Charge-changing cross section measurements of 300 MeV/nucleon^(28)Si on carbon and data analysis

Charge-changing cross section(σcc)measurements via the transmission method have recently seen significant progress with the aim of determining the charge radii of exotic nuclei.In this work,we report a newσcc measurement of 304(9)MeV/nucleon^(28)Si on carbon at the second Radioactive Ion Beam Line in Lanzhou(RIBLL2)and describe the data analysis procedure in detail.This procedure is essential for evaluating the systematic uncertainty in the transmission method.The determinedσcc of 1125(11)mb is found to be consistent with the existing data at similar energies.The present work will serve as a reference forσcc determinations at RIBLL2.

Outcomes of a modified Bresler procedure for the treatment of rectocele with rectal intussusception

Background:Obstructed defecation syndrome(ODS)is a condition that is frequently caused by rectocele and rectal intussusception.This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a modified Bresler procedure for the treatment of ODS.The outcomes of this modified procedure were compared with the stapled transanal rectal resection(STARR)procedure.Methods:We performed a retrospective analysis of the clinical data from 76 female patients who presented with ODS between June 2014 and June 2016.The patients were divided into two treatment groups,namely Modified and STARR.Patients in the Modified group(n=36)underwent the modified Bresler procedure,which involved posterior rectal-wall resection using a circular tubular stapler with multilevel purse-string sutures.Patients in the STARR group(n=40)underwent the standard STARR procedure.We analysed post-operative complications,Wexner constipation scores(WCS),rectocele depths,and four-point post-operative satisfaction scales.Results:Patients in the Modified group exhibited shorter operative times and fewer post-operative complications(both P<0.05).At 12 months post-operatively,both the Modified and STARR groups displayed a significant improvement in the Wexner constipation score and the depth of rectocele.The post-operative WCS for the Modified group were significantly improved compared to those for the STARR group(P<0.05),while there was no significant difference in the rectocele depth between the two groups(P>0.05).Post-operative interviews at post-operative 12 months showed that patients in the Modified group had a better satisfaction(P=0.05).Conclusions:Our modified procedure may be an effective treatment strategy for patients experiencing ODS caused by rectocele and rectal intussusception,with fewer complications and effective relief of symptoms.

Meeting deadlines for approximation processing in MapReduce environments

To provide timely results for big data analytics, it is crucial to satisfy deadline requirements for MapReduce jobs in today＇s production environments. Much effort has been devoted to the problem of meeting deadlines, and typically there exist two kinds of solutions. The first is to allocate appropriate resources to complete the entire job before the specified time limit, where missed deadlines result because of tight deadline constraints or lack of resources; the second is to run a pre-constructed sample based on deadline constraints, which can satisfy the time requirement but fail to maximize the volumes of processed data. In this paper, we propose a deadline-oriented task scheduling approach, named ＇Dart＇, to address the above problem. Given a specified deadline and restricted resources, Dart uses an iterative estimation method, which is based on both historical data and job running status to precisely estimate the real-time job completion time. Based on the estimated time, Dart uses an approach-revise algorithm to make dynamic scheduling decisions for meeting deadlines while maximizing the amount of processed data and mitigating stragglers. Dart also efficiently handles task failures and data skew, protecting its performance from being harmed. We have validated our approach using workloads from OpenCloud and Facebook on a cluster of 64 virtual machines. The results show that Dart can not only effectively meet the deadline but also process near-maximum volumes of data even with tight deadlines and limited resources.