EdgeFaaS: A Function-based Framework for Edge Computing

The rapid growth of data generated from Internet of Things (IoTs) such as smart phones and smart home devices presents new challenges to cloud computing in transferring, storing, and processing the data. With increasingly more powerful edge devices, edge computing, on the other hand, has the potential to better responsiveness, privacy, and cost efficiency. However, resources across the cloud and edge are highly distributed and highly diverse. To address these challenges, this paper proposes EdgeFaaS, a Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) based computing framework that supports the flexible, convenient, and optimized use of distributed and heterogeneous resources across IoT, edge, and cloud systems. EdgeFaaS allows cluster resources and individual devices to be managed under the same framework and provide computational and storage resources for functions. It provides virtual function and virtual storage interfaces for consistent function management and storage management across heterogeneous compute and storage resources. It automatically optimizes the scheduling of functions and placement of data according to their performance and privacy requirements. EdgeFaaS is evaluated based on two edge workflows: video analytics workflow and federated learning workflow, both of which are representative edge applications and involve large amounts of input data generated from edge devices

When Edge Meets FaaS: Opportunities and Challenges

The proliferation of edge devices and the rapid growth of IoT data have called forth the edge computing paradigm. Function-as-a-service (FaaS) is a promising computing paradigm to realize edge computing. This paper explores the feasibility and advantages of FaaS-based edge computing. It also studies the research challenges that should be addressed in the design of such systems, which are 1) the quick decomposing and recomposing of applications, 2) the trade-off between performance and isolation of sandbox mechanisms, and 3) distributed scheduling. The challenges are illustrated by evaluating existing FaaS-based edge platforms, AWS IoT Greengrass, and OpenFaaS

Symmetry-Preserving Program Representations for Learning Code Semantics

Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown promise in automated program reasoning, a crucial aspect of many security tasks. However, existing LLM architectures for code are often borrowed from other domains like natural language processing, raising concerns about their generalization and robustness to unseen code. A key generalization challenge is to incorporate the knowledge of code semantics, including control and data flow, into the LLM architectures. Drawing inspiration from examples of convolution layers exploiting translation symmetry, we explore how code symmetries can enhance LLM architectures for program analysis and modeling. We present a rigorous group-theoretic framework that formally defines code symmetries as semantics-preserving transformations and provides techniques for precisely reasoning about symmetry preservation within LLM architectures. Using this framework, we introduce a novel variant of self-attention that preserves program symmetries, demonstrating its effectiveness in generalization and robustness through detailed experimental evaluations across different binary and source code analysis tasks. Overall, our code symmetry framework offers rigorous and powerful reasoning techniques that can guide the future development of specialized LLMs for code and advance LLM-guided program reasoning tasks

Stage 1 Hypertension and the 10‐Year and Lifetime Risk of Cardiovascular Disease: A Prospective Real‐World Study

Background The 10‐year and lifetime cardiovascular disease risk in the population with stage 1 hypertension and the effects of recovery from and progression of stage 1 hypertension remain undetermined. Methods and Results This prospective cohort study included 96 268 individuals with blood pressure measurements obtained in 2006 and again in 2010. The 10‐year cardiovascular disease risk was estimated using the multivariable Cox proportional hazards model, and the lifetime risk was calculated using a modified survival analysis that accounted for the competing risk of death. Stage 1 hypertension was detected in 30.83% of the cohort. The 10‐year cardiovascular disease risk was 2.80%, and the lifetime risk was 16.61%. Compared with the normal blood pressure group, the stage 1 hypertension group had a 35% higher 10‐year risk (hazard ratio [HR], 1.35 [95% CI, 1.19–1.52]) and a 36% higher lifetime risk (HR, 1.36 [95% CI, 1.25–1.49]). By 2010, 12.57% of the participants with stage 1 hypertension had progressed to stage 2, with a significant 156% increase in 10‐year risk (HR, 2.56 [95% CI, 2.11–3.11]) and an increased lifetime risk of 129% (HR, 2.29 [95% CI, 1.89–2.77]). There was no appreciable change in risk in those with stage 1 hypertension whose blood pressure returned to the normal‐elevated range. Conclusions Stage 1 hypertension was associated with a significant increase in 10‐year and lifetime cardiovascular disease risk. Progression to stage 2 hypertension was associated with a marked increase in lifetime risk. The current guidelines require revision to promote early detection and appropriate management of blood pressure

