Fast divide-and-conquer algorithms for preemptive scheduling problems with controllable processing times – A polymatroid optimization approach

We consider a variety of preemptive scheduling problems with controllable processing times on a single machine and on identical/uniform parallel machines, where the objective is to minimize the total compression cost. In this paper, we propose fast divide-and-conquer algorithms for these scheduling problems. Our approach is based on the observation that each scheduling problem we discuss can be formulated as a polymatroid optimization problem. We develop a novel divide-and-conquer technique for the polymatroid optimization problem and then apply it to each scheduling problem. We show that each scheduling problem can be solved in O(Tfeas(n) log n) time by using our divide-and-conquer technique, where n is the number of jobs and Tfeas(n) denotes the time complexity of the corresponding feasible scheduling problem with n jobs. This approach yields faster algorithms for most of the scheduling problems discussed in this paper

Preemptive scheduling on uniform parallel machines with controllable job processing times

In this paper, we provide a unified approach to solving preemptive scheduling problems with uniform parallel machines and controllable processing times. We demonstrate that a single criterion problem of minimizing total compression cost subject to the constraint that all due dates should be met can be formulated in terms of maximizing a linear function over a generalized polymatroid. This justifies applicability of the greedy approach and allows us to develop fast algorithms for solving the problem with arbitrary release and due dates as well as its special case with zero release dates and a common due date. For the bicriteria counterpart of the latter problem we develop an efficient algorithm that constructs the trade-off curve for minimizing the compression cost and the makespan

Imprecise Computation Model, Synchronous Periodic Real-time Task Sets and Total Weighted Error

This paper proposes two scheduling approaches, one-level and two-level scheduling, for synchronous periodic real-time task sets based on the Imprecise Computation Model. The imperative of real-time systems is a reaction on an event within a limited amount of time. Sometimes the available time and resources are not enough for the computations to complete within the deadlines, but still enough to produce approximate results. The Imprecise Computation Model is motivated by this idea, which gives the flexibility to trade off precision for timeliness. In this model a task is logically decomposed into a mandatory and optional subtask. Only the mandatory subtask is required to complete by its deadline, while the optional subtask may be left unfinished. Usually, different scheduling policies are used for the scheduling of mandatory and optional subtasks. For both proposed approaches the earliest deadline first and rate monotonic scheduling algorithms are used for the scheduling of mandatory subtasks, whereas the optional subtasks are scheduled in a way that the total weighted error is minimized. The basic idea of one-level scheduling is to extend the mandatory execution times, while in two-level scheduling the mandatory and optional subtasks are separately scheduled. The single preemptive processor model is assumed

Preemptive models of scheduling with controllable processing times and of scheduling with imprecise computation: A review of solution approaches

This paper provides a review of recent results on scheduling with controllable processing times. The stress is on the methodological aspects that include parametric flow techniques and methods for solving mathematical programming problems with submodular constraints. We show that the use of these methodologies yields fast algorithms for solving problems on single machine or parallel machines, with either one or several objective functions. For a wide range of problems with controllable processing times we report algorithms with the running times which match those known for the corresponding problems with fixed processing times. As a by-product, we present the best possible algorithms for a number of problems on parallel machines that are traditionally studied within the body of research on scheduling with imprecise computation

Handling Scheduling Problems with Controllable Parameters by Methods of Submodular Optimization

In this paper, we demonstrate how scheduling problems with controllable processing times can be reformulated as maximization linear programming problems over a submodular polyhedron intersected with a box. We explain a decomposition algorithm for solving the latter problem and discuss its implications for the relevant problems of preemptive scheduling on a single machine and parallel machines

Learning with many experts: model selection and sparsity

Experts classifying data are often imprecise. Recently, several models have been proposed to train classifiers using the noisy labels generated by these experts. How to choose between these models? In such situations, the true labels are unavailable. Thus, one cannot perform model selection using the standard versions of methods such as empirical risk minimization and cross validation. In order to allow model selection, we present a surrogate loss and provide theoretical guarantees that assure its consistency. Next, we discuss how this loss can be used to tune a penalization which introduces sparsity in the parameters of a traditional class of models. Sparsity provides more parsimonious models and can avoid overfitting. Nevertheless, it has seldom been discussed in the context of noisy labels due to the difficulty in model selection and, therefore, in choosing tuning parameters. We apply these techniques to several sets of simulated and real data.Comment: This is the pre-peer reviewed versio

Power Optimizations in MTJ-based Neural Networks through Stochastic Computing

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have found widespread applications in tasks such as pattern recognition and image classification. However, hardware implementations of ANNs using conventional binary arithmetic units are computationally expensive, energy-intensive and have large area overheads. Stochastic Computing (SC) is an emerging paradigm which replaces these conventional units with simple logic circuits and is particularly suitable for fault-tolerant applications. Spintronic devices, such as Magnetic Tunnel Junctions (MTJs), are capable of replacing CMOS in memory and logic circuits. In this work, we propose an energy-efficient use of MTJs, which exhibit probabilistic switching behavior, as Stochastic Number Generators (SNGs), which forms the basis of our NN implementation in the SC domain. Further, error resilient target applications of NNs allow us to introduce Approximate Computing, a framework wherein accuracy of computations is traded-off for substantial reductions in power consumption. We propose approximating the synaptic weights in our MTJ-based NN implementation, in ways brought about by properties of our MTJ-SNG, to achieve energy-efficiency. We design an algorithm that can perform such approximations within a given error tolerance in a single-layer NN in an optimal way owing to the convexity of the problem formulation. We then use this algorithm and develop a heuristic approach for approximating multi-layer NNs. To give a perspective of the effectiveness of our approach, a 43% reduction in power consumption was obtained with less than 1% accuracy loss on a standard classification problem, with 26% being brought about by the proposed algorithm.Comment: Accepted in the 2017 IEEE/ACM International Conference on Low Power Electronics and Desig