bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Оценка на въздействието на оценката на здравните технологии
Authors: Райчева Ралица , Стефанов Румен
Published: November 2019

Въведение: Определяща въздействието на докладите за оценка на здравните технологии (ОЗТ) е непосредствената връзка между ОЗТ структурата и отговорните за провеждането на политики и вземането на решения в здравеопазването. Необходима е ясно определена "ОЗТ рамка на възприемчивост" за интегриране на ОЗТ информацията при вземането на решения чрез изследване на средата, в която ще бъде използвана технологията. Цел: Това проучване има за цел да идентифицира и критично анализира процесите, които улесняват и/или възпрепятствт оценката на въздействието на ОЗТ. Материал и методи: Извършено е международно уеб-базирано проучване на ОЗТ организации с разнообразен профил. В периода 2013 – 2015 г. се проведе обширно проучване на ОЗТ дейностите в 386 организации от 83 държави, включително 11 международни организации. Данните са получени от полу-структуриран въпросник, който съдържа 102 въпроса. Резултати: От подадената от респондентите (n=81, 72.97%) информация става ясно, че включването на показатели за оценка на въздействието в продуктите/услугите на организациите не е широко застъпена практика, поради преобладаващо отрицателните (n=44, 54.32%) в сравнение с положителните (n=24, 29.63%) отговори. Според респондентите (n=41, 36.94%) критерият, който най-често се включва за оценка на въздействието на препоръките, е отчитане на промените в медицинската практика преди и след препоръката (n=22, 53.66%). Подалите отговор респонденти (n=82, 73.87%) най-често определят въздействието от препоръките като "средно" (n=37, 45.12%) или "силно" (n=30, 36.59%). Заключение: Процесите на вземане на решения и използването на доказателства, като обект на сериозни аналитични практики, следва да се тестват в реални условия за увеличаване на въздействието на ОЗТ резултатите във вземането на решения за различните нива на въвеждане на технологията.
Оценка на здравните технологии и определяне на приоритети
Authors: Райчева Ралица , Стефанов Румен
Published: November 2019

Въведение: На всяко равнище на вземане на решение една от най-важните стъпки е изборът между различни възможности. Такъв тип решение е разпределението на ресурсите в областта на общественото здраве, което съдържа множество стъпки, изискващи рационални преценки с цел постигане на подходящ баланс между максимизиране на резултатите при определено ниво на ресурсите.

Цел: Идентифициране, сравнение и критичен аналиаз на различните подходи за определяне на приоритети при извършване на оценка на здравни технологии.Материал и методи: Извършено е международно уеб-базирано проучване на ОЗТ организации с разнообразен профил. В периода 2013 - 2015 г. се проведе обширно проучване на ОЗТ дейностите в 386 организации от 83 държави, включително 11 международни организации. Данните са получени от полу-структуриран въпросник, който съдържа 102 въпроса.

Резултати: От организациите, представени от участниците в проучването, отговорни за определянето на приоритети са 78.79% (n=78). Определянето на приоритети вътре в организацията най-често се извършва от изпълняващия длъжността директор (n=45, 60.00%). Извън организацията определението на приоритети се извършва от МЗ (n=39, 78.00%) и/или от националната здравна служба (n=12, 24.00%). От анкетираните 23.17% (n=19) дават информация за съществуването на официален документ, който описва процеса на приоритизиране в организацията. Критерият с най-голям относителен дял, който се използва при определяне на приоритетите за извършване на ОЗТ, е ефективността на технологията (n=42, 57.53%), следван от икономическата оценка (n=39, 53.42%) и ефикасността и безопасността (n=37, 50.68%).

Заключение: Резултатите от това проучване демонстрират, че макар и широкоспектърна, класификацията на критериите за определяне на приоритети не изглежда твърде различно в отделните ОЗТ структури, тъй като използването на много от тези критерии се припокрива.
2020 – годината на генните терапии?
Authors: Искров Георги , Стефанов Румен
Published: November 2019

Изминалата 2018 година може да се нарече своеобразен регулаторен пробив на генните терапии. Три такива иновативни лекарствени терапии бяха одобрени за пазарна употреба от Европейската лекарствена агенция (EMA). Настоящата 2019 година също се очертава интересна. През м. май 2019 г. Агенцията за контрол на храните и лекарствата в САЩ (FDA) официално одобри onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi за лечение на спинална мускулна атрофия или най-скъпото лекарство на света, както реагираха световните медии. Въпреки възникналите след това въпроси относно предоставените предклинични данни, очакванията са EMA да одобри този лекарствен продукт до края на първото тримесечие на 2020 г. Броят на този тип разрешения за пазарна употреба може да изглежда незначителен, но налице е трайна тенденции за навлизане на генните здравни технологии в клиничната практика. Мнозина гледат на генните терапии като на иновацията, която ще промени коренно терапевтичната парадигма за редица нелечими досега състояния и изобщо медицината като цяло.
Clinical Applications of System Regulation Medicine
Authors: Fioranelli Massimo , Sepehri Alireza , Roccia Maria Grazia , Linda Cota , Rossi Chiara , Dawodo Amos , Vojvodic Petar , Lotti Jacopo , Barygina Victoria , Vojvodic Aleksandra , Wollina Uwe , Tirant Michael , Van Thuong Nguyen , Lotti Torello
Published: November 2019

