FPGA-Based Acceleration of Expectation Maximization Algorithm using High Level Synthesis

Expectation Maximization (EM) is a soft clustering algorithm which partitions data iteratively into M clusters. It is one of the most popular data mining algorithms that uses Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM) for probability density modeling and is widely used in applications such as signal processing and Machine Learning (ML). EM requires high computation time and large amount of memory when dealing with large data sets. Conventionally, the HDL-based design methodology is used to program FPGAs for accelerating computationally intensive algorithms. In many real world applications, FPGA provide great speedup along with lower power consumption compared to multicore CPUs and GPUs. Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL enables developers with no hardware knowledge to program the FPGAs with short development time. This thesis presents an optimized implementation of EM algorithm on Stratix V and Arria 10 FPGAs using Intel FPGA SDK for OpenCL. Comparison of performance and power consumption between CPU, GPU and FPGA is presented for various dimension and cluster sizes. Compared to an Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2637 our fully optimized OpenCL model for EM targeting Arria 10 FPGA achieved up to 1000X speedup in terms of throughput (Tspeedup) and 5395X speedup in terms of throughput per unit of power consumed (T/Pspeedup). Compared to previous research on EM-GMM implementation on GPUs, Arria 10 FPGA obtained up to 64.74X Tspeedup and 486.78X T/Pspeedup

Disciplinary Procedures for Judges: A Case Study of the Independence of the Jordanian Judiciary Law

This paper focuses on highlighting the importance of judges’ disciplinary procedures in the light of the law of the independence of the Jordanian judiciary as the supreme organ of the state. It also shows the role of the judiciary in adjudicating disputes between individuals or between individuals and the State in terms of its autonomy, independence of judicial supervision, and judicial immunity, as well as the disciplinary procedures. The following was discussed: concept of discipline and the adequacy of the disciplinary decision, the nature of the mistakes of judicial discipline, or disciplinary sanctions. The discipline of the public servant focuses on preserving the public right, respecting the reputation of public utilities, and building functional behavior that perpetuates the work of these facilities. The aim of disciplining judges is to focus on the administration of justice. The integrity of Judges makes the State a state of law. Through this way, the judicial process and disciplinary sanctions against those who violate the right and justice of judges do not in any way interfere with the independence and prestige of the judiciary in the society. It isstated that the existence of the same penalty in the law of the independence of the judiciary and in the Jordanian civil service system does not affect the essence of the independence of the judiciary. The penalty in its name shows one, but the implementation and importance in the law of the independence of the judiciary is different from that in the civil service system

Global burden of 369 diseases and injuries in 204 countries and territories, 1990–2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: In an era of shifting global agendas and expanded emphasis on non-communicable diseases and injuries along with communicable diseases, sound evidence on trends by cause at the national level is essential. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) provides a systematic scientific assessment of published, publicly available, and contributed data on incidence, prevalence, and mortality for a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of diseases and injuries. Methods: GBD estimates incidence, prevalence, mortality, years of life lost (YLLs), years lived with disability (YLDs), and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) due to 369 diseases and injuries, for two sexes, and for 204 countries and territories. Input data were extracted from censuses, household surveys, civil registration and vital statistics, disease registries, health service use, air pollution monitors, satellite imaging, disease notifications, and other sources. Cause-specific death rates and cause fractions were calculated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model and spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression. Cause-specific deaths were adjusted to match the total all-cause deaths calculated as part of the GBD population, fertility, and mortality estimates. Deaths were multiplied by standard life expectancy at each age to calculate YLLs. A Bayesian meta-regression modelling tool, DisMod-MR 2.1, was used to ensure consistency between incidence, prevalence, remission, excess mortality, and cause-specific mortality for most causes. Prevalence estimates were multiplied by disability weights for mutually exclusive sequelae of diseases and injuries to calculate YLDs. We considered results in the context of the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a composite indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and fertility rate in females younger than 25 years. Uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated for every metric using the 25th and 975th ordered 1000 draw values of the posterior distribution. Findings: Global health has steadily improved over the past 30 years as measured by age-standardised DALY rates. After taking into account population growth and ageing, the absolute number of DALYs has remained stable. Since 2010, the pace of decline in global age-standardised DALY rates has accelerated in age groups younger than 50 years compared with the 1990–2010 time period, with the greatest annualised rate of decline occurring in the 0–9-year age group. Six infectious diseases were among the top ten causes of DALYs in children younger than 10 years in 2019: lower respiratory infections (ranked second), diarrhoeal diseases (third), malaria (fifth), meningitis (sixth), whooping cough (ninth), and sexually transmitted infections (which, in this age group, is fully accounted for by congenital syphilis; ranked tenth). In adolescents aged 10–24 years, three injury causes were among the top causes of DALYs: road injuries (ranked first), self-harm (third), and interpersonal violence (fifth). Five of the causes that were in the top ten for ages 10–24 years were also in the top ten in the 25–49-year age group: road injuries (ranked first), HIV/AIDS (second), low back pain (fourth), headache disorders (fifth), and depressive disorders (sixth). In 2019, ischaemic heart disease and stroke were the top-ranked causes of DALYs in both the 50–74-year and 75-years-and-older age groups. Since 1990, there has been a marked shift towards a greater proportion of burden due to YLDs from non-communicable diseases and injuries. In 2019, there were 11 countries where non-communicable disease and injury YLDs constituted more than half of all disease burden. Decreases in age-standardised DALY rates have accelerated over the past decade in countries at the lower end of the SDI range, while improvements have started to stagnate or even reverse in countries with higher SDI. Interpretation: As disability becomes an increasingly large component of disease burden and a larger component of health expenditure, greater research and developm nt investment is needed to identify new, more effective intervention strategies. With a rapidly ageing global population, the demands on health services to deal with disabling outcomes, which increase with age, will require policy makers to anticipate these changes. The mix of universal and more geographically specific influences on health reinforces the need for regular reporting on population health in detail and by underlying cause to help decision makers to identify success stories of disease control to emulate, as well as opportunities to improve. Funding: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licens

Global age-sex-specific fertility, mortality, healthy life expectancy (HALE), and population estimates in 204 countries and territories, 1950-2019 : a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Accurate and up-to-date assessment of demographic metrics is crucial for understanding a wide range of social, economic, and public health issues that affect populations worldwide. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 produced updated and comprehensive demographic assessments of the key indicators of fertility, mortality, migration, and population for 204 countries and territories and selected subnational locations from 1950 to 2019. Methods: 8078 country-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 938 surveys, 349 censuses, and 238 other sources were identified and used to estimate age-specific fertility. Spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) was used to generate age-specific fertility rates for 5-year age groups between ages 15 and 49 years. With extensions to age groups 10–14 and 50–54 years, the total fertility rate (TFR) was then aggregated using the estimated age-specific fertility between ages 10 and 54 years. 7417 sources were used for under-5 mortality estimation and 7355 for adult mortality. ST-GPR was used to synthesise data sources after correction for known biases. Adult mortality was measured as the probability of death between ages 15 and 60 years based on vital registration, sample registration, and sibling histories, and was also estimated using ST-GPR. HIV-free life tables were then estimated using estimates of under-5 and adult mortality rates using a relational model life table system created for GBD, which closely tracks observed age-specific mortality rates from complete vital registration when available. Independent estimates of HIV-specific mortality generated by an epidemiological analysis of HIV prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance and other sources were incorporated into the estimates in countries with large epidemics. Annual and single-year age estimates of net migration and population for each country and territory were generated using a Bayesian hierarchical cohort component model that analysed estimated age-specific fertility and mortality rates along with 1250 censuses and 747 population registry years. We classified location-years into seven categories on the basis of the natural rate of increase in population (calculated by subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate) and the net migration rate. We computed healthy life expectancy (HALE) using years lived with disability (YLDs) per capita, life tables, and standard demographic methods. Uncertainty was propagated throughout the demographic estimation process, including fertility, mortality, and population, with 1000 draw-level estimates produced for each metric. Findings: The global TFR decreased from 2·72 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 2·66–2·79) in 2000 to 2·31 (2·17–2·46) in 2019. Global annual livebirths increased from 134·5 million (131·5–137·8) in 2000 to a peak of 139·6 million (133·0–146·9) in 2016. Global livebirths then declined to 135·3 million (127·2–144·1) in 2019. Of the 204 countries and territories included in this study, in 2019, 102 had a TFR lower than 2·1, which is considered a good approximation of replacement-level fertility. All countries in sub-Saharan Africa had TFRs above replacement level in 2019 and accounted for 27·1% (95% UI 26·4–27·8) of global livebirths. Global life expectancy at birth increased from 67·2 years (95% UI 66·8–67·6) in 2000 to 73·5 years (72·8–74·3) in 2019. The total number of deaths increased from 50·7 million (49·5–51·9) in 2000 to 56·5 million (53·7–59·2) in 2019. Under-5 deaths declined from 9·6 million (9·1–10·3) in 2000 to 5·0 million (4·3–6·0) in 2019. Global population increased by 25·7%, from 6·2 billion (6·0–6·3) in 2000 to 7·7 billion (7·5–8·0) in 2019. In 2019, 34 countries had negative natural rates of increase; in 17 of these, the population declined because immigration was not sufficient to counteract the negative rate of decline. Globally, HALE increased from 58·6 years (56·1–60·8) in 2000 to 63·5 years (60·8–66·1) in 2019. HALE increased in 202 of 204 countries and territories between 2000 and 2019

Problems Faced by the Participant Farmers in the Training Process: A Case of Climate Risk Management Training in Agriculture

Training is a process of enhancing the capabilities of a person to utilize a specific technique or technologies. But various problems hinder its effectiveness. This study tried to investigate the problems faced by the participant farmers in training process on climate risk management in agriculture and to determine the factors that influence their problem orientation. Data were collected from the trained farmers of selected three unions of Nalitabari Upazila of Sherpur district of Bangladesh during April to May, 2015. The sample size of the study was 65 trained farmers and it was drawn from a population of 65 using total population sampling technique. For collecting quantitative data structured interview schedule wasused. Majority of the farmers (60.0%) had faced medium problems during the training process.“Lack of personal incentives to training” got the highest score and the first ranked problem for the farmers. Besides this, “Biasness in trainee selection”, “Lack of adequate resources”, “Lack of motivation and encouragement by other farmers”are some major problems faced by the farmers. Gender, farm size, access to information sources and attitude towards training were among the farmer's characteristics found significantly correlated with the problems faced by them with only gender showing positive relationship. Among them access to information sources alone explained 27.2% of the variations to the extent of problems faced by the farmers was confirmed by the step-wise multiple regression analysis. However, attitude of farmers towards training and farm size also contributed significantly to explain the variation. A proper planning from Government with a better information dissemination system and access scope should be provided to the farmers to make the training given by different organization more effective