Enhancing reliability with Latin Square redundancy on desktop grids.

Computational grids are some of the largest computer systems in existence today. Unfortunately they are also, in many cases, the least reliable. This research examines the use of redundancy with permutation as a method of improving reliability in computational grid applications. Three primary avenues are explored - development of a new redundancy model, the Replication and Permutation Paradigm (RPP) for computational grids, development of grid simulation software for testing RPP against other redundancy methods and, finally, running a program on a live grid using RPP. An important part of RPP involves distributing data and tasks across the grid in Latin Square fashion. Two theorems and subsequent proofs regarding Latin Squares are developed. The theorems describe the changing position of symbols between the rows of a standard Latin Square. When a symbol is missing because a column is removed the theorems provide a basis for determining the next row and column where the missing symbol can be found. Interesting in their own right, the theorems have implications for redundancy. In terms of the redundancy model, the theorems allow one to state the maximum makespan in the face of missing computational hosts when using Latin Square redundancy. The simulator software was developed and used to compare different data and task distribution schemes on a simulated grid. The software clearly showed the advantage of running RPP, which resulted in faster completion times in the face of computational host failures. The Latin Square method also fails gracefully in that jobs complete with massive node failure while increasing makespan. Finally an Inductive Logic Program (ILP) for pharmacophore search was executed, using a Latin Square redundancy methodology, on a Condor grid in the Dahlem Lab at the University of Louisville Speed School of Engineering. All jobs completed, even in the face of large numbers of randomly generated computational host failures

Information Processing view of Electricity Demand Response Systems: A Comparative Study Between India and Australia

Background: In recent years, demand response (DR) has gained increased attention from utilities, regulators, and market aggregators to meet the growing demands of electricity. The key aspect of a successful DR program is the effective processing of data and information to gain critical insights. This study aims to identify information processing needs and capacity that interact to improve energy DR effectiveness. To this end, organizational information processing theory (OIPT) is employed to understand the role of Information Systems (IS) resources in achieving desired DR program performance. This study also investigates how information processing for DR systems differ between developing (India) and developed (Australia) countries. Method: This work adopts a case study methodology to propose a theoretical framework using OIPT for information processing in DR systems. The study further employs a comparative case data analyses between Australian and Indian DR initiatives. Results: Our cross case analysis identifies variables of value creation in designing DR programs - pricing structure for demand side participation, renewable integration at supply side, reforms in the regulatory instruments, and emergent technology. This research posits that the degree of information processing capacity mediates the influence of information processing needs on energy DR effectiveness. Further, we develop five propositions on the interaction between task based information processing needs and capacity, and their influence on DR effectiveness. Conclusions: The study generates insights on the role of IS resources that can help stakeholders in the electricity value chain to take informed and intelligent decisions for improved performance of DR programs

Kestrel: Job Distribution and Scheduling using XMPP

A new distributed computing framework, named Kestrel, for Many-Task Computing (MTC) applications and implementing Virtual Organization Clusters (VOCs) is proposed. Kestrel is a lightweight, highly available system based on the Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP), and has been developed to explore XMPP-based techniques for improving MTC and VOC tolerance to faults due to scaling and intermittently connected heterogeneous resources. Kestrel provides a VOC with a special purpose scheduler for VOCs which can provide better scalability under certain workload assumptions, namely CPU bound processes and bag-of-task applications. Experimental results have shown that Kestrel is capable of operating a VOC of at least 1600 worker nodes with all nodes visible to the scheduler at once. When using multiple sites located in both North America and Europe, the latencies introduced to the round trip time of messages were on the order of 0.3 seconds. To offset the overhead of XMPP processing, a task execution time of 2 seconds is sufficient for a pool of 900 workers on a single site to operate at near 100% use. Requiring tasks that take on the order of 30 seconds to a minute to execute would compensate for increased latency during job dispatch across multiple sites. Kestrel\u27s architecture is rooted in pilot job frameworks heavily used in Grid computing, it is also modeled after the use of IRC by botnets to communicate between compromised machines and command and control servers. For Kestrel, the extensibility of XMPP has allowed development of protocols for identifying manager nodes, discovering the capabilities of worker agents, and for distributing tasks. The presence notifications provided by XMPP allow Kestrel to monitor the global state of the pool and to perform task dispatching based on worker availability. In this work it is argued that XMPP is by design a very good fit for cloud computing frameworks. It offers scalability, federation between servers and some autonomicity of the agents. During the summer of 2010, Kestrel was used and modified based on feedback from the STAR group at Brookhaven National Laboratories. STAR provided a virtual machine image with applications for simulating proton collisions using PYTHIA and GEANT3. A Kestrel-based virtual organization cluster, created on top of Clemson University\u27s Palmetto cluster, was able to provide over 400,000 CPU hours of computation over the course of a month using an average of 800 virtual machine instances every day, generating nearly seven terabytes of data and the largest PYTHIA production run that STAR ever achieved. Several architectural issues were encountered during the course of the experiment and were resolved by moving from the original JSON protocols used by Kestrel to native XMPP equivalents that offered better message delivery confirmation and integration with existing tools

