5,904 research outputs found
From fracture to fragmentation: discrete element modeling -- Complexity of crackling noise and fragmentation phenomena revealed by discrete element simulations
Discrete element modelling (DEM) is one of the most efficient computational
approaches to the fracture processes of heterogeneous materials on mesoscopic
scales. From the dynamics of single crack propagation through the statistics of
crack ensembles to the rapid fragmentation of materials DEM had a substantial
contribution to our understanding over the past decades. Recently, the
combination of DEM with other simulation techniques like Finite Element
Modelling further extended the field of applicability. In this paper we briefly
review the motivations and basic idea behind the DEM approach to cohesive
particulate matter and then we give an overview of on-going developments and
applications of the method focusing on two fields where recent success has been
achieved. We discuss current challenges of this rapidly evolving field and
outline possible future perspectives and debates
Traveling wave packets of total electron content disturbances as deduced from global GPS network data
We identified a new class of mid-latitude medium-scale traveling ionospheric
disturbances (MS TIDs), viz. traveling wave packets (TWPs) of total electron
content (TEC) disturbances. For the first time, the morphology of TWPs is
presented for 105 days. Using the technique of GPS interferometry of TIDs we
carried out a detailed analysis of the spatial-temporal properties of TWPs by
considering an example of the most conspicuous manifestation of TWPs on October
18, 2001 over California, USA. The velocity and direction of TWPs correspond to
those of mid-latitude MS TIDs obtained previously from analyzing the phase
characteristics of HF radio signals as well as signals from geostationary
satellites and discrete cosmic radio sources.Comment: LaTeX2.09, 28 pages, 9 figure
Adaptive Knobs for Resource Efficient Computing
Performance demands of emerging domains such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and vision, Internet-of-things etc., continue to grow. Meeting such requirements on modern multi/many core systems with higher power densities, fixed power and energy budgets, and thermal constraints exacerbates the run-time management challenge. This leaves an open problem on extracting the required performance within the power and energy limits, while also ensuring thermal safety. Existing architectural solutions including asymmetric and heterogeneous cores and custom acceleration improve performance-per-watt in specific design time and static scenarios. However, satisfying applications’ performance requirements under dynamic and unknown workload scenarios subject to varying system dynamics of power, temperature and energy requires intelligent run-time management.
Adaptive strategies are necessary for maximizing resource efficiency, considering i) diverse requirements and characteristics of concurrent applications, ii) dynamic workload variation, iii) core-level heterogeneity and iv) power, thermal and energy constraints. This dissertation proposes such adaptive techniques for efficient run-time resource management to maximize performance within fixed budgets under unknown and dynamic workload scenarios. Resource management strategies proposed in this dissertation comprehensively consider application and workload characteristics and variable effect of power actuation on performance for pro-active and appropriate allocation decisions. Specific contributions include i) run-time mapping approach to improve power budgets for higher throughput, ii) thermal aware performance boosting for efficient utilization of power budget and higher performance, iii) approximation as a run-time knob exploiting accuracy performance trade-offs for maximizing performance under power caps at minimal loss of accuracy and iv) co-ordinated approximation for heterogeneous systems
through joint actuation of dynamic approximation and power knobs for performance guarantees with minimal power consumption.
The approaches presented in this dissertation focus on adapting existing mapping techniques, performance boosting strategies, software and dynamic approximations to meet the performance requirements, simultaneously considering system constraints. The proposed strategies are compared against relevant state-of-the-art run-time management frameworks to qualitatively evaluate their efficacy
GENESIS: Co-location of Geodetic Techniques in Space
Improving and homogenizing time and space reference systems on Earth and,
more directly, realizing the Terrestrial Reference Frame (TRF) with an accuracy
of 1mm and a long-term stability of 0.1mm/year are relevant for many scientific
and societal endeavors. The knowledge of the TRF is fundamental for Earth and
navigation sciences. For instance, quantifying sea level change strongly
depends on an accurate determination of the geocenter motion but also of the
positions of continental and island reference stations, as well as the ground
stations of tracking networks. Also, numerous applications in geophysics
require absolute millimeter precision from the reference frame, as for example
monitoring tectonic motion or crustal deformation for predicting natural
hazards. The TRF accuracy to be achieved represents the consensus of various
authorities which has enunciated geodesy requirements for Earth sciences.
Today we are still far from these ambitious accuracy and stability goals for
the realization of the TRF. However, a combination and co-location of all four
space geodetic techniques on one satellite platform can significantly
contribute to achieving these goals. This is the purpose of the GENESIS
mission, proposed as a component of the FutureNAV program of the European Space
Agency. The GENESIS platform will be a dynamic space geodetic observatory
carrying all the geodetic instruments referenced to one another through
carefully calibrated space ties. The co-location of the techniques in space
will solve the inconsistencies and biases between the different geodetic
techniques in order to reach the TRF accuracy and stability goals endorsed by
the various international authorities and the scientific community. The purpose
of this white paper is to review the state-of-the-art and explain the benefits
of the GENESIS mission in Earth sciences, navigation sciences and metrology.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Earth, Planets and Space (EPS
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