Reputation Management for Distributed Service-Oriented Architectures

Nowadays, several network applications require that consumer nodes acquire distributed services from unknown service providers on the Internet. The main goal of consumer nodes is the selection of the best services among the huge multitude provided by the network. As basic criteria for this choice, service cost and Quality-of-Service (QoS) can be considered, provided that the underlying Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) be augmented in order to support the declaration of this information. The correct behavior of such new SOA platforms, however, will depend on the presence of some mechanisms that allow consumer nodes to evaluate trustworthiness of service providers. This work proposes a new methodology for discouraging antisocial behaviors of malicious service providers that declare QoS higher than the real one. The architecture is fully distributed over the network and emulates a decentralized hierarchical trusting authority capable of managing reputation values and of providing correct QoS assessments

SESAMO: An integrated framework for gathering, managing and sharing environmental data

ICT systems are widely adopted for environmental management, but existing solutions address limited tasks and compose a plethora of heterogeneous tools, which impose a great additional effort on the operators. This work presents SESAMO, a novel framework to provide the operators with a unique tool for gathering, managing and merging environmental and territorial data. SESAMO uses WSNs for providing pervasive monitoring of environmental phenomena and exploits a multi-tier infrastructure in order to integrate data coming from heterogeneous information sources

Additional file 9: Table S5. of AFEAP cloning: a precise and efficient method for large DNA sequence assembly

PCR product reannealing conditions. (DOCX 14 kb

RESIST-HCV Criteria to Monitor Progression of Low-Risk Esophageal Varices in Patients With Compensated Cirrhosis After HCV Eradication: The SIMPLE Study: SIMPLE: Scoring Index to Monitor Progression of Low-risk Esophageal varices

INTRODUCTION: Noninvasive criteria to predict the progression of low-risk esophageal varices (EV) in patients with compensated hepatitis C virus (HCV) cirrhosis after sustained virological response (SVR) by direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) are lacking. Our aim was to assess the diagnostic performance of Rete Sicilia Selezione Terapia-HCV (RESIST-HCV) criteria for EV progression compared with elastography-based criteria (Baveno VI, Expanded Baveno VI, and Baveno VII-HCV criteria). METHODS: All consecutive patients observed at 3 referral centers with compensated HCV cirrhosis with or without F1 EV who achieved sustained virological response by DAAs were classified at last esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGDS) as RESIST-HCV low risk (i.e., low probability of high-risk varices [HRV]) if platelets were >120 x 10(9)/L and serum albumin >3.6 g/dL or RESIST-HCV high risk (i.e., high probability of HRV) if platelets were RESULTS: The cohort consisted of 353 patients in Child-Pugh class A (mean age 67.2 years, 53.8% males). During a mean follow-up of 44.2 months, 34 patients (9.6%, 95% CI 6.7%-13.5%) developed HRV. At the last EGDS, 178 patients (50.4%) were RESIST-low risk, and 175 (49.6%) were RESIST-high risk. RESIST-HCV criteria showed the highest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.70, 95% confidence interval 0.65-0.75), correctly sparing the highest number of EGDS (54.3%), with the lowest false-positive rate (45.7%), compared with elastography-based criteria. Decision curve analysis showed that RESIST-HCV had higher clinical utility than elastography-based criteria. DISCUSSION: Biochemical-based RESIST-HCV criteria are useful to easily predict HRV development after HCV eradication by DAAs in patients with compensated cirrhosis and low-risk EV