Software Fault Isolation: a first step towards Microreboot in legacy C applications

Microreboot is an attractive technique for recovering an application after a non-malicious failure or deliberate integrity breach even in cases where the precise cause of the failure or breach are not known. Unfortunately, Microreboot functionality has so far been demonstrated only with Java applications meeting a set of peculiar Crash-only architectural requirements. This report describes a method of using Software Fault Isolation techniques to meet some of these architectural requirements in C programs, thereby taking a first step towards making Microreboot available for retrofit in legacy C applications

Dyon electric charge and fermion fractionalization

A first principles calculation of the quantum corrections to the electric charge of a dyon in an N=2 gauge theory with arbitrary gauge group is presented. These corrections arise from the fermion fields via the mechanism of fermion fractionalization. For a dyon whose magnetic charge is a non-simple co-root, the correction is a discontinuous function on the moduli space of vacua and the discontinuities occur precisely on co-dimension one curves on which the dyon decays. In this way, the complete spectrum of dyons at weak coupling is found for a theory with any gauge group. It is shown how this spectrum is consistent with the semi-classical monodromies.Comment: 19 pages, plain tex with macro included, 3 figures included using psfi

Semi-classical Quantization in N=4 Supersymmetric Yang-Mills Theory and Duality

At a generic point in the moduli space of vacua of an N=4 supersymmetric gauge theory with arbitrary gauge group the Higgs force does not cancel the magneto-static force between magnetic monopoles of distinct charge. As a consequence the moduli space of magnetically charged solutions is related in a simple way to those of the SU(2) theory. This leads to a rather simple test of S-duality. On certain subspaces of the moduli space of vacua the forces between distinct monopoles cancel and the test of S-duality becomes more complicated.Comment: 11 pages, plain tex with macro included, one Postscript figure, uses psfig.te

Vitamin D supplementation does not improve human skeletal muscle contractile properties in insufficient young males

Vitamin D may be a regulator of skeletal muscle function, although human trials investigating this hypothesis are limited to predominantly elderly populations. We aimed to assess the effect of oral vitamin D3 in healthy young males upon skeletal muscle function

On the weak coupling spectrum of N=2 supersymmetric SU(n) gauge theory

The weak coupling spectrum of BPS saturated states of pure $N=2$ supersymmetric SU$(n)$ gauge theory is investigated. The method uses known results on the dyon spectrum of the analogous theory with $N=4$ supersymmetry, along with the action on these states of the semi-classical monodromy transformations. For dyons whose magnetic charge is not a simple root of the Lie algebra, it is found that the weak coupling region is divided into a series of domains, for which the dyons have different electric charge, separated by walls on which the dyons decay. The proposed spectrum is shown to be consistent with the exact solution of the theory at strong coupling in the sense that the states at weak coupling can account for the singularities at strong coupling.Comment: 19 pages, plain tex with macro included, 6 figures included using psfig.te

Non-randomised evaluations of strategies to increase participant retention in randomised controlled trials:a systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

MicroRNAs as biomarkers in chronic kidney disease

Purpose of review: This review summarizes recent data supporting the concept that urinary microRNAs are a useful new class of biomarker. They may improve capacity to stratify patients with chronic kidney disease according to risk of progression, and may also inform about response to therapy. Recent findings: MicroRNAs are present, stable and readily quantifiable in tissues and body fluids, including urine, and have widespread importance as regulators in the kidney. Urinary microRNAs are typically released from the nephron or downstream structures, and their abundance may reflect altered microRNA expression in the kidney, or release into the lumen by the cells comprising the different regions of the nephron. As a consequence, abundance of specific microRNAs in the urine may change in various pathological states. Large-scale studies are now needed, to test the capacity of specific microRNAs to inform about risk and response to therapy. Summary: Urinary microRNAs appear useful sentinels for pathological processes occurring in the kidney and may enable a ‘personalized medicine’ approach to the management and stratification of renal diseas