CyberGuarder: a virtualization security assurance architecture for green cloud computing

Cloud Computing, Green Computing, Virtualization, Virtual Security Appliance, Security Isolation

Backup power working group best practices handbook for maintenance and operation of engine generators, Volume 1. Revision 1

This handbook is divided into the four chapters. Chapter one covers the design, procurement, storage, handling and testing of diesel fuel oil to be used in DOE backup power supplies. Chapter two discusses the selection of automatic transfer switches to be used in DOE backup power supplies. Chapter three is about low voltage open frame air circuit breaker operation, testing, and maintenance for DOE backup power supplies. And chapter four covers installation, design, and maintenance of engine cooling water and jacket water systems

A Gestão Estratégica dos Recursos Humanos nas Autarquias Locais: estudo de caso na Câmara Municipal de Cantanhede

Os Recursos Humanos são fundamentais para o prosseguimento da missão e dos objetivos de qualquer organização. A Gestão Estratégica dos Recursos Humanos, permite que uma organização alcance os seus objetivos, através do aumento da probabilidade de realização dos mesmos. Esta lógica de Gestão dos Recursos Humanos, revela-se como uma promessa explícita de eficácia organizacional, que pode ser alcançada pelo desenvolvimento do conjunto de práticas de RH internamente consistentes e adequadas aos contextos organizacionais. O concretizar de uma Gestão Estratégica dos Recursos Humanos nas organizações da Administração Pública, considerando a complexidade humana e o valor inerente, é uma via para o desenvolvimento a todos os níveis. Nas Câmaras Municipais, enquanto órgãos executivos de uma das formas de Autarquias Locais que é o Município, a Gestão Estratégica dos Recursos Humanos torna-se um investimento necessário para a melhoria contínua na prestação de serviços públicos. Isso, tendo em conta que a descentralização de competências da Administração Pública Central, para as Autarquias Locais, acarreta um aumento de responsabilidades e requer maior capacidade de resposta às demandas sociais. É no contexto da Administração Pública, em particular das Autarquias Locais, que se realiza o estudo de caso na Câmara Municipal de Cantanhede. O objetivo desta investigação é compreender a dinâmica do sector dos Recursos Humanos nas Autarquias Locais, sob a perspetiva da Gestão Estratégica dos Recursos Humanos, e perceber a importância que esta tem no desempenho global dessas organizações. O tipo de pesquisa que se materializa é qualitativo e exploratório, com a realização de observação direta, análise documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas. Verifica-se com este estudo, que é preocupação da Câmara Municipal de Cantanhede e do sector dos Recursos Humanos, desenvolver procedimentos estratégicos de Gestão dos Recursos Humanos. Apesar de ser um processo limitado pelos problemas relativos à atualização das carreiras, baixa remuneração, ausência de compensações e prémio de desempenho. Para que a Gestão Estratégica dos Recursos Humanos tenha efetivamente campo de ação, é preciso que a Gestão dos Recursos Humanos seja desmistificada enquanto conceito e experienciada de forma expressiva nas Autarquias Locais, em conjunto com o reforço da autonomia dessas organizações. / Human Resources are fundamental for the pursuit of the mission and goals of any organization. The Strategic Management of Human Resources allows an organization to achieve its objectives by increasing the probability of achieving them. This Human Resource Management logic is an explicit promise of organizational effectiveness that can be achieved by developing a set of HR practices that are internally consistent and appropriate to organizational contexts. The realization of a Strategic Management of Human Resources in Public Administration organizations, considering the human complexity and the inherent value, is a way for development at all levels. In the Municipal Councils, as an executive bodies of one of the forms of Local Authorities that is the Municipality, the Strategic Management of Human Resources becomes a necessary investment for the continuous improvement in the provision of public services. This, taking into account that the decentralization of competences of the Central Public Administration, for Local Authorities, entails an increase in responsibilities and requires greater capacity to respond to social demands. It is in the context of the Public Administration, in particular the Local Authorities, that the case study is carried out in Cantanhede Town Hall. The objective of this research is to understand the dynamics of the Human Resources sector in Local Authorities, from the perspective of the Strategic Management of Human Resources, and realize the importance it has in the overall performance of these organizations. The type of research that materializes is qualitative and exploratory, with direct observation, documental analysis and semi-structured interviews. It is verified with this study, that is concern of the Cantanhede Town Hall and of the Human Resources sector to develop strategic human resources management procedures. Although it is a process limited by the problems related to the updating of the careers, low remuneration, absence of compensations and performance bonus. In order for the Strategic Management of Human Resources to have an effective field of action, it is necessary that the Human Resources Management be demystified as a concept and experienced in an expressive way in Local Authorities, together with the reinforcement of the autonomy of these organizations

Effects of eight neuropsychiatric copy number variants on human brain structure

peer reviewedMany copy number variants (CNVs) confer risk for the same range of neurodevelopmental symptoms and psychiatric conditions including autism and schizophrenia. Yet, to date neuroimaging studies have typically been carried out one mutation at a time, showing that CNVs have large effects on brain anatomy. Here, we aimed to characterize and quantify the distinct brain morphometry effects and latent dimensions across 8 neuropsychiatric CNVs. We analyzed T1-weighted MRI data from clinically and non-clinically ascertained CNV carriers (deletion/duplication) at the 1q21.1 (n = 39/28), 16p11.2 (n = 87/78), 22q11.2 (n = 75/30), and 15q11.2 (n = 72/76) loci as well as 1296 non-carriers (controls). Case-control contrasts of all examined genomic loci demonstrated effects on brain anatomy, with deletions and duplications showing mirror effects at the global and regional levels. Although CNVs mainly showed distinct brain patterns, principal component analysis (PCA) loaded subsets of CNVs on two latent brain dimensions, which explained 32 and 29% of the variance of the 8 Cohen’s d maps. The cingulate gyrus, insula, supplementary motor cortex, and cerebellum were identified by PCA and multi-view pattern learning as top regions contributing to latent dimension shared across subsets of CNVs. The large proportion of distinct CNV effects on brain morphology may explain the small neuroimaging effect sizes reported in polygenic psychiatric conditions. Nevertheless, latent gene brain morphology dimensions will help subgroup the rapidly expanding landscape of neuropsychiatric variants and dissect the heterogeneity of idiopathic conditions. © 2021, The Author(s)

Repositioning of the global epicentre of non-optimal cholesterol

High blood cholesterol is typically considered a feature of wealthy western countries1,2. However, dietary and behavioural determinants of blood cholesterol are changing rapidly throughout the world3 and countries are using lipid-lowering medications at varying rates. These changes can have distinct effects on the levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and non-HDL cholesterol, which have different effects on human health4,5. However, the trends of HDL and non-HDL cholesterol levels over time have not been previously reported in a global analysis. Here we pooled 1,127 population-based studies that measured blood lipids in 102.6 million individuals aged 18 years and older to estimate trends from 1980 to 2018 in mean total, non-HDL and HDL cholesterol levels for 200 countries. Globally, there was little change in total or non-HDL cholesterol from 1980 to 2018. This was a net effect of increases in low- and middle-income countries, especially in east and southeast Asia, and decreases in high-income western countries, especially those in northwestern Europe, and in central and eastern Europe. As a result, countries with the highest level of non-HDL cholesterol—which is a marker of cardiovascular risk—changed from those in western Europe such as Belgium, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Malta in 1980 to those in Asia and the Pacific, such as Tokelau, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand. In 2017, high non-HDL cholesterol was responsible for an estimated 3.9 million (95% credible interval 3.7 million–4.2 million) worldwide deaths, half of which occurred in east, southeast and south Asia. The global repositioning of lipid-related risk, with non-optimal cholesterol shifting from a distinct feature of high-income countries in northwestern Europe, north America and Australasia to one that affects countries in east and southeast Asia and Oceania should motivate the use of population-based policies and personal interventions to improve nutrition and enhance access to treatment throughout the world.</p

