Generalized and Resource-Efficient VNet Embeddings with Migrations

This paper attends to the problem of embedding flexibly specified CloudNets, virtual networks connecting cloud resources (such as storage or computation). We attend to a scenario where customers can request CloudNets at short notice, and an infrastructure provider (or a potential itermediate broker or reseller) first embeds the CloudNet fast (e.g., using a simple heuristic). Later, however, long-lived CloudNets embeddings are optimized by migrating them to more suitable locations, whose precise definition depends on a given objective function. For instance, such migrations can be useful to reduce the peak resource loads in the network by spreading CloudNets across the infrastructure, to save energy by moving CloudNets together and switching off unused components, or for maintenance purposes. We present a very generic algorithm to compute optimal embeddings of CloudNets: It allows for different objective functions (such as load minimization or energy conservation), supports cost-aware migration, and can deal with all link types that arise in practice (e.g., full-duplex or even wireless or wired broadcast links with multiple endpoints). Our evaluation shows that such a rigorous optimization is even feasible in order to optimize a moderate-size CloudNet of full flexibility (e.g., a router site, a small physical infrastructure or virtual provider network)

A lineage-specific Exo70 is required for receptor kinase-mediated immunity in barley

In the evolution of land plants, the plant immune system has experienced expansion in immune receptor and signaling pathways. Lineage-specific expansions have been observed in diverse gene families that are potentially involved in immunity but lack causal association. Here, we show that Rps8-mediated resistance in barley to the pathogen Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici (wheat stripe rust) is conferred by a genetic module: Pur1 and Exo70FX12, which are together necessary and sufficient. Pur1 encodes a leucine-rich repeat receptor kinase and is the ortho-log of rice Xa21, and Exo70FX12 belongs to the Poales-specific Exo70FX clade. The Exo70FX clade emerged after the divergence of the Bromeliaceae and Poaceae and comprises from 2 to 75 members in sequenced grasses. These results demonstrate the requirement of a lineage-specific Exo70FX12 in Pur1-mediated immunity and sug-gest that the Exo70FX clade may have evolved a specialized role in receptor kinase signalin

Aspectos a observar na seleção de sistemas agroflorestais sucessionais para análise financeira.

Na construção de uma pesquisa em análise financeira de SAFs sucessionais é importante a atenção para determinados aspectos a serem observados para a seleção de SAFs sucessionais. Tal observação otimizará os esforços de pesquisa e gerará resultados mais consistentes. Buscaram-se áreas adequadas para a realização de análise financeira dos SAFs sucessionais e em cada SAF sucessional visitado foram averiguados quanto a adequação ou não para a realização da análise financeira, sendo os motivos das adequações e inadequações anotados a posteriormente analisados, agrupados e transformados em um roteiro de observações. Entre os aspectos, destacam-se verificar se o tamanho da área, a disposição do agricultor em colaborar, o acesso a informações básicas, a viabilidade logística para trabalhos de campo, a condução padronizada ao longo do tempo e a produção como objetivo principal do SAF sucessional

Seleção de sistemas agroflorestais multiestrata para análise financeira.

Este trabalho é focado nas características necessárias de um sistema agroflorestal (SAF) multiestrata para a realização de uma análise financeira, definidos a partir de um conjunto de planilhas eletrônicas usadas para SAFs. As características definidos foram:1 - Recomendações participativas, 2 - Área mínima, 3 - Disposição colaborativa, 4 - Acessibilidade a informações, 5 - Logística para análise, 6 - Fieza do agricultor no sistema, 7 - Objetivo produtivo, 8 - Planejamento prévio do SAF, 9 - Padrão temporal, 10 - Replicabilidade do sistema e 11 - Disponibilidade de parâmetros. Conclui-se que a presença destas características nas áreas selecionadas irá otimizar os esforços de pesquisa e gerar resultados mais consistentesEdição dos Resumos do 9º Congresso Brasileiro de Agroecologia, 2015, Belém

Risk Factors for Obesity: Further Evidence for Stronger Effects on Overweight Children and Adolescents Compared to Normal-Weight Subjects

