Descubrimiento de servicios tolerante a fallos basado en hipercubos para sistemas distribuidos de gran escala

Current distributed systems that are capable of sharing resources in a distributed manner are experiencing an increase in their use and scope.This increased use in various application areas is largely due to the low cost of deployment and maintenance of a distributed environment, when compared to architectures like supercomputers. Then, many research efforts today are focused on providing solutions for distributed systems. It is essential that the solutions proposed allow for the sharing of a very large number of resources. This is a complex challenge to tackle since we do not want the solution to degrade as the number of system resources increase. It is also imperative that the solutions proposed, adapt to failures that occur both in the network and in the hardware and / or software that form the distributed system. This does not imply that the components should be universally available, but that the solution should be able to adapt to obtain the highest possible performance from all the components available at a given time. This is a more complex challenge. This thesis proposes a Resource Discovery Service (of services or resources) for large-scale distributed systems that are able to adapt to failures that occur in the system. By large scale systems, we mean systems that may be made up of hundreds, thousands or millions of machines. Failures refer to components that are not accessible through the network, components that are not working, or are overloaded, etc. It should be mentioned that in this work we found that in a real environment of geographically distributed resources, it is essential for service discovery to be fault tolerant. In one of the evaluations of our proposed discovery service, we chose 150 machines distributed geographically throughout Europe at random, without knowing if they were in a state of failure or not. We found that 24'67% of them were unavailable because they were in a failed state or because they failed during the evaluation of our service discovery. In this thesis, the proposed discovery service is based on an overlay that has a hypercube topology that interconnects nodes / intermediaries (brokers). The term overlay is used to describe a virtual network constructed at the application layer, above the level of TCP / IP. It acts as an intermediary component that mediates between service consumers (or clients) and service providers (or servers).Actualmente los sistemas distribuidos, capaces de compartir de forma distribuida recursos están experimentando un incremento en su uso y en sus ámbitos de aplicación. Este aumento de uso y de ámbitos de aplicación es, en buena medida, debido al bajo coste que supone el despliegue y mantenimiento de un entorno distribuido, si se compara con arquitecturas como los supercomputadores. Así, múltiples esfuerzos de investigación se centran hoy en día en aportar soluciones para sistemas distribuidos.Por un lado, es esencial que las soluciones aportadas permitan compartir un número muy alto de recursos. Este es un reto complejo de abordar ya que plantea el problema de que la solución no se degrade a medida que el número de recursos del sistema aumente.Por otro lado, también es imprescindible que las soluciones aportadas se adapten a los fallos que se producen tanto en la red como en los componentes de hardware y/o software que forman el sistema distribuido. Esto no implica que los componentes deban estar universalmente disponibles, sino que la solución debe adaptarse para obtener el rendimiento más alto posible de los componentes disponibles en cada momento. Este es un reto aún más complejo.El trabajo de esta tesis propone un servicio de descubrimiento de servicios (o recursos) para sistemas distribuidos de gran escala, capaz de adaptarse a los fallos que se producen en el sistema. Por gran escala, se entiende sistemas formados por cientos, miles o millones de máquinas y por fallos, se entiende componentes que no son accesibles a través de la red, componentes que no están funcionando, que están sobrecargados, etc. Cabe comentar que en este trabajo se ha constatado que en un entorno real distribuido geográficamente es imprescindible que el servicio de descubrimiento se adapte a los fallos que se producen en el sistema. En una de las evaluaciones del servicio de descubrimiento propuesto, escogiendo 150 máquinas distribuidas geográficamente a lo largo de Europa, de forma aleatoria sin conocer si se encontraban en estado de fallo o no, un 24,67% de ellas fallaron, bien porque ya estaban en fallo o bien porque fallaron durante la evaluación del servicio de descubrimiento. El servicio de descubrimiento propuesto está basado en una red overlay con la topología de un hipercubo que interconecta nodos/intermediarios (brokers). El término overlay se usa como red virtual construida en la capa de aplicación, por encima del nivel de TCP/IP, y se entiende un intermediario como un componente que media entre consumidores de servicios (o clientes) y proveedores de servicios (o servidores)

Evaluación del impacto de la cooperación universidad-empresa en la docencia de una asignatura de Ingeniería telemática

La EETAC (escuela de ingeniería en telecomunicaciones y aerospacial de Castelldefels) es una escuela pionera en la Universidad politécnica por sus metodologías docentes. Este trabajo muestra la experiencia de una colaboración universidad-empresa en el marco de una asignatura de ingeniería de aplicaciones de la titulación de ingeniería telemática y la gestión de proyectos ágiles con el fin de solucionar un reto real planteado por una institución colaboradora de la agencia europea espacial.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Uso de métodos ágiles y PBL en una asignatura de ingeniería del software del grado de ingeniería telemática: gestión de proyectos de ingeniería del software en un entorno docente

Actualmente, empresas como Amazon o Google aplican un método llamado Scrum para agilizar el proceso de desarrollo de sus proyectos software y mejorar la calidad de los resultados. Por otro lado, en el entorno docente, la metodología del aprendizaje basado en proyectos o PBL se afianza cada día más porque, además de potenciar la motivación de los estudiantes, facilita el desarrollo de competencias transversales. Este documento describe cómo se aplica Scrum en una asignatura que sigue los conceptos de PBL y presenta los primeros resultados obtenidos. Dichos resultados apuntan a que Scrum aporta beneficios a PBL.Postprint (published version

General queuing model for optimal seamless delivery of payload processing in multi-core processors

