Prefetching in Content Distribution Networks via Web Communities Identification and Outsourcing

Content distribution networks (CDNs) improve scalability and reliability, by replicating content to the “edge” of the Internet. Apart from the pure networking issues of the CDNs relevant to the establishment of the infrastructure, some very crucial data management issues must be resolved to exploit the full potential of CDNs to reduce the “last mile” latencies. A very important issue is the selection of the content to be prefetched to the CDN servers. All the approaches developed so far, assume the existence of adequate content popularity statistics to drive the prefetch decisions. Such information though, is not always available, or it is extremely volatile, turning such methods problematic. To address this issue, we develop self-adaptive techniques to select the outsourced content in a CDN infrastructure, which requires no apriori knowledge of request statistics. We identify clusters of “correlated” Web pages in a site, called Web site communities, and make these communities the basic outsourcing unit. Through a detailed simulation environment, using both real and synthetic data, we show that the proposed techniques are very robust and effective in reducing the user-perceived latency, performing very close to an unfeasible, off-line policy, which has full knowledge of the content popularity.     

Biomechanical behavior and histological organization of the three-layered passive esophagus as a function of topography

The zero-stress state of the mucosa-submucosa and two muscle esophageal layers has been delineated, but their multi-axial response has not, because muscle dissection may not leave tubular specimens intact for inflation/extension testing. The histomechanical behavior of the three-layered porcine esophagus was investigated in this study, through light microscopic examination and uniaxial tension, with two-dimensional strain measurement in pairs of orthogonally oriented specimens. The two-dimensional Fung-type strain-energy function described suitably the pseudo-elastic tissue response, affording faithful simulations to our data. Differences in the scleroprotein content and configuration were identified as a function of layer, topography, and orientation, substantiating the macromechanical differences found. In view of the failure and optimized material parameters, the mucosa-submucosa was stronger and stiffer than muscle, associating it with a higher collagen content. A notable topographical distribution was apparent, with data for the abdominal region differentiated from that for the cervical region, owing to the existence of inner muscle with a circumferential arrangement and of outer muscle with a longitudinal arrangement in the former region, and of both muscle layers with oblique arrangement in the latter region, with thoracic esophagus being a transition zone. Tissue from the mucosa-submucosa was stronger and stiffer longitudinally, relating with a preferential collagen reinforcement along that axis, but more extensible in the orthogonal axis.     

Fast Minor Testing in Planar Graphs

Minor Containment is a fundamental problem in Algorithmic Graph Theory used as a subroutine in numerous graph algorithms. A model of a graph H in a graph G is a set of disjoint connected subgraphs of G indexed by the vertices of H, such that if {u,v} is an edge of H, then there is an edge of G between components C _u and C _v . A graph H is a minor of G if G contains a model of H as a subgraph. We give an algorithm that, given a planar n-vertex graph G and an h-vertex graph H, either finds in time $\mathcal{O}(2^{\mathcal{O}(h)} \cdot n +n^{2}\cdot\log n)$ a model of H in G, or correctly concludes that G does not contain H as a minor. Our algorithm is the first single-exponential algorithm for this problem and improves all previous minor testing algorithms in planar graphs. Our technique is based on a novel approach called partially embedded dynamic programming.     

Antidiabetic Drugs in the Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease

The public health burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus and Alzheimer’s disease is steadily increasing worldwide, especially in the population of older adults. Epidemiological and clinical studies suggest a possible shared pathophysiology between the two diseases and an increased risk of AD in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Therefore, in recent years, there has been a substantial interest in identifying the mechanisms of action of antidiabetic drugs and their potential use in Alzheimer’s disease. Human studies in patients with mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s disease have shown that administration of some antidiabetic medications, such as intranasal insulin, metformin, incretins, and thiazolidinediones, can improve cognition and memory. This review aims to examine the latest evidence on antidiabetic medications as a potential candidate for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.     

Gallium gradients in Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin‐film solar cells

The gallium gradient in Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) layers, which forms during the two industrially relevant deposition routes, the sequential and co‐evaporation processes, plays a key role in the device performance of CIGS thin‐film modules. In this contribution, we present a comprehensive study on the formation, nature, and consequences of gallium gradients in CIGS solar cells. The formation of gallium gradients is analyzed in real time during a rapid selenization process by in situ X‐ray measurements. In addition, the gallium grading of a CIGS layer grown with an in‐line co‐evaporation process is analyzed by means of depth profiling with mass spectrometry. This gallium gradient of a real solar cell served as input data for device simulations. Depth‐dependent occurrence of lateral inhomogeneities on the µm scale in CIGS deposited by the co‐evaporation process was investigated by highly spatially resolved luminescence measurements on etched CIGS samples, which revealed a dependence of the optical bandgap, the quasi‐Fermi level splitting, transition levels, and the vertical gallium gradient. Transmission electron microscopy analyses of CIGS cross‐sections point to a difference in gallium content in the near surface region of neighboring grains. Migration barriers for a copper‐vacancy‐mediated indium and gallium diffusion in CuInSe₂ and CuGaSe₂ were calculated using density functional theory. The migration barrier for the In_Cu antisite in CuGaSe₂ is significantly lower compared with the Ga_Cu antisite in CuInSe₂, which is in accordance with the experimentally observed Ga gradients in CIGS layers grown by co‐evaporation and selenization processes. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Role of the Lymphatic System in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Although the number of therapeutic options for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has increased in recent years, patients suffer from decreased quality of life due to non-response or loss of response to the currently available treatments. An increased understanding of the disease’s etiology could provide novel insights for treatment strategies in IBD. Lymphatic system components are generally linked to immune responses and presumably related to inflammatory diseases pathophysiology. This review aims to summarize findings on immune-mediated mechanisms in lymphoid tissues linked with IBD pathogenesis and (potential) novel treatments. Enhanced innate and adaptive immune responses were observed in mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs) and other lymphoid structures, such as Peyer’s patches, in patients with IBD and in animal models. Furthermore, the phenomenon of lymphatic obstruction in the form of granulomas in MLNs and lymphatic vessels correlates with disease activity. There is also evidence that abnormalities in the lymphatic stromal components and lymph node microbiome are common in IBD and could be exploited therapeutically. Finally, novel agents targeting lymphocyte trafficking have been added to the treatment armamentarium in the field of IBD. Overall, gut-associated lymphoid tissue plays a key role in IBD immunopathogenesis, which could offer novel therapeutic targets.     

Molecular Pathogenesis of Glioblastoma in Adults and Future Perspectives: A Systematic Review

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common and malignant tumour of the central nervous system. Recent appreciation of the heterogeneity amongst these tumours not only changed the WHO classification approach, but also created the need for developing novel and personalised therapies. This systematic review aims to highlight recent advancements in understanding the molecular pathogenesis of the GBM and discuss related novel treatment targets. A systematic search of the literature in the PubMed library was performed following the PRISMA guidelines for molecular pathogenesis and therapeutic advances. Original and meta-analyses studies from the last ten years were reviewed using pre-determined search terms. The results included articles relevant to GBM development focusing on the aberrancy in cell signaling pathways and intracellular events. Theragnostic targets and vaccination to treat GBM were also explored. The molecular pathophysiology of GBM is complex. Our systematic review suggests targeting therapy at the stemness, p53 mediated pathways and immune modulation. Exciting novel immune therapy involving dendritic cell vaccines, B-cell vaccines and viral vectors may be the future of treating GBM.