Among the key challenges of computing today are the emergence of many-core architectures and the resulting need to effectively exploit explicit parallelism. Indeed, programmers are striving to exploit parallelism across virtually all platforms and application domains. The shared memory programming model effectively addresses the parallelism needs of mainstream computing (e.g., portable devices, laptops, desktop, servers), giving rise to a growing ecosystem of shared memory parallel techniques, tools, and design practices. However, to meet the extreme demands for processing and memory of critical problem domains, including scientific computation and data intensive computing, computing researchers continue to innovate in the high-end distributed memory architecture space to create cost-effective and scalable solutions. The emerging distributed memory architectures are both highly parallel and increasingly heterogeneous. As a result, they do not present the programmer with a cache-coherent view of shared memory, either across the entire system or even at the level of an individual node. Furthermore, it remains an open research question which programming model is best for the heterogeneous platforms that feature multiple traditional processors along with accelerators or co-processors. Hence, we have two contradicting trends. On the one hand, programming convenience and the presence of shared memory     call for a shared memory programming model across the entire heterogeneous system. On the other hand, increasingly parallel and heterogeneous nodes lacking cache-coherent shared memory call for a message passing model. In this dissertation, we present the architecture of Samhita, a distributed shared memory (DSM) system that addresses the challenge of providing shared memory for non-cache-coherent systems. We define regional consistency (RegC), the memory consistency model implemented by Samhita. We present performance results for Samhita on several computational kernels and benchmarks, on both cluster supercomputers and heterogeneous systems. The results demonstrate the promising potential of Samhita and the RegC model, and include the largest scale evaluation by a significant margin for any DSM system reported to date. / Ph. D.

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This study explored the perceptions of 74 activity directors responsible for the intergenerational programming that is currently taking place at shared-sites, facilities where older adults and young people receive services and programs simultaneously in a co-located space. Data for this study was collected through a national survey of 149 shared-sites collected from the Generations United data base. the questionnaire asked respondents about their facility’s intergenerational programming, demographic information, and perceived sense of community exhibited by participants in the intergenerational program. Descriptive data regarding the location, primary emphasis, ages and number served, and specific program characteristics, including visual art programming, at IGSS facilities were collected and analyzed. Results from the analysis were reported with limitations. There was a statistical significance suggested in the association of the frequency and duration of art activities with some of the sense of community variables. the study is valuable in determining the current demographics of IGSS facilities that offer visual art programs. Further research needs to be conducted to answer questions regarding the specific role that the visual arts play in creating a sense of community among intergenerational participants at shared-site facilities.

Thesis advisor: Candace Jones / Management scholars have rarely analyzed how prior social networks might help or hinder the job performance of new organizational members. However, internal and external job markets are increasingly characterized by high mobility of experienced professionals, who have extensive social networks rooted in their past collaborations and shared work experiences. Organizations rely more frequently on project teams and project-based organizing to perform interdependent tasks, so employees transition more often across project teams - and firms - in their boundary-less careers. These changes call for a better understanding of whether the reactivation of past social ties is likely to help or hinder the job performance of new employees, especially those engaged in highly interdependent tasks. The object of this study is to theorize and empirically test the mechanisms by which the reactivation of a particular social tie - shared work experience - may impact new members' performance. Using a social networks lens to study new members' organizational entries, this study not only contributes to the recent fast-growing literature on the reactivation of social ties, but also to studies on new members' performance, and has considerable relevance for enhancing an organization's performance through the better management of its expert workers' human and social capital. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2013. / Submitted to: Boston College. Carroll School of Management. / Discipline: Management and Organization.

This study aims to develop and establish an appropriately co-ordinated regime for infrastructure sharing facilities development and regulation in SSA that could be utilised by the various stakeholders involved in mining infrastructure related activities, as well as those not involved in mineral-related activities, to enable economic diversification and broad-based development within a country. The starting point of the study is the gap that exists within the mining legal framework of Sub-Saharan African countries regarding the development of large scale mining infrastructure related projects such as rails and ports infrastructure networks that require meticulous coordination and collaboration between the numerous stakeholders involved. Consequently, the thesis starts with an introductory chapter that introduces the subject area to be examined in the thesis and provides a rationale for why this topic has been chosen. It also outlines areas of concern within the research topic and sets out the research questions. Subsequently, it sets out the conceptual framework and the necessary analytical tools utilised to evaluate and analyse the concept of shared- use of rail and port infrastructure. Chapter 3 investigates mining infrastructure related projects in Australia, specifically those located in Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland. Chapter 4 explores mining infrastructure related projects in SSA, specifically projects located in Guinea and provide recommendations to SSA countries in general and to the Government of Guinea in particular, on how best to develop shared-use mining infrastructure. Finally, Chapter 5 highlights the findings of the thesis based on the comparison between mining infrastructure development undertaken in Australia with that of the SSA region. The study finds that most countries on the continent suffer from governance gaps expressed in institutional dysfunction, as well as from structures that do not foster collaboration but, on the contrary, deficient environments for national strategies for infrastructure that works for development.

Handoff is a synchronous object transfer technique in face-to-face collaborative work and is one of the low-level actions of collaboration that is smooth and natural in physical settings; however, in digital tabletop workspaces, digital handoff is often awkward and difficult to control. We carried out a series of studies to investigate how digital handoff could be improved in tabletop systems. We first observed people doing several real-world tasks around a standard table and found that handoff is as common in the real-world as deposit (an asynchronous tool transfer technique). The study identified several guidelines to support the design of handoff actions in digital tabletop system. We then examined 2D-handoff techniques; by running a pilot study, we compared the traditional handoff technique with the real-world tangible handoff technique, and found that the traditional digital handoff technique was not well suited for transferring objects on the tabletop. By analyzing the handoff mechanism we spot the bottleneck that affected traditional handoff procedures and designed a novel 2D-handoff technique, force-field technique, which alleviated this bottle-neck to solve this problem. Through a user-study we found that the force-field technique was significantly faster than current digital handoff techniques and as good as real-world 2D-handoff techniques. In addition, force-field handoff was most preferred by a majority of participants. We further designed and implemented a 3D-handoff technique that embodies our observations of how handoff occurs in the real-world setting. <p>Finally, we evaluated our design in a simulated digital-tabletop task with the goal of assessing the usefulness of various digital transfer techniques including standard deposit, traditional handoff, force-field and 3D-handoff. The results showed that on the digital tabletop system the percentage of using deposit, 2D-handoff and 3D-handoff techniques is similar with the percentage of using these techniques on the real world physical table. 3D-handoff was the most preferred and the most frequently used technique among the handoff techniques; and the force-field technique is preferred than traditional handoff technique.

The Toronto International Film Festival Group (tiff.) is the latest addition to an existing array of spectacles offered in Entertainment District of Toronto. Spectacles remove us from reality, surprise us, connect us with others, and allow us to participate as a part of a community. However, their extraordinary nature can be so enticing that they put us into a trance that can leave us vulnerable to political and economic influences. This thesis uses Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopias, or ‘other places’, to shed light on the values, characteristics and functions of spaces dedicated to these spectacles. These spaces exist in the grey zone between the political-public domain and the economic-private property. They are sanctuaries for events, activities and illusions that deviate from those of the commonplace. The Entertainment District is a heterotopia that reflects and fosters Toronto’s enjoyment and fascination with spectacles. This thesis looks at how the district can further its role as a heterotopia of spectacle by juxtaposing the existing experiences with a variety of contemporary experiences such as free play and film-related events introduced through John Street’s use of the concept of shared space and the introduction of a new home for tiff. Portions of John Street are transformed into continuous ground surfaces that encourage pedestrian circulation within the district, as well as the introduction of new spectacles. The new tiff. building situates itself along this continuous ground surface and extends up to the building’s edge and through laneways to an internal courtyard. The building reads as an incompatible cluster of skewed volumes with their own distinct function stacked on top of one another. The agitated and fragmented geometry of the building is developed through a series of governing lines and curves which sets themselves within the Cartesian grid of the city at irregular angles. These volumes are wrapped in a variety of opaque, transparent and translucent materials that frame views of events on the street, in the neighbourhood, and in the city. This thesis of discourse and design will be of interest to all those wishing to understand heterotopias or ‘other places’ dedicated to spectacles.

The Toronto International Film Festival Group (tiff.) is the latest addition to an existing array of spectacles offered in Entertainment District of Toronto. Spectacles remove us from reality, surprise us, connect us with others, and allow us to participate as a part of a community. However, their extraordinary nature can be so enticing that they put us into a trance that can leave us vulnerable to political and economic influences. This thesis uses Michel Foucault’s concept of heterotopias, or ‘other places’, to shed light on the values, characteristics and functions of spaces dedicated to these spectacles. These spaces exist in the grey zone between the political-public domain and the economic-private property. They are sanctuaries for events, activities and illusions that deviate from those of the commonplace. The Entertainment District is a heterotopia that reflects and fosters Toronto’s enjoyment and fascination with spectacles. This thesis looks at how the district can further its role as a heterotopia of spectacle by juxtaposing the existing experiences with a variety of contemporary experiences such as free play and film-related events introduced through John Street’s use of the concept of shared space and the introduction of a new home for tiff. Portions of John Street are transformed into continuous ground surfaces that encourage pedestrian circulation within the district, as well as the introduction of new spectacles. The new tiff. building situates itself along this continuous ground surface and extends up to the building’s edge and through laneways to an internal courtyard. The building reads as an incompatible cluster of skewed volumes with their own distinct function stacked on top of one another. The agitated and fragmented geometry of the building is developed through a series of governing lines and curves which sets themselves within the Cartesian grid of the city at irregular angles. These volumes are wrapped in a variety of opaque, transparent and translucent materials that frame views of events on the street, in the neighbourhood, and in the city. This thesis of discourse and design will be of interest to all those wishing to understand heterotopias or ‘other places’ dedicated to spectacles.

Handoff is a synchronous object transfer technique in face-to-face collaborative work and is one of the low-level actions of collaboration that is smooth and natural in physical settings; however, in digital tabletop workspaces, digital handoff is often awkward and difficult to control. We carried out a series of studies to investigate how digital handoff could be improved in tabletop systems. We first observed people doing several real-world tasks around a standard table and found that handoff is as common in the real-world as deposit (an asynchronous tool transfer technique). The study identified several guidelines to support the design of handoff actions in digital tabletop system. We then examined 2D-handoff techniques; by running a pilot study, we compared the traditional handoff technique with the real-world tangible handoff technique, and found that the traditional digital handoff technique was not well suited for transferring objects on the tabletop. By analyzing the handoff mechanism we spot the bottleneck that affected traditional handoff procedures and designed a novel 2D-handoff technique, force-field technique, which alleviated this bottle-neck to solve this problem. Through a user-study we found that the force-field technique was significantly faster than current digital handoff techniques and as good as real-world 2D-handoff techniques. In addition, force-field handoff was most preferred by a majority of participants. We further designed and implemented a 3D-handoff technique that embodies our observations of how handoff occurs in the real-world setting. <p>Finally, we evaluated our design in a simulated digital-tabletop task with the goal of assessing the usefulness of various digital transfer techniques including standard deposit, traditional handoff, force-field and 3D-handoff. The results showed that on the digital tabletop system the percentage of using deposit, 2D-handoff and 3D-handoff techniques is similar with the percentage of using these techniques on the real world physical table. 3D-handoff was the most preferred and the most frequently used technique among the handoff techniques; and the force-field technique is preferred than traditional handoff technique.

Impacts of Global Shared Service on Organizational Performance Reduce Cost Indicator: 1.Operational cost 2.Hardware cost 3.Facility cost 4.Maintain cost 5.Training cost 6.Sales & Market cost 7.Customer Training Cost 8.Meeting Cost Maintain High performance indicator: 1.Operation efficience 2.Product professional 3.Hurman resoure intergity 4.Proactive management 5.Standardize 6.Reduce audit time