Cloud computing services: taxonomy and comparison

Cloud computing is a highly discussed topic in the technical and economic world, and many of the big players of the software industry have entered the development of cloud services. Several companies what to explore the possibilities and benefits of incorporating such cloud computing services in their business, as well as the possibilities to offer own cloud services. However, with the amount of cloud computing services increasing quickly, the need for a taxonomy framework rises. This paper examines the available cloud computing services and identifies and explains their main characteristics. Next, this paper organizes these characteristics and proposes a tree-structured taxonomy. This taxonomy allows quick classifications of the different cloud computing services and makes it easier to compare them. Based on existing taxonomies, this taxonomy provides more detailed characteristics and hierarchies. Additionally, the taxonomy offers a common terminology and baseline information for easy communication. Finally, the taxonomy is explained and verified using existing cloud services as examples

A comparison framework and review of service brokerage solutions for cloud architectures

Cloud service brokerage has been identified as a key concern for future cloud technology development and research. We compare service brokerage solutions. A range of specific concerns like architecture, programming and quality will be looked at. We apply a 2-pronged classification and comparison framework.We will identify challenges and wider research objectives based on an identification of cloud broker architecture concerns and technical requirements for service brokerage solutions. We will discuss complex cloud architecture concerns such as commoditisation and federation of integrated, vertical cloud stacks

Associations of autozygosity with a broad range of human phenotypes

In many species, the offspring of related parents suffer reduced reproductive success, a phenomenon known as inbreeding depression. In humans, the importance of this effect has remained unclear, partly because reproduction between close relatives is both rare and frequently associated with confounding social factors. Here, using genomic inbreeding coefficients (F-ROH) for >1.4 million individuals, we show that F-ROH is significantly associated (p <0.0005) with apparently deleterious changes in 32 out of 100 traits analysed. These changes are associated with runs of homozygosity (ROH), but not with common variant homozygosity, suggesting that genetic variants associated with inbreeding depression are predominantly rare. The effect on fertility is striking: F-ROH equivalent to the offspring of first cousins is associated with a 55% decrease [95% CI 44-66%] in the odds of having children. Finally, the effects of F-ROH are confirmed within full-sibling pairs, where the variation in F-ROH is independent of all environmental confounding.Peer reviewe