OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
iDataCool: HPC with Hot-Water Cooling and Energy Reuse
Venue: arXiv cs.DC 2013
Year: 2013

iDataCool is an HPC architecture jointly developed by the University of Regensburg and the IBM Research and Development Lab Böblingen. It is based on IBM's iDataPlex platform, whose air-cooling solution was replaced by a custom water-cooling solution that allows for cooling water temperatures of 70C/158F. The system is coupled to an adsorption chiller by InvenSor that operates efficiently at these temperatures. Thus a significant portion of the energy spent on HPC can be recovered in the form of chilled water, which can then be used to cool other parts of the computing center. We describe the architecture of iDataCool and present benchmarks of the cooling performance and the energy (reuse) efficiency.
Better Bounds for Online $k$-Frame Throughput Maximization in Network Switches
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2013
Year: 2013

We consider a variant of the online buffer management problem in network switches, called the $k$-frame throughput maximization problem ($k$-FTM). This problem models the situation where a large frame is fragmented into $k$ packets and transmitted through the Internet, and the receiver can reconstruct the frame only if he/she accepts all the $k$ packets. Kesselman et al.\ introduced this problem and showed that its competitive ratio is unbounded even when $k=2$. They also introduced an "order-respecting" variant of $k$-FTM, called $k$-OFTM, where inputs are restricted in some natural way. They proposed an online algorithm and showed that its competitive ratio is at most $\frac{2kB}{\lfloor B/k \rfloor} + k$ for any $B \ge k$, where $B$ is the size of the buffer. They also gave a lower bound of $\frac{B}{\lfloor 2B/k \rfloor}$ for deterministic online algorithms when $2B \geq k$ and $k$ is a power of 2. In this paper, we improve upper and lower bounds on the competitive ratio of $k$-OFTM. Our main result is to improve an upper bound of $O(k^{2})$ by Kesselman et al.\ to $\frac{5B + \lfloor B/k \rfloor - 4}{\lfloor B/2k \rfloor} = O(k)$ for $B\geq 2k$. Note that this upper bound is tight up to a multiplicative constant factor since the lower bound given by Kesselman et al.\ is $Ω(k)$. We also give two lower bounds. First we give a lower bound of $\frac{2B}{\lfloor {B/(k-1)} \rfloor} + 1$ on the competitive ratio of deterministic online algorithms for any $k \geq 2$ and any $B \geq k-1$, which improves the previous lower bound of $\frac{B}{\lfloor 2B/k \rfloor}$ by a factor of almost four. Next, we present the first nontrivial lower bound on the competitive ratio of randomized algorithms. Specifically, we give a lower bound of $k-1$ against an oblivious adversary for any $k \geq 3$ and any $B$.
HetNets and Massive MIMO: Modeling, Potential Gains, and Performance Analysis
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

We consider a heterogeneous cellular network (HetNet) where a macrocell tier with a large antenna array base station (BS) is overlaid with a dense tier of small cells (SCs). We investigate the potential benefits of incorporating a massive MIMO BS in a TDD-based HetNet and we provide analytical expressions for the coverage probability and the area spectral efficiency using stochastic geometry. The duplexing mode in which SCs should operate during uplink macrocell transmissions is optimized. Furthermore, we consider a reverse TDD scheme, in which the massive MIMO BS can estimate the SC interference covariance matrix. Our results suggest that significant throughput improvement can be achieved by exploiting interference nulling and implicit coordination across the tiers due to flexible and asymmetric TDD operation.
Bayesian rules and stochastic models for high accuracy prediction of solar radiation
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2013
Year: 2013

It is essential to find solar predictive methods to massively insert renewable energies on the electrical distribution grid. The goal of this study is to find the best methodology allowing predicting with high accuracy the hourly global radiation. The knowledge of this quantity is essential for the grid manager or the private PV producer in order to anticipate fluctuations related to clouds occurrences and to stabilize the injected PV power. In this paper, we test both methodologies: single and hybrid predictors. In the first class, we include the multi-layer perceptron (MLP), auto-regressive and moving average (ARMA), and persistence models. In the second class, we mix these predictors with Bayesian rules to obtain ad-hoc models selections, and Bayesian averages of outputs related to single models. If MLP and ARMA are equivalent (nRMSE close to 40.5% for the both), this hybridization allows a nRMSE gain upper than 14 percentage points compared to the persistence estimation (nRMSE=37% versus 51%).
Blind Deconvolution via Maximum Kurtosis Adaptive Filtering
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2013
Year: 2013

