A study on implementing a multithreaded version of the SIRENE detector simulation software for high energy neutrinos

The primary objective of SIRENE is to simulate the response to neutrino events of any type of high energy neutrino telescope. Additionally, it implements different geometries for a neutrino detector and different configurations and characteristics of photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) inside the optical modules of the detector through a library of C+ + classes. This could be considered a massive statistical analysis of photo-electrons. Aim of this work is the development of a multithreaded version of the SIRENE detector simulation software for high energy neutrinos. This approach allows utilization of multiple CPU cores leading to a potentially significant decrease in the required execution time compared to the sequential code. We are making use of the OpenMP framework for the production of multithreaded code running on the CPU. Finally, we analyze the feasibility of a GPU-accelerated implementation

Evaluating mobile edge-computing on base stations : Case study of a sign recognition application

Mobile phones have evolved from feature phones to smart phones with processing power that can compete with personal computers ten years ago. Nevertheless, the computing power of personal computers has also multiplied in the past decade. Consequently, the gap between mobile platforms and personal computers and servers still exists. Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) has emerged as a paradigm that leverages this difference in processing power. It achieve this goal by augmenting smart phones with resources from the cloud, including processing power and storage capacity. Recently, Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) has brought the benefits from MCC one hop away from the end user. Furthermore, it also provides additional advantages, e.g., access to network context information, reduced latency, and location awareness. This thesis explores the advantages provided by MEC in practice by augmenting an existing application called Human-Centric Positioning System (HoPS). HoPS is a system that relies on context information and information extracted from a photograph of signposts to estimate a user's location. This thesis presents the challenges of enabling HoPS in practice, and implement strategies that make use of the advantages provided by MEC to tackle the challenges. Afterwards, it presents an evaluation of the resulting system, and discusses the implications of the results. To summarise, we make three primary contributions in this thesis: (1) we find out that it is possible to augment HoPS and improve its response time by a factor of four by offloading the code processing; (2) we can improve the overall accuracy of HoPS by leveraging additional processing power at the MEC; (3) we observe that improved network conditions can lead to reduced response time, nevertheless, the difference becomes insignificant compared with the heavy processing required.Utvecklingen av mobiltelefoner har skett på en rusande takt. Dagens smartphones har mer processorkraft än vad stationära datorer hade för tio år sen. Samtidigt så har även datorernas processorer blivit mycket starkare. Därmed så finns det fortfarande klyftor mellan mobil plattform och datorer och servrar. Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) används idag som en hävstång för de olika plattformernas processorkraft. Den uppnår detta genom att förbättra smartphonens processorkraft och datorminne med hjälp från datormolnet. På sistånde så har Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) gjort så att förmånerna med MCC är ett steg ifrån slutanvändaren. Dessutom så finns det andra fördelar med MEC, till exempel tillgång till nätverkssammanhangsinformation, reducerad latens, och platsmedvetenhet. Denna tes utforskar de praktiska fördelarna med MEC genom att använda tillämpningsprogrammet Human-Centric Positioning System (HoPS). HoPS är ett system som försöker att hitta platsen där användaren befinner sig på genom att använda sammanhängande information samt information från bilder med vägvisare. Tesen presenterar även de hinder som kan uppstå när HoPS implementeras i verkligheten, och använder förmåner från MEC för att hitta lösningar till eventuella hinder. Sedan så utvärderar och diskuterar tesen det resulterande systemet. För att sammanfatta så består tesen av tre huvuddelar: (1) vi tar reda på att det är möjligt att förbättra HoPS och minska svarstiden med en fjärdedel genom att avlasta kodsprocessen; (2) vi tar reda på att man kan generellt förbättra HoPS noggrannhet genom att använda den utökade processorkraften från MEC; (3) vi ser att förbättrade nätverksförutsättningar kan leda till minskad svarstid, dock så är skillnaden försumbar jämfört med hur mycket bearbetning av information som krävs

Evaluating robust determinants of the WTI/Brent oil price differential. A dynamic model averaging analysis

