Pool Of Available Resources Research Articles

Strategies to evaluate the quality of hospital design with clinical data.

Strategies to evaluate the quality of hospital design with clinical data.

Resource Selection from Edge-Cloud for IIoT and Blockchain-Based Applications in Industry 4.0/5.0

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) is attempting to integrate the real world into the digital world through smart devices, information technology, and Internet. IIoT is connecting enormous devices in industry 4.0/5.0 which may be heterogeneous in nature. With the evolution of IoT, diverse technologies have been employed to deliver the quality of services to the end users in a seamless manner. Cloud computing has considerably boosted the growth of IIoT by serving the computational and data storage needs of IIoT- and blockchain-based applications in industry 4.0/5.0. However, cloud is providing services to IIoT users, but still, there is a need to improve the latency rate of delivery of services, the transmission rate of end-to-end delivery, and overall throughput of the network channels in industry 4.0 and blockchain-based distributed systems. The cloud servers those are located at remote locations are not capable to offer the quality of services to users who require real-time responses, minimum network latency, and optimum throughput. The advancements in Edge computing are making Edge-Cloud more suitable for end users in blockchain-based transactions and industry 4.0 to serve the requirements of IIoT-based applications. This paper aims at providing the resources of Edge-Cloud to the end users by proposing a soft-computing technique for selecting the most suitable resources from the pool of available resources at Edge-Cloud. This paper is proposing a multicriteria statistical approach for resource selection to exploit the benefits of Edge-Cloud and to suffice the needs of IIoT and blockchain-based applications in industry 4.0. The results obtained from the proposed research assist in enhancing the service providing rate, minimizing the delay in transmission, and optimizing the throughput of Edge-Cloud servers.

Digital image processing for urban sprawl classification in google earth

Maps of land use and land cover are necessary for studying how the earth's surface changes over time and how human activities affect their surroundings the expanding pool of available resources of remote sensing, particularly the wellarchived Sentinel-2B images with resolution of 10 metres were used to conduct the research. For land use and land cover maps, supervised categorization is used. However, ground truth is required to attain high classification accuracy. There is a need for high-quality samples in big quantities. It takes time and effort to collect ground truth samples. When it comes to ground truth, it might be costly and sometimes impossible to obtain. This work presented a method for using Google Earth Engine products as ground truth instead of manually labelling ground truth samples and proceeding with classification with region of interest to produce land use and land cover maps for 2021 in this study area, Amravati, on the Google Earth Engine platform in this paper. The accuracy test is carried out on randomly generated samples from various places, with an overall accuracy of roughly 83.4 percent.

Competence and collectivity: The discourse of Angela Merkel’s media communications during the first wave of the pandemic

Understanding leadership as a discursive performance, this study explores televised speeches and press briefings on Covid-19 given by the German chancellor Angela Merkel in March and April 2020. Merkel’s televised communications deserve special attention for at least two reasons; first, Merkel was hailed as one of the few national leaders who successfully led through the first wave of the pandemic. Secondly, her communications were praised as examples of successful persuasive efforts. Using a corpus-assisted approach, this study identifies the frequent lexico-grammatical devices that she employed to do her ‘convincing’ work. The study then compares the identified features against her communicative style in speeches delivered in pre-pandemic times. The comparative insights show that in the limited mediatised time, Merkel chose a specific set of lexico-grammatical devices including certain pronouns, modal verbs, time deictics and logical connectors that highlighted the interpersonal dimension of her communications, urgency of the situation and logical cause-effect argumentation. While these devices were not entirely new in Merkel’s public statements, they were used with much higher frequency in her Covid-19 speeches signalling a discursive change in her communicative style during the evolving health crisis. The study provides support for the notion of (effective) leadership as a discursive and situated activity; an effective leader will select certain language devices from the available pool of resources that are appropriate to the context of the situation (here the Covid-19 pandemic) and its aims (persuading citizens to adhere to preventative measures). The paper finishes with an assessment of Merkel’s mediatised discourse during the first two months of the pandemic against her overall communicative style. It argues that the successfulness of her Covid-19 televised performances depended not just on the use of specific discursive devices but also on the contrast that they created with her usual impersonal approach.

