ALBERT

Description: In cloud computing, companies usually use high-end storage systems to guarantee the I/O performance of virtual machines (VM). These storage systems cost a lot of energy for their high performance. In this paper, we propose an EEVS, a deduplication-based energy efficiency storage system for VM storage. We firstly investigate some VM image files with general operating systems. With the analysis result, we find there are many redundant data blocks that bring extra energy cost VM storage. Therefore, in the EEVS, we design an online-deduplication mechanism to reduce these redundant data without service interruption, while traditional deduplication technology is used for offline backup. Based on the system design, we implement an EEVS with the existing cloud platform. Since this mechanism needs considerable computing resources, we design a deduplication selection algorithm such that the storage energy consumption is minimized for a given set of VMs with limited resources for deduplication. Experiment results in a para-virtualization environments of the EEVS show that energy consumption is reduced by even up to 66% with negligible performance degradation.

Description: Although CO 2 fluxes from soils are often assumed to originate within shallow soil horizons (〈1-m depth), relatively little is known about respiration rates at greater depths. We compared measured and calculated CO 2 fluxes at the Rifle floodplain along the Colorado River and measured CO 2 production rates of floodplain sediments to determine the relative importance of deeper vadose zone respiration. Calculations based on measured CO 2 gradients and estimated effective diffusion coefficients yielded fluxes that are generally consistent with measurements obtained at the soil surface (326 g C m –2 yr –1 ). Carbon dioxide production from the 2.0- to 3.5-m depth interval was calculated to contribute 17% of the total floodplain respiration, with rates that were larger than some parts of the shallower vadose zone and underlying aquifer. Microbial respiration rates determined from laboratory incubation tests of the sediments support this conclusion. The deeper unsaturated zone typically maintains intermediate water and air saturations, lacks extreme temperatures and salinities, and is annually resupplied with organic carbon from snowmelt-driven recharge and by water table decline. This combination of favorable conditions supports deeper unsaturated zone microbial respiration throughout the year.

Description: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which is characterized by anovulation, hyperandrogenism, and polycystic ovaries, is a complex endocrinopathy. Because the cause of PCOS at the molecular level is largely unknown, there is no cure or specific treatment for PCOS. Here, we show that transplantation of brown adipose tissue (BAT) reversed anovulation,...

Description: The potential of mesenchymal stem cells in the management of radiation enteropathy Cell Death and Disease 6, e1840 (August 2015). doi:10.1038/cddis.2015.189 Authors: P-Y Chang, Y-Q Qu, J Wang & L-H Dong

Description: Author(s): H. Dong (董辉), D. Z. Xu (徐大智), C. Y. Cai (蔡承韵), and C. P. Sun (孙昌璞) We study the physical mechanism of Maxwell’s demon (MD), which helps do extra work in thermodynamic cycles with the heat engine. This is exemplified with one molecule confined in an infinitely deep square potential with a movable solid wall. The MD is modeled as a two-level system (TLS) for measurin... [Phys. Rev. E 83, 061108] Published Wed Jun 08, 2011

Description: Human RPE65 mutations cause a spectrum of blinding retinal dystrophies from severe early-onset disease to milder manifestations. The RPE65 P25L missense mutation, though having 〈10% of wild-type (WT) activity, causes relatively mild retinal degeneration. To better understand these mild forms of RPE65 -related retinal degeneration, and their effect on cone photoreceptor survival, we generated an Rpe65 /P25L knock-in (KI/KI) mouse model. We found that, when subject to the low-light regime (~100 lux) of regular mouse housing, homozygous Rpe65 /P25L KI/KI mice are morphologically and functionally very similar to WT siblings. While mutant protein expression is decreased by over 80%, KI/KI mice retinae retain comparable 11- cis -retinal levels with WT. Consistently, the scotopic and photopic electroretinographic (ERG) responses to single-flash stimuli also show no difference between KI/KI and WT mice. However, the recovery of a-wave response following moderate visual pigment bleach is delayed in KI/KI mice. Importantly, KI/KI mice show significantly increased resistance to high-intensity (20 000 lux for 30 min) light-induced retinal damage (LIRD) as compared with WT, indicating impaired rhodopsin regeneration in KI/KI. Taken together, the Rpe65 /P25L mutant produces sufficient chromophore under normal conditions to keep opsins replete and thus manifests a minimal phenotype. Only when exposed to intensive light is this hypomorphic mutation manifested physiologically, as its reduced expression and catalytic activity protects against the successive cycles of opsin regeneration underlying LIRD. These data also help define minimal requirements of chromophore for photoreceptor survival in vivo and may be useful in assessing a beneficial therapeutic dose for RPE65 gene therapy in humans.

