Facebook has written a Fast Fourier Transform (fbfft) that is 1.5x faster than the NVIDIA CUFFT implementation at sizes 8-64. The paper "Fast Convolutional Nets with fbfft: A GPU Performance Evaluation" discusses the performance increases by changing to a non-zero padded FFT layout (potentially eliminating data copies), the use of autotuning, and clipping to conditionally load … [Read more...]
ORNL Introductory Tutorials On Concurrent Kernels
The OLCF at Oakridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is working to educate users about how to best use their computing resources. As part of that process, the OLCF has published two very introductory tutorials to teach how to utilize concurrent kernels on their systems. Part 1 (concurrent kernels) and Part 2 (batched library calls) teach how to launch concurrent kernels using CUDA … [Read more...]
Computational Method Accurately Predicts Pressure-Dependent Combustion Chemical Reactions
A featured paper in the December 5th 2014 issue of Science demonstrates - for the first time - a computational method to successfully a priori predict pressure-dependent chemical reaction rates. In short, this work provides an accurate means of treating pressure dependence, which is required to accurately predict the aggregate reaction rate. Unlike previous models that rely on … [Read more...]
Nine NSF Funding Opportunities
A data-intensive effort: Resource Implementations for Data Intensive Research in the Social Behavioral and Economic Sciences (RIDIR) Full Proposal Deadline Date: February 23, 2015 As part of NSF’s Cyberinfrastructure Framework for 21st Century Science and Engineering (CIF21) activity, the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) seeks to … [Read more...]
Speed Python Numerical Applications by 2x – 120x With HOPE
HOPE is an open source specialized method-at-a-time JIT compiler written in Python. It translates Python source code into C++ and compiles the generated code at runtime to achieve a 2x - 120x performance speedup over interpreted Python code. HOPE is published under the GPLv3 license. It can be downloaded from it's GitHub repository. It was written by Joel Akeret, Lukas Gamper, … [Read more...]
Caffinate Your Startup Like eDiscoverySquad with 1 Million Cups of Coffee
Million Cups (1MC) is a simple way to engage entrepreneurs in communities around the world. Each week, the 1MC program offers two local entrepreneurs an opportunity to present their startups to a diverse audience of mentors, advisors, and entrepreneurs. Presenters prepare a 6 minute educational presentation and engage in 20 minutes of feedback and questioning after they … [Read more...]
Medical Smartphone Attachments Save Office Visits
Devices like the Peek Portable Eye Exam Kit, CellScope's Oto Home offer both convenience and security to diagnose medical conditions at home, without requiring transporting a crying child to the doctors office. Smartphones are proving to be a huge platform for medical devices as equipment that used to cost hundreds or thousands of dollars (like an oto scope) can now be had for … [Read more...]
Apache Spark Claims 10x to 100x Faster than Hadoop MapReduce
Apache Spark is a fast and general-purpose cluster computing system that claims 10x to 100x performance improvements over Hadoop. It runs "everywhere" from standalone to EC2 and runs on Hadoop, Mesos, standalone, or in the cloud. Spark runs provides high-level APIs in Java, Scala and Python, and an optimized engine that supports general execution graphs. It also supports … [Read more...]
Pattern Recognition Lets Amputee Control Two Prosthetic Arms and Hands
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) utilized a pattern recognition in concert with a surgical process called targeted muscle reinnervation that allowed a Colorado man to control two prosthetic arms and hands. The patient had lost both arms in an electrical accident about 40 years ago. Johns Hopkins Trauma Surgeon Albert … [Read more...]
First FAA Certified Drone Crashes Seconds Into VIP Demonstration Flight
For the first time an FAA-designated representative was authorized to issue an Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) certificate. "Today marks the first time that a special airworthiness certificate has been issued to any UAS applicant at any UAS test site," Glen Martin said. Official certification was made when the pilotless airplane weighing less than 8 pounds and a wingspan … [Read more...]