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Business Networking
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Business networking is the process of establishing a jointly valuable relationship with other business people and
Read more …
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Computing experts unveil superefficient ‘inexact’ chip
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Public release date: 17-May-2012
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Contact: Jade Boyd
jadeboyd@rice.edu
713-348-6778
Rice University
Rice University experts challenge computing dogma, win ‘best paper’ accolades
HOUSTON — (May 17, 2012) — Researchers have unveiled an “inexact” computer chip that challenges the industry’s dogmatic 50-year pursuit of accuracy. The design improves power and resource efficiency by allowing for occasional errors. Prototypes unveiled this week at the ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers in Cagliari, Italy, are at least 15 times more efficient than today’s technology.
The research, which earned best-paper honors at the conference, was conducted by experts from Rice University in Houston, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Switzerland’s Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) and the University of California, Berkeley.
“It is exciting to see this technology in a working chip that we can measure and validate for the first time,” said project leader Krishna Palem, who also serves as director of the Rice-NTU Institute for Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID). “Our work since 2003 showed that significant gains were possible, and I am delighted that these working chips have met and even exceeded our expectations.”
ISAID is working in partnership with CSEM to create new technology that will allow next-generation inexact microchips to use a fraction of the electricity of today’s microprocessors.
“The paper received the highest peer-review evaluation of all the Computing Frontiers submissions this year,” said Paolo Faraboschi, the program co-chair of the ACM Computing Frontiers conference and a distinguished technologist at Hewlett Packard Laboratories. “Research on approximate computation matches the forward-looking charter of Computing Frontiers well, and this work opens the door to interesting energy-efficiency opportunities of using inexact hardware together with traditional processing elements.”
The concept is deceptively simple: Slash power use by allowing processing components — like hardware for adding and multiplying numbers — to make a few mistakes. By cleverly managing the probability of errors and limiting which calculations produce errors, the designers have found they can simultaneously cut energy demands and dramatically boost performance.
One example of the inexact design approach is “pruning,” or trimming away some of the rarely used portions of digital circuits on a microchip. Another innovation, “confined voltage scaling,” trades some performance gains by taking advantage of improvements in processing speed to further cut power demands.
In their initial simulated tests in 2011, the researchers showed that pruning some sections of traditionally designed microchips could boost performance in three ways: The pruned chips were twice as fast, used half as much energy and were half the size. In the new study, the team delved deeper and implemented their ideas in the processing elements on a prototype silicon chip.
“In the latest tests, we showed that pruning could cut energy demands 3.5 times with chips that deviated from the correct value by an average of 0.25 percent,” said study co-author Avinash Lingamneni, a Rice graduate student. “When we factored in size and speed gains, these chips were 7.5 times more efficient than regular chips. Chips that got wrong answers with a larger deviation of about 8 percent were up to 15 times more efficient.”
Project co-investigator Christian Enz, who leads the CSEM arm of the collaboration, said, “Particular types of applications can tolerate quite a bit of error. For example, the human eye has a built-in mechanism for error correction. We used inexact adders to process images and found that relative errors up to 0.54 percent were almost indiscernible, and relative errors as high as 7.5 percent still produced discernible images.”
Palem, the Ken and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing at Rice, who holds a joint appointment at NTU, said likely initial applications for the pruning technology will be in application-specific processors, such as special-purpose “embedded” microchips like those used in hearing aids, cameras and other electronic devices.
The inexact hardware is also a key component of ISAID’s I-slate educational tablet. The low-cost I-slate is designed for Indian classrooms with no electricity and too few teachers. Officials in India’s Mahabubnagar District announced plans in March to adopt 50,000 I-slates into middle and high school classrooms over the next three years.
The hardware and graphic content for the I-slate are being developed in tandem. Pruned chips are expected to cut power requirements in half and allow the I-slate to run on solar power from small panels similar to those used on handheld calculators. Palem said the first I-slates and prototype hearing aids to contain pruned chips are expected by 2013.
###
High-resolution images are available for download at:
http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/0515_CHIP_full.jpg
CAPTION: In terms of speed, energy consumption and size, inexact computer chips like this prototype, are about 15 times more efficient than today’s microchips.
CREDIT: Avinash Lingamneni/Rice University/CSEM
http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/0516_CHIP_lg.jpg
CAPTION: This comparison shows frames produced with video-processing software on traditional processing elements (left), inexact processing hardware with a relative error of 0.54 percent (middle) and with a relative error of 7.58 percent (right). The inexact chips are smaller, faster and consume less energy. The chip that produced the frame with the most errors (right) is about 15 times more efficient in terms of speed, space and energy than the chip that produced the pristine image (left).
CREDIT: Rice University/CSEM/NTU
http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/0515_CHIP_Palem-lg.jpg
CAPTION: Krishna Palem
CREDIT: Tommy LaVergne/Rice University
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 17-May-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jade Boyd
jadeboyd@rice.edu
713-348-6778
Rice University
Rice University experts challenge computing dogma, win ‘best paper’ accolades
HOUSTON — (May 17, 2012) — Researchers have unveiled an “inexact” computer chip that challenges the industry’s dogmatic 50-year pursuit of accuracy. The design improves power and resource efficiency by allowing for occasional errors. Prototypes unveiled this week at the ACM International Conference on Computing Frontiers in Cagliari, Italy, are at least 15 times more efficient than today’s technology.
The research, which earned best-paper honors at the conference, was conducted by experts from Rice University in Houston, Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Switzerland’s Center for Electronics and Microtechnology (CSEM) and the University of California, Berkeley.
“It is exciting to see this technology in a working chip that we can measure and validate for the first time,” said project leader Krishna Palem, who also serves as director of the Rice-NTU Institute for Sustainable and Applied Infodynamics (ISAID). “Our work since 2003 showed that significant gains were possible, and I am delighted that these working chips have met and even exceeded our expectations.”
ISAID is working in partnership with CSEM to create new technology that will allow next-generation inexact microchips to use a fraction of the electricity of today’s microprocessors.
“The paper received the highest peer-review evaluation of all the Computing Frontiers submissions this year,” said Paolo Faraboschi, the program co-chair of the ACM Computing Frontiers conference and a distinguished technologist at Hewlett Packard Laboratories. “Research on approximate computation matches the forward-looking charter of Computing Frontiers well, and this work opens the door to interesting energy-efficiency opportunities of using inexact hardware together with traditional processing elements.”
The concept is deceptively simple: Slash power use by allowing processing components — like hardware for adding and multiplying numbers — to make a few mistakes. By cleverly managing the probability of errors and limiting which calculations produce errors, the designers have found they can simultaneously cut energy demands and dramatically boost performance.
One example of the inexact design approach is “pruning,” or trimming away some of the rarely used portions of digital circuits on a microchip. Another innovation, “confined voltage scaling,” trades some performance gains by taking advantage of improvements in processing speed to further cut power demands.
In their initial simulated tests in 2011, the researchers showed that pruning some sections of traditionally designed microchips could boost performance in three ways: The pruned chips were twice as fast, used half as much energy and were half the size. In the new study, the team delved deeper and implemented their ideas in the processing elements on a prototype silicon chip.
“In the latest tests, we showed that pruning could cut energy demands 3.5 times with chips that deviated from the correct value by an average of 0.25 percent,” said study co-author Avinash Lingamneni, a Rice graduate student. “When we factored in size and speed gains, these chips were 7.5 times more efficient than regular chips. Chips that got wrong answers with a larger deviation of about 8 percent were up to 15 times more efficient.”
Project co-investigator Christian Enz, who leads the CSEM arm of the collaboration, said, “Particular types of applications can tolerate quite a bit of error. For example, the human eye has a built-in mechanism for error correction. We used inexact adders to process images and found that relative errors up to 0.54 percent were almost indiscernible, and relative errors as high as 7.5 percent still produced discernible images.”
Palem, the Ken and Audrey Kennedy Professor of Computing at Rice, who holds a joint appointment at NTU, said likely initial applications for the pruning technology will be in application-specific processors, such as special-purpose “embedded” microchips like those used in hearing aids, cameras and other electronic devices.
The inexact hardware is also a key component of ISAID’s I-slate educational tablet. The low-cost I-slate is designed for Indian classrooms with no electricity and too few teachers. Officials in India’s Mahabubnagar District announced plans in March to adopt 50,000 I-slates into middle and high school classrooms over the next three years.
The hardware and graphic content for the I-slate are being developed in tandem. Pruned chips are expected to cut power requirements in half and allow the I-slate to run on solar power from small panels similar to those used on handheld calculators. Palem said the first I-slates and prototype hearing aids to contain pruned chips are expected by 2013.
###
High-resolution images are available for download at:
http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/0515_CHIP_full.jpg
CAPTION: In terms of speed, energy consumption and size, inexact computer chips like this prototype, are about 15 times more efficient than today’s microchips.
CREDIT: Avinash Lingamneni/Rice University/CSEM
http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/0516_CHIP_lg.jpg
CAPTION: This comparison shows frames produced with video-processing software on traditional processing elements (left), inexact processing hardware with a relative error of 0.54 percent (middle) and with a relative error of 7.58 percent (right). The inexact chips are smaller, faster and consume less energy. The chip that produced the frame with the most errors (right) is about 15 times more efficient in terms of speed, space and energy than the chip that produced the pristine image (left).
CREDIT: Rice University/CSEM/NTU
http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/0515_CHIP_Palem-lg.jpg
CAPTION: Krishna Palem
CREDIT: Tommy LaVergne/Rice University
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Bioinformatics: We can learn a lot from other species
ScienceDaily (May 17, 2012) ? Researchers at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics and the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute have confirmed the long-held belief that studying the genes we share with other animals is useful. The study, published May 17 in the open access journal PLoS Computational Biology, shows how bioinformatics makes it possible to test the fundamental principles on which life science is built.
Studying genes helps life science researchers understand how our bodies work and how diseases progress. Scientists have long looked to model species — mice, for example — to understand human biology. This is at the root of what is called the ‘ortholog conjecture’: the idea that we can take what we learn from a few species and apply it to many.
The ortholog conjecture
To get an idea of what orthologs are about, consider wolf teeth. If we want to know more about our canine teeth, would we learn more by looking at the canines of wolves? Or would it be better to look at our molars? The answer might not be straightforward. In genetics, scientists address a similar question: Is it better to compare genes in mice and humans that directly descend from a common ancestor (these are called ‘orthologs’) — or to compare imperfect copies of genes within a human being (the ‘paralogs’)?
Assume nothing
For the past 40 years, scientists have gone with Plan A: the orthologs, and this has worked quite well. Studying genes in model species has provided invaluable insights in all areas of biology. But until now, there hasn’t been enough data to answer this question with authority. With advances in biotechnology producing vast quantities of data every day, there is finally enough to settle the debate.
Using advanced computational techniques on data derived from tens of thousands of scientific articles, the researchers analysed 400 000 pairs of genes (orthologs and paralogs) from 13 different species. The team compared the two approaches and picked a winner.
“We have the data to prove that the study of orthologs is indeed useful, but we are only at the beginning,” says Prof. Marc Robinson-Rechavi of SIB and the University of Lausanne. “This is at the heart of all of comparative genomics, in which we try to extrapolate knowledge from a handful of organisms and apply it to all of life.”
“We found that current experimental annotations do support the standard model,” explains Christophe Dessimoz of EMBL-EBI. “Our work corroborates the assumption that studying the genes of other species — whether mice, yeast, or even bacteria — can elucidate aspects of human biology.”
The same question has recently been addressed by Matthew Hahn and colleagues (University of Indiana, USA), whose different conclusion sparked some debate. The new research demonstrates that these controversial results were due to overlooked biases in the collective knowledge of gene function. Controlling for these, the new study unequivocally supports the ortholog conjecture and the fact that studying species we are only distantly related to — even worms, flies, yeasts or bacteria — is relevant and useful.
This study was made possible by the tradition of open science in bioinformatics, which is strongly supported by SIB, EMBL-EBI and ELIXIR, the incipient infrastructure for life science data in Europe. All of the data used in the study was freely available, including the genome sequences and experimental knowledge described in thousands of publications. ELIXIR will build on this tradition and provide the next generation of infrastructure for biological information in Europe and worldwide.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Adrian M. Altenhoff, Romain A. Studer, Marc Robinson-Rechavi, Christophe Dessimoz. Resolving the Ortholog Conjecture: Orthologs Tend to Be Weakly, but Significantly, More Similar in Function than Paralogs. PLoS Computational Biology, 2012; 8 (5): e1002514 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1002514
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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Exclusive: U.N. panel probes possible North Korea arms trade with Syria, Myanmar
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Effective Candle LED Lighting Fixture | – Help Selling Home
Employing candles can sometimes be a messy business, leaving dripping wax and even black smoke marks on the ceilings and even wall space. A lot of surfaces were destroyed or even wrecked by this process of illuminating. They can be a fire hazard also if it happen that you are not vigilant. Candle LED illuminations are accent light bulbs which were fashioned to appear like burning candlesticks without having all of the messiness of the actual candle lights. LED candle lights provide the appearance of translucent wax along with a flickering fire, rendering all the attributes of real wax lights. LED candle lights could very well be installed on counters, shelves, mantles and consequently are going to enhance or further improve the atmosphere of any celebration or social gathering. Candle light is still a favorite mainly because of the very soft light that it gives off, despite the fact that we have additional energy saving illuminations accessible for use. Regular illumination cannot really create that warm gleam of candles burning. LED candles so closely appear like real candlesticks that you may possibly not even notice the distinction at first. LED wax lights are ideal and additionally regularly used at outdoors for pool gatherings and are resistant against rain and even wind, dissimilar to real candles.
Candle LED lights are useful to enhance your own bathroom, bed room as well as your dining table. These are generally the most excellent style of lighting for kids since they provide a smooth, warm light. They can also be purchased as gifts and in addition at some point use battery power or to simply describe, they are rechargeable. Individuals that like utilizing candlesticks will enjoy them, especially if they are wishing to try something different. They are often ordered on the net or maybe at nearly all home improvement type stores. Candle light LEDs are often acknowledged also as mood lamps because of the atmosphere they add to any room or space. They can be employed in countless individual methods because there are countless varieties. LED tea bulb candles appear fantastic. Wonderfully colored, illuminated candles that don?t burn down, and beautify any space or room. Color changing candles are also a beautiful addition for just about any event. Enviro-light candle illumination fixtures contain an existence life of 25 years or so dependent on their usage of approximately three hours everyday.
These lamps works extremely well as replacements for the customary incandescent and also fluorescent lamps as they are appropriate for most commercial and also household application types. LED lights have achieved value in this day and age. They are employed from the west to the east and additionally make awesome embellishments for virtually every room or space.
Candle LED lighting has taken over in this today, swapping lanterns of the old days. Scores of dwellings have recently modified their classic wax candles with LED candle lights. Most of these light fittings use battery packs and additionally they come in such a variety of designs and also elements and absolutely you?ll uncover something which fits your tastes. Light Emitting Diode candle lights come in numerous styles and then shades, like for example butterflies, and consequently some are perhaps scented, driving them to highly regarded. Some can even be handled by hand waving while others through pre-recorded voice messages. Because they are extremely energy-efficient, they are also cost effective. LEDs which can merge with the design of your residence, are already on the market today. If you have been serious about making changes in your house, beginning with your lights will bring the most excellent change in the shortest time frame.
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Do You Face These Culture Challenges In Your Insurance …
1. Your senior management team and employees are not fully aligned.
- You know your employees are not aligned with your senior management team.
- You know your company?s vision, values, goals and purpose are not fully understood and shared by all your employees.
- You know this disconnect is hurting your insurance company?s performance?
As a CEO, SVP, Board Member or member of the Senior Management Team, you have a clear vision of how you want to take your insurance company forward.
You are clear in your mind about what the future looks like, and what you need to do to reach your goals.
Your direct reports will understand your vision and perhaps even a level below them as well.
But what about the rest of your employees?
The very people who are doing the day-to-day work? The very people who are interacting daily with your customers. or developing your products and services?
In many insurance companies ? even those which are highly successful and profitable ? there is a gap between the vision which is held at the senior management level, and what is understood and believed in the wider workforce.
You may recognise this gap in your insurance company too. This ?disconnect? can be a major barrier to achieving your company?s goals.
Example 1 ? The Story of Tom and MidSizeCo:
Tom is the CEO of MidSizeCo, a mid size insurance company, employing 400 people nationally. The company is a specialist in providing health insurance to consumers and businesses. It sells its insurance products direct through the phone, web and a network of agents.
Tom and his fellow VPs have a clear vision of where they want to take the company, but they know that the rest of the workforce doesn?t fully understand, believe in and emotionally connect with the vision.
This disconnect between the Boardroom and workforce is hurting the company, as the message employees give customers and prospects does not reconcile with the message the senior management team want customers and prospects to receive.
Solution:
By using Enterprise LEADER as a vehicle for change, the senior management team of MidSizeCo (supported by middle management) are able to explain to employees the vision, purpose and goals of the insurance company and create alignment between the boardroom and workforce.
Through the mentoring materials featured in Enterprise LEADER and the group face-to-face mentoring sessions, employees get to hear in depth the goals and vision of the senior management team, and also have a forum and framework to share their ideas and concerns back to management.
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Commercial Mortgages Loan | Bridging Finance
Several people, even any experienced commercial real estate developers, mistakenly believe that a mezzanine loan is simply a 2nd position commercial mortgage loan against a commercial property. It is not, mezzanine financing is a highly sophisticated form of lending that requires specialized business and banking knowledge. Several acquisition and development projects require additional financing beyond a traditional first mortgage. The simplest, fastest and least expensive method of borrowing in these situations is to have the seller or another lender write a traditional 2nd mortgage. Unfortunately, especially in today’s era of tightened credit, 2nd position liens are typically impossible, due to an equity shortage, or disallowed by mortgage covenants mandated by the 1st position holder. The-fact-is that there are many scenarios where the option of a simple 2nd is just not available. These scenarios give rise to what’s known as mezzanine lending. Unlike a mortgage, a mezzanine loan is not a lien against a piece of commercial real estate. It is a loan secured by the assets of a business entity. A title search will not turn up mezzanine loans because they are not attached to a properties ownership documents. In this way they do not violate any provisions of a 1st mortgage that precludes a 2nd. With the cooperation of the borrower, a mezzanine lender sets up a single purpose, business entity, such as an LLC or a Trust. Title and ownership of the target real estate and corresponding businesses are placed in the entity so the whole project is owned by the new company. The company is run by the borrower. The actual mezzanine loan is made to the company but is also personally guaranteed by the principle borrowers. The loan is secured by the assets of the company (the real estate and its operations) and allows the lender to take over full ownership and operations in the event of default. Although simple in concept, mezzanine lending is complex and difficult in practice. Attorneys for both the borrower and the lender must be very involved in drafting the provisions of the loan and making sure the new entity is properly set up and maintained. Borrowers want their rights protected while lenders need to make sure their security interest in the firm and, indirectly, the real estate is legally binding. Often the real estate, the borrower and the lender are domiciled in different States making the whole enterprise subject to interstate commerce regulations and further complicating the loan. The legal and closing costs as-well-as maintenance costs associated with mezzanine loans are extremely high compared to conventional lending. For this reason mezzanine financing structures are wholly inappropriate for small deals. It is very difficult to make mezzanine capital cost effective in projects worth under $10MM. Mezzanine loans certainly have their place; their loan volume can be counted in the tens of billions of dollars. When they are needed and when done correctly they are true deal savers. A partnership with a mezzanine lender can be an invaluable resource to a developer or commercial real estate investor. However, investors and developers need to understand exactly what a mezzanine loan is and be ready for the costs that come with them.
