On the Modular Specification of NFPs: A Case Study

The modular specification of non-functional properties of systems is a current challenge of Software Engineering, for which no clear solution exists. However, in the case of Domain-Specific Languages some successful proposals are starting to emerge, combining model-driven techniques with aspect-weaving mechanisms. In this paper we show one of these approaches in practice, and present the implementation we have developed to fully support it. We apply our approach for the specification and monitoring of non-functional properties using observers to a case study, illustrating how generic observers defining non-functional properties can be defined in an independent manner. Then, correspondences between these observers and the domain-specific model of the system can be established, and then weaved into a unified system specification using ATL model transformation. Such a unified specification can also be analyzed in a natural way to obtain the required non-functional properties of the system.This work is partially funded by Research Projects TIN2011-23795 and TIN2011-15497-E

Measuring Improvement when Using HUB Formats to Implement Floating-Point Systems under Round-to-Nearest

MEC bajo TIN2013-42253-PThis paper analyzes the benefits of using HUB formats to implement floating-point arithmetic under round-tonearest mode from a quantitative point of view. Using HUB formats to represent numbers allows the removal of the rounding logic of arithmetic units, including sticky-bit computation. This is shown for floating-point adders, multipliers, and converters. Experimental analysis demonstrates that HUB formats and the corresponding arithmetic units maintain the same accuracy as conventional ones. On the other hand, the implementation of these units, based on basic architectures, shows that HUB formats simultaneously improve area, speed, and power consumption. Specifically, based on data obtained from the synthesis, a HUB single-precision adder is about 14% faster but consumes 38% less area and 26% less power than the conventional adder. Similarly, a HUB single-precision multiplier is 17% faster, uses 22% less area, and consumes slightly less power than conventional multiplier. At the same speed, the adder and multiplier achieve area and power reductions of up to 50% and 40%, respectively

Project based learning on industrial informatics: applying IoT to urban garden

Copyright (c) 2018 IEEEThe fast evolution of technologies forces teachers to trade content off for self-learning. PBL is one of the best ways to promote self-learning and simultaneously boost motivation. In this paper, we present our experience introducing project-based learning in the last year subject. New Internet of Things (IoT) topic allows us to carry out complete projects, integrating different technologies and tools. Moreover, the selection of open-source and standard free technologies makes easy and cheap the access to hardware and software platforms used. We carefully have picked communication, data management, and programming tools that we think would be attractive to our students. They can start making fast prototyping with little initial skills and, at the same time, these are serious and popular tools widely used in the industry. In this paper, we report on the design of a project-based learning for our course and the impact this has on the student satisfaction and motivation. Surveys taught us that tuning the courses towards developing real projects on the field, has a large impact on acceptance, learning objectives achievements and motivation towards the course content.”I Plan Propio Integral de Docencia de la Universidad de Málaga” y Proyecto de Innovación Educativa PIE17/085, de la Universidad de Málaga. Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

New formats for computing with real-numbers under round-to-nearest

An edited version of this work was accepted in IEEE Transactions on computers, DOI 10.1109/TC.2015.2479623In this paper, a new family of formats to deal with real number for applications requiring round to nearest is proposed. They are based on shifting the set of exactly represented numbers which are used in conventional radix-R number systems. This technique allows performing radix complement and round to nearest without carry propagation with negligible time and hardware cost. Furthermore, the proposed formats have the same storage cost and precision as standard ones. Since conversion to conventional formats simply require appending one extra-digit to the operands, standard circuits may be used to perform arithmetic operations with operands under the new format. We also extend the features of the RN-representation system and carry out a thorough comparison between both representation systems. We conclude that the proposed representation system is generally more adequate to implement systems for computation with real number under round-to-nearest.Ministry of Education and Science of Spain under contracts TIN2013-42253-P

Floating Point Square Root under HUB Format

Unit-Biased (HUB) is an emerging format based on shifting the representation line of the binary numbers by half unit in the last place. The HUB format is specially relevant for computers where rounding to nearest is required because it is performed simply by truncation. From a hardware point of view, the circuits implementing this representation save both area and time since rounding does not involve any carry propagation. Designs to perform the four basic operations have been proposed under HUB format recently. Nevertheless, the square root operation has not been confronted yet. In this paper we present an architecture to carry out the square root operation under HUB format for floating point numbers. The results of this work keep supporting the fact that the HUB representation involves simpler hardware than its conventional counterpart for computers requiring round-to-nearest mode.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Simplified Floating-Point Units for High Dynamic Range Image and Video Systems

The upcoming arrival of high dynamic range image and video applications to consumer electronics will force the utilization of floating-point numbers on them. This paper shows that introducing a slight modification on classical floating-point number systems, the implementation of those circuits can be highly improved. For a 16-bit numbers, by using the proposed format, the area and power consumption of a floating-point adder is reduced up to 70% whereas those parameters are maintained for the case of a multiplier.This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain and Junta of Andalucía under contracts TIN2013-42253-P and TIC-1692, respectively, and Universidad de Málaga.Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

On the robustness of least-squares Monte Carlo (LSM) for pricing American derivatives

This paper analyses the robustness of Least-Squares Monte Carlo, a technique recently proposed by Longstaff and Schwartz (2001) for pricing American options. This method is based on least-squares regressions in which the explanatory variables are certain polynomial functions. We analyze the impact of different basis functions on option prices. Numerical results for American put options provide evidence that a) this approach is very robust to the choice of different alternative polynomials and b) few basis functions are required. However, these conclusions are not reached when analyzing more complex derivatives.Least-Squares Monte Carlo, option pricing, American options

Australian Asian options

We study European options on the ratio of the stock price to its average and viceversa. Some of these options are traded in the Australian Stock Exchange since 1992, thus we call them Australian Asian options. For geometric averages, we obtain closed-form expressions for option prices. For arithmetic means, we use dierent approximations that produce very similar results.Asian options, arithmetic average, geometric average, edgeworth expansion, lognormal distribution, gamma distribution