Using Fine-Grained Cycle Stealing to Improve Throughput, Efficiency and Response Time on a Dedicated Cluster while Maintaining Quality of Service

For various reasons, a dedicated cluster is not always fully utilized even when all of its processors are allocated to jobs. This occurs any time that a running job does not use 100% of each of the processors allocated to it. Keeping in mind the needs of both the cluster’s system administrators and its users, we would like to increase the throughput and efficiency of the cluster while maintaining or improving the average turnaround time of the jobs and the quality of service of the “primary” jobs originally scheduled on the cluster. To increase the throughput and efficiency of the cluster, we schedule background jobs to run concurrently with the primary jobs. However, to achieve our goal of maintaining or improving the average turnaround time of the jobs and the quality of service of the primary jobs, we investigate two methods of prioritizing the CPU usage of the primary and background jobs. The first method uses the existing “nice” mechanism in the 2.4 Linux kernel to give background processes a lower priority than primary processes. The second method involves modifying the 2.4 Linux kernel’s CPU scheduler to create a new guest process priority that prevents guest processes from running when primary processes are runnable. Our results come from empirical investigations using real production applications. Production runs using these applications are regularly performed in the dedicated cluster environment that we used for testing. Measurements of various statistics, such as wall time and CPU time, are taken directly from test runs that use these same production applications. This was helpful for comparison to results from models and synthetic applications. We found that using the existing nice mechanism significantly improves the throughput, efficiency and average turnaround time of the cluster but only at the expense of the quality of service of the primary jobs (primary job running times increased 5-25%). On the other hand, we can use the guest process priority to get similar improvements in throughput, efficiency and average turnaround time while not significantly impacting the quality of service of the primary jobs (primary job running times changed less than 1%)

Lateral Violence Response Training for Nursing Students

Title from PDF of title page, viewed on July 6, 2015Dissertation advisor: Peggy Ward-SmithVitaIncludes bibliographic references (pages 83-91)Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Nursing and Health Studies. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2015Lateral violence among nurses is a pervasive problem contributing to deleterious consequences for targets, work environments, patient outcomes, and the nursing profession. Newly licensed nurses are at a disadvantage to respond effectively to lateral violence and may be more likely to be targeted. Thus, response training prior to entering the nursing workforce may increase their ability to manage lateral violence they encounter as newly licensed nurses. There is a paucity of interventional research aimed at educating nurses on effective and appropriate responses to lateral violence and no studies involving nursing students. This study examines the effect of an educational intervention to increase nursing students’ self-efficacy in responding to lateral violence. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, based on Social Cognitive Theory, was used to guide the format of the intervention and development of the measurement instrument. A time-series, randomized, cluster design with intervention and control groups, was used to increase rigor over existing studies. Statistically significant increase in participant-reported self-efficacy among the intervention group was determined using paired t-tests. Follow-up data indicate potential for the long-term benefits of this intervention on self-efficacy in responding to lateral violence. Clinical significance was also demonstrated by overall increases in all quartiles among the intervention group. These results indicate potential for use among future nursing students. Future research should include longitudinal follow-up to determine the long term effects of this intervention, testing among nursing students at different types of institutions, and refinement of the measurement instrument.Introduction -- Review of the literature and background -- Methods -- Data analysis -- Conclusions -- Appendix A. Permission Letter for use of SADBS-R Appendix B. Instrument - SADBS-R -- Appendix C. Consent Form – Intervention Site -- Appendix D. Consent Form – Attention-Control Site -- Appendix E. Intervention – Lateral Violence Response Training -- Appendix F. Attention Control Group Activit

From the Top-Down: Transformational Leadership Considerations for Health Care Organizations

Nurse leaders can positively influence critical issues in healthcare by engaging in transformational leadership (TL) practices. High in humility, extraversion, self-efficacy, and emotional intelligence, transformational leaders focus on followers as individuals and inspire high goal attainment. Organizations can increase TL behaviors through top-down training strategies. This paper evaluates salient TL characteristics and considerations for organizations wishing to create positive organization-wide change

Can’t We All Just Get Along? A Dual-Theory Approach to Understanding and Managing the Multigenerational Workplace

Multigenerational workplaces bring a varied range of talents but present distinct challenges for employers. Generational differences can lead to lack of understanding, compromised communication, and decreased productivity. We examine the problem of generational differences through the lenses of two complementary generational theories. Generational differences are explored from the perspectives of age, social placement, the impacts of major societal changes, and each generation’s placement relative to the others. We conclude by presenting suggestions for employers based on these theoretical considerations. First, employers must familiarize themselves with their employees and workplace. Second, mentoring and reverse mentoring can promote effective intergenerational communicatio

Professional autonomy in nursing : An integrative review

Aim To summarize knowledge of professional autonomy in nursing.Background Professional autonomy is associated with experienced meaningfulness of the work. This refers to participation in decision-making and the ability to influence working practices.Evaluation In an integrative review, relevant studies were retrieved from four databases. Quality was systematically evaluated using critical appraisal tools. PRISMA guidelines were followed. Inductive content analysis was used to analyse current knowledge of the focal subject.Key issues The search identified 27 relevant studies published between 2000 and 2019. Elements describing nurses' professional autonomy were independence in decision-making and ability to utilize one's own competence. Themes relating to nurses' professional autonomy were shared leadership, professional skills, inter- and intra-professional collaboration and healthy work environment.Conclusion Understanding the multidimensional nature of professional autonomy is essential to create attractive work environments. It is important to enable nurses to participate in decision-making and develop nursing through shared leadership to enhance the recruitment and retention of a skilled workforce.Implications for Nursing Management The findings have anticipated utility for supporting nursing practice and nurse leaders' understanding of approaches to foster nurses' professional autonomy.Peer reviewe

Strukturierte Versorgung von Patient*innen mit atraumatischen Bauchschmerzen in der Notaufnahme

Background: Patients with atraumatic abdominal pain are common in the emergency department and have a relatively high hospital mortality, with a very wide spectrum of different causes. Rapid, goal-directed diagnosis is essential in this context. Methods: In a Delphi process with representatives of different disciplines, a diagnostic treatment pathway was designed, which is called the Abdominal Pain Unit (APU). Results: The treatment pathway was designed as an extended event process chain. Crucial decision points were specified using standard operating procedures. Discussion: The APU treatment pathway establishes a consistent treatment structure for patients with atraumatic abdominal pain. It has the potential to improve the quality of care and reduce intrahospital mortality over the long term

Genome modeling system: A knowledge management platform for genomics

In this work, we present the Genome Modeling System (GMS), an analysis information management system capable of executing automated genome analysis pipelines at a massive scale. The GMS framework provides detailed tracking of samples and data coupled with reliable and repeatable analysis pipelines. The GMS also serves as a platform for bioinformatics development, allowing a large team to collaborate on data analysis, or an individual researcher to leverage the work of others effectively within its data management system. Rather than separating ad-hoc analysis from rigorous, reproducible pipelines, the GMS promotes systematic integration between the two. As a demonstration of the GMS, we performed an integrated analysis of whole genome, exome and transcriptome sequencing data from a breast cancer cell line (HCC1395) and matched lymphoblastoid line (HCC1395BL). These data are available for users to test the software, complete tutorials and develop novel GMS pipeline configurations. The GMS is available at https://github.com/genome/gms

Workplace violence: a qualitative study drawing on the perspectives of UK nursing students

Background: Workplace violence (WV) remains problematic and highly prevalent in healthcare with student nurses being especially vulnerable. Aim: To investigate the impact of WV from the perspectives of nursing students Methods: A qualitative design was employed. 444 nursing students in the UK participated in the study. Findings: The qualitative data was analysed, coded and three main themes have emerged; (1) violence culture in nursing, (2) tolerating violence and (3) the impact of the violence. Discussion: The undesirable truth is each year nearly more than half of the students face WV in environments where such behaviour becomes culturally embedded and passed between generations of nurses. This process of normalization requires intervention that will break this cycle to enable more appropriate workplace behaviours to flourish. Conclusion: The impact of WV can be extremely destructive for the individual, the profession and ultimately patient care with large numbers choosing to leave at a time when there is a national shortage of qualified staff. Key Words: Nursing, nursing students, violence, workplace, workplace violenc

CMS physics technical design report : Addendum on high density QCD with heavy ions

Peer reviewe

Die Nationale Strategie zur biologischen Vielfalt der Bundesregierung als Diskursarena im Diskursfeld "Klimabedingte Veränderungen der Biodiversität"

Die Natur unterliegt vielfältigen durch den Menschen hervorgerufenen Umweltbelastungen. Neben Veränderungen der Landnutzung oder Konsummuster stellt der anthropogen verursachte Klimawandel einen entscheidenden Einflussfaktor dar. Nicht nur der Temperaturanstieg an sich ist Auslöser für Ökosystemveränderungen, sondern auch die Folgen des Temperaturanstiegs führen zu massiven Änderungen der Biodiversität. Ökosysteme können so aus dem Gleichgewicht geraten und aufgrund starker Umweltbelastungen schließlich zusammenbrechen. Werden keine Maßnahmen zum Schutz der Biodiversität getroffen, wird es langfristig zu folgenschweren Auswirkungen kommen, die auch die Lebensgrundlage der Menschen stark gefährden. In Deutschland liegt die Verantwortung für den Erhalt der Biodiversität bei verschiedenen Ministerien und Ämtern, die eng miteinander vernetzt sind. Die zentrale Referenz der Bundesregierung stellt dabei die nationale Strategie zur biologischen Vielfalt dar. Der vorliegende Band analysiert die Biodiversitätsstrategie und ihre Umsetzung als wichtige Diskursarena im Diskursfeld „Klimabedingte Biodiversitätsveränderungen“. Ausgehend von einer Analyse der Akteure auf Bundes- und Länderebene sowie aus Wissenschaft und Zivilgesellschaft werden wichtige gesellschaftliche Handlungsfelder und Forschungslücken ebenso aufgezeigt wie die darin erkennbaren Wissenskonflikte.Nature is subject to widely varied environmental damages caused by mankind. Besides changes in land use and consumption patterns, anthropogenically induced climate change is the decisive driving force for changes of biodiversity. But it is not only the increase in temperature as such that is bringing about massive changes of the biological diversity system but the consequent effects of the rise in temperature are causing massive changes of biological diversity as well. Thus ecosystems can get out of balance and might even collapse due to strong environmental damage. If no actions are taken to protect biodiversity, there will be serious impacts, which may also threaten human livelihood. In Germany different ministries and administrative bodies are in charge of the conservation of biodiversity all of which are closely interlinked. The central document issued by the German Government is the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biodiversity. The volume on hand analyses the biodiversity-strategy and its implementation and constitutes an important arena in the discourse field “Climatically caused changes of biodiversity”. Based on an analysis of stakeholders at federal and federal state level comprising therein the areas of science and civil society important societal fields of action and research gaps are identified including innate knowledge conflicts