A Framework for Automated Generation of Specialized Function Variants

Efficient large-scale scientific computing requires efficient code, yet optimizing code to render it efficient simultaneously renders the code less readable, less maintainable, less portable, and requires detailed knowledge of low-level computer architecture, which the developers of scientific applications may lack. The necessary knowledge is subject to change over time as new architectures, such as GPGPU architectures like CUDA, which require very different optimizations than CPU-targeted code, become more prominent. The development of scientific cloud computing means that developers may not even know what machine their code will be running on when they are developing it. This work takes steps towards automating the generation of code variants which are automatically optimized for both execution environment and input dataset. We demonstrate that augmenting an autotuning framework with a performance database which captures metadata about environment and input and performing decision tree learning over that data can help more fully automate the process of enhancing software performance

Data Persistence in Eiffel

This dissertation describes an extension to the Eiffel programming language that provides automatic object persistence (the ability of programs to store objects and later recreate those objects in a subsequent execution of a program). The mechanism is orthogonal to other aspects of the Eiffel language. The mechanism serves four main purposes: 1) it gives Eiffel programmers a needed service, filling a gap between serialization, which provides limited persistence functions and database-mapping, which is cumbersome to use; 2) it greatly reduces the coding burden incurred by the programmer when objects must persist, allowing the programmer to focus instead on the business model; 3) it provides a platform for testing the benefits of orthogonal persistence in Eiffel, and 4) it furnishes a model for orthogonal persistence in other object-oriented languages. During my research, I created a prototype implementation of the persistence mechanism using it effectively in several programs. Performance measurements showed acceptable performance with some increase in program memory usage. The prototype gives the programmer the ability to add automatic persistence to existing code with the addition of only a few lines of code. The size of this additional code remains constant regardless of the total number of lines of code in the project. Eiffel syntax remains unchanged and nonpersistent Eiffel code runs as is while incur- ring only a very small speed penalty

Qos-aware fine-grained power management in networked computing systems

Power is a major design concern of today\u27s networked computing systems, from low-power battery-powered mobile and embedded systems to high-power enterprise servers. Embedded systems are required to be power efficiency because most embedded systems are powered by battery with limited capacity. Similar concern of power expenditure rises as well in enterprise server environments due to cooling requirement, power delivery limit, electricity costs as well as environment pollutions. The power consumption in networked computing systems includes that on circuit board and that for communication. In the context of networked real-time systems, the power dissipation on wireless communication is more significant than that on circuit board. We focus on packet scheduling for wireless real-time systems with renewable energy resources. In such a scenario, it is required to transmit data with higher level of importance periodically. We formulate this packet scheduling problem as an NP-hard reward maximization problem with time and energy constraints. An optimal solution with pseudo polynomial time complexity is presented. In addition, we propose a sub-optimal solution with polynomial time complexity. Circuit board, especially processor, power consumption is still the major source of system power consumption. We provide a general-purposed, practical and comprehensive power management middleware for networked computing systems to manage circuit board power consumption thus to affect system-level power consumption. It has the functionalities of power and performance monitoring, power management (PM) policy selection and PM control, as well as energy efficiency analysis. This middleware includes an extensible PM policy library. We implemented a prototype of this middleware on Base Band Units (BBUs) with three PM policies enclosed. These policies have been validated on different platforms, such as enterprise servers, virtual environments and BBUs. In enterprise environments, the power dissipation on circuit board dominates. Regulation on computing resources on board has a significant impact on power consumption. Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) is an effective technique to conserve energy consumption. We investigate system-level power management in order to avoid system failures due to power capacity overload or overheating. This management needs to control the power consumption in an accurate and responsive manner, which cannot be achieve by the existing black-box feedback control. Thus we present a model-predictive feedback controller to regulate processor frequency so that power budget can be satisfied without significant loss on performance. In addition to providing power guarantee alone, performance with respect to service-level agreements (SLAs) is required to be guaranteed as well. The proliferation of virtualization technology imposes new challenges on power management due to resource sharing. It is hard to achieve optimization in both power and performance on shared infrastructures due to system dynamics. We propose vPnP, a feedback control based coordination approach providing guarantee on application-level performance and underlying physical host power consumption in virtualized environments. This system can adapt gracefully to workload change. The preliminary results show its flexibility to achieve different levels of tradeoffs between power and performance as well as its robustness over a variety of workloads. It is desirable for improve energy efficiency of systems, such as BBUs, hosting soft-real time applications. We proposed a power management strategy for controlling delay and minimizing power consumption using DVFS. We use the Robbins-Monro (RM) stochastic approximation method to estimate delay quantile. We couple a fuzzy controller with the RM algorithm to scale CPU frequency that will maintain performance within the specified QoS

Dynamic time management for improved accuracy and speed in host-compiled multi-core platform models

textWith increasing complexity and software content, modern embedded platforms employ a heterogeneous mix of multi-core processors along with hardware accelerators in order to provide high performance in limited power budgets. Due to complex interactions and highly dynamic behavior, static analysis of real-time performance and other constraints is challenging. As an alternative, full-system simulations have been widely accepted by designers. With traditional approaches being either slow or inaccurate, so-called host-compiled simulators have recently emerged as a solution for rapid evaluation of complete systems at early design stages. In such approaches, a faster simulation is achieved by natively executing application code at the source level, abstracting execution behavior of target platforms, and thus increasing simulation granularity. However, most existing host-compiled simulators often focus on application behavior only while neglecting effects of hardware/software interactions and associated speed and accuracy tradeoffs in platform modeling. In this dissertation, we focus on host-compiled operating system (OS) and processor modeling techniques, and we introduce novel dynamic timing model management approaches that efficiently improve both accuracy and speed of such models via automatically calibrating the simulation granularity. The contributions of this dissertation are twofold: We first establish an infrastructure for efficient host-compiled multi-core platform simulation by developing (a) abstract models of both real-time OSs and processors that replicate timing-accurate hardware/software interactions and enable full-system co-simulation, and (b) quantitative and analytical studies of host-compiled simulation principles to analyze error bounds and investigate possible improvements. Building on this infrastructure, we further propose specific techniques for improving accuracy and speed tradeoffs in host-compiled simulation by developing (c) an automatic timing granularity adjustment technique based on dynamically observing system state to control the simulation, (d) an out-of-order cache hierarchy modeling approach to efficiently reorder memory access behavior in the presence of temporal decoupling, and (e) a synchronized timing model to align platform threads to run efficiently in parallel simulation. Results as applied to industrial-strength platforms confirm that by providing careful abstractions and dynamic timing management, our models can achieve full-system simulations at equivalent speeds of more than a thousand MIPS with less than 3% timing error. Coupled with the capability to easily adjust simulation parameters and configurations, this demonstrates the benefits of our platform models for early application development and exploration.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Case board, traces, & chicanes: Diagrams for an archaeology of algorithmic prediction through critical design practice

This PhD thesis utilises diagrams as a language for research and design practice to critically investigate algorithmic prediction. As a tool for practice-based research, the language of diagrams is presented as a way to read algorithmic prediction as a set of intricate computational geometries, and to write it through critical practice immersed in the very materials in question: data and code. From a position rooted in graphic and interaction design, the research uses diagrams to gain purchase on algorithmic prediction, making it available for examination, experimentation, and critique. The project is framed by media archaeology, used here as a methodology through which both the technical and historical "depths" of algorithmic systems are excavated. My main research question asks: How can diagrams be used as a language to critically investigate algorithmic prediction through design practice? This thesis presents two secondary questions for critical examination, asking: Through which mechanisms does thinking/writing/designing in diagrammatic terms inform research and practice focused on algorithmic prediction? As algorithmic systems claim to produce objective knowledge, how can diagrams be used as instruments for speculative and/or conjectural knowledge production? I contextualise my research by establishing three registers of relations between diagrams and algorithmic prediction. These are identified as: Data Diagrams to describe the algorithmic forms and processes through which data are turned into predictions; Control Diagrams to afford critical perspectives on algorithmic prediction, framing the latter as an apparatus of prescription and control; and Speculative Diagrams to open up opportunities for reclaiming the generative potential of computation. These categories form the scaffolding for the three practice-oriented chapters where I evidence a range of meaningful ways to investigate algorithmic prediction through diagrams. This includes, the 'case board' where I unpack some of the historical genealogies of algorithmic prediction. A purpose-built graph application materialises broader reflections about how such genealogies might be conceptualised, and facilitates a visual and subjective mode of knowledge production. I then move to producing 'traces', namely probing the output of an algorithmic prediction system|in this case YouTube recommendations. Traces, and the purpose-built instruments used to visualise them, interrogate both the mechanisms of algorithmic capture and claims to make these mechanisms transparent through data visualisations. Finally, I produce algorithmic predictions and examine the diagrammatic "tricks," or 'chicanes', that this involves. I revisit a historical prototype for algorithmic prediction, the almanac publication, and use it to question the boundaries between data-science and divination. This is materialised through a new version of the almanac - an automated publication where algorithmic processes are used to produce divinatory predictions. My original contribution to knowledge is an approach to practice-based research which draws from media archaeology and focuses on diagrams to investigate algorithmic prediction through design practice. I demonstrate to researchers and practitioners with interests in algorithmic systems, prediction, and/or speculation, that diagrams can be used as a language to engage critically with these themes

Northern Light, volume 17, number 15

UAA to try one more AWS review By: Melissa Eichholz-Moore (1) Enrollment takes a 4.5 percent drop in fall By: Fryderyk Frontier (1) Union mediations are unsuccessful By: Melissa Eichholz-Moore (1) A letter to our administrators By: Northern Light (2) Letters to the editor (2) Comic By: Non Sequitur (2) A trip to Kenai helps show class the intracacies of refineries By: Dmitri Brengauz (3) Campus Scanner (4) Hemp petitioner asked to leave campus for infractions By: Melissa Eichholz-Moore (4) Regents hear plan for administrative cost-cutting By: Melissa Eichholz-Moore (6) Does chancellors’ plan have a chance to save $5 million? By: Melissa Eichholz-Moore (6) News Briefs (8) Kentucky students stage protest for massive tuition hikes By: Justin Willis (8) Career Services Center reaches out to put you to works By: John Fick (9) Gender takes a back seat for ‘Bunchachix’ artists By: Fryderyk Frontier (11) Lecturer shows human and machine not so different By: Tataboline Brant (11) Careers under the hood By: Fryderyk Frontier (12) Quick fix for less By: Fryderyk Frontier (13) Campus Calendar (14) Calendar Highlight (14) ‘A Life Less Ordinary’ an extraordinary piece of work By: Michael Marcella (14) Shop and save: Chip and compare to slash your food bill at the grocery store By: Echo Gamel (15) Tattoos, piercings must be cared for to prevent infections By; Daryl Young (16) Astrological Guru (17) Classified (17) Tundra By: Chad Carpenter (18) Rubes By: Leigh Rubin (18) Larger Than Life By: David Gallagher (18) Out on a limb By: Gary Kopervas (18) Dr. Katz By: Unknown (18) Plebes By: L.T. Horton (18) Pain and death encompass Chilean author’s memoirs By: Rose Cox (19) Cheap and greasy breakfast: a standard of Denny’s menu By: William Stenzol (19) Warning: Pierce your body and God will punish you By: William K. Wolfrum (20) Crock-Pots are good for all By: Mark Collins (20) Crossword (20) Answers to crossword (20) Spikers sweep UAF in season series; Hydak leads with 17 kills By: Chris Curtis (21) Rankit sports poll (21) Men’s basketball team’s scrimmage showcases rookie and veteran players By: Sean Fulp (22) Women’s green and gold game highlights defense over offense By: Chris Curtis (22) UAA runs away with Pacific West Championship By: Chris Curtis (23) Women’s train keeps on rolling (23) Freshmen drown Banana Slugs By: Chris Curtis (24) Seawolves battle, but lose By: Chris Curtis (24) The Talafous Experiment defined one step at a time… By: Chris Curtis (24

Sense of Humour and its Effects on Great Britain's Destination Image

Among the vast array of topics being subject of studies in the tourism field, there has been a general neglect in investigating the role that humour plays in tourism generally, and destination images in particular. This neglect is more noticeable when contrasted with the considerable number of studies on measuring tourists’ perceived image of physical attributes of destinations. The unique importance of humour in marketing tourism destinations has been largely overlooked by tourism academics on the one hand and tourism practitioners on the other. This thesis recognises the neglect of the role of ‘humour’ and ‘sense of humour’ (SOH) in tourism research and examines this overlooked and underexplored topic in detail. It makes a novel contribution to research on tourism and culture, and on tourism destination image (TDI). By taking a cross-cultural communication perspective and employing sociology, psychology and anthropology-oriented approaches within the field of tourism studies, the thesis focuses on the qualitative nature and the importance of the British sense of humour (BSOH) and its respective role in shaping Britishness, and British national character and national identity. It examines how BSOH, British society, and British culture contribute to Great Britain’s (GB’s) destination image and its attractiveness in tourists’ minds. In doing so, it makes an empirical contribution to our understanding of tourists’ perceived images of nations and destinations. The thesis employs a qualitative methodology. 82 international tourists were interviewed face-to-face in capital cities of GB: London, Edinburgh, and Cardiff. The interviews were concerned with giving a deeper insight into the behaviour and reaction of tourists visiting GB and examined the role of BSOH in study participants’ images, perceptions and encounters with BSOH during their visits. The interviews were further concerned with giving a deeper insight into how BSOH might influence visitors’ thinking around GB’s social, cultural, and national identity. The Constructive - Contemporary Grounded Theory (CCGT) analysis method employed sheds light on the reciprocal relationship between the notions of ‘humour’, ‘image’, ‘perception’, ‘mediated stereotypes’, ‘identity’, ‘language and language barriers’ and ‘experience’. By looking at these notions, the thesis goes beyond the established wisdom that physical attributes of tourism destinations are at forefront of tourists’ perceptions and imaginations of destinations. The results reveal BSOH plays a significant role in shaping national character and national identity representations of Britishness in tourists’ minds. The results further reveal the ways in which when tourists come across BSOH during their visits, how it affects their experiences and results in different types of image making, which further impacts their perceptions of British cultural and national identity and additionally contributes to the attractiveness of GB as a tourism destination

First person theatre: how performative tactics and frameworks (re)emerging in the digital age are forming a new personal-as-political

This study sets out to explore first person theatre as a means of opening the individual to the problems of contemporary capitalism and its increasing pervasion of the personal in an era of embeddedness enabled by networked pervasive technology. Firstly setting out key definitions and a theoretical analysis of the problems of being in the digital age in chapter 1, and then setting this against the history of interaction in performance in chapter 2. The study then goes on (in chapters 3-5) to investigate three key aspects of first person performance as personal-as-political; sound and the city, play and games, and interactive theatre. In the final chapter, The Umbrella Project develops a piece of first person theatre as practice, a method of investigation that is vital to a thesis that discusses politics, late capitalism, and the means to resist the message-sending of private interests as fundamentally only to be understood in practice. For this reason, too, chapters 3, 4 and 5 are supported by key case studies discussing other first person theatre practice. By placing the participant at the centre of the world-constituting process of theatre in the hot space between what is and what if this study suggests that first person theatre is able to open the contemporary individual to an inbetween where they might re-see, reflect and react to what is. To imagine and, if wished, act upon a what if. In an age of the disrupted near and far, the vanishing of the interface, of the false rhetoric of choice of personalisation , and the often false rhetoric of agency at the end of the era of broadcast, first person theatre offers the subject a route to individual agency, an understanding of the urban environment as construct, and to their relationship with the subjective other something which this thesis suggests is a personal-as-political practice to rival the Spectacle of late capitalism