The Mondrian Data Engine

The increasing demand for extracting value out of ever-growing data poses an ongoing challenge to system designers, a task only made trickier by the end of Dennard scaling. As the performance density of traditional CPU-centric architectures stagnates, advancing compute capabilities necessitates novel architectural approaches. Near-memory processing (NMP) architectures are reemerging as promising candidates to improve computing efficiency through tight coupling of logic and memory. NMP architectures are especially fitting for data analytics, as they provide immense bandwidth to memory-resident data and dramatically reduce data movement, the main source of energy consumption. Modern data analytics operators are optimized for CPU execution and hence rely on large caches and employ random memory accesses. In the context of NMP, such random accesses result in wasteful DRAM row buffer activations that account for a significant fraction of the total memory access energy. In addition, utilizing NMP’s ample bandwidth with fine-grained random accesses requires complex hardware that cannot be accommodated under NMP’s tight area and power constraints. Our thesis is that efficient NMP calls for an algorithm-hardware co-design that favors algorithms with sequential accesses to enable simple hardware that accesses memory in streams. We introduce an instance of such a co-designed NMP architecture for data analytics, the Mondrian Data Engine. Compared to a CPU-centric and a baseline NMP system, the Mondrian Data Engine improves the performance of basic data analytics operators by up to 49× and 5×, and efficiency by up to 28× and 5×, respectively

LTRF: Enabling High-Capacity Register Files for GPUs via Hardware/Software Cooperative Register Prefetching

Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) employ large register files to accommodate all active threads and accelerate context switching. Unfortunately, register files are a scalability bottleneck for future GPUs due to long access latency, high power consumption, and large silicon area provisioning. Prior work proposes hierarchical register file, to reduce the register file power consumption by caching registers in a smaller register file cache. Unfortunately, this approach does not improve register access latency due to the low hit rate in the register file cache. In this paper, we propose the Latency-Tolerant Register File (LTRF) architecture to achieve low latency in a two-level hierarchical structure while keeping power consumption low. We observe that compile-time interval analysis enables us to divide GPU program execution into intervals with an accurate estimate of a warp’s aggregate register working-set within each interval. The key idea of LTRF is to prefetch the estimated register working-set from the main register file to the register file cache under software control, at the beginning of each interval, and overlap the prefetch latency with the execution of other warps. Our experimental results show that LTRF enables high-capacity yet long-latency main GPU register files, paving the way for various optimizations. As an example optimization, we implement the main register file with emerging high-density high-latency memory technologies, enabling 8× larger capacity and improving overall GPU performance by 31% while reducing register file power consumption by 46%

A História da Alimentação: balizas historiográficas

Os M. pretenderam traçar um quadro da História da Alimentação, não como um novo ramo epistemológico da disciplina, mas como um campo em desenvolvimento de práticas e atividades especializadas, incluindo pesquisa, formação, publicações, associações, encontros acadêmicos, etc. Um breve relato das condições em que tal campo se assentou faz-se preceder de um panorama dos estudos de alimentação e temas correia tos, em geral, segundo cinco abardagens Ia biológica, a econômica, a social, a cultural e a filosófica!, assim como da identificação das contribuições mais relevantes da Antropologia, Arqueologia, Sociologia e Geografia. A fim de comentar a multiforme e volumosa bibliografia histórica, foi ela organizada segundo critérios morfológicos. A seguir, alguns tópicos importantes mereceram tratamento à parte: a fome, o alimento e o domínio religioso, as descobertas européias e a difusão mundial de alimentos, gosto e gastronomia. O artigo se encerra com um rápido balanço crítico da historiografia brasileira sobre o tema

Os princípios e as normas : problemas estruturais do sistema federalista brasileiro

A história da federação brasileira teve início em 1889. Em 15 de Novembro daquele ano surgem federalismo e republicanismo num mesmo e único lance, movimento que tratou de sepultar o regime monárquico sob comando de Dom Pedro II, o último imperador do Brasil. Em 1988, depois de longo período de exceção iniciado em 1964, o Brasil promulga novo texto constitucional, consagrando, mais uma vez, federalismo e republicanismo. A Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil de 1988 (CF/88), especificamente no tocante ao tema do federalismo, inova ao consolidar fórmula federativa absolutamente singular: é implementado modelo integrado por três seres federados. A Carta de 1988, pela primeira vez desde 1889, materializa União, Estados e Municípios como criaturas federadas. O Brasil, deste modo, é uma federação que tem a localidade como entidade política detentora de autonomia federativa. As implicações da fórmula triangular, severas sob todos os ângulos, são por isso mesmo examinadas no corpo da pesquisa. A tese, distribuído em quatro partes, cuidou de abordar os princípios do federalismo (Capítulo I), avaliar as normas da CF/88 vinculadas à questão federativa (Capítulo II), analisar as bases teóricas do federalismo no Brasil e as relações assimétricas da federação brasileira (Capítulo III) e, ainda, identificar as principais causas desestabilizadoras do sistema federalista surgido em 1988 (Capítulo IV). Buscou a investigação priorizar o estudo do federalismo no Brasil na perspetiva da noção de sistema, o que implica contemplar o modelo brasileiro, por um lado, em sentido amplo (no que diz respeito ao funcionamento integral do arranjo) e, por outro lado, em sentido estrito (no que se refere às relações estabelecidas entre todas as unidades que constituem a composição federativa vigente). Em sede de conclusão, o texto é apresentado à luz da metodologia que combina diagnóstico, prognóstico e terapia, abordagem inspirada nos ensinamentos do sociólogo alemão Claus Offe.The history of the Brazilian federation began in 1889. On the 15th of November of that year emerge federalism and republicanism in the same and unique shot, a movement that buried the monarchical regime under the command of Dom Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil. In 1988, after a long period of exception that started in 1964, Brazil promulgates a new constitutional text, confirming, once again, federalism and republicanism. The Constitution of the Federative Republic of Brazil of 1988 (CF/88), specifically pertaining to the theme of federalism, innovates upon consolidating federative formula absolutely singular: model integrated by three federate beings is implemented. The Charter of 1988, for the first time since 1889, materializes Union, States, and Municipalities as federate creatures. Brazil, thus, is a federation that has the locality as a political entity holding federative autonomy. The implications of the triangular formula, severe under all angles, are for thus reason examined within the body of the research. The thesis, distributed in for parts, approached the principles of federalism (Chapter I), evaluated the norms of the CF/88 connected to the federative question (Chapter II), analyzed the theoretical bases of federalism in Brazil and the asymmetrical relations of the Brazilian federation (Chapter III), and, also, identified the main causes that imbalance the federalist system erected in 1988 (Chapter IV). The investigation prioritized the study of federalism in Brazil within the perspective of the notion of system, which implies viewing the Brazilian model, on the one hand, in ample sense (regarding the integral operation of the arrangement), and, on the other hand, in strict sense (concerning the relations established between all the units that constitute the present federative composition). Upon conclusion, the text is presented in light of methodology that combines diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy, approach inspired in the teachings of German sociologist Claus Off

ColTraIn: Co-located DNN training and inference

Deep neural network inference accelerators are deployed at scale to accommodate online services, but face low average load because of service demand variability, leading to poor resource utilization. Unfortunately, reclaiming inference idle cycles is difficult, as no other workload can execute on such custom accelerators. DNN training services offer opportunities to reclaim inference accelerator idle cycles. However, the inference services' tight latency constraints and the training algorithms' dependence on floating-point arithmetic limit the opportunities for piggybacking training services on inference accelerators. In this thesis, we tackle the challenges that prevent inference DNN accelerators from exposing their idle cycles to training services. We first develop an efficient numeric representation that enables DNN training with accuracy similar to single-precision floating point and energy efficiency similar to 8-bit fixed point. Then, we explore the inference accelerator design space to show that, unlike in current latency-optimal platforms, relaxing latency constraints with ALU arrays that are batching-optimized achieves near-optimal throughput for a given area and power envelope. High throughput inference accelerators maximize the opportunities to piggyback training. Finally, we present Equinox, a family of inference accelerators designed to piggyback training. Equinox employs a uniform encoding and a priority hardware scheduler that processes training requests during inference idle cycles without affecting inference tail latency. Overall, we show that exposing accelerator idle cycles to training services uncovers significant computing power for training services with a small overhead for inference accelerators, improving overall datacenter efficiency

The azo dyes Disperse Red 1 and Disperse Orange 1 increase the micronuclei frequencies in human lymphocytes and in HepG2 cells

The use of azo dyes by different industries can cause direct and/or indirect effects oil human and environmental health due to the discharge of industrial effluents that contain these toxic compounds. Several studies have demonstrated the genotoxic effects of various azo dyes, but information on the DNA damage caused by Disperse Red 1 and Disperse Orange 1 is unavailable, although these dyes are used in dyeing processes in many countries. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the mutagenic activity of Disperse Red 1 and Disperse Orange 1 using the micronucleus (MN) assay in human lymphocytes and in HepG2 cells. In the lymphocyte assay. it was found that the number of MN induced by the lowest concentration of each dye (0.2 mu g/mL) was similar to that of the negative control. At the other concentrations, a dose response MN formation was observed up to 1.0 mu g/mL. At higher dose levels, the number of MN decreased. For the HepG2 cells the results were similar. With both dyes a dose dependent increase in the frequency of MN was detected. However for the HepG2, the threshold for this increase was 2.0 mu g/mL, while at higher doses a reduction in the MN number was observed. The proliferation index was also calculated in order to evaluate acute toxicity during the test. No differences were detected between the different concentrations tested and the negative control. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Faculdade de Ciencias Farmaceuticas de Ribeirao PretoUniversidade de Sao Paulo (USP)FAPESPCAPE

Differential Diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder: Genetic and Hormonal Assessment and the Influence of Early-Life Stress

Few studies have assessed biomarkers for the differentiation of major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). However, some elements of depression such as hormones and receptors of the renin–angiotensin–adrenal system (RAAS), the hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis, and history of early-life stress (ELS) could be considered for differential diagnosis. Therefore, this study aimed to assess aldosterone and cortisol levels, MR and GR gene polymorphisms, and ELS as potential biomarkers for differentiating MDD and BD. This study presents a case–control design. Groups comprised samples for genetic, cortisol, and aldosterone analysis: healthy control (HC; n = 113/97/103), MDD (n = 78/69/67) and BD (n = 82/68/65) subjects. Furthermore, all subjects were assessed for diagnostic screening, the severity of depression, and history of ELS by applying MINI-PLUS, GRID-HDRS, and CTQ, respectively. In addition, genotype and allelic frequencies of GR (N363S, R22/23K and BclI) and MR (MI180V and -2G/C) polymorphisms were evaluated via PCR. Our findings demonstrate that basal aldosterone levels may be a biomarker for differentiating BD and MDD. Furthermore, ELS affects the HPA axis in BD, cortisol may be considered a biomarker for distinguishing BD and MDD, but only in the absence of ELS, and, finally, history of ELS and MR-2G/C variant alleles are factors that contribute to the severity of depressive symptoms in MDD and BD