A novel cloud services recommendation system based on automatic learning techniques

The Cloud Computing technology is evolving constantly but essence remains the same that is to offer distinct cost saving opportunities by consolidating and restructuring information technology as a service. With the continuously increasing cloud provisions, cloud consumers start to have difficulties to find the best relevant services that suit their requirements. Therefore, selecting best services by cloud users is becoming a greater challenge. In this paper, we present a framework of services' recommendation system in a Cloud environment, using automatic learning techniques. The system aims at finding the services that suit the interests and preferences of cloud consumers by combining content based and behaviour based recommendations. In this paper, we present, USTHBCLOUD, a cloud services recommendation prototype evaluated with an experimental study. © 2017 IEEE

Cost and impact of policies to remove and reduce fees for obstetric care in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Morocco.

BACKGROUND: Across the Africa region and beyond, the last decade has seen many countries introducing policies aimed at reducing financial barriers to obstetric care. This article provides evidence of the cost and effects of national policies focussed on improving financial access to caesarean and facility deliveries in Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Morocco. METHODS: The study uses a comparative case study design with mixed methods, including realist evaluation components. This article presents results across 14 different data collection tools, used in 4-6 research sites in each of the four study countries over 2011-13. The methods included: document review; interviews with key informants; analysis of secondary data; structured extraction from medical files; cross-sectional surveys of patients and staff; interviews with patients and observation of care processes. RESULTS: The article finds that the policies have contributed to continued increases in skilled birth attendance and caesarean sections and a narrowing of inequalities in all four countries, but these trends were already occurring so a shift cannot be attributed solely to the policies. It finds a significant reduction in financial burdens on households after the policy, suggesting that the financial protection objectives may have been met, at least in the short term, although none achieved total exemption of targeted costs. Policies are domestically financed and are potentially sustainable and efficient, and were relatively thoroughly implemented. Further, we find no evidence of negative effects on technical quality of care, or of unintended negative effects on untargeted services. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the policies were effective in meeting financial protection goals and probably health and equity goals, at sustainable cost, but that a range of measures could increase their effectiveness and equity. These include broadening the exempted package (especially for those countries which focused on caesarean sections alone), better calibrated payments, clearer information on policies, better stewardship of the local health system to deal with underlying systemic weaknesses, more robust implementation of exemptions for indigents, and paying more attention to quality of care, especially for newborns

N-ftaloil-glicin-hidroksamska kiselina kao kelator željeza u serumu štakora

The aim of this study was to investigate the activity of N-phthaloyl-glycine-hydroxamic acid (Phth-Gly-HA) as a new iron chelator in vivo to be used in iron overload diseases. After intraperitoneal application of Phth-Gly-HA to male rats (1 mg kg1 body mass) once a day for seven days, iron serum level decreased by 21%, whereas the iron value dropped by 32% in female rats (1.5 mg kg1 body mass). The results indicate that the tested substance has the ability to bind serum iron by complexation. Besides transferrin iron release, mobilization of ferritin iron is also possibleU cilju pronalaženja novog efikasnog kelatora koji bi mogao poslužiti u liječenju bolesti izazvanih viškom željeza, u ovom je radu ispitano djelovanje N-ftaloil-glicin-hidroksamske kiseline (Phth-Gly-HA) in vivo. Istraživan je utjecaj kelatora na razinu željeza u serumu štakora nakon intraperitonealne primjene vodene otopine Phth-Gly-HA (0,1 mg mL1) jednom dnevno tijekom 7 dana. Kontrolne su životinje primale fiziološku otopinu. Kod mužjaka injektiranje test supstancije (1 mg kg1) uzrokovalo je pad serumskog željeza za 21%. Kod ženki je nakon tretmana (1,5 mg kg1) izmjereno sniženje razine željeza za 35%. Rezultati pokazuju da ispitivana supstanca ima sposobnost kompleksiranja serumskog željeza, pretežno transferinskog, ali da postoji mogućnost mobilizacije željeza i iz feritinskih zaliha

Complexes Formed in Solution Between Vanadium(IV)/(V) and the Cyclic Dihydroxamic Acid Putrebactin or Linear Suberodihydroxamic Acid

The ability of microbial siderophores to coordinate metal ions, particularly Fe(III), continues to generate interest in the poten-tial applications of these bioligands in the environment and medicine.13 Siderophores produced by terrestrial and marin

