Exploring Cross-layer power management for PGAS applications on the SCC platform

Technological limitations and power constraints are resulting in high-performance parallel computing architectures that are based on large numbers of high-core-count processors. Commercially available processors are now at 8 and 16 cores and experimental platforms, such as the many-core Intel Single-chip Cloud Computer (SCC) platform, provide much higher core counts. These trends are presenting new sets of challenges to HPC applications including programming complexity and the need for extreme energy efficiency.In this work, we first investigate the power behavior of scientific PGAS application kernels on the SCC platform, and explore opportunities and challenges for power management within the PGAS framework. Results obtained via empirical evaluation of Unified Parallel C (UPC) applications on the SCC platform under different constraints, show that, for specific operations, the potential for energy savings in PGAS is large; and power/performance trade-offs can be effectively managed using a cross-layerapproach. We investigate cross-layer power management using PGAS language extensions and runtime mechanisms that manipulate power/performance tradeoffs. Specifically, we present the design, implementation and evaluation of such a middleware for application-aware cross-layer power management of UPC applications on the SCC platform. Finally, based on our observations, we provide a set of recommendations and insights that can be used to support similar power management for PGAS applications on other many-core platforms.

Discovering the campus together: a mobile and computer-based learning experience

One of the most relevant difficulties faced by first-year undergraduate students is to settle into the educational environment of universities. This paper presents a case study that proposes a computer-assisted collaborative experience designed to help students in their transition from high school to university. This is done by facilitating their first contact with the campus and its services, the university community, methodologies and activities. The experience combines individual and collaborative activities, conducted in and out of the classroom, structured following the Jigsaw Collaborative Learning Flow Pattern. A specific environment including portable technologies with network and computer applications has been developed to support and facilitate the orchestration of a flow of learning activities into a single integrated learning setting. The result is a Computer-Supported Collaborative Blended Learning scenario, which has been evaluated with first-year university students of the degrees of Software and Audiovisual Engineering within the subject Introduction to Information and Communications Technologies. The findings reveal that the scenario improves significantly students’ interest in their studies and their understanding about the campus and services provided. The environment is also an innovative approach to successfully support the heterogeneous activities conducted by both teachers and students during the scenario. This paper introduces the goals and context of the case study, describes how the technology was employed to conduct the learning scenario, the evaluation methods and the main results of the experience.

Asymptotic robustness in multi-sample analysis of multivariate linear relations

Standard methods for the analysis of linear latent variable models oftenrely on the assumption that the vector of observed variables is normallydistributed. This normality assumption (NA) plays a crucial role inassessingoptimality of estimates, in computing standard errors, and in designinganasymptotic chi-square goodness-of-fit test. The asymptotic validity of NAinferences when the data deviates from normality has been calledasymptoticrobustness. In the present paper we extend previous work on asymptoticrobustnessto a general context of multi-sample analysis of linear latent variablemodels,with a latent component of the model allowed to be fixed across(hypothetical)sample replications, and with the asymptotic covariance matrix of thesamplemoments not necessarily finite. We will show that, under certainconditions,the matrix $\Gamma$ of asymptotic variances of the analyzed samplemomentscan be substituted by a matrix $\Omega$ that is a function only of thecross-product moments of the observed variables. The main advantage of thisis thatinferences based on $\Omega$ are readily available in standard softwareforcovariance structure analysis, and do not require to compute samplefourth-order moments. An illustration with simulated data in the context ofregressionwith errors in variables will be presented.

Multi-Atlas based Segmentation of Head and Neck CT Images using Active Contour

This paper presents the segmentation of bilateral parotid glands in the Head and Neck (H&N) CT images using an active contour based atlas registration. We compare segmentation results from three atlas selection strategies: (i) selection of "single-most-similar" atlas for each image to be segmented, (ii) fusion of segmentation results from multiple atlases using STAPLE, and (iii) fusion of segmentation results using majority voting. Among these three approaches, fusion using majority voting provided the best results. Finally, we present a detailed evaluation on a dataset of eight images (provided as a part of H&N auto segmentation challenge conducted in conjunction with MICCAI-2010 conference) using majority voting strategy.

Identity [R]Evolution: Multi-Disciplinary Perpectives

The identity [r]evolution is happening. Who are you, who am I in the information society? In recent years, the convergence of several factors - technological, political, economic - has accelerated a fundamental change in our networked world. On a technological level, information becomes easier to gather, to store, to exchange and to process. The belief that more information brings more security has been a strong political driver to promote information gathering since September 11. Profiling intends to transform information into knowledge in order to anticipate one's behaviour, or needs, or preferences. It can lead to categorizations according to some specific risk criteria, for example, or to direct and personalized marketing. As a consequence, new forms of identities appear. They are not necessarily related to our names anymore. They are based on information, on traces that we leave when we act or interact, when we go somewhere or just stay in one place, or even sometimes when we make a choice. They are related to the SIM cards of our mobile phones, to our credit card numbers, to the pseudonyms that we use on the Internet, to our email addresses, to the IP addresses of our computers, to our profiles... Like traditional identities, these new forms of identities can allow us to distinguish an individual within a group of people, or describe this person as belonging to a community or a category. How far have we moved through this process? The identity [r]evolution is already becoming part of our daily lives. People are eager to share information with their "friends" in social networks like Facebook, in chat rooms, or in Second Life. Customers take advantage of the numerous bonus cards that are made available. Video surveillance is becoming the rule. In several countries, traditional ID documents are being replaced by biometric passports with RFID technologies. This raises several privacy issues and might actually even result in changing the perception of the concept of privacy itself, in particular by the younger generation. In the information society, our (partial) identities become the illusory masks that we choose -or that we are assigned- to interplay and communicate with each other. Rights, obligations, responsibilities, even reputation are increasingly associated with these masks. On the one hand, these masks become the key to access restricted information and to use services. On the other hand, in case of a fraud or negative reputation, the owner of such a mask can be penalized: doors remain closed, access to services is denied. Hence the current preoccupying growth of impersonation, identity-theft and other identity-related crimes. Where is the path of the identity [r]evolution leading us? The booklet is giving a glance on possible scenarios in the field of identity.

ConnectomeViewer - Multi-Modal Multi-Level Network Visualization and Analysis.

Introduction: The field of Connectomic research is growing rapidly, resulting from methodological advances in structural neuroimaging on many spatial scales. Especially progress in Diffusion MRI data acquisition and processing made available macroscopic structural connectivity maps in vivo through Connectome Mapping Pipelines (Hagmann et al, 2008) into so-called Connectomes (Hagmann 2005, Sporns et al, 2005). They exhibit both spatial and topological information that constrain functional imaging studies and are relevant in their interpretation. The need for a special-purpose software tool for both clinical researchers and neuroscientists to support investigations of such connectome data has grown. Methods: We developed the ConnectomeViewer, a powerful, extensible software tool for visualization and analysis in connectomic research. It uses the novel defined container-like Connectome File Format, specifying networks (GraphML), surfaces (Gifti), volumes (Nifti), track data (TrackVis) and metadata. Usage of Python as programming language allows it to by cross-platform and have access to a multitude of scientific libraries. Results: Using a flexible plugin architecture, it is possible to enhance functionality for specific purposes easily. Following features are already implemented: * Ready usage of libraries, e.g. for complex network analysis (NetworkX) and data plotting (Matplotlib). More brain connectivity measures will be implemented in a future release (Rubinov et al, 2009). * 3D View of networks with node positioning based on corresponding ROI surface patch. Other layouts possible. * Picking functionality to select nodes, select edges, get more node information (ConnectomeWiki), toggle surface representations * Interactive thresholding and modality selection of edge properties using filters * Arbitrary metadata can be stored for networks, thereby allowing e.g. group-based analysis or meta-analysis. * Python Shell for scripting. Application data is exposed and can be modified or used for further post-processing. * Visualization pipelines using filters and modules can be composed with Mayavi (Ramachandran et al, 2008). * Interface to TrackVis to visualize track data. Selected nodes are converted to ROIs for fiber filtering The Connectome Mapping Pipeline (Hagmann et al, 2008) processed 20 healthy subjects into an average Connectome dataset. The Figures show the ConnectomeViewer user interface using this dataset. Connections are shown that occur in all 20 subjects. The dataset is freely available from the homepage (connectomeviewer.org). Conclusions: The ConnectomeViewer is a cross-platform, open-source software tool that provides extensive visualization and analysis capabilities for connectomic research. It has a modular architecture, integrates relevant datatypes and is completely scriptable. Visit www.connectomics.org to get involved as user or developer.

Mobile robot experimental modeling and control strategies using sensor fusion

This research work deals with the problem of modeling and design of low level speed controller for the mobile robot PRIM. The main objective is to develop an effective educational, and research tool. On one hand, the interests in using the open mobile platform PRIM consist in integrating several highly related subjects to the automatic control theory in an educational context, by embracing the subjects of communications, signal processing, sensor fusion and hardware design, amongst others. On the other hand, the idea is to implement useful navigation strategies such that the robot can be served as a mobile multimedia information point. It is in this context, when navigation strategies are oriented to goal achievement, that a local model predictive control is attained. Hence, such studies are presented as a very interesting control strategy in order to develop the future capabilities of the system. In this context the research developed includes the visual information as a meaningful source that allows detecting the obstacle position coordinates as well as planning the free obstacle trajectory that should be reached by the robot

A design science approach to support the assessment of disruptive technology : the Swiss mobile payment case

Abstract In this thesis we present the design of a systematic integrated computer-based approach for detecting potential disruptions from an industry perspective. Following the design science paradigm, we iteratively develop several multi-actor multi-criteria artifacts dedicated to environment scanning. The contributions of this thesis are both theoretical and practical. We demonstrate the successful use of multi-criteria decision-making methods for technology foresight. Furthermore, we illustrate the design of our artifacts using build and-evaluate loops supported with a field study of the Swiss mobile payment industry. To increase the relevance of this study, we systematically interview key Swiss experts for each design iteration. As a result, our research provides a realistic picture of the current situation in the Swiss mobile payment market and reveals previously undiscovered weak signals for future trends. Finally, we suggest a generic design process for environment scanning.

The EU-ADR Web Platform: delivering advanced pharmacovigilance tools

PURPOSE: Pharmacovigilance methods have advanced greatly during the last decades, making post-market drug assessment an essential drug evaluation component. These methods mainly rely on the use of spontaneous reporting systems and health information databases to collect expertise from huge amounts of real-world reports. The EU-ADR Web Platform was built to further facilitate accessing, monitoring and exploring these data, enabling an in-depth analysis of adverse drug reactions risks.METHODS: The EU-ADR Web Platform exploits the wealth of data collected within a large-scale European initiative, the EU-ADR project. Millions of electronic health records, provided by national health agencies, are mined for specific drug events, which are correlated with literature, protein and pathway data, resulting in a rich drug-event dataset. Next, advanced distributed computing methods are tailored to coordinate the execution of data-mining and statistical analysis tasks. This permits obtaining a ranked drug-event list, removing spurious entries and highlighting relationships with high risk potential.RESULTS: The EU-ADR Web Platform is an open workspace for the integrated analysis of pharmacovigilance datasets. Using this software, researchers can access a variety of tools provided by distinct partners in a single centralized environment. Besides performing standalone drug-event assessments, they can also control the pipeline for an improved batch analysis of custom datasets. Drug-event pairs can be substantiated and statistically analysed within the platform's innovative working environment.CONCLUSIONS: A pioneering workspace that helps in explaining the biological path of adverse drug reactions was developed within the EU-ADR project consortium. This tool, targeted at the pharmacovigilance community, is available online at https://bioinformatics.ua.pt/euadr/. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Job Board : Borsa de treball on-line, distribuïda i multi-dispositiu

Aquest treball final de carrera es basa en la creació d'una borsa de treball on-line, distribuïda i multi-dispositiu. Ha estat creada a partir de noves tecnologies com Play Framework i Twiter Bootstrap, utilitzant els llenguatges Java i Scala, usant marcatge HTML5 i desplegada en un servidor de cloud computing anomenat Heroku.

Protecting mobile agents from external replay attacks

Peer-reviewed

JXTA-Overlay P2P Platform and Its Application for Robot Control

The design of an efficient collaborative multirobot framework that ensures the autonomy and the individualrequirements of the involved robots is a very challenging task. This requires designing an efficient platform for inter-robot communication. P2P is a good approach to achieve this goal. P2P aims at making the communication ubiquitous thereby crossing the communication boundary and has many attractive features to use it as a platform for collaborative multi-robot environments. In this work, we present the JXTA Overlay P2P system and its application for robot control. Since JXTAOverlay is able to overcome Firewalls, Routers and NATs, it is possible to control end-devices in a WAN without changing the network security policy. We used JXTA-Overlay for the control of robot motors. We evaluated the proposed system by many experiments and have shown that the proposed system has a good performance and can be used successfully for the control of robot.

ML approaches to channel estimation for pilot-aided multi-rate DS/CDMA systems

This paper analyzes the asymptotic performance of maximum likelihood (ML) channel estimation algorithms in wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) scenarios. We concentrate on systems with periodic spreading sequences (period larger than or equal to the symbol span) where the transmitted signal contains a code division multiplexed pilot for channel estimation purposes. First, the asymptotic covariances of the training-only, semi-blind conditional maximum likelihood (CML) and semi-blind Gaussian maximum likelihood (GML) channelestimators are derived. Then, these formulas are further simplified assuming randomized spreading and training sequences under the approximation of high spreading factors and high number of codes. The results provide a useful tool to describe the performance of the channel estimators as a function of basicsystem parameters such as number of codes, spreading factors, or traffic to training power ratio.

Wireless Application Test Bed and Simulations for Broadband Mobile Communications Systems

Langattoman laajakaistaisen tietoliikennetekniikan kehittyminen on herättänyt kiinnostuksen sen ammattimaiseen hyödyntämiseen yleisen turvallisuuden ja kriisinhallinnan tarpeisiin. Hätätilanteissa usein olemassa olevat kiinteät tietoliikennejärjestelmät eivät ole ollenkaan käytettävissä tai niiden tarjoama kapasiteetti ei ole riittävä. Tästä syystä on noussut esiin tarve nopeasti toimintakuntoon saatettaville ja itsenäisille langattomille laajakaistaisille järjestelmille. Tässä diplomityössä on tarkoitus tutkia langattomia ad hoc monihyppy -verkkoja yleisen turvallisuuden tarpeiden pohjalta ja toteuttaa testialusta, jolla voidaan demonstroida sekä tutkia tällaisen järjestelmän toimintaa käytännössä. Työssä tutkitaan pisteestä pisteeseen sekä erityisesti pisteestä moneen pisteeseen suoritettavaa tietoliikennettä. Mittausten kohteena on testialustan tiedonsiirtonopeus, lähetysteho ja vastaanottimen herkkyys. Näitä tuloksia käytetään simulaattorin parametreina, jotta simulaattorin tulokset olisivat mahdollisimman aidot ja yhdenmukaiset testialustan kanssa. Sen jälkeen valitaan valikoima yleisen turvallisuuden vaatimusten mukaisia ohjelmia ja sovellusmalleja, joiden suorituskyky mitataan erilaisten reititysmenetelmien alaisena sekä testialustalla että simulaattorilla. Tuloksia arvioidaan ja vertaillaan. Multicast monihyppy -video päätettiin sovelluksista valita tutkimusten pääkohteeksi ja sitä sekä sen ominaisuuksia on tarkoitus myös oikeissa kenttäkokeissa.

Kontekstitietoisen mobiilipelin suunnittelu ja toteutus

Kontekstitietoisuuden katsotaan voivan parantaa sovellusten ja palvelujen käytettävyyttä matkapuhelimissa. Kontekstitietoisuuden tekniikoita voidaan käyttää myös peleissä, joko siksi, että ne mahdollistavat uudenlaisia pelejä, tai siksi, että peleillä voidaan havainnollistaa ja testata eri tekniikoiden toimintaa. Diplomityössä esitellään prototyyppi monen pelaajan kontekstitietoisesta mobiilipelistä, jossa pelivälineinä käytetään kamerapuhelimella luettavia tavallisia viivakoodeja. Viivakoodit on yhdistetty palvelimella sijaitsevan pelimaailman kohteisiin, joiden omistuksesta pelaajat kilpailevat. Peliä on tarkoitus arvioida myöhemmin pelattavuuden ja idean kiinnostavuuden kannalta. Prototyypin toinen tehtävä on havainnollistaa Multi-User Publishing Environment (MUPE) -sovellusalustan tukea kontekstitietoisuudelle. Työ kuvaa pelin suunnittelun, toteutuksen ja arvioinnin alkaen varhaisimmista ideoista ja päättyen osittaiseen prototyyppiin. Prototyypissä on toteutettu osa pelilogiikasta ja käyttöliittymästä, mutta sitä ei ole integroitu kontekstitietoa kerääviin sensoreihin. Pelin suunnittelussa käytettiin apuna heuristista arviointia ja kahta fokusryhmähaastattelua.