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Cloud service providers rely on bandwidth overprovisioning to avoid Service Level Agreements' violation (SLAs) when allocating tenants' resources in multitenant cloud environments. Tenants' network usage is usually dynamic, but the shared resources are often allocated statically and in batches, causing resource idleness. This paper envisions an opportunity for optimizing cloud service networks. As such, we propose an autonomous bandwidth allocation mechanism based on Fuzzy Reinforcement Learning (FRL) to reduce the idleness of cloud network resources. Our mechanism dynamically allocates resources, prioritizing tenants and allowing them to exceed the contracted bandwidth temporarily without violating the SLAs. We assess our mechanism by comparing FRL usage against pure Fuzzy Inference System (FIS) and pure Reinforcement Learning (RL). The evaluation scenario is an emulation in which tenants share resources from a cloud provider and generate traffic based on real HTTP traffic. The results show that our mechanism increases tenant's cloud network utilization by 30% compared to FIS while maintaining the cloud traffic load within a healthy threshold and more stable than RL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the author's comments and views on the article Auditor Liability and Information disclosure by S. P. Kothari, Thomas Lys, Clifford W. Smith and Ross L. Watts, published in the September 1988 issue of the Journal of Accounting Auditing Finance. Professor Kotahari and his colleagues review the serious and sometimes hidden costs of auditor liability, including the very real risk that it might erode the disclosure incentives of corporate clients. What is less clear from their paper, however, is how liability rules might also increase the quality, and hence the value, of information. The basic mechanism is straightforward. Auditors are informational intermediaries who make representations credible by verifying their contents. Liability rules, in turn, are limited guarantees of the quality of accountants' auditing procedures. Without liability, auditors offer only their reputations to bond the quality of their services. With liability, however, accountants also warrant the quality of their services directly. In this way, liability increases the credibility of information and reduces the uncertainty and cost of transacting with audited principals. Liability adds value to audited information, moreover, regardless of its effects on auditors' behaviors, since it assures information users that they will obtain either competent audits or monetary compensation for their losses. Nevertheless, how auditors respond to liability is likely to determine whether liability yields is a net gain for market participants.

We present a statistical study of relativistic electron counts in the electron radiation belt across a range of drift shells (L* >4) combining data from nine combined X-ray dosimeters (CXD) on the global positioning system (GPS) constellation. The response of the electron counts as functions of time, energy and drift shell are examined statistically for 67 solar wind stream interfaces (SIs); two-dimensional superposed epoch analysis is performed with the CXD data. For these epochs we study the radiation belt dropouts and concurrent variations in key geophysical parameters. At higher L* we observe a tendency for a gradual drop in the electron counts over the day preceding the SI, consistent with outward diffusion and magnetopause shadowing. At all L*, dropouts occur with a median time scale of ≃7 h and median counts fall by 0.4-1.8 orders of magnitude. The central tendencies of radiation belt dropout and recovery depend on both L* and energy. For ≃70 per cent of epochs Sym-H more than -30 nT, yet only three of 67 SIs did not have an associated dropout in the electron data. Statistical maps of electron precipitation suggest that chorus-driven relativistic electron microbursts might be major contributors to radiation belt losses under high-speed stream driving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consecutive patients in a Movement Disorders Center with Parkinson disease (PD) were offered to undergo complete neuropsychological testing and to complete the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), regardless of their cognitive and behavioral status. A total of 82 patients were included in this cross-sectional study and had a mean age of 67.7 years, formal education of 14.8 years, PD duration of 101 months, Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale-Motor ''off'' score of 36.96, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score of 27.8 (range 19-30), and BDI score of 10.23 (SD 8.65). Beck Depression Inventory scores did not correlate with disease duration or motor scores but inversely correlated with the MMSE scores (r = -0.40; P < .001) and total Dementia Rating Scale (DRS) scores (r= -0.33; P < .01). Using a univariate regression analysis controlling for age, gender, education, and total Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scales (UPDRS) score, the BDI scores had a significant and unique relationship with MMSE scores. However, when the BDI scores were correlated with specific cognitive domains, only the Boston Naming Test and the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test (HVLT) delayed recall remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Similarly, when comparing the cognitive performance of patients with PD who scored >14 on the BDI versus those who scored <14, only the mean score of the Boston Naming Test was different between the 2 groups. Our study shows that while depressive symptoms correlated with global cognitive performance, naming, verbal memory, and language are the most susceptible cognitive domains affected with depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Segregating populations were developed to evaluate the inheritance of the fiberless seed phenotype of upland cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) line SL1-7-1. We report the inheritance of fuzzy, fuzzless and fiberless seed from crosses of SL1-7-1 with wildtype DP5690, Mexican fuzzless seed UA 3-3 (accession 143), Ballard fuzzless seed (accession 243), and MD17. Results from the F1, F2 and F2:3 progeny derived from the SL1-7-1 X DP5690 indicated that the expression of the fiberless phenotype fit a three loci model with one locus being the dominant fuzzless seed allele N 1 . The other two loci were tested to verify whether they were allelic to either recessive fuzzless seed alleles n 2 or n 3 . Using the segregation ratios of the F2 progeny derived from the 143 X SL1-7-1 cross and F2-derived F3 families from SL1-7-1 X DP5690 with fuzzy seed (lacked N 1 ), it is proposed that SL1-7-1 lacks the recessive n 2 allele, but contains the n 3 allele in the genotype of SL1-7-1. The third locus was previously not characterized and has been designated as fl 1 (fiberless), therefore, the genotype for the fiberless phenotype of SL1-7-1 is N 1 N 1 fl 1 fl 1 n 3 n 3 . Fiberless lines MD17 X SL1-7-1 were crossed to verify similarities in genotypes between line and the genotype model predictability. Various combinations of the homozygous and heterozygous expression of N 1 , n 2 , n 3 and fl 1 allele produced plants with lower lint percentages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The origin and dynamics of the Van Allen radiation belts is one of the longest-standing questions of the space age, and one that is increasingly important for space applications as satellite systems become more sophisticated, smaller and more susceptible to radiation effects. The precise mechanism by which the Earth’s magnetosphere is able to accelerate electrons from thermal to ultrarelativistic energies (E≫0.5 MeV) has been particularly difficult to definitively resolve. The traditional explanation is that large-scale, fluctuating electric and magnetic fields energize particles through radial diffusion. More recent theories and observations have suggested that gyro-resonant wave–particle interactions may be comparable to or more important than radial diffusion. Using data collected simultaneously by multiple satellites passing through the magnetosphere at different distances from the Earth, we demonstrate that the latter of these is the dominant mechanism responsible for relativistic electron acceleration. Specifically, we identify frequent and persistent peaks in equatorial electron phase space density near or inside geosynchronous orbit that provide unambiguous evidence for local wave–particle acceleration. These observations represent an important step towards a more complete physical understanding of radiation belt dynamics and to the development of space-weather models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Focuses on the murder of the Great Minister Soga no Iruka of Japan on 10 July 645 and its ramifications in the early Taika period within the context of the newly adopted Chinese calendar. The journey of Iruka on the day of the monkey of Chinese calendar; Signs and portents during the reign of Okimi Toyotakara; Japanese students who were sent to China to cover the contemporary Chinese learning; Reasons behind the conspiracy to kill Iruka.

The levels of tubulin protein in developing cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L. cv. Stoneville 825) fibers were measured from 8 to 28 days post‐anthesis using commercially available monoclonal antibodies against alpha‐ and beta‐tubulin. As the monoclonal antibodies against alpha‐ and beta‐tubulin were prepared from yeast tubulin and chick brain tubulin, respectively, indirect immunofluorescence microscopy was used to establish that the two monoclonal antibodies recognized microtubule structures in cotton fibers. Western blots of electrophoretically separated proteins in crude extracts of cotton roots and fibers showed that single polypeptides with the expected apparent molecular weight for tubulin subunits were recognized by the antisera. An enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay was used to quantify tubulin levels. From 10 to 20 days post‐anthesis the level of tubulin protein increases approximately three‐fold. After 20 days post‐anthesis, the amount of tubulin relative to total fiber protein reaches a plateau or decreases slightly. The rapid rise in tubulin is correlated with the elongation of the fiber and an increase in cellulose synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the decline in the time allowed for the length of stay in hospitals in West Germany. The author discusses the costs that hospitals incur, and the decision that led to the promote shorter stays for patients. The author discusses the correlation between the shortened stay and the intensity of care, what standards will be used for releasing patients and whether there has actually been a decrease in costs for hospitals that have implemented this plan.

An up-dated synopsis is given on the antithrombotic potential of pentoxifyl- line. Pentoxifylline enhances the PGI&sub2; release from the vascular wall and causes increasing platelet sensitivity to antiaggregating prostaglandins. By its PDE inhibiting effect pentoxifylline in high doses can also enhance PGI&sub2;-stimulated cAMP synthesis. These platelet aggregation inhibiting effects in combination with increases in fibrinolytic activity under pentoxifylline administration are suggested to be the main determinants of the compound's antithrombotic properties as evident from investigations in different animal models of thrombosis: Intravascular thrombus formation upon stimulation by both iontophoretically introduced ADP or laser injury of endothelium in the hamster cheek pouch and in the rat mesentery, respectively, was significantly reduced under pentoxifyl- line. Clinically these findings are corroborated by the regress of platelet aggregability, reduction in fibrinogen, increase in AT Ill and decrease in antiplasmin activity under treatment with pentoxifylline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes a 3-chamber deposition system for the simultaneous double-sided coating of high temperature superconducting (HTS) wafers. Temperature variation; Thickness distribution of YbaCuO films; Composition of deposited HTS films.