15,034 research outputs found
Fault Localization in Multi-Threaded C Programs using Bounded Model Checking (extended version)
Software debugging is a very time-consuming process, which is even worse for
multi-threaded programs, due to the non-deterministic behavior of
thread-scheduling algorithms. However, the debugging time may be greatly
reduced, if automatic methods are used for localizing faults. In this study, a
new method for fault localization, in multi-threaded C programs, is proposed.
It transforms a multi-threaded program into a corresponding sequential one and
then uses a fault-diagnosis method suitable for this type of program, in order
to localize faults. The code transformation is implemented with rules and
context switch information from counterexamples, which are typically generated
by bounded model checkers. Experimental results show that the proposed method
is effective, in such a way that sequential fault-localization methods can be
extended to multi-threaded programs.Comment: extended version of paper published at SBESC'1
HD 145263: Spectral Observations of Silica Debris Disk Formation via Extreme Space Weathering?
We report here time domain infrared spectroscopy and optical photometry of
the HD145263 silica-rich circumstellar disk system taken from 2003 through
2014. We find an F4V host star surrounded by a stable, massive 1e22 - 1e23 kg
(M_Moon to M_Mars) dust disk. No disk gas was detected, and the primary star
was seen rotating with a rapid ~1.75 day period. After resolving a problem with
previously reported observations, we find the silica, Mg-olivine, and
Fe-pyroxene mineralogy of the dust disk to be stable throughout, and very
unusual compared to the ferromagnesian silicates typically found in primordial
and debris disks. By comparison with mid-infrared spectral features of
primitive solar system dust, we explore the possibility that HD 145263's
circumstellar dust mineralogy occurred with preferential destruction of
Fe-bearing olivines, metal sulfides, and water ice in an initially comet-like
mineral mix and their replacement by Fe-bearing pyroxenes, amorphous pyroxene,
and silica. We reject models based on vaporizing optical stellar megaflares,
aqueous alteration, or giant hypervelocity impacts as unable to produce the
observed mineralogy. Scenarios involving unusually high Si abundances are at
odds with the normal stellar absorption near-infrared feature strengths for Mg,
Fe, and Si. Models involving intense space weathering of a thin surface patina
via moderate (T < 1300 K) heating and energetic ion sputtering due to a stellar
superflare from the F4V primary are consistent with the observations. The space
weathered patina should be reddened, contain copious amounts of nanophase Fe,
and should be transient on timescales of decades unless replenished.Comment: 41 Pages, 5 Figures, 5 Tables, Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
“I Wish I Had AIDS”: A qualitative study on access to health care services for HIV/AIDS and diabetic patients in Cambodia
Financially stricken Cambodian patients with diabetes and HIV/AIDS typically encounter multiple, serious barriers to effective care. This process may extend over many years and involve numerous rounds of diagnosis and treatment as the disease progresses from initial symptoms to longer term complications. Living with both the impact of the disease and this ongoing struggle for care can severely disrupt the everyday life of both sufferers and their families. Our retrospective study adopted qualitative research methods to collect data from HIV/AIDS and diabetic patients enrolled and not enrolled in treatment programs at varying institutions in urban and rural settings. Using purposive sampling techniques, a total of 25 HIV/AIDS and 45 diabetic patients were recruited. Semi-structured and open-ended interviews were used to collect information on patient experiences of different phases in the on-going process of seeking care and treatment. The findings indicate that both HIV/AIDS and diabetic patients encounter multiple supply- and demand-side barriers to care at different stages of their illness. More strikingly, our research findings suggest that supply-side barriers, for example rationing systems or targeting strategies that limit access to free treatment or social assistance, are substantially higher for diabetic patients. This perceived inequity had a profound impact on diabetic patients to the extent that some “wished they had HIV/AIDS”. These findings suggest that there is an urgent need to widen the focus of health care to address the substantial and increasing burden of disease resulting from diabetes and other serious chronic disorders in Cambodia and many other low/middle income countries.
Models for logics and conditional constraints in automated proofs of termination
The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13770-4_3Reasoning about termination of declarative programs, which are described by means of a computational logic, requires the definition of appropriate abstractions as semantic models of the logic, and also handling the conditional constraints which are often obtained. The formal treatment of such constraints in automated proofs, often using numeric interpretations and (arithmetic) constraint solving can greatly benefit from appropriate techniques to deal with the conditional (in)equations at stake. Existing results from linear algebra or real algebraic geometry are useful to deal with them but have received only scant attention to date. We investigate the definition and use of numeric models for logics and the resolution of linear and algebraic conditional constraints as unifying techniques for proving termination of declarative programs.Developed during a sabbatical year at UIUC. Supported by projects NSF CNS13-19109, MINECO TIN2010-21062-C02-02 and TIN2013-45732-C4-1-P, and GV BEST/2014/026 and PROMETEO/2011/052.Lucas Alba, S.; Meseguer, J. (2014). Models for logics and conditional constraints in automated proofs of termination. En Artificial Intelligence and Symbolic Computation. Springer Verlag (Germany). 9-20. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-13770-4_3S920Alarcón, B., Gutiérrez, R., Lucas, S., Navarro-Marset, R.: Proving Termination Properties with mu-term. In: Johnson, M., Pavlovic, D. (eds.) AMAST 2010. LNCS, vol. 6486, pp. 201–208. Springer, Heidelberg (2011)Alarcón, B., Lucas, S., Navarro-Marset, R.: Using Matrix Interpretations over the Reals in Proofs of Termination. In: Proc. of PROLE 2009, pp. 255–264 (2009)Clavel, M., Durán, F., Eker, S., Lincoln, P., Martí-Oliet, N., Meseguer, J., Talcott, C. (eds.): All About Maude - A High-Performance Logical Framework. LNCS, vol. 4350. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)Contejean, E., Marché, C., Tomás, A.-P., Urbain, X.: Mechanically proving termination using polynomial interpretations. J. of Aut. Reas. 34(4), 325–363 (2006)Endrullis, J., Waldmann, J., Zantema, H.: Matrix Interpretations for Proving Termination of Term Rewriting. J. of Aut. Reas. 40(2-3), 195–220 (2008)Fuhs, C., Giesl, J., Middeldorp, A., Schneider-Kamp, P., Thiemann, R., Zankl, H.: Maximal Termination. In: Voronkov, A. (ed.) RTA 2008. LNCS, vol. 5117, pp. 110–125. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)Futatsugi, K., Diaconescu, R.: CafeOBJ Report. AMAST Series. World Scientific (1998)Hudak, P., Peyton-Jones, S.J., Wadler, P.: Report on the Functional Programming Language Haskell: a non–strict, purely functional language. Sigplan Notices 27(5), 1–164 (1992)Lucas, S.: Context-sensitive computations in functional and functional logic programs. Journal of Functional and Logic Programming 1998(1), 1–61 (1998)Lucas, S.: Polynomials over the reals in proofs of termination: from theory to practice. RAIRO Theoretical Informatics and Applications 39(3), 547–586 (2005)Lucas, S., Marché, C., Meseguer, J.: Operational termination of conditional term rewriting systems. Information Processing Letters 95, 446–453 (2005)Lucas, S., Meseguer, J.: Proving Operational Termination of Declarative Programs in General Logics. In: Proc. of PPDP 2014, pp. 111–122. ACM Digital Library (2014)Lucas, S., Meseguer, J.: 2D Dependency Pairs for Proving Operational Termination of CTRSs. In: Proc. of WRLA 2014. LNCS, vol. 8663 (to appear, 2014)Lucas, S., Meseguer, J., Gutiérrez, R.: Extending the 2D DP Framework for CTRSs. In: Selected papers of LOPSTR 2014. LNCS (to appear, 2015)Meseguer, J.: General Logics. In: Ebbinghaus, H.-D., et al. (eds.) Logic Colloquium 1987, pp. 275–329. North-Holland (1989)Nguyen, M.T., de Schreye, D., Giesl, J., Schneider-Kamp, P.: Polytool: Polynomial interpretations as a basis for termination of logic programs. Theory and Practice of Logic Programming 11(1), 33–63 (2011)Ohlebusch, E.: Advanced Topics in Term Rewriting. Springer (April 2002)Prestel, A., Delzell, C.N.: Positive Polynomials. In: From Hilbert’s 17th Problem to Real Algebra. Springer, Berlin (2001)Podelski, A., Rybalchenko, A.: A Complete Method for the Synthesis of Linear Ranking Functions. In: Steffen, B., Levi, G. (eds.) VMCAI 2004. LNCS, vol. 2937, pp. 239–251. Springer, Heidelberg (2004)Schrijver, A.: Theory of linear and integer programming. John Wiley & Sons (1986)Zantema, H.: Termination of Context-Sensitive Rewriting. In: Comon, H. (ed.) RTA 1997. LNCS, vol. 1232, pp. 172–186. Springer, Heidelberg (1997
