bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Implementation of a lung cancer multidisciplinary team standardised template for reporting to general practitioners: a mixed-method study
Authors: Rankin Nicole M , Collett Gemma K , Brown Clare M , Shaw Tim J , White Kahren M , Beale Philip J , Trevena Lyndal J , Anderiesz Cleola , Barnes David J
Published: December 2017

Objectives

Few interventions have been designed that provide standardised information to primary care clinicians about the diagnostic and treatment recommendations resulting from cancer multidisciplinary team (MDT) (tumour board) meetings. This study aimed to develop, implement and evaluate a standardised template for lung cancer MDTs to provide clinical information and treatment recommendations to general practitioners (GPs). Specific objectives were to (1) evaluate template feasibility (acceptability, appropriateness and timeliness) with GPs and (2) document processes of preimplementation, implementation and evaluation within the MDT setting.

Design

A mixed-method study design using structured interviews with GPs and qualitative documentation of project logs about implementation processes.

Setting

Two hospitals in Central Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Participants: 61 GPs evaluated the template. Two lung cancer MDTs, consisting of 33 clinicians, and eight researchers participated in template development and implementation strategy.

Results

The MDT-reporting template appears to be a feasible way of providing clinical information to GPs following patient presentation at a lung cancer MDT meeting. Ninety-five per cent of GPs strongly agreed or agreed that the standardised template provided useful and relevant information, that it was received in a timely manner (90%) and that the information was easy to interpret and communicate to the patient (84%). Implementation process data show that the investment made in the preimplementation stage to integrate the template into standard work practices was a critical factor in successful implementation.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates that it is feasible to provide lung cancer MDT treatment recommendations to GPs through implementation of a standardised template. A simple intervention, such as a standardised template, can help to address quality gaps and ensure that timely information is communicated between tertiary and primary care healthcare providers.
The renal parenchyma—evaluation of a novel ultrasound measurement to assess fetal renal development: protocol for an observational longitudinal study
Authors: Brennan Sonja , Schneider Michal , Watson David , Kandasamy Yogavijayan , Rudd Donna
Published: December 2017

Introduction

Disorders of fetal growth, such as intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) and large for gestational age (LGA), have been found to have a profound effect on the development of the fetal kidney. Abnormal kidney development is associated with hypertension and chronic kidney disease later in life. This study will use a novel ultrasound measurement to assess the renal parenchymal growth and kidney arterial blood flow in the fetus to evaluate the development of the fetal kidneys and provide an indirect estimate of nephron number. Measurements in normally grown, IUGR and LGA fetuses will be compared to determine if changes in renal parenchymal growth can be detected in utero.

Methods and analysis

This longitudinal, prospective, observational study will be conducted over 12 months in the Ultrasound Department of the Townsville Hospital, Australia. The study will compare fetal renal parenchymal thickness (RPT) and renal artery Doppler flow between IUGR fetuses and appropriately grown fetuses, and LGA fetuses and appropriately grown fetuses between 16 and 40 weeks. The fetal RPT to renal volume ratio will also be compared, and correlations between RPT, renal parenchymal echogenicity, fetal Doppler indices and amniotic fluid levels will be analysed.

Ethics and dissemination

This study was approved by the Townsville Health District Human Research Ethics Committee. The study results will form part of a thesis and will be published in peer-reviewed journals and disseminated at international conferences.
Repository corticotropin injection in patients with persistently active SLE requiring corticosteroids: post hoc analysis of results from a two-part, 52-week pilot study
Authors: Furie Richard A , Mitrane Margaret , Zhao Enxu , Becker Patrice M
Published: December 2017

Objective

Post hoc analyses evaluated the effectiveness and safety of repository corticotropin injection (RCI) in patients with persistently active SLE over 52 weeks.

Methods

Patients were initially randomised to 40 U daily or 80 U every other day RCI (n=26) or placebo (n=12) for the 8-week double-blind period. Completers entered the open-label extension (OLE; n=33) receiving 16, 40 or 80 U RCI 1–3 times/week and were followed through week 52. Outcomes included proportion of responders based on a novel index (resolution of joint or skin activity using hybrid Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index (hSLEDAI) without any worsening British Isles Lupus Assessment Group (BILAG) scores in other organ systems) or revised novel index (using SLE Responder Index (SRI) definition of BILAG worsening (1A or 2B)), proportion of responders by SRI and changes in total hSLEDAI and BILAG scores. Adverse events and laboratory values were assessed.

Results

At week 52, 12.0% (3/25) RCI/RCI patients and 36.4% (4/11) placebo/RCI patients were responders using the novel index. The revised novel responder index demonstrated response rates of 48.0% (12/25) and 54.5% (6/11) in the RCI/RCI and placebo/RCI groups, respectively. Proportions of SRI responders were 40.0% (10/25) and 54.5% (6/11). In the RCI/RCI group, total hSLEDAI and BILAG scores declined from 10.0 and 15.7 at week 0 to 3.5 and 4.6 at week 52, respectively. Reductions in the placebo/RCI group on switching were observed (mean hSLEDAI: 9.1–3.3; BILAG: 13.5–2.6). Other disease activity endpoints also improved in both groups. No new safety signals were observed during the OLE.

Conclusions

RCI demonstrated durable effectiveness in patients with persistently active SLE despite moderate-dose corticosteroid therapy. Switching from placebo resulted in reduced disease activity during the OLE. These data provide the foundation for evaluation of RCI in a robustly powered study.
Inception of the ‘endocarditis team’ is associated with improved survival in patients with infective endocarditis who are managed medically: findings from a before-and-after study
Authors: Kaura Amit , Byrne Jonathan , Fife Amanda , Deshpande Ranjit , Baghai Max , Gunning Margaret , Whitaker Donald , Monaghan Mark , MacCarthy Philip A , Wendler Olaf , Dworakowski Rafal
Published: December 2017

Objective

Despite improvements in its management, infective endocarditis (IE) is associated with poor survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a multidisciplinary endocarditis team (ET), including a cardiologist, microbiologist and a cardiac surgeon, on the outcome of patients with acute IE according to medical or surgical treatment strategies.

Methods

We conducted an observational before-and-after study of 196 consecutive patients with definite IE, who were treated at a tertiary reference centre between 2009 and 2015. The study was divided into two periods: period 1, before the formation of the ET (n=101), and period 2, after the formation of the ET (n=95). The role of the ET included regular multidisciplinary team meetings to confirm diagnosis, inform the type and duration of antibiotic therapy and recommend early surgery, when indicated, according to European guidelines.

Results

The patient demographics and predisposing conditions for IE were comparable between the two study periods. In the time period following the introduction of the ET, there was a reduction in both the time to commencement of IE-specific antibiotic therapy (4.0±4.0 days vs 2.5±3.2 days; P=0.004) and the time from suspected IE to surgery (7.8±7.3 days vs 5.3±4.2 days; P=0.004). A 12-month Kaplan-Meier survival for patients managed medically was 42.9% in the pre-ET period and 66.7% in the post-ET period (P=0.03). The involvement of the ET was a significant independent predictor of 1-year survival in patients managed medically (HR 0.24, 95% CI 0.07 to 0.87; P=0.03).

Conclusions

A standardised multidisciplinary team approach may lead to earlier diagnosis of IE, more appropriate individualised management strategies, expedited surgery, where indicated, and improved survival in those patients chosen for medical management, supporting the recent change in guidelines to recommend the use of a multidisciplinary team in the care of patients with IE.
Framed symplectic sheaves on surfaces
Authors: Scalise Jacopo Vittorio
Published: December 2017

A framed symplectic sheaf on a smooth projective surface [Formula: see text] is a torsion-free sheaf [Formula: see text] together with a trivialization on a divisor [Formula: see text] and a morphism [Formula: see text] satisfying some additional conditions. We construct a moduli space for framed symplectic sheaves on a surface, and present a detailed study for [Formula: see text]. In this case, the moduli space is irreducible and admits an ADHM-type description and a birational proper map onto the space of framed symplectic ideal instantons.
Hydrodynamic jet incident on an uneven wall
Authors: Cheng Jianfeng , Du Lili
Published: December 2017

The axially symmetric free surface problem of an ideal incompressible jet issuing from a nozzle and impinging on an uneven wall is investigated in this paper. More precisely, we show that given a semi-infinitely long axially symmetric nozzle, a mass flux [Formula: see text] in the inlet and a constant atmospheric pressure, there exists a unique incompressible impinging jet whose free surface goes to infinity and is close to the impermeable wall at far field. Moreover, the free surface of the impinging jet initiates at the edge of the semi-infinitely long nozzle and the pressure remains the constant atmospheric pressure on the free surface. The main ingredient to show the existence and the uniqueness of the impinging jet is based on the variational method developed in a series of the celebrated works [Existence and regularity for a minimum problem with free boundary, J. Reine Angew. Math. 325 (1981) 105–144; Variational Principles and Free-Boundary Problems, Pure and Applied Mathematics (John Wiley & Sons, 1982)] by Alt, Caffarelli and Friedman. Furthermore, some important properties of the axially symmetric impinging jet, such as positivity of the radial velocity, asymptotic behavior of the impinging jet, and the optimal decay rate of the free surface and the impinging jet, are obtained. Moreover, the problem of the axially symmetric jet impinging on a hemispherical cup is also considered. Finally, we establish the well-posedness theory on the incompressible impinging jet in two dimensions.
State invariants of 2-bridge knots
Authors: Curtis Cynthia L. , Longo Vincent
Published: December 2017

In this paper, we consider generalizations of the Alexander polynomial and signature of 2-bridge knots by considering the Gordon–Litherland bilinear forms associated with essential state surfaces of the 2-bridge knots. We show that the resulting invariants are well-defined and explore properties of these invariants. Finally, we realize the boundary slopes of essential surfaces as differences of signatures of the knot.
What Do We Know About New Venture Investment Time Patterns?
Authors: Schulte Reinhard
Published: December 2017

