Set the controls for the heart of the alternation: Dahl’s Law in Kitharaka

This paper looks at Dahl’s Law, a voicing dissimilation process found in a number of Bantu languages, in Kitharaka, and argues that it is best analysed within a framework of minimal (contrastive) feature spe- cifications. We show that the standard account of [±voice] dissimilation runs into a number of problems in Kitharaka and propose a new analysis, couched within the framework of the Parallel Structures Model of Feature Geometry (Morén 2003; 2006) and Optimality Theory, thereby also addressing the question of the division of labour between constraints and representations. The analysis shows that it is crucial to look at the whole system of phonological oppositions and natural classes in Kitharaka to understand how the process works, ultimately also using loanwords to glean crucial insight into how the phoneme system of Kitharaka is organised

Synchrony versus causality in distributed systems

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Given a synchronous system, we study the question whether – or, under which conditions – the behaviour of that system can be realized by a (non-trivially) distributed and hence asynchronous implementation. In this paper, we partially answer this question by examining the role of causality for the implementation of synchrony in two fundamental different formalisms of concurrency, Petri nets and the π-calculus. For both formalisms it turns out that each ‘good’ encoding of synchronous interactions using just asynchronous interactions introduces causal dependencies in the translation

Synchrony versus causality in distributed systems

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Given a synchronous system, we study the question whether – or, under which conditions – the behaviour of that system can be realized by a (non-trivially) distributed and hence asynchronous implementation. In this paper, we partially answer this question by examining the role of causality for the implementation of synchrony in two fundamental different formalisms of concurrency, Petri nets and the π-calculus. For both formalisms it turns out that each ‘good’ encoding of synchronous interactions using just asynchronous interactions introduces causal dependencies in the translation

Reducing dose for digital cranial radiography : The increased source to the image-receptor distance approach

This investigation proposes that an increased source to the image-receptor distance (SID) technique can be used to optimize occipital frontal and lateral cranial radiographs acquired with direct digital radiography. Although cranial radiography is not performed on a routine basis, it should nonetheless be optimized to keep the dose to the patient as low as reasonably achievable, particularly because it can form part of the facial bone and sinus series. Dose measurements were acquired at various SIDs, and image quality was assessed using visual grading analysis. Statistically significant reductions in the effective dose between 19.2% and 23.9% were obtained when the SID was increased from the standard 100 to 150 cm (P ≤.05), and visual grading analysis scores indicate that image quality remained diagnostically acceptable for both projections. This investigation concludes that increasing the SID effectively optimizes occipital frontal and lateral skull radiographs. Radiology departments must be advised of the benefits of this technique with the goal of introducing an updated reference SID of 150 cm into clinical practice.Peer reviewe

Therapy reduction in patients with Down syndrome and myeloid leukemia: the international ML-DS 2006 trial

Children with myeloid leukemia associated with Down syndrome (ML-DS) have superior outcome compared with non-DS patients, but suffer from higher constitutional cytotoxic drug susceptibility. We analyzed the outcome of 170 pediatric patients with ML-DS enrolled in the prospective, multicenter, open-label, nonrandomized ML-DS 2006 trial by Nordic Society for Pediatric Hematology and Oncology (NOPHO), Dutch Childhood Oncology Group (DCOG), and Acute Myeloid Leukemia–Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (AML-BFM) study group. Compared with the historical control arm (reduced-intensity protocol for ML-DS patients from the AML-BFM 98 trial), treatment intensity was reduced by lowering the cumulative dose of etoposide (950 to 450 mg/m2) and intrathecal central nervous system prophylaxis while omitting maintenance therapy. Still, 5-year overall survival (89% 6 3% vs 90% 6 4%; Plog-rank 5 .64), event-free survival (EFS; 87% 6 3% vs 89% 6 4%; Plog-rank 5 .71), and cumulative incidence of relapse/ nonresponse (CIR/NR; 6% 6 3% vs 6% 6 2%; PGray 5 .03) did not significantly differ between the ML-DS 2006 trial and the historical control arm. Poor early treatment response (5-year EFS, 58% 6 16% vs 88% 6 3%; Plog rank 5 .0008) and gain of chromosome 8 (CIR/NR, 16% 6 7% vs 3% 6 2%, PGray 5 .02; 5-year EFS, 73% 6 8% vs 91% 6 4%, Plog rank 5 .018) were identified as independent prognostic factors predicting a worse EFS. Five of 7 relapsed patients (71%) with cytogenetic data had trisomy 8. Our study reveals prognostic markers for children with ML-DS and illustrates that reducing therapy did not impair excellent outcome. The trial was registered at EudraCT as #2007-006219-2. (Blood. 2017;129(25): 3314-3321

