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The knowledge society arises from the combination of four interdependent elements: the production of knowledge through research, its transmission through education, its dissemination through information and communication technologies, and its exploitation through innovation. For this reason, higher education institutions (HEIs) are the main component of the formation of intellectual capital because they are the key element of the knowledge society, so it is necessary that they continue to be the main source of the necessary skills that allow the increase of economic competitiveness, sustainability, and citizen welfare within the framework of quality education and equity. "The Formation of Intellectual Capital and Its Ability to Transform Higher Education Institutions and the Knowledge Society" is an essential research publication that provides systemic research on the formation of intellectual capital in higher education and its impact on the knowledge society. Highlighting topics such as educational programs, management strategy, and educational studies, this book is meant for educators, educational technologists, students, researchers, professionals, and administrators. Chapters include: (1) Human, Relational, and Structural Capital as Strategic Objectives in Higher Education (Jésica Alhelí Cortés Ruiz, Edgar Oliver Cardoso Espinosa, and Rosa María Rivas García); (2) Grounding Institutions of Higher Learning as Learning Organizations for Developing Intellectual-Knowledge Society (Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga); (3) The Formation of Human Capital and Its Relationship with the Knowledge Society in Mexico (María del Rocío Soto Flores, Ingrid Yadibel Cuevas Zuñiga, and Susana Asela Garduño Román); (4) Ecological University for Transformative and Critical Intellectual Capital Advancement and Scholarship in South Africa (Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga); (5) The Knowledge Society and Entrepreneurship Within the Higher Education Institutions in Mexico (Miguel Angel Mendoza Pérez, Ingrid Yadibel Cuevas Zuñiga, María del Rocío Soto Flores, and Susana Asela Garduño Román); (6) Towards Advancing Human-Centered Intellectual Scholarship Through University-Community Partnership (Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga); (7) #FeesMustFall Campaign and the Quest for Accessible, Quality, and Decolonized Higher Education in South Africa (Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga); (8) (Un)feasibility of FeesMustFall Campaign from a Political Economy Perspectives (Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga); (9) Development of Competences Through the PBL and the Use of Technology (María Elena Zepeda Hurtado, Yarzabal Coronel Nashielly, and Pérez Benítez Alma Alicia); (10) The Training of Intellectual Capital in the Tourism Sector Based on the Development of Professional Skills (Rosa María Rivas García, Jésica Alhelí Cortés Ruiz, and Sandra Viridiana Cortés Ruiz); (11) Incorporating Indigenous Knowledge in the Higher Education Sector for the Advancement of African Scholarship (Ndwakhulu Stephen Tshishonga); and (12) Proposal of Indicators for Intellectual Capital in Higher Education (Edgar Oliver Cardoso Espinosa).

Cosmetic assessment of breast cancer conservative treatment (BCCT) plays a major role in the evaluation of this form of treatment. Objective assessment methods are being preferred to overcome the drawbacks of subjective evaluation. A recent computer-aided medical system was developed to objectively and automatically perform the aesthetic evaluation of the result of BCCT. In order to extract relevant features from the image, the detection of the breast contour is necessary. In this paper an algorithm based on the shortest path on a graph is proposed to detect the breast contour. The proposed method was applied to 300 breast images with an accuracy of 98%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An integrated electronic biochip platform for the detection of biomolecular recognition is described. It includes the detection module, where labeled target DNA/antibody molecules are magnetically arrayed towards immobilized probes (cDNA/antigen) and where DNA-cDNA hybridization or antibody-antigen interaction is detected. Magnetic nanobeads are used as labels for targets, and magnetic field sensors are used to detect beads presence. The present device holds 256 probe sites in a matrix containing one magnetic tunnel junction and one thin film PIN diode at each node. A microfluidics chamber and a credit card sized electronics board complete the microsystem. Diagnostic applications include the detection of cystic fibrosis relate gene mutations (DNA chip) and the detection of Salmonella and Es-cherichia coli presence in water (immunoassay). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the Western world, and is essentially incurable when distant metastases are detected. Despite an increasing incidence, breast cancer mortality has fallen, largely due to the advent of widespread screening programs, but also partly due to the increasing use of adjuvant systemic treatment and advances in loco-regional control. This chapter will review the advances in gene expression profiling, made possible with microarray technology, as new tools for assessing breast cancer recurrence. It will discuss the molecular classification of breast cancer subtypes, as well as the various molecular signatures with their prognostic and predictive implications. Two prospective randomized trials, MINDACT and TAILORx, designed to validate this new technology, will be briefly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formation of the genetic code is considered a part of the process of establishing precise nucleoprotein associations. The