A classification of emerging and traditional grid systems

The grid has evolved in numerous distinct phases. It started in the early ’90s as a model of metacomputing in which supercomputers share resources; subsequently, researchers added the ability to share data. This is usually referred to as the first-generation grid. By the late ’90s, researchers had outlined the framework for second-generation grids, characterized by their use of grid middleware systems to “glue” different grid technologies together. Third-generation grids originated in the early millennium when Web technology was combined with second-generation grids. As a result, the invisible grid, in which grid complexity is fully hidden through resource virtualization, started receiving attention. Subsequently, grid researchers identified the requirement for semantically rich knowledge grids, in which middleware technologies are more intelligent and autonomic. Recently, the necessity for grids to support and extend the ambient intelligence vision has emerged. In AmI, humans are surrounded by computing technologies that are unobtrusively embedded in their surroundings. However, third-generation grids’ current architecture doesn’t meet the requirements of next-generation grids (NGG) and service-oriented knowledge utility (SOKU).4 A few years ago, a group of independent experts, arranged by the European Commission, identified these shortcomings as a way to identify potential European grid research priorities for 2010 and beyond. The experts envision grid systems’ information, knowledge, and processing capabilities as a set of utility services.3 Consequently, new grid systems are emerging to materialize these visions. Here, we review emerging grids and classify them to motivate further research and help establish a solid foundation in this rapidly evolving area

Attitudes towards mental illness and psychological help seeking in Syria: an exploratory study

The overall aim of this thesis was to understand how mental health and seeking help for mental health problems were understood in Syria. The initial investigation began by examining whether or not Western mental health concepts and measures were applicable to the Syrian Arab culture. Some earlier research had highlighted the important role of culture in conducting psychological research and identified the tension between taking an etic (universal approach) and an emic (indigenous) approach. In this thesis the initial approach is etic with Western measures, presumably universal, used to examine Syrian opinions on psychological help seeking and attitudes towards mental illness. In the light of the quantitative analysis an emic approach was adopted as the limitations of the etic concepts and measures became apparent. A further qualitative investigation was conducted to supplement the understanding of psychological help seeking in the Syrian context. The thesis has three main aims. The first aim was to investigate the use of some of the most commonly used and validated scales related to psychological help seeking and investigate their applicability in a Syrian Arab context. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was used to investigate their validity. The second aim was to develop path analysis models to investigate the relationships between seeking psychological help, attitudes towards mental illness, coping styles, social support and mental well-being. The third ensuing aim was to qualitatively investigate real-life issues on mental health help seeking, attitudes towards mental illness and alternative sources of help. To begin a cross-sectional survey design was employed with a stratified cluster sample of participants aged 15-29 years (N = 683) in Syria in 2011. Three scales developed in the USA and widely used in international research were used: Opinions on Seeking Psychological Help, Community Attitudes towards Mental Illness and Coping Style. CFA was used to assess the validity of these scales. Eight models were then constructed in order to investigate the relationship between variables of attitudes towards mental illness, psychological help seeking, coping styles, social support and mental well-being to the outcome variable recognition to seek psychological help using path analysis modelling. A final model was constructed to assess model fit when only significant pathways were included in the analysis. The CFA findings showed that the adopted scales were of limited use in the Syrian context. Arguably the best option might have been to abandon these measures and design new measures from first principles. However, the Syrian war made further data collection impossible and the data set is relatively large and the measures have been used repeatedly in the literature so the decision was made to amend the measures for use in later analyses. None of the hypothesized path analysis models were a good fit to the Syrian data. However, some variables of the models were found to significantly predict the outcome recognition of the need to seek psychological help. The main factors influencing cognitive psychological help seeking were: moral obligation to help those in need, community mental health ideology, fear of mental illness, the need for community help in order to cope, religious coping and mental health wellbeing. There were gender differences on tolerance to mental illness and on interpersonal openness to emotional problems. The quantitative findings were used in the design of a qualitative investigation of mental health professionals understanding of psychological help seeking by Syrians during the time of war. This study used an online interviewing technique and provided an overview of experiences of mental health professionals working in the field. The relationship between the qualitative and quantitative research findings were further examined with the qualitative investigation showed that the quantitative findings of the thesis were still relevant to the current plight of Syrians seeking help today. These issues need further research and exploration in order to provide optimal mental health treatment and support to Syrians

