Towards Efficient and Scalable Data-Intensive Content Delivery: State-of-the-Art, Issues and Challenges

This chapter presents the authors’ work for the Case Study entitled “Delivering Social Media with Scalability” within the framework of High-Performance Modelling and Simulation for Big Data Applications (cHiPSet) COST Action 1406. We identify some core research areas and give an outline of the publications we came up within the framework of the aforementioned action. The ease of user content generation within social media platforms, e.g. check-in information, multimedia data, etc., along with the proliferation of Global Positioning System (GPS)-enabled, always-connected capture devices lead to data streams of unprecedented amount and a radical change in information sharing. Social data streams raise a variety of practical challenges: derivation of real-time meaningful insights from effectively gathered social information, a paradigm shift for content distribution with the leverage of contextual data associated with user preferences, geographical characteristics and devices in general, etc. In this article we present the methodology we followed, the results of our work and the outline of a comprehensive survey, that depicts the state-of-the-art situation and organizes challenges concerning social media streams and the infrastructure of the data centers supporting the efficient access to data streams in terms of content distribution, data diffusion, data replication, energy efficiency and network infrastructure. The challenges of enabling better provisioning of social media data have been identified and they were based on the context of users accessing these resources. The existing literature has been systematized and the main research points and industrial efforts in the area were identified and analyzed. In our works, in the framework of the Action, we came up with potential solutions addressing the problems of the area and described how these fit in the general ecosystem

A Study On The Results Of Competing Sentence Test In Patients With Cerebrovascucular Accident

Background: Cerebrovasular diseases (CVD) are one of the most common anomalies which may affect on auditory cortex. In this research we have tried to evaluate the function of CANS in a group of 50-70 years old cerebrovascular accident (CVA) patients without hearing problem by using Persian version of C.S.T. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional analytic study was established at Loghman-e-Hakim Hospital on a group of 30 normal subject (15 male, 14 female) and a group of 40 patients with CVA including 30 patients (16 male, 14 female) with abnormal CT scan and 10 patients with normal CT scan. Results: Routine audiologic test including: Pure tone audiometry, Immitance audiometry and speech audiometry were nearly normal in all cases. There were significant differences between mean scores of CST in the patients with CVA and control group (P 0.05). In spite of nearly normal hearing and high scores in the simple speech tests such as SDS, there were significant differences in mean scores of CST in both ears of CVA patients (P< 0.05). Another important point is that in some of patients with CVA. Conclusion: Although common radiologic evaluations such as CT scan showed no anatomic or structural anomaly but central auditory assessments such as CST can show dysfunctions of CANS. Therefore, CST might be a valuable test in CANS batteries for the cerebrovascular diseases

A clinical stydy on the effectiveness of slow - resorbing collagen membrane barrier therapy to guide regeneration in mandibular class II furcations in human

The present clinical trial was designed to evaluate the regenerative potential of periodontal tissues in degree II"nfurcation defects at mandibular molars of human using a slow-resorbing collagen membrane and a surgical treatment"ntechnique based on the principles of guided tissue regeneration."nThe patient sampleinclude 8 subjects who had periodontal lessions in right and left mandibular molars regions, including moderate to advance periodonal destruction within the radicular area. Following a baseline examination including recording the clinical measurements (PD, Al, HC, F.G.M) , the furcation- involved molars were randomly assigned in each patient to either a test or a control treatment procedure. Included the evevation of mucoperiosteal flaps, recording measurement from the cemento enamel junction (C.E.J) directly coronal to the furcation area to the alveolar crest and to the base of the defect-Horizontal furcation measurements were also made using a William's probe, finally a collagen membrrane placed on the involved area to cover the entrance of the furcation and adjucent root surfaces as well as a portion of the alveolar bone apical to the crest. The flaps were repositioned and secured with interdental sutures. A procedure identical to the one used at the test teeth was Performed at the control teeth region with the exception of the placement of the collagen membrance. Following surgery all patients were placed on a plaque control regimen. All Patients received normal postsurgical care and at 6 month post-surgery were scheduled for re-entry surgery. Before re-entry surgery all clinical parameters recorded again. The re-entry mucoperiosteal flaps were designed to expose the furcation area for measurements, as describedabove. There was clinical improvement in all measurements made in both the test and control patients (especially in test group) over the 6 month period. The horizontal and vertical furcation measurements did yield a statistically significant imporvement when companing the test patients to the control

On the effects of adding syngas to an ammonia-MILD combustion regime—A computational study of the reaction zone structure

This study examines the reaction zone structure of syngas/NH3/CH4 blends in moderate or intense low oxygen dilution (MILD) conditions to determine the effects of variations in NH3 and syngas mole fractions upon the stability of the reacting system and NOx emission. A series of axisymmetric turbulent combustion simulations are performed using OpenFOAM and selected reaction mechanisms and, a modified version of the eddy dissipation concept. An increasing amount of syngas is added to the reacting mixtures of NH3/CH4 in MILD conditions. It is observed that a reduction in the NH3 mole fraction increases the OH radical concentration, which implies a reduction in the ignition delay. Further, for a given NH3 mole fraction, an increase in the syngas content of the fuel blend along with a reduction in CH4 leads to a rise in the process maximum temperature near the entrance zone. This reduces the flow temperature gradient, decreases the CH2O mass fraction, and boosts the stability of MILD combustion. Additionally, adding syngas to ammonia for MILD combustion decreases the reaction zone weakening, which is a major problem in MILD combustion of ammonia. In particular, blending syngas with NH3 and reducing the amount of CH4 in the fuel blend increases flame speed and heat generation. When syngas is added to ammonia MILD combustion, NOx and NxO decrease, and more complete combustion is achieved

Geometrical inlet effects on the behavior of a non-premixed fully turbulent syngas combustion; a numerical study

This study numerically evaluates a three-dimensional, turbulent, non-premixed syngas (a mixture of H2 and CO) flame issued from a round nozzle. The flow Reynolds number on the basis of the inlet velocity and the nozzle diameter is 16,700 and the flame is shrouded by a coflow under atmospheric conditions. A computational tool with a modified k-omega turbulence model and eddy dissipation model is used for simulating the reacting flow and its immediate surroundings. The outcomes are first compared against the existing experimental data. This reveals that when β*, as a constant coefficient in the k-omega turbulence model, is 0.073, the numerical results match the experimental data with high accuracy. Subsequently, the effects of variations in the diameter of the inlet nozzle and its geometry are investigated. This shows that an increase in the inlet nozzle diameter leads to the downstream movement of the high-temperature region diminishing combustion efficiency. Importantly, it is shown that using the elliptical inlet nozzle with the large diameter of 1.2 based nozzle diameter (4.48 mm) assists the combustion performance and increases the maximum combustion temperature by up to 9.6%. It also results in a considerable reduction of the unburned fuels and enhances the flow residence time significantly

Trends of quality of life changes in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients

Background Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an incurable progressive neurodegenerative disease and thus the assessment of quality of life (QOL) changes and factors that may influence its course is valuable in the meantime. Objectives The present study aimed to assess the deterioration rate of QOL and influencing factors in different subgroups of Iranian ALS patients. Methods 132 patients were evaluated in this prospective multicenter observational study. QOL was measured using ALS Assessment Questionnaire (ALSAQ-40) during 1 year follow up and its progression rate was assessed in different subgroups of patients according to age, sex, stage of disease, riluzole consumption, onset type. Also physical disability and functional disability were measured using MMT and ALSFRS-R scores respectively and their progression rates were compared with ALSAQ-40 changes. Results Significant deterioration of the scores of ALSAQ-40 during study was consistent in all of its domains (p = 0.000). There was a significant negative correlation between ALSFRS-R and MMT changes and ALSAQ-40 change (p = 0.000) and this was consistently observed in all domains of ALSAQ-40 (p = 0.00). ALSAQ-40 deterioration rate was shown to be significantly lower in severe/terminal stages compared to mild/moderate stages (p = 0.00). Significantly higher deterioration rate was observed in bulbar onset versus limb onset patients F (1,130) = 4.52, p = 0.04 but no significant difference was observed among other subgroups according to age, sex and riluzole consumption. Conclusion All domains of QOL significantly deteriorate during ALS course and there is a significant correlation between their changes and progression of physical and functional disabilities. Rate of degradation of QOL may be different at different stages of the disease. QOL worsens independent of factors such as sex, age and consumption of riluzole; but onset type (bulbar versus limb) is an imperative factor in quality of life changes during the disease course. © 2016 Elsevier B.V

Root coverage procedures for treating single and multiple recession‐type defects: An updated Cochrane systematic review

BACKGROUND: This updated Cochrane systematic review (SR) evaluated the efficacy of different root coverage (RC) procedures in the treatment of single and multiple gingival recessions (GR). MATERIAL AND METHODS: We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) only of at least 6 months' duration evaluating Miller's Class I or II GR (≥ 3 mm) treated by means of RC procedures. Five databases were searched up to January 16, 2018. Random effects meta-analyses were conducted thoroughly. RESULTS: We included 48 RCTs in the SR. The results indicated a greater GR reduction for subepithelial connective tissue grafts (SCTG) + coronally advanced flap (CAF) compared to guided tissue regeneration with resorbable membranes (GTR rm) + CAF (mean difference [MD]: -0.37 mm). There was insufficient evidence of a difference in GR reduction between acellular dermal matrix grafts (ADMG) + CAF and SCTG + CAF or between enamel matrix derivative (EMD) + CAF and SCTG + CAF. Greater gains in the keratinized tissue width (KTW) were found for SCTG + CAF when compared to EMD + CAF (MD: -1.06 mm), and SCTG + CAF when compared to GTR rm + CAF (MD: -1.77 mm). There was insufficient evidence of a difference in KTW gain between ADMG + CAF and SCTG + CAF. CONCLUSIONS: SCTG, CAF alone or associated with another biomaterial may be for treating single or multiple GR. There is also some evidence suggesting that ADMG appear as the soft tissue substitute that may provide the most similar outcomes to those achieved by SCTG