mAPN: Modeling, Analysis, and Exploration of Algorithmic and Parallelism Adaptivity

Using parallel embedded systems these days is increasing. They are getting more complex due to integrating multiple functionalities in one application or running numerous ones concurrently. This concerns a wide range of applications, including streaming applications, commonly used in embedded systems. These applications must implement adaptable and reliable algorithms to deliver the required performance under varying circumstances (e.g., running applications on the platform, input data, platform variety, etc.). Given the complexity of streaming applications, target systems, and adaptivity requirements, designing such systems with traditional programming models is daunting. This is why model-based strategies with an appropriate Model of Computation (MoC) have long been studied for embedded system design. This work provides algorithmic adaptivity on top of parallelism for dynamic dataflow to express larger sets of variants. We present a multi-Alternative Process Network (mAPN), a high-level abstract representation in which several variants of the same application coexist in the same graph expressing different implementations. We introduce mAPN properties and its formalism to describe various local implementation alternatives. Furthermore, mAPNs are enriched with metadata to Provide the alternatives with quantitative annotations in terms of a specific metric. To help the user analyze the rich space of variants, we propose a methodology to extract feasible variants under user and hardware constraints. At the core of the methodology is an algorithm for computing global metrics of an execution of different alternatives from a compact mAPN specification. We validate our approach by exploring several possible variants created for the Automatic Subtitling Application (ASA) on two hardware platforms.Comment: 26 PAGES JOURNAL PAPE

Pure dysgerminoma of the ovary: a study of 31 cases

Malignant germ cell tumors of the ovary are rare tumors characterized by their heterogeneity and occurring mostly in young women. Dysgerminoma is the most common type of these tumors. This was a retrospective study of 31 patients with pure dysgerminoma of the ovary diagnosed in Salah Azaiez institute of Tunis in Tunisia between 1970 and 2012.The median age was 22 years old. Abdominal pain was the most complaint in 45.1% of cases. An abdomino-pelvic mass was found in 83.8% of cases. Surgery was performed in all patients. The median tumoral size was 13.7 cm. Sixty four-point five percent of the patients underwent a conservative surgery. The tumor was classified stage I in 51.6% of the cases, stage II in 9.7% of the cases, stage III in 35.5% of the cases and stage IV in 3.2% of the cases. Fourteen patients received platinum-based adjuvant chemotherapy, and 10 patients had a radiotherapy. We have noticed 2 cases of recurrence and 2 cases of metastasis. Five-year and ten-year overall survival was 89.4%. Five-year disease free survival was 85.2% and ten-year disease free survival was 66.3%. Dysgerminomas of the ovary have a good prognosis. The two significant prognostic factors are the stage and the postoperative residual disease