Bolt: faster reconfiguration in operating systems

Abstract Dynamic resource scaling enables provisioning extra resources during peak loads and saving energy by reclaiming those resources during off-peak times. Scaling the number of CPU cores is particularly valuable as it allows power savings during low-usage periods. Current systems perform scaling with a slow hotplug mechanism, which was primarily designed to remove or replace faulty cores. The high cost of scaling is reflected in power management policies that perform scaling at coarser time scales to amortize the high reconfiguration latency. We describe Bolt, a new mechanism built on existing hotplug infrastructure to reduce scaling latency. Bolt also supports a new bulk interface to add or remove multiple cores at once. We implemented Bolt for x86 and ARM architectures. Our evaluation shows that Bolt can achieve over 20x speedup for entering offline state. While turning on CPUs, Bolt achieve speedups of 1.3x and 21x for x86 and ARM. The speedup is limited by high latency hardware intialization. On an ideal processor with zerolatency initialization, the speedup on x86 rises to 10x

Study of diffusion weighted MRI as a predictive biomarker of response during radiotherapy for high and intermediate risk squamous cell cancer of the oropharynx: The MeRInO study

Introduction and background: A significant proportion of patients with intermediate and high risk squamous cell cancer of the oropharynx (OPSCC) continue to relapse locally despite radical chemoradiotherapy (CRT). The toxicity of the current combination of intensified dose per fraction radiotherapy and platinum based chemotherapy limits further uniform intensification. If a predictive biomarker for outcomes from CRT can be identified during treatment then individualised and adaptive treatment strategies may be employed. Methods/design: The MeRInO study is a prospective observational imaging study of patients with intermediate and high risk, locally advanced OPSCC receiving radical RT or concurrent CRT Patients undergo diffusion weighted MRI prior to treatment (MRI_1) and during the third week of RT (MRI_2). Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements will be made on each scan for previously specified target lesions (primary and lymph nodes) and change in ADC calculated. Patients will be followed up and disease status for each target lesion noted. The primary aim of the MeRInO study is to determine the threshold change in ADC from baseline to week 3 of RT that may identify the sub-group of non-responders during treatment. Discussion: The use of DW-MRI as a predictive biomarker during RT for SCC H&N is in its infancy but studies to date have found that response to treatment may indeed be predicted by comparison of DW-MRI carried out before and during treatment. However, previous studies have included all sub-sites and biological sub-types. Establishing ADC thresholds that predict for local failure is an essential step towards using DW-MRI to improve the therapeutic ratio in treating SCC H&N. This would be done most robustly in a specific H&N sub-site and in sub-types with similar biological behaviour. The MeRInO study will help establish these thresholds in OPSCC

An unusual congregation of organisms in the catches off Kovalam, Madras

The fishermen belonging to Kovalam had a hectic activity in harvesting huge quantities of fish from the Kovalam bay from 26-8-'87 to 4-9-'87. Fishermen employed all available gears for catching the fish and prawns. According to them, this was due to the appearance of 'Vandal thanneer' or turbid water close to the shore. The present account embodies the results of the observations made on this unusual phenomenon

Coarse-grained reconfigurable array architectures

Coarse-Grained Reconfigurable Array (CGRA) architectures accelerate the same inner loops that benefit from the high ILP support in VLIW architectures. By executing non-loop code on other cores, however, CGRAs can focus on such loops to execute them more efficiently. This chapter discusses the basic principles of CGRAs, and the wide range of design options available to a CGRA designer, covering a large number of existing CGRA designs. The impact of different options on flexibility, performance, and power-efficiency is discussed, as well as the need for compiler support. The ADRES CGRA design template is studied in more detail as a use case to illustrate the need for design space exploration, for compiler support and for the manual fine-tuning of source code

Plasma insulin-like factor 3 (INSL3) in male patients with osteoporosis and Klinefelter’s syndrome

Insulin-like factor 3 (INSL3) is a peptide hormone produced in leydig cells of the testes. Its role in the adult male is unknown but INSL3 and its receptor RXFP2 have been linked to bone cell differentiation. It is speculated that low levels of INSL3 could be responsible for low bone mineral density in patients with primary osteoporosis and Klinefelter’s Syndrome. The aim of this study was to assess plasma INSL3 in patients with osteoporosis and Klinefelter’s Syndrome compared to healthy males. Fourteen healthy males, 21 males with osteoporosis (4 primary and 17 secondary) and 4 patients with Klinefelter’s Syndrome were studied. Plasma INSL3, testosterone, LH, FSH and Sex hormone-binding globulin were evaluated. Plasma INSL3 concentrations were similar in osteoporosis patients compared to healthy controls (0.72 vs. 0.69 ng/mL, p=0.26). INSL3 was significantly higher in patients with primary osteoporosis (n=4) compared to age-matched healthy controls (n=8) (0.845 vs. 0.665 ng/mL, p=0.021). INSL3 levels in Klinefelter’s Syndrome patients were significantly lower compared to healthy controls (0.39 vs. 0.69 ng/mL, p=0.01). Plasma INSL3 levels were lower in Klinefelter’s Syndrome reflecting testicular failure. INSL3 levels were not lower in men with osteoporosis. The relationship between INSL3, its receptor and bone metabolism requires further study

Overview of marine fisheries in India during 2007

Fisheries sector in India plays an important role in the country’s economy and it supports the livelihood of millions of people. India is having 8,129 km of coastal length with 2.02 million sq. km of Exclusive Economic Zone (upto 200 m depth) and 0.452 million sq. km of continental shelf area

Separation and Determination of Fatty Acids from Lipid Fractions by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography: Cholesterol Esters of Umbilical Cord Arteries

Preeclampsia is accompanied by an extensive remodeling of the extracellular matrix of umbilical cord. It is associated with an increase in collagen content in the umbilical cord artery. Furthermore, preeclampsia distinctly reduces proteolytic and gelatinolytic activity, especially after activation with various agents

EP-1137 DW MRI as biomarker of response during RT for intermed/high risk SCC oropharynx : a feasibility study

Despite radical chemo-radiotherapy (CRT), many patients with intermediate and high risk SCC oropharynx (OPSCC) relapse. Treatment related toxicity limits further uniform intensification across the patient group. If a predictive biomarker for outcomes from CRT can be identified during treatment, individualised and adaptive treatment strategies may be employed for the non-responders. This is the 1st study to use DW MRI for early response assessment in a specific H&N sub-site with sub-type of similar biological behaviour

Methionine Sulfoxide Reductase A (MsrA) Deficient Mycoplasma genitalium Shows Decreased Interactions with Host Cells

Mycoplasma genitalium is an important sexually transmitted pathogen that affects both men and women. In genital-mucosal tissues, it initiates colonization of epithelial cells by attaching itself to host cells via several identified bacterial ligands and host cell surface receptors. We have previously shown that a mutant form of M. genitalium lacking methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MsrA), an antioxidant enzyme which converts oxidized methionine (Met(O)) into methionine (Met), shows decreased viability in infected animals. To gain more insights into the mechanisms by which MsrA controls M. genitalium virulence, we compared the wild-type M. genitalium strain (G37) with an msrA mutant (MS5) strain for their ability to interact with target cervical epithelial cell lines (HeLa and C33A) and THP-1 monocytic cells. Infection of epithelial cell lines with both strains revealed that MS5 was less cytotoxic to HeLa and C33A cell lines than the G37 strain. Also, the MS5 strain was more susceptible to phagocytosis by THP-1 cells than wild type strain (G37). Further, MS5 was less able to induce aggregation and differentiation in THP-1 cells than the wild type strain, as determined by carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) labeling of the cells, followed by counting of cells attached to the culture dish using image analysis. Finally, MS5 was observed to induce less proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α by THP-1 cells than wild type G37 strain. These results indicate that MsrA affects the virulence properties of M. genitalium by modulating its interaction with host cells

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference