scholarly journals On Implementing Autonomic Systems with a Serverless Computing Approach: The Case of Self-Partitioning Cloud Caches

Computers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin F. Boza ◽  
Xavier Andrade ◽  
Jorge Cedeno ◽  
Jorge Murillo ◽  
Harold Aragon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Memory Management ◽  
Optimization Problems ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Cloud Services ◽  
Autonomic Systems ◽  
Self Tuning ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Software Caches ◽  
Computing Approach

The research community has made significant advances towards realizing self-tuning cloud caches; notwithstanding, existing products still require manual expert tuning to maximize performance. Cloud (software) caches are built to swiftly serve requests; thus, avoiding costly functionality additions not directly related to the request-serving control path is critical. We show that serverless computing cloud services can be leveraged to solve the complex optimization problems that arise during self-tuning loops and can be used to optimize cloud caches for free. To illustrate that our approach is feasible and useful, we implement SPREDS (Self-Partitioning REDiS), a modified version of Redis that optimizes memory management in the multi-instance Redis scenario. A cost analysis shows that the serverless computing approach can lead to significant cost savings: The cost of running the controller as a serverless microservice is 0.85% of the cost of the always-on alternative. Through this case study, we make a strong case for implementing the controller of autonomic systems using a serverless computing approach.

Are Apprenticeships Still Relevant in the 21st Century? A Case Study of Changing Youth Training Arrangements in German Banks

ILR Review ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 667-685 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Finegold ◽  
Karin Wagner
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
New Firms ◽  
Workplace Flexibility ◽  
Transferable Skills ◽  
The Past ◽  
Detailed Case ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Youth Training

The authors present a detailed case study of the evolution of apprenticeships in German banking over the past two decades to analyze why employers continue to be willing to invest in these programs that provide workers with transferable skills. They explain employers' motivation in terms of two “logics.” Some considerations stemming from the logic of consequences, such as recruitment cost savings and enhanced workplace flexibility, encourage retention of the apprenticeship system. On balance, however, the cost calculus that is at the heart of the logic of consequences would, if unopposed, encourage head-hunting for apprentices trained by other firms, eventually undermining the system. The countervailing logic of appropriateness, however, discourages defections from the system by fostering trust among employers, encouraging new firms to participate in the system, supporting the strong reputational effect associated with training, and creating mechanisms with which banks can have a hand in keeping the system efficient.

New Deal Regulation and the Revolution in American Farm Productivity. A Case Study of the Diffusion of the Tractor in the Corn Ielt, 1920–1940

1991 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 101-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally Clarke
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Corn Belt ◽  
Regulatory Agencies ◽  
Investment Climate ◽  
Financial Barriers ◽  
Farm Productivity ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
The Cost

Based on the cost savings of tractors relative to horses, nearly twice as many farmers in the Corn Belt should have invested in tractors as actually did so in the 1920s. During the Great Depression, however, the proportion of farmers owning tractors jumped from 25 to 40 percent. I argue that financial barriers explain farmers' reluctance to buy this expensive invention during the 1920s, while two New Deal regulatory agencies altered farmers' investment climate and spurred the adoption of capital equipment.

scholarly journals A Case Study for Business Integration as a Service

2014 ◽  
pp. 229-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Chang
Keyword(s):  
Monte Carlo Simulation ◽  
Monte Carlo ◽  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Computational Results ◽  
Cloud Adoption ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University

This chapter presents Business Integration as a Service (BIaaS) to allow two services to work together in the Cloud to achieve a streamline process. The authors illustrate this integration using two services, Return on Investment (ROI) Measurement as a Service (RMaaS) and Risk Analysis as a Service (RAaaS), in the case study at the University of Southampton. The case study demonstrates the cost-savings and the risk analysis achieved, so two services can work as a single service. Advanced techniques are used to demonstrate statistical services and 3D Visualisation services under the remit of RMaaS and Monte Carlo Simulation as a Service behind the design of RAaaS. Computational results are presented with their implications discussed. Different types of risks associated with Cloud adoption can be calculated easily, rapidly, and accurately with the use of BIaaS. This case study confirms the benefits of BIaaS adoption, including cost reduction and improvements in efficiency and risk analysis. Implementation of BIaaS in other organisations is also discussed. Important data arising from the integration of RMaaS and RAaaS are useful for management and stakeholders of University of Southampton.

Reducing Enterprise Product Line Architecture Deployment and Testing Costs via Model Driven Deployment, Configuration, and Testing

2011 ◽  
pp. 334-350
Author(s):  
Jules White ◽  
Brian Dougherty
Keyword(s):  
Configuration Space ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Product Line ◽  
Distributed Constraint Optimization ◽  
Model Driven ◽  
Product Line Architecture ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Distributed Test

Product-line architectures (PLAs) are a paradigm for developing software families by customizing and composing reusable artifacts, rather than handcrafting software from scratch. Extensive testing is required to develop reliable PLAs, which may have scores of valid variants that can be constructed from the architecture’s components. It is crucial that each variant be tested thoroughly to assure the quality of these applications on multiple platforms and hardware configurations. It is tedious and error-prone, however, to setup numerous distributed test environments manually and ensure they are deployed and configured correctly. To simplify and automate this process, the authors present a model-driven architecture (MDA) technique that can be used to (1) model a PLA’s configuration space, (2) automatically derive configurations to test, and (3) automate the packaging, deployment, and testing of con-figurations. To validate this MDA process, the authors use a distributed constraint optimization system case study to quantify the cost savings of using an MDA approach for the deployment and testing of PLAs.

Analysis and Cost Estimation of a Total Site Using R-Curve

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sh. Karimkashi ◽  
M. Amidpour
Keyword(s):  
Cost Estimation ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Analysis Tool ◽  
Significant Cost ◽  
R Ratio ◽  
Utility System ◽  
Graphical Tool ◽  
A Site ◽  
The Cost

In large processing sites the cost of fuel and power can be very significant and better management of the utility system can lead to significant cost savings. The R-curve is an analysis tool that provides guidelines for the cogeneration efficiency for a given site power-to-heat ratio demand of an ideal utility system. In this paper, the actual R-curve is combined with another graphical tool, representing the cost of cogeneration potential of a site. In fact in each case, actual R-curve is constructed and then another curve of ‘R-ratio vs. TAC’ is constructed to demonstrate the cost of each point of the R-Curve. Finally showing the results obtained for a case study, it is suggested to change sizes of the turbines in the utility system to improve the R-curve and also decrease the TAC for the same R-ratios. These changes are almost dependent to the case being studied.

scholarly journals ADDRESSING THE LOCAL IN LOCALIZATION: A CASE STUDY OF OPEN TEXTBOOK ADOPTION BY THREE SOUTH AFRICAN TEACHERS

2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Jimes ◽  
Shenandoah Weiss ◽  
Renae Keep
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Open Educational Resources ◽  
Collaborative Authorship ◽  
Kwazulu Natal ◽  
Study Support ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Open Textbooks

This article presents a case study of the adoption and use of open textbooks by three high school teachers in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The textbooks, collaboratively authored and distributed through the South African-initiative, Siyavula, are available online and are openly licensed, allowing teachers to freely use, modify, print, and share them with peers. Building on prior research conducted on the Siyavula project, the study consisted of interviews with teachers in South Africa to assess their reasons for adopting open textbooks, and their experiences using Siyavula’s open textbooks in the classroom. The study revealed that beyond the cost-savings and flexible printing possibilities afforded by using open textbooks, the teachers’ adoption and use of the open textbooks were tied to the local nature of the textbooks, as well as the localization opportunities made possible through open licensing. Specifically, the study revealed the importance of content rooted in the cultural and geographic contexts in which teachers teach—for example, through authentic scenarios and accessible texts for students and teachers to work with. Moreover, because the Siyavula textbooks were collaboratively written by local field experts and scholars, the content was viewed by the teachers as higher quality than proprietary textbooks, which often have few authors and are disseminated by large publishing companies. Furthermore, the study found that localization of the textbooks involved not only to the ability to modify and annotate the content to meet classroom needs, but also the ability to meet local socioeconomic constraints, including technological and budgetary limitations. The findings also indicated that the textbooks’ collaborative authorship and possibilities for user modifications facilitated communication about enhancements to the textbook between the textbook authors and the teacher users. On the whole, the findings support nascent, prior research revealing that when open educational resources (OER) are created, developed and evaluated through processes drawing upon individuals who live and work within the context in which the OER are being created for, the end result is more useable. The results of the study support the need for further research in other settings globally, centering on, for example, the role of collaborative authorship in relation to perceived quality of content.

scholarly journals Honey bee queen production: Canadian costing case study and profitability analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam Bixby ◽  
Shelley E. Hoover ◽  
Robyn McCallum ◽  
Abdullah Ibrahim ◽  
Lynae Ovinge ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Honey Bee ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Economic Feasibility ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Production Operation ◽  
Profitability Analysis ◽  
Honey Bee Queen ◽  
Queen Production ◽  
The Cost

