Resurrection: Rethinking Magnetic Tapes For Cost Efficient Data Preservation

With the advent of Big Data technologies-the capacity to store and efficiently process large sets of data, doors of opportunities for developing business intelligence that was previously unknown, has opened. Each phase in the processing of this data requires specialized infrastructures. One such phase, the preservation and archiving of data, has proven its usefulness time and again. Data archives are processed using novel data mining methods to elicit vital data gathered over long periods of time and efficiently audit the growth of a business or an organization. Data preservation is also an important aspect of business processes which helps in avoiding loss of important information due to system failures, human errors and natural calamities. This thesis investigates the need, discusses possibilities and presents a novel, highly cost-effective, unified, long- term storage solution for data. Some of the common processes followed in large-scale data warehousing systems are analyzed for overlooked, inordinate shortcomings and a profitably feasible solution is conceived for them. The gap between the general needs of 'efficient' long-term storage and common, current functionalities is analyzed. An attempt to bridge this gap is made through the use of a hybrid, hierarchical media based, performance enhancing middleware and a monolithic namespace filesystem in a new storage architecture, Tape Cloud. The scope of studies carried out by us involves interpreting the effects of using heterogeneous storage media in terms of operational behavior, average latency of data transactions and power consumption. The results show the advantages of the new storage system by demonstrating the difference in operating costs, personnel costs and total cost of ownership from varied perspectives in a business model.Computer Science, Department o

N-[2-(Cyclohexylamino)-2-oxoethyl]-N-(4-octyloxy) phenyl-prop-2-enamide

N-[2-(Cyclohexylamino)-2-oxoethyl]-N-(4-octyloxy)phenyl-prop-2-enamide was prepared in good yield by coupling of 4(octyloxy)aniline, Cyclohexyl isocyanide, paraformaldehyde and acrylic acid by multicomponent Ugi reaction, at room temperature. The structure of the newly synthesized tripeptoid derivative was well characterized using elemental analysis, FTIR, NMR and mass spectral data. © 2016 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.DE-AC02-05CH11231, DOE, U.S. Department of EnergyMSMT CR-USA Kontakt II [LH14050]; Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy [DE-AC02-05CH11231]; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic - NPU Program I [LO1504

Ethyl({[acryloyl(furan-2-ylmethyl)amino]acetyl}amino)acetate

Ethyl({[acryloyl(furan-2-ylmethyl)amino]acetyl}amino)acetate was synthesized via Ugi four component (4C) reaction at ambient temperature. The protocol employs a reaction between formaldehyde, furfurylamine, acrylic acid, and ethyl 2-isocyanoacetate. The course of the reaction was found to be high yielding, and the resulting glycine ester derivative was well characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, NMR spectroscopy, and mass spectrometric techniques. © 2017 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.DE-AC02-05CH11231, DOE, U.S. Department of Energy; MŠMT, Ministerstvo Školství, Mládeže a TělovýchovyMSMT CR-USA Kontakt II [LH14050]; Molecular Foundry, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy [DE-AC02-05CH11231]; Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic - NPU Program I [LO1504

Ecofriendly synthesis of silver nanoparticles from garden rhubarb (rheum rhabarbarum)

Bioreduction of silver ions following one pot process is described to achieve Rheum rhabarbarum (RR) based silver nanoparticles (SNPs) which is termed as "RR-SNPs." The Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) confirms the characteristic surface plasmon resonance band for RR-SNPs in the range of 420-460 nm. The crystalline nature of SNPs was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks at 38.2 degrees, 45.6 degrees, 64.2 degrees, and 76.8 degrees. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) confirm the shape of synthesized SNPs. They are roughly spherical but uniformly distributed, and size varies from 60 to 80 nm. These biogenic SNPs show persistent zeta potential value of 34.8mV even after 120 days and exhibit potent antibacterial activity in presence of Escherichia coli (CCM 4517) and Staphylococcus aureus (CCM 4516). In addition, cytotoxicity of RR-SNPs against in vitro human epithelial carcinoma (HeLa) cell line showed a dose-response activity. The lethal concentration (LC50) value was found to be 28.5 mu g/mL for RR-SNPs in the presence of HeLa cells. These findings help us to evaluate their appropriate applications in the field of nanotechnology and nanomedicine

Ecofriendly Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles from Garden Rhubarb ( Rheum rhabarbarum

