A MULTI-FUNCTIONAL PROVENANCE ARCHITECTURE: CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS

In service-oriented environments, services are put together in the form of a workflow with the aim of distributed problem solving. Capturing the execution details of the services' transformations is a significant advantage of using workflows. These execution details, referred to as provenance information, are usually traced automatically and stored in provenance stores. Provenance data contains the data recorded by a workflow engine during a workflow execution. It identifies what data is passed between services, which services are involved, and how results are eventually generated for particular sets of input values. Provenance information is of great importance and has found its way through areas in computer science such as: Bioinformatics, database, social, sensor networks, etc. Current exploitation and application of provenance data is very limited as provenance systems started being developed for specific applications. Thus, applying learning and knowledge discovery methods to provenance data can provide rich and useful information on workflows and services. Therefore, in this work, the challenges with workflows and services are studied to discover the possibilities and benefits of providing solutions by using provenance data. A multifunctional architecture is presented which addresses the workflow and service issues by exploiting provenance data. These challenges include workflow composition, abstract workflow selection, refinement, evaluation, and graph model extraction. The specific contribution of the proposed architecture is its novelty in providing a basis for taking advantage of the previous execution details of services and workflows along with artificial intelligence and knowledge management techniques to resolve the major challenges regarding workflows. The presented architecture is application-independent and could be deployed in any area. The requirements for such an architecture along with its building components are discussed. Furthermore, the responsibility of the components, related works and the implementation details of the architecture along with each component are presented

Dicrocoelium dendriticum found in a Bronze Age cemetery in western Iran in the pre-Persepolis period: The oldest Asian palaeofinding in the present human infection hottest spot region

Dicrocoeliasis of animals and humans is caused by trematode species of the genus Dicrocoelium, mainly Dicrocoelium dendriticum in ruminants of the Holarctic region. D. dendriticum may be considered an old parasite, probably related to the appearance and diversification of Eurasian ovicaprines, occurred 14.7-14.5 million years ago. The oldest palaeoparasitological findings of Dicrocoelium in domestic animals and humans date from more than 5000 years BC in Europe. Eggs of D. dendriticum have been found in a burial of a Bronze Age cemetery (2600-2200 BC) close to Yasuj city, southwestern Iran. This is the oldest finding of D. dendriticum in the Near East, where present human infection reports are more numerous than in other world regions where human dicrocoeliasis is rare and sporadic. This palaeofinding in the Zagros mountainous chain area is of interest by its location close to Persepolis, suggesting a narrow relationship between humans and herbivorous animals in these highlands. Domestic ruminant populations of these highlands were following a repeated contact with those of the western flat lowlands of the Fertile Crescent thanks to annual altitudinal transhumance migrations of the nomadic pastoral tribes with their herds living throughout Zagros Mountains in the several millennium period BC. It is concluded that D. dendriticum spread together with sheep and goats westward throughout Europe from the Fertile Crescent during the 8000-6000 year BC period and somewhat later southward into Africa, both spreads facilitated by the low specificity of that trematode species regarding the snail and ant intermediate hosts. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Plasma levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and its soluble receptor in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Introduction: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a clinical pathologic condition, which leads to inflammation events in hepatocytes. The objective of present study was to compare the plasma levels of VEGF and sVEGFR-1 as inflammation factors in overweight and obese children and adolescents with and without NAFLD. Materials and Methods: A total sample of 70 overweight and obese children and adolescents (37 boys and 33 girls) were recruited from those admitted to a nutrition clinic in Mashhad, northeastern Iran. The presence of NAFLD was determined by FibroScan, ultrasound and elevation of liver enzyme. Plasma VEGF and sVEGFR1 were also determined for each individual. Results: VEGF levels (log transformed) showed a significant stepwise increase from “zero” to “first”, “second” and “third” grades (P tren

QoS-Aware Service Selection for Abstract Workflows using Provenance Data and Fuzzy Constraint Satisfaction Modeling

Abstrac

Central composite design for the optimization of removal of the azo dye, methyl orange, from waste water using fenton reaction

In this study the degradation of Methyl Orange, using Fenton reaction was studied and optimized using central composite design as a response surface methodology. The effects of various experimental parameters in this reaction were investigated using central composite design. 28 experiments, with 4 factors and 5 levels for each factor were designed. These factors (or variables) were: initial concentration of Fe (II), initial concentration of H2O2, initial concentration of oxalate and the reaction time. A full-quadratic polynomial equation between the percentage of dye degradation (as a response) and the studied parameters was established. After removing the non-significant variables from the model, response surface method was used to obtain the optimum conditions. The optimum ranges of variables were: 0.25 - 0.35 mM for initial concentration of Fe (II), 5-17 mM for initial concentration of H2O2, 4-9 mM for initial concentration of oxalate, and 50-80 min for the reaction time. Also the results of extra experiments showed that these optimized values can be used for real samples and yield to a high value for the response

Nursing students' experience of incivility behaviours and its correlation with their nursing professional values: A cross‐sectional descriptive study

Abstract Aims The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between experienced incivility behaviours and professional values in the clinical setting and also the factors influencing incivility and professional values. Design Cross‐sectional descriptive study. Methods Data gathering tools used in the study includes demographic characteristics, incivility behaviour and nursing professional values. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS version 21. Results The findings showed that incivility behaviours had a statistically significant negative correlation with professional values (r = −.150, p = .003), so that the level of incivility behaviours experienced by students was low (1.76 out of 5). This was while the level of professional values was moderate to high among students (3.72 out of 5). Due to the negative and statistically significant correlation between incivility behaviours experienced by students and nursing professional values, it is necessary that the officials of teaching hospitals inform nurses about incivility behaviours. Considering the negative and statistically significant correlation, it can be concluded that the reduction in nurses' incivility behaviours as patterns of the nursing profession causes nursing students to better acquire and internalize nursing professional values in the clinical setting. Nurse educators should also try to communicate with nursing administrators to exchange information about nurses' civil and incivility behaviours perceived by students

