bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Obstructive sleep apnoea and cardiovascular disease
Authors: Hamilton G. S. , Solin P. , Naughton M. T. 
Published: July 2004

Abstract Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) leads to both acute and chronic physiological effects on the cardiovascular system. There is now a large amount of evidence showing that OSA is independently associated with a wide spectrum of clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD). Evidence for a causative effect of OSA is strongest for hypertension, but is weaker for other cardiovascular disorders. Large prospective trials are ongoing and when results become available the link between OSA and CVD is likely to be strengthened. Treatment of OSA with continuous positive airway pressure has been shown to improve blood pressure, particularly in those with hypertension, and also left ventricular ejection fraction in those with congestive heart failure. Given the high prevalence of OSA in the community and its effects on the cardiovascular system, symptoms of this disorder should be sought in patients being investigated or treated for CVD. (Intern Med J 2004; 34: 420−426)
Factors of Convergence and Divergence in Union Membership
Authors: Machin Stephen 
Published: July 2004

AbstractThis paper considers the extent to which union decline in Britain has been characterized by convergence or divergence in union membership rates for people with different personal and job characteristics. It compares individual union membership in 1975 and 2001 to identify some significant factors of convergence and divergence, which indicate temporal instability in the relationship between union membership and a number of its determinants. Identification of these factors of convergence and divergence should be useful to several parties, including industrial relations scholars and union organizers.
Workplace Risk, Establishment Size and Union Density
Authors: Fenn Paul , Ashby Simon 
Published: July 2004

AbstractThe health and safety risk faced by individual employees can be treated as an unobservable latent variable which manifests itself at workplace level through reported counts of work‐related injuries and illnesses over a given interval. This paper presents results from count data regressions using data from the 1998 Workplace Employee Relations Survey. The findings strongly support the view that employees in larger establishments have a lower probability of being injured or falling ill. In addition, establishments with a higher proportion of unionized employees, and with health and safety committees, were associated with higher numbers of reported injuries and illnesses.
Collective Bargaining and Within‐firm Wage Dispersion in Spain
Authors: Canal Domínguez Juan Francisco , Gutiérrez César Rodríguez 
Published: July 2004

AbstractThis paper analyses the effect of collective bargaining on within‐firm wage dispersion for the case of Spain. What is relevant in the Spanish case is to compare the effect of the two basic levels of bargaining (firm and sector) on wage dispersion. By using the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition, this paper concludes that collective agreements at firm level have a negative effect on wage dispersion. At the same time, firms that have signed these types of agreements show greater wage dispersion than those covered by agreements at the sector level, owing to the positive and compensating effect of firms’ and workers’ features.
The Price is Right? Pay Settlements and Nominal Wage Rigidity in Britain
Authors: Brown Donna , Ingram Peter , Wadsworth Jonathan 
Published: July 2004

AbstractWe examine representative, group‐level wage settlement data to augment the debate on nominal pay rigidity in Britain. We investigate the characteristics of groups that settle at zero and the role of within‐firm and external influences. Nominal settlement cuts are rare. Zero nominal wage settlements are more common, but still relatively unusual, highest during (low‐inflation) recessionary periods. Small groups, above all firms under duress, appear most likely to settle at zero. Once a group settles at zero it is unlikely to do so again in the short run.
Innate immunity in aging: impact on macrophage function
Authors: Plowden Julie , Renshaw‐Hoelscher Mary , Engleman Carrie , Katz Jacqueline , Sambhara Suryaprakash 
Published: July 2004

SummaryInnate and adaptive immune functions decline with age, leading to increased susceptibility to infectious diseases and cancer, and reduced responses to preventive vaccination in the elderly population. Macrophages function as ‘pathogen sensors’ and play an important role in the initiation of inflammatory responses, elimination of pathogens, manipulation of the adaptive immune response and reparation of damaged tissue. In this paper, we review the literature addressing the impact of aging on the macrophage population.
Genome‐scale expression profiling of Hutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome reveals widespread transcriptional misregulation leading to mesodermal/mesenchymal defects and accelerated atherosclerosis
Authors: Csoka Antonei B. , English Sangeeta B. , Simkevich Carl P. , Ginzinger David G. , Butte Atul J. , Schatten Gerald P. , Rothman Frank G. , Sedivy John M. 
Published: July 2004

SummaryHutchinson–Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS) is a rare genetic disease with widespread phenotypic features resembling premature aging. HGPS was recently shown to be caused by dominant mutations in the LMNA gene, resulting in the in‐frame deletion of 50 amino acids near the carboxyl terminus of the encoded lamin A protein. Children with this disease typically succumb to myocardial infarction or stroke caused by severe atherosclerosis at an average age of 13 years. To elucidate further the molecular pathogenesis of this disease, we compared the gene expression patterns of three HGPS fibroblast cell strains heterozygous for the LMNA mutation with three normal, age‐matched cell strains. We defined a set of 361 genes (1.1% of the approximately 33 000 genes analysed) that showed at least a 2‐fold, statistically significant change. The most prominent categories encode transcription factors and extracellular matrix proteins, many of which are known to function in the tissues severely affected in HGPS. The most affected gene, MEOX2/GAX, is a homeobox transcription factor implicated as a negative regulator of mesodermal tissue proliferation. Thus, at the gene expression level, HGPS shows the hallmarks of a developmental disorder affecting mesodermal and mesenchymal cell lineages. The identification of a large number of genes implicated in atherosclerosis is especially valuable, because it provides clues to pathological processes that can now be investigated in HGPS patients or animal models.
Immunity and aging: the enemy within?
Authors: DeVeale Brian , Brummel Ted , Seroude Laurent 
Published: July 2004

SummaryFunctional analyses of changes in the immune response indicate that aging is associated with a decline of adaptive immunity whereas innate immunity is ramped up. Gene expression studies also support age‐dependent changes in immunity. Studies using a large panel of methodologies and multiple species show that some of the most dramatic transcriptional changes that occur during aging are associated with immunity. This observation leads to two fundamental questions: (1) Why is the immune response altered with age? (2) Is this a consequence of aging or does it contribute to it? The origin of these changes and the mechanistic relationship among them as well as with aging must be identified. In mammals, this task is complicated by the interdependence of the innate and adaptive immune systems. The value of invertebrates as model organisms to help answer these questions is presented. This includes a description of the immune response in invertebrate models and how it compares with vertebrates, focusing on conserved pathways. Finally, these questions are explored in light of recent reports and data from our laboratory. Experimental alterations of longevity indicate that the differential expression of immunity‐related genes during aging is linked to the rate of aging. Long‐lived nematodes are more resistant to pathogens and blocking the expression of immune‐related genes can prevent lifespan extension. These observations suggest that the immune response has a positive effect on longevity, possibly by increasing fitness. By contrast, it has been reported that activation of the immune system can reduce longevity upon starvation. We also observed that deregulation of the immune response has drastic effects on viability and longevity in Drosophila. These data suggest that the immune response results in a trade‐off between beneficial and detrimental effects that might profoundly affect the aging process. Given this, immunity may be an ally early in life, but turns out to be an enemy as we age.
Regulation of aging and innate immunity in C. elegans
Authors: Kurz C. Leopold , Tan Man‐Wah 
Published: July 2004

SummaryThe free‐living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is a versatile model for the study of the genetic regulation of aging and of host–pathogen interactions. Many genes affecting multiple processes, such as neuroendocrine signalling, nutritional sensing and mitochondrial functions, have been shown to play important roles in determining the lifespan of C. elegans. The DAF‐2‐mediated insulin signalling pathway is the major pathway that regulates aging in this nematode and this role appears universal; neuroendrocrine signalling also affects aging in Drosophila and mice. Recent studies have shown that the innate immune function in C. elegans is modulated by signalling from the TGF‐beta‐like, the p38 MAPK and the DAF‐2 insulin pathways. The requirement for the DAF‐2 pathway in modulating aging and immunity suggests that these processes may be linked at the molecular level. It is well known that as humans age, immunosenescence occurs in which there is a general degradation of immune efficiency. However, the molecular mechanisms involved in this process remain unclear. In this review, we discuss the molecular mechanisms that modulate aging and immune response and attempt to suggest molecular links between these two processes.
Debugging "level"
Authors: Hamlet Dick 
Published: July 2004

Debugging techniques originated with low-level programming languages, where the memory dump and interactive word-by-word examination of memory were the primary tools. "High-level" debugging is often no more than low-level techniques adapted to high-level languages. For example, to examine the execution of an operational specification one state at a time by setting breakpoints, is superior to doing the same thing to a machine-language program, but only because the language level has improved; the debugging remains primitive. This paper attempts a radical definition of debugging level, and illustrates it with a technique for ordering the execution of concurrent processes in a way that follows their design structure.
Division of a program into a collection of cooperating processes is a means of controlling the complexity of each process. However, in execution the program--development structure is ignored, with the result that the advantages of decomposition are lost. What the designer has divided and conquered, the debugger sees as an overwhelming monolith. The technique proposed here causes the focus of execution to follow the design structure, in a way that does not require detailed user direction.
An approach to high-level debugging of distributed systems
Authors: Bates Peter , Wileden Jack C. 
Published: July 2004

As part of a study of methods and strategies for problem solving in a distributed environment [Less80], we have been investigating techniques suitable for use in debugging programs written for implementation on distributed processing networks.
Traditional debugging methods emphasize techniques that apply at the level of computation units and generally allow users to examine, and possibly alter, the state of a computation. Interactive debugging monitors are probably the most powerful implementations of the traditional method and usually permit a user to examine an entire snspshot of system state at any step of the computation. It is the job of the debugger (usually a person directing the error search) to determine what units are relevant to some problem, examine the units in whatever fashion is available, and then fit the results of these examinations into a model of how the computation works. Two elements essential to the successful completion of the debugging task are evident here: the ability to <underline>monitor</underline>, in some meaningful way, the relevant system activity so as to understand how system behavior differs from the debugger's model, and the ability to perform <underline>experiments</underline> based (implicitly or explicitly) on the information gathered. Through the interaction of these two elements a debugger attempts to gain an understanding of the causes of an error or at least to note where the implementation and the expected behavior differ.
Implementation issues II
Authors: Kenniston Michael S. , Atkinson Russ 
Published: July 2004

The panelists were asked to address three questions. The three sections below are summaries of the ideas discussed in response to each of these questions.
1. When debugging a program, what information about that program is important for presentation to the user? What techniques can the debugger use to determine such information?
While helping to develop a debugger, John Johnson had observed many programmers using it, and had noticed two distinct styles of information gathering:
• Many programmers began by getting fairly small amounts of information. They simply wanted an overview of the "flow" of the program, in order to get a general understanding of its behavior.
• After suspicion had been narrowed down to- a particular area within the program, the users wanted as much information as possible, formatted nicely.
Hardware assisted high level debugging
Authors: Gentleman W. Morven , Hoeksma Henry 
Published: July 2004

Hardware assistance has long been used for logic level and functional unit level hardware debugging, as well as for machine language level software debugging. Such hardware assistance includes probes to detect signals, comparators to identify matches with expected patterns, buffers to record selected events, and independent logic and software to analyze and interpret the observed events. It can also include the ability to generate selected signals to stimulate the object being debugged and the ability to isolate it from normal changes so its state can be examined.
Through knowledge of the data structures and algorithms used by the operating systems, and the runtime representation, register usage, and code bursts produced by compilers, it is possible to take advantage of such hardware assistance in high-level debugging. High level debugging here refers to debugging in terms of abstractions supported by the operating system and programming languages, as well as user defined abstractions built on top of these.
A real-time microprocessor debugging technique
Authors: Hill Charles R. 
Published: July 2004

This note describes RED, a remotely executed debugger capable of generating a real-time source level trace history of a high level language program executing on a microprocessor. The trace history consists of a display of the source statements of each basic block executed, annotated by the time at which execution of that block began. Basic blocks are traced rather than statements to reduce sampling bandwidth requirements while still retaining the ability to record the essential logical flow of programs. RED is intended to assist in debugging stand-alone high level language process control programs with real-time constraints.
We outline two possible implementation schemes for generating the real-time trace history. In both, a "debugging co-processor" collects in a history buffer the values of the program counter (PC) and the corresponding value of a clock as each basic block begins execution. The debugger, which runs on the processor hosting the compiler and has access to the co-processor over a fast link, reconstructs a source level trace from the PC-time pairs in the history buffer. In one scheme, the language compiler emits an extra instruction at the beginning of each basic block in the program to output the value of the program counter to a parallel port connected to the debug processor. The second method makes use of an extended target memory space to provide tag bits denoting basic blocks. When an instruction is fetched, the debug processor detects the presence of the tag bits and buffers up the value of the corresponding program counter and time. The first method is simpler to implement, requiring only conventional, usually straightforward hardware additions to the target, but requires the execution overhead of the extra instructions. In both cases the debugger itself runs on the host processor and has access to tables generated during compile time of the source program.
Summary of evaluation and comments
Authors: Johnson Mark Scott 
Published: July 2004

On the last day of the Symposium an evaluation form was distributed to all participants. About half responded; their comments are summarized here.
Three-quarters of those responding felt the Symposium met their expectations well or very well. Important topics reported as being not discussed or not sufficiently discussed included real-time debugging, practical debugging strategies, implementation issues for production debuggers, human factors, and architectural support for debugging.
A seminar course in object oriented programming
Authors: Bellin David 
Published: July 2004

The emerging technology of object oriented programming is just beginning to be introduced into the computer science curriculum. In most schools, it will be introduced first at the more advanced levels, prior to inclusion in introductory courses, even though the object oriented paradigm may be more suitable for teaching basic computer science concepts.
This paper contains the experiences gained teaching a seminar on object oriented programming to a small group of mixed graduate and undergraduate students at a school with no doctoral program. The successes and difficulties faced by both students and instructor are explored.
Providing a laboratory for instruction set design
Authors: Nerheim-Wolfe Rosalee 
Published: July 2004

Computer architecture classes do not provide students with laboratory experience in the design of instruction set architectures. Projects that compare designs have not been possible due to a lack of support software. The design and evaluation of a new instruction set requires an assembler, a symbolic debugger, and a statistics gatherer. Every new instruction set requires changes to all three programs. It would be unrealistic to expect that either students or instructor would (re)write such software in order to evaluate each new design.
A new, flexible software package called the Instruction Set Testbed (IST) provides for the comparison of instruction set architectures without writing any of the support software. IST's table-driven assembler uses a student-supplied architecture definition to assemble programs. IST's interactive debugger and a statistics gatherer also have access to the architecture definition. This allows symbolic debugging of the assembly language programs and automatic histogramming of instruction usage in the student-defined architecture.
IST has been used in both undergraduate and graduate architecture classes to investigate such topics as orthogonality, choice and number of operands, addressing modes, and RISC philosophy.
Analyzing refinements of state based specifications
Authors: Felder Miguel , Ghezzi Carlo , Pezzè Mauro 
Published: July 2004

We describe how formal specifications given in terms of a high-level timed Petri net formalism (TB nets) can be analyzed to check the temporal properties of bounded invariance (the systems stays in a given state until time τ) and bounded response (the system will enter a given state within time τ). In particular, we concentrate on specifications given in a hierarchical, top-down manner, where one specification level refines a more abstract level.
Our goal is to define the conditions under which the properties that are proven to hold at a given abstraction level are preserved at the next refined level. To do so, we define the concept of correct refinement, and we show that bounded invariance and bounded response are preserved by a correct refinement. We also provide a set of constructive rules that may be applied to refine a net in such a way that the resulting net is a correct refinement.
An information flow model of fault detection
Authors: Thompson Margaret C. , Richardson Debra J. , Clarke Lori A. 
Published: July 2004

RELAY is a model of how a fault causes a failure on execution of some test datum. This process begins with introduction of an original state potential failure at a fault location and continues as the potential failure(s) transfers to output. Here we describe the second stage of this process, transfer of an incorrect intermediate state from a faulty statement to output.
Transfer occurs along information flow chains, where each link in the chain involves data dependence transfer and/or control dependence transfer. RELAY models concurrent transfer along multiple information flow chains with transfer sets, which identify possible interaction between potential failures, and with transfer routes, which identify actual interactions. Transfer sets, transfer routes, and control dependence transfer are unique to the RELAY model.
The model demonstrates that the process of potential failure transfer is extremely complex and full analysis of real programs may not be practical. Nonetheless, RELAY provides insight into testing and fault detection and suggests an approach to fault-based testing and analysis that may be warranted for critical systems software.
An integrated, software-based approach to teaching introductory computer programming
Authors: Herrmann Nira , Popyack Jeffrey L. 
Published: July 2004

We have developed a course in scientific and statistical programming consisting of an introduction to computer programming and data analysis concepts using a variety of software packages. This approach addresses the problems inherent in introducing programming to non-computer science majors, particularly those in engineering, the sciences, and the social sciences where computing and statistical data analysis techniques are essential professional tools, as well as to computer science majors with minimal or nonexistent programming backgrounds.
Key programming concepts are introduced, including variables and identifiers, absolute versus relative addresses, assignment statements, IF/THEN/ELSE statements, nested and compound IF statements, truth tables, precedence of operations, use of built-in and user-defined functions, dummy variables, passing by value and reference, the importance of order in specifying input to functions, modular program design, subprograms, debugging and testing techniques, properties of good programs, and iterative loops. Elementary statistical concepts and data analyses are covered within a computing environment context that emphasizes data analysis and interpretation of results.
Assignments and examples are developed in collaboration with the students' major departments to insure relevance and interest to the students.