Execution Of Different Types Research Articles

Induction of prediction error during memory reconsolidation strengthens recent motor skills.

This study investigated strategies based on the reconsolidation process to promote the strengthening effect of human motor memory. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of reactivating the memory of a newly acquired motor skill and performing interventions during its reconsolidation process on motor performance. Sixty healthy participants learned a new Sequential Visual Isometric Pinch Task - SVIPT during the first experimental session. In the second experimental session that was held on the same day, 6 hours after session 1, the participants were divided into 6 different groups. In session 2, there were distinctions between the experimental groups concerning two issues: the presence or absence of a formal memory reactivation session characterized by the execution of repetitions of the learned motor task and the execution of different types of interventions after reactivation (training with the original, slightly modified, or moderately modified motor task). All groups performed the third session to retest the learned motor skill, 24 hours after session 1. The results showed that using training with moderate task variability during memory reconsolidation provides greater motor skill performance gain when compared to repetitive training of the same learned task. Furthermore, performing a session exclusively dedicated to reactivation with the practice of the originally learned task was not a determining condition for recent motor memory reactivation, but rather the induction of prediction error during the reactivation.

Do Acute Bouts of Resistance Training Influence the Psychometric Status and Affective State of Prepubertal Weightlifters?

Resistance training (RT) can represent a challenging and stressful endeavour for those who participate in it. We aimed to investigate the acute effect of four types of RT exercise [i.e., Concentric (CONC), Isometric (ISOM), Dynamic (DYN) and Eccentric (ECC)] on psychological parameters (feeling scale: FS) and perceived internal load (RPE) in young elite weightlifters. The RT protocols were differentiated according to the contractile characteristics of the involved muscles and comprised: (i) CONC: 3 sets of 3 hurdle jumps; (ii) ECC: 3 sets of drop jumps; (iii) ISOM: 3 sets of 3-second maximal isometric back squat; (iv) DYN: 3 sets of 3 repetitions of 10 RM maximal back squats. Thereafter, participants were reported scores for RPE and FS. The execution of different types of RT exercises did not induce changes in FS. On the contrary, differences in RPE were observed with the CONC protocol being the least acutely strenuous, followed by the ECC and DYN methods. Of all four types used in this study, ISOM seemed to induce the highest RPE score , though these remained relatively low across the 10-point scale. Coaches can manipulate training activities based on the condition of the athlete and the potential physical strain that is associated with each exercise type.
 Key words: Plyometrics, strenghtening, psychometric status, affective prevalence

An Improved Infrastructure for Privacy-Preserving Analysis of Patient Data.

Incorporating healthcare data from different sources is crucial for a better understanding of patient (sub)populations. However, data centralization raises concerns about data privacy and governance. In this work, we present an improved infrastructure that allows privacy-preserving analysis of patient data: vantage6 v3. For this new version, we describe its architecture and upgraded functionality, which allows algorithms running at each party to communicate with one another through a virtual private network (while still being isolated from the public internet to reduce the risk of data leakage). This allows the execution of different types of algorithms (e.g., multi-party computation) that were practically infeasible before, as showcased by the included examples. The (continuous) development of this type of infrastructure is fundamental to meet the current and future demands of healthcare research with a strong emphasis on preserving the privacy of sensitive patient data.

Parthenolide and Its Soluble Analogues: Multitasking Compounds with Antitumor Properties.

Due to its chemical properties and multiple molecular effects on different tumor cell types, the sesquiterpene lactone parthenolide (PN) can be considered an effective drug with significant potential in cancer therapy. PN has been shown to induce either classic apoptosis or alternative caspase-independent forms of cell death in many tumor models. The therapeutical potential of PN has been increased by chemical design and synthesis of more soluble analogues including dimethylaminoparthenolide (DMAPT). This review focuses on the molecular mechanisms of both PN and analogues action in tumor models, highlighting their effects on gene expression, signal transduction and execution of different types of cell death. Recent findings indicate that these compounds not only inhibit prosurvival transcriptional factors such as NF-κB and STATs but can also determine the activation of specific death pathways, increasing intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and modifications of Bcl-2 family members. An intriguing property of these compounds is its specific targeting of cancer stem cells. The unusual actions of PN and its analogues make these agents good candidates for molecular targeted cancer therapy.

