A Case for Redundant Arrays of Hybrid Disks (RAHD)

Hybrid Hard Disk Drive was originally concepted by Samsung, which incorporates a Flash memory in a magnetic disk. The combined ultra-high-density benefits of magnetic storage and the low-power and fast read access of NAND technology inspires us to construct Redundant Arrays of Hybrid Disks (RAHD) to offer a possible alternative to today’s Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks (RAIDs) and/or Massive Arrays of Idle Disks (MAIDs). We first design an internal management system (including Energy-Efficient Control) for hybrid disks. Three traces collected from real systems as well as a synthetic trace are then used to evaluate the RAHD arrays. The trace-driven experimental results show: in the high speed mode, a RAHD outplays the purely-magnetic-disk-based RAIDs by a factor of 2.4–4; in the energy-efficient mode, a RAHD4/5 can save up to 89% of energy at little performance degradationPeer reviewe

Effects of vitamin e and zinc supplementation on antioxidants in beta thalassemia major patients

Objective: In beta thalassemic patients, tissue damage occurs due to oxidative stress and it happens because of the accumulation of iron in the body. This study was conducted to determine the effect of zinc and vitamin E supplementation on antioxidant status in beta-thalassemic major patients. Methods: This double blind randomized clinical trial was carried out on 120 beta thalassemic patients older than 18 years. Patients were randomly categorized in four groups. Zinc (50mg/day) and vitamin E (400mg/day) supplements were administered for former and latter group, respectively. In the third group both supplements were administered in similar doses. The fourth (control) group received no supplement. The effect of supplementations on serum zinc and vitamin E, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and body mass index (BMI) were measured at the beginning and the end of the study. Findings: Serum zinc levels in group 1 and 3 were significantly increased (P<0.007 and P<0.005, respectively). Serum vitamin E levels in group 2 and 3 were also increased significantly (P<0.001). Mean GPX activity in group1, 2 and 3 decreased significantly (P<0.015, P<0.032 and P<0.029, respectively). Mean SOD activity and TAC did not show significant change after supplementation. BMI had significant increase in all treated groups (P<0.001). Conclusion: Our results suggest that beta thalassemic patients have enhanced oxidative stress and administration of selective antioxidants may preclude oxidative damage. © 2011 by Pediatrics Center of Excellence, Children's Medical Center, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, All rights reserved

Design and Implementation of a Remote Care Application Based on Microservice Architecture

Microservice Architecture (MSA) is an architectural style for service-based software systems. MSA puts a strong emphasis on high cohesion and loose coupling of the services that provide systems' functionalities. As a result of this, MSA-based software architectures exhibit increased scalability and extensibility, and facilitate the application of continuous integration techniques. This paper presents a case study of an MSA-based Remote Care Application (RCA) that allows caregivers to remotely access smart home devices. The goal of the RCA is to assist persons being cared in Activities of Daily Living. Employing MSA for the realization of the RCA yielded several lessons learned, e.g., (i) direct transferability of domain models based on Domain-driven Design; (ii) more efficient integration of features; (iii) speedup of feature delivery due to MSA facilitating automated deployment.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

Non-Fourier heat transport in metal-dielectric core-shell nanoparticles under ultrafast laser pulse excitation

Relaxation dynamics of embedded metal nanoparticles after ultrafast laser pulse excitation is driven by thermal phenomena of different origins the accurate description of which is crucial for interpreting experimental results: hot electron gas generation, electron-phonon coupling, heat transfer to the particle environment and heat propagation in the latter. Regardingthis last mechanism, it is well known that heat transport in nanoscale structures and/or at ultrashort timescales may deviate from the predictions of the Fourier law. In these cases heat transport may rather be described by the Boltzmann transport equation. We present a numerical model allowing us to determine the electron and lattice temperature dynamics in a spherical gold nanoparticle core under subpicosecond pulsed excitation, as well as that of the surrounding shell dielectric medium. For this, we have used the electron-phonon coupling equation in the particle with a source term linked with the laser pulse absorption, and the ballistic-diffusive equations for heat conduction in the host medium. Either thermalizing or adiabatic boundary conditions have been considered at the shell external surface. Our results show that the heat transfer rate from the particle to the matrix can be significantly smaller than the prediction of Fourier's law. Consequently, the particle temperature rise is larger and its cooling dynamics might be slower than that obtained by using Fourier's law. This difference is attributed to the nonlocal and nonequilibrium heat conduction in the vicinity of the core nanoparticle. These results are expected to be of great importance for analyzing pump-probe experiments performed on single nanoparticles or nanocomposite media

Capacity enrichment OCDMA based on algorithm of novel flexible cross correlation (FCC) address code

