System software for the finite element machine

The Finite Element Machine is an experimental parallel computer developed at Langley Research Center to investigate the application of concurrent processing to structural engineering analysis. This report describes system-level software which has been developed to facilitate use of the machine by applications researchers. The overall software design is outlined, and several important parallel processing issues are discussed in detail, including processor management, communication, synchronization, and input/output. Based on experience using the system, the hardware architecture and software design are critiqued, and areas for further work are suggested

PASLIB programmer's guide for the finite element machine, revision 2.1-A

PASLIB is a library of Pascal callable subroutines designed to give application programs access to the unique architectural features of the Finite Element Machine and to the software support services provided by the Nodal Exec operating system which runs on it. The PASLIB subroutines are documented and the procedures needed to write Pascal programs for execution on the Finite Element Machine are defined. Considerations for obtaining optimum hardware and software performance are given. A brief overview of debugging and performance analysis capabilities available to the programmer is presented

The finite element machine: An experiment in parallel processing

The finite element machine is a prototype computer designed to support parallel solutions to structural analysis problems. The hardware architecture and support software for the machine, initial solution algorithms and test applications, and preliminary results are described

Modelling algorithm execution time on processor arrays

A model for the execution time of parallel algorithms on processor arrays is described. The model is validated for the conjugate gradient algorithm on the eight processor Finite Element Machine at NASA Langley Research Center. Model predictions are also included for this algorithm on a larger array as the number of processors and system parameters are varied

ICASE/LaRC Symposium on Visualizing Time-Varying Data

Time-varying datasets present difficult problems for both analysis and visualization. For example, the data may be terabytes in size, distributed across mass storage systems at several sites, with time scales ranging from femtoseconds to eons. In response to these challenges, ICASE and NASA Langley Research Center, in cooperation with ACM SIGGRAPH, organized the first symposium on visualizing time-varying data. The purpose was to bring the producers of time-varying data together with visualization specialists to assess open issues in the field, present new solutions, and encourage collaborative problem-solving. These proceedings contain the peer-reviewed papers which were presented at the symposium. They cover a broad range of topics, from methods for modeling and compressing data to systems for visualizing CFD simulations and World Wide Web traffic. Because the subject matter is inherently dynamic, a paper proceedings cannot adequately convey all aspects of the work. The accompanying video proceedings provide additional context for several of the papers

Adapted Psychological Profiling verses the right to an explainable decision

Copyright 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved. Adaptive Psychological Profiling is the process of determining a person’s internal mental state through the analysis of a person’s non-verbal behaviour. Silent Talker is a pioneering psychological profiling system which was developed by experts in behavioural neuroscience and computational intelligence. Designed for use in natural conversation, Silent Talker combines image processing and artificial intelligence to classify multiple visible non-verbal signals of the face during verbal communication to produce an accurate and comprehensive time-based profile of a subject’s psychological state. Silent Talker uses a unique configuration of artificial neural networks, hence, it is difficult to understand how the classification of a person’s behaviour is obtained. New legislation in the form of GDPR, now requires individuals whom are automatically profiled, to have the right to an explanation of how the “machine” reached its decision and receive meaningful information on the logic involved. This is difficult in practice, both from a technical and legal point of view. This paper, uses an application of psychological profiling within a pilot system known as iBorderCtrl, which detects deception through an avatar border guard interview during a travellers pre-registration to demonstrate the challenges faced in trying to obtain explainable decisions from models derived through Computational Intelligence techniques

Guidance for Characterizing Explosives Contaminated Soils: Sampling and Selecting on-Site Analytical Methods

A large number of defense-related sites are contaminated with elevated levels of secondary explosives. Levels of contamination range from barely detectable to levels above 10% that need special handling due to the detonation potential. Characterization of explosives-contaminated sites is particularly difficult due to the very heterogeneous distribution of contamination in the environment and within samples. To improve site characterization, several options exist including collecting more samples, providing on-site analytical data to help direct the investigation, compositing samples, improving homogenization of samples, and extracting larger samples. On-site analytical methods are essential to more economical and improved characterization. On-site methods might suffer in terms of precision and accuracy, but this is more than offset by the increased number of samples that can be run. While verification using a standard analytical procedure should be part of any quality assurance program, reducing the number of samples analyzed by the more expensive methods can result in significantly reduced costs. Often 70 to 90% of the soil samples analyzed during an explosives site investigation do not contain detectable levels of contamination. Two basic types of on-site analytical methods are in wide use for explosives in soil, calorimetric and immunoassay. Calorimetric methods generally detect broad classes of compounds such as nitroaromatics or nitramines, while immunoassay methods are more compound specific. Since TNT or RDX is usually present in explosive-contaminated soils, the use of procedures designed to detect only these or similar compounds can be very effective

Follow-Up Observations of PTFO 8-8695: A 3 MYr Old T-Tauri Star Hosting a Jupiter-mass Planetary Candidate

We present Spitzer 4.5\micron\ light curve observations, Keck NIRSPEC radial velocity observations, and LCOGT optical light curve observations of PTFO~8-8695, which may host a Jupiter-sized planet in a very short orbital period (0.45 days). Previous work by \citet{vaneyken12} and \citet{barnes13} predicts that the stellar rotation axis and the planetary orbital plane should precess with a period of $300 - 600$ days. As a consequence, the observed transits should change shape and depth, disappear, and reappear with the precession. Our observations indicate the long-term presence of the transit events ($>3$ years), and that the transits indeed do change depth, disappear and reappear. The Spitzer observations and the NIRSPEC radial velocity observations (with contemporaneous LCOGT optical light curve data) are consistent with the predicted transit times and depths for the $M_\star = 0.34\ M_\odot$ precession model and demonstrate the disappearance of the transits. An LCOGT optical light curve shows that the transits do reappear approximately 1 year later. The observed transits occur at the times predicted by a straight-forward propagation of the transit ephemeris. The precession model correctly predicts the depth and time of the Spitzer transit and the lack of a transit at the time of the NIRSPEC radial velocity observations. However, the precession model predicts the return of the transits approximately 1 month later than observed by LCOGT. Overall, the data are suggestive that the planetary interpretation of the observed transit events may indeed be correct, but the precession model and data are currently insufficient to confirm firmly the planetary status of PTFO~8-8695b.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa