Distributed file systems are key building blocks for cloud computing applications supported the Map Reduce programming paradigm. In such file systems, nodes at the same time serve computing and storage functions; a file is partitioned off into variety of chunks allotted in distinct nodes so Map Reduce tasks are often performed in parallel over the nodes. However, in a cloud computing setting, f...

This paper develops a formal model of banking regulation where the interactions between the 3 pillars of Basel 2 can be analyzed. It also provides a formal analysis of the mandatory subdebt proposal and shows that, under certain conditions, Pillar 1 (solvency ratio) and Pillar 3 (market discipline) are partially substitutable. The same is true for Pillar 2 (supervisory action) and Pillar 3. Mor...

Sensor networks are an emerging class of systems with significant potential. Recent work [14] has proposed a distributed data structure called DIM for efficient support of multi-dimensional range queries in sensor networks. The original DIM design works well with uniform data distributions. However, real world data distributions are often skewed. Skewed data distributions can result in storage ...

Motor impairments in Parkinson's disease are thought to result from hypoactivation of striatal projection neurons in the direct pathway. In this issue of Neuron, Parker et al. (2016) report that dopamine depletion selectively weakens thalamic but not cortical afferents onto these neurons, implicating the thalamus as playing a key role in Parkinsonian motor symptoms.