1,720,976 research outputs found
A framework for orthogonal data and control parallelism exploitation
No full textWe propose an innovative approach to structured exploitation of both data and control parallelism. Our approach is based on the clear distinction between data and control parallelism exploitation mechanisms. This separation leads to a programming model where data and control parallelism exploitation is managed by means of independent, orthogonal mechanisms. By exploiting this orthogonal set of mechanisms, clear semantic transformation and verification tools can be developed. We show here a preliminary definition of the programming model, some sample skeleton applications and we discuss the basis for the development of a clear semantic framework that can be used to develop semantics preserving transformation rules as well as semantic based reasoning on parallel program properties
The prevention of undesirable behaviors in cats: Effectiveness of veterinary behaviorists' advice given to kitten owners
Full text linkCats can form a strong relationship toward the owner and seem to accept the advantages of living within a human family. However, cats can show behavioral problems, which are supposed to be largely due to owners' lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of feline behavior and needs. Therefore, the first period after adoption may be crucial in the development of a good cohabitation and relationship with the owner. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a standardized set of behavioral advices provided to kitten owners in preventing the main undesirable behaviors in the domestic cat. Ninety-one cats divided into 2 groups were involved. Owners of the experimental group have been involved in the study in 2 steps. The first step was at the first veterinary visit of their pets, when kittens were 2.8 ± 0.8 months old, and owners were provided with advice aimed to prevent behavioral problems. As a second step, they were interviewed 10 months later. Owners of the control group were met and interviewed only once, during the first vaccination recall visit. Results show that a significantly higher percentage of owners belonging to the control group (43.5% vs. 15.6%; χ2 = 7.214; P = 0.007) complained about one or more undesirable behaviors of their cat. Cats in the experimental group were more often reported to climb on some or specifically allowed furniture, while a greater number of cats in the control group climbed on every kind of furniture (χ2 = 5.820; P = 0.016) and climbed on the curtains sometimes or frequently (χ2 = 3.940; P = 0.047). Excessive vocalizations were also displayed more in the control group (21.7% vs. 4.4%; χ2 = 4.529; P = 0.033). Cats in the experimental group preferred seeking physical contact when the owners went back home, whereas cats belonging to the control group usually sought contact while owners were lying in the bed or on the sofa (χ2 = 11.651; P = 0.011), possibly disturbing them. Moreover, a higher proportion of experimental group cats did not show a negative response to handling of any part of the body (82.2% vs. 58.7%; χ2 = 6.52; P = 0.010). The results of the present study support the hypothesis that providing owners with advice regarding their own behavior toward the cat and the appropriate education of their kitten leads to better informed owners and to fewer behaviors perceived as undesirable in cats
Design patterns percolating to parallel programming framework implementation
No full textStructured parallel programming is recognised as a viable and effective means of tackling parallel programming problems. Recently, a set of simple and powerful parallel building blocks ( RISC- pb2l RISC - pb 2 l ) has been proposed to support modelling and implementation of parallel frameworks. In this work we demonstrate how that same parallel building block set may be used to model both general purpose parallel programming abstractions, not usually listed in classical skeleton sets, and more specialized domain specific parallel patterns. We show how an implementation of RISC- pb2l RISC - pb 2 l can be realised via the FastFlow framework and present experimental evidence of the feasibility and efficiency of the approach
Targeting Distributed Systems in FastFlow
No full textFastFlow is a structured parallel programming framework targeting shared memory multi-core architectures. In this paper we introduce a FastFlow extension aimed at supporting also a network of multi-core workstations. The extension supports the execution of FastFlow programs by coordinating-in a structured way-the fine grain parallel activities running on a single workstation. We discuss the design and the implementation of this extension presenting preliminary experimental results validating it on state-of-the-art networked multi-core nodes. © 2013 Springer-Verlag
Pool Evolution: A Parallel Pattern for Evolutionary and Symbolic Computing
Full text linkWe introduce a new parallel pattern derived from a specific application domain and show how it turns out to have application beyond its domain of origin. The pool evolution pattern models the parallel evolution of a population subject to mutations and evolving in such a way that a given fitness function is optimized. The pattern has been demonstrated to be suitable for capturing and modeling the parallel patterns underpinning various evolutionary algorithms, as well as other parallel patterns typical of symbolic computation. In this paper we introduce the pattern, we discuss its implementation on modern multi/many core architectures and finally present experimental results obtained with FastFlow and Erlang implementations to assess its feasibility and scalability.</p
The effectiveness of advice given to kittens' owners in preventing behavioural problems in cats: preliminary results
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
An abstract annotation model for skeletons
No full textMulti-core and many-core platforms are becoming increasingly heterogeneous and asymmetric. This significantly increases the porting and tuning effort required for parallel codes, which in turn often leads to a growing gap between peak machine power and actual application performance. In this work a first step toward the automated optimization of high level skeleton-based parallel code is discussed. The paper presents an abstract annotation model for skeleton programs aimed at formally describing suitable mapping of parallel activities on a high-level platform representation. The derived mapping and scheduling strategies are used to generate optimized run-time code
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