2,680 research outputs found
Throughput-Distortion Computation Of Generic Matrix Multiplication: Toward A Computation Channel For Digital Signal Processing Systems
The generic matrix multiply (GEMM) function is the core element of
high-performance linear algebra libraries used in many
computationally-demanding digital signal processing (DSP) systems. We propose
an acceleration technique for GEMM based on dynamically adjusting the
imprecision (distortion) of computation. Our technique employs adaptive scalar
companding and rounding to input matrix blocks followed by two forms of packing
in floating-point that allow for concurrent calculation of multiple results.
Since the adaptive companding process controls the increase of concurrency (via
packing), the increase in processing throughput (and the corresponding increase
in distortion) depends on the input data statistics. To demonstrate this, we
derive the optimal throughput-distortion control framework for GEMM for the
broad class of zero-mean, independent identically distributed, input sources.
Our approach converts matrix multiplication in programmable processors into a
computation channel: when increasing the processing throughput, the output
noise (error) increases due to (i) coarser quantization and (ii) computational
errors caused by exceeding the machine-precision limitations. We show that,
under certain distortion in the GEMM computation, the proposed framework can
significantly surpass 100% of the peak performance of a given processor. The
practical benefits of our proposal are shown in a face recognition system and a
multi-layer perceptron system trained for metadata learning from a large music
feature database.Comment: IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing (vol. 60, 2012
Tools for distributed application management
Distributed application management consists of monitoring and controlling an application as it executes in a distributed environment. It encompasses such activities as configuration, initialization, performance monitoring, resource scheduling, and failure response. The Meta system (a collection of tools for constructing distributed application management software) is described. Meta provides the mechanism, while the programmer specifies the policy for application management. The policy is manifested as a control program which is a soft real-time reactive program. The underlying application is instrumented with a variety of built-in and user-defined sensors and actuators. These define the interface between the control program and the application. The control program also has access to a database describing the structure of the application and the characteristics of its environment. Some of the more difficult problems for application management occur when preexisting, nondistributed programs are integrated into a distributed application for which they may not have been intended. Meta allows management functions to be retrofitted to such programs with a minimum of effort
Tools for distributed application management
Distributed application management consists of monitoring and controlling an application as it executes in a distributed environment. It encompasses such activities as configuration, initialization, performance monitoring, resource scheduling, and failure response. The Meta system is described: a collection of tools for constructing distributed application management software. Meta provides the mechanism, while the programmer specifies the policy for application management. The policy is manifested as a control program which is a soft real time reactive program. The underlying application is instrumented with a variety of built-in and user defined sensors and actuators. These define the interface between the control program and the application. The control program also has access to a database describing the structure of the application and the characteristics of its environment. Some of the more difficult problems for application management occur when pre-existing, nondistributed programs are integrated into a distributed application for which they may not have been intended. Meta allows management functions to be retrofitted to such programs with a minimum of effort
Performance assessment of real-time data management on wireless sensor networks
Technological advances in recent years have allowed the maturity of Wireless Sensor Networks
(WSNs), which aim at performing environmental monitoring and data collection. This sort of
network is composed of hundreds, thousands or probably even millions of tiny smart computers
known as wireless sensor nodes, which may be battery powered, equipped with sensors, a radio
transceiver, a Central Processing Unit (CPU) and some memory. However due to the small size and
the requirements of low-cost nodes, these sensor node resources such as processing power, storage
and especially energy are very limited.
Once the sensors perform their measurements from the environment, the problem of data
storing and querying arises. In fact, the sensors have restricted storage capacity and the on-going
interaction between sensors and environment results huge amounts of data. Techniques for data
storage and query in WSN can be based on either external storage or local storage. The external
storage, called warehousing approach, is a centralized system on which the data gathered by the
sensors are periodically sent to a central database server where user queries are processed. The
local storage, in the other hand called distributed approach, exploits the capabilities of sensors
calculation and the sensors act as local databases. The data is stored in a central database server
and in the devices themselves, enabling one to query both.
The WSNs are used in a wide variety of applications, which may perform certain operations on
collected sensor data. However, for certain applications, such as real-time applications, the sensor
data must closely reflect the current state of the targeted environment. However, the environment
changes constantly and the data is collected in discreet moments of time. As such, the collected
data has a temporal validity, and as time advances, it becomes less accurate, until it does not
reflect the state of the environment any longer. Thus, these applications must query and analyze
the data in a bounded time in order to make decisions and to react efficiently, such as industrial
automation, aviation, sensors network, and so on. In this context, the design of efficient real-time
data management solutions is necessary to deal with both time constraints and energy consumption.
This thesis studies the real-time data management techniques for WSNs. It particularly it focuses
on the study of the challenges in handling real-time data storage and query for WSNs and on the
efficient real-time data management solutions for WSNs.
