Design, Implementation and Evaluation of Network Monitoring Tasks with the Borealis Stream Processing Engine

Several data stream management systems (DSMSs), enabling their users to measure and analyze the behavior of a data stream on-line, are now available to the public. Network monitoring, as a challenging application domain, has shown to fit into the domain of DSMSs. With the use of the Borealis DSMS, we have implemented a set of network monitoring tasks. By performing these network monitoring tasks in a network on generated traffic, we have measured the loads that Borealis can handle. As we know the behavior of the generated network traffic, we have been able to investigate the correctness the monitoring results. Based on our evaluation, we have shown that Borealis can handle a 40 Mbit/s network load, with close to 99% accuracy performing measurements of average amount of received packets per second, as an example. The query language of Borealis has in addition enabled us to express complex network monitoring tasks. When increasing the complexity for the monitoring tasks, we see that the supported network load drops down to 10 to 30 Mbit/s. Borealis has shown to handle significant higher traffic loads than expected, although we have found its load shedding mechanism for preventing overload situations as not efficient. We expect Borealis to handle higher loads than today, by altering parameters that are set in its source code

In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of a F-18-Labeled High Affinity NOTA Conjugated Bombesin Antagonist as a PET Ligand for GRPR-Targeted Tumor Imaging

Expression of the gastrin-releasing peptide receptor (GRPR) in prostate cancer suggests that this receptor can be used as a potential molecular target to visualize and treat these tumors. We have previously investigated an antagonist analog of bombesin (D-Phe-Gln-Trp-Ala-Val-Gly-His-Sta-Leu-NH2, RM26) conjugated to 1,4,7-triazacyclononane-N,N',N ''-triacetic acid (NOTA) via a diethylene glycol (PEG(2)) spacer (NOTA-P2-RM26) labeled with Ga-68 and In-111. We found that this conjugate has favorable properties for in vivo imaging of GRPR-expression. The focus of this study was to develop a F-18-labelled PET agent to visualize GRPR. NOTA-P2-RM26 was labeled with F-18 using aluminum-fluoride chelation. Stability, in vitro binding specificity and cellular processing tests were performed. The inhibition efficiency (IC50) of the [F-nat]AlF-NOTA-P2-RM26 was compared to that of the Ga-nat-loaded peptide using I-125-Tyr(4)-BBN as the displacement radioligand. The pharmacokinetics and in vivo binding specificity of the compound were studied. NOTA-P2-RM26 was labeled with F-18 within 1 h (60-65% decay corrected radiochemical yield, 55 GBq/mu mol). The radiopeptide was stable in murine serum and showed high specific binding to PC-3 cells. [F-nat]AlF-NOTA-P2-RM26 showed a low nanomolar inhibition efficiency (IC50=4.4 +/- 0.8 nM). The internalization rate of the tracer was low. Less than 14% of the cell-bound radioactivity was internalized after 4 h. The biodistribution of [F-18]AlF-NOTA-P2-RM26 demonstrated rapid blood clearance, low liver uptake and low kidney retention. The tumor uptake at 3 h p. i. was 5.5 +/- 0.7 % ID/g, and the tumor-to-blood, -muscle and -bone ratios were 87 +/- 42, 159 +/- 47, 38 +/- 16, respectively. The uptake in tumors, pancreas and other GRPR-expressing organs was significantly reduced when excess amount of non-labeled peptide was co-injected. The low uptake in bone suggests a high in vivo stability of the Al-F bond. High contrast PET image was obtained 3 h p. i. The initial biological results suggest that [F-18]AlF-NOTA-P2-RM26 is a promising candidate for PET imaging of GRPR in vivo

Delay Tolerant Streaming in Rescue Scenarios: Requirements Analysis and Resulting Industrial Issues - Version 2

In emergency intervention and rescue operations, the coordination and collaboration of the rescue personnel is highly important for the success of the mission. Data networks formed between the devices carried by the rescue personnel can provide the means for collaboration and coordination on the operation scene. Unfortunately, the unforeseeable conditions and characteristics (e.g., size of the scene, availabilities of access ways for the rescue personnel, availability and status of the infrastructure) of the rescue operations can hinder (e.g., intermittently unavailable network infrastructure) and disrupt (e.g., network partitions) communication of data networks. Even in these adverse conditions coordination and collaboration need to be enabled between the participants of the rescue operation. In this technical report we analyse the usage of streaming services (data, audio and video) to improve coordination and collaboration tasks in rescue and emergency operations. We present a detailed requirement analysis for middleware services that support streaming of data, imposed by this application domain from a research and an industrial perspective. For this purpose, we present two rescue scenarios, which helped us perform the requirements analysis for supporting streaming in intermittently connected networks. Additionally, we also present an example from a middleware for streaming voice traffic within large organizations with multiple working sites. Although these examples might seem different, they have similar requirements considering the availability and awareness of network resources