Abstract
Prolog is a programming language that provides a high-level approach to software development. Python is a versatile programming language that has a vast range of libraries including support for data analysis and machine learning tasks. We present a Prolog-Python interface that aims at exploiting Prolog deduction capabilities and Python's extensive libraries. Our novel interface was built using a divide and conquer methodology. In a first step, we implemented a set of C++ classes that can be matched to Python classes; next, we used an interface generator to export the relevant classes. Finally, we use C code to actually convert between the two realms. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of the interface, we enhance an Inductive Logic Programming System with a visualization capabilities and show how to interface with a standard classifier.

Abstract
Lock-freedom offers significant advantages in terms of algorithm design, performance and scalability. A fundamental building block in software development is the usage of hash map data structures. This work extends a previous lock-free hash map to support a new simplified design that is able to take advantage of most state-of-the-art safe memory reclamation methods, thus outperforming the previous design.

Abstract
Log analysis is fundamental to modern software observability systems, playing a key role in improving system reliability. Recently, there has been a growing adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) for log anomaly detection, due to their ability to learn complex patterns. In this work, we propose a model-agnostic framework that allows seamless plug-and-play integration of different LLMs, making it easy to experiment with and select the model that fits specific needs. These models are first fine-tuned on normal log data, learning their patterns. During inference, the model predicts the most probable next tokens based on the preceding context in each sequence. Anomaly detection is performed using Top-K predictions, where sequences are flagged as anomalous if the actual log entry does not appear among the K most probable next tokens, with K determined using the validation dataset. The proposed framework is evaluated on three widely-used benchmark datasets—HDFS, BGL, and Thunderbird—where it consistently achieves competitive results, outperforming state-of-the-art methods in multiple scenarios. These results highlight the effectiveness of LLM-based log analysis and the importance of flexibility when selecting models for specific operational contexts. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Abstract
Lock-free data structures have become increasingly significant due to their algorithmic advantages in multi-core cache-based architectures. Safe Memory Reclamation (SMR) is a technique used in concurrent programming to ensure that memory can be safely reclaimed without causing data corruption, dangling pointers, or access to freed memory. The ERA theorem states that any SMR method for concurrent data structures can only provide at most two of the three main desirable properties: Ease of use, Robustness, and Applicability. This fundamental trade-off influences the design of efficient lock-free data structures at an early stage. This work redesigns a previous lock-free hash map to fully exploit the properties of the ERA theorem and to leverage the characteristics of multi-core cache-based architectures by minimizing the number of cache misses, which are a significant bottleneck in multi-core environments. Experimental results show that our design outperforms the previous design, which was already quite competitive when compared against the Concurrent Hash Map design of the Intel's TBB library.

Abstract
Hash maps are a widely used and efficient data structure for storing and accessing data organized as key-value pairs. Multithreading with hash maps refers to the ability to concurrently execute multiple lookup, insert, and delete operations, such that each operation runs independently while sharing the underlying data structure. One of the main challenges in hash map implementation is the management of collisions. Arguably, separate chaining is among the most well-known strategies for collision resolution. In this paper, we present a comprehensive study comparing two common approaches to implementing separate chaining-linked lists and dynamic arrays-in a multithreaded environment using a lock-based concurrent hash map design. Our study includes a performance evaluation covering parameters such as cache behavior, energy consumption, contention under concurrent access, and resizing overhead. Experimental results show that dynamic arrays maintain more predictable memory access and lower energy consumption in multithreaded environments.