Search

Geometric multigrid solvers within adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) applications often reach a point where further coarsening of the grid becomes impractical as individual sub domain sizes approach unity. At this point the most common solution is to use a bottom solver, such as BiCGStab, to reduce the residual by a fixed factor at the coarsest level. Each iteration of BiCGStab requires multiple global reductions (MPI collectives). As the number of BiCGStab iterations required for convergence grows with problem size, and the time for each collective operation increases with machine scale, bottom solves in large-scale applications can constitute a significant fraction of the overall multigrid solve time. In this paper, we implement, evaluate, and optimize a communication-avoiding s-step formulation of BiCGStab (CABiCGStab for short) as a high-performance, distributed-memory bottom solver for geometric multigrid solvers. This is the first time s-step Krylov subspace methods have been leveraged to improve multigrid bottom solver performance. We use a synthetic benchmark for detailed analysis and integrate the best implementation into BoxLib in order to evaluate the benefit of a s-step Krylov subspace method on the multigrid solves found in the applications LMC and Nyx on up to 32,768 cores on the Cray XE6 at NERSC. Overall, we see bottom solver improvements of up to 4.2x on synthetic problems and up to 2.7x in real applications. This results in as much as a 1.5x improvement in solver performance in real applications. © 2014 IEEE.

This study aimed to: (a) promote reading comprehension skills among middle school English Language Learners (ELL) and (b) determine whether Collaborative Strategic Reading (CSR) or Reciprocal Teaching (RT) was more effective for promoting reading comprehension. In total, 55 ELL students, ages 12-14, were conveniently sampled into one of two cooperative learning technique interventions. Classroom A received CSR instruction while Classroom B received RT. Interventions occurred biweekly for six weeks. A quasi-experimental pre-test, post-test research design was utilized whereby the effects of CSR and RT were investigated based on participants' reading comprehension assessment scores. Pre-test results indicated that CSR participants had an average score of 69.56%, while the RT students averaged 66.57%. At a = .05, there was no significant difference between the CSR and RT groups at pre-test (p = .42). Then, students in each group received 10 treatment sessions entailing approximately eight hours. The post-test assessment was completed during session 12. Posttest analysis revealed an increase in total score for the CSR group (M = 5.11), and this growth is attributed to the improvement in the vocabulary subtest (M = 16.83), implying that CSR was beneficial in promoting vocabulary skills. The RT group experienced no statistically significant gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Short-term consumption of a high-fat diet impairs exercise capacity in both rats and humans, and increases expression of the mitochondrial uncoupling protein, UCP3, in rodent cardiac and skeletal muscle via activation of the transcription factor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α (PPARα). Unlike long-chain fatty acids however, medium-chain fatty acids do not activate PPARα and do not increase muscle UCP3 expression. We therefore investigated exercise performance and cardiac mitochondrial function in rats fed a chow diet (7.5% kcal from fat), a long-chain triglyceride (LCT) rich diet (46% kcal from LCTs) or a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) rich diet (46% kcal from MCTs). Rats fed the LCT-rich diet for 15 days ran 55% less far than they did at baseline, whereas rats fed the chow or MCT-rich diets neither improved nor worsened in their exercise capacities. Moreover, consumption of an LCT-rich diet increased cardiac UCP3 expression by 35% and decreased oxidative phosphorylation efficiency, whereas consumption of the MCT-rich diet altered neither UCP3 expression nor oxidative phosphorylation efficiency. Our results suggest that the negative effects of short-term high-fat feeding on exercise performance are predominantly mediated by long-chain rather than medium-chain fatty acids, possibly via PPARα-dependent upregulation of UCP3.

Activation of the adrenergic system in response to hypoglycemia is important for proper recovery from low glucose levels. However, it has been suggested that repeated adrenergic stimulation may also contribute to counterregulatory failure, but the underlying mechanisms are not known. The aim of this study was to establish whether repeated activation of noradrenergic receptors in the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) contributes to blunting of the counterregulatory response by enhancing local lactate production. The VMH of nondiabetic rats were infused with either artificial extracellular fluid, norepinephrine (NE), or salbutamol for 3 hours/day for 3 consecutive days before they underwent a hypoglycemic clamp with microdialysis to monitor changes in VMH lactate levels. Repeated exposure to NE or salbutamol suppressed both the glucagon and epinephrine responses to hypoglycemia compared to controls. Furthermore, antecedent NE and salbutamol treatments raised extracellular lactate levels in the VMH. To determine whether the elevated lactate levels were responsible for impairing the hormone response, we pharmacologically inhibited neuronal lactate transport in a subgroup of NE-treated rats during the clamp. Blocking neuronal lactate utilization improved the counterregulatory hormone responses in NE-treated animals, suggesting that repeated activation of VMH β2-adrenergic receptors increases local lactate levels which in turn, suppresses the counterregulatory hormone response to hypoglycemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Yeast, in particular Candida albicans, are the principal fungal cause of denture stomatitis, and can also be present as a commensal in many individuals. Few studies, however, have examined oral retention of yeast strains over time. We analyzed the yeast present in saliva samples and from the dentures of 10 individuals colonized with yeast but with no signs of stomatitis, before new complete maxillary dentures were fitted and also at 1, 3, and 6 months after denture replacement. Yeast species were presumptively identified on selective agar plates and were present in nine individuals before denture replacement and in six at the 6-month time point. C. albicans was detected in seven individuals pre-replacement, and in three by 6 months post-replacement. Sixty-two isolates (up to five from each C. albicans-positive sample) were analyzed by multilocus sequence typing (MLST) (33 from saliva and 29 from dentures). Six MLST allele profiles were identified that were common to several individuals. These profiles included three previously reported diploid sequence types (DSTs) and three novel DSTs. Two of the novel DSTs were closely related variants of a previously reported DST, and both showed loss of heterozygosity polymorphisms within one of the seven MLST gene sequences. For three individuals, at least one DST that was present before denture replacement was still detected in either saliva or on dentures at subsequent sampling times. Our results indicate that denture replacement reduces but does not remove, colonising yeast and confirm previous observations of C. albicans strain microevolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]