Advances in Grid Computing

This book approaches the grid computing with a perspective on the latest achievements in the field, providing an insight into the current research trends and advances, and presenting a large range of innovative research papers. The topics covered in this book include resource and data management, grid architectures and development, and grid-enabled applications. New ideas employing heuristic methods from swarm intelligence or genetic algorithm and quantum encryption are considered in order to explain two main aspects of grid computing: resource management and data management. The book addresses also some aspects of grid computing that regard architecture and development, and includes a diverse range of applications for grid computing, including possible human grid computing system, simulation of the fusion reaction, ubiquitous healthcare service provisioning and complex water systems

Distributed Power Generation in Europe: Technical Issues for Further Integration

The electric power sector in Europe is currently facing different changes and evolutions mainly in response to the three issues at EU level - environmental sustainability, security of supply, and competitiveness. These issues, against a background of growing electricity demand, may represent drivers for facilitating the further deployment of Distributed Power Generation technologies in Europe. The present Report focuses on the potential role of Distributed Power Generation (or simply Distributed Generation, DG) in a European perspective. More specifically, this work aims to assess the technical issues and developments related to DG technologies and their integration into the European power systems. As a starting point the concept of Distributed Generation is characterised for the purpose of the study. Distributed Generation, defined as an electric power source connected to the distribution network, serving a customer on-site or providing network support, may offer various benefits to the European electric power systems. DG technologies may consist of small/medium size, modular energy conversion units, which are generally located close to end users and transform primary energy resources into electricity and eventually heat. There are, however, major issues concerning the integration of DG technology into the distribution networks. In fact, the existing distribution networks were not generally designed to operate in presence of DG technologies. Consequently, a sustained increase in the deployment of DG resources may imply several changes in the electric power system architecture in the near future. The present Report on Distributed Generation in Europe, after an overview of the basic elements of electric power systems, introduces the proposed definition and main features of DG. Then, it reviews the state-of-the-art of DG technologies as well as focuses on current DG grid integration issues. Technical solutions towards DG integration in Europe and developments concerning the future distribution systems are also addressed in the study.JRC.F.7-Energy systems evaluatio

FSEA 2014 – Proceedings of the AVI 2014 Workshop on Fostering Smart Energy Applications through Advanced Visual Interfaces

It is with great pleasure that we welcome you to FSEA 2014, the AVI 2014 workshop on Fostering Smart Energy Applications through Advanced Visual Interfaces. This workshop focuses on advanced interaction, interface, and visualization techniques for energy-related applications, tools, and services. It brings together researchers and practitioners from a diverse range of background, including interaction design, human-computer interaction, visualization, computer games, and other fields concerned with the development of advanced visual interfaces for smart energy applications. FSEA 2014 is the result of the efforts of many people involved in its organization, including our programme committee, and others who have assisted us in putting this workshop together

Towards the next generation of smart grids: semantic and holonic multi-agent management of distributed energy resources

The energy landscape is experiencing accelerating change; centralized energy systems are being decarbonized, and transitioning towards distributed energy systems, facilitated by advances in power system management and information and communication technologies. This paper elaborates on these generations of energy systems by critically reviewing relevant authoritative literature. This includes a discussion of modern concepts such as ‘smart grid’, ‘microgrid’, ‘virtual power plant’ and ‘multi-energy system’, and the relationships between them, as well as the trends towards distributed intelligence and interoperability. Each of these emerging urban energy concepts holds merit when applied within a centralized grid paradigm, but very little research applies these approaches within the emerging energy landscape typified by a high penetration of distributed energy resources, prosumers (consumers and producers), interoperability, and big data. Given the ongoing boom in these fields, this will lead to new challenges and opportunities as the status-quo of energy systems changes dramatically. We argue that a new generation of holonic energy systems is required to orchestrate the interplay between these dense, diverse and distributed energy components. The paper therefore contributes a description of holonic energy systems and the implicit research required towards sustainability and resilience in the imminent energy landscape. This promotes the systemic features of autonomy, belonging, connectivity, diversity and emergence, and balances global and local system objectives, through adaptive control topologies and demand responsive energy management. Future research avenues are identified to support this transition regarding interoperability, secure distributed control and a system of systems approach

Clean energy and environment: combating climate change by Hong Kong researchers and professionals

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