This is a pre-print of an article published in The Journal of Supercomputing. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-017-2109-4.Recent developments in unmanned aerial systems (UAS) provide new opportunities in remote sensing application. In contrast to satellite and conventional (manned) aerial tasks, UAS flights can be operated in a very short period of time. UAS can also be more specifically focused toward a given task such as crop reconnaissance or electric line tower inspection. For some applications, the delivery time of the remote sensing results is crucial. The current three-phase procedure of data acquisition, data downloading and data processing, performed sequentially in time, represents a drawback that reduces the benefits of using unmanned aerial systems. In this paper, we present a parallel processing strategy, based on queuing theory, in which the data processing phase is performed on board in parallel with data acquisition. The unmanned aerial system payload has been enlarged with low-cost, lightweight, multi-core boards to facilitate remote sensing data processing during flight. The storage of the raw sensing data is also done for possible further analysis; however, the ultimate decision support information can be seamless delivered to the customer upon landing. Furthermore, text alarms and limited imagery can also be provided during flight.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Understanding the implications of the future unmanned air traffic growth

In the next years, the unmanned air business is expected to have an average annual growth rate of 14.5 per cent. Last-mile delivery, inspection works and security tasks are the most expected missions that those unmanned aircraft (UA) will execute. Most of these missions are well suited for multi-copters: small airframes with vertical take-off and landing capabilities. Large fleets of UA will be managed by new aerial logistic centers where flight plans will be created and monitored, the payload will be prepared, and fast battery replacement will allow continuous flights to obtain maximum benefit. Beyond visual line-of-sight capabilities is a must for those logistic center businesses. Anticipating the scalability of unmanned aircraft growth is the aim of this paper. For this, a simulation tool has been developed which generates unmanned traffic flights from completely parameterized inputs: the geographic area and the type and number of operations, aircraft and operators. For this paper, the tested scenario is a logistics industrial polygon with increasing delivery traffic, the Martorell industrial area (5.8 km2). Flights have a random altitude from 80 m to 120 m. En- route phases have some slight turns to make them more realistic. The time of departure follows a Box-Muller algorithm during the declared business hours, centered in the peak declared hour.This work was funded by the Ministry of Economy, Industry, and Competitiveness of Spain under GrantNumber TRA2016-77012-RPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

On-the-fly olive tree counting using a UAS and cloud services

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are becoming a common tool for aerial sensing applications. Nevertheless, sensed data need further processing before becoming useful information. This processing requires large computing power and time before delivery. In this paper, we present a parallel architecture that includes an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a small embedded computer on board, a communication link to the Internet, and a cloud service with the aim to provide useful real-time information directly to the end-users. The potential of parallelism as a solution in remote sensing has not been addressed for a distributed architecture that includes the UAV processors. The architecture is demonstrated for a specific problem: the counting of olive trees in a crop field where the trees are regularly spaced from each other. During the flight, the embedded computer is able to process individual images on board the UAV and provide the total count. The tree counting algorithm obtains an F1 score of 99.09% for a sequence of ten images with 332 olive trees. The detected trees are geolocated and can be visualized on the Internet seconds after the take-off of the flight, with no further processing required. This is a use case to demonstrate near real-time results obtained from UAS usage. Other more complex UAS applications, such as tree inventories, search and rescue, fire detection, or stock breeding, can potentially benefit from this architecture and obtain faster outcomes, accessible while the UAV is still on flightPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

A CXCR4-targeted nanocarrier achieves highly selective tumor uptake in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma mouse models

Altres ajuts: U COST Action CA 17140 to RM; FIS PI17/01246, RD12/0036/0071 and FIS PI14/00450 to JS; CP15/00163 to MVC; FIS PI15/00272 to EV ; CIBER-BBN [CB06/01/1031 and 4NanoMets to RM ; and VENOM4CANCER to AV. Grant from La Generalitat de Catalunya (PERIS) [SLT002/16/00433 to JSOne-third of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients are refractory to initial treatment or relapse after rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone chemotherapy. In these patients, CXCR4 overexpression (CXCR4+) associates with lower overall and disease-free survival. Nanomedicine pursues active targeting to selectively deliver antitumor agents to cancer cells; a novel approach that promises to revolutionize therapy by dramatically increasing drug concentration in target tumor cells. In this study, we intravenously administered a liganded protein nanocarrier (T22-GFP-H6) targeting CXCR4+ lymphoma cells in mouse models to assess its selectivity as a nanocarrier by measuring its tissue biodistribution in cancer and normal cells. No previous protein-based nanocarrier has been described as specifically targeting lymphoma cells. T22-GFP-H6 achieved a highly selective tumor uptake in a CXCR4+ lymphoma subcutaneous model, as detected by fluorescent emission. We demonstrated that tumor uptake was CXCR4-dependent because pretreatment with AMD3100, a CXCR4 antagonist, significantly reduced tumor uptake. Moreover, in contrast to CXCR4+ subcutaneous models, CXCR4- tumors did not accumulate the nanocarrier. Most importantly, after intravenous injection in a disseminated model, the nanocarrier accumulated and internalized in all clinically relevant organs affected by lymphoma cells with negligible distribution to unaffected tissues. Finally, we obtained antitumor effect without toxicity in a CXCR4+ lymphoma model by administration of T22-DITOX-H6, a nanoparticle incorporating a toxin with the same structure as the nanocarrier. Hence, the use of the T22-GFP-H6 nanocarrier could be a good strategy to load and deliver drugs or toxins to treat specifically CXCR4-mediated refractory or relapsed diffuse large B-cell lymphom

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio