Computing and Diagnosing Changes in Unit Test Energy Consumption

Many developers have reason to be concerned with with power consumption. For example, mobile app developers want to minimize how much power their applications draw, while still providing useful functionality. However, developers have few tools to get feedback about changes to their application\u27s power consumption behavior as they implement an application and make changes to it over time. We present a tool that, using a team\u27s existing test cases, performs repeated measurements of energy consumption based on instructions executed, objects generated, and blocking latency, generating a distribution of energy use estimates for each test run, recording these distributions in a time series of distributions over time. Then, when these distributions change substantially, we inform the developer of this change, and offer them diagnostic information about the elements of their code potentially responsible for the change and the inputs responsible. Through this information, we believe that developers will be better enabled to relate recent changes in their code to changes in energy consumption, enabling them to better incorporate changes in software energy consumption into their software evolution decisions

Comparison of Genotypes and Enterotoxin Genes Between Staphylococcus aureus Isolates from Blood and Nasal Colonizers in a Korean Hospital

In this study, we investigated the genetic background of 70 Staphylococcus aureus isolates (36 methicillin-resistant S. aureus [MRSA] and 34 methicillin-susceptible S. aureus [MSSA]) obtained from blood at a Korean tertiary-care hospital, using spa typing, multilocus sequence typing, and SCCmec typing. In addition, the prevalence of enterotoxin (sea, seb, sec, sed, see, seg, seh, sei, and sek), tst, and pvl genes among the samples was assessed via polymerase chain reaction, and the results were compared with those of 95 isolates of S. aureus obtained from nasal swabs. All MRSA isolates from blood, except one, belonged to three major clones: sequence type (ST)5-MRSA-II, ST72-MRSA-II (or IVA), and ST239-MRSA-III, among which ST5-MRSA-II was the predominant clone. The prevalence of enterotoxin genes in the S. aureus isolates obtained from blood differed significantly from those from the nasal swabs for the sea, seb, sec, and seh gene. In particular, the seb and sec genes were detected exclusively in the MRSA isolates of ST5 or spa-CC002, thereby suggesting the co-adaptation of virulence genes with the genetic background and their contribution to biological fitness

Stratospheric aircraft exhaust plume and wake chemistry studies

This report documents progress to date in an ongoing study to analyze and model emissions leaving a proposed High Speed Civil Transport (HSCT) from when the exhaust gases leave the engine until they are deposited at atmospheric scales in the stratosphere. Estimates are given for the emissions, summarizing relevant earlier work (CIAP) and reviewing current propulsion research efforts. The chemical evolution and the mixing and vortical motion of the exhaust are analyzed to track the exhaust and its speciation as the emissions are mixed to atmospheric scales. The species tracked include those that could be heterogeneously reactive on the surfaces of the condensed solid water (ice) particles and on exhaust soot particle surfaces. Dispersion and reaction of chemical constituents in the far wake are studied with a Lagrangian air parcel model, in conjunction with a radiation code to calculate the net heating/cooling. Laboratory measurements of heterogeneous chemistry of aqueous sulfuric acid and nitric acid hydrates are also described. Results include the solubility of HCl in sulfuric acid which is a key parameter for modeling stratospheric processing. We also report initial results for condensation of nitric acid trihydrate from gas phase H2O and HNO3

Two-channel anomalous Hall effect in SrRuO3

The Hall effect in SrRuO$_3$ thin-films near the thickness limit for ferromagnetism shows an extra peak in addition to the ordinary and anomalous Hall effects. This extra peak has been attributed to a topological Hall effect due to two-dimensional skyrmions in the film around the coercive field; however, the sign of the anomalous Hall effect in SrRuO$_3$ can change as a function of saturation magnetization. Here we report Hall peaks in SrRuO$_3$ in which volumetric magnetometry measurements and magnetic force microscopy indicate that the peaks result from the superposition of two anomalous Hall channels with opposite sign. These channels likely form due to thickness variations in SrRuO$_3$, creating two spatially separated magnetic regions with different saturation magnetizations and coercive fields. The results are central to the development of strongly correlated materials for spintronics.This work is supported by the EPSRC through the Core-to-Core International Network “Oxide Superspin” (EP/P026311/1) and the Doctoral Training Partnership Grant (EP/N509620/1). Additional support from the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering, US Department of Energy under Award numbers de-sc0018153, and the Research Center Program of IBS (Institute for Basic Science) in Korea (IBS-R009-D1)

A systematic review of randomised controlled trials on the effectiveness of exercise programs on lumbo pelvic pain among postnatal women

Background: A substantial number of women tend to be affected by Lumbo Pelvic Pain (LPP) following child birth. Physical exercise is indicated as a beneficial method to relieve LPP, but individual studies appear to suggest mixed findings about its effectiveness. This systematic review aimed to synthesise evidence from randomised controlled trials on the effectiveness of exercise on LPP among postnatal women to inform policy, practice and future research. Methods: A systematic review was conducted of all randomised controlled trials published between January 1990 and July 2014, identified through a comprehensive search of following databases: PubMed, PEDro, Embase, Cinahl, Medline, SPORTDiscus, Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group’s Trials Register, and electronic libraries of authors’institutions. Randomised controlled trials were eligible for inclusion if the intervention comprised of postnatal exercise for women with LPP onset during pregnancy or within 3 months after delivery and the outcome measures included changes in LPP. Selected articles were assessed using the PEDro Scale for methodological quality and findings were synthesised narratively as meta-analysis was found to be inappropriate due to heterogeneity among included studies. Results: Four randomised controlled trials were included, involving 251 postnatal women. Three trials were rated as of ‘good’ methodological quality. All trials, except one, were at low risk of bias. The trials included physical exercise programs with varying components, differing modes of delivery, follow up times and outcome measures. Intervention in one trial, involving physical therapy with specific stabilising exercises, proved to be effective in reducing LPP intensity. An improvement in gluteal pain on the right side was reported in another trial and a significant difference in pain frequency in another. Conclusion: Our review indicates that only few randomised controlled trials have evaluated the effectiveness of exercise on LPP among postnatal women. There is also a great amount of variability across existing trials in the components of exercise programs, modes of delivery, follow up times and outcome measures. While there is some evidence to indicate the effectiveness of exercise for relieving LPP, further good quality trials are needed to ascertain the most effective elements of postnatal exercise programs suited for LPP treatment

Special topic: The association between pulse ingredients and canine dilated cardiomyopathy: addressing the knowledge gaps before establishing causation.

In July 2018, the Food and Drug Administration warned about a possible relationship between dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in dogs and the consumption of dog food formulated with potatoes and pulse ingredients. This issue may impede utilization of pulse ingredients in dog food or consideration of alternative proteins. Pulse ingredients have been used in the pet food industry for over 2 decades and represent a valuable source of protein to compliment animal-based ingredients. Moreover, individual ingredients used in commercial foods do not represent the final nutrient concentration of the complete diet. Thus, nutritionists formulating dog food must balance complementary ingredients to fulfill the animal's nutrient needs in the final diet. There are multiple factors that should be considered, including differences in nutrient digestibility and overall bioavailability, the fermentability and quantity of fiber, and interactions among food constituents that can increase the risk of DCM development. Taurine is a dispensable amino acid that has been linked to DCM in dogs. As such, adequate supply of taurine and/or precursors for taurine synthesis plays an important role in preventing DCM. However, requirements of amino acids in dogs are not well investigated and are presented in total dietary content basis which does not account for bioavailability or digestibility. Similarly, any nutrient (e.g., soluble and fermentable fiber) or physiological condition (e.g., size of the dog, sex, and age) that increases the requirement for taurine will also augment the possibility for DCM development. Dog food formulators should have a deep knowledge of processing methodologies and nutrient interactions beyond meeting the Association of American Feed Control Officials nutrient profiles and should not carelessly follow unsubstantiated market trends. Vegetable ingredients, including pulses, are nutritious and can be used in combination with complementary ingredients to meet the nutritional needs of the dog

A relocatable ocean model in support of environmental emergencies

During the Costa Concordia emergency case, regional, subregional, and relocatable ocean models have been used together with the oil spill model, MEDSLIK-II, to provide ocean currents forecasts, possible oil spill scenarios, and drifters trajectories simulations. The models results together with the evaluation of their performances are presented in this paper. In particular, we focused this work on the implementation of the Interactive Relocatable Nested Ocean Model (IRENOM), based on the Harvard Ocean Prediction System (HOPS), for the Costa Concordia emergency and on its validation using drifters released in the area of the accident. It is shown that thanks to the capability of improving easily and quickly its configuration, the IRENOM results are of greater accuracy than the results achieved using regional or subregional model products. The model topography, and to the initialization procedures, and the horizontal resolution are the key model settings to be configured. Furthermore, the IRENOM currents and the MEDSLIK-II simulated trajectories showed to be sensitive to the spatial resolution of the meteorological fields used, providing higher prediction skills with higher resolution wind forcing.MEDESS4MS Project; TESSA Project; MyOcean2 Projectinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The connection between computability of a nonlinear problem and its linearization: the Hartman-Grobman theorem revisited

As one of the seven open problems in the addendum to their 1989 book Computability in Analysis and Physics Pour-El and Richards (1989)[17], Pour-El and Richards asked, "What is the connection between the computability of the original nonlinear operator and the linear operator which results from it?" Yet at present, systematic studies of the issues raised by this question seem to be missing from the literature. In this paper, we study one problem in this direction: the Hartman-Grobman linearization theorem for ordinary differential equations (ODEs). We prove, roughly speaking, that near a hyperbolic equilibrium point x(0) of a nonlinear ODE (x) over dot = f(x), there is a computable homeomorphism H such that H circle phi = L circle H, where phi is the solution to the ODE and L is the solution to its linearization (x) over dot = Df (x(0)) x. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia; EU FEDER POCTI/POCI via SQIG - Instituto de Telecomunicacoes through the FCT [PEst-OE/EEI/LA0008/2011