Massively parallel programming is an increasingly growing field with the recent introduction of general purpose GPU computing. Modern graphics processors from NVIDIA and AMD have massively parallel architectures that can be used for such applications as 3D rendering, financial analysis, physics simulations, and biomedical analysis. These massively parallel systems are exposed to programmers through in- terfaces such as NVIDIAs CUDA, OpenCL, and Microsofts C++ AMP. These frame- works expose functionality using primarily either C or C++. In order to use these massively parallel frameworks, programs being implemented must be run on machines equipped with massively parallel hardware. These requirements limit the flexibility of new massively parallel systems. This paper explores the possibility that massively parallel systems can be exposed through web services in order to facilitate using these architectures from remote systems written in other languages. To explore this possi- bility, an architecture is put forth with requirements and high level design for building a web service that can overcome limitations of existing tools and frameworks. The CUDA Web API is built using Python, PyCUDA, NumPy, JSON, and Django to meet the requirements set forth. Additionaly, a client application, CUDA Cloud, is built and serves as an example web service client. The CUDA Web API’s performance and its functionality is validated using a common matrix multiplication algorithm implemented using different languages and tools. Performance tests show runtime improvements for larger datasets using the CUDA Web API for remote CUDA kernel execution over serial implementations. This paper concludes that existing limitations associated with GPGPU usage can be overcome with the specified architecture.

This paper analyzes the functions of stylistic figures in the Russian newspaper text. Material was from the texts of different genres, published in the Central Newspapers of Russia. We analyze anaphora, syntactic parallelism, parcelling. Different logical and expressive function of the mentioned figures. We identify and describe the semantic and stylistic varieties of each figure. / Работа посвящена анализу функционирования стилистических фигур в русском газетном тексте. Материалом послужили тексты разных жанров, опубликованные в центральных газетах России. Анализируются фигуры анафора, синтаксический параллелизм, парцелляция. Различаются логическая и экспрессивная функция названных фигур. Выделены и описаны семантико-стилистические разновидности каждой из них.

Der Beitrag bietet eine Einführung in die Schichtenlehre Heinrich Schenkers ohne Anspruch auf Vollständigkeit. Die Darstellung fokussiert grundlegende Ereignisse in Vorder- Mittel- und Hintergrund, ohne die Lehre vom Ursatz explizit zu berühren (letztere ist nach Auffassung des Autors aufgrund ihres hohen Abstraktionsniveaus als Einstieg nicht geeignet). Nach Klärung einiger für die schenkerianische Analyse zentraler Begriffe wie ›Stufe‹, ›Auskomponierung‹ und ›Tonikalisierung‹ wird sich unterschiedlichen Verfahren der ›Modulation‹ in Exposition und Durchführung diverse Sonatensätze von Wolfgang Amadé Mozart zugewandt. Gezeigt werden gängige kontrapunktische Verfahren (5–6–5-Fortschreitung und chromatischer Stimmtausch) sowie die Bedeutung ›motivischer Parallelismen‹ für den Zusammenhang zwischen thematischer Motivik und harmonischem Stufengang. / This article offers an introduction into Heinrich Schenker’s method of graphic analysis (without any claim of completeness). The approach focuses on fundamental events in the fore-, middle- and background without explicitly addressing the concept of the Ursatz, which the author considers inappropriate for an introduction due to its high level of abstraction. After defining some terms central to Schenkerian analysis like Stufe, Auskomponierung, and Tonikalisierung, different treatments of “modulation” in the expositions and developments of various sonatas by Wolfgang Amadé Mozart will be examined. Common contrapuntal patterns (e.g., 5–6–5 progression and chromatic voice exchange) and the significance of “motivic parallelisms” for the relationship between thematic motives and harmonic progression will be shown.

