The Impact of Encoding and Transport for Massive Real-time IoT Data on Edge Resource Consumption

Edge microservice applications are becoming a viable solution for the execution of real-time IoT analytics, due to their rapid response and reduced latency. With Edge Computing, unlike the central Cloud, the amount of available resource is constrained and the computation that can be undertaken is also limited. Microservices are not standalone, they are devised as a set of cooperating tasks that are fed data over the network through specific APIs. The cost of processing these feeds of data in real-time, especially for massive IoT configurations, is however generally overlooked. In this work we evaluate the cost of dealing with thousands of sensors sending data to the edge with the commonly used encoding of JSON over REST interfaces, and compare this to other mechanisms that use binary encodings as well as streaming interfaces. The choice has a big impact on the microservice implementation, as a wrong selection can lead to excessive resource consumption, because using a less efficient encoding and transport mechanism results in much higher resource requirements, even to do an identical job

End-to-end slices to orchestrate resources and services in the cloud-to-edge continuum

Fog computing, combined with traditional cloud computing, offers an inherently distributed infrastructure – referred to as the cloud-to-edge continuum – that can be used for the execution of low-latency and location-aware IoT services. The management of such an infrastructure is complex: resources in multiple domains need to be accessed by several tenants, while an adequate level of isolation and performance has to be guaranteed. This paper proposes the dynamic allocation of end-to-end slices to perform the orchestration of resources and services in such a scenario. These end-to-end slices require a unified resource management approach that encompasses both data centre and network resources. Currently, fog orchestration is mainly focused on the management of compute resources, likewise, the slicing domain is specifically centred solely on the creation of isolated network partitions. A unified resource orchestration strategy, able to integrate the selection, configuration and management of compute and network resources, as part of a single abstracted object, is missing. This work aims to minimise the silo-effect, and proposes end-to-end slices as the foundation for the comprehensive orchestration of compute resources, network resources, and services in the cloud-to-edge continuum, as well acting as the basis for a system implementation. The concept of the end-to-end slice is formally described via a graph-based model that allows for dynamic resource discovery, selection and mapping via different algorithms and optimisation goals; and a working system is presented as the way to build slices across multiple domains dynamically, based on that model. These are independently accessible objects that abstract resources of various providers – traded via a Marketplace – with compute slices, allocated using the bare-metal cloud approach, being interconnected to each other via the connectivity of network slices. Experiments, carried out on a real testbed, demonstrate three features of the end-to-end slices: resources can be selected, allocated and controlled in a softwarised fashion; tenants can instantiate distributed IoT services on those resources transparently; the performance of a service is absolutely not affected by the status of other slices that share the same resource infrastructure

High-frequency spectral decay in P-wave acceleration spectra and source parameters of microearthquakes in southeastern Sicily, Italy

In widely used -2 source models the characteristics of high frequency radiation are described as being flat for frequencies between the source corner frequency and an upper limiting frequency fmax. Deviations from this behavior are described in a parameter which is understood as a general measure of the changes the signal undergoes on its way from the source to the receiver. In this study, we calculated  in Southeastern Sicily by using microearthquakes belonging to three different seismic sequences occurring in the area in 1990, 1999-2001, and 2002. The selected events form four different clusters whose seismic sources are located within a 2 km radius. Although the source-to-station paths are approximately the same inside a given cluster, the values of  change considerably at the same recording site from one event to another, also in the case of events having the same magnitude. We parameterized  in terms of event (E), and path (P and Diff) contributions. The term P represents the contribution on total  of both the whole source-to- station path and the near-surface geology, while Diff models the possible spatial variation in the parameter measured with respect to a reference source-station direction. Results show that the source contribution is not negligible and that there is a positive correlation with source size exists. Moreover, the hypothesis of a laterally homogeneous crustal structure within the area in question is not appropriate and significant variation in attenuating properties of the medium may occur in a very small distance range (also in the order of a few tens of meters). Our analysis suggests that the origin of the above mentioned variability is located near the recording site. Synthetic spectra are also computed in order to verify the actual significance of the parameterization employed and its capacity to separate the source and the path contribution to . We describe our spectra as a product of a Brune-type source spectrum and an exponential shaping term accounting for propagation effects. The seismic moments range between 3.8 ×1011 and 5.2 ×1013 N·m, the source radii range between 176 and 669 m, while the stress drop varies from 0.01 to 0.67 MPa

Dynamic Monitoring of Data Center Slices

Slicing is a move towards segmentation of resources and deployment of NFV for the purpose of enhanced services and applications on globally shared resources. The slicing approach in this paper considers Data Center slicing and the VIM on-demand model. We focus on the monitoring of Data Center slices, showing what is needed from the monitoring perspective and how the monitoring should be done. The proposed monitoring approach is validated on a platform that supports the on-demand creation of lightweight VIM instances

Real-Time Management and Control of Monitoring Elements In Dynamic Cloud Network Systems

This paper explores new scenarios where Cloud Network Service Providers take advantage of using more flexible resource management and orchestration solutions in the form of dynamic virtualised compute, network and storage resources. The main focus of this work is to analyse how those challenges will considerably impact the requirements of the monitoring process. A framework in the context of 5G is here presented to support the dynamic on-demand management, configuration and control of a monitoring subsystem which: can easily scale up / down according to the number of running entities in the system as result of the instantiation / termination of multiple services; can provide mechanisms to dynamically activate / deactivate its constituent elements on-demand according to the type of services to be monitored; and can provide mechanisms to dynamically adjust the configuration if its elements. Experimental outcomes, where a Monitoring Controller was used to adjust the measurement collection / sending rate of the probes in the monitoring subsystem on the-fly are also presented. The paper shows how this prevented the transmission of vast amounts of data when the number of virtual entities and related monitoring probes in the system scaled up to hundreds of elements

Extending Slices into Data Centers: the VIM on-demand model

This paper explores some of the mechanisms, components, and abstractions that can be utilized in order to encompass network slicing into a bigger picture for NFV delivery. In particular, we make the case for Data Center (DC) infrastructure slicing, as part of the full NFVI foundation, to ensure that the attributes prescribed to network slices are propagated into the Data Center. We show how creating a VIM (Virtual Infrastructure Manager) on-demand and dynamically allocating a new VIM for each slice, rather than having one for the whole DC, which can be beneficial for various precision scenarios. Index Terms—infrastructure slicing, VIM, network slicing

Effect of the Orbital Level Difference in Doped Spin-1 Chains

Doping of a two-orbital chain with mobile S=1/2 Fermions and strong Hund's rule couplings stabilizing the S=1 spins strongly depends on the presence of a level difference among these orbitals. By DMRG methods we find a finite spin gap upon doping and dominant pairing correlations without level-difference, whereas the presence of a level difference leads to dominant charge density wave (CDW) correlations with gapless spin-excitations. The string correlation function also shows qualitative differences between the two models.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

PO-099 Targeting the mitogen activated protein kinase ERK5 in human melanoma

Introduction Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer with a poor prognosis in advanced stages. Available treatments for melanoma are unsatisfactory, because rapidly lead to an acquired resistance in the majority of cases. Therefore, there is urgent need to identify novel possible targets involved in melanoma growth. ERK5/BMK1 is a member of the Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases (MAPK) family and regulates cell functions critical for tumour development. Indeed, several studies reported a direct involvement of ERK5 in several types of cancer including prostate and breast cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, no data have been reported about a possible role of ERK5 in melanoma. Material and methods Cell lines and patient-derived primary melanoma cells (wild type B-RAF: SSM2c and M26c; BRAFV600E: A375, SK-Mel-5, SK-Mel-28, 501-Mel, expressing; NRASQ61R: SK-Mel-2; MeWo) have been used for in vitro and in vivo experiments. HEK293T cells were used for protein overexpression. ERK5 inhibition was achieved using ERK5 and MEK5 inhibitors or lentiviral vectors encoding shRNA specific for ERK5. BRAF inhibition was achieved using Vemurafenib, a BRAFV600E inhibitor. Results and discussions In silico data analysis indicated that components of the ERK5 pathway are upregulated in up to 47% melanoma patients. Accordingly, we found that ERK5 is consistently expressed and active in commercial and patients derived melanoma cell lines. On that basis, we investigated the role of ERK5 in melanoma cell growth. In vitro , pharmacological or genetic inhibition of ERK5 decreased the number of viable cells in several melanoma cell lines. Moreover, xenografts performed using LV-shERK5-transduced A375 or SSM2c cells showed a reduced tumour growth when compared to those transduced with control LV-shC. We also found that oncogenic BRAF positively regulates expression, phosphorylation and nuclear localization of exogenous and endogenous ERK5. Accordingly, combined pharmacological inhibition of BRAFV600E and MEK5 is required to decrease nuclear ERK5, that is critical for the regulation of cell proliferation. Furthermore, the combination of MEK5 or ERK5 inhibitors with vemurafenib is more effective than single treatments in reducing 2D colony formation and growth of BRAFV600E melanoma cells and xenografts. Conclusion Our results identify ERK5 as a critical regulator of melanoma growth in vitro and in vivo , and point toward the possibility of targeting ERK5, alone or in combination with BRAF-MEK1/2 inhibitors, for the treatment of melanoma

Neutron tomography in modern archaeology

The search for non invasive and non destructive techniques is fundamental when dealing with samples of great historical, cultural and artistic value as well as with samples strongly degraded. Among different techniques, Neutron Tomography NT allows a close analysis of samples of Archaeological interest without damaging them. In what follows, a few cases in which the Neutron Tomography instrument of the BENSC at HMI Berlin has been successfully applied will be show

Hypoxia up-regulates SERPINB3 through HIF-2\u3b1 in human liver cancer cells.

SERPINB3 is a cysteine-proteases inhibitor up-regulated in a significant number of cirrhotic patients carrying hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and recently proposed as a prognostic marker for HCC early recurrence. SERPINB3 has been reported to stimulate proliferation, inhibit apoptosis and, similar to what reported for hypoxia, to trigger epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and increased invasiveness in liver cancer cells. This study has investigated whether SERPINB3 expression is regulated by hypoxia-related mechanisms in liver cancer cells. Exposure of HepG2 and Huh7 cells to hypoxia up-regulated SERPINB3 transcription, protein synthesis and release in the extracellular medium. Hypoxia-dependent SERPINB3 up-regulation was selective (no change detected for SERPINB4) and operated through hypoxia inducible factor (HIF)-2\u3b1 (not HIF-1\u3b1) binding to SERPINB3 promoter, as confirmed by chromatin immuno-precipitation assay and silencing experiments employing specific siRNAs. HIF-2\u3b1-mediated SERPINB3 up-regulation under hypoxic conditions required intracellular generation of ROS. Immuno-histochemistry (IHC) and transcript analysis, performed in human HCC specimens, revealed co-localization of the two proteins in liver cancer cells and the existence of a positive correlation between HIF-2\u3b1 and SERPINB3 transcript levels, respectively. Hypoxia, through HIF-2\u3b1-dependent and redox-sensitive mechanisms, up-regulates the transcription, synthesis and release of SERPINB3, a molecule with a high oncogenic potential