Bioreduction of silver ions following one pot process is described to achieve Rheum rhabarbarum (RR) based silver nanoparticles (SNPs) which is termed as “RR-SNPs.” The Ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy (UV–vis) confirms the characteristic surface plasmon resonance band for RR-SNPs in the range of 420–460 nm. The crystalline nature of SNPs was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) peaks at 38.2°, 45.6°, 64.2°, and 76.8°. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) confirm the shape of synthesized SNPs. They are roughly spherical but uniformly distributed, and size varies from 60 to 80 nm. These biogenic SNPs show persistent zeta potential value of 34.8 mV even after 120 days and exhibit potent antibacterial activity in presence of Escherichia coli (CCM 4517) and Staphylococcus aureus (CCM 4516). In addition, cytotoxicity of RR-SNPs against in vitro human epithelial carcinoma (HeLa) cell line showed a dose-response activity. The lethal concentration (LC50) value was found to be 28.5 μg/mL for RR-SNPs in the presence of HeLa cells. These findings help us to evaluate their appropriate applications in the field of nanotechnology and nanomedicine

Comparing the Income Elasticity of Health Spending in Middle-Income and High-Income Countries: The Role of Financial Protection

Abstract Background: As middle-income countries become more affluent, economically sophisticated and productive, health expenditure patterns are likely to change. Other socio-demographic and political changes that accompany rapid economic growth are also likely to influence health spending and financial protection. Methods: This study investigates the relationship between growth on per-capita healthcare expenditure and gross domestic product (GDP) in a group of 27 large middle-income economies and compares findings with those of 24 high-income economies from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) group. This comparison uses national accounts data from 1995-2014. We hypothesize that the aggregated income elasticity of health expenditure in middle-income countries would be less than one (meaning healthcare is a normal good). An initial exploratory analysis tests between fixed-effects and random-effects model specifications. A fixed-effects model with time-fixed effects is implemented to assess the relationship between the two measures. Unit root, Hausman and serial correlation tests are conducted to determine model fit. Additional explanatory variables are introduced in different model specifications to test the robustness of our regression results. We include the out-of-pocket (OOP) share of health spending in each model to study the potential role of financial protection in our sample of high- and middle-income countries. The first-difference of study variables is implemented to address non-stationarity and cointegration properties. Results: The elasticity of per-capita health expenditure and GDP growth is positive and statistically significant among sampled middle-income countries (51 per unit-growth in GDP) and high-income countries (50 per unit-growth in GDP). In contrast with previous research that has found that income elasticity of health spending in middle-income countries is larger than in high-income countries, our findings show that elasticity estimates can change if different criteria are used to assemble a more homogenous group of middle-income countries. Financial protection differences between middle- and high-income countries, however, are not associated with their respective income elasticity of health spending. ` Conclusion: The study findings show that in spite of the rapid economic growth experienced by the sampled middleincome countries, the aggregated income elasticity of health expenditure in them is less than one, and equals that of high-income countries

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and biopolymer nanocomposites: a comparative study on physico-chemical, antimicrobial and anticancer activity

The current report was intended towards comparative study of green-synthesized biogenic Rhubarb silver nanoparticles (RS-AgNPs) and chitosan crosslinked silver nanocomposites (CSHD-AgNCs). The physico-chemical characterization was done by UV-visible, FTIR, scanning electron microscopy (SUM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), TGA, XRD and zeta potential(zeta). The analysis and spectroscopic characterization was done by SEM and TEM and their results reveal that the nanoparticles are spherical in shape, with average size ranges from 5 to 50 nm, and was gathered by face centered cubic (FCC) structure throughout the polymer matrix and stable without any protecting or capping reagents over 450 days. The antimicrobial property of RS-AgNPs and CSHD-AgNCs (zeta = +29.6 and +32.8 mV) was evaluated against E. coli and S. aureus and showed an effective inhibitory property. The RS-AgNPs and CSHD-AgNCs were assessed for their anticancer activity against HeLa cell line by MTT method, and it reveals a dose response activity, time and cell line-dependent cytotoxicity. Based on the results obtained, the RS-AgNPs exhibited higher toxicity over CSHD-AgNCs after 24 h incubation of HeLa cells with different concentrations and is negligible for the aqueous Rhubarb extract. It was concluded that the changes in anticancer activity towards HeLa cells due to biological activity of silver nanoparticles depend on their method of biosynthesis and their physico-chemical nature.Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic-NPU Program I [LO1504]; Slovak Grant Agency VEGA [2/0124/18

