Acceleration computing process in wavelength scanning interferometry

The optical interferometry has been widely explored for surface measurement due to the advantages of non-contact and high accuracy interrogation. Eventually, some interferometers are used to measure both rough and smooth surfaces such as white light interferometry and wavelength scanning interferometry (WSI). The WSI can be used to measure large discontinuous surface profiles without the phase ambiguity problems. However, the WSI usually needs to capture hundreds of interferograms at different wavelength in order to evaluate the surface finish for a sample. The evaluating process for this large amount of data needs long processing time if CPUs traditional programming is used. This paper presents a parallel programming model to achieve the data parallelism for accelerating the computing analysis of the captured data. This parallel programming is based on CUDATM C program structure that developed by NVIDIA. Additionally, this paper explains the mathematical algorithm that has been used for evaluating the surface profiles. The computing time and accuracy obtained from CUDA program, using GeForce GTX 280 graphics processing unit (GPU), were compared to those obtained from sequential execution Matlab program, using Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU. The results of measuring a step height sample shows that the parallel programming capability of the GPU can highly accelerate the floating point calculation throughput compared to multicore CPU

Smart water-use feedback : options, preferences, impacts, and implications for implementation

University of Technology Sydney. Institute for Sustainable Futures.Smart water metering (SW metering) is enabling the water industry to enter into the digital age and to embrace new levels of water usage awareness, data analysis and communication. While implementations have been advancing internationally, less progress has been made in extending the benefits of this data and information to access by householders, including in Australia. This thesis investigates the opportunity for more detailed information and feedback on household water consumption by: (i) conceptualising the different options for the presentation of detailed feedback enabled via SW metering (ii) uncovering householder interests and preferences; (iii) measuring the various impacts of detailed feedback on householders and their consumption of water; and (iv) developing an implementation framework. These issues are investigated in relation to furthering implementations and the contribution of SW metering towards more sustainable urban water management (SUWM). This empirical research was conducted via two trials in New South Wales, Australia to address the urgent need for improved knowledge and experiences of the issues relating to the provision of detailed water-use feedback via SW metering. The ‘Home Water Update’ (HWU) study provided detailed household water- and end-use feedback via paper-based reports. The ‘My Home Our Water’ (MHOW) study provided consumption feedback according to time of use in near real-time via an online portal. A mixed methods approach was used to analyse the trials using smart water meter data, surveys and interviews. This research shows that providing more detailed water-use feedback through SW metering generates significant householder interest and produces measurable savings (up to 8% in the HWU (paper) study and 4.2% over the longer term in the MHOW (online) study). Moreover, the wide range of options for detailed feedback enabled by SW metering identified in the research—together with the variety found in householder preferences for and responses to detailed feedback—suggests that greater customisation would further elevate the value of feedback to customers and improve engagement. The implementation framework developed further provides a detailed overview of the key elements for decision-making for detailed water-use feedback programs, categorised as strategic, practical and evaluative considerations. Overall, the research findings cover a broad range of aspects critical to the design of future trials and large-scale roll-outs of SW metering and detailed feedback and the promotion of use that foster more SUWM. For wider industry adoption of detailed water-use feedback programs enabled via SW metering, the importance of the following is underlined (i) conducting quality, robust research and its implications for project resources; (ii) facilitating knowledge sharing in order to further the water industry’s understanding and experience regarding methods and approaches to feedback provision; (iii) building knowledge on how to address heterogeneity among customers is recommended in order to customise approaches to feedback provision (e.g. via a large scale preferences survey and subsequent experimentation with greater levels of customisation, particularly with robust scaled research trials); and (iv) developing the business case for detailed water-use feedback provision by fully documenting methods and making these available for wider evaluation and industry recommendations and improvements. Further developments in this direction, using the implementation framework, will enable the water industry to work towards large-scale implementation of detailed feedback provision which take more full advantage of the customised options made possible via SW metering and the digital age