AbstractThe recent decline in honey bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) colony health worldwide has had a significant impact on the beekeeping industry as well as on pollination-dependent crop sectors in North America and Europe. The pollinator crisis has been attributed to many environmental and anthropological factors including less nutrient rich agricultural monocultures, pesticide exposure, new parasite and pathogen infestations as well as beekeeper management and weather. Canadian beekeepers have indicated that issues with honey bee queens are the most significant factor affecting their colony health. In Canada, beekeepers manage colony losses by relying on the importation of foreign bees, particularly queens from warmer climates, to lead new replacement colonies. Unfortunately, the risks associated with imported queens include the introduction of new and potentially resistant pests and diseases, undesirable genetics including bees with limited adaptations to Canada’s unique climate and bees negatively affected by transportation. Importing a large proportion of our queens each year also creates an unsustainable dependency on foreign bee sources, putting our beekeeping and pollination sectors at an even greater risk in the case of border closures and restrictions. Increasing the domestic supply of queens is one mitigation strategy that could provide Canadian beekeepers, farmers and consumers with a greater level of agricultural stability through locally bred, healthier queens. Our study is the first rigorous analysis of the economic feasibility of Canadian queen production. We present the costs of queen production for three case study operations across Canada over two years as well as the profitability implications. Our results show that for a small to medium sized queen production operation in Canada, producing queen cells and mated queens can be profitable. Using a mated queen market price ranging from $30 to $50, a producer selling mated queens could earn a profit of between $2 and $40 per queen depending on price and the cost structure of his operation. If the producer chose to rear queens for his own operation, the cost savings would also be significant as imported queen prices continue to rise. Our case studies reveal that there is potential for both skilled labour acquisition over time in queen production as well as cost savings from economies of scale. Our queen producers also reduced their production costs by re-using materials year to year. Domestic queen production could be one viable strategy to help address the current pollinator crisis in Canada.

Impacts of cathodic protection on pipe break probabilities: a Toronto case study

2008 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 210-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. J. Schuster ◽  
E. A. McBean
Keyword(s):  
Cast Iron ◽  
Cathodic Protection ◽  
Ductile Iron ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Greater Toronto Area ◽  
Repair Costs ◽  
Pipe Break ◽  
The Cost

The pipe break database of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), dating from 1960, is used to quantify the impacts of cathodic protection (CP) on the frequency of pipe breaks. The findings demonstrate that the average time between pipe breaks increases by up to an average of almost 4 years for ductile iron pipes after CP is placed on a pipe. Further, the probability of a pipe break occurring 10 years after the application of CP decreases in comparison with pipes that have not been cathodically protected. The cost savings for CP are substantial, with the repair costs (including the cost of CP implementation) decreasing to one-third for ductile iron (DI) pipes of 150 mm diameter and to one-half for DI pipes of 300 mm diameter. The cost savings for cast iron (CI) pipes are not as dramatic, but still demonstrate a reduction to 60% of the repair costs for 150 mm diameter pipes and to 70% of the repair costs for 300 mm diameter pipes.

scholarly journals Business Integration as a Service

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Chang ◽  
Robert John Walters ◽  
Gary Wills
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Analysis ◽  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Cost Reduction ◽  
Return On Investment ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Important Data ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The University

This paper presents Business Integration as a Service (BIaS) which enables connections between services operating in the Cloud. BIaS integrates different services and business activities to achieve a streamline process. The authors illustrate this integration using two services; Return on Investment (ROI) Measurement as a Service (RMaaS) and Risk Analysis as a Service (RAaaS) in two case studies at the University of Southampton and Vodafone/Apple. The University of Southampton case study demonstrates the cost-savings and the risk analysis achieved, so two services can work as a single service. The Vodafone/Apple case study illustrates statistical analysis and 3D Visualisation of expected revenue and associated risk. These two cases confirm the benefits of BIaS adoption, including cost reduction and improvements in efficiency and risk analysis. Implementation of BIaS in other organisations is also discussed. Important data arising from the integration of RMaaS and RAaaS are useful for management of University of Southampton and potential and current investors for Vodafone/Apple.

Uncovering Hidden Costs in R&D Outsourcing: A Case Study

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Gruszewski ◽  
Bruce H. Smith ◽  
Donald E. Thresh ◽  
James Van Bortel ◽  
Marcos Esterman
Keyword(s):  
Cost Savings ◽  
Fortune 500 ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Knowledge Loss ◽  
Product Features ◽  
Global Corporations ◽  
Negative Perceptions ◽  
The Cost

Global corporations are facing competitive pressures and as result are outsourcing products or services to improve profitability, reduce delivery schedules, increase product features, and increase value to their shareholders. However hidden or unexpected costs can come with these benefits that erode the expected profits and outweigh the cost savings. This includes unintended consequences that arise from employee lay-offs and knowledge loss. This can result in negative perceptions on the value of outsourcing within the firm. This paper will report on a study of an outsourced development project at a Fortune 500 company that examined the drivers that impede accurate cost estimates used to assess the viability of outsourcing R&D activities. A result of the case study was that while there was hidden costs uncovered, significant misperceptions within the firm initially eroded the value of the outsourced activities.

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