Evaluierung von Rekonstruktionsalgorithmen für die Magnetresonanz-Elastographie (MRE)

Magnetresonanzelastographie (MRE) ist eine neue Methode, mit der Magnetresonanztomographie nicht invasiv die Elastizität menschlichen Gewebes zu messen. Die Palpation zeigt, wie wichtig eine Abschätzung von Elastizitätsunterschieden für die Diagnostik sein kann. Ziel der MRE ist es, Elastogramme zur Diagnose bereitzustellen. Elastogramme sind Bilder, die in jedem Bildpunkt die Elastizität des Gewebes zeigen, in dem die ursprünglichen Bilddaten mit dem Magnetresonanztomographen akquiriert wurden. Dazu wird eine Bildakquisitionsmethode benutzt, die Bewegungen im Gewebe misst. Mechanische Wellen werden mit einem Schwingungsgenerator von außen über die Haut in das darunter liegende Gewebe induziert, was eine Schwingung der Wasserstoffprotonen verursacht, die durch Wechselwirkung mit den Magnetfeldern des Tomographen die zu messenden Signale generieren. Diese Schwingungen und dadurch bedingte Wellenausbreitungen können den Bilddaten durch Nachverarbeitung entnommen werden. Aus diesen Daten wiederum können dann Elastizitätsverteilungen bzw. Elastogramme rekonstruiert werden. Der Aufbau einer solchen Untersuchung bedarf der Steuerung einer mechanischen Anregung, welche mit dem Bildgebungsvorgang synchronisiert ist. Die Ergebnisse von MRE-Untersuchungen in Phantomen, der Skelettmuskulatur, des Hirns und der Haut mit dem beschriebenen System zeigen, dass MRE in den entsprechenden Regionen des Körpers Elastizitätsmessungen ermöglicht. Weiterhin werden Rekonstruktionsalgorithmen für die Berechnung von Elastogrammen vorgestellt, auf die Bilddaten der genannten Untersuchungen angewendet und evaluiert. Es zeigt sich, dass zur Rekonstruktion der Daten physikalische Eigenschaften angenommen werden müssen, die das menschliche Gewebe nicht realistisch beschreiben. Anhand der Evaluierung der Rekonstruktionsmethoden der MRE-Daten zeigt sich, dass aber gerade für die Rekonstruktion noch Forschungsbedarf besteht, um auch die Zuverlässigkeit des Verfahrens garantieren zu können, die für eine diagnostische Beurteilung notwendig ist. Dennoch lassen sich Elastizitätsverteilungen visualisieren, so dass die Aussagekraft der Elastograme mit statistischen Auswertungen von MRE-Untersuchungen mit einer großen Anzahl Patienten überprüft werden muss. Die MRE verspricht, eine Möglichkeit zu bieten, Krankheiten, die Elastizitätsänderungen verursachen, zu identifizieren und deren Verlauf zu verfolgen

On Distributability of Petri Nets

We formalise a general concept of distributed systems as sequential components interacting asynchronously. We define a corresponding class of Petri nets, called LSGA nets, and precisely characterise those system specifications which can be implemented as LSGA nets up to branching ST-bisimilarity with explicit divergence

Synchrony versus causality in distributed systems

Given a synchronous system, we study the question whether – or, under which conditions – the behaviour of that system can be realized by a (non-trivially) distributed and hence asynchronous implementation. In this paper, we partially answer this question by examining the role of causality for the implementation of synchrony in two fundamental different formalisms of concurrency, Petri nets and the π-calculus. For both formalisms it turns out that each ‘good’ encoding of synchronous interactions using just asynchronous interactions introduces causal dependencies in the translation.</jats:p