TOWARDS DIGITAL TWINS FOR OPTIMIZING METRICS IN DISTRIBUTED STORAGE SYSTEMS - A REVIEW

With the exponential data growth, there is a crucial need for highly available, scalable, reliable, and cost-effective Distributed Storage Systems (DSSs). To ensure such efficient and fault tolerant systems, replication and erasure coding techniques are typically used in traditional DSSs. However, these systems are prone to failure and require different failure prevention and recovery algorithms. Failure recovery of DSS and data reconstruction techniques take into consideration different performance metrics optimization in the recovery process. In this paper, DSS performance metrics are introduced. Several recent papers related to adopting erasure coding in DSSs are surveyed together with highlighting related performance metrics introduced in the context of these papers. Next, we present recent literature where Digital Twins (DTs) are involved in monitoring DSSs and assisting the data center managers in intelligent decision-making. Finally, important open issues are identified to inspire future studies for fully efficient DSSs

FAMAID: A TOOL FOR AIDING PEOPLE WITH DISABILITY

People with disabilities suffer from discrimination and obstacles that restrict them from participating in society on an equal basis with others every day. They are deprived of their rights to be included in ordinary school systems and even in the work market. In the process of raising awareness, facilitating dailyroutines, and developing guidance, the idea of assisting such people with handy tools/software arose and was implemented in the FamAid tool. FamAid offers people with hearing disability the opportunity to be engaged in the society through many facilities. In this work, we implemented a web application that serves as a community for people with disability who can use sign language to access the app. The app uses hand gesture recognition technique which is considered an active research field in Human-Computer Interaction technology to perform sign language translation to text. Afterwards, the text will be provided as input to the app where the output will be generated based on the request of the user. This research presents an application which is considered a gift for people with speaking and/or hearing disability as it makes their lives easier

Mystic in works by Jorge Luis Borges

Muchos cuentos del autor argentino Jorge Luis Borges contienen cierto matiz religioso que podría vincularse al movimiento literario conocido como mística. En este artículo se analizarán algunos de esos aspectos que aparecen en su obra.Many tales by Argentinian author Jorge Luis Borges have certain religious nuance which could be related to the literary movement known as Mystic. In this article some of these aspects which appear in his works will be analysed

الزمان والعالم عند أبي العلاء المعري

استطاعت الفلسفة الإسلامية أن تضيف للفكر الفلسفي إضافات حقيقية وذات أهمية وأفكار وموضوعات جديدة, وبالجدير بالذكر كانت فكرة الزمان والعالم واحدة من هذه الأفكار التي تجلت فيها العبقرية عند الفلاسفة المسلمين, ومن بينهم (أبي العلاء المعري). على الرغم من تأثره بالفلسفة اليونانية, لكن هذا لا يلغي اجتهاد هذه الشخصية المذهلة. تناولنا في هذا البحث خصوصية موقف أبي العلاء المعري من مشكلة الزمان والعالم, في المقدمة تم التعريف بالفيلسوف وطرح السؤال الإشكالي, أما عناصر البحث, تضمنت الآراء حول فكرة الزمان, ويليها بيان حقيقة وطبيعة الزمان عند أبي العلاء ومن ثم ذكر أنواعه والحديث عن الدهر والعدم, والأزلية والأبدية ومن ثم إيضاح مشكلة العالم عنده. انتهينا في النتيجة إلى أن أبي العلاء قد خرج برؤية جديدة في فكرة الزمان والعالم بالرغم من تردده الكثير في كتبه. و زعم بأن الزمان و العالم أزليان وأبديان

Pulpal blood flow changes and pain scores related to using superelastic 0.018-inch nickel titanium as the first orthodontic alignment archwire: A prospective clinical trial

Background: Optimal orthodontic force results in maximum rate of tooth movement without tissue damage. Even though starting orthodontic treatment with a thicker archwire may shorten treatment duration, the evidence on the effect of using 0.018-inch NiTi as the first alignment archwire on pulpal blood flow (PBF) status is still scarce. Objectives: to record PBF changes and pain scores associated with using 0.018-inch NiTi as the first alignment archwire during fixed orthodontic treatment. Methodology: Patients were selected from subjects attending postgraduate orthodontic teaching clinics at Jordan University of Science and Technology. In total, forty healthy patients who exhibited mild lower arch crowding were included. A split-mouth trial design was used. Each patient received two archwire sizes at one time joined in the midline by crimpable hook and applied in the lower arch. Patients were assigned into one of two groups based on archwire sizes used. Group 1: 0.014-inch and 0.018-inch NiTi (Six males, 14 females aged 19.4±1.33 years) and Group 2: 0.016-inch and 0.018-inch NiTi (Seven males, 13 females aged 19.6±1.45 years). The archwire size group was randomly allocated with a 1:1 allocation ratio. A Laser Doppler Flowmeter was used to measure PBF at different time intervals (T0-T5). Pain scores were recorded using a visual analogue scale (VAS). A repeated measures ANOVA and a post-hoc Bonferroni comparison tests were conducted to examine differences at the different time points before and during orthodontic alignment. Results: For all studied archwire sizes, PBF decreased 20 minutes after their placement. Most PBF changes occurred within 24hours and continued to decrease until 72 hours after archwire placement where the maximum reduction was reached. Eventually, normal values were reverted within 1 month. PBF changes were similar between all alignment – groups. Conclusions: Initial orthodontic alignment with 0.018-inch NiTi does not cause irreversible changes to pulpal vasculature or produces higher pain scores.The study was supported by the deanship of research at Jordan University of Science and Technology, research grant number (39/2018)

VALPROIC ACID INDUCES APOPTOSIS AND INCREASES CXCR7 EXPRESSION IN EPITHELIAL OVARIAN CANCER CELL LINE SKOV-3.

Background: The chemokine receptor, CXCR7 is described to play a biologically relevant role in tumor growth and spread. Recently, it was reported that CXCR7 overexpression is associated with an unfavorable prognosis and metastatis of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Aware that, several reports indicated that Histone deacetylases (HDACs) regulate the expression and activity of many proteins involved in both cancer initiation and progression, the aim of this work, was to study the effect of the HDAC inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) on the expression of CXCR7 as well as its impact on survival function in the epithelial ovarian cell line (SKOV-3). Methods: cells were cultured with varying concentrations of VPA (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 mM) for different durations (0, 12 h, 24 h and 48 h). Cell survival was assessed by Neutral red assay and by colony counting which being stained with crystal violet. CXCR7 expression was determined at mRNA level using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) or at the protein level using western blotting. Results: VPA reduces cell survival of SKOV-3 cancer cells. The inhibition effect of VPA was dose and time-dependent. Exposure to VPA at concentrations above 2 mM at 24 h resulted in an increase expression of CXCR7 at both the mRNA and protein levels . Conclusion: These observations provide, for the first time, a better insight into the epigenetic mechanisms involved in regulating CXCR7 expression in EOC and will open new avenues for evaluating drugs that specifically stimulate the apoptosis of EOC with minimal unwanted side effect

VALPROIC ACID INDUCES APOPTOSIS AND INCREASES CXCR7 EXPRESSION IN EPITHELIAL OVARIAN CANCER CELL LINE SKOV-3.

Background: The chemokine receptor, CXCR7 is described to play a biologically relevant role in tumor growth and spread. Recently, it was reported that CXCR7 overexpression is associated with an unfavorable prognosis and metastatis of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). Aware that, several reports indicated that Histone deacetylases (HDACs) regulate the expression and activity of many proteins involved in both cancer initiation and progression, the aim of this work, was to study the effect of the HDAC inhibitor valproic acid (VPA) on the expression of CXCR7 as well as its impact on survival function in the epithelial ovarian cell line (SKOV-3). Methods: cells were cultured with varying concentrations of VPA (1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 mM) for different durations (0, 12 h, 24 h and 48 h). Cell survival was assessed by Neutral red assay and by colony counting which being stained with crystal violet. CXCR7 expression was determined at mRNA level using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) or at the protein level using western blotting. Results: VPA reduces cell survival of SKOV-3 cancer cells. The inhibition effect of VPA was dose and time-dependent. Exposure to VPA at concentrations above 2 mM at 24 h resulted in an increase expression of CXCR7 at both the mRNA and protein levels . Conclusion: These observations provide, for the first time, a better insight into the epigenetic mechanisms involved in regulating CXCR7 expression in EOC and will open new avenues for evaluating drugs that specifically stimulate the apoptosis of EOC with minimal unwanted side effect

