multi-sited ethnography on Portuguese home births where we analyse how gender ideologies are reproduced and operationalised by families and home birth professionals. Our findings illustrate how home birth care and associated practices are configuring apparently contradicting gender ideologies. Essentialist perspectives, which conceive birth as an opportunity to reconnect with women's oppressed femininity, coexist with non-binary conceptions of gender, where masculinity and femininity are regarded as fluid forms of energy that everyone has in different degrees, and where men are potentially welcomed in the birth setting, either as fathers or as professionals. Given the androcentric references of modern obstetrics and the marginal position of home birth, we argue that essentialism was constructed as a form of resistance.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Should a family firm communicate their family identity and country of origin? A cross-cultural study from Chile and Spain

Purpose – This paper investigates the influence of firms’ communication in terms of family firm identity and country-of-origin on consumer response. Design/methodology/approach – A self-supplied online experiment in Chile and Spain is employed using as dependent variables brand trust and intention to buy. The experiment includes the following factors: family firm identity (family vs non-family), country of origin (national vs foreign) and as a manipulation check (type of product: hedonic vs utilitarian). Findings – The results indicate that communicating the family firm identity increases brand trust and purchase intention. Consumers show higher scores on trust and purchase intention when exposed to national country of origin products. The effect of the variability on the dependent variables is greater when the family firm identity is communicated. Trust and purchase intention are different in Chilean and Spanish consumers when the family firm identity is combined with a national country of origin cue. Originality/value – This article contributes to family business theory by exploring how to capitalize on the family firm identity component in brand communication. It also contributes to the theory of corporate brand identity by proposing a communication model oriented toward consumer behavior. It also examines firms’ communication (family firm identity and country-of-origin) on consumer.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Methane Emission Estimated from Different Cattle Intake Data in Heifers Grazing a Tropical Pasture

The quantification of methane (CH4) from enteric fermentation related to cattle diet is a useful tool to identify strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. This is even important in tropical and subtropical regions due to the lack of CH4 estimations in beef cattle, particularly from Bos Indicus breeds grazing tropical grasses (Kurihara et al., 1999). Several modelling approaches have been developed in order to predict CH4 emission. However, the use of these models has limitations associated with uncertainty information required such as feed intake (FI), composition of the selected diet and animal responses (Gonzalez et al., 2014). FI is the main factor influencing CH4 emission. Individual FI measurements are not easy to achieve accurately in grazing animals rather than those located in pens, particularly under deferred tropical pastures at the end of the dry season, due to the large proportion of death forage. In this case, cattle supplementation with energetic and proteins concentrates, is a viable practice in order to improve animal FI and reduce CH4 emissions. The main objectives of this study was estimate and compare CH4 emission using data collected from experimental trials and predicted by a model (UNFCCC, 2014) in supplemented heifers grazing low quality Chloris gayana pasture in northwestern Argentina (Semiarid Chaco Region)

Effect of Supplementation Frequency on Forage Utilization by Heifers Grazing a Tropical Pasture during the Dry Season

In tropical pasture, low quality and availability forage during the dry season can limit the cattle intake. Energetic and protein supplementation is a viable practice to improve feed intake and animal performance. Previous studies have shown that infrequent protein supplementation decreases feeding cost achieving similar performance compared with every day supplementation (Farmer et al., 2004). Even though infrequent protein supplementation has been widely studied, little research has been carried out on infrequent energetic supplementation, especially its effect on pasture utilization. Some evidence indicates that negative effects on forage use at low levels of infrequent supplementation (Beaty et al., 1994). However, high levels of energetic supplementation can result in a substitution effect of forage for concentrate, reducing pasture utilization, even more when forage quality decreases as dry season progresses. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of supplementation frequency (continuous or discontinuous, based on energetic concentrate) on forage utilization by heifers grazing a Chloris gayana pasture during the dry season in the Semiarid Chaco Region (Northwestern Argentine)

Concomitant pulmonary embolism and aortic dissection: approach to anticoagulation

