On the Easy Use of Scientific Computing Services for Large Scale Linear Algebra and Parallel Decision Making with the P-Grade Portal

International audienceScientific research is becoming increasingly dependent on the large-scale analysis of data using distributed computing infrastructures (Grid, cloud, GPU, etc.). Scientific computing (Petitet et al. 1999) aims at constructing mathematical models and numerical solution techniques for solving problems arising in science and engineering. In this paper, we describe the services of an integrated portal based on the P-Grade (Parallel Grid Run-time and Application Development Environment) portal (http://www.p-grade.hu) that enables the solution of large-scale linear systems of equations using direct solvers, makes easier the use of parallel block iterative algorithm and provides an interface for parallel decision making algorithms. The ultimate goal is to develop a single sign on integrated multi-service environment providing an easy access to different kind of mathematical calculations and algorithms to be performed on hybrid distributed computing infrastructures combining the benefits of large clusters, Grid or cloud, when needed

Spationomy

This open access book is based on "Spationomy – Spatial Exploration of Economic Data", an interdisciplinary and international project in the frame of ERASMUS+ funded by the European Union. The project aims to exchange interdisciplinary knowledge in the fields of economics and geomatics. For the newly introduced courses, interdisciplinary learning materials have been developed by a team of lecturers from four different universities in three countries. In a first study block, students were taught methods from the two main research fields. Afterwards, the knowledge gained had to be applied in a project. For this international project, teams were formed, consisting of one student from each university participating in the project. The achieved results were presented in a summer school a few months later. At this event, more methodological knowledge was imparted to prepare students for a final simulation game about spatial and economic decision making. In a broader sense, the chapters will present the methodological background of the project, give case studies and show how visualisation and the simulation game works

Design and implementation of a cloud computing service for finite element analysis

This paper presents an end-to-end discussion on the technical issues related to the design and implementation of a new cloud computing service for finite element analysis (FEA). The focus is specifically on performance characterization of linear and nonlinear mechanical structural analysis workloads over multi-core and multi-node computing resources. We first analyze and observe that accurate job characterization, tuning of multi-threading parameters and effective multi-core/node scheduling are critical for service performance. We design a “smart” scheduler that can dynamically select some of the required parameters, partition the load and schedule it in a resource-aware manner. We can achieve up to 7.53× performance improvement over an aggressive scheduler using mixed FEA loads. We also discuss critical issues related to the data privacy, security, accounting, and portability of the cloud service.European Commission ; IBM Shared University Research (SUR) program ; TÜBİTAK ; IBM PhD Fellowship awardpost-prin

Design and implementation of a cloud computing service for finite element analysis

This paper presents an end-to-end discussion on the technical issues related to the design and implementation of a new cloud computing service for finite element analysis (FEA). The focus is specifically on performance characterization of linear and nonlinear mechanical structural analysis workloads over multi-core and multi-node computing resources. We first analyze and observe that accurate job characterization, tuning of multi-threading parameters and effective multi-core/node scheduling are critical for service performance. We design a “smart” scheduler that can dynamically select some of the required parameters, partition the load and schedule it in a resource-aware manner. We can achieve up to 7.53× performance improvement over an aggressive scheduler using mixed FEA loads. We also discuss critical issues related to the data privacy, security, accounting, and portability of the cloud service.European Commission ; IBM Shared University Research (SUR) program ; TÜBİTAK ; IBM PhD Fellowship awardpost-prin

Spationomy

This open access book is based on "Spationomy – Spatial Exploration of Economic Data", an interdisciplinary and international project in the frame of ERASMUS+ funded by the European Union. The project aims to exchange interdisciplinary knowledge in the fields of economics and geomatics. For the newly introduced courses, interdisciplinary learning materials have been developed by a team of lecturers from four different universities in three countries. In a first study block, students were taught methods from the two main research fields. Afterwards, the knowledge gained had to be applied in a project. For this international project, teams were formed, consisting of one student from each university participating in the project. The achieved results were presented in a summer school a few months later. At this event, more methodological knowledge was imparted to prepare students for a final simulation game about spatial and economic decision making. In a broader sense, the chapters will present the methodological background of the project, give case studies and show how visualisation and the simulation game works

Proceedings of the 3rd Open Source Geospatial Research & Education Symposium OGRS 2014

The third Open Source Geospatial Research & Education Symposium (OGRS) was held in Helsinki, Finland, on 10 to 13 June 2014. The symposium was hosted and organized by the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Aalto University School of Engineering, in partnership with the OGRS Community, on the Espoo campus of Aalto University. These proceedings contain the 20 papers presented at the symposium. OGRS is a meeting dedicated to exchanging ideas in and results from the development and use of open source geospatial software in both research and education.  The symposium offers several opportunities for discussing, learning, and presenting results, principles, methods and practices while supporting a primary theme: how to carry out research and educate academic students using, contributing to, and launching open source geospatial initiatives. Participating in open source initiatives can potentially boost innovation as a value creating process requiring joint collaborations between academia, foundations, associations, developer communities and industry. Additionally, open source software can improve the efficiency and impact of university education by introducing open and freely usable tools and research results to students, and encouraging them to get involved in projects. This may eventually lead to new community projects and businesses. The symposium contributes to the validation of the open source model in research and education in geoinformatics