Parallelizing Julia with a Non-Invasive DSL (Artifact)

This artifact is based on ParallelAccelerator, an embedded domain-specific language (DSL) and compiler for speeding up compute-intensive Julia programs. In particular, Julia code that makes heavy use of aggregate array operations is a good candidate for speeding up with ParallelAccelerator. ParallelAccelerator is a non-invasive DSL that makes as few changes to the host programming model as possible

Coz: Finding Code that Counts with Causal Profiling

Improving performance is a central concern for software developers. To locate optimization opportunities, developers rely on software profilers. However, these profilers only report where programs spent their time: optimizing that code may have no impact on performance. Past profilers thus both waste developer time and make it difficult for them to uncover significant optimization opportunities. This paper introduces causal profiling. Unlike past profiling approaches, causal profiling indicates exactly where programmers should focus their optimization efforts, and quantifies their potential impact. Causal profiling works by running performance experiments during program execution. Each experiment calculates the impact of any potential optimization by virtually speeding up code: inserting pauses that slow down all other code running concurrently. The key insight is that this slowdown has the same relative effect as running that line faster, thus "virtually" speeding it up. We present Coz, a causal profiler, which we evaluate on a range of highly-tuned applications: Memcached, SQLite, and the PARSEC benchmark suite. Coz identifies previously unknown optimization opportunities that are both significant and targeted. Guided by Coz, we improve the performance of Memcached by 9%, SQLite by 25%, and accelerate six PARSEC applications by as much as 68%; in most cases, these optimizations involve modifying under 10 lines of code.Comment: Published at SOSP 2015 (Best Paper Award

In Vitro Culture and Genetic Engineering for Crop Improvement

ABSTRACTThe development and use of innovative technologies is an important prerequisite for speeding up the breeding programs and, in general, for improving plant productivity. Some examples are given of the achievements at ENEA (the Italian Agency for New Technologies, the Energy and the Environment) using in vitro methodologies and in vitro mutation breeding. In addition the approaches utilized for developing transgenic plants which can better respond to the virus attacks are also shown

Restructuring of the institutional training of adults

Profound restructuring registered particularly by the economies of developing countries were caused by speeding up technical progress and increasing competition. Structural adjustment programs in these countries have led to radical reorganizations, of large scale with a serious social impact, affecting large groups pf employees who, left without work had to be reintegrated into work. In this context was strongly reaffirmed the need for state intervention or private organizations in the process of solving problems of available employment labour resource

Comparative evaluation of performance-boosting tools for Python

The Python programming language has a number of advantages, such as simple and clear syntax, concise and readable code, and open source implementation with a lot of extensions available, that makes it a great tool for teaching programming to students. Unfortunately, Python, as a very high level interpreted programming language, is relatively slow, which becomes a nuisance when executing computationally intensive programs. There is, however, a number of tools aimed at speeding-up execution of programs written in Python, such as Just-in-Time compilers and automatic translators to statically compiled programming languages. In this paper a comparative evaluation of such tools is done with a focus on the attained performance boost

Motorcycle safety research project: Interim summary report 3: training and licensing interventions for risk taking and hazard perception for motorcyclists

Motorcycle trauma is a serious road safety issue in Queensland and throughout Australia. In 2009, Queensland Transport (later Transport and Main Roads or TMR) appointed CARRS-Q to provide a three-year program of Road Safety Research Services for Motorcycle Rider Safety. Funding for this research originated from the Motor Accident Insurance Commission. This program of research was undertaken to produce knowledge to assist TMR to improve motorcycle safety by further strengthening the licensing and training system to make learner riders safer by developing a pre-learner package (Deliverable 1), and by evaluating the QRide CAP program to ensure that it is maximally effective and contributes to the best possible training for new riders (Deliverable 2). The focus of this report is Deliverable 3 of the overall program of research. It identifies potential new licensing components that will reduce the incidence of risky riding and improve higher-order cognitive skills in new riders

Translating Research Into Practice: Speeding the Adoption of Innovative Health Care Programs

Looks at case studies of four innovative clinical programs to determine key factors influencing the diffusion and adoption of innovations in health care

The development of an intervention to improve the safety of community care nurses while driving and a qualitative investigation of its preliminary effects

This paper details the development of, and perceived role and effectiveness of an innovative intervention designed to ultimately improve the safety of a group of community care (CC) nurses while driving. Recruiting participants from an Australian CC nursing car fleet, qualitative responses from a series of open-ended questions were obtained from drivers (n = 36), supervisors (n = 22), and managers (n = 6). The findings supported the effectiveness of the intervention in reducing self-reported speeding and promoting greater insight into one’s behaviour on the road. This research has important practical implications in that it highlights the value of developing an intervention based on a sound theoretical framework and which is aligned with the needs and beliefs of personnel within a particular organisation