Experimental Performance Evaluation of Cloud-Based Analytics-as-a-Service

An increasing number of Analytics-as-a-Service solutions has recently seen the light, in the landscape of cloud-based services. These services allow flexible composition of compute and storage components, that create powerful data ingestion and processing pipelines. This work is a first attempt at an experimental evaluation of analytic application performance executed using a wide range of storage service configurations. We present an intuitive notion of data locality, that we use as a proxy to rank different service compositions in terms of expected performance. Through an empirical analysis, we dissect the performance achieved by analytic workloads and unveil problems due to the impedance mismatch that arise in some configurations. Our work paves the way to a better understanding of modern cloud-based analytic services and their performance, both for its end-users and their providers.Comment: Longer version of the paper in Submission at IEEE CLOUD'1

Rapporto sulle migliori tecnologie disponibili per la produzione di energie da biomasse

2008-11-18Sardegna Ricerche, Edificio 2, Località Piscinamanna 09010 Pula (CA) - ItaliaPresentazione dei risultati della Fase A di indagine del Progetto cluster Energia da biomasse e biocombustibili in Sardegn

The slowly variable star FY Lacertae

Photometric observations and analysis of FY Lac were performed in order to determine the variability characteristics, using measurements taken at Loiano site of Bologna Astronomical Observatory and AAVSO data. The star shows a Long Term variability with a preliminary period of about 274 +/- 28 days and photometric characteristics compatible with a red M5 III giant star, with a temperature of 3420 K degrees.Comment: 9 page

Is the Combination of the Nationalities of the Couple Affecting Women’s Fertility Intentions? Insights from Italy

Recently, there has been a rising interest on migrants’ fertility intentions (FIs). However, to the best of our knowledge, none of these studies have investigated the role played by the combination of the nationalities of the couple on women’s short-term intentions of having a(nother) child. This article is aimed at contributing to the existing literature on the subject by filling this gap, testing whether and how women’s FIs differ according to the type of couple (native, mixed and migrant couples) while disentangling the influence of the selection and socialization or adaptation hypotheses. Data drawn from two ISTAT surveys were harmonized and merged for multivariate analyses. Results shown that both individual and couples’ characteristics matter in shaping differences in FIs between foreign women partnered to Italian men and foreign women partnered to foreign men. Simultaneously, the FIs gap between foreign women partnered to Italian men and Italian women partnered to Italian men also decreased, giving support to the adaptation theory. Finally, findings point out to the presence of gradients in the explanatory power of the adaptation hypothesis to differences in FIs across groups of migrant women according to their area of nationality

High spatial resolution photo mosaicking for the monitoring of coralligenous reefs

AbstractCoralligenous reefs are characterized by large bathymetric and spatial distribution, as well as heterogeneity; in shallow environments, they develop mainly on vertical and sub-vertical rocky walls. Mainly diver-based techniques are carried out to gain detailed information on such habitats. Here, we propose a non-destructive and multi-purpose photo mosaicking method to study and monitor coralligenous reefs developing on vertical walls. High-pixel resolution images using three different commercial cameras were acquired on a 10 m2 reef, to compare the effectiveness of photomosaic method to the traditional photoquadrats technique in quantifying the coralligenous assemblage. Results showed very high spatial resolution and accuracy among the photomosaic acquired with different cameras and no significant differences with photoquadrats in assessing the assemblage composition. Despite the large difference in costs of each recording apparatus, little differences emerged from the assemblage characterization: through the analysis of the three photomosaics twelve taxa/morphological categories covered 97–99% of the sampled surface. Photo mosaicking represents a low-cost method that minimizes the time spent underwater by divers and capable of providing new opportunities for further studies on shallow coralligenous reefs

Trinucleon Electromagnetic Form Factors and the Light-Front Hamiltonian Dynamics

This contribution briefly illustrates preliminary calculations of the electromagnetic form factors of $^3$He and $^3$H, obtained within the Light-front Relativistic Hamiltonian Dynamics, adopting i) a Poincar\'e covariant current operator, without dynamical two-body currents, and ii) realistic nuclear bound states with $S$, $P$ and $D$ waves. The kinematical region of few $(GeV/c)^2$, relevant for forthcoming TJLAB experiments, has been investigated, obtaining possible signatures of relativistic effects for $Q^2>2.5 ~(GeV/c)^2$.Comment: 8 Pages, 7 figures, aipproc.cls included. Proceedings of VIth Intl. Conf. on "Perspectives in Hadronic Physics", Trieste, May 2008. AIP serie

Introducing Interactions in Multi-Objective Optimization of Software Architectures

Software architecture optimization aims to enhance non-functional attributes like performance and reliability while meeting functional requirements. Multi-objective optimization employs metaheuristic search techniques, such as genetic algorithms, to explore feasible architectural changes and propose alternatives to designers. However, the resource-intensive process may not always align with practical constraints. This study investigates the impact of designer interactions on multi-objective software architecture optimization. Designers can intervene at intermediate points in the fully automated optimization process, making choices that guide exploration towards more desirable solutions. We compare this interactive approach with the fully automated optimization process, which serves as the baseline. The findings demonstrate that designer interactions lead to a more focused solution space, resulting in improved architectural quality. By directing the search towards regions of interest, the interaction uncovers architectures that remain unexplored in the fully automated process

A non-invasive approach to monitor chronic lymphocytic leukemia engraftment in a xenograft mouse model using ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide-magnetic resonance imaging (USPIO-MRI).

This work was supported by: Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC) [Grant 5 x mille n.9980, (to M.F., F.M. and A. N.)]; AIRC I.G. [n. 14,326 (to M.F.)], [n.10136 and 16,722 (A.N.)], [n.15426 (to F.F.)]. AIRC and Fondazione CaRiCal co-financed Multi Unit Regional Grant 2014 [n.16695 (to F.M.)]. Italian Ministry of Health 5 × 1000 funds (to F.F). A.G R. was supported by Associazione Italiana contro le Leucemie-Linfomi-Mielomi (AIL) Cosenza - Fondazione Amelia Scorza (FAS). S.M. C.M., F.V., L. E., S. B., were supported by AIRC.Peer reviewedPostprin