bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prevalence, emotional and follow‐up burden of insulin injection‐related needle‐stick injuries among clinical nurses in Shaanxi Province, west of China: A cross‐sectional study
Authors: Li Meng , Huo Lanting , Du Fenjing , Li Wuping , Zhang Huali , Shi Bingyin
Published: March 2022

Aims and objectives

The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence, emotional and follow‐up burden of insulin injection‐related needle‐stick injuries among clinical nurses.

Background

needle‐stick injures introduce statistically significant occupational hazards to healthcare workers. Although the large proportion of the needles injuries attributed to insulin injection, research evidence about the prevalence, emotional and follow‐up burden of such injures is lacking.

Design

Cross‐sectional study.

Methods

5389 nurses were recruited from 45 hospitals in Shaanxi, China, from November 2018 to July 2019. Participants were administrated with a questionnaire specifically developed for this study. Descriptive statistics were used to present the findings.

Results

All 5,389 nurses responded to the survey, of which 396 (7.4%) participants experienced 620 insulin injection‐related needle‐stick injuries in the past year, representing an annual prevalence of 115.0 per 1000 nurses. The annual prevalence of infection caused by the injuries was 18.7 per 1000 nurses. The injuries occurred most frequently when nurses were recapping the needle (42.4%). In the majority (98.4%) of the injuries, the hurt nurses took proper immediate actions. However, only 30.3% of nurses reported the injuries to the administrative staff, and in 43.2% of the injuries, the nurses refused or discontinued the suggested follow‐up. A large proportion (58.6%) of the hurt nurses experienced emotional changes. Multivariate logistic regression showed that department, removing and/or setting back needle caps with bare hands, frequency of insulin pen and syringes are associated with the incidence of insulin injection‐related needle‐stick injuries. This paper is reported following the STROBE recommendations.

Conclusions

This survey demonstrated a considerably high prevalence of insulin injection‐related needle‐stick injuries among clinical nurses. Even though the majority of the hurt nurses took proper immediate actions, a large quantity of them failed to report the accidents to the administrative staff and complete the suggested follow‐up. Nurses who suffered from insulin injection‐related needle‐stick injuries were subject to various negative emotional changes. It portends a statistically significant risk to occupational health management for nurses.

Relevance to clinical practice

Scientific preventive and management strategies are desirable in order to minimize the consequences of insulin injection‐related needle‐stick injuries.
A 12‐session relapse prevention program vs psychoeducation in the treatment of Japanese alcoholic patients: A randomized controlled trial
Authors: Harada Takayuki , Aikawa Yuzo , Takahama Mihoko , Yumoto Yosuke , Umeno Mitsuru , Hasegawa Yukako , Ohsawa Shigeo , Asukai Nozomu
Published: March 2022

Aim

Alcoholism is the most prevalent substance use disorder in Japan; the estimated number of patients and high‐risk drinkers is in the millions. Although studies in the West have shown that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the most effective treatment strategies for alcoholic patients, there is a dearth of efficacy studies of CBT‐based intervention for those patients in the non‐Western setting. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of a 12‐session CBT‐based relapse prevention program for Japanese alcoholic patients.

Methods

Forty‐eight alcoholic patients (M = 36, F = 12) who were admitted to an addiction treatment unit were randomly allocated either to a 12‐session relapse prevention (RP) program (n = 24) or a 12‐session psychoeducation (PE) program (n = 24). Both treatment programs were conducted in a group format once a week for 12 weeks. Other aspects of inpatient treatment (group meetings, etc) were the same in both groups. Self‐rating scales, which measure behavioral and cognitive coping, coping response, self‐efficacy, and cognition of drinking, were administered at pretreatment, mid‐treatment, and posttreatment periods. The proportion of participants who relapsed at 3 and 6 months after discharge was evaluated.

Results

Both RP and PE groups showed significant improvement in self‐efficacy and cognition of drinking at posttreatment. However, there were no significant differences in the self‐rating scales between both groups. In addition, there were no significant differences in relapse rate at 3 and 6 months after discharge between both groups.

Conclusions

The 12‐session CBT‐based relapse prevention program and the psychoeducation program may be equally efficacious for alcoholic patients. Several factors that influenced the results are discussed.
LSMPA Sovereignties in New Caledonia and French Polynesia: Territorialities, Alliances and Powers in Oceania
Authors: Dégremont Marlène
Published: March 2022

Over the last decades, the establishment of large‐scale marine protected areas (LSMPA) in the Pacific Ocean has profoundly transformed the region's political geography. Pacific LSMPAs have played a striking role in converting Small Island Developing States (SIDS) into Large Ocean Island States (LOIS), generating a significant shift in regional and international politics. This paper is a new exploration of the ongoing political construction of the Ocean, at multiple scales and through different forms. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, an anthropological approach is used to investigate governance processes involving multiple actors shaping marine environmental policies in New Caledonia and French Polynesia, two French overseas territories. This research interrogates how territorial dynamics and sovereignty issues in the francophone Pacific are being driven and reshaped by the emergence of LSMPAs and offers an overview of current structural changes in Oceania.
Markers of cognitive resilience and a framework for investigating clinical heterogeneity in ALS†
Authors: Mehta Puja R , Lashley Tammaryn , Fratta Pietro , Bampton Alexander
Published: March 2022