The Effect of Replacing Wildrye Hay with Mulberry Leaves on the Growth Performance, Blood Metabolites, and Carcass Characteristics of Sheep

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of partially substituting for conventional forage, Chinese wildrye (CW), with mulberry leaves (ML) on the growth, digestion, ruminal fermentation, blood metabolites, and meat quality of sheep in a 65-day feedlot study. Thirty-two four-month-old male small-tailed Han sheep (25.15 ± 1.03 kg) were randomly assigned to one of four treatments. The dietary treatments consisted of four proportions of ML (0, 8, 24, and 32%) as a substitute for CW (designated as ML0, ML8, ML24, and ML32, respectively). Rumen digesta and blood samples were collected at day 63 of the trial. Carcass traits were assessed after slaughter at the end of performance period. The results from this study revealed no differences in average daily bodyweight gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and final body weight (FBW) among treatments. The apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) was higher in the sheep fed with ML than in those fed CW. The ML24 treatment had a higher digestibility of crude protein (CP) and ether extract (EE). There were no differences (p = 0.13) in ruminal pH values among the treatments. However, there was more microbial protein (p < 0.01) in ML24 and ML32 treatments than the ML0 treatment. Ruminal concentrations of acetate and butyrate were significantly different among treatments, although no difference in concentrations of total volatile fatty acid were found. Additionally, no differences were detected for serum parameters except blood urea nitrogen (BUN). No differences were observed for carcass weight (p = 0.62), dressing percentage (p = 0.31) or longissimus dorsi muscle (LM) area (p = 0.94) among treatments. However, intramuscular fat was higher in the ML24 treatment than in the ML0 treatment. (p < 0.01). There were higher pH values of the 24-h longissimus dorsi in the ML24 treatment than in the ML0 treatment. In addition, the saturated fatty acid (SFA) content was lower (p < 0.01) and the monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) content higher (p < 0.01) in the ML24 treatment than in the ML0 treatment. In conclusion, the partially substitution of mulberry leaves for Chinese wildrye in the diet of sheep had a beneficial influence on the growth performance, blood metabolites and carcass characteristics. The inclusion of 24% (air dry basis) mulberry leaf hay in the ration of sheep is recommended based on these findings

Co-Metabolic Mechanism Analysis of Sulfidogenesis and Acidogenesis for Mariculture Solid Waste Treatment: Key Functional Microorganisms and Enzymes

Sulfidogenesis is a non-negligible process during the acidogenic fermentation of mariculture solid waste (MSW), and its interactions with acidogenesis are still unclear. To fill this gap, this study explored the co-metabolism mechanisms of acidogenesis and sulfidogenesis during the acidogenic fermentation of MSW with thermal (TH) pretreatment, alkaline fermentation (AF), and their combination (TH-AF) pretreatment. The interactions of sulfidogenesis and acidogenesis were altered by the changes in substrate availability and fermentation environment under the intervention of TH and AF pretreatments. Both acidogenesis and sulfidogenesis were boosted with TH pretreatment by supplying adequate substrates, and their competition for substrates was alleviated. Moreover, sulfidogenesis was constrained by 87.3% with TH-AF pretreatment, which reduced volatile fatty acid (VFA) consumption by sulfate reduction bacteria (SRB) and further enhanced the VFA accumulation. Notably, acidogenesis could be promoted by sulfidogenesis due to the enhancement of MSW hydrolysis and enrichment of acidogenic bacteria (Prolixibacter, Ruminococcus, etc.). Different pretreatments could redirect the metabolic pathways by changing the types of key functional microorganisms and enzymes in MSW anaerobic fermentation. Overall, this study provides useful information for developing an efficient and sustainable treatment of MSW

β-Delayed γ Emissions of 26P and Its Mirror Asymmetry

The study of the origin of asymmetries in mirror β decay is extremely important to understand the fundamental nuclear force and the nuclear structure. The experiment was performed at the National Laboratory of Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL) to measure the β-delayed γ rays of 26P by silicon array and Clover-type high-purity Germanium (HPGe) detectors. Combining with results from the β decay of 26P and its mirror nucleus 26Na, the mirror asymmetry parameter δ ( ≡ft+/ft−− 1) was determined to be 46(13)% for the transition feeding the first excited state in the daughter nucleus. Our independent results support the conclusion that the large mirror asymmetry is close to the proton halo structure in 26P