Optimizing communication by compression for Multi-GPU Scalable Breadth-First Searches

Debido al creciente aumento del tamaño de los datos en muchos de los actuales sistemas de información, muchos de los algoritmos de recorrido de estas estructuras pierden rendimento para realizar búsquedas en estos. Debido a que la representacion de estos datos en muchos casos se realiza mediante estructuras nodo-vertice (Grafos), en el año 2009 se creó el reto Graph500. Con anterioridad, otros retos como Top500 servían para medir el rendimiento en base a la capacidad de cálculo de los sistemas, mediante tests LINPACK. En caso de Graph500 la medicion se realiza mediante la ejecución de un algoritmo de recorrido en anchura de grafos (BFS en inglés) aplicada a Grafos. El algoritmo BFS es uno de los pilares de otros muchos algoritmos utilizados en grafos como SSSP, shortest path o Betweeness centrality. Una mejora en este ayudaría a la mejora de los otros que lo utilizan. Analisis del Problema El algoritmos BFS utilizado en los sistemas de computación de alto rendimiento (HPC en ingles) es usualmente una version para sistemas distribuidos del algoritmo secuencial original. En esta versión distribuida se inicia la ejecución realizando un particionado del grafo y posteriormente cada uno de los procesadores distribuidos computará una parte y distribuirá sus resultados a los demás sistemas. Debido a que la diferencia de velocidad entre el procesamiento en cada uno de estos nodos y la transfencia de datos por la red de interconexión es muy alta (estando en desventaja la red de interconexion) han sido bastantes las aproximaciones tomadas para reducir la perdida de rendimiento al realizar transferencias. Respecto al particionado inicial del grafo, el enfoque tradicional (llamado 1D-partitioned graph en ingles) consiste en asignar a cada nodo unos vertices fijos que él procesará. Para disminuir el tráfico de datos se propuso otro particionado (2D) en el cual la distribución se haciá en base a las aristas del grafo, en vez de a los vertices. Este particionado reducía el trafico en la red en una proporcion O(NxM) a O(log(N)). Si bien han habido otros enfoques para reducir la transferecnia como: reordemaniento inicial de los vertices para añadir localidad en los nodos, o particionados dinámicos, el enfoque que se va a proponer en este trabajo va a consistir en aplicar técnicas recientes de compression de grandes sistemas de datos como Bases de datos de alto volume o motores de búsqueda en internet para comprimir los datos de las transferencias entre nodos.---ABSTRACT---The Breadth First Search (BFS) algorithm is the foundation and building block of many higher graph-based operations such as spanning trees, shortest paths and betweenness centrality. The importance of this algorithm increases each day due to it is a key requirement for many data structures which are becoming popular nowadays. These data structures turn out to be internally graph structures. When the BFS algorithm is parallelized and the data is distributed into several processors, some research shows a performance limitation introduced by the interconnection network [31]. Hence, improvements on the area of communications may benefit the global performance in this key algorithm. In this work it is presented an alternative compression mechanism. It differs with current existing methods in that it is aware of characteristics of the data which may benefit the compression. Apart from this, we will perform a other test to see how this algorithm (in a dis- tributed scenario) benefits from traditional instruction-based optimizations. Last, we will review the current supercomputing techniques and the related work being done in the area.

Development in Rural Areas Through Capacity Building and Education for Business

This paper is based on a case study located in Avila, central Spain. Its main objectives are to implement an entrepreneurship program and design a plan of capacity building and education for business in order to promote the development of rural areas. The methodological approach of the program is based on the use of tools that permit involving the various actors of the area from the early planning stages. The university's group that is carrying out the field work has relied on these participatory tools in very different areas and contexts for over 25 years. This has allowed the development of an advanced planning model called ?Working With People? that connects expert and experience knowledge in the territories where it is applied. With this methodological approach, the diagnosis of the territory and the design of the program's strategy has been carried out. Once completed the first phase of the program and in order to ensure the sustainability and applicability of future entrepreneurial initiatives, it is necessary to support and strengthen potential entrepreneurs through training activities and capacity building. It relies on ?How to learn from people who live there? to promote investment projects and to teach them with adequate educational skills. In this context, this article aims to study the implementation strategy of these training and capacity building activities studied from an academic perspective, as well as analyzing the potential effects of these actions in promoting entrepreneurship in the territories

Supramolecular coordination complexes as building blocks for porous and magnetic materials

In this work, new coordination polymers based on two different classes of synthons are presented. In addition, manganese-based metallacrowns of magnetic interest are studied, both in the solid state and in solution. Firstly, functionalized bispyrazolylmethane derivatives are employed as bridging ligands for the establishment of silver-based coordination polymers; the influence of the substituent groups and of the counterions on the supramolecular packing is also investigated. Secondly, the use of metallacrown (MC) complexes as building blocks for porous coordination polymers is discussed. The design of a new metallacrown species is presented, which shows the tendency of aggregating in the solid state to form coordination polymers. Two new coordination polymers are indeed reported, of which one is the first MC-based permanently porous coordination network ever presented. The solid resists solvent evacuation and exhibits gas uptake ability. Furthermore, the isolation and characterization of a new metallacryptate species based on manganese ions is described. The metal-rich structure comprises nine Mn(II)/Mn(III) ions and presents an inverse metallacrown core subunit that binds a μ3-O2- ion. The metallacryptate is isolated in high yields and stable in solution. Lastly, a family of 3d-4f heterometallic metallacrowns is characterized in solution by means of UV-Vis spectrophotometry and of paramagnetically shifted 1H-NMR. The lanthanide-induced shifts observed in the spectra are employed to describe the molecules behaviour in solution and are qualitatively related to the magnetic properties of the compounds.

A first approach to earthquake damage estimation in Haiti: advices to minimize the seismic risk

This study is in the frame of the cooperative line that several Spanish Universities and other foreign partners started with the Haitian government in 2010. According to our studies (Benito et al. in An evaluation of seismic hazard in La Hispaniola, after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, 33rd General Assembly of the European Seismological Commission, Moscow, Russia, 2012) and recent scientific literature, the earthquake hazard in Haiti remains high (Calais et al. in Nat Geosci 3:794–799, 2010). In view of this, we wonder whether the country is currently ready to face another earthquake. In this sense, we estimated several damage scenarios in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haitien associated to realistic possible major earthquakes. Our findings show that almost 50 % of the building stock of both cities would result uninhabitable due to structural damage. Around 80 % of the buildings in both cities have reinforced concrete structure with concrete block infill; however, the presence of masonry buildings becomes significant (between 25 and 45 % of the reinforced concrete buildings) in rural areas and informal settlements on the outskirts, where the estimated damage is higher. The influence of the soil effect on the damage spatial distribution is evident in both cities. We have found that the percentage of uninhabitable buildings in soft soil areas may be double the percentage obtained in nearby districts located in hard soil. These results reveal that a new seismic catastrophe of similar or even greater consequences than the 2010 Haiti earthquake might happen if the earthquake resilience is not improved in the country. Nowadays, the design of prevention actions and mitigation policies is the best instrument the society has to face seismic risk. In this sense, the results of this research might contribute to define measures oriented to earthquake risk reduction in Haiti, which should be a real priority for national and international institutions.

Floor plan and notes for proposed building with chapel and hall, [ca. 1799]

Possibly drawn and written in the hand of President Joseph Willard. The proposed building would house a chapel, halls, chambers for scholars, and was to be built on the site of the first Stoughton Hall which was torn down in 1781.

Boston, Massachusetts Region LIDAR First Return Elevation Data, 2002

LIDAR (LIght Detection And Ranging) first return elevation data of the Boston, Massachusetts region from MassGIS at 1-meter resolution. This LIDAR data was captured in Spring 2002. LIDAR first return data (which shows the highest ground features, e.g. tree canopy, buildings etc.) can be used to produce a digital terrain model of the Earth's surface. This dataset consists of 74 First Return DEM tiles. The tiles are 4km by 4km areas corresponding with the MassGIS orthoimage index. This data set was collected using 3Di's Digital Airborne Topographic Imaging System II (DATIS II). The area of coverage corresponds to the following MassGIS orthophoto quads covering the Boston region (MassGIS orthophoto quad ID: 229890, 229894, 229898, 229902, 233886, 233890, 233894, 233898, 233902, 233906, 233910, 237890, 237894, 237898, 237902, 237906, 237910, 241890, 241894, 241898, 241902, 245898, 245902). The geographic extent of this dataset is the same as that of the MassGIS dataset: Boston, Massachusetts Region 1:5,000 Color Ortho Imagery (1/2-meter Resolution), 2001 and was used to produce the MassGIS dataset: Boston, Massachusetts, 2-Dimensional Building Footprints with Roof Height Data (from LIDAR data), 2002 [see cross references].

First steps toward harmonized human biomonitoring in Europe : demonstration project to perform human biomonitoring on a European scale

'Reproduced with permission from Environmental Health Perspectives'

The Single Supervisory Mechanism: A Sound First Step in Europe’s Banking Union? Egmont European Affairs Paper, March 2013

The financial and economic crisis has hit Europe in its core. While the crisis may not have originated in the European Union, it has laid bare structural weaknesses in the EU’s policy framework. Both public finances and the banking sector have been heavily affected. For a long time, the EU failed to take into account sufficiently the perverse link that existed between the two. Negative evolutions in one field of the crisis often dragged along the other in its downward spiral. In June 2012, in the early hours of a yet another EU Summit, the leaders of the eurozone finally decided to address the link between the banking and sovereign debt crises. Faced with soaring public borrowing costs in Spain and Italy, they decided to allow for the direct European recapitalisation of banks when the Member State itself would no longer be in a position to do so. In exchange, supervision of the banking sector would be lifted to the European level by means of a Single Supervisory Mechanism. The Single Supervisory Mechanism, or SSM in the EU jargon, is a first step in the broader revision of policies towards banks in Europe. The eventual goal is the creation of a Banking Union, which is to carry out effective surveillance and – if needed – crisis management of the banking sector. The SSM is to rely on national supervisors and the ECB, with the ECB having final authority on the matter. The involvement of the latter made it clear that the SSM would be centred on the eurozone – while it is to remain open to other Member States willing to join. Due to the ongoing problems and the link between the creation of the SSM and the recapitalisation of banks, the SSM became one of the key legislative priorities of the EU. In December 2012, Member States reached an agreement on the design of the SSM. After discussions with the European Parliament (which were still ongoing at the time of writing), the process towards making the SSM operational can be initiated. The goal is to have the SSM fully up and running in the first half of 2014. The decisions that were taken in June 2012 are likely to have had a bigger impact than the eurozone’s Heads of State and Government could have realised at the time for two important reasons. On the one hand, creating the SSM necessitates a full Banking Union and therefore shared risk. On the other hand, the decisions improved the ECB’s perception of the willingness of governments to take far-reaching measures. This undoubtedly played a significant role in the creation of the Outright Monetary Transactions programme by the ECB, which has led to a substantial easing of the crisis in the short-term. 1 These short-term gains should now be matched with a stable long-term framework for bank supervision and crisis management. The agreement on the SSM should be the first step in the direction of this goal. This paper provides an analysis of the SSM and its role in the creation of a Banking Union. The paper starts with a reminder of why the EU decided to put in place the SSM (§1) and the state of play of the ongoing negotiations on the SSM (§2). Subsequently, the supervisory responsibilities of the SSM are detailed, including its scope and the division of labour between the national supervisors and the ECB (§3). The internal functioning of the SSM (§4) and its relation to the other supervisors are discussed afterwards (§5). As mentioned earlier, the SSM is part of a wider move towards a Banking Union. Therefore, this paper sheds light on the other building blocks of this ambitious project (§6). The transition towards the Banking Union is important and will prove to be a bumpy ride. Before formulating a number of conclusions, this Working Paper therefore provides an overview of the planned road ahead (§7).

Building up European leadership - an assessment of the recent process. CHALLENGE EUROPE Issue 22 - Challenges and new beginnings: Priorities for the EU's new leadership, September 2014.

