Abstract-We present an approach to support massively multi-player games on peer-to-peer overlays. Our approach exploits the fact that players in MMGs display locality of interest, and therefore can form self-organizing groups based on their locations in the virtual world. To this end, we have designed scalable mechanisms to distribute the game state to the participating players and to maintain consistency in the face of node failures. The resulting system dynamically scales with the number of online players. It is more flexible and has a lower deployment cost than centralized games servers. We have implemented a simple game we call SimMud, and experimented with up to 4000 players to demonstrate the applicability of this approach.

Purpose-To investigate the relationship between known risk factors for Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) progression and foveolar choroidal circulation in eyes with non-exudative AMD. Design-A cross-sectional study in non-exudative AMD.Methods-Laser Doppler Flowmetry (LDF) measurements of relative choroidal blood velocity (ChBVel), volume (ChBVol) and flow (ChBFlow) were obtained in the center of the fovea of 273 study eyes of 204 AMD patients investigated at the Scheie Eye Institute of the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. All study eyes had visual acuity of 20/40 or better, good fixation, no other intraocular pathology and no evidence of choroidal neovascularization. RPE hypertrophy was determined from color fundus photographs by trained masked graders at the Scheie Image Reading Center. Correlation analysis and multivariate linear regression analysis with adjustments for significant covariates were carried out.Results-A significant inverse correlation was observed between age and ChBFlow (r=− 0.36, p<0.0001), and ChBVol (r=−0.28, p<0.0001), but not for ChBVel. A significant inverse correlation was observed between spherical equivalent and ChBFlow (r=−0.21, p=0.006), and ChBVol (r=−0.14, p=0.04) but not for ChBVel. ChBFlow and ChBVol were significantly lower in patients with a history of hypertension (p≤0.003) and in eyes with RPE hypertrophy (p≤0.04), respectively.Conclusions-All the above described risk factors for AMD development and progression are associated with decreased choroidal circulatory parameters, suggesting that decreases in choroidal circulatory parameters may be involved in the development of AMD.Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of severe visual impairment and blindness among the elderly worldwide and in the developed countries 1-3 . In the United States, 1.75 million people are affected by AMD, and its incidence increases with age. By the year 2020, an estimated of 2.95 million people are expected to be affected by AMD 3-5 .Address for correspondence and reprints: Juan E. Grunwald, M.D., Scheie Eye Institute, 51 North 39th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, U.S.A., Tel: 215-662-8039, Fax: 215-662-8025, juangrun@mail.med.upenn.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptAm J Ophthalmol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2011 July 1. AMD is a multifactorial disease that involves a complex interaction of metabolic and functional changes and risk factors that affect the progression of the disease and its response to various treatment modalities 6-7 .The risk factor...

Given the recent proliferation in the number of smart devices connected to the Internet, the era of Internet of Things (IoT) is challenged with massive amounts of data generation. Fog Computing is gaining popularity and is being increasingly deployed in various latency-sensitive application domains including industrial IoTs. However, efficient discovery of services is one of the prevailing issues in the fog nodes of industrial IoTs which restrain their efficiencies in availing appropriate services to the clients. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel efficient multilevel index model based on equivalence relation, named the DM-index model, for service maintenance and retrieval in the fog layer of industrial IoTs to eliminate redundancy, narrow the search space, reduce both the traversed number of services and retrieval time, ultimately to improve the service discovery efficiency. The efficiency of the proposed index model has been verified theoretically and evaluated experimentally, which demonstrates that the proposed model is effective in achieving much better service discovery and retrieval performance than the sequential and inverted index models.

Purpose To identify factors associated with best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) presentation and two-year outcome in 479 intermediate, posterior, and panuveitic eyes. Design Cohort study using randomized controlled trial data Methods Multicenter Uveitis Steroid Treatment (MUST) Trial masked BCVA measurements at baseline and 2 years’ follow-up used gold standard methods. Twenty-three clinical centers documented characteristics per protocol, which were evaluated as potential predictive factors for baseline BCVA and two-year change in BCVA. Results Baseline factors significantly associated with reduced BCVA included: age ≥50 vs. <50 years; posterior vs. intermediate uveitis; uveitis duration >10 vs. <6 years; anterior chamber (AC) flare > grade 0; cataract; macular thickening; and exudative retinal detachment. Over two years, eyes better than 20/50 and 20/50 or worse at baseline improved, on average, by 1 letter (p=0.52) and 10 letters (p<0.001) respectively. Both treatment groups and all sites of uveitis improved similarly. Factors associated with improved BCVA included resolution of active AC cells, of macular thickening, and cataract surgery in an initially cataractous eye. Factors associated with worsening BCVA included longer duration of uveitis (6–10 or >10 vs. <6 years), incident AC flare, cataract at both baseline and follow-up, pseudophakia at baseline, persistence or incidence of vitreous haze, and incidence of macular thickening. Conclusions Intermediate, posterior and panuveitis have a similarly favorable prognosis with both systemic and fluocinolone acetonide implant treatment. Eyes with more prolonged/severe inflammatory damage and/or inflammatory findings initially or during follow-up have a worse visual acuity prognosis. The results indicate the value of implementing best practices in managing inflammation.