Energy Consumption in Compact Integer Vectors: A Study Case

[Abstract] In the field of algorithms and data structures analysis and design, most of the researchers focus only on the space/time trade-off, and little attention has been paid to energy consumption. Moreover, most of the efforts in the field of Green Computing have been devoted to hardware-related issues, being green software in its infancy. Optimizing the usage of computing resources, minimizing power consumption or increasing battery life are some of the goals of this field of research. As an attempt to address the most recent sustainability challenges, we must incorporate the energy consumption as a first-class constraint when designing new compact data structures. Thus, as a preliminary work to reach that goal, we first need to understand the factors that impact on the energy consumption and their relation with compression. In this work, we study the energy consumption required by several integer vector representations. We execute typical operations over datasets of different nature. We can see that, as commonly believed, energy consumption is highly related to the time required by the process, but not always. We analyze other parameters, such as number of instructions, number of CPU cycles, memory loads, among others.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; TIN2016-77158-C4-3-RMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; RTC-2017-5908-7Xunta de Galicia (co-founded with ERDF); ED431C 2017/58Xunta de Galicia; ED431G/01Comisión Nacional de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica; 3170534

Parallel Construction of Wavelet Trees on Multicore Architectures

The wavelet tree has become a very useful data structure to efficiently represent and query large volumes of data in many different domains, from bioinformatics to geographic information systems. One problem with wavelet trees is their construction time. In this paper, we introduce two algorithms that reduce the time complexity of a wavelet tree's construction by taking advantage of nowadays ubiquitous multicore machines. Our first algorithm constructs all the levels of the wavelet in parallel in $O(n)$ time and $O(n\lg\sigma + \sigma\lg n)$ bits of working space, where $n$ is the size of the input sequence and $\sigma$ is the size of the alphabet. Our second algorithm constructs the wavelet tree in a domain-decomposition fashion, using our first algorithm in each segment, reaching $O(\lg n)$ time and $O(n\lg\sigma + p\sigma\lg n/\lg\sigma)$ bits of extra space, where $p$ is the number of available cores. Both algorithms are practical and report good speedup for large real datasets.Comment: This research has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sk{\l}odowska-Curie Actions H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 BIRDS GA No. 69094

When Edge Computing Meets Compact Data Structures

Edge computing enables data processing and storage closer to where the data are created. Given the largely distributed compute environment and the significantly dispersed data distribution, there are increasing demands of data sharing and collaborative processing on the edge. Since data shuffling can dominate the overall execution time of collaborative processing jobs, considering the limited power supply and bandwidth resource in edge environments, it is crucial and valuable to reduce the communication overhead across edge devices. Compared with data compression, compact data structures (CDS) seem to be more suitable in this case, for the capability of allowing data to be queried, navigated, and manipulated directly in a compact form. However, the relevant work about applying CDS to edge computing generally focuses on the intuitive benefit from reduced data size, while few discussions about the challenges are given, not to mention empirical investigations into real-world edge use cases. This research highlights the challenges, opportunities, and potential scenarios of CDS implementation in edge computing. Driven by the use case of shuffling-intensive data analytics, we proposed a three-layer architecture for CDS-aided data processing and particularly studied the feasibility and efficiency of the CDS layer. We expect this research to foster conjoint research efforts on CDS-aided edge data analytics and to make wider practical impacts

About BIRDS project (Bioinformatics and Information Retrieval Data Structures Analysis and Design)

BIRDS stands for "Bioinformatics and Information Retrieval Data Structures analysis and design" and is a 4-year project (2016--2019) that has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 690941. The overall goal of BIRDS is to establish a long term international network involving leading researchers in the development of efficient data structures in the fields of Bioinformatics and Information Retrieval, to strengthen the partnership through the exchange of knowledge and expertise, and to develop integrated approaches to improve current approaches in both fields. The research will address challenges in storing, processing, indexing, searching and navigating genome-scale data by designing new algorithms and data structures for sequence analysis, networks representation or compressing and indexing repetitive data. BIRDS project is carried out by 7 research institutions from Australia (University of Melbourne), Chile (University of Chile and University of Concepci\'on), Finland (University of Helsinki), Japan (Kyushu University), Portugal (Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Investiga\c{c}\~ao e Desenvolvimento em Lisboa, INESC-ID), and Spain (University of A Coru\~na), and a Spanish SME (Enxenio S.L.). It is coordinated by the University of A Coru\~na (Spain).Comment: This research has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015 BIRDS GA No. 690941. CERI 201

Modelo de avaliação escolar da competência escrita

Introduction: The article presents a form of writing evaluation for students of compulsory (and post-compulsory) elementary education and other non-school educational institutions that pursue such objective. This is not related to any specific subject or curricular area as they are cross-sectional transdisciplinary skills. As a theoretical reference of the activity to be evaluated, writing, the Flower and Hayes’s model, as qualified by Hayes, has been used, which describes these skills as an eminently cognitive exercise involving four phases or processes simultaneously and recursively: planning of the text mentally or design of the draft, its transcription in a given format through a conventional language, review of the result from various dimensions and according to the plan, and self-regulation of the whole process.Materials and methods:This complex evaluation is approached through a mixed model of basically qualitative research, using content analysis, but with analytical details of a descriptive and inferential quantitative analysis.   Results: A guide questionnaire is employed for the clinical-cognitive interview according to the cognitive nature of the activity and data are extracted to calculate the progression of the activity from one course to another.   Conclusions: In previous pilot studies, certain evolution of writing has been determined from the evidence, but not in all courses or dimensions and, thus, not as expected.Introducción: El artículo presenta una modalidad de evaluación de la expresión escrita para estudiantes de enseñanza básica obligatoria, incluso postobligatoria, así como adicionalmente para otras instituciones educativas no escolares, que persigan el objetivo anterior. Y ello sin vinculación concreta con ninguna asignatura o área curricular, en tanto que competencia trasversal transdisciplinar. Como referente teórico de la actividad a evaluar, la expresión escrita, se ha acudido al modelo de Flower y Hayes (1981), matizado por Hayes (1996), que describe tal competencia como un ejercicio eminentemente cognitivo con cuatro fases o procesos implicados de forma simultánea y recursiva: planificación del texto a nivel mental o diseño del borrador, transcripción del mismo en un formato determinado mediante un lenguaje convencional, revisión del resultado desde diversas dimensiones y según lo planificado, y autorregulación de todo el proceso. Metodología: el modo de abordar esta compleja evaluación es a través de un modelo mixto de investigación básicamente cualitativa, a través del análisis de contenido, pero con detalles analíticos propios del análisis descriptivo e inferencial de tipo cuantitativo. Resultados: Se emplea un cuestionario guía para proceder a la entrevista de tipo clínica-cognitiva de acuerdo con la naturaleza cognitiva de la actividad y se extraen datos para proceder al cálculo de la progresión de la actividad de unos cursos a otros. Conclusiones: en anteriores investigaciones piloto se ha concluido con la evidencia de cierta evolución de la expresión por escrito, pero ni en todos los cursos ni dimensiones, por tanto, no de la manera esperada.Introdução: este artigo apresenta uma modalidade de avaliação da expressão escrita  para  estudantes  de  educação  básica  obrigatória,  inclusive  pós-obrigatória, bem como para outras instituições educativas não escolares com o mesmo objetiIsso sem vinculação concreta com nenhuma disciplina ou área curricular como competência transversal transdisciplinar. Como referencial teórico da atividade a avaliar a expressão escrita, recorreu-se ao modelo de Flower e Hayes, matizado por Hayes, que descreve essa competência como exercício eminentemente cognitivo, que  conta  com  quatro  fases  ou  processos  implicados  de  forma  simultânea  e  recursiva: planejamento do texto no âmbito mental ou desenho do rascunho; transcrição deste a um formato determinado mediante uma linguagem convencional; revisão do resultado a partir de diversas dimensões e segundo o planejado, e autorregulação de todo o processo. Metodologia: o modo de abordar essa complexa avaliação  é  por  meio  de  um  modelo  misto  de  pesquisa  basicamente  qualitativa,  mediante a análise de conteúdo, mas com detalhes analíticos próprios da análise descritiva e inferencial de tipo quantitativo. Resultados: utiliza-se o questionário guia para realizar a entrevista de tipo clínico-cognitiva de acordo com a natureza cognitiva da atividade e extraem-se dados para proceder ao cálculo da progressão da atividade de uns cursos a outros. Conclusões:  em pesquisas-piloto anteriores, concluiu-se com a evidência de certa evolução da expressão por escrito, mas não em todos os cursos nem dimensões, portanto não da maneira esperada

Experimentación de controladores digitales clásicos en un sistema embebido aplicado en un proceso térmico

This research project shows the implementation of classic digital controllers in an embedded system to control the temperature of a thermal system. The embedded system selected was in the computer board Raspberry Pi 2 B+ together with an ONE Arduino board. In the measurement stage the hardware was developed for to transmit the temperature data from the PT-100 thermometer resistance towards the Raspberry PI. For the implementation of the computational stage was developed an algorithm for the different controllers and based on this the controllers were programmed in Python 2.7. For the actuator a power stage was designed that converts the ac voltage into a voltage dc, from a PWM signal. This dc voltage is used to feed a thermal resistance that is responsible for executing the control action of the system. With the implementation of the types of controllers, a comparative analysis was realized highlighting the most relevant characteristics for each type of controller and allowing to also evaluate the performance of the Raspberry Pi. Based on the results obtained in the execution of the project, it concluded the feasibility to control thermal systems under different types of controllers embedded in the Raspberry Pi and with the possibility of developing intelligent control strategies for futures projects, through the use of software tools and free hardware.Este proyecto de investigación muestra la implementación de controladores digitales clásicos dentro de un sistema embebido para controlar la temperatura de un sistema térmico. El sistema embebido seleccionado fue el computador de placa reducida Raspberry Pi 2 B con una tarjeta Arduino UNO. En la etapa de medición se desarrolló el hardware para transmitir los datos de la temperatura desde el transductor PT-100 hacia la Raspberry Pi. Para la etapa de computacional se desarrollaron diferentes algoritmos de los controladores en la plataforma Python 2.7. Para el actuador se diseñó una etapa de potencia que convierte el voltaje ac en un voltaje dc, de acuerdo a una señal PWM. Este voltaje dc se utiliza para alimentar una resistencia térmica encargada de ejecutar la acción de control del sistema. Con el desarrollo de este tipo de controladores se realizó un análisis comparativo destacando las características más relevantes del sistema para cada tipo de controlador y permitiendo evaluar también el rendimiento de la Raspberry Pi. Con base en los resultados obtenidos en la ejecución del proyecto, se concluye que es viable controlar sistemas térmicos bajo diferentes tipos de controladores embebidos en la Raspberry Pi y con la posibilidad de desarrollar estrategias de control inteligente para futuros proyectos, con la ventaja de usar herramientas de software y hardware libre

Chemical composition, antioxidant, antimicrobial and antiproliferative activity of Laureliopsis philippiana essential oil of Chile, study in vitro and in silico

Chilean Laureliopsis philippiana has been used in traditional medicine by the Mapuche and their ancestors. To evaluate its pharmacological activity, Laureliopsis philippiana leaf essential oil extract (LP_EO) was chemically and biologically characterized in the present study. In vitro antioxidant potential was analyzed, and antitumor activity was evaluated in non-tumor and tumor cell culture lines. Caenorhabditis elegans was used as a model for evaluating toxicity, and the chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The oil contains six major monoterpenes: eucalyptol (27.7 %), linalool (27.6 %), isozaphrol (19.5 %), isohomogenol (12.6 %), α-terpineol (7.7 %), and eudesmol (4.8 %). Based on quantum mechanical calculations, isosafrole and isohomogenol conferred in vitro antioxidant and antimicrobial activity to LP_EO. In addition, LP_EO showed antimicrobial activity against clinical Helicobacter pylori isolates (MIC 64 and MBC > 128 μg·mL−1), Staphylococcus aureus (MIC 32 and MBC > 64 μg·mL−1), Escherichia coli (MIC 8 and MBC 16 μg·mL−1) and Candida albicans (MIC 64 and > 128 μg·mL−1). LP_EO could selectively inhibit the proliferation of epithelial tumor cell lines but showed low toxicity against Caenorhabditis elegans (0.39 to 1.56 μg·mL−1). Therefore, LP_EO may be used as a source of bioactive compounds in novel pharmacological treatments for veterinary and human application, cosmetics, or sanitation.Fil: Bruna, Flavia Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentina. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Fernández, Katia. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Urrejola, Felipe. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Touma, Jorge. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Navarro, Myriam. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Sepúlveda, Betsabet. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Larrazabal Fuentes, María. Universidad de Antofagasta (uantof);Fil: Paredes, Adrián. Universidad de Antofagasta (uantof);Fil: Neira, Iván. Universidad de Antofagasta (uantof);Fil: Ferrando, Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Osorio, José Manuel. Universidad Andrés Bello; Chile. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Yáñez, Osvaldo. Universidad de Las Américas.; Ecuador. Center of New Drugs for Hypertension; ChileFil: Bravo, Jessica. Universidad Diego Portales; Chil

The essential oil from Drimys winteri possess activity: Antioxidant, theoretical chemistry reactivity, antimicrobial, antiproliferative and chemical composition

The Mapuche and their ancestors have used D. winteri in traditional medicine. In the present study, the essential oil extract of D. winteri leaves (DW_EO) were characterized chemically and biologically to evaluate its pharmacological activity. In vitro antioxidant activity was assayed, and antitumor activity was evaluated in non-tumor and tumor-cell culture lines. Caenorhabditis elegans was used as a model to evaluate toxicity, and the chemical composition of the essential oil was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The chemical oil composition was characterized principally of five major terpenes: 4 sesquiterpenes γ-Eudesmol (39.7%), β-Caryophyllene (33.7%), Elemol (25.9%), α-Eudesmol (0.3%) and 1 diterpene Kaunene (0.4%). By quantum calculations, it was determined that all oils have the ability to capture and yield electrons, which is consistent with the moderate antioxidant activity of DW_EO detected in vitro. Furthermore, by molecular docking is estimated that these oils can bind to proteins involved in the production of oxygen radicals. Of these proteins, CYP2C9 could bind energetically, reaching binding energy between −6.8 and −9.2 kCal/mol for the 5 terpenes studied, highlighting among these β-Caryophyllen and γ-Eudesmol. DW_EO has effect against H. pylori (MIC 32 μg/ml), S. aureus (MIC 8 μg/ml), E. coli (MIC 32 μg/ml) and C. albicans (MIC 64 μg/ml), β-Caryophyllen and γ -Eudesmol (MIC 64 μg/ml) and could selectively inhibit the proliferation of epithelial tumor cell lines but showed low against C. elegans (0.39–1.56 μg mL−1). Therefore, DW_EO may be used as a source of bioactive compounds in novel pharmacological treatments for medical application, agronomics, sanitation, and food.Fil: Bruna, Flavia Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; Argentina. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Fernández, Katia. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Urrejola, Felipe. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Touma, Jorge. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Navarro, Myriam. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Sepúlveda, Betsabet. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Larrazabal Fuentes, María. Universidad de Antofagasta (uantof);Fil: Paredes, Adrián. Universidad de Antofagasta (uantof);Fil: Neira, Iván. Universidad de Antofagasta (uantof);Fil: Ferrando, Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Osorio, José Manuel. Universidad Diego Portales; Chile. Universidad Andrés Bello; ChileFil: Yañez, Osvaldo. Universidad de Las Américas.; Ecuador. Center of New Drugs for Hypertension; ChileFil: Bravo, Jessica. Universidad Diego Portales; Chil

The chemical compositions of essential oils derived from cryptocarya alba and laurelia sempervirens possess antioxidant, antibacterial and antitumoral activity potential

Cryptocarya alba (Peumo; CA) and Laurelia sempervirens (Laurel; LS) are herbs native to the Chilean highlands and have historically been used for medicinal purposes by the Huilliches people. In this work, the essential oils were extracted using hydrodistillation in Clevenger apparatus and analyzed by GC-MS to determine their composition. The antioxidant capacity (AC) was evaluated in vitro. The cytotoxicity was determined using cell line cultures both non tumoral and tumoral. The toxicity was determined using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The antimicrobial activity was evaluated against 52 bacteria using the agar disc diffusion method and the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) were determined. The principal compounds found in C. alba essential oil (CA_EO) were α-terpineol (24.96%) and eucalyptol (21.63%) and were isazafrol (91.9%) in L. sempervirens essential oil (LS_EO). Both EOs showed antioxidant capacity in vitro. Both EO showed antibacterial activity against bacteria using. LS_EO showed more inhibitory effect on these cell lines respect to CA_EO. Both EOs showed toxicity against the nematode C. elegans at 3.12–50 mg/mL. The essential oils of CA and LS have an important bioactive potential in their antioxidant, antibacterial and cytotoxicity activity. Both essential oils could possibly be used in the field of natural medicine, natural food preservation, cosmetics, sanitation and plaguicides among others.Fil: Touma, Jorge. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Navarro, Myriam. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Sepúlveda, Betsabet. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Pavon, Alequis. Universidad Autónoma de Chile; ChileFil: Corsini, Gino. Universidad Autónoma de Chile; ChileFil: Fernández, Katia. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Quezada, Claudia. Universidad Austral de Chile; ChileFil: Torres, Angelo. Universidad Austral de Chile; ChileFil: Larrazabal Fuentes, María José. Universidad de Antofagasta; ChileFil: Paredes, Adrian. Universidad de Antofagasta; ChileFil: Neira, Ivan. Universidad de Antofagasta; ChileFil: Ferrando, Matías. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Bruna, Flavia Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Venegas, Alejandro. Universidad Diego Portales; ChileFil: Bravo, Jessica. Universidad Diego Portales; Chil