TimeTrader: Exploiting Latency Tail to Save Datacenter Energy for On-line Data-Intensive Applications

Datacenters running on-line, data-intensive applications (OLDIs) consume significant amounts of energy. However, reducing their energy is challenging due to their tight response time requirements. A key aspect of OLDIs is that each user query goes to all or many of the nodes in the cluster, so that the overall time budget is dictated by the tail of the replies' latency distribution; replies see latency variations both in the network and compute. Previous work proposes to achieve load-proportional energy by slowing down the computation at lower datacenter loads based directly on response times (i.e., at lower loads, the proposal exploits the average slack in the time budget provisioned for the peak load). In contrast, we propose TimeTrader to reduce energy by exploiting the latency slack in the sub- critical replies which arrive before the deadline (e.g., 80% of replies are 3-4x faster than the tail). This slack is present at all loads and subsumes the previous work's load-related slack. While the previous work shifts the leaves' response time distribution to consume the slack at lower loads, TimeTrader reshapes the distribution at all loads by slowing down individual sub-critical nodes without increasing missed deadlines. TimeTrader exploits slack in both the network and compute budgets. Further, TimeTrader leverages Earliest Deadline First scheduling to largely decouple critical requests from the queuing delays of sub- critical requests which can then be slowed down without hurting critical requests. A combination of real-system measurements and at-scale simulations shows that without adding to missed deadlines, TimeTrader saves 15-19% and 41-49% energy at 90% and 30% loading, respectively, in a datacenter with 512 nodes, whereas previous work saves 0% and 31-37%.Comment: 13 page

Confronting the opioid crisis: Practical pain management and strategies: AOA 2018 critical issues symposium

The United States is in the midst of an opioid crisis. Clinicians have been part of the problem because of overprescribing of narcotics for perioperative pain management. Clinicians need to understand the pathophysiology and science of addiction to improve perioperative management of pain for their patients. Multiple modalities for pain management exist that decrease the use of narcotics. Physical strategies, cognitive strategies, and multimodal medication can all provide improved pain relief and decrease the use of narcotics. National medical societies are developing clinical practice guidelines for pain management that incorporate multimodal strategies and multimodal medication. Changes to policy that improve provider education, access to naloxone, and treatment for addiction can decrease narcotic misuse and the risk of addiction

Effect of an agri-environmental measure on nitrate leaching from a beef farming system in Ireland

peer-reviewedAgricultural nitrogen (N) management remains a key environmental challenge. Improving N management is a matter of urgency to reduce the serious ecological consequences of the reactive N. Nitrate (NO3−–N) leaching was measured under suckler beef production systems stocked at two intensities: (1) intensive, 210 kg organic N ha−1 with two cut silage harvests; and (2) rural environmental protection scheme (REPS), 170 kg organic N ha−1 with one cut silage harvest. Three replicate plots of each treatment were instrumented with ceramic cups (8 per plot), randomly placed within each plot at a depth of 1 m to collect soil solution for NO3−–N at 50 kPa suction to collecting vessels one week prior to sampling. Samples were taken on a total of 53 sampling dates over 3 winter drainage periods (2002/03, 2003/04 and 2004/05). Over the course of the experiment the mean annual soil solution NO3−–N concentration exceeded the MAC twice out of 15 means (5 treatments over 3 years). The REPS grazing and silage sub treatments had significantly lower mean annual soil solution total oxidized N (TON) concentrations than the respective intensive treatments in years 2 and 3. Annual total NO3−–N losses over the three years in intensive and REPS systems ranged from 55 to 71 and 15 to 20 kg N ha−1, respectively. Mean N surpluses in intensive and REPS systems were 210 and 95 kg ha−1, respectively with the corresponding mean N inputs of 272 and 124 kg N ha−1. The reduction in N inputs under the REPS system results in lower N leaching losses and contributed to a significant reduction in pressures on water quality

Agronomic Performance of Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) to Different Levels of Nitrogen, Sulphur and Farmyard Manure under Temperate Conditions

