Gossip Algorithms for Distributed Signal Processing

Gossip algorithms are attractive for in-network processing in sensor networks because they do not require any specialized routing, there is no bottleneck or single point of failure, and they are robust to unreliable wireless network conditions. Recently, there has been a surge of activity in the computer science, control, signal processing, and information theory communities, developing faster and more robust gossip algorithms and deriving theoretical performance guarantees. This article presents an overview of recent work in the area. We describe convergence rate results, which are related to the number of transmitted messages and thus the amount of energy consumed in the network for gossiping. We discuss issues related to gossiping over wireless links, including the effects of quantization and noise, and we illustrate the use of gossip algorithms for canonical signal processing tasks including distributed estimation, source localization, and compression.Comment: Submitted to Proceedings of the IEEE, 29 page

The effect of maternal near miss on adverse infant nutritional outcomes

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between self-reported maternal near miss and adverse nutritional status in children under one year of age. METHODS: This study is a secondary analysis of a study in which women who took their children under one year of age to the national vaccine campaign were interviewed. The self-reported condition of maternal near miss used the criteria of Intensive Care Unit admission; eclampsia; blood transfusion and hysterectomy; and their potential associations with any type of nutritional disorder in children, including deficits in weight-for-age, deficits in height-for-age, obesity and breastfeeding. The rates of near miss for the country, regions and states were initially estimated. The relative risks of infant adverse nutritional status according to near miss and maternal/childbirth characteristics were estimated with their 95% CIs using bivariate and multiple analyses. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of near miss was 2.9% and was slightly higher for the Legal Amazon than for other regions. No significant associations were found with nutritional disorders in children. Only a 12% decrease in overall maternal breastfeeding was associated with near miss. Living in the countryside and child over 6 months of age increased the risk of altered nutritional status by approximately 15%, while female child gender decreased this risk by 30%. Maternal near miss was not associated with an increased risk of any alteration in infant nutritional status. CONCLUSIONS: There was no association between maternal near miss and altered nutritional status in children up to one year of age. The risk of infant adverse nutritional status was greater in women living in the countryside, for children over 6 months of age and for male gender

Frontal lobes white matter abnormalities mimicking cystic leukodystrophy in Wilson's disease

Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Neurol & Neurocirurgia, Div Neurol Geral, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilUniv Fed Sao Paulo, Dept Neurol & Neurocirurgia, Div Neurol Geral, Sao Paulo, SP, BrazilWeb of Scienc

Concurrency annotations in C++

This paper describes CA/C++, Concurrency Annotations in C++, a language extension that regulates method invocations from multiple threads of execution in a shared-memory multiprocessor system. This system provides threads as an orthogonal element to the language, allowing them to travel through more than one object. Statically type-ckecked synchronous and asynchronous method invocations are supported, with return values from asynchronous invocations accessed through first class future-like objects. Method invocations are regulated with synchronization code defined in a separate class hierarchy, allowing separate definition and inheritance of synchronization mechanisms. Each method is protected by an access flag that can be switched in pre and post-actions, and by a predicate. Both must evaluate to true in order to enable a thread to animate the method code. Flags and method predicates are independently redefinable along the inheritance chain, thus avoiding the inheritance anomaly

A Hybrid Approach to Causality Analysis

In component-based safety-critical systems, when a system safety property is violated, it is necessary to analyze which components are the cause. Given a system execution trace that exhibits component faults leading to a property violation, our causality analysis formalizes a notion of counterfactual reasoning (\what would the system behavior be if a component had been correct? ) and algorithmically derives such alternative system behaviors, without re-executing the system itself. In this paper, we show that we can improve precision of the analysis if 1) we can emulate execution of components instead of relying on their contracts, and 2) take into consideration input/output dependencies between components to avoid blaming components for faults induced by other components. We demonstrate the utility of the extended analysis with a case study for a closed-loop patient-controlled analgesia system

Hypothalamic S1p/s1pr1 Axis Controls Energy Homeostasis In Middle-aged Rodents: The Reversal Effects Of Physical Exercise

