Task Runtime Prediction in Scientific Workflows Using an Online Incremental Learning Approach

Many algorithms in workflow scheduling and resource provisioning rely on the performance estimation of tasks to produce a scheduling plan. A profiler that is capable of modeling the execution of tasks and predicting their runtime accurately, therefore, becomes an essential part of any Workflow Management System (WMS). With the emergence of multi-tenant Workflow as a Service (WaaS) platforms that use clouds for deploying scientific workflows, task runtime prediction becomes more challenging because it requires the processing of a significant amount of data in a near real-time scenario while dealing with the performance variability of cloud resources. Hence, relying on methods such as profiling tasks' execution data using basic statistical description (e.g., mean, standard deviation) or batch offline regression techniques to estimate the runtime may not be suitable for such environments. In this paper, we propose an online incremental learning approach to predict the runtime of tasks in scientific workflows in clouds. To improve the performance of the predictions, we harness fine-grained resources monitoring data in the form of time-series records of CPU utilization, memory usage, and I/O activities that are reflecting the unique characteristics of a task's execution. We compare our solution to a state-of-the-art approach that exploits the resources monitoring data based on regression machine learning technique. From our experiments, the proposed strategy improves the performance, in terms of the error, up to 29.89%, compared to the state-of-the-art solutions.Comment: Accepted for presentation at main conference track of 11th IEEE/ACM International Conference on Utility and Cloud Computin

Work Roll Cooling System Design Optimisation in Presence of Uncertainty

Organised by: Cranfield UniversityThe paper presents a framework to optimise the design of work roll based on the cooling performance. The framework develops Meta models from a set of Finite Element Analysis (FEA) of the roll cooling. A design of experiment technique is used to identify the FEA runs. The research also identifies sources of uncertainties in the design process. A robust evolutionary multi-objective algorithm is applied to the design optimisation I order to identify a set of good solutions in the presence of uncertainties both in the decision and objective spaces.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan

Effect of pH and temperature on the morphology and phases of co-precipitated hydroxyapatite

This paper reports a high-yield process to fabricate biomimetic hydroxyapatite nano-particles or nano-plates. Hydroxyapatite is obtained by simultaneous dripping of calcium chloride and ammonium hydrogen phosphate solutions into a reaction vessel. Reactions were carried out under various pH and temperature conditions. The morphology and phase composition of the precipitates were investigated using scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction. The analyses showed that large plates of calcium hydrophosphate are formed at neutral or acidic pH condition. Nanoparticles of hydroxyapatite were obtained in precipitates prepared at pH 9–11. Hydroxyapatite plates akin to seashell nacre were obtained at 40 °C and pH 9. This material holds promise to improve the strength of hydroxyapatite containing composites for bone implant or bone cement used in orthopaedic surgeries. The thermodynamics of the crystal growth under these conditions was discussed. An assembly mechanism of the hydroxyapatite plates was proposed according to the nanostructure observations

ABCB4 is frequently epigenetically silenced in human cancers and inhibits tumor growth

Epigenetic silencing through promoter hypermethylation is an important hallmark for the inactivation of tumor-related genes in carcinogenesis. Here we identified the ATP-binding cassette sub-family B member 4 (ABCB4) as a novel epigenetically silenced target gene. We investigated the epigenetic regulation of ABCB4 in 26 human lung, breast, skin, liver, head and neck cancer cells lines and in primary cancers by methylation and expression analysis. Hypermethylation of the ABCB4 CpG island promoter occurred in 16 out of 26 (62%) human cancer cell lines. Aberrant methylation of ABCB4 was also revealed in 39% of primary lung cancer and in 20% of head and neck cancer tissues. In 37% of primary lung cancer samples, ABCB4 expression was absent. For breast cancer a significant hypermethylation occurred in tumor tissues (41%) compared to matching normal samples (0%, p = 0.002). Silencing of ABCB4 was reversed by 5-aza-2´-deoxycytidine and zebularine treatments leading to its reexpression in cancer cells. Overexpression of ABCB4 significantly suppressed colony formation and proliferation of lung cancer cells. Hypermethylation of Abcb4 occurred also in murine cancer, but was not found in normal tissues. Our findings suggest that ABCB4 is a frequently silenced gene in different cancers and it may act tumor suppressivly in lung cancer

Flexible and dynamic replication control for interdependent distributed real-time embedded systems

Replication is a proven concept for increasing the availability of distributed systems. However, actively replicating every software component in distributed embedded systems may not be a feasible approach. Not only the available resources are often limited, but also the imposed overhead could significantly degrade the system’s performance. This paper proposes heuristics to dynamically determine which components to replicate based on their significance to the system as a whole, its consequent number of passive replicas, and where to place those replicas in the network. The activation of passive replicas is coordinated through a fast convergence protocol that reduces the complexity of the needed interactions among nodes until a new collective global service solution is determined

Left Ventricular Hypertrophy is a predictor of cardiovascular events in elderly hypertensives: hypertension in the the very elderly trial (HYVET)

Objective: We assessed the prognostic value of electrocardiographic left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) using Sokolow-Lyon (SL-LVH), Cornell Voltage (CV-LVH) or Cornell Product (CP-LVH) Criteria in 3043 hypertensive people aged 80 years and over enrolled in the Hypertension in the Very Elderly Trial. Methods: Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for all-cause mortality, cardiovascular diseases, stroke and heart failure in participants with and without LVH at baseline. The mean follow-up was 2.1 years. Results: LVH identified by CV- or CP-LVH Criteria was associated with a 1.6 to 1.9-fold risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. The presence of CP-LVH was associated with an increased risk of heart failure (HR 2.38, 95% CL 1.16-4.86). In gender specific analyses, CV-LVH (HR 1.94, 95%Cl 1.06-3.55) and CP-LVH (HR 2.36, 95% CI 1.25-4.45) were associated with an increased risk of stroke in women and of heart failure in men, CV-LVH (HR 6.47, 95 % Cl 1.41-29.79) and CP-LVH (10.63, 95Cl % 3.58-31.57), respectively. There was no significant increase in the risk of any outcomes associated with SL LVH. LVH identified by these three methods was not a significant predictor of all-cause mortality. Conclusions: Use of Cornell Voltage and Cornell Product criteria for LVH predicted the risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke. Only Cornell Product was associated with an increased the risk of heart failure. This was particularly the case in men. The identification of electrocardiographic LVH proved to be important in very elderly hypertensive people

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase family member 14 (PARP14) is a novel effector of the JNK2-dependent pro-survival signal in multiple myeloma

Copyright @ 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below.Regulation of cell survival is a key part of the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma (MM). Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling has been implicated in MM pathogenesis, but its function is unclear. To elucidate the role of JNK in MM, we evaluated the specific functions of the two major JNK proteins, JNK1 and JNK2. We show here that JNK2 is constitutively activated in a panel of MM cell lines and primary tumors. Using loss-of-function studies, we demonstrate that JNK2 is required for the survival of myeloma cells and constitutively suppresses JNK1-mediated apoptosis by affecting expression of poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)14, a key regulator of B-cell survival. Strikingly, we found that PARP14 is highly expressed in myeloma plasma cells and associated with disease progression and poor survival. Overexpression of PARP14 completely rescued myeloma cells from apoptosis induced by JNK2 knockdown, indicating that PARP14 is critically involved in JNK2-dependent survival. Mechanistically, PARP14 was found to promote the survival of myeloma cells by binding and inhibiting JNK1. Moreover, inhibition of PARP14 enhances the sensitization of MM cells to anti-myeloma agents. Our findings reveal a novel regulatory pathway in myeloma cells through which JNK2 signals cell survival via PARP14, and identify PARP14 as a potential therapeutic target in myeloma.Kay Kendall Leukemia Fund, NIH, Cancer Research UK, Italian Association for Cancer Research and the Foundation for Liver Research

Outcome with lenalidomide plus dexamethasone followed by early autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma on the ECOG-ACRIN E4A03 randomized clinical trial: long-term follow-up

In Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-ACRIN E4A03, on completion of four cycles of therapy, newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients had the option of proceeding to autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplant (ASCT) or continuing on their assigned therapy lenalidomide plus low-dose dexamethasone (Ld) or lenalidomide plus high-dose dexamethasone (LD). This landmark analysis compared the outcome of 431 patients surviving their first four cycles of therapy pursuing early ASCT to those continuing on their assigned therapy. Survival distributions were estimated using the Kaplan–Meier method and compared with log-rank test. Ninety patients (21%) opted for early ASCT. The 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- an