Bi-objective scheduling algorithm for scientific workflows on cloud computing platform with makespan and monetary cost minimization approach

Scheduling of scientific workflows on hybrid cloud architecture, which contains private and public clouds, is a challenging task because schedulers should be aware of task inter-dependencies, underlying heterogeneity, cost diversity, and virtual machine (VM) variable configurations during the scheduling process. On the one side, reaching a minimum total execution time or makespan is a favorable issue for users whereas the cost of utilizing quicker VMs may lead to conflict with their budget on the other side. Existing works in the literature scarcely consider VM’s monetary cost in the scheduling process but mainly focus on makespan. Therefore, in this paper, the problem of scientific workflow scheduling running on hybrid cloud architecture is formulated to a bi-objective optimization problem with makespan and monetary cost minimization viewpoint. To address this combinatorial discrete problem, this paper presents a hybrid bi-objective optimization based on simulated annealing and task duplication algorithms (BOSA-TDA) that exploits two important heuristics heterogeneous earliest finish time (HEFT) and duplication techniques to improve canonical SA. The extensive simulation results reported of running different well-known scientific workflows such as LIGO, SIPHT, Cybershake, Montage, and Epigenomics demonstrate that proposed BOSA-TDA has the amount of 12.5%, 14.5%, 17%, 13.5%, and 18.5% average improvement against other existing approaches in terms of makespan, monetary cost, speed up, SLR, and efficiency metrics, respectively.

Users’ Satisfaction and Continuous to Use M-health Through Service Quality. The Moderate Effect of Monetary Cost (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Recently, diabetes is a major issue of great concern to many health institutions worldwide. Yet, the application of m-health for diabetes yet to receive adequate attention, especially in developing countries. The Imperial College London Diabetes Centre, 2019 reported that over more than one million persons in the UAE are suffering from diabetes, placing the country at the 15th worldwide for age-adjusted relative pervasiveness. Motivated by the need to curb the increasing trend of diabetics among the people of UAE and realizing the potential of m-health, this paper examines the quality of service system on the continuous intention to use m-health among diabetes users’ in the UAE. This study is one of the few studies that contribute to the theoretical enrichment of information system (IS) success factors that examine the effective factors of quality system service on the satisfaction and continuous intention to use m-health among the diabetes patients in the UAE. Therefore, this paper extends the service quality research in the IS domain by suggesting m-health service quality model derived from the combination of the explanatory effect of objective and subjective factors, contextualized within the unique socio-economic background of the Arab region. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study to identify and examine the relationship between service system quality factors and diabetes satisfaction and continuous intention to use health. This study also aims to measure the moderating effect of monetary cost on the relationship between users' satisfaction and continuous intention to use. METHODS A cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 292 respondents have been conducted. Through a survey analyzed by SmartPls, we find that service quality systems driven by the quality of interaction, system, and information have a positive effect on the continuous use mhealth through the mediating effect of users’ satisfaction. RESULTS Through a survey analyzed by SmartPls, we find that a service quality system driven by the quality of interaction, system, and information has a positive effect on the continuous use mhealth through the mediating effect of users’ satisfaction. We also find that monetary cost moderates the relationship between users’ satisfaction and continue to use mhealth. CONCLUSIONS This study extends the service quality research in the IS domain by suggesting m-health service quality model derived from the combination of the explanatory effect of objective and subjective factors, contextualized within the unique socio-economic background of the Arab region.

Latest Comprehensive Medical Resource Consumption in Robot-Assisted versus Laparoscopic and Traditional Open Radical Prostatectomy: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study

Background: Few studies have evaluated long-term medical monetary cost in patients with prostate cancer (PC) receiving open radical prostatectomy (ORP), laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP), or robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest and longest follow-up study to examine medical monetary cost in patients with PC undergoing ORP, LRP, or RARP. After adjustment for confounders, the medical monetary cost in the RARP group was the least compared with that in the ORP and LRP groups. Purpose: To estimate long-term medical resource consumption among patients with prostate cancer (PC) receiving open radical prostatectomy (ORP), laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP), or robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). Patients and Methods: Participants were men enrolled in the Taiwan Cancer Registry with localized PC diagnosis who received radical prostatectomy. After adjustment for confounders, a generalized linear mixed model was used to determine significant differences in the number of urology outpatient clinic visits required, proportion of patients being hospitalized for urinary diseases or surgical complications, and medical reimbursement for urinary diseases or surgical complications following ORP, LRP, or RARP in the first, second, and third years. Results: No differences were observed in the median number of urology outpatient clinic visits between the three types of surgical modalities up to the second year after ORP, LRP, and RARP (median: 15, 10, and seven visits, respectively; p < 0.001), but significant differences were observed in the third year. Similarly, with RARP (10.9% versus 18.7% in ORP and 9.8% in LRP; p = 0.0014), the rate of hospitalization for urinary diseases or surgical complications decreased in the third year. Medical reimbursement for urinary diseases or surgical complications reduced after RARP compared with that for ORP and LRP, with approximately 22% reduction in the first year (p = 0.0052) and 20–40% reduction in the third year (p value = 0.0024). Conclusions: Medical resource consumption in the RARP group was less compared with those in the ORP and LRP groups.

How Election Process is Rent-Seeking in Pakistan? A Case Study of Local Bodies Election in District Pakpattan

This study examines the difference between the total spending on the election campaign in 54 Union councils during local bodies’ election and the expected developmental fund for the same area. The study is based on primary data collected from 324 contesting candidates for the chairmanship/vice-chairmanship of 54 union councils (UCs) in district Pakpattan during the local bodies’ election of 2015 in Punjab, Pakistan. Per local bodies council rules, a winning chairman of UC has to allocate developmental funds in the area. So, the whole process of local bodies’ election is for the finalization of a person among the people, who could be given the mandate to use the developmental funds. In this regard, we assume that the prevailing process of election is rent-seeking for society, in the sense that the total cost of the election process for society is greater than the developmental funds for which the same process is conducted. Candidates consume more than the allowed limit set by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). Hence, society bears the monetary cost of spending more than the set limit and non-monetary costs like rivalry, foes, conflicts, etc. The analysis of data shows that the total amount of campaign spending is 473.27 million rupees which are significantly more than the allowed limit, set by ECP as well as the total allocated developmental funds (128 million) of 54 union councils. The study shows that the whole process of local bodies’ election is putting rent of 345 million on society. Apart from monetary cost, this process brings those people to the power corridors who themselves break ECP rules. The study suggests comprehensive reforms in the process of the election campaign for saving society from its associated cost.

Verification of a labor market domain using an academic crowdsourcing system

Students desiring to become a valuable good in the labor market are willing to pay a considerable monetary cost to obtain knowledge about their prospective job opportunities, nowadays with a diminishing interest in the obtainment of a diploma. Considering the behavior of the labor market as a domain theory under uncertainty, it is straightforward to expect the presence of contradictions, in the form of salaries unable to be classified due to high inconsistency and variation. We provide an algorithm to verify a labor market domain theory based on a crowdsourcing academic system, in which feedback about possible contradictions is generated as a result of consultations with experts inside of the market and clustered into different contexts. We found that the verification process can be repeated iteratively as long as the students overall tuition is equal or greater than a quantity partially defined by the number of different profiles of the students.

Verification of a labor market domain using an academic crowdsourcing system

Students desiring to become a valuable good in the labor market are willing to pay a considerable monetary cost to obtain knowledge about their prospective job opportunities, nowadays with a diminishing interest in the obtainment of a diploma. Considering the behavior of the labor market as a domain theory under uncertainty, it is straightforward to expect the presence of contradictions, in the form of salaries unable to be classified due to high inconsistency and variation. We provide an algorithm to verify a labor market domain theory based on a crowdsourcing academic system, in which feedback about possible contradictions is generated as a result of consultations with experts inside of the market and clustered into different contexts. We found that the verification process can be repeated iteratively as long as the students’ overall tuition is equal or greater than a quantity partially defined by the number of different profiles of the students.

Verification of a labor market domain using an academic crowdsourcing system

Students desiring to become a valuable good in the labor market are willing to pay a considerable monetary cost to obtain knowledge about their prospective job opportunities, nowadays with a diminishing interest in the obtainment of a diploma. Considering the behavior of the labor market as a domain theory under uncertainty, it is straightforward to expect the presence of contradictions, in the form of salaries unable to be classified due to high inconsistency and variation. We provide an algorithm to verify a labor market domain theory based on a crowdsourcing academic system, in which feedback about possible contradictions is generated as a result of consultations with experts inside of the market and clustered into different contexts. We found that the verification process can be repeated iteratively as long as the students’ overall tuition is equal or greater than a quantity partially defined by the number of different profiles of the students.