bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A new three‐point filler technique to maximize safety for the correction of glabellar rhytids: Evaluation of 50 patients
Authors: Sahan Ali , Karaosmanoglu Nermin , Ozdemir Cetinkaya Pınar
Published: April 2020

Background

Hyaluronic acid (HA) fillers have been widely used for reversing the signs of the aging face. Injectable fillers are particularly effective in treating vertical glabellar wrinkles.

Aims

The aim of this study was to share our own safe glabella filling technique and to evaluate our results in 50 patients with facial rejuvenation.

Methods

A total of 50 patients consisting of women and men with moderate to severe glabellar rhytids were enrolled in the study. Patients were evaluated before the injection procedure and 2 weeks after the procedure by using the Rao‐Goldman scale. We have described a new three‐point filler technique.

Results

Of 50 patients, 39 were females and 11 males, and the mean age was 39.82 ± 6.44 years. The mean volume of HA that was injected into the glabellar wrinkles was 0.61 ± 0.12 mL. Eight patients had experienced mild complications related to the procedure. None of the patients had experienced skin necrosis and visual impairment.

Conclusion

Our technique is a simple and safe procedure to correct glabellar rhytids. Practitioners should be aware of the safe injection techniques, potential complications, and management of these complications for a good clinical practice.
How forensic mental health nurses’ perspectives of their patients can bias healthcare: A qualitative review of nursing documentation
Authors: Martin Krystle , Ricciardelli Rosemary , Dror Itiel
Published: April 2020

Aims and Objectives

Our aim was to examine the notes produced by nurses, paying specific attention to the style in which these notes are written and observing whether there are concerns of distortions and biases.

Background

Clinicians are responsible to document and record accurately. However, nurses’ attitudes towards their patients can influence the quality of care they provide their patients and this inevitably impacts their perceptions and judgments, with implications to patients’ care, treatment, and recovery. Negative attitudes or bias can cascade to other care providers and professionals.

Design

This study used a retrospective chart review design and qualitative exploration of documentation using an emergent theme analysis.

Methods

We examined the notes taken by 55 mental health nurses working with inpatients in the forensic services department at a psychiatric hospital. The study complies with the SRQR Checklist (Appendix S1) published in 2014.

Results

The results highlight some evidence of nurses’ empathic responses to patients, but suggest that most nurses have a style of writing that much of the time includes themes that are negative in nature to discount, pathologise, or paternalise their patients.

Conclusions

When reviewing the documentation of nurses in this study, it is easy to see how they can influence and bias the perspective of other staff. Such bias cascade and bias snowball have been shown in many domains, and in the context of nursing it can bias the type of care provided, the assessments made and the decisions formed by other professionals.

Relevance to Clinical Practice

Given the critical role documentation plays in healthcare, our results indicate that efforts to improve documentation made by mental health nurses are needed and specifically, attention needs to be given to the writing styles of the notation.
Trends and determinants of drinking water practices among North Carolina children
Authors: Oh Uhlee , Weintraub Jane A. , Sams Lattice D. , Divaris Kimon
Published: April 2020

Objectives

To identify trends and determinants of drinking water practices [bottled (BW) versus community water (CW) consumption] among families of pediatric patients presenting to an academic dental institution over 15 years.

Methods

Electronic health record data were obtained for all first‐time routine‐care patients ages 0–16 presenting to UNC‐Chapel Hill's Pediatric Dentistry Clinics from 2002 to 2016, including families' primary drinking water source and patient demographics (e.g., age, gender, residence, insurance status). Data analyses included descriptive and bivariate methods and multivariable modeling using a P < 0.05 statistical significance criterion.

Results

BW consumption has increased over time, from 17 percent in 2004 to 42 percent in 2016 (n = 2,920; P < 0.05). Medicaid‐enrolled children [prevalence ratio (PR) = 2.1; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.8–2.4] and residents of rural counties (PR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.1–1.5) were significantly more likely to consume BW versus CW.

Conclusions

BW consumption among NC children has been increasing and is most prevalent among low‐income families and in rural areas.
Deconstructing circadian disruption: Assessing the contribution of reduced peripheral oscillator amplitude on obesity and glucose intolerance in mice
Authors: van der Vinne Vincent , Martin Burgos Blanca , Harrington Mary E. , Weaver David R.
Published: April 2020

Disturbing the circadian regulation of physiology by disruption of the rhythmic environment is associated with adverse health outcomes but the underlying mechanisms are unknown. Here, the response of central and peripheral circadian clocks to an advance or delay of the light‐dark cycle was determined in mice. This identified transient damping of peripheral clocks as a consequence of an advanced light‐dark cycle. Similar depression of peripheral rhythm amplitude was observed in mice exposed to repeated phase shifts. To assess the metabolic consequences of such peripheral amplitude depression in isolation, temporally chimeric mice lacking a functional central clock (Vgat‐Cre+ Bmal1fl/fl) were housed in the absence of environmental rhythmicity. In vivo PER2::LUC bioluminescence imaging of anesthetized and freely moving mice revealed that this resulted in a state of peripheral amplitude depression, similar in severity to that observed transiently following an advance of the light‐dark cycle. Surprisingly, our mice did not show alterations in body mass or glucose tolerance in males or females on regular or high‐fat diets. Overall, our results identify transient damping of peripheral rhythm amplitude as a consequence of exposure to an advanced light‐dark cycle but chronic damping of peripheral clocks in isolation is insufficient to induce adverse metabolic outcomes in mice.
Regional variance in the use of urine dipstick test for outpatients in Japan
Authors: Nishi Hiroshi , Yoshida Yui , Inoue Reiko , Takemura Koji , Nangaku Masaomi
Published: April 2020