Sulphonation of expanded polystyrene waste with commercial sulphuric acid for potential use in removal of heavy metals from contaminated waters

Polistiren je sulfoniran komercijalnom sumpornom kiselinom kako bi se dobio izmjenjivač iona primjenjiv za uklanjanje teških metala iz otopina. Istraživani su sljedeći reakcijski uvjeti koji utječu na konverziju sulfonacije: vrijeme reakcije, temperatura reakcije te molarni omjer stirena i sumporne kiseline. Prema očekivanjima, vrijeme reakcije povećava konverziju. Iskoristivost reakcije također raste s povišenjem temperature uljne kupke. Molarni omjer ima važnu ulogu i sulfonacija se javlja pri molarnom omjeru S:H2SO4 1:1, a konverzija reakcije raste s povećanjem molarnog omjera. Konverzija reakcije uz korištenje čiste sumporne kiseline bila je znatno jača u usporedbi s konverzijom s pomoću komercijalne sumporne kiseline. Osim toga uzorci polistirena ozračivani su gamazrakama prije sulfonacije. Zamijećeno je da ozračeni uzorci postižu viši stupanj sulfonacije. Sposobnost sulfoniranog polistirena da preuzima neke otrovne metalne ione procijenjena je prema omjeru sulfonacije: Cu2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cr3+.Polystyrene has been sulphonated using commercial sulphuric acid in order to obtain ion exchangers, which could be used to uptake some heavy metals from solutions. Reaction conditions which affect the sulphonation conversion, have been investigated such as: reaction time, reaction temperature and molar ratio of styrene: sulphuric acid. As expected, the reaction time leads to higher conversion. The reaction yield is also increased with increasing the temperature of the oil bath. The molar ratio plays an important role, the sulphonation occurs with a molar ratio (1 : 1, St : H2SO4), and the reaction conversion increases with increasing the molar ratio. The reaction conversion using pure sulphuric acid was insignificantly higher compared with the conversion using commercial sulphuric acid. In addition, polystyrene samples were irradiated with gamma rays prior to sulphonation; a higher sulphonation degree was obtained for the irradiated samples. The ability of sulphonated PS to uptake some toxic metal ions has been evaluated with respect to the sulphonation ratio: Cu2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cr3+

Personal mobile grids with a honeybee inspired resource scheduler

The overall aim of the thesis has been to introduce Personal Mobile Grids (PMGrids) as a novel paradigm in grid computing that scales grid infrastructures to mobile devices and extends grid entities to individual personal users. In this thesis, architectural designs as well as simulation models for PM-Grids are developed. The core of any grid system is its resource scheduler. However, virtually all current conventional grid schedulers do not address the non-clairvoyant scheduling problem, where job information is not available before the end of execution. Therefore, this thesis proposes a honeybee inspired resource scheduling heuristic for PM-Grids (HoPe) incorporating a radical approach to grid resource scheduling to tackle this problem. A detailed design and implementation of HoPe with a decentralised self-management and adaptive policy are initiated. Among the other main contributions are a comprehensive taxonomy of grid systems as well as a detailed analysis of the honeybee colony and its nectar acquisition process (NAP), from the resource scheduling perspective, which have not been presented in any previous work, to the best of our knowledge. PM-Grid designs and HoPe implementation were evaluated thoroughly through a strictly controlled empirical evaluation framework with a well-established heuristic in high throughput computing, the opportunistic scheduling heuristic (OSH), as a benchmark algorithm. Comparisons with optimal values and worst bounds are conducted to gain a clear insight into HoPe behaviour, in terms of stability, throughput, turnaround time and speedup, under different running conditions of number of jobs and grid scales. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of HoPe performance where it has successfully maintained optimum stability and throughput in more than 95% of the experiments, with HoPe achieving three times better than the OSH under extremely heavy loads. Regarding the turnaround time and speedup, HoPe has effectively achieved less than 50% of the turnaround time incurred by the OSH, while doubling its speedup in more than 60% of the experiments. These results indicate the potential of both PM-Grids and HoPe in realising futuristic grid visions. Therefore considering the deployment of PM-Grids in real life scenarios and the utilisation of HoPe in other parallel processing and high throughput computing systems are recommended.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Effect of Cd2+, Cr3+, Cu2+, Al3+, Co2+ ions on the chemical recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) in sulphuric acid

Poli(etilen-tereftalat) hidroliziran je u sumpornoj kiselini uz različite aditive (Cd2+, Cr3+, Cu2+, Al3+, Co2+) kako bi se istražio njihov utjecaj na reakcijsku konverziju. Dodavanje 5 μM pojedinačnih iona ne povećava znatno konverziju. S druge strane dodavanje 30 μM poboljšava konverziju u usporedbi s 5 μM. Čini se da su ioni Cd2+ i Al3+ najbolji aditivi, koji očito poboljšavaju reakcijsku konverziju. Povećanje koncentracije kiseline ima za posljedicu povećanje konverzije hidrolize. Dodavanje iona željeza proučavanim ionima usporava reakciju u nekim slučajevima (Cr3+, Cu2+, Co2+), stoga je konverzija bila niža nego u otopini kiseline bez iona. Uporaba binarne mješavine iona željeza s Cd2+ i Al3+ ne pokazuje znatno povećanje konverzije u usporedbi s uporabom pojedinačnih iona.Poly(ethylene terephthalate) has been hydrolyzed in sulphuric acid using various additives (Cd2+, Cr3+, Cu2+, Al3+, Co2+) in order to investigate their influence on the reaction conversion. The addition of 5 μM of the single ions does not seem to increase the conversion significantly, but the addition of 30 μM does enhance the conversion compared with 5 μM. Cd2+ and Al3+ ions seem to be the best additives which improve the reaction conversion obviously. The increase in the acid concentration leads to increase in the hydrolysis conversion. The addition of iron ions to the studied ions seems to suppress the reaction in some cases (Cr3+, Cu2+, Co2+) and the conversion was consequently lower than in the ion free acidic solution. Using binary mixture of iron ions with Cd2+ and Al3+ does not show a significant increase in the conversion compared with the use of single ions

Anaphylaxis triggers in a large tertiary care hospital in Qatar: a retrospective study

Anaphylaxis is a serious allergic disease that may lead to death if not immediately recognized and treated. Triggers of anaphylaxis including food, drugs, and insect stings can vary widely. The incidence of anaphylaxis seems to be affected by age, sex, atopy, and geographic location. This study aims to examine the common triggers of anaphylaxis in Qatar. A total of 1068 electronic medical records were audited using power chart system: 446 from the medical coding system of anaphylaxis and 622 from the epinephrine auto-injectors (EAIs) dispensed during January 2012-December 2017. Of 1068 patients, 574 (53.5%) had anaphylaxis; male to female ratio was 1.2, and 300 patients (77.9%) were less than 10 years old. The common triggers were food ( = 316, 55.0%), insect stings ( = 161, 28.0%), and drugs ( = 103, 17.9%). Common anaphylaxis food triggers were nuts ( = 173, 30.1%), eggs ( = 89, 15.5%), and seafood ( = 72, 12.5%), and common anaphylaxis medication triggers were antibiotics ( = 49, 8.5%) and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs ( = 30, 5.2%). Interestingly, 135 anaphylactic patients (23.5%) were due to black ant stings. The anaphylaxis triggers varied significantly between children and adults. Among children (less than 10 years), three quarters of the events were triggered by food (223, 74.3%) while among adults (20-55 years), insect stings ( = 59, 43.0%) and drugs ( = 44, 32.0%) were dominant. This is the first national study stratifying anaphylaxis triggers among different age groups in Qatar. This study will serve as a guide for clinical practice in allergy clinics in Qatar and will help to assess future trends of anaphylaxis in Qatar

Enhanced light emission from improved homogeneity in biaxially suspended Germanium membranes from curvature optimization

A silicon compatible light source is crucial to develop a fully monolithic silicon photonics platform. Strain engineering in suspended Germanium membranes has offered a potential route for such a light source. However, biaxial structures have suffered from poor optical properties due to unfavorable strain distributions. Using a novel geometric approach and finite element modelling (FEM) structures with improved strain homogeneity were designed and fabricated. Micro-Raman (μ-Raman) spectroscopy was used to determine central strain values. Micro-photoluminescence (μ-PL) was used to study the effects of the strain profiles on light emission; we report a PL enhancement of up to 3x by optimizing curvature at a strain value of 0.5% biaxial strain. This geometric approach offers opportunity for enhancing the light emission in Germanium towards developing a practical on chip light source

