Learning Scheduling Algorithms for Data Processing Clusters

Efficiently scheduling data processing jobs on distributed compute clusters requires complex algorithms. Current systems, however, use simple generalized heuristics and ignore workload characteristics, since developing and tuning a scheduling policy for each workload is infeasible. In this paper, we show that modern machine learning techniques can generate highly-efficient policies automatically. Decima uses reinforcement learning (RL) and neural networks to learn workload-specific scheduling algorithms without any human instruction beyond a high-level objective such as minimizing average job completion time. Off-the-shelf RL techniques, however, cannot handle the complexity and scale of the scheduling problem. To build Decima, we had to develop new representations for jobs' dependency graphs, design scalable RL models, and invent RL training methods for dealing with continuous stochastic job arrivals. Our prototype integration with Spark on a 25-node cluster shows that Decima improves the average job completion time over hand-tuned scheduling heuristics by at least 21%, achieving up to 2x improvement during periods of high cluster load

Isleno Decima Singers of Louisiana: an interpretation of performance and event

This study is a metaperformance autoethnography of the Isleno decima singers of Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana. The performance and event of the decima are explored using research techniques including the performance of ethnography. First a basis is provided for the study by presenting a brief historical overview of the Spanish influence in Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana. The work of Richard Bauman in Verbal Art as Performance is included in order to key the decima as a performance event. Second, the script, “A Tribute to Storytellers: Isleno Decima Singers of Louisiana,” performed at Louisiana State University in The HopKins Black Box Theatre, is included to demonstrate the research process of the decima. Third, the study analyzes and interprets the performance of the script in order to explore audience critique and the learning process of performing research as a way of knowing. This study concludes with a performative writing piece addressing my relationship to the study as a member of the Isleno community and scholarly researcher as well as future possibilities of research and performative studies of the Isleno traditions

Faculty recital: Joan Heller, soprano and Terry Decima, piano, September 30, 1986

This is the concert program of the Faculty Recital: Joan Heller, soprano and Terry Decima, piano performance on Tuesday, September 30, 1986 at 8:00 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Fiancailles Pour Rire by Francis Poulenc, Sieben Fruhe Lieder by Alban Berg, Vision and Prayer by Milton Babbitt, and Mountain Songs by Phillip Rhodes. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

The impact of music downloads and P2P file-sharing on the purchase of music in Canada

This study measures the extent to which free music downloads, including the use of P2P file sharing networks, act as substitutes or complements to music purchase in markets for CDs and electronic delivered music (such as MP3). The analysis uses representative micro-data from the Canadian population. We find that those who participate in free music downloading and P2P file-sharing do not purchase more or less music compared with those who do not engaged in such activities, but that, indeed, very active file-sharers purchase more music relative to file-sharers who download fewer songs. Thus, the market substitution effect between freely acquired music and purchased music is smaller than the market creation and market segmentation effect from free music downloading. In essence, the behavioural incentives underpinning free music downloading are the effects of ‘unwilling to pay’ (market substitution), ‘hear before buying’ (market creation), ‘not wanting to buy whole album’ (market segmentation), ‘not available in the CD format or on electronic pay-sites (market creation)’

Pliable and Easily Shaped : History, harms, and regulations of plastic in the United States

The majority of plastic exists in a linear economy, wherein a product is developed with raw materials, used, and then discarded. Because there are many applications for plastic in today’s society unparalleled by alternative materials, removing all or most plastic use from daily life in the United States is unrealistic. Nevertheless, eliminating single-use plastics and improving recycling are reasonably attainable goals. This thesis offers a detailed discussion of the origins of plastic, including its discovery, initial applications, and growth in the United States. Against this backdrop, this thesis then examines how various nonhuman animal species and ecosystems have been negatively impacted by excessive human consumption and improper disposal of plastic. Given the ostensibly endless applications for plastic, this thesis concludes by considering how we might discontinue its use at present level

Stratigraphic variations control deformation patterns in evaporite basins : Messinian examples, onshore and offshore Sicily (Italy)

Acknowledgements and Funding We are grateful to Ente Minerario Siciliano and Italkali for the provision of extensive subsurface data from Realmonte, Corvillo and Mandre areas. We thank F. Peel and an anonymous referee for comments. Seismic reflection data are available for inspection and interpretation at the Virtual Seismic Atlas (www. seismicatlas.org). R.M. acknowledges a MIUR Cofin-PRIN 2010–2011 grant.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

RG Decimations and Confinement

We outline the steps in a derivation of the statement that the SU(2) gauge theory is in a confining phase for all values of the coupling, $0 < \beta <\infty$, defined at lattice spacing a. The approach employed is to obtain both upper and lower bounds for the partition function and the `twisted' partition function in terms of approximate decimation transformations. The behavior of the exact quantities is thus constrained by that of the easily computable bounding decimations.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, latex using espcrc2.sty, presented at `QCD Down Under', Adelaide, Australia, May 10-19, 200

Analysis of the seismic site effects along the ancient Via Laurentina (Rome)

This paper presents an evaluation of the Local Seismic Response (LSR) along the route of the ancient Roman road Via Laurentina, which has been exposed in several areas of southwest Rome over the last decade during the construction of new buildings and infrastructures. It is an example of LSR analysis applied to ancient and archaeological sites located in alluvial valleys with some methodological inferences for the design of infrastructure and urban planning. Since the ancient road does not cross the alluvial valley (namely the Fosso di Vallerano Valley) normal to its sides, it was not possible to directly perform 2D numerical modelling to evaluate the LSR along the road route. Therefore, outputs of 2D numerical models, obtained along three cross sections that were normal oriented respect to the valley, were projected along the route of the Via Laurentina within a reliable buffer attributed according to an available high-resolution geological model of the local subsoil. The modelled amplification functions consider physical effects due to both the 2D shape of the valley and the heterogeneities of the alluvial deposits. The 1D and 2D amplification functions were compared to output that non-negligible effects are related to the narrow shape of the fluvial valley and the lateral contacts between the lithotecnical units composing the alluvial fill. The here experienced methodology is suitable for applications to the numerical modelling of seismic response in case of linear infrastructures (i.e., roads, bridges, railways) that do not cross the natural system along physically characteristic directions (i.e. longitudinally or transversally)

Faculty recital by Mary Davenport, contralto with Terry Decima, pianist, January 14, 1970

This is the concert program of Faculty Recital by Mary Davenport, contralto with Terry Decima, pianist on Wednesday, January 14, 1970 at 8:30 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Sì, Tra I Ceppi, from "Berenice" by George Frideric Handel, Summi Dei, from "Radamisto" by G. F. Handel, Empiò, Dirò Tu Sei from "Giulio Cesare" by G. F. Handel, Four Last Songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Le Promenoir der deux Amants by Claude Debussy, Noël des enfants qui n'ont plus de maison by C. Debussy, and Wesedonk Lieder by Richard Wagner. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund

Polyphonic voices of the Mediterranean in Boccaccio’s Sicilian novellas

Molte novelle del Decameron sono ambientate in Sicilia ed è proprio attraverso di esse che viene veicolata la bellezza dell’isola, la sua cultura multietnica, i sapori del cibo, ma anche la violenza e la criminalità, elementi che conferiscono una immagine suggestiva della Sicilia e degli abitanti di quest’isola posta al crocevia del Mediterraneo. Il presente contributo si propone di far emergere gli aspetti suddetti attraverso l’analisi di alcune novelle di Boccaccio; in modo particolare verranno prese in esame la seconda novella della quinta giornata, la decima novella della ottava giornata, la settima novella della decima giornata, la sesta novella della quinta giornata, nelle quali la storia, la letteratura e l’archeologia sono voci polifoniche che si intrecciano ed animano il continuum narrativo.peer-reviewe