Behavioral synthesis from VHDL using structured modeling

This dissertation describes work in behavioral synthesis involving the development of a VHDL Synthesis System VSS which accepts a VHDL behavioral input specification and performs technology independent synthesis to generate a circuit netlist of generic components. The VHDL language is used for input and output descriptions. An intermediate representation which incorporates signal typing and component attributes simplifies compilation and facilitates design optimization.A Structured Modeling methodology has been developed to suggest standard VHDL modeling practices for synthesis. Structured modeling provides recommendations for the use of available VHDL description styles so that optimal designs will be synthesized.A design composed of generic components is synthesized from the input description through a process of Graph Compilation, Graph Criticism, and Design Compilation. Experiments were performed to demonstrate the effects of different modeling styles on the quality of the design produced by VSS. Several alternative VHDL models were examined for each benchmark, illustrating the improvements in design quality achieved when Structured Modeling guidelines were followed

The uses of process modeling : a framework for understanding modeling formalisms

There is wide-spread recognition of the urgent need to improve software processes in order to improve the performance of software organizations. Process models are essential in achieving understanding and visibility of processes and are important for other uses including the analysis of processes for improvement. It has been increasingly difficult to compare and evaluate the variety of process modeling formalisms that have appeared in recent years without a clear understanding of precisely for what they will be used. The contribution of this paper is to provide an understanding and a fairly comprehensive catalog of the applications of process modeling for which formalisms may be used. The primary mechanism for doing this is a guided tour of the literature on process modeling supplemented by recent industrial experience. In the paper, basic definitions concerning processes, process descriptions and process modeling are reviewed and then uses of process modeling are surveyed under the following headings: communication among process participants, construction of new processes, control of processes, process· analysis, and process support by automation. Comments are offered on paradigms for process modeling formalisms and directions for future work to permit evolution of a discipline of process engineering are given

Lessons Learned and Next Steps in Energy Efficiency Measurement and Attribution: Energy Savings, Net to Gross, Non-Energy Benefits, and Persistence of Energy Efficiency Behavior

This white paper examines four topics addressing evaluation, measurement, and attribution of direct and indirect effects to energy efficiency and behavioral programs: Estimates of program savings (gross); Net savings derivation through free ridership / net to gross analyses; Indirect non-energy benefits / impacts (e.g., comfort, convenience, emissions, jobs); and, Persistence of savings

Solutions for Impact Investors: From Strategy to Implementation

In writing this monograph, our main goal is to provide impact investors with tools to tighten the link between their investment decisions and impact creation. Our intent is threefold: to attract more capital to impact investing; to assist impact investors as they move from organizational change to executing and refining their impact investment decision-making process; and to narrow the gap within foundations between program professionals and investment professionals thereby contributing to a mutual understanding and implementation of a portfolio approach to impact investing.Additionally, we intend to help break down the barriers making it difficult to identify opportunities in impact investing. To this end, we provide examples throughout the monograph and at www.rockpa.org/impactinvesting of impact investment opportunities in most major asset classes.While we understand the important role that impact investors can play in providing financial capital, we also want to acknowledge the wide range of non-financial resources needed to address the world's problems. Our intent with this monograph is not to provide a comprehensive list of investments across asset classes nor any type of investment advice with regard to the selected profiles. We strongly encourage the reader to conduct their own assessment and evaluation for risk and suitability before considering any investment

Some Remarks about the Complexity of Epidemics Management

Recent outbreaks of Ebola, H1N1 and other infectious diseases have shown that the assumptions underlying the established theory of epidemics management are too idealistic. For an improvement of procedures and organizations involved in fighting epidemics, extended models of epidemics management are required. The necessary extensions consist in a representation of the management loop and the potential frictions influencing the loop. The effects of the non-deterministic frictions can be taken into account by including the measures of robustness and risk in the assessment of management options. Thus, besides of the increased structural complexity resulting from the model extensions, the computational complexity of the task of epidemics management - interpreted as an optimization problem - is increased as well. This is a serious obstacle for analyzing the model and may require an additional pre-processing enabling a simplification of the analysis process. The paper closes with an outlook discussing some forthcoming problems

Expert System for Crop Disease based on Graph Pattern Matching: A proposal

Para la agroindustria, las enfermedades en cultivos constituyen uno de los problemas más frecuentes que generan grandes pérdidas económicas y baja calidad en la producción. Por otro lado, desde las ciencias de la computación, han surgido diferentes herramientas cuya finalidad es mejorar la prevención y el tratamiento de estas enfermedades. En este sentido, investigaciones recientes proponen el desarrollo de sistemas expertos para resolver este problema haciendo uso de técnicas de minería de datos e inteligencia artificial, como inferencia basada en reglas, árboles de decisión, redes bayesianas, entre otras. Además, los grafos pueden ser usados para el almacenamiento de los diferentes tipos de variables que se encuentran presentes en un ambiente de cultivos, permitiendo la aplicación de técnicas de minería de datos en grafos, como el emparejamiento de patrones en los mismos. En este artículo presentamos una visión general de las temáticas mencionadas y una propuesta de un sistema experto para enfermedades en cultivos, basado en emparejamiento de patrones en grafos.For agroindustry, crop diseases constitute one of the most common problems that generate large economic losses and low production quality. On the other hand, from computer science, several tools have emerged in order to improve the prevention and treatment of these diseases. In this sense, recent research proposes the development of expert systems to solve this problem, making use of data mining and artificial intelligence techniques like rule-based inference, decision trees, Bayesian network, among others. Furthermore, graphs can be used for storage of different types of variables that are present in an environment of crops, allowing the application of graph data mining techniques like graph pattern matching. Therefore, in this paper we present an overview of the above issues and a proposal of an expert system for crop disease based on graph pattern matching