Exploiting graphic processing units parallelism to improve intelligent data acquisition system performance in JET's correlation reflectometer

The performance of intelligent data acquisition systems relies heavily on their processing capabilities and local bus bandwidth, especially in applications with high sample rates or high number of channels. This is the case of the self adaptive sampling rate data acquisition system installed as a pilot experiment in KG8B correlation reflectometer at JET. The system, which is based on the ITMS platform, continuously adapts the sample rate during the acquisition depending on the signal bandwidth. In order to do so it must transfer acquired data to a memory buffer in the host processor and run heavy computational algorithms for each data block. The processing capabilities of the host CPU and the bandwidth of the PXI bus limit the maximum sample rate that can be achieved, therefore limiting the maximum bandwidth of the phenomena that can be studied. Graphic processing units (GPU) are becoming an alternative for speeding up compute intensive kernels of scientific, imaging and simulation applications. However, integrating this technology into data acquisition systems is not a straight forward step, not to mention exploiting their parallelism efficiently. This paper discusses the use of GPUs with new high speed data bus interfaces to improve the performance of the self adaptive sampling rate data acquisition system installed on JET. Integration issues are discussed and performance evaluations are presente

Review. The evolution of research regarding the economics of irrigation water

This work analyses the main research trends (subjects, methodology used, countries of the authors and data) in the economics of irrigation water during the last 10 years (2000-2009). For this purpose, a quantitative methodology has been used which is new to this sphere, based on the review of a representative sample of 332 papers published in the 15 most important journals focused on this field of science indexed in the databases of the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), the Science Citation Index (SCI) and the Social Science Citation Index (SCCI). The results obtained confirm: a) the notable growth in the number of papers published, especially in the last three years, b) the high degree of collaboration between authors, including those of different origin, for their performance c) the prominence of the USA, Australia, India and Spain as the countries of the first authors and origin of the data, d) the greater attention given to subjects related with «investment project analysis», «production planning» and, especially, «production function and productivity of water», and e) the predominance of empirical studies that use basic analysis approaches (cost analysis, investment evaluation, etc.).El presente trabajo analiza las principales tendencias de investigación (temáticas, metodologías utilizadas, países de los autores y de los datos) en economía del agua de riego en los últimos 10 años (2000-2009). Para ello, se ha utilizado una metodología cuantitativa, novedosa en este ámbito, basada en la revisión de una muestra representativa de 332 artículos publicados en las 15 revistas más importantes en este ámbito científico, indexadas en las bases de datos del Institute for Scientific Information (ISI), el Science Citation Index (SCI) y el Social Science Citation Index (SCCI). Los resultados obtenidos confirman: a) el notable crecimiento del número de artículos publicados, sobre todo, en los tres últimos años, b) la elevada colaboración entre los autores para su realización, incluso de diferente procedencia, c) el protagonismo de EEUU, Australia, India y España como países de los primeros autores y de procedencia de los datos, d) la mayor atención prestada a los temas relacionados con el «análisis de proyectos de inversión», la «planificación de la producción» y, especialmente, a las «funciones de producción y la productividad del agua», y e) el predominio de los trabajos empíricos que utilizan técnicas de análisis básicas (análisis de costes, evaluación de inversiones, etc.)

Life after sexual assault: exploring women's experiences of inner resources: a phenomenological approach

Sexual violence affects one in five women in the UK, has vast consequences, and affects all areas of an individual’s life, from the relationships with significant others and with the world to the most intimate part of the self, as it crosses the boundaries of the body. Yet the literature in this area is mainly quantitative and relies on legal definitions and medical models that depict an image of a damaged woman in need of fixing. Qualitative studies have recently focused on the process of sexual assault recovery; however, few studies explore the inner resources – those that come from within – that women draw on through this experience. This study explores women’s experiences of inner resources after sexual assault and/or rape from a feminist phenomenological standpoint. Six women participated in semi-structured interviews using object elicitation – facilitating the communication of their experiences through an object – which were then analysed using an Interpretative Phenomenological Approach. Three overarching themes emerged from the data: “The Will to Live” captures the drive that keeps women alive and moving forward, is experienced as inherent to them, and continues to resurface in times of need. The “Warrior“ depicts the ongoing battles women fight, with themselves and against external opponents, to regain and maintain control over their lives, and to improve the lives of other women. The Growing Self portrays the ways in which women create nurturing and safe spaces in which to process and transform, and in which they consolidate and validate their sense of self by continually learning and developing. In the Discussion section, the findings are reviewed in relation to the wider literature through a feminist lens. This study adds to the understanding of inner resources as inherent parts of women’s self, thus constantly interacting and developing. Through providing insight into how women acknowledge, develop, and create their inner resources in their healing journey, this study contributes to the research and practice of counselling psychology, and will hopefully be helpful to those who work with women who have experienced sexual assault and/or rape

Influence of the Improvement in Thermal Expectation Levels with Adaptive Setpoint Temperatures on Energy Consumption

A sustainable use of active heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems is crucial for minimum energy consumption. Currently, research studies are increasingly applying adaptive setpoint temperatures, thus reducing considerably the energy consumption without influencing comfort levels excessively. Most of them, however, are focused on the limit values of adaptive comfort standards without considering the tolerance in users’ adaptation capacity. This research study analyzed various tolerance ranges in the recent adaptive thermal comfort model from EN 16798-1:2019 used in setpoint temperatures. The study focused on the south of Europe, considering 47 cities in Spain, 18 cities in Portugal, 13 cities in Greece, and 20 cities in Italy. In addition, such cities were analyzed in three climate scenarios: present time, 2050, and 2100. The results showed that values prefixed by EN 16798-1:2019 for new buildings (tolerance of 0.00 °C) produced significant savings with respect to the static model and that each progressive improvement in users’ thermal expectations in 0.25 °C increased the energy consumption between 6.57 and 9.31% in all scenarios analyzed. Even applying a thermal tolerance of 1.50 °C, energy savings are currently produced with respect to the static model. This tendency increases in future scenarios until a thermal tolerance of 1.75 °C. The results of this paper provide greater knowledge about the possible energy increase that the improvement in users’ expectations would produc

Applying the mixed-mode with an adaptive approach to reduce the energy poverty in social dwellings: The case of Spain

Fuel poverty is a pressing issue in several European countries, and Spain is no exception. Traditionally, it has been associated with cold conditions, but recent studies in the field have stressed its prevalence in warm countries too, during summer. Further, forecasts of climate change for these territories predict more severe summers. This envisages a scenario where low-income families might suffer from fuel poverty due to their inability to afford the energy bill to cool their homes, for tackling which the European Union and its member states are devising strategies. Adaptive comfort models have emerged as a sustainable and resilient approach in this regard. This study aims at clarifying how a change in the behavioural patterns of users, following the adaptive model might reduce the incidence of fuel poverty, compared to the static model based solely on active cooling. For this purpose, a common typology of social dwelling has been simulated in 10 cities representative of the diverse climates of Spain; both the current and future climate change scenarios have been considered. Results indicate that the mixed-mode is effective in alleviating fuel poverty not only in the present scenario, but also in 2050 and 2100, except for the most underprivileged households earning less than 500 € per month. The outcomes of this study will be of use to policy makers, designers, and stakeholders in targeting families in need for specific subsidies to afford a comfortable environment during summer.Fuel poverty is a pressing issue in several European countries, and Spain is no exception. Traditionally, it has been associated with cold conditions, but recent studies in the field have stressed its prevalence in warm countries too, during summer. Further, forecasts of climate change for these territories predict more severe summers. This envisages a scenario where low-income families might suffer from fuel poverty due to their inability to afford the energy bill to cool their homes, for tackling which the European Union and its member states are devising strategies. Adaptive comfort models have emerged as a sustainable and resilient approach in this regard. This study aims at clarifying how a change in the behavioural patterns of users, following the adaptive model might reduce the incidence of fuel poverty, compared to the static model based solely on active cooling. For this purpose, a common typology of social dwelling has been simulated in 10 cities representative of the diverse climates of Spain; both the current and future climate change scenarios have been considered. Results indicate that the mixed-mode is effective in alleviating fuel poverty not only in the present scenario, but also in 2050 and 2100, except for the most underprivileged households earning less than 500 € per month. The outcomes of this study will be of use to policy makers, designers, and stakeholders in targeting families in need for specific subsidies to afford a comfortable environment during summer

Strain dependence of the acoustic properties of amorphous metals below 1K: Evidence for the interaction between tunneling states

We have conducted a thorough study of the acoustic properties between 10^-4 and 1 Kelvin for the amorphous metal Zr_x Cu_1-x (x=0.3 and x=0.4), by measuring the relative change of sound velocity dv/v and internal friction Q^-1 as a function of temperature and also of the applied strain, in both superconducting and normal state. We have found that when plotted versus the ratio of strain energy to thermal energy, all measurements display the same behavior: a crossover from a linear regime of ``independent'' tunneling systems at very low strains and/or high enough temperatures to a nonlinear regime where dv/v and Q^-1 depend on applied strain and the tunneling systems cannot be considered as independent.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures (submitted to PRL

RAS signalling through PI3-Kinase controls cell migration via modulation of Reelin expression.

RAS signalling through phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3-Kinase) has been shown to have an essential role in tumour initiation and maintenance. RAS also regulates cell motility and tumour invasiveness, but the role of direct RAS binding to PI3-Kinase in this remains uncertain. Here, we provide evidence that disruption of RAS interaction with PI3-Kinase p110α decreases cell motility and prevents activation of Rac GTPase. Analysis of gene expression in cells lacking RAS interaction with p110α reveals increased levels of the extracellular matrix glycoprotein Reelin and activation of its downstream pathway resulting in upregulation of E-cadherin expression. Induction of the Reelin/E-cadherin axis is also observed in Kras mutant lung tumours that are regressing due to blockade of RAS interaction with PI3-Kinase. Furthermore, loss of Reelin correlates with decreased survival of lung and breast cancer patients. Reelin thus plays a role in restraining RAS and PI3-kinase promotion of cell motility and potentially tumour metastasis