Parallel method for sparse semisupervised hyperspectral unmixing

Parallel hyperspectral unmixing problem is considered in this paper. A semisupervised approach is developed under the linear mixture model, where the abundance's physical constraints are taken into account. The proposed approach relies on the increasing availability of spectral libraries of materials measured on the ground instead of resorting to endmember extraction methods. Since Libraries are potentially very large and hyperspectral datasets are of high dimensionality a parallel implementation in a pixel-by-pixel fashion is derived to properly exploits the graphics processing units (GPU) architecture at low level, thus taking full advantage of the computational power of GPUs. Experimental results obtained for real hyperspectral datasets reveal significant speedup factors, up to 164 times, with regards to optimized serial implementation.

Parallel hyperspectral unmixing method on GPU

Many Hyperspectral imagery applications require a response in real time or near-real time. To meet this requirement this paper proposes a parallel unmixing method developed for graphics processing units (GPU). This method is based on the vertex component analysis (VCA), which is a geometrical based method highly parallelizable. VCA is a very fast and accurate method that extracts endmember signatures from large hyperspectral datasets without the use of any a priori knowledge about the constituent spectra. Experimental results obtained for simulated and real hyperspectral datasets reveal considerable acceleration factors, up to 24 times.

Parallel sparse unmixing of hyperspectral data

In this paper, a new parallel method for sparse spectral unmixing of remotely sensed hyperspectral data on commodity graphics processing units (GPUs) is presented. A semi-supervised approach is adopted, which relies on the increasing availability of spectral libraries of materials measured on the ground instead of resorting to endmember extraction methods. This method is based on the spectral unmixing by splitting and augmented Lagrangian (SUNSAL) that estimates the material's abundance fractions. The parallel method is performed in a pixel-by-pixel fashion and its implementation properly exploits the GPU architecture at low level, thus taking full advantage of the computational power of GPUs. Experimental results obtained for simulated and real hyperspectral datasets reveal significant speedup factors, up to 1 64 times, with regards to optimized serial implementation.

A comunica����o on-line das ONGs e a angaria����o de fundos

Disserta����o de Mestrado apresentado ao Instituto de Contabilidade e Administra����o do Porto para a obten����o do grau de Mestre em Marketing Digital, sob orienta����o da Mestre In��s Veiga Pereira ���Esta vers��o cont��m as cr��ticas e sugest��es dos elementos do j��ri���

Multi-objective Parallel Particle Swarm Optimization for Day-ahead Vehicle-To-Grid Scheduling

This paper presents a methodology for multi-objective day-ahead energy resource scheduling for smart grids considering intensive use of distributed generation and Vehicle- To-Grid (V2G). The main focus is the application of weighted Pareto to a multi-objective parallel particle swarm approach aiming to solve the dual-objective V2G scheduling: minimizing total operation costs and maximizing V2G income. A realistic mathematical formulation, considering the network constraints and V2G charging and discharging efficiencies is presented and parallel computing is applied to the Pareto weights. AC power flow calculation is included in the metaheuristics approach to allow taking into account the network constraints. A case study with a 33-bus distribution network and 1800 V2G resources is used to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.

A study on parallel versus sequential relational fuzzy clustering methods

Disserta����o para obten����o do Grau de Mestre em Engenharia Inform��tica

Melhoria/simplifica����o ergon��mica de linhas de montagem

Hoje em dia, com os avan��os constantes na ind��stria, novas ��reas come��am cada vez mais a ser foco de aten����o por parte das organiza����es. Motivados pela procura de melhores condi����es para os seus colaboradores e por todos os benef��cios que este tipo de interven����o oferece, tanto a curto, como principalmente a m��dio e longo prazo, a Grohe Portugal, mais especificamente o seu departamento de montagem, achou relevante potenciar a aplica����o da Ergonomia nos seus postos de trabalho. Posto isto, esta disserta����o pretende apresentar o trabalho desenvolvido junto da organiza����o que teve como objetivo projetar e executar uma linha de montagem que tivesse em considera����o os seguintes aspetos: ��� Ergonomia; ��� Automatiza����o ou semi-automatiza����o de opera����es; ��� Simplifica����o de aspetos operacionais; ��� Sistemas de abastecimento mais robustos e de f��cil uso; ��� Simplifica����o de setups; ��� Defini����o de dimens��es normalizadas para futuros projetos. As solu����es encontradas tiveram como objetivo primordial satisfazer o maior n��mero poss��vel de colaboradores, sendo que para tal foram utilizados dados referentes a antropometria da popula����o Portuguesa. Para a realiza����o e conclus��o deste projeto, o trabalho foi decomposto em varias etapas, de entre as quais se destacam: ��� Analise e estudo dos m��todos de montagem; ��� Levantamento de todos os componentes e opera����es que constituem o processo de fabrico das diversas fam��lias onde foram implementados novos projetos; ��� Defini����o e uniformiza����o da estrutura das novas linhas de montagem; ��� Estudo e defini����o da disposi����o dos componentes na nova linha, bem como da sua forma de abastecimento; ��� Projeto da linha de montagem em 3D com recurso ao software SolidWorks (DassaultSystemes, 2014); ��� Montagem final da linha, bem como o acompanhamento da sua fase de arranque. Durante o estagio foi ainda pensado e implementado um projeto paralelo com vista a constante manuten����o e melhoria do departamento de montagem cujo objetivo, atrav��s de ���plant walks���, e detetar de entre outras, situa����es de falta de identifica����o de componentes ou equipamentos, degrada����o de ferramentas, fugas ou derrames nas linhas, etc. O balanco final do trabalho foi bastante positivo, tendo-se alcan��ado melhorias em alguns ��ndices de qualidade, tempos de abastecimento e condi����es ergon��micas dos postos de trabalho que sofreram interven����o, tendo essas melhorias resultado numa avalia����o positiva por parte dos colaboradores que integram essas mesmas linhas.

