DIRAC: a community grid solution Tsaregorodtsev, A; Bargiotti, M; Brook, N ...
Journal of physics. Conference series,
07/2008, Letnik:
119, Številka:
6
Journal Article
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The DIRAC system was developed in order to provide a complete solution for using the distributed computing resources of the LHCb experiment at CERN for data production and analysis. It allows a ...concurrent use of over 10K CPUs and 10M file replicas distributed over many tens of sites. The sites can be part of a Computing Grid such as WLCG or standalone computing clusters all integrated in a single management structure. DIRAC is a generic system with the LHCb specific functionality incorporated through a number of plug-in modules. It can be easily adapted to the needs of other communities. Special attention is paid to the resilience of the DIRAC components to allow an efficient use of non-reliable resources. The DIRAC production management components provide a framework for building highly automated data production systems including data distribution and data driven workload scheduling. In this paper we give an overview of the DIRAC system architecture and design choices. We show how different components are put together to compose an integrated data processing system including all the aspects of the LHCb experiment - from the MC production and raw data reconstruction to the final user analysis.
Modeling and simulation of the dynamic response of materials is important to many applications including the development of armor systems, understanding the safety of explosives, and assessing the ...crashworthiness of vehicles. Within such applications it is often critical to accurately compute the evolution of the temperature because it is a state variable that affects the kinetics of competing active processes within the material (e.g., dislocation motion, phase transformation, decomposition). Depending on the selection of an independent state variable, e.g. temperature or entropy, the approach for computing temperature is well understood based on the thermodynamic framework attributed to Coleman and Noll. However, different computational codes used for modeling the dynamic response of materials adopt different independent state variables. In this work, two thermodynamically consistent strategies for computing the temperature of a coupled thermodynamic state are compared and implemented into two different Lagrangian computational codes. The equivalence of these two approaches is established through the numerical solutions of several test problems. Finally, the implication of various approximations made to each of these approaches within the literature are assessed in the context of uniaxial stress conditions (split Hopkinson pressure bar experiments) and uniaxial strain conditions (plate impact experiments). It is shown that the temperature rate or energy partition approaches are equivalent when implemented in their complete forms, but that several common simplifying assumptions, that are warranted in the case of uniaxial stress, lead to significant errors in the resulting Hugoniot state for plate impact.
•Thermodynamically consistent temperature rate and energy partition methods for computing temperature of a solid are compared.•The equivalence of these two approaches is demonstrated through the numerical solutions of several test problems.•The implication of approximations commonly made when computing temperature are assessed under various loading cases.•Under some loading conditions, common simplifying assumptions lead to significant errors in the resulting Hugoniot state.
Aim
The aim of this study was to provide an overview of what is known about constraint‐induced movement therapy (CIMT) in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (CP), to identify current knowledge ...gaps, and to provide suggestions for future research.
Method
Nine experts participated in a consensus meeting. A comprehensive literature search was conducted and data were summarized before the meeting. The core model produced by the European network for Health Technology Assessment was used as a framework for discussion and to identify critical issues for future research.
Results
All models of CIMT have demonstrated improvements in the upper limb abilities of children with unilateral CP. A consensus was reached on 11 important questions to be further explored in future studies. The areas of highest priority included the effect of dosage, the effect of repeated CIMT, and the impact of predictive factors, such as age, on the response to CIMT. Consensus suggestions for future study designs and the use of validated outcome measures were also provided.
Interpretation
The CIMT construct is complex, and much remains unknown. It is unclear whether a specific model of CIMT demonstrates superiority over others and whether dosage of training matters. Future research should build upon existing knowledge and aim to provide information that will help implement CIMT in various countries with different health care resources and organizational structures.
What this paper adds
The CIMT construct remains complex and much is still unknown.
Consensus agreement identified 11 questions to be explored in future studies.
Future research should focus primarily on the effect of dosage, the effect of repeated treatment, and predictive factors such as age.
DIRAC, the LHCb community Grid solution, was considerably reengineered in order to meet all the requirements for processing the data coming from the LHCb experiment. It is covering all the tasks ...starting with raw data transportation from the experiment area to the grid storage, data processing up to the final user analysis. The reengineered DIRAC3 version of the system includes a fully grid security compliant framework for building service oriented distributed systems; complete Pilot Job framework for creating efficient workload management systems; several subsystems to manage high level operations like data production and distribution management. The user interfaces of the DIRAC3 system providing rich command line and scripting tools are complemented by a full-featured Web portal providing users with a secure access to all the details of the system status and ongoing activities. We will present an overview of the DIRAC3 architecture, new innovative features and the achieved performance. Extending DIRAC3 to manage computing resources beyond the WLCG grid will be discussed. Experience with using DIRAC3 by other user communities than LHCb and in other application domains than High Energy Physics will be shown to demonstrate the general-purpose nature of the system.
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common type of spinal deformity and has a significant genetic background. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) identified several susceptibility ...loci associated with AIS. Among them is a locus on chromosome 6q24.1 that we identified by a GWAS in a Japanese cohort. The locus is represented by rs6570507 located within GPR126. To ensure the association of rs6570507 with AIS, we conducted a meta-analysis using eight cohorts from East Asia, Northern Europe and USA. The analysis included a total of 6,873 cases and 38,916 controls and yielded significant association (combined P = 2.95 × 10
; odds ratio = 1.22), providing convincing evidence of the worldwide association between rs6570507 and AIS susceptibility. In silico analyses strongly suggested that GPR126 is a susceptibility gene at this locus.
Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a common spinal deformity with the prevalence of approximately 3%. We previously conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a Japanese cohort and ...identified a novel locus on chromosome 9p22.2. However, a replication study using multi-population cohorts has not been conducted. To confirm the association of 9p22.2 locus with AIS in multi-ethnic populations, we conducted international meta-analysis using eight cohorts. In total, we analyzed 8,756 cases and 27,822 controls. The analysis showed a convincing evidence of association between rs3904778 and AIS. Seven out of eight cohorts had significant P value, and remaining one cohort also had the same trend as the seven. The combined P was 3.28 × 10
(odds ratio = 1.19, 95% confidence interval = 1.14-1.24). In silico analyses suggested that BNC2 is the AIS susceptibility gene in this locus.
Background: Most disease‐modifying therapies (DMTs) for multiple sclerosis (MS) are self‐injectable medications that must be taken on an ongoing basis to reduce disease activity. Thus, adherence to ...therapy becomes an important challenge that must be addressed to maximize benefits of therapy. This study evaluated rates of adherence to prescribed treatment and explored factors affecting adherence amongst patients with relapsing‐remitting MS.
Methods: This was an observational, multicenter, multinational, phase 4 study. Patients and physicians received paper questionnaires regarding adherence to DMTs approved at the time of the study, including intramuscular interferon beta‐1a (IFNβ‐1a), subcutaneous IFNβ‐1a, IFNβ‐1b, and glatiramer acetate. Quality of life and cognition data also were collected. Multivariate analysis was conducted to identify factors associated with adherence to long‐term DMTs.
Results: Two thousand six hundred and forty‐eight patients were studied, revealing an average treatment duration of 31 months. Seventy‐five percent of patients (n = 1923) were adherent to therapy. The most common reasons for non‐adherence were forgetting to administer the injection (50.2%) and other injection‐related reasons (32.0%). Adherent patients reported better quality of life (P < 0.05) and fewer neuropsychological issues (P < 0.001) than non‐adherent patients. Adherent patients had significantly shorter duration of disease (P < 0.001) and shorter duration of therapy (P = 0.005) than non‐adherent patients. Women were more likely than men to adhere to treatment.
Conclusion: Identifying factors that affect adherence to prescribed treatments is the first step in improving adherence of patients with MS to therapy, thereby helping maximize the benefits of long‐term DMTs.
The use of tolerogenic DCs is a promising therapeutic strategy for transplantation and autoimmune disorders. Immunomodulatory DCs are primarily generated from monocytes (MDDCs) for in vitro ...experiments following protocols that fail to fulfil the strict regulatory rules of clinically applicable products. Here, we compared the efficacy of three different tolerance-inducing agents, dexamethasone, rapamycin and vitamin D3, on DC biology using GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) or clinical grade reagents with the aim of defining their use for human cell therapy.
Tolerogenic MDDCs were generated by adding tolerogenic agents prior to the induction of maturation using TNF-α, IL-β and PGE2. We evaluated the effects of each agent on viability, efficiency of differentiation, phenotype, cytokine secretion and stability, the stimulatory capacity of tol-DCs and the T-cell profiles induced.
Differences relevant to therapeutic applicability were observed with the cellular products that were obtained. VitD3-induced tol-DCs exhibited a slightly reduced viability and yield compared to Dexa-and Rapa-tol-DCs. Phenotypically, while Dexa-and VitD3-tol-DCs were similar to immature DCs, Rapa-tol-DCs were not distinguishable from mature DCs. In addition, only Dexa-and moderately VitD3-tol-DCs exhibited IL-10 production. Interestingly, in all cases, the cytokine secretion profiles of tol-DCs were not modified by a subsequent TLR stimulation with LPS, indicating that all products had stable phenotypes. Functionally, clearly reduced alloantigen T cell proliferation was induced by tol-DCs obtained using any of these agent. Also, total interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) secretion by T cells stimulated with allogeneic tol-DCs was reduced in all three cases, but only T cells co-cultured with Rapa-tol-DCs showed impaired intracellular IFN-γ production. In addition, Rapa-DCs promoted CD4+ CD127 low/negative CD25high and Foxp3+ T cells.
Our results demonstrate contrasting influences of different clinical-grade pharmacological agents on human tol-DC generation. This should be taken into account for decisions on the use of a specific agent for the appropriate cellular therapy in the context of a particular disease.
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