Higher Priority Tasks Research Articles

A general task offloading and resources allocation strategy for multi-RSUs with load unbalance and priority awareness

Vehicular Edge Computing is a new computing paradigm that enables real-time response to vehicular applications and servers by performing data processing on edge computing devices near the vehicle. However, on the one hand, the random distribution and the mobility of vehicles may lead to load unbalance among different Roadside Units (RSUs), and some tasks may not be able to get timely response due to inadequate computing resources and communication resources in the high-load RSU areas. On the other hand, considering the different urgency of the tasks, the service quality of the system will be seriously affected if these tasks are not treated indistinguishably. To address the above challenges, this paper constructs a priority-aware task offloading and computing&communication resources allocation problem in a general scenario of unbalanced load among multi-RSUs, aiming at minimizing the average delay. In the problem, considering the absence of communication resources, the relay vehicle is used to offload the subtasks of splittable tasks to the RSUs that are in the neighbouring and low-load. Moreover, to take full advantage of computing resources, the task can be reasonably split into at most four parts and processed in parallel on a relay vehicle, a current RSU, a neighbouring RSU and a local vehicle. To solve the problem, a Split-Hop Offloading and Resources Allocation Strategy (SHORAS) based on an improved particle swarm optimisation algorithm is proposed, which uses a penalty function to incline resources towards high priority tasks. Simulation results show that SHORAS improves 24% in terms of the total system delay and effectively reduces the processing delay in the high-load areas compared to other strategies, while ensuring the delay requirements of high priority tasks.

The Proapoptotic Action of Pyrrolidinedione-Thiazolidinone Hybrids towards Human Breast Carcinoma Cells Does Not Depend on Their Genotype.

The development of new, effective agents for the treatment of breast cancer remains a high-priority task in oncology. A strategy of treatment for this pathology depends significantly on the genotype and phenotype of human breast cancer cells. We aimed to investigate the antitumor activity of new pyrrolidinedione-thiazolidinone hybrid molecules Les-6287, Les-6294, and Les-6328 towards different types of human breast cancer cells of MDA-MB-231, MCF-7, T-47D, and HCC1954 lines and murine breast cancer 4T1 cells by using the MTT, clonogenic and [3H]-Thymidine incorporation assays, flow cytometry, ELISA, and qPCR. The studied hybrids possessed toxicity towards the mentioned tumor cells, with the IC50 ranging from 1.37 to 21.85 µM. Simultaneously, these derivatives showed low toxicity towards the pseudonormal human breast epithelial cells of the MCF-10A line (IC50 > 93.01 µM). Les-6287 at 1 µM fully inhibited the formation of colonies of the MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and HCC1954 cells, while Les-6294 and Les-6328 did that at 2.5 and 5 µM, respectively. Les-6287 suppressed DNA biosynthesis in the MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and HCC1954 cells. At the same time, such an effect on the MCF-10A cells was significantly lower. Les-6287 induces apoptosis using extrinsic and intrinsic pathways via a decrease in the mitochondrial membrane potential, increasing the activity of caspases 3/7, 8, 9, and 10 in all immunohistochemically different human breast cancer cells. Les-6287 decreased the concentration of the metastasis- and invasion-related proteins MMP-2, MMP-9, and ICAM-1. It did not induce autophagy in treated cells. In conclusion, the results of our study suggest that the synthesized hybrid pyrrolidinedione-thiazolidinones might be promising agents for treating breast tumors of different types.

Data traffic unloading method of internet of things based on mobile edge computing

The Industrial Internet of Things integrates modern technologies such as intelligent terminals, computer technology, and big data, achieving low cost and high applicability in industrial production processes, and improving industrial production efficiency. The offloading of IoT data traffic requires significant energy consumption due to limited mobile terminal device resources. For this reason, the author designs a method of IoT data traffic unloading based on mobile edge computing. The initialization simulation parameters include the number of mobile users, the number of base stations equipped with edge servers, fixed bandwidth, base station height, etc. Calculate the distance and channel power gain from each base station to mobile users, and optimize power allocation through algorithms such as simulated annealing and PSO. The binary PSO algorithm is used to maximize the welfare in edge computing. Finally, by comparing with local offloading, utilizing layered offloading methods, and collaborative computing offloading methods based on fiber wireless networks. Simulation resultsThe energy consumption of SAPA is generally higher than that of PSO, and with the increase of mobile users, the energy consumption of both algorithms shows a significant growth trend. Especially, SAPA's energy consumption is significantly higher than PSO when the number of users is 40 and 60. This indicates that in the mobile network environment, PSO algorithm has more advantages in energy consumption than SAPA, By using particle swarm optimization algorithm to further optimize energy consumption, it greatly saves energy consumption. In comparison to local execution, the proposed offloading method yields substantial energy savings of nearly 62.5 %. The maximum difference in energy consumption between the proposed method and the collaborative computing offloading method based on fiber optic wireless networks is 268 J, while the maximum difference compared to the layered offloading method is 150 J. These results highlight the strategy's ability to enhance the computational efficiency of high-priority tasks on edge servers, concurrently reducing latency and energy consumption for task completion. This underscores the effectiveness of the proposed offloading method in conserving energy and emphasizes its practical significance.

Features of liability for cyber-attacks in EU countries

The article is devoted to the peculiarities of responsibility for cyber-attacks in the countries of the European Union. It is noted that cyber-attacks on state bodies can be a component of cyber war or hybrid war and at the same time pose a threat to national and global security, as they can lead to the leakage of important information, disrupt the operation of state systems and lead to various negative consequences. So, for example, in Europe, the main goals of hackers from 2022, in addition to Ukraine, became Poland, the Baltic countries, Northern Europe and Germany. The share of cyberattacks on European Union (EU) countries increased from about 10% in the first quarter of 2022 to almost 50% in 2023. In total, 162 cyber-attacks were carried out on Ukraine in 2022; to Poland – 114; Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia – 157; Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland – 95, Germany – 57.
 An increase in the activity of cyber-attacks on the networks of the energy sector, the diplomatic corps, law enforcement agencies, the defense complex, state enterprises and media companies has been established. The main goal of these attacks is to damage the country’s critical infrastructure. Globally, there has been a steady trend towards an increase in the number of targeted cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure facilities in recent years. And therefore, in connection with the possible negative consequences in the case of the implementation of cyber-attacks, it is important to note that ensuring the effective functioning of the country’s cyber defense system remains a high-priority task. Each year underscores the urgency of this challenge as threats in cyberspace continue to grow and become more highly specialized.
 It was concluded that their public attribution will be important for determining possible responsibility in the countries of the European Union for a cyber-attack, which will include the identification and public announcement of who is behind a specific cyber-attack that affects state, commercial or other objects.

EOTE-FSC: An efficient offloaded task execution for fog enabled smart cities.

Smart cities provide ease in lifestyle to their community members with the help of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). It provides better water, waste and energy management, enhances the security and safety of its citizens and offers better health facilities. Most of these applications are based on IoT-based sensor networks, that are deployed in different areas of applications according to their demand. Due to limited processing capabilities, sensor nodes cannot process multiple tasks simultaneously and need to offload some of their tasks to remotely placed cloud servers, which may cause delays. To reduce the delay, computing nodes are placed in different vicinitys acting as fog-computing nodes are used, to execute the offloaded tasks. It has been observed that the offloaded tasks are not uniformly received by fog computing nodes and some fog nodes may receive more tasks as some may receive less number of tasks. This may cause an increase in overall task execution time. Furthermore, these tasks comprise different priority levels and must be executed before their deadline. In this work, an Efficient Offloaded Task Execution for Fog enabled Smart cities (EOTE - FSC) is proposed. EOTE - FSC proposes a load balancing mechanism by modifying the greedy algorithm to efficiently distribute the offloaded tasks to its attached fog nodes to reduce the overall task execution time. This results in the successful execution of most of the tasks within their deadline. In addition, EOTE - FSC modifies the task sequencing with a deadline algorithm for the fog node to optimally execute the offloaded tasks in such a way that most of the high-priority tasks are entertained. The load balancing results of EOTE - FSC are compared with state-of-the-art well-known Round Robin, Greedy, Round Robin with longest job first, and Round Robin with shortest job first algorithms. However, fog computing results of EOTE - FSC are compared with the First Come First Serve algorithm. The results show that the EOTE - FSC effectively offloaded the tasks on fog nodes and the maximum load on the fog computing nodes is reduced up to 29%, 27.3%, 23%, and 24.4% as compared to Round Robin, Greedy, Round Robin with LJF and Round Robin with SJF algorithms respectively. However, task execution in the proposed EOTE - FSC executes a maximum number of offloaded high-priority tasks as compared to the FCFS algorithm within the same computing capacity of fog nodes.