Confirmatory test versus screening test analyses for fetal mosaic variations; a large scale study

Abstract Background Mosaic genetic anomaly is a problematic and interpretative issue in prenatal diagnosis. Conventional karyotyping, as a confirmatory test traditionally used for detecting mosaic and nonmosiac prenatal disorders. Recently Quantitative Fluorescence PCR (QF-PCR) is used for prenatal testing. We retrospectively assessed the frequency of both mosaic and nonmosaic conditions in a large-scale study and compared the clinical value of confirmatory cytogenetic analysis with QF-PCR and other screening tests. Result Of 6033 cases identified as abnormal conditions by sonography or protein marker screening tests, only 180 nonmosaic and 8 mosaic cases confirmed to be abnormal by confirmatory karyotyping test results. The cytogenetic analysis was correlated with other QF-PCR confirmatory test results for nonmosiac conditions but it was not comparable for mosaic cases. Conclusion The cytogenetic analyses were shown to have the greatest clinical value in revealing the various mosaic conditions. The QF-PCR test is shown to be a reliable confirmatory test for nonmosaic diseases but not for mosaicism, and the screening protein marker test can weakly indicate the presence of abnormal cell lines. Moreover, older mothers (>30 years) are at greater risk for developing mosaic ova

Mutation detection of CYP21A2 gene in nonclassical congenital adrenal hyperplasia patients with premature pubarche

Background: Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) due to mutations in the gene encoding 21-hydroxilase is one of common disease with an autosomal recessive form. In this study, our aim is to detect the prevalence of eight common mutations in nonclassical congenital adrenal hyperplasia (NCAH). Materials and Methods: A total of 30 patients with clinical and laboratory evidence of NCAH was selected. Gene-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) without contamination of pseudogene was carried out, and PCR product of this step was used to amplification-refractory mutation system PCR on eight common mutations in CYP21A2 gene. Results: Two heterozygote patients for I2G mutation and six heterozygote patients for Q318X mutation is reported in our study. These mutations associated with the classic form of CAH, and heterozygotes presented with NC symptom, including premature pubarche and hirsutism. Conclusion: There are some data about the association of the mutation with the clinical form of CAH including classic (salt-wasting and simple virilizing) and NC form. I2G and Q318X mutations were reported in classic form in homozygote state, but the heterozygote form associated with NC form. CAH diagnosis with NC symptom and with measurement of 17-hydroxyprogestrone as NCAH is not a trusted assessment and require to molecular analysis for accurate diagnosis

The impact of frying aerosol on human brain activity

Knowledge on the impact of the exposure to indoor ultrafine particles (UFPs) on the human brain is restricted. Twelve non-atopic, non-smoking, and healthy adults (10 female and 7 male, in average 22 years old) were monitored for brain physiological responses via electroencephalographs (EEGs) during cooking. Frying ground beef meat in sunflower oil using electric stove without ventilation was conducted. UFPs, particulate matter (PM) (PM1, PM2.5, PM4, PM10), CO2, indoor temperature, RH, oil and meat temperatures were monitored continuously throughout the experiments. The UFP peak concentration was recorded to be approximately 2.0 × 105 particles/cm3. EEGs were recorded before exposure, at end of cooking when PM peak concentrations were observed, and 30 min after the end of the cooking session (post-exposure). Brain electrical activity statistically significantly changed during post-exposure compared to the before exposure, suggesting the translocation of UFPs to the brain, occurring solely in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. Study participants older than 25 were more susceptible to UFPs compared to those younger than 25. Also, the brain abnormality was mainly driven by male rather than female study participants. The brain slow-wave band (delta) decreased while the fast-wave band (Beta3) increased similar to the pattern found in the literature for the exposure to smoking fumes and diesel exhaust

Human exposure to aerosol from indoor gas stove cooking and the resulting nervous system responses

Our knowledge of the effects of exposure to indoor ultrafine particles (sub-100 nm, #/cm3) on human brain activity is very limited. The effects of cooking ultrafine particles (UFP) on healthy adults were assessed using an electroencephalograph (EEGs) for brain response. Peak ultrafine particle concentrations were approximately 3 × 105 particle/cm3, and the average level was 1.64 × 105 particle/cm3. The average particle number emission rate (S) and the average number decay rate (a+k) for chicken frying in brain experiments were calculated to be 2.82 × 1012 (SD = 1.83 × 1012, R2 = 0.91, p = 0.0013) particles/min, 0.47 (SD = 0.30, R2 = 0.90, p < 0.0001) min−1, respectively. EEGs were recorded before and during cooking (14 min) and 30 min after the cooking sessions. The brain fast-wave band (beta) decreased during exposure, similar to people with neurodegenerative diseases. It subsequently increased to its pre-exposure condition for 70% of the study participants after 30 min. The brain slow-wave band to fast-wave band ratio (theta/beta ratio) increased during and after exposure, similar to observed behavior in early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. The brain then tended to return to its normal condition within 30 min following the exposure. This study suggests that chronically exposed people to high concentrations of cooking aerosol might progress toward AD