VComputeBench: A Vulkan Benchmark Suite for GPGPU on Mobile and Embedded GPUs

GPUs have become immensely important computational units on embedded and mobile devices. However, GPGPU developers are often not able to exploit the compute power offered by GPUs on these devices mainly due to the lack of support of traditional programming models such as CUDA and OpenCL. The recent introduction of the Vulkan API provides a new programming model that could be explored for GPGPU computing on these devices, as it supports compute and promises to be portable across different architectures. In this paper we propose VComputeBench, a set of benchmarks that help developers understand the differences in performance and portability of Vulkan. We also evaluate the suitability of Vulkan as an emerging cross-platform GPGPU framework by conducting a thorough analysis of its performance compared to CUDA and OpenCL on mobile as well as on desktop platforms. Our experiments show that Vulkan provides better platform support on mobile devices and can be regarded as a good crossplatform GPGPU framework. It offers comparable performance and with some low-level optimizations it can offer average speedups of 1.53x and 1.66x compared to CUDA and OpenCL respectively on desktop platforms and 1.59x average speedup compared to OpenCL on mobile platforms. However, while Vulkan’s low-level control can enhance performance, it requires a significantly higher programming effort.EC/H2020/688759/EU/Low-Power Parallel Computing on GPUs 2/LPGPU

QoS-aware Routing for Real-Time and Multimedia Applications in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

International audienceWith the increasing development of real-time and multimedia applications, there is a need to provide bandwidth and delay guarantees. Most of QoS ad hoc network routing protocols select path guaranteeing delay and/or bandwidth. However, they don't consider throughput optimization, which results in a low number of admitted real-time and multimedia flows. In this paper, we propose a cross-layer TDMA-based routing protocol to meet delay and bandwidth requirements while optimizing network throughput. Since in TDMA-based ad hoc networks, slot reservation impacts two-hops neighbors, our routing protocol selects paths with the lowest number of neighbors. To show the effectiveness of our protocol, we present simulations using NS-2

Investigating intralingual and interlingual errors of algerian middle school efl learners in their written compositions: a case study

The present paper investigates the intralingual and interlingual errors of Algerian Middle School EFL learners in their writing compositions. The purpose of the study is to identify the major errors and classify them according to their types and sources. Besides, it aims at suggesting some solutions to this problem. The sample of the study consists of 1/3 of fourth year learners of Youcef Ben Berkane Middle School of Akbou – Bejaia, Algeria. Accordingly, a corpus of 62 written compositions is collected and analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings revealed that all the participants significantly make errors in their written compositions. Besides, most of the learners make errors at the levels of spelling, tense, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, sentence fragment, articles, prepositions, and French interference. In view of that, it is also shown that the main source of the learners’ errors is intralingual followed by interlingual transfer. However, promoting extensive reading, integrating reliable writing activities in the classroom and practicing handwriting are some of pedagogical implications suggested to overcome the learners’ repeated errors.Key Words: EFL, Writing, Language Interference, Error Analysis, Bejaia, Algeria.

Elaboration of an Analytical Formula for the Calculation of the Surface Temperature

Pavement structures are sometimes subject to repeated dimensional variations of thermal origin generating mechanical stresses that may be detrimental to their durability. Among the most frequently observed degradations, by these stress, are the transverse cracks whose frequency, depth, and variable openings reduce the ride comfort. In this context, where such solicitations are preponderant and the strong variation is noticed on the surface, an analytical approach for calculating the surface temperature of a flexible pavement has been proposed. This approach is able to deal with the transient thermal problem including the phenomenon of ambient temperature and the influx of solar flux specifically for arid regions where the sky is often clear. This approach is adopted because it proposes a simplified calculation of the surface temperature. The model was built on a database measured on the experimental pavement of the laboratory of Egletons GEMH (France), using the calculation code Eureqa formulate. Although neglected in the domain's literature, the meteorological parameters (air temperature and solar flux) are taken into consideration in the analytic function because they give good prediction. The model has practical meanings to predicting the maximum, minimum, and amplitude of the pavement surface temperature. Hence, a good surface temperature assessment provides a key factor for further thermal cracking modeling

Preserving the Global Consistency of Dynamic Reconfiguration

International audienceMany component-based systems need to modify their behavior or structure at run time in order to adapt the continuous change of user requirements or working environments. Change management is an essential part of reconfigurable systems. Dynamic reconfiguration helps these systems to evolve incrementally for one configuration to another at execution time. Many approaches have been proposed to support dynamic reconfiguration in various kinds of systems. This paper introduces a new approach for preserving the global consistency of dynamic reconfiguration using Alloy specification language. Alloy is a powerful language for modeling and describing the structure and the behavior of a system by expressing its constraints. The approach starts by modeling the structure of a reconfigurable system, and then a set of predicates are proposed to describe the dynamic behavior of a reconfigurable system. Finally, an analysis is done to analyze the previous specifications using Alloy Analyze

Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Processes for Damage State Assessment of Arch Masonry Bridge

The present work proposes a fuzzy analytical hierarchy approach for decision making in the maintenance programming of masonry arch bridges. As a practical case, we propose to classify the degradation state of the Mohammadia masonry bridge. A large number of criteria and sub-criteria are combined to classify this type of bridges through visual inspections. The main criteria (level 1) considered in this work are the history of the bridge, the environmental conditions, the structural capacity and the professional involvement of the bridge. In addition, these criteria are subdivided into several sub-criteria (level 2) which are, in turn, subdivided into sub-criteria (level 3). Considering these criteria and sub-criteria, weights Wiare calculated by fuzzy geometric mean method of Buckley. Subsequently, expert scores were assigned to calculate the overall score CS reflecting the degradation of the considered infrastructure. Thereafter, the masonry arch bridges are classified respecting the French IQOA scoring system using the overall scores value CS. The proposed classification method gave similar results provided by an expert’s study realized previously as part of a national patrimony preservation policy. The obtained results are in good agreement, which makes this method an effective scientific tool for decision-making in view of prioritization of the maintenance after systematic inspection of masonry bridges such as the bridge studied in this work. Doi: 10.28991/cej-2021-03091770 Full Text: PD