This paper contributes to the literature on new firms in two ways. First, by addressing new venture investment, it focusses on a largely neglected, but important, issue of new firm business decisions. Secondly, it provides a valuable picture for how investing by new businesses is going to evolve over time. Our results suggest that investments by new firms are prone to an s-shaped time pattern rather than a random, linear, or a gradually growing trajectory or a capital market-driven behavior as is assumed usually in the literature on investment decisions. By constructing a framework for future research on new venture investment, this article suggests specific research opportunities for future contributions to this body of knowledge. Based on the developed theorem, four main strands for future research can be identified, namely, (1) the empirical validation of the theorem per se, including trajectory, duration, and level of investment; (2) the link between investment and funding of the venture; (3) the link between investment and new venture development; and (4) investment as an adjustment of aggregate capital stock.
Bank Liquidity Risk and Performance
Authors: Chen Yi-Kai , Shen Chung-Hua , Kao Lanfeng , Yeh Chuan-Yi
Published: December 2017

This study employs an alternative measure of liquidity risk to investigate its determinants by using an unbalanced panel dataset of commercial banks in 12 advanced economies over the period 1994–2006. Dependence on liquid assets for external funding, supervisory and regulatory factors, and macroeconomic factors are all determinants of liquidity risk. Because of higher funding costs for obtaining liquidity, liquidity risk is regarded as a discount for bank profitability, yet liquidity risk shows a premium on bank performance in terms of banks’ net interest margins. Liquidity risk has reverse impacts on bank performance in a market-based financial system.
On WH-packets of matrix-valued wave packet frames in L2(ℝd, ℂs×r)
Authors: Jyoti  , Vashisht Lalit K.
Published: December 2017

A WH-packet is a system of vectors which is analogous to Aldroubi’s model for explicit expression of vectors (including frame vectors) in terms of a series associated with a given frame. In this paper, we study frame properties of WH-packet type system for matrix-valued wave packet frames in the function space [Formula: see text]. A necessary and sufficient condition for WH-packets of matrix-valued wave packet frames in terms of a bounded below operator is given. We present sufficient conditions for both lower and upper frame conditions on scalars associated with WH-packet of matrix-valued wave packet frames. Finally, a Paley–Wiener type perturbation theorem for WH-packet of matrix-valued wave packet frames is given. Several examples are given to illustrate the results.
A graph-based active learning method for classification of remote sensing images
Authors: Huo Lian-Zhi , Tang Ping
Published: December 2017

Remote sensing (RS) technology provides essential data for monitoring the Earth. To fully utilize the data, image classification is often needed to convert data to information. The success of image classification methods greatly depends on the quality and quantity of training samples. To effectively select more informative training samples, this paper proposes a new active learning (AL) technique for classification of remote sensing (RS) images based on graph theory. A new diversity criterion is proposed based on geometrical features of the support vector machines (SVM) outputs. The diversity selection procedure is converted to the densest k-subgraph [Formula: see text] maximization problem in graph theory. The [Formula: see text] maximization problem is solved by a greedy algorithm. The proposed technique is compared with competing methods adopted in RS community. Experimental tests are performed on very high resolution (VHR) multispectral and hyperspectral images. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed technique leads to comparable or even better classification accuracies with respect to competing methods on the two datasets.
Mean–variance hedging with model risk
Authors: Matsumoto Koichi
Published: December 2017

This paper studies a hedging problem of a derivative security in a one-period model when there is the model risk. The hedging error is measured by a quadratic criterion. The model risk means that the true model is uncertain and there are many candidates for the true model. The true model is assumed to be in a set of models. We study an optimal strategy which minimizes the worst-case hedging error over all models in the set. We show how to calculate an optimal strategy and the minimum hedging error effectively. Finally we give some numerical examples to demonstrate the usefulness of our method.
Synthesizing bijective lenses
Authors: Miltner Anders , Fisher Kathleen , Pierce Benjamin C. , Walker David , Zdancewic Steve
Published: December 2017

Bidirectional transformations between different data representations occur frequently in modern software systems. They appear as serializers and deserializers, as parsers and pretty printers, as database views and view updaters, and as a multitude of different kinds of ad hoc data converters. Manually building bidirectional transformations---by writing two separate functions that are intended to be inverses---is tedious and error prone. A better approach is to use a domain-specific language in which both directions can be written as a single expression. However, these domain-specific languages can be difficult to program in, requiring programmers to manage fiddly details while working in a complex type system.