Assessing the perceptions of a biostatistics and epidemiology module: Views of Year 2 medical students from a Malaysian university. A cross-sectional survey

Background In the era of evidence based medicine, biostatistics and epidemiology are considered as the main elements aiding the health professional to design a research study, understand the literature, and make decisions about patient care. The aim of the study is to explore students' perception about this subject because it plays an important role in determining educational outcome. Methods Data were collected from a self-administered questionnaire distributed among 164 Year 2 medical students. The 5-point Likert scale anchored by Strongly disagree = 1 and Strongly agree = 5 included 36 questions in four domains designed to assess the perception of a biostatistics and epidemiology module amongst students. Results 138 students with ages ranging from 20 to 24 years (Mean = 20.7; SD = 0.62) returned their responses to the questionnaire. This was a response rate of 84.14%. Of the 138 students, 80.7% realized the relevance of the subject to real health issues at the end of the module, while 89.8% believed the module focused on interpretation more than calculation. More than three quarters (78.1%) agreed that lack of practicing exercises was the cause for declining interest in the subject, while only 26.1% believed that lectures were not interesting. Another three quarters (75.4%) believed that there were too many lectures for one day of teaching activities, while 84.6% recommended practical sessions for designing research and data collection. Conclusions This study found that students perceived the relevance of biostatistics and epidemiology to real health issues. The major cause of poor interest in the subject was attributed to the short duration of the course, lack of practicing exercises, and the need for practical data collection sessions. Emphasis should be given to early introduction of projects for data collection and analysis

Emerging Themes and Future Directions of Multi-Sector Nexus Research and Implementation

Water, energy, and food are all essential components of human societies. Collectively, their respective resource systems are interconnected in what is called the “nexus”. There is growing consensus that a holistic understanding of the interdependencies and trade-offs between these sectors and other related systems is critical to solving many of the global challenges they present. While nexus research has grown exponentially since 2011, there is no unified, overarching approach, and the implementation of concepts remains hampered by the lack of clear case studies. Here, we present the results of a collaborative thought exercise involving 75 scientists and summarize them into 10 key recommendations covering: the most critical nexus issues of today, emerging themes, and where future efforts should be directed. We conclude that a nexus community of practice to promote open communication among researchers, to maintain and share standardized datasets, and to develop applied case studies will facilitate transparent comparisons of models and encourage the adoption of nexus approaches in practice

Sphingomyelin Synthase 1 (SMS1) Downregulation Is Associated With Sphingolipid Reprogramming and a Worse Prognosis in Melanoma

Sphingolipid (SL) metabolism alterations have been frequently reported in cancer including in melanoma, a bad-prognosis skin cancer. In normal cells, de novo synthesized ceramide is mainly converted to sphingomyelin (SM), the most abundant SL, by sphingomyelin synthase 1 (SMS1) and, albeit to a lesser extent, SMS2, encoded by the SGMS1 and SGMS2 genes, respectively. Alternatively, ceramide can be converted to glucosylceramide (GlcCer) by the GlcCer synthase (GCS), encoded by the UGCG gene. Herein, we provide evidence for the first time that SMS1 is frequently downregulated in various solid cancers, more particularly in melanoma. Accordingly, various human melanoma cells displayed a SL metabolism signature associated with (i) a robust and a low expression of UGCG and SGMS1/2, respectively, (ii) higher in situ enzyme activity of GCS than SMS, and (iii) higher intracellular levels of GlcCer than SM. SMS1 was expressed at low levels in most of the human melanoma biopsies. In addition, several mutations and increased CpG island methylation in the SGMS1 gene were identified that likely affect SMS1 expression. Finally, low SMS1 expression was associated with a worse prognosis in metastatic melanoma patients. Collectively, our study indicates that SMS1 downregulation in melanoma enhances GlcCer synthesis, triggering an imbalance in the SM/GlcCer homeostasis, which likely contributes to melanoma progression. Evaluating SMS1 expression level in tumor samples might serve as a biomarker to predict clinical outcome in advanced melanoma patients