Cloud can be defined as a new computing paradigm that provides scalable, on-demand, and virtualized resources for users. In this style of computing, users can access a shared pool of computing resources which are provisioned with minimal management efforts of users. Yet there are some obstacles and concerns about the use of clouds. Guaranteeing quality of service U+0028 QoS U+0029 by service providers can be regarded as one of the main concerns for companies tending to use it. Service provisioning in clouds is based on service level agreements representing a contract negotiated between users and providers. According to this contract, if a provider cannot satisfy its agreed application requirements, it should pay penalties as compensation. In this paper, we intend to carry out a comprehensive survey on the models proposed in literature with respect to the implementation principles to address the QoS guarantee issue.

Background: Hypoxia signaling, especially the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway, is a major player in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), which is characterized by disorders in lipid and glycogen metabolism. However, the interaction between hypoxia and lipid metabolism in ccRCC progression is still poorly understood. Methods: We used bioinformatic analysis and discovered that glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1 (GPD1) may play a key role in hypoxia and lipid metabolism pathways in ccRCC. Tissue microarray, IHC staining, and survival analysis were performed to evaluate clinical function. In vitro and in vivo assays showed the biological effects of GPD1 in ccRCC progression. Results: We found that the expression of GPD1 was downregulated in ccRCC tissues, and overexpression of GPD1 inhibited the progression of ccRCC both in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, we demonstrated that hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF1α) directly regulates GPD1 at the transcriptional level, which leads to the inhibition of mitochondrial function and lipid metabolism. Additionally, GPD1 was shown to inhibit prolyl hydroxylase 3 (PHD3), which blocks prolyl-hydroxylation of HIF1α and subsequent proteasomal degradation, and thus reinforces the inhibition of mitochondrial function and phosphorylation of AMPK via suppressing glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 2 (GPD2). Conclusions: This study not only demonstrated that HIF1α-GPD1 forms a positive feedforward loop inhibiting mitochondrial function and lipid metabolism in ccRCC, but also discovered a new mechanism for the molecular basis of HIF1α to inhibit tumor activity, thus providing novel insights into hypoxia-lipid-mediated ccRCC therapy.

The percentage of processed large-scale heterogeneous data is exploding and technology is the most obvious reason for the big data issue. Nowadays, the results of data expansion are showing up in different fields. The users' contextual data are valuable in engineering and business domains, e.g., transportation, location-based services, and advertisement industry. Take mobile phones as an example. There are billions of subscriptions worldwide and sensor devices are digitizing people interactions. The data volume generated by mobile phones and the need to make better, fact-based, and real-time decisions, are the challenges facing researchers. Recently, new technologies based on cloud computing have emerged to process and analyze a large volume of data. We have utilized such technologies for the analysis of call detail records with the collaboration with a telecommunications company. We present an exploratory spatial data analysis algorithm and its analysis results. To prioritize different areas, detecting hotspots in a fast and accurate way is our objective. The findings of this research work can be helpful for urban planning and development as well as telecommunication infrastructure upgrading.

Cancer cells, including those of prostate cancer (PCa), often hijack intrinsic cell signaling to reprogram their metabolism. Part of this reprogramming includes the activation of de novo synthesis of fatty acids that not only serve as building blocks for membrane synthesis but also as energy sources for cell proliferation. However, how de novo fatty acid synthesis contributes to PCa progression is still poorly understood. Herein, by mining public datasets, we discovered that the expression of acetyl-CoA carboxylase alpha (ACACA), which encodes acetyl-CoA carboxylase 1 (ACC1), was highly expressed in human PCa. In addition, patients with high ACACA expression had a short disease-free survival time. We also reported that depletion of ACACA reduced de novo fatty acid synthesis and PI3K/AKT signaling in the human castration-resistant PCa (CRPC) cell lines DU145 and PC3. Furthermore, depletion of ACACA downregulates mitochondrial beta-oxidation, resulting in mitochondrial dysfunction, a reduction in ATP production, an imbalanced NADP⁺/NADPhydrogen(H) ratio, increased reactive oxygen species, and therefore apoptosis. Reduced exogenous fatty acids by depleting lipid or lowering serum supplementation exacerbated both shRNA depletion and pharmacological inhibition of ACACA-induced apoptosis in vitro. Collectively, our results suggest that inhibition of ectopic ACACA, together with suppression of exogenous fatty acid uptake, can be a novel strategy for treating currently incurable CRPC.

Mobile phones have emerged as an essential part of people's lives. The data produced from them can be utilized to derive the spatio-temporal information of their users' whereabouts. We can obtain a rich data set of human activities, interactions, social relationships, and mobility. Hence, it has been possible to explore these information sources with applications ranging from disaster management to disease epidemiology. In this paper, we have focused on the use of call detail records to explore and interpret patterns embedded in interaction flows of people through their mobile phone calls. To do so, we consider the geographical context of subscribers/celltowers to discover structures of spatio-temporal interactions and communities' patterns in Macau. We have explored the inter and intra-polygon interaction flows. The results suggest that subscribers tend to communicate within a spatial-proximity community. In order to delineate relatively contiguous objects with similar attribute values, we have implemented an efficient hierarchical clustering approach. By identifying key objects and their close associates and exploring their communication patterns, we can detect shared interests and dominant interactions that influence societal patterns. Such insight is useful for resource optimization in network planning, content distribution, and urban planning.