Noise inspector tool

The operating system noise can interfere with normal execution programs. This behavior is becoming especially important when scaling parallel programs and amplified with global synchronizations. This work presents a tool to detect in a non-intrusive way the alien programs that share resources with current running applications in a multicore cluster.The authors acknowledge the support of the BSC (Barcelona Supercomputing Centre). We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments, which helped us to improve the manuscript. This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (contract TIN2015-65316), the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (HAR2014-57776-P) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2014 SGR-1051).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Calculation of Weibull strength parameters, Batdorf flaw density constants and related statistical quantities using PC-CARES

This manual describes the operation and theory of the PC-CARES (Personal Computer-Ceramic Analysis and Reliability Evaluation of Structures) computer program for the IBM PC and compatibles running PC-DOS/MS-DOR OR IBM/MS-OS/2 (version 1.1 or higher) operating systems. The primary purpose of this code is to estimate Weibull material strength parameters, the Batdorf crack density coefficient, and other related statistical quantities. Included in the manual is the description of the calculation of shape and scale parameters of the two-parameter Weibull distribution using the least-squares analysis and maximum likelihood methods for volume- and surface-flaw-induced fracture in ceramics with complete and censored samples. The methods for detecting outliers and for calculating the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and the Anderson-Darling goodness-of-fit statistics and 90 percent confidence bands about the Weibull line, as well as the techniques for calculating the Batdorf flaw-density constants are also described

Management, processing and dissemination of sensory data for the Earth Resource Technology Satellite

Data center for management, processing, and dissemination of photographic products generated by ERT

Clinical outcomes of 77 TESE treatment cycles in non-mosaic Klinefelter syndrome patients

O objetivo deste trabalho foi apresentar os resultados clínicos de 76 doentes azoospérmicos com síndrome de Klinefelter, sem mosaicismo cromossómico, tratados com microinjeção intracitoplasmática de espermatozoides (ICSI), "frescos" ou criopreservados, após biópsia testicular (TESE - testicular sperm extraction). Os espermatozoides foram obtidos em 31/77 (40,3%) das TESE realizadas. A idade média dos homens foi de 34,1 anos. Na maioria dos casos, observou-se um volume testicular reduzido (96,1%), níveis de FSH (98,3%) e LH (94,1%) aumentados e níveis de testosterona normais (77,6%). Em 25 ciclos de ICSI foram usados espermatozoides testiculares "frescos" e, em 22 ciclos, espermatozoides testiculares criopreservados. As taxas de fertilização (63,5% vs 41,6%), implantação (37% vs 13,2%), gravidez clínica (60,9% vs 19%), nados-vivos (52,2% vs 19%) e recém-nascidos (65,2% vs 23,8%) foram maiores no grupo em que a microinjeção foi realizada com espermatozoides testiculares "frescos". A análise cromossómica dos 21 recém-nascidos foi normal. Em conclusão, este trabalho acrescenta mais informações sobre a taxa de obtenção de espermatozoides após biópsia testicular de doentes com síndrome de Klinefelter e os consequentes resultados embriológicos e clínicos, para além de confirmar a transmissão cromossómica normal aos seus descendentes.The aim of the present work was to present the clinical outcomes of 76 azoospermic patients with non-mosaic Klinefelter syndrome, treated by testicular sperm extraction (TESE) followed by intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), using either fresh or cryopreserved testicular spermatozoa. Spermatozoa were recovered in 31/77 (40.3%) of the TESE attempts. The mean male age was 34.1 years old. In most of the cases, the testicular volume was reduced (96.1%), the levels of FSH (98.3%) and LH (94.1%) were increased, and the levels of testosterone were normal (77.6%). There were 25 ICSI treatment cycles using fresh testicular spermatozoa and 22 ICSI treatment cycles using frozen testicular spermatozoa. The rates of fertilization (63.5% vs 41.6%), implantation (37% vs 13.2%), clinical pregnancy (60.9% vs 19%), live birth delivery (52.2% vs 19%) and newborn (65.2% vs 23.8%) were higher in the group using fresh testicular spermatozoa. Chromosome analysis of the 21 newborns was normal. In conclusion, the present data adds further information regarding the recovery rate of spermatozoa after TESE and the embryological and clinical outcomes, besides reassuring the safety concerning to abnormal chromosomal transmission to the children of Klinefelter fathers