Danish study shows mixed-gender workplaces make men less likely to want to become managers, but have no effect on women's aspirations

PurposeThe purpose was to find out if greater gender diversity affected male and female aspirations to be managersDesign/methodology/approachHypothesis 1A was that: “Workplace gender diversity of peers is positively correlated with management aspirations among women, but negatively among men.” Hypothesis 1B was that: “Workplace gender diversity of peers is positively correlated with perceived career possibilities among women, but negatively among men.” The authors studied questionnaires from 2,818 respondents from 13 occupationsFindingsThe data only partially supported Hypothesis 1A. Results confirmed that it was negatively correlated with men, who had a 4.6% point lower probability of being interested in a management position than males in less diverse organizations. But there was no positive effect of gender diversity on women, in contradiction of expectations. Meanwhile, Hypothesis 1B was rejected.Originality/valueThe authors advise organizations to look for advice in studies of management recruitment strategies for solutions to these problems. As women represent the largest pool of available resources in public organizations, they say it would be wise to focus more energy on them.

Management and Orchestration of Virtual Network Functions via Deep Reinforcement Learning

Management and orchestration (MANO) of resources by virtual network functions (VNFs) represents one of the key challenges towards a fully virtualized network architecture as envisaged by 5G standards. Current threshold-based policies inefficiently over-provision network resources and under-utilize available hardware, incurring high cost for network operators, and consequently, the users. In this work, we present a MANO algorithm for VNFs allowing a central unit (CU) to learn to autonomously re-configure resources (processing power and storage), deploy new VNF instances, or offload them to the cloud, depending on the network conditions, available pool of resources, and the VNF requirements, with the goal of minimizing a cost function that takes into account the economical cost as well as latency and the quality-of-service (QoS) experienced by the users. First, we formulate the stochastic resource optimization problem as a parameterized action Markov decision process (PAMDP). Then, we propose a solution based on deep reinforcement learning (DRL). More precisely, we present a novel RL approach, called parameterized action twin (PAT) deterministic policy gradient, which leverages an actor-critic architecture to learn to provision resources to the VNFs in an online manner. Finally, we present numerical performance results, and map them to 5G key performance indicators (KPIs). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that considers DRL for MANO of VNFs' physical resources.

Heightened perception of competition hastens courtship

AbstractWhen animals use costly labile display or signal traits to display to the opposite sex, they face complex decisions regarding the degree and timing of their investment in separate instances of trait expression. Such decisions may be informed by not only the focal individual’s condition (or pool of available resources) but also aspects of the social environment, such as perceptions of same-sex competition or the quality of available mates. However, the relative importance of these factors to investment decisions remains unclear. Here, we use manipulations of condition (through dietary nutrition), recent social environment (exposure to a silenced male, nonsilenced male, female, or isolation), and female mating history (single or multiple male) to test how quickly male decorated crickets (Gryllodes sigillatus) decide to begin courting an available female. We find that males that were previously housed with nonsilenced males started courting the female earlier than other males. Females only mounted males after courtship began. Our results suggest a strong effect of the perception of competition on the decision to invest resources in sexual signaling behavior and that females might exert directional selection on its timing.

