Analysis of Job Failure and Prediction Model for Cloud Computing Using Machine Learning.

Modern applications, such as smart cities, home automation, and eHealth, demand a new approach to improve cloud application dependability and availability. Due to the enormous scope and diversity of the cloud environment, most cloud services, including hardware and software, have encountered failures. In this study, we first analyze and characterize the behaviour of failed and completed jobs using publicly accessible traces. We have designed and developed a failure prediction model to determine failed jobs before they occur. The proposed model aims to enhance resource consumption and cloud application efficiency. Based on three publicly available traces: the Google cluster, Mustang, and Trinity, we evaluate the proposed model. In addition, the traces were also subjected to various machine learning models to find the most accurate one. Our results indicate a significant correlation between unsuccessful tasks and requested resources. The evaluation results also revealed that our model has high precision, recall, and F1-score. Several solutions, such as predicting job failure, developing scheduling algorithms, changing priority policies, or limiting re-submission of tasks, can improve the reliability and availability of cloud services.

Evaluating a new mixed-mode resin Diamond MMC Mustang using Capto MMC ImpRes as a benchmark.

Diamond MMC Mustang is a relatively new mixed-mode resin, which mediates both cation exchange and hydrophobic interactions. In this work, we evaluated this resin using Cytiva's Capto MMC ImpRes, a well-established mixed-mode resin with similar properties, as a benchmark. The data suggest that in comparison with Capto MMC ImpRes, Diamond MMC Mustang exhibits comparable binding capacity and resolution. In addition, the resin under evaluation shows good lot-to-lot consistency. The information provided in this study allows users to have additional options when selecting mixed-mode resin for intermediate purification or final polishing, which is favourable especially at the present time when the supply chains of many manufacturers are negatively impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Phylogenetic and Genomic Analyses Resolve the Origin of Important Plant Genes Derived from Transposable Elements.

Once perceived as merely selfish, transposable elements (TEs) are now recognized as potent agents of adaptation. One way TEs contribute to evolution is through TE exaptation, a process whereby TEs, which persist by replicating in the genome, transform into novel host genes, which persist by conferring phenotypic benefits. Known exapted TEs (ETEs) contribute diverse and vital functions, and may facilitate punctuated equilibrium, yet little is known about this process. To better understand TE exaptation, we designed an approach to resolve the phylogenetic context and timing of exaptation events and subsequent patterns of ETE diversification. Starting with known ETEs, we search in diverse genomes for basal ETEs and closely related TEs, carefully curate the numerous candidate sequences, and infer detailed phylogenies. To distinguish TEs from ETEs, we also weigh several key genomic characteristics including repetitiveness, terminal repeats, pseudogenic features, and conserved domains. Applying this approach to the well-characterized plant ETEs MUG and FHY3, we show that each group is paraphyletic and we argue that this pattern demonstrates that each originated in not one but multiple exaptation events. These exaptations and subsequent ETE diversification occurred throughout angiosperm evolution including the crown group expansion, the angiosperm radiation, and the primitive evolution of angiosperms. In addition, we detect evidence of several putative novel ETE families. Our findings support the hypothesis that TE exaptation generates novel genes more frequently than is currently thought, often coinciding with key periods of evolution.

A high-resolution spatiotemporal morphological dataset: Port Aransas beach, Texas.

The study of beach morphology holds significant importance in coastal management, offering insights into coastal and environmental processes. It involves analyzing physical characteristics and beach features such as profile shape, slope, sediment composition, and grain size, as well as changes in elevation due to both erosion and accretion over time. Furthermore, studying changes in beach morphology is essential in predicting and monitoring coastal inundation events, especially in the context of rising sea levels and subsidence in some areas. However, having access to high-frequency oblique imagery and beach elevation datasets to document and confirm coastal forcing events and understand their impact on beach morphology is a notable challenge. This paper describes a one-year dataset comprising bi-monthly topographic surveys and imagery collected daily at 30 min increments at the beach adjacent to Horace Caldwell Pier in Port Aransas, Texas. The data collection started in February 2023 and ended in January 2024. The dataset includes 18 topographic surveys, 6879 beach images, and ocean/wave videos that can be combined with colocated National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration metocean measurements. The one-year temporal span of the dataset allows for the observation and analysis of seasonal variations, contributing to a deeper understanding of coastal dynamics in the study area. Furthermore, a study that combines survey measurements with camera imagery is rare and provides valuable information on conditions before, after, and between surveys and periods of inundation. The imagery enables monitoring of inundation events, while the topographic surveys facilitate the analysis of their impact on beach morphology, including beach erosion and accretion. Various products, including beach profiles, contours, slope maps, triangular irregular networks, and digital elevation models, were derived from the topographic dataset, allowing in depth analysis of beach morphology. Additionally, the dataset contains a time series of four wet/dry shoreline delineations per day and their corresponding elevation extracted by combining the imagery with the digital elevation models. Thus, this paper provides a high-frequency morphological dataset and a machine learning-ready dataset suitable for predicting coastal inundation.

Remote sensing and geospatial approach: Optimizing groundwater exploration in semi-arid region, Nepal.

Groundwater is the fundamental component of the hydrological system that acts as a major factor in comprehensions of the physical processes in both the land surface and the atmosphere. Determining groundwater, which directly affects the agricultural productivity of semi-arid mountainous regions, is crucial. Mountain ecosystems, once abundant with flowing water, now face immense pressure from a changing climate, evident in the drying of springs and the diminishing flow of groundwater. Ensuring a steady flow of water, fair access to it, and responsible use are the cornerstones of a secure future for mountain communities. This study aims to assess the groundwater potential zones using remote sensing and a geospatial approach in the Mustang Valley's rural municipalities (Thasang and Gharapjhong). Nine factors were assigned to assess the groundwater potential map: slope, drainage density, lineament density, geology, soil, land use/land cover, rainfall, aspect, and soil moisture. The Bayesian weights of evidence model was used to delineate the groundwater potential zone. The study categorized groundwater potential across the region, creating five zones: very high, high, moderate, low, and very low. These zones covered 0.6 %, 12.4 %, 51.2 %, 35.5 %, and 0.3 % of the study area. The accuracy of the groundwater potential map was assessed by comparing its predictions with the actual locations of springs, using the area under the curve metric. The receiver operating characteristics curve analysis yielded an area under the curve of 0.7226, indicating a 72.26 % accuracy in predicting the presence of groundwater. The findings of this paper contribute to a better understanding of groundwater potential zones, which can support policymakers and planners for hydrological, meteorological, and crop planning applications in this climatically vulnerable region.

High prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis and its risk factors among Tibetan highlanders living in Tsarang, Mustang district of Nepal.

BACKGROUND: In Tsarang (at 3560 m), which is located in Mustang, 62.7% of the residents answered that they had a subjective medical history of arthritis, and 41.1% of the residents answered that their families had a subjective medical history of arthritis on a survey conducted in 2017. The expression of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) and its effects are deeply involved in hypoxic adaptation in Tibetan highlanders. At the same time, HIF is also related to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis. Therefore, the adaptive mechanism acquired by Tibetan highlanders may promote the development of rheumatoid arthritis. The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis is estimated to be approximately 0.5-1.0% worldwide. The objective of this study was to estimate the prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in Tsarang residents using existing diagnostic criteria and to explore its risk factors. METHODS: An epidemiological survey was conducted in Tsarang in 2019. Data obtained from anthropometry and questionnaires were statistically analyzed. Biochemical measurements using blood samples were also performed, and the results were used to assess arthritis status. Residents' joint status was scored, and arthritis was assessed based on the clinical disease activity index and ACR/EULAR 2010 criteria. RESULTS: Twenty-seven males and 50 females participated in this survey. In Tsarang, ACR/EULAR 2010 classified 4.3% of males and 7.1% of females as having rheumatoid arthritis, indicating a very high estimated prevalence. We also performed a multivariate analysis to explore its risk factors, and two factors, older age (standardized parameter estimate = 4.84E-01, 95% CI = [9.19E-02, 8.76E-01], p = 0.0170) and a history of living in urban areas (standardized parameter estimate = - 5.49E-01, 95% CI = [- 9.21E-01, 1.77E-01], p = 0.0050), significantly contributed to the higher ACR/EULAR 2010 score in females. In addition, three factors, having no spouse (standardized parameter estimate = 3.17E-01, 95% CI = [5.74E-02, 5.77E-01], p = 0.0179), having a smoking habit (standardized parameter estimate = 2.88E-01, 95% CI = [1.71E-02, 5.59E-01], p = 0.0377), and a history of living in urban areas (standardized parameter estimate = - 3.69E-01, 95% CI = [- 6.83E-01, - 5.60E-02], p = 0.0219), resulted in significantly higher clinical disease activity index scores in females. Furthermore, smoking habits were found to significantly increase blood hyaluronic acid in both males (standardized parameter estimate = 6.03E-01, 95% CI = [3.06E-01, 9.01E-01], p = 0.0020) and females (standardized parameter estimate = 4.87E-01, 95% CI = [5.63E-02, 9.18E-01], p = 0.0291). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we evaluated the symptoms of arthritis and estimated the prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis using classification criteria for Tibetan highlanders who have adapted to the hypoxic environment and fostered their own culture. The high prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis among Tsarang residents suggests that the hypoxic adaptation mechanism involving HIF in Tibetan highlanders may promote the onset or exacerbation of rheumatoid arthritis. The high prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis among Tibetan highlanders may be related not only to the environmental factors analyzed in this study but also to hypoxic adaptation genes. Further investigation is needed to clarify the genetic factors involved.