DECK: A new model for a distributed executive kernel integrating communication and multithreading for support of distributed object oriented application with fault tolerance support

DECK (Distributed Executive Communication Kernel) is a communication layer that provides support for multithreading and fault tolerance support. The approach retained in DECK is close to other distributed communication kernels like PM2, Athapascan, Nexus, TPVM or Chant in its way to integrate communication and multithreading to efficiently overlap communication by computation and provide low latency remote thread creation mechanisms. However, DECK differs from these communication kernels from the services offered and its modular architecture. The main goal of DECK is to implement a new model for the design of distributed executive kernel to efficiently use the new underlying hardware architectures (SMP architectures and fast communication adapters like Myrinet or memory oriented adapter like SCI) and provide a portable layer that abstract the problems linked with the integration of communication and multithreading while offering support for heterogeneity. A great lack in the current implementation of communication libraries or distributed executive kernel is the support for basic services at the thread level and support for fault tolerance support. Indeed, communication library like PVM or MPI are often used as communication layer to ensure portability and take benefits of specific implementation to ensure a good efficiency on specific architectures however the support for fault tolerance support, multithreading, scalability and interoperability are usually not offered. In the case of DECK, we propose a model where a distributed application can dynamically instantiate clusters of processes among an heterogeneous network of computers or parallel machines and this using multiple communication protocols or communication interfaces to ensure good performances regarding the underlying hardware architecture. The programming model proposed offer both classic synchronous and asynchronous remote service calls for thread creation and message passing for synchronization and data exchange. These basic functionalities, that form the low level communication and execution layer of DECK, are enforced by a service layer that propose the basic fault tolerant services like naming and group services or data management services for the marshaling and un-marshalling of complex data structures. The layered and modular approach followed by DECK enable many other extensions while keeping a high degree of portability and efficiency.Sistemas Distribuidos - Redes ConcurrenciaRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

System noise, OS clock ticks, and fine-grained parallel applications

As parallel jobs get bigger in size and finer in granularity, “system noise ” is increasingly becoming a problem. In fact, fine-grained jobs on clusters with thousands of SMP nodes run faster if a processor is intentionally left idle (per node), thus enabling a separation of “system noise ” from the com-putation. Paying a cost in average processing speed at a node for the sake of eliminating occasional processes delays is (unfortunately) beneficial, as such delays are enormously magnified when one late process holds up thousands of peers with which it synchronizes. We provide a probabilistic argument showing that, under certain conditions, the effect of such noise is linearly pro-portional to the size of the cluster (as is often empirically observed). We then identify a major source of noise to be indirect overhead of periodic OS clock interrupts (“ticks”), that are used by all general-purpose OSs as a means of main-taining control. This is shown for various grain sizes, plat-forms, tick frequencies, and OSs. To eliminate such noise, we suggest replacing ticks with an alternative mechanism we call “smart timers”. This turns out to also be in line with needs of desktop and mobile computing, increasing the chances of the suggested change to be accepted. 1

Autism in regional and remote communities: Examining the effect of an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis on regional and remote families and innovative therapies

This PhD project aims to address therapy service access barriers for families of children with autism spectrum disorder living in regional and remote Western Australia. Therefore the feasibility, effectiveness and appropriateness of an information communication technology based intervention, the Therapy Outcomes By Your Playpad Application were examined. The findings provide partial support for the Therapy Outcomes By Your Playpad Application as a feasible, effective and appropriate intervention for families of children with autism spectrum disorder