Systems on chip (SOC) contain multiple concurrent applications with different time criticality (firm, soft, non real-time). As a result, they are often developed by different teams or companies, with different models of computation (MOC) such as dataflow, Kahn process networks (KPN), or time-triggered (TT). SOC functionality and (real-time) performance is verified after all applications have been integrated. In this paper we propose the CompSOC platform and design flows that offers a virtual execution platform per application, to allow independent design, verification, and execution . We introduce the composability and predictability concepts, why they help, and how they are implemented in the different resources of the CompSOC architecture. We define a design flow that allows real-time cyclo-static dataflow (CSDF) applications to be automatically mapped, verified, and executed. Mapping and analysis of KPN and TT applications is not automated but they do run composably in their allocated virtual platforms. Although most of the techniques used here have been published in isolation, this paper is the first comprehensive overview of the CompSOC approach. Moreover, three new case studies illustrate all claimed benefits: 1) An example firm-real-time CSDF H.263 decoder is automatically mapped and verified. 2) Applications with different models of computation (CSDF and TT) run composably. 3) Adaptive soft-real-time applications execute composably and can hence be verified independently by simulation.

An important question is whether emerging and future applications exhibit sufficient parallelism, in particular thread-level parallelism, to exploit the large numbers of cores future chip multiprocessors (CMPs) are expected to contain. As a case study we investigate the parallelism available in video decoders, an important application domain now and in the future. Specifically, we analyze the parallel scalability of the H.264 decoding process. First we discuss the data structures and dependencies of H.264 and show what types of parallelism it allows to be exploited. We also show that previously proposed parallelization strategies such as slice-level, frame-level, and intra-frame macroblock (MB) level parallelism, are not sufficiently scalable. Based on the observation that inter-frame dependencies have a limited spatial range we propose a new parallelization strategy, called Dynamic 3D-Wave. It allows certain MBs of consecutive frames to be decoded in parallel. Using this new strategy we analyze the limits to the available MB-level parallelism in H.264. Using real movie sequences we find a maximum MB parallelism ranging from 4000 to 7000. We also perform a case study to assess the practical value and possibilities of a highly parallelized H.264 application. The results show that H.264 exhibits sufficient parallelism to efficiently exploit the capabilities of future manycore CMPs.

The SARC architecture is composed of multiple processor types and a set of user-managed direct memory access (DMA) engines that let the runtime scheduler overlap data transfer and computation. The runtime system automatically allocates tasks on the heterogeneous cores and schedules the data transfers through the DMA engines. SARC's programming model supports various highly parallel applications, with matching support from specialized accelerator processors. On-chip parallel computation shows great promise for scaling raw processing performance within a given power budget. However, chip multiprocessors (CMPs) often struggle with programmability and scalability issues such as cache coherency and off-chip memory bandwidth and latency.

One can imagine two futures for public administration, public management and public service around the world. A first would be what we see as a continuation of the status quo: with public administration essentially continuing as a series of national discourses, with perhaps a bit of cross‐fertilization, but with this characterized by a classic core‐periphery model. The preferable model, outlined in this paper, would see the development of an integrated community of scholars of public affairs. At least three hurdles need to be overcome to arrive at this integrated community. A first concerns the tension in the periphery between an epistemic nationalism and epistemic colonialism. The second hurdle to be overcome concerns the central role of the American literature in intellectual discourse in public administration. A third hurdle is more specific to public administration: what Canadian Iain Gow has referred to as public administration's profile, as ‘une science empirique par excellence’.

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No presente artigo destacamos, da trajetória intelectual do sociólogo Alberto Guerreiro Ramos, a sua constante preocupação com a condição do homem contemporâneo. Neste sentido, dois momentos em sua trajetória podem ser diferenciados: no primeiro, fortemente influenciado pelo pensamento de intelectuais cristãos, o autor apegou-se à categoria de pessoa humana; no segundo, já demonstrando autonomia frente àquelas influências e secularizando a temática, o autor cunhou a expressão homem parentético, esta que, sem perder de vista alguns aspectos associados à primeira, permeou a sua propositura de uma nova ciência das organizações. Esta característica do pensamento guerreiriano nos faz afirmar que a sua sociologia é, predominantemente, antropocêntrica, ou seja, toma o homem como a principal referência no que diz respeito à planificação social e às especulações teóricas.
In this paper we call attention to a particular aspect of Alberto Guerreiro Ramos' sociology, which is his permanent preoccupation with the human condition in modern times. In this sense, we identify two different moments in his work: in the first, strongly influenced by the ideas of Christian intellectuals, the author drive its attention to the human nature category. In the second he shows great independence from Christian influences and creates the expression "parenthetic man", which constitutes the basis of his new theory of organizations. Such a characteristic of Guerreiro's thought allows us to affirm that his sociology is an anthropocentric one, which means that human being turns to be the main reference regarding social planning and theoretical speculations

Abstract-This paper investigates the scalability of MacroBlock (MB) level parallelization of the H.264 decoder for High Definition (HD) applications. The study includes three parts. First, a formal model for predicting the maximum performance that can be obtained taking into account variable processing time of tasks and thread synchronization overhead. Second, an implementation on a real multiprocessor architecture including a comparison of different scheduling strategies and a profiling analysis for identifying the performance bottlenecks. Finally, a trace-driven simulation methodology has been used for identifying the opportunities of acceleration for removing the main bottlenecks. It includes the acceleration potential for the entropy decoding stage and thread synchronization and scheduling. Our study presents a quantitative analysis of the main bottlenecks of the application and estimates the acceleration levels that are required to make the MB-level parallel decoder scalable.

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