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Despite the unifying pathological hallmark of TDP‐43 proteinopathy, ALS is clinically a highly heterogeneous disease, and little is known about the underlying mechanisms driving this phenotypic diversity. In a recent issue of The Journal of Pathology, Banerjee, Elliott et al use region‐specific transcriptomic profiling in postmortem brains from a deeply phenotyped clinical cohort of ALS patients to detect molecular signatures differentiating cognitively affected and unaffected patients. They identified differential expression of specific genes, including upregulation of pro‐inflammatory IL‐6 in the cognitively affected group and anti‐inflammatory IL‐1 in the cognitively unaffected group. They then utilised BaseScope™ in situ hybridisation and immunohistochemistry to validate upregulation of NLRP3, an activator of the inflammasome, in the cognitively affected group, and upregulation of SIRT2, an inhibitor of NLRP3, in the cognitively unaffected group. In summary, Banerjee, Elliott et al demonstrate the usefulness of combining a well‐curated clinical cohort with transcriptomic analysis of pathological samples to identify a perturbed pathway (e.g., the inflammasome), offering opportunities for novel therapeutic targets in ALS. © 2022 The Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
A composite electrode of 2D‐Ti3C2 (MXene) and polyemeraldine salt of polyaniline for supercapacitor with high areal capacitance
Authors: Sarma Yallapragada Sai Swaroop , Gupta Nisha , Bhattacharya Pallab
Published: March 2022

Here, we propose a composite system made of 2D‐Ti3C2 and two different chemical forms of polyaniline (PANI) like polyemeraldine base (EB) and polyemeraldine salt (ES) to investigate their electrochemical performances as supercapacitor electrode material. Fundamentally, EB and ES are having different functionalities and electrical conductivities to affect their electrochemical performances. Thus, synthesis and electrochemical performances of the composites made of Ti3C2 and ES or EB with different compositions is discussed where Ti3C2/ES form of PANI appears as best performing supercapacitor electrode with the areal capacitance of 1.85 Fcm−2 at 5 mVs−1. A capacitance enhancement of 5.4 times was observed for Ti3C2/PANI‐ES while compared to the same for bare Ti3C2 with capacity retention of 91.70% after 500 cycles at 1 Ag−1. This work has also explored the effect of composite compositions by varying the stoichiometric weight ratios of Ti3C2 and different forms of PANI to achieve high‐performing supercapacitor electrode materials.
Geometric approaches to assessing the numerical feasibility for conducting matching‐adjusted indirect comparisons
Authors: Glimm Ekkehard , Yau Lillian
Published: March 2022

We discuss how to handle matching‐adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC) from a data analyst's perspective. We introduce several multivariate data analysis methods to assess the appropriateness of MAIC for a given set of baseline characteristics. These methods focus on comparing the baseline variables used in the matching of a study that provides the summary statistics or aggregated data (AD) and a study that provides individual patient level data (IPD). The methods identify situations when no numerical solutions are possible with the MAIC method. This helps to avoid misleading results being produced. Moreover, it has been observed that sometimes contradicting results are reported by two sets of MAIC analyses produced by two teams, each having their own IPD and applying MAIC using the AD published by the other team. We show that an intrinsic property of the MAIC estimated weights can be a contributing factor for this phenomenon.
Two cases of COVID‐19‐associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA)
Authors: Lim Jin Lee , Khor Inn Shih , Moh Cheng Keat , Chan Yi Min , Lam Yoke Fong , Lachmanan Kumaresh Raj
Published: March 2022

COVID‐19‐associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) is a recently recognized entity associated with the COVID‐19 pandemic and known post‐viral pneumonia complications. More data are awaited and there has been a recent consensus criteria published hoping to generate more research and registries to inform clinical decision‐making. Nevertheless, it is clear that CAPA imposes a worsening disease course of COVID‐19 pneumonia with added morbidity and mortality. We present two cases with differing outcomes managed within the limitations of our institute and make reference to the recent consensus criteria. We hope to highlight the importance of considering empirical treatment in the correct clinical context while awaiting the results of microbiological workup as ascertaining the diagnosis of proven CAPA is challenging in the real‐world setting.
Self‐Healable and Stretchable Ionic‐Liquid‐Based Thermoelectric Composites with High Ionic Seebeck Coefficient
Authors: Akbar Zico Alaia , Malik Yoga Trianzar , Kim Dong‐Hu , Cho Sangho , Jang Sung‐Yeon , Jeon Ju‐Won
Published: March 2022