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Novel forms of brain-inspired programming models related to novel computer architecture are required to both understand the mysteries of intelligence as well as break barriers in computational complexity, and computer parallelism. Artificial Intelligence is focused on developing complex programs based on abstract, statistical prediction engines that require large datasets, vast amounts of computational power, and unbounded computation time. By contrast, the brain utilizes relatively few experiences to make decisions in unpredictable, time-constrained situations while utilizing relatively small amounts of physical computational space and power with high degrees of complexity and parallelism. We observe that intelligence requires the accommodation of ambiguity, conflict, and paradox. From a structural perspective, this means the same set of inputs leads to conflicting results that are likely produced in isolated regions of the brain that function independently until an answer must be chosen. We further observe that, unlike computer programs, brains constantly interact with the physical world where external constraints force the selection of the best available response in time-quality trade-offs ranging from fight-or-flight to deep thinking. For example, when intelligent beings are presented with a set of inputs, those inputs can be processed with different levels of thinking, utilizing heterogeneous algorithms to produce answers dependent upon the time available to process them. We introduce the Troop meta-approach, which is a novel meta computer architecture and programming. Experiments demonstrate our approach in modeling conflict when the same set of inputs are heterogeneously processed independently using maze solving and ordered search in real-world environments with unpredictable, random time constraints. Across one hundred trials, on average, the Troop solution solves mazes almost six times faster than the only other solution, which does not accommodate conflict but can always produce a result when required. Two other experiments based on ordered search show that, on average, the Troop solution returns a position that is over twice as accurate as the other solutions which do not accommodate conflict but always produce a result when required. This work lays the foundation for more research in algorithms that utilize time-accuracy trade-offs consistent with our approach. / This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2204780. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. / Master of Science / New types of brain-inspired computer architectures and programming models are needed to break barriers that hinder traditional methods in computer parallelism as well as to understand better the phenomenon by which intelligence emerges from the structure of the human brain. Traditional research in the field of Artificial Intelligence is focused on developing complex programs based on simulating low-level models of the brain such as artificial neural networks. The most advanced of these methods are processed on large supercomputers that use vast amounts of power and have unlimited amounts of time to process a task producing a single result. By contrast, the human brain is relatively small and uses very little power. Furthermore, it can use relatively few experiences to make very quick and inaccurate but necessary decisions to survive in unpredictable environments. But the brain can produce many different and conflicting decisions to the same problem. Given more time, the human brain can use higher levels of thinking located in different parts of the brain to produce better decisions. Thus, we observe that intelligence requires the ability to handle conflicting answers to the same problem. From a highlevel perspective, this means different and independent structures of the brain can simultaneously produce conflicting answers that solve the same problem. We further observe that, unlike traditional computer programs, the brain constantly interacts with the physical world, where different circumstances within the environment force the best available decision to be carried out. Based on these observations, this research introduces novel approaches that we collectively reference as the Troop meta-approach to develop computer architectures that solve real-world problems, such as maze solving. This research demonstrates the approaches by first introducing scenarios inspired by humans solving problems in environments where unforeseeable events occur that force decisions to be made that are not the most accurate but necessary not to fail the overall objective. For example, military and law enforcement trainees use square mazes to prepare for unpredictable environments. When a threat presents itself, if a soldier or officer does not react to a circumstance in time, their failure may be fatal. To demonstrate that our approaches are feasible, this research then presents three experiments based on the problems of the scenarios and uses the Troop meta-approach to solve each one. Across three experiments, on average, the computer architectures and related algorithms developed using the Troop meta-approach solve mazes or search databases while responding to unpredictable real-world events faster or more accurately than traditional architectures and algorithm pairs that do not handle simultaneous decisions that conflict. This work lays the foundation for more research in methods and computer architectures that utilize multiple conflicting decisions.

