BEEBS: Open Benchmarks for Energy Measurements on Embedded Platforms

This paper presents and justifies an open benchmark suite named BEEBS, targeted at evaluating the energy consumption of embedded processors. We explore the possible sources of energy consumption, then select individual benchmarks from contemporary suites to cover these areas. Version one of BEEBS is presented here and contains 10 benchmarks that cover a wide range of typical embedded applications. The benchmark suite is portable across diverse architectures and is freely available. The benchmark suite is extensively evaluated, and the properties of its constituent programs are analysed. Using real hardware platforms we show case examples which illustrate the difference in power dissipation between three processor architectures and their related ISAs. We observe significant differences in the average instruction dissipation between the architectures of 4.4x, specifically 170uW/MHz (ARM Cortex-M0), 65uW/MHz (Adapteva Epiphany) and 88uW/MHz (XMOS XS1-L1)

Identifying Compiler Options to Minimise Energy Consumption for Embedded Platforms

This paper presents an analysis of the energy consumption of an extensive number of the optimisations a modern compiler can perform. Using GCC as a test case, we evaluate a set of ten carefully selected benchmarks for five different embedded platforms. A fractional factorial design is used to systematically explore the large optimisation space (2^82 possible combinations), whilst still accurately determining the effects of optimisations and optimisation combinations. Hardware power measurements on each platform are taken to ensure all architectural effects on the energy consumption are captured. We show that fractional factorial design can find more optimal combinations than relying on built in compiler settings. We explore the relationship between run-time and energy consumption, and identify scenarios where they are and are not correlated. A further conclusion of this study is the structure of the benchmark has a larger effect than the hardware architecture on whether the optimisation will be effective, and that no single optimisation is universally beneficial for execution time or energy consumption.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Net Yield Efficiency:Comparing Salad and Vegetable Waste between Community Supported Agriculture and Supermarkets in the UK

Food security is high on the global agenda. Two factors make it particularly pressing: the continuing rise in the global population, and the failure to adequately feed the current one. An area that has been the focus of much recent attention has been food waste; the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that as much as a third of all food is lost or wasted. This paper argues that by taking a food system approach that accounts for yields as well as loss and waste in distribution and consumption, we can compare the contribution of different food systems to food security. A novel concept of “net yield efficiency” (NYE) is introduced that accounts for this. We present an illustrative case study of the levels of fresh vegetable and salad waste in the supermarket-controlled food system compared with a commu­nity supported agriculture (CSA) scheme. This case study explores whether the CSA and its members are less wasteful than the supermarket system. The study found that when all stages of the food system were measured for waste, the CSA dramatically outperformed the supermarket system, wasting only 6.71% by weight compared to 40.7–47.7%. Even accounting for difficulties in estimating waste, the findings underline the differences between these systems. On this basis, the paper argues that the NYE measure provides a more accurate picture of food system performance than current measures, which tend to focus on yield alone

Towards improved bioaerosol model validation and verification

Bioaerosols, comprised of bacteria, fungi and viruses are ubiquitous in ambient air. Known to adversely affect human health, the impact of bioaerosols on a population often manifests as outbreaks of illnesses such as Legionnaires Disease and Q fever, although the concentrations and environmental conditions in which these impacts occur are not well understood. Bioaerosol concentrations vary from source to source, but specific industrialised human activities such as water treatment, intensive agriculture and open windrow composting facilitate the generation of bioaerosol concentrations many times higher than natural background levels. Bioaerosol sampling is currently undertaken according to the requirements of the Environment Agency’s regulatory framework, in which the collection of bioaerosols and not its long-term measurement is of most importance. As a consequence, sampling devices are often moved around site according to changing wind direction and sampling intervals are invariably short-term. The dispersion modelling of bioaerosols from composting facilities typically relies on proxy pollutant parameters. In addition, the use of short term emission data gathering strategies in which monitors are moved frequently with wind direction, do not provide a robust reliable and repeatable dataset by which to validate any modelling or to verify its performance. New sampling methods such as the Spectral Intensity Bioaerosol Sensor (SIBS) provide an opportunity to address several gaps in bioaerosol model validation and verification. In the context of model validation, this paper sets out the current weaknesses in bioaerosol monitoring from the perspective of robust modelling requirements

Impression or expression? The influence of self-monitoring on the social modulation of motor contagion

Social primes (pro-social, anti-social) can modulate mimicry behaviour. To date, these social modulation effects have been explained by the primed incentive to affiliate with another (Social Top-Down Response Modulation; STORM) and the primed active-self-concept leading to behaviour that is either consistent or inconsistent with the prime-construct (Active-Self account). The present study was designed to explore the explanatory power for each of these accounts, and thereby gain a greater understanding of how social modulation unfolds. To do this, we assessed social modulation of motor contagion in individuals high or low in self-monitoring. It was reasoned that high self-monitors would modulate mimicry according to the primed social incentive, whereas low self-monitors would modulate according to the primed active-self-concept. Participants were primed with a pro-social and anti-social cue in the first-person and third-person perspective. Next, they completed an interpersonal observation-execution task featuring the simultaneous observation and execution of arm movements that were either congruent or incongruent to each other. Results showed increased incongruent movement deviation (motor contagion) for the anti-social compared to the pro-social prime in the high self-monitors only. Findings support the STORM account of mimicry by showing observers modulate behaviour based on the social incentive underpinning an interpersonal exchange