Os autores descrevem um caso de uma doente admitida após episódio pré-sincopal associado a precordialgia e cujo ecocardiograma sumário feito no Servic¸o de Urgência demonstrou alterac¸ões compatíveis com tromboembolismo pulmonar, tendo a doente sido submetida a terapêutica fibrinolítica, após episódio de paragem cardiorrespiratória. Na angiotomografia de tórax feita posteriormente para confirmac¸ão diagnóstica demonstra-se a presenc¸a não só de trombos no nível da artéria pulmonar, mas também de dissec¸ão da aorta Stanford B, tendo-se optado pela manutenc¸ão de anticoagulac¸ão terapêutica e a doente evoluído de forma favorável.The authors describe a case of a patient admitted with a pre-syncopal episode and precordial discomfort, and whose cardiac ultrasound performed in the Emergency Room was suggestive of Pulmonary Embolism. The patient was submitted to fibrinolytic therapy after cardiac arrest. The computerized tomography done after this episode not only confirmed the presence of pulmonary embolism but had also shown a Stanford Type B Aortic Dissection. The option was to maintain the therapeutic anticoagulation, having the patient evolved favourably.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

“Se estava tudo bem, porque é que eu havia de ir a uma obstetra?”: identidade, risco e consumo de tecnologia médica no parto domiciliar em Portugal

O parto domiciliar contemporâneo é um fenómeno raro, pouco visível e, enquanto terreno empírico, é pouco explorado. Partindo de entrevistas a mulheres e casais que experienciaram um parto em casa planeado, o artigo pretende fornecer um primeiro retrato sociológico do fenómeno em Portugal. Este surge não como um retorno ao tradicional ou uma procura de uma experiência mística, mas antes como um acontecimento físico concreto, grandemente enformado por conhecimento científico e médico, que se inscreve numa procura de coerência identitária. Emergiram diversas perceções de risco social e de risco médico, tornando-se visível um consumo reflexivo de tecnologias médicas modelado por essas mesmas perceções. Ainda que destitua algum do protagonismo da medicina na gravidez e no parto, de facto não pode dizer-se que se trate de um fenómeno de desmedicalização.Contemporary home births are rare and quite invisible phenomena, and quite unexplored as an empirical field. From interviewing women and couples who experienced a planned home birth, this article aims to give an initial sociological portrait of this phenomenon in Portugal. It is shown to be not a return of the traditional or a search for a mystical experience, but rather a physical and concrete happening, strongly shaped by scientific and medical knowledge, within a search for identity coherence. Several social and medical risk perceptions emerged, as well as a reflexive consumption of medical technologies framed by these same perceptions. Despite the fact that home birth detracts the relevance of medicine during pregnancy and birth, it is not possible to frame it as a phenomenon of demedicalisation.L’accouchement à domicile contemporain est un phénomène rare, peu visible et en tant que terrain empirique il est peu exploré. À partir d’entretiens avec des femmes et des couples qui ont vécu un accouchement programmé à la maison, l’article prétend fournir un premier portrait sociologique de ce phénomène au Portugal. Celui-ci apparaît, non comme un retour au traditionnel ou comme la recherche d’une expérience mystique, mais plutôt comme un évènement physique concret, énormément formé par la connaissance scientifique et médicale, qui s’inscrit dans une recherche de cohérence identitaire. Diverses perceptions de risque social et médical ont surgi, ce qui a permis l’analyse d’une consommation réfléchissante de technologies médicales modelées par ces perceptions. Bien que l’accouchement à domicile enlève de l’importance à la médecine de la grossesse et de l’accouchement, on ne peut cependant pas dire qu’il s’agisse d’un phénomène de démédicalisation.El parto domiciliario contemporáneo es un fenómeno raro, poco visible y como terreno empírico está poco explorado. Partiendo de entrevistas a mujeres y parejas que han experimentado un parto en casa planificado, el artículo pretende mostrar un primer retrato sociológico del fenómeno en Portugal. Este surge, no como un regreso a lo tradicional o una búsqueda de una experiencia mística, sino como un acontecimiento físico concreto extremadamente enmarcado por el conocimiento científico y médico, que se inscribe en la búsqueda de una coherencia identitaria. Surgieran diferentes percepciones de riesgo social y riesgo médico, y un consumo reflexivo de las tecnologías médicas modelado por estas percepciones. Aunque le quita algún protagonismo a la Medicina en el embarazo y parto, de hecho no se puede decir que se trate de un fenómeno de desmedicalización