McRunjob: A High Energy Physics Workflow Planner for Grid Production Processing

McRunjob is a powerful grid workflow manager used to manage the generation of large numbers of production processing jobs in High Energy Physics. In use at both the DZero and CMS experiments, McRunjob has been used to manage large Monte Carlo production processing since 1999 and is being extended to uses in regular production processing for analysis and reconstruction. Described at CHEP 2001, McRunjob converts core metadata into jobs submittable in a variety of environments. The powerful core metadata description language includes methods for converting the metadata into persistent forms, job descriptions, multi-step workflows, and data provenance information. The language features allow for structure in the metadata by including full expressions, namespaces, functional dependencies, site specific parameters in a grid environment, and ontological definitions. It also has simple control structures for parallelization of large jobs. McRunjob features a modular design which allows for easy expansion to new job description languages or new application level tasks.Comment: CHEP 2003 serial number TUCT00

Oral History Interview: Dave Evans and Rick Richards

This interview is one of a series conducted concerning West Virginia Vietnam veterans, and is conducted with both Dave Evans and Rick Richards. At the time of the interview, Dave Evans was the president of the West Virginia Vietnam Veterans of America, and Rick Richards was a member of the board. They discuss: individuals such as John Kerry (U.S. Senator), Danny Johns, Charlie Hamilton, Roy Hamilton, General Westmoreland, Ellsworth Bunker, Pol Pot, Jay Rockefeller, Randy Horn, Arch Moore, Gary Rogers, Jack Moon, & David Alistone; their experiences and views on the Vietnam War; other officers; other members of the military; draft resisters; discrimination against Vietnam veterans; being wounded in Vietnam and other wounded soldiers; Vietnam Veterans of America; several veterans-related committees they\u27ve dealt with; relations with the news media; politics relating to the war; some mention of the Sandinistas; the anti-war movement; and other topics.https://mds.marshall.edu/oral_history/1042/thumbnail.jp

The Impact of Heat Release in Turbine Film Cooling

The Ultra Compact Combustor is a design that integrates a turbine vane into the combustor flow path. Because of the high fuel-to-air ratio and short combustor flow path, a significant potential exists for unburned fuel to enter the turbine. Using contemporary turbine cooling vane designs, the injection of oxygen-rich turbine cooling air into a combustor flow containing unburned fuel could result in heat release in the turbine and a large decrease in cooling effectiveness. The current study explores the interaction of cooling flow from typical cooling holes with the exhaust of a fuel-rich well-stirred-reactor operating at high temperatures over a flat plate. Surface temperatures, heat flux, and heat transfer coefficients are calculated for a variety of reactor fuel-to-air ratios, cooling hole geometries, and blowing ratios. Results demonstrate that reactions in the turbine cooling film can result in increased heat transfer to the surface. The amount of this increase depends on hole geometry and blowing ratio and fuel content of the combustor flow. Failure to design for this effect could result in augmented heat transfer caused by the cooling scheme, and turbine life could be degraded substantially

Columbia University at MSE 2005

We describe our participation in the Multilingual Summarization Evaluation 2005

Cyclic hydrostatic pressure and cotton particles stimulate synthesis by human lung macrophages of cytokines in vitro

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Inhalation of particulates is a leading cause of the development of lung diseases and current understanding of the complex relationship between lung metabolism and airborne particulates is incomplete. It is well established that mechanical load is important in the development of the lung and in lung cell differentiation. The interaction between particle exposure and physical forces on alveolar macrophages is a physiologically relevant issue, but as yet understudied. This study examines the effect of cyclic hydrostatic pressure and cotton particles on synthesis of cytokines by human alveolar macrophages.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Alveolar macrophages were obtained from patients with lung disease, either from lavage samples or from lung tissue resection. The commonly used cell line THP-1 was included in the experiments. Cell cultures were exposed to cotton particles and/cyclic hydrostatic pressure (3 or 5 psi); control cultures were exposed to medium only. TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6 were assayed in the culture media using specific ELISAs. Cells were characterized using morphology and markers specific for macrophages (Jenner/Giemsa staining, CD14 and CD68).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Exposure to cotton particles stimulated cytokine synthesis by macrophages from all three sources; exposure to cyclic hydrostatic pressure alone did not stimulate cytokine synthesis significantly. However, the combination of both particles and cyclic hydrostatic pressure increased the simulation of cytokine synthesis still further. Cell characterization demonstrated that the large majority of cells had a macrophage morphology and were positive for CD14 and CD68.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data suggest an interaction between cyclic hydrostatic pressure and particulate exposure, which increases alveolar macrophage cytokine production. This interaction was only observed at the higher cyclic hydrostatic pressure. However, in patient samples, there was considerable variation in the amount by which secretion of an individual cytokine increased and there was also variation in the mechanosensitivity of cells from the three different sources. Cyclic hydrostatic pressure, therefore, may be an important modulator of the response of alveolar macrophages to cotton particles, but the source of the cells may be a confounding factor which demands further investigation.</p

Hegemony and mediations in melodrama of the Golden Age of Mexican cinema

The influence of the mass media is a contentious issue, especially in regards to the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema in the mid-twentieth century. These melodramatic films have often been viewed by critics as instruments of hegemony. However, melodrama contains an inherent ambivalence, as it not only has a potential for imparting dominant messages but also offers a platform from which to defy and exceed the restraining boundaries imposed by dominant ideologies. An examination of a number of important Golden Age films, especially focussing on their contradictory tensions and their portrayals of modernity, illustrates this. The Nosotros los pobres series serves as an example of how melodramatic elements are incorporated into popular Mexican films and how melodrama could be used as an ideological tool to encourage the state’s goals. Similarly, the maternal melodrama Cuando los hijos se van uses the family to represent the processes of conflict and negotiation that Mexicans experienced as a result of modernization. Consistent with the reactionary nature of melodrama and its simultaneous suggestive potential, the film combines a Catholic worldview with an underlying allegory of moving forward. The issue of progress is also at the centre of a number of films starring iconic actor Pedro Infante, which offer an avenue for exploring what modernisation might mean for male identity in Mexico. His films show a masculinity in transition and how lower-class men could cope with this change. Likewise, the depiction of women in Golden Age film overall supports the stabilising goals of the 1940s Revolutionary government, while also providing some transgressive figures. Therefore, these films helped the Mexican audience process the sudden modernization of the post-Revolutionary period, which was in the state’s best interest; however, the masses were also able to reconfigure the messages of these films and find their own sense of meaning in them

Dialogue: Clarified and Reconsidered

Controversies about constitutional “dialogue” often stem from disagreement over the concept itself. The metaphor’s meaning and attendant consequences differ depending on whether it reflects the assumptions of judicial interpretive supremacy or coordinate interpretation. By combining that distinction with the contrast between weak-form and strong-form rights review, this article creates an integrated framework for clarifying dialogic variation across such jurisdictions as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia. We apply this framework most intensely to the Canadian case and bring differences between several dialogic forms—especially the difference between “clarification dialogue” and “reconsideration dialogue”—into sharper relief than is common in the literature. The classification of dialogic types revealed by the Canadian experience can, we suggest, illuminate analysis in other jurisdictions

Robust Reinforcement Learning Objectives for Sequential Recommender Systems

Attention-based sequential recommendation methods have demonstrated promising results by accurately capturing users' dynamic interests from historical interactions. In addition to generating superior user representations, recent studies have begun integrating reinforcement learning (RL) into these models. Framing sequential recommendation as an RL problem with reward signals, unlocks developing recommender systems (RS) that consider a vital aspect-incorporating direct user feedback in the form of rewards to deliver a more personalized experience. Nonetheless, employing RL algorithms presents challenges, including off-policy training, expansive combinatorial action spaces, and the scarcity of datasets with sufficient reward signals. Contemporary approaches have attempted to combine RL and sequential modeling, incorporating contrastive-based objectives and negative sampling strategies for training the RL component. In this study, we further emphasize the efficacy of contrastive-based objectives paired with augmentation to address datasets with extended horizons. Additionally, we recognize the potential instability issues that may arise during the application of negative sampling. These challenges primarily stem from the data imbalance prevalent in real-world datasets, which is a common issue in offline RL contexts. While our established baselines attempt to mitigate this through various techniques, instability remains an issue. Therefore, we introduce an enhanced methodology aimed at providing a more effective solution to these challenges

An investigation into the use of haptic modelling during industrial design activity

Physical models continue to form an essential outcome from industrial design practice for both student and professional. Whist the professional may be removed from the “hands-on” model build by employing the services of a modelmaker, students rarely have such resources. Indeed it was (and in many institutions still is) considered an essential part of the education programme for students to develop modelmaking skills and experience the physical interaction with form and material. However, the advent of remote model building technologies via rapid prototyping and computer controlled machining, has given students an alternative, enabling them to become increasingly removed from such interaction. As increasing numbers of industrial design courses utilise remote model build technologies, the emergence of three dimensional (3D) digital modelling via a haptic feedback device may offer a route whereby students can continue to be involved with tactile design modelling. Acknowledging the need to utilise digital design techniques, this paper investigates the capabilities of haptic modelling for use within industrial design practice, with the aim of discussing its suitability for student use. The research is based on an industrial design case study for a communication device that was undertaken by the authors