Carbon Containers: A System-level Facility for Managing Application-level Carbon Emissions

To reduce their environmental impact, cloud datacenters' are increasingly focused on optimizing applications' carbon-efficiency, or work done per mass of carbon emitted. To facilitate such optimizations, we present Carbon Containers, a simple system-level facility, which extends prior work on power containers, that automatically regulates applications' carbon emissions in response to variations in both their workload's intensity and their energy's carbon-intensity. Specifically, \carbonContainerS enable applications to specify a maximum carbon emissions rate (in g$\cdot$CO$_2$e/hr), and then transparently enforce this rate via a combination of vertical scaling, container migration, and suspend/resume while maximizing either energy-efficiency or performance. Carbon Containers are especially useful for applications that i) must continue running even during high-carbon periods, and ii) execute in regions with few variations in carbon-intensity. These low-variability regions also tend to have high average carbon-intensity, which increases the importance of regulating carbon emissions. We implement a Carbon Containers prototype by extending Linux Containers to incorporate the mechanisms above and evaluate it using real workload traces and carbon-intensity data from multiple regions. We compare Carbon Containers with prior work that regulates carbon emissions by suspending/resuming applications during high/low carbon periods. We show that Carbon Containers are more carbon-efficient and improve performance while maintaining similar carbon emissions.Comment: ACM Symposium on Cloud Computing (SoCC

Ensemble reweighting using Cryo-EM particles

Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has recently become a premier method for obtaining high-resolution structures of biological macromolecules. However, it is limited to biomolecular samples with low conformational heterogeneity, where all the conformations can be well-sampled at many projection angles. While cryo-EM technically provides single-molecule data for heterogeneous molecules, most existing reconstruction tools cannot extract the full distribution of possible molecular configurations. To overcome these limitations, we build on a prior Bayesian approach and develop an ensemble refinement framework that estimates the ensemble density from a set of cryo-EM particles by reweighting a prior ensemble of conformations, e.g., from molecular dynamics simulations or structure prediction tools. Our work is a general approach to recovering the equilibrium probability density of the biomolecule directly in conformational space from single-molecule data. To validate the framework, we study the extraction of state populations and free energies for a simple toy model and from synthetic cryo-EM images of a simulated protein that explores multiple folded and unfolded conformations

Mobile phones are a viable option for surveying young Australian women: a comparison of two telephone survey methods

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Households with fixed-line telephones have decreased while mobile (cell) phone ownership has increased. We therefore sought to examine the feasibility of recruiting young women for a national health survey through random digit dialling mobile phones.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two samples of women aged 18 to 39 years were surveyed by random digit dialling fixed and mobile numbers. We compared participation rates and responses to a questionnaire between women surveyed by each contact method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>After dialling 5,390 fixed-lines and 3,697 mobile numbers, 140 and 128 women were recruited respectively. Among women contacted and found to be eligible, participation rates were 74% for fixed-lines and 88% for mobiles. Taking into account calls to numbers where eligibility was unknown (e.g. unanswered calls) the estimated response rates were 54% and 45% respectively. Of women contacted by fixed-line, 97% reported having a mobile while 61% of those contacted by mobile reported having a fixed-line at home. After adjusting for age, there were no significant differences between mobile-only and fixed-line responders with respect to education, residence, and various health behaviours; however compared to those with fixed-lines, mobile-only women were more likely to identify as Indigenous (OR 4.99, 95%CI 1.52-16.34) and less likely to live at home with their parents (OR 0.09, 95%CI 0.03-0.29).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Random digit dialling mobile phones to conduct a health survey in young Australian women is feasible, gives a comparable response rate and a more representative sample than dialling fixed-lines only. Telephone surveys of young women should include mobile dialling.</p

Identification and Validation of Leucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein 1 as a Noninvasive Biomarker for Improved Precision in Prostate Cancer Risk Stratification.

BACKGROUND: More accurate risk assessments are needed to improve prostate cancer management. OBJECTIVE: To identify blood-based protein biomarkers that provided prognostic information for risk stratification. DESIGN SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Mass spectrometry was used to identify biomarker candidates from blood, and validation studies were performed in four independent cohorts retrospectively collected between 1988 and 2015. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: The primary outcome objectives were progression-free survival, prostate cancer-specific survival (PCSS), and overall survival. Statistical analyses to assess survival and model performance were performed. RESULTS AND LIMITATION: Serum leucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) was found to be elevated in fatal prostate cancer. LRG1 provided prognostic information independent of metastasis and increased the accuracy in predicting PCSS, particularly in the first 3 yr. A high LRG1 level is associated with an average of two-fold higher risk of disease-progression and mortality in both high-risk and metastatic patients. However, our study design, with a retrospective analysis of samples spanning several decades back, limits the assessment of the clinical utility of LRG1 in today's clinical practice. Thus, independent prospective studies are needed to establish LRG1 as a clinically useful biomarker for patient management. CONCLUSIONS: High blood levels of LRG1 are unfavourable in newly diagnosed high-risk and metastatic prostate cancer, and LRG1 increased the accuracy of risk stratification of prostate cancer patients. PATIENT SUMMARY: High blood levels of leucine-rich α-2-glycoprotein 1 are unfavourable in newly diagnosed high-risk and metastatic prostate cancer

The Use of a Compression Device as an Alternative to Hand-Sewn and Stapled Colorectal Anastomoses: Is Three a Crowd?

BackgroundThe NiTi CAR™ 27 is a newer device that uses compression to create an anastomosis. An analysis of this device in the creation of colorectal anastomoses in humans has yet to be reported in the USA.MethodsA non-randomized, prospective pilot study of the NiTi CAR™ 27 device in patients undergoing a left-sided colectomy between March 2008 and August 2009 was performed.ResultsTwenty-three patients (9 men and 14 women) underwent a left-sided colectomy and compression anastomosis with the CAR™ 27 device. Minor morbidities, 3 of 23 (13%) patients, included one small postoperative abscess requiring antibiotics alone and two postoperative anastomotic strictures requiring balloon dilation. Major morbidities, 1 of 23 (4%) patients, included a partial anastomotic dehiscence/leak requiring surgical dismantling of the anastomosis and diversion.ConclusionThe CAR™ 27 device shows promise as a safe and effective alternative for the creation of colorectal anastomoses. However, studies in a larger patient population are warranted to demonstrate equivalence of this device

Spatial variation in exhumation rates across Ladakh and the Karakoram: New apatite fission track data from the Eastern Karakoram, NW India

Characterization of low-temperature cooling histories and associated exhumation rates is critical for deciphering the recent evolution of orogenic regions. However, these may vary significantly over relatively short distances within orogens. It is pertinent therefore to constrain cooling histories and hence exhumation rates across major tectonic boundaries. We report the first apatite fission track ages from the Karakoram Fault Zone in the Eastern Karakoram range, which forms part of the western margin of the Tibetan Plateau. Ten samples, from elevations of 3477–4875m, have apatite fission track dates from 3.3 ± 0.3 Ma to 7.4± 1.1Ma. The ages correspond to modeled average erosional exhumation rates of 0.67+ 0.27-0.18mm/yr across the Eastern Karakoram. The results are consistent with a trend northward from the Indus suture zone, across the Ladakh terrane and into the Karakoram, in which tectonic uplift associated with crustal thickening increases toward the north, raising elevation and promoting glaciation and generation of extreme relief. As a result, erosion and exhumation rates increase south to north. Present-day precipitation on the other hand varies little within the study area and on a larger scale decreases southwest to northeast across this portion of the orogen. The Eastern Karakoram results highlight the diverse patterns of exhumation driven by regional variations in tectonic response to collision along the western margin of Tibet