Serializable Snapshot Isolation in PostgreSQL

This paper describes our experience implementing PostgreSQL's new serializable isolation level. It is based on the recently-developed Serializable Snapshot Isolation (SSI) technique. This is the first implementation of SSI in a production database release as well as the first in a database that did not previously have a lock-based serializable isolation level. We reflect on our experience and describe how we overcame some of the resulting challenges, including the implementation of a new lock manager, a technique for ensuring memory usage is bounded, and integration with other PostgreSQL features. We also introduce an extension to SSI that improves performance for read-only transactions. We evaluate PostgreSQL's serializable isolation level using several benchmarks and show that it achieves performance only slightly below that of snapshot isolation, and significantly outperforms the traditional two-phase locking approach on read-intensive workloads.Comment: VLDB201

Upward Communication About Cancer Screening—Adolescent Daughter to Mother

Substantial breast and cervical cancer disparities exist in the United States, particularly among African American women with low social economic status. There is considerable potential for discussions about cancer prevention between mothers and daughters. However, upward communication, from child to parent, remains a relatively novel research area, and it remains unclear how receptive mothers would be to messages from their daughter about cancer, a topic that may be considered culturally inappropriate for daughters to initiate. In this study, we simulated cancer message delivery to daughters and then conducted direct observation of daughters as they recalled and shared the message with their mother or female elder. We found that daughters were able to successfully recall and deliver a cancer appeal to their mother and mothers were generally receptive to this message. Not only did mothers listen to their daughters’ appeals, but also daughters’ knowledge of cancer was considerably improved by the opportunity to educate her female elder. Moreover, daughters’ nonverbal communication suggested a surprisingly relaxed demeanor. The potential of young people to impact the screening behavior of their female elders is very promising in terms of reducing cancer disparities

Estudi comparatiu de la publicació científica de la UPC i l’Escola de Camins vs.altres universitats d’àmbit internacional (2009-2018)

L'informe se centra en la publicació científica especialitzada en l'àmbit temàtic propi de l'Escola de Camins: l'enginyeria civil. Es comparen indicadors bibliomètrics de la UPC i l'Escola de Camins amb els d'altres universitats internacionals amb activitat de recerca notable en l'àmbit de l'enginyeria civilPostprint (published version

Estudi comparatiu de la publicació científica de la UPC i l'Escola de Camins vs. altres universitats d'àmbit internacional (2006-2015)

L'informe se centra en la publicació científica especialitzada en l'àmbit temàtic propi de l'Escola de Camins: l'enginyeria civil. Es comparen indicadors bibliomètrics de la UPC i l'Escola de Camins amb els d'altres universitats internacionals amb activitat de recerca notable en l'àmbit de l'enginyeria civilPostprint (published version