A BRANCH AND BOUND ALGORITHM FOR WORKFLOW SCHEDULING

Nowadays, people are connected to the Internet and use different Cloud solutions to store, process and deliver data. The Cloud consists of a collection of virtual servers that promise to provision on-demand computational and storage resources when needed. Workflow data is becoming an ubiquitous term in both science and technology and there is a strong need for new  tools and techniques to process and analyze large-scale complex datasets that are growing exponentially. scientific workflow is a sequence of connected tasks with large data transfer from parent task to children tasks. Workflow scheduling is the activity of assigning tasks to execution on servers and satisfying resource constraints and this is an NP-hard problem. In this paper, we propose a scheduling algorithm for workflow data that is derived from the Branch and Bound Algorithm

L’effet du port nocturne des prothèses complètes sur le sommeil et la qualité de vie liée à la santé buccodentaire : une étude pilote expérimentale

Problématique : L’édentement et les troubles du sommeil sont des affections chroniques fréquentes chez les personnes âgées et qui peuvent avoir des conséquences défavorables sur le bien-être de ces personnes, ainsi que sur leur qualité de vie. L’édentement pourrait perturber le sommeil par la modification de la structure crânio-faciale et des tissus mous environnants. Cependant, cette relation n'est pas suffisamment documenté. Objectifs : Le but de cette étude pilote était de préparer la mise en œuvre d’une étude clinique randomisée contrôlée concernant l’effet du port nocturne des prothèses complètes sur la qualité du sommeil. Méthodologie : Treize aînés édentés ont participé à cette étude clinique randomisée contrôlée de type croisé. L’intervention consistait à dormir avec ou sans les prothèses durant la nuit. Les participants à l'étude ont été assignés à porter et ne pas porter leurs prothèses dans des ordres alternatifs pour des périodes de 30 jours. La qualité du sommeil a été évaluée par la polysomnographie portable et le questionnaire Pittburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Les données supplémentaires incluent la somnolence diurne, évaluée par le questionnaire Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), et la qualité de vie liée à la santé buccodentaire, évaluée par le questionnaire Oral Health Impact Profile 20 (OHIP-20). De plus, à travers les examens cliniques et radiologiques, les données des caractéristiques sociodémographiques, de la morphologie oropharyngée, des caractéristiques buccodentaires et des prothèses ont été recueillies. Les modèles de régression linéaire pour les mesures répétées ont été utilisés pour analyser les résultats. Résultats : L’étude de faisabilité a atteint un taux de recrutement à l’étude de 59,1% et un taux de suivi de 100%. Le port nocturne des prothèses dentaires augmentait l’index d'apnée-hypopnée (IAH) et le score PSQI par rapport au non port nocturne des prothèses : (IAH : Médiane = 20,9 (1,3 - 84,7) versus 11,2 (1,9 - 69,6), p = 0,237; le score PSQI : Médiane = 6,0 (3,0 - 11,0) versus 5,0 (1,0 - 11,0), p = 0,248). Cependant, ces différences n'étaient pas statistiquement significatives, sauf que pour le temps moyen d’apnée (plus long avec des prothèses) (p < 0,005) et le temps de ronflement relatif (moins élevé avec des prothèses) (p < 0,05). La somnolence diurne excessive et la qualité de vie liée à la santé buccodentaire étaient semblables pour les deux interventions (le score ESS : Médiane = 4,0 (3,0-10,0) versus 5,0 (2,0-10,0), p = 0,746; le score OHIP-20: Médiane = 31,0 (20,0-64,0) versus 27,0 (20,0-49,0), p = 0,670). L’impact néfaste du port nocturne des prothèses complètes sur le sommeil a été statistiquement significatif chez les personnes souffrant de l’apnée-hypopnée moyenne à sévère (p < 0,005). Conclusion : L’essai clinique pilote a montré que le port nocturne des prothèses complètes a un impact négatif sur la qualité du sommeil des gens âgés édentés, surtout chez les personnes avec l’apnée obstructive du sommeil modérée à sévère. Les résultats doivent être confirmés par l’étude clinique randomisée contrôlée de phase II.Problem: Edentulism and sleep disturbance are common chronic conditions in older people and may have adverse consequences on well-being of these persons, as well as their quality of life. Indeed, edentulism can modify the craniofacial structure and surrounding soft tissue, and lead to sleep disturbance in edentate individuals. However, this relationship is not sufficiently documented. Objectives: The aim of this study was to prepare a pilot randomized controlled trial on the effect of nocturnal complete denture wear on sleep quality. Methods: Thirteen edentate elders participated in this randomized cross-over clinical trial. The intervention consisted of sleeping with or without dentures at night. The study participants were assigned to wear and not wear their denture in alternate orders for periods of 30 days. Sleep quality was assessed by portable polysomnography and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Additional data included: daytime sleepiness assessed by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) and oral-health-related quality of life assessed by the Oral Health Impact Profile 20 (OHIP-20). Furthermore, through the clinical and radiographic examinations, data on sociodemographic, oropharyngeal morphology, and oral and prosthesis characteristics were gathered. Linear regression models for repeated measures were used to analyze the data. Results: The recruitment rate for this study was 59.1% and the follow-up rate was 100%. Sleeping with dentures resulted in higher apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and higher PSQI score when compared with sleeping without dentures (AHI: Median = 20.9 (1.3-84.7) vs. 11.2 (1.9-69.6), p = 0.237; PSQI score: Median = 6.0 (3.0-11.0) vs. 5.0 (1.0-11.0), p = 0.248). However, these differences were not statistically significant, except for the mean apnea time (more with dentures) (p < 0.005) and the relative snoring time (less with dentures) (p < 0.05). Excessive daytime sleepiness and the oral-health-related quality of life were similar for two interventions (ESS score: Median = 4.0 (3.0-10.0) vs. 5.0 (2.0-10.0), p = 0.746; OHIP-20 score: Median = 31.0 (20.0-64.0) vs. 27.0 (20.0-49.0), p = 0.670). The negative impact of sleeping with complete dentures wear was statistically significant in individuals suffering from moderate and severe apnea-hypopnea index (p < 0.005). Conclusion: The pilot clinical trial showed that wearing complete dentures at night has negative effects on the sleep quality of edentate elders, especially in individuals with moderate and severe obstructive apnea sleep. The results need to be confirmed with phase-II randomized clinical trial

