Extending systems-on-chip to the third dimension : performance, cost and technological tradeoffs.

Because of the today's market demand for high-performance, high-density portable hand-held applications, electronic system design technology has shifted the focus from 2-D planar SoC single-chip solutions to different alternative options as tiled silicon and single-level embedded modules as well as 3-D integration. Among the various choices, finding an optimal solution for system implementation dealt usually with cost, performance and other technological trade-off analysis at the system conceptual level. It has been identified that the decisions made within the first 20% of the total design cycle time will ultimately result up to 80% of the final product cost. In this paper, we discuss appropriate and realistic metric for performance and cost trade-off analysis both at system conceptual level (up-front in the design phase) and at implementation phase for verification in the three-dimensional integration. In order to validate the methodology, two ubiquitous electronic systems are analyzed under various implementation schemes and discuss the pros and cons of each of them

Organic farming and multicriteria decisions: An economic survey

Organic food production is a sphere where decision making is multi-facetted and complex. This applies to producers, political decision makers and consumers alike. This paper provides an overview of the economic methods that can aid such multi criteria decision making. We first provide an outline of the many different Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) techniques available and their relative advantages and disadvantages. In addition, theoretical and practical problems related to the use of Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) and MCA respectively are briefly discussed. We then review the MCA literature on case studies on organic farming. Based on this review we provide directional markers for future research where MCA may possibly be applied and adapted in order to provide useful knowledge and support for decision makers in the context of organic farming

TriCheck: Memory Model Verification at the Trisection of Software, Hardware, and ISA

Memory consistency models (MCMs) which govern inter-module interactions in a shared memory system, are a significant, yet often under-appreciated, aspect of system design. MCMs are defined at the various layers of the hardware-software stack, requiring thoroughly verified specifications, compilers, and implementations at the interfaces between layers. Current verification techniques evaluate segments of the system stack in isolation, such as proving compiler mappings from a high-level language (HLL) to an ISA or proving validity of a microarchitectural implementation of an ISA. This paper makes a case for full-stack MCM verification and provides a toolflow, TriCheck, capable of verifying that the HLL, compiler, ISA, and implementation collectively uphold MCM requirements. The work showcases TriCheck's ability to evaluate a proposed ISA MCM in order to ensure that each layer and each mapping is correct and complete. Specifically, we apply TriCheck to the open source RISC-V ISA, seeking to verify accurate, efficient, and legal compilations from C11. We uncover under-specifications and potential inefficiencies in the current RISC-V ISA documentation and identify possible solutions for each. As an example, we find that a RISC-V-compliant microarchitecture allows 144 outcomes forbidden by C11 to be observed out of 1,701 litmus tests examined. Overall, this paper demonstrates the necessity of full-stack verification for detecting MCM-related bugs in the hardware-software stack.Comment: Proceedings of the Twenty-Second International Conference on Architectural Support for Programming Languages and Operating System

Macroeconomic Policy Coordination among the Industrial Economies

macroeconomics, policy coordination, industrial economy

Xel-FPGAs: An End-to-End Automated Exploration Framework for Approximate Accelerators in FPGA-Based Systems

Generation and exploration of approximate circuits and accelerators has been a prominent research domain to achieve energy-efficiency and/or performance improvements. This research has predominantly focused on ASICs, while not achieving similar gains when deployed for FPGA-based accelerator systems, due to the inherent architectural differences between the two. In this work, we propose a novel framework, Xel-FPGAs, which leverages statistical or machine learning models to effectively explore the architecture-space of state-of-the-art ASIC-based approximate circuits to cater them for FPGA-based systems given a simple RTL description of the target application. We have also evaluated the scalability of our framework on a multi-stage application using a hierarchical search strategy. The Xel-FPGAs framework is capable of reducing the exploration time by up to 95%, when compared to the default synthesis, place, and route approaches, while identifying an improved set of Pareto-optimal designs for a given application, when compared to the state-of-the-art. The complete framework is open-source and available online at https://github.com/ehw-fit/xel-fpgas.Comment: Accepted for publication at the 42nd International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD), November 2023, San Francisco, CA, US

Automatic configuration of the reference point method for fully automated multi-objective treatment planning applied to oropharyngeal cancer

Purpose: In automated treatment planning, configuration of the underlying algorithm to generate high-quality plans for all patients of a particular tumor type can be a major challenge. Often, a time-consuming trial-and-error tuning procedure is required. The purpose of this paper is to automatically configure an automated treatment planning algorithm for oropharyngeal cancer patients. Methods: Recently, we proposed a new procedure to automatically configure the reference point method (RPM), a fast automatic multi-objective treatment planning algorithm. With a well-tuned configuration, the RPM generates a single Pareto optimal treatment plan with clinically favorable trade-offs for each patient. The automatic configuration of the RPM requires a set of computed tomography (CT) scans with corresponding dose distributions for training. Previously, we demonstrated for prostate cancer planning with 12 objectives th

Control of zootechnology leads to improved Cuttlefish (Sepia officinalis, L.) reproduction performance up to pre-industrial levels

Cephalopods are gaining momentum as an alternate group for aquaculture species diversification, not only because they are a good food source (highly appreciated in some worldwide markets) but they also have the potential to quickly reach a market size. However, there are some bottlenecks impeding the transition of culture technology from the laboratory to industry. One is related to control over reproduction in captivity. The objective of the present experiment was to verify the effects of tanks with different bottom areas/volumes on the reproduction performance of S. officinalis breeding stocks, when sex ratios were controlled a priori; and the food cost associated with such performance when individuals are fed a natural frozen diet. One hundred and ninety two juvenile cuttlefish were used to compare three different round-shaped tanks: one type with 3000L volume and two types with 9000L volume (with differences in bottom areas and water column). Individuals had their sex and maturity stage determined to establish a sexual ratio of 2 female:1 male per tank and assure that cuttlefish were still immature. Biological data was collected during both growth and reproduction stages and until the death of all females in each tank. The experiment lasted nearly 300 days. Temperature differences between tank types were registered during both stages. The optimizing of rearing conditions has allowed for higher growth and a higher amount of cuttlefish available for breeding purposes. A total of 123,751 eggs (in 85 batches) was obtained during this experiment, which is a number that may meet a small scale cuttlefish commercial hatchery facility requirements. The present conditions contributed to a better and predictable reproduction performance in specific 9000L tanks, with values reaching pre-industrial numbers (approximate to 24,000 eggs/tank). Moreover, both the amount of eggs per batch and the overall quality of eggs has increased. Three of these 9000L tanks have an overall consumption of approximate to 38.64 Kg tank(-1), which translates in an investment in feed of approximate to 193 (sic) tank(-1), 8.40 (sic) per cuttlefish and an overall daily tank expense of 1.76 (sic) d(-1).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Multicriteria mapping manual: version 1.0

This Manual offers basic advice on how to do multicriteria mapping (MCM). It suggests how to: go about designing and building a typical MCM project; engage with participants and analyse results – and get the most out of the online MCM tool. Key terms are shown in bold italics and defined and explained in a final Annex. The online MCM software tool provides its own operational help. So this Manual is more focused on the general approach. There are no rigid rules. MCM is structured, but very flexible. It allows many more detailed features than can be covered here. MCM users are encouraged to think for themselves and be responsible and creative

Multi-scale analysis of the water-energy-food nexus in the Gulf region

We quantify the heavily oil-dominated WEF nexus in three Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia) across spatial scales and over time, using available empirical data at the national level, and explore the exposure to nexus stresses (groundwater depletion) in other countries through virtual water trade. At the domestic scale, WEF trade-offs are fairly limited; while all sectors require considerable amounts of energy, the requirements for water and food production are modest compared to other uses. At the international scale, revenues from oil exports in the GCC allow the region to compensate for low food production and scarce water availability. This dependency is dynamic over time, increasing when oil prices are low and food prices are high. We show how reducing domestic trade-offs can lead to higher exposure internationally, with rice imports originating in regions where groundwater is being depleted. However, Saudi Arabia's increased wheat imports, after reversing its food self-sufficiency policy, have had limited effects on groundwater depletion elsewhere. Climate change mitigation links the WEF nexus to the global scale. While there is great uncertainty about future international climate policy, our analysis illustrates how implementation of measures to account for the social costs of carbon would reduce the oil and gas revenues available to import food and desalinate water in the GCC

Multi-Objective Optimization for Analysis of Changing Trade-Offs in the Nepalese Water-Energy-Food Nexus with Hydropower Development

While the water–energy–food nexus approach is becoming increasingly important for more efficient resource utilization and economic development, limited quantitative tools are available to incorporate the approach in decision-making. We propose a spatially explicit framework that couples two well-established water and power system models to develop a decision support tool combining multiple nexus objectives in a linear objective function. To demonstrate our framework, we compare eight Nepalese power development scenarios based on five nexus objectives: minimization of power deficit, maintenance of water availability for irrigation to support food self-sufficiency, reduction in flood risk, maintenance of environmental flows, and maximization of power export. The deterministic multi-objective optimization model is spatially resolved to enable realistic representation of the nexus linkages and accounts for power transmission constraints using an optimal power flow approach. Basin inflows, hydropower plant specifications, reservoir characteristics, reservoir rules, irrigation water demand, environmental flow requirements, power demand, and transmission line properties are provided as model inputs. The trade-offs and synergies among these objectives were visualized for each scenario under multiple environmental flow and power demand requirements. Spatially disaggregated model outputs allowed for the comparison of scenarios not only based on fulfillment of nexus objectives but also scenario compatibility with existing infrastructure, supporting the identification of projects that enhance overall system efficiency. Though the model is applied to the Nepalese nexus from a power development perspective here, it can be extended and adapted for other problems