We present an alternative approach. Instead of coding transformations manually, we synthesize them from declarative format descriptions and examples. Specifically, we present Optician, a tool for type-directed synthesis of bijective string transformers. The inputs to Optician are a pair of ordinary regular expressions representing two data formats and a few concrete examples for disambiguation. The output is a well-typed program in Boomerang (a bidirectional language based on the theory of lenses). The main technical challenge involves navigating the vast program search space efficiently. In particular, and unlike most prior work on type-directed synthesis, our system operates in the context of a language with a rich equivalence relation on types (the theory of regular expressions). Consequently, program synthesis requires search in two dimensions: First, our synthesis algorithm must find a pair of "syntactically compatible types," and second, using the structure of those types, it must find a type- and example-compliant term. Our key insight is that it is possible to reduce the size of this search space without losing any computational power by defining a new language of lenses designed specifically for synthesis. The new language is free from arbitrary function composition and operates only over types and terms in a new disjunctive normal form. We prove (1) our new language is just as powerful as a more natural, compositional, and declarative language and (2) our synthesis algorithm is sound and complete with respect to the new language. We also demonstrate empirically that our new language changes the synthesis problem from one that admits intractable solutions to one that admits highly efficient solutions, able to synthesize intricate lenses between complex file formats in seconds. We evaluate Optician on a benchmark suite of 39 examples that includes both microbenchmarks and realistic examples derived from other data management systems including Flash Fill, a tool for synthesizing string transformations in spreadsheets, and Augeas, a tool for bidirectional processing of Linux system configuration files.
Linear Haskell: practical linearity in a higher-order polymorphic language
Authors: Bernardy Jean-Philippe , Boespflug Mathieu , Newton Ryan R. , Peyton Jones Simon , Spiwack Arnaud
Published: December 2017

Linear type systems have a long and storied history, but not a clear path forward to integrate with existing languages such as OCaml or Haskell. In this paper, we study a linear type system designed with two crucial properties in mind: backwards-compatibility and code reuse across linear and non-linear users of a library. Only then can the benefits of linear types permeate conventional functional programming. Rather than bifurcate types into linear and non-linear counterparts, we instead attach linearity to
function arrows
. Linear functions can receive inputs from linearly-bound values, but can
also
operate over unrestricted, regular values.

To demonstrate the efficacy of our linear type system — both how easy it can be integrated in an existing language implementation and how streamlined it makes it to write programs with linear types — we implemented our type system in ghc, the leading Haskell compiler, and demonstrate two kinds of applications of linear types: mutable data with pure interfaces; and enforcing protocols in I/O-performing functions.
Handle with care: relational interpretation of algebraic effects and handlers
Authors: Biernacki Dariusz , Piróg Maciej , Polesiuk Piotr , Sieczkowski Filip
Published: December 2017

Algebraic effects and handlers have received a lot of attention recently, both from the theoretical point of view and in practical language design. This stems from the fact that algebraic effects give the programmer unprecedented freedom to define, combine, and interpret computational effects. This plenty-of-rope, however, demands not only a deep understanding of the underlying semantics, but also access to practical means of reasoning about effectful code, including correctness and program equivalence. In this paper we tackle this problem by constructing a step-indexed relational interpretation of a call-by-value calculus with algebraic effect handlers and a row-based polymorphic type-and-effect system. Our calculus, while striving for simplicity, enjoys desirable theoretical properties, and is close to the cores of programming languages with algebraic effects used in the wild, while the logical relation we build for it can be used to reason about non-trivial properties, such as contextual equivalence and contextual approximation of programs. Our development has been fully formalised in the Coq proof assistant.
Type-preserving CPS translation of Σ and Π types is not not possible
Authors: Bowman William J. , Cong Youyou , Rioux Nick , Ahmed Amal
Published: December 2017

Dependently typed languages such as Coq are used to specify and prove functional correctness of source programs, but what we ultimately need are guarantees about correctness of compiled code. By preserving dependent types through each compiler pass, we could preserve source-level specifications and correctness proofs into the generated target-language programs. Unfortunately, type-preserving compilation of dependent types is hard. In 2002, Barthe and Uustalu showed that type-preserving CPS is
not possible
for languages such as Coq. Specifically, they showed that for strong dependent pairs (Σ types), the standard typed call-by-name CPS is
not type preserving
. They further proved that for dependent case analysis on sums, a class of typed CPS translations—including the standard translation—is
not possible
. In 2016, Morrisett noticed a similar problem with the standard call-by-value CPS translation for dependent functions (Π types). In essence, the problem is that the standard typed CPS translation by double-negation, in which computations are assigned types of the form (
A
→ ⊥) → ⊥, disrupts the term/type equivalence that is used during type checking in a dependently typed language.

In this paper, we prove that type-preserving CPS translation for dependently typed languages is
not
not possible. We develop both call-by-name and call-by-value CPS translations from the Calculus of Constructions with both Π and Σ types (CC) to a dependently typed target language, and prove type preservation and compiler correctness of each translation. Our target language is CC extended with an additional equivalence rule and an additional typing rule, which we prove consistent by giving a model in the extensional Calculus of Constructions. Our key observation is that we can use a CPS translation that employs
answer-type polymorphism
, where CPS-translated computations have type ∀ α. (
A
→ α) → α. This type justifies, by a
free theorem
, the new equality rule in our target language and allows us to recover the term/type equivalences that CPS translation disrupts. Finally, we conjecture that our translation extends to dependent case analysis on sums, despite the impossibility result, and provide a proof sketch.
Inference of static semantics for incomplete C programs
Authors: Melo Leandro T. C. , Ribeiro Rodrigo G. , de Araújo Marcus R. , Pereira Fernando Magno Quintão
Published: December 2017

