Optimización de la Entrada Salida mediante librerías y lenguajes paralelos

Uno de los grandes retos de la HPC (High Performance Computing) consiste en optimizar el subsistema de Entrada/Salida, (E/S), o I/O (Input/Output). Ken Batcher resume este hecho en la siguiente frase: "Un supercomputador es un dispositivo que convierte los problemas limitados por la potencia de cálculo en problemas limitados por la E/S" ("A Supercomputer is a device for turning compute-bound problems into I/O-bound problems") . En otras palabras, el cuello de botella ya no reside tanto en el procesamiento de los datos como en la disponibilidad de los mismos. Además, este problema se exacerbará con la llegada del Exascale y la popularización de las aplicaciones Big Data. En este contexto, esta tesis contribuye a mejorar el rendimiento y la facilidad de uso del subsistema de E/S de los sistemas de supercomputación. Principalmente se proponen dos contribuciones al respecto: i) una interfaz de E/S desarrollada para el lenguaje Chapel que mejora la productividad del programador a la hora de codificar las operaciones de E/S; y ii) una implementación optimizada del almacenamiento de datos de secuencias genéticas. Con más detalle, la primera contribución estudia y analiza distintas optimizaciones de la E/S en Chapel, al tiempo que provee a los usuarios de una interfaz simple para el acceso paralelo y distribuido a los datos contenidos en ficheros. Por tanto, contribuimos tanto a aumentar la productividad de los desarrolladores, como a que la implementación sea lo más óptima posible. La segunda contribución también se enmarca dentro de los problemas de E/S, pero en este caso se centra en mejorar el almacenamiento de los datos de secuencias genéticas, incluyendo su compresión, y en permitir un uso eficiente de esos datos por parte de las aplicaciones existentes, permitiendo una recuperación eficiente tanto de forma secuencial como aleatoria. Adicionalmente, proponemos una implementación paralela basada en Chapel.

Una Estimación del Impacto del Gasto en Atención a la Dependencia en Andalucía

La atención a la dependencia es, sin lugar a dudas, uno de los grandes retos de futuro de las sociedades que envejecen aceleradamente, al que España y Andalucía no sólo no son ajenos, sino que presentan rasgos que lo amplifican. Sin embargo, es un fenómeno que adolece de importantes lagunas de información, fundamentalmente la carencia de una perspectiva integral que conecte la realidad social, el cambio económico, y la necesidad de transformación de los modelos de bienestar en general y de cuidados en particular, el gasto necesario para su desarrollo y el impacto económico asociado; enfoque holístico que se adopta en este trabajo. Dentro del marco expuesto el objetivo principal del trabajo es cuantificar el impacto en términos de actividad, empleo y retorno fiscal, así como la relación entre la prestación recibida y las características de los dependientes, que permita avanzar en la consideración de este gasto social como una inversión. Para la estimación de los impactos se ha utilizado el Marco Input-Output de Andalucía (MIOAN) de 2010. No obstante, para calcular los incrementos de renta generados por los requerimientos producidos, se ha endogeneizado la demanda de consumo, esto ha implicado construir expresamente para este cálculo una matriz ampliada de Leontief, procediendo a una estimación especifica de la fila adicional ampliada. Finalmente para estimar la relación entre prestación y características de los dependientes se han construido distintos modelos logísticos binarios, y un modelo multinomial. Desarrollado el trabajo de investigación y cuantificado el impacto, la conclusión fundamental no es sólo fuerte efecto arrastre del gasto en dependencia en la actividad y el empleo , sino que se produce en el marco de un cambio irreversible que sitúa a los Cuidados de Larga Duración asociados a la dependencia con un papel central en el contexto de la evolución del Estado el Bienestar. En concreto se ha verificado que: • Andalucía realiza un elevado gasto en atención a la dependencia, 1314 millones de euros, un 85 % del cual total es público y un 15 % privado, y que este gasto genera un fuerte impacto en la economía andaluza, pues su contribución a los grandes agregados macroeconómicos de Andalucía es de un 0,9 % del PIB, superior al impulso de demanda que supone el gasto en atención a la dependencia. • La atención a la dependencia ha mostrado una elevada capacidad de generación de empleo, más de 40.000 empleos, muy concentrado además en personas de difícil inserción en el mercado laboral, mujeres maduras de cualificación media-baja y con poca experiencia acreditable en sector formal de la atención. • La relación entre usuarios, gasto, e impacto para las trasferencias y los servicios muestra un modelo en escalera que caracteriza un sistema de universalización de coste medio con impacto moderado. Un modelo en el que las transferencias suponen el 50 % de los atendidos, el 30 % del gasto y el 20 % del impacto. • El retorno fiscal generado por la dependencia es muy elevado, casi del 45%. • El esfuerzo financiero, tanto bruto como neto, descontado el retorno vía impuestos que obtiene de cada administración, es muy asimétrico lo que puede generar un efecto desincentivador del desarrollo de un modelo con más servicios frente a transferencias. • Las características de los dependientes condicionan la prestación que parece ajustarse a los la características personales y de grado de discapacidad más que las socioeconómicas.

