Network enabled partial reconfiguration for distributed FPGA edge acceleration

Partial reconfiguration supports virtualisation of applications on FPGAs, enabling compute to dynamically adapt to workloads in distributed infrastructure and datecenters. While the latter often makes use of the PCIe interface and supporting infrastructure to allocate and load compute kernels via a host CPU, FPGAs are becoming increasingly popular as standalone resources in edge-computing, requiring them to manage ac- celerators autonomously. This paper presents a platform that supports the managing of accelerator bitstreams over the network interface on a Xilinx Zynq device without intervention by the Arm processor. We compare against traditional vendor provided PR management for both library accelerators and custom acceler- ators and show that we achieve a 29% decrease in reconfiguration trigger latency using this approach

Thermal Equilibrium as an Initial State for Quantum Computation by NMR

We present a method of using a nuclear magnetic resonance computer to solve the Deutsch-Jozsa problem in which: (1) the number of molecules in the NMR sample is irrelevant to the number of qubits available to an NMR quantum computer, and (2) the initial state is chosen to be the state of thermal equilibrium, thereby avoiding the preparation of pseudopure states and the resulting exponential loss of signal as the number of qubits increases. The algorithm is described along with its experimental implementation using four active qubits. As expected, measured spectra demonstrate a clear distinction between constant and balanced functions.Comment: including 4 figure

How paradata can illuminate technical, social and professional role changes between the Poverty in the UK (1967/1968) and Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK (2012) surveys

This article brings together analyses of the micro paradata ‘by-products’ from the 1967/1968 Poverty in the United Kingdom (PinUK) and 2012 Poverty and Social Exclusion in the UK (PSE) surveys to explore changes in the conditions of production over this 45 year period. We highlight technical, social and professional role continuities and changes, shaped by the institutionalisation of survey researchers, the professionalization of the field interviewer, and economisation. While there are similarities between the surveys in that field interviewers were and are at the bottom of the research hierarchy, we demonstrate an increasing segregation between the core research team and field interviewers. In PinUK the field interviewers are visible in the paper survey booklets; through their handwritten notes on codes and in written marginalia they can ‘talk’ to the central research team. In PSE they are absent from the computer mediated data, and from communication with the central team. We argue that, while there have been other benefits to field interviewers, their relational labour has become less visible in a shift from the exercise of observational judgement to an emphasis on standardisation. Yet, analyses of what field interviewers actually do show that they still need to deploy the same interpersonal skills and resourcefulness to secure and maintain interviews as they did 45 years previously

Poverty in the UK: Advancing paradata analysis and open access

This project aimed to provide open access to data from Peter Townsend’s 1967-68 Poverty in the UK (PinUK) landmark UK survey, and to enhance the capacity to use it, through innovative analysis of micro paradata and comparative analysis of macro paradata. This is the final report

Annual Report 2005 - Institute of Nuclear and Hadron Physics

Preface The Forschungszentrum Rossendorf (FZR) at Dresden is a multidisciplinary research center within the Wissenschafts-Gemeinschaft G. W. Leibniz (WGL), one of the German agencies for extra-university research. The center is active in investigations on the structure of matter as well as in the life sciences and in environmental research. The Institute of Nuclear and Hadron Physics (IKH) within the FZR avails for its research the coupling of radiation to matter in subatomic dimensions as well as to tissue, to cells, and to their components. Its research in the field of Subatomic Physics is part of the FZR-program Structure of Matter and its investigations concerning the interaction of Biostructures and Radiation contribute to the bf Life Science program of the FZR. In this field the IKH exploits possibilities for transfer and introduction of experimental and theoretical techniques from particle and nuclear physics to projects in radiobiology and biophysics. Much of this kind of interdisciplinary transfer is connected to the Radiation Source ELBE at the FZR. With its superconducting accelerator for relativistic electrons this large installation provides photons in the wide wavelength range from fm to mm - i.e. bremsstrahlung for the investigation of photonuclear processes, hard X-rays for radiobiological and other studies and infrared light for research on the structural dynamics of biomolecules. The investigation of radiation-induced processes not only dominates the projects in nuclear astrophysics as pursued at ELBE, it also is a central theme of the experimental and theoretical research performed by the IKH in close connection to the heavy ion synchrotron SIS and the upcoming FAIR facility at Darmstadt. ELBE also will deliver compact bunches of secondary neutrons and fission fragments; both offer new possibilities in laboratory studies related to the cosmic breeding of the chemical elements thus complementing the astrophysics-motivated studies with bremsstrahlung photons..

Rapid solution of problems by nuclear-magnetic-resonance quantum computation

We offer an improved method for using a nuclear-magnetic-resonance quantum computer (NMRQC) to solve the Deutsch-Jozsa problem. Two known obstacles to the application of the NMRQC are exponential diminishment of density-matrix elements with the number of bits, threatening weak signal levels, and the high cost of preparing a suitable starting state. A third obstacle is a heretofore unnoticed restriction on measurement operators available for use by an NMRQC. Variations on the function classes of the Deutsch-Jozsa problem are introduced, both to extend the range of problems advantageous for quantum computation and to escape all three obstacles to use of an NMRQC. By adapting it to one such function class, the Deutsch-Jozsa problem is made solvable without exponential loss of signal. The method involves an extra work bit and a polynomially more involved Oracle; it uses the thermal-equilibrium density matrix systematically for an arbitrary number of spins, thereby avoiding both the preparation of a pseudopure state and temporal averaging.Comment: 19 page