Incomplete source code naturally emerges in software development: during the design phase, while evolving, testing and analyzing programs. Therefore, the ability to understand partial programs is a valuable asset. However, this problem is still unsolved in the C programming language. Difficulties stem from the fact that parsing C requires, not only syntax, but also semantic information. Furthermore, inferring types so that they respect C's type system is a challenging task. In this paper we present a technique that lets us solve these problems. We provide a unification-based type inference capable of dealing with C intricacies. The ideas we present let us reconstruct partial C programs into complete well-typed ones. Such program reconstruction has several applications: enabling static analysis tools in scenarios where software components may be absent; improving static analysis tools that do not rely on build-specifications; allowing stub-generation and testing tools to work on snippets; and assisting programmers on the extraction of reusable data-structures out of the program parts that use them. Our evaluation is performed on source code from a variety of C libraries such as GNU's Coreutils, GNULib, GNOME's GLib, and GDSL; on implementations from Sedgewick's books; and on snippets from popular open-source projects like CPython, FreeBSD, and Git.
Algorithmic analysis of termination problems for quantum programs
Authors: Li Yangjia , Ying Mingsheng
Published: December 2017

We introduce the notion of linear ranking super-martingale (LRSM) for quantum programs (with nondeterministic choices, namely angelic and demonic choices). Several termination theorems are established showing that the existence of the LRSMs of a quantum program implies its termination. Thus, the termination problems of quantum programs is reduced to realisability and synthesis of LRSMs. We further show that the realisability and synthesis problem of LRSMs for quantum programs can be reduced to an SDP (Semi-Definite Programming) problem, which can be settled with the existing SDP solvers. The techniques developed in this paper are used to analyse the termination of several example quantum programs, including quantum random walks and quantum Bernoulli factory for random number generation. This work is essentially a generalisation of constraint-based approach to the corresponding problems for probabilistic programs developed in the recent literature by adding two novel ideas: (1) employing the fundamental Gleason's theorem in quantum mechanics to guide the choices of templates; and (2) a generalised Farkas' lemma in terms of observables (Hermitian operators) in quantum physics.
Linearity in higher-order recursion schemes
Authors: Clairambault Pierre , Grellois Charles , Murawski Andrzej S.
Published: December 2017

Higher-order recursion schemes (HORS) have recently emerged as a promising foundation for higher-order program verification. We examine the impact of enriching HORS with linear types. To that end, we introduce two frameworks that blend non-linear and linear types: a variant of the λY -calculus and an extension of HORS, called linear HORS (LHORS).

First we prove that the two formalisms are equivalent and there exist polynomial-time translations between them. Then, in order to support model-checking of (trees generated by) LHORS, we propose a refined version of alternating parity tree automata, called LNAPTA, whose behaviour depends on information about linearity. We show that the complexity of LNAPTA model-checking for LHORS depends on two type-theoretic parameters: linear order and linear depth. The former is in general smaller than the standard notion of order and ignores linear function spaces. In contrast, the latter measures the depth of linear clusters inside a type. Our main result states that LNAPTA model-checking of LHORS of linear order n is n-EXPTIME-complete, when linear depth is fixed. This generalizes and improves upon the classic result of Ong, which relies on the standard notion of order.

To illustrate the significance of the result, we consider two applications: the MSO model-checking problem on variants of HORS with case distinction (RSFD and HORSC) on a finite domain and a call-by-value resource verification problem. In both cases, decidability can be established by translation into HORS, but the implied complexity bounds will be suboptimal due to increases in type order. In contrast, we show that the complexity bounds derived by translations into LHORS and appealing to our result are optimal in that they match the respective hardness results.
Up-to techniques using sized types
Authors: Danielsson Nils Anders
Published: December 2017

Up-to techniques are used to make it easier—or feasible—to construct, for instance, proofs of bisimilarity. This text shows how many up-to techniques can be framed as
size-preserving functions
, using sized types to keep track of sizes.

Through a number of examples it is argued that this approach to up-to techniques is often convenient to use in practice. Some examples of functions that cannot be made size-preserving are also included, in order to illustrate the limits of the approach. On the more theoretical side a class of up-to techniques intended to capture a natural mode of use of size-preserving functions is defined. This class turns out to correspond closely to "functions below the companion", a notion recently introduced by Pous.
JaVerT: JavaScript verification toolchain
Authors: Fragoso Santos José , Maksimović Petar , Naudžiūnienė Daiva , Wood Thomas , Gardner Philippa
Published: December 2017

The dynamic nature of JavaScript and its complex semantics make it a difficult target for logic-based verification. We introduce JaVerT, a semi-automatic JavaScript Verification Toolchain, based on separation logic and aimed at the specialist developer wanting rich, mechanically verified specifications of critical JavaScript code. To specify JavaScript programs, we design abstractions that capture its key heap structures (for example, prototype chains and function closures), allowing the developer to write clear and succinct specifications with minimal knowledge of the JavaScript internals. To verify JavaScript programs, we develop JaVerT, a verification pipeline consisting of: JS-2-JSIL, a well-tested compiler from JavaScript to JSIL, an intermediate goto language capturing the fundamental dynamic features of JavaScript; JSIL Verify, a semi-automatic verification tool based on a sound JSIL separation logic; and verified axiomatic specifications of the JavaScript internal functions. Using JaVerT, we verify functional correctness properties of: data-structure libraries (key-value map, priority queue) written in an object-oriented style; operations on data structures such as binary search trees (BSTs) and lists; examples illustrating function closures; and test cases from the official ECMAScript test suite. The verification times suggest that reasoning about larger, more complex code using JaVerT is feasible.
A practical construction for decomposing numerical abstract domains
Authors: Singh Gagandeep , Püschel Markus , Vechev Martin
Published: December 2017

Numerical abstract domains such as Polyhedra, Octahedron, Octagon, Interval, and others are an essential component of static program analysis. The choice of domain offers a performance/precision tradeoff ranging from cheap and imprecise (Interval) to expensive and precise (Polyhedra). Recently, significant speedups were achieved for Octagon and Polyhedra by manually decomposing their transformers to work with the Cartesian product of projections associated with partitions of the variable set. While practically useful, this manual process is time consuming, error-prone, and has to be applied from scratch for every domain.

In this paper, we present a generic approach for decomposing the transformers of sub-polyhedra domains along with conditions for checking whether the decomposed transformers lose precision with respect to the original transformers. These conditions are satisfied by most practical transformers, thus our approach is suitable for increasing the performance of these transformers without compromising their precision. Furthermore, our approach is ``black box:'' it does not require changes to the internals of the original non-decomposed transformers or additional manual effort per domain.

We implemented our approach and applied it to the domains of Zones, Octagon, and Polyhedra. We then compared the performance of the decomposed transformers obtained with our generic method versus the state of the art: the (non-decomposed) PPL for Polyhedra and the much faster ELINA (which uses manual decomposition) for Polyhedra and Octagon. Against ELINA we demonstrate finer partitions and an associated speedup of about 2x on average. Our results indicate that the general construction presented in this work is a viable method for improving the performance of sub-polyhedra domains. It enables designers of abstract domains to benefit from decomposition without re-writing all of their transformers from scratch as required by prior work.
Synthesizing coupling proofs of differential privacy
Authors: Albarghouthi Aws , Hsu Justin
Published: December 2017

Differential privacy has emerged as a promising probabilistic formulation of privacy, generating intense interest within academia and industry. We present a push-button, automated technique for verifying ε-differential privacy of sophisticated randomized algorithms. We make several conceptual, algorithmic, and practical contributions: (i) Inspired by the recent advances on approximate couplings and randomness alignment, we present a new proof technique called coupling strategies, which casts differential privacy proofs as a winning strategy in a game where we have finite privacy resources to expend. (ii) To discover a winning strategy, we present a constraint-based formulation of the problem as a set of Horn modulo couplings (HMC) constraints, a novel combination of first-order Horn clauses and probabilistic constraints. (iii) We present a technique for solving HMC constraints by transforming probabilistic constraints into logical constraints with uninterpreted functions. (iv) Finally, we implement our technique in the FairSquare verifier and provide the first automated privacy proofs for a number of challenging algorithms from the differential privacy literature, including Report Noisy Max, the Exponential Mechanism, and the Sparse Vector Mechanism.
Strategy synthesis for linear arithmetic games
Authors: Farzan Azadeh , Kincaid Zachary
Published: December 2017

Many problems in formal methods can be formalized as two-player games. For several applications—program synthesis, for example—in addition to determining which player wins the game, we are interested in computing a winning strategy for that player. This paper studies the strategy synthesis problem for games defined within the theory of linear rational arithmetic. Two types of games are considered. A
satisfiability game
, described by a quantified formula, is played by two players that take turns instantiating quantifiers. The objective of each player is to prove (or disprove) satisfiability of the formula. A
reachability game
, described by a pair of formulas defining the legal moves of each player, is played by two players that take turns choosing positions—rational vectors of some fixed dimension. The objective of each player is to reach a position where the opposing player has no legal moves (or to play the game forever). We give a complete algorithm for synthesizing winning strategies for satisfiability games and a sound (but necessarily incomplete) algorithm for synthesizing winning strategies for reachability games.
Program synthesis using abstraction refinement
Authors: Wang Xinyu , Dillig Isil , Singh Rishabh
Published: December 2017

We present a new approach to example-guided program synthesis based on
counterexample-guided abstraction refinement
. Our method uses the abstract semantics of the underlying DSL to find a program
P
whose
abstract
behavior satisfies the examples. However, since program
P
may be spurious with respect to the concrete semantics, our approach iteratively refines the abstraction until we either find a program that satisfies the examples or prove that no such DSL program exists. Because many programs have the same input-output behavior in terms of their
abstract semantics
, this synthesis methodology significantly reduces the search space compared to existing techniques that use purely concrete semantics.

