Representing parallel programs with MPI by exploiting a graph-based approach

This paper presents a novel method for the analysis and representation of parallel program with MPI. Parallel programs are mapped onto graph-theoretical problems and are represented by DP*Tgraph, extension of T-graphs, timing graphs, which are similar to flow graphs. These graphs reflect the structure and the timing behavior of the code. The special merit of this new notation is that it uses a concise notation to characterize the static structure of a program and its possible execution paths.Eje: Programación concurrenteRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Representing parallel programs with MPI by exploiting a graph-based approach

This paper presents a novel method for the analysis and representation of parallel program with MPI. Parallel programs are mapped onto graph-theoretical problems and are represented by DP*Tgraph, extension of T-graphs, timing graphs, which are similar to flow graphs. These graphs reflect the structure and the timing behavior of the code. The special merit of this new notation is that it uses a concise notation to characterize the static structure of a program and its possible execution paths.Eje: Programación concurrenteRed de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Preface

We are pleased to present this special issue of Elsevier’s Procedia Computer Science Journal, which consists of the proceedings of the international conference on Machine Learning and Data Engineering (ICMLDE 2022)

Fabric-GC: A Blockchain-based Gantt Chart System for Cross-organizational Project Management

Large-scale production is always associated with more and more development and interaction among peers, and many fields achieve higher economic benefits through project cooperation. However, project managers in the traditional centralized approach cannot rearrange their activities to cross-organizational project management. Thanks to its characteristics, the Blockchain can represent a valid solution to the problems mentioned above. In this article, we propose Fabric-GC, a Blockchain-based Gantt chart system. Fabric-GC enables to realize secure and effective cross-organizational cooperation for project management, providing access control to multiple parties for project visualization. Compared with other solutions, the proposed system is versatile, as it can be applied to project management in different fields and achieve effective and agile scheduling. Experimental results show that Fabric-GC achieves stable performance in large-scale request and processing distributed environments, where the data synchronization speed of the consortium chain reached four times faster than a public chain, achieving faster data consistency

Luteolin Suppresses Inflammatory Mediator Expression by Blocking the Akt/NFκB Pathway in Acute Lung Injury Induced by Lipopolysaccharide in Mice

Acute lung injury (ALI), instilled by lipopolysaccharide (LPS), is a severe illness with excessive mortality and has no specific treatment strategy. Luteolin is an anti-inflammatory flavonoid and widely distributed in the plants. Pretreatment with luteolin inhibited LPS-induced histological changes of ALI and lung tissue edema. In addition, LPS-induced inflammatory responses, including increased vascular permeability, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interleukin (IL)-6 production, and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), were also reduced by luteolin in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, luteolin suppressed activation of NFκB and its upstream molecular factor, Akt. These results suggest that the protection mechanism of luteolin is by inhibition of NFκB activation possibly via Akt

Implications of Shallower Memory Controller Transaction Queues in Scalable Memory Systems

Scalable memory systems provide scalable bandwidth to the core growth demands in multicores and embedded systems processors. In these systems, as memory controllers (MCs) are scaled, memory traffic per MC is reduced, so transaction queues become shallower. As a consequence, there is an opportunity to explore transaction queue utilization and its impact on energy utilization. In this paper, we propose to evaluate the performance and energy-per-bit impact when reducing transaction queue sizes along with the MCs of these systems. Experimental results show that reducing 50 % on the number of entries, bandwidth and energy-per-bit levels are not affected, whilst reducing aggressively of about 90 %, bandwidth is similarly reduced while causing significantly higher energy-per-bit utilization

Effectiveness of influenza vaccination in patients with end-stage renal disease receiving hemodialysis: a population-based study.

BackgroundLittle is known on the effectiveness of influenza vaccine in ESRD patients. This study compared the incidence of hospitalization, morbidity, and mortality in end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients undergoing hemodialysis (HD) between cohorts with and without influenza vaccination.MethodsWe used the insurance claims data from 1998 to 2009 in Taiwan to determine the incidence of these events within one year after influenza vaccination in the vaccine (N = 831) and the non-vaccine (N = 3187) cohorts. The vaccine cohort to the non-vaccine cohort incidence rate ratio and hazard ratio (HR) of morbidities and mortality were measured.ResultsThe age-specific analysis showed that the elderly in the vaccine cohort had lower hospitalization rate (100.8 vs. 133.9 per 100 person-years), contributing to an overall HR of 0.81 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.72-0.90). The vaccine cohort also had an adjusted HR of 0.85 [95% CI 0.75-0.96] for heart disease. The corresponding incidence of pneumonia and influenza was 22.4 versus 17.2 per 100 person-years, but with an adjusted HR of 0.80 (95% CI 0.64-1.02). The vaccine cohort had lowered risks than the non-vaccine cohort for intensive care unit (ICU) admission (adjusted HR 0.20, 95% CI 0.12-0.33) and mortality (adjusted HR 0.50, 95% CI 0.41-0.60). The time-dependent Cox model revealed an overall adjusted HR for mortality of 0.30 (95% CI 0.26-0.35) after counting vaccination for multi-years.ConclusionsESRD patients with HD receiving the influenza vaccination could have reduced risks of pneumonia/influenza and other morbidities, ICU stay, hospitalization and death, particularly for the elderly

Nanofibrous poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate) scaffolds provide a functional microenvironment for cartilage repair

Articular cartilage defects, when repaired ineffectively, often lead to further deterioration of the tissue, secondary osteoarthritis and, ultimately, joint replacement. Unfortunately, current surgical procedures are unable to restore normal cartilage function. Tissue engineering of cartilage provides promising strategies for the regeneration of damaged articular cartilage. As yet, there are still significant challenges that need to be overcome to match the long-term mechanical stability and durability of native cartilage. Using electrospinning of different blends of biodegradable poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate), we produced polymer scaffolds and optimised their structure, stiffness, degradation rates and biocompatibility. Scaffolds with a poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate) ratio of 1:0.25 exhibit randomly oriented fibres that closely mimic the collagen fibrillar meshwork of native cartilage and match the stiffness of native articular cartilage. Degradation of the scaffolds into products that could be easily removed from the body was indicated by changes in fibre structure, loss of molecular weight and a decrease in scaffold stiffness after one and four months. Histological and immunohistochemical analysis after three weeks of culture with human articular chondrocytes revealed a hyaline-like cartilage matrix. The ability to fine tune the ultrastructure and mechanical properties using different blends of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate)/poly(3-hydroxyoctanoate) allows to produce a cartilage repair kit for clinical use to reduce the risk of developing secondary osteoarthritis. We further suggest the development of a toolbox with tailor-made scaffolds for the repair of other tissues that require a ‘guiding’ structure to support the body’s self-healing process

Application of an acoustofluidic perfusion bioreactor for cartilage tissue engineering

Cartilage grafts generated using conventional static tissue engineering strategies are characterised by low cell viability, suboptimal hyaline cartilage formation and, critically, inferior mechanical competency, which limit their application for resurfacing articular cartilage defects. To address the limitations of conventional static cartilage bioengineering strategies and generate robust, scaffold-free neocartilage grafts of human articular chondrocytes, the present study utilised custom-built microfluidic perfusion bioreactors with integrated ultrasound standing wave traps. The system employed sweeping acoustic drive frequencies over the range of 890 to 910 kHz and continuous perfusion of the chondrogenic culture medium at a low-shear flow rate to promote the generation of three-dimensional agglomerates of human articular chondrocytes, and enhance cartilage formation by cells of the agglomerates via improved mechanical stimulation and mass transfer rates. Histological examination and assessment of micromechanical properties using indentation-type atomic force microscopy confirmed that the neocartilage grafts were analogous to native hyaline cartilage. Furthermore, in the ex vivo organ culture partial thickness cartilage defect model, implantation of the neocartilage grafts into defects for 16 weeks resulted in the formation of hyaline cartilage-like repair tissue that adhered to the host cartilage and contributed to significant improvements to the tissue architecture within the defects, compared to the empty defects. The study has demonstrated the first successful application of the acoustofluidic perfusion bioreactors to bioengineer scaffold-free neocartilage grafts of human articular chondrocytes that have the potential for subsequent use in second generation autologous chondrocyte implantation procedures for the repair of partial thickness cartilage defects

Last level cache size heterogeneity in embedded systems

In typical multicore processors, Last Level Caches (LLC) are formed by distributed clusters of memory banks of the same size, namely homogeneous ones. By shutting down part of these clusters to save power along generations of multicore processors, clusters with non homogeneous cache sizes can be originated, named as heterogeneous ones. Given that heterogeneous clusters have typically smaller sizes than homogeneous ones, they present larger miss rates that are likely to deteriorate performance. In this investigation, we study the impact of heterogeneous caches in embedded microprocessors, by having an arbitrary mix of homogeneous and heterogeneous clusters. That is, we propose to evaluate the architectural implications of these heterogeneous caches and a flexible algorithm that can be used to explore them. From scientific applications’ experimental benchmarking, our findings show that microprocessors with heterogeneous clusters present a maximal performance degradation of about 10% and maximal performance improvement of 16%, while obtaining maximum miss hit rate of reduction and improvement up to 10%. In addition, 10% of coherence activity decrease when presenting maximum energy utilization up to 50% and maximum energy reduction of 15%