Development and validation of a tool to improve community pharmacists' surveillance role in the safe dispensing of herbal supplements

Background: There has been an appreciable increase in the use of herbal supplements, including immune boosters, during the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are concerns with falsified herbal supplements Objectives Developed a new questionnaire that can potentially help community pharmacists with identifying the extent of falsified herbal supplements. Methods: A cross sectional study conducted over nine months among 500 community pharmacies in the UAE. Face-to-face interviews were undertaken using a structured questionnaire, which was subjected to face and content validity, with the content validity index (CVI) computed. Construct validity was tested using an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) via principally component analysis (PCA). The model was then confirmed through Partial confirmatory factor analysis (PCFA). Reliability was assessed via test-retest reliability, internal consistency, item internal consistency (IIC), and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). Results: An instrument compromised of five domains with a 24-item scale was developed with CVI of 0.843. The KMO measure of sampling adequacy was 0.891, and Bartlett’s test of sphericity indicated significance (p-value < 0.001). Confirmation of the subsequent 5-domains was achieved through PCFA using MLA with oblimin rotation. The PCFA obtained values of 0.962 for NFI, 0.977 for CFI, and 0.987 for TLI; all values were greater than 0.95, and the RMSEA value was 0.03 (i.e., less than 0.06). Consequently, the model had a good fit. All domains demonstrated Cronbach’s alpha coefficients above 0.70, with 0.940 for the full instrument. Meanwhile, all items met the IIC correlation standard of ≥ 0.40. The instrument presented good ICC statistics of 0.940 (0.928 – 0.950) as well as statistical significance (p < 0.001). Those participants who had more than 10 experience years more likely to identify falsified herbal supplements compared to those who have 1 to 10 experience years (p < 0.001). Conclusions: This study developed and validated a new instrument to identify safe herbal supplements products, which will help enhance the role of the community pharmacists in safe and effective treatment of suitable patients with herbal supplements

Risk factors for pre-term birth in Iraq: a case-control study

BACKGROUND: Preterm birth (PTB)is a major clinical problem associated with perinatal mortality and morbidity. The aim of the present study is to identify risk factors associated with PTB in Mosul, Iraq. METHODS: A case-control study was conducted in Mosul, Iraq, from 1(st )September, 2003 to 28(th )February, 2004. RESULTS: A total of 200 cases of PTB and 200 controls of full-term births were screened and enrolled in the study. Forward logistic regression analysis was used in the analysis. Several significant risk associations between PTB and the following risk factors were identified: poor diet (OR = 4.33), heavy manual work (OR = 1.70), caring for domestic animals (OR = 5.06), urinary tract infection (OR = 2.85), anxiety (OR = 2.16), cervical incompetence (OR = 4.74), multiple pregnancies (OR = 7.51), direct trauma to abdomen (OR = 3.76) and abortion (OR = 6.36). CONCLUSION: The main determinants of PTB in Iraq were low socio-economic status and factors associated with it, such as heavy manual work and caring for domestic animals, in addition to urinary tract infections and poor obstetric history

Molecular characterization of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

International audienceABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The development of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods for the detection of known mutations has facilitated detecting specific red blood cell (RBC) enzyme deficiencies. We carried out a study on glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficient subjects in Jeddah to evaluate the molecular characteristics of this enzyme deficiency and the frequency of nucleotide1311 and IVS-XI-93 polymorphisms in the glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase gene. RESULTS: A total of 1584 unrelated Saudis (984 neonates and 600 adults) were screened for glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency. The prevalence of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency was 6.9% (n=110). G6PD Mediterranean mutation was observed in 98 (89.1%) cases, G6PD Aures in 11 (10.0%) cases, and G6PD Chatham in 1 (0.9%) case. None of the samples showed G6PD A mutation. Samples from 29 deficient subjects (25 males and 4 females) were examined for polymorphism. The association of two polymorphisms of exon/intron 11 (c.1311T/IVS XI 93C) was observed in 14 (42.4%) of 33 chromosomes studied. This association was found in 9 (31.0%) carriers of G6PD Mediterranean and in 4 (13.8%) carriers of G6PD Aures. CONCLUSIONS: The majority of mutations were G6PD Mediterranean, followed by G6PD Aures and <1% G6PD Chatham. We conclude that 1311T is a frequent polymorphism in subjects with G6PD Mediterranean and Aures variants in Jeddah