28,548 research outputs found
Exploiting P2P in the Creation of Game Worlds
Peer-to-peer networks are a promising platform for supporting entirely decentralized, distributed multi-user gaming; however, multi-player games typically require highly predictable performance from the underlying network. This is at odds with the inherently unreliable nature of peer-to-peer environments. Existing approaches to providing peer-to-peer support for multi-player gaming focus on compensating for the unpredictability of the underlying network. We propose that rather than trying to compensate for these factors, they can be exploited together with information about the peer-to-peer network in order to address the problem of maintaining a novel gaming experience in the absence of a central authority. In order to explore our proposition, we model the measurable properties of P2P networks within a distributed multi-player game â NetWorld. We do this in such a way that the heterogeneous and unpredictable nature of the peer-to-peer environment becomes a positive part of the playerâs experience
A Framework for XML-based Integration of Data, Visualization and Analysis in a Biomedical Domain
Biomedical data are becoming increasingly complex and heterogeneous in nature. The data are stored in distributed information systems, using a variety of data models, and are processed by increasingly more complex tools that analyze and visualize them. We present in this paper our framework for integrating biomedical research data and tools into a unique Web front end. Our framework is applied to the University of Washingtonâs Human Brain Project. SpeciïŹcally, we present solutions to four integration tasks: deïŹnition of complex mappings from relational sources to XML, distributed XQuery processing, generation of heterogeneous output formats, and the integration of heterogeneous data visualization and analysis tools
Enabling collaboration in virtual reality navigators
In this paper we characterize a feature superset for Collaborative
Virtual Reality Environments (CVRE), and derive a component
framework to transform stand-alone VR navigators into full-fledged
multithreaded collaborative environments. The contributions of our
approach rely on a cost-effective and extensible technique for
loading software components into separate POSIX threads for
rendering, user interaction and network communications, and adding a
top layer for managing session collaboration. The framework recasts
a VR navigator under a distributed peer-to-peer topology for scene
and object sharing, using callback hooks for broadcasting remote
events and multicamera perspective sharing with avatar interaction.
We validate the framework by applying it to our own ALICE VR
Navigator. Experimental results show that our approach has good
performance in the collaborative inspection of complex models.Postprint (published version
MPICH-G2: A Grid-Enabled Implementation of the Message Passing Interface
Application development for distributed computing "Grids" can benefit from
tools that variously hide or enable application-level management of critical
aspects of the heterogeneous environment. As part of an investigation of these
issues, we have developed MPICH-G2, a Grid-enabled implementation of the
Message Passing Interface (MPI) that allows a user to run MPI programs across
multiple computers, at the same or different sites, using the same commands
that would be used on a parallel computer. This library extends the Argonne
MPICH implementation of MPI to use services provided by the Globus Toolkit for
authentication, authorization, resource allocation, executable staging, and
I/O, as well as for process creation, monitoring, and control. Various
performance-critical operations, including startup and collective operations,
are configured to exploit network topology information. The library also
exploits MPI constructs for performance management; for example, the MPI
communicator construct is used for application-level discovery of, and
adaptation to, both network topology and network quality-of-service mechanisms.
We describe the MPICH-G2 design and implementation, present performance
results, and review application experiences, including record-setting
distributed simulations.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure
IMP Science Gateway: from the Portal to the Hub of Virtual Experimental Labs in Materials Science
"Science gateway" (SG) ideology means a user-friendly intuitive interface
between scientists (or scientific communities) and different software
components + various distributed computing infrastructures (DCIs) (like grids,
clouds, clusters), where researchers can focus on their scientific goals and
less on peculiarities of software/DCI. "IMP Science Gateway Portal"
(http://scigate.imp.kiev.ua) for complex workflow management and integration of
distributed computing resources (like clusters, service grids, desktop grids,
clouds) is presented. It is created on the basis of WS-PGRADE and gUSE
technologies, where WS-PGRADE is designed for science workflow operation and
gUSE - for smooth integration of available resources for parallel and
distributed computing in various heterogeneous distributed computing
infrastructures (DCI). The typical scientific workflows with possible scenarios
of its preparation and usage are presented. Several typical use cases for these
science applications (scientific workflows) are considered for molecular
dynamics (MD) simulations of complex behavior of various nanostructures
(nanoindentation of graphene layers, defect system relaxation in metal
nanocrystals, thermal stability of boron nitride nanotubes, etc.). The user
experience is analyzed in the context of its practical applications for MD
simulations in materials science, physics and nanotechnologies with available
heterogeneous DCIs. In conclusion, the "science gateway" approach - workflow
manager (like WS-PGRADE) + DCI resources manager (like gUSE)- gives opportunity
to use the SG portal (like "IMP Science Gateway Portal") in a very promising
way, namely, as a hub of various virtual experimental labs (different software
components + various requirements to resources) in the context of its practical
MD applications in materials science, physics, chemistry, biology, and
nanotechnologies.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables; 6th International Workshop on Science
Gateways, IWSG-2014 (Dublin, Ireland, 3-5 June, 2014). arXiv admin note:
substantial text overlap with arXiv:1404.545
Slisp: A Flexible Software Toolkit for Hybrid, Embedded and Distributed Applications
We describe Slisp (pronounced âEss-Lispâ), a hybrid LispâC programming toolkit for the development of scriptable and distributed applications. Computationally expensive operations implemented as separate C-coded modules are selectively compiled into a small Xlisp interpreter, then called as Lisp functions in a Lisp-coded program. The resulting hybrid program may run in several modes: as a stand-alone executable, embedded in a different C program, as a networked server accessed from another Slisp client, or as a
networked server accessed from a C-coded client. Five years of experience with Slisp, as well experience with other scripting languages such as Tcl and Perl, are summarized. These experiences suggest that Slisp will be most useful for mid-sized applications in which the kinds of scripting and embeddability features provided by Tcl and Perl can be extended in an efïŹcient manner to larger applications, while maintaining a
well-deïŹned standard (Common Lisp) for these extensions. In addition, the generality of Lisp makes Lisp a good candidate for an application-level communication language in distributed environments
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