통합적 접근법 실현을 위한 ODA 정책과제

Purpose: This research aims to identify policy tasks for international development cooperation (ODA) projects in order to implement an integrated approach and evaluate them. In this context, the paper redefines the definitions and classifications of integrated approaches, explores methodological changes, and evaluates the potential for mainstreaming.
 Originality: An integrated approach has been emerging at a time when ODA projects have been packaged or enlarged, emphasizing a holistic and comprehensive perspective. This study aims to derive practical concepts shaped by discourse and consensus among experts in the field.
 Methodology: The policy agenda for integrating ODA projects is identified through a Delphi survey involving 30 distinguished experts in the field of international development cooperation. The survey assesses the importance, urgency, and feasibility of each agenda item.
 Result: External factors are more urgent compared to internal factors, but they are not considered more important or highly feasible. The high-priority policy tasks include facilitating adequate discussions on supply and demand between donor and recipient countries (partner countries), enhancing cooperation with relevant departments/agencies in recipient countries, and improving the project management capacity of Korean specialized institutions.
 Conclusion and Implication: These results are expected to contribute to the development of related policies and program design based on the integrated approach. Furthermore, this research can contribute to the formulation of relevant national policies and enhance the national brand.

Laser temperature programmed desorption: A flexible technique to study ion-surface interaction.

Understanding the physical-chemical processes ruling the interaction of particles (atoms, molecules, and ions) with surfaces is fundamental in several research fields, such as heterogeneous catalysis, astrochemistry, and nuclear fusion. In particular, the interaction of hydrogen isotopes with plasma facing materials represents a high-priority research task in the fusion community. Such studies are essential to ensure the successful operation of experimental fusion reactors, such as the tokamak ITER. In this work, we present a surface science apparatus developed to study ion-surface interaction in fusion relevant systems. It combines laser-based techniques with contaminant-free ion/molecular beams, mass spectrometry, and surface science tools such as low-energy electron diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy. It allows to cover a wide range of sample temperatures, from 130 to 2300K, by changing the heating rate of samples from 0.1 to 135 K/s and maintaining the linearity of the heating ramps, a powerful feature to gain insight on adsorption, absorption, and desorption mechanisms. Experimental calibration and performance are presented in detail. Moreover, to provide a factual overview of the experimental capabilities, we focus on two different applications: the protocol used to clean a W(110) single crystal sample and the development of laser temperature programmed desorption to study helium retention in tungsten.

Design of MXene-Based Multiporous Nanosheet Stacking Structures Integrating Multiple Synergistic SERS Enhancements for Ultrasensitive Detection of Chloramphenicol.

Motivated by the desire for more sensitivity and stable surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrates to trace detect chloramphenicol due to its high toxicity and ubiquity, MXene has attracted increasing attention and is encountering the high-priority task of further observably improving detection sensitivity. Herein, a universal SERS optimization strategy that incorporates NH4VO3 to induce few-layer MXenes assembling into multiporous nanosheet stacking structures was innovatively proposed. The synthesized Nb2C-based multiporous nanosheet stacking structure can achieve a low limit of detection of 10-10 M and a high enhancement factor of 2.6 × 109 for MeB molecules, whose detection sensitivity is improved by 3 orders of magnitude relative to few-layer Nb2C MXenes. Such remarkably enhanced SERS sensitivity mainly originates from the multiple synergistic contributions of the developed physical adsorption, the chemical enhancement, and the conspicuously improved electromagnetic enhancement arising from the intersecting MXenes. Furthermore, the improved SERS sensitivity endows Nb2C-based multiporous structures with the capability to achieve ultrasensitive detection of chloramphenicol with a wide linear range from 100 μg/mL to 1 ng/mL. We believe it is of great significance in conspicuously developing the SERS sensitivity of other MXenes with surficial negative charges and has a great promising perspective for the trace detection of other antibiotics in microsystems.

