Multicriteria Resource Brokering in Cloud Computing for Streaming Service

By leveraging cloud computing such as Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), the outsourcing of computing resources used to support operations, including servers, storage, and networking components, is quite beneficial for various providers of Internet application. With this increasing trend, resource allocation that both assures QoS via Service Level Agreement (SLA) and avoids overprovisioning in order to reduce cost becomes a crucial priority and challenge in the design and operation of complex service-based platforms such as streaming service. On the other hand, providers of IaaS also concern their profit performance and energy consumption while offering these virtualized resources. In this paper, considering both service-oriented and infrastructure-oriented criteria, we regard this resource allocation problem as Multicriteria Decision Making problem and propose an effective trade-off approach based on goal programming model. To validate its effectiveness, a cloud architecture for streaming application is addressed and extensive analysis is performed for related criteria. The results of numerical simulations show that the proposed approach strikes a balance between these conflicting criteria commendably and achieves high cost efficiency

Stimulation of transit-peptide release and ATP hydrolysis by a cochaperone during protein import into chloroplasts

Three components of the chloroplast protein translocon, Tic110, Hsp93 (ClpC), and Tic40, have been shown to be important for protein translocation across the inner envelope membrane into the stroma. We show the molecular interactions among these three components that facilitate processing and translocation of precursor proteins. Transit-peptide binding by Tic110 recruits Tic40 binding to Tic110, which in turn causes the release of transit peptides from Tic110, freeing the transit peptides for processing. The Tic40 C-terminal domain, which is homologous to the C terminus of cochaperones Sti1p/Hop and Hip but with no known function, stimulates adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis by Hsp93. Hsp93 dissociates from Tic40 in the presence of adenosine diphosphate, suggesting that Tic40 functions as an adenosine triphosphatase activation protein for Hsp93. Our data suggest that chloroplasts have evolved the Tic40 cochaperone to increase the efficiency of precursor processing and translocation

Feasibility of Bispectral Index-Guided Propofol Infusion for Flexible Bronchoscopy Sedation: A Randomized Controlled Trial

There are safety issues associated with propofol use for flexible bronchoscopy (FB). The bispectral index (BIS) correlates well with the level of consciousness. The aim of this study was to show that BIS-guided propofol infusion is safe and may provide better sedation, benefiting the patients and bronchoscopists.After administering alfentanil bolus, 500 patients were randomized to either propofol infusion titrated to a BIS level of 65-75 (study group) or incremental midazolam bolus based on clinical judgment to achieve moderate sedation. The primary endpoint was safety, while the secondary endpoints were recovery time, patient tolerance, and cooperation.The proportion of patients with hypoxemia or hypotensive events were not different in the 2 groups (study vs. control groups: 39.9% vs. 35.7%, p = 0.340; 7.4% vs. 4.4%, p = 0.159, respectively). The mean lowest blood pressure was lower in the study group. Logistic regression revealed male gender, higher American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status, and electrocautery were associated with hypoxemia, whereas lower propofol dose for induction was associated with hypotension in the study group. The study group had better global tolerance (p<0.001), less procedural interference by movement or cough (13.6% vs. 36.1%, p<0.001; 30.0% vs. 44.2%, p = 0.001, respectively), and shorter time to orientation and ambulation (11.7±10.2 min vs. 29.7±26.8 min, p<0.001; 30.0±18.2 min vs. 55.7±40.6 min, p<0.001, respectively) compared to the control group.BIS-guided propofol infusion combined with alfentanil for FB sedation provides excellent patient tolerance, with fast recovery and less procedure interference.ClinicalTrials. gov NCT00789815

Hospital Mortality of Septic Acute Kidney Injury Requiring Renal Replacement Therapy in the Postoperative Elderly

SummaryBackgroundSeptic acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication in intensive care units (ICU), it and portends a higher risk of morbidity and death than nonseptic AKI. However, its outcome and prognostic factors among elderly postoperative patients remain unknown. We aimed to determine the risk factors and predictors of mortality among postoperative elderly patients (≥ 65 years) with septic AKI requiring acute dialysis.MethodsThe study protocol was based on that of a clinical cohort study of renal failure patients in the database of the National Taiwan University Surgical ICU Acute Renal Failure (NSARF) Study Group. From January 2002 to July 2009, patients (aged > 18 years) with postoperative AKI requiring renal replacement therapy (RRT) were recruited for this study. Each case of septic AKI before operation was identified and patients with end-stage renal disease were excluded.ResultsA total of 292 postoperative patients with septic AKI requiring dialysis were identified during the study period. The mean (SD) age was 65.9 (11.9) years and 68.2% were men. Abdominal surgery was the most common type of surgery (42.8%), followed by cardiovascular (28.8%) and chest surgery (15.4%). The most common indications for RRT in this study cohort were azotemia in 223 patients (76.4%) and fluid overload in 62 patients (21.2%); 92 (31.5%) patients had one indication, 170 (58.2%) had two indications, and 30 (10.3%) had more than three indications. The elderly patients (those ≥ 65 years) had anemia, underwent abdominal surgery, and received dialysis for fluid overload more frequently than the young adults. By contrast, the young adults were more likely to present with shock requiring vasopressor use and have abnormal liver functions. In the elderly subgroup, the outcome was found to be associated with mechanical ventilator use, but not with disease severity, comorbidities, types of surgery and the indication for dialysis.ConclusionsThe hospital mortality of postoperative elderly patients with septic AKI was more than 60% and was not affected by age. Mechanical ventilator use was the major risk factor and prognostic factor for elderly patients in this clinical setting

Genome-Wide Association Study of Treatment Refractory Schizophrenia in Han Chinese

We report the first genome-wide association study of a joint analysis using 795 Han Chinese individuals with treatment-refractory schizophrenia (TRS) and 806 controls. Three loci showed suggestive significant association with TRS were identified. These loci include: rs10218843 (P = 3.04×10−7) and rs11265461 (P = 1.94×10−7) are adjacent to signaling lymphocytic activation molecule family member 1 (SLAMF1); rs4699030 (P = 1.94×10−6) and rs230529 (P = 1.74×10−7) are located in the gene nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells 1 (NFKB1); and rs13049286 (P = 3.05×10−5) and rs3827219 (P = 1.66×10−5) fall in receptor-interacting serine/threonine-protein kinase 4 (RIPK4). One isolated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), rs739617 (P = 3.87×10−5) was also identified to be associated with TRS. The -94delATTG allele (rs28362691) located in the promoter region of NFKB1 was identified by resequencing and was found to associate with TRS (P = 4.85×10−6). The promoter assay demonstrated that the -94delATTG allele had a significant lower promoter activity than the -94insATTG allele in the SH-SY5Y cells. This study suggests that rs28362691 in NFKB1 might be involved in the development of TRS

Clinical Efficacy and Post-Treatment Seromarkers Associated with the Risk of Hepatocellular Carcinoma among Chronic Hepatitis C Patients

This follow-up study enrolled chronic hepatitis C patients to evaluate the treatment efficacy and to identify post-treatment seromarkers associated with risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) among patients with a sustained virological response (SVR) or nonsustained virological response (NSVR). A total of 4639 patients who received pegylated interferon and ribavirin during 2004–2013 were followed until December 2014. HCC was confirmed through health examinations and data linkage with a national database. A total of 233 HCC cases were reported after 26,163 person-years of follow-up, indicating an incidence of 8.9 per 1000 person-years: 6.9 for SVR and 21.6 for NSVR per 1000 person-years. The associated risk of HCC in patients with SVR was 0.37 (0.22–0.63) for those without cirrhosis and 0.54 (0.31–0.92) for those with cirrhosis compared with their respective counterparts with NSVR. Among patients with SVR, advanced age, male gender, cirrhosis, decreased platelet count, and increased aspartate aminotransferase and α-fetoprotein levels were associated with HCC (p < 0.001). The treatment of chronic hepatitis C patients before they developed cirrhosis showed a higher efficacy than did the treatment of those who had already developed cirrhosis. Patients with SVR may still have a risk of HCC and need to be regularly monitored

Analysis of end-to-end performance of LAN systems

The analysis of LAN performance is the main objective of this research. LANs can be configured in various ways combining different medium access control mechanisms and different physical layer specifications. Details on these alternatives are specified in IEEE 802.3 through IEEE 802.5. We study th performance of different types of LANs under various configurations of servers and stations. The queueing network model is one of the analytical tools to help investigate the performance characteristics of various LAN configurations. Since the analytical approach based on queueing network models is often too complicated to be practically used, we rely on simulations. Thus our analysis will be based on simulations, and SIMLAN II will be the simulation tool for our work. Our specification of simulation models involves three classes of transactions, and one or two servers. There are 24 simulation results in this thesis. These results, which are arranged in tables and figures, help compare th performance characteristics of various LAN configurations.http://archive.org/details/analysisofendtoe1094530684Lieutenant Commander, Republic of China (Taiwan) NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited