Fog paradigm for local energy management systems

Cloud Computing infrastructures have been extensively deployed to support energy computation within built environments. This has ranged from predicting potential energy demand for a building (or a group of buildings), undertaking heat profile/energy distribution simulations, to understanding the impact of climate and weather on building operation. Cloud computing usage in these scenarios have benefited from resource elasticity, where the number and types of resources can change based on the complexity of the simulation being considered. While there are numerous advantages of using a cloud based energy management system, there are also significant limitations. For instance, many such systems assume that the data has been pre-staged at a cloud platform prior to simulation, and do not take account of data transfer times from the building to the simulation platform. The need for supporting computation at edge resources, which can be hosted within the building itself or shared within a building complex, has become important over recent year. Additionally, network connectivity between the sensing infrastructure within a built environment and a data centre where analysis is to be carried out can be intermittent or may fail. There is therefore also a need to better understand how computation/analysis can be carried out closer to the data capture site to complement analysis that would be undertaken at the data centre. We describe how the Fog computing paradigm can be used to support some of these requirements, extending the capability of a data centre to support energy simulation within built environments

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (4th edition)1.

In 2008, we published the first set of guidelines for standardizing research in autophagy. Since then, this topic has received increasing attention, and many scientists have entered the field. Our knowledge base and relevant new technologies have also been expanding. Thus, it is important to formulate on a regular basis updated guidelines for monitoring autophagy in different organisms. Despite numerous reviews, there continues to be confusion regarding acceptable methods to evaluate autophagy, especially in multicellular eukaryotes. Here, we present a set of guidelines for investigators to select and interpret methods to examine autophagy and related processes, and for reviewers to provide realistic and reasonable critiques of reports that are focused on these processes. These guidelines are not meant to be a dogmatic set of rules, because the appropriateness of any assay largely depends on the question being asked and the system being used. Moreover, no individual assay is perfect for every situation, calling for the use of multiple techniques to properly monitor autophagy in each experimental setting. Finally, several core components of the autophagy machinery have been implicated in distinct autophagic processes (canonical and noncanonical autophagy), implying that genetic approaches to block autophagy should rely on targeting two or more autophagy-related genes that ideally participate in distinct steps of the pathway. Along similar lines, because multiple proteins involved in autophagy also regulate other cellular pathways including apoptosis, not all of them can be used as a specific marker for bona fide autophagic responses. Here, we critically discuss current methods of assessing autophagy and the information they can, or cannot, provide. Our ultimate goal is to encourage intellectual and technical innovation in the field

Rasgos alimenticios, reproductivos y potencial productivo del tepezcuintle (Agouti paca)

The present article reviews the bibliographie date available on the feeding of tepezcuintle (Agouti paca). It also reports about the reproductive rates and the meat production in captivity and mentions some alternatives to improve this characteristics

Trichuris sp. from 1,040 +/- 50-year-old Cervidae coprolites from the archaeological site Furna do Estrago, Pernambuco, Brazil

We present results of the paleoparasitological analysis of Cervidae coprolites that were recovered from the archaeological site Furna do Estrago, Pernambuco, Brazil. Trichuris sp. eggs were recovered from the coprolite samples dated 1,040 ± 50 years before present. This is the first record of Trichuris sp. in semiarid Cervidae, unexpectedly recorded in archaeological material

Endometrial cancer in Puerto Rico: incidence, mortality and survival (1992-2003)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endometrial cancer is the most common gynecologic malignancy in Puerto Rico and the United States (US).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We compare the age-specific and age-adjusted incidence and mortality rates and the survival of endometrial cancer in Puerto Rico with that of non-Hispanic whites (NHW), non-Hispanic blacks (NHB) and Hispanics in the US. Data from the Puerto Rico Central Cancer Registry and the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program were analyzed from 1992-2003.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Age-standardized incidence rates of endometrial cancer increased significantly (p < 0.05) in Puerto Rico (APC = 2.8%) and among NHB (APC = 1.9%) and remained constant (p > 0.05) for NHW (APC = -0.1%) and Hispanics in the US (APC = 0.4%). Mortality trends remained constant in all racial/ethnic groups (p > 0.05). For 1999-2003, women in Puerto Rico had similar incidence of endometrial cancer as Hispanics (Standardized rate ratio [SRR] = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.87-1.01), although their risk was lower than that of NHW (SRR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.53-0.59) and NHB (SRR = 0.91, 95% CI = 0.84-0.98). Meanwhile, women in Puerto Rico had 15% higher risk of death than Hispanic women (SRR = 1.15, 95% CI = 1.03-1.30) similar risk than NHW (SRR = 0.93, 95% CI = 0.83-1.03), and lower risk than NHB (SRR = 0.51, 95% CI = 0.46-0.57). Puerto Rico (63.1%) and NHB (56.8%) had a lower 5-year survival than NHW (78.4%) and Hispanics (79.5%). An age-adjusted Cox proportional hazards model showed that compared with women in Puerto Rico, Hispanic women in the United States had 37% lower mortality risk (HR = 0.63, 95% CI = 0.56-0.71) and NHW had 53% lower mortality risk (HR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.43-0.52) after 5 years of diagnosis; NHB women had 22% higher mortality risk than women in Puerto Rico (HR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.09-1.36).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The lower burden of endometrial cancer in Puerto Rico suggests the presence of protective factors or lower exposure to risk factors in this population, although increases in incidence suggest changes in the occurrence of lifestyles and environmental risk factors. Meanwhile, the lower five-year survival from endometrial cancer among Puerto Ricans suggests a health disparity for this group in areas such as quality of care and/or differences in terms of stage at diagnosis and associated comorbidities. Assessment of disease risk factors and characteristics, and access and response to treatment is required to further understand these results.</p

Biogeography of New World Tarantulas

Biogeography is a multidisciplinary field that is concerned with delimit- ing and explaining the geographic distributions of organisms in space and time. Due to their distribution patterns and interesting biology (e.g., ancient lineage with a nearly cosmopolitan distribution, sedentary lifestyle with limited dispersal capabili- ties), tarantulas are an appealing taxonomic group for addressing a variety of bio- geographic questions concerning the Earth’s history. In this chapter, we discuss some biogeographic basic concepts, delve into the distribution patterns of New World tarantulas, and explore some of the historical explanations that may have led to these distributions. We mostly review and highlight the results of recent studies but also include personal observations and unpublished data. The distributions of higher-level taxonomic groups (subfamilies and tribes) are described and we detail their latitudinal and elevational limits. We also review the distributions of groups with unique insular habitats such as those found on islands surrounded by seas, forested “islands” surrounded by “seas” of deserts, and caves. Furthermore, we dis- cuss the distribution of some unique morphological characters of taxonomic impor- tance such as urticating setae. Finally, we review a handful of studies that have explicitly investigated the biogeography of New World tarantulas using a variety of different analytical methods.Fil: Perafán, Carlos. Universidad de la República. Facultad de Ciencias; UruguayFil: Ferretti, Nelson Edgardo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas y Biomédicas del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Biología, Bioquímica y Farmacia. Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas y Biomédicas del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Hendrixson, Brent E.. Millsaps College. Department Of Biology; Estados Unido