While
synthesis using abstraction refinement (SYNGAR)
could be implemented in different settings, we propose a refinement-based synthesis algorithm that uses
abstract finite tree automata (AFTA)
. Our technique uses a coarse initial program abstraction to construct an initial AFTA, which is iteratively refined by constructing a
proof of incorrectness
of any spurious program. In addition to ruling out the spurious program accepted by the previous AFTA, proofs of incorrectness are also useful for ruling out many other spurious programs.

We implement these ideas in a framework called Blaze, which can be instantiated in different domains by providing a suitable DSL and its corresponding concrete and abstract semantics. We have used the Blaze framework to build synthesizers for string and matrix transformations, and we compare Blaze with existing techniques. Our results for the string domain show that Blaze compares favorably with FlashFill, a domain-specific synthesizer that is now deployed in Microsoft PowerShell. In the context of matrix manipulations, we compare Blaze against Prose, a state-of-the-art general-purpose VSA-based synthesizer, and show that Blaze results in a 90x speed-up over Prose. In both application domains, Blaze also consistently improves upon the performance of two other existing techniques by at least an order of magnitude.
Maximal strength training-induced improvements in forearm work efficiency are associated with reduced blood flow
Authors: Berg Ole Kristian , Nyberg Stian Kwak , Windedal Tobias Midtvedt , Wang Eivind
Published: December 2017

Maximal strength training (MST) improves work efficiency. However, since blood flow is greatly dictated by muscle contractions in arms during exercise and vascular conductance is lower, it has been indicated that arms rely more upon adapting oxygen extraction than legs in response to the enhanced work efficiency. Thus, to investigate if metabolic and vascular responses are arm specific, we used Doppler-ultrasound and a catheter placed in the subclavian vein to measure blood flow and the arteriovenous oxygen difference during steady-state work in seven young men [24 ± 3 (SD) yr] following 6 wk of handgrip MST. As expected, MST improved maximal strength (49 ± 9 to 62 ± 10 kg) and the rate of force development (923 ± 224 to 1,086 ± 238 N/s), resulting in a reduced submaximal oxygen uptake (30 ± 9 to 24 ± 10 ml/min) and concomitantly increased work efficiency (9.3 ± 2.5 to 12.4 ± 3.9%) (all P < 0.05). In turn, the work efficiency improvement was associated with reduced blood flow (486 ± 102 to 395 ± 114 ml/min), mediated by a lower blood velocity (43 ± 8 to 32 ± 6 cm/s) (all P < 0.05). Conduit artery diameter and the arteriovenous oxygen difference remained unaltered. The maximal work test revealed an increased time to exhaustion (949 ± 239 to 1,102 ± 292 s) and maximal work rate (both P < 0.05) but no change in peak oxygen uptake. In conclusion, despite prior indications of metabolic and vascular limb-specific differences, these results reveal that improved work efficiency after small muscle mass strength training in the upper extremities is accompanied by a blood flow reduction and coheres with what has been documented for lower extremities.

NEW & NOTEWORTHY Maximal strength training increases skeletal muscle work efficiency. Oxygen extraction has been indicated to be the adapting component with this increased work efficiency in arms. However, we document that decreased blood flow, achieved by blood velocity reduction, is the adapting mechanism responding to the improved aerobic metabolism in the forearm musculature.
ЕКСПЕРИМЕНТАЛЬНЕ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ СПЕЦИФІЧНОЇ ФАРМАКОЛОГІЧНОЇ АКТИВНОСТІ ПРЕПАРАТУ ПЕГ-ФІЛСТИМ
Authors: Karbovsky V. L. , Shevchuk I. A. , Kurkina O. V.
Published: December 2017

Мета роботи. Дослідити специфічну фармакологічну активність препарату ПЕГ-Філстим на моделі фебрильної нейтропенії у мишей.Матеріали і методи. Експериментальну лейкопенію в самців мишей лінії C57BL/6 моделювали одноразовим внутрішньоочеревинним введенням циклофосфаміду у дозі 250 мг/кг. ПЕГ-Філстим або референтний препарат Неуластим вводили одноразово підшкірно в дозі 1 мг/кг через 24 год після ін'єкції циклофосфаміду або через 24 години після ін’єкції 0,9 % розчину натрію хлориду. На 7-му добу після введення досліджуваного і референтного препаратів тварин наркотизували та відбирали кров на мазок і підрахунок лейкоцитів. Після евтаназії з правої стегнової кістки вимивали кістковий мозок, в якому підраховували загальну кількість мієлокаріоцитів, а в мазку  кісткового мозку – мієлограму, лейкоеритроцитарне співвідношення, індекс дозрівання нейтрофілів.Результати та обговорення. У здорових мишей після одноразового застосування ПЕГ-Філстиму або Неуластиму спостерігається збільшення кількості лейкоцитів щодо інтактного контролю. У тварин з експериментальною лейкопенією при дії обох препаратів також збільшилась абсолютна кількість лейкоцитів щодо тварин з експериментальною патологією. При цьому ефекти ПЕГ-Філстиму та Неуластиму на даний показник статистично значущих відмінностей між собою не мали. Як у здорових мишей, так і у тварин з експериментальною лейкопенією одноразове підшкірне введення препаратів ПЕГ-Філстим або Неуластим збільшує кількість мієлокаріоцитів у кістковому мозку, яке не було пов’язане зі зміною абсолютного вмісту недиференційованих бластів, еозинофілів, моноцитів і незрілих форм нейтрофілів. І у здорових тварин, і у мишей з експериментальною патологією після застосування досліджуваного або референтного препаратів спостерігалося збільшення абсолютного вмісту зрілих форм (паличкоядерних і сегментоядерних) нейтрофілів. Такі зміни призвели до зниження індексу дозрівання нейтрофілів.Висновки. Препарат ПЕГ-Філстим в дозі 1 мг/кг має виражений гемостимулюючий ефект як у інтактних мишей, так і у тварин з експериментальною лейкопенією. При дії препарату збільшується кількість лейкоцитів у периферичній крові (за рахунок паличкоядерних нейтрофілів і лімфоцитів), а також збільшується кількість мієлокаріоцитів у кістковому мозку (за рахунок зрілих форм нейтрофілів, базофілів всіх генерацій, а також еритрокаріоцітів). Засвоїми характеристиками досліджуваний засіб не поступається референтному препарату Неуластим.
Craniology and the Funerary Rite of the Population of Scythian Neapolis
Authors: Kazarnitsky Alexei A.
Published: December 2017

This article describes an attempt of the comparison between data assembled by archaeologists and physical anthropologists relating to group burials in earth catacombs of the Eastern Necropolis at Scythian Neapolis. A coincidence was identified between variability trends in craniometric and some archaeological features. This was interpreted as evidence for the presence in the urban population of at least two initial groups of different origin, which preserved certain differences in some of the details of the funerary rite used.
The Japanese Contemptus mundi (1596) of the Bibliotheca Augusta: A Brief Remark on a New Discovery
Authors: Triplett Katja
Published: December 2017

The duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, August the Younger (1579–1666), assembled one of the largest collections of books and manuscripts in seventeenth-century Europe at his residence in Wolfenbüttel, creating a world-renowned library that is today known as the Bibliotheca Augusta. In about 1662, the duke purchased an unusual 1596 print in Latin script of a religious work offered to him as Tractatus de contemptu mundi in lingua Japonica. It was included in the ethica and not, as one would expect, in the theologica section of his collection, and this may be one of the reasons why the Jesuit print has not been listed in the currently most complete bibliography of prints of the Japanese Jesuit mission press compiled in 1940 by Johannes Laures, S.J., and later supplemented. Apart from the Augusta print only two other prints seemed to have survived. The article introduces the new discovery and outlines possible reasons for the hitherto relative invisibility of the print.
Diagnosing Conditions Associated with Large Intensity Forecast Errors in the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) Model
Authors: Halperin Daniel J. , Torn Ryan D.
Published: December 2017

Understanding and forecasting tropical cyclone (TC) intensity change continues to be a paramount challenge for the research and operational communities, partly because of inherent systematic biases contained in model guidance, which can be difficult to diagnose. The purpose of this paper is to present a method to identify such systematic biases by comparing forecasts characterized by large intensity errors with analog forecasts that exhibit small intensity errors. The methodology is applied to the 2015 version of the Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting (HWRF) Model retrospective forecasts in the North Atlantic (NATL) and eastern North Pacific (EPAC) basins during 2011–14. Forecasts with large 24-h intensity errors are defined to be in the top 15% of all cases in the distribution that underforecast intensity. These forecasts are compared to analog forecasts taken from the bottom 50% of the error distribution. Analog forecasts are identified by finding the case that has 0–24-h intensity and wind shear magnitude time series that are similar to the large intensity error forecasts. Composite differences of the large and small intensity error forecasts reveal that the EPAC large error forecasts have weaker reflectivity and vertical motion near the TC inner core from 3 h onward. Results over the NATL are less clear, with the significant differences between the large and small error forecasts occurring radially outward from the TC core. Though applied to TCs, this analog methodology could be useful for diagnosing systematic model biases in other applications.
A Semiparametric Approach for Modeling Not-Reached Items
Authors: List Marit Kristine , Köller Olaf , Nagy Gabriel
Published: December 2017

Tests administered in studies of student achievement often have a certain amount of not-reached items (NRIs). The propensity for NRIs may depend on the proficiency measured by the test and on additional covariates. This article proposes a semiparametric model to study such relationships. Our model extends Glas and Pimentel’s item response theory model for NRIs by (1) including a semiparametric representation of the distribution of the onset of NRIs, (2) modeling the relationships of NRIs with proficiency via a flexible multinomial logit regression, and (3) including additional covariates to predict NRIs. We show that Glas and Pimentel’s and our model have close connections to event history analysis, thereby making it possible to apply tools developed in this context to the analysis of NRIs. Our model was applied to a timed low-stakes test of mathematics achievement. Our model fitted the data better than Glas and Pimentel’s model, and allowed for a more fine-grained assessment of the onset of NRIs. The results of a simulation study showed that our model accurately recovered the relationships of proficiency and covariates with the onset of NRIs, and reduced bias in the estimates of item parameters, proficiency distributions, and covariate effects on proficiency.