Device specialization in heterogeneous multi-GPU environments

In the last few years there have been many activities towards coupling CPUs and GPUs in order to get the most from CPU-GPU heterogeneous systems. One of the main problems that prevent these systems to be exploited in a device-aware manner is the CPU-GPU communication bottleneck, which often doesn\u27t allow to produce code more efficient than the GPU-only and the CPU-only counterparts. As a consequence, most of the heterogeneous scheduling systems treat CPUs and GPUs as homogeneous nodes, electing map-like data partitioning to employ both these processing resources. We propose to study how the radical change in the connection between GPU, CPU and memory characterizing the APUs (Accelerated Processing Units) affect the architecture of a compiler and if it is possible to use all these computing resources in a device-aware manner. We investigate on a methodology to analyze the devices that populate heterogeneous multi-GPU systems and to classify general purpose algorithms in order to perform near-optimal control flow and data partitioning

Sustainable tourism development and climate change: a supply-side perspective

This paper presents and discusses findings of research carried out on a sample of 141 tourism stakeholders with two tourism destinations located in Sardinia, Italy. Specifically, it investigates: (1) the priorities that respondents consider essential to attain sustainability and competitiveness for their business and the destination as a whole, (2) the main barriers to tourism sustainability and (3) their attitude towards climate change and its influence on tourism. Our contribution to the literature, along with managerial implications, is discussed and suggestions for future research are given

Brain-Biomarker Changes in Body Fluids of Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is an incurable neurodegenerative disease that is rarely diagnosed at an early stage. Although the understanding of PD-related mechanisms has greatly improved over the last decade, the diagnosis of PD is still based on neurological examination through the identification of motor symptoms, including bradykinesia, rigidity, postural instability, and resting tremor. The early phase of PD is characterized by subtle symptoms with a misdiagnosis rate of approximately 16-20%. The difficulty in recognizing early PD has implications for the potential use of novel therapeutic approaches. For this reason, it is important to discover PD brain biomarkers that can indicate early dopaminergic dysfunction through their changes in body fluids, such as saliva, urine, blood, or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). For the CFS-based test, the invasiveness of sampling is a major limitation, whereas the other body fluids are easier to obtain and could also allow population screening. Following the identification of the crucial role of alpha-synuclein (& alpha;-syn) in the pathology of PD, a very large number of studies have summarized its changes in body fluids. However, methodological problems have led to the poor diagnostic/prognostic value of this protein and alternative biomarkers are currently being investigated. The aim of this paper is therefore to summarize studies on protein biomarkers that are alternatives to & alpha;-syn, particularly those that change in nigrostriatal areas and in biofluids, with a focus on blood, and, eventually, saliva and urine

ARMENITE: A REALLY RARE MINERAL?

Armenite is a quite uncommon double-ring Ba-Al-Ca silicate hydrate belonging to the milarite-osumilite group and with the general formula BaCa2Al6Si9O30·2H2O. It generally forms pseudo-hexagonal whitish-pinkish crystals. However, in its structure, Si, Al ordering and H2O positions produce the deviation from hexagonal symmetry, explaining the belonging to the Pnna or Pnc2 space groups. In thin section, armenite is quite elusive. In fact, it appears colorless, with low relief and low first-order interference color. More complication arises from the tartan-like twinning patterns (resembling that of microcline), patchy-like and/or undulose extinction as well as the monoaxial to strongly biaxial (2V up to 65°) behavior. Its affinity to hexagonal or orthorhombic space groups as well as the reasons for its anomalous optical features have formerly been an object of debate. Up to now, armenite has only been found in a dozen of places worldwide, among which Armen mine (Norway), Quebec (Canada), New South Wales (Australia), Scotland, Switzerland, and Sardinia (Italy). It typically forms veins within the host rocks in different geological environments. These include metasomatic basic to intermediate igneous rocks, mineralized skarn and hornfels, and gneisses indicating that the interaction between fluid phases and a primary Ba source is required for its formation. Here we report the third occurrence of armenite in Sardinia, from the Rosas mine area (Mitza Sermentus mineworks, south-west Sardinia). Armenite-bearing samples were collected along the contact between a sulfide-mineralized skarn vein and a black phyllite host-rock. The black phyllite matrix consists of muscovite, chamosite and quartz with feldspars, clinozoisite, titanite, and calcite as accessory phases. The skarn is made up of clinopyroxene, amphibole, epidote, chlorite and wollastonite, and calcite; accessory minerals are titanite, apatite, prehnite, and baryte. The ore minerals mainly consist of galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite, and pyrite. Armenite is usually concentrated in mm-wide white veinlets along the contact between the sulfide mineralization and the host rock or more rarely dispersed in the phyllite matrix. At first, interpreted as an altered feldspar, it was identified by SEM-EDS analyses. Despite being semi-quantitative, the analyses provided compositions very close to stoichiometric armenite, with SiO2 ~ 48 wt.%, Al2O3 ~ 28 wt.%, BaO ~ 13 wt.% and CaO ~ 10 wt.%. This finding was further confirmed by XRPD analyses on armenite-rich polymineralic samples in which more than 20 peaks were assigned to this phase leading to a good match with an armenite in the PDF database (Ref. code 00-037-0432). Beyond its supposed rarity and its peculiar crystal structure, three reasons make armenite deserving of attention: (i) understanding its genesis could better constrain the P-T-fluid conditions of rocks in which armenite is found and that are often mineralized; (ii) given its difficult recognition by base techniques, it is likely that armenite is more common than previously thought and is usually overlooked; (iii) since its formation requires a primary Ba source, armenite could be used as an indicator of the proximity of Ba-rich deposits

