Data Systems Fault Coping for Real-time Big Data Analytics Required Architectural Crucibles

This paper analyzes the properties and characteristics of unknown and unexpected faults introduced into information systems while processing Big Data in real-time. The authors hypothesize that there are new faults, and requirements for fault handling and propose an analytic model and architectural framework to assess and manage the faults and mitigate the risks of correlating or integrating otherwise uncorrelated Big Data, and to ensure the source pedigree, quality, set integrity, freshness, and validity of data being consumed. We argue that new architectures, methods, and tools for handling and analyzing Big Data systems functioning in real-time must design systems that address and mitigate concerns for faults resulting from real-time streaming processes while ensuring that variables such as synchronization, redundancy, and latency are addressed. This paper concludes that with improved designs, real-time Big Data systems may continuously deliver the value and benefits of streaming Big Data

Friends or foes? migrants and sub-state nationalists in Europe

How do sub-state nationalists respond to the growing presence of cultural diversity in their ‘homelands’ resulting from migration? Sub-state nationalists in Europe, in ‘nations without states’ such as Catalonia and Scotland, have been challenging the traditional nation-state model for many decades. While the arguments in favour of autonomy or independence levelled by these movements have become more complex, sub-state nationalist movements remain grounded by their perceived national community that is distinct from the majority nation. Migration to the ‘homeland’ of a sub-state nation, then, presents a conundrum for sub-state elites that we label the ‘legitimation paradox’: too much internal diversity may undermine the claim to cultural distinctiveness. We engage with three common intervening variables thought to influence how sub-state nationalists confront the ‘legitimation paradox’: civic/ethnic nationalism, degree of political autonomy, and party competition. Our overarching argument is that none of these factors have a unidirectional or determinate effect on the sub-state nationalism-immigration nexus, which is why the nuanced case studies that comprise this Special Issue are worthwhile endeavours

Common genetic variants in the CLDN2 and PRSS1-PRSS2 loci alter risk for alcohol-related and sporadic pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is a complex, progressively destructive inflammatory disorder. Alcohol was long thought to be the primary causative agent, but genetic contributions have been of interest since the discovery that rare PRSS1, CFTR, and SPINK1 variants were associated with pancreatitis risk. We now report two significant genome-wide associations identified and replicated at PRSS1-PRSS2 (1×10-12) and x-linked CLDN2 (p < 1×10-21) through a two-stage genome-wide study (Stage 1, 676 cases and 4507 controls; Stage 2, 910 cases and 4170 controls). The PRSS1 variant affects susceptibility by altering expression of the primary trypsinogen gene. The CLDN2 risk allele is associated with atypical localization of claudin-2 in pancreatic acinar cells. The homozygous (or hemizygous male) CLDN2 genotype confers the greatest risk, and its alleles interact with alcohol consumption to amplify risk. These results could partially explain the high frequency of alcohol-related pancreatitis in men – male hemizygous frequency is 0.26, female homozygote is 0.07

Developing a Marketplace for Smart Cities Foundational Services with Policy and Trust

International audienceThis paper examines the issues of policy and trust in the context of IT infrastructures for Smart Cities. This paper proposes that trusted Smart city policies can lead to the development of a set of trusted foundational services underlying all smart city solutions. Such services are critical to ensure that the architectural choices used to drive efficient integration among data and service consumers and providers to use within smart city domains, and will lead to the development of a marketplace where service providers and consumers engage in a free and fully informed exchange to choose worthy and reliable experiences addressing everything from reporting street light outages to identifying economic advantages during city planning. It argues that two usually mutually exclusive architectural meta-models; Centralization and Federation, are both required to achieve a robust set of trusted foundational services. It reviews a scale of options for implementing the marketplace component of the foundational services to support a matrix of consuming scenarios from fully isolated well known analytics to the anonymous access that allows potential users to browse for services without any controls before requesting access. It concludes that Trusted Policies are highly important as successful ingredients in the development of foundational services during the developmental stage and in the operations and maintenance stages for integrated Smart city systems. It is critical that Smart cities systems implement city-wide policies and similarly policy driven marketplaces that improve and sustain trust and in turn help Smart cities manage the multitude of systems that are continuously both developmental and operational, and will be so for many decades to come