Loo.py: transformation-based code generation for GPUs and CPUs

Today's highly heterogeneous computing landscape places a burden on programmers wanting to achieve high performance on a reasonably broad cross-section of machines. To do so, computations need to be expressed in many different but mathematically equivalent ways, with, in the worst case, one variant per target machine. Loo.py, a programming system embedded in Python, meets this challenge by defining a data model for array-style computations and a library of transformations that operate on this model. Offering transformations such as loop tiling, vectorization, storage management, unrolling, instruction-level parallelism, change of data layout, and many more, it provides a convenient way to capture, parametrize, and re-unify the growth among code variants. Optional, deep integration with numpy and PyOpenCL provides a convenient computing environment where the transition from prototype to high-performance implementation can occur in a gradual, machine-assisted form

General Medical Council refusal to grant provisional registration: reasons, prevention and what to do if it happens

Summary: The General Medical Council has refused provisional registration to UK medical graduates 30 times between 2010 and 2016. The reasons given for refusal were lack of insight (29/30, 97%), lack of remediation (29/30, 97%), probity concerns (18/30, 60%), and health (11/30, 37%). In the only case that did not involve both lack of insight and lack of remediation, there were serious concerns about the applicant’s health. This article explains the processes that lead to registration refusal, and offers advice about how to prevent refusal and how to respond to refusal. Thus far, 16 of the 30 have re-applied, and 13 were successful in gaining provisional registration. Relevance: Medical students need to be aware that even if their medical school has permitted graduation, and even if a student has been found to be fit to practise by a university committee, the GMC may decide that the student has failed to demonstrate fitness to practise. This will lead to a refusal to grant provisional registration, which at the very least will set back an individual’s career by 12 months. Take Home Messages: Lack of insight and the resulting failure to change behaviour and demonstrate remediation risk loss of a career. It is imperative that students respond to advice and warnings. Students may not realise that it is not just the seriousness of problem behaviours but their response to advice that determines how a medical school will decide what action to take

BigraphER: rewriting and analysis engine for bigraphs

BigraphER is a suite of open-source tools providing an effi- cient implementation of rewriting, simulation, and visualisation for bigraphs, a universal formalism for modelling interacting systems that evolve in time and space and first introduced by Milner. BigraphER consists of an OCaml library that provides programming interfaces for the manipulation of bigraphs, their constituents and reaction rules, and a command-line tool capable of simulating Bigraphical Reactive Systems (BRSs) and computing their transition systems. Other features are native support for both bigraphs and bigraphs with sharing, stochastic reaction rules, rule priorities, instantiation maps, parameterised controls, predicate checking, graphical output and integration with the probabilistic model checker PRISM

Assessing the Extent of Precarious Work Arrangements in Tuna Catching: The Case of General Santos City, Philippines

Attaining global competitiveness is a major challenge in the business world nowadays. This challenge posed the need to produce goods and services with the highest quality and lowest cost of production. The need to reduce labor cost led to the adaption of precarious work arrangements (PWA). However, it is worth noting that PWA have existed in tuna catching even before the offshoot of the globalized economy. This research aimed to study the extent by which PWA is applied, the terms and conditions of employment, and other coping mechanism developed by both labor and management. Key informant interviews were done with three groups of catchers composed of piado (the vessel captain, master fisherman), assistant engine mechanic, pokotero (net maintainer), bosero (area checker/ guard), fishermen (fish hauler and crew), kusinero (cook), and other utility workers. The results revealed that the scheme is covered by a contract between the master fisherman (vessel captain) and vessel owner. There is no fixed rate of compensation. Wages and benefits would depend on the volume and value of the catch. There is no security of tenure, minimal fringe benefits, and high risk. Workers mobility (from one group to another) is dependent on the choice and reputation of the piado. Additional benefits were awarded by vessel owner to maintain loyalty of the workers. It is recommended that the contract of engagement must be improved to include workers protection, welfare, and insurance to reduce risk taking

Prototyping the Semantics of a DSL using ASF+SDF: Link to Formal Verification of DSL Models

A formal definition of the semantics of a domain-specific language (DSL) is a key prerequisite for the verification of the correctness of models specified using such a DSL and of transformations applied to these models. For this reason, we implemented a prototype of the semantics of a DSL for the specification of systems consisting of concurrent, communicating objects. Using this prototype, models specified in the DSL can be transformed to labeled transition systems (LTS). This approach of transforming models to LTSs allows us to apply existing tools for visualization and verification to models with little or no further effort. The prototype is implemented using the ASF+SDF Meta-Environment, an IDE for the algebraic specification language ASF+SDF, which offers efficient execution of the transformation as well as the ability to read models and produce LTSs without any additional pre or post processing.Comment: In Proceedings AMMSE 2011, arXiv:1106.596

Assessing the Role of Cooperative in Resolving Labor Issues in Tuna Catching, General Santos City, Philippines

Cooperatives are envisioned both as a social and economic enterprise. In the Philippine setting, cooperatives were organized to serve as labor provider for various industries, under the scheme of agency hiring, or declaring the hired workers as member/co-owner of the cooperative. The study aims to examine the economic and social gains, as well as the risk taking of the members and business partners. In particular, an assessment of the social gains (e.g., resolving labor issues, vulnerability of workers to exploitation, and workers capacitation) will be analyzed to probe the cooperative as a venue for workers’ empowerment. Key informant interviews were conducted with the officers and members of two cooperatives: (1) type A – workers’ cooperative organized by an agency (labor provider) and (2) type B – workers’ cooperative organized by the workers themselves. The findings revealed that the type B cooperative generated more economic and social gains for both members and business partners, while the type A cooperative delivered less. Type A cooperatives did not resolve the labor issues while type B cooperatives enhanced worker entrepreneurship, capacity building, and participation with increased compensation and benefits. It is recommended that concerned government agencies must strictly monitor the operations of cooperatives. Business partners must also be encouraged to deal with cooperatives who are organized to serve the interest of the workers

A Gaze-enabled Graph Visualization to Improve Graph Reading Tasks

Performing typical network tasks such as node scanning and path tracing can be difficult in large and dense graphs. To alleviate this problem we use eye-tracking as an interactive input to detect tasks that users intend to perform and then produce unobtrusive visual changes that support these tasks. First, we introduce a novel fovea based filtering that dims out edges with endpoints far removed from a user's view focus. Second, we highlight edges that are being traced at any given moment or have been the focus of recent attention. Third, we track recently viewed nodes and increase the saliency of their neighborhoods. All visual responses are unobtrusive and easily ignored to avoid unintentional distraction and to account for the imprecise and low-resolution nature of eye-tracking. We also introduce a novel gaze-correction approach that relies on knowledge about the network layout to reduce eye-tracking error. Finally, we present results from a controlled user study showing that our methods led to a statistically significant accuracy improvement in one of two network tasks and that our gaze-correction algorithm enables more accurate eye-tracking interaction

GraphCombEx: A Software Tool for Exploration of Combinatorial Optimisation Properties of Large Graphs

We present a prototype of a software tool for exploration of multiple combinatorial optimisation problems in large real-world and synthetic complex networks. Our tool, called GraphCombEx (an acronym of Graph Combinatorial Explorer), provides a unified framework for scalable computation and presentation of high-quality suboptimal solutions and bounds for a number of widely studied combinatorial optimisation problems. Efficient representation and applicability to large-scale graphs and complex networks are particularly considered in its design. The problems currently supported include maximum clique, graph colouring, maximum independent set, minimum vertex clique covering, minimum dominating set, as well as the longest simple cycle problem. Suboptimal solutions and intervals for optimal objective values are estimated using scalable heuristics. The tool is designed with extensibility in mind, with the view of further problems and both new fast and high-performance heuristics to be added in the future. GraphCombEx has already been successfully used as a support tool in a number of recent research studies using combinatorial optimisation to analyse complex networks, indicating its promise as a research software tool

Pemanfaatan Social Media Marketing di PT. Prove Fit Indonesia Dengan Menggunakan Analisis SWOT

yang dimilki Divisi Social Media Marketing PT. Prove Fit Indonesia Faktor eksternal apa yang dihadapi PT. Prove Fit Indonesia serta untuk mengetahui Bagaimana menentukan Social Media Marketing berdasarkan analisis SWOT. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kualitatif dimana objek penelitian ini adalah divisi Social Media Marketing dari PT. Prove Fit Indonesia. Metode pengambilan data yang dilakukan adalah dengan melakukan wawancara dengan divisi Social Media Marketing dari PT. Prove Fit Indonesia. Populasi yang digunakan adalah karyawan divisi Social Media Marketing dari PT. Prove Fit Indonesia yang berjumlah 4 orang. Sampel yang digunakan adalah sampel jenuh dimana jumlah sampel adalah semua anggota populasi dengan menggunakan metode analisis SWOT matrik IFAS EFAS. Hasil dari penelitian yang dilakukan menunjukan bahwa social media marketing yang digunakan oleh PT. Prove Fit Indonesia berdasarkan pada Matriks IFAS dan EFAS, masing-masing memperoleh skor IFAS = 3,04 dan EFAS = 3,02. kemudian dimasukan ke dalam Matriks IE. Setelah dimasukan, social media marketing PT. Prove Fit Indonesia berada pada Kuadran I, dimana perusahaan berada pada situasi yang menguntungkan