Shear zone development and structurally-controlled skarn ore mineralization in the Rosas district, SW Sardinia.

The Rosas Shear Zone (RSZ) is a 1 km thick brittle-ductile shear zone that outcrops in the Variscan fold and thrust belt foreland of SW Sardinia, where several important ore deposits were mined in the last century. The RSZ lies in the footwall and strikes parallel to the NE-dipping regional thrust that separates the Variscan foreland from the nappe zone. Two thrusts that developed along the limbs of two km-scale overturned antiforms, with NE-dipping axial plane, bound the RSZ. The folds show a SW-facing direction and a well-developed axial plane cleavage, and affect a lower Cambrianupper Ordovician stratigraphic succession mainly made, from bottom to top, by a sequence about 200 m thick of dolostones and massive limestone followed by 50 m of marly limestones overlain by about 150 m of sandstones, pelites and siltstones, finally unconformable capped by conglomerates and siltstones, ranging in thickness from a few to 200 m. Differently, within the RSZ the bedding is completely transposed along the cleavage and its internal structure is characterized by anastomosing thrusts that affect the stratigraphic succession defining map-scale slices mainly consisting of dolostones and limestones embedded into the siliciclastic formations. It is noteworthy the occurrence of a NE-dipping, up to 100 m thick gabbro-dyke that postdates the deformation phases and that can be related to the exhumation of the chain during late Carboniferous-Permian times. In the whole area, contact metamorphic and metasomatic processes selectively affected the Cambrian carbonate tectonic slices, originating several skarn-type orebodies. Mineralized rocks display the mineralogical assemblages and textures of Fe-Cu-Zn skarns, with relicts of anhydrous calcic phases related to the prograde metamorphic stage (garnet, clinopyroxene, wollastonite), frequently enclosed in a mass of hydrous silicates (actinolitic amphibole, epidote) and magnetite related to the retrograde metasomatic stage, in turn followed by chlorite, sulfides, quartz and calcite associated to the hydrothermal stage. Metasomatic reactions also involved mafic rocks, producing a mineral association marked by clinopyroxene, amphibole, epidote, prehnite and Barich K-feldspar. Sulfide ores are made of prevailing sphalerite, chalcopyrite and galena, with abundant pyrite and pyrrhotite and minor tetrahedrite and Ag-sulfosalts. Garnets are andraditic/grossularitic, distinctly zoned and optically anisotropic. Field surveys pointed out the tight structural controls on skarn and ore formation. On a local scale, the gabbro emplacement along high- to low-angle NNW-SSE structures bordering the carbonate tectonic slices accentuate the effects of contact metamorphism, and metric to decametric mineralogical zonation (garnet->pyroxene->wollastonite) are recognized. On a larger scale, extensive hydrothermal fluid circulations involved the structures of the RSZ. Infilling of metasomatic fluids in carbonate tectonic slices is fault-controlled and aided by the increase in permeability due to the alteration of prograde silicates. The causative intrusion related to skarn ores belongs to the early Permian (289±1 Ma) ilmenite-series, ferroan granite suite which intrudes the RSZ about 3 km east from the studied area. The Fe-Cu-Zn skarn ores of Rosas are best interpreted as distal, structurallycontrolled orebodies, connected to large-scale circulation of granite-related fluids in the km-sized plumbing system represented by the RSZ