Synthetic Circuits for Feedback and Detection in Bacteria

Synthetic biology, by co-opting molecular machinery from existing organisms, can be used as a tool for building new genetic systems from scratch, for understanding natural networks through perturbation, or for hybrid circuits that piggy-back on existing cellular infrastructure. Although the toolbox for genetic circuits has greatly expanded in recent years, it is still difficult to separate the circuit function from its specific molecular implementation. In this thesis, we discuss the function-driven design of two synthetic circuit modules, and use mathematical models to understand the fundamental limits of circuit topology versus operating regimes as determined by the specific molecular implementation. First, we describe a protein concentration tracker circuit that sets the concentration of an output protein relative to the concentration of a reference protein. The functionality of this circuit relies on a single negative feedback loop that is implemented via small programmable protein scaffold domains. We build a mass-action model to understand the relevant timescales of the tracking behavior and how the input/output ratios and circuit gain might be tuned with circuit components. Second, we design an event detector circuit with permanent genetic memory that can record order and timing between two chemical events. This circuit was implemented using bacteriophage integrases that recombine specific segments of DNA in response to chemical inputs. We simulate expected population-level outcomes using a stochastic Markov-chain model, and investigate how inferences on past events can be made from differences between single-cell and population-level responses. Additionally, we present some preliminary investigations on spatial patterning using the event detector circuit as well as the design of stationary phase promoters for growth-phase dependent activation. These results advance our understanding of synthetic gene circuits, and contribute towards the use of circuit modules as building blocks for larger and more complex synthetic networks.

Self-defeating austerity? Assessing the impact of fiscal consolidations on unemployment

The great recession of 2008/2009 has had a huge impact on unemployment and public finances in most advanced countries, and these impacts were magnified in the southern Euro area countries by the sovereign debt crisis of 2010/2011. The fiscal consolidation imposed by the European Union on highly indebted countries was based on the assumptions of the so-called expansionary austerity. However, the reality so far shows proof to the contrary, and the results of this paper support the opposing view of a self- defeating austerity. Based on the input-output relations of the productive system, an unemployment rate/budget balance trade-off equation is derived, as well as the impact of a strong fiscal consolidation based on social transfers and the notion of neutral budget balance. An application to the Portuguese case confirms the huge costs of a strong fiscal consolidation, both in terms of unemployment and social policy regress, and it allows one to conclude that too much consolidation in one year makes consolidation more difficult in the following year.

Foreign direct investment determinants revisited in the context of global value chains

In this paper, we aim at contributing to the new field of research that intends to bring up-to-date the tools and statistics currently used to look to the current reality given by Global Value Chains (GVC) in international trade and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Namely, we make use of the most recent data published by the World Input-Output Database to suggest indicators to measure the participation and net gains of countries by being a part of GVC; and use those indicators in a pooled-regression model to estimate determinants of FDI stocks in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-member countries. We conclude that one of the measures proposed proves to be statistically significant in explaining the bilateral stock of FDI in OECD countries, meaning that the higher the transnational income generated between two given countries by GVC, taken as a proxy to the participation of those countries in GVC, the higher one could expect the FDI entering those countries to be. The regression also shows the negative impact of the global financial crisis that started in 2009 in the world’s bilateral FDI stocks and, additionally, the particular and significant role played by the People’s Republic of China in determining these stocks.

Inter-industry analysis and monetary policy evaluations in the Korean flow of funds accounts

This study mainly aims to provide an inter-industry analysis through the subdivision of various industries in flow of funds (FOF) accounts. Combined with the Financial Statement Analysis data from 2004 and 2005, the Korean FOF accounts are reconstructed to form "from-whom-to-whom" basis FOF tables, which are composed of 115 institutional sectors and correspond to tables and techniques of input–output (I–O) analysis. First, power of dispersion indices are obtained by applying the I–O analysis method. Most service and IT industries, construction, and light industries in manufacturing are included in the first quadrant group, whereas heavy and chemical industries are placed in the fourth quadrant since their power indices in the asset-oriented system are comparatively smaller than those of other institutional sectors. Second, investments and savings, which are induced by the central bank, are calculated for monetary policy evaluations. Industries are bifurcated into two groups to compare their features. The first group refers to industries whose power of dispersion in the asset-oriented system is greater than 1, whereas the second group indicates that their index is less than 1. We found that the net induced investments (NII)–total liabilities ratios of the first group show levels half those of the second group since the former's induced savings are obviously greater than the latter.