Increasing incidence and poor outcome of chronic non-communicable diseases in western population would require a paradigm shift in the treatments. Guidelines-based medical approaches continue to be the standard rule in clinical practice, although only less than 15% of them are based on high-quality research. For each person who benefits from the 10 best-selling drugs in the USA, a number between 4 and 25 has no one beneficial effect.
The reductionist linear medicine method does not offer solutions in the non-manifest preclinical stage of the disease when it would still be possible to reverse the pathological progression and the axiom "a drug, a target, a symptom" are still inconclusive. Needs additional tools to address these challenges.
System Medicine considers the disease as a dysregulation of the biological networks that changes throughout the evolution of the pathological process and with the comorbidities development. The strength of the networks indicates their ability to withstand dysregulations during the perturbation phases, returning to the state of stability. The treatment of dysregulated networks before the symptomatological manifestation emerges offers the possibility of treating and preventing pathologies in the preclinical phase and potentially reversing the pathological process, stopping it or preventing comorbidities. Furthermore, treating shared networks instead of individual phenotypic symptoms can reduce drug use, offering a solution to the problem of ineffective drug use.
Recovery of Brain in Chick Embryos by Growing Second Heart and Brain
Authors: Fioranelli Massimo , Sepehri Alireza , Roccia Maria Grazia , Linda Cota , Rossi Chiara , Dawod Amos , Vojvodic Petar , Lotti Jacopo , Barygina Victoria , Vojvodic Aleksandra , Wollina Uwe , Tirant Michael , Nguyen Thuong Van , Lotti Torello
Published: November 2019

To recover chick embryos damaged the brain, two methods are presented. In both of them, somatic cells of an embryo introduced into an egg cell and an embryo have emerged. In one method, injured a part of the brain in the head of an embryo is replaced with a healthy part of the brain. In the second method, the heart of brain embryo dead is transplanted with the embryo heart. In this mechanism, new blood cells are emerged in the bone marrow and transmit information of transplantation to subventricular zone (SVZ) of the brain through the circulatory system. Then, SVZ produces new neural stem cells by a subsequent dividing into neurons. These neurons produce new neural circuits within the brain and recover the injured brain. To examine the model, two hearts of two embryos are connected, and their effects on neural circuits are observed.
Autologous Fat Graft: Not Only an Aesthetic Solution
Authors: Scala Jacopo , Vojvodic Aleksandra , Vojvodic Petar , Vlaskovic-Jovicevic Tatjana , Peric-Hajzler Zorica , Matovic Dusica , Dimitrijevic Sanja , Vojvodic Jovana , Sijan Goran , Stepic Nenad , Wollina Uwe , Tirant Michael , Nguyen Van Thuong , Fioranelli Massimo , Lotti Torello
Published: November 2019

Subcutaneous adipose tissue was defined as the “perfect filler” as is soft and malleable and is usually enough present in the body for correcting volume defects and small remodelling purposes. The first attempts to implant autologous adipose tissue dates back to the end of the twentieth century, and with the refinement of harvesting, processing and replanting techniques today a uniform and predictable amount of survival rate were achieved. Those improvements have led to wider use of autologous fat grafts in many medical specialities not only in aesthetic or reconstructive treatments.
The divinity of Jesus in the Gospel of John: The ‘lived experiences’ it fostered when the text was read
Authors: Van der Merwe Dirk G.
Published: November 2019

The discipline, Christian Spirituality, evokes a new interest in Early Christian spirituality. What conceived spiritualities were fostered when the early Christians read the documents that were written to them and how did it influence them? According to Wolfgang Iser, a ‘reader often feels involved in events which, at the time of reading, seems real to him’. This article looks into how John describes and explains the divinity of Jesus. It also attempts to determine conceived spiritualities (lived experiences) fostered when the early Christians read John. The article starts with a brief orientation of what it means when a reader becomes entangled in the reading of a text. Then some mechanisms, as proposed by Waaijman and Iser, that can foster spiritualities are employed to examine the text, including the interaction between the text and the reader; the creation of images; the dialectic between retention and pretension and the filling of gaps.
Innovación periodística y sociedad digital: Una adaptación de los estudios de Periodismo
Authors: Manfredi Sánchez Juan Luis , Ufarte Ruiz María José , Herranz de la Casa José María
Published: November 2019

Introducción: Este artículo realiza una completa revisión sobre el estado de la innovaciónperiodística, resume los enfoques que estructuran la investigación, asienta conceptos y propone nuevasavenidas de investigación. Metodología: Para alcanzar estos objetivos, se han examinado lasprincipales áreas de investigación científica en torno a las tensiones del sistema y los problemas deestudio, apoyándose en usos metodológicos descriptivos. También se ha rastreado la agenda de lasediciones del International Journalism Festival, celebrado en Perugia desde 2006, para indagar sobrelos puentes entre industria periodística tradicional, operadores tecnológicos y académicos. Resultadosy conclusiones: La investigación contribuye a la demanda de una titulación adaptada a la sociedaddigital y la transformación de la profesión, los estudios de grado y la investigación en periodismo, querequieren una agenda propia, un lenguaje de investigación adecuado y evidencias de colaboración entrela industria periodística y la universidad.
Análisis del reportaje inmersivo de contenido social en los medios periodísticos españoles
Authors: Benítez de Gracia María José , Herrera Damas Susana , Benítez de Gracia Elvira
Published: November 2019

Introducción. El presente artículo profundiza en el reportaje inmersivo de contenido social, unamodalidad presente desde los inicios de este tipo de periodismo. Metodología. Para ello realizamosun análisis de contenido diseñado a partir de una exhaustiva documentación sobre el tema y delvisionado de más de 1.000 reportajes de este tipo. El corpus está integrado por 347 piezas publicadaspor medios periodísticos españoles durante tres años (2015-2017). Resultados. Los reportajes queabordan temas sociales representan un porcentaje escaso sobre el total de la muestra. El estudiocomparado del empleo de las técnicas narrativas que favorecen en el espectador una mayor vinculacióncon la historia no muestra diferencias significativas respecto al que advertimos en reportajes queabordan otro tipo de temas. Conclusiones. Aunque la tecnología en vídeo en 360º ofrece un gran potencial para conectar al espectador con realidades sociales marginadas o injustas y concienciarle asísobre su gravedad, parece conveniente continuar investigando sobre el impacto psicológico de lasdiferentes técnicas narrativas para aprovechar mejor así todo este potencial.
Innovación tecnológica y social en medios digitales: análisis del caso de Quartz News
Authors: Anguí-Sánchez David , Cabezuelo-Lorenzo Francisco , Sotelo-González Joaquín
Published: November 2019

Introducción y contexto. Los cambios tecnológicos y nuevos modelos de negocio están generando nuevos medios y formatos en todo el mundo. Metodología. Se usa el estudio del caso en profundidad aplicado a la publicación norteamericana Quartz News como objeto de estudio por ser un caso de éxito. La investigación se centra en el análisis de cuatro variables principales: el diseño web, el uso de la aplicación móvil, los boletines, el contenido patrocinado y la estrategia de promoción analógica, complementaria de la digital. Análisis y resultados. La página web de Quartz News se convierte en un caso paradigmático de diseño rompedor a nivel mundial. Tanto la app, que apuesta por el periodismo conversacional personalizado, como los boletines de suscripción, se confirman como herramientas para la fidelización de los usuarios y para garantizar las visitas de estos, que junto con el branded content como contenido estrella de su publicidad digital, son los pilares del nuevo modelo de negocio. La estrategia offline que rodea la comunicación digital refuerza la identidad del medio. Conclusiones. Quartz News es hoy uno de los medios digitales más exitosos, pese a su creación en un contexto de crisis económica, y constituye un ejemplo de buena praxis digital en un entorno de imparable transformación disruptiva.
La automatización en las coberturas deportivas. Estudio de caso del bot creado por The Washington Post durante los JJ.OO. de Río 2016 y Pyeongchang, 2018
Authors: Rojas Torrijos José Luis
Published: November 2019

Introducción. Una treintena de medios internacionales de referencia ya aplican la inteligencia artificial para la escritura automática de noticias. Sobresalen por su carácter pionero las agencias AP y Reuters y el diario The Washington Post. Hipótesis y objetivos. Prolifera el uso de bots y algoritmos en las coberturas deportivas, favorecido por el gran volumen de datos y el carácter cíclico de la competición. El uso de esta tecnología es compatible con la intervención editorial humana. Metodología. Estudio de caso del bot creado por elPostpara sus coberturas de los Juegos Olímpicos de 2016 y 2018 a través de la red social Twitter. Resultados. El bot ayuda a agilizar el seguimiento de la competición en tiempo real: breves, resultados, medallero y avances. Conclusiones. La inteligencia artificial es eficaz para coberturas deportivas y complementa la labor de los reporteros, que pueden dedicarse a labores más creativas y menos automáticas.
Contagion of Violence: The Role of Narratives, Worldviews, Mechanisms of Transmission and Contagion Entrepreneurs
Authors: Forsyth Miranda , Gibbs Philip
Published: November 2019

This paper develops the theory of the social contagion of violence by proposing a four-part analytical framework that focuses on: (1) contagious narratives and the accompanying behavioural script about the use of violence as a response to those narratives; (2) population susceptibility to these narratives, in particular the role of worldviews and the underlying emotional landscape; (3) mechanisms of transmission, including physical and online social networks, public displays of violence and participation in violence; and (4) the role of contagion entrepreneurs. It argues that a similar four-part approach can be used to identify and imagine possibilities of counter-contagion. The application of the theory is illustrated through examination of the recent epidemic of violence against individuals accused of practising sorcery in the Enga province of Papua New Guinea, a place where such violence is a very new phenomenon.
Language Testing in China: Past and Future
Authors: Li Xuelian
Published: November 2019

Based on the articles written by mainland Chinese scholars published in the most influential Chinese and international journals, the present article analyzed the language testing research, compared the tendencies of seven categories between 2000-2009 and 2010-2019, and put forward future research directions by referring to international hot topics. Of all the seven categories of research topics, validity, performance test and China’s Standards of English Language Ability were three most popular themes, while classroom assessment, technology, rater/test taker differences and professionalization were much less popular. Except for research on performance test and technology, the other five aspects showed an increase in the second decade, with that of China’s Standards of English Language Ability rising the most dramatically. Referring to international research trends, the research predicted that validity, classroom assessment, China’s Standards of English Language Ability and professionalization, especially the ethics and social justice, might be the promising research topics for language testers.
Measuring the Level of Integrated Reporting Alignment with the Framework
Authors: Marrone Arcangelo , Oliva Lara
Published: November 2019

The growing attention to social, environmental and governance issues has increased the pressure on companies to disclose information that goes beyond the financial aspects. In this scenario, integrated reporting (IR), represents a tool able to bridge the information gap, through a focus on the financial and non-financial aspects, on the existing interconnections between the different business dynamics and on the ability of the company to create value in the short, medium and long term. Several aspects of integrated reporting have been studied in the academic field. However, no study has investigated the level of alignment of integrated reports with the  framework. This study aims to fill this gap, first of all developing an adequate measure to assess the level of compliance with the  framework and secondly investigating some determinants of the alignment level. The results show first of all, on average, a high level of compliance of the integrated reports analysed with the  framework and, secondly, they show a positive and significant impact of the firm size and of the industry environmental sensitivity on the level of alignment. This is the first study that investigates the determinants of the level of alignment of the integrated reports with the  framework.
Full-English Teaching Study of Audit and Assurance Service
Authors: Pang Yanhong
Published: November 2019

With the continuous enhancement of economic globalization and world economic integration as well as the further opening of the entire society, the demand for financial and economic professionals with an international perspective is on the rise. Therefore, various forms of full-English teaching have been tried in many higher education institutions. However, at present, the full-English teaching of professional courses in Chinese higher education institutions is still in the preliminary exploration stage. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of the full- English course, Audit and Assurance Service, of Nanjing Audit University, this paper summarizes the teaching practice of the full-English course of auditing from the construction of teaching team, the design of teaching contents and the evaluation methods, and so on. It hopes to provide reference for the development of full-English teaching of professional course in Chinese higher education institutions.
What Is ‘Tenderpreneuring’? A Review of the Literature
Authors: Goitsemang Magang Veronica , Teddy Magang Tebogo Israel
Published: November 2019

This paper theoretically attempts to examine a ‘buzzword’ which has been used to describe a system of awarding tenders [infamously referred to as ‘tenderpreneuring’] in developing countries, by conducting a review of the literature on this practice. The paper endeavors to define ‘tenderpreneuring’ by examining literature, reports, opinion pieces etc on this practice which seems to be spreading rapidly in the public and private sectors in Botswana, South Africa, Kenya in particular. The paper also makes an effort to make a comparison between “tenderpreneuring’ and the traditional form of tendering which follows best practice governance principles. An endeavor is also made to trace the roots of ‘tenderpreneuring’ and how ‘tenderpreneuring’ has the potential to negatively impact citizen economic empowerment. The paper further attempts to use the theory of accountability to demonstrate that where tendeperpreneuring is practiced, there are potential connotations of poor governance on the part of [government or private company] officers who award lucrative tenders to tenderpreneurs. The paper concludes by attempting to examine the possible ramifications of ‘tenderpreneuring’. Consisely, it concludes that tenderpreneuring has the potential to condemn the society to poverty at both personal and national level and rob them of their respect and dignity.

The discussion from this paper has potential to conscientise policy decision makers on bad governance practices emanating from possibly crooked tendering processes both in the public and private sector under the code name ‘tenderpreneuring’.
Italian Restaurants in Danish Consumers’ Perceptions: A Multi-Cue Analysis in a Product Country Image Perspective
Authors: Martinelli Elisa , De Canio Francesca
Published: November 2019

Studies on the country image topic in the services context are rare in comparison with the number of papers investigating the effect that the information on the country of origin exerts on consumer buying behavior when tangible products are concerned. To this regard, the current paper would contribute to the literature on the country-of-origin effect and consumer behavior, exploring the role played by Product Country Image (PCI) in shaping customers attitude when a service offer is concerned – namely: dining services. Specifically, this study tests a conceptual model developed in a multi-cue perspective, that is: evaluating not only the effect of the information on the origin of the service offer investigated, but also assessing consumers’ perceptions related to other service offer cues, such as service quality and perceived value, in this case. A specific national cuisine in the full-service restaurant setting is explored: the Italian one.

From the methodological viewpoint, a survey was conducted among Danish customers of Italian restaurants in Copenhagen. The research method employed consisted in a structured questionnaire. Then, Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was applied to the data collected. Results evidence that product country image influences the formation of a positive attitude towards ethnic restaurants even when a multi-cue approach is employed. Scientific and managerial implications are discussed.
Assessment of Financial Performance and Efficiency of Islamic and Traditional Banks in the Post-Crisis Period
Authors: Alebrahim Slaiman
Published: November 2019

Much of the research surrounding Islamic banking has focused on the 2008 financial crisis and the distinctions between conventional and Islamic institutional performance. Given the consensus that due to lower risk profiles and higher efficiency performance, Islamic banking outperformed its conventional counterparts during that tumultuous period, it is important to extend the academic focus beyond this narrow timeframe. The current investigation has applied a systematic methodology to review quantitative data from several emergent studies regarding post-crisis performance comparisons between Islamic and conventional banking institutions. At the risk of regional or institutional bias, these findings have demonstrated a higher degree of volatility in technical and scale efficiency amongst Islamic institutions since 2010, yet simultaneously, a higher overall efficiency rate of 0.886 when contrasted with the average total efficiency of 0.771 in conventional banks. The evidence highlights a positive correlation between the risk-adverse investments utilised by the Islamic banking system, but suggests that there is significant opportunity for growth through network consolidation and institutional expansion in order for these banks to take advantages of regionalised economies of scale.
OpenMP and StarPU Abreast: the Impact of Runtime in Task-Based Block QR Factorization Performance
Authors: Miletto Marcelo Cogo , Schnorr Lucas
Published: November 2019

Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) is a high-level abstraction to describe the activities of parallel applications. A DAG contains tasks (nodes) and dependencies (edges) in the task-based programming paradigm. Application performance depends on the choices of the runtime system. Our work intends to evaluate and compare the performance of three different runtime systems, GCC/libgomp, LLVM/libomp, and StarPU for a task-based dense block QR factorization. The obtained results show that while GCC/libgomp achieves up to 5.4% better performance in the best case, it has scalability problems for finegrain problems with large DAGs. LLVM/libomp and StarPU are more scalable, and StarPU is much faster in task creation and submission than the other runtimes.
Roofline Analysis and Performance Optimization of the MGB Hydrological Model
Authors: Freitas Henrique , Mendes Celso Luiz
Published: November 2019

The Roofline model gives insights about the performance behavior of applications bounded by either memory or processor limits, providing useful guidelines for performance improvements. This work uses the Roofline model on the analysis of the MGB model that simulates hydrological processes in largescale watersheds. Real-world input data are used to characterize the performance on two multicore architectures, one with only CPUs and one with CPUs/GPU. The MGB model performance is improved with optimizations for better memory use, and also with shared-memory (OpenMP) and GPU (OpenACC) parallelism. CPU performance achieves 42.51 % and 50.17 % of each system’s peak, whereas GPU performance is low due to overheads caused by the MGB model structure.
O Impacto da Interconexão de Rede no Desempenho de Programas Paralelos
Authors: Maliszewski Anderson , Roloff Eduardo , Griebler Dalvan , Navaux Philippe Olivier
Published: November 2019

O desempenho de aplicações paralelas depende de dois componentes principais do ambiente; o poder de processamento e a interconexão de rede. Neste trabalho, foi avaliado o impacto de uma interconexão de alto desempenho em programas paralelos em um cluster homogêneo de servidores interconectados por Gigabit Ethernet 1 Gbps e InfiniBand FDR 56 Gbps. Foi realizada uma caracterização do NAS Parallel Benchmarks em relação à computação, comunicação e custo de execução em instâncias da Microsoft Azure. Os resultados mostraram que, em aplicações altamente dependentes de rede, o desempenho pode ser significativamente melhorado ao utilizar InfiniBand a um custo de execução melhor, mesmo com o preço superior da instância.
CUDA-Parttree: A Multiple Sequence Alignment Parallel Strategy in GPU
Authors: Razzolini Caina , Melo Alba
Published: November 2019

In this paper, we propose and evaluate CUDA-Parttree, a parallel strategy that executes the first phase of the MAFFT Parttree Multiple Sequence Alignment tool (distance matrix calculation with 6mers) on GPU. When compared to Parttree, CUDA-Parttree obtained a speedup of 6.10x on the distance matrix calculation for the Cyclodex gly tran (50, 280 sequences) set, reducing the execution time from 33.94s to 5.57s. Including data conversion and movement to/from the GPU, the speedup was 2.59x. With the sequence set Syn 100000 (100, 000 sequences), a speedup of 4.46x was attained, reducing execution time from 209.54s to 47.00s.
Aplicação da técnica Paramount Iteration nas aplicações BLAST e DNN-ROM na nuvem computacional
Authors: Tavares William , Reis Lucas , Brunetta Jeferson , Borin Edson
Published: November 2019

O crescimento da tendência da computação em nuvem traz novos desafios para a comunidade de computação de alto desempenho. Por possuir um amplo número de recursos, predizer a melhor configuração para uma aplicação especı́fica é uma tarefa custosa e de alto consumo de tempo e principalmente financeiro. A técnica paramount iteration consiste em executar uma parcela da aplicação a fim de determinar o comportamento esperado neste ambiente computacional quando executado por completo. Este artigo valida e utiliza a técnica paramount iteration para as aplicações BLAST e DNN-ROM, sendo possı́vel determinar o melhor ambiente de computação em nuvem para estas.
Upstream: Exposing Performance Information from Cloud Providers to Tenants
Authors: Lange Adriano , Sunye Marcos , Bona Luis Carlos
Published: November 2019

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) is a widely adopted cloud computing paradigm due to its flexibility and competitive prices. To improve resource efficiency, most IaaS providers consolidate several tenants in the same virtualization server, which usually incurs variable performance experiences. In this paper, we evaluate the CPU time received by tenants’ virtual machines (VMs). We present a model that estimates the probability of a VM to receive, at least, a determined fraction of CPU time using limited information about the host and VMs running on it. We constructed this model using a series of experiments with different numbers of CPU cores and co-located VMs.
Performance Evaluation of Compiler Optimizations in FPGA Accelerators
Authors: Leite Gustavo , Baldassin Alexandro , Araujo Guido , Amaral José Nelson
Published: November 2019

With the increasing power wall in microprocessor design, engineers shifted their attention to heterogeneous architectures, wherein several classes of devices are used for computation. Among them are FPGAs which offer comparable performance to CPUs while consuming only a fraction of energy. Despite the increasing interest in these devices, programmability and performance engineering in FPGAs remain hard. This work presents an evaluation of the most prominent code transformations targeting FPGAs. More specifically, it studies the performance effect of unrolling loops, replicating compute units and transferring data using DMA in a matrix multiplication OpenCL kernel through an Intel® FPGA. The results indicate that these optimizations can achieve speedups up to 3.78× for a matrix multiplication application, and 412.5× speedup in data transfer.
Exploração do Projeto de Sistemas Baseados em GPU ciente de Dark Silicon
Authors: Santos Ricardo , Sonohata Rhayssa , Krebs Casio , Catelan Daniela , Duenha Liana , Segovia Diego , Santos Mateus Tostes
Published: November 2019

Este artigo propõe uma infraestrutura para realizar a exploração do espaço de projetos de sistemas computacionais com unidades de processamento gráfico (GPUs) em conjunto com núcleos para processamento de propósito geral, com o objetivo de reduzir dark silicon e aumentar o desempenho do sistema em tempo de projeto. A ferramenta GPGPUSim de simulação e estimativa fı́sica de projeto foi estendida para realizar estimativas de dark silicon das plataformas de GPUs e, em seguida, foi integrada ao framework MultiExplorer. Adicionalmente, foi desenvolvida uma estratégia para estimativa de desempenho das plataformas de GPU e a modelagem de bases de dados que passaram a utilizar tanto núcleos de GPU quanto de plataformas multicore (núcleos de propósito geral), possibilitando, assim, a exploração do espaço de projeto buscando arquiteturas heterogêneas GP-GPUs.
Um Sistema Heterogêneo Embarcado para Aceleração de Interseção Raio-Triângulo
Authors: Sampaio Adrianno , Sena Alexandre , Nery Alexandre
Published: November 2019

A renderização de imagens é uma importante área da computação gráfica, sendo aplicável a diversas áreas como jogos, visualização arquitetônica, cinema, entre outras. Atualmente a renderização de imagens realistas é um dos principais desafios, especialmente para aplicações em tempo real, sendo a maior dificuldade balancear entre realismo e desempenho computacional. O método de Ray-Tracing tem sido um dos principais algoritmos utilizados para a geração de imagens realistas por sua naturalidade ao modelar fenômenos ópticos com precisão, porém sua desvantagem é o seu alto custo computacional. Diversos algoritmos e plataformas de hardware têm sido utilizados até o momento para melhorar o desempenho deste algoritmo, porém soluções com arquiteturas baseadas em Many-core ou GPUs possuem um alto consumo energético apesar do desempenho obtido. Assim, o objetivo deste trabalho é propor um sistema heterogêneo CPU-FPGA em uma placa embarcada de baixo custo energético, e analisar seu ganho de desempenho, escalabilidade e balanceamento de carga entre recursos computacionais renderizando diferentes tamanhos de imagens.
Towards an Autonomous Framework for HPC Optimization: Using Machine Learning for Energy and Performance Modeling
Authors: Klôh Vinícius , Gritz Matheus , Schulze Bruno , Ferro Mariza
Published: November 2019

Performance and energy efficiency are now critical concerns in high performance scientific computing. It is expected that requirements of the scientific problem should guide the orchestration of different techniques of energy saving, in order to improve the balance between energy consumption and application performance. To enable this balance, we propose the development of an autonomous framework to make this orchestration and present the ongoing research to this development, more specifically, focusing in the characterization of the scientific applications and the performance modeling tasks using Machine Learning.
Chomsky and Knowledge of Language
Authors: Liu Ming , Liu Xin Sheen
Published: November 2019

The linguistic theory of Chomsky has changed the long, traditional way of studying language. The nature of knowledge, which is closely tied to human knowledge in general, makes it a logical step for Chomsky to generalize his theory to the study of the relation between language and the world-in particular, the study of truth and reference. But his theory has been controversial and his proposal of "innate ideas" has been resisted by some empiricists who characterize him as rationalist. In our view, these empiricists make a mistake. In the present paper we attend to his position regarding linguistics as a science of mind/brain, which we believe is an important aspect of his theory that has not been paid enough attention or understood by his opponents. In turn, this will help to clarify some of the confusions around his theory. Finally we will discuss some of the debatable issues based on the outlines we draw.
The Problems of Understanding Mathematics
Authors: Mrozek Jarosław
Published: November 2019

This paper is an attempt to explain the structure of the process of understanding mathematical objects such as notions, definitions, theorems, or mathematical theories. Understanding is an indirect process of cognition which consists in grasping the sense of what is to be understood, showing itself in the ability to apply what is understood in other circumstances and situations. Thus understanding should be treated functionally: as acquiring sense. We can distinguish three basic planes on which the process of understanding mathematics takes place. The first is the plane of understanding the meaning of notions and terms existing in mathematical considerations. A mathematician must have the knowledge of what the given symbols mean and what the corresponding notions denote. On the second plane, understanding concerns the structure of the object of understanding wherein it is the sense of the sequences of the applied notions and terms that is important. The third plane-understanding the 'role' of the object of understanding-consists in fixing the sense of the object of understanding in the context of a greater entity, i.e., it is an investigation of the background of the problem. Additionally, understanding mathematics, to be sufficiently comprehensive, should take into account (apart from the theoretical planes) at least three other connected considerations-historical, methodological and philosophical-as ignoring them results in a superficial and incomplete understanding of mathematics.
Reflexive Substantion of an One-Way Ascendancy of Mathematics over Ethics
Authors: Tarkalanov Krassimir D.
Published: November 2019

Russell and Popper are concordant with Plato with respect to the independence of mathematics upon the sensations. Beth shares the opinion of the complete independence between the world of science and mathematics and that of psychology. Essenin-Vol'pin's opinion is of an ascendance of ethics and jurisprudence over mathematics. For the first time, the position of Plato, Russell, and Popper are substantiated in this paper through Hegel's reflexive natural scientific method. The external activation of numbers into interaction through arithmetical operations, adopted by him, has been taken as a basis of this substantion. This is the reason why mathematical rules of reasoning are exact-they represent a pure product of the 'third world.' The rules of ethics and the related humanities are their reflective approximate reverberations. Ascendancy of the rules of such types of science over mathematics is impossible due to the irreversibility of the reflexion.
Translation, Quotation and Truth
Authors: Wertheimer Roger
Published: November 2019

If logical truth is truth due solely to syntactic form, then mathematics is distinct from logic, even if all mathematical truths are derivable from definitions and logical principles. This is often obscured by the plausibility of the Synonymy Substitution Principle that is implicit in the Fregean conception of analyticity: viz., that synonyms are intersubstitutable without altering sentence sense. Now, unlike logical truth, mathematical truth is not due to syntax, so synonym interchange in mathematical truths preserves sentence syntax, sense, and mathematical necessity. Mathematical necessity, therefore, differs from both logical and lexical necessity.
The Meaning of the Present Age
Authors: Foldes Ken
Published: November 2019

I give reasons to believe that our present situation is not as bleak as some would have it. I show how the historical process can be understood in terms of a Premodernity (Aquinas), Modernity (Hegel), and Postmodernity (Nietzsche) division of human history. I argue that both Hegel and Nietzsche were fully aware that Modernity was over and that a negative Postmodern condition was to necessarily precede a consummatory positive one. Also since history may be taken to have reached its goal at the end of Modernity (with Reasons grasp of Christianity’s principle), Postmodernity can best be understood in terms of its central task of elevating all humanity into absolute knowing (the knowing of the God within)—an elevation via Reason and Faith achievable only by the abolition of the God outside, i.e., by a negative followed by a positive period of history, which Schelling refers to as the Church of John, a synthesis of Catholicism and Protestantism, the perfected Church.
Philosophy’s Prejudice Towards Religion
Authors: Hart Hendrik
Published: November 2019

Religion acquired a bad press in philosophical modernity after a rivalry developed between philosophy and theology, originating in philosophy’s adopting the role of our culture’s superjudge in all of morality and knowledge, and in faith’s coming to be seen as belief, that is, as assent to propositional content. Religion, no longer trust in the face of mystery, became a belief system. Reason as judge of propositional belief set up religion’s decline. But spirituality is on the rise, and favors trust over reason. Philosophy could make space for the spiritual by acknowledging a difference between belief as propositional assent and religious faith as trust, a distinction lost with the mixing of Greek philosophy and Christian faith. Artistic or religious truth disappeared as authentic forms of knowing. But Michael Polanyi reintroduced knowledge as more than can be thought. Also postmodern and feminist thought urge us to abandon autonomous reason as sole limit to knowledge. We have space again for philosophy to look at openness to the spiritual. If spirituality confronts us with the mystery of the existential boundary conditions, religion may be a form of relating to the mystery that confronts us from beyond the bounds of reason. That mystery demands our attention if we are to be fully in touch with perennial issues of human meaning.
Aquinas’ Third Way Modalized
Authors: Maydole Robert E.
Published: November 2019

The Third Way is the most interesting and insightful of Aquinas' five arguments for the existence of God, even though it is invalid and has some false premises. With the help of a somewhat weak modal logic, however, the Third Way can be transformed into a argument which is certainly valid and plausibly sound. Much of what Aquinas asserted in the Third Way is possibly true even if it is not actually true. Instead of assuming, for example, that things which are contingent fail to exist at some time, we need only assume that contingent things possibly fail to exist at some time. Likewise, we can replace the assumption that if all things fail to exist at some time then there is a time when nothing exists, with the corresponding assumption that if all things possibly fail to exist at some time then possibly there is a time when nothing exists. These and other similar replacements suffice to produce a cogent cosmological argument.
Hearing the Word
Authors: Sontag Frederick
Published: November 2019

That is the crucial question: Did God intend direct and final communication with us? There is little evidence that Jesus' appearance cleared anything up or gave us God directly. Wittgenstein, who wanted language to be clear, knew well enough that neither the Hebrew nor the Christian God's words could fall within his constructed linguistic net.
Classical Theism and Global Supervenience Physicalism
Authors: Vallicella William F.
Published: November 2019

Could a classical theist be a physicalist? Although a negative answer to this question may seem obvious, it turns out that a case can be made for the consistency of a variant of classical theism and global supervenience physicalism. Although intriguing, the case ultimately fails due to the weakness of global supervenience as an account of the dependence of mental on physical properties.
Algebra As Thought Experiment
Authors: Hattiangadi Jagdish
Published: November 2019

This paper addresses the problem of understanding what mathematics contributes to the exceptional success of modern mathematical physics. I urge that we give up the Kantian construal of the division between mathematics (synthetic a priori) and physics (experimental), and that we ask instead how algebra helps synthetic a posteriori mathematics improve our ability to study the world. The theses suggested are: 1) Mathematical theories are about the empirical world, and are true or false just like other theories of empirical science. 2) The air of artificiality in mathematics lies exclusively in the use of algebraic method. 3) This method is constructive much like all fiction is, but this construction is for the purpose of experimental investigation of the physical world to the extent that anything in the world has objects like those in the fictional world of a particular algebra. 4) This is why algebraic techniques are successful even when the assumptions of the system are false: they may still be applicable to some things considered from some perspective. 5) The success of mathematical physics is also due to Descartes' discovery of a remarkable truth: we live in space and time which can be described as a whole. 6) Therefore, what distinguishes modern science from earlier and later philosophy is not a general method of science, but the fact that it happened to find a truth, and a particular way of studying reality which bore fruit.
The Record Dilemma
Authors: Loland Sigmund
Published: November 2019

This paper takes a critical look at the origins and characteristics of the concept of sporting records and examines the challenges to sport posed by the continuous quest for new records. First, sport records are defined. Second, the logic of the record is critically examined. It is argued that the continuous quest for new records represents the impossible quest for unlimited growth in (biologically) limited systems. In this way, the quest for records is seen to threaten the very core idea in competitive sport: that it deals primarily with genuine, human performances. Third, then, sport disciplines are categorized according to what is seen as their vulnerability in this respect. Disciplines in which performance depends heavily upon biologically limited basic physical qualities (speed, strength, endurance), and in which technology and tactics play a relatively minor role, are exposed to problematic consequences. Although, logically, new records can be set again and again by finer calibration of measurement technology, the moral and human costs of every improvement will probably increase.
The Cautionary Ontological Approach To Technology of Gabriel Marcel
Authors: Gendreau Bernard A.
Published: November 2019

I present the arguments of Gabriel Marcel which are intended to overcome the potentially negative impact of technology on the human. Marcel is concerned with forgetting or rejecting human nature. His perspective is metaphysical. He is concerned with the attitude of the "mere technician" who is so immersed in technology that the values which promote him as an authentic person with human dignity are discredited, omitted, denied, minimized, overshadowed, or displaced. He reviews the various losses in ontological values which curtail the full realization of the human person in his dignity. The impact of technology leads too often to a loss of the sense of the mystery of being and self, authenticity and integrity, the concrete and the existential, truth and dialogue, freedom and lover, humanity and community, fidelity and creativity, the natural and the transcendent, commitment and virtue, respect of the self and responsiveness to others, and especially of the spiritual and the sacred. Thus, the task of the philosopher is to be a watchman, un veilleur, on the alert for a hopeful resolution of the human predicament.
The Contemporary Conflict of Values
Authors: Chang Jiang , Jun Feng
Published: November 2019

The conflict between values is the source of many conflicts and problems today. In contrast to the traditional conflict of values, the contemporary conflict is distinguished by these features: (1) extensiveness; (2) complicatedness; (3) profoundness; and (4) continuousness. The plurality and relativity of values is the primary cause of contemporary conflicts. The origin of pluralism lies in an interrelated trio of aspects: commodity economy, democratic politics, and individualism. The contemporary conflict of values is a historical process. Such conflict does not necessarily result in confusion; on the contrary, it can possibly lead to new and higher levels of harmony and vitality. In adjudicating value conflicts, we must (1) permit different values to coexist and respect different choices and the pursuits of values by different individuals; (2) consider the whole and the individual, the entire and the part, the long-term and the short-term, and attempt to have regard for both sides of the conflict; and (3) pursue the best and most suitable.