We investigate the robust determinants of the WTI/Brent oil price differential by employing a time-varying framework. To achieve this, a Dynamic Model Averaging framework is used, considering monthly data over the period 1994:1-2021:3. Our results suggest that the convenience yield, the global economic activity index and the government bond yields act as the main factors that exercise a persistent and significant impact, for the largest part of the study period, although at different magnitude. More importantly, though, we show that at different time periods there are additional factors that exercise a significant impact on the oil price differential, such as refining constraints, stock market volatility, trading volume and geopolitical risk. Thus, unless a dynamic modelling framework is employed, the full spectrum of the related effects cannot be revealed. A series of tests confirm the robustness of our findings. Several policy implications of these results are also discusse

The WTI/Brent oil futures price differential and the globalisation-regionalisation hypothesis

This study examines the globalisation-regionalisation hypothesis in the WTI/Brent crude oil futures price differential by considering a set of potential determinants at 1, 3 and 6 months to maturity contracts. To this end, we employ monthly data over the period 1993:1-2016:12 for a set of crude oil-market specific (convenience yield, consumption, production) and oil-futures market specific (open interest, trading volume) determinants. Our results can be outlined as follows. First, the WTI/Brent convenience yield spread can drive a wedge between the WTI and Brent oil futures prices for the nearby month and 3-month contracts. Second, the WTI/Brent oil production spread is a significant determinant for the 1-month, 3-month and 6-month to maturity contracts, while the WTI/Brent oil consumption spread is significant for the 6-month contract. Third, the WTI/Brent open interest spread appears to influence the oil futures price variability between the WTI and Brent for the 3-month and 6-month contracts, while the WTI/Brent trading volume spread lends predictive power for the 1-month and 3-month contracts. Fourth, the oil futures market does not appear to be globalised in every time period. We provide evidence of a regionalised oil futures market over the short-run. Fifth, our robustness analysis lends support to the above findings. The findings of this study provide valuable information to energy investors, traders and hedgers

Safety Considerations by Synergy of HAZOP/DMRA with Safety Color Maps—Applications on: A Crude-Oil Processing Industry/a Gas Transportation System

A collaborative framework by the synergy of Hazard and Operability (HAZOP) process and the Decision-Matrix Risk Assessment (DMRA) in association with safety-color mapping (SCM) is presented, in order to identify critical points and prioritize risks, and also to visualize the occupational safety and health (OSH) situation, at the workplaces (i) of a sour crude-oil processing industry (SCOPI), and (ii) of a measurement and regulatory station (MRS) in a gas transportation system (GTS), situated in Greece. Firstly, the conventional HAZOP analysis is executed in order to identify the potential fault causes of abnormal conditions (deviations) in the plants. The application of the DMRA-modus is valuable to rank the identified risks (hierarchy of risks). In view of the results, both of the HAZOP pattern (for identifying the hazards) and also the DMRA one (for assessing and ranking the risks), SCMs have been derived for the specific workplaces of the SCOPI and the MRS/GTS station, which could be a precious means for safety managers to appraise the urgency of investing limited budgets in measures preventing particular types of deviations, and also protecting the employees

A study on implementing a multithreaded version of the SIRENE detector simulation software for high energy neutrinos

The primary objective of SIRENE is to simulate the response to neutrino events of any type of high energy neutrino telescope. Additionally, it implements different geometries for a neutrino detector and different configurations and characteristics of photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) inside the optical modules of the detector through a library of C+ + classes. This could be considered a massive statistical analysis of photo-electrons. Aim of this work is the development of a multithreaded version of the SIRENE detector simulation software for high energy neutrinos. This approach allows utilization of multiple CPU cores leading to a potentially significant decrease in the required execution time compared to the sequential code. We are making use of the OpenMP framework for the production of multithreaded code running on the CPU. Finally, we analyze the feasibility of a GPU-accelerated implementation

A study on implementing a multithreaded version of the SIRENE detector simulation software for high energy neutrinos

The primary objective of SIRENE is to simulate the response to neutrino events of any type of high energy neutrino telescope. Additionally, it implements different geometries for a neutrino detector and different configurations and characteristics of photo-multiplier tubes (PMTs) inside the optical modules of the detector through a library of C++ classes. This could be considered a massive statistical analysis of photo-electrons. Aim of this work is the development of a multithreaded version of the SIRENE detector simulation software for high energy neutrinos. This approach allows utilization of multiple CPU cores leading to a potentially significant decrease in the required execution time compared to the sequential code. We are making use of the OpenMP framework for the production of multithreaded code running on the CPU. Finally, we analyze the feasibility of a GPU-accelerated implementation