@inproceedings{789, abstract = {The problem of efficient concurrent memory reclamation in unmanaged languages such as C or C++ is one of the major challenges facing the parallelization of billions of lines of legacy code. Garbage collectors for C/C++ can be inefficient; thus, programmers are often forced to use finely-crafted concurrent memory reclamation techniques. These techniques can provide good performance, but require considerable programming effort to deploy, and have strict requirements, allowing the programmer very little room for error. In this work, we present Forkscan, a new conservative concurrent memory reclamation scheme which is fully automatic and surprisingly scalable. Forkscan's semantics place it between automatic garbage collectors (it requires the programmer to explicitly retire nodes before they can be reclaimed), and concurrent memory reclamation techniques (as it does not assume that nodes are completely unlinked from the data structure for correctness). Forkscan's implementation exploits these new semantics for efficiency: we leverage parallelism and optimized implementations of signaling and copy-on-write in modern operating systems to efficiently obtain and process consistent snapshots of memory that can be scanned concurrently with the normal program operation. Empirical evaluation on a range of classical concurrent data structure microbenchmarks shows that Forkscan can preserve the scalability of the original code, while maintaining an order of magnitude lower latency than automatic garbage collection, and demonstrating competitive performance with finely crafted memory reclamation techniques.}, author = {Alistarh, Dan-Adrian and Leiserson, William and Matveev, Alexander and Shavit, Nir}, pages = {483 -- 498}, publisher = {ACM}, title = {{Forkscan: Conservative memory reclamation for modern operating systems}}, doi = {10.1145/3064176.3064214}, year = {2017}, } @inproceedings{790, abstract = {Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) is a commonly used algorithm for training linear machine learning models. Based on vector algebra, it benefits from the inherent parallelism available in an FPGA. In this paper, we first present a single-precision floating-point SGD implementation on an FPGA that provides similar performance as a 10-core CPU. We then adapt the design to make it capable of processing low-precision data. The low-precision data is obtained from a novel compression scheme - called stochastic quantization, specifically designed for machine learning applications. We test both full-precision and low-precision designs on various regression and classification data sets. We achieve up to an order of magnitude training speedup when using low-precision data compared to a full-precision SGD on the same FPGA and a state-of-the-art multi-core solution, while maintaining the quality of training. We open source the designs presented in this paper.}, author = {Kara, Kaan and Alistarh, Dan-Adrian and Alonso, Gustavo and Mutlu, Onur and Zhang, Ce}, pages = {160 -- 167}, publisher = {IEEE}, title = {{FPGA-accelerated dense linear machine learning: A precision-convergence trade-off}}, doi = {10.1109/FCCM.2017.39}, year = {2017}, } @inproceedings{791, abstract = {Consider the following random process: we are given n queues, into which elements of increasing labels are inserted uniformly at random. To remove an element, we pick two queues at random, and remove the element of lower label (higher priority) among the two. The cost of a removal is the rank of the label removed, among labels still present in any of the queues, that is, the distance from the optimal choice at each step. Variants of this strategy are prevalent in state-of-the-art concurrent priority queue implementations. Nonetheless, it is not known whether such implementations provide any rank guarantees, even in a sequential model. We answer this question, showing that this strategy provides surprisingly strong guarantees: Although the single-choice process, where we always insert and remove from a single randomly chosen queue, has degrading cost, going to infinity as we increase the number of steps, in the two choice process, the expected rank of a removed element is O(n) while the expected worst-case cost is O(n log n). These bounds are tight, and hold irrespective of the number of steps for which we run the process. The argument is based on a new technical connection between "heavily loaded" balls-into-bins processes and priority scheduling. Our analytic results inspire a new concurrent priority queue implementation, which improves upon the state of the art in terms of practical performance.}, author = {Alistarh, Dan-Adrian and Kopinsky, Justin and Li, Jerry and Nadiradze, Giorgi}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing}, isbn = {978-145034992-5}, location = {Washington, WA, USA}, pages = {283 -- 292}, publisher = {ACM}, title = {{The power of choice in priority scheduling}}, doi = {10.1145/3087801.3087810}, volume = {Part F129314}, year = {2017}, } @article{792, abstract = {The chaotic dynamics of low-dimensional systems, such as Lorenz or Rössler flows, is guided by the infinity of periodic orbits embedded in their strange attractors. Whether this is also the case for the infinite-dimensional dynamics of Navier–Stokes equations has long been speculated, and is a topic of ongoing study. Periodic and relative periodic solutions have been shown to be involved in transitions to turbulence. Their relevance to turbulent dynamics – specifically, whether periodic orbits play the same role in high-dimensional nonlinear systems like the Navier–Stokes equations as they do in lower-dimensional systems – is the focus of the present investigation. We perform here a detailed study of pipe flow relative periodic orbits with energies and mean dissipations close to turbulent values. We outline several approaches to reduction of the translational symmetry of the system. We study pipe flow in a minimal computational cell at Re=2500, and report a library of invariant solutions found with the aid of the method of slices. Detailed study of the unstable manifolds of a sample of these solutions is consistent with the picture that relative periodic orbits are embedded in the chaotic saddle and that they guide the turbulent dynamics.}, author = {Budanur, Nazmi B and Short, Kimberly and Farazmand, Mohammad and Willis, Ashley and Cvitanović, Predrag}, issn = {00221120}, journal = {Journal of Fluid Mechanics}, pages = {274 -- 301}, publisher = {Cambridge University Press}, title = {{Relative periodic orbits form the backbone of turbulent pipe flow}}, doi = {10.1017/jfm.2017.699}, volume = {833}, year = {2017}, } @article{793, abstract = {Let P be a finite point set in the plane. A cordinary triangle in P is a subset of P consisting of three non-collinear points such that each of the three lines determined by the three points contains at most c points of P . Motivated by a question of Erdös, and answering a question of de Zeeuw, we prove that there exists a constant c > 0such that P contains a c-ordinary triangle, provided that P is not contained in the union of two lines. Furthermore, the number of c-ordinary triangles in P is Ω(| P |). }, author = {Fulek, Radoslav and Mojarrad, Hossein and Naszódi, Márton and Solymosi, József and Stich, Sebastian and Szedlák, May}, issn = {09257721}, journal = {Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications}, pages = {28 -- 31}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{On the existence of ordinary triangles}}, doi = {10.1016/j.comgeo.2017.07.002}, volume = {66}, year = {2017}, } @article{794, abstract = {We show that c-planarity is solvable in quadratic time for flat clustered graphs with three clusters if the combinatorial embedding of the underlying graph is fixed. In simpler graph-theoretical terms our result can be viewed as follows. Given a graph G with the vertex set partitioned into three parts embedded on a 2-sphere, our algorithm decides if we can augment G by adding edges without creating an edge-crossing so that in the resulting spherical graph the vertices of each part induce a connected sub-graph. We proceed by a reduction to the problem of testing the existence of a perfect matching in planar bipartite graphs. We formulate our result in a slightly more general setting of cyclic clustered graphs, i.e., the simple graph obtained by contracting each cluster, where we disregard loops and multi-edges, is a cycle.}, author = {Fulek, Radoslav}, journal = {Computational Geometry: Theory and Applications}, pages = {1 -- 13}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{C-planarity of embedded cyclic c-graphs}}, doi = {10.1016/j.comgeo.2017.06.016}, volume = {66}, year = {2017}, } @article{795, abstract = {We introduce a common generalization of the strong Hanani–Tutte theorem and the weak Hanani–Tutte theorem: if a graph G has a drawing D in the plane where every pair of independent edges crosses an even number of times, then G has a planar drawing preserving the rotation of each vertex whose incident edges cross each other evenly in D. The theorem is implicit in the proof of the strong Hanani–Tutte theorem by Pelsmajer, Schaefer and Štefankovič. We give a new, somewhat simpler proof.}, author = {Fulek, Radoslav and Kynčl, Jan and Pálvölgyi, Dömötör}, issn = {10778926}, journal = {Electronic Journal of Combinatorics}, number = {3}, publisher = {International Press}, title = {{Unified Hanani Tutte theorem}}, doi = {10.37236/6663}, volume = {24}, year = {2017}, } @article{796, abstract = {We present the fabrication and characterization of an aluminum transmon qubit on a silicon-on-insulator substrate. Key to the qubit fabrication is the use of an anhydrous hydrofluoric vapor process which selectively removes the lossy silicon oxide buried underneath the silicon device layer. For a 5.6 GHz qubit measured dispersively by a 7.1 GHz resonator, we find T1 = 3.5 μs and T∗2 = 2.2 μs. This process in principle permits the co-fabrication of silicon photonic and mechanical elements, providing a route towards chip-scale integration of electro-opto-mechanical transducers for quantum networking of superconducting microwave quantum circuits. The additional processing steps are compatible with established fabrication techniques for aluminum transmon qubits on silicon.}, author = {Keller, Andrew J and Dieterle, Paul and Fang, Michael and Berger, Brett and Fink, Johannes M and Painter, Oskar}, issn = {00036951}, journal = {Applied Physics Letters}, number = {4}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, title = {{Al transmon qubits on silicon on insulator for quantum device integration}}, doi = {10.1063/1.4994661}, volume = {111}, year = {2017}, } @article{797, abstract = {Phasenübergänge helfen beim Verständnis von Vielteilchensystemen in der Festkörperphysik und Fluiddynamik bis hin zur Teilchenphysik. Unserer internationalen Kollaboration ist es gelungen, einen neuartigen Phasenübergang in einem Quantensystem zu beobachten [1]. In einem Mikrowellenresonator konnte erstmals die spontane Zustandsänderung von undurchsichtig zu transparent nachgewiesen werden.}, author = {Fink, Johannes M}, journal = {Physik in unserer Zeit}, number = {3}, pages = {111 -- 113}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Photonenblockade aufgelöst}}, doi = {10.1002/piuz.201770305}, volume = {48}, year = {2017}, } @article{798, abstract = {Nonreciprocal circuit elements form an integral part of modern measurement and communication systems. Mathematically they require breaking of time-reversal symmetry, typically achieved using magnetic materials and more recently using the quantum Hall effect, parametric permittivity modulation or Josephson nonlinearities. Here we demonstrate an on-chip magnetic-free circulator based on reservoir-engineered electromechanic interactions. Directional circulation is achieved with controlled phase-sensitive interference of six distinct electro-mechanical signal conversion paths. The presented circulator is compact, its silicon-on-insulator platform is compatible with both superconducting qubits and silicon photonics, and its noise performance is close to the quantum limit. With a high dynamic range, a tunable bandwidth of up to 30 MHz and an in situ reconfigurability as beam splitter or wavelength converter, it could pave the way for superconducting qubit processors with multiplexed on-chip signal processing and readout.}, author = {Barzanjeh, Shabir and Wulf, Matthias and Peruzzo, Matilda and Kalaee, Mahmoud and Dieterle, Paul and Painter, Oskar and Fink, Johannes M}, issn = {20411723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, number = {1}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, title = {{Mechanical on chip microwave circulator}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-017-01304-x}, volume = {8}, year = {2017}, } @inbook{7980, abstract = {In this part, the use of polysaccharides, either directly through composite approaches, or by carbonization will be described. In many cases, materials are obtained which are competitive in terms of capacitance and cycle lifetime. In this part, the use of polysaccharides, either directly through composite approaches, or by carbonization will be described. In many cases, materials are obtained which are competitive in terms of capacitance and cycle lifetime. The following part will focus mainly on cellulosic composites with conductive polymers since cellulose is most abundant and therefore has attracted much more research interest in this field whereas in the second part also other polysaccharides, such as chitin, xylans, alginates, pectins, dextrans and caragenaans have been used in carbonization experiments.}, author = {Yee Liew, Soon and Thielemans, Wim and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander and Spirk, Stefan}, booktitle = {Polysaccharide Based Supercapacitors}, editor = {Yee Liew, Soon and Thielemans, Wim and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander and Spirk, Stefan}, isbn = {9783319507538}, issn = {2191-5407}, pages = {15--53}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Polysaccharides in supercapacitors}}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-50754-5_2}, year = {2017}, } @article{7981, abstract = {Aprotische Natrium‐O2‐Batterien basieren auf der reversiblen Bildung und Auflösung von Natriumsuperoxid (NaO2) während des Zellbetriebs. Nebenreaktionen des Elektrolyten und der Elektrode mit dem stark nukleophilen und basischen NaO2 führen zu mangelhafter Zyklenstabilität. Seine Reaktivität allein kann die Nebenreaktionen und schlechte Reversibilität jedoch nicht schlüssig erklären. Hier wird gezeigt, dass Singulett‐Sauerstoff (1O2) in allen Phasen des Betriebs entsteht und eine Hauptursache für Nebenreaktionen ist. 1O2 wurde in situ und ex situ mit einem 1O2‐Fänger detektiert, der schnell und selektiv ein Addukt mit 1O2 bildet. Mechanistisch betrachtet entsteht 1O2 entweder durch protonenunterstützte Disproportionierung von Superoxid während des Entladens, Lagerns und Ladens unter ca. 3.3 V oder durch direkte elektrochemische 1O2‐Entwicklung über ca. 3.3 V. Spuren von Wasser ermöglichen hohe Kapazitäten, beschleunigen aber auch Nebenreaktionen. Daher muss das hochreaktive 1O2 unbedingt kontrolliert werden, um die Zelle reversibel zu betreiben.}, author = {Schafzahl, Lukas and Mahne, Nika and Schafzahl, Bettina and Wilkening, Martin and Slugovc, Christian and Borisov, Sergey M. and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander}, issn = {0044-8249}, journal = {Angewandte Chemie}, number = {49}, pages = {15934--15938}, publisher = {Wiley}, title = {{Singulett-Sauerstoff in der aprotischen Natrium-O2-Batterie}}, doi = {10.1002/ange.201709351}, volume = {129}, year = {2017}, } @article{7982, abstract = {Beyond-intercalation batteries promise a step-change in energy storage compared to intercalation-based lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries. However, only performance metrics that include all cell components and operation parameters can tell whether a true advance over intercalation batteries has been achieved.}, author = {Freunberger, Stefan Alexander}, issn = {2058-7546}, journal = {Nature Energy}, number = {7}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{True performance metrics in beyond-intercalation batteries}}, doi = {10.1038/nenergy.2017.91}, volume = {2}, year = {2017}, } @article{7986, author = {Mahne, Nika and Schafzahl, Bettina and Leypold, Christian and Leypold, Mario and Grumm, Sandra and Leitgeb, Anita and Strohmeier, Gernot A. and Wilkening, Martin and Fontaine, Olivier and Kramer, Denis and Slugovc, Christian and Borisov, Sergey M. and Freunberger, Stefan Alexander}, issn = {2058-7546}, journal = {Nature Energy}, number = {5}, publisher = {Springer Nature}, title = {{Singlet oxygen generation as a major cause for parasitic reactions during cycling of aprotic lithium–oxygen batteries}}, doi = {10.1038/nenergy.2017.36}, volume = {2}, year = {2017}, } @article{799, abstract = {Membrane traffic at the trans-Golgi network (TGN) is crucial for correctly distributing various membrane proteins to their destination. Polarly localized auxin efflux proteins, including PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1), are dynamically transported between the endosomes and the plasma membrane (PM) in the plant cells. The intracellular trafficking of PIN1 protein is sensitive to a fungal toxin brefeldin A (BFA), which is known to inhibit guanine-nucleotide exchange factors for ADP ribosylation factors (ARF GEFs) such as GNOM. However, the molecular details of the BFA-sensitive trafficking pathway have not been revealed fully. In a previous study, we have identified an Arabidopsis mutant BFA-visualized endocytic trafficking defective 3 (ben3) which exhibited reduced sensitivity to BFA in terms of BFA-induced intracellular PIN1 agglomeration. Here, we show that BEN3 encodes a member of BIG family ARF GEFs, BIG2. Fluorescent proteins tagged BEN3/BIG2 co-localized with markers for TGN / early endosome (EE). Inspection of conditionally induced de novo synthesized PIN1 confirmed that its secretion to the PM is BFA-sensitive and established BEN3/BIG2 as a crucial component of this BFA action at the level of TGN/EE. Furthermore, ben3 mutation alleviated BFA-induced agglomeration of another TGN-localized ARF GEF BEN1/MIN7. Taken together our results suggest that BEN3/BIG2 is an ARF GEF component, which confers BFA sensitivity to the TGN/EE in Arabidopsis.}, author = {Kitakura, Saeko and Adamowski, Maciek and Matsuura, Yuki and Santuari, Luca and Kouno, Hirotaka and Arima, Kohei and Hardtke, Christian and Friml, Jirí and Kakimoto, Tatsuo and Tanaka, Hirokazu}, issn = {00320781}, journal = {Plant and Cell Physiology}, number = {10}, publisher = {Oxford University Press}, title = {{BEN3/BIG2 ARF GEF is involved in brefeldin a-sensitive trafficking at the trans-Golgi network/early endosome in Arabidopsis thaliana}}, doi = {10.1093/pcp/pcx118}, volume = {58}, year = {2017}, } @article{800, abstract = {Gamma oscillations (30–150 Hz) in neuronal networks are associated with the processing and recall of information. We measured local field potentials in the dentate gyrus of freely moving mice and found that gamma activity occurs in bursts, which are highly heterogeneous in their spatial extensions, ranging from focal to global coherent events. Synaptic communication among perisomatic-inhibitory interneurons (PIIs) is thought to play an important role in the generation of hippocampal gamma patterns. However, how neuronal circuits can generate synchronous oscillations at different spatial scales is unknown. We analyzed paired recordings in dentate gyrus slices and show that synaptic signaling at interneuron-interneuron synapses is distance dependent. Synaptic strength declines whereas the duration of inhibitory signals increases with axonal distance among interconnected PIIs. Using neuronal network modeling, we show that distance-dependent inhibition generates multiple highly synchronous focal gamma bursts allowing the network to process complex inputs in parallel in flexibly organized neuronal centers.}, author = {Strüber, Michael and Sauer, Jonas and Jonas, Peter M and Bartos, Marlene}, issn = {20411723}, journal = {Nature Communications}, number = {1}, publisher = {Nature Publishing Group}, title = {{Distance-dependent inhibition facilitates focality of gamma oscillations in the dentate gyrus}}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-017-00936-3}, volume = {8}, year = {2017}, } @article{8016, abstract = {Long-term modifications of neuronal connections are critical for reliable memory storage in the brain. However, their locus of expression—pre- or postsynaptic—is highly variable. Here we introduce a theoretical framework in which long-term plasticity performs an optimization of the postsynaptic response statistics toward a given mean with minimal variance. Consequently, the state of the synapse at the time of plasticity induction determines the ratio of pre- and postsynaptic modifications. Our theory explains the experimentally observed expression loci of the hippocampal and neocortical synaptic potentiation studies we examined. Moreover, the theory predicts presynaptic expression of long-term depression, consistent with experimental observations. At inhibitory synapses, the theory suggests a statistically efficient excitatory-inhibitory balance in which changes in inhibitory postsynaptic response statistics specifically target the mean excitation. Our results provide a unifying theory for understanding the expression mechanisms and functions of long-term synaptic transmission plasticity.}, author = {Costa, Rui Ponte and Padamsey, Zahid and D’Amour, James A. and Emptage, Nigel J. and Froemke, Robert C. and Vogels, Tim P}, issn = {0896-6273}, journal = {Neuron}, number = {1}, pages = {177--189.e7}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Synaptic transmission optimization predicts expression loci of long-term plasticity}}, doi = {10.1016/j.neuron.2017.09.021}, volume = {96}, year = {2017}, } @article{8017, abstract = {nhibitory neurons, although relatively few in number, exert powerful control over brain circuits. They stabilize network activity in the face of strong feedback excitation and actively engage in computations. Recent studies reveal the importance of a precise balance of excitation and inhibition in neural circuits, which often requires exquisite fine-tuning of inhibitory connections. We review inhibitory synaptic plasticity and its roles in shaping both feedforward and feedback control. We discuss the necessity of complex, codependent plasticity mechanisms to build nontrivial, functioning networks, and we end by summarizing experimental evidence of such interactions.}, author = {Hennequin, Guillaume and Agnes, Everton J. and Vogels, Tim P}, issn = {0147-006X}, journal = {Annual Review of Neuroscience}, number = {1}, pages = {557--579}, publisher = {Annual Reviews}, title = {{Inhibitory plasticity: Balance, control, and codependence}}, doi = {10.1146/annurev-neuro-072116-031005}, volume = {40}, year = {2017}, } @article{8018, abstract = {Nervous systems use excitatory cell assemblies to encode and represent sensory percepts. Similarly, synaptically connected cell assemblies or "engrams" are thought to represent memories of past experience. Multiple lines of recent evidence indicate that brain systems create and use inhibitory replicas of excitatory representations for important cognitive functions. Such matched "inhibitory engrams" can form through homeostatic potentiation of inhibition onto postsynaptic cells that show increased levels of excitation. Inhibitory engrams can reduce behavioral responses to familiar stimuli, thereby resulting in behavioral habituation. In addition, by preventing inappropriate activation of excitatory memory engrams, inhibitory engrams can make memories quiescent, stored in a latent form that is available for context-relevant activation. In neural networks with balanced excitatory and inhibitory engrams, the release of innate responses and recall of associative memories can occur through focused disinhibition. Understanding mechanisms that regulate the formation and expression of inhibitory engrams in vivo may help not only to explain key features of cognition but also to provide insight into transdiagnostic traits associated with psychiatric conditions such as autism, schizophrenia, and posttraumatic stress disorder. }, author = {Barron, Helen C. and Vogels, Tim P and Behrens, Timothy E. and Ramaswami, Mani}, issn = {1091-6490}, journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, number = {26}, pages = {6666--6674}, publisher = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences}, title = {{Inhibitory engrams in perception and memory}}, doi = {10.1073/pnas.1701812114}, volume = {114}, year = {2017}, } @article{8019, abstract = {Synaptic plasticity is essential for the function of neural systems. It sets up initial circuitry and adjusts connection strengths according to the maintenance requirements of its host networks. Like all things biological, synaptic plasticity must rely on genetic programs to provide the molecular components of its machinery to integrate ongoing, often multi-sensory experience without destabilising effects. Because of its fundamental importance to healthy behaviour, understanding plasticity is thought to hold the key to understanding the brain. There are innumerable ways to approach this topic and a complete review of its status quo would be impossible. In the current issue we dig into some of the finer points of synaptic plasticity, starting small, at the level of genes, and slowly zooming out to synapses, populations of synapses, and finally entire systems and brain regions. At each level, we tried to represent different perspectives, different systems, and approaches to the same questions to give a broad sampling of how synaptic plasticity is being studied.}, author = {Vogels, Tim P and Griffith, Leslie C}, issn = {0959-4388}, journal = {Current Opinion in Neurobiology}, pages = {A1--A5}, publisher = {Elsevier}, title = {{Editorial overview: Neurobiology of learning and plasticity 2017}}, doi = {10.1016/j.conb.2017.04.002}, volume = {43}, year = {2017}, }