Resource allocation in cloud computing using advanced imperialist competitive algorithm

Cloud computing makes possible free access to computing resources and high-level services for performing complex calculations and mass storage of information on the Internet. Resource management is one of the most important tasks of cloud providers, which is known as resource allocation. Heterogeneous resources and diverse requests at different time intervals makes it difficult to solve resources allocation problems and is considered as a NP-hard problem. Providing an efficient algorithm for resources allocation to satisfy the cloud providers and customers has always attracted much attention of researchers. Heuristic methods have always introduced as a good model for problem solving. However, most algorithms suffer from early convergence. This paper proposes a new approach based on imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) which emphasizes the optimization of resource allocation in reducing time, cost and energy consumption. The proposed approach has been able to improve the early convergence of colonial competition algorithm by combining with the Tabu Search Algorithm to achieve an optimal solution at an acceptable time. The evaluated results show more efficiency performance than several relevant effective algorithms

Measuring internal brand equity in B2B service industries in Iran

In the business-to-business sector, employees are playing a pivotal role in the success of corporate brands. Thus, measuring the internal brand equity in service industries can significantly highlight the potential role of the workforce in internal and external brand performance. To this end, 105 service firms were examined and empirical data was provided by a sample of 533 industrial workers and 208 managers, which was then analyzed. The main conclusions of this research lead us to confirm the positive relationship between determinants of internal brand equity and its influence on building strong internal and external brand equity. Conclusions are drawn for management practice and future research.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Knowledge and Performance about Nursing Ethic Codes from Nurses' and Patients' Perspective in Tabriz Teaching Hospitals, Iran

Introduction: Nursing profession requires knowledge of ethics to guide performance. The nature of this profession necessitates ethical care more than routine care. Today, worldwide definition of professional ethic code has been done based on human and ethical issues in the communication between nurse and patient. To improve all dimensions of nursing, we need to respect ethic codes. The aim of this study is to assess knowledge and performance about nursing ethic codes from nurses' and patients' perspective.Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study Conducted upon 345 nurses and 500 inpatients in six teaching hospitals of Tabriz, 2012. To investigate nurses' knowledge and performance, data were collected by using structured questionnaires. Statistical analysis was done using descriptive and analytic statistics, independent t-test and ANOVA and Pearson correlation coefficient, in SPSS13.Results: Most of the nurses were female, married, educated at BS degree and 86.4% of them were aware of Ethic codes also 91.9% of nurses and 41.8% of patients represented nurses respect ethic codes. Nurses' and patients' perspective about ethic codes differed significantly. Significant relationship was found between nurses' knowledge of ethic codes and job satisfaction and complaint of ethical performance. Conclusion: According to the results, consideration to teaching ethic codes in nursing curriculum for student and continuous education for staff is proposed, on the other hand recognizing failures of the health system, optimizing nursing care, attempt to inform patients about Nursing ethic codes, promote patient rights and achieve patient satisfaction can minimize the differences between the two perspectives

Role of vitamin C and rectal indomethacin in preventing and alleviating post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis: a clinical study

Background/Aims This study aimed to determine whether vitamin C in addition to indomethacin decreases the occurrence and severity of post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) pancreatitis (PEP) occurrence and severity. Methods This randomized clinical trial included patients undergoing ERCP. The participants were administered either rectal indomethacin (100 mg) plus an injection of vitamin C (500 mg) or rectal indomethacin (100 mg) alone just before ERCP. The primary outcomes were PEP occurrence and severity. The secondary amylase and lipase levels were determined after 24 hours. Results A total of 344 patients completed the study. Based on intention-to-treat analysis, the PEP rates were 9.9% for indomethacin plus vitamin C plus indomethacin and 15.7% for indomethacin alone. Regarding the per-protocol analysis, the PEP rates were 9.7% and 15.7% in the combination and indomethacin arms, respectively. There was a remarkable difference between the two arms in PEP occurrence and severity on intention-to-treat and per-protocol analyses (p=0.034 and p=0.031, respectively). The post-ERCP lipase and amylase concentrations were lower in the combination arm than in the indomethacin alone arm (p=0.034 and p=0.029, respectively). Conclusions Vitamin C injection in addition to rectal indomethacin reduced PEP occurrence and severity

Recent Advances in Nanomaterial-Based Biosensor for Periodontitis Detection

Periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory condition caused by bacteria, often causes gradual destruction of the components that support teeth, such as the alveolar bone, cementum, periodontal ligament, and gingiva. This ultimately results in teeth becoming loose and eventually falling out. Timely identification has a crucial role in preventing and controlling its progression. Clinical measures are used to diagnose periodontitis. However, now, there is a hunt for alternative diagnostic and monitoring methods due to the progress of technology. Various biomarkers have been assessed using multiple bodily fluids as sample sources. Furthermore, conventional periodontal categorization factors do not provide significant insights into the present disease activity, severity and amount of tissue damage, future development, and responsiveness to treatment. In recent times, there has been a growing utilization of nanoparticle (NP)-based detection strategies to create quick and efficient detection assays. Every single one of these platforms leverages the distinct characteristics of NPs to identify periodontitis. Plasmonic NPs include metal NPs, quantum dots (QDs), carbon base NPs, and nanozymes, exceptionally potent light absorbers and scatterers. These find application in labeling, surface-enhanced spectroscopy, and color-changing sensors. Fluorescent NPs function as photostable and sensitive instruments capable of labeling various biological targets. This article presents a comprehensive summary of the latest developments in the effective utilization of various NPs to detect periodontitis