First, the main specifications of real-time data management are identified and the available
real-time data management solutions for WSNs in the literature are presented. Secondly, in order to
provide an energy-efficient real-time data management solution, the techniques used to manage
data and queries in WSNs based on the distributed paradigm are deeply studied. In fact, many
research works argue that the distributed approach is the most energy-efficient way of managing
data and queries in WSNs, instead of performing the warehousing. In addition, this approach can provide quasi real-time query processing because the most current data will be retrieved from the
network.
Thirdly, based on these two studies and considering the complexity of developing, testing, and
debugging this kind of complex system, a model for a simulation framework of the real-time
databases management on WSN that uses a distributed approach and its implementation are
proposed. This will help to explore various solutions of real-time database techniques on WSNs
before deployment for economizing money and time. Moreover, one may improve the proposed
model by adding the simulation of protocols or place part of this simulator on another available
simulator. For validating the model, a case study considering real-time constraints as well as energy
constraints is discussed.
Fourth, a new architecture that combines statistical modeling techniques with the distributed
approach and a query processing algorithm to optimize the real-time user query processing are
proposed. This combination allows performing a query processing algorithm based on admission
control that uses the error tolerance and the probabilistic confidence interval as admission
parameters. The experiments based on real world data sets as well as synthetic data sets
demonstrate that the proposed solution optimizes the real-time query processing to save more
energy while meeting low latency.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologi
The Multiple Meanings of Global Health Governance: A Call for Conceptual Clarity
Background
The term global health governance (GHG) is now widely used, with over one thousand works published in the scholarly literature, almost all since 2002. Amid this rapid growth there is considerable variation in how the term is defined and applied, generating confusion as to the boundaries of the subject, the perceived problems in practice, and the goals to be achieved through institutional reform.
Methodology
This paper is based on the results of a separate scoping study of peer reviewed GHG research from 1990 onwards which undertook keyword searches of public health and social science databases. Additional works, notably books, book chapters and scholarly articles, not currently indexed, were identified through Web of Science citation searches. After removing duplicates, book reviews, commentaries and editorials, we reviewed the remaining 250 scholarly works in terms of how the concept of GHG is applied. More specifically, we identify what is claimed as constituting GHG, how it is problematised, the institutional features of GHG, and what forms and functions are deemed ideal.
Results
After examining the broader notion of global governance and increasingly ubiquitous term “global health”, the paper identifies three ontological variations in GHG scholarship - the scope of institutional arrangements, strengths and weaknesses of existing institutions, and the ideal form and function of GHG. This has produced three common, yet distinct, meanings of GHG that have emerged – globalisation and health governance, global governance and health, and governance for global health.
Conclusions
There is a need to clarify ontological and definitional distinctions in GHG scholarship and practice, and be critically reflexive of their normative underpinnings. This will enable greater precision in describing existing institutional arrangements, as well as serve as a prerequisite for a fuller debate about the desired nature of GHG
Freeform User Interfaces for Graphical Computing
報告番号: 甲15222 ; 学位授与年月日: 2000-03-29 ; 学位の種別: 課程博士 ; 学位の種類: 博士(工学) ; 学位記番号: 博工第4717号 ; 研究科・専攻: 工学系研究科情報工学専
On nearness measures in fuzzy relational data models
AbstractIt has been widely recognized that the imprecision and incompleteness inherent in real-world data suggest a fuzzy extension for information management systems. Various attempts to enhance these systems by fuzzy extensions can be found in the literature. Varying approaches concerning the fuzzification of the concept of a relation are possible, two of which are referred to in this article as the generalized fuzzy approach and the fuzzy-set relation approach. In these enhanced models, items can no longer be retrieved by merely using equality-check operations between constants; instead, operations based on some kind of nearness measures have to be developed. In fact, these models require such a nearness measure to be established for each domain for the evaluation of queries made upon them. An investigation of proposed nearness measures, often fuzzy equivalences, is conducted. The unnaturalness and impracticality of these measures leads to the development of a new measure: the resemblance relation, which is defined to be a fuzzified version of a tolerance relation. Various aspects of this relation are analyzed and discussed. It is also shown how the resemblance relation can be used to reduce redundancy in fuzzy relational database systems
A timeband framework for modelling real-time systems
Complex real-time systems must integrate physical processes with digital control, human operation and organisational structures. New scientific foundations are required for specifying, designing and implementing these systems. One key challenge is to cope with the wide range of time scales and dynamics inherent in such systems. To exploit the unique properties of time, with the aim of producing more dependable computer-based systems, it is desirable to explicitly identify distinct time bands in which the system is situated. Such a framework enables the temporal properties and associated dynamic behaviour of existing systems to be described and the requirements for new or modified systems to be specified. A system model based on a finite set of distinct time bands is motivated and developed in this paper
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