Global age-sex-specific fertility, mortality, healthy life expectancy (HALE), and population estimates in 204 countries and territories, 1950–2019: a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Accurate and up-to-date assessment of demographic metrics is crucial for understanding a wide range of social, economic, and public health issues that affect populations worldwide. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 produced updated and comprehensive demographic assessments of the key indicators of fertility, mortality, migration, and population for 204 countries and territories and selected subnational locations from 1950 to 2019. Methods: 8078 country-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 938 surveys, 349 censuses, and 238 other sources were identified and used to estimate age-specific fertility. Spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) was used to generate age-specific fertility rates for 5-year age groups between ages 15 and 49 years. With extensions to age groups 10–14 and 50–54 years, the total fertility rate (TFR) was then aggregated using the estimated age-specific fertility between ages 10 and 54 years. 7417 sources were used for under-5 mortality estimation and 7355 for adult mortality. ST-GPR was used to synthesise data sources after correction for known biases. Adult mortality was measured as the probability of death between ages 15 and 60 years based on vital registration, sample registration, and sibling histories, and was also estimated using ST-GPR. HIV-free life tables were then estimated using estimates of under-5 and adult mortality rates using a relational model life table system created for GBD, which closely tracks observed age-specific mortality rates from complete vital registration when available. Independent estimates of HIV-specific mortality generated by an epidemiological analysis of HIV prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance and other sources were incorporated into the estimates in countries with large epidemics. Annual and single-year age estimates of net migration and population for each country and territory were generated using a Bayesian hierarchical cohort component model that analysed estimated age-specific fertility and mortality rates along with 1250 censuses and 747 population registry years. We classified location-years into seven categories on the basis of the natural rate of increase in population (calculated by subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate) and the net migration rate. We computed healthy life expectancy (HALE) using years lived with disability (YLDs) per capita, life tables, and standard demographic methods. Uncertainty was propagated throughout the demographic estimation process, including fertility, mortality, and population, with 1000 draw-level estimates produced for each metric. Findings: The global TFR decreased from 2•72 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 2•66–2•79) in 2000 to 2•31 (2•17–2•46) in 2019. Global annual livebirths increased from 134•5 million (131•5–137•8) in 2000 to a peak of 139•6 million (133•0–146•9) in 2016. Global livebirths then declined to 135•3 million (127•2–144•1) in 2019. Of the 204 countries and territories included in this study, in 2019, 102 had a TFR lower than 2•1, which is considered a good approximation of replacement-level fertility. All countries in sub-Saharan Africa had TFRs above replacement level in 2019 and accounted for 27•1% (95% UI 26•4–27•8) of global livebirths. Global life expectancy at birth increased from 67•2 years (95% UI 66•8–67•6) in 2000 to 73•5 years (72•8–74•3) in 2019. The total number of deaths increased from 50•7 million (49•5–51•9) in 2000 to 56•5 million (53•7–59•2) in 2019. Under-5 deaths declined from 9•6 million (9•1–10•3) in 2000 to 5•0 million (4•3–6•0) in 2019. Global population increased by 25•7%, from 6•2 billion (6•0–6•3) in 2000 to 7•7 billion (7•5–8•0) in 2019. In 2019, 34 countries had negative natural rates of increase; in 17 of these, the population declined because immigration was not sufficient to counteract the negative rate of decline. Globally, HALE increased from 58•6 years (56•1–60•8) in 2000 to 63•5 years (60•8–66•1) in 2019. HALE increased in 202 of 204 countries and territories between 2000 and 2019. Interpretation: Over the past 20 years, fertility rates have been dropping steadily and life expectancy has been increasing, with few exceptions. Much of this change follows historical patterns linking social and economic determinants, such as those captured by the GBD Socio-demographic Index, with demographic outcomes. More recently, several countries have experienced a combination of low fertility and stagnating improvement in mortality rates, pushing more populations into the late stages of the demographic transition. Tracking demographic change and the emergence of new patterns will be essential for global health monitoring. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens