ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Design of a scalable parallel switch-level simulator for VLSI
Authors: R. B. Mueller-Thurns, D. G. Saab, J. A. Abraham
Venue: Proceedings of the 1990 ACM/IEEE conference on Supercomputing (1990)

This paper deals with the problem of mapping a computation-intensive task of irregular structure onto a parallel framework. Our application is the switch-level logic simulation of digital circuits, a technique that is in wide use for the verification of VLSI designs. We focus on medium-grain multiprocessors (shared memory or message passing machines) and only consider model parallel computation, where the model of the design to be simulated is partitioned among processors. We address the issues of portability and scalability and look at specific features of the application that can be exploited. Different ways of mapping the simulation problem onto a parallel framework are presented. A prototype implementation of our algorithms is described. Experimental results demonstrate the potential for speedup and highlight the problem of close coupling between processors due to distributed iteration.
Cognitive differences in end user searching of a CD-ROM index
Authors: Bryce Allen
Venue: Proceedings of the 15th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval (1992)

Cognitive abilities of fifty university students were tested using eight tests from the Kit of Factor-Referenced Cognitive Tests. All students searched for references on the same topic using a standard computerized index, and performance in the searches was analyzed using a variety of measures. Effects for cognitive differences, as well as for differences in demographic characteristics and knowledge, were identified using multiple regression. Perceptual speed had an effect on the quality of searches, and logical reasoning, verbal comprehension, and spatial scanning abilities influenced search tactics. It is suggested that information retrieval systems can be made more accessible to users with different levels of cognitive abilities through improvements that will assist users to scan lists of terms, choose appropriate vocabulary for searching, and select useful references.
A Variation on the Hypercube with Lower Diameter
Authors: Kemal Efe
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Computers (1991)

A new interconnection structure is proposed as a basis for distributed-memory parallel computer architectures. The network is a variation of the hypercube and preserves many of its desirable properties, including regularity and large vertex connectivity. It has the same node and link complexity, but has a diameter only about half of the hypercube's. Some of the basic properties of this topology are discussed. Efficient routing and broadcasting algorithms are presented.
Constraint sensitive scheduling in RASP
Authors: Doug Baldwin, Hamilton Hitchings
Venue: ACM SIGDA Newsletter (1991)

We describe the scheduling algorithm with which the RASP circuit synthesizer meets constraints. Because RASP makes an unusually large number of design choices, it uses a local cost-based scheduler. Nonetheless, experimental tests suggest that the scheduler produces a wide range of designs, handling both area and timing constraints very well.
Performance analysis of locking policies with limited wait depth
Authors: Alexander Thomasian
Venue: ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review (1992)

The performance of a transaction processing system with the standard two-phase locking (2PL) concurrency control (CC) method (with the general waiting policy upon a lock conflict) may be degraded significantly due to transaction blocking in a high lock contention environment. In the limit this effect leads to the thrashing phenomenon, i.e., the majority of the transactions in the system become blocked. Limiting the wait depth of blocked transactions is an effective method to increase the number of active transactions in the system and to prevent thrashing, but this is at the cost of additional processing due to transaction restarts. The no-waiting (or immediate restart) policy limits the wait-depth to zero, while cautious waiting and the running priority policies use different methods to limit the wait depth to one. A variant of the wait depth limited (WDL) policy [8] also limits the wait depth to one, while attempting to minimize the wasted processing incurred by transaction aborts. A unified methodology to analyze the performance of the 2PL CC method with limited wait depth policies in a system with multiple transaction classes is described in this paper. The analysis is based on Markov chains representing the execution steps of each transaction in isolation, but as affected by hardware resource and data contention with other transactions in the system. Since the transition rates of the Markov chain are not known a priori, an iterative solution method is developed, which is then applied to the running priority and WDL policies. Simulation is used for validating the accuracy of the approximate analytic solutions. Of interest are the conservation laws governing the rate at which locks are transferred among transactions, which can be used to verify the correctness of the analysis.
An entropy measure for the complexity of multi-output Boolean functions
Authors: Kwang-Ting Cheng, Vishwani D. Agrawal
Venue: Proceedings of the 27th ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference (1991)

The complexity of a Boolean function can be expressed in terms of computational work. We present experimental data in support of the entropy definition of computational work based upon the input-output description of a Boolean function. Our data show a linear relationship between the computational work and the average number of literals in a multi-level implementation. The investigation includes single-output and multi-output function with and without don't care states. The experiments, conducted on a large number of randomly generated functions, showed that the effect of don't cares is to reduce the computational work. For several finite state machine benchmarks, the computational work gave a good estimate of the size of the circuit. Finally, circuit delay is shown to have a non-linear relationship to the computational work.
High speed networking at Cray research
Authors: Andy Nicholson, Joe Golio, David A. Borman, Jeff Young, Wayne Roiger
Venue: ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review (1991)

For many years, ethernet has been the mainstay for TCP/IP and local area networking, and issues specific to wide area and long haul networks have not been adequately addressed. The advent of FDDI and HIPPI standards, which are, respectively, one and two orders of magnitude faster then Ethernet, and high speed cross country links, are causing what used to be experimental issues to become everyday problems. This paper will cover some of these issues, as they relate to the TCP/IP protocols, and the work that has happened at Cray Research in the development of the UNICOS dagger; operating system to address these issues.
Intelligent software technology for the new decade
Authors: Alexander S. Narin'yani
Venue: Communications of the ACM (1991)

Our collective has been working in the Al domain for more than 15 years. During most of that period our research focused on two &ldquo;classical&rdquo; subjects: 1. natural language interfaces and 2. knowledge representation and processing. From the early 1980s, in addition to working on the conceptual aspects of Al, we have been increasingly involved in developing advanced technology of intelligent systems. Participating in the START project [1] stimulated our research and development [R D] in this direction. Our task in the project was to design a more elaborate version of an industrial-type technology based on pilot software &ldquo;factories.&rdquo; These would allow a multiple&mdash;10-fold and more&mdash;increase in the efficiency
Supercomputer network selection: a case study
Authors: William L. French
Venue: Proceedings of the 1990 ACM/IEEE conference on Supercomputing (1990)

With the purchase of a Cray-2 supercomputer, Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) needed a high performance network to provide communications with this computer. At the time of installation of the Cray, this network had to provide access from VAX/VMS computers using Cray Station software while also supporting communications from UNIX and other machines utilizing TCP/IP. The capability of access from other computers, especially IBM mainframes, was also desirable in the longer term. Finally, this network needed to have a migration path to standards-based networks in the future, including the Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI), and the High Performance Parallel Interface (HPPI). This paper tells the story of the process used in selecting this network.
Hard-Wired Multipliers with Encoded Partial Products
Authors: Stamatis Vassiliadis, Eric M. Schwarz, Baik M. Sung
Venue: IEEE Transactions on Computers (1991)

A multibit overlapped scanning multiplication algorithm for sign-magnitude and two's complement hard-wired multipliers is presented. The theorems necessary to construct the multiplication matrix for sign-magnitude representations are emphasized. Consequently, the algorithm for sign-magnitude multiplication and its variation to include two's complement numbers are presented. The proposed algorithm is compared to previous algorithms that generate a sign extended partial product matrix, with an implementation and with a study of the number of elements in the partial product matrix. The proposed algorithm is shown to yield significant savings over well known algorithms for the generation and the reduction of the partial product matrix of a multiplier designed with multibit overlapped scanning.
Abstract interpretation in weak powerdomains
Authors: Robert Muller, Yuli Zhou
Venue: ACM SIGPLAN Lisp Pointers (1992)

We introduce a class of semantic domains, weak powerdomains, that are intended to serve as value spaces for abstract interpretations in which safety is a concern. We apply them to the analysis of PCF programs. In the classical abstract interpretation approach, abstract domains are constructed explicitly and the abstract semantics is then related to the concrete semantics. In the approach presented here, abstract domains are derived directly from concrete domains. The conditions for deriving the domains are intended to be as general as possible while still guaranteeing that the derived domain has sufficient structure so that it can be used as a basis for computing correct information about the concrete semantics. We prove three main theorems, the last of which ensures the correctness of abstract interpretation of PCF programs given safe interpretations of the constants. This generalizes earlier results obtained for the special case of strictness analysis.
Analysis of recursive types in Lisp-like languages
Authors: Edward Wang, Paul N. Hilfinger
Venue: Proceedings of the 1992 ACM conference on LISP and functional programming (1992)

We introduce a new algorithm to analyze recursive, structured types. It derives information from object uses (accesser functions with type checking), as well as from object allocation. The type description is a form of graph grammar and is naturally finite even in the presence of loops. The intended use of the algorithm is to discover and remove unnecessary type checks, but it can be augmented to provide alias information as well.
A note on the strategy space of multiway join query optimization problem in parallel systems
Authors: Kian-Lee Tan, Hongjun Lu
Venue: ACM SIGMOD Record (1991)

In this short note, we estimate the search space of optimizing multiway join queries in multiprocessor computer systems, i.e. the number of possible query execution plans that need to be considered.
A symbolic substitution based parallel architecture and algorithms for high-speed parallel processing
Authors: Ahmed Louri
Venue: Proceedings of the 1990 ACM annual conference on Cooperation (1990)

A new parallel architecture that is amenable to optical implementation is presented for massively data-parallel computing. The architecture is an SIMD model that exploits spatial parallelism and processes 2-D binary images as fundamental computational entities. Processing is based on a new technique called symbolic substitution logic. A hierarchical mapping technique is presented for designing data-parallel algorithms and mapping them onto the optical architecture. The mapping of several numerical algorithms onto the architecture is presented. Implementation issues as well as performance analysis of the optical system are also considered.
An algorithm for generalized point location and its applications
Authors: Bernard Chazelle, Micha Sharir
Venue: Journal of Symbolic Computation (1990)

We show that Collins' classical quantifier elimination procedure contains most of the ingredients for an efficient point location algorithm in higher-dimensional space. This leads to a polynomial-size data structure that allows us to locate, in logarithmic time, a point among a collection of real algebraic varieties of constant maximum degree, assuming that the dimension of the ambient space is fixed. This result has theoretical bearings on a number of optimization problems posed in the literature. It also gives a method for solving multidimensional searching problems in polynomial space and logarithmic query time.
Plans for a task-oriented evaluation of natural language understanding systems
Authors: Beth M. Sundheim
Venue: Proceedings of the workshop on Speech and Natural Language (1989)

A plan is presented for evaluating natural language processing (NLP) systems that have focused on the issues of text understanding as exemplified in short texts from military messages. The plan includes definition of bodies of text to use as development and test data, namely the narrative lines from one type of naval message, and definition of a simulated database update task that requires NLP systems to fill a template with information found in the texts. Documentation related to the naval messages and examples of filled templates have been prepared to assist NLP system developers. It is anticipated that developers of a number of different NLP systems will participate in the evaluation and will meet afterwards to present and interpret the results and to critique the test design.
Pure functions in APL and J
Authors: Edward Cherlin
Venue: ACM SIGAPL APL Quote Quad (1991)

Any expression in combinatory logic made up of combinators and variables can be abstracted into a pure combinator expression applied to a sequence of variables. Because there are great similarities between combinators and certain APL operators, a similar result obtains in many APL dialects. However, rewriting arbitrary APL expressions as pure functions requires new operators, not provided as primitives by any dialect. This paper defines functional completeness, gives a construction for achieving it, proves a conjecture of Kenneth Iverson that J is functionally complete, and shows how closely the major APL dialects have approached these conditions.
Concurrency with semaphores
Authors: Ralph C. Hilzer,  Jr.
Venue: ACM SIGCSE Bulletin (1992)

Concurrency is introduced in most operating systems textbooks, but usually, only the basics of synchronization and mutual exclusion are presented. The more complicated examples are invariably canned code such as the producer/consumer or readers/writers problems. This paper explores semaphores at an intermediate level by using them to coordinate the activities of a barbershop. The obstacles encountered when attempting to provide tailored access to barbershop resources are similar to those encountered in a real operating system.
A graphical interface for analysis of communication protocols
Authors: Deborah A. Agarwal, Louise E. Moser
Venue: Proceedings of the 1992 ACM annual conference on Communications (1992)

In this paper we describe a graphical interface that is an effective tool for displaying and analyzing communication protocols. Asynchronous distributed systems, and communication networks in particular, are often very complex and the interactions between processors are difficult to understand. The graphical interface provides an intuitive representation of those interactions and facilitates the user's understanding of the behavior of the system. The interface was developed to display the Trans, Tracks and Total protocols and has already proved useful in debugging a simulator for those protocols. It can also be used to display the behavior of other protocols.
Rate controls in standard transport layer protocols
Authors: Charles A. Eldridge
Venue: ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review (1992)

Flow control mechanisms in current datagram switching networks currently have several responsibilities, including avoiding congestion and avoiding overruns. In particular, networks and end-systems rely heavily upon the window mechanisms specified in current transport protocol standards such as TCP and TP4. These responsibilities will increase in future systems. This paper develops a connection model in order to assess the extent to which transport protocol data rates can be controlled using this available mechanism. Under very low delays, window-based flow control is not effective in slowing the rates at which a sender introduces data to the network or internetwork. Therefore, direct rate controls will be needed to enforce policies or to optimize performance across a variety of users and media.
Thread-based programming for the EM-4 hybrid dataflow machine
Authors: Mitsuhisa Sato, Yuetsu Kodama, Shuichi Sakai, Yoshinori Yamaguchi, Yasuhito Koumura
Venue: Proceedings of the 19th annual international symposium on Computer architecture (1992)

In this paper, we present a thread-based programming model for the EM-4 hybrid dataflow machine, where parallelism and synchronization among threads of sequential execution are described explicitly by the programmer. Although EM-4 was originally designed as a dataflow machine, we demonstrate that it provides effective architectural support for a variety of programming styles, including message passing and distributed data sharing in imperative languages. Our approach allows the programmer to control the parallelism and maintain data locality explicitly to achieve high performance. EM-4 can be thought of as a multi-threaded architecture that can exploit both von Neumann and dataflow compiling technology. Thread-based programming provides the first step to explore better programming/compiling technology for a hybrid dataflow machine as well as EM-4.
Algorithmic approach to bounding the mean response time of a minimum expected delay routing system
Authors: John C. S. Lui, Richard R. Muntz
Venue: Proceedings of the 1992 ACM SIGMETRICS joint international conference on Measurement and modeling of computer systems (1992)

In this paper we present an algorithmic approach to bounding the mean response time of a multi-server system in which the minimum expected delay routing policy issued, i.e., an arriving job will join the queue which has the minimal expected value of unfinished work. We assume the queueing system to have K servers, each with an infinite capacity queue. The arrival process is Poisson with parameter &lgr;, and the service time of server i is exponentially distributed with mean 1/&mgr;i, 1 &le; i &le; K. The computation algorithm we present allows one to tradeoff accuracy and computational cost. Upper and lower bounds on the expected response time and expected number of customers are computed; the spread between the bounds can be reduced with additional space and time complexity. Examples are presented which illustrate the excellent relative accuracy attainable with relatively little computation.
Communication complexity for parallel divide-and-conquer
Authors: I-Chen Wu, H. T. Kung
Venue: Proceedings of the 32nd annual symposium on Foundations of computer science (1991)

The relationship between parallel computation cost and communication cost for performing divide-and-conquer (D&C) computations on a parallel system of p processors is studied. The parallel computation cost is the maximal number of the D&C nodes that any processor in the parallel system may expand, whereas the communication cost is the total number of cross nodes (nodes generated by one processor but expanded by another processor). A scheduling algorithm is proposed, and lower bounds on the communication cost are derived. The proposed scheduling algorithm is optimal with respect to the communication cost, since the parallel computation cost of the algorithm is near optimal.
The art of the obvious
Authors: E. Nygren, M. Lind, M. Johnson, B. Sandblad
Venue: Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (1992)

In addition to normal reading, knowledge can be gained from a paper document by pattern recognition and encoding of characteristics of the information media. There are reasons to believe that this can be done automatically with very little attentional demand. The knowledge gained is accessible to consciousness and can be used for task components like orientation, navigation, detection of changes and as a complement to normal reading. When information is computerized, and is read from a screen instead of from a paper, the conditions for automaticity are often radically changed. In most cases the reader has to gain the corresponding knowledge by effortful cognitive processes. This means adding to the cognitive load leaving less attentional capacity for the main task at hand. This problem can be avoided by a careful analysis of a reading task into its automatic and non-automatic components, followed by a dedicated user interface design where information relevant for orientation, navigation, etc. is presented in a way that the reader can perceive rather than read.
Experience with interprocedural analysis of array side effects
Authors: Paul Havlak, Ken Kennedy
Venue: Proceedings of the 1990 ACM/IEEE conference on Supercomputing (1990)

Optimizing compilers should produce efficient code even in the presence of high-level language constructs. However, current programming support systems are significantly lacking in their ability to analyze procedure calls. This deficiency is inconvenient for parallel programming, because loops with calls can be a significant source of parallelism. We describe an implementation of regular section analysis, which describes interprocedural side effects on subarrays in a form useful to dependence analysis, while avoiding the complexity of prior solutions. The paper gives the results of experiments on the LINPACK library and a small set of scientific codes.
SPEC benchmarks and competitive results
Authors: Tom Keller
Venue: ACM SIGMETRICS Performance Evaluation Review (1990)

In less than a year since its Introduction the System performance Evaluation Cooperative (SPEC ((TM))) benchmarks have established themselves as an Important and widely distributed benchmark suite for engineering and scientific workstations, displacing the old standards Dhrystone, Linpack and Whetstone. This is because most workstation vendors support SPEC and have participated in developing both the benchmarks and a benchmarking methodology that overcome many of the failings of the old benchmark standards. SPEC's strong endorsement by EE TIMES newsmagazine helps insure that SPEC results are heavily publicized in the Industry.
Evaluating natural language generated database records
Authors: Rita McCardell
Venue: Proceedings of the workshop on Speech and Natural Language (1990)

With the onslaught of various natural language processing (NLP) systems and their respective applications comes the inevitable task of determining a way in which to compare and thus <i>evaluate</i> the output of these systems. This paper focuses on one such evaluation technique that originated from the text understanding system called Project MURASAKI. This evaluation technique quantitatively and qualitatively measures the match (or distance) from the output of one text understanding system to the expected output of another.