An annotated checklist of the amphibians and reptiles of North Padre Island, Texas, USA, with comparisons to adjacent barrier island and mainland herpetofauna.

Padre Island is the world's longest barrier island and includes the longest stretch of undeveloped barrier island in the world. Largely due to harsh environmental conditions and difficult access, only cursory and incomplete checklists and subjective estimates of abundance have been produced. The results of an inventory of amphibians and reptiles of North Padre Island conducted 2002-2020, including the results of extensive field surveys conducted 2002-2003, are reported herein. Natural history museum and iNaturalist records are summarized and compared among North and South Padre and Mustang islands and the mainland portion of the seven counties in which the islands occur. The conservation status of rare species and extirpation of others is noted. The morphology and taxonomic status of some unique occurrences are discussed. Eleven species of amphibians and 39 species of reptiles presently occur or have occurred naturally or as introduced or accidental species on North Padre Island. Twelve species of amphibians and 50 species of reptiles occur or have occurred on North Padre, South Padre, and Mustang islands. Thirty-one species of amphibians and 93 species of reptiles have been reported from the seven counties in which the islands occur.

High-Throughput Process Development: II-Membrane Chromatography.

Membrane chromatography is gradually emerging as an alternative to conventional column chromatography. It alleviates some of the major disadvantages associated with the latter, including high-pressure drop across the column bed and dependence on intraparticle diffusion for the transport of solute molecules to their binding sites within the pores of separation media. In the last decade, it has emerged as a method of choice for final polishing of biopharmaceuticals, in particular, monoclonal antibody products. The relevance of such a platform is high in view of the constraints with respect to time and resources that the biopharma industry faces today.This protocol describes the steps involved in performing HTPD of a membrane chromatography step. It describes the operation of a commercially available device (AcroPrep™ Advance filter plate with Mustang S membrane from Pall Corporation). This device is available in 96-well format with a 7 µL membrane in each well. We will discuss the challenges that one faces when performing such experiments as well as possible solutions to alleviate them. Besides describing the operation of the device, the protocol also presents an approach for statistical analysis of the data that are gathered from such a platform. A case study involving the use of the protocol for examining ion-exchange chromatography of the Granulocyte Colony Stimulating Factor (GCSF), a therapeutic product, is briefly discussed. This is intended to demonstrate the usefulness of this protocol in generating data that are representative of the data obtained at the traditional lab scale. The agreement in the data is indeed very significant (regression coefficient 0.9866). We think that this protocol will be of significant value to those involved in performing high-throughput process development of membrane chromatography.

Phase I/II Manufacture of Lentiviral Vectors Under GMP in an Academic Setting.

In clinical gene transfer applications, lentiviral vectors (LV) have rapidly become the primary means to achieve permanent and stable expression of a gene of interest or alteration of gene expression in target cells. This status can be attributed primarily to the ability of the LV to (1) transduce dividing as well as quiescent cells, (2) restrict or expand tropism through envelope pseudo-typing, and (3) regulate gene expression within different cell lineages through internal promoter selection. Recent progress in viral vector design such as the elimination of unnecessary viral elements, split packaging, and self-inactivating vectors has established a significant safety profile for these vectors. The level of GMP compliance required for the manufacture of LV is dependent upon their intended use, stage of drug product development, and country where the vector will be used as the different regulatory authorities who oversee the clinical usage of such products may have different requirements. As such, successful GMP manufacture of LV requires a combination of diverse factors including: regulatory expertise, compliant facilities, validated and calibrated equipments, starting materials of the highest quality, trained production personnel, scientifically robust production processes, and a quality by design approach. More importantly, oversight throughout manufacturing by an independent Quality Assurance Unit who has the authority to reject or approve the materials is required. We describe here the GMP manufacture of LV at our facility using a four plasmid system where 293T cells from an approved Master Cell Bank (MCB) are transiently transfected using polyethylenimine (PEI). Following transfection, the media is changed and Benzonase added to digest residual plasmid DNA. Two harvests of crude supernatant are collected and then clarified by filtration. The clarified supernatant is purified and concentrated by anion exchange chromatography and tangential flow filtration. The final product is then diafiltered directly into the sponsor defined final formulation buffer and aseptically filled.

