Availability-driven NFV orchestration

Virtual Network Functions as a Service (VNFaaS) is a promising business whose technical directions consist of providing network functions as a Service instead of delivering standalone network appliances, leveraging a virtualized environment named NFV Infrastructure (NFVI) to provide higher scalability and reduce maintenance costs. Operating the NFVI under stringent availability guarantees is fundamental to ensure the proper functioning of the VNFaaS against software attacks and failures, as well as common physical device failures. Indeed the availability of a VNFaaS relies on the failure rate of its single components, namely the physical servers, the hypervisor, the VNF software, and the communication network. In this paper, we propose a versatile orchestration model able to integrate an elastic VNF protection strategy with the goal to maximize the availability of an NFVI system serving multiple VNF demands. The elasticity derives from (i) the ability to use VNF protection only if needed, or (ii) to pass from dedicated protection scheme to shared VNF protection scheme when needed for a subset of the VNFs, (iii) to integrate traffic split and load-balancing as well as mastership role election in the orchestration decision, (iv) to adjust the placement of VNF masters and slaves based on the availability of the different system and network components involved. We propose a VNF orchestration algorithm based on Variable Neighboring Search, able to integrate both protection schemes in a scalable way and capable to scale, while outperforming standard online policies

Effet de la fertilisation azotée et phosphorée sur le développement de la Panachure jaune en riziculture aquatique en Côte d’Ivoire

La crise mondiale du riz survenue en 2008 a montré l’impérative nécessité pour les pays tributaires des importations comme la Côte d’Ivoire, d’assurer leur autosuffisance. La fertilisation minérale figure parmiles cinq axes stratégiques définis pour l’accroissement de la production rizicole en Côte d’Ivoire. Sachant l’effet stimulateur de l’engrais azoté sur le développement de certaines maladies telle que la Pyriculariose duriz, un essai a été conduit dans le but de savoir l’influence d’une application optimale de l’azote sur l’épidémie de la Panachure jaune du riz ou Rice Yellow Mottle Virus (RYMV). L’étude a été réalisée selon un dispositif expérimental en SPLIT-PLOT comportant quatre niveaux d’azote (0 kg N Ha-1, 30 kg N Ha-1, 60 kg N Ha-1, 120 kg N Ha-1), trois niveaux de phosphore (0 kg P Ha-1, 13 kg P Ha-1, 26 kg N Ha-1) et 10 génotypes de riz irrigué. Les résultats ont montré que le phosphore et l’interaction NxP n’ont aucun effet significatif sur l’épidémie de RYMV. A l’opposé, les analyses ont mis en évidence un effet significatif de l’azote sur l’incidence de la Panachure jaune à des doses comprises entre 0 et 30 Kg N Ha-1. Cet intervalle de doses étant en deçà de celui des doses recommandées en Côte d’Ivoire, l’intensification de la riziculture aquatique par unefertilisation azotée optimale, n’aura pas d’incidence significative sur le développement de la Panachure jaune. Il faudra cependant sensibiliser les riziculteurs sur l’intérêt d’appliquer des doses d’engrais recommandées dans la lutte contre la virose.Mots clés: Riz irrigué, fertilisation minérale, épidémie, RYMV, incidence

Novel thiophene symmetrical Schiff base compounds as corrosion inhibitor for mild steel in acidic media

The inhibiting effect of two Schiff bases on the corrosion of the mild steel (MS) in 1 M HCl has been studied by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Tafel polarisation measurements. The Schiff bases, 4,4′-bis(3-carboxaldehyde thiophene) diphenyl diimino ether (L1) and 4,4′-bis(3-carboxaldehyde thiophene) diphenyl diimino ethane (L2), were synthesized using 3-carboxaldehydethiophene and its corresponding amine. Polarisation curves reveal that both compounds are mixed type (cathodic/anodic) inhibitors and inhibition efficiency (% IE) increases with increasing concentration of compounds. It is suggested that their effects depend on their concentrations and the molecular structures. Adsorption of compounds on mild steel surface is spontaneous and obeys Langmuir’s isotherm

Effet du paillage par des residus de pois d’angole (cajanus cajan l.) sur le rendement du riz (oryza sativa) pluvial en zone forestiere de Côte d’Ivoire

La riziculture pluviale, en zone forestière de la Côte d'Ivoire, est confrontée à plusieurs contraintes, dont, notamment la baisse de fertilité du sol et l'enherbement excessif. L'effet du paillage de Cajanus cajan comme engrais organique pour le riz pluvial, NERICA 1(Bonfani), a été évalué, en termes de rendement du riz. Cette étude a été conduite de 2003 à 2005 à la station de recherche du Centre National de Recherche Agronomique (CNRA) de Gagnoa. Deux rotations, à base de riz, avec les jachères à C. cajan de 6 mois et de 12 mois ont été testées et comparées, à celle avec la jachère naturelle. La biomasse des précédentes jachères est restée sur le sol comme mulch. Les résultats montrent que C. cajan âgé de 12 mois a produit une biomasse sèche de 17 t ha-1, en moyenne sur deux ans contre 1,7 t.ha-1 en 6 mois. La rotation riz avec C. cajan de 12 mois a amélioré significativement le rendement du riz, avec un gain de paddy qui a varié entre 700 et 900 kg ha-1, par rapport à la jachère naturelle. En plus, cette jachère à cajanus de 12 mois a permis de maintenir un minimum de rendement 1t ha-1. Cette technique offre une alternative de gestion durable des systèmes traditionnels de riziculture pluviale

Producing forage crop seeds for organic agriculture: evolving techniques

This tool is a data sheet that can be used by French farmers who produce or want to produce forage crops seeds in organic conditions. It provides advice starting from the contract signing to the seed drying, going through the specificities of the crop, the sowing, irrigation, specific pests and their management, and the harvest

Synthesis of New Benzylic Di-, Tri-, and Tetraphosphonic Acids as Potential Chelating Agents

Abstract New di-, tri-, and tetraphosphonic acids were synthesized starting from four o-hydroxymethyl phenol derivatives and obtained in three steps in good overall yield. The phosphonic acids were isolated and purified using semi-preparative C18 HPLC column. The new compounds were characterized using different spectroscopic methods (1H, 13C, and 31P NMR; ESI MS; and MSn, IR). GRAPHICAL ABSTRAC

Producing red clover seeds for organic agriculture

This tool is a data sheet that can be used by French farmers who produce or want to produce red clover seeds in organic conditions. It provides advice starting from the contract signing to the seed drying, going through the specificities of the crop, the sowing, irrigation, specific pests and their management, and the harvest

Securing virtual network function placement with high availability guarantees

Virtual Network Functions as a Service (VNFaaS) is currently under attentive study by telecommunications and cloud stakeholders as a promising business and technical direction consisting of providing network functions as a service on a cloud (NFV Infrastructure), instead of delivering standalone network appliances, in order to provide higher scalability and reduce maintenance costs. However, the functioning of such NFVI hosting the VNFs is fundamental for all the services and applications running on top of it, forcing to guarantee a high availability level against attacks and software failures. Indeed the availability of an VNFaaS relies on the failure rate of its single components, namely the servers, the virtualization software, and the communication network. The proper assignment of the virtual machines implementing network functions to NFVI servers and their protection from both endogenous and exogenous threats is essential to guarantee high availability. We model the High Availability Virtual Network Function Placement (HA- VNFP) as the problem of finding the best assignment of virtual machines to servers guaranteeing protection by replication. We propose a probabilistic approach to measure the real availability of a system and design both efficient and effective algorithms that can be used by stakeholders for both online and offline planning