Aim

The urine dipstick is a simple diagnostic module for detecting proteinuria, haematuria and glycosuria and is favourably accepted in East Asia despite debates regarding its accuracy and target population, claiming that quantitative tests for a high‐risk cohort should be more cost‐effective. However, the current status of utilizing this test in these countries is not widely known due to lack of extensive data. We aimed to clarify the current nationwide and regional status of utilization of the urine dipstick test in an outpatient care setting and to determine the regional factors associated with adoption of this method.

Methods

This cross‐sectional study used openly accessible data from the national claim database that included the health insurance claims data of the Japanese population in 2017.

Results

In total, 67 125 386 urine dipstick tests were performed compared with 1 862 700 quantitative urine protein tests and 17 544 949 urine sediment microscopy tests. Dipstick tests were employed principally for those who are >65 years old (60.3%) and, although the male population (52.5%) is generally larger, the female population is larger in age of 15 to 39 years and >85 years. Multivariate analysis with several regional parameters revealed that the test was performed more commonly in the areas that accommodate greater elderly population (P < .01).

Conclusion

Despite a heated dispute, the urine dipstick test is performed even more frequently than the quantitative biochemical or microscopic sediment tests, especially in regions holding the larger elderly population, which suggests that the test forms a part of geriatric medical care.
A method for studying cell division in Nicotiana benthamiana pavement cells based on Agrobacterium infiltration
Authors: Buschmann Henrik
Published: April 2020

This article is a Commentary on Xu et al., 226: 1213–1221.
Decumbent development: Urban sprawl in the Guwahati Metropolitan Area, India
Authors: Pawe Chandra Kant , Saikia Anup
Published: April 2020

Urban sprawl has become a global phenomenon as an outcome of growing population and rapid urbanization. Previous studies have addressed the rising incidence of uncontrollable urban development, particularly in peri‐urban areas of cities, leading to chronic urban sprawl. The city of Guwahati, a million city in north east India, has expanded significantly in recent years. In this article, the links between population and growth of built‐up areas were examined using geo‐spatial techniques and remotely sensed datasets. The results indicate that the sprawl has accentuated in recent years. The intensity of land use remained uneven due to marked variations in the distribution of built‐up areas, plausibly an outcome of unplanned urban growth. If current trends are anything to go by, future urban sprawl could pose serious threats to the vulnerable eco‐sensitive and peri‐urban areas of Guwahati. Secondary cities have unfortunately received scant attention in urban policy research, and Guwahati, epitomizes urban woes in a developing country.
A New Vacuum System for Steam Plant Condenser
Authors: Engeda Abraham , Hegazy Ahmed , Yousef Khaled
Published: April 2020

In the current work, a simple and low energy consuming system is proposed for holding on the vacuum in the steam power plant system. The vacuum is created at the tip of an inverted U-pipe through which water flows by siphon effect due to the height difference in water surfaces of two tanks. This height difference and the elevation of the inverted U-pipe tip define the value of the vacuum to be grown. The U-pipe tip is connected to the discharge pipe of a compressor which draws a mixture of air, and water vapor from the steam condenser and raises their pressure a little higher than that of the inverted U-pipe tip. The mixture flows with the water down the inverted U-pipe till they depart the U-tube. A thermodynamic and fluid flow analysis is developed for predicting the performance of the proposed system. The results of this analysis show that the right selection of the mass flowrate ratio of water flowing in the inverted U-pipe to air and water vapor mixture sucked by the compressor from the steam plant condenser, in the range of 25,000, the height of the inverted U-pipe summit from the water level of the higher water tank greater than 9.2 m and the height difference of the water levels in the two water tanks small enough, in the range of 0.1 m saves the power of vacuum system by 80% less than that consumed when using compressor alone for venting the steam plant condenser.
Model-Based Dynamic Calibration of a Multi-Actuator Gap Leveler for Heavy Plates
Authors: Brauneis Robert , Steinboeck Andreas , Jochum Martin , Kugi Andreas
Published: April 2020

A novel method to calibrate the work rolls of a precision leveler for heavy plates is proposed. During the leveling process, a sequence of bending steps is imposed on the plate by the work rolls of the leveler to eliminate flatness defects. The respective positions of the rolls define the intensity of the consecutive bends. Any deviation from the desired roll position may result in a suboptimal leveling process. Thus, an exact control of the position of the work rolls is required. Due to backlash, wear, tolerances, and elastic deformation, the roll positions cannot be determined from nominal parameters and dimensions. Therefore, the machine has to be calibrated and properly adjusted to find suitable reference positions for control. During calibration, the structure is prestressed with a suitable test force and the signals of force and displacement sensors are recorded. As a result, reference points for future control inputs are obtained. A major drawback of a frequently used calibration method for levelers is that the work rolls of multi-actuator gap levelers cannot be properly calibrated. In practice, the work rolls are manually adjusted by the maintenance personnel of the machine. In this case, backlash may cause the loaded work rolls to deviate from their intended positions. Thus, a new method to calibrate the position of the individually actuated work rolls is developed and tested.
Leadership, Bridging, and Group-Game Engineering: Guidelines for Community Sport Coaches
Authors: Crisp Philippe
Published: April 2020

