Efficient Scalable Accurate Regression Queries in In-DBMS Analytics

Recent trends aim to incorporate advanced data analytics capabilities within DBMSs. Linear regression queries are fundamental to exploratory analytics and predictive modeling. However, computing their exact answers leaves a lot to be desired in terms of efficiency and scalability. We contribute a novel predictive analytics model and associated regression query processing algorithms, which are efficient, scalable and accurate. We focus on predicting the answers to two key query types that reveal dependencies between the values of different attributes: (i) mean-value queries and (ii) multivariate linear regression queries, both within specific data subspaces defined based on the values of other attributes. Our algorithms achieve many orders of magnitude improvement in query processing efficiency and nearperfect approximations of the underlying relationships among data attributes

Optimal LQG Control Across a Packet-Dropping Link

We examine optimal Linear Quadratic Gaussian control for a system in which communication between the sensor (output of the plant) and the controller occurs across a packet-dropping link. We extend the familiar LQG separation principle to this problem that allows us to solve this problem using a standard LQR state-feedback design, along with an optimal algorithm for propagating and using the information across the unreliable link. We present one such optimal algorithm, which consists of a Kalman Filter at the sensor side of the link, and a switched linear filter at the controller side. Our design does not assume any statistical model of the packet drop events, and is thus optimal for an arbitrary packet drop pattern. Further, the solution is appealing from a practical point of view because it can be implemented as a small modification of an existing LQG control design

The graduate law degree holders in the legal education market

Given that the law is helpful, essential and non-separable with our lives, we surely would like to know the people that make laws and who practice in the legal profession. This query is the recent theme we have pursued in this and other related projects. The investigation has revealed a knowledge economy (savoir-faire) that has entwined law and the actions of law people, which growingly became edged to explain their behavior and moral and professional conduct. The expectation has been that graduate law classes are for foreign lawyers who would return to their home country to work as international lawyers or as professors. That has long been deemed as a given; but the precise reality has not been previously unraveled. With this backdrop, the current paper purports to survey the status and performance of graduate law degree holders in US law school, to rank global law schools, and explore the implications and findings concerning the processes and outcomes of their missions

Energy Storage Sharing Strategy in Distribution Networks Using Bi-level Optimization Approach

In this paper, we address the energy storage management problem in distribution networks from the perspective of an independent energy storage manager (IESM) who aims to realize optimal energy storage sharing with multi-objective optimization, i.e., optimizing the system peak loads and the electricity purchase costs of the distribution company (DisCo) and its customers. To achieve the goal of the IESM, an energy storage sharing strategy is therefore proposed, which allows DisCo and customers to control the assigned energy storage. The strategy is updated day by day according to the system information change. The problem is formulated as a bi-level mathematical model where the upper level model (ULM) seeks for optimal division of energy storage among Disco and customers, and the lower level models (LLMs) represent the minimizations of the electricity purchase costs of DisCo and customers. Further, in order to enhance the computation efficiency, we transform the bi-level model into a single-level mathematical program with equilibrium constraints (MPEC) model and linearize it. Finally, we validate the effectiveness of the strategy and complement our analysis through case studies

Dynamics and collapse of local labour markets

Sweden has a tripartial regional structure; with a small number of metropolitan regions comparable in size with those on the European Continent, numerous medium sized and small towns, and in addition vast sparsely populated areas. A Parlamentary Commission has recently suggested a regional policy to cope with the uneven economic growth between these regions. The objective should be to maintain and create well performing local labour markets in all parts of the country. The strategy for achieving this is ”regional enlargement, e g extended commuting areas, increased labour mobility and flexibility. The current appr. one hundred local labour market areas range from the majority, which have less than 25 000 inhabitants, to only a few with more than 200 000. Labour mobility options are severely constrained at the small labour markets with only some one hundred industrial branches present, as compared to the dynamic metropolitan regions with five or six times as many. Population projections reveal that the ageing process will reduce the labour force, particularly threatening both the matching processes and the service provision in small and remote regions. It has to be put into question whether this will be solved by traditional labour market mechanisms. In spite of the globalization process, at most local labour markets an increasing proportion of labour demand will be based on community and household basic services. This leads to the question of the spatial consequences of the emerging polarization of the local versus the globally oriented labour market in the service economy. The paper aims at evaluating the economic returns to alternative strategies for “regional enlargement”, labour mobility and flexibility in the different types of regions found in Nordic countries. The specific meaning of polycentric develoment and of urban-rural partnership in the Nordic context will be discussed. By analysing individual labour market careers recorded in annual gross stream statistics, multidimensional mobility options are calculated and projected for a range of local labour market areas. Methods in spatial planning for evaluating labour market performance are suggested.

