Dynamic remapping decisions in multi-phase parallel computations

The effectiveness of any given mapping of workload to processors in a parallel system is dependent on the stochastic behavior of the workload. Program behavior is often characterized by a sequence of phases, with phase changes occurring unpredictably. During a phase, the behavior is fairly stable, but may become quite different during the next phase. Thus a workload assignment generated for one phase may hinder performance during the next phase. We consider the problem of deciding whether to remap a paralled computation in the face of uncertainty in remapping's utility. Fundamentally, it is necessary to balance the expected remapping performance gain against the delay cost of remapping. This paper treats this problem formally by constructing a probabilistic model of a computation with at most two phases. We use stochastic dynamic programming to show that the remapping decision policy which minimizes the expected running time of the computation has an extremely simple structure: the optimal decision at any step is followed by comparing the probability of remapping gain against a threshold. This theoretical result stresses the importance of detecting a phase change, and assessing the possibility of gain from remapping. We also empirically study the sensitivity of optimal performance to imprecise decision threshold. Under a wide range of model parameter values, we find nearly optimal performance if remapping is chosen simply when the gain probability is high. These results strongly suggest that except in extreme cases, the remapping decision problem is essentially that of dynamically determining whether gain can be achieved by remapping after a phase change; precise quantification of the decision model parameters is not necessary

Optimal dynamic remapping of parallel computations

A large class of computations are characterized by a sequence of phases, with phase changes occurring unpredictably. The decision problem was considered regarding the remapping of workload to processors in a parallel computation when the utility of remapping and the future behavior of the workload is uncertain, and phases exhibit stable execution requirements during a given phase, but requirements may change radically between phases. For these problems a workload assignment generated for one phase may hinder performance during the next phase. This problem is treated formally for a probabilistic model of computation with at most two phases. The fundamental problem of balancing the expected remapping performance gain against the delay cost was addressed. Stochastic dynamic programming is used to show that the remapping decision policy minimizing the expected running time of the computation has an extremely simple structure. Because the gain may not be predictable, the performance of a heuristic policy that does not require estimnation of the gain is examined. The heuristic method's feasibility is demonstrated by its use on an adaptive fluid dynamics code on a multiprocessor. The results suggest that except in extreme cases, the remapping decision problem is essentially that of dynamically determining whether gain can be achieved by remapping after a phase change. The results also suggest that this heuristic is applicable to computations with more than two phases

An optimal repartitioning decision policy

A central problem to parallel processing is the determination of an effective partitioning of workload to processors. The effectiveness of any given partition is dependent on the stochastic nature of the workload. The problem of determining when and if the stochastic behavior of the workload has changed enough to warrant the calculation of a new partition is treated. The problem is modeled as a Markov decision process, and an optimal decision policy is derived. Quantification of this policy is usually intractable. A heuristic policy which performs nearly optimally is investigated empirically. The results suggest that the detection of change is the predominant issue in this problem

Investigation into Adaptation in Genes Associated with Response to Estrogenic Pollution in Populations of Roach (Rutilus rutilus) Living in English Rivers

UK Natural Environmental Research Council (NERC; NE/K004263/1); NERC Biomolecular Analysis Facility for funding (NBAF866); Medical Research Council Clinical Infrastructure award (MR/M008924/1); Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund (WT097835MF); Wellcome Trust Multi User Equipment Award (WT101650MA); BBSRC LOLA award (BB/ K003240/1)

Challenges and opportunities in improving left ventricular remodelling and clinical outcome following surgical and trans-catheter aortic valve replacement

Over the last half century, surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) has evolved to offer a durable and efficient valve haemodynamically, with low procedural complications that allows favourable remodelling of left ventricular (LV) structure and function. The latter has become more challenging among elderly patients, particularly following trans-catheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Precise understanding of myocardial adaptation to pressure and volume overloading and its responses to valve surgery requires comprehensive assessments from aortic valve energy loss, valvular-vascular impedance to myocardial activation, force-velocity relationship, and myocardial strain. LV hypertrophy and myocardial fibrosis remains as the structural and morphological focus in this endeavour. Early intervention in asymptomatic aortic stenosis or regurgitation along with individualised management of hypertension and atrial fibrillation is likely to improve patient outcome. Physiological pacing via the His-Purkinje system for conduction abnormalities, further reduction in para-valvular aortic regurgitation along with therapy of angiotensin receptor blockade will improve patient outcome by facilitating hypertrophy regression, LV coordinate contraction, and global vascular function. TAVI leaflet thromboses require anticoagulation while impaired access to coronary ostia risks future TAVI-in-TAVI or coronary interventions. Until comparable long-term durability and the resolution of TAVI related complications become available, SAVR remains the first choice for lower risk younger patients

Socially-mediated arousal and contagion within domestic chick broods

Emotional contagion – an underpinning valenced feature of empathy – is made up of simpler, potentially dissociable social processes which can include socially-mediated arousal and behavioural/physiological contagion. Previous studies of emotional contagion have often conflated these processes rather than examining their independent contribution to empathic response. We measured socially-mediated arousal and contagion in 9-week old domestic chicks (n = 19 broods), who were unrelated but raised together from hatching. Pairs of observer chicks were exposed to two conditions in a counterbalanced order: air puff to conspecifics (AP) (during which an air puff was applied to three conspecifics at 30 s intervals) and control with noise of air puff (C) (during which the air puff was directed away from the apparatus at 30 s intervals). Behaviour and surface eye temperature of subjects and observers were measured throughout a 10-min pre-treatment and 10-min treatment period. Subjects and observers responded to AP with increased freezing, and reduced preening and ground pecking. Subjects and observers also showed reduced surface eye temperature - indicative of stress-induced hyperthermia. Subject-Observer behaviour was highly correlated within broods during both C and AP conditions, but with higher overall synchrony during AP. We demonstrate the co-occurrence of socially-mediated behavioural and physiological arousal and contagion; component features of emotional contagion

Calcium-Dependent Increases in Protein Kinase-A Activity in Mouse Retinal Ganglion Cells Are Mediated by Multiple Adenylate Cyclases

Neurons undergo long term, activity dependent changes that are mediated by activation of second messenger cascades. In particular, calcium-dependent activation of the cyclic-AMP/Protein kinase A signaling cascade has been implicated in several developmental processes including cell survival, axonal outgrowth, and axonal refinement. The biochemical link between calcium influx and the activation of the cAMP/PKA pathway is primarily mediated through adenylate cyclases. Here, dual imaging of intracellular calcium concentration and PKA activity was used to assay the role of different classes of calcium-dependent adenylate cyclases (ACs) in the activation of the cAMP/PKA pathway in retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). Surprisingly, depolarization-induced calcium-dependent PKA transients persist in barrelless mice lacking AC1, the predominant calcium-dependent adenylate cyclase in RGCs, as well as in double knockout mice lacking both AC1 and AC8. Furthermore, in a subset of RGCs, depolarization-induced PKA transients persist during the inhibition of all transmembrane adenylate cyclases. These results are consistent with the existence of a soluble adenylate cyclase that plays a role in calcium-dependent activation of the cAMP/PKA cascade in neurons

Redefining the Common Causes of Social Struggles: An Examination of the Antinomies of Value, Labor and Subsumption

In the global contemporary political context, diverse social struggles are being alienated from each other to the point that the illusion of capitalism as the only possible socio-economic system is blurring all horizons of social change. In this article, we will aim to redefine the common causes of social struggles, by demonstrating their intersectionality and interdependence. In order to do so, we will engage with a number of concepts from Marx’s philosophy. In the introduction, we will examine the notion of value, claiming that Marx’s value theory is not simply a labor theory of value, but that it rather reflects the parallax structure of production and circulation, crystallized in the ultimate value-form of money. Having obtained these preliminary insights, we will go back to the phenomenon of labor in capitalism, to reinterpret, in the first section of the article, the Marxian distinction between productive and unproductive labor. From this will follow the first concrete examples of the intersectionality of social struggles against the abstraction of capital: namely, showing that gender and racial struggles have certain common causes, rooted in the Gramscian hegemony. In the second section, we will examine the distinction that Marx establishes between the formal and the real subsumption. The latter, we will claim, is decisive for understanding how capital structures the quasi-totality of our social relations. Following an interpretation of Maren Ade’s film Toni Erdmann, we will propose some possible means of intersectional struggle against real subsumption, that will find their theoretical backing in the concept of subversive universals. The concluding remarks will address the nuclear logic of the distribution and accumulation of capital, a symptom that survives throughout history preserved and driven by the omnipresence of ideology, and stress again implicitly the importance of common struggle in the unfreezing of emergence of a new revolutionary subject

The Cinematic Daydream as a Tool of Political Emancipation: Plus-de-Jouir, Aufhebung and the Parallax

In this research, we will start by expo- sing the paradox of ‘surplus enjoyment’ (the Lacanian plus-de-jouir), showing that its parallax structure of lack and excess is also applicable to the pheno- menon of (surplus) repression. Linking his concept with the Hegelian Aufhebung, understood as a ‘failed negation of negation’ or a ‘negation of negation’ as failure, we will focus in detail on the central example illustrating our theoretical positions, which is Iciar Bollain’s film Tambien la Lluvia (Even the Rain). In analyzing its narrative structures that address the neocolonial reality, we will tend to approach indirectly, by reading the medium of cinematic narration, the ‘neocolonial question.

What are the experimentally observable effects of vertex corrections in superconductors?

We calculate the effects of vertex corrections, of non-constant density of states and of a (self-consistently determined) phonon self-energy for the Holstein model on a 3D cubic lattice. We replace vertex corrections with a Coulomb pseudopotential, mu*, adjusted to give the same Tc, and repeat the calculations, to see which effects are a distinct feature of vertex corrections. This allows us to determine directly observable effects ofvertex corrections on a variety of thermodynamic properties of superconductors. To this end, we employ conserving approximations (in the local approximation) to calculate the superconducting critical temperatures, isotope coefficients, superconducting gaps, free-energy differences and thermodynamic critical fields for a range of parameters. We find that the dressed value of lambda is significantly larger than the bare value. While vertex corrections can cause significant changes in all the above quantities (even whenthe bare electron-phonon coupling is small), the changes can usually be well-modeled by an appropriate Coulomb pseudopotential. The isotope coefficient proves to be the quantity that most clearly shows effects of vertex corrections that can not be mimicked by a mu*.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figure