Evaluating multi-core graph algorithm frameworks

Multi-core and GPU-based systems offer unprecedented computational power. They are, however, challenging to utilize effectively, especially when processing irregular data such as graphs. Graphs are of great interest, as they are now used to model geographic-, social- andneural networks. Several interesting programming frameworks for graph processing have therefore been developed these past few years. In this work, we highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the Galois, GraphBLAST, Gunrock and Ligra graph frameworks through benchmarking their single source shortest path (SSSP) implementations using the SuiteSparse Matrix Collection. Tests were done on an Nvidia DGX2 system, except for Ligra, which only provides a multi-core framework. D-IrGL, built on Galois, also provided a multi-GPU option for SSSP. We also look at program size, documentation and overall ease of use. High performance generally comes at the price of high complexity. D-IrGL shows its strength on the very largest graphs, where it achieved the best run-time, while Gunrock processed most other large sets the fastest. However, GraphBLAST, with a relatively low-complexity interface, achieves the greatest median throughput across all our test cases. This despite that its SSSP implementation size is only 1/10th of Gunrock, which for our tests has the highest peak throughput and the fastest run-time in most cases. Ligra had less computational resources available, and consequently performed worse in most cases, but it is also a very compact and easy to use framework. Futher analyses and some suggestions for future work are also included

A Development of a Programed Instruction Manual for Fingerhut Manufacturing Company, St. Cloud, Minnesota

The process of developing skilled and productive personnel for business and industry is an element that has plagued management with its costs and results. As each person in an organization must be given the opportunity to develop the specific job skills necessary to adjust to the organizational and individual needs, management attempts to meet these needs with some type of training program. The goals of a training program provide the opportunity for all employees to (1) make a satisfactory adjustment to the demands of business and industrial operations from the first day of employment; and (2) progress as a productive force in the enterprise through continued development of needed skills, knowledge, and attitudes. To achieve these goals, opportunities must be provided to develop the employee to his fullest capacity. Statement of the problem. It was the purpose of this thesis to develop a training program for the station operators in the Accounts Receivable Department, Fingerhut Manufacturing Company, St. Cloud, Minnesota. The programed instruction method was selected, and a training manual based on the procedures of the sttion operator was devised. The processes used in the problem included: (1) a review of the literature in the areas of training and programed instruction; (2) a study of the operations of the Accounts Receivable Department by actual on-the-job training for approximately two months; (3) the development of a programed instruction manual for the station operators; and (4) a pilot testing of the effectiveness of the manual. Importance of the study. Fingerhut Manufacturing Company is a mail-order firm dealing with car furnishings. The main offices are located in Minneapolis with branches in Princeton and St. Cloud. The St. Cloud office, which is the main concern of this thesis, employs about 350 office workers. As a result of this large number of employees and a labor turnover of about six per cent, training of personnel is costly. The training program in effect over the past years involved a method of individual instruction. Each new employee had a training supervisor that worked with her until it was apparent the trainee could perform the work efficiently. As a result of this costly method of training, the management of Fingerhut decided to test the possibilities of programed instruction as a means of reducing the cost of training. Programed instruction, it was felt, would reduce the number of trainee supervisors needed, improve the quality of personnel, and possibly reduce the amount of training time. The Accounts Receivable Department was selected as the first experimental area. The management contracted St. Cloud State College for help in the development of an appropriate training manual

A geographic approach to French wine regulation : finding new perspectives in Burgundy

Since 1935, France has introduced a set of strict national wine rules and regulations, the Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC). The AOC limits fraud and oversees quality control by basing the rules on terroir. High quality from terroir comes has both physical and cultural factors. Before 1935, France produced a variety of wines under similar regulations as Oregon and other wine growing regions have today. Wine makers and growers from Burgundy, France, are affected by the regulations as much as the connoisseur. Interviews from wine specialists and vignerons contributed an historical overview and understanding of the everyday life at a vineyard. It is important for the consumer to consider the quality to be more than just the vigneron and the appellation

Multicore Max-Flow using GraphBLAS: A Usability Study

Optimizing linear algebra operations has been a research topic for decades. The compact language of mathematics also produce lean, maintainable code. Using linear algebra as a high-level abstraction for graph operations is therefore very attractive. In this work, we will explore the usability of the GraphBLAS framework, currently the leading standard for graph operations that uses linear algebra as an abstraction. We analyze the usability of GraphBLAS by using it to implement the Edmonds-Karp algorithm for s-t maximum-flow/minimum-cut. To our knowledge, this work represents the first published results of Max-Flow in GraphBLAS. The result of our novel implementation was an algorithm that achieved a speedup of up to 11 over its own baseline, and is surprisingly compact and easy to reason about

Gender and military issues : a categorized research bibliography

The purpose of this report is to give an overview of research related to gender issues in the military

Markedseffisiens og asymmetrisk informasjon på Oslo Børs : En begivenhetsstudie av markedets reaksjoner på resultatvarsel i perioden 01.01.2000 til 31.12.2012

Denne utredningen undersøker markedsreaksjoner i forbindelse med negative og positive resultatvarsler ved Oslo Børs i perioden fra 1.januar 2000 til 31.desember 2012. Vi finner en signifikant negativ (positiv) gjennomsnittlig anormal avkastning på selve annonseringsdagen for negative (positive) varsel, noe som bryter med et effisient marked i sterk form. Resultatene viser signifikant anormal kursdrift i perioden forut for negative resultatvarsel, men ingen signifikant drift i etterkant. Tilsvarende finner vi ingen signifikant drift hverken i forkant eller etterkant av annonseringen for positive varsler. I sum er det få tegn på brudd med markedseffisienshypotesen i halv-sterk form, og vi har ikke grunnlag for å hevde dette. En kryss-seksjonell analyse av den anormale avkastningen i begivenhetsvinduet finner noe støtte for at illikviditet, pris/bok og risiko er selskapsspesifikke variabler som delvis kan forklare forskjeller i anormal avkastning mellom selskaper. Samtidig viser størrelse ingen tilsvarende sammenheng. Disse forskjellene kan i varierende grad knyttes til hypoteser om ulik grad av asymmetrisk informasjon og markedets mikrostruktur

Revisiting Pulse-Based OCV Incremental Capacity Analysis for Diagnostics of Li-Ion Batteries

This paper presents the concept of applying incremental capacity analysis (ICA) on the OCV curve in the SoC space. The OCV curve can be obtained from any sequence of discharge or charge current or power pulse with a necessary rest period to allow the cell to reach a pseudo-OCV after each pulse. With a high resolution (>100 pulses) in the full SoC window, an OCV-vs.-SoC curve can be obtained with sufficient accuracy to perform an ICA on the obtained OCV curve. ICA as a diagnostic technique has commonly been applied on Li-ion cells with constant charge and discharge at slow currents. However, a slow controlled constant current charge or discharge is normally not feasible and cannot be easily applied to a battery in an application. Here, we revisit pulse-based ICA to supplement the conventional constant-current-based technique. Based on actual ageing data, we show that ICA performed on a selection of high-resolution OCV curves is comparable or better than conventional ICA with constant current. The main advantage of OCV-ICA is that it can be applied to most cells and systems without a significant interruption of normal cell operation. OCV-ICA can provide valuable insights into ageing mechanisms as well as, e.g., detailed information on changes in internal resistance.Revisiting Pulse-Based OCV Incremental Capacity Analysis for Diagnostics of Li-Ion BatteriespublishedVersio

Risk-taking attitudes and behaviors in the Norwegian population: the influence of personality and background factors

The article presents the results of an investigation where the main purpose was to see how willingness to take risks is distributed in the general adult population relative to socio-demographic background and personality. A representative sample (n = 1000) of the population 15 years and older was interviewed about socio-demographic background, personality type (Big Five, EPQ, Sensation Seeking) and willingness to take risks. We used a new scale containing eight dimensions, covering social, intellectual, achievement, political, economic, physical, ethical and existential types of risk. The results showed that people in general were risk averse in relation to physical, ethical, economic and existential risks but had a balanced bell-shaped distribution of scores on the other risk dimensions. There was a moderate to low positive correlation between all eight risk-taking dimensions except achievement risk versus ethical risk. Males were more willing to take risks than females on six of eight dimensions. Younger were more willing than older to take risks on all eight risk dimensions. Higher educational level influenced risk-taking positively in more than half of the dimensions, not only one’s own educational level but also father’s and even more mother’s educational level. There was a positive correlation with household income on three dimensions. All sensation seeking subscales and total sensation seeking correlated positively with all risk-taking dimensions. There were positive correlations with most risk-taking scales on EPQ’s Extraversion and Psychoticism and Big Five’s Extraversion, Stableness and Openness. Agreeableness and Conscientiousness had negative correlation with several risk-taking dimensions. A logistic regression model, identifying the 25 percent highest scorers on total risk-taking, found that being male and scoring high on sensation seeking were the most important predictors. Furthermore, high scores on the Big Five sub-scales Extraversion and Openness, as well as the Eysenck EPQ sub-scales Extraversion and Psychoticism predicted high willingness to take risks.publishedVersio

Bruken av element fra historiefortelling i produksjonen av direktesendt fotball for å skape spenning

Denne oppgaven handler om hvordan elementer fra historiefortelling kan benyttes for å skape spenning, i produksjoner av direkteesendt fotball på TVThis thesis is about how elements from storytelling can be used to create tension, in productions of live football on TV

Risk-Taking and Sensation Seeking in Military Contexts: A Literature Review

publishedVersio