A field study was conducted to ascertain the impact of nitrogen, sulphur and farmyard manure (FYM) on development dynamics and yield of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.). Application of 120 kg N ha-1 significantly increased all the yield components viz., plant height, leaf area index, dry matter production, capitulum diameter, achenes capitulum-1 and 1000-seed weight during two years of experimentation. Pooled seed yield over two years and for individual year’s also recorded significant increase, however 80 and 120 kg N ha-1 were statistically similar. The oil content showed consistent decrease with increase in nitrogen levels, whereas oil yield showed significant improvement with increase in nitrogen application up to 120 kg ha-1 during both years. Sulphur application at 60 kg ha-1 significantly increased plant height, leaf area index and dry matter production at various crop growth periods except at 25 DAS over 30 kg S ha-1.All yield contributing characters viz., total achenes capitulum-1, filled achenes capitulum-1, head diameter and 1000-seed weight recorded significance with sulphur application at 60 kg ha-1 over 30 kg S ha-1 during both years of experimentation. However sterility percentage remained unaffected with different sulphur levels. Seed and stalk yield during 2009 and 2010 and pooled seed yield over two years recorded  with 60 kg S ha-1 was  significantly higher than 30 kg S ha-1. Both oil content and oil yield recorded significant improvement with increase in sulphur application from 30 to 60 kg S ha-1. FYM application at 10 and 20 t ha-1, at par with one another, recorded significant improvement in the plant height, leaf area index and dry matter production of sunflower at various crop growth periods except at 25 DAS over no FYM application during both years of experimentation. Seed yield over two years recorded with 10 and 20 t FYM ha-1 was at par but significantly higher than no FYM application. However, the stalk yield showed significant and consistent increase with increase in FYM rate up to 20 t ha-1. Oil content remained unaffected by different FYM levels during both years of experimentation. However, oil yield increased significantly and consistently with increase in FYM levels up to 20 t ha-1. Keywords: FYM,  Sulphur, Sunflower, Nitrogen, Yield

Effect of Nitrogen Rates and Foliar Spray of Micronutrients on Growth and Yield of Sesame (Sesamum indicum L.)

To find out optimum nitrogen (N) and micronutrients (MNs) doses for the growth and yield of sesame the experiment was undertaken at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University Research field, Dhaka, during April to July 2013 with three replications in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). Three different N levels viz. N0= without N, N1= 60 kg h-1, N2=120 kg h-1 and four micronutrients (MNs) levels viz. M0= without MNs, M1= 50 ppm MNs, M2= 100 ppm and M3= 150 ppm MNs. The N significantly increased morphological characters - plant height, number of  leaves plant-1, branch number plant-1, fresh and dry weight of shoot and root; yield contributing characters-  number of pod plant-1, pod diameter, pod length, seed weight plant-1, seed weight plot-1 compared to control (N0). The rate of application of N 60 kg ha-1 produced the highest seed yield (1.21 t ha-1) which is consisting with most of the vegetative growth of sesame. Foliar application of different concentration of micronutrients also improved the morphological characters and seed yield of sesame as N. Interestingly 1000-seed weight did not show any significant differences with both  N and micronutrients. The maximum number of pod plant-1, pod diameter, pod length, seed weight plant-1, seed yield (1.14 tha-1) significantly increased with 150 ppm micronutrients. Therefore, this experimental results suggest that the use of 60 kg Nha-1 and 150 ppm micronutrients have produced highest seed yield of sesame by adjusting in plant morphological characters and yield contributing characters of sesame

Provider perspectives on sexual health services used by Bangladeshi women with mHealth digital approach : a qualitative study

Cases of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are underreported in Bangladesh. Women in general suffer from poor sexual health outcomes due to a lack of access to sexual health services. mHealth, a digital approach to STI services, is an easier and cheaper way to disseminate health information in Bangladesh. However, women have less autonomy in accessing STI services and it is important to learn if, how and/or why women use mHealth. A qualitative study was conducted with 26 medical doctors to explore their perceptions of the mHealth STI services used by Bangladeshi women. Themes were grouped under four categories: (1) provider perceptions of mHealth for sexual healthcare; (2) the health literacy of women clients; (3) cost and maintaining timeliness in providing mHealth services; (4) mHealth service accessibility. Data suggest that mHealth can play a significant role in improving the awareness and utilization of STI services in Bangladeshi women. Successful opportunities for STI service expansion using mHealth were identified, depending on the quality and type of service delivery options, awareness of challenges related to health literacy framework, cost, accessibility to information and availability of culturally competent health experts to disseminate health information. We identify the need to increase access and use of mHealth services for sexual health, as it provides an innovative platform to bridge the health communication gaps in sexual health for Bangladeshi women

Textured NiSe₂ Film: Bifunctional Electrocatalyst for Full Water Splitting at Remarkably Low Overpotential with High Energy Efficiency

Herein we have shown that electrodeposited NiSe2 can be used as a bifunctional electrocatalyst under alkaline conditions to split water at very low potential by catalyzing both oxygen evolution and hydrogen evolution reactions at anode and cathode, respectively, achieving a very high electrolysis energy efficiency exceeding 80% at considerably high current densities (100 mA cm-2). The OER catalytic activity as well as electrolysis energy efficiency surpasses any previously reported OER electrocatalyst in alkaline medium and energy efficiency of an electrolyzer using state-of-the-art Pt and RuO2 as the HER and OER catalyst, respectively. Through detailed electrochemical and structural characterization, we have shown that the enhanced catalytic activity is attributed to directional growth of the electrodeposited film that exposes a Ni-rich lattice plane as the terminating plane, as well as increased covalency of the selenide lattice which decreases the Ni(II) to Ni(III) oxidation potential. Thereby, the high efficiency along with extended stability makes NiSe2 as the most efficient water electrolyzer known to-date