Visual Function of English Premier League Soccer Players

Purpose: Examine visual function of soccer players of different skill level and playing position. Methods: Elite players from an English Premier League soccer club (n=49) and intermediate players (n=31) completed an assessment on a Nike SPARQ Sensory Station of: static and dynamic visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, accommodative-vergence facility, target capture and perception span. Results: There was no difference between elite and intermediate players for all measures. However, competitive soccer players (elite, intermediate) did exhibit better performance in acuity-based measures of visual function and accommodative-vergence compared to a population of healthy non-athletic adults (n=230). With regards to player position, defensive players showed quicker accommodative-vergence facility compared to offensive players. Conclusion: Visual function of competitive soccer players is superior to non-athletic adults, but does not differentiate the elite and intermediate player. However, defensive players do exhibit faster accommodative-vergence than offensive players. We suspect that this particular visual function is advantageous for defenders given the greater demand to continually shift gaze between players located at near and far locations

Is automatic imitation a specialized form of stimulus–response compatibility? Dissociating imitative and spatial compatibilities

In recent years research on automatic imitation has received considerable attention because it represents an experimental platform for investigating a number of inter-related theories suggesting that the perception of action automatically activates corresponding motor programs. A key debate within this research centers on whether automatic imitation is any different than other long-term S-R associations, such as spatial stimulus-response compatibility. One approach to resolving this issue is to examine whether automatic imitation shows similar response characteristics as other classes of stimulus-response compatibility. This hypothesis was tested by comparing imitative and spatial compatibility effects with a two alternative forced-choice stimulus-response compatibility paradigm and two tasks: one that involved selecting a response to the stimulus (S-R) and one that involved selecting a response to the opposite stimulus (OS-R), i.e., the one not presented. The stimulus for both tasks was a left or right hand with either the index or middle finger tapping down. Speeded responses were performed with the index or middle finger of the right hand in response to the finger identity or the left-right spatial position of the fingers. Based on previous research and a connectionist model, we predicted standard compatibility effects for both spatial and imitative compatibility in the S-R task, and a reverse compatibility effect for spatial compatibility but not for imitative compatibility in the OS-R task. The results from the mean response times, mean percentage of errors, and response time distributions all converged to support these predictions. A second noteworthy result was that the recoding of the finger identity in the OS-R task required significantly more time than the recoding of the left-right spatial position, but the encoding time for the two stimuli in the S-R task was equivalent. In sum, this evidence suggests that the processing of spatial and imitative compatibility is dissociable with regard to two different processes in dual processing models of stimulus-response compatibility

Mining Public Domain Data to Develop Selective DYRK1A Inhibitors

Kinases represent one of the most intensively pursued groups of targets in modern-day drug discovery. Often it is desirable to achieve selective inhibition of the kinase of interest over the remaining ∼500 kinases in the human kinome. This is especially true when inhibitors are intended to be used to study the biology of the target of interest. We present a pipeline of open-source software that analyzes public domain data to repurpose compounds that have been used in previous kinase inhibitor development projects. We define the dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase 1A (DYRK1A) as the kinase of interest, and by addition of a single methyl group to the chosen starting point we remove glycogen synthase kinase β (GSK3β) and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) inhibition. Thus, in an efficient manner we repurpose a GSK3β/CDK chemotype to deliver 8b, a highly selective DYRK1A inhibitor

Mesoporous tertiary oxides via a novel amphiphilic approach

We report a facile biomimetic sol-gel synthesis using the sponge phase formed by the lipid monoolein as a structure-directing template, resulting in high phase purity, mesoporous dysprosium- and gadolinium titanates. The stability of monoolein in a 1,4-butanediol and water mixture complements the use of a simple sol-gel metal oxide synthesis route. By judicious control of the lipid/solvent concentration, the sponge phase of monoolein can be directly realised in the pyrochlore material, leading to a porous metal oxide network with an average pore diameter of 10 nm

Research in learning technology: making friends and influencing people

The first issue of Research in Learning Technology (RLT) was published in 1993. Over 30 years, the journal has comprised an informal research and development facility for new ideas and practices in technology enhanced learning. This paper takes nine published articles from RLT: the three most downloaded in the period January 2021 – March 2023 (but published at any time); the three most downloaded articles published from January 2021 to March 2023; and the three most cited articles published from January 2018 to March 2023. The aim is to identify different areas of current interest and influence, different areas of practice, and different scholarly approaches. The authors are the journal’s current editorial team. This paper identifies diversity of technology enhanced learning-related subject matter and different approaches, too, but with ongoing interest in efficacy and in the ‘how’ of technology enhanced learning: how technology can be applied to truly enhance learning, comprising an approachable community, generating influence