Coordinated Container Migration and Base Station Handover in Mobile Edge Computing

Offloading computationally intensive tasks from mobile users (MUs) to a virtualized environment such as containers on a nearby edge server, can significantly reduce processing time and hence end-to-end (E2E) delay. However, when users are mobile, such containers need to be migrated to other edge servers located closer to the MUs to keep the E2E delay low. Meanwhile, the mobility of MUs necessitates handover among base stations in order to keep the wireless connections between MUs and base stations uninterrupted. In this paper, we address the joint problem of container migration and base-station handover by proposing a coordinated migration-handover mechanism, with the objective of achieving low E2E delay and minimizing service interruption. The mechanism determines the optimal destinations and time for migration and handover in a coordinated manner, along with a delta checkpoint technique that we propose. We implement a testbed edge computing system with our proposed coordinated migration-handover mechanism, and evaluate the performance using real-world applications implemented with Docker container (an industry-standard). The results demonstrate that our mechanism achieves 30%-40% lower service downtime and 13%-22% lower E2E delay as compared to other mechanisms. Our work is instrumental in offering smooth user experience in mobile edge computing.Comment: 6 pages. Accepted for presentation at the IEEE Global Communications Conference (Globecom), Taipei, Taiwan, Dec. 202

Fast and Efficient Malware Detection with Joint Static and Dynamic Features Through Transfer Learning

In malware detection, dynamic analysis extracts the runtime behavior of malware samples in a controlled environment and static analysis extracts features using reverse engineering tools. While the former faces the challenges of anti-virtualization and evasive behavior of malware samples, the latter faces the challenges of code obfuscation. To tackle these drawbacks, prior works proposed to develop detection models by aggregating dynamic and static features, thus leveraging the advantages of both approaches. However, simply concatenating dynamic and static features raises an issue of imbalanced contribution due to the heterogeneous dimensions of feature vectors to the performance of malware detection models. Yet, dynamic analysis is a time-consuming task and requires a secure environment, leading to detection delays and high costs for maintaining the analysis infrastructure. In this paper, we first introduce a method of constructing aggregated features via concatenating latent features learned through deep learning with equally-contributed dimensions. We then develop a knowledge distillation technique to transfer knowledge learned from aggregated features by a teacher model to a student model trained only on static features and use the trained student model for the detection of new malware samples. We carry out extensive experiments with a dataset of 86709 samples including both benign and malware samples. The experimental results show that the teacher model trained on aggregated features constructed by our method outperforms the state-of-the-art models with an improvement of up to 2.38% in detection accuracy. The distilled student model not only achieves high performance (97.81% in terms of accuracy) as that of the teacher model but also significantly reduces the detection time (from 70046.6 ms to 194.9 ms) without requiring dynamic analysis.Comment: Accepted for presentation and publication at the 21st International Conference on Applied Cryptography and Network Security (ACNS 2023

The genomes of two key bumblebee species with primitive eusocial organization

Background: The shift from solitary to social behavior is one of the major evolutionary transitions. Primitively eusocial bumblebees are uniquely placed to illuminate the evolution of highly eusocial insect societies. Bumblebees are also invaluable natural and agricultural pollinators, and there is widespread concern over recent population declines in some species. High-quality genomic data will inform key aspects of bumblebee biology, including susceptibility to implicated population viability threats. Results: We report the high quality draft genome sequences of Bombus terrestris and Bombus impatiens, two ecologically dominant bumblebees and widely utilized study species. Comparing these new genomes to those of the highly eusocial honeybee Apis mellifera and other Hymenoptera, we identify deeply conserved similarities, as well as novelties key to the biology of these organisms. Some honeybee genome features thought to underpin advanced eusociality are also present in bumblebees, indicating an earlier evolution in the bee lineage. Xenobiotic detoxification and immune genes are similarly depauperate in bumblebees and honeybees, and multiple categories of genes linked to social organization, including development and behavior, show high conservation. Key differences identified include a bias in bumblebee chemoreception towards gustation from olfaction, and striking differences in microRNAs, potentially responsible for gene regulation underlying social and other traits. Conclusions: These two bumblebee genomes provide a foundation for post-genomic research on these key pollinators and insect societies. Overall, gene repertoires suggest that the route to advanced eusociality in bees was mediated by many small changes in many genes and processes, and not by notable expansion or depauperation

Psychosocial and treatment correlates of opiate free success in a clinical review of a naltrexone implant program

Background: There is on-going controversy in relation to the efficacy of naltrexone used for the treatment of heroin addiction, and the important covariates of that success. We were also interested to review our experience with two depot forms of implantable naltrexone. Methods: A retrospective review of patients' charts was undertaken, patients were recalled by telephone and by letter, and urine drug screen samples were collected. Opiate free success (OFS) was the parameter of interest. Three groups were defined. The first two were treated in the previous 12 months and comprised "implant" and "tablet" patients. A third group was "historical" comprising those treated orally in the preceding 12 months. Results: There were 102, 113 and 161 patients in each group respectively. Groups were matched for age, sex, and dose of heroin used, but not financial status or social support. The overall follow-up rate was 82%. The Kaplan Meier 12 month OFS were 82%, 58% and 52% respectively. 12 post-treatment variables were independently associated with treatment retention. In a Cox proportional hazard multivariate model social support, the number of detoxification episodes, post-treatment employment, the use of multiple implant episodes and spiritual belief were significantly related to OFS. Conclusion: Consistent with the voluminous international literature clinically useful retention rates can be achieved with naltrexone, which may be improved by implants and particularly serial implants, repeat detoxification, meticulous clinical follow-up, and social support. As depot formulations of naltrexone become increasingly available such results can guide their clinical deployment, improve treatment outcomes, and enlarge the policy options for an exciting non-addictive pharmacotherapy for opiate addiction

Spread of artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum malaria.

BACKGROUND: Artemisinin resistance in Plasmodium falciparum has emerged in Southeast Asia and now poses a threat to the control and elimination of malaria. Mapping the geographic extent of resistance is essential for planning containment and elimination strategies. METHODS: Between May 2011 and April 2013, we enrolled 1241 adults and children with acute, uncomplicated falciparum malaria in an open-label trial at 15 sites in 10 countries (7 in Asia and 3 in Africa). Patients received artesunate, administered orally at a daily dose of either 2 mg per kilogram of body weight per day or 4 mg per kilogram, for 3 days, followed by a standard 3-day course of artemisinin-based combination therapy. Parasite counts in peripheral-blood samples were measured every 6 hours, and the parasite clearance half-lives were determined. RESULTS: The median parasite clearance half-lives ranged from 1.9 hours in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 7.0 hours at the Thailand-Cambodia border. Slowly clearing infections (parasite clearance half-life >5 hours), strongly associated with single point mutations in the "propeller" region of the P. falciparum kelch protein gene on chromosome 13 (kelch13), were detected throughout mainland Southeast Asia from southern Vietnam to central Myanmar. The incidence of pretreatment and post-treatment gametocytemia was higher among patients with slow parasite clearance, suggesting greater potential for transmission. In western Cambodia, where artemisinin-based combination therapies are failing, the 6-day course of antimalarial therapy was associated with a cure rate of 97.7% (95% confidence interval, 90.9 to 99.4) at 42 days. CONCLUSIONS: Artemisinin resistance to P. falciparum, which is now prevalent across mainland Southeast Asia, is associated with mutations in kelch13. Prolonged courses of artemisinin-based combination therapies are currently efficacious in areas where standard 3-day treatments are failing. (Funded by the U.K. Department of International Development and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01350856.)

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data