Adaptive Energy-aware Scheduling of Dynamic Event Analytics across Edge and Cloud Resources

The growing deployment of sensors as part of Internet of Things (IoT) is generating thousands of event streams. Complex Event Processing (CEP) queries offer a useful paradigm for rapid decision-making over such data sources. While often centralized in the Cloud, the deployment of capable edge devices on the field motivates the need for cooperative event analytics that span Edge and Cloud computing. Here, we identify a novel problem of query placement on edge and Cloud resources for dynamically arriving and departing analytic dataflows. We define this as an optimization problem to minimize the total makespan for all event analytics, while meeting energy and compute constraints of the resources. We propose 4 adaptive heuristics and 3 rebalancing strategies for such dynamic dataflows, and validate them using detailed simulations for 100 - 1000 edge devices and VMs. The results show that our heuristics offer O(seconds) planning time, give a valid and high quality solution in all cases, and reduce the number of query migrations. Furthermore, rebalance strategies when applied in these heuristics have significantly reduced the makespan by around 20 - 25%.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure

Assessment of Adrenal Dysfunction in Patients with HIV Infections

INTRODUCTION: The adrenal gland is frequently involved in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Although clinical manifestations of adrenal dysfunction are uncommon in patients infected with HIV, subclinical functional abnormalities of the hypothalamic - pituitary - adrenal axis are frequent1. Patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome are found to have increased basal cortisol and reduced stimulated cortisol release. This imbalance may be related to progression of the infection by inducing a shift from T(H)1 to T(H)2 immunologic responses. Also adrenal reserve may be marginal in HIV - infected patients. Clinically evident adrenal insufficiency is uncommon and, whenpresent, it is observed in advanced stages of the infection. Patients with AIDs are also at risk of acquiring opportunistic infections like tuberculosis, cytomegalovirus infections etc, which may involve adrenal gland and result in adrenal hypofunction. Cortisol levels are also subject to variations in HIV infected patients who are on antibiotics such as ketoconazole, rifampicin, etc. Taking into consideration the various factors which alter the HPA axis and plasma cortisol levels, the study was conducted to assess the adequacy of function of the HPA axis by estimation of basal cortisol level, since a basal cortisol value >15 μg / dl invariably indicates an intact HPA axis2. Adrenal dysfunction also could contribute to morbidity and mortality in HIV infected patients. AIM OF THE STUDY: Assessment of adrenal dysfunction in patients with HIV infections. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Study design: Prospective, cross - sectional study. Subjects: Patients admitted in medical wards of Government General Hospital, Chennai, who were detected to have HIV infection (HIV-1 and HIV-2) by ELISA were enrolled in the study. The study group consisted of 61 patients (45 males, 16 females). The control group was formed by age and sex matched 20 normal individuals. Informed consent was obtained from patients and controls. All patients tested positive for HIV infection by ELISA over 12 years of age were included in the study. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Patients who were concurrently taking any of the following drugs: Phenytoin, Rifampicin, Ketoconazole, Corticosteroids, Oral contraceptive pills. 2. Pregnancy, 3. Liver disease. METHODOLOGY: Detailed history, symptoms and signs of adrenal hypofunction were noted3. All patients were completely examined and routine urine and blood investigations were taken. Clinical evaluation of adrenal insufficiency included the following symptoms. * Fatigue and postural dizziness * Gastrointestinal symptoms: nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, constipation. Measurement of blood pressure to detect postural hypotension (defined as a postural decrease from the supine to standing position of atleast 20 mmHg of systolic pressure or 10 mmHg of diastolic pressure, within 3 minutes of standing up). Estimation of serum sodium, serum potassium, blood glucose and eosinophil count was done in all patients as part of evaluation of adrenal insufficiency. The patients were staged in accordance to WHO guidelines and the nature of concurrent diseases or infections were noted. CONCLUSIONS: 61 patients and 20 controls were studied for clinical and biochemical evidence of adrenal dysfunction in HIV infections. • The patients whom we evaluated in the medical wards comprised predominantly of males (74%). • 84% of the patients admitted during the study period were in stage - IV disease (WHO clinical stage). • Basal cortisol levels were significantly elevated in patients with HIV infections compared to controls. Patients who had concurrent tuberculosis had significantly higher basal cortisol levels than those with HIV infection alone. • Symptoms and signs of adrenal hypofunction had significant association with hypocortisolemia. • Hyponatraemia had statistically significant correlation with low cortisol levels. • Low CD4 cell count had significant correlation with hypocortisolemia and therefore may predict adrenal insufficiency. SUMMARY: The adrenal gland is frequently involved in patients with HIV infections. Structural and functional alterations of the adrenal glands, and involvement of the HPA axis can occur. Our study on patients infected with HIV has shown that adrenal dysfunction is common resulting in higher basal serum cortisol level. There is a significant association of clinical features of adrenal insufficiency, CD4 cell count with hypocortisolaenia. Adrenal insufficiency is observed in advanced stages of the infection. Hence hypocortisolemia should be treated regardless of the existence of associated symptoms, whereas hypercortisolemia in the absence of features of Cushings syndrome is common and should not promote treatment nor specific studies