Undermined climate policies : a study on the impact of regulatory and financial discrimination across heterogeneous firms in China

Firms in China within the same industry but with different ownership and size have very different production functions and can face very different emission regulations and financial conditions. This fact has largely been ignored in most of the existing literature on climate change. Using a newly augmented Chinese input–output table in which information about firm size and ownership are explicitly reported, this paper employs a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to analyze the impact of alternative climate policy designs with respect to regulation and financial conditions on heterogeneous firms. The simulation results indicate that with a business-as-usual regulatory structure, the effectiveness and economic efficiency of climate policies is significantly undermined. Expanding regulation to cover additional firms has a first-order effect of improving efficiency. However, over-investment in energy technologies in certain firms may decrease the overall efficiency of investments and dampen long-term economic growth by competing with other fixed-capital investments for financial resources. Therefore, a market-oriented arrangement for sharing emission reduction burden and a mechanism for allocating green investment is crucial for China to achieve a more ambitious emission target in the long run.

Productivity growth and the structure of production

In this study, interactions between potential hierarchical value chains existing in the production structure and industry-wise productivity growths are sought. We applied generalized Chenery-Watanabe heuristics for matrix linearity maximization to triangulate the input-output incidence matrix for both Japan and the Republic of Korea, finding the potential directed flow of values spanning the industrial sectors of the basic (disaggregated) industry classifications for both countries. Sector specific productivity growths were measured by way of the Trönquvist index, using the 2000-2005 linked input-output tables for both Japan and Korea.

Thermally induced all-optical inverter and dynamic hysteresis loops in graphene oxide dispersions

We experimentally study the temporal dynamics of amplitude-modulated laser beams propagating through a water dispersion of graphene oxide sheets in a fiber-to-fiber U-bench. Nonlinear refraction induced in the sample by thermal effects leads to both phase reversing of the transmitted signals and dynamic hysteresis in the input- output power curves. A theoretical model including beam propagation and thermal lensing dynamics reproduces the experimental findings. © 2015 Optical Society of America.

Participation of portuguese manufacturing industry in global value chains

Portugal’s manufacturing sector has a significant importance both in national income and employment. As has been pointed out by several researchers, the traditional methods of analysis fail to grasp all the dimensions of economic competitiveness. This dissertation is then, at its core, an analysis of Portugal’s manufacturing industry in terms of the latter’s value added to production and impact to employment under the framework of global value chains. The current dissertation seeks to study in which way the Portuguese manufacturing industry, and its respective sectors, has a direct and indirect impact on the creation of value added and employment and how this impact can be measured. For development of this work the input-output approach for calculation of multipliers and the new framework proposed by Timmer et al. (2013) for calculation of GVC income and GVC jobs indicators were used, elaborated on the basis of the WIOD project dataset. Moreover, to illustrate the application of the provided methodology the Portuguese textile industry was used as an example. It was found that the changes in final demand of such sectors as Pulp, Paper, Printing and Publishing; Machinery, Nec and Textiles and Textile Products would have a larger impact on generated value added than other manufacturing sectors. At the same time, employment created by the changes in final demand would be more impacted by such sectors as Food, Beverages and Tobacco; Wood and Products of Wood and Cork and Textiles and Textile Products. In this regard, the number of low-skilled workers in Portugal seems to be more effected by changes in final demand, than those occupied by higher -skilled individuals. Moreover, it was found that the distribution of GVC income and GVC jobs for the Portuguese manufacturing industry shares a similar outlook. However, upon closer inspection of GVC labour distribution by skill levels there seems to exist a general progression in which low-skilled jobs requirements are met by local resources, while the need for higher skilled jobs require a greater “off-shoring” of work The results obtained through calculations of presented multipliers provide a powerful tool for policy makers in strategic planning of development of national economy. Using the provided methodology and obtained results, a government and supranational organizations could define which industry would have the greatest impact for an additional unit of output generated through the economy, and thus define the sectors for further investments.

Acerca da importância do primeiro quadrante da MIO-Alentejo

Chama-se a atenção para a importância fundamental (e sua possível utilização, em termos de políticas públicas de base regional) do primeiro quadrante da matriz input-output para a região Alentejo.