Purposeful engagement with community matters continues to underpin the U.K. government’s approach to sport and sports coaching. However, although there is an emerging body of work related to the domain of community sport coaching, the development of skills, knowledge, and competencies for sports coaches is often focused in the field of sports performance. This leaves questions regarding the nature, function, supportive coaching strategies, and contextual effectiveness for coaches working within community sport settings/initiatives. The purpose of this study is to share suggestions for how community sports programs can be best managed and facilitated by sports leaders and coaches. Results of an action research project with 13 community sport coaches in the United Kingdom are used to inform the discussion. Four approaches to community sports coaching are shown contribute to building coach–participant relationships, satisfaction, and project/practice success: (a) establish common ground, (b) develop relationships, (c) prioritize inclusivity (through establishing behavioral boundaries and through game/activity management), and (d) highlight meaningful activity and contribution to games for all participants.
In Vitro Activity of a New Oral Triazole, BMS-207147 (ER-30346)
Authors: Fung-Tomc Joan C. , Huczko Elizabeth , Minassian Beatrice , Bonner Daniel P.
Published: April 2020

The antifungal activity of BMS-207147 (also known as ER-30346) was compared to those of itraconazole and fluconazole against 250 strains of fungi representing 44 fungal species. MICs were determined by using the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards (NCCLS)-recommended broth macrodilution method for yeasts, which was modified for filamentous fungi. BMS-207147 was about two- to fourfold more potent than itraconazole and about 40-fold more active than fluconazole against yeasts. With the NCCLS-recommended resistant MIC breakpoints of ≥1 μg/ml for itraconazole and of ≥64 μg/ml for fluconazole against
Candida
spp., itraconazole and fluconazole were inactive against strains of
Candida krusei
and
Candida tropicalis
. In contrast, all but 9 (all
C. tropicalis
) of the 116
Candida
strains tested had BMS-207147 MICs of <1 μg/ml. The three triazoles were active against about half of the
Candida glabrata
strains and against all of the
Cryptococcus neoformans
strains tested. The three triazoles were fungistatic to most yeast species, except for BMS-207147 and itraconazole, which were fungicidal to cryptococci. BMS-207147 and itraconazole were inhibitory to most aspergilli, and against half of the isolates, the activity was cidal. BMS-207147 and itraconazole were active, though not cidal, against most hyaline
Hyphomycetes
(with the exception of
Fusarium
spp. and
Pseudallescheria boydii
), dermatophytes, and the dematiaceous fungi and inactive against
Sporothrix schenckii
and zygomycetes. Fluconazole, on the other hand, was inactive against most filamentous fungi with the exception of dermatophytes other than
Microsporum gypseum
. Thus, the spectrum and potency of BMS-207147 indicate that it should be a candidate for clinical development.
Single-Dose Pharmacokinetics of Indinavir and the Effect of Food
Authors: Yeh Kuang C. , Deutsch Paul J. , Haddix Heidi , Hesney Michael , Hoagland Vicki , Ju William D. , Justice Steven J. , Osborne Barbara , Sterrett Andrew T. , Stone Julie A. , Woolf Eric , Waldman Scott
Published: April 2020

Indinavir sulfate is a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease inhibitor indicated for treatment of HIV infection and AIDS in adults. The purpose of this report is to summarize single-dose studies which characterized the pharmacokinetics of the drug and the effect of food in healthy volunteers. Indinavir concentrations in plasma and urine were obtained by high-pressure liquid chromatography and UV detection assay methods. The results indicate that indinavir was rapidly absorbed in the fasting state, with the time to the maximum concentration in plasma occurring at ∼0.8 h for all doses studied. Over the 40- to 1,000-mg dose range studied, concentrations in plasma and urinary excretion of unchanged drug increased greater than dose proportionally. The nonlinear pharmacokinetics were attributed to the dose-dependent oxidative metabolism of first-pass metabolism as well as to metabolism in the systemic circulation. Renal clearance slightly exceeded the glomerular filtration rate, suggesting a net tubular secretion component. At high concentrations in plasma, tubular secretion appeared to be lowered because there was a trend for a decreased renal clearance. Administration of 400 mg of indinavir sulfate following a high-fat breakfast resulted in a blunted and decreased absorption (areas under the concentration-time curves [AUCs], 6.86 μM·h in the fasted state versus 1.54 μM·h in the fed state;
n
= 10). However, two types of low-fat meals were found to have no significant effect on the absorption of 800 mg of indinavir sulfate (AUCs, 23.15 μM·h in the fasted state versus 22.71 and 21.36 μM·h, respectively, in the fed state;
n
= 11). Immediately following dosing, the concentrations of indinavir in urine often exceeded its intrinsic solubility. To reduce the risk of nephrolithiasis, it is recommended that indinavir sulfate be administered with water.
Cellular Accumulation, Localization, and Activity of a Synthetic Cyclopeptamine in Fungi
Authors: Capobianco John O. , Zakula Dorothy , Frost David J. , Goldman Robert C. , Li Leping , Klein Larry L. , Lartey Paul A.
Published: April 2020