Encryption Techniques to Ensure Data Confidentiality in Cloud

Cloud computing is proving to be a beneficial model for all types of users as it enables anyone to share and make use of the available pool of resources and get the desired services online. It reduces the operational and maintenance costs since the user needs to pay for what he has used. Databases and applications are moved to the cloud and stored in large data stores of the cloud service provider which may be insecure or untrustworthy. End users want to know the location of data being stored and who have control over the information apart from the owners. They particularly want the data to be secured from unintentional or illegal access even by the service providers. As the data are stored in geographically dispersed area, the data is vulnerable. The most important concern is that data confidentiality is to be attained while data is stored or in transit. To provide confidentiality, initially cryptographic approaches were used that disclose the keys needed for decryption only to the authorized users. But in the cloud, the adopted encryption schemes should support fine-grained access control, high performance, scalability as well as full delegation. In order to share valuable data confidentially on the cloud in a secured way, various encryption techniques are available starting from Identity-Based Encryption, Attribute-Based Encryption, Hierarchical Attribute-Based Encryption, Identity-Based Broadcast Encryption, Searchable Encryption, Homomorphic Encryption, Fully Homomorphic Encryption and so on. This paper analyses some of the recent and popular encryption techniques and discusses the issues related to them.

Evolution and experience with the ATLAS Simulation at Point1 Project

The Simulation at Point1 project is successfully running standard ATLAS simulation jobs on the TDAQ HLT resources. The pool of available resources changes dynamically, therefore we need to be very effective in exploiting the available computing cycles. We present our experience with using the Event Service that provides the event-level granularity of computations. We show the design decisions and overhead time related to the usage of the Event Service. The improved utilization of the resources is also presented with the recent development in monitoring, automatic alerting, deployment and GUI.

Minimizing Project Cost by Integrating Subcontractor Selection Decisions with Scheduling

Subcontracting has been a worldwide practice in the construction industry. It enables the construction enterprises to focus on their core competences and, at the same time, it makes complex project possible to be delivered. Since general contractors bear full responsibility for the works carried out by their subcontractors, it is their task and their risk to select a right subcontractor for a particular work. Although subcontractor management has been admitted to significantly affect the construction project’s performance, current practices and past research deal with subcontractor management and scheduling separately. The proposed model aims to support subcontracting decisions by integrating subcontractor selection with scheduling to enable the general contractor to select the optimal combination of subcontractors and own crews for all work packages of the project. The model allows for the interactions between the subcontractors and their impacts on the overall project performance in terms of cost and, indirectly, time and quality. The model is intended to be used at the general contractor’s bid preparation stage. The authors claim that the subcontracting decisions should be taken in a two-stage process. The first stage is a prequalification – provision of a short list of capable and reliable subcontractors; this stage is not the focus of the paper. The resulting pool of available resources is divided into two subsets: subcontractors, and general contractor’s in-house crews. Once it has been defined, the next stage is to assign them to the work packages that, bound by fixed precedence constraints, form the project’s network diagram. Each package is possible to be delivered by the general contractor’s crew or some of the potential subcontractors, at a specific time and cost. Particular crews and subcontractors can be contracted more than one package, but not at the same time. Other constraints include the predefined project completion date (the project is not allowed to take longer) and maximum total value of subcontracted work. The problem is modelled as a mixed binary linear program that minimizes project cost. It can be solved using universal solvers (e.g. LINGO, AIMMS, CPLEX, MATLAB and Optimization Toolbox, etc.). However, developing a dedicated decision-support tool would facilitate practical applications. To illustrate the idea of the model, the authors present a numerical example to find the optimal set of resources allocated to a project.

GENETIC ALGORITHM OPTIMIZATION OF MULTIPLE RESOURCES FOR MULTI-PROJECTS

Optimization of resources is very important in all construction projects. Project managers have to face problems regarding management of cost, time and available resources for single projects. This is more challenging when managing multiple projects. Most of the recent studies focused on optimization of resources for a single project, or a single resource. This paper presents a numerical model of multiple resources optimization for multiple projects using Genetic Algorithm. Most of the companies in the construction industry optimize the resources for single projects only. However, with the presence of several mega projects in several developing countries running at the same time, there is a need for a model to enhance the efficiency of available resources, and decreases the fluctuation as much as possible and try to maximize the use of the available pool of resources. The proposed model is user friendly, and it can optimize up to nine resources in three different projects running at the same time. The model is used on the identified critical resources. It calculates the cost of each resource, minimize the cost of extra resources as much as possible and generate the schedule of each project within a selected overall program.