Development of paper-based color test-strip for drug detection in aquatic environment: Application to oxytetracycline

The wide use of antibiotics in aquaculture has led to the emergence of resistant microbial species. It should be avoided/minimized by controlling the amount of drug employed in fish farming. For this purpose, the present work proposes test-strip papers aiming at the detection/semi-quantitative determination of organic drugs by visual comparison of color changes, in a similar analytical procedure to that of pH monitoring by universal pH paper. This is done by establishing suitable chemical changes upon cellulose, attributing the paper the ability to react with the organic drug and to produce a color change. Quantitative data is also enabled by taking a picture and applying a suitable mathematical treatment to the color coordinates given by the HSL system used by windows. As proof of concept, this approach was applied to oxytetracycline (OXY), one of the antibiotics frequently used in aquaculture. A bottom-up modification of paper was established, starting by the reaction of the glucose moieties on the paper with 3-triethoxysilylpropylamine (APTES). The so-formed amine layer allowed binding to a metal ion by coordination chemistry, while the metal ion reacted after with the drug to produce a colored compound. The most suitable metals to carry out such modification were selected by bulk studies, and the several stages of the paper modification were optimized to produce an intense color change against the concentration of the drug. The paper strips were applied to the analysis of spiked environmental water, allowing a quantitative determination for OXY concentrations as low as 30 ng/mL. In general, this work provided a simple, method to screen and discriminate tetracycline drugs, in aquaculture, being a promising tool for local, quick and cheap monitoring of drugs.

McCoy cell line as a possible model containing CD4+ receptors for the study of HIV-1 replication

Several studies have recently shown the use of recombinant rabies virus as potential vector-viral vaccine for HIV-1. The sequence homology between gp 120 and rabies virus glycoprotein has been reported. The McCoy cell line has therefore been used to show CD4+ or CD4+ like receptors. Samples of HIV-1 were isolated, when plasma of HIV-1 positive patients was inoculated in the McCoy cell line. The virus infection was then studied during successive virus passages. The proteins released in the extra cellular medium were checked for protein activity, by exposure to SDS Electrophoresis and blotting to nitro-cellulose filter, then reacting with sera of HIV positive and negative patients. Successive passages were performed, and showed viral replication, membrane permeabilization, the syncytium formation, and the cellular lysis (cytopathic effect). Flow cytometry analysis shows clear evidence that CD4+ receptors are present in this cell line, which enhances the likelihood of easy isolation and replication of HIV. The results observed allow the use of this cell line as a possible model for isolating HIV, as well as for carrying out studies of the dynamics of viral infection in several situations, including exposure to drugs in pharmacological studies, and possibly studies and analyses of the immune response in vaccine therapies.

Methodologies for the WCET Analysis of Parallel Applications on Many-core Architectures

Euromicro Conference on Digital System Design (DSD 2015), Funchal, Portugal.

Online Admission of Parallel Real-Time Tasks

6th Real-Time Scheduling Open Problems Seminar (RTSOPS 2015), Lund, Sweden.

A Multi-DAG Model for Real-Time Parallel Applications with Conditional Execution

The 30th ACM/SIGAPP Symposium On Applied Computing (SAC 2015). 13 to 17, Apr, 2015, Embedded Systems. Salamanca, Spain.

Allocation of Parallel Real-Time Tasks in Distributed Multi-core Architectures supported by an FTT-SE Network

Distributed real-time systems such as automotive applications are becoming larger and more complex, thus, requiring the use of more powerful hardware and software architectures. Furthermore, those distributed applications commonly have stringent real-time constraints. This implies that such applications would gain in flexibility if they were parallelized and distributed over the system. In this paper, we consider the problem of allocating fixed-priority fork-join Parallel/Distributed real-time tasks onto distributed multi-core nodes connected through a Flexible Time Triggered Switched Ethernet network. We analyze the system requirements and present a set of formulations based on a constraint programming approach. Constraint programming allows us to express the relations between variables in the form of constraints. Our approach is guaranteed to find a feasible solution, if one exists, in contrast to other approaches based on heuristics. Furthermore, approaches based on constraint programming have shown to obtain solutions for these type of formulations in reasonable time.