Priority Based Scheduler for Asymmetric Multi-core Edge Computing

Edge computing technology has gained popularity due to its ability to process data near the source or collection device, benefiting from low bandwidth utilization and enhanced security. Edge devices are typically equipped with multiple devices that employ asymmetric multi-cores for efficient data processing. To ensure optimal performance, it is crucial to carefully assign tasks to the appropriate cores in asymmetric multi-core processors. However, the current Linux scheduler needs to consider the capabilities of individual cores when assigning tasks. Consequently, high-priority tasks may be assigned to energy-efficient cores, while low-priority tasks end up on high-performance cores. This sub-optimal task assignment negatively impacts the overall system performance. To address this issue, a new algorithm has been proposed. This algorithm considers both the core’s capabilities and the task’s priority. However, due to the asymmetric nature of the cores, prior knowledge of each core’s speed is necessary. The algorithm fetches the priorities of the tasks and classifies them into high, medium, and low-priority categories. High-priority tasks are scheduled on high-performance cores, while medium and low-priority tasks are allocated to energy-efficient cores. The proposed algorithm demonstrates superior performance for high-priority tasks compared to the existing Linux task scheduling algorithm. It significantly improves task scheduling time by up to 16%, thereby enhancing the system’s overall efficiency.

An efficient weighted partial MaxSAT encoding for scheduling in overloaded real-time systems

Scheduling tasks in overloaded real-time systems is a challenging problem that has received a significant amount of attention in recent years. The processor is overloaded with more tasks than its capacity, resulting in missed deadlines and degraded system performance. Therefore, scheduling algorithms play a critical role in ensuring that high-priority tasks are completed on time while minimizing the impact of incomplete lower-priority tasks. This paper proposes an efficient Weighted Partial MaxSAT(WPMS) encoding that returns an optimal solution in which the total weight of incomplete tasks is minimized in a single machine environment. To assess the efficiency of our proposed formulation, a comparative analysis is conducted alongside the state-of-the-art encoding. By examining the solving 75 distinct problems, it becomes evident that the WPMS encoding proposed herein exhibits a considerable advantage in terms of both time and memory efficiency.

Multi-RAT-enabled edge computing for vehicle-to-everything architectures

The accelerating deployment of vehicular networks in smart cities sparked a demand for a wider diversity of on-board applications, extending their performance requirements. Higher computation needs and stricter delay constraints provide new challenges for edge computing vehicular architectures, especially regarding urgent data and high-priority tasks. In that regard, QoS-provisioning appears as imperative, along with optimized resource requesting at RSUs. To this end, we propose CAVTOMEC, a multi-RAT location-aware, context-aware task offloading solution with QoS provisioning for MEC vehicular networks. Three concurrent mechanisms are at play: traffic classification, CAM-beacon-enhanced location awareness and long-range V2N resource polling. Three-tier traffic classification identifies task priority, while location and resource awareness participate in the selection of the most appropriate offloading destination depending on these priorities. The resource awareness mechanism is developed in two phases: immediate available resources and prospective resources based on edge server queue state. Experimental results corroborate the gains of our scheme compared to a standard offloading scheme, especially for high-priority tasks, with success rates increased by up to 14%, and offloading delays reduced by up to 24%.

Surgical correction of circumcision complications

Background. Circumcision is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures in men. Approximately 20 % of men in the world have undergone circumcision. It helps to prevent infections and inflammatory diseases of the lower urinary tract and reduces the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, helps to reduce the risk of developing glans cancer in men and cervical dysplasia in women. Being aware of complications that may occur after circumcision allows to conduct the surgery in a way that minimizes the risk of complications.Aim. To analyze both the circumcisio complications and their surgical management.Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of a case series of 53 patients with complications after circumcision was performed: 30 patients underwent circumcision in childhood (average age 3.2 ± 1.8 years), 23 patients have been circumcised as adults (average age 34.9 ± 7.8 years). Complications that occurred in different age groups were analyzed, as well as their surgical management.Results. In this study, complications such as insufficient foreskin excision, severe scarring of the penile skin, phimosis recurrence, excessive foreskin excision, residual synechiae on the glans, amputation of the glans or the shaft, bleeding or hematoma formation, purulent inflammatory disease of the penile skin and glans, complications caused by local anesthetics, urethral injury with subsequent fistula formation or ischemia, meatostenosis have been observed in patients. All patients underwent surgical correction to achieve high functional and cosmetic results.Conclusion. Understanding the causes of circumcision complications and surgical management is a high priority task for the andrology community.

