Comparing Composite vs. Wave-Cores in a Novel Dark-Silicon Methodology

As transistor scaling continues to push us into new design spaces, where power density is increasingly a major performance constraint, there have been moves to explore solutions which exploit so-called Dark Silicon, the UCSD Greendroid project being a notable exemplar. In this paper, we explore one novel dark silicon methodology, based on a heterogeneous multi-accelerator system model and an implicit execution model for the host processor. We also highlight a back- end translation methodology from raw machine code into data- flow style hardware cores, and introduce two distinct implementation styles. We then demonstrate comparative power benefits as compared to a relevant CPU model, assuming a 65nm benchmark technology node for both cases

Feasibility of Accelerator Generation to Alleviate Dark Silicon in a Novel Architecture

This thesis presents a novel approach to alleviating Dark Silicon problem by reducing power density. Decreasing the size of transistor has generated an increasing on power consumption. To attempt to manage the power issue, processor design has shifted from one single core to many cores. Switching on fewer cores while the others are off helps the chip to cool down and spread power more evenly over the chip. This means that some transistors are always idle while others are working. Therefore, scaling down the size of the chip, and increasing the amount of power to be dissipated, increases the number of inactive transistors. As a result it generates Dark Silicon, which doubles every chip generation [63] One of the most effective techniques to deal with Dark Silicon is to implement accelerators that execute the most energy consumer software functions. In this way the CPU is able to dissipate more energy and reduce the dark silicon issue. This work explores a novel accelerator design model which could be interfaced to a Stack CPU and so could optimise the transistor logic area and improve energy efficiency to tackle the dark silicon problem based on heterogeneous multi-accelerators (co-processor) in stack structure. The contribution of this thesis is to develop a tool to generate coprocessors from software stack machine code. But it also employs up-to-date code optimisation strategies to enhance the code at the input stage. Analysis of the cores using key metrics, based on 65nm synthesis experiments and industry standard tool-sets. It further introduces a novel architecture to decrease the power density of the accelerator. In order to test these expectations, a large-scale synthesis translation experiment was conducted, covering widely recognised benchmarks, and generating a large number of cores (in the thousands). These were evaluated for a range of key metrics: silicon di-area, timing, power, instructions-per-clock, and power density, both with and without code optimisation applied. The results obtained demonstrate that one of two competing core models, ‘Wavecore’ (which is proposed in this thesis), delivers superior power density to the standard approach (which it refers to as Composite core), and that this is achieved without significant cost in terms of critical metrics of overall power consumption and critical path delays. Finally, to understand the benefit of these accelerators, these auto-generated cores are analysed in comparison to a standard stack-machine CPU executing the same code sequences. Both the cores generation work and the benchmark CPU assume a 65nm CMOS process node, and are evaluated with industry standard design tools. It is demonstrated that the generated cores achieve better power efficiency improvements over the relatively CPU core

Assessing the hydrological changes due to land use alterations

The increase of urbanized areas and, consequently, of the impervious surfaces in land-use distributions may have important implications on the basin hydrological response. As a direct impact, the increase of cemented areas reduces the available storage volume for water in the watershed, which in turn exacerbates the runoff generation. Additionally, drainage pathways can be altered and the travel time to the watershed outlet considerably speeded up, with impacts on the hydrograph characteristics. The complex interactions among different hydrological processes make the estimations of the hydrological changes highly non linear. The aim of this work is using an advanced physically-based and distributed model, i.e. tRIBS (TIN-based real-time integrated basin simulator), to evaluate how the changes in the hydrological properties affect the watershed response not only in terms of outlet discharge but also in terms of spatial distribution of the main hydrological variables (e.g., soil moisture patterns, groundwater level, etc...). Moreover, we evaluate whether and how the spatial pattern of the impervious areas increase affects the change in the hydrological response. The work has been carried out on the Baron Fork watershed, located in OK (USA), characterized by an area of about 800 km2 and for which the tRIBS model was successfully calibrated in the past. Specifically, we eval- uate the hydrological response for different extreme events typical of the area and different land-use configurations

Endoscopic Resection of a Large Colonic Lipoma: Case Report and Review of Literature

Colonic lipomas are uncommon, benign, submucosal adipose tumors that are usually asymptomatic. Large lipomas can cause symptoms such as constipation, abdominal pain, rectal bleeding and intussusception. We report the case of a 60-year-old man with a history of lower abdominal pain and pseudoobstructive symptoms. Colonoscopy revealed a large polypoid sessile lesion in the sigma. We used a standardized technique of polypectomy, preceded by submucosal injection of dilute 5 ml polygelin with epinephrine 1:10,000 solution, to fully resect large colonic lipomas. The lipoma size was 3.5 cm. No bleeding or perforation developed. Histology showed the polyp to be a submucosul lipoma. On follow-up, there was no residual lesion. Colonic lipomas larger than 2 cm can be safely and efficaciously removed using electrosurgical snare polypectomy technique. The technique of submucosal injection before resection and using an electrocautery snare appears to be safe and reduces the risk of perforation reported in the literature

Surgical Treatment of Coledochal Cyst Associated with an Aberrant Posterior Hepatic Duct: Report of a Case and Brief Literature Review

Choledochal cysts (CCs) are rare congenital cystic or fusiform dilatations of the biliary tree that can involve the extrahepatic and/or intrahepatic biliary tree. We report a case of huge type I CC associated with an aberrant posterior hepatic duct. A 52-year-old man presented with a 3-week history of upper right abdominal pain and jaundice and serologic sign of obstructive jaundice. Ultrasonography (US), magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography were performed with the diagnosis of CC type I according to the classification of Alonso-Lej and Todani-Watanabe. The indication for surgical resection was posed. The cyst was completely resected and the biliary tract was reconstructed with a double hepatico-jejunostomy using the same Roux limb, since during the surgical dissection a before unrecognized anatomical variation of the right biliary tree (aberrant posterior hepatic duct at VI–VII segment) was identified. The diagnosis of CC is often difficult and US and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography are necessary to definite biliary dilatation. Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography should be the most definitive and reliable procedure for the diagnosis and treatment of bilio-pancreatic disorders. Gold standard treatment is surgery (bilio-jejunostomy) and frozen-section histology should be performed to rule out the presence of cancer. In conclusion, surgery is the gold standard for the treatment of CC type I and does not depend on the age of patients, based on a substantial lifetime risk of developing cholangiocarcinoma. Preoperative study is mandatory to assess the biliary tree morphology and to research any anatomical variation

Medidas clínicas estáticas do retropé e joelho não estão associadas à síndrome da dor patelofemoral

O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar se existe associação entre a síndrome da dor patelofemoral e as medidas clínicas estáticas: os ângulos do retropé e Q. Foi realizado um estudo observacional, transversal, caso-controle, no qual foram avaliados 77 adultos (ambos os sexos), 30 participantes com síndrome da dor patelofemoral e 47 controles. Foram medidos os ângulos do retropé e Q, por meio da fotogrametria. Testes t para amostras independentes foram usados para comparações dos resultados das variáveis contínuas entre os grupos. Os resultados das variáveis contínuas foram transformados em classificações clínicas categóricas, para verificar a associação estatística com a disfunção, e o teste do χ2 para respostas múltiplas também foi utilizado. Não houve diferença entre os grupos para o ângulo do retropé [média da diferença: 0,2º (IC95% -1,4-1,8)] e ângulo Q [média da diferença: -0,3º (IC95%-3,0-2,4). Não houve associação entre o ângulo do retropé [Odds Ratio: 1,29 (IC95% 0,51-3,25)], assim como entre o ângulo Q [Odds Ratio: 0.77 (IC95% 0,31-1,93)] e a ocorrência da síndrome da dor patelofemoral. Apesar de serem teoricamente justificadas e amplamente utilizadas na prática clínica fisioterapêutica, não pode-se afirmar que as medidas dos ângulos do retropé e Q, quando mensuradas em posição ortostática, estão associadas com a ocorrência da síndrome da dor patelofemoral. Essas medidas podem ter aplicabilidade limitada na triagem desta disfunção.The aim of the present study was to investigate the association between the patellofemoral pain syndrome and the clinical static measurements: the rearfoot and the Q angles. The design was a cross-sectional, observational, case-control study. We evaluated 77 adults (both genders), 30 participants with patellofemoral pain syndrome, and 47 controls. We measured the rearfoot and Q angles by photogrammetry. Independent t-tests were used to compare outcome continuous measures between groups. Outcome continuous data were also transformed into categorical clinical classifications, in order to verify their statistical association with the dysfunction, and χ2 tests for multiple responses were used. There were no differences between groups for rearfoot angle [mean differences: 0.2º (95%CI -1.4-1.8)] and Q angle [mean differences: -0.3º (95%CI -3.0-2.4). No associations were found between increased rearfoot valgus [Odds Ratio: 1.29 (95%CI 0.51-3.25)], as well as increased Q angle [Odds Ratio: 0.77 (95%CI 0.31-1.93)] and the patellofemoral pain syndrome occurrence. Although widely used in clinical practice and theoretically thought, it cannot be affirmed that increased rearfoot valgus and increased Q angle, when statically measured in relaxed stance, are associated with patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS). These measures may have limited applicability in screening of the PFPS development

Rapid warming increases survival of slow-frozen sibling oocytes: a step towards a single warming procedure irrespective of the freezing protocol?

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Investigation on Metal–Oxide Graphene Field-Effect Transistors With Clamped Geometries

In this work, we report on the design, fabrication and characterization of Metal-Oxide Graphene Field-effect Transistors (MOGFETs) exploiting novel clamped gate geometries aimed at enhancing the device transconductance. The fabricated devices employ clamped metal contacts also for source and drain, as well as an optimized graphene meandered pattern for source contacting, in order to reduce parasitic resistance. Our experimental results demonstrate that MOGFETs with the proposed structure show improved high frequency performance, in terms of maximum available gain and transition frequency values, as a consequence of the higher equivalent transconductance obtained

Strategies for Breast Cancer Surgery During & After COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: In December 2019, a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2), also named "COVID-19", has produced a global pandemic and has seriously affected many health systems around the world. Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic, many international societies and groups of experts have published clinical guidelines and recommendations for surgical management of breast cancer patients in this time of crisis and issued COVID guidelines to prioritize surgery where time is critical and it cannot be deferred.Methods: In this study, we review current recommendations for breast cancer surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic and propose a plan for future waves of the current pandemic while minimizing the risk of the contagious disease and oversaturating the health systems regarding the burden of accumulating untreated disease.Results: We create a critical and constructive vision from learnt lessons for similar future situations and propose a moving forward plan during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Although in many parts of world, it would appear that now we are past the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we still face as uncertainty as to the future course of the pandemic and the challenges of the second wave. It is important to reappraise continuously the guidance and to emphasize the need for new protocols under new norms to continue to deliver breast cancer surgery safely