Background: We recently showed that in preschoolers risk factors for overweight show stronger associations with BMI in children with high BMI values. However, it is unclear whether these findings might also pertain to adolescents. Methods: We extracted data on 3–10 year-old (n = 7,237) and 11–17 year-old (n = 5,986) children from a representative cross-sectional German health survey (KiGGS) conducted between 2003 and 2006 and calculated quantile regression models for each age group. We used z-scores of children's body mass index (BMI) as outcome variable and maternal BMI, maternal smoking in pregnancy, low parental socioeconomic status, exclusive formula-feeding and high TV viewing time as explanatory variables. Results: In both age groups, the estimated effects of all risk factors except formula-feeding on BMI z-score were greatest for children with the highest BMI z-score. The median BMI z-score of 11–17 year-old children with high TV viewing time, for example, was 0.11 [95% CI: 0.03, 0.19] units higher than the median BMI z-score of teenage children with low TV viewing time. This risk factor was associated with an average difference of 0.18 [0.06, 0.30] units at the 90th percentile of BMI z-score and of 0.20 [0.07, 0.33] units at the 97th percentile. Conclusions: We confirmed that risk factors for childhood overweight are associated with greater shifts in the upper parts of the children's BMI distribution than in the middle and lower parts. These findings pertain also to teenagers and might possibly help to explain the secular shift in the upper BMI percentiles in children and adolescents

A mutated dph3 gene causes sensitivity of Schizosaccharomyces pombe cells to cytotoxic agents

Dph3 is involved in diphthamide modification of the eukaryotic translation elongation factor eEF2 and in Elongator-mediated modifications of tRNAs, where a 5-methoxycarbonyl-methyl moiety is added to wobble uridines. Lack of such modifications affects protein synthesis due to inaccurate translation of mRNAs at ribosomes. We have discovered that integration of markers at the msh3 locus of Schizosaccharomyces pombe impaired the function of the nearby located dph3 gene. Such integrations rendered cells sensitive to the cytotoxic drugs hydroxyurea and methyl methanesulfonate. We constructed dph3 and msh3 strains with mutated ATG start codons (ATGmut), which allowed investigating drug sensitivity without potential interference by marker insertions. The dph3- ATGmut and a dph3::loxP-ura4-loxM gene disruption strain, but not msh3-ATGmut, turned out to be sensitive to hydroxyurea and methyl methanesulfonate, likewise the strains with cassettes integrated at the msh3 locus. The fungicide sordarin, which inhibits diphthamide modified eEF2 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, barely affected survival of wild type and msh3Δ S. pombe cells, while the dph3Δ mutant was sensitive. The msh3-ATG mutation, but not dph3Δ or the dph3-ATG mutation caused a defect in mating-type switching, indicating that the ura4 marker at the dph3 locus did not interfere with Msh3 function. We conclude that Dph3 is required for cellular resistance to the fungicide sordarin and to the cytotoxic drugs hydroxyurea and methyl methanesulfonate. This is likely mediated by efficient translation of proteins in response to DNA damage and replication stress

The cumulative risk of lung cancer among current, ex- and never-smokers in European men

Recent analyses based on UK data indicate that people who stop smoking, even well into middle age, avoid most of their subsequent risk of lung cancer. We investigated whether similar absolute risks of lung cancer in men are found in other European countries with different smoking patterns and at different stages of their lung cancer epidemic. Using data for men from a multicentre case-control study of lung cancer in the UK, Germany, Italy and Sweden, and including 6523 lung cancer cases and 9468 controls, we combined odds ratio estimates with estimates of national lung cancer incidence rates to calculate the cumulative risk of lung cancer among men by age 75. Lung cancer cumulative risks by age 75 among continuing smokers were similar for the UK, Germany and Italy at 15.7, 14.3 and 13.8% respectively, whereas the cumulative risk among Swedish male smokers was 6.6%. The proportion of the risk of lung cancer avoided by quitting smoking before the age of 40 was comparable between the four countries, at 80% in Italy and 91% in the UK, Germany and Sweden. Similarly, the proportion of the excess risk avoided by quitting before the age of 50 ranged from 57% in Italy to 69% in Germany. Our results support the important conclusion that for long-term smokers, giving up smoking in middle age avoids most of the subsequent risk of lung cancer, and that lung cancer mortality in European men over the next three decades will be determined by the extent to which current smokers can successfully quit smoking