Designers have invested much effort in developing accurate branch predictors. To maintain accuracy, current processors update the predictor regularly and frequently. Although this aggressive approach helps to achieve high accuracy, for a large number of branches, quite often, updating the branch predictor unit is unnecessary as there is already enough information available to the predictor to p...

It has been shown in past research that pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) quality can impact the performance of simple genetic algorithms (GAs). However, standard empirical tests of random generator quality are not good predictors of when such impacts are likely to occur. In this paper, we introduce a new test of random generator quality, tailored to specific instances of a simple GA. This ...

This study aimed to analyze the genetic variability of 323 accessions of the Active Germplasm Bank (BAG) of Coffea canephora of the Institute for Research, Technical Assistance and Rural Extension of Espírito Santo (Incaper) using 38 quantitative phenotypic characters. The standardized average Euclidean distance between the accessions was estimated to generate a statistical distance matrix and,...

Abstract. This paper presents a new edge-swap heuristic for generating spanning trees with a minimum number of branch vertices, i.e. vertices of degree greater than two. This problem was introduced in Gargano et al. (2002) and has been called the minimum branch vertices (MBV) problem by Cerulli et al. (2009). The heuristic starts with a random spanning tree and iteratively reduces the number of...

We introduce another view of sequence evolution. Contrary to other approaches, we model the substitution process in two steps. First we assume (arbitrary) scaled branch lengths on a given phylogenetic tree. Second we allocate a Poisson distributed number of substitutions on the branches. The probability to place a mutation on a branch is proportional to its relative branch length. More importan...

the effect of shoot pruning (2, 3 and 4 branches per plant) and fruit position selection (on main branch vs on main and lateral branches) on yield and qualitative characteristics of two greenhouse grown pepper (capsicum annuum l.) cultivars (torkal and paramo) was studied through a factorial experiment arranged in a completely randomized block design, of three replications. results indicated th...

A new exact approach to the stable set problem is presented, which attempts to avoid the pitfalls of existing approaches based on linear and semidefinite programming. The method begins by constructing an ellipsoid that contains the stable set polytope and has the property that the upper bound obtained by optimising over it is equal to the Lovász theta number. This ellipsoid can then be used to ...

The paper describes a procedure for mixed integer programming that allows branches to be imposed 'by degrees', which can subsequently be revised or weeded out according to their relative influence. It is an adaptive approach in which the branch and bound tree can be maillipulated and rl'Structured. The approach also yields measures of the costs of imposing the branches that lead to integer solu...

Branch Prediction is an important factor in achieving high performance in modern microprocessors. Branch predictors are used to keep pipeline filled with instructions before the outcome of the branch condition is known. On the other hand, branch misprediction halts fetching of useful instructions. The situation becomes worse when we take into account the cache pollution a branch misprediction c...

This paper investigates how dynamic branch prediction in a microprocessor affects the predictability of execution time for software running on that processor. By means of experiments on a number of real processors employing various forms of branch prediction, we evaluate the impact of branch predictors on execution time predictability. The results indicate that dynamic branch predictors give a ...