A signaling protocol for service function localization

Current proposals for chaining service functions (SFs) do not address some critical management issues, such as the discovery of SF instances close to IP data paths. This information is crucial for deploying complex services both in large cloud networks, where SFs may be moved or replicated, and in the emerging fog/mobile edge computing systems. For this purpose, in this letter, we propose the distributed off-path signaling protocol. We show the protocol functions and demonstrate its scalability and effectiveness by experimental results

Editorial: The Interplay Between Immune Activation and Cardiovascular Disease During Infection, Autoimmunity and Aging: The Role of T Cells

Chronic activation of cells of the immune system including T cells and systemic inflammation are well known risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD). Many human pathological conditions including viral infections, autoimmune diseases and aging are recognized drivers of increased risk of CVD. Among viral infections, Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a contributing risk element to the existing traditional risk factors of atherogenesis; Influenza infection is correlated with ncreased the risk of cardiovascular events leading to deaths and HIV infection is an independent predictor of cardiovascular risk. The pandemic of SARS-COV2 infection showed that the severe presentation of the disease manifests with vascular damage and cardiovascular events. Autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases, including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic disease are also associated with cardiovascular disease. Lastly, in adults over 65 years, the accumulation of age-related phenotypic and functional alterations in immune cells parallels with a decline of the cardiovascular system with an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease. The mechanisms behind are not well defined, and while the role of innate immune cells has been established, the involvement of T cells in promoting vascular pathology and cardiovascular disease has emerged more recently (1). Chronic systemic inflammation and increased circulating levels of cytokines and chemokines can indeed contribute to vascular damage by promoting endothelial cell activation and oxidative stress thus linking to the increased risk of CVD (2, 3). Activation of endothelial cells promotes recruitment of circulating immune cells including T cells that will be activated and differentiate into distinct effector cells contributing to the pathology of the disease (4–6). Endothelial cells in this context have also been proposed to act as “semiprofessional” antigen presenting cells (APC) presenting antigens and providing several costimulatory signals to T cells leading to T cell activation especially at sites defined as endothelium-dependent microvascular reactivity sites by Laser Doppler Flowmetry Assessment (7). A milestone in the understanding the role of T cells in promoting vascular inflammation has been reached with the characterization of the immune cell infiltrate in human atherosclerotic plaque by scRNA-seq technology which defined the main subsets of T cells in atherosclerosis (8). This data paved the way for further investigations about the role of T cells as a putative mechanistic link in pathologies associated with an increased risk of CVD. The proposed mechanisms by which T cells contribute to the pathology of the disease include dysregulated T helper and CD8 T cell function, expansion of terminally differentiated cytotoxic effectors CD4+ CD28- T cells and impaired Tregs function. This Research Topic has the aim to provide an overview of the latest advances in the study of the role of T cell activation and endothelial inflammation in cardiovascular risk and disease in the context of infection, autoimmunity and aging. The Research Topic highlights the emerging common and distinctive features of the putative immune mechanistic links between the pathophysiological conditions and the associated cardiovascular disease. The Research Topic comprises 11 articles, original research articles, 5 review and one systematic review and was divided into 3 sections. 1. Endothelial inflammation and T cell activation in CVD associated with infection. 2. T cell mechanisms involved in CVD associated with autoimmune diseases. 3. The immunology of cardiovascular disease during aging

Cost-effective and accurate interlaminar stress modeling of composite Kirchhoff plates via immersed isogeometric analysis and equilibrium

The interest for composites has constantly grown in recent years, especially in the aerospace and automotive industries, as they can be moulded in complex form and geometry, as well as exhibit enhanced engineering properties. Nevertheless, despite the accelerated diffusion of laminated composites, the design of these materials is often restrained by the lack of cost-effective modeling techniques. In fact, the existing numerical strategies allowing for cheap simulations of laminated structures usually fail to directly capture out-of-plane through-the-thickness stresses, which are typically responsible for failure modes such as delamination. In this context, a stress recovery approach based on equilibrium has been recently shown to be an efficient modeling strategy in the framework of isogeometric analysis. Since immersed approaches like the finite cell method have been proven to be a viable alternative to mesh-conforming discretization for dealing with complex/dirty geometries as well as trimmed surfaces, we herein propose to extend the stress recovery approach combining the finite cell method, isogeometric analysis and equilibrium to model the out-of-plane behavior of Kirchhoff laminated plates. Extensive numerical tests showcase the effectiveness of the proposed approach

T cell subpopulations in the physiopathology of fibromyalgia : Evidence and perspectives

Fibromyalgia is one of the most important \u201crheumatic\u201d disorders, after osteoarthritis. The etiology of the disease is still not clear. At the moment, the most defined pathological mechanism is the alteration of central pain pathways, and emotional conditions can trigger or worsen symptoms. Increasing evidence supports the role of mast cells in maintaining pain conditions such as musculoskeletal pain and central sensitization. Importantly, mast cells can mediate microglia activation through the production of proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1\u3b2, IL-6, and TNF\u251. In addition, levels of chemokines and proinflammatory cytokines are enhanced in serum and could contribute to inflammation at systemic level. Despite the well-characterized relationship between the nervous system and inflammation, the mechanism that links the different pathological features of fibromyalgia, including stress-related manifestations, central sensitization, and dysregulation of the innate and adaptive immune responses is largely unknown. This review aims to provide an overview of the current understanding of the role of adaptive immune cells, in particular T cells, in the physiopathology of fibromyalgia. It also aims at linking the latest advances emerging from basic science to envisage new perspectives to explain the role of T cells in interconnecting the psychological, neurological, and inflammatory symptoms of fibromyalgia

Perinatal nutrient restriction reduces nephron endowment increasing renal morbidity in adulthood: A review

Perinatal malnutrition has been included among the causes of renal disease in adulthood. Here, we consider the relationships between early supply of specific nutrients (such as protein, fat, vitamins and electrolytes) and renal endowment. Prenatal and postnatal nutrition mismatch is also discussed. In addition, this article presents the role of nutrition of both mothers and pre-term infants on nephron endowment, with final practical considerations. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Estimating Flight Characteristics of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles

Several Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) encountered by military, commercial, and civilian aircraft have been reported to be structured craft that exhibit ‘impossible’ flight characteristics. We consider a handful of well-documented encounters, including the 2004 encounters with the Nimitz Carrier Group off the coast of California, and estimate lower bounds on the accelerations exhibited by the craft during the observed maneuvers. Estimated accelerations range from almost 100g role= presentation \u3e100g to 1000s of gs with no observed air disturbance, no sonic booms, and no evidence of excessive heat commensurate with even the minimal estimated energies. In accordance with observations, the estimated parameters describing the behavior of these craft are both anomalous and surprising. The extreme estimated flight characteristics reveal that these observations are either fabricated or seriously in error, or that these craft exhibit technology far more advanced than any known craft on Earth. In many cases, the number and quality of witnesses, the variety of roles they played in the encounters, and the equipment used to track and record the craft favor the latter hypothesis that these are indeed technologically advanced craft. The observed flight characteristics of these craft are consistent with the flight characteristics required for interstellar travel, i.e., if these observed accelerations were sustainable in space, then these craft could easily reach relativistic speeds within a matter of minutes to hours and cover interstellar distances in a matter of days to weeks, proper time

El recuerdo de la “Defensa de Paysandú” en las tradiciones del Partido Nacional Uruguayo

Este trabajo plantea una reflexión sobre el conflicto político-militar desarrollado en territorio uruguayo en el período inmediatamente precedente a la firma del Tratado de la Triple Alianza (mayo de 1865) y su relación con la construcción de tradiciones partidarias en ese país, en el último tercio del siglo XIX. Más allá de constatar las transformaciones efectivas provocadas por estos sucesos, que modificaron la relación de fuerzas al interior del campo político uruguayo -y regional-, el artículo se interroga sobre la incidencia de los mismos en el terreno de las representaciones y sobre la manera en que su recuerdo pudo constituir un factor de movilización, ya sea agudizando fracturas en la memoria o contribuyendo, en otros casos, a generar sentimientos de pertenencia político-partidarios. En ese marco, presta particular atención al episodio de “La Defensa de Paysandú” y a su evocación en las décadas sucesivas, en el marco del surgimiento y consolidación del Partido Nacional uruguayo

El recuerdo de la “Defensa de Paysandú” en las tradiciones del Partido Nacional Uruguayo

Este trabajo plantea una reflexión sobre el conflicto político-militar desarrollado en territorio uruguayo en el período inmediatamente precedente a la firma del Tratado de la Triple Alianza (mayo de 1865) y su relación con la construcción de tradiciones partidarias en ese país, en el último tercio del siglo XIX. Más allá de constatar las transformaciones efectivas provocadas por estos sucesos, que modificaron la relación de fuerzas al interior del campo político uruguayo -y regional-, el artículo se interroga sobre la incidencia de los mismos en el terreno de las representaciones y sobre la manera en que su recuerdo pudo constituir un factor de movilización, ya sea agudizando fracturas en la memoria o contribuyendo, en otros casos, a generar sentimientos de pertenencia político-partidarios. En ese marco, presta particular atención al episodio de “La Defensa de Paysandú” y a su evocación en las décadas sucesivas, en el marco del surgimiento y consolidación del Partido Nacional uruguayo

Extensible Signaling Framework for Decentralized Network Management Applications

The management of network infrastructures has become increasingly complex over time, which is mainly attributed to the introduction of new functionality to support emerging services and applications. To address this important issue, research efforts in the last few years focused on developing Software-Defined Networking solutions. While initial work proposed centralized architectures, their scalability limitations have led researchers to investigate a distributed control plane, with controller placement algorithms and mechanisms for building a logically centralized network view, being examples of challenges addressed. A critical issue that has not been adequately addressed concerns the communication between distributed decision-making entities to ensure configuration consistency. To this end, this paper proposes a signaling framework that can allow the exchange of information in distributed management and control scenarios. The benefits of the proposed framework are illustrated through a realistic network resource management use case. Based on simulation, we demonstrate the flexibility and extensibility of our solution in meeting the requirements of distributed decision-making processes

Reduced order isogeometric analysis approach for PDEs in parametrized domains

In this contribution, we coupled the isogeometric analysis to a reduced order modelling technique in order to provide a computationally efficient solution in parametric domains. In details, we adopt the free-form deformation method to obtain the parametric formulation of the domain and proper orthogonal decomposition with interpolation for the computational reduction of the model. This technique provides a real-time solution for any parameter by combining several solutions, in this case computed using isogeometric analysis on different geometrical configurations of the domain, properly mapped into a reference configuration. We underline that this reduced order model requires only the full-order solutions, making this approach non-intrusive. We present in this work the results of the application of this methodology to a heat conduction problem inside a deformable collector pipe