A novel synthetic cyclopeptamine, A172013, rapidly accumulated by passive diffusion into
Candida albicans
CCH442. Drug influx could not be totally facilitated by the membrane-bound target, β-(1,3)-glucan synthase, since accumulation was unsaturable at drug concentrations up to 10 μg/ml (about 1.6 × 10
−7
molecules/cell), or 25× MIC. About 55 and 23% of the cell-incorporated drug was associated with the cell wall and protoplasts, respectively. Isolated microsomes contained 95% of the protoplast-associated drug, which was fully active against glucan synthesis in vitro. Drug (0.1 μg/ml) accumulation was rapid and complete after 5 min in several fungi tested, including a lipopeptide/cyclopeptamine-resistant strain of
C. albicans
(LP3-1). The compound penetrated to comparable levels in both yeast and hyphal forms of
C. albicans
, and accumulation in
Aspergillus niger
was 20% that in
C. albicans
. These data indicated that drug-cell interactions were driven by the amphiphilic nature of the compound and that the cell wall served as a major drug reservoir.
The Cys607→Tyr Change in the UL97 Phosphotransferase Confers Ganciclovir Resistance to Two Human Cytomegalovirus Strains Recovered from Two Immunocompromised Patients
Authors: Baldanti Fausto , Underwood Mark R. , Talarico Christine L. , Simoncini Lavinia , Sarasini Antonella , Biron Karen K. , Gerna Giuseppe
Published: April 2020

Two ganciclovir (GCV)-resistant human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) strains recovered from an AIDS patient (strain VR4990) and a heart transplant recipient (strain VR5474) showed a Cys607→Tyr change in the UL97-encoded phosphotransferase. No amino acid substitutions were observed in the viral DNA polymerase. Marker transfer experiments showed marked reduction in GCV phosphorylation and drug susceptibility of the recombinant HCMV strain VR4990rec2-1-1. These results further extend the region of the carboxy-terminal domain of the UL97 phosphotransferase involved in GCV substrate recognition.
A Mutation at Position 190 of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Reverse Transcriptase Interacts with Mutations at Positions 74 and 75 via the Template Primer
Authors: Boyer Paul L. , Gao Hong-Qiang , Hughes Stephen H.
Published: April 2020

We have analyzed amino acid substitutions at position G190 in the reverse transcriptase (RT) of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). The mutation G190E, which is responsible for resistance to certain nonnucleoside inhibitors, results in RT that has significantly less polymerase activity and that is less processive than wild-type RT. Its kinetic profile with respect to dGTP and poly(rC) · oligo(dG) is significantly altered compared to that of wild-type RT. The combination of either of the mutations L74V or V75I with the G190E mutation appears to be compensatory and mitigates many of the deleterious effects of the G190E mutation.
QacA Multidrug Efflux Pump from
Staphylococcus aureus
: Comparative Analysis of Resistance to Diamidines, Biguanidines, and Guanylhydrazones
Authors: Mitchell Bernadette A. , Brown Melissa H. , Skurray Ronald A.
Published: April 2020

The staphylococcal multidrug efflux pump QacA mediates resistance to a broad spectrum of monovalent and divalent antimicrobial cations. Resistance toward various classes of these compounds identified features of the substrate that may be important for interaction with QacA. Analysis of combinations of two substrates suggested that the same mechanism is used for the extrusion of different classes of compounds.
Supplemental Material: The Chief Joseph dike swarm of the Columbia River flood basalts, and the legacy data set of William H. Taubeneck
Authors: Morriss M.C. , al. et
Published: April 2020

Supplemental Plates. Plate S1: Large-scale map of entire extent of Chief Joseph dike swarm. Also incorporates dikes of Ice Harbor, Steens, and Monument swarms. Plate S1 represents the most complete record of dikes related to Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG) event known. Plate S2: Simplified map of CRBG-related dikes across the inland Pacific Northwest. Dikes are colored by their orientation and dike line density is also shown. Plate S3: Simplified map of CRBG-related dikes across the inland Pacific Northwest.
Use of prehospital emergency medical services according to income of residential area
Authors: Aitavaara-Anttila Mia , Liisanantti Janne , Ehrola Ari , Spalding Michael , Ala-Kokko Tero , Raatiniemi Lasse
Published: April 2020

Background

The increasing usage of emergency medical services (EMS) missions is a challenge in modern practice. This study was designed to examine the association of the income level of residential areas on the rate of EMS missions and the frequency of EMS use in these areas.

Methods

All EMS missions for adult patients (>18 years) encountered by one rescue department in Northern Finland between June 2015 and May 2017 were analysed. The area served was categorised into four categories, according to the median annual income of the postal code areas. EMS missions per 1000 person-years, rate of non-transport missions and the number of dispatches to frequent (>4 EMS calls/year and highly frequent (>10 calls/year)EMS users per area were investigated.

Results

There were 62 759 EMS missions, 34.8% of which resulted in non-transport. The crude rate of EMS dispatches was higher in the low-income area compared with other income areas (133.3 vs 108.9 vs 111.3 vs 73.6/1000 person-years) as well as the rate of high-frequency user dispatches (21.5 vs 11.5 vs 7.2 vs 4.3/1000-person years). The rate of non-transports missions was higher also (69.4 vs 43.4 vs 42.5. vs 30.6/1000 person-years). The highest crude rate of EMS use was found in people older than 65 years living in the lowest income areas (294.8/1000 person-years). After age adjustment, the highest rate of EMS use was found in rural areas with the lowest income (146.3/1000 person-years).

Conclusions

The rate of the EMS missions and non-transport missions differs significantly among different income areas. Resource usage was significantly higher in the low income areas. This information can be used in planning allocation of EMS and preventive healthcare resources.
Consensus practice guidelines on interventions for lumbar facet joint pain from a multispecialty, international working group
Authors: Cohen Steven P , Bhaskar Arun , Bhatia Anuj , Buvanendran Asokumar , Deer Tim , Garg Shuchita , Hooten W Michael , Hurley Robert W , Kennedy David J , McLean Brian C , Moon Jee Youn , Narouze Samer , Pangarkar Sanjog , Provenzano David Anthony , Rauck Richard , Sitzman B Todd , Smuck Matthew , van Zundert Jan , Vorenkamp Kevin , Wallace Mark S , Zhao Zirong
Published: April 2020

Background

The past two decades have witnessed a surge in the use of lumbar facet blocks and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to treat low back pain (LBP), yet nearly all aspects of the procedures remain controversial.

Methods

After approval by the Board of Directors of the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, letters were sent to a dozen pain societies, as well as representatives from the US Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense. A steering committee was convened to select preliminary questions, which were revised by the full committee. Questions were assigned to 4–5 person modules, who worked with the Subcommittee Lead and Committee Chair on preliminary versions, which were sent to the full committee. We used a modified Delphi method, whereby the questions were sent to the committee en bloc and comments were returned in a non-blinded fashion to the Chair, who incorporated the comments and sent out revised versions until consensus was reached.

Results

17 questions were selected for guideline development, with 100% consensus achieved by committee members on all topics. All societies except for one approved every recommendation, with one society dissenting on two questions (number of blocks and cut-off for a positive block before RFA), but approving the document. Specific questions that were addressed included the value of history and physical examination in selecting patients for blocks, the value of imaging in patient selection, whether conservative treatment should be used before injections, whether imaging is necessary for block performance, the diagnostic and prognostic value of medial branch blocks (MBB) and intra-articular (IA) injections, the effects of sedation and injectate volume on validity, whether facet blocks have therapeutic value, what the ideal cut-off value is for a prognostic block, how many blocks should be performed before RFA, how electrodes should be oriented, the evidence for larger lesions, whether stimulation should be used before RFA, ways to mitigate complications, if different standards should be applied to clinical practice and clinical trials and the evidence for repeating RFA (see table 12 for summary).

Conclusions

Lumbar medial branch RFA may provide benefit to well-selected individuals, with MBB being more predictive than IA injections. More stringent selection criteria are likely to improve denervation outcomes, but at the expense of more false-negatives. Clinical trials should be tailored based on objectives, and selection criteria for some may be more stringent than what is ideal in clinical practice.
Metamorphic and structural evolution of the Flin Flon – Athapapuskow Lake area, west-central Manitoba
Authors: Lazzarotto Manuele , Pattison David R.M. , Gagné Simon , Starr Paul G.
Published: April 2020

The Flin Flon – Athapapuskow Lake area, situated in the Flin Flon Greenstone Belt, Manitoba, consists of ocean-floor and island-arc assemblages, deformed and metamorphosed during the Trans-Hudson Orogeny (∼1.86–1.69 Ga). A new map of metamorphic mineral assemblages and isograds has been compiled that reveals a largely coherent regional metamorphic sequence increasing in metamorphic grade from prehnite–pumpellyite to amphibolite facies. Regional metamorphism postdates most of the deformation within the area, with the exception of the reactivation of major block-bounding faults. The regional prograde sequence has been subdivided into 10 metamorphic zones, separated by 9 isograds, that describe the transition from prehnite–pumpellyite to greenschist to amphibolite facies. The formation of contact metamorphic aureoles, pre-dating regional metamorphism, record conditions up to amphibolite facies. Equilibrium phase diagrams for the island-arc (low-Mg) and ocean-floor (high-Mg) assemblages were calculated and allow for the evaluation of the modelling techniques and determination of pressure–temperature conditions. Discrepancies between the modelling predictions and natural observations occur due to (1) limitations in the thermodynamic models for some of the complex minerals (e.g., amphibole); and (2) metastable persistence of some minerals to higher grade due to sluggish reaction kinetics. Notwithstanding these discrepancies, the modelling suggests that metamorphosed mafic rocks in the Flin Flon – Athapapuskow Lake area reached about 430–480 °C and 3.0–4.5 kbar. Peak metamorphic conditions within contact aureoles that preceded regional metamorphism did not exceed 500 °C (at a pressure between 2.7 and 4.4 kbar). The metamorphic field gradient records a transition from 250–300 °C/1.5–2.3 kbar to 430–480 °C/3–4.5 kbar (100–150 °C/kbar), defining a geothermal gradient of approximately 25–31 °C/km.
Thirty-day experimental diabetes impairs contractility and increases fatigue resistance in rat diaphragm muscle associated with increased anti-oxidative activity
Authors: Peixoto João Victor Capelli , Santos Antônio Sérgio Rocha , Corso Claudia Rita , da Silva Flavio Santos , Capote Andrielle , Ribeiro Cibele Dias , Abreu Bento João da Graça Azevedo , Acco Alexandra , Fogaça Rosalvo Hochmueller , Dias Fernando Augusto Lavezzo
Published: April 2020

Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disorder that can generate tissue damage through several pathways. Alteration and dysfunction of skeletal muscle are reported including respiratory muscles, which may compromise respiratory parameters in diabetic patients. We have aimed to evaluate the diaphragm muscle contractility, tissue remodeling, oxidative stress, and inflammatory parameters from 30 day streptozotocin-treated rats. The diaphragm contractility was assessed using isolated muscle, tissue remodeling using histology and zymography techniques, and tissue oxidative stress and inflammatory parameters by enzyme activity assay. Our data revealed in the diabetes mellitus group an increase in maximum tetanic force (4.82 ± 0.13 versus 4.24 ± 0.18 N/cm2 (p = 0.015)) and fatigue resistance (139.16 ± 10.78 versus 62.25 ± 4.45 s (p < 0.001)), reduction of 35.4% in muscle trophism (p < 0.001), increase of 32.6% of collagen deposition (p = 0.007), reduction of 21.3% in N-acetylglucosaminidase activity (p < 0.001), and increase of 246.7% of catalase activity (p = 0.002) without changes in reactive oxygen species (p = 0.518) and tissue lipid peroxidation (p = 0.664). All observed changes are attributed to the poor glycemic control (471.20 ± 16.91 versus 80.00 ± 3.42 mg/dL (p < 0.001)), which caused defective tissue regeneration and increased catalase activity as a compensatory mechanism.
Geological hazards in tunnelling: the example of Gelas water conveyance tunnel, Iran
Authors: Maleki Zeynab , Farhadian Hadi , Nikvar-Hassani Arash
Published: April 2020

The characterization of geological hazards is of great importance in underground space and, in particular, tunnelling projects because it plays a crucial part in the selection of the tunnel route, the type and characteristics of excavation, and the technology adopted. It is also a fundamental stage in the design and construction of tunnelling-related structures. Tunnelling projects encounter various geological hazards, including those associated with the ground conditions, the groundwater level and the
in situ
stress regime. The aim of this study was to identify the probable hazards affecting the alignment of the Gelas water conveyance tunnel in Iran and the magnitude of risk in various sections along the tunnel route. Following a literature review of the geological hazards found in tunnelling projects with similar geological conditions, several potentially hazardous parameters were identified for assessment, including squeezing and groundwater inflow. The geotechnical characteristics of the rock masses were evaluated based on laboratory and field investigations to assess the geological hazards along the tunnel route. Seven sections along the tunnel route were selected to study the squeezing and water inflow hazards and their degree of occurrence using various previously reported techniques. Empirical, semi-empirical and theoretical–analytical methods were used to assess the squeezing potential. Analytical methods were applied to the prediction of groundwater inflow and then site groundwater rating and tunnel inflow classification methods were adopted to classify the route of the tunnel from the perspective of the groundwater inflow hazard. The results indicated that areas where faults and crush zones are located are highly susceptible to groundwater in-rush and squeezing.
How Ada object orientation works
Authors: Murtagh Jeanne , Hamilton Drew
Published: April 2020

Recommended Prerequisites: Familiarity with Object Oriented Programming principles in a language such as Ada, Java, or C++ is recommended. Previous experience with C or Ada 83 is strongly recommended. This tutorial will briefly describe the Object-Oriented (OO) features provided by Ada 95, and then discuss in detail how some of these features are implemented "under the hood." The bulk of the tutorial will show, via code examples and discussion, how dynamic dispatching is implemented in Ada 95, issues associated with the class tag, and the effort required to add a sibling class and a child class to an existing class hierarchy. We will briefly discuss several Ada 2005 features, and the value these features add over an Ada 95 implementation of a program. We will conclude with a brief discussion of the "overloaded vocabulary" issues encountered by Java and C++ programmers as they transition to an Ada 95 or Ada 2005 project "on the fly."
An ada retrospective
Authors: Schmidt Richard B.
Published: April 2020

For over 20 years, the EnRoute Automation programs have been developing and delivering a stream of releases all built around an Ada core. Although the percentage of Ada has decreased as the system has grown to provide more function and incorporate more CAS/COTS/FOSS, Ada remains firmly at the heart of the system. Ada continues to earn this position and influence how we design, build, field and maintain these 24x7x365 systems. Along the way we have learned how to tightly integrate Ada with a variety of non-Ada entities, proving the flexibility of the language and the vendors who support it.
Dynamic analysis of branch mispredictions in Ada
Authors: Lathrop Steven M.
Published: April 2020

