Resource Consumption Profiles Research Articles

A hybrid local search algorithm for the continuous energy-constrained scheduling problem

AbstractWe consider the continuous energy-constrained scheduling problem (CECSP). A set of jobs has to be processed on a continuous, shared resource. A schedule for a job consists of a start time, completion time, and a resource consumption profile. The goal is to find a schedule such that each job does not start before its release time, is completed before its deadline, satisfies its full resource requirement, and respects its lower and upper bounds on resource consumption during processing. The objective is to minimize the total weighted completion time. We present a hybrid local search approach, using simulated annealing and linear programming, and compare it to a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) formulation. We show that the hybrid local search approach matches the MILP formulation in solution quality for small instances and is able to find a feasible solution for larger instances in reasonable time.

Environmental Impact of Nephrological Activity: How to Register, Evaluate and Audit?

While medical health professionals are trained to detect, treat, and comfort, they are not trained to consider the environmental impact of the services they provide. Healthcare contributes significantly to resource depletion and greenhouse gas emissions. Not only are healthcare institutions, whose mission is to protect and promote health, major polluters that use large amounts of energy and water, but the production, transport, use and disposal of medications and other medical consumables also leave considerable carbon footprints. In nephrology practice, dialysis programs have a particularly large carbon footprint with recurrent, per capita, resource consumption and waste generation profiles that are disproportionately high compared to other medical therapies. A close relationship between renal healthcare professionals and manufacturers is fundamental for the development of sustainable ecofriendly technologies, devices, and machines. Such collaboration is essential to reduce the environmental burden of renal therapies and maintain good quality of treatment. Renal units should register and evaluate their environmental performance and make an initial diagnosis of their environmental processes, to provide locally adapted recommendations for areas of additional improvement through environmental management programs. Regular auditing of these programs must be also performed aiming at continuous improvement with the setting of increasingly ambitious goals for reducing environmental burden of nephrology.

Application of Profile Prediction for Proactive Scheduling

Today, cloud environments are widely used as execution platforms for most applications. In these environments, virtualized applications often share computing resources. Although this increases hardware utilization, resources competition can cause performance degradation, and knowing which applications can run on the same host without causing too much interference is key to a better scheduling and performance. Therefore, it is important to predict the resource consumption profile of applications in their subsequent iterations. This work evaluates the use of machine learning techniques to predict the increase or decrease in computational resources consumption. The prediction models are evaluated through experiments using real and benchmark applications. Finally, we conclude that some models offer significantly better performance when compared to the current trend of resource usage. These models averaged up to 94% on the F1 metric for this task.

Competition for fluctuating resources reproduces statistics of species abundance over time across wide-ranging microbiotas.

Across diverse microbiotas, species abundances vary in time with distinctive statistical behaviors that appear to generalize across hosts, but the origins and implications of these patterns remain unclear. Here, we show that many of these macroecological patterns can be quantitatively recapitulated by a simple class of consumer-resource models, in which the metabolic capabilities of different species are randomly drawn from a common statistical distribution. Our model parametrizes the consumer-resource properties of a community using only a small number of global parameters, including the total number of resources, typical resource fluctuations over time, and the average overlap in resource-consumption profiles across species. We show that variation in these macroscopic parameters strongly affects the time series statistics generated by the model, and we identify specific sets of global parameters that can recapitulate macroecological patterns across wide-ranging microbiotas, including the human gut, saliva, and vagina, as well as mouse gut and rice, without needing to specify microscopic details of resource consumption. These findings suggest that resource competition may be a dominant driver of community dynamics. Our work unifies numerous time series patterns under a simple model, and provides an accessible framework to infer macroscopic parameters of effective resource competition from longitudinal studies of microbial communities.

Estimating the Financial Impact of Reducing Primary Cesareans.

Preventing a primary cesarean birth in nulliparous women with term, singleton, vertex pregnancies (NTSV) is recognized as an important strategy to reduce maternal morbidities and risks to the newborn. Multiple professional organizations are supporting approaches to safely reduce NTSV cesarean rates, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine; and the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses. The American College of Nurse-Midwives (ACNM) is leading one such effort as part of its Healthy Birth Initiative: the Reducing Primary Cesareans (RPC) Learning Collaborative. The objective of this study is to estimate the cost savings of a decrease in NTSV cesareans at one hospital participating in the RPC Learning Collaborative. All women giving birth at Baystate Medical Center from October 1, 2016, to March 31, 2017, and their newborns were identified by Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Group (N = 1747). Total hospital costs were calculated using a resource consumption profile for each of 6 groups: women who had vaginal birth, primary cesarean, and repeat cesarean and their linked newborns. A model was developed to estimate cost differences for the first and second births and overall cost savings. For the NTSV birth, total costs for primary cesarean and newborn care were $5989 higher compared with vaginal birth and newborn care. For the subsequent birth, repeat cesareans and newborn care were $4250 higher compared with vaginal birth. In 2016, 69 primary cesareans were prevented, for an actual cost savings of $413,241. Projecting the prevention of 66 subsequent repeat cesareans would result in additional savings of $280,500, for a total savings of $693,741. Apgar score at 5 minutes and length of stay remained unchanged. Participation in ACNM's RPC Learning Collaborative led to significant savings in hospital costs during the first year without affecting quality metrics. This cost comparison model could be replicated by other hospitals involved in cesarean reduction endeavors.

SAT-343 PROGRESS TOWARDS ENVIRONMENTALLY SUSTAINABLE RENAL CARE IN AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND

The healthcare industry, together with its supply chain, contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and natural resource depletion. Dialysis programs have a particularly large carbon footprint, with a recurrent, per capita resource consumption and waste generation profile that is second to none in healthcare. Recognising this, and the need for change, the Australia New Zealand Society of Nephrology (ANZSN), in partnership with the Renal Society of Australasia (RSA; the peak Australasian body for renal nursing and related allied health professionals) and Kidney Health Australia (KHA; the peak Australian body for consumers and carers), convened a working group in early 2017 to promote and support a transformation to environmentally sustainable care in Australia and New Zealand. Expressions of interest were sought from environmental sustainability-passionate clinicians, nurses, administrators, and consumers in Australia and New Zealand. This resulted in the formation of the Green Nephrology Action Team (GNAT), whose membership includes 4 nephrologists, a renal technician, two renal nurses, a representative from KHA and a consumer. GNAT has developed a position statement on environmental sustainability and renal care which can be viewed on the ANZSN website. GNAT’s primary focus to date has been on raising awareness within the ANZ renal community about the environmental problems related to dialysis, because willingness to solve them can come only after there is realisation that they exist. To this end, an environmental symposium and workshop were held at the 2018 ANZSN and RSA annual meetings, respectively, and social media platforms for posting/discussing ideas are slowly building. A draft ‘Green Dialysis’ website (which improves, updates and expands an existing website - www.greendialysis.org) is near completion - this aims to serve as a resource for all those in the renal community keen to address the environmental impact of their own practice. Recognising the need for a strong evidence base to guide practice change, GNAT has also developed a list of ‘green’ research priorities and funded two Environmental Research Prizes, one each for RSA and ANZSN, which were awarded for the first time at the 2018 RSA and ANZSN annual meetings. Climate change, resource consumption and waste management are issues that impact us all. As a nephrology community, we have a responsibility to minimise the adverse effects of our own practice and to protect and promote a safe and healthy environment for the sake of our patients and the broader global community. GNAT seeks to encourage the Australia and New Zealand nephrology community to adopt resource conservation measures and environmental sensitivities, and to show other nephrology communities and healthcare sectors how to do the same.

Analysis of Server Resource Consumption of Meteorological Satellite Application System Based on Contour Curve

In order to effectively analyze the system server resource consumption, this paper proposed a server resource consumption analysis method based contour curve. Firstly, the definition of resource consumption analysis was given, and then several analysis methods of resource consumption were given, including: application resource consumption profile, application resource consumption profile standard deviation, application resource consumption frequency, application resource consumption monotonicity and so on. Finally, based on this, the total consumption, consumption mean, kurtosis, skewness, reload, resource load and so on were analyzed. The method proposed in this paper can effectively analyze the server resource consumption in depth, improve the server resource utilization and reduce the server hardware loss to a certain extent.

Competitive use of root exudates by Bacillus amyloliquefaciens with Ralstonia solanacearum decreases the pathogenic population density and effectively controls tomato bacterial wilt

Understanding the interactions between beneficial bacteria, plant pathogens, and root exudates is necessary for the optimization of the bio-control strategies targeted toward plant soil-borne diseases. In this study, we showed that the competitive use of root exudates by the antagonistic bacterial strain SQYUV 162 along with the pathogenic strain Ralstonia solanacearum affected the pathogenic population density and the pathogenicity of R. solanacearum. All of the tested organic acids induced chemotaxis in both SQYUV 162 and R. solanacearum. In addition, the growth of both SQYUV 162 and R. solanacearum was affected by the addition of organic acids. Strong chemotactic responses in SQYUV 162 and R. solanacearum were induced by malic acid and citric acid respectively. It was also observed that the addition of organic acids significantly induced the expression of several virulence-related genes and increased the population density of the pathogen on the roots, resulting in higher disease incidences in hydroponic experiments in comparison to a control. When SQYUV 162 was inoculated, however, both the expression of virulence-related genes and the population density of the pathogen decreased. The population density of SQYUV 162 also increased when roots were placed in contact with organic acids. The improved colonization density of SQYUV 162, as well as the decreased pathogenicity and population density of the pathogen, efficiently suppressed the incidence of bacterial wilt. The present results indicate that certain components of root exudates could suppress soil-borne diseases: by applying bacteria whose resource consumption profile overlaps that of plant pathogens, plant diseases may be better controlled.

Downscaling Aggregate Urban Metabolism Accounts to Local Districts

SummaryUrban metabolism accounts of total annual energy, water, and other resource flows are increasingly available for a variety of world cities. For local decision makers, however, it may be important to understand the variations of resource consumption within the city. Given the difficulty of gathering suburban resource consumption data for many cities, this article investigates the potential of statistical downscaling methods to estimate local resource consumption using socioeconomic or other data sources. We evaluate six classes of downscaling methods: ratio‐based normalization; linear regression (both internally and externally calibrated); linear regression with spatial autocorrelation; multilevel linear regression; and a basic Bayesian analysis. The methods were applied to domestic energy consumption in London, UK, and our results show that it is possible to downscale aggregate resource consumption to smaller geographies with an average absolute prediction error of around 20%; however, performance varies widely by method, geography size, and fuel type. We also show how mapping these results can quickly identify districts with noteworthy resource consumption profiles. Further work should explore the design of local data collection strategies to enhance these methods and apply the techniques to other urban resources such as water or waste.

Autonomous Orchestration of Distributed Discrete Event Simulations in the Presence of Resource Uncertainty

Discrete event simulations model the behavior of complex, real-world systems. Simulating a wide range of events and conditions provides a more nuanced model, but also increases its computational footprint. To manage these processing requirements in a scalable manner, discrete event simulations can be distributed across multiple computing resources. Orchestrating the simulations in a distributed setting involves coping with resource uncertainty. We consider three key aspects of resource uncertainty: resource failures, heterogeneity, and slowdowns. Each of these aspects is managed autonomously, which involves making accurate predictions of future execution times and latencies while also accounting for differences in hardware capabilities and dynamic resource consumption profiles. Further complicating matters, individual tasks within the simulation are stateful and stochastic, requiring inter-task communication and synchronization to produce accurate outcomes. We deal with these challenges through intelligent state collection and migration, active resource monitoring, and empirical evaluation of resource capabilities under changing conditions. To underscore the viability of our solution, we provide benchmarks using a production discrete event simulation that can simultaneously sustain failures, manage resource heterogeneity, and handle slowdowns while being orchestrated by our framework.

Green dialysis: the environmental challenges ahead.

The US Environmental Protection Agency Resource Conservation website begins: "Natural resource and energy conservation is achieved by managing materials more efficiently--reduce, reuse, recycle," yet healthcare agencies have been slow to heed and practice this simple message. In dialysis practice, notable for a recurrent, per capita resource consumption and waste generation profile second to none in healthcare, efforts to: (1) minimize water use and wastage; (2) consider strategies to reduce power consumption and/or use alternative power options; (3) develop optimal waste management and reusable material recycling programs; (4) design smart buildings that work with and for their environment; (5) establish research programs that explore environmental practice; all have been largely ignored by mainstream nephrology. Some countries are doing far better than others. In the United Kingdom and some European jurisdictions, exceptional recent progress has been made to develop, adopt, and coordinate eco-practice within dialysis programs. These programs set an example for others to follow. Elsewhere, progress has been piecemeal, at best. This review explores the current extent of "green" or eco-dialysis practices. While noting where progress has been made, it also suggests potential new research avenues to develop and follow. One thing seems certain: as global efforts to combat climate change and carbon generation accelerate, the environmental impact of dialysis practice will come under increasing regulatory focus. It is far preferable for the sector to take proactive steps, rather than to await the heavy hand of government or administration to force reluctant and costly compliance on the un-prepared.

An Empirical Analysis of Issues Around Energy Access Economically Viable and Sustainable Energy Models

The current state of Indian energy market has driven energy issues to the top of the national agenda. A squeezed energy market, caused by restricted production and rising demand, has pushed up prices and raised concerns about future access to sustainable energy reserves at affordable prices. India on its way to cherish the goal of becoming an economic super-power has a major challenge in energy poverty. Energy being the lifeline for economic growth plays a central role in enabling this transformation.This paper attempts to bring out economically viable and sustainable models to close the gaps between socio-environmental cost of energy and access to the energy by underprivileged. Paper focuses on two critical issues around energy, one is making energy available and accessible and other is human, environmental and economic cost of energy. Certainly these issues are knitted around each other and have multiple dimensions.The paper further develops a cost (tariff), need (minimum requirement to live) and payment (ability to purchase) framework to judges the current energy trend. In light of the framework, the paper evaluates key concerns in the energy value chain right from fuel access to distribution.Empirical models and data analysis in the paper shows that there is a widening gap between sufficient per capita requirement of energy and ability to purchase. Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) has been done for various energy alternatives to bring out most critical issues with generation of energy. Paper then highlights various dimensions (deficit, prices, infrastructure, health hazards, policies etc.) of above mentioned issues.And finally, critically evaluating resource consumption profile and environmental damage relationships, the paper suggests policy approaches to assess, meet and mitigate social and economic challenges. The paper also examines a potential role for Corporate in energy security. The paper briefly looks at two of the key tenets of energy security before turning to look at the opportunities for corporate action in this field. First, it addresses economic possibilities. Second, it looks at more practical dimensions where corporate expertise or capabilities might be beneficially, that can be adopted by governments, NGOs and self help groups to deal with the two critical issues discussed above. Effectiveness of these models is empirically discussed.

Treatment and recycling of textile wastewater —case study and development of a recycling concept

For a specific textile finishing company strategies forwater recycling and recovery of valuable chemicals have been developed. A comprehensive study of the company's resource consumption and emission profile was performed. On this basis selected end of the pipe and integrated recycling options were further examined in detail. When treating the mixed wastewater flow, a combination of a membrane bioreactor and subsequent nanofiltration has proved to meet all requirements for reuse. However, this approach is associated with considerable technological effort and potentially high costs. As an alternative, a relatively simple and straightforward process was tested to treat only the washing effluents by means ofultrafiltration. Based on results obtained from the ultrafiltration experiments, a process integrated recycling concept is proposed. By its implementation water consumption can be cut down by 87.5% within the washing process. Furthermore total COD emissions can be reduced by 80%, and as washing agents are partly recycled, consumption for the washing process can be lowered by 20%.

Comparative Costs for Substitutable Services: Inpatient and Day Surgery Episodes of Care

The authors analyze the differences in costs between inpatient and outpatient elective surgery, by case mix group*, using the University of Alberta Hospitals Patient Resource Consumption Profile database (PRCP), supplemented with additional data from other agencies. PRCP measures costs for both inpatient and outpatient cases and is linked to the hospital's medical records, so that individual case-costing and detailed cost comparisons can be made. The focus of the comparison is on cost per case, measured in terms of the entire episode of outpatient surgery.

THE NEED FOR A "RESOURCE CONSUMPTION PROFILE" FOR MONITORING PATIENT CARE

The implementation of a DRG-based payment system in the United States relied on a stream of data which already existed, namely that of patient billing data. The growing interest outside of the United States in a diagnosis-based payment system will, at some point, require hospitals to generate patient-specific resource consumption profiles (RCPs) for setting hospital payment rates, and budgeting. Our experience has been that the RCPs can be used for extremely specific quality assurance studies as well.

A Note on "The Optimal Depletion of Exhaustible Resources"

Consequently, the possibility of an inflection point in the optimal resource utilization time profile (Figure 4, page 18) arises only if q 1), or even if it is unbounded but q7 > a, Rt > 0 for all t '0 and the Rt profile cannot display an inflection point; under these assumptions, it is rendered similar, qualitatively, to the optimal resource consumption profile obtained in the simple cake-eating context (Proposition 3, Figure 1, page 7).