From fault-detection to automated fault correction: A field study

A fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) tool, as addressed by this study, is a tool that continuously identifies the presence of faults and efficiency improvement opportunities through a one-way interface to the building automation system and the application of automated analytics. Although FDD tools can inform operators of building operational faults, currently an action is always required to correct the faults to generate energy savings. Fault auto-correction integrating with commercial FDD technology offerings can close the loop between the passive diagnostics and active control, increase the savings generated by FDD tools, and reduce the reliance on human intervention. This paper presents the field study of seven fault auto-correction algorithms implemented in commercial FDD platforms. Implementation includes software changes in the FDD tools and additional controls hardware or software changes in the BAS that were required to enable the execution of different types of auto-correction algorithms in real buildings. The routines successfully and automatically correct faults and improve the operation of large built-up Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems, common in most commercial buildings. The auto-correction algorithms are tested across four buildings and three different building automation systems, following a rigorous procedure to make sure they work properly and do not negatively impact the system and building occupants. Technology benefits, market drivers, and scalability changes are drawn from the implementation effort and test results, to drive future research and industry engagement.

Hemodynamic response in the motor cortex to execution of different types of movements

Purpose of this work is the analysis of the hemodynamic response to the execution of various types of movements (single movement, series of movements, “tapping”) by the right hand. Methods. In this paper, the hemodynamic response was recorded using functional near infrared spectroscopy (NIRScout instrument from NIRx, Germany). The NIRScout system uses 16 optodes (8 sources and 8 detectors) to record the hemodynamic response in the cerebral cortex with a sampling rate of 7.8125 Hz. Optodes are non-invasively placed on the patient’s scalp by inserting into the sockets of a special cap “EASYCAP”. Results. We show that the total hemodynamic response in the motor cortex of the left hemisphere slightly differs between all the considered types of movement, while the severity of contralaterality demonstrates significant differences between the types of movements. Contralaterality is most pronounced when performing a series of movements, while a single squeeze of the hand causes the least contralaterality. Conclusion. The results obtained in this paper demonstrate the high sensitivity of functional near-infrared spectroscopy technology to the performance of various types of movements. It should be especially noted here short single hand squeezes, which are clearly visible on the characteristics of HbO and HbR, which can be used in the development and design of various brain – computer interfaces, including multimodal ones.

Automation in Air Traffic Control: Trust, Teamwork, Resilience, Safety

In the future, Air Traffic Controllers (ATCOs) will be exposed to various new situations that will make their work much more complex and demanding. Automation of the system may enable support to ATCOs and facilitate decision-making and execution of different types of actions and tasks. Also, the introduction of automation can increase workload, information uncertainty, and potential negative outcome on performance at the task level. Trust in automation plays the main role in forming the connection between the ATCO and the automation. According to that, this paper aims to explain the concept of trust in general and in automation with a brief review of the methods and measurements of trust in the relevant literature.

Integration of BPMN Modeling and Multi-actor AHP-aided Evaluation to Improve Port Rail Operations

Selecting the best scenario of intervention to improve the functioning of complex systems represents a troublesome task both for public and private decision makers, since it requires the deployment of appropriate analysis and evaluation tools. In the case of intermodal transport systems, complexity is given by the execution of different types of activities using various resources, and by the presence of several actors operating in the same environment with diverse goals. In this paper, an integrated approach to assess design alternatives regarding rail port operations is proposed by combining business process modeling and multi-actor multi-criteria evaluation. In fact, a railway process has been graphically represented by means of the standardized modeling language called Business Process Modeling and Notation (BPMN) at different levels of detail, i.e. taking into account not only the actual transport operations but also the necessary documentary procedures to perform the freight transfer services. In addition to the identification of possible bottlenecks, the analysis of the considered railway process has enabled the determination of its most significant features. These parameters have been subsequently used as some of the criteria according to which the performances of the examined scenarios of intervention have been evaluated, adopting the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique. Furthermore, the appraisal has been enhanced by explicitly including the key stakeholders involved in the railway process at hand. The developed methodology has been applied to the case study of the Port of Trieste, Italy, in order to investigate possibilities for an increase in railway capacity.