“Análise da Eficiência, Eficácia e Mortalidade Empresarial”

Este artigo analisa a eficácia e a eficiência do Programa Leader + e a mortalidade das empresas que beneficiaram de apoio financeiro no âmbito desta política pública, nas regiões Norte e Alentejo, no período de 2000 a 2006. A análise da eficácia e da eficiência incide sobre a totalidade dos projetos de investimento financiados e o estudo da mortalidade empresarial inclui apenas as empresas do sector privado, com atividade e/ou sede nas regiões citadas, que beneficiaram de financiamento. A avaliação da eficácia e da eficiência sustentou-se em indicadores de realização, indicadores de resultado e no rácio input-output. A sustentabilidade da política pública foi avaliada com base nas taxa de mortalidade das empresas e no estudo da relação entre a mortalidade empresarial e as variáveis região de pertença, atividade da empresa e número de sócios. O estudo permitiu encontrar diferenças entre as duas regiões ao nível da eficácia e da eficiência da política pública, bem como ao nível da mortalidade empresarial.

The Essays in International Trade and Finance

The first chapter provides the first evidence on the gross capital flows reactions to the financial sector reform. I establish four new stylized facts. First, the reform is associated with an average increase of 0.03pp in both gross capital flows. Second, immediately after the reform both flows decrease, in the long term they stabilize at a higher than the pre-liberalization levels. Third, the short term dynamics is governed by debt flows, while the long term dynamics are driven by all of the components. Finally, only a complex reform leads to a positive effect. The results are robust to a wide range of robustness checks. In the second chapter we develop a novel theory to explain the recent phenomenon of reshoring, i.e. firms moving back their previously offshored business activities. We firstly provide the evidence for the importance of the quality behind the reshoring decision and then, building on Antoniades (2015) we develop a dynamic heterogeneous firms model with quality choice and offshoring. In the dynamic setting the location decision entails a tradeoff between payroll and quality-related costs. In equilibrium reshoring arises as some firms initially offshore, exploit the increase in profits due to lower wages and finally return to the domestic country in order to further increase the quality. The third chapter provides the new evidence suggesting that selling through global production networks might lead to export upgrade. I relate the sector-level GVCs participation indicators derived from the international Input-Output Tables to the data on the unit values of exports at the product-exporter level. We find a strong association between the export prices and forward participation, in particular for the developing countries. We document also a less robust negative relationship between the GVCs backward participation and unit values of exports.

Development and Automatization of a Planar Jet Wind Tunnel for the X-wire Calibration

The scope of this study is to design an automatic control system and create an automatic x-wire calibrator for a facility named Plane Air Tunnel; whose exit creates planar jet flow. The controlling power state as well as automatic speed adjustment of the inverter has been achieved. Thus, the wind tunnel can be run with respect to any desired speed and the x-wire can automatically be calibrated at that speed. To achieve that, VI programming using the LabView environment was learned, to acquire the pressure and temperature, and to calculate the velocity based on the acquisition data thanks to a pitot-static tube. Furthermore, communication with the inverter to give the commands for power on/off and speed control was also done using the LabView VI coding environment. The connection of the computer to the inverter was achieved by the proper cabling using DAQmx Analog/Digital (A/D) input/output (I/O). Moreover, the pressure profile along the streamwise direction of the plane air tunnel was studied. Pressure tappings and a multichannel pressure scanner were used to acquire the pressure values at different locations. Thanks to that, the aerodynamic efficiency of the contraction ratio was observed, and the pressure behavior was related to the velocity at the exit section. Furthermore, the control of the speed was accomplished by implementing a closed-loop PI controller on the LabView environment with and without using a pitot-static tube thanks to the pressure behavior information. The responses of the two controllers were analyzed and commented on by giving suggestions. In addition, hot wire experiments were performed to calibrate automatically and investigate the velocity profile of a turbulent planar jet. To be able to analyze the results, the physics of turbulent planar jet flow was studied. The fundamental terms, the methods used in the derivation of the equations, velocity profile, shear stress behavior, and the effect of vorticity were reviewed.

Testing for Market Power in Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output Industries: The Australian Grains and Oilseeds Industries

Recent empirical studies have found significant evidence of departures from competition in the input side of the Australian bread, breakfast cereal and margarine end-product markets. For example, Griffith (2000) found that firms in some parts of the processing and marketing sector exerted market power when purchasing grains and oilseeds from farmers. As noted at the time, this result accorded well with the views of previous regulatory authorities (p.358). In the mid-1990s, the Prices Surveillence Authority (PSA 1994) determined that the markets for products contained in the Breakfast Cereals and Cooking Oils and Fats indexes were "not effectively competitive" (p.14). The PSA consequently maintained price surveillence on the major firms in this product group. The Griffith result is also consistent with the large number of legal judgements against firms in this sector over the past decade for price fixing or other types of non-competitive behaviour. For example, bread manufacturer George Weston was fined twice during 2000 for non-competitive conduct and the ACCC has also recently pursued and won cases against retailer Safeway in grains and oilseeds product lines.