The advancement of wearable electronics, particularly self‐powered wearable electronic devices, necessitates the development of efficient energy conversion technologies with flexible mechanical properties. Recently, ionic thermoelectric (TE) materials have attracted great attention because of their enormous thermopower, which can operate capacitors or supercapacitors by harvesting low‐grade heat. This study presents self‐healable, stretchable, and flexible ionic TE composites comprising an ionic liquid (IL), 1‐ethyl‐3‐methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate (EMIM:OTf); a polymer matrix, poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐hexafluoropropylene) (PVDF‐HFP); and a fluoro‐surfactant (FS). The self‐healability of the IL‐based composites originates from dynamic ion–dipole interactions between the IL, the PVDF‐HFP, and the FS. The composites demonstrate excellent ionic TE properties with an ionic Seebeck coefficient (Si) of ≈38.3 mV K−1 and an ionic figure of merit of ZTi = 2.34 at 90% relative humidity, which are higher than the values reported for other IL‐based TE materials. The IL‐based ionic TE composites developed in this study can maintain excellent ionic TE properties under harsh conditions, including severe strain (75%) and multiple cutting–healing cycles.
Live microalgal cells modified by L‐cys/Au@carbon dots/bilirubin oxidase layers for enhanced oxygen reduction in a membrane‐less biofuel cell
Authors: Qing Sili , Wang Lin‐Lin , Jiang Li‐Ping , Wu Xiaoge , Zhu Jun‐Jie
Published: March 2022

Electrochemical oxygen reduced reaction (ORR) is a critical element in clean energy development. Despite efforts to enhance gas transfer to the reaction interface, the low solubility of O2 molecules and slow diffusion rate in liquid electrolyte is still a significant challenge. Herein, we design an artificial outer membrane on microalgal cells, which consists of a carbon dots/bilirubin oxidase (CDs/BOD) ORR catalyst layer and a L‐cystine/Au nanoporous O2 supply layer. O2 generated by photosynthesis from microalgal cells then can be directly transported to the CDs/BOD catalytic interfaces, overcoming the sluggish gas transfer in the electrolyte. Thus, the cathode constructed by the fabricated microalgal cells realizes an ORR current density of 655.2 μA/cm2 with fast ORR kinetics, which is 2.68 times higher than that of a BOD cathode fed with pure O2. A membrane‐less glucose/O2 biofuel cell is further developed using the hybrid artificial cells as the cathode, and the power density is 2.39 times higher than that of a BOD cathode biofuel cell in O2 saturated solution. This biomimetic design supplies O2 directly to the carbon dots/BOD catalyst layer from the microalgae membrane through a nanoporous L‐cys/Au layer, providing an alternative solution for the transfer barrier of O2 in the electrolyte.
Programmable Multiwavelength Radio Frequency Spectrometry of Chemophysical Environments through an Adaptable Network of Flexible and Environmentally Responsive, Passive Wireless Elements
Authors: Dautta Manik , Hajiaghajani Amirhossein , Ye Fan , Escobar Alberto Ranier , Jimenez Abel , Dia Kazi Khurshidi Haque , Tseng Peter
Published: March 2022

Readout of multiparametric environmental signals typically uses discrete sensing formats that individually require unique signal conditioning circuitry and/or processing pathways. Here, adaptable sensor networks composed exclusively of passive material architectures that enable spectrometric comonitoring of chemical or physical environmental signals are proposed. Herein, a single radio frequency (RF) reader wirelessly interacts first with an intermediate wireless relay coil—this is tunable in length and can be designed to conform around surfaces. This relay (that is fused on textiles or surfaces) is then wirelessly coupled to arrays of passive RF sensors with individually programmable flexibility/reactivity to environmental signals. Multiple chemical and physical signals can then be monitored within the single spectral readout of a wearable reader. This technique can probe over tunable length scales, and is robust to mechanical disturbances that limit present techniques. As a proof of concept, this approach is used to comonitor chemophysical metrics such as nutrients, temperature, pressure, pH, and more on the skin or in utensils with a single readout. This technique may form a cornerstone of zero‐microelectronic sensor networks.
Versatile Thermal‐Solidifying Direct‐Write Assembly towards Heat‐Resistant 3D‐Printed Ceramic Aerogels for Thermal Insulation
Authors: Wang Lukai , Feng Junzong , Luo Yi , Jiang Yonggang , Zhang Guojie , Feng Jian
Published: March 2022

Ceramic aerogels have great potential in the areas of thermal insulation, catalysis, filtration, environmental remediation, energy storage, etc. However, the conventional shaping and post‐processing of ceramic aerogels are plagued by their brittleness due to the inefficient neck connection of oxide ceramic nanoparticles. Here a versatile thermal‐solidifying direct‐ink‐writing has been proposed for fabricating heat‐resistant ceramic aerogels. The versatility lies in the good compatibility and designability of ceramic inks, which makes it possible to print silica aerogels, alumina‐silica aerogels, and titania‐silica aerogels. 3D‐printed ceramic aerogels show excellent high‐temperature stability up to 1000 °C in air (linear shrinkage less than 5%) when compared to conventional silica aerogels. This improved heat resistance is attributed to the existence of a refractory fumed silica phase, which restrains the microstructure destruction of ceramic aerogels in high‐temperature environments. Benefiting from low density (0.21 g cm–3), high surface area (284 m2 g–1), and well‐distributed mesopores, 3D‐printed ceramic aerogels possess a low thermal conductivity (30.87 mW m–1 K–1) and are considered as ideal thermal insulators. The combination of ceramic aerogels with 3D printing technology would open up new opportunities to tailor the geometry of porous materials for specific applications.
Gender gap in tenure and promotion: Evidence from the economics Ph.D. class of 2008
Authors: Chen Jihui , Liu Qihong , Kim Myongjin
Published: March 2022

This study examines early career outcomes (i.e., tenure and promotion) of the Economics Ph.D. class of 2008. We find that female economists are less likely (by up to 15.8%) to have received tenure and promotion 8 years post‐graduation compared to males in the same cohort. The gender gap becomes more pronounced (e.g., 36.5% less likely to receive tenure/promotion) among individuals of foreign origins working in the United States. In addition, we find a similar gender bias regarding whether an individual remains on tenure‐track positions since the initial job placement in 2008. Adding to the literature, our analysis sheds light on the gender gap in the Economics profession from a broad international perspective.
Interface Modulation of FePc/Porous Ti(HPO4)2 Z‐Scheme Heterojunctions with Ultrafine Ag for Efficiently Photocatalytic CO Oxidation
Authors: Zhang Xinjia , Liu Yanduo , Chen Liqiang , Li Zhijun , Wu Wei , Bian Ji , Jing Liqiang
Published: March 2022

Herein, an integrative Z‐scheme heterojunction of ultrafine Ag‐ (≈ 4 nm) modulated FePc/porous Ti(HPO4)2 nanosheet (FePc/Ag/TiP NS) with extended spectrum response is designed and fabricated for efficient CO oxidation. The optimal one exhibits approximately tenfold enhancement in photocatalytic activity compared with the bulky TiP counterpart, even outperforming commercial TiO2 (P25). The greatly improved photoactivity is mainly ascribed to the accelerated Z‐scheme charge transfer, and well‐defined isolated central metal ion (Fe2+) in FePc with excellent oxygen activation capacity, along with the extended visible light response. The strengthened charge transfer depends on the interfacial modulation of the ultrafine Ag intentionally embedded in the pores of TiP NS, which enables the electrons of TiP NS migration directionally and induces high‐dispersion FePc controllable assembly on TiP NS with the increased loading amount. Moreover, it is revealed that CO is previously adsorbed on TiP NS via forming –OH–OC intermediate with the surface hydroxyl and subsequently react with the activated O2 by the Fe–N4 sites in FePc to produce CO2 mainly based on in situ diffuse reflectance infrared spectra and near ambient pressure XPS spectra. A new design concept for constructing Ti(HPO4)2‐based Z‐scheme heterojunctions is provided, and the avenues for efficient CO oxidation are paved.
Type‐2 Diabetes and Identification of Major Genetic Determinants of Glycemic Index in Rice – A Review
Authors: John Deepa , Sureshkumar S. , Raman Maya
Published: March 2022

Rice consumers of different parts of the world always face the risk of diabetes and related health complications. Dietary intervention is the best adapted measure to maintain blood glucose levels and manage the diseases in rice consuming populations. The glycemic index of rice varieties is negatively correlated to the amylose content. Research studies have proven that the consumption of rice varieties with low glycemic index has beneficial effects in controlling diabetes. The genetic basis for the diversity observed for amylose content in different rice varieties is well elucidated. Waxy gene (Wx) is known to encode Granule–Bound Starch Synthase I (GBSS I) enzyme, which determines the amylose content in rice. Different allelic variations of Wx gene exist, which can be correlated to varying amylose content in rice. The PCR‐based markers for detecting single nucleotide polymorphism mutation at Wx locus provides a cost‐effective alternative to genotype rice varieties. This review outlines the anti‐diabetic properties of rice and strategies to identify rice varieties with a low glycemic index at the molecular level. The molecular basis of the glycemic index allows breeders to successfully identify rice germplasms with low glycemic index and engineer rice varieties with high grain yield and low glycemic index.
DyNetKAT: An Algebra of Dynamic Networks
Authors: Caltais Georgiana , Hojjat Hossein , Mousavi Mohammad Reza , Tunç Hünkar Can
Published: March 2022

We introduce a formal language for specifying dynamic updates for Software Defined Networks. Our language builds upon Network Kleene Algebra with Tests (NetKAT) and adds constructs for synchronisations and multi-packet behaviour to capture the interaction between the control- and data-plane in dynamic updates. We provide a sound and ground-complete axiomatisation of our language. We exploit the equational theory and provide an efficient method for reasoning about safety properties. We implement our equational theory in DyNetiKAT – a tool prototype, based on the Maude Rewriting Logic and the NetKAT tool, and apply it to a case study. We show that we can analyse the case study for networks with hundreds of switches using our tool prototype.
Quantifier elimination for counting extensions of Presburger arithmetic
Authors: Chistikov Dmitry , Haase Christoph , Mansutti Alessio
Published: March 2022

We give a new quantifier elimination procedure for Presburger arithmetic extended with a unary counting quantifier $$\exists ^{= x} y\, \mathrm {\Phi }$$

∃

=
x

y

Φ

that binds to the variable $$x$$
x
the number of different $$y$$
y
satisfying $$\mathrm {\Phi }$$
Φ
. While our procedure runs in non-elementary time in general, we show that it yields nearly optimal elementary complexity results for expressive counting extensions of Presburger arithmetic, such as the threshold counting quantifier $$\exists ^{\ge c} y\, \mathrm {\Phi }$$

∃

≥
c

y

Φ

that requires that the number of different y satisfying $$\mathrm {\Phi }$$
Φ
be at least $$c\in \mathbb {N}$$

c
∈
N

, where c can succinctly be defined by a Presburger formula. Our results are cast in terms of what we call the monadically-guarded fragment of Presburger arithmetic with unary counting quantifiers, for which we develop a 2ExpSpace decision procedure.
Sweedler Theory of Monads
Authors: McDermott Dylan , Rivas Exequiel , Uustalu Tarmo
Published: March 2022

Monad-comonad interaction laws are a mathematical concept for describing communication protocols between effectful computations and coeffectful environments in the paradigm where notions of effectful computation are modelled by monads and notions of coeffectful environment by comonads. We show that monad-comonad interaction laws are an instance of measuring maps from Sweedler theory for duoidal categories whereby the final interacting comonad for a monad and a residual monad arises as the Sweedler hom and the initial residual monad for a monad and an interacting comonad as the Sweedler copower. We then combine this with a (co)algebraic characterization of monad-comonad interaction laws to derive descriptions of the Sweedler hom and the Sweedler copower in terms of their coalgebras resp. algebras.
Model Checking Temporal Properties of Recursive Probabilistic Programs
Authors: Winkler Tobias , Gehnen Christina , Katoen Joost-Pieter
Published: March 2022

Probabilistic pushdown automata (pPDA) are a standard operational model for programming languages involving discrete random choices, procedures, and returns. Temporal properties are useful for gaining insight into the chronological order of events during program execution. Existing approaches in the literature have focused mostly on $$\omega $$
ω
-regular and LTL properties. In this paper, we study the model checking problem of pPDA against $$\omega $$
ω
-visibly pushdown languages that can be described by specification logics such as CaRet and are strictly more expressive than $$\omega $$
ω
-regular properties. With these logical formulae, it is possible to specify properties that explicitly take the structured computations arising from procedural programs into account. For example, CaRet is able to match procedure calls with their corresponding future returns, and thus allows to express fundamental program properties like total and partial correctness.
Graphical Piecewise-Linear Algebra
Authors: Boisseau Guillaume , Piedeleu Robin
Published: March 2022

Graphical (Linear) Algebra is a family of diagrammatic languages allowing to reason about different kinds of subsets of vector spaces compositionally. It has been used to model various application domains, from signal-flow graphs to Petri nets and electrical circuits. In this paper, we introduce to the family its most expressive member to date: Graphical Piecewise-Linear Algebra, a new language to specify piecewise-linear subsets of vector spaces.

Like the previous members of the family, it comes with a complete axiomatisation, which means it can be used to reason about the corresponding semantic domain purely equationally, forgetting the set-theoretic interpretation. We show completeness using a single axiom on top of Graphical Polyhedral Algebra, and show that this extension is the smallest that can capture a variety of relevant constructs.

Finally, we showcase its use by modelling the behaviour of stateless electronic circuits of ideal elements, a domain that had remained outside the remit of previous diagrammatic languages.
Token Games and History-Deterministic Quantitative Automata
Authors: Boker Udi , Lehtinen Karoliina
Published: March 2022

A nondeterministic automaton is history-deterministic if its nondeterminism can be resolved by only considering the prefix of the word read so far. Due to their good compositional properties, history-deterministic automata are useful in solving games and synthesis problems. Deciding whether a given nondeterministic automaton is history-deterministic (the problem) is generally a difficult task, which might involve an exponential procedure, or even be undecidable, for example for pushdown automata.Token gamesprovide aPTimesolution to the problem of Büchi and coBüchi automata, and it is conjectured that 2-token games characterise for all$$\omega $$ω-regular automata. We extend token games to the quantitative setting and analyze their potential to help deciding for quantitative automata. In particular, we show that 1-token games characterise for all quantitative (and Boolean) automata on finite words, as well as discounted-sum ($${\mathsf {DSum}}$$DSum) automata on infinite words, and that 2-token games characterise of$${\mathsf {LimInf}}$$LimInfand$${\mathsf {LimSup}}$$LimSupautomata. Using these characterisations, we provide solutions to the problem of$${\mathsf {Inf}}$$Infand$${\mathsf {Sup}}$$Supautomata on finite words inPTime, for$${\mathsf {DSum}}$$DSumautomata on finite and infinite words inNP$$\cap $$∩co-NP, for$${\mathsf {LimSup}}$$LimSupautomata in quasipolynomial time, and for$${\mathsf {LimInf}}$$LimInfautomata in exponential time, where the latter two are only polynomial for automata with a logarithmic number of weights.
Abstraction for Crash-Resilient Objects
Authors: Khyzha Artem , Lahav Ori
Published: March 2022

We study abstraction for crash-resilient concurrent objects using non-volatile memory (NVM). We develop a library-correctness criterion that is sound for ensuring contextual refinement in this setting, thus allowing clients to reason about library behaviors in terms of their abstract specifications, and library developers to verify their implementations against the specifications abstracting away from particular client programs. As a semantic foundation we employ a recent NVM model, called Persistent Sequential Consistency, and extend its language and operational semantics with useful specification constructs. The proposed correctness criterion accounts for NVM-related interactions between client and library code due to explicit persist instructions, and for calling policies enforced by libraries. We illustrate our approach on two implementations and specifications of simple persistent objects with different prototypical durability guarantees. Our results provide the first approach to formal compositional reasoning under NVM.
Static Race Detection for Periodic Programs
Authors: Suresh Varsha P , Pai Rekha , D’Souza Deepak , D’Souza Meenakshi , Chakrabarti Sujit Kumar
Published: March 2022