Comparing the Clinical Characteristics, Laboratory Findings, and Outcomes between Epidemic and Episodic Methanol Poisoning Referrals; a Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Due to illegal manufacturing and sales of alcoholic beverages, epidemic outbreaks of methanol poisoning may occur. The aim of this study was to determine if there were differences in the severity, course of poisoning, and outcomes between methanol-poisoned patients admitted during an outbreak versus those who were admitted following episodic exposures. Methods: The present retrospective study was performed in a single referral poisoning center between March 2018 and March 2019 in patients with confirmed methanol poisoning. During this time, in addition to episodic cases of methanol intoxication, there were three methanol poisoning outbreaks. Outbreaks were characterized by an unexpected increase in the number of methanol-poisoned patients in a short period of time, which impacted resources and decision-making. The two groups were compared regarding their severity of poisoning, sessions of hemodialysis, and clinical outcomes. Results: Outbreak cases had a higher level of methanol than episodic cases. Odds of being dialyzed more than once was 5.4 times higher in the cases presenting during an outbreak (95% CI 2.1-14.0; p=0.001). Mean hospital stay, intubation/mechanical ventilation, and death were similar between the two groups. An evaluation of the alcoholic beverage samples available in the Iranian black market during the outbreak showed a 7-percent methanol concentration with no ethanol content. Conclusions: Poisoning risk may be higher during methanol outbreaks due to the higher methanol concentrations, requiring more hemodialysis sessions for persistent metabolic acidosis. In addition to alcohol dehydrogenase blockade, careful risk assessment of all methanol poisonings can assist with stratifying the priority for, and duration of, hemodialysis to optimize outcomes

Facial affect recognition in context in adults with and without TBI

IntroductionSeveral studies have reported impaired emotion recognition in adults with traumatic brain injury (TBI), but studies have two major design features that limit application of results to real-world contexts: (1) participants choose from among lists of basic emotions, rather than generating emotion labels, and (2) images are typically presented in isolation rather than in context. To address these limitations, we created an open-labeling task with faces shown alone or in real-life scenes, to more closely approximate how adults with TBI label facial emotions beyond the lab.MethodsParticipants were 55 adults (29 female) with moderate to severe TBI and 55 uninjured comparison peers, individually matched for race, sex, and age. Participants viewed 60 photographs of faces, either alone or in the pictured person’s real-life context, and were asked what that person was feeling. We calculated the percent of responses that were standard forced-choice-task options, and also used sentiment intensity analysis to compare verbal responses between the two groups. We tracked eye movements for a subset of participants, to explore whether gaze duration or number of fixations helped explain any group differences in labels.ResultsOver 50% of responses in both groups were words other than basic emotions on standard affect tasks, highlighting the importance of eliciting open-ended responses. Valence of labels by participants with TBI was attenuated relative to valence of Comparison group labels, i.e., TBI group responses were less positive to positive images and the same was true for negative images, although the TBI group responses had higher lexical diversity. There were no significant differences in gaze duration or number of fixations between groups.DiscussionResults revealed qualitative differences in affect labels between adults with and without TBI that would not have emerged on standard forced-choice tasks. Verbal differences did not appear to be attributable to differences in gaze patterns, leaving open the question of mechanisms of atypical affect processing in adults with TBI

Folate-Targeted Curcumin-Loaded Niosomes for Site-Specific Delivery in Breast Cancer Treatment: In Silico and In Vitro Study

As the most common cancer in women, efforts have been made to develop novel nanomedicine-based therapeutics for breast cancer. In the present study, the in silico curcumin (Cur) properties were investigated, and we found some important drawbacks of Cur. To enhance cancer therapeutics of Cur, three different nonionic surfactants (span 20, 60, and 80) were used to prepare various Cur-loaded niosomes (Nio-Cur). Then, fabricated Nio-Cur were decorated with folic acid (FA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) for breast cancer suppression. For PEG-FA@Nio-Cur, the gene expression levels of Bax and p53 were higher compared to free drug and Nio-Cur. With PEG-FA-decorated Nio-Cur, levels of Bcl2 were lower than the free drug and Nio-Cur. When MCF7 and 4T1 cell uptake tests of PEG-FA@Nio-Cur and Nio-Cur were investigated, the results showed that the PEG-FA-modified niosomes exhibited the most preponderant endocytosis. In vitro experiments demonstrate that PEG-FA@Nio-Cur is a promising strategy for the delivery of Cur in breast cancer therapy. Breast cancer cells absorbed the prepared nanoformulations and exhibited sustained drug release characteristics