The flexible cross-correlation (FCC) address code for Spectral-Amplitude Coding Optical Code-Division Multiple-Access (SACOCDMA) systems has been developed.The FCC code has advantages, such as flexible cross-correlation property at any given number of users and weights, as well as effectively suppressed the impact of phase-induced intensity noise (PIIN) and multiple-access interference (MAI) cancellation property.The results revealed that the FCC code can accommodate 150 users, where FCC code offers 66 %, 172 %, 650 % and 900 % improvement as a contrast to 90, 55, 20 and 15 number of users for dynamic cyclic shift (DCS), modified double weight (MDW), modified frequency hopping (MFH) and Hadamard codes, respectively, for a permissible bit error rate (BER) of 10−9

The effect of homozygous deletion of the BBOX1 and Fibin genes on carnitine level and acyl carnitine profile.

BACKGROUND: Carnitine is a key molecule in energy metabolism that helps transport activated fatty acids into the mitochondria. Its homeostasis is achieved through oral intake, renal reabsorption and de novo biosynthesis. Unlike dietary intake and renal reabsorption, the importance of de novo biosynthesis pathway in carnitine homeostasis remains unclear, due to lack of animal models and description of a single patient defective in this pathway. CASE PRESENTATION: We identified by array comparative genomic hybridization a 42 months-old girl homozygote for a 221 Kb interstitial deletions at 11p14.2, that overlaps the genes encoding Fibin and butyrobetaine-gamma 2-oxoglutarate dioxygenase 1 (BBOX1), an enzyme essential for the biosynthesis of carnitine de novo. She presented microcephaly, speech delay, growth retardation and minor facial anomalies. The levels of almost all evaluated metabolites were normal. Her serum level of free carnitine was at the lower limit of the reference range, while her acylcarnitine to free carnitine ratio was normal. CONCLUSIONS: We present an individual with a completely defective carnitine de novo biosynthesis. This condition results in mildly decreased free carnitine level, but not in clinical manifestations characteristic of carnitine deficiency disorders, suggesting that dietary carnitine intake and renal reabsorption are sufficient to carnitine homeostasis. Our results also demonstrate that haploinsufficiency of BBOX1 and/or Fibin is not associated with Primrose syndrome as previously suggested

Warpage Optimisation on the Moulded Part with Conformal Cooling Channels using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) and Glowworm Swarm Optimisation (GSO)

Today, there are many of optimisation method have been explored by previous researchers to find the appropriate processing parameters setting for the injection moulding process. From the previous researches, it has been proven that the optimisation work improved the quality of the moulded part. However, the application of optimisation work in conformal cooling channels still lacks. Therefore, in this study, the application of optimisation work to improve warpage of front panel housing with conformal cooling channels moulds have been explored. By choosing cooling time, coolant temperature, packing pressure and melt temperature as the variable parameters, design of experiment (DOE) has been defined by using the rotatable central composite design (CCD) approach. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was performed to determine the mathematical model. The mathematical model then will be used in Glowworm Swarm Optimisation (GSO) method in order to obtain the optimal processing parameters setting which will optimise the warpage condition. Based on the results, cooling time is the most significant factor contributes to the warpage condition and warpage have optimised by 38.7% after optimisation using the proposed approach. This finding shows that the application of conformal cooling channels with optimisation work will produce better quality of the moulded part

Holographic Dark Energy from a Modified GBIG Scenario

We construct a holographic dark energy model in a braneworld setup that gravity is induced on the brane embedded in a bulk with Gauss-Bonnet curvature term. We include possible modification of the induced gravity and its coupling with a canonical scalar field on the brane. Through a perturbational approach to calculate the effective gravitation constant on the brane, we examine the outcome of this model as a candidate for holographic dark energy.Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in IJMP

Effect of Nenas honey supplementation on the oxidative status of undergraduate students

Honey is a dietary antioxidant as it contains phenolic compounds, such as flavonoids and phenolic acids. Antioxidants are non-nutritive, biologically active ingredients in food that reduce oxidative stress. The antioxidant content in each type of honey varies depending on its source. This study was aimed to determine the effect of Nenas honey supplementation on the oxidative status of a group of healthy medical students. They were divided into two groups; control (n=10) and supplemented (n=13), where 1 tablespoon of Nenas honey was given each day. Blood sampling was done at baseline, 1st and 2nd month of the study for determination of DNA damage and antioxidant enzyme activities, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidise (GPx), and catalase (CAT). Results showed that Nenas honey increased the level of DNA damage at the 1st month but reduced it significantly at the 2nd month as compared to control. GPx and CAT activities also decreased significantly with honey supplementation throughout the study, though no changes were observed in SOD activity. Fasting glucose levels remained within the normal range with honey supplementation. In conclusion, Nenas honey decreases oxidative stress which leads to a reduction of antioxidant enzyme activities in the body