PKind: A parallel k-induction based model checker

PKind is a novel parallel k-induction-based model checker of invariant properties for finite- or infinite-state Lustre programs. Its architecture, which is strictly message-based, is designed to minimize synchronization delays and easily accommodate the incorporation of incremental invariant generators to enhance basic k-induction. We describe PKind's functionality and main features, and present experimental evidence that PKind significantly speeds up the verification of safety properties and, due to incremental invariant generation, also considerably increases the number of provable ones.Comment: In Proceedings PDMC 2011, arXiv:1111.006

What, who and when? Incorporating a discrete choice experiment into an economic evaluation

Acknowledgements The Medman study was funded by the Department of Health for England and Wales and managed by a collaboration of the National Pharmaceutical Association, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the Company Chemist Association and the Co-operative Pharmacy Technical Panel, led by the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee. The research in this paper was undertaken while the lead author MT was undertaking a doctoral research fellowship jointly funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC). The Health Economics Research Unit (HERU), University of Aberdeen is funded by the Chief Scientific Office of the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorate.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The “question of the technique”: from the designing idea to the realized form

This work aims at focusing the inner relationship between the formal intuition of the design process and the structural/technological boundaries behind the creation of any architectural constructed form. Through the analysis of some noteworthy architectural examples, we highlight the reasons for which their designers achieved a virtuous equilibrium between shape, design and constructive awareness. In a contemporary era in which the major architectural production seems more interested to show off and amaze the spectators with huge scales and charming contaminations from the entertainment industry, a call for the need of the Vitruvian lesson appears essentials: the more we push our creativity as designers, the more we need to keep it firmly stick to the principles of firmitas, utilitas and venusta

Applying discrete social experiments in social care research

Discrete choice experiments (DCEs) have been widely used by economists to elicit people’s values in a number of areas, including market, transport and environmental issues. The last two decades have seen an increasing use of the technique in health economics, and it is beginning to be applied in social care and related research. This review aims to help social care researchers, policymakers and practitioners make the best use of DCEs to value preferences in social care settings. It discusses what DCE is, what you can do with it, and its use to incorporate informal care in economic evaluations. It also describes the key stages of developing a DCE for social care and presents a comprehensive search of the literature to identify and describe DCE applications to social care. Some of the important challenges of applying DCEs to social care are identified, and the need for further methodological development is discussed

La Antártida - por Santos Alazraqui - Revista Geográfica Americana, XXVII (Buenos Aires, 1947), 71-86.

Fil: Tinelli, Anna. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Filosofía y Letra

On Counterexample Guided Quantifier Instantiation for Synthesis in CVC4

We introduce the first program synthesis engine implemented inside an SMT solver. We present an approach that extracts solution functions from unsatisfiability proofs of the negated form of synthesis conjectures. We also discuss novel counterexample-guided techniques for quantifier instantiation that we use to make finding such proofs practically feasible. A particularly important class of specifications are single-invocation properties, for which we present a dedicated algorithm. To support syntax restrictions on generated solutions, our approach can transform a solution found without restrictions into the desired syntactic form. As an alternative, we show how to use evaluation function axioms to embed syntactic restrictions into constraints over algebraic datatypes, and then use an algebraic datatype decision procedure to drive synthesis. Our experimental evaluation on syntax-guided synthesis benchmarks shows that our implementation in the CVC4 SMT solver is competitive with state-of-the-art tools for synthesis

H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy. diagnostic tool in recurrent headache in systemic lupus erythematosus. a case report

We describe serial MR-spectroscopy studies in a patient with systemic lupus erythematosus and headache. We used MR-spectroscopy to monitor disease activity during periods with and without headache. MR-spectroscopy investigates metabolic alterations and was used to explore the pathophysiological mechanism involved in the complications of systemic lupus erythematosus. Our patient underwent serial conventional MRI and MR-spectroscopy at times of controlled and uncontrolled headache, with or without visual aura. MR-spectroscopy showed an increase in the choline/creatine ratio in thalamus and posterior white matter only during periods of uncontrolled headache with visual aura. Conventional MRI scans were normal at all times. MR-spectroscopy should be used in the diagnosis and follow-up of headache in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Exploring the effects of classical immune activation on circuit excitability and cell viability in the mouse brain

Epilepsy directly affects approximately 50 million people globally and is the most common neurological disorder in sub-Saharan Africa, mainly due to high rates of neuroinfections and head trauma experienced by people in the region. A common factor in these causes of acquired epilepsy is their association with significant neuroinflammation, which is thought to drive the epileptogenic process. Although epilepsy exerts a heavy toll on the health, wellbeing and socio-economic outcomes of Africans, there are still major deficits in our understanding of how infections and inflammatory processes drive seizure development. Using the hippocampal organotypic brain slice culture model in mouse brains, I investigated the effects of classical immune activation on circuit excitability and cell viability. To initiate inflammation, I administered lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an endotoxin derived from gramnegative bacteria, and interferon-gamma (IFNy), a cytokine typically released by lymphocytes, to brain slices on varying time scales. I used enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assays to show that this reliably induced the release of the proinflammatory cytokines TNFα and IL-6 from the brain slices. I used patch-clamp electrophysiology to assess both the intrinsic electrical characteristics as well as the synaptic strength between pyramidal neurons after immune activation. I found no changes in the basic membrane properties of pyramidal neurons after short term neuroinflammation, but I did observe changes to the function of hippocampal networks at intermediate (24 hours) and lengthy (72 hours) time scales of immune activation in the form of significantly reduced spontaneous excitatory and inhibitory postsynaptic current frequencies and amplitudes. In addition, I developed an assay to determine neuronal survival to monitor the health of neurons in brain slices after immune activation and report that hippocampal organotypic brain slice cultures that were immuneactivated for 72 hours do not appear to experience either apoptotic or necrotic cell death. Taken together, these data constitute a valuable contribution towards understanding how inflammatory mechanisms drive changes to neuronal function, which could be relevant for understanding epileptogenesis in infectious and inflammatory causes of epilepsy