GPGPU Processing in CUDA Architecture

The future of computation is the Graphical Processing Unit, i.e. the GPU. The promise that the graphics cards have shown in the field of image processing and accelerated rendering of 3D scenes, and the computational capability that these GPUs possess, they are developing into great parallel computing units. It is quite simple to program a graphics processor to perform general parallel tasks. But after understanding the various architectural aspects of the graphics processor, it can be used to perform other taxing tasks as well. In this paper, we will show how CUDA can fully utilize the tremendous power of these GPUs. CUDA is NVIDIA's parallel computing architecture. It enables dramatic increases in computing performance, by harnessing the power of the GPU. This paper talks about CUDA and its architecture. It takes us through a comparison of CUDA C/C++ with other parallel programming languages like OpenCL and DirectCompute. The paper also lists out the common myths about CUDA and how the future seems to be promising for CUDA.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, Advanced Computing: an International Journal (ACIJ) 201

Genetic analysis of mucopolysaccharidosis type VI in Taiwanese patients

[[abstract]]Background: Mucopolysaccharidosis type VI (MPS VI; Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome) is an autosomal recessive lysosomal storage disease induced by a deficiency of the enzyme N-acetylgalactosamine-4-sulfatase (arylsulfatase B, ARSB). The deficiency of ARSB leads to an accumulation of dermatan sulfate (DS) in lysosomes and gross excretion in the urine. The prevalence of these mutations in Asian MPS VI patients has not vet been thoroughly investigated. We studied the ARSB gene profile of 9 Taiwanese MPS VI patients. Methods: To validate the patients' type of MPS, urine mucopolysaccharide was defined by 2-dimensional electrophoresis and leukocyte ARSB activity was determined by fluorogenic assay. Direct sequencing was used to identify any mutation in the patients' ARSB gene. Results: Abnormal excretion of DS and low leukocyte ARSB activity was observed in the urine samples of all 9 patients studied. A total of 8 mutations within the ARSB gene were revealed by molecular analysis. Four mutations, c.574T>C (p.Cys192Arg) and c.943C>T (p.Arg315Stop) mutations had been observed in other populations and c.716A>G (p.Gln239Arg) and c.1197C>G (p.Phe399Leu) were previously reported by our group. The other 4 mutations c.395T>C (p.Leu132Pro), c.908G>A (p.Gly3030u), c.1228 C>A (p.His430Asn) and c.1394C>G (p.Ser465X), had not been reported before. The c.1197C>G (p.Phe399Leu) and c.395T>C (p. Leu132Pro) mutations were the most common missense mutation in the patients studied (9 in 18 mutant alleles). According to statistical data, the incidence of MPS VI in Taiwan is approximately I in 833,000 in live birth. Conclusion: The ARSB gene mutation profile in Taiwanese MPS VI patients may be different from MPS VI patients from other countries. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

GPU ray tracing with CUDA

Ray Tracing is a rendering method that generates high quality images by simulating how light rays interact with objects in a virtual scene. The ray tracing technique can accurately portray advanced optical effects, such as reflections, refractions, and shadows, but at a greater computational cost and rendering time than other rendering methods. Fortunately, technological advances in GPU computing have provided the means to accelerate the ray tracing process to produce images in a significantly shorter time. This paper attempts to clearly illustrate the difference in rendering speed and design by developing and comparing a sequential CPU and parallel GPU implementation of a ray tracer, written in C++ and CUDA respectively. A performance analysis reveals that the optimized GPU ray tracer is capable of producing images with speedup gains up to 1852X when compared to the former CPU implementation --Document

Evalueringsrapport : politiets innsats : øvelse Gemini 2012

Gemini er en årlig samvirkeøvelse mellom politiet, Forsvaret og operatørselskap(er) på norsk kontinentalsokkel. Hensikten med øvelsen er å trene sivile og militære enheter i kontra-terror aksjon mot innretning til havs som ledd i den generelle beredskap for sikring av olje- og gassinstallasjonene på norsk kontinentalsokkel. Den taktiske håndteringen av slike hendelser skal håndteres av spesialstyrker fra politiet og Forsvaret. Øvelse Gemini er også en bistandsøvelse, hvor Forsvaret trener bistand til politiet. Terrorisme er kriminalitet som politiet har ansvaret for å forebygge, bekjempe og etterforske, og operasjonen ledes derfor av stedlig politimester (PM). Den primære målgruppen for øvelsen er det taktiske (utøvende) nivået. Politiet og Forsvaret øver jevnlig sammen både nasjonalt og lokalt. Øvelse Gemini 2012 er likevel spesiell i den forstand at den er den første store samvirkeøvelsen etter hendelsene 22. juli 2011