CryptDICE: Distributed data protection system for secure cloud data storage and computation

Cloud storage allows organizations to store data at remote sites of service providers. Although cloud storage services offer numerous benefits, they also involve new risks and challenges with respect to data security and privacy aspects. To preserve confidentiality, data must be encrypted before outsourcing to the cloud. Although this approach protects the security and privacy aspects of data, it also impedes regular functionality such as executing queries and performing analytical computations. To address this concern, specific data encryption schemes (e.g., deterministic, random, homomorphic, order-preserving, etc.) can be adopted that still support the execution of different types of queries (e.g., equality search, full-text search, etc.) over encrypted data.However, these specialized data encryption schemes have to be implemented and integrated in the application and their adoption introduces an extra layer of complexity in the application code. Moreover, as these schemes imply trade-offs between performance and security, storage efficiency, etc, making the appropriate trade-off is a challenging and non-trivial task. In addition, to support aggregate queries, User Defined Functions (UDF) have to be implemented directly in the database engine and these implementations are specific to each underlying data storage technology, which demands expert knowledge and in turn increases management complexity.In this paper, we introduce CryptDICE, a distributed data protection system that (i) provides built-in support for a number of different data encryption schemes, made accessible via annotations that represent application-specific (search) requirements; (ii) supports making appropriate trade-offs and execution of these encryption decisions at diverse levels of data granularity; and (iii) integrates a lightweight service that performs dynamic deployment of User Defined Functions (UDF) –without performing any alteration directly in the database engine– for heterogeneous NoSQL databases in order to realize low-latency aggregate queries and also to avoid expensive data shuffling (from the cloud to an on-premise data center). We have validated CryptDICE in the context of a realistic industrial SaaS application and carried out an extensive functional validation, which shows the applicability of the middleware platform. In addition, our experimental evaluation efforts confirm that the performance overhead of CryptDICE is acceptable and validates the performance optimizations for achieving low-latency aggregate queries.

A system hierarchy for brain-inspired computing.

Neuromorphic computing draws inspiration from the brain to provide computing technology and architecture with the potential to drive the next wave of computer engineering1-13. Such brain-inspired computing also provides a promising platform for the development of artificial general intelligence14,15. However, unlike conventional computing systems, which have a well established computer hierarchy built around the concept of Turing completeness and the von Neumann architecture16-18, there is currently no generalized system hierarchy or understanding of completeness for brain-inspired computing. This affects the compatibility between software and hardware, impairing the programming flexibility and development productivity of brain-inspired computing. Here we propose 'neuromorphic completeness', which relaxes the requirement for hardware completeness, and a corresponding system hierarchy, which consists of a Turing-complete software-abstraction model and a versatile abstract neuromorphic architecture. Using this hierarchy, various programs can be described as uniform representations and transformed into the equivalent executable on any neuromorphic complete hardware-that is, it ensures programming-language portability, hardware completeness and compilation feasibility. We implement toolchain software to support the execution of different types of program on various typical hardware platforms, demonstrating the advantage of our system hierarchy, including a new system-design dimension introduced by the neuromorphic completeness. We expect that our study will enable efficient and compatible progress in all aspects of brain-inspired computing systems, facilitating the development of various applications, including artificial general intelligence.

A Soft Exoglove Equipped With a Wearable Muscle-Machine Interface Based on Forcemyography and Electromyography

Soft, lightweight, underactuated assistive gloves (exogloves) can be useful for enhancing the capabilities of a healthy individual or to assist the rehabilitation of patients who suffer from conditions that limit the mobility of their fingers. However, most solutions found in the literature do not offer individual control of the fingers, hindering the execution of different types of grasps. In this letter, we focus on the development of a soft, underactuated, tendon-driven exo-glove that is equipped with a muscle-machine interface combining Electromyography and Forcemyography sensors to decode the user intent and allow the execution of specific grasp types. The device is experimentally tested and evaluated using different types of experiments: first, grasp experiments to assess the capability of the proposed muscle machine interface to discriminate between different grasp types and second, force exertion capability experiments, which evaluate the maximum forces that can be applied for different grasp types. The proposed device weighs 1150 g and costs $\sim$ 1000 USD (in parts). The exoglove is capable of considerably improving the grasping capabilities of the user, facilitating the execution of different types of grasps and exerting forces up to 20 N.