In this paper, we present an algorithm for identifying a parametrically described destructive unknown system based on a non-gaussianity measure. It is known that under certain conditions the output of a linear system is more gaussian than the input. Hence, an inverse filter is searched, such that its output is minimally gaussian. We use the kurtosis as a measure of the non-gaussianity of the signal. A maximum of the kurtosis as a function of the deconvolving filter coefficients is searched. The search is done iteratively using the gradient ascent algorithm, and the coefficients at the maximum point correspond to the inverse filter coefficients. This filter may be applied to the distorted signal to obtain the original undistorted signal. While a similar approach has been used before, it was always directed at a particular kind of a signal, commonly of impulsive characteristics. In this paper a successful attempt has been made to apply the algorithm to a wider range of signals, such as to process distorted audio signals and destructed images. This innovative implementation required the revelation of a way to preprocess the distorted signal at hand. The experimental results show very good performance in terms of recovering audio signals and blurred images, both for an FIR and IIR distorting filters.
Notions of Monad Strength
Venue: arXiv cs.PL 2013
Year: 2013

Over the past two decades the notion of a strong monad has found wide applicability in computing. Arising out of a need to interpret products in computational and semantic settings, different approaches to this concept have arisen. In this paper we introduce and investigate the connections between these approaches and also relate the results to monad composition. We also introduce new methods for checking and using the required laws associated with such compositions, as well as provide examples illustrating problems and issues that arise.
Modular Construction of Shape-Numeric Analyzers
Venue: arXiv cs.PL 2013
Year: 2013

The aim of static analysis is to infer invariants about programs that are precise enough to establish semantic properties, such as the absence of run-time errors. Broadly speaking, there are two major branches of static analysis for imperative programs. Pointer and shape analyses focus on inferring properties of pointers, dynamically-allocated memory, and recursive data structures, while numeric analyses seek to derive invariants on numeric values. Although simultaneous inference of shape-numeric invariants is often needed, this case is especially challenging and is not particularly well explored. Notably, simultaneous shape-numeric inference raises complex issues in the design of the static analyzer itself. In this paper, we study the construction of such shape-numeric, static analyzers. We set up an abstract interpretation framework that allows us to reason about simultaneous shape-numeric properties by combining shape and numeric abstractions into a modular, expressive abstract domain. Such a modular structure is highly desirable to make its formalization and implementation easier to do and get correct. To achieve this, we choose a concrete semantics that can be abstracted step-by-step, while preserving a high level of expressiveness. The structure of abstract operations (i.e., transfer, join, and comparison) follows the structure of this semantics. The advantage of this construction is to divide the analyzer in modules and functors that implement abstractions of distinct features.
Higher-Order Process Modeling: Product-Lining, Variability Modeling and Beyond
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2013
Year: 2013

We present a graphical and dynamic framework for binding and execution of business) process models. It is tailored to integrate 1) ad hoc processes modeled graphically, 2) third party services discovered in the (Inter)net, and 3) (dynamically) synthesized process chains that solve situation-specific tasks, with the synthesis taking place not only at design time, but also at runtime. Key to our approach is the introduction of type-safe stacked second-order execution contexts that allow for higher-order process modeling. Tamed by our underlying strict service-oriented notion of abstraction, this approach is tailored also to be used by application experts with little technical knowledge: users can select, modify, construct and then pass (component) processes during process execution as if they were data. We illustrate the impact and essence of our framework along a concrete, realistic (business) process modeling scenario: the development of Springer's browser-based Online Conference Service (OCS). The most advanced feature of our new framework allows one to combine online synthesis with the integration of the synthesized process into the running application. This ability leads to a particularly flexible way of implementing self-adaption, and to a particularly concise and powerful way of achieving variability not only at design time, but also at runtime.
Automatic Repair of Overflowing Expressions with Abstract Interpretation
Venue: arXiv cs.PL 2013
Year: 2013

We consider the problem of synthesizing provably non-overflowing integer arithmetic expressions or Boolean relations among integer arithmetic expressions. First we use a numerical abstract domain to infer numerical properties among program variables. Then we check if those properties guarantee that a given expression does not overflow. If this is not the case, we synthesize an equivalent, yet not-overflowing expression, or we report that such an expression does not exists. The synthesis of a non-overflowing expression depends on three, orthogonal factors: the input expression (e.g., is it linear, polynomial,... ?), the output expression (e.g., are case splits allowed?), and the underlying numerical abstract domain - the more precise the abstract domain is, the more correct expressions can be synthesized. We consider three common cases: (i) linear expressions with integer coefficients and intervals; (ii) Boolean expressions of linear expressions; and (iii) linear expressions with templates. In the first case we prove there exists a complete and polynomial algorithm to solve the problem. In the second case, we have an incomplete yet polynomial algorithm, whereas in the third we have a complete yet worst-case exponential algorithm.
A Case for Dynamic Reverse-code Generation to Debug Non-deterministic Programs
Venue: arXiv cs.PL 2013
Year: 2013

Backtracking (i.e., reverse execution) helps the user of a debugger to naturally think backwards along the execution path of a program, and thinking backwards makes it easy to locate the origin of a bug. So far backtracking has been implemented mostly by state saving or by checkpointing. These implementations, however, inherently do not scale. Meanwhile, a more recent backtracking method based on reverse-code generation seems promising because executing reverse code can restore the previous states of a program without state saving. In the literature, there can be found two methods that generate reverse code: (a) static reverse-code generation that pre-generates reverse code through static analysis before starting a debugging session, and (b) dynamic reverse-code generation that generates reverse code by applying dynamic analysis on the fly during a debugging session. In particular, we espoused the latter one in our previous work to accommodate non-determinism of a program caused by e.g., multi-threading. To demonstrate the usefulness of our dynamic reverse-code generation, this article presents a case study of various backtracking methods including ours. We compare the memory usage of various backtracking methods in a simple but nontrivial example, a bounded-buffer program. In the case of non-deterministic programs such as this bounded-buffer program, our dynamic reverse-code generation outperforms the existing backtracking methods in terms of memory efficiency.
Augmenting graphs to minimize the diameter
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2013
Year: 2013

We study the problem of augmenting a weighted graph by inserting edges of bounded total cost while minimizing the diameter of the augmented graph. Our main result is an FPT 4-approximation algorithm for the problem.
Human Resource Management System
Venue: arXiv cs.OH 2013
Year: 2013

The paper titled HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM is basically concerned with managing the Administrator of HUMAN RESOURCE Department in a company. A Human Resource Management System, refers to the systems and processes at the intersection between human resource management and information technology. It merges HRM as a discipline and in particular its basic HR activities and processes with the information technology field, whereas the programming of data processing systems evolved into standardized routines and packages of enterprise resource planning software. The main objective of this paper is to reduce the effort of Administrator to keep the daily events such as attendance, projects, works, appointments, etc. This paper deals with the process of identifying the employees, recording their attendance hourly and calculating their effective payable hours or days. This paper should maintain the records of each and every employee and their time spend in to company, which can be used for performance appraisal. Based on that transfer, removal, promotion can be done.
Advanced Techniques for Scientific Programming and Collaborative Development of Open Source Software Packages at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP)
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2013
Year: 2013

A large number of computational scientific research projects make use of open source software packages. However, the development process of such tools frequently differs from conventional software development; partly because of the nature of research, where the problems being addressed are not always fully understood; partly because the majority of the development is often carried out by scientists with limited experience and exposure to best practices of software engineering. Often the software development suffers from the pressure to publish scientific results and that credit for software development is limited in comparison. Fundamental components of software engineering like modular and reusable design, validation, documentation, and software integration as well as effective maintenance and user support tend to be disregarded due to lack of resources and qualified specialists. Thus innovative developments are often hindered by steep learning curves required to master development for legacy software packages full of ad hoc solutions. The growing complexity of research, however, requires suitable and maintainable computational tools, resulting in a widening gap between the potential users (often growing in number) and contributors to the development of such a package. In this paper we share our experiences aiming to improve the situation by training particularly young scientists, through disseminating our own experiences at contributing to open source software packages and practicing key components of software engineering adapted for scientists and scientific software development. Specifically we summarize the outcome of the Workshop in Advanced Techniques for Scientific Programming and Collaborative Development of Open Source Software Packages run at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in March 2013, and discuss our conclusions for future efforts.
Even the Abstract have Colour: Consensus in Word-Colour Associations
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2013
Year: 2013

Colour is a key component in the successful dissemination of information. Since many real-world concepts are associated with colour, for example danger with red, linguistic information is often complemented with the use of appropriate colours in information visualization and product marketing. Yet, there is no comprehensive resource that captures concept-colour associations. We present a method to create a large word-colour association lexicon by crowdsourcing. A word-choice question was used to obtain sense-level annotations and to ensure data quality. We focus especially on abstract concepts and emotions to show that even they tend to have strong colour associations. Thus, using the right colours can not only improve semantic coherence, but also inspire the desired emotional response.
Advances in computer architecture
Venue: arXiv cs.AR 2013
Year: 2013

In the past, efforts were taken to improve the performance of a processor via frequency scaling. However, industry has reached the limits of increasing the frequency and therefore concurrent execution of instructions on multiple cores seems the only possible option. It is not enough to provide concurrent execution by the hardware, software also have to introduce concurrency in order to exploit the parallelism.
Towards Minimizing k-Submodular Functions
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2013
Year: 2013