The interactive effects of fertiliser nitrogen with dung and urine on nitrous oxide emissions in grassland

The authors wish to thank the Environmental Protection Agency for funding support under the Environmental Research Technological Development and Innovation programme and the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for funding support (Grant numbers RSF 13S430 and 11S138).peer-reviewedNitrous oxide (N2O) is an important and potent greenhouse gas (GHG). Although application of nitrogen (N) fertiliser is a feature of many grazing systems, limited data is available on N2O emissions in grassland as a result of the interaction between urine, dung and fertiliser N. A small plot study was conducted to identify the individual and interactive effects of calcium ammonium nitrate (CAN) fertiliser, dung and urine. Application of CAN with dung and urine significantly increased the mass of N2O-N emission. Importantly, the sum of N2O-N emitted from dung and CAN applied individually approximated the emission from dung and CAN fertiliser applied together, that is, an additive effect. However, in the case of urine and CAN applied together, the emission was more than double the sum of the emission from urine and CAN fertiliser applied individually, that is, a multiplicative effect. Nitrous oxide emissions from dung, urine and fertiliser N are typically derived individually and these individual emission estimates are aggregated to produce estimates of N2O emission. The presented findings have important implications for how individual emission factors are aggregated; they suggest that the multiplicative effect of the addition of CAN fertiliser to urine patches needs to be taken into account to refine the estimation of N2O emissions from grazing grasslands.The authors wish to thank the Environmental Protection Agency for funding support under the Environmental Research Technological Development and Innovation programme and the Irish Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine for funding support (Grant numbers RSF 13S430 and 11S138)

Nanostructured Optical Photonic Crystal Biosensor for HIV Viral Load Measurement

Detecting and quantifying biomarkers and viruses in biological samples have broad applications in early disease diagnosis and treatment monitoring. We have demonstrated a label-free optical sensing mechanism using nanostructured photonic crystals (PC) to capture and quantify intact viruses (HIV-1) from biologically relevant samples. The nanostructured surface of the PC biosensor resonantly reflects a narrow wavelength band during illumination with a broadband light source. Surface-adsorbed biotarget induces a shift in the resonant Peak Wavelength Value (PWV) that is detectable with <10 pm wavelength resolution, enabling detection of both biomolecular layers and small number of viruses that sparsely populate the transducer surface. We have successfully captured and detected HIV-1 in serum and phosphate buffered saline (PBS) samples with viral loads ranging from 104 to 108 copies/mL. The surface density of immobilized biomolecular layers used in the sensor functionalization process, including 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (3-MPS), N-gamma-Maleimidobutyryl-oxysuccinimide ester (GMBS), NeutrAvidin, anti-gp120, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were also quantified by the PC biosensor

Microsomal Triglyceride Transfer Protein Transfers and Determines Plasma Concentrations of Ceramide and Sphingomyelin but Not Glycosylceramide

Sphingolipids, a large family of bioactive lipids, are implicated in stress responses, differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis, and other physiological processes. Aberrant plasma levels of sphingolipids contribute to metabolic disease, atherosclerosis, and insulin resistance. They are fairly evenly distributed in high density and apoB-containing lipoproteins (B-lps). Mechanisms involved in the transport of sphingolipids to the plasma are unknown. Here, we investigated the role of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), required for B-lp assembly and secretion, in sphingolipid transport to the plasma. Abetalipoproteinemia patients with deleterious mutations in MTP and absence of B-lps had significantly lower plasma ceramide and sphingomyelin but normal hexosylceramide, lactosylceramide, and different sphingosines compared with unaffected controls. Furthermore, similar differential effects on plasma sphingolipids were seen in liver- and intestine-specific MTP knock-out (L,I-Mttp(-/-)) mice, suggesting that MTP specifically plays a role in the regulation of plasma ceramide and sphingomyelin. We hypothesized that MTP deficiency may affect either their synthesis or secretion. MTP deficiency had no effect on ceramide and sphingomyelin synthesis but reduced secretion from primary hepatocytes and hepatoma cells. Therefore, MTP is involved in ceramide and sphingomyelin secretion but not in their synthesis. We also found that MTP transferred these lipids between vesicles in vitro. Therefore, we propose that MTP might regulate plasma ceramide and sphingomyelin levels by transferring these lipids to B-lps in the liver and intestine and facilitating their secretion