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Recently, we demonstrated that the hypothalamic S1PR1/STAT3 axis plays a critical role in the control of food consumption and energy expenditure in rodents. Here, we found that reduction of hypothalamic S1PR1 expression occurs in an age-dependent manner, and was associated with defective thermogenic signaling and weight gain. To address the physiological relevance of these findings, we investigated the effects of chronic and acute exercise on the hypothalamic S1PR1/STAT3 axis. Chronic exercise increased S1PR1 expression and STAT3 phosphorylation in the hypothalamus, restoring the anorexigenic and thermogenic signals in middle-aged mice. Acutely, exercise increased sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of young rats, whereas the administration of CSF from exercised young rats into the hypothalamus of middle-aged rats at rest was sufficient to reduce the food intake. Finally, the intracerebroventricular (ICV) administration of S1PR1 activators, including the bioactive lipid molecule S1P, and pharmacological S1PR1 activator, SEW2871, induced a potent STAT3 phosphorylation and anorexigenic response in middle-aged rats. Overall, these results suggest that hypothalamic S1PR1 is important for the maintenance of energy balance and provide new insights into the mechanism by which exercise controls the anorexigenic and thermogenic signals in the central nervous system during the aging process.91156169Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo [FAPESP2011/09656-0, 2011/13828-1]Conselho Nacional de desenvolvimento cientifico e tecnologico (CNPq) [304815/2014-4]Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Comportamento de dois genótipos de milho cultivados em sistema de aléias preestabelecido com diferentes leguminosas arbóreas.

O cultivo em aléias tem sido recomendado como alternativa para a substituição da agricultura de corte e queima, no trópico úmido, devido à grande capacidade de produção de matéria orgânica e de reciclagem de nutrientes, mas algumas dúvidas quanto à sustentabilidade e à competição interespecífica são persistentes. O objetivo no trabalho foi avaliar a viabilidade da cultura do milho em um sistema de cultivo em aléias de leguminosas arbóreas. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi em blocos casualisados, com quatro repetições dos tratamentos: aléias de sombreiro (Clitoria fairchildiana), ingá (Inga edulis), guandu (Cajanus cajan) e leucena (Leucaena leucocephala) e uma testemunha sem aléias. Foram avaliadas a remobilização de carbono e nitrogênio, massa de grãos, massa de mil grãos e competição interespecífica entre as cultivares de milho e as leguminosas. A produção de grãos foi maior nas parcelas com C. fairchildiana e L. leucocephala. A produtividade do híbrido de milho foi superior à da variedade em todos os tratamentos. A produtividade e a massa de mil grãos de milho não são negativamente afetadas pela distância da linha da leguminosa arbórea. Esse estudo conclui que o sistema de aléias com leguminosas arbóreas é uma alternativa importante ao manejo sustentável dos agroecossistemas no tropico úmido. Além disso, nessa região a produtividade em grãos na cultura do milho é favorecida no sistema de aléias preeestabelecidas com as leguminosas arbóreas sombreiro, ingá e leucena e pela utilização de genótipos eficientes no aproveitamento do nitrogênio, cujo sincronismo entre a liberação e a absorção do N aplicado por meio das leguminosas deve ser aprimorado

Global Island Monitoring Scheme (GIMS) : a proposal for the long-term coordinated survey and monitoring of native island forest biota

Islands harbour evolutionary and ecologically unique biota, which are currently disproportionately threatened by a multitude of anthropogenic factors, including habitat loss, invasive species and climate change. Native forests on oceanic islands are important refugia for endemic species, many of which are rare and highly threatened. Long-term monitoring schemes for those biota and ecosystems are urgently needed: (i) to provide quantitative baselines for detecting changes within island ecosystems, (ii) to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation and management actions, and (iii) to identify general ecological patterns and processes using multiple island systems as repeated 'natural experiments'. In this contribution, we call for a Global Island Monitoring Scheme (GIMS) for monitoring the remaining native island forests, using bryophytes, vascular plants, selected groups of arthropods and vertebrates as model taxa. As a basis for the GIMS, we also present new, optimized monitoring protocols for bryophytes and arthropods that were developed based on former standardized inventory protocols. Effective inventorying and monitoring of native island forests will require: (i) permanent plots covering diverse ecological gradients (e.g. elevation, age of terrain, anthropogenic disturbance); (ii) a multiple-taxa approach that is based on standardized and replicable protocols; (iii) a common set of indicator taxa and community properties that are indicative of native island forests' welfare, building on, and harmonized with existing sampling and monitoring efforts; (iv) capacity building and training of local researchers, collaboration and continuous dialogue with local stakeholders; and (v) long-term commitment by funding agencies to maintain a global network of native island forest monitoring plots.Peer reviewe