In this paper we investigate k-submodular functions. This natural family of discrete functions includes submodular and bisubmodular functions as the special cases k = 1 and k = 2 respectively. In particular we generalize the known Min-Max-Theorem for submodular and bisubmodular functions. This theorem asserts that the minimum of the (bi)submodular function can be found by solving a maximization problem over a (bi)submodular polyhedron. We define and investigate a k-submodular polyhedron and prove a Min-Max-Theorem for k-submodular functions.
Emergent Behaviors over Signed Random Networks in Dynamical Environments
Venue: arXiv cs.SI 2013
Year: 2013

We study asymptotic dynamical patterns that emerge among a set of nodes that interact in a dynamically evolving signed random network. Node interactions take place at random on a sequence of deterministic signed graphs. Each node receives positive or negative recommendations from its neighbors depending on the sign of the interaction arcs, and updates its state accordingly. Positive recommendations follow the standard consensus update while two types of negative recommendations, each modeling a different type of antagonistic or malicious interaction, are considered. Nodes may weigh positive and negative recommendations differently, and random processes are introduced to model the time-varying attention that nodes pay to the positive and negative recommendations. Various conditions for almost sure convergence, divergence, and clustering of the node states are established. Some fundamental similarities and differences are established for the two notions of negative recommendations.
Evaluating Sliding and Sticky Target Policies by Measuring Temporal Drift in Acyclic Walks Through a Web Archive
Venue: arXiv cs.DL 2013
Year: 2013

When a user views an archived page using the archive's user interface (UI), the user selects a datetime to view from a list. The archived web page, if available, is then displayed. From this display, the web archive UI attempts to simulate the web browsing experience by smoothly transitioning between archived pages. During this process, the target datetime changes with each link followed; drifting away from the datetime originally selected. When browsing sparsely-archived pages, this nearly-silent drift can be many years in just a few clicks. We conducted 200,000 acyclic walks of archived pages, following up to 50 links per walk, comparing the results of two target datetime policies. The Sliding Target policy allows the target datetime to change as it does in archive UIs such as the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine. The Sticky Target policy, represented by the Memento API, keeps the target datetime the same throughout the walk. We found that the Sliding Target policy drift increases with the number of walk steps, number of domains visited, and choice (number of links available). However, the Sticky Target policy controls temporal drift, holding it to less than 30 days on average regardless of walk length or number of domains visited. The Sticky Target policy shows some increase as choice increases, but this may be caused by other factors. We conclude that based on walk length, the Sticky Target policy generally produces at least 30 days less drift than the Sliding Target policy.
Simultaneous Transmission and Reception: Algorithm, Design and System Level Performance
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2013
Year: 2013

Full Duplex or Simultaneous transmission and reception (STR) in the same frequency at the same time can potentially double the physical layer capacity. However, high power transmit signal will appear at receive chain as echoes with powers much higher than the desired received signal. Therefore, in order to achieve the potential gain, it is imperative to cancel these echoes. As these high power echoes can saturate low noise amplifier (LNA) and also digital domain echo cancellation requires unrealistically high resolution analog-to-digital converter (ADC), the echoes should be cancelled or suppressed sufficiently before LNA. In this paper we present a closed-loop echo cancellation technique which can be implemented purely in analogue domain. The advantages of our method are multiple-fold: it is robust to phase noise, does not require additional set of antennas, can be applied to wideband signals and the performance is irrelevant to radio frequency (RF) impairments in transmit chain. Next, we study a few protocols for STR systems in carrier sense multiple access (CSMA) network and investigate MAC level throughput with realistic assumptions in both single cell and multiple cells. We show that STR can reduce hidden node problem in CSMA network and produce gains of up to 279% in maximum throughput in such networks. Finally, we investigate the application of STR in cellular systems and study two new unique interferences introduced to the system due to STR, namely BS-BS interference and UE-UE interference. We show that these two new interferences will hugely degrade system performance if not treated appropriately. We propose novel methods to reduce both interferences and investigate the performances in system level.
Design space exploration in the microthreaded many-core architecture
Venue: arXiv cs.AR 2013
Year: 2013

Design space exploration is commonly performed in embedded system, where the architecture is a complicated piece of engineering. With the current trend of many-core systems, design space exploration in general-purpose computers can no longer be avoided. Microgrid is a complicated architecture, and therefor we need to perform design space exploration. Generally, simulators are used for the design space exploration of an architecture. Different simulators with different levels of complexity, simulation time and accuracy are used. Simulators with little complexity, low simulation time and reasonable accuracy are desirable for the design space exploration of an architecture. These simulators are referred as high-level simulators and are commonly used in the design of embedded systems. However, the use of high-level simulation for design space exploration in general-purpose computers is a relatively new area of research.