Developing high performance Ada applications not only depends on the chosen algorithms, but also on the time required to execute Ada itself. Timing Ada statements provides developers with insight into patterns of Ada program performance across various platforms. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the timing process and findings when timing Ada performance. The concentration will be on determining the timing differences in conditional code branching on Intel Pentium IV processors.
SECOND CHANCES
Authors: Girill T. R.
Published: April 2020

This issue of
The Journal of Computer Documentation
is the third of an annual cycle that reprints a previously published paper on documentation and places it in the context of current commentary. Such a project certainly is retrospective, but it is not nostalgic; two very forward-looking reasons motivate our reprint policy.
Optimizing crash dump in virtualized environments
Authors: Huang Yijian , Chen Haibo , Zang Binyu
Published: April 2020

Crash dump, or core dump is the typical way to save memory image on system crash for future offline debugging and analysis. However, for typical server machines with likely abundant memory, the time of core dump can significantly increase the mean time to repair (MTTR) by delaying the reboot-based recovery, while not dumping the failure context for analysis would risk recurring crashes on the same problems.

In this paper, we propose several optimization techniques for core dump in virtualized environments, in order to shorten the MTTR of consolidated virtual machines during crashes. First, we parallelize the process of crash dump and the process of rebooting the crashed VM, by dynamically reclaiming and allocating memory between the crashed VM and the newly spawned VM. Second, we use the virtual machine management layer to introspect the critical data structures of the crashed VM to filter out the dump of unused memory. Finally, we implement disk I/O rate control between core dump and the newly spawned VM according to user-tuned rate control policy to balance the time of crash dump and quality of services in the recovery VM.

We have implemented a working prototype, Vicover, that optimizes core dump on system crash of a virtual machine in Xen, to minimize the MTTR of core dump and recovery as a whole. In our experiment on a virtualized TPC-W server, Vicover shortens the downtime caused by crash dump by around 5X.
Monitoring aspects for the customization of automatically generated code for big-step models
Authors: Esmaeilsabzali Shahram , Fischer Bernd , Atlee Joanne M.
Published: April 2020

The output of a code generator is assumed to be correct and not usually intended to be read or modified; yet programmers are often interested in this, e.g., to monitor a system property. Here, we consider code customization for a family of code generators associated with big-step executable modelling languages (e.g., statecharts). We introduce a customization language that allows us to express customization scenarios for the generated code independently of a specific big-step execution semantics. These customization scenarios are all different forms of runtime monitors, which lend themselves to a principled, uniform implementation for observation and code extension. A monitor is given in terms of the enabledness and execution of the transitions of a model and a reachability relation between two states of the execution of the model during a big step. For each monitor, we generate the aspect code that is incorporated into the output of a code generator to implement the monitor at the generated-code level. Thus, we provide means for code analysis through using the vocabulary of a model, rather than the detail of the generated code. Our technique not only requires the code generators to reveal only limited information about their code generation mechanisms, but also keeps the structure of the generated code intact. We demonstrate how various useful properties of a model, or a language, can be checked using our monitors.
Towards automatic generation of formal specifications to validate and verify reliable distributed systems
Authors: Slåtten Vidar , Kraemer Frank Alexander , Herrmann Peter
Published: April 2020

The validation and verification of reliable systems is a difficult and complex task, mainly for two reasons: First, it is difficult to precisely state which formal properties a system needs to fulfil to be of high quality. Second, it is complex to automatically verify such properties, due to the size of the analysis state space which grows exponentially with the number of components. We tackle these problems by a tool-supported method which embeds application functionality in building blocks that use UML activities to describe their internal behaviour. To describe their externally visible behaviour, we use a combination of complementary interface contracts, so-called ESMs and EESMs. In this paper, we present an extension of the interface contracts, External Reliability Contracts (ERCs), that capture failure behaviour. This separation of different behavioural aspects in separate descriptions facilitates a two-step analysis, in which the first step is completely automated and the second step is facilitated by an automatic translation of the models to the input syntax of the model checker TLC. Further, the cascade of contracts is used to separate the work of domain and reliability experts. The concepts are proposed with the background of a real industry case, and we demonstrate how the use of interface contracts leads to significantly smaller state spaces in the analysis.
Comparing complexity of API designs
Authors: Sobernig Stefan , Gaubatz Patrick , Strembeck Mark , Zdun Uwe
Published: April 2020

Embedded, textual DSLs are often provided as an API wrapped around object-oriented application frameworks to ease framework integration. While literature presents claims that DSL-based application development is beneficial, empirical evidence for this is rare. We present the results of an experiment comparing the complexity of three different object-oriented framework APIs and an embedded, textual DSL. For this comparative experiment, we implemented the same, non-trivial application scenario using these four different APIs. Then, we performed an Object-Points (OP) analysis, yielding indicators for the API complexity specific to each API variant. The main observation for our experiment is that the embedded, textual DSL incurs the smallest API complexity. Although the results are exploratory, as well as limited to the given application scenario and a single embedded DSL, our findings can direct future empirical work. The experiment design is applicable for similar API design evaluations.
Rethinking Java call stack design for tiny embedded devices
Authors: Aslam Faisal , Baig Ghufran , Qureshi Mubashir Adnan , Uzmi Zartash Afzal , Fennell Luminous , Thiemann Peter , Schindelhauer Christian , Haussmann Elmar
Published: April 2020

The ability of tiny embedded devices to run large feature-rich programs is typically constrained by the amount of memory installed on such devices. Furthermore, the useful operation of these devices in wireless sensor applications is limited by their battery life. This paper presents a call stack redesign targeted at an efficient use of RAM storage and CPU cycles by a Java program running on a wireless sensor mote. Without compromising the application programs, our call stack redesign saves 30% of RAM, on average, evaluated over a large number of benchmarks. On the same set of bench-marks, our design also avoids frequent RAM allocations and deallocations, resulting in average 80% fewer memory operations and 23% faster program execution. These may be critical improvements for tiny embedded devices that are equipped with small amount of RAM and limited battery life. However, our call stack redesign is equally effective for any complex multi-threaded object oriented program developed for desktop computers. We describe the redesign, measure its performance and report the resulting savings in RAM and execution time for a wide variety of programs.
Efficiently parallelizing instruction set simulation of embedded multi-core processors using region-based just-in-time dynamic binary translation
Authors: Kyle Stephen , Böhm Igor , Franke Björn , Leather Hugh , Topham Nigel
Published: April 2020

Embedded systems, as typified by modern mobile phones, are already seeing a drive toward using multi-core processors. The number of cores will likely increase rapidly in the future. Engineers and researchers need to be able to simulate systems, as they are expected to be in a few generations time, running simulations of many-core devices on today's multi-core machines. These requirements place heavy demands on the scalability of simulation engines, the fastest of which have typically evolved from just-in-time (Jit) dynamic binary translators (Dbt).

Existing work aimed at parallelizing Dbt simulators has focused exclusively on trace-based Dbt, wherein linear execution traces or perhaps trees thereof are the units of translation. Region-based Dbt simulators have not received the same attention and require different techniques than their trace-based cousins.

In this paper we develop an innovative approach to scaling multi-core, embedded simulation through region-based Dbt. We initially modify the Jit code generator of such a simulator to emit code that does not depend on a particular thread with its thread-specific context and is, therefore,
thread-agnostic
. We then demonstrate that this thread-agnostic code generation is comparable to thread-specific code with respect to performance, but also enables the
sharing
of JIT-compiled regions between different threads. This sharing optimisation, in turn, leads to significant performance improvements for multi-threaded applications. In fact, our results confirm that an average of 76% of all JIT-compiled regions can be shared between 128 threads in representative, parallel workloads. We demonstrate that this translates into an overall performance improvement by 1.44x on average and up to 2.40x across 12 multi-threaded benchmarks taken from the Splash-2 benchmark suite, targeting our high-performance multi-core Dbt simulator for embedded Arc processors running on a 4-core Intel host machine.
WCET-aware data selection and allocation for scratchpad memory
Authors: Wan Qing , Wu Hui , Xue Jingling
Published: April 2020

In embedded systems, SPM (scratchpad memory) is an attractive alternative to cache memory due to its lower energy consumption and higher predictability of program execution. This paper studies the problem of placing variables of a program into an SPM such that its WCET (worst-case execution time) is minimized. We propose an efficient dynamic approach that comprises two novel heuristics. The first heuristic iteratively selects a most beneficial variable as an SPM resident candidate based on its impact on the
k
longest paths of the program. The second heuristic incrementally allocates each SPM resident candidate to the SPM based on graph coloring and acyclic graph orientation. We have evaluated our approach by comparing with an ILP-based approach and a longest-path-based greedy approach using the eight benchmarks selected from Powerstone and Mälardalen WCET Benchmark suites under three different SPM configurations. Our approach achieves up to 21% and 43% improvements in WCET reduction over the ILP-based approach and the greedy approach, respectively.
Creating portable, repeatable, realistic benchmarks for embedded systems and the challenges thereof
Authors: Gal-On Shay , Levy Markus
Published: April 2020

To appreciate the challenges of analysing embedded processor behaviour, step back in time to understand the evolution of embedded processors. Only a few decades ago, embedded processors were relatively simple devices (compared to today), represented by a host of 8- and 16-bit microcontrollers, and 32-bit microprocessors, with minimal integration. Today, these processors (even the so-called, low-end microcontrollers), have evolved into highly-integrated SoCs with a wide variety of architectures capable of tackling both specific and general-purpose tasks. Associated with these transformations, the benchmarks used to quantify the capabilities have also grown in complexity and range. At the simplest level, benchmarks such as CoreMark analyse the fundamental processor cores. At the other end of the spectrum, system benchmarks, such BrowsingBench, analyse the entire SoC as well as the system software stack and even the physical interfaces. This paper examines some of the challenges of applying such benchmarks, and explains the methodologies used at EEMBC to manage portability, repeatability, and realism.