Europe is in need of a new leadership capacity able to recreate stronger European unity in the external and internal fronts. Otherwise, anti-European forces will increase their influence and presence in European governments and EU institutions with large implications for the direction of European integration. This will be the central concern in making a first short assessment of the recent process of building European leadership capacity for the next five years to come. This assessment will particularly focus on the choice of the President of the European Commission, of the President of the European Council and, finally of the members of the European Commission.

Promoting the agenda for a social Economic and Monetary Union: Attention, credibility and coalition-building. Bruges Political Research Paper No. 37, November 2014

In the aftermath of the crisis, new instruments of economic governance have been adopted at the EU level. Until recently, these have been strongly dominated by what I assume to be the ECFIN coalition. However, at least since 2011, this coalition’s supremacy has been challenged by the competing coalition’s (EPSCO) willingness to rebalance the economic governance so that social concerns are better taken into account. Hence, drawing on the agenda-setting literature in the EU context, this working paper aims at retracing the process that has led to put this issue of the social dimension of the EMU on to the EU political agenda. Three hypotheses are made concerning the rise of this issue, the strategies employed by agenda-setters, and the policy subsystem of the economic governance. First, this study shows that the interest in this issue has been gradually fostered ‘from below’, at the level of the European Parliament and the European Commission. Second, due to its ‘high politics’ nature, this issue could only be initiated ‘from above’ (European Council) and then expanded to lower levels of decision-making (Commission). Specifically, DG EMPL has managed to attract attention to this issue and to build its credibility in dealing with it by strategically framing the issue and directing it towards the EPSCO venue. Finally, I analyze the outcome of this agenda-setting process by assessing to what extent the two new social scoreboards which form part of this social dimension have been taken into account during the 2014 European semester. The result of this analysis is that the new economic governance has not been genuinely rebalanced insofar as its dominant policy core remains that of the ECFIN coalition.

Building a Capital Markets Union….or designing a financial system for the euro area? CEPS Commentary, 2 June 2015

In this CEPS Commentary, economists Anton Brender, Florence Pisani and Daniel Gros challenge the foundation on which the European Commission launched a key debate earlier this year on the development of the EU’s financial system, with publication of its Green Paper "Building a Capital Markets Union". While acknowledging that a single capital market could be useful in the European Union, they argue that it is extremely dangerous to conduct one and the same monetary policy in an area with broadly varying financial practices and structures – as the first 15 years of the euro area's history have vividly shown. They conclude that financial integration of the countries in EMU must receive top priority in a process that the rest of the European Union may then subsequently join.

MIGRATION PANORAMA. Schengen in the spotlight: a Europe with or without borders? APRIL 2016 (First edition)

The first edition of this new multi-authored publication entitled ‘Migration Panorama’ focuses on the consequences of the refugee and migration crisis on the Schengen area and the concept of a borderless union. Several external and EPC authors have contributed to building a comprehensive picture on the manifold challenges and possible consequences of maintaining and/or returning to internal border controls among Schengen countries. How does a signatory of the Schengen agreement see the current developments? What would be the impact of the reintroduction of physical borders on Europe’s digital economy? In what way do the V4 countries envisage to solve the ‘Schengen crisis’? How dangerous are the empty threats to expel Greece out of the Schengen area? What is the symbolic meaning of the Belgian border controls following the French decision to dismantle parts of the Calais ‘jungle’? Is saving Schengen only a question of national sovereignty or a matter of shared European responsibility? All these questions and many others are tackled in this first issue of the ‘Migration Panorama’ produced by EPC’ s Migration and Diversity Programme.

Medical Building. Chemical Laboratory

A. J. Jordan, architect. Built in 1856. First chemical laboratory at a state university. Building served medical students and others as both laboratory and classroom. Situated just west and south of the original medical building. Additions made to the one-story building in 1861, 1866, 1868, 1874. In 1880 a two-story addition was added with subsequent additions in 1889 and 1901. Became Economics Building in 1908. Pharmacology occupied north wing 1908-1981. Destroyed by fire Christmas Eve 1981.On mount: T.D. Tooker Photographer