process is initiated by transfer tRNA (tRNA) dimers paired through the perfect palindromic anticodons, which are at the same time codons for each other; the amino acid acceptor ends produce the transferase function, in a manner similar to the reaction occurring in ribosomes. The connections between nucleic acids and proteins are bidirectional, forming a self-feeding system. In one direction, proteins that are resistant to degradation and efficient RNA binders stabilize the tRNAs that are specifically involved with their production; in the other direction, these tRNAs become fixed with the correspondences which are the amino acid codes. Replication of the stabilized tRNAs becomes elongational, forming poly-tRNAs, the precursors of the mRNA strings (genes), and of ribosomes. The linear order in the gene sequences follows the temporal succession of the encoding of tRNA pairs. The whole encoding process is oriented by the tRNA pairs. The core sequence of proteins shows the predominant aperiodic conformation and the anticodonic principal dinucleotides (pDiN) are composed of two purines or two pyrimidines: (1a) Gly/Pro; (1b) Ser/Ser; (2a) Asp, Glu/Leu; (2b) Asn, Lys/Phe. Members of the following pairs, with pDiN composed of a purine and a pyrimidine [(3a) Ala/Arg; (3b) Val/His, Gln; (3c) Thr/Cys, Trp; (4) Ile, Met/Tyr, and iMet/Stop], are added, respectively, to the mRNA heads/tails. It is indicated that: (a) The last universal common ancestor populations could, at some early stages, be composed of lineages bearing similar genetic codes, due to the simple and highly deterministic character of the process; (b) genetic information was created during the process of formation of the coding/decoding subsystem, inside a proto-metabolic system already producing some amino acids and tRNA-like precursors; (c) genes were defined by the proteins that stabilized the system, as memories for their production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses different public policies in the regulation area that may be applied to competition as a reality that criss-crosses the whole of Portuguese economy. It also approaches, from the same optic but with a different focalization, the issue of concentration in the media sector, as an economic and sociological reality of growing, unambiguous importance in our present world. It is concluded that the State should proceed with effective regulation policies that may handle market failures without, however, generating State failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An extensive experimental study was performed to compare the measurement capabilities within different ranges of two total suction measurement equipment: SMI transistor psychrometers and a chilled-mirror dew-point psychrometer (WP4 Dewpoint PotentiaMeter). The equipment were used in a systematic way to determine the relative humidity of the environment surrounding different compacted clayey soils along drying paths and covering a wide total suction range (0.1 to 70 MPa). The equipment description and the calibration protocols followed are presented, as well as suggestions regarding the improvement of their performance. The water retention curves of two different compacted clayey soils are presented and commented by taking into account the corrections proposed for the readings. A possible explanation for differences in the measurements observed between both instruments in the high suction range is presented in terms of the hydraulic paths undergone by the soils during the measurement period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite many years of research the process of sulfate respiration is still not fully understood. The mechanisms and components associated with energy conservation have not been clearly identified, and the electron donors to the cytoplasmic adenosine 5´-phosphosulfate (APS) and sulfite reductases are not known. Recently, considerable progress has been achieved through genome analysis and other biochemical and genetic studies. This review presents our current knowledge of transmembrane redox complexes of Desulfovibrio spp. that are proposed to play a role in the respiratory electron transfer chain. Two of these complexes, Qmo and Dsr, are apparently conserved in all sulfate reducers, pointing to an essential role in sulfate respiration, most likely as electron donors to the APS and sulfite reductases, respectively. In contrast, the Hmc, 9Hc and Tmc complexes are only present in Desulfovibrio organisms, suggesting a role in alternative pathways. The presence of the latter complexes correlates with the large pool of periplasmic cytochromes c found in Desulfovibrio spp., which act as electron donors to the complexes upon periplasmic oxidation of hydrogen or formate. Future studies are required to establish the exact function of all the complexes discussed, namely, their electron donors and acceptors and their involvement in energy-conserving mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mitochondria play an important role as ATP producers through the activity of the citric acid cycle and oxidative phosphorylation, as regulators of intracellular calcium homeostasis, and producers of endogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS). Mitochondria also regulate cell death, marking the point of no return in necrosis and apoptosis. Many evidences have been raised implicating mitochondria defects as crucial mechanisms in the pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases, as well as in aging. This chapter resumes some of the findings that provide evidence for the role of mitochondria in neurodegeneration associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) and Huntington's disease (HD), two neurodegenerative disorders that cause movement disturbances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In most cases the negative impacts of climate change to aquatic ecosystems cannot be mitigated by measures in the river basin management. Ignoring climate change by the Water Framework Directive may have strong implications for the typology and quality assessment systems used for water bodies. As a result of climate change, water bodies, especially those located near the type boundaries may change their type. Compared to typology characteristics, water quality parameters are even more labile and may be easily affected by climate change. The paper exemplifies that the anticipated deterioration of water quality within the time frame relevant for WFD implementation may be large enough to endanger the fulfillment of the set water quality objectives. The review of the river basin characterization every six years, as required by the WFD, might also include re-evaluation of reference conditions according to the changes observed at pristine reference sites. As a consequence, the restoration targets (i.e., the good ecological status) would also need to be evaluated periodically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of an assessment of the ecological quality of surface waters, recent European water legislation, the water framework directive (WFD), requires the setting of environmental objectives for particular chemicals. As part of this, many European countries are choosing to develop a quality classification scheme for total phosphorus (TP) concentration. The assessment of ecological quality and its component parts, such as TP, must be based on the degree of divergence of a water body from an appropriate baseline, or ‘reference condition'. For this reason, it is important to determine TP reference conditions for all lake types, or alternatively, models for predicting reference TP concentrations on a site-specific basis. With this purpose in mind, we have assembled a large dataset of European lakes considered to be in reference condition; 567 lakes in total. Data has been collated on TP concentration, mean depth, alkalinity, humic type, altitude, area, and geographical region. Reference TP concentrations have been derived from this dataset using two empirical approaches. Firstly, lake-type specific TP reference conditions were derived simply from descriptive statistics (median and percentiles) of TP concentrations by lake type. Secondly, empirical models were developed for estimating sitespecific reference TP concentrations from a set of potential predictor variables. TP concentrations were found to vary with lake type and by geographical region. TP increased with colour and alkalinity, and decreased with lake depth and altitude. There was no clear relationship between TP and lake area. Altitude, mean depth and alkalinity were selected as independent explanatory variables for prediction of site-specific reference TP concentrations, with different models developed for humic and non-humic lakes. A simpler site-specific predictive model based solely on the morphoedaphic index (MEI) (a combination of a site's alkalinity and mean depth) was also shown to be comparably effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation, supported by parallel software and special hardware, is widely used in materials, computational chemistry and biology science. With advances in FPGA capability and inclusion of embedded multipliers, lots of studies steer to focus on FPGA-accelerated MD simulations. In this paper we make an overview on the background of MD simulations and latest FPGA-based research programs. Characteristics, major approaches and problems are introduced, and possible solutions are also discussed. Finally, some future directions of research are given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the implementation of an environment for the evolution of one-dimensional cellular automata using a reconfigurable logic device. This configware is aimed at evaluating the dynamic behavior of automata rules, generated by a computer system. The performance of the configware system was compared with an equivalent software-based approach running in a desktop computer. Results strongly suggest that such implementation is useful for research purposes and that the reconfigurable logic approach is fast and efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The alignment of multiple protein (or DNA) sequences is a current problem in Bioinformatics. ClustalW is the most popular heuristic algorithm for multiple sequence alignment. Pairwise alignment has exponential complexity and it is the most time-consuming part of ClustalW. This part of ClustalW was implemented using a reconfigurable logic hardware solution: Hardalign. The system was evaluated using data sets of different dimensionality, and compared with a pure software version running in a embedded processor, as well as running in a desktop computer. Results indicate that such implementation is capable of accelerating significantly part of the algorithm, and this is especially important for processing large protein data sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a platform for the hardware evolution of Spiking Neural Network (SNN) based robotics controllers on multiple Field Programmable Analogue Arrays (FPAAs). The SNN robotics controller, evolved using a GA, performs obstacle avoidance and navigation. A robotics simulator is used to evaluate the performance of the evolved hardware SNN. Simulated sonar data is input to FPAA neurons and the SNN returns motor control data to the simulator. Initial results indicate the emergence of effective navigation behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of object tracking is of considerable interest in the scientific community and it is still an open and active field of research. In this paper we address the comparison of two different specific purpose architectures for object tracking based on motion and colour segmentation. On one hand, we have developed a new multi-object segmentation device based on an existing optical flow estimation system. This architecture allows video tracking of fast moving objects based on high speed acquisition cameras. On the other hand, the second approach consists on real time filtering of chromatic components. Multi-object tracking is performed based on segmentation of pixel neighbourhoods according to a predefined colour. In this contribution we evaluate the two methods, comparing their performance, resource consumption and finally, we discuss which architecture fits better in different working cenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we describe an acceleration method for evolutionary systems based on Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma (IPD). In the systems, agents play IPD games with other agents, and strategies which earn more payoffs will gradually increase their ratio in the total population. Most computation time of the systems is occupied by IPD games, which are repeatedly played among the agents. In our method, repetition of moves in IPD games are detected, and payoffs by those moves are calculated at once by multipliers. In order to maximize the number of units for IPD games on one FPGA, multipliers are shared by the agents. We have implemented a system with the method on XC2VP100, and the speedup by the method is about four times compared with a system without the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we describe an FPGA implementation for solving Internet ranking algorithms. Sparse Matrix by Vector multiplication forms a major part of these algorithms. Due to memory bandwidth problems, general purpose processors only achieve a fraction of peak processing power when dealing with sparse matrices. Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have the potential to significantly improve this performance. In order to support real life Internet ranking problems a large memory is needed to store the sparse matrix. This memory requirement cannot be fulfilled with the FPGA's on-board block-RAM and SDRAM is expensive and limited in size. Commodity memory such as Double Data Rate (DDR) SDRAM is cheap and fully scalable and would appear to be the best solution. This paper discusses the possibility of a custom architecture on FPGA, for Internet ranking algorithms, using DDR SDRAM. An overview of work to date is also presented as well as a plan for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boolean satisability (SAT), known as an NP-complete problem, has many important applications. The current generation of software SAT solvers implement non-chronological backtracking and clause recording to improve their performance. However, most hardware SAT solvers do not implement these methods since the methods require a complex process to work. To hasten the solving process compared with a contemporary software SAT solver, hardware SAT solvers need to implement these methods. In this paper, we show a method for implementing these methods without a complex process and design a hardware SAT solver using this method. The experimental results indicate that it is possible to estimate a 24-80x speed increase compared with a contemporary software SAT solver in EDA problems based on a reasonable assumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Side-impact crashes have now become more important than head-on crashes, probably reflecting improvements in protecting occupants. Overtaking scenarios are one of the most dangerous situations in driving. This paper is concerned with a vision-based system on the rear-view mirror for safety in overtaking scenarios. A bio-inspired algorithm segments overtaking vehicles using motion information and rigid-body-motion criterion. The overtaking scene in the rear-view mirror is distorted due to perspective. Therefore we need to devise a way of reducing the distortion effect in order to enhance the segmentation capabilities of a vision system based on motion detection. We adopt a space variant mapping strategy. In this paper we describe a computing architecture that finely pipelines all the processing stages to achieve reliable high frame-rate processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a proposal and implementation of a reconfigurable parallel architecture, using Genetic Algorithms and applied to synthesis of combinational digital circuits. This reconfigurable parallel architecture uses concepts of computer architecture and parallel processing to obtain a scalable performance. It is developed in VHDL and implemented totally in hardware using FPGA devices. The concept of reconfigurable and parallel architecture enables an easy hardware adaptation to different project requirements. This approach allows applies with flexibility different strategies to synthesis of combinational digital circuits problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology for the design of a reconfigurable computing system applied to a complex problem in molecular Biology: the protein folding problem. An efficient hardware-based approach was devised to achieve a significant reduction of the search space of possible foldings. Several simulations were done to evaluate the performance of the system as well as the demand for FPGA's resources. Also a complete desktop-FPGA system was developed. This work is the base for future hardware implementations aimed at finding the optimal solution for protein folding problems using the 2D-HP model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many important algorithms in computational biology and related subjects rely on the ability to extract and to identify sub-graphs of larger graphs; an example is to find common functional structures within Protein Interaction Networks. However, the increasing size of both the graphs to be searched and the target sub-graphs requires the use of large numbers of parallel conventional CPUs. This paper proposes an architecture to allow acceleration of sub-graph identification through reconfigurable hardware, using a canonical graph labelling algorithm. A practical implementation of the canonical labelling algorithm in the Virtex-4 reconfigurable architecture is presented, examining the scaling of resource usage and speed with changing algorithm parameters and input data-sets. The hardware labelling unit is over 100 times faster than a quad Opteron 2.2GHz for graphs with few vertex invariants, and at least 10 times faster for graphs that are easier to label. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a stand-alone ubiquitous evolvable hardware (u-EHW) system that is effective for automated heart disease diagnosis applications. The proposed u-EHW system consists of a novel reconfigurable evolvable hardware (rEHW) chip, an evolvable embedded processor, and a hand-held terminal. Through adaptable reconfiguration of the filter components, the proposed u-EHW system can effectively remove various types of noise from ECG signals. Filtered signals are sent to a PDA for automated heart disease diagnosis, and diagnosis results with filtered signals are sent to the medical doctor's computer for final decision. The rEHW chip features FIR filter evolution capability, which is realized using a genetic algorithm. A parallel genetic algorithm evolves FIR filters to find the optimal filter combination configuration, associated parameters, and the structure of the feature space adaptively to noisy environments for adaptive signal processing. The embedded processor implements feature extraction and a classifier for each group of signal types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We describe a map-based shading unit for volumetric raycasting architectures. This is a critical part of volume rendering accelerators with respect to image quality, achievable performance, and resource consumption. The typical problem with map-based shaders is that highlights might not be rendered correctly on highly glossy surfaces due to the limited resolution of the maps. As a solution to this problem we introduce the use of detail light maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quadrature filters are widely used in the Computer Vision community because of their biological support and also because they allow an efficient coding of local features. They can be used to estimate local energy, phase, and orientation or even allow classifying image textures. The drawback of this image decomposition is that requires performing intensive pixel-wise computations which makes it impossible to use in most real-time applications. In this contribution we present a high performance architecture capable of extracting local phase, orientation and energy at a rate of 56.5 Mpps. Taking into account that FPGA resources are constrained, we have implemented a steerable filters bank (instead of Gabor filters bank) based on Second Order Gaussian derivatives. This method has the advantage that the filters are 2-D separable and each image orientation can be extracted from a basic set of seven filters. We present in this paper the proposed architecture and analyze the quantization degradation error generated by using fixed point arithmetic. We show the resources consumption, the performance and finally, we present some results from the developed system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With ever larger and more affordable storage capabilities, individuals and companies can now collect huge amounts of multimedia data, especially images. Searching such databases is still an open problem, known as content-based image retrieval (CBIR). In this paper, we present a hardware architecture based on FPGAs which aims at speeding-up visual CBIR.Our architecture is based on the unique combination of reconfigurable resources combined to Flash memory, and allows for a speed-up of 45 as compared to existing software solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a method for implementing a fast multiplier for finite fields GF(2m) generated by irreducible trinomials of the form αm + αn + 1. We propose a design based on the Mastrovito multiplier which is described by a parallel/serial architecture that computes a multiplication in m clock cycles by using only bit-adders (XORs), bit-multipliers (ANDs), and shift registers. This approach exploits symmetries and subexpression sharing in Mastrovito matrices in order to reduce the number of operations, and hence computation time in our FPGA implementation. According to preliminary performance results, our approach performs efficiently for large fields and has potential for a variety of applications, such as cryptography, coding theory, and the reverse engineering problem for genetic networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this contribution, we derive a novel parallel formulation of the standard Itoh-Tsujii algorithm for multiplicative inverse computation over GF(2m). When implemented in a Virtex 3200E FPGA device, our design is able to compute multiplicative inversion over GF(2193) after 20 clock cycles in about 0.94 μS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at comparing multiplication algorithms over $\mathbb{F}_{{p}^{m}}$on FPGA. Contrary to previous surveys providing the reader with an estimate of both area and delay in terms of XOR gates, we discuss place-and-route results which point out that the choice of an algorithm depends on the irreducible polynomial and on some architectural parameters. We designed a VHDL code generator to easily study a wide range of algorithms and parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel high-level analytical approach to estimate logic power consumption of multipliers implemented in FPGAs in the presence of glitching and correlation. The proposed methodology is based on: 1) an analytical model for the switching activity of the component, and 2) a structural analysis of the FPGA implementation of the component. The complete model is parameterized in terms of complexity factors such as word-lengths and signal statistics of the operands. It also accounts for the glitching introduced by the component. Compared to the other power estimation methods, the number of circuit simulations needed for characterizing the power model of the component is highly reduced. The accuracy of the model is within 10% of low-level power estimates given by the tool XPower and it achieves better performance than other proposed high-level approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an alternative approach for multiple word-length architecture synthesis and optimization. It is based on an iterative refinement process on operation grouping, word-length assignment and high-level synthesis. The focus is on the sub-problem of operation grouping before word-length assignment, and within iterations. Two algorithms are proposed and first results show the interest of the approach and invite for more investigations in iterative grouping procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of configurable digital circuits such as Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) increases at a very fast rate. Their fine-grain parallelism shows great similarities with connectionist models. This is the motivation for numerous works of neural network implementations on FPGAs, targeting applications such as autonomous robotics, ambulatory medical systems, etc. Nevertheless, such implementations are performed with an ASPC (Application-Specific Programmable Circuits) approach that requires a strong hardware expertise. In this paper a high-level design framework for FPGA-based implementations of neural networks from high level specifications is presented but the final goal of the project is a hardware/software codesign environment for embedded implementations of most classical neural topologies. Such a framework aims at providing the connectionist community with efficient automatic FPGA implementations of their models without any advanced knowledge of hardware. A current developed software platform, NNetWARE-Builder, handles multilayer feedforward and graphically-designed neural networks and automatically compiles them onto FPGA devices with third party synthesis tools. The internal representation of a neural model is bound to commonly used hardware computing units in a library to create the hardware model. Experimental results are presented to evaluate design and implementation tradeoffs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two critical points lie in applying loop pipelining in coarse-grained reconfigurable arrays. One is the technique of dynamically loop scheduling to achieve high pipeline throughput. The other is memory optimizing techniques to eliminate redundant memory accesses or to overlap memory accessing with computing. In this paper, we present the implementation techniques in LEAP, a coarse-grained reconfigurable array. We propose a speculative execution mechanism for dynamic loop scheduling with the goal of one iteration per cycle. We present the implementation techniques to support the decoupling between the token generator and the collector. We introduce implementation techniques in exploiting both data dependences of intra-iteration and inter-iteration. We design two instructions for special data reuses in the case of loop-carried dependences. The experimental results show the reduction in memory accesses reaches 72.8 times comparing with the approaches with no memory optimization in a RISC processor simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally, reconfigurable logic devices have been classified as fine-grained or coarse-grained devices depending on the input size of their logic cells. These architectures have conflicting characteristics, which limits their application domain for an efficient implementation. In order to solve this constraint, we propose a variable grain logic cell (VGLC) architecture that exhibits the characteristics of both fine-grained and coarse-grained cells. In this study, we investigate a VGLC structure and its mapping technique. We evaluate the capability of VGLC with respect to its critical path delay, implementation area, and configuration data bits; we propose a maximum improvement of 49.7%, 54.6%, and 48.5% in these parameters, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Instruction-Set Extensions problem has been one of the major topic in the last years and it consists of the addition of a set of new complex instructions to a given Instruction-Set. This problem in its general formulation requires an exhaustive search of the design space to identify the candidate instructions. This search turns into an exponential complexity of the solution. In this paper we propose an efficient linear complexity algorithm for the automatic generation of convex Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) instructions, whose convexity is theoretically guaranteed. The proposed approach is not restricted to basic-block level and does not impose limitations either on the number of input and/or output, or on the number of new instructions generated. Our results show a significant overall application speedup (up to x2.9 for ADPCM decoder) considering the linear complexity of the proposed solution and which therefore compares well with other state-of-art algorithms for automatic instruction set extensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]