Enhancing Performance of Applications in Cloud using Hybrid Scaling Technique

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model of cloud computing paradigm, users acquire computing resources such as CPU, memory, storage and network bandwidth from an IaaS provider and these resources are used to deploy and run their applications. Cloud service providers share computing resources of a physical machine by running isolated Virtual Machines (VM) for web applications. As the load on web application increases, the associated VM must be able to scale up resources to support the increasing load. At the same time, VM should also be able to scale-down resources at light load. In this paper the novel architecture is proposed that provides the hybrid solution of vertical followed by horizontal scaling techniques of resource management in cloud data center. As per the dynamic load on web applications, the proposed algorithm takes the appropriate scaling decision to allocate resources from available pool of resources. Generally dynamic scaling is achieved by the conventional live VM migration technique to create additional VM instances, but VM migration spends CPU time and consumes large amount of IO and network traffic. The proposed technique postpones live VM migration as long as possible with the help of vertical scaling technique to improve the performance of applications. KeywordsComputing, Infrastructure as a Service, Virtualization, Cloud Resource Management, Virtual Machine Migration, Horizontal Scaling, Vertical Scaling

Ambiences : On-The-Fly Usage of Available Resources Through Personal Devices

In smart spaces such as smart homes, computation is embedded everywhere: in toys, appliances, or the home???s infrastructure. Most of these devices provide a pool of available resources which the user can take advantage, interacting and creating a friendly environment. The inherent composability of these systems and other unique characteristics such as low-cost energy, simplicity in module programming, and even their small size, make them a suitable candidate for dynamic and adaptive ambient systems. This research work focuses on what is defined as an ???ambience???, a space with a user-defined set of computational devices. A smart-home is modeled as a collection of ambiences, where every ambience is capable of providing a pool of available resources to the user. In turn, the user is supposed to carry one or several personal devices able to interact with the ambiences, taking advantage of his inherent mobility. In this way, the whole system can benefit from resources discovered in the spatial proximity. A software architecture is designed, which is based on the implementation of low-cost algorithms able to detect and update the system when changes in an ambience occur. Ambience middleware implementation works in a wide range of architectures and OSs, while showing a negligible overhead in the time to perform the basic output operations.

State-dependent modulation of stimulus-response relations in cortical networks in vitro

Variable responses of neuronal networks to repeated identical electrical or sensory stimuli reflect the interaction of the stimulus’ response with ongoing activity and its modulation by adaptive mechanisms such as cognitive context, network state, cellular excitability or synaptic transmission capability. To identify the rules that underlie the modulation of stimulus-response relations we set up a state-dependent stimulation paradigm in generic neuronal networks in vitro. Extracellular neuronal activity was recorded and stimulated from rat cortical cell cultures on microelectrode arrays at 60 sites. Spontaneous and evoked network activity was examined under control conditions, under blockage of GABAA-receptors as well as under overexpression of the synaptic protein DOC2B [1]. We were interested in the interactions that arise between spontaneous and stimulus-evoked activity dynamics and how these shape and modulate stimulus-response relations. Spontaneous network activity consisted of recurring periods of globally synchronized burst firing, so-called network bursts. The duration of intervals that preceded network bursts best predicted the length of the following network burst. This supported a process of network depression to a low threshold during bursts followed by subsequent recovery [2]. Facilitation of synaptic transmission by overexpressing DOC2B yielded ~30 % more spikes per network burst. The intervals between bursts increased by ~ 75 %, suggesting interdependence between resource activation and the time it needs for them to be recovered. Response length and delay depended on the timing of stimulation relative to preceding bursting. Response length increased exponentially and saturated with increasing duration of pre-stimulus inactivity t, y(t) = A(1-e-αt). Response delay, in turn, decreased exponentially and saturated at a low level, y(t) = Be-βt + C. The rate constant β describes the coupling between recovery from depression and response delay. We found activity-dependent recovery dynamics with longer spontaneous bursts yielding smaller β and vice versa. Stimulus-response modulation persisted under the blockage of inhibition, that introduced overall longer responses and shorter delays. Longer network bursts with more spikes occurred less frequently and recovery rates concomitantly decreased. The average firing rate was, however, unchanged, supporting a pool of available resources that is repeatedly used and replenished during and between network bursts, respectively.

Seeking support: researching first‐year students’ experiences of coping with academic life

Students’ transition to academia comes with a number of challenges which, if inadequately addressed, may negatively affect their academic performance and psychological well‐being. Hence, the question of support becomes critical and has been reflected in the variety of practical measures to provide support with learning and facilitate newcomers’ integration into higher education. However, while forms of institutional aid have increased and diversified in recent years, the kind of support the students actually need and prefer to use – from the pool of available resources – remains insufficiently understood in current research. To address this gap, this paper advocates a social network approach to first‐year students’ experiences of coping with academic life and suggests an agenda for further investigation, which would contrast support ‘from above’ and support ‘from below.’

Scalability and interoperability within glideinWMS

Physicists have access to thousands of CPUs in grid federations such as OSG and EGEE. With the start-up of the LHC, it is essential for individuals or groups of users to wrap together available resources from multiple sites across multiple grids under a higher user-controlled layer in order to provide a homogeneous pool of available resources. One such system is glideinWMS, which is based on the Condor batch system. A general discussion of glideinWMS can be found elsewhere. Here, we focus on recent advances in extending its reach: scalability and integration of heterogeneous compute elements. We demonstrate that the new developments exceed the design goal of over 10,000 simultaneous running jobs under a single Condor schedd, using strong security protocols across global networks, and sustaining a steady-state job completion rate of a few Hz. We also show interoperability across heterogeneous computing elements achieved using client-side methods. We discuss this technique and the challenges in direct access to NorduGrid and CREAM compute elements, in addition to Globus based systems.

Reduced novelty-P3 associated with increased behavioral distractibility in schizophrenia

Behavioral and electrophysiological brain responses were used to examine the relationship between the vulnerability to distraction and the orienting response in schizophrenia. Nineteen schizophrenics and nineteen matched healthy controls were instructed to ignore task-irrelevant auditory stimuli while they classified capital letters and digits. The auditory sequences contained repetitive standard tones occasionally replaced by complex novel sounds. Relative to controls, patients showed an increased behavioral distraction, as indicated by a larger response time increase caused by novel sounds, and a disturbance in the attention orienting toward distracting stimuli, as indicated by a reduced novelty-P3. This behavioral–electrophysiological dissociation may stem from a limited pool of available resources. Thus, the few attentional resources directed toward novel stimuli would be sufficient to cause an important decrease of the similarly reduced amount of resources assigned to task-relevant stimuli, resulting in a striking impairment of the ongoing task performance.

After Disability: A Guide to Getting On with Life

In After Disability: A Guide to Getting On with Life, Lisa Bendall examines a wide range of issues related to living with a disability. Her intent was to create a handbook addressing topics of relevance to the everyday needs of Canadians with disabilities. In particular, this book is intended for those with newly acquired disabilities, who may not know where to start in terms of identifying the resources that are available to them or getting answers to the many questions they may have. However, the information it contains will likely be of interest to any individual with a disability, as well as to their families and caregivers. The book is accessible and well organized. It is written in a conversational and readable tone. The content focuses on practical issues of living with a disability. Selected topics address a broad spectrum of issues, including self-advocacy and the law, assistive devices, housing, finances, health care, employment, sexuality, transportation, recreation, and travel. Bendall does not attempt to provide a comprehensive treatment of any particular subject; rather, she offers an overview of each theme and identifies various resources relevant for further examination of the subject. In many cases she offers practical suggestions and strategies derived from the experience of others living with disabilities. A recurring theme throughout the book is that individuals with disabilities need to advocate for their rights and insist on respect and dignity as they interact with service providers, employers, and government officials. An important strength of this text is the many links that are provided to relevant organizations, publications, and Web sites. These links offer opportunities for those interested in finding more detailed information about a particular subject to further pursue their research. Bendall has also included numerous quotations from Canadians with disabilities. This feature gives the book a more personal feel, and the anecdotes provide a counterpoint to the “guidebook” style of the rest of the text. This book appears to be a unique resource. One of its most relevant features is the consistent Canadian focus of the material. Indeed, almost all the resources described in the book are Canadian. After Disability can help you find a lawyer specializing in disability-related tax issues, access information on grants for students with disabilities, or identify resources on parenting with a disability. The variety and relevance of these links are impressive. Bendall has been deliberate in describing resources from across the country and even surveys provincial and municipal differences on a number of issues. Physiotherapists will likely find this book a useful resource that they can recommend to patients. It may be especially relevant to individuals who are unaware of what is available in their community or who are having difficulty in accessing resources. Therapists may well learn of programmes and services that they were not previously aware of. Rehabilitation centres, in particular, should consider having this book available in their libraries and making it accessible to both staff and patients. After Disability is a well written and clearly organized handbook covering a wide range of topics related to living with a disability. This book represents an important contribution to the pool of available resources in this area, and it is worthwhile reading for anyone interested in disability issues in Canada.

Effect of water deficits on within-plot variability in growth and grain yield of spring wheat in northwest China

For adapted cultivars under normal crop densities, biological yield is largely determined by the pool of available resources, e.g. water, nutrients and photosynthetically active radiation, while the nature and intensity of intraspecific competition plays an important role in determining the magnitude of harvest index (HI). Water deficits can drastically reduce the HI from its genetic potential to zero. This study was conducted to determine the effect of drought-weighted intraspecific competition on the HI and, consequently, the grain yield in spring wheat populations along a natural moisture gradient in northwestern China. Along the natural moisture gradient (annual mean rainfall decreased 328→204→185 mm per year, supplemented with 70 mm of irrigation), culm size inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient of above-ground biomass per culm) always increased, and Lorenz curves were more concave. HI decreased significantly in 1999 (0.364→0.345→0.307) and 2000 (0.341→0.303→0.251). There was a significant negative correlation between the Gini coefficient and the HI of spring wheat along the moisture gradient ( R 2=0.92, P<0.01). These results suggested that size hierarchies in spring wheat populations are closely correlated with the water regime in the field, and that under greater drought stress there are relatively more smaller plants with lower HI (size-dependent reproductive allocation). Size inequality is an index of competitive status in plant populations under stress environments. Agriculturally, greater size inequality may result in a competitive cost for energy and photosynthetic products, in other words, growth redundancy, which is detrimental to reproductive allocation and consequently, grain yield. The results support the view that stand uniformity in field crops is an important mechanism for increasing grain yield.

Multidimensional PRMA with prioritized Bayesian broadcast-a MAC strategy for multiservice traffic over UMTS

Multidimensional packet reservation multiple access is proposed as a medium-access control (MAC) strategy for the uplink channel of the UTRA (UMTS terrestrial radio access) time-division/code-division multiple-access (TD/CDMA) mode to benefit from efficient statistical multiplexing on the large common pool of available resources (i.e., slots defined both in time and code domain). A prioritized Bayesian broadcast algorithm is derived to stabilize multidimensional packet reservation multiple access (MD PRMA) and to allow for access delay discrimination of four different access classes. Access delay spread can be selected, and trading voice-dropping ratio against data-access delay is possible. To control multiple-access interference, Bayesian broadcast can be combined with load-based access control. The performance of both frequency-division duplex (FDD) and time-division duplex (TDD) mode is evaluated, the latter particularly relevant for TD/CDMA. For mixed voice, Worldwide Web (WWW) browsing, and e-mail traffic, the UMTS WWW model is used, while the e-mail traffic model is derived here.