Erlang processes run independently of each other, each using separate memory and communicating with each other by message passing. These processes, while executing different code, do so following a number of common patterns. By examining different examples of Erlang-style concurrency in client/server architectures, we identify the generic and specific parts of the code and extract the generic code to form a process skeleton. In Erlang, the most commonly used patterns have been implemented in library modules, commonly referred to as OTP behaviours. They contain the generic code framework for concurrency and error handling, simplifying the complexity of concurrent programming and protecting the developer from many common pitfalls.

Abstract. This paper describes the ParaPhrase project, a new 3-year targeted research project funded under EU Framework 7 Objective 3.4 (Computer Systems), starting in October 2011. ParaPhrase aims to follow a new approach to introducing parallelism using advanced refactoring techniques coupled with high-level parallel design patterns. The refactoring approach will use these design patterns to restructure programs defined as networks of software components into other forms that are more suited to parallel execution. The programmer will be aided by high-level cost information that will be integrated into the refactoring tools. The implementation of these patterns will then use a wellunderstood algorithmic skeleton approach to achieve good parallelism.A key ParaPhrase design goal is that parallel components are intended to match heterogeneous architectures, defined in terms of CPU/GPU combinations, for example. In order to achieve this, the ParaPhrase approach will map components at link time to the available hardware, and will then re-map them during program execution, taking account of multiple applications, changes in hardware resource availability, the desire to reduce communication costs etc. In this way, we aim to develop a new approach to programming that will be able to produce software that can adapt to dynamic changes in the system environment. Moreover, by using a strong component basis for parallelism, we can achieve potentially significant gains in terms of reducing sharing at a high level of abstraction, and so in reducing or even eliminating the costs that are usually associated with cache management, locking, and synchronisation.

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Abstract. Erlang provides a fault-tolerant, reliable model for building concurrent, distributed system based on functional programming. In the RELEASE project the Erlang model is extended to Scalable Distributed Erlang -SD Erlang -supporting general-purpose computation in massively multicore systems. This paper outlines the RELEASE proposal, and indicates the progress of the project in its first six months.

Abstract. The ProTest project is an FP7 STREP on property based testing. The purpose of the project is to develop software engineering approaches to improve reliability of service-oriented networks; support fault-finding and diagnosis based on specified properties of the system. And to do so we will build automated tools that will generate and run tests, monitor execution at run-time, and log events for analysis. The Erlang / Open Telecom Platform has been chosen as our initial implementation vehicle due to its robustness and reliability within the telecoms sector. It is noted for its success in the ATM telecoms switches by Ericsson, one of the project partners. In this paper we provide an overview of the project goals, as well as detailing initial progress in developing property based testing techniques and tools for the concurrent functional programming language Erlang.

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In the production of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) nuclides at a medical cyclotron facility [Formula: see text]Ar (T[Formula: see text] = 109.34 m) is produced by the activation of air due to the neutron flux, according to the [Formula: see text]Ar(n, [Formula: see text])[Formula: see text]Ar reaction. In this work, we describe a relatively inexpensive and readily reproducible methodology of air sampling that can be used for quantification of [Formula: see text]Ar during the routine production of PET nuclides. We report the results of an extensive measurement campaign in the cyclotron bunker and in the ducts of the ventilation system, before and after final filtering of the extracted air. Air Samples were analyzed using a gamma-ray spectrometry system equipped with HPGe detector, with proper correction of the efficiency calibration to account for the samples density. The results of measurement were then used to evaluate the Total Effective Dose (TED) to the population living in the surrounding areas, due to routine emissions in the operation of the cyclotron. The average [Formula: see text]Ar saturation yield per one liter of air emitted in the environment resulted to be (0.044 ± 0.007) Bq/([Formula: see text]A ⋅ dm3). The maximum value of TED for the critical group of the population, even considering an overestimated workload, was less than 0.19 [Formula: see text]Sv/year, well below the level of radiological relevance.