STUDY ON APPLICABILITY OF THE CONTACT OXIDATION PROCESS IN REMOVAL OF ORGANIC POLLUTANTS FROM TEXTILE WASTEWATER

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

COLOR AND COD REMOVAL OF DYEING WASTEWATER BY COMBINATION TREATMENT OF COAGULATION AND FENTON OXIDATION

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Efficiency of Farmer Organisations in Supplying Supermarkets with Quality Food in Vietnam

The development of supermarkets in Vietnam, as in other emerging countries, goes along with an increasing concern on the part of purchasers for food quality. The paper investigates whether farmer organisations are able to help small-scale farmers get access to supermarkets, and the role that supermarkets and public support play in their emergence and development. It is based on case studies involving a number of stakeholders marketing vegetables, flavoured rice and litchi fruit in Vietnam. The interviews investigated patterns of horizontal and vertical coordination that link farmers to supermarkets, the distribution of costs and benefits between farmers and traders along the chains in relation to the strategy of quality differentiation. Eight farmer associations that work in the form of private commercial organisations are regular supermarket suppliers for the selected products. Their ability to supply supermarkets is related to the combination of functions they make available to their members, especially as regards training to improve quality (appearance, taste, safety), quality promotion and control, for which they receive public support, as well as their participation in flexible contracts with supermarkets, shops and schools. Supermarket supply through farmer associations increases farmer incomes when compared with traditional chains, yet the situation is reported to change with the increase in supermarket competition. The paper argues that changes in farmer organisation are not only due to supplying supermarkets, but also to public and international support to food quality improvement, which have been of benefit to supermarkets.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization,

