Distributed Debugging With I/O Abstraction

This thesis presents a simple, yet powerful, set of mechanisms for testing and debugging distributed applications consisting of modules that communicate through well-defined data interfaces. The tools allow default or programmer-defined functions to be attached to various communication events so that particular data values at interesting points in the program are made available for testing and debugging. The debugging status of each component of the communication interface can be controlled separately so that various debugging information can be turned on and off during program execution. By attaching breakpoints to programmer-defined fucntions in a standard debugger, fine-grained examination of each module of the applicaton can be integrated with the coarse-grained communication debugging information provided by our tools

Sleep Insufficiency, Sleep Health Problems and Performance in High School Students

A survey on sleep schedule, sleep health, school performance and school start times was conducted in 1,941 adolescents. A high level of early and circadian-disadvantaged sleep/wake schedules during weekdays was observed. Shorter sleep duration on weekdays was reported, especially in upper classmen. Complaints of inadequate sleep and sleepiness during weekdays, alarm clock use, and napping were prevalent. Night awakening and prolonged sleep onset were common and associated with poor school performance. Students with a sleep length of less than 7 hours on both weekdays and weekends exhibited poorer performance, while those who made up this sleep loss on weekends did not. The total number of poor sleep factors in an individual also correlated with poor school performance. Earlier school start times were associated with a perception of poor sleep quality, shorter sleep duration and more sleep health problems. We conclude that sleep inadequacies and sleep health problems were prevalent in this population, especially in those who started school earlier in the morning, and that these poor sleep factors were associated with school performance

Contact dermatitis and other skin conditions in instrumental musicians

BACKGROUND: The skin is important in the positioning and playing of a musical instrument. During practicing and performing there is a permanent more or less intense contact between the instrument and the musician's skin. Apart from aggravation of predisposed skin diseases (e.g., atopic eczema or psoriasis) due to music-making, specific dermatologic conditions may develop that are directly caused by playing a musical instrument. METHODS: To perform a systematic review on instrument-related skin diseases in musicians we searched the PubMed database without time limits. Furthermore we studied the online bibliography "Occupational diseases of performing artist. A performing arts medicine bibliography. October, 2003" and checked references of all selected articles for relevant papers. RESULTS: The most prevalent skin disorders of instrumental musicians, in particular string instrumentalists (e.g., violinists, cellists, guitarists), woodwind players (e.g., flautists, clarinetists), and brass instrumentalists (e.g., trumpeters), include a variety of allergic contact sensitizations (e.g., colophony, nickel, and exotic woods) and irritant (physical-chemical noxae) skin conditions whose clinical presentation and localization are usually specific for the instrument used (e.g., "fiddler's neck", "cellist's chest", "guitar nipple", "flautist's chin"). Apart from common callosities and "occupational marks" (e.g., "Garrod's pads") more or less severe skin injuries may occur in musical instrumentalists, in particular acute and chronic wounds including their complications. Skin infections such as herpes labialis seem to be a more common skin problem in woodwind and brass instrumentalists. CONCLUSIONS: Skin conditions may be a significant problem not only in professional instrumentalists, but also in musicians of all ages and ability. Although not life threatening they may lead to impaired performance and occupational hazard. Unfortunately, epidemiological investigations have exclusively been performed on orchestra musicians, though the prevalence of instrument-related skin conditions in other musician groups (e.g., jazz and rock musicians) is also of interest. The practicing clinician should be aware of the special dermatologic problems unique to the musical instrumentalist. Moreover awareness among musicians needs to be raised, as proper technique and conditioning may help to prevent affection of performance and occupational impairment

The Legal and Political Implications of Campaign Finance Reform

Today's campaign finance regime is at best a foundering institution, at worst a system on the verge of complete meltdown. The crux of the problem is the time-honored American tradition of checks and balances--in this case, between the legislative branch and the judicial branch. Congress enacted the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971\ud (FECA), as well as its more important amendments in 1974, with the express purpose of\ud preventing corruption, an immediate consequence of Watergate. The Supreme Court then struck down key provisions (expenditure limits) of the Act as impermissible under\ud the First Amendment, while upholding others (contribution limits), the key issue being to\ud what extent spending and/or contributing money for political purposes is or is not free speech. The resultant system of campaign finance will be shown to be entirely\ud inadequate to the purported goal of a sound democracy, unless that goal includes an\ud apathetic public and the sale of elections and legislative access to the highest bidder(s)

Magazine Publishers Exhale: Exploiting Collective Works After Greenberg, 9 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 161 (2009)

The National Geographic Society simply intended to offer an innovative digital product to consumers—its complete archives in digital format—when it released The Complete National Geographic CD-ROM. The CD-ROM, however, had a much different impact as well. The litigation that followed its release, in particular Greenberg v. National Geographic Society, offered publishers‘ some clarity in regard to the scope of section 201(c) rights to reproduce collective works in digital formats. Greenberg, however, did not address the full range of copyright issues that publishers and freelance contributors alike encounter in reproducing collective works in new digital formats brought about by advances in technology. To further clarify publishers‘ section 201(c) rights, Congressional intervention is necessary to amend the Copyright Act to redefine section 201(c) to expressly include new digital media revisions as privileged. In addition, Congress should create a compulsory licensing system that gives a publisher a statutory rate at which it can republish contributions to a collective work