We consider the problem of statically detecting data races in periodic real-time programs that use locks, and run on a single processor platform. We propose a technique based on a small set of rules that exploits the priority, periodicity, locking, and timing information of tasks in the program. One of the key requirements is a response time analysis for such programs, and we propose an algorithm to compute this for the case of non-nested locks. We have implemented our analysis for real-time programs written in C in a tool called PePRacer and evaluated its performance on a small set of benchmarks from the literature.
Probabilistic Total Store Ordering
Authors: Abdulla Parosh Aziz , Atig Mohamed Faouzi , Agarwal Raj Aryan , Godbole Adwait , S. Krishna
Published: March 2022

We present Probabilistic Total Store Ordering (PTSO) – a probabilistic extension of the classical TSO semantics. For a given (finite-state) program, the operational semantics of PTSO induces an infinite-state Markov chain. We resolve the inherent non-determinism due to process schedulings and memory updates according to given probability distributions. We provide a comprehensive set of results showing the decidability of several properties for PTSO, namely (i) Almost-Sure (Repeated) Reachability: whether a run, starting from a given initial configuration, almost surely visits (resp. almost surely repeatedly visits) a given set of target configurations. (ii) Almost-Never (Repeated) Reachability: whether a run from the initial configuration, almost never visits (resp. almost never repeatedly visits) the target. (iii) Approximate Quantitative (Repeated) Reachability: to approximate, up to an arbitrary degree of precision, the measure of runs that start from the initial configuration and (repeatedly) visit the target. (iv) Expected Average Cost: to approximate, up to an arbitrary degree of precision, the expected average cost of a run from the initial configuration to the target. We derive our results through a nontrivial combination of results from the classical theory of (infinite-state) Markov chains, the theories of decisive and eager Markov chains, specific techniques from combinatorics, as well as, decidability and complexity results for the classical (non-probabilistic) TSO semantics. As far as we know, this is the first work that considers probabilistic verification of programs running on weak memory models.
A Dependent Dependency Calculus
Authors: Choudhury Pritam , Eades Harley , Weirich Stephanie
Published: March 2022

Over twenty years ago, Abadi et al. established the Dependency Core Calculus (DCC) as a general purpose framework for analyzing dependency in typed programming languages. Since then, dependency analysis has shown many practical benefits to language design: its results can help users and compilers enforce security constraints, eliminate dead code, among other applications. In this work, we present a Dependent Dependency Calculus (DDC), which extends this general idea to the setting of a dependently-typed language. We use this calculus to track both run-time and compile-time irrelevance, enabling faster type-checking and program execution.
Structured Handling of Scoped Effects
Authors: Yang Zhixuan , Paviotti Marco , Wu Nicolas , van den Berg Birthe , Schrijvers Tom
Published: March 2022

Algebraic effects offer a versatile framework that covers a wide variety of effects. However, the family of operations that delimit scopes are not algebraic and are usually modelled as handlers, thus preventing them from being used freely in conjunction with algebraic operations. Although proposals for scoped operations exist, they are either ad-hoc and unprincipled, or too inconvenient for practical programming. This paper provides the best of both worlds: a theoretically-founded model of scoped effects that is convenient for implementation and reasoning. Our new model is based on an adjunction between a locally finitely presentable category and a category of functorial algebras. Using comparison functors between adjunctions, we show that our new model, an existing indexed model, and a third approach that simulates scoped operations in terms of algebraic ones have equal expressivity for handling scoped operations. We consider our new model to be the sweet spot between ease of implementation and structuredness. Additionally, our approach automatically induces fusion laws of handlers of scoped effects, which are useful for reasoning and optimisation.
Information-flow Interfaces
Authors: Bartocci Ezio , Ferrère Thomas , Henzinger Thomas A. , Nickovic Dejan , da Costa Ana Oliveira
Published: March 2022

Contract-based design is a promising methodology for taming the complexity of developing sophisticated systems. A formal contract distinguishes between assumptions, which are constraints that the designer of a component puts on the environments in which the component can be used safely, and guarantees, which are promises that the designer asks from the team that implements the component. A theory of formal contracts can be formalized as an interface theory, which supports the composition and refinement of both assumptions and guarantees.

Although there is a rich landscape of contract-based design methods that address functional and extra-functional properties, we present the first interface theory that is designed for ensuring system-wide security properties. Our framework provides a refinement relation and a composition operation that support both incremental design and independent implementability. We develop our theory for both stateless and stateful interfaces. We illustrate the applicability of our framework with an example inspired from the automotive domain.
AequeVox: Automated Fairness Testing of Speech Recognition Systems
Authors: Rajan Sai Sathiesh , Udeshi Sakshi , Chattopadhyay Sudipta
Published: March 2022

Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) systems have become ubiquitous. They can be found in a variety of form factors and are increasingly important in our daily lives. As such, ensuring that these systems are equitable to different subgroups of the population is crucial. In this paper, we introduce,AequeVox, an automated testing framework for evaluating the fairness of ASR systems.AequeVoxsimulates different environments to assess the effectiveness of ASR systems for different populations. In addition, we investigate whether the chosen simulations are comprehensible to humans. We further propose a fault localization technique capable of identifying words that are not robust to these varying environments. Both components ofAequeVoxare able to operate in the absence of ground truth data.

We evaluateAequeVoxon speech from four different datasets using three different commercial ASRs. Our experiments reveal that non-native English, female and Nigerian English speakers generate109%,528.5%and156.9%more errors, on average than native English, male and UK Midlands speakers, respectively. Our user study also reveals that 82.9% of the simulations (employed through speech transformations) had a comprehensibility rating above seven (out of ten), with the lowest rating being 6.78. This further validates the fairness violations discovered byAequeVox. Finally, we show that the non-robust words, as predicted by the fault localization technique embodied inAequeVox, show223.8%more errors than the predicted robust words across all ASRs.
Semantic Clone Detection via Probabilistic Software Modeling
Authors: Thaller Hannes , Linsbauer Lukas , Egyed Alexander
Published: March 2022

Semantic clone detection is the process of finding program elements with similar or equal runtime behavior. For example, detecting the semantic equality between the recursive and iterative implementation of the factorial computation. Semantic clone detection is the de facto technical boundary of clone detectors. In recent years, this boundary has been tested using interesting new approaches. This article contributes a semantic clone detection approach that detects clones which have 0 % syntactic similarity. We present Semantic Clone Detection via Probabilistic Software Modeling (SCD-PSM) as a stable and precise solution to semantic clone detection. PSM builds a probabilistic model of a program that is capable of evaluating and generating runtime data. SCD-PSM leverages this model and its model elements for finding behaviorally equal model elements. This behavioral equality is then generalized to semantic equality of the original program elements. It uses the likelihood between model elements as a distance metric. Then, it employs the likelihood ratio significance test to decide whether this distance is significant, given a pre-specified and controllable false-positive rate. The output of SCD-PSM are pairs of program elements (i.e., methods), their distance, and a decision on whether they are clones or not. SCD-PSM yields excellent results with a Matthews Correlation Coefficient greater than 0.9. These results are obtained on classical semantic clone detection problems such as detecting recursive and iterative versions of an algorithm, but also on complex problems used in coding competitions.
VeriFuzz: Good Seeds for Fuzzing (Competition Contribution)
Authors: Metta Ravindra , Medicherla Raveendra Kumar , Karmarkar Hrishikesh
Published: March 2022

We present VeriFuzz 1.2 with two new enhancements: (1) unroll the given program to a short depth and use BMC to produceincompletetest inputs, which are extended intocompleteinputs, and (2) if BMC fails for this short unrolling, automatically identify the reason and rerun BMC with a corresponding remedial strategy.
Construction of Verifier Combinations Based on Off-the-Shelf Verifiers
Authors: Beyer Dirk , Kanav Sudeep , Richter Cedric
Published: March 2022

Software verifiers have different strengths and weaknesses, depending on properties of the verification task. It is well-known that combinations of verifiers via portfolio and selection approaches can help to combine the strengths. In this paper, we investigate (a) how to easily compose such combinations fromexisting, ‘off-the-shelf’ verification tools without changing them and (b) how much performance improvement easy combinations can yield, regarding the effectiveness (number of solved problems) and efficiency (consumed resources). First, we contribute a method to systematically and conveniently construct verifier combinations from existing tools, using the composition frameworkCoVeriTeam. We consider sequential portfolios, parallel portfolios, and algorithm selections. Second, we perform a large experiment on 8 883 verification tasks to show that combinations can improve the verification resultswithoutadditional computational resources. All combinations are constructed from off-the-shelf verifiers, that is, we use them as published. The result of our work suggests that users of verification tools can achieve a significant improvement at a negligible cost (only configure our composition scripts).
Quantitative Program Sketching using Lifted Static Analysis
Authors: Dimovski Aleksandar S.
Published: March 2022

We present a novel approach for resolving numerical program sketches under Boolean and quantitative objectives. The input is a program sketch, which represents a partial program with missing numerical parameters (holes). The aim is to automatically synthesize values for the parameters, such that the resulting complete program satisfies: a Boolean (qualitative) specification given in the form of assertions; and a quantitative specification that estimates the number of execution steps to termination and which the synthesizer is expected to optimize.

To address the above quantitative sketching problem, we encode a program sketch as a program family (a.k.a. software product line) and analyze it by the specifically designed lifted analysis algorithms based on abstract interpretation. In particular, we use a combination of forward (numerical) and backward (termination) lifted analysis of program families to find the variants (family members) that satisfy all assertions, and moreover are optimal with respect to the given quantitative objective. Such obtained variants represent “correct & optimal” sketch realizations.

