Hardware system of the Earth Simulator

The Earth Simulator (ES), developed under the Japanese government’s initiative “Earth Simulator project”, is a highly parallel vector supercomputer system. In this paper, an overview of ES, its architectural features, hardware technology and the result of performance evaluation are described.

In May 2002, the ES was acknowledged to be the most powerful computer in the world: 35.86 teraflop/s for the LINPACK HPC benchmark and 26.58 teraflop/s for an atmospheric general circulation code (AFES). Such a remarkable performance may be attributed to the following three architectural features; vector processor, shared-memory and high-bandwidth non-blocking interconnection crossbar network.

The ES consists of 640 processor nodes (PN) and an interconnection network (IN), which are housed in 320 PN cabinets and 65 IN cabinets. The ES is installed in a specially designed building, 65 m long, 50 m wide and 17 m high. In order to accomplish this advanced system, many kinds of hardware technologies have been developed, such as a high-density and high-frequency LSI, a high-frequency signal transmission, a high-density packaging, and a high-efficiency cooling and power supply system with low noise so as to reduce whole volume of the ES and total power consumption.

For highly parallel processing, a special synchronization means connecting all nodes, Global Barrier Counter (GBC), has been introduced.     

Evaluating dynamic performance: The influence of salient Gestalt characteristics on performance ratings.

It is well recognized that performance changes over time. However, the effect of these changes on overall assessments of performance is largely unknown. In a laboratory experiment, we examined the influence of salient Gestalt characteristics of a dynamic performance profile on supervisory ratings. We manipulated performance trend (flat, linear-improving, linear-deteriorating, U-shaped, and ∩-shaped), performance variation (small, large), and performance mean (negative, zero, positive) within subjects and display format (graphic, tabular) between subjects. Participants received and evaluated information about the weekly performance of different employees over a simulated 26-week period. Results showed strong main effects on performance ratings of both performance mean and performance trend, as well as interactions with display format. Theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Context-gated knowledge partitioning in categorization.

According to the knowledge partitioning framework, people sometimes master complex tasks by creating multiple independent parcels of partial knowledge. Research has shown that knowledge parcels may contain mutually contradictory information, and that each parcel may be used without regard to knowledge that is demonstrably present in other parcels. This article reports 4 experiments that investigated knowledge partitioning in categorization. When component boundaries of a complex categorization were identified by a context cue, a significant proportion of participants learned partial and independent categorization strategies that were chosen on the basis of context. For those participants, a strategy used in one context was unaffected by knowledge demonstrably present in other contexts, suggesting that knowledge partitioning in categorization can be complete. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance of unitary heat pumps: review of ASHRAE Symposium session

1. 1. System design optimization and validation for single-speed heat pump by S.K. Fischer and C.K. Rice, Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

2. 2. Analysis of on/off cycling for an air-to-air heat pump operating in the heating mode by W.A. Miller, Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

3. 3. Field measured cycling, frosting and defrosting losses for a high efficiency air source heat pump by V.D. Baxter and J.C. Moyers, Oak Ridge National Laboratories.

4. 4. Design and available energy analysis of a heating-only residential heat pump for the Western Pacific Northwest by D.E. Elger, C.M. Reistad and S. Lang, Oregon State University.

5. 5. A study of heat pump service life by Nance C. Lovvorn, Alabama Power Company and Carl C. Hiller, Electric Power Research.

Estimating and eliminating redundant data transfers over the web: a fragment based approach

Redundant data transfers over the Web, can be mainly attributed to the repeated transfers of unchanged data. Web caches and Web proxies are some of the solutions that have been proposed, to deal with the issue of redundant data transfers. In this paper we focus on the efficient estimation and reduction of redundant data transfers over the Web. We first prove that a vast amount of redundant data is transferred in Web pages that are considered to carry fresh data. We show this by following an approach based on Web page fragmentation and manipulation. Web pages are broken down to fragments, based on specific criteria. We then deal with these fragments as independent constructors of the Web page and study their change patterns independently and in the context of the whole Web page. After the fragmentation process, we propose solutions for dealing with redundant data transfers. This paper has been based on our previous work on ‘Web Components’ but also on related work by other researchers. It utilises a proxy based, client/server architecture, and imposes changes to the algorithms executed on the Proxy server and on clients. We show that our proposed solution can considerably reduce the amount of redundant data transferred on the Web. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The accuracy of self-monitoring and its relationship to self-focused attention in dysphoria and clinical depression.

The accuracy with which dysphoric (Study 1) and clinically depressed (Study 2) individuals make self-regulatory judgments about their own performance in the absence of external feedback and the extent to which this relates to trait self-focused attention (SFA) were examined. Relative to objective criteria, both dysphoric and depressed participants showed a positive judgment bias, overestimating the number of trials they had performed correctly. Relative to control participants, the dysphoric and depressed groups showed a reduction in the extent of this positive bias in that they judged error trials more accurately and correct trials less accurately. Although the dysphoric and depressed groups both reported elevated trait SFA, this did not correlate significantly with accuracy of self-judgment on the performance-monitoring task. Implications for self-regulation models of depression are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emergency department status boards: user-evolved artefacts for inter- and intra-group coordination

Large, easily viewed status boards are commonly used in some healthcare settings such as emergency departments, operating theaters, intensive care units, and inpatient wards. Because these artefacts were developed by front-line users, and have little to no supervisory or regulatory control, they offer valuable insights into the theories of work and hazard held by those users. Although the status boards case were locally developed over many years for within-group coordination, they have also become useful for between-group coordination across organizational boundaries. In this paper, we compare and contrast the use of such status boards in two disparate settings: a US emergency department, and a UK pediatric ward, and note striking similarities in their form and usage, despite the large differences in setting.     

Coordinating production and distribution of jobs with bundling operations

We consider an integrated scheduling and distribution model in which jobs completed by two different machines must be bundled together for delivery. The objective is to minimize the sum of the delivery cost and customers' waiting costs. Such a model not only attempts to coordinate the job schedules on both machines, but also aims to coordinate the machine schedules with the delivery plan. Polynomial-time heuristics and approximation schemes are developed for the model with only direct shipments as well as the general model with milk-run deliveries.     

两缸天然气发动机工作均匀性分析

对一台火花点火式两缸天然气发动机进行了缸内示功图、进气压力波、空燃比、缸盖及活塞温度场和排放等项目的测试。试验和分析表明，两缸进气道中存在着明显的压力波动，波动程度取决于发动机工况。两缸混合气的质和量都不均匀，一缸空燃比偏浓，燃烧不完全，后燃倾向大；二缸空燃比较合适，燃烧过程较完善。两缸的尾气排放量相差不大。据此，可应用稀燃、快燃技术，以提高燃烧速度，改善燃烧过程；同时调整进气系统特性，将两缸混合气的质和量的不均匀性降到最低限度。     

海水介质中高活性镁合金负极的电化学性能

研制了一种新型镁合金负极材料；用电化学方法测定了镁合金负极在人造海水介质中的电化学性能，用浸泡法测定了材料在人造海水介质中的自腐蚀速度，用扫描电子显微镜观察了镁合金腐蚀后的表面形貌，并与AP65合金和纯镁进行了比较。结果表明，新研制的镁合金在人造海水介质中的开路电位增加，自腐蚀速度降低，稳定工作电位提高，电极表面腐蚀均匀，可开发用于高电性能电池的负极材料。