Clustering and Sharing Incentives in BitTorrent Systems

Peer-to-peer protocols play an increasingly instrumental role in Internet content distribution. Consequently, it is important to gain a full understanding of how these protocols behave in practice and how their parameters impact overall performance. We present the first experimental investigation of the peer selection strategy of the popular BitTorrent protocol in an instrumented private torrent. By observing the decisions of more than 40 nodes, we validate three BitTorrent properties that, though widely believed to hold, have not been demonstrated experimentally. These include the clustering of similar-bandwidth peers, the effectiveness of BitTorrent's sharing incentives, and the peers' high average upload utilization. In addition, our results show that BitTorrent's new choking algorithm in seed state provides uniform service to all peers, and that an underprovisioned initial seed leads to the absence of peer clustering and less effective sharing incentives. Based on our observations, we provide guidelines for seed provisioning by content providers, and discuss a tracker protocol extension that addresses an identified limitation of the protocol

AI is a viable alternative to high throughput screening: a 318-target study

: High throughput screening (HTS) is routinely used to identify bioactive small molecules. This requires physical compounds, which limits coverage of accessible chemical space. Computational approaches combined with vast on-demand chemical libraries can access far greater chemical space, provided that the predictive accuracy is sufficient to identify useful molecules. Through the largest and most diverse virtual HTS campaign reported to date, comprising 318 individual projects, we demonstrate that our AtomNet® convolutional neural network successfully finds novel hits across every major therapeutic area and protein class. We address historical limitations of computational screening by demonstrating success for target proteins without known binders, high-quality X-ray crystal structures, or manual cherry-picking of compounds. We show that the molecules selected by the AtomNet® model are novel drug-like scaffolds rather than minor modifications to known bioactive compounds. Our empirical results suggest that computational methods can substantially replace HTS as the first step of small-molecule drug discovery

Synthesis of chemical additives and their effect on Akholjuni crude oil (Gujarat, India)

55-61 High paraffin wax content in crude oil creates a variety of problems during production and transportation through pipelines. One of the main problems is the crystallization and deposition of paraffin wax crystals in the flow line which is more severe in winter. Low ambient temperature relative to pour point of the crude can cause pumping problems. The pour point and rheological properties of the crude oil can be improved by adding requisite amount of a pour point depressant (PPD). The present study deals with the synthesis of copolymers of maleic anhydride and esters of n-alkyl alcohols and unsaturated acid (C11H20O2). The resulted copolymers were esterified with two moles of fatty alcohol (C19H36O8). The products were evaluated as pour point depressant and flow improver on the Akholjuni crude oil (Gujarat, India). The pour point and rheological behaviour of the crude oil with these prepared additives were studied. The results were encouraging up to the optimum length of pendant side chains of PPD. </smarttagtype

Impacts of climate change on drought and its consequences on the agricultural crop under worst-case scenario over the Godavari River Basin, India

Extreme dry and hot conditions lead to intense droughts in central India. However, the precise changes in future drought characteristics and their consequences on crop production have not been fully examined in Godavari River Basin. Therefore, this study focuses on the spatiotemporal modelling of climate change impacts on drought over the past, present, and future periods using long-term high spatial gridded data. The past and present observed datasets were obtained from Indian Meteorological Department, whereas the future datasets were obtained from d4PDF Scenarios. The standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI) was applied to analyse drought statistics to identify the worst-case drought scenario (i.e. year most affected by severe-to-extreme drought with high drought severity), which was used further to access precise drought risk. Because SPEI considers the effect of both rainfall and temperature and therefore it is the widely recommended meteorological drought indices and best suited for climate change impact assessment. Drought severity was analysed using a Multi-criteria assessment risk matrix, and the areas under higher agriculture drought risk were mapped. The frequency of droughts with higher intensity and magnitude increased in the present decade compared to the past three decades. 75% area showed higher vulnerability to drought risks, whereas only 25% showed lower risks and less vulnerability to drought occurrences. Results demonstrate that drought severity varies from one sub-basin to another. More drought episodes were predicted for the central belt, particularly over the sub-basins of Wardha, Wainganga, Pranitha, and part of Indravati and Lower Godavari. 11% of the area covering six districts in the GRB was identified as highly vulnerable, and rice production was drastically reduced, accounting for 41.02% of production loss during the worst-case drought event. The frequency of severe-to-extreme droughts is expected to increase under future scenarios; therefore, effective mitigation strategies are recommended to minimise the agriculture drought risks and economic loss

An Evaluation of Analgesic Activity of Leaf and Stem Bark Extracts of Ficus Religiosa in Wistar Rats

Introduction: Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential damage. Non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAIDs) &amp; Opioids are wide analgesics, but because of adverse effects, their use is limited. Ficus Religiosa is a traditional medicinal plant, its various parts have been used in treating some conditions. Aims &amp; Objective: To evaluate the analgesic activity of methanolic extract of leaves and stem bark of Ficus Religiosa at different doses. Materials &amp; Methodology: This study was conducted in the Department of Pharmacology. Two doses of methanolic extract of leaves (100 &amp; 200 mg/kg) and stem bark (125 &amp; 250 mg/kg) of ficus religiosa were used. Wistar rats were used to evaluate analgesic activity and it was evaluated by using analgesiometer by tail flick method. Phytochemical screening of both the extracts were also done. Results: Both the extracts at their respective doses showed significant analgesic activity as compared with the control group, whereas it was not comparable with the standard drug ibuprofen (40 mg/kg p.o). Conclusion: Therefore, we conclude that both the extracts of ficus religiosa were showing analgesic activity. But this analgesic activity is not comparable with the standard drug Ibuprofen

Intersphincteric resection and coloanal anastomosis in the treatment of distal rectal cancers

Objective: In the evolving era of minimal access surgery, low rectal cancers still pose a challenge to laparoscopic or robotic surgeons. Hence, at our institute we intended to demonstrate the oncological efficacy of intersphincteric resection and coloanal anastomosis in the treatment of distal rectal cancers, performing the abdominal part of the procedure which includes rectal mobilization, laparoscopically. Methods: From February 2017 to March 2021, 125 patients who had undergone intersphincteric resection and coloanal anastomosis via the perineal approach at Galaxy Care Laparoscopic Institute, Pune, were included in this study. Transabdominal mobilization of the rectum was performed laparoscopically. All patients had a diversion ileostomy and a pelvic drain. Patients were followed-up for a period of 18 months post-surgery. Data on clinical and oncological outcomes were collected and analysed. The pre-operative and post-operative Wexner incontinence scores were compared. Results: The mean time taken for surgery was 181.57 ± 30.00 min. The mean blood loss was 119.76 ± 42.53 mL. Most patients (103, 82.4%) had their tumour at a distance of 1–2 cm from the anal verge. A loco-regional recurrence rate of 12.8% (16/125) was noted in our study. For the post-surgery Wexner score, 74.4% of patients (93/125) had a score of 5 or less, depicting that three-quarters of the study population had satisfactory continence. Overall, 81.6% of patients were satisfied with the functional results of surgery. Conclusion: Intersphincteric resection and coloanal anastomosis, with a 12.8% recurrence rate, can now be considered an oncological and technically feasible procedure with sphincter salvage and good continence