Factors influencing the intention to re-use e-learning among students of Malaysian universities with e-learning facilities

E-learning is regarded as a mandatory teaching and learning approach in higher education worldwide. The effectiveness of e-learning depends on the successful adoption by the student. E-learning is considered the most appropriate effective method of knowledge delivery to meet the current academic requirements. Hence, this study was essential to examine the factors affecting the intention to use e-learning among students in Malaysian higher education institutes. Based on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) this study developed a comprehensive framework on students' intention to use e-learning. A quantitative research method that suited the research objective was adopted. This study used the random sampling technique, data was collected from 330 respondents who were enrolled in public and private universities with e-learning facilities in Malaysia. The result showed that Attitude, Perceived usefulness, and Perceived behavioural becomes a positive predictor of Intention to use e-learning. However, Subjective norms found no significant effect on Intention to use e-learning. The results revealed that all the constructed hypotheses were supported except for H3, which reported that the subjective norm did not have a significant positive influence on the intention to use e-learning. The obtained results have significant contributions to theory and practice in e-learning delivery. The findings of the study provide clear insight to researchers and practitioners on the usage of e-learning among distance-learning students as well as the variations in the intention to use e-learning between male and female learners. Besides, as a practical contribution, this study suggests that university managements should improve their e-learning facilities to benefit their stakeholders, especially the students

Mathematical model for optimising the performance of a ground source heat pump.

Energy demand for the twenty first century is expected to increase many fold along with corresponding diversification of energy sources and generation methods. Of the many energy sources available, use of Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) system is the focus of the analysis in this research. This work is carried out to identify the key parameters which affect the performance of the GSHP system. A mathematical model has been developed to understand the complex operation of the heat pump under typical working conditions. Individual sub-systems, such as Ground Heat Exchanger (GHE), evaporator, condenser, compressor and radiator are modelled in MathCAD and coupled together and solved simultaneously. The performance of the system is predicted while varying air temperature, power input to the compressor and the ground temperature beneath the earth's surface. In addition a special sub-model was developed for the single vertical U-tube GHE in FLUENT, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software, to calculate the overall heat transfer coefficient for varying outer surface temperature of the borehole.The overall system results are validated against the published results with the system operating range of 18°C to 33°C with around 10 percent deviations. It is determined that the COP of the system increases with surface area and overall heat transfer coefficient (OHTC) of the heat exchanger. An increase in up to 500 m2 surface area, steep raise of COP from 10.05 to 10.3 is observed. Similarly increase of 10 W/m2K of OHTC has steep COP rise from 10.05 to 10.28. The temperature gradient across the system also has influence on its operating performance, where a 15°C increase in the ground temperature for cooling mode reduces the COP by around 5%. Finally the degree of refrigerant sub-cooling has a positive effect, for every 5°C temperature drop the COP improves by 0.5 similarly for degree of super-heating, COP improves by 0.25. Scope for performance enhancement for GSHP is investigated by tuning operating conditions. The effect of operating variables to the sensitivity of performance of heat pump is also determined

The Epics Reinterpreted: Highlighting Feminist Issues While Sustaining Deep Motif

This article explores revisionist works based on the Ramayana and Mahabharata twin epics and looks at the voices of female protagonists. The main emphasis has been on the way that authoritative texts are utilized to create cultural hegemony on purpose for a particular impact. The article also highlights the power of stories and demonstrates how the textual politics in the retelling is directed towards achieving different outlines, especially the modern ideals of liberty, equality, and individuality. By providing a thorough study of the social and psychological struggles of epic women, the view also strikes at the fact that women encounter similar issues for generations. The review explores how Indian society’s patriarchal framework and social construction mistreated the epic heroines and how these elements still have an adverse effect on women in the present era. Their resistance patterns are used to classify and organize them

Peristaltic pumping of magnetic nanofluids with thermal radiation and temperature-dependent viscosity effects : modelling a solar magneto-biomimetic nanopump

Nanofluids have shown significant promise in the thermal enhancement of many industrial systems. They have been developed extensively in energy applications in recent years. Solar energy systems are one of the most promising renewables available to humanity and these are increasingly being re-designed to benefit from nanofluids. Most designs of solar collectors involve fixed (rigid) geometries which may be cylindrical, parabolic, tubular or flat-plate types. Modern developments in biomimetics have identified that deformable conduit structures may be beneficial for sustainable energy systems. Motivated by these aspects, in the current work we present a novel model for simulating a biomimetic peristaltic solar magnetohydrodynamic nanofluid-based pump. The working fluid is a magnetized nanofluid which comprises a base fluid containing suspended magnetic nano-particles. The novelty of the present work is the amalgamation of biomimetics (peristaltic propulsion), magnetohydrodynamics and nanofluid dynamics to produce a hybrid solar pump system model. Heat is transferred via distensibility of the conduit in the form of peristaltic thermal waves and buoyancy effects. An externally applied magnetic field achieves the necessary circuit design for generating Lorentzian magnetic body force in the fluid. A variable viscosity modification of the Buongiorno nanofluid model is employed which features thermophoretic body force and Brownian dynamic effects. To simulate solar loading conditions a thermal radiative flux model is also deployed. An asymmetric porous channel is investigated with multiple amplitudes and phases for the wall wavy motion. The channel also contains a homogenous, isotropic porous medium which is simulated with a modified Darcy model. Heat generation/absorption effects are also examined. The electrically-conducting nature of the nanofluid invokes magnetohydrodynamic effects. The moving boundary value problem is normalized and linearized using the lubrication approach. Analytical solutions are derived for axial velocity, temperature and nanoparticle volume fraction. Validation is conducted with Maple numerical quadrature. Furthermore, the salient features of pumping and trapping phenomena discourse briefly. The observations demonstrate promising features of the solar magnetohydrodynamic peristaltic nanofluid pump which may also be exploited in spacecraft applications, biological smart drug delivery etc

Oral Bacterial Infection and Shedding in <i>Drosophila Melanogaster</i>

International audienceThe fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster is one of the best developed model systems of infection and innate immunity. While most work has focused on systemic infections, there has been a recent increase of interest in the mechanisms of gut immunocompetence to pathogens, which require methods to orally infect flies. Here we present a protocol to orally expose individual flies to an opportunistic bacterial pathogen (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and a natural bacterial pathogen of D. melanogaster (Pseudomonas entomophila). The goal of this protocol is to provide a robust method to expose male and female flies to these pathogens. We provide representative results showing survival phenotypes, microbe loads, and bacterial shedding, which is relevant for the study of heterogeneity in pathogen transmission. Finally, we confirm that Dcy mutants (lacking the protective peritrophic matrix in the gut epithelium) and Relish mutants (lacking a functional immune deficiency (IMD) pathway), show increased susceptibility to bacterial oral infection. This protocol, therefore, describes a robust method to infect flies using the oral route of infection, which can be extended to the study of a variety genetic and environmental sources of variation in gut infection outcomes and bacterial transmission

Ultrasensitive, Label Free, Chemiresistive Nanobiosensor Using Multiwalled Carbon Nanotubes Embedded Electrospun SU-8 Nanofibers

This paper reports the synthesis and fabrication of aligned electrospun nanofibers derived out of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) embedded SU-8 photoresist, which are targeted towards ultrasensitive biosensor applications. The ultrasensitivity (detection in the range of fg/mL) and the specificity of these biosensors were achieved by complementing the inherent advantages of MWCNTs such as high surface to volume ratio and excellent electrical and transduction properties with the ease of surface functionalization of SU-8. The electrospinning process was optimized to precisely align nanofibers in between two electrodes of a copper microelectrode array. MWCNTs not only enhance the conductivity of SU-8 nanofibers but also act as transduction elements. In this paper, MWCNTs were embedded way beyond the percolation threshold and the optimum percentage loading of MWCNTs for maximizing the conductivity of nanofibers was figured out experimentally. As a proof of concept, the detection of myoglobin, an important biomarker for on-set of Acute Myocardial Infection (AMI) has been demonstrated by functionalizing the nanofibers with anti-myoglobin antibodies and carrying out detection using a chemiresistive method. This simple and robust device yielded a detection limit of 6 fg/mL

Field testing of an onsite sanitation system on apartment building blackwater using biological treatment and electrochemical disinfection

The Closed Loop Advanced Sanitation System (CLASS) was designed to treat, disinfect, and recycle toilet blackwater from existing flush toilets in a multi-story apartment building. Two systems were tested at two unique sites in Coimbatore, India for a combined 7500+ treatment hours resulting in more than 180 000 L of treated water. The CLASS prototypes used a combination of biological pretreatment and electrochemical oxidation processes to produce treated water that nearly met the stringent requirements outlined in the standard ISO 30500. The nutrient and organic loading from the toilet blackwater was predominantly reduced by over 85–95% and 80–87%, respectively, through biological processes that were achieved using either a sequencing batch reactor (SBR, site A) or an anaerobic–aerobic biodigester (EcoSan, site B). Complete disinfection of E. coli with nil CFU per ml was achieved using electrochemical processes that also served to remove the remaining organic and nutrient loading to over 90–96%. The treated water was reused for flushing by the residents of the apartment building for 89 days