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Resource allocation is an evolving part of many Cloud computing and data center management problems. For infrastructure as a service (IaaS) in the Cloud, the Cloud service provider allocates virtual machines (VMs) to the customers with required CPU, memory and disk configurations. In addition to the computing infrastructures, the bandwidth resources would also be allocated to customers for data transmission between reserved VMs. In the near future, users may also want to reserve multiple virtual data centers (VDCs) to construct their own virtual Cloud, which could be called data center as a service (DCaaS). For these two types of services, how to provide guaranteed network bandwidth over an optical network and achieve the joint resource allocation is a challenge to the central resource manager. In this dissertation, we focus on network-aware resource allocation in Cloud/Grid over optical networks first. We investigate this problem from the provider's perspective and user's perspective. A multi-layer (IP-over-OTN-over-WDM) optical network architecture is utilized for reserving network resources. We develop mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) mathematical models and propose different heuristics for the optimal network-aware resource allocation problem from the Cloud/Grid provider's and the customer's perspectives with different targets. Furthermore, we investigate the network-efficient virtualized cloud infrastructure provisioning (NE-VCIP) problem in IP-over-EON inter-data center network (DCN) based on the DCaaS model. The elastic optical network (EON) is adopted to provide spectrum and cost-efficient networking resources for large bandwidth requests. We develop MILP mathematical models for this problem and propose a cost-optimized heuristic to solve this problem. To investigate the cost and blocking rate for the served demands, different modulation formats and optical transponders are compared in the EON layer, and the sliceable bandwidth variable transponders (

The Antarctic represents a largely untapped source for isolation of new microorganisms with potential to produce bioactive natural products. Actinomycetes are of special interest among such microorganisms as they are known to produce a large number of natural products, many of which have clinical, pharmaceutical or agricultural applications. We isolated, characterized and classified actinomycetes from soil samples collected from different locations on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, in the maritime Antarctic. A total of 95 putative actinomycete strains were isolated from eight soil samples using eight types of selective isolation media. The strains were dereplicated into 16 groups based on morphology and Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA) patterns. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences of representatives from each group showed that streptomycetes were the dominant actinomycetes isolated from these soils; however, there were also several strains belonging to diverse and rare genera in the class Actinobacteria, including Demetria, Glaciibacter, Kocuria, Marmoricola, Nakamurella and Tsukamurella. In addition, screening for antibacterial activity and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase genes showed that many of the actinomycete strains have the potential to produce antibacterial compounds.

The Antarctic represents a largely untapped source for isolation of new microorganisms with potential to produce bioactive natural products. Actinomycetes are of special interest among such microorganisms as they are known to produce a large number of natural products, many of which have clinical, pharmaceutical or agricultural applications. We isolated, characterized and classified actinomycetes from soil samples collected from different locations on Signy Island, South Orkney Islands, in the maritime Antarctic. A total of 95 putative actinomycete strains were isolated from eight soil samples using eight types of selective isolation media. The strains were dereplicated into 16 groups based on morphology and Amplified Ribosomal DNA Restriction Analysis (ARDRA) patterns. Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences of representatives from each group showed that streptomycetes were the dominant actinomycetes isolated from these soils; however, there were also several strains belonging to diverse and rare genera in the class Actinobacteria, including Demetria, Glaciibacter, Kocuria, Marmoricola, Nakamurella and Tsukamurella. In addition, screening for antibacterial activity and non-ribosomal peptide synthetase genes showed that many of the actinomycete strains have the potential to produce antibacterial compounds.

Nowadays the development of Grid/Cloud networks has accelerated to meet the increasing requirements for largescale computing, storage and network capabilities by consumers. Therefore how to improve the resource utilization in the Grid/Cloud to satisfy more task requests from users is becoming important. The objective of our investigation in this paper is to minimize the expense the consumers incur while obtaining the resources they request from Grid/Cloud networks. We propose a Tabu search based heuristic to solve joint resource allocation and task scheduling problem in Grid/Cloud networks, and examine the performance of the proposed method. The experimental results are analyzed and compared with the Best-Fit method we proposed in our earlier work. The results show that the Tabu search based heuristic method will equal or outperform the Best- Fit heuristic, and both can achieve approximate optimal solutions to the corresponding MILP (Mixed Integer Linear Programming) solutions. In addition, compared to the Best-Fit method, the Tabu search based heuristic will reduce the traffic blocking rate by 4%∼30% generally under different job scheduling policies.

In data encryption, the security of the algorithm is measured based on Shannon’s confusion and diffusion properties. This paper will proposed the Levinthal’s paradox and protein structure essential computation elements on the basis of diversity property of immune systems that satisfy with confusion property of symmetric encryption scheme. This paper measures and analysis the confusion property of the permutation function of a block cipher using the correlation coefficient statistical analysis to identify whether it satisfies Shannon’s confusion property. From the analysis carried out, the permutation function block cipher increased the performance of the confusion property, hence, indicating a high non-linear relationship between plain text and cipher text in symmetric encryption scheme.

In data encryption, the security of the algorithm is measured based on Shannon’s confusion and diffusion properties. This paper will proposed the Levinthal’s paradox and protein structure essential computation elements on the basis of diversity property of immune systems that satisfy with confusion property of symmetric encryption scheme. This paper measures and analysis the confusion property of the permutation function of a block cipher using the correlation coefficient statistical analysis to identify whether it satisfies Shannon’s confusion property. From the analysis carried out, the permutation function block cipher increased the performance of the confusion property, hence, indicating a high non-linear relationship between plain text and cipher text in symmetric encryption scheme.

A current discussion of winner and loser is the issue of low-carbon development toward sustainability. Biofuel, as granted an important role to curtail the carbon emission and secure energy supply, has been also involved in this discussion. However, unfortunately, a biofuel potential has been raising fear worldwide since the surge of its development favors large-scale patterns, which are bringing widely social-economical and environmental impacts. How to foster strengths and circumvent weaknesses to plan this sector is the core of this paper. China has emerged to be the second economic entity with huge appetite for energy. This study is expected to explain China’s experiences in this field with guidance of effective biofuel planning.

A current discussion of winner and loser is the issue of low-carbon development toward sustainability. Biofuel, as granted an important role to curtail the carbon emission and secure energy supply, has been also involved in this discussion. However, unfortunately, a biofuel potential has been raising fear worldwide since the surge of its development favors large-scale patterns, which are bringing widely social-economical and environmental impacts. How to foster strengths and circumvent weaknesses to plan this sector is the core of this paper. China has emerged to be the second economic entity with huge appetite for energy. This study is expected to explain China’s experiences in this field with guidance of effective biofuel planning.

Fish growth is important for fisheries management and aquaculture. The growth pattern of fish is a complex process which is influenced by environmental factors, hormones and genetic composition. Thyroid hormones (THs) play an important role in regulating fish growth. The identification of TH-dependant genes in fish could provide valuable information for predicting growth. Brook charr is an important species in aquaculture and therefore represents a good model to study fish growth. The objectives of this study were: (1) to identify TH-regulated genes in brook charr, (2) to identify growth responsive genes in brook charr and assess whether or not the expression of TH­ dependent genes are altered in fast and slow growing fish using a genomics approach. To identify TH-dependant genes, three experimental groups of immature charr were used: a euthyroid control group (n=lO), a hyperthyroid group (n=lO) in which brook charr were injected (i.p.) with 3, 5, 3'-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3; 10 ug/kg body weight), and a hypothyroid group (n=lO) in which fish were injected with sodium ipodate (50 mg/kg body weight) a TH inhibitor. Fish were injected on days 1 and 4 of the experiment and sampled on day 7. Serum T3 levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. Results indicate that serum T3 concentrations decreased from 2.20 ng/ml in controls to 0.85 ng/ml in the ipodate treated group. T3 levels in the hyperthyroid group were 263.4 ng/ml. THs induced hepatic gene expression as measured by differentiai display PCR. The results show that over 100 transcripts were differentially regulated by THs. The expression of 18 of these genes was further confrrmed by reverse dot blot. These were then cloned and sequenced. Sequence homology comparisons revealed seven known genes: trypomyosin (3 isoforms), leukocyte-derived chemotaxin, mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5, basic transcription factor 3 and crystalline. Eleven genes had no significant homology to known gene and were therefore consider

Fish growth is important for fisheries management and aquaculture. The growth pattern of fish is a complex process which is influenced by environmental factors, hormones and genetic composition. Thyroid hormones (THs) play an important role in regulating fish growth. The identification of TH-dependant genes in fish could provide valuable information for predicting growth. Brook charr is an important species in aquaculture and therefore represents a good model to study fish growth. The objectives of this study were: (1) to identify TH-regulated genes in brook charr, (2) to identify growth responsive genes in brook charr and assess whether or not the expression of TH­ dependent genes are altered in fast and slow growing fish using a genomics approach. To identify TH-dependant genes, three experimental groups of immature charr were used: a euthyroid control group (n=lO), a hyperthyroid group (n=lO) in which brook charr were injected (i.p.) with 3, 5, 3'-triiodo-L-thyronine (T3; 10 ug/kg body weight), and a hypothyroid group (n=lO) in which fish were injected with sodium ipodate (50 mg/kg body weight) a TH inhibitor. Fish were injected on days 1 and 4 of the experiment and sampled on day 7. Serum T3 levels were measured by radioimmunoassay. Results indicate that serum T3 concentrations decreased from 2.20 ng/ml in controls to 0.85 ng/ml in the ipodate treated group. T3 levels in the hyperthyroid group were 263.4 ng/ml. THs induced hepatic gene expression as measured by differentiai display PCR. The results show that over 100 transcripts were differentially regulated by THs. The expression of 18 of these genes was further confrrmed by reverse dot blot. These were then cloned and sequenced. Sequence homology comparisons revealed seven known genes: trypomyosin (3 isoforms), leukocyte-derived chemotaxin, mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5, basic transcription factor 3 and crystalline. Eleven genes had no significant homology to known gene and were therefore consider