An Effective PSO-inspired Algorithm for Workflow Scheduling

The Cloud is a computing platform that provides on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable resources such as networks, servers and storage that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort from clients. At its core, Cloud computing focuses on maximizing the effectiveness of the shared resources. Therefore, workflow scheduling is one of the challenges that the Cloud must tackle especially if a large number of tasks are executed on geographically distributed servers. This entails the need to adopt an effective scheduling algorithm in order to minimize task completion time (makespan). Although workflow scheduling has been the focus of many researchers, a handful efficient solutions have been proposed for Cloud computing. In this paper, we propose the LPSO, a novel algorithm for workflow scheduling problem that is based on the Particle Swarm Optimization method. Our proposed algorithm not only ensures a fast convergence but also prevents getting trapped in local extrema. We ran realistic scenarios using CloudSim and found that LPSO is superior to previously proposed algorithms and noticed that the deviation between the solution found by LPSO and the optimal solution is negligible

The Transmission Mechanism of Bilateral Relationship Between Exports and Economic Growth in Vietnam

This article uses the vector error correction model (VECM) to analyze the transmission mechanism of bilateral relationship between exports and economic growth in Vietnam over the period 1999-2014. The results show that: (1) Existing bilateral relationship between exports and economic growth in Vietnam through the transmission channel in both short and long term; (2) Exports growth has been the motivation for economic growth and the resource factors play an important role in the transmission of the effects of exports to economic growth of Vietnam; (3) Economic growth also contribute to export growth by improving competitiveness in international trade through increasing productivity. Keywords: Economic growth, export, The Virtuous Circle Model, Verdoorn's Law. JEL Classifications: A12, G01, F4

The effect of nocturnal wear of dentures on the sleep quality: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Purpose The effect of nocturnal wear of denture on sleep quality and integrity is still not well understood. Therefore, this systematic review was conducted to provide evidence on this topic. Methods Electronic searches were conducted from 1964 up to September 2015, using MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. Only publications in English or French, in which sleep quality of edentate adult individuals wearing dentures at night was compared to those not wearing were included in the review. Random effects models were used to pool the effect sizes. Results A total of 10 studies were included in the systematic review and 5 in the meta-analysis. No statistically significant difference between sleeping with denture and without denture was found for the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI; Standard Mean Difference = −0.60, 95 % CI −1.67–0.47; Z = −1.10; p = 0.27). However, there was considerable heterogeneity in the studies included in the meta-analysis (Tau2 = 1.34; Q-value = 59.32, df = 4 (P < 0.0001); I2 = 93.3 %). When results from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were pooled in subgroup analyses of AHI, there was a tendency towards favoring sleeping without dentures (P = 0.059) and no evidence of heterogeneity between studies (Tau2 = 0.000; Q-value = 0.06, df = 1 (P = 0.80); I2 = 0.000 %). Conclusion The current evidence suggests that there is no difference in the sleep quality and integrity of individuals wearing or not wearing their denture during sleep. However, the results of randomized controlled trials favoring sleeping without dentures and the likely presence of bias in the previous studies indicate the need for further randomized controlled trials for the development of clinical guideline

Influence of biofertilizer produced using drumstick (Moringa oleifera L.) unused parts on the growth performance of two leafy vegetables

The non-edible parts of Moringa oleifera, such as stems, branches or leaf petioles, have often been discarded while the leaves are consumed as a vegetable or are used to produce organic fertilizer. This study aimed to determine the optimal conditions for producing Moringa organic fertilizer (MOF) from previously unused parts and to compare these fertilizers with cow manure and bio-organic fertilizer. Seventy kilograms of the unused Moringa parts were blended with fifty kilograms of manure, 0.2 kilogram of Trichoderma-based product and two kilograms of superphosphate. The mixture was incubated at different intervals, including 5, 7 or 9 weeks. Next, the effects of MOF on the growth, yield, ascorbic acid content and Brix of lettuce and mustard spinach were also determined and compared with other organic fertilizers (cow manure and bio-organic fertilizer). Results of the study revealed that 25 tons per ha of MOF were significantly superior to those treated with cow manure and bio-organic fertilizer in the case of vegetable yields. Further, 7 weeks of MOF incubation was found suitable to produce an optimal yield during the various incubation period. These results suggested that the Moringa non-edible parts can make organic fertilizer and enhance growth, yield, and leafy vegetable production