Lossless fault-tolerant data structures with additive overhead

12th International Symposium, WADS 2011, New York, NY, USA, August 15-17, 2011. ProceedingsWe develop the first dynamic data structures that tolerate δ memory faults, lose no data, and incur only an O(δ ) additive overhead in overall space and time per operation. We obtain such data structures for arrays, linked lists, binary search trees, interval trees, predecessor search, and suffix trees. Like previous data structures, δ must be known in advance, but we show how to restore pristine state in linear time, in parallel with queries, making δ just a bound on the rate of memory faults. Our data structures require Θ(δ) words of safe memory during an operation, which may not be theoretically necessary but seems a practical assumption.Center for Massive Data Algorithmics (MADALGO

Which Conference Is That? A Case Study in Computer Science

Conferences play a major role in some disciplines such as computer science and are often used in research quality evaluation exercises. Differently from journals and books, for which ISSN and ISBN codes provide unambiguous keys, recognizing the conference series in which a paper was published is a rather complex endeavor: There is no unique code assigned to conferences, and the way their names are written may greatly vary across years and catalogs. In this article, we propose a technique for the entity resolution of conferences based on the analysis of different semantic parts of their names. We present the results of an investigation of our technique on a dataset of 42,395 distinct computer science conference names excerpted from the DBLP computer science repository,1 which we automatically link to different authority files. With suitable data cleaning, the precision of our record linkage algorithm can be as high as 94%. A comparison with results obtainable using state-of-the-art general-purpose record linkage algorithms rounds off the article, showing that our ad hoc solution largely outperforms them in terms of the quality of the results

Defective B-cell proliferation and maintenance of long-term memory in patients with chronic granulomatous disease

Background: Chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) is a primary immune deficiency characterized by a defect in reactive oxygen species production. Although the effect of CGD mainly reflects on the phagocytic compartment, B-cell responses are also impaired in patients with CGD. Objective: We sought to investigate how defective gp91phox expression in patients with CGD and CGD carriers might affect the B-cell compartment and maintenance of long-term memory. Methods: We studied the B-cell compartment of patients with CGD in terms of phenotype and ability to produce reactive oxygen species and proliferate on stimuli differently directed to the B-cell receptor and Toll-like receptor 9. We further studied their capacity to maintain long-term memory by measuring cellular and serologic responses to measles. Results: We show that the memory B-cell compartment is impaired among patients with CGD, as indicated by reduced total (CD191CD271) and resting (CD191CD271CD211) memory B cells in parallel to increased naive (CD191CD272IgD1) B-cell frequencies. Data on CGD carriers reveal that such alterations are related to gp91phox expression. Moreover, proliferative capabilities of B cells on selective in vitro stimulation of B-cell receptor or Toll-like receptor 9 pathways were reduced in patients with CGD compared with those seen in age-matched healthy control subjects. Significantly lower measles-specific antibody levels and antibody-secreting cell numbers were also observed, indicating a poor ability to maintain long-term memory in these patients. Conclusion: Altogether, our data suggest that patients with CGD present a defective B-cell compartment in terms of frequencies of memory B cells, response to in vitro stimulation, and maintenance of long-term antigen-specific memory

Numerical atomic orbitals for linear scaling

The performance of basis sets made of numerical atomic orbitals is explored in density-functional calculations of solids and molecules. With the aim of optimizing basis quality while maintaining strict localization of the orbitals, as needed for linear-scaling calculations, several schemes have been tried. The best performance is obtained for the basis sets generated according to a new scheme presented here, a flexibilization of previous proposals. The basis sets are tested versus converged plane-wave calculations on a significant variety of systems, including covalent, ionic and metallic. Satisfactory convergence (deviations significantly smaller than the accuracy of the underlying theory) is obtained for reasonably small basis sizes, with a clear improvement over previous schemes. The transferability of the obtained basis sets is tested in several cases and it is found to be satisfactory as well.Comment: 9 pages with 2 encapsulated postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Cutaneous barrier leakage and gut inflammation drive skin disease in Omenn syndrome

Background: Severe early-onset erythroderma and gut inflammation, with massive tissue infiltration of oligoclonal activated T cells are the hallmark of Omenn syndrome (OS). Objective: The impact of altered gut homeostasis in the cutaneous manifestations of OS remains to be clarified. Methods: We analyzed a cohort of 15 patients with OS and the 129Sv/C57BL/6 knock-in Rag2R229Q/R229Q (Rag2R229Q) mouse model. Homing phenotypes of circulating lymphocytes were analyzed by flow cytometry. Inflammatory cytokines and chemokines were examined in the sera by ELISA and in skin biopsies by immunohistochemistry and in situ RNA hybridization. Experimental colitis was induced in mice by dextran sulfate sodium salt. Results: We show that memory/activated T cells from patients with OS and from the Rag2R229Q mouse model of OS abundantly express the skin homing receptors cutaneous lymphocyte associated antigen and CCR4 (Ccr4), associated with high levels of chemokine C-C motif ligands 17 and 22. Serum levels of LPS are also elevated. A broad TH1/TH2/TH17 inflammatory signature is detected in the periphery and in the skin. Increased Tlr4 expression in the skin of Rag2R229Q mice is associated with enhanced cutaneous inflammation on local and systemic administration of LPS. Likewise, boosting colitis in Rag2R229Q mice results in increased frequency of Ccr4+ splenic T cells and worsening of skin inflammation, as indicated by epidermal thickening, enhanced epithelial cell activation, and dermal infiltration by TH1 effector T cells. Conclusions: These results support the existence of an interplay between gut and skin that can sustain skin inflammation in OS

Impact of Chronic Lung Disease on Very Low Birth Weight infants: a collaborative study of the Italian Group of Neonatal Pneumology

Objective. To evaluate the incidence and risk factors for chronic lung disease in a population of very low birth weight infants. Methods. In a prospective multicentric trial all very low birth weight infants (< 1500 g) accepted in 36 Italian Neonatal Intensive care units were studied from February 89 to January 99. For each patient were recorded maternal history, perinatal events, respiratory disease, infections, patent ductus arteriosus, retinopathy of prematurity, intraventricular haemorrhage and final outcome. Logistic regression analysis was performed in a multivariate assessment of risk factors for chronic lung disease. Results. In the study were included 1634 patients: 1387 infants survived beyond 36 weeks and 6.9% of them still oxygen dependent. The incidence of chronic lung disease was higher among babies with a gestational age of < 28 weeks and weight \ub2 1000 g. The multivariate analysis showed that low birth weight, respiratory distress syndrome, persistent ductus arteriosus and sepsis were the main risk factors. Conclusions. In our study the incidence of chronic lung disease was relatively lo

Problemática actual de los intereses moratorios en los préstamos hipotecarios

El trabajo aborda la problemática en cuanto a la fijación de un límite para la declaración de abusividad de la cláusula que establece los intereses moratorios en el marco de un contrato de préstamo hipotecario para la adquisición de la vivienda actual. Para ello, primero hace un análisis de la regulación existente así como de la jurisprudencia tanto del TS como del TJUE, de cuáles son sus convergencias y divergencias. Concluyendo con el análisis de la evolución de la regulación de esta materia desde anteproyecto de ley a la aprobación de la ley 5/2019, pasando por las diversas enmiendas y el informe emitido por el Consejo del Poder Judicial. Fianalmente, la citada nueva ley parece poner un límite claro a estos intereses, fijándolos en el interés remuneratorio más tres puntos porcentuales.Grado en Derecho y Grado en Dirección y Administración de Empresa

Natural Killer Cells from Patients with Recombinase-Activating Gene and Non-Homologous End Joining Gene Defects Comprise a Higher Frequency of CD56bright NKG2A+++ Cells, and Yet Display Increased Degranulation and Higher Perforin Content.

Mutations of the recombinase Activating Genes 1 and 2 (RAG1, RAG2) in humans are associated with a broad range of phenotypes. For patients with severe clinical presentation, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) represents the only curative treatment, however high rates of graft failure and incomplete immune reconstitution have been observed, especially after unconditioned haploidentical transplantation. Studies in mice have shown that Rag-/- NK cells have a mature phenotype, reduced fitness and increased cytotoxicity. We aimed to analyze NK cell phenotype and function in patients with mutations in RAG and in non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) genes. Here we provide evidence that NK cells from these patients have an immature phenotype, with significant expansion of CD56bright CD16-/int CD57- cells, yet increased degranulation and high perforin content. Correlation was observed between in vitro recombinase activity of the mutant proteins, NK cell abnormalities, and in vivo clinical phenotype. Addition of serotherapy in the conditioning regimen, with the aim of depleting the autologous NK cell compartment, may be important to facilitate engraftment and immune reconstitution in patients with RAG and NHEJ defects treated by HSCT