Comparison of the Execution Step Strategies on Scheduling Data-intensive Workflows on IaaS Cloud Platforms

The IaaS platforms of the Cloud hold promise for executing parallel applications, particularly data-intensive scientific workflows. An important challenge for users of these platforms executing scientific workflows is to strike the right trade-off between the execution time of the scientific workflow and the cost of using the platform. In a previous article, we proposed an efficient approach that assists the user in finding this compromise. This approach requires an algorithm aimed at minimizing the execution time of the workflow once the platform configuration is set. In this article, we compare two different strategies for executing a workflow after its offline scheduling using an algorithm. The algorithm that we proposed in the previous study has outperform the HEFT algorithm.
 The first strategy allows some ready tasks to execute earlier than other higher-priority tasks that are ready later due to data transfer times. This strategy is justified by the fact that although our scheduling algorithm attempts to minimize data transfers between tasks running on different virtual machines, this algorithm does not include data transfer times in the planned execution dates for the various tasks of the workflow. The second strategy strictly adheres to the predetermined order among tasks scheduled on the same virtual machine.
 The results of our evaluations show that the best execution strategy depends on the characteristics of the workflow. For each evaluated workflow, our results demonstrate that our scheduling algorithm combined with the best execution strategy surpasses HEFT. The choice of the best strategy must be determined experimentally following realistic simulations, such as the ones we conduct here using the WRENCH framework, before conducting simulations to find the best compromise between cost and execution time of a workflow on an IaaS platform..

Cascaded ESO based multi-task priority tracking and null-space compliance control for redundant robots

This paper investigates multi-task priority trajectory tracking and null-space compliance control of redundant robots without joint velocity and joint torque sensors. A novel multi-task priority controller is proposed to improve the dynamic performance and robustness of all level tasks. First, a cascaded extended state observer (ESO) is put forward to estimate joint velocity, lumped disturbances and the interference from high-priority tasks to low-priority tasks simultaneously. Then, a tracking controller for higher priority tasks and a null space compliance controller for the lowest priority task are designed. The stability of the closed loop system under the proposed cascaded ESO and task trajectory tracking controller is analyzed, as well as the passivity of the lowest priority task. The parameter tunning procedure of the cascaded ESO is given. Comparative simulation and experiment results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Model of the formation of the civil identity of a linguistic personality with regard to the impact of the multicultural environment of a higher education institution

Introduction. Identifying the criteria of civic identity is one of the important and high-priority tasks in the formation of a linguistic personality. In scientific literature, many factors are described that can influence its formation, and each of the factors can affect it in different ways. The regression model can help to establish a relationship between these factors and identify how they influence the development of the civic identity of a linguistic personality, which can be useful for further studies and the development of relevant programs and policies. The aim of the study is to identify the factors influencing the development of the civic identity of a linguistic personality and to build a mathematical model describing the dynamics of the level of formation of the civic identity of a linguistic personality depending on these factors, with regard to the impact of the multicultural environment of a higher education institution. Materials and methods. To build a model of the formation of the civic identity of a linguistic personality with regard to the impact of the multicultural environment of a higher education institution, the data obtained through the survey of students of the Financial University were used. More than 500 students from 8 faculties participated in the survey. Based on the survey, 30 factors were selected that influence the formation of the civic identity of a linguistic personality. Statistical and mathematical methods were used to analyze the impact of these factors on the formation of the civic identity of a linguistic personality. Two regression models were built, which made it possible to identify the dependence of these indicators on the formation of the civic identity of a linguistic personality with regard to the impact of the multicultural environment of a higher education institution. Results and discussion. The constructed models are of high quality and well describe the dependence of the dynamics of the level of formation of the civic identity of a linguistic personality on the selected factors and components of the multicultural environment of a higher education institution. At the same time, the quality of the first model is higher: its coefficient of determination (0.8855) is higher than that of the second model (0.8239); the standard error of the first model (5.4873) is smaller than that of the second model (6.6934). Conclusion. The study identified factors that can influence the formation of the civic identity of a linguistic personality. The constructed regression models made it possible to identify these factors with regard to the impact of the multicultural environment of a higher education institution. The results of the study can be effectively used in a targeted way in the management of the educational process, which will make it possible to improve both the quality of education and the image of the university.

Optimal edge-cloud collaboration based strategies for minimizing valid latency of railway environment monitoring system

Response speed is vital for the railway environment monitoring system, especially for the sudden-onset disasters. The edge-cloud collaboration scheme is proved efficient to reduce the latency. However, the data characteristics and communication demand of the tasks in the railway environment monitoring system are all different and changeable, and the latency contribution of each task to the system is discrepant. Hence, two valid latency minimization strategies based on the edge-cloud collaboration scheme is developed in this paper. First, the processing resources are allocated to the tasks based on the priorities, and the tasks are processed parallelly with the allocated resources to minimize the system valid latency. Furthermore, considering the differences in the data volume of the tasks, which will induce the waste of the resources for the tasks finished in advance. Thus, the tasks with similar priorities are graded into the same group, and the serial and parallel processing strategies are performed intra-group and inter-group simultaneously. Compared with the other four strategies in four railway monitoring scenarios, the proposed strategies proved latency efficiency to the high-priority tasks, and the system valid latency is reduced synchronously. The performance of the railway environment monitoring system in security and efficiency will be promoted greatly with the proposed scheme and strategies.

PQ-Mist: Priority Queueing-Assisted Mist–Cloud–Fog System for Geospatial Web Services

The IoT and cloud environment renders enormous quantities of geospatial information. Fog and mist computing is the scaling technology that handles geospatial data and sends it to the cloud storage system through fog/mist nodes. Installing a mist–cloud–fog system reduces latency and throughput. This mist–cloud–fog system has processed different types of geospatial web services, i.e., web coverage service (WCS), web processing services (WPS), web feature services (WFS), and web map services (WMS). There is an urgent requirement to increase the number of computer devices tailored to deliver high-priority jobs for processing these geospatial web services. This paper proposes a priority-queueing assisted mist–cloud–fog system for efficient resource allocation for high- and low-priority tasks. In this study, WFS is treated as high-priority service, whereas WMS is treated as low-priority service. This system dynamically allocates mist nodes and is determined by the load on the system. In addition to that, the assignment of tasks is determined by priority. Not only does this classify high-priority tasks and low-priority tasks, which helps reduce the amount of delay experienced by high-priority jobs, but it also dynamically allocates mist devices within the network depending on the computation load, which helps reduce the amount of power that is consumed by the network. The findings indicate that the proposed system can achieve a significantly lower delay for higher-priority jobs for more significant rates of task arrival when compared with other related schemes. In addition to this, it offers a technique that is both mathematical and analytical for investigating and assessing the performance of the proposed system. The QoS requirements for each device demand are factored into calculating the number of mist nodes deployed to satisfy those requirements.

Clinical and immunological characteristic of children with recurrent episodes of acute laryngotracheitis, acute respiratory infections, otorhinolaryngological deseases

Introduction. Researching on pathogenesis and immunopathogenesis of acute respiratory infections in conjunction with recurrent episodes of acute laryngotracheitis and otorhinolaringological diseases (tonsillopharyngitis, rhinosinusitis, otitis) — is a high priority task for pediatrics, what is necessary to do to create an approach for preventing chronic illnesses.The aim of the present work. Researching on clinical and immunological characteristics and efficiency of treatment with prescription of bacterial lysate (OM-85) for children with recurrent episodes of acute laryngotracheitis, acute respiratory infections (ARI), otorhinolaringological diseases.Materials and methods. Fifty children 3-9 years old (32 children 3-6 years, 18 children 7-9 years old; 32 boys, 28 girls) in the initial period of monitoring, with recurrent episodes of acute laryngotracheitis (ALT), acute respiratory infections (ARI), otorhinolaryngological diseases were examined. The treatment in according with pediatric clinical practice guidelines, consultations with a pediatrician, otorhinolaryngologist, allergologist were provided to all children.Twenty five children (subgroup I b) received bacterial lysate (OM-85, 4 courses in 3 years ) in complex treatment. Subgroups I a, I b were similar in clinical symptoms, gender and age related. Follow up period continued three years. The results were evaluated a year and three years after treatment. Experimental group was composed of 30 children 3-9 years old, additionally examined. This group had such characteristics as: frequency of acute respiratory infections 3-5 times in a year, absence of chronic respiratory diseases, of recurrent episodes of acute laryngotracheitis. Immunological survey included some parameters of innate immunity, serum immunoglobulins, chemiluminescence, interferons (IFN-alfa, IFN-gamma).Results. In children with repeated episodes of ALT and ARI and otorhinolaryngological diseases the expression of TLR2 and TLR4 on CD14+ cells, receptors for IFN-γ (CD14+CD119+) is significantly higher than in children without ALT and with a frequency of ARI 3-5 times a year, which is accompanied by a decrease in the level of IFN-γ and IFN-α and is associated with the development of dysregulation of the immune system, which decreases with the administration of bacterial lysate (OM-86). Complex treatment of children within 3 years with the prescription of the drug significantly reduces the frequency of ARI — 2.6 times, tonsillopharyngitis — 1.8 times, rhinosinusitis — 2.2 times, the need for the prescription of antibiotics — 2.2 times. In the group treated by standards after 3 years, the need for antibiotics decreased by 1.6 times, the frequency of ARI exacerbations — by 1.2 times, tonsillopharyngitis — by 1.5 times, rhinosinusitis — by 1.8 times.

ВІДСУТНІСТЬ ФОНДОВОГО РИНКУ: ЧИ Є АЛЬТЕРНАТИВА EVA, EPS, P/E

The article proves that there is an urgent need to determine the key performance indicators of the company and to improve the methods of determining capitalization and profitability, for which accounting data is insufficient, because it ignores the costs of capital obtaining, the impact of changes in accounting policies, and the possibility of data manipulation. It was determined that in countries with a developed stock market, the performance of public companies is most often predicted through their share prices, return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), earnings per share (EPS), return on invested capital (ROIC), return on investment (ROI), Economic Value Added (EVA), Economic Value Added Momentum (EVAM). It was found that Ukraine is a unique example of the disappearance in recent years of a stock market created from scratch in the 1990s; the causes of the problems hindering the development of the stock market of Ukraine are outlined. The essence and purpose of EVA, EPS, P/E indicators are considered in order to propose ways of their modification or replacement in the absence of a stock market. It has been proven that the market capitalization indicator cannot be used for non-joint-stock companies; and the main problem of determining EVA for a non-joint-stock company or in the absence of a stock market is determining the value of equity capital. Under such conditions, it is proposed to choose one of the classic approaches to the assessment of the value of capital - expense (Method of net assets, Method of probability of liquidation), income (Method of discounted dividends, Method of discounted cash flows), market (Method of multipliers, Method of deals, Method of industry ratios). It is also suggested to choose the Net Present Value (NPV) indicator for strategic management, because NPV maximization, even with negative EVA values, is sometimes a higher priority task than EVA maximization. But using NPV has the same problem as EVA using, it is choosing a discount rate. Various methods of calculating the value of equity capital are proposed: the capital asset valuation model (CARM); subjective assessment: interest on long-term government bonds or deposits; average profitability in the industry. Earnings per share (EPS) can be replaced by return on equity and even return on equity. With the ratio of the market value of the share to the net earnings per share (P/E), it is much more difficult, because the calculation of the market value under such conditions is not available. It is noted that the types of enterprises, which are usually public and private, differ. For example, despite being small in their early stages, technology firms typically go public. Smaller companies tend to experience a greater negative impact from higher interest rates and inflation. It is concluded that all indicators should be treated with skepticism and used only as tools, not as drivers, and other factors should also be taken into account during the holistic assessment of investments: dividends, projected future profits, corporate culture, social responsibility of the company.

A fault-tolerant resource locking protocol for multiprocessor real-time systems

This paper presents the first fault-tolerant resource locking protocol for multiprocessor real-time systems. Resource locking protocols control access to shared resources in real-time systems. Most of the previous studies in resource locking protocols have focused on decreasing blocking time and resource conflicts. The use of such protocols in multiprocessor safety-critical real-time systems necessitates fault tolerance in the design of these systems. However, in research focused on multiprocessor real-time systems, fault tolerance has received low attention in resource allocation studies. In addition, many solutions proposed to improve the reliability in real-time scheduling ignored resource models in their task model. This paper proposes a novel fault-tolerant resource locking protocol, called FTPIA-NPCS, which considers transient faults in shared resources. FTPIA-NPCS proposes a checkpointing-based fault-tolerant mechanism to recover from errors caused by transient faults. In this mechanism, a checkpoint is taken from the tasks, before each resource allocation. In addition to providing fault tolerance, FTPIA-NPCS solves the problem of priority inversion in NPCS protocol for periodic tasks with hard deadlines. The simulation results demonstrate that FTPIA-NPCS tolerates at least one transient fault in resources for each execution of the periodic tasks with 15% blocking time overhead in comparison to its non-fault-tolerant configuration, called PIA-NPCS. Furthermore, the blocking time of higher-priority tasks is minimized in comparison to PIA-NPCS. An analytical evaluation of the protocol supports the simulation results.