Benchmarking hypercube hardware and software

It was long a truism in computer systems design that balanced systems achieve the best performance. Message passing parallel processors are no different. To quantify the balance of a hypercube design, an experimental methodology was developed and the associated suite of benchmarks was applied to several existing hypercubes. The benchmark suite includes tests of both processor speed in the absence of internode communication and message transmission speed as a function of communication patterns

A pointer-free data structure for merging heaps and min-max heaps

AbstractIn this paper a data structure for the representation of mergeable heaps and min-max heaps without using pointers is introduced. The supported operations are: Insert, DeleteMax, DeleteMin, FindMax, FindMin, Merge, NewHeap, DeleteHeap. The structure is analyzed in terms of amortized time complexity, resulting in a O(1) amortized time for each operation except for Insert, for which a O(lg n) bound holds

Functional programming and graph algorithms

This thesis is an investigation of graph algorithms in the non-strict purely functional language Haskell. Emphasis is placed on the importance of achieving an asymptotic complexity as good as with conventional languages. This is achieved by using the monadic model for including actions on the state. Work on the monadic model was carried out at Glasgow University by Wadler, Peyton Jones, and Launchbury in the early nineties and has opened up many diverse application areas. One area is the ability to express data structures that require sharing. Although graphs are not presented in this style, data structures that graph algorithms use are expressed in this style. Several examples of stateful algorithms are given including union/find for disjoint sets, and the linear time sort binsort. The graph algorithms presented are not new, but are traditional algorithms recast in a functional setting. Examples include strongly connected components, biconnected components, Kruskal's minimum cost spanning tree, and Dijkstra's shortest paths. The presentation is lucid giving more insight than usual. The functional setting allows for complete calculational style correctness proofs - which is demonstrated with many examples. The benefits of using a functional language for expressing graph algorithms are quantified by looking at the issues of execution times, asymptotic complexity, correctness, and clarity, in comparison with traditional approaches. The intention is to be as objective as possible, pointing out both the weaknesses and the strengths of using a functional language

Fast Parallel Algorithms for Basic Problems

Parallel processing is one of the most active research areas these days. We are interested in one aspect of parallel processing, i.e. the design and analysis of parallel algorithms. Here, we focus on non-numerical parallel algorithms for basic combinatorial problems, such as data structures, selection, searching, merging and sorting. The purposes of studying these types of problems are to obtain basic building blocks which will be useful in solving complex problems, and to develop fundamental algorithmic techniques. In this thesis, we study the following problems: priority queues, multiple search and multiple selection, and reconstruction of a binary tree from its traversals. The research on priority queue was motivated by its various applications. The purpose of studying multiple search and multiple selection is to explore the relationships between four of the most fundamental problems in algorithm design, that is, selection, searching, merging and sorting; while our parallel solutions can be used as subroutines in algorithms for other problems. The research on the last problem, reconstruction of a binary tree from its traversals, was stimulated by a challenge proposed in a recent paper by Berkman et al. ( Highly Parallelizable Problems, STOC 89) to design doubly logarithmic time optimal parallel algorithms because a remarkably small number of such parallel algorithms exist

Theoretical and Computational Basis for CATNETS - Annual Report Year 2

In this work the self-organising potential of the CATNETS allocation mechanism is described to provide a more comprehensive view on the research done in this project. The formal description of either the centralised and decentralised approach is presented. Furthermore the agents' bidding model is described and a comprehensive overview on how the catallactic mechanism is incorporated into the middleware and simulator environments is given. --Decentralized Market Mechanisms,Centralized Market Mechanisms,Catallaxy,Market Engineering,Simulator Integration,Prototype Integration

Customer satisfaction with the electronic banking services in Zimbabwe: a case of Mashonaland West Province, Zimbabwe.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.With the constant advances in technology, it is expected that life should become easier in various way, one of these being that people would no longer have to wait in queues in banks as technology allows people to do most of their transactions by computer or cell phone. This research sought to gather information on customer satisfaction with the electronic banking (e-banking) facilities and services in Zimbabwe. The problem which was identified is that people spend a lot of time waiting in queues for services they could access much more quickly on e-banking platforms. Three e-banking platforms were examined, these being automated teller machines (ATMs), internet banking, and mobile banking (m-banking). The research took the form of a descriptive case study design. It also took a mixed method approach where both quantitative and qualitative data was used. Mashonaland West Province in Zimbabwe was the location for the study. Questionnaires were distributed in all seven districts of this province, on a pro rata basis depending on population size. According to the 2012 census survey in Zimbabwe, the total population of economically active people, between the ages of 15 and 64 years living in the province was 825 911 people. The researcher used Kredjice and Morgan’s table to calculate the sample size of 384 people. Two hundred and eighty-three (283) questionnaires were returned out of the three Hundred and eighty-four (384) questionnaires which were distributed, thus the response rate was 73.7%. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (version 20) was used to analyze the data. Results showed that e-banking services in Zimbabwe are satisfactory as there was not a single attribute of banking where the majority of people showed dissatisfaction. However, there is a need for Zimbabwean banks to continue to educate citizens on how to use e-banking facilities effectively. Internet banking had the lowest levels of reported user satisfaction with the problem emanating from a lack of internet access by the majority of citizens. There was also no significant gap realized between bank sector managers’ perceptions of customers’ needs and wants and the actual needs of customers. A model for adoption of electronic banking in Zimbabwe has been developed by the researcher and is made up of five key factors which determine the adoption of electronic banking in Zimbabwe, these are: education, accessibility, ease of use, friendliness, and security. These key factors determine the success of electronic banking in Zimbabwe. If this model is adopted it can assist Zimbabwe banks in new products development, improving service quality and therefore establish sustainable competitive advantage