Diet-ethic: Fair Scheduling of Optional Computations in GridRPC Middleware

Most HPC platforms require users to submit a pre-determined number of computation requests (also called jobs). Unfortunately, this is cumbersome when some of the computations are optional, i.e., they are not critical, but their completion would improve results. For example, given a deadline, the number of requests to submit for a Monte Carlo experiment is difficult to choose. The more requests are completed, the better the results are, however, submitting too many might overload the platform. Conversely, submitting too few requests may leave resources unused and misses an opportunity to improve the results. This paper introduces and solves the problem of scheduling optional computations. An architecture which auto-tunes the number of requests is proposed, then implemented in the DIET GridRPC middleware. Real-life experiments show that several metrics are improved, such as user satisfaction, fairness and the number of completed requests. Moreover, the solution is shown to be scalable.La plupart des plate-formes HPC demandent à l'utilisateur de soumettre un nombre pré-déterminé de requêtes de calcul (aussi appelées " job "). Malheureusement, cela n'est pas pertinent quand une partie des calculs est optionnelle, c'est-à-dire, que l'exécution des requêtes n'est pas critique pour l'utilisateur, mais que leur complétion pourrait améliorer les résultats. Par exemple, étant donnée une date limite, le nombre de requêtes à soumettre pour une expérience Monte Carlo est difficile à choisir. Plus il y a des requêtes qui sont exécutées, meilleures sont les résultats. Cependant, en soumettant trop de requêtes, on risque de surcharger la plate-forme. À l'opposé, en ne soumettant pas assez de requêtes, les ressources sont sous-exploitées alors qu'elles auraient pu être utilisées pour améliorer les résultats. Cet article introduit et résout le problème d'ordonnancer des requêtes optionnelles. Une architecture qui choisit automatiquement le nombre de requêtes est proposée puis implémentée dans l'intergiciel GridRPC DIET. Les expériences faites sur de vraies plate-formes - telles que Grid'5000 - montrent que plusieurs métriques peuvent être améliorées, telles que la satisfaction des utilisateurs, l'équité et le nombre des requêtes exécutées. Enfin, la solution proposée passe à l'échelle

No Difference between the Sexes in Fine-Scale Spatial Genetic Structure of Roe Deer

Background: Data on spatial genetic patterns may provide information about the ecological and behavioural mechanisms underlying population structure. Indeed, social organization and dispersal patterns of species may be reflected by the pattern of genetic structure within a population. [br/] Methodology/Principal Findings: We investigated the fine-scale spatial genetic structure of a roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) population in Trois-Fontaines (France) using 12 microsatellite loci. The roe deer is weakly polygynous and highly sedentary, and can form matrilineal clans. We show that relatedness among individuals was negatively correlated with geographic distance, indicating that spatially proximate individuals are also genetically close. More unusually for a large mammalian herbivore, the link between relatedness and distance did not differ between the sexes, which is consistent with the lack of sex-biased dispersal and the weakly polygynous mating system of roe deer. [br/] Conclusions/Significance: Our results contrast with previous reports on highly polygynous species with male-biased dispersal, such as red deer, where local genetic structure was detected in females only. This divergence between species highlights the importance of socio-spatial organization in determining local genetic structure of vertebrate populations

Diet-ethic: Fair Scheduling of Optional Computations in GridRPC Middleware

Most HPC platforms require users to submit a pre-determined number of computation requests (also called jobs). Unfortunately, this is cumbersome when some of the computations are optional, i.e., they are not critical, but their completion would improve results. For example, given a deadline, the number of requests to submit for a Monte Carlo experiment is difficult to choose. The more requests are completed, the better the results are, however, submitting too many might overload the platform. Conversely, submitting too few requests may leave resources unused and misses an opportunity to improve the results. This paper introduces and solves the problem of scheduling optional computations. An architecture which auto-tunes the number of requests is proposed, then implemented in the DIET GridRPC middleware. Real-life experiments show that several metrics are improved, such as user satisfaction, fairness and the number of completed requests. Moreover, the solution is shown to be scalable.La plupart des plate-formes HPC demandent à l'utilisateur de soumettre un nombre pré-déterminé de requêtes de calcul (aussi appelées " job "). Malheureusement, cela n'est pas pertinent quand une partie des calculs est optionnelle, c'est-à-dire, que l'exécution des requêtes n'est pas critique pour l'utilisateur, mais que leur complétion pourrait améliorer les résultats. Par exemple, étant donnée une date limite, le nombre de requêtes à soumettre pour une expérience Monte Carlo est difficile à choisir. Plus il y a des requêtes qui sont exécutées, meilleures sont les résultats. Cependant, en soumettant trop de requêtes, on risque de surcharger la plate-forme. À l'opposé, en ne soumettant pas assez de requêtes, les ressources sont sous-exploitées alors qu'elles auraient pu être utilisées pour améliorer les résultats. Cet article introduit et résout le problème d'ordonnancer des requêtes optionnelles. Une architecture qui choisit automatiquement le nombre de requêtes est proposée puis implémentée dans l'intergiciel GridRPC DIET. Les expériences faites sur de vraies plate-formes - telles que Grid'5000 - montrent que plusieurs métriques peuvent être améliorées, telles que la satisfaction des utilisateurs, l'équité et le nombre des requêtes exécutées. Enfin, la solution proposée passe à l'échelle