Metropolitan and peripheral "Entrepôts" for transitional labour markets

Differences in national welfare systems are reflected in rates of labour market participation for different segments of labour across the EU member states. The Nordic countries have of course long stressed 'full employment as a key labour market objective. The public sector is thus actively used to replace non-paid care with formal jobs. Germany and Austria on the other hand, both of which have less developed childcare systems, in practice treat males as the primary household wage earners. Moreover, several Southern member states consider the 'extended family' to have responsibility for those family members in need, which obviously limits the chances of certain segments of the population from entering or indeed re-entering the regular labour market. However, notwithstanding such differences in emphasis, the notion of 'full employment' eventually found its way onto the agenda of the European Union. The member states were moreover unanimous in their belief that this goal would require significant levels of investment in the areas of employment and social policy. The notion of the activation of all segments of labour is accentuated: e.g. the goal requires at least 50 per cent of people aged over 55 years in the EU to be employed in 2010. A new sub-goal was also set for the employment rate of women, at 10 percentage points below the male/female average. Common standards are also to be established which will enable EU wide comparisons of access to childcare and to care of the elderly. The differences in employment frequencies between EU member states remain large, but on the whole they now seem to be converging. On the other hand, regional differences within member states are reported to be on the increase. As such, the transitional characteristics of the labour market are becoming more transparent: Each transition or career - such as from education to work, from care to work, or from unemployment to work, etc - can be temporary and repetitious. Transitions can now of course occur at almost any time of one's 'working life'. There are theories explaining the nature and scope of such 'transitional' behaviour exhibited by the current labour force, stressing, among other things, the individual choice of life-style, life chances or career options in different places. The other side of the coin of course is that rapid economic restructuring increases the risk for non-voluntary changes in employment status. The regions within member states thus perform as more or less efficient 'entrepôts' for transitional labour markets, depending primarily on diversity and the vitality of its industrial structure and on the demographic structure of the labour force. In general, labour markets in Metropolitan regions are expected to permit higher rates of transition, reflecting more individual freedom of choice, than do small and less diverse LLMs. However, performance is inevitably moderated by the welfare system prevalent in each country. In all probability then it is the countries that have an 'individual' rather than a 'household' focus on labour market participation that will be better prepared for high rates of transition. The purpose of this paper is thus to outline a typology of local labour markets across Europe, reflecting the current range of variation in economic and geographic structures as well as in social policy, and to- discuss feasible mixes of policy measures to help achieve the common European goal of full employment, and to help facilitate transition in all types of regions.

The effects of exogenous lipid on THP-1 cells : an in vitro model of airway aspiration?

Chronic inflammatory diseases of the airways are associated with gastro-oesophageal reflux (GOR) and aspiration events. The observation of lipid laden macrophages (LLM) within the airway may indicate aspiration secondary to GOR. The proposed mechanism, that lipid droplets from undigested or partially digested food are aspirated leading to accumulation in scavenging macrophages led us to hypothesise that an activated population of LLM could interact with other immune cells to induce bronchial inflammation. To test this, we generated an in vitro model using differentiated THP-1 cells which were treated with a high fat liquid feed. Here we show that THP-1 cells can take up lipid from the high fat feed independent of actin polymerisation or CD36 dependent phagocytosis. These cells did not exhibit M1 or M2 polarisation. Gene array analysis confirmed over 8000 genes were upregulated by at least two fold following high fat exposure and IL-8 was the most upregulated gene. Pathway analysis revealed upregulation of genes known to be involved in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathophysiology. We suggest that aspiration and macrophage phagocytosis may be important mechanisms in the aetiology of diseases such as COPD and cystic fibrosis which are characterised by high levels of IL-8 within the airways

Design and evaluation of a scalable hierarchical application component placement algorithm for cloud resource allocation

In the context of cloud systems, mapping application components to a set of physical servers and assigning resources to those components is challenging. For large-scale clouds, traditional resource allocation systems, which rely on a centralized management paradigm, become ineffective and inefficient. Therefore, there is an essential need of providing new management solutions that scale well with the size of large cloud systems. In this paper a distributed and hierarchical component placement algorithm is presented, evaluated and compared to a centralized algorithm. Each application is represented as a collection of interacting services, and multiple service types with differing placement characteristics are considered. Our evaluations show that the proposed algorithm is at least 84.65 times faster and offers better scalability compared with a central approach, while the percentage of servers used and fully placed applications remains close to that of the centralized algorithm