Influence of riboflavin on the reduction of radionuclides by Shewanella oneidenis MR-1

Uranium (as UO22+), technetium (as TcO4−) and neptunium (as NpO2+) are highly mobile radionuclides that can be reduced enzymatically by a range of anaerobic and facultatively anaerobic microorganisms, including Shewanella oneidensis MR-1, to poorly soluble species. The redox chemistry of Pu is more complicated, but the dominant oxidation state in most environments is highly insoluble Pu(IV), which can be reduced to Pu(III) which has a potentially increased solubility which could enhance migration of Pu in the environment. Recently it was shown that flavins (riboflavin and flavin mononucleotide (FMN)) secreted by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 can act as electron shuttles, promoting anoxic growth coupled to the accelerated reduction of poorly-crystalline Fe(III) oxides. Here, we studied the role of riboflavin in mediating the reduction of radionuclides in cultures of Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. Our results demonstrate that the addition of 10 μM riboflavin enhances the reduction rate of Tc(VII) to Tc(IV), Pu(IV) to Pu(III) and to a lesser extent, Np(V) to Np(IV), but has no significant influence on the reduction rate of U(VI) by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. Thus riboflavin can act as an extracellular electron shuttle to enhance rates of Tc(VII), Np(V) and Pu(IV) reduction, and may therefore play a role in controlling the oxidation state of key redox active actinides and fission products in natural and engineered environments. These results also suggest that the addition of riboflavin could be used to accelerate the bioremediation of radionuclide-contaminated environments

In Situ NMR Spectroscopy of Supercapacitors: Insight into the Charge Storage Mechanism

Electrochemical capacitors, commonly known as supercapacitors, are important energy storage devices with high power capabilities and long cycle lives. Here we report the development and application of in situ nuclear magnetic resonance(NMR) methodologies to study changes at the electrode−electrolyte interface in working devices as they charge and discharge. For a supercapacitor comprising activated carbon electrodes and an organic electrolyte, NMR experiments carried out at different charge states allow quantification of the number of charge storing species and show that there are at least two distinct charge storage regimes. At cell voltages below 0.75 V, electrolyte anions are increasingly desorbed from the carbon micropores at the negative electrode, while at the positive electrode there is little change in the number of anions that are adsorbed as the voltage is increased. However, above a cell voltage of 0.75 V, dramatic increases in the amount of adsorbed anions in the positive electrode are observed while anions continue to be desorbed at the negative electrode. NMR experiments with simultaneous cyclic voltammetry show that supercapacitor charging causes marked changes to the local environments of charge storing species, with periodic changes of their chemical shift observed. NMR calculations on a model carbon fragment show that the addition and removal of electrons from a delocalized system should lead to considerable increases in the nucleus-independent chemical shift of nearby species, in agreement with our experimental observations

Protonation States of Remote Residues Affect Binding-Release Dynamics of the Ligand but not the Conformation of apo Ferric Binding Protein

We have studied the apo (Fe3+ free) form of periplasmic ferric binding protein (FbpA) under different conditions and we have monitored the changes in the binding and release dynamics of H2PO4- that acts as a synergistic anion in the presence of Fe3+. Our simulations predict a dissociation constant of 2.2$\pm$0.2 mM which is in remarkable agreement with the experimentally measured value of 2.3$\pm$0.3 mM under the same ionization strength and pH conditions. We apply perturbations relevant for changes in environmental conditions as (i) different values of ionic strength (IS), and (ii) protonation of a group of residues to mimic a different pH environment. Local perturbations are also studied by protonation or mutation of a site distal to the binding region that is known to mechanically manipulate the hinge-like motions of FbpA. We find that while the average conformation of the protein is intact in all simulations, the H2PO4- dynamics may be substantially altered by the changing conditions. In particular, the bound fraction which is 20$\%$ for the wild type system is increased to 50$\%$ with a D52A mutation/protonation and further to over 90$\%$ at the protonation conditions mimicking those at pH 5.5. The change in the dynamics is traced to the altered electrostatic distribution on the surface of the protein which in turn affects hydrogen bonding patterns at the active site. The observations are quantified by rigorous free energy calculations. Our results lend clues as to how the environment versus single residue perturbations may be utilized for regulation of binding modes in hFbpA systems in the absence of conformational changes.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figure

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference