Mata Hari ---a mixed success [A review of the play \u3cem\u3eBallad For a Firing Squad\u3c/em\u3e at Alverno College, Milwaukee]

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Switchbox routing by pattern matching

Journal ArticleMany good algorithms have been designed that provide good solutions to the wire routing problem in VLSI. Unfortunately, many of these algorithms only consider a small subset of different parameters such as number of layers, routability of layers and technology. We believe that these algorithms can be applied generally to any set of parameters by implementing the algorithms as a description that allows them to take advantage of this flexibility. We propose that routing algorithms either use patterns directly or can be converted to use patterns. We present a powerful formalism for describing these patterns

Transforming disfigured and disoriented areas into routable switchboxes

Journal ArticleRouting an entire circuit requires partitioning the circuit (routing area) into smaller, localized routing areas. Using non-rectangular, rotated switchbox shapes (and therefore non-manhattan routing layout) has the potential to simplify the partitioning of the circuit into routable areas and to use "dead space" on a chip for routing. The method described in this paper for generating non-rectangular, rotated switchboxes borrows ideas from computer graphics

Evaluating the potential of programmable multiprocessor cache controllers

technical reportThe next generation of scalable parallel systems (e.g., machines by KSR, Convex, and others) will have shared memory supported in hardware, unlike most current generation machines (e.g., offerings by Intel, nCube, and Thinking Machines). However, current shared memory architectures are constrained by the fact that their cache controllers are hardwired and inflexible, which limits the range of programs that can achieve scalable performance. This observation has led a number of researchers to propose building programmable multiprocessor cache controllers that can implement a variety of caching protocols, support multiple communication paradigms, or accept guidance from software. To evaluate the potential performance benefits of these designs, we have simulated five SPLASH benchmark programs on a virtual multiprocessor that supports five directory-based caching protocols. When we compared the off-line optimal performance of this design, wherein each cache line was maintained using the protocol that required the least communication, with the performance achieved when using a single protocol for all lines, we found that use of the "optimal" protocol reduced consistency traffic by 10-80%, with a mean improvement of 25-35%. Cache miss rates also dropped by up to 25%. Thus, the combination of programmable (or tunable) hardware and software able to exploit this added flexibility, e.g., via user pragmas or compiler analysis, could dramatically improve the performance of future shared memory multiprocessors

Conflicting logics of public relations in the English NHS: a qualitative study of communications and engagement

Since the formation of the NHS, all UK citizens have been entitled to access a universal health service, but radical changes to the NHS are now occurring. Although recent NHS policy claims that ‘the NHS belongs to us all’ and ‘the NHS is a social movement’, these collectivist rhetorical claims appear when such communitarian discourse is under threat, as NHS England’s (2014) Five Year Forward View tries to square the circle of efficiency, quality and equity. Historically, patients and user-groups have formed support networks and social movements, and collectively campaigned for their voices to be heard by policy makers, clinicians and managers. In contrast to the discourse of user movements, the field of marketing and public relations generally relies on the idea of the public as consumers rather than citizens. As complex governance arrangements blur the lines between public and private, concerns have been raised about how ‘spin’ associated with public relations might contravene accountability, communicative rationality and deliberative or participatory democracy. Using qualitative methods, we conducted empirical research in two localities to explore the role of communications and engagement staff as they worked to ‘transform’ the NHS in line with the vision of the Five Year Forward View. We gathered documentary data and interview data from people whose roles required them to ‘do engagement’. These staff came from a range of backgrounds, including professional marketing backgrounds, and many were unaware of emancipatory goals or user-led involvement and activism. Our analysis examines the competing logics of marketing and patient empowerment within a key stakeholder matrix document and that surfaced in participants’ accounts of their engagement practices.NIH

An economic appraisal of management information

The principal aim of this study is to produce a methodology for the economic appraisal of management information. It is not claimed that the methodology will work for all management information but it is considered appropriate in the majority of cases. The first stage in the methodology is the production of a management information needs framework. This framework will have at least two level; management's present and management's potential information needs. The information needs framework is then extended into an information value and cost framework. This extension is carried out by first ordering the needs framework in order of importance to the manager of the information. One of three methods of valuation can then be used to place a value on the information which enables its economic viability to be determined. A series of empirical studies were carried out to determine how successfully such a methodology can be operated by management. These empirical studies indicated that management can determine information needs reasonably successfully although they might need assistance to estimate potential information needs. The studies also suggested that management have problems in determining quantitative values and costs and so would need some form of training programme to carry out this part of the methodology. The thesis also contains a number of case studies relating to specific management information problems

Immersive 4D Interactive Visualization of Large-Scale Simulations

In dense clusters a bewildering variety of interactions between stars can be observed, ranging from simple encounters to collisions and other mass-transfer encounters. With faster and special-purpose computers like GRAPE, the amount of data per simulation is now exceeding 1TB. Visualization of such data has now become a complex 4D data-mining problem, combining space and time, and finding interesting events in these large datasets. We have recently starting using the virtual reality simulator, installed in the Hayden Planetarium in the American Museum for Natural History, to tackle some of these problem. This work (http://www.astro.umd.edu/nemo/amnh/) reports on our first ``observations'', modifications needed for our specific experiments, and perhaps field ideas for other fields in science which can benefit from such immersion. We also discuss how our normal analysis programs can be interfaced with this kind of visualization.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, ADASS-X conference proceeding