Expression Map of the Human Exome in CD34+ Cells and Blood Cells: Increased Alternative Splicing in Cell Motility and Immune Response Genes

International audienceBACKGROUND: Hematopoietic cells are endowed with very specific biological functions, including cell motility and immune response. These specific functions are dramatically altered during hematopoietic cell differentiation, whereby undifferentiated hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) residing in bone marrow differentiate into platelets, red blood cells and immune cells that exit into the blood stream and eventually move into lymphoid organs or inflamed tissues. The contribution of alternative splicing (AS) to these functions has long been minimized due to incomplete knowledge on AS events in hematopoietic cells. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using Human Exon ST 1.0 microarrays, the entire exome expression profile of immature CD34+ HSPC and mature whole blood cells was mapped, compared to a collection of solid tissues and made freely available as an online exome expression atlas (Amazonia Exon! : http://amazonia.transcriptome.eu/exon.php). At a whole transcript level, HSPC strongly expressed EREG and the pluripotency marker DPPA4. Using a differential splicing index scheme (dsi), a list of 849 transcripts differentially expressed between hematopoietic cells and solid tissues was computed, that included NEDD9 and CD74. Some of these genes also underwent alternative splicing events during hematopoietic differentiation, such as INPP4B, PTPLA or COMMD6, with varied contribution of CD3+ T cells, CD19+ B cells, CD14+ or CD15+ myelomonocytic populations. Strikingly, these genes were significantly enriched for genes involved in cell motility, cell adhesion, response to wounding and immune processes. CONCLUSION: The relevance and the precision provided by this exon expression map highlights the contribution of alternative splicing to key feature of blood cells differentiation and function

Artificial Cognition for Social Human-Robot Interaction: An Implementation

© 2017 The Authors Human–Robot Interaction challenges Artificial Intelligence in many regards: dynamic, partially unknown environments that were not originally designed for robots; a broad variety of situations with rich semantics to understand and interpret; physical interactions with humans that requires fine, low-latency yet socially acceptable control strategies; natural and multi-modal communication which mandates common-sense knowledge and the representation of possibly divergent mental models. This article is an attempt to characterise these challenges and to exhibit a set of key decisional issues that need to be addressed for a cognitive robot to successfully share space and tasks with a human. We identify first the needed individual and collaborative cognitive skills: geometric reasoning and situation assessment based on perspective-taking and affordance analysis; acquisition and representation of knowledge models for multiple agents (humans and robots, with their specificities); situated, natural and multi-modal dialogue; human-aware task planning; human–robot joint task achievement. The article discusses each of these abilities, presents working implementations, and shows how they combine in a coherent and original deliberative architecture for human–robot interaction. Supported by experimental results, we eventually show how explicit knowledge management, both symbolic and geometric, proves to be instrumental to richer and more natural human–robot interactions by pushing for pervasive, human-level semantics within the robot's deliberative system

Enhanced Brain Disposition and Effects of Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol in P-Glycoprotein and Breast Cancer Resistance Protein Knockout Mice

The ABC transporters P-glycoprotein (P-gp, Abcb1) and breast cancer resistance protein (Bcrp, Abcg2) regulate the CNS disposition of many drugs. The main psychoactive constituent of cannabis Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) has affinity for P-gp and Bcrp, however it is unknown whether these transporters modulate the brain accumulation of THC and its functional effects on the CNS. Here we aim to show that mice devoid of Abcb1 and Abcg2 retain higher brain THC levels and are more sensitive to cannabinoid-induced hypothermia than wild-type (WT) mice. Abcb1a/b (−/−), Abcg2 (−/−) and wild-type (WT) mice were injected with THC before brain and blood were collected and THC concentrations determined. Another cohort of mice was examined for THC-induced hypothermia by measuring rectal body temperature. Brain THC concentrations were higher in both Abcb1a/b (−/−) and Abcg2 (−/−) mice than WT mice. ABC transporter knockout mice exhibited delayed elimination of THC from the brain with the effect being more prominent in Abcg2 (−/−) mice. ABC transporter knockout mice were more sensitive to THC-induced hypothermia compared to WT mice. These results show P-gp and Bcrp prolong the brain disposition and hypothermic effects of THC and offer a novel mechanism for both genetic vulnerability to the psychoactive effects of cannabis and drug interactions between CNS therapies and cannabis