Epstein Barr Virus and <i>Mycobacterium avium</i> subsp. <i>paratuberculosis</i> peptides are recognized in sera and cerebrospinal fluid of MS patients

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) epitopes elicit a consistent humoral response in serum of multiple sclerosis patients, but the cross reactivity against the homologous myelin basic protein (MBP) and human interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) has not been searched within the Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF). We evaluated in sera and CSF of patients with MS and with other neurological diseases (OND) the humoral response against EBV/MAP peptides and the IRF5/MBP. Our data showed that EBV and MAP peptides are able to induce a specific humoral immune response in MS patients compared to OND controls both in serum and in CSF. An intrathecal specific synthesis of IgG against MBP and their EBV and MAP homologous as indicated by the antibody index was observed in MS patients. The humoral response against EBV, MAP, MBP and IRF5 was significantly higher in MS patients compared to OND both in serum and in CSF. The higher presence of antibodies against MBP and their MAP and EBV homologous in CSF during relapses suggests a possible role of the pathogens in enhancing inflammation

Gastro-intestinal parasites of pigs in Sardinia: a copromicroscopical investigation

This paper illustrates a copromicroscopical investigation carried out in Sardinia to update epidemiological data on diffusion of gastro-intestinal parasites in swine. Results obtained lead to suggest the employment of copromicroscopic exam to monitorate parasites diffusion in swine breedings in order to set up correct prophylactic and therapeutically intervents

Benefits of a Fog-to-Cloud Approach in Proximity Marketing

The EC H2020 mF2C Project is working to the development of a software framework that enables the orchestration of resources and communication at fog level, as an extension of cloud computing and interacting with the IoT. In order to show the project functionalities and added-values three real world use cases have been chosen. This paper introduces one of the mF2C use cases: Smart Fog Hub Service (SFHS) use case, in the context of an airport, with the objective of proving that the adoption of the fog-to-cloud approach brings relevant benefits in terms of performance and optimization of resource usage, thus giving an objective evidence of the impact of the mF2C framework.This work is supported by the H2020 mF2C project (730929)Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Involvement of nigral oxytocin in locomotor activity: a behavioral, immunohistochemical and lesion study in male rats

Oxytocin is involved in the control of different behaviors, from sexual behavior and food consumption to empathy, social and affective behaviors. An imbalance of central oxytocinergic neurotransmission has been also associated with different mental pathologies, from depression, anxiety and anorexia/bulimia to schizophrenia, autism and drug dependence. This study shows that oxytocin may also play a role in the control of locomotor activity. Accordingly, intraperitoneal oxytocin (0.5-2000μg/kg) reduced locomotor activity of adult male rats. This effect was abolished by d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)(2)-Orn(8)-vasotocin, an oxytocin receptor antagonist, given into the lateral ventricles at the dose of 2μg/rat, which was ineffective on locomotor activity. Oxytocin (50-200ng/site) also reduced and d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)(2)-Orn(8)-vasotocin (2μg/site) increased locomotor activity when injected bilaterally into the substantia nigra, a key area in the control of locomotor activity. Conversely, the destruction of nigral neurons bearing oxytocin receptors by the recently characterized neurotoxin oxytocin-saporin injected into the substantia nigra, increased basal locomotor activity. Since oxytocin-saporin injected into the substantia nigra caused a marked reduction of neurons immunoreactive for tyrosine hydroxylase (e.g., nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons) and for vesicular glutamate transporters VGluT1, VGluT2 and VGluT3 (e.g., glutamatergic neurons), but not for glutamic acid decarboxylase (e.g., GABAergic neurons), together these findings suggest that oxytocin influences locomotor activity by acting on receptors localized presynaptically in nigral glutamatergic nerve terminals (which control the activity of nigral GABAergic efferent neurons projecting to brain stem nuclei controlling locomotor activity), rather than on receptors localized in the cell bodies/dendrites of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neuron