Green approach to synthesize silver nanoparticles from stem extract of Garden Rhubarb: Evaluation of their stability and dielectric performances

Recent advances in Nano-biotechnology, offer potential longer duration storage options for silver nanoparticles (SNPs) with preferable capping agents where a plentiful efforts have been given to minimize the toxicity effects SNPs. To overcome the toxicity scenario of SNPs, a novel green methodology was put forward in the present investigation. Biogenic SNPs were synthesized using water extract of Garden Rhubarb (GR) stems under ambient conditions. The method demonstrates an eco-friendly, instant and easy route for stable SNPs synthesis. The formation of instant SNPs was analyzed by visual observation and monitored by UV-visible (UV-vis) spectrophotometer. The characteristic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band at 445 nm, revealed the formation of SNPs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern of green SNPs showed their crystalline structure. SEM and TEM studies revealed that the shape of SNPs was spherical and has approximate diameter within 100 nm range. The zeta potential measurements on 180th day after SNPs synthesis, revealed the stability and size distribution of SNPs. The values are 29.6mV, 28.1mV and 24.1mV for three varied compositions of AgNO3 (1mM) and GR extract. The high dielectric constant (ϵ′) has been observed for GR mediated SNPs, the ϵ′ values were found to reach the minimum value of 40000 at frequency 1MHz. Suitable tuning of the dielectric performances can conclusively prove their applications in multifunctional sensors, optical, and charge storage devices.NPUI Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [LO1504

Adaptive GPU-accelerated force calculation for interactive rigid molecular docking using haptics

Molecular docking systems model and simulate in silico the interactions of intermolecular binding. Haptics-assisted docking enables the user to interact with the simulation via their sense of touch but a stringent time constraint on the computation of forces is imposed due to the sensitivity of the human haptic system. To simulate high fidelity smooth and stable feedback the haptic feedback loop should run at rates of 500 Hz to 1 kHz. We present an adaptive force calculation approach that can be executed in parallel on a wide range of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) for interactive haptics-assisted docking with wider applicability to molecular simulations. Prior to the interactive session either a regular grid or an octree is selected according to the available GPU memory to determine the set of interatomic interactions within a cutoff distance. The total force is then calculated from this set. The approach can achieve force updates in less than 2 ms for molecular structures comprising hundreds of thousands of atoms each, with performance improvements of up to 90 times the speed of current CPU-based force calculation approaches used in interactive docking. Furthermore, it overcomes several computational limitations of previous approaches such as pre-computed force grids, and could potentially be used to model receptor flexibility at haptic refresh rates

Characterization of isolated compounds from Morus spp. and their biological activity as anticancer molecules

Introduction: The genus Morus is well known for its medicinal benefits from time immemorial. The present work reported the health-promoting properties of the biologically active molecules present in different species of the genus Morus. Methods: Different solvent extracts of the three plant species of Morus were investigated initially for their antioxidant effects, followed by in vitro anticancer studies against MCF7 and 3T3 cell lines along with their bioactive isolates viz. cathafuran-B, moracin-M, and Ursolic acid. Further, in silico docking studies were performed for the isolated compounds to predict their probable mode of interaction with P38Map Kinase. Results: The results indicated that all three species under study possessed remarkable antioxidant effects which are supported by a linear and positive correlation between different antioxidant activities. The in vitro cell antiproliferative test indicated that the cell survivability decreased with an increase in the concentration of extracts and compounds. Among the extracts, M. laevigata methanol extract showed 21.57, 6.27% of cell survival against MCF7 and 3T3 cell lines at 800 µg/mL concentration while among the isolated compounds, ursolic acid showed 8.46, 17.58% of cell survival at 200 µg/mL concentration. Among the three compounds docked, ursolic acid showed greater binding affinity towards the target protein in terms of its binding energy (-9.97 kJ/mol) compared to Cathafuran B (-8.35 kJ/mol) and Moracin M (-6.91 kJ/mol). Conclusion: The study generated interesting results in terms of health benefits of Morus species by documenting their antioxidant and anticancer activities, thereby validating the folk claims of therapeutic benefits of mulberry