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Poll: Best Movie Awards Spoofs
People, if you’re not already hip to this lesson, let us give you a tip: cool guys don’t look at explosions. It’s just science, really. Actually, what it really is, is a callback to one of the best movie spoofs in MTV Movie Awards history, when Andy Samberg and Will Ferrell teamed up with J.J. [...]
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Catholic college drops student health plan; cites birth control, costs
By msnbc.com staff and news services
The Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio will drop health insurance coverage for students this fall rather than comply with a federal mandate that its plan provide free birth control.
University officials on Tuesday also cited rising insurance costs for their decision to end student health coverage.
?The Obama Administration has mandated that all health insurance plans must cover ?women?s health services? including contraception, sterilization, and abortion-causing medications as part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA),? according to a university statement. ?Up to this time, Franciscan University has specifically excluded these services and products from its student health insurance policy, and we will not participate in a plan that requires us to violate the consistent teachings of the Catholic Church on the sacredness of human life.?
?Additionally, the PPACA increased the mandated maximum coverage amount for student policies to $100,000 for the 2012-13 school year, which would effectively double your premium cost for the policy in fall 2012, with the expectation of further increases in the future,? the statement said.
The university will no longer require its undergraduates to carry insurance, according to the statement. “We didn’t want to put them in a situation where they would have to violate their conscience,” Michael Hernon, a vice president at Franciscan University, told Reuters.
Fewer than 200?students at the campus in southeast Ohio had been buying insurance from the university, Hernon?told Reuters.?Franciscan University has nearly 2,800 students.
Watch the Top Videos on msnbc.com
Earlier this year, the Franciscan was among 18 Catholic colleges in a letter-writing campaign, calling for President Barack Obama to change the government’s mandate for religious institutions to offer preventative care services, including contraceptives. Churches and houses of worship are exempt from the rule.?
Several Catholic and evangelical Christian universities have challenged the contraceptive mandate in court. Those cases have not yet come to trial. Hernon told Reuters that the university is weighing a lawsuit.
With the new health insurance year set to start in August, however, administrators at Franciscan University chose not to wait for the court’s ruling. In addition to the contraception mandate, they said they were concerned that premiums for the student plan would rise because the Affordable Care Act also mandates other specific services be covered.
So the bulletin advised students that they should begin to figure out their insurance plans.
“We encourage you to decide how you are going to provide for accidents or illnesses requiring visits to physicians, health clinics, or the hospital emergency room while you are a student here,” the announcement said.
The university will maintain its health insurance plan for faculty, for now. That plan does not cover birth control. Hernon said administrators are “looking at all the options” as they decide how, or whether, to continue the plan in the future if the contraceptive mandate is upheld.
The university, which was founded 60 years ago to serve World War Two veterans, is ranked as one of the top-tier private colleges in the Midwest. It boasts on its website that its academics and culture are “grounded in a passionately Catholic faith tradition.”
Msnbc.com’s Sevil Omer and Reuters’ Stephanie Simon?contributed to this report.
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