A Scalable Lentiviral Vector Production and Purification Method Using Mustang Q Chromatography and Tangential Flow Filtration.

Lentiviral vectors have rapidly become a favorite tool for research and clinical gene transfer applications which seek to permanently introduce alterations in the genome. This status can be attributed primarily to their ability to transduce dividing as well as quiescent cells. When coupled with internal promotor selection to drive expression in one cell type but not another, the ease with which the vectors can be pseudotyped to either restrict or expand tropism offers unique opportunities previously unavailable to the researcher to manipulate the genome. Although LV can be produced from stable packaging cell lines and/or in suspension culture, by and far, most LV vectors are produced using adherent 293 T cells grown in plasticware and production plasmids transiently transfected with either PEI or Calcium Phosphate. The media is usually changed and un-concentrated vector supernatant collected between 24 and 48 h post-transfection. The supernatant may then be purified by Mustang Q chromatography, concentrated by Tangential Flow Filtration, and finally diafiltered into the final formulation buffer of choice. Here we describe a pilot scale method for the manufacture of a Lentiviral vector that purifies and concentrates approximately 6 L of un-concentrated LV supernatant to approximately 150 mL. Typical titers for most vector constructs range between 1 × 108 and 1 × 109 infectious particles per mL. This method may be performed reiteratively to increase total volume or can be further scaled up to increase yield.

Large-scale production of lentiviral vectors using multilayer cell factories.

Lentiviral-mediated gene therapy has been proposed for the treatment of a range of diseases, and due to its genome integration properties, it offers the potential for long-lasting benefit from a once-off treatment. Production methods for pre-clinical studies in animal models, and ultimately for human clinical trials, must be capable of producing large quantities of high-quality lentiviral vector in an efficient and cost-effective manner. We report here a medium-scale method (from 1.5 L to 6 L of vector supernatant) for lentiviral vector production in adherent cell cultures using the NUNC™ EasyFill™ Cell Factory™ from Thermo Fisher Scientific. Downstream purification uses a Mustang Q XT5 anion exchange capsule from Pall, and an ultracentrifugation step to concentrate the vector. This method is capable of producing lentiviral vector with concentrated titres of 108-109 TU/ml, with reduced manual handling compared to single monolayer flask methods.

Health and mineral nutrition status of yaks in southern Mustang, Nepal.

Biochemical values and mineral concentrations in blood plasma were investigated to evaluate the statuses of health and mineral nutrition among yaks in Mustang District, Nepal. In total, 118 plasma samples of female yaks collected in April and September/October of 2013-2015 were offered. Seventy-four percent of yaks showed lower plasma total-cholesterol concentrations than the lowest limit of reference range (100 mg/dL) and the values in spring (83.41 mg/dL) were lower (P < 0.05) than those in autumn (95.05 mg/dL). All the yaks had lower plasma albumin concentrations than the lowest limit of reference range (3.0 g/dL) and 66% of yaks showed lower plasma inorganic phosphorus concentrations than the critical level of phosphorus deficiency (4.5 mg/dL). Thirty-five percent of yaks showed lower plasma calcium concentrations than the lowest limit of normal range (8 mg/dL) and the concentrations were lower in spring than in autumn (P < 0.01). Seventy-five percent of yaks presented lower copper concentrations than the critical level (0.65 mg/L) and the concentrations were lower in spring than in autumn (P < 0.01). Since the low plasma total-cholesterol might have indicated shortage of dry matter and energy intake, attention should be paid to the nutritional statuses of energy, phosphorus, calcium and copper in winter and early spring.

Bear-inflicted injuries - a report from Nepal.

Upper Mustang in the Northern Himalayan range of Nepal is the home of brown bears (Ursusarctos). Low-plant biomass as a result of scanty rainfall in Upper Mustang is a reason for habitat overlap of humans and wild animals. Humans who enter into the wild to collect firewood and graze cattle are liable to wild animal attacks. Such attacks, especially by brown bears, are readily identified by the type of injuries. These are more commonly confined to head and neck regions. Cutting, gnawing and tearing by sharp teeth and claws produces specific pattern of injuries, which are devastating but seldom fatal. This article reports a rare case of brown bear injury inflicted upon a man from the Upper Mustang region in Nepal.