Medical student perceptions about active methodologies in the study of physiology in medical schools in Salvador, Brazil.

In the field of medical education, it is possible to consider that the acquisition of professional competences can gain new contours when considering the use of active methodologies. It is important to analyze the perception of the students about the use of them in medical courses, as well as to reflect on their challenges and potentials. In the present study, a semistructured questionnaire of student perception was applied immediately after the execution of different types of active methodologies in the discipline of physiology in two medical courses. The results suggest a highly positive evaluation of the use of active methodologies by the student body of the two institutions. The students evaluated positively the application of the method (94.6%) and the perception about the learning (84.1%). On the other hand, when questioned about the substitution of the traditional expository method by the active methodologies, there was a tendency to the centrality of the answers, with 84.0% of the responses concentrated at positions 2, 3, and 4 on a scale of 1 (minimum) to 5 (maximum) on the Likert scale. There were no statistically significant differences when comparing variables of age, sex, and previous graduation. Although there was no consensus regarding the full replacement of traditional for active methodologies, one can conclude that the students' perception about the introduction of said methodologies in the teaching of physiology in medical courses is positive, regardless of the subgroups evaluated. These results encourage the insertion of these and other methodologies into medical courses.

Building web-based services for practical exercises in parallel and distributed computing

The paper presents an approach to the design and implementation of web-based environments for practical exercises in parallel and distributed computing (PDC). The presented approach introduces minimal development and operational costs by relying on Everest, a general-purpose platform for building computational web services. The flexibility of proposed service-oriented architecture enables the development of different types of services targeting various use cases and PDC topics. The generic execution services support the execution of different types of parallel and distributed programs on corresponding computing systems, while the assignment evaluation services implement the execution and evaluation of solutions to programming assignments. As was demonstrated by teaching two introductory PDC courses, the presented approach helps to enhance students’ practical experience while avoiding low-level interfaces, reducing the grading time and providing a level of automation necessary for scaling the course to a large number of students. In contrast to other efforts, the exploited Platform as a Service model provides the ability to quickly reuse this approach by other PDC educators without installation of the Everest platform.

Development of Visuospatial Attention in Typically Developing Children.

The aim of the present study is to investigate the development of visuospatial attention in typically developing children and to propose reference values for children for the following six visuospatial attention tests: star cancellation, Ogden figure, reading test, line bisection, proprioceptive pointing and visuo-proprioceptive pointing. Data of 159 children attending primary or secondary school in the Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles (Belgium) were analyzed. Results showed that the children's performance on star cancellation, Ogden figure and reading test improved until the age of 13 years, whereas their performance on proprioceptive pointing, visuo-proprioceptive pointing and line bisection was stable with increasing age. These results suggest that the execution of different types of visuospatial attention tasks are not following the same developmental trajectories. This dissociation is strengthened by the lack of correlation observed between tests assessing egocentric and allocentric visuospatial attention, except for the star cancellation test (egocentric) and the Ogden figure copy (ego- and allocentric). Reference values are proposed that may be useful to examine children with clinical disorders of visuospatial attention.

