Automated Circuit Approximation Method Driven by Data Distribution

We propose an application-tailored data-driven fully automated method for functional approximation of combinational circuits. We demonstrate how an application-level error metric such as the classification accuracy can be translated to a component-level error metric needed for an efficient and fast search in the space of approximate low-level components that are used in the application. This is possible by employing a weighted mean error distance (WMED) metric for steering the circuit approximation process which is conducted by means of genetic programming. WMED introduces a set of weights (calculated from the data distribution measured on a selected signal in a given application) determining the importance of each input vector for the approximation process. The method is evaluated using synthetic benchmarks and application-specific approximate MAC (multiply-and-accumulate) units that are designed to provide the best trade-offs between the classification accuracy and power consumption of two image classifiers based on neural networks.Comment: Accepted for publication at Design, Automation and Test in Europe (DATE 2019). Florence, Ital

Evaluating Development of Critical Thinking Skills in Simulation Learning

Executive Summary Evaluating Development of Critical Thinking Skills in Simulation Learning Problem Critical thinking is the key to nurses\u27 ability to make sound decisions in clinical practice. It was determined nurses, hired within the last three years at an Intermediate Care Facility for the Mentally Retarded (ICFMR), required additional education and practice to manage high-risk low frequency events, specifically respiratory emergencies. Project questions for this quality improvement initiative included: Will a high fidelity simulation session improve critical thinking skills for registered nurses hired within the last three years, at the ICFMR? And, will the introduction of simulation learning to develop critical thinking skills, decrease the number of respiratory emergencies at the ICFMR that require hospitalization? Purpose The purpose of this quality improvement initiative was to provide education (a respiratory emergency workshop and simulation session) on emergency scenarios for newly hired nurses at the ICFMR to determine the relationship simulation learning had on developing critical thinking skills. Goal This project had two goals. The first goal was to evaluate if novice nurses could enhance critical thinking skills to manage respiratory emergencies in an effective manner by attending a high fidelity simulation workshop. The second goal was to decrease the number of individuals hospitalized at the ICFMR secondary to respiratory emergencies. Objectives The objectives for this project included: 1) Increase nurses critical thinking acquisition measured by the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) questionnaire after an educational workshop and simulation session on managing respiratory emergencies. 2) Conduct a simulation session for nurses to effectively manage respiratory emergencies in a risk-free safe environment. 3) Provide individual feedback for nurses through debriefing sessions to evaluate performance. Plan Education was provided with a workshop on emergency care followed by a high fidelity simulation session. A pre and post questionnaire, the CCTDI, was administered to evaluate the development of critical thinking skills. IRB approval was obtained from the Mendota Mental Health Institute and Regis University. A local college provided access to the high fidelity simulation lab. Outcomes and Results Twenty novice nurses attended the didactic emergency care workshop followed by a high fidelity simulation session. Results from a paired samples t- test suggested that overall there was no statistical difference between critical thinking skill development and simulation learning. However, anecdotal comments suggested a positive practice outcome after the workshop and simulation. Further study is recommended

Model-based symbolic design space exploration at the electronic system level: a systematic approach

In this thesis, a novel, fully systematic approach is proposed that addresses the automated design space exploration at the electronic system level. The problem is formulated as multi-objective optimization problem and is encoded symbolically using Answer Set Programming (ASP). Several specialized solvers are tightly coupled as background theories with the foreground ASP solver under the ASP modulo Theories (ASPmT) paradigm. By utilizing the ASPmT paradigm, the search is executed entirely systematically and the disparate synthesis steps can be coupled to explore the search space effectively.In dieser Arbeit wird ein vollständig systematischer Ansatz präsentiert, der sich mit der Entwurfsraumexploration auf der elektronischen Systemebene befasst. Das Problem wird als multikriterielles Optimierungsproblem formuliert und symbolisch mit Hilfe von Answer Set Programming (ASP) kodiert. Spezialisierte Solver sind im Rahmen des ASP modulo Theories (ASPmT) Paradigmas als Hintergrundtheorien eng mit dem ASP Solver gekoppelt. Durch die Verwendung von ASPmT wird die Suche systematisch ausgeführt und die individuellen Schritte können gekoppelt werden, um den Suchraum effektiv zu durchsuchen

Precis of neuroconstructivism: how the brain constructs cognition

Neuroconstructivism: How the Brain Constructs Cognition proposes a unifying framework for the study of cognitive development that brings together (1) constructivism (which views development as the progressive elaboration of increasingly complex structures), (2) cognitive neuroscience (which aims to understand the neural mechanisms underlying behavior), and (3) computational modeling (which proposes formal and explicit specifications of information processing). The guiding principle of our approach is context dependence, within and (in contrast to Marr [1982]) between levels of organization. We propose that three mechanisms guide the emergence of representations: competition, cooperation, and chronotopy; which themselves allow for two central processes: proactivity and progressive specialization. We suggest that the main outcome of development is partial representations, distributed across distinct functional circuits. This framework is derived by examining development at the level of single neurons, brain systems, and whole organisms. We use the terms encellment, embrainment, and embodiment to describe the higher-level contextual influences that act at each of these levels of organization. To illustrate these mechanisms in operation we provide case studies in early visual perception, infant habituation, phonological development, and object representations in infancy. Three further case studies are concerned with interactions between levels of explanation: social development, atypical development and within that, developmental dyslexia. We conclude that cognitive development arises from a dynamic, contextual change in embodied neural structures leading to partial representations across multiple brain regions and timescales, in response to proactively specified physical and social environment

Energy-efficient hardware design based on high-level synthesis

This dissertation describes research activities broadly concerning the area of High-level synthesis (HLS), but more specifically, regarding the HLS-based design of energy-efficient hardware (HW) accelerators. HW accelerators, mostly implemented on FPGAs, are integral to the heterogeneous architectures employed in modern high performance computing (HPC) systems due to their ability to speed up the execution while dramatically reducing the energy consumption of computationally challenging portions of complex applications. Hence, the first activity was regarding an HLS-based approach to directly execute an OpenCL code on an FPGA instead of its traditional GPU-based counterpart. Modern FPGAs offer considerable computational capabilities while consuming significantly smaller power as compared to high-end GPUs. Several different implementations of the K-Nearest Neighbor algorithm were considered on both FPGA- and GPU-based platforms and their performance was compared. FPGAs were generally more energy-efficient than the GPUs in all the test cases. Eventually, we were also able to get a faster (in terms of execution time) FPGA implementation by using an FPGA-specific OpenCL coding style and utilizing suitable HLS directives. The second activity was targeted towards the development of a methodology complementing HLS to automatically derive power optimization directives (also known as "power intent") from a system-level design description and use it to drive the design steps after HLS, by producing a directive file written using the common power format (CPF) to achieve power shut-off (PSO) in case of an ASIC design. The proposed LP-HLS methodology reduces the design effort by enabling designers to infer low power information from the system-level description of a design rather than at the RTL. This methodology required a SystemC description of a generic power management module to describe the design context of a HW module also modeled in SystemC, along with the development of a tool to automatically produce the CPF file to accomplish PSO. Several test cases were considered to validate the proposed methodology and the results demonstrated its ability to correctly extract the low power information and apply it to achieve power optimization in the backend flow

Utilization of a school specific intervention manual to increase teacher perceptions of the I&RS process and reduce special education referrals

One of the primary purposes of the Intervention and Referral Services (I & RS) process is to assist school staff in addressing students\u27 learning, behavior, or health needs (N.J.A.C. 6A:16-7.1 [a]). This study sought to improve I & RS process and student outcomes in a southern New Jersey elementary school that services students from grades Pre-Kindergarten through second grade. At the outset of the study, school administrators reported that an area of need was to formulate an intervention resource for the school\u27s I & RS committee and teaching staff. It was determined that an online/interactive intervention manual would be created allowing teaching staff to support each other when intervening with at-risk students. Interventions were developed for the manual by the researcher, and additional interventions were offered by teaching staff. Pre- and post-survey information, interview information, and referral statistics were used to identify and examine study effects. It was found that there was little effect on staff perceptions of the I & RS process and student referrals to the child study team were unchanged. The researcher concluded that the study did begin to move school I & RS processes in a more collaborative, supportive direction

Working Notes from the 1992 AAAI Workshop on Automating Software Design. Theme: Domain Specific Software Design

The goal of this workshop is to identify different architectural approaches to building domain-specific software design systems and to explore issues unique to domain-specific (vs. general-purpose) software design. Some general issues that cut across the particular software design domain include: (1) knowledge representation, acquisition, and maintenance; (2) specialized software design techniques; and (3) user interaction and user interface

Wright State University\u27s Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities from Thursday, October 26, 2023

The student abstract booklet is a compilation of abstracts from students\u27 oral and poster presentations at Wright State University\u27s Symposium of Student Research, Scholarship & Creative Activities on October 26, 2023.https://corescholar.libraries.wright.edu/celebration_abstract_books/1001/thumbnail.jp

Hardware-software codesign in a high-level synthesis environment

Interfacing hardware-oriented high-level synthesis to software development is a computationally hard problem for which no general solution exists. Under special conditions, the hardware-software codesign (system-level synthesis) problem may be analyzed with traditional tools and efficient heuristics. This dissertation introduces a new alternative to the currently used heuristic methods. The new approach combines the results of top-down hardware development with existing basic hardware units (bottom-up libraries) and compiler generation tools. The optimization goal is to maximize operating frequency or minimize cost with reasonable tradeoffs in other properties. The dissertation research provides a unified approach to hardware-software codesign. The improvements over previously existing design methodologies are presented in the frame-work of an academic CAD environment (PIPE). This CAD environment implements a sufficient subset of functions of commercial microelectronics CAD packages. The results may be generalized for other general-purpose algorithms or environments. Reference benchmarks are used to validate the new approach. Most of the well-known benchmarks are based on discrete-time numerical simulations, digital filtering applications, and cryptography (an emerging field in benchmarking). As there is a need for high-performance applications, an additional requirement for this dissertation is to investigate pipelined hardware-software systems\u27 performance and design methods. The results demonstrate that the quality of existing heuristics does not change in the enhanced, hardware-software environment