Communication Infrastructure Design for Wide-Area Mobile Computation: Specification in Nomadic Pict

We review an example of wide-area mobile agent applications: video-on-demand, long-lived scientific computation, and collaborative work, and the design of a distributed infrastructure required in each of these applications for location-independent communication. For the latter application, we propose an infrastructure algorithm that assumes two kinds of collaboration: (1) within a group of ``mobile'' individuals, who can communicate frequently using different computers connected to a local-area network (possibly via a wireless medium), and (2) some individuals may also communicate outside their groups using the global network. The algorithm has been specified formally, as an executable encoding in Nomadic Pict. The formal specification is concise but gives enough details to be directly translated by application programmers using their language of choice

Protein alignment algorithms with an efficient backtracking routine on multiple GPUs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pairwise sequence alignment methods are widely used in biological research. The increasing number of sequences is perceived as one of the upcoming challenges for sequence alignment methods in the nearest future. To overcome this challenge several GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) computing approaches have been proposed lately. These solutions show a great potential of a GPU platform but in most cases address the problem of sequence database scanning and computing only the alignment score whereas the alignment itself is omitted. Thus, the need arose to implement the global and semiglobal Needleman-Wunsch, and Smith-Waterman algorithms with a backtracking procedure which is needed to construct the alignment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper we present the solution that performs the alignment of every given sequence pair, which is a required step for progressive multiple sequence alignment methods, as well as for DNA recognition at the DNA assembly stage. Performed tests show that the implementation, with performance up to 6.3 GCUPS on a single GPU for affine gap penalties, is very efficient in comparison to other CPU and GPU-based solutions. Moreover, multiple GPUs support with load balancing makes the application very scalable.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The article shows that the backtracking procedure of the sequence alignment algorithms may be designed to fit in with the GPU architecture. Therefore, our algorithm, apart from scores, is able to compute pairwise alignments. This opens a wide range of new possibilities, allowing other methods from the area of molecular biology to take advantage of the new computational architecture. Performed tests show that the efficiency of the implementation is excellent. Moreover, the speed of our GPU-based algorithms can be almost linearly increased when using more than one graphics card.</p

Structural and Algorithmic Issues of Dynamic Protocol Update

In this paper, we study dynamic protocol update (DPU). Contrary to local code updates on-the-fly, DPU requires global coordination of local code replacements. We propose a novel solution to DPU. The key idea is to add a level of indirection between the service callers and the service provider. This indirection level facilitates implementation of simple and efficient algorithms for DPU. We also describe an experimental implementation of adaptable group communication middleware. It can switch between different atomic broadcast protocols on-the-fly. All middleware services, including those that depend on the updated protocols, provide service correctly and with negligible delay while the global update takes places. The switching algorithm introduces very low overhead, that we illustrate by showing example measurement results

Mechanism of Water Dynamics in Hyaluronic Dermal Fillers Revealed by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Relaxometry

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under project “IDentIFY”, grant agreement No 668119.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Efficacy and Safety of Ixekizumab in the Treatment of Radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis:Sixteen-Week Results From a Phase III Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial in Patients With Prior Inadequate Response to or Intolerance of Tumor Necrosis Factor Inhibitors

Objective: To investigate the efficacy and safety of ixekizumab in patients with active radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (SpA) and prior inadequate response to or intolerance of 1 or 2 tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi). Methods: In this phase III randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, adult patients with an inadequate response to or intolerance of 1 or 2 TNFi and an established diagnosis of axial SpA (according to the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society [ASAS] criteria for radiographic axial SpA, with radiographic sacroiliitis defined according to the modified New York criteria and ≥1 feature of SpA) were recruited and randomized 1:1:1 to receive placebo or 80-mg subcutaneous ixekizumab every 2 weeks (IXEQ2W) or 4 weeks (IXEQ4W), with an 80-mg or 160-mg starting dose. The primary end point was 40% improvement in disease activity according to the ASAS criteria (ASAS40) at week 16. Secondary outcomes and safety were also assessed. Results: A total of 316 patients were randomized to receive placebo (n = 104), IXEQ2W (n = 98), or IXEQ4W (n = 114). At week 16, significantly higher proportions of IXEQ2W patients (n = 30 [30.6%]; P = 0.003) or IXEQ4W patients (n = 29 [25.4%]; P = 0.017) had achieved an ASAS40 response versus the placebo group (n = 13 [12.5%]), with statistically significant differences reported as early as week 1 with ixekizumab treatment. Statistically significant improvements in disease activity, function, quality of life, and spinal magnetic resonance imaging–evident inflammation were observed after 16 weeks of ixekizumab treatment versus placebo. Treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) with ixekizumab treatment were more frequent than with placebo. Serious AEs were similar across treatment arms. One death was reported (IXEQ2W group). Conclusion: Ixekizumab treatment for 16 weeks in patients with active radiographic axial SpA and previous inadequate response to or intolerance of 1 or 2 TNFi yields rapid and significant improvements in the signs and symptoms of radiographic axial SpA versus placebo

Algorithms for Location-Independent Communication between Mobile Agents

We study the distributed infrastructures required for location-independent communication between mobile agents. These infrastructures are problematic: different applications may have very different patterns of migration and communication, and require different performance and robustness properties. Some applications also demand disconnected operation (on laptop computers). Algorithms must be designed with these mind. In this paper we describe simple algorithms and techniques such as central server, forwarding pointers, broadcast, group communication, and hierarchical location directory, and use Nomadic Pict to develop and implement an example infrastructure. The infrastructure can tolerate site disconnection; a user can disconnect the computer from the network, work in a disconnected mode for extended periods, and later reconnect. All messages that cannot be delivered to a laptop or sent out from the laptop due to disconnection will be transparently delivered upon reconnection

Typing for Reliable Distributed Systems - Recent Advances

In this paper, we report on recent progress in the area of language-based software dependability. We give examples of using advanced type systems for statically detecting non-trivial programming errors in programs. We have chosen examples that are particularly applicable to concurrent, distributed and modular (or component-based) systems