This dissertation deals with the poetry of C.S.Z. Ntuli, with specific reference to themes, diction and form. The introductory chapter deals with the aim of study, the author's biographical background, the development of modern Zulu poetry, the state of critical studies in modern Zulu poetry, the scope of study and the method of approach. Chapter 2 examines the main themes manifest in the poetry of Ntuli. Chapter 3 is devoted to diction, with particular reference to imagery, compound words, ideophones and deideophonic derivatives. Comment is also made on ways in which these amplify the theme in selected poems. Chapter 4 discusses outstanding formal features and techniques including stanza formation, refrains, alliteration, parallelism, linking and rhythm. Chapter 5 concludes the study by giving observations about the quality of Ntuli's contribution to modern Zulu poetry, and by exploring some possibilities regarding future studies on the poetry of Ntuli / African Languages / M. A. (African languages)

L’augmentation du nombre d’usagers de l’Internet a entraîné une croissance exponentielle dans les tables de routage. Cette taille prévoit l’atteinte d’un million de préfixes dans les prochaines années. De même, les routeurs au cœur de l’Internet peuvent facilement atteindre plusieurs centaines de connexions BGP simultanées avec des routeurs voisins. Dans une architecture classique des routeurs, le protocole BGP s’exécute comme une entité unique au sein du routeur. Cette architecture comporte deux inconvénients majeurs : l’extensibilité (scalabilité) et la fiabilité. D’un côté, la scalabilité de BGP est mesurable en termes de nombre de connexions et aussi par la taille maximale de la table de routage que l’interface de contrôle puisse supporter. De l’autre côté, la fiabilité est un sujet critique dans les routeurs au cœur de l’Internet. Si l’instance BGP s’arrête, toutes les connexions seront perdues et le nouvel état de la table de routage sera propagé tout au long de l’Internet dans un délai de convergence non trivial. Malgré la haute fiabilité des routeurs au cœur de l’Internet, leur résilience aux pannes est augmentée considérablement et celle-ci est implantée dans la majorité des cas via une redondance passive qui peut limiter la scalabilité du routeur. Dans cette thèse, on traite les deux inconvénients en proposant une nouvelle approche distribuée de BGP pour augmenter sa scalabilité ainsi que sa fiabilité sans changer la sémantique du protocole. L’architecture distribuée de BGP proposée dans la première contribution est faite pour satisfaire les deux contraintes : scalabilité et fiabilité. Ceci est accompli en exploitant adéquatement le parallélisme et la distribution des modules de BGP sur plusieurs cartes de contrôle. Dans cette contribution, les fonctionnalités de BGP sont divisées selon le paradigme « maître-esclave » et le RIB (Routing Information Base) est dupliqué sur plusieurs cartes de contrôle. Dans la deuxième contribution, on traite la tolérance aux pannes dans l’architecture élaborée dans la première contribution en proposant un mécanisme qui augmente la fiabilité. De plus, nous prouvons analytiquement dans cette contribution qu’en adoptant une telle architecture distribuée, la disponibilité de BGP sera augmentée considérablement versus une architecture monolithique. Dans la troisième contribution, on propose une méthode de partitionnement de la table de routage que nous avons appelé DRTP pour diviser la table de BGP sur plusieurs cartes de contrôle. Cette contribution vise à augmenter la scalabilité de la table de routage et la parallélisation de l’algorithme de recherche (Best Match Prefix) en partitionnant la table de routage sur plusieurs nœuds physiquement distribués. / The increasing number of end users has led to an exponential growth in the Internet routing table. The routing table is expected to reach a size of one million prefixes within the coming few years. Besides, current core routers may easily attain hundreds of connected BGP peers simultaneously. In classical monolithic architecture, the BGP protocol runs as a single entity inside the router. This architecture suffers from two drawbacks: scalability and reliability. BGP scalability can be measured in terms of the number of connected peers that can be handled and the size of the routing table. On the other hand, the reliability is a critical issue in core routers. If the BGP instance inside the router fails, all peers’ connections will shutdown and the new reachability state will be propagated across the Internet in a non trivial convergence delay. Although, in current core routers, the resiliency is increased considerably, it’s mainly implemented via a primary-backup redundancy scheme which limits the BGP scalability. In this thesis we address the two mentioned BGP drawbacks by proposing a novel distributed approach to increase both scalability and reliability of BGP without changing the semantic of the protocol. The BGP distributed architecture in the first paper is built to satisfy both requirements: scalability and reliability by adequately exploiting parallelism and module separation. In our model, BGP functionalities are split in a master-slave manner and the RIB (Routing Information Base) is replicated to multiple controller cards, to form a cluster of parallel computing entities. In the second paper, we address the fault tolerance of BGP within the distributed architecture presented in the first paper. We prove analytically that, by adopting the distributed architecture of BGP the availability of BGP will be increased considerably versus a monolithic architecture. In the third paper we propose a distributed parallel scheme called DRTP to partition the BGP routing table on multiple controller cards. DRTP aims at increasing the BGP scalability and the parallelization of the Best Match Prefix algorithm.

Cette thèse cherche à optimiser les communications des applications de calcul intensif s'exécutant sur des grappes de PC. En raison de l'usage massif de processeurs multicoeurs, il est désormais impératif de gérer un grand nombre de flux de communication concurrents. Nous avons mis en évidence et analysé les performances décevantes des solutions actuelles dans un tel contexte. Nous avons ainsi proposé une architecture de communication centrée sur l'arbitrage de l'accès aux matériels. Son originalité réside dans la dissociation de l'activité de l'application de celle des cartes réseaux. Notre modèle exploite l'intervalle de temps introduit entre le dépot des requêtes de communication et la disponibilité des cartes réseaux pour appliquer des optimisations de manière opportuniste. NewMadeleine implémente ce concept et se révèle capable d'exploiter les réseaux les plus performants du moment. Des tests synthétiques et portages d'implémentations caractéristiques de MPI ont permis de valider l'architecture proposée. / The aim of this thesis is to optimize the communications of high performance applications, in the context of clusters computing. Given the massive use of multicore architectures, it is now crucial to handle a large number of concurrent communication flows. We highlighted and analyzed the shortcomings of existing solutions. We therefore designed a new way to schedule communication flows by focusing on the activity of the network cards. Its novelty consists in untying the activity of applications from that of the network cards. Our model takes advantage of the delay that exists between the deposal of the communication requests and the moment when the network cards become idle in order to apply some opportunistic optimizations. NewMadeleine implements this model, thus making possible to exploit last generation high speed networks. The approach of NewMadeleine is not only validated by synthetical tests but also by real applications.

The diploma thesis Media and Politics - Political Parties in Selected Czech Newspapers in the Period Before the Elections to the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of Czech Republic in 2013 compares the representation of selected Czech political parties in the content of Czech national serious daily newspapers through quantitative content analysis of news in dailies Hospodářské noviny, Mladá fronta Dnes, Lidové noviny a Právo. The thesis explores the space which was given to individual political parties in studied newspapers, how often they were mentioned in the news, whether the approach of the parties in the news were balanced, and if the parties were neutrally presented in each daily news. The main aim of this thesis is to determine whether the Czech press is showing signs of political parallelism and whether it is objektive to political parties. The theoretical framework of the thesis is the theory of political parallelism as percieved by Daniel C. Hallin and Paolo Mancini and objectivity of the media as percieved by Jörgen Westerståhl. The research draws on the foreign literature and also draws from research in this area that in the past took place abroad.

This thesis considers the role of former politician and journalist Radek John in an investigative programme Bez cenzury on TV Barrandov. Even though John was a politician and leader of Czech political party Věci veřejné, he decided to return to journalism. He did so with no intention of resigning his chair in the Chamber of Deputies, part of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. With this in mind, this could be considered as a specific representation of political parallelism. This study describes specific cases where Radek John might have acted contrary to normative journalistic values and journalism ethics. Furthermore, the thesis analyses the possibility that Radek John's own political interests and opinions affected the television programme itself. The research is conducted using the method of a case study which combines qualitative and quantitative content analysis, qualitative interviews and other research methods. Consequently, the analysis found signs of biased reporting in the programme's introduction and some stories, which reflected Radek John's antipathy towards traditional political parties and their leaders. However, the research did not reveal any direct support of Věci veřejné or their representatives. Furthermore, the thesis also presents media, academic and political responses to...