A calcium ion in a cavity as a controlled single-photon source
We present a single calcium ion, coupled to a high-finesse cavity, as an almost ideal system for the controlled generation of single photons. Photons from a pump beam are Raman-scattered by the ion into the cavity mode, which subsequently emits the photon into a well-defined output channel. In contrast with comparable atomic systems, the ion is localized at a fixed position in the cavity mode for indefinite times, enabling truly continuous operation of the device. We have performed numeric calculations to assess the performance of the system and present the first experimental indication of single-photon emission in our set-up
Automatic wheeze detection based on auditory modelling
Automatic wheeze detection has several potential benefits compared with reliance on human auscultation: it is experience independent, an automated historical record can easily be kept, and it allows quantification of wheeze severity. Previous attempts to detect wheezes automatically have had partial success but have not been reliable enough to become widely accepted as a useful tool. In this paper an improved algorithm for automatic wheeze detection based on auditory modelling is developed, called the frequency- and duration-dependent threshold algorithm. The mean frequency and duration of each wheeze component are obtained automatically. The detected wheezes are marked on a spectrogram. In the new algorithm, the concept of a frequency- and duration-dependent threshold for wheeze detection is introduced. Another departure from previous work is that the threshold is based not on global power but on power corresponding to a particular frequency range. The algorithm has been tested on 36 subjects, 11 of whom exhibited characteristics of wheeze. The results show a marked improvement in the accuracy of wheeze detection when compared with previous algorithms
The extremely red L dwarf ULAS J222711-004547-dominated by dust
We report the discovery of a peculiar L dwarf from the United Kingdom Infrared Deep Sky Survey Large Area Survey, ULAS J222711-004547. The very red infrared photometry (MKO J-K = 2.79 +/- 0.06, WISEW1-W2 = 0.65 +/- 0.05) of ULAS J222711-004547 makes it one of the reddest brown dwarfs discovered so far. We obtained a moderate resolution spectrum of this target using the XSHOOTER spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope, and we classify it as L7pec, confirming its very red nature. Comparison to theoretical models suggests that the object could be a low-gravity L dwarf with a solar or higher than solar metallicity. Nonetheless, the match of such fits to the spectral energy distribution is rather poor, and this and other less red peculiar L dwarfs pose new challenges for the modelling of ultracool atmospheres, especially to the understanding of the effects of condensates and their sensitivity to gravity and metallicity. We determined the proper motion of ULAS J222711-004547 using the data available in the literature, and we find that its kinematics do not suggest membership of any of the known young associations. We show that applying a simple de-reddening curve to its spectrum allows it to resemble the spectra of the L7 spectroscopic standards without any spectral features that distinguish it as a low-metallicity or low-gravity dwarf. Given the negligible interstellar reddening of the field containing our target, we conclude that the reddening of the spectrum is mostly due to an excess of dust in the photosphere of the target. De-reddening the spectrum using extinction curves for different dust species gives surprisingly good results and suggests a characteristic grain size of similar to 0.5 mu m. We show that by increasing the optical depth, the same extinction curves allow the spectrum of ULAS J222711-004547 to resemble the spectra of unusually blue L dwarfs and even slightly metal-poor L dwarfs. Grains of similar size also yield very good fits when de-reddening other unusually red L dwarfs in the L5-L7.5 range. These results suggest that the diversity in near-infrared colours and spectra seen in late L dwarfs could be due to differences in the optical thickness of the dust cloud deck.Peer reviewe
Complex Network Tools to Understand the Behavior of Criminality in Urban Areas
Complex networks are nowadays employed in several applications. Modeling
urban street networks is one of them, and in particular to analyze criminal
aspects of a city. Several research groups have focused on such application,
but until now, there is a lack of a well-defined methodology for employing
complex networks in a whole crime analysis process, i.e. from data preparation
to a deep analysis of criminal communities. Furthermore, the "toolset"
available for those works is not complete enough, also lacking techniques to
maintain up-to-date, complete crime datasets and proper assessment measures. In
this sense, we propose a threefold methodology for employing complex networks
in the detection of highly criminal areas within a city. Our methodology
comprises three tasks: (i) Mapping of Urban Crimes; (ii) Criminal Community
Identification; and (iii) Crime Analysis. Moreover, it provides a proper set of
assessment measures for analyzing intrinsic criminality of communities,
especially when considering different crime types. We show our methodology by
applying it to a real crime dataset from the city of San Francisco - CA, USA.
The results confirm its effectiveness to identify and analyze high criminality
areas within a city. Hence, our contributions provide a basis for further
developments on complex networks applied to crime analysis.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 14th International Conference on Information
Technology : New Generation
Circular spectropolarimetric sensing of chiral photosystems in decaying leaves
Circular polarization spectroscopy has proven to be an indispensable tool in
photosynthesis research and (bio)-molecular research in general. Oxygenic
photosystems typically display an asymmetric Cotton effect around the
chlorophyll absorbance maximum with a signal . In vegetation, these
signals are the direct result of the chirality of the supramolecular
aggregates. The circular polarization is thus directly influenced by the
composition and architecture of the photosynthetic macrodomains, and is thereby
linked to photosynthetic functioning. Although ordinarily measured only on a
molecular level, we have developed a new spectropolarimetric instrument,
TreePol, that allows for both laboratory and in-the-field measurements. Through
spectral multiplexing, TreePol is capable of fast measurements with a
sensitivity of and is therefore suitable of non-destructively
probing the molecular architecture of whole plant leaves. We have measured the
chiroptical evolution of \textit{Hedera helix} leaves for a period of 22 days.
Spectrally resolved circular polarization measurements (450-900 nm) on whole
leaves in transmission exhibit a strong decrease in the polarization signal
over time after plucking, which we accredit to the deterioration of chiral
macro-aggregates. Chlorophyll \textit{a} levels measured over the same period
by means of UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy showed a much
smaller decrease. With these results we are able to distinguish healthy from
deteriorating leaves. Hereby we indicate the potency of circular polarization
spectroscopy on whole and intact leaves as a nondestructive tool for structural
and plant stress assessment. Additionally, we underline the establishment of
circular polarization signals as remotely accessible means of detecting the
presence of extraterrestrial life.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figure
Measurements of polarized photo-pion production on longitudinally polarized HD and Implications for Convergence of the GDH Integral
We report new measurements of inclusive pion production from frozen-spin HD
for polarized photon beams covering the Delta(1232) resonance. These provide
data simultaneously on both H and D with nearly complete angular distributions
of the spin-difference cross sections entering the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn (GDH)
sum rule. Recent results from Mainz and Bonn exceed the GDH prediction for the
proton by 22 microbarns, suggesting as yet unmeasured high-energy components.
Our pi0 data reveal a different angular dependence than assumed in Mainz
analyses and integrate to a value that is 18 microbarns lower, suggesting a
more rapid convergence. Our results for deuterium are somewhat lower than
published data, considerably more precise and generally lower than available
calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Submitted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
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