“Systematic inquiry for energy security and sustainability”(a case study approach for India using SAP-LAP framework)

Purpose Energy supply delivered via various energy projects is an important aspect of energy security for India. Managing supply through various capacity additions for providing continuous electricity 24×7 by 2019 is a significant challenge for the country. In this context, there is a need to assess the present situation of energy generation from the traditional energy projects that are being installed for the purpose of capacity addition. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to develop an inquiry model based on situation-actor-process (SAP), learning-action-performance (LAP) for the Indian energy and power sectors to analyze the status of the supply side of energy security. Design/methodology/approach A SAP-LAP model is used to synthesize the situations of both the energy and power sectors. For both systems, inquiry- and matrices-based SAP-LAP models have been considered for this purpose. The situation is presented for various issues related to the execution of different types of energy projects. Actors in these sectors are classified by those who are responsible and engaged in the execution of various energy projects. For demonstration purposes, only a thermal energy project is highlighted in this case study. Based on the synthesis of SAP elements, various LAP elements are analyzed which leads to lessons that may be learnt from the case. Suitable actions are identified, followed by an assessment of their impact on the performance of the energy projects. Findings By developing a framework for a SAP-LAP model for the assessment of energy security, it was found that both sectors need more investment for their sustainable growth and that the actors identified should be proactive in their decision making. Decision making should be based on the sustainable management practices of life cycle management and life cycle costing for the better utilization of energy resources to strengthen overall energy security. Research limitations/implications The SAP-LAP analysis is used to explain the supply side of energy security in a managerial context, as applied in the case of the Indian energy and power sectors. However, some other quantitative multiple-criteria decision-making techniques like the preference ranking organization method for enrichment of evaluations, the complex proportional assessment of alternatives, the analytic hierarchy process or qualitative interactions assessment techniques such as interpretive structural modeling (ISM), total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) or the interpretive ranking process can also be explored for the development of an energy security framework. Practical implications The synthesis of SAP leads to LAP, which bridges the gap by suggesting improvement actions based on learning from the present situation of power supply, from actors in the industry and from existing processes. The model presents the situation of energy security in terms of the timely execution of energy projects and their impacts on the gross domestic product of the country. Social implications The framework for learning can provide information to the various stakeholders, investors and sector organizations inquiring about various issues related to energy projects and supporting the idea for energy security and sustainability. Originality/value The SAP-LAP model is a novel approach for analyzing the present status of energy supply performance in a single model, which can act as the support for decision making in conflicting situations, specifically the conflicting nature of the Indian energy and power sectors.

A Hybrid Algorithm Using Genetic Algorithm and Cuckoo Search Algorithm to Solve Job Scheduling Problem in Computational Grid Systems

Job scheduling is one of the major challenges in Grid computing systems to efficiently exploit the capabilities of dynamic, autonomous, heterogeneous and distributed resources for execution of different types of jobs. Thus optimal job scheduling is an NP-complete problem which can easily be solved by using heuristic techniques. This paper presents a hybrid algorithm for job scheduling using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CSA) for efficiently allocating jobs to resources in a Grid system so that makespan and flowtime are minimized. This proposed algorithm combines the advantages of both GA and CSA. The authors' results have been compared with standard GA, CSA and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) to show the importance of the proposed algorithm.

Izrada gantograma dokovanja na plutajućem doku

Brodovi i razni drugi pomorski objekti nakon određenog vremena provedenog u ekspoataciji, ili zbog nekih izvanrednih okolnosti kao što su havarije, moraju obaviti remont u nekom od remontnih brodogradilišta. Objekti se najčešće dokuju zbog izvođenja raličitih radova vezanih uz podvodni dio trupa ili zbog periodičnih pregleda vještaka Registra i sl. Primjeri takvih radova su sanacije oštećenja trupa, radovi na propeleru, listu kormila, AKZ tretman podvodnog dijela trupa. Remont se najčešće odvija na plutajućim dokovima na kojima se brod ili neki pomorski objekt relativno jednostavno digne iz vode. Uz pomoć plutajućih dokova remont se može izvršiti jednostavno i brzo. Ovaj rad pokazuje detaljan prikaz procesa te akcije potrebne za izvršavanje nekog od istih te njihova moguća poboljšanja.