Description: The Beiya skarn gold deposit is located in the eastern Tethyan orogenic belt in western Yunnan province, China. It is one of the largest gold deposits in China, with significant amounts of silver and base metals. To the end of 2014, the estimated resources are 125 million tonnes (Mt) of ore, grading 2.42 g/t Au, 0.48 wt % Cu, 25.5 wt % Fe, 38.85 g/t Ag, 1.24 wt % Pb, and 0.53 wt % Zn. Skarn alteration and mineralization are related to shoshonitic quartz monzonite porphyries that were emplaced in Triassic carbonates (Beiya Formation). Re-Os dating on molybdenite from a skarn orebody indicates an ore-forming age of 36.82 ± 0.48 Ma, which is consistent with previous dating results of the quartz monzonite porphyries. At least two paragenetic stages of skarn minerals and associated sulfides were recognized, with the early stage typified by garnet ± pyroxene, magnetite, and calcite, and the late stage characterized by epidote, amphibole, chlorite, quartz, and calcite, containing up to 70% sulfides (pyrite, chalcopyrite, and minor pyrrhotite). The early skarn is dominated by anhydrous minerals, which were replaced by hydrous minerals formed during the late stage. The garnet in the Beiya deposit is andradite rich (Ad 36–97 Gr 3–61 ), and pyroxene is relatively diopside rich (Di 8–91 Hd 7–89 ). This mineral assemblage indicates an oxidized skarn system, similar to other Au-Cu, Fe-bearing skarn deposits around the world. Fluid inclusions from pyroxene indicate precipitation from high-temperature and high- to moderate-salinity fluids (420°–530°C, 11.1–43.3 wt % NaCl equiv), which probably results from boiling of a moderately saline magmatic fluid. Cooler (180°–365°C) and moderate- to low-salinity fluids (1.6–16.5 wt % NaCl equiv) were trapped in garnet and quartz and are interpreted to be responsible for gold deposition. Chlorite chemistry indicates ore-forming temperatures between 300° and 340°C, in agreement with fluid inclusion data. It appears that gold was transported as chloride complexes under oxidized conditions and was deposited at temperatures of about 300°C, when transport of chloride complexes as gold carriers was less efficient.

Description: Author(s): C. Y. Cai (蔡丞韻), H. Dong (董辉), and C. P. Sun (孙昌璞) We present a complete-quantum description of a multiparticle Szilard engine that consists of a working substance and a Maxwell's demon. The demon is modeled as a multilevel quantum system with specific quantum control, and the working substance consists of identical particles obeying Bose-Einstein o... [Phys. Rev. E 85, 031114] Published Wed Mar 14, 2012

Description: Full virtualization technology is highly reusable. Using this property, various types and versions of existing operating systems and drivers can be reused in a virtual machine to customize users’ application environments. However, these environments are threatened by drivers’ write operation faults, which are caused by bugs in reused drivers. Chariot is a reliability architecture that has been developed to solve this problem. This architecture captures a driver's write operations by maintaining the write permissions of shadow pages as read-only to examine their correctness. Nevertheless, this capture method produces many page faults in the virtual machine monitor and has an adverse impact on the performance of isolated drivers. To reduce performance losses, this paper examines two algorithms that cache recently used shadow pages using different structures to avoid frequent page faults. The experimental results show that the performance of isolated drivers can be greatly improved using these shadow page caches without significantly impacting the isolation efficiency of Chariot.

Description: Noniridescent coloration by the spongy keratin in parrot feather barbs has fascinated scientists. Nonetheless, its ultimate origin remains as yet unanswered, and a quantitative structural and optical description is still lacking. Here we report on structural and optical characterizations and numerical simulations of the blue feather barbs of the scarlet macaw. We found that the sponge in the feather barbs is an amorphous diamond-structured photonic crystal with only short-range order. It possesses an isotropic photonic pseudogap that is ultimately responsible for the brilliant noniridescent coloration. We further unravel an ingenious structural optimization for attaining maximum coloration apparently resulting from natural evolution. Upon increasing the material refractive index above the level provided by nature, there is an interesting transition from a photonic pseudogap to a complete bandgap.