Bounded Refinement Types

We present a notion of bounded quantification for refinement types and show how it expands the expressiveness of refinement typing by using it to develop typed combinators for: (1) relational algebra and safe database access, (2) Floyd-Hoare logic within a state transformer monad equipped with combinators for branching and looping, and (3) using the above to implement a refined IO monad that tracks capabilities and resource usage. This leap in expressiveness comes via a translation to "ghost" functions, which lets us retain the automated and decidable SMT based checking and inference that makes refinement typing effective in practice.Comment: 14 pages, International Conference on Functional Programming, ICFP 201

Dependent Types for Pragmatics

This paper proposes the use of dependent types for pragmatic phenomena such as pronoun binding and presupposition resolution as a type-theoretic alternative to formalisms such as Discourse Representation Theory and Dynamic Semantics.Comment: This version updates the paper for publication in LEU

Generalizations of Hedberg’s Theorem

Streicher’s axiom K or the uniqueness of identity proofs (UIP) is the statement that every identity type has at most one inhabitant. The groupoid interpretation by Hofmann and Streicher shows that this is not provable for an arbitrary type, but a theorem by Hedberg gives a sufficient condition. Types satisfying UIP are known as h-sets. The main contributions of this paper are: (i) Natural, more general sufficient conditions for a type being an h-set. (ii) A new characterization of h-sets. (iii) A new result inspired by these characterizations, with some applications. All the proofs have been formalized in Agda

On the usage of geomagnetic indices for data selection in internal field modelling

We present a review on geomagnetic indices describing global geomagnetic storm activity (Kp, am, Dst and dDst/dt) and on indices designed to characterize high latitude currents and substorms (PC and AE-indices and their variants). The focus in our discussion is in main field modelling, where indices are primarily used in data selection criteria for weak magnetic activity. The publicly available extensive data bases of index values are used to derive joint conditional Probability Distribution Functions (PDFs) for different pairs of indices in order to investigate their mutual consistency in describing quiet conditions. This exercise reveals that Dst and its time derivative yield a similar picture as Kp on quiet conditions as determined with the conditions typically used in internal field modelling. Magnetic quiescence at high latitudes is typically searched with the help of Merging Electric Field (MEF) as derived from solar wind observations. We use in our PDF analysis the PC-index as a proxy for MEF and estimate the magnetic activity level at auroral latitudes with the AL-index. With these boundary conditions we conclude that the quiet time conditions that are typically used in main field modelling (, and ) correspond to weak auroral electrojet activity quite well: Standard size substorms are unlikely to happen, but other types of activations (e.g. pseudo breakups ) can take place, when these criteria prevail. Although AE-indices have been designed to probe electrojet activity only in average conditions and thus their performance is not optimal during weak activity, we note that careful data selection with advanced AE-variants may appear to be the most practical way to lower the elevated RMS-values which still exist in the residuals between modeled and observed values at high latitudes. Recent initiatives to upgrade the AE-indices, either with a better coverage of observing stations and improved baseline corrections (the SuperMAG concept) or with higher accuracy in pinpointing substorm activity (the Midlatitude Positive Bay-index) will most likely be helpful in these efforts.</p

Hematologic, serum biochemistry and urinary values for captive Crab-eating Fox (Cerdocyon thous) in São Paulo state, Brazil

The importance of studies with hematological, serum biochemistry and urinary values of Crab-eating Fox (Cerdocyon thous) is based on the need for health care and maintenance of those populations. This paper has the objective to investigate hematological, serum biochemistry and urinary physiological parameters of the Crab-eating fox, comparing gender and age differences. Blood samples were collected in 2003 from 52 animals of different Zoos in São Paulo state, Brazil; 7mL of blood was used to obtain a complete blood cell count (CBC) and the profile of the serum biochemistry. Moreover, 5mL of urine were collected for analysis. There was no difference in values for male and female animals, as for the CBC and serum biochemistry. Some hematological and serum biochemical parameters were influenced by age, showing significant differences. Urinalysis results were just demonstrated in a descriptive form. The studied values were, RBC 4.35±0.73 x 10(6) /µL, WBC 7.72±3.66 x 10³ /µL (predominance of segmented neutrophils), platelets 227.06±111.58 x 10³ /µL, urea 43.06±14.28mg/dL and creatinine 1.03±0.24mg/dL. Hematological, serum biochemistry and urinary values obtained in this study can be used as physiological values of the captive Crab-eating Fox. It is possible to conclude that wild species need their own reference values, differentiating animals in captivity from free-ranging animals

Biomarker-guided antibiotic duration for hospitalized patients with suspected sepsis: the ADAPT-sepsis randomized clinical trial

Importance: For hospitalized critically ill adults with suspected sepsis, procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP) monitoring protocols can guide the duration of antibiotic therapy, but the evidence of the effect and safety of these protocols remains uncertain. Objective: To determine whether decisions based on assessment of CRP or PCT safely results in a reduction in the duration of antibiotic therapy. Design, Setting, and Participants: A multicenter, intervention-concealed randomized clinical trial, involving 2760 adults (≥18 years), in 41 UK National Health Service (NHS) intensive care units, requiring critical care within 24 hours of initiating intravenous antibiotics for suspected sepsis and likely to continue antibiotics for at least 72 hours. Intervention: From January 1, 2018, to June 5, 2024, 918 patients were assigned to the daily PCT-guided protocol, 924 to the daily CRP-guided protocol, and 918 assigned to standard care. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcomes were total duration of antibiotics (effectiveness) and all-cause mortality (safety) to 28 days. Secondary outcomes included critical care unit data and hospital stay data. Ninety-day all-cause mortality was also collected. Results: Among the randomized patients (mean age 60.2 [SD, 15.4] years; 60.3% males), there was a significant reduction in antibiotic duration from randomization to 28 days for those in the daily PCT-guided protocol compared with standard care (mean duration, 10.7 [SD, 7.6] days for standard care and 9.8 [SD, 7.2] days for PCT; mean difference, 0.88 days; 95% CI, 0.19 to 1.58, P = .01). For all-cause mortality up to 28 days, the daily PCT-guided protocol was noninferior to standard care, where the noninferiority margin was set at 5.4% (19.4% [170 of 878] of patients receiving standard care; 20.9% [184 of 879], PCT; absolute difference, 1.57; 95% CI, −2.18 to 5.32; P = .02). No difference was found in antibiotic duration for standard care vs daily CRP-guided protocol (mean duration, 10.6 [7.7] days for CRP; mean difference, 0.09; 95% CI, −0.60 to 0.79; P = .79). For all-cause mortality, the daily CRP-guided protocol was inconclusive compared with standard care (21.1% [184 of 874] for CRP; absolute difference, 1.69; 95% CI, −2.07 to 5.45; P = .03). Conclusions and Relevance: Care guided by measurement of PCT reduces antibiotic duration safely compared with standard care, but CRP does not. All-cause mortality for CRP was inconclusive. Trial Registration: isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN4747324