SLA-based virtual machine management for heterogeneous workloads in a cloud datacenter

Efficient provisioning of resources is a challenging problem in cloud computing environments due to its dynamic nature and the need for supporting heterogeneous applications. Even though VM (Virtual Machine) technology allows several workloads to run concurrently and to use a shared infrastructure, still it does not guarantee application performance. Thus, currently cloud datacenter providers either do not offer any performance guarantee or prefer static VM allocation over dynamic, which leads to inefficient utilization of resources. Moreover, the workload may have different QoS (Quality Of Service) requirements due to the execution of different types of applications such as HPC and web, which makes resource provisioning much harder. Earlier work either concentrate on single type of SLAs (Service Level Agreements) or resource usage patterns of applications, such as web applications, leading to inefficient utilization of datacenter resources. In this paper, we tackle the resource allocation problem within a datacenter that runs different types of application workloads, particularly non-interactive and transactional applications. We propose an admission control and scheduling mechanism which not only maximizes the resource utilization and profit, but also ensures that the QoS requirements of users are met as specified in SLAs. In our experimental study, we found that it is important to be aware of different types of SLAs along with applicable penalties and the mix of workloads for better resource provisioning and utilization of datacenters. The proposed mechanism provides substantial improvement over static server consolidation and reduces SLA violations.

In-silico designing of a potent analogue against HIV-1 Nef protein and protease by predicting its interaction network with host cell proteins

Background:HIV-1 has numerous proteins encoded within its genome, which acquaints it with the required arsenal to establish a favorable host cell environment suitable for viral replication and pathogenesis. Among these proteins, one protein that is indispensable and ambiguous is the Nef protein.Aim:Interaction of Nef protein with different host-cell protein was predicted and subsequently the down regulation of cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) was targeted through designing of inhibitors of Nef protein for either preventing or if not at least delaying pathogenesis.Materials and Methods:The interaction network of Nef protein with host-cell proteins were predicted by PIMRider. Analogue of Lopinavir were prepared and evaluated considering all factors affecting the drug stability and toxicity. Finally Docking simulation were performed using an Auto-Dock Tool 4.0.Results:In the interaction network of Nef protein with different host-cell proteins it was found out that 22 host cell proteins are involved in the interaction and execution of different types of functions in host cell but these functions are altered with the interaction with the Nef protein. After extensive and controlled in silico analysis it has been observed that the analogue LOPI1 binds to Nef protein (2NEF) at CD4 interacting site residues giving minimum binding energy of –7.68 Kcal/mole, low Ki value of 2.34 μM, maximum number of hydrogen bonds (8), good absorption, distribution, metabolism and excretion properties, and less toxicity in comparison with the standard Lopinavir against HIV1 protease (1HPV).Conclusion:The newly designed analogue (LOPI1) is showing significant in silico interaction with Nef protein and protease and can be taken forward as a potent drug lead, which may finally emerge out to be even better than the standard Lopinavir.

The mass spectrometry technology MALDI-TOF (Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time- Of-Flight) for a more rapid and economic workflow in the clinical microbiology laboratory

Introduction: In order to improve the outcome of patients, reduce length of stay, costs and resources engaged in diagnostics, more rapid reports are requested to the clinical microbiologists.The purpose of this study is to assess the impact on workflow of MALDI-TOF technology, recently made available for use in routine diagnostics. Methods:The work list by the management information system is sent to the instrument MALDI-TOF, where are held at least three successive analytic sessions: the first includes bacteria isolated from CSF, blood cultures, and cases already reported as serious/urgent, the second includes all other germs isolated, the third, microorganisms that require extraction with trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) or formic acid (FA) for identification.The results of each session direct to the execution of different types of susceptibility testing. Results:The times of microbial identifications are reduced by 24 or 48 hours and made available to the clinician for the rational empirical therapy.The reagent costs are reduced by 40%.The subcultures were reduced by 80%, and microscopic examinations by 50%.The antibiotic susceptibility tests were immediately performed with the most appropriate method, based on the knowledge of local epidemiology and microbial species. Conclusion:The bacteriology is the less automated discipline among the clinical laboratory activities and results of diagnostic tests are poorly well-timed. The new interpretative algorithms of MALDI-TOF spectra, now available, allow the correct identification of bacteria in near real time, completely eliminating the wait is necessary for biochemical identification and guiding the operator in selecting the most appropriate antibiotic susceptibility tests. This technology makes work more rapid, economic and efficient, eliminating errors and, together with effective computerization of data, transforms the information content of the microbiological report, making it much more effective for the therapy and the patient care.