We present a prototype implementation of our approach within the FamilySketcher  tool for resolving C sketches with numerical types. We have evaluated our approach on a set of benchmarks, and experimental results confirm the effectiveness of our approach.
Bound-state formation, dissociation and decays of darkonium with potential non-relativistic Yukawa theory for scalar and pseudoscalar mediators
Authors: Biondini Simone , Shtabovenko Vladyslav
Published: March 2022

Abstract

Dark matter models with light mediators featuring sizable interactions among dark particles enjoy an increasing attention in the model building community due to the elegance with which they can potentially explain the scaling relations governing galactic halos and clusters of galaxies. In the present work we continue our study of such models using non-relativistic and potential non-relativistic effective field theories (NREFTs and pNREFTs) and explore the properties of a Yukawa-type model with scalar and pseudoscalar interactions between a low-energetic scalar mediator and heavy dark matter fermions. In particular, we make first steps towards the formulation of such theories at finite temperature by providing the thermal bound-state formation rate and the thermal break-up of bound states from the self-energies of the dark-pair fields, that interact with the thermal environment. We estimate numerically bound-state effects on the dark matter energy density, that provide up to a 35% correction depending on the relative size of the model couplings.
Maximal transcendental weight contribution of scattering amplitudes
Authors: Henn Johannes M. , Torres Bobadilla William J.
Published: March 2022

Abstract

Feynman integrals in quantum field theory evaluate to special functions and numbers that are usefully described by the notion of transcendental weight. In this paper, we propose a way of projecting a given dimensionally-regularised Feynman integral, for example contributing to a scattering amplitudes, onto its maximal weight part. The method uses insights into the singularity structure of space-time loop integrands, and is complementary to usual generalised unitarity approaches. We describe the method and give a proof-of-principle application to the two-loop scattering amplitudes gg → H in the heavy top-quark mass limit, which involves both planar and non-planar Feynman integrals. We also comment on further possible applications and discuss subtleties related to evanescent integrand terms.
Two-loop hexa-box integrals for non-planar five-point one-mass processes
Authors: Abreu Samuel , Ita Harald , Page Ben , Tschernow Wladimir
Published: March 2022

Abstract

We present the calculation of the three distinct non-planar hexa-box topologies for five-point one-mass processes. These three topologies are required to obtain the two-loop virtual QCD corrections for two-jet-associated W, Z or Higgs-boson production. Each topology is solved by obtaining a pure basis of master integrals and efficiently constructing the associated differential equation with numerical sampling and unitarity-cut techniques. We present compact expressions for the alphabet of these non-planar integrals, and discuss some properties of their symbol. Notably, we observe that the extended Steinmann relations are in general not satisfied. Finally, we solve the differential equations in terms of generalized power series and provide high-precision values in different regions of phase space which can be used as boundary conditions for subsequent evaluations.
Nonlinear Eigenvalue Problems and Bifurcation for Quasi-Linear Elliptic Operators
Authors: Zongo Emmanuel Wend-Benedo , Ruf Bernhard
Published: March 2022

In this paper, we analyze an eigenvalue problem for quasi-linear elliptic operators involving homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions in a open smooth bounded domain. We show that the eigenfunctions corresponding to the eigenvalues belong to$$L^{\infty }$$L∞, which implies$$C^{1,\alpha }$$C1,αsmoothness, and the first eigenvalue is simple. Moreover, we investigate the bifurcation results from trivial solutions using the Krasnoselski bifurcation theorem and from infinity using the Leray–Schauder degree. We also show the existence of multiple critical points using variational methods and the Krasnoselski genus.
Narratives of epistemic agency in citizen science classification projects: ideals of science and roles of citizens
Authors: Ponti Marisa , Kasperowski Dick , Gander Anna Jia
Published: March 2022

Citizen science (CS) projects have started to utilize Machine Learning (ML) to sort through large datasets generated in fields like astronomy, ecology and biodiversity, biology, and neuroimaging. Human–machine systems have been created to take advantage of the complementary strengths of humans and machines and have been optimized for efficiency and speed. We conducted qualitative content analysis on meta-summaries of documents reporting the results of 12 citizen science projects that used machine learning to optimize classification tasks. We examined the distribution of tasks between citizen scientists, experts, and algorithms, and how epistemic agency was enacted in terms of whose knowledge shapes the distribution of tasks, who decides what knowledge is relevant to the classification, and who validates it. In our descriptive results, we found that experts, who include professional scientists and algorithm developers, are involved in every aspect of a project, from annotating or labelling data to giving data to algorithms to train them to make decisions from predictions. Experts also test and validate models to improve their accuracy by scoring their outputs when algorithms fail to make correct decisions. Experts are mostly the humans involved in a loop, but when algorithms encounter problems, citizens are also involved at several stages. In this paper, we present three main examples of citizens-in-the-loop: (a) when algorithms provide incorrect suggestions; (b) when algorithms fail to know how to perform classification; and (c) when algorithms pose queries. We consider the implications of the emphasis on optimization on the ideal of science and the role of citizen scientists from a perspective informed by Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Information Systems (IS). Based on our findings, we conclude that ML in CS classification projects, far from being deterministic in its nature and effects, may be open to question. There is no guarantee that these technologies can replace citizen scientists, nor any guarantee that they can provide citizens with opportunities for more interesting tasks.