A Brief Overview of the NEBULA Future Internet Architecture

NEBULA is a proposal for a Future Internet Architecture. It is based on the assumptions that: (1) cloud computing will comprise an increasing fraction of the application workload offered to an Internet, and (2) that access to cloud computing resources will demand new architectural features from a network. Features that we have identified include dependability, security, flexibility and extensibility, the entirety of which constitute resilience.NEBULA provides resilient networking services using ultrareliable routers, an extensible control plane and use of multiple paths upon which arbitrary policies may be enforced. We report on a prototype system, Zodiac, that incorporates these latter two features

Orchestration from the cloud to the edge

The effective management of complex and heterogeneous computing environments is one of the biggest challenges that service and infrastructure providers are facing in the Cloud-to-Thing continuum era. Advanced orchestration systems are required to support the resource management of large-scale cloud data centres integrated into big data generation of IoT devices. The orchestration system should be aware of all available resources and their current status in order to perform dynamic allocations and enable short time deployment of applications. This chapter will review the state of the art with regards to orchestration along the Cloud-to-Thing continuum with a specific emphasis on container-based orchestration (e.g. Docker Swarm and Kubernetes) and fog-specific orchestration architectures (e.g. SORTS, SOAFI, ETSI IGS MEC, and CONCERT)

Models of RNA Interaction from Experimental Datasets: Framework of Resilience

Resilience is a network property of systems responding under stress, which for biomedicine correlates to chronic or acute insults. Current need exists for models and algorithms to study whole transcriptome differences between tissues and disease states to understand resilience. Goal of this effort is to interpret cellular transcription in a dynamic system biology framework of RNA molecules forming an information structure with regulatory properties acting on individual transcripts. We develop and evaluate a bioinformatics framework based on information theory that utilizes RNA expression data to create a whole transcriptome model of interaction that could lead to the discovery of new biological control mechanisms. This addresses a fundamental question as to why transcription yields such a small fraction of protein products. We focus on a transformative concept that individual transcripts collectively form an “information cloud” of sequence words, which for some genes may have significant regulatory impact. Extending the concept of cis‐ and trans‐regulation, we propose to search for RNAs that are modulated by interactions with the transcriptome cloud and calling such examples nebula regulation. This framework has implications as a paradigm change for RNA regulation and provides a deeper understanding of nucleotide sequence structure and ‐omic language meaning

Software Defined Application Delivery Networking

In this thesis we present the architecture, design, and prototype implementation details of AppFabric. AppFabric is a next generation application delivery platform for easily creating, managing and controlling massively distributed and very dynamic application deployments that may span multiple datacenters. Over the last few years, the need for more flexibility, finer control, and automatic management of large (and messy) datacenters has stimulated technologies for virtualizing the infrastructure components and placing them under software-based management and control; generically called Software-defined Infrastructure (SDI). However, current applications are not designed to leverage this dynamism and flexibility offered by SDI and they mostly depend on a mix of different techniques including manual configuration, specialized appliances (middleboxes), and (mostly) proprietary middleware solutions together with a team of extremely conscientious and talented system engineers to get their applications deployed and running. AppFabric, 1) automates the whole control and management stack of application deployment and delivery, 2) allows application architects to define logical workflows consisting of application servers, message-level middleboxes, packet-level middleboxes and network services (both, local and wide-area) composed over application-level routing policies, and 3) provides the abstraction of an application cloud that allows the application to dynamically (and automatically) expand and shrink its distributed footprint across multiple geographically distributed datacenters operated by different cloud providers. The architecture consists of a hierarchical control plane system called Lighthouse and a fully distributed data plane design (with no special hardware components such as service orchestrators, load balancers, message brokers, etc.) called OpenADN . The current implementation (under active development) consists of ~10000 lines of python and C code. AppFabric will allow applications to fully leverage the opportunities provided by modern virtualized Software-Defined Infrastructures. It will serve as the platform for deploying massively distributed, and extremely dynamic next generation application use-cases, including: Internet-of-Things/Cyber-Physical Systems: Through support for managing distributed gather-aggregate topologies common to most Internet-of-Things(IoT) and Cyber-Physical Systems(CPS) use-cases. By their very nature, IoT and CPS use cases are massively distributed and have different levels of computation and storage requirements at different locations. Also, they have variable latency requirements for their different distributed sites. Some services, such as device controllers, in an Iot/CPS application workflow may need to gather, process and forward data under near-real time constraints and hence need to be as close to the device as possible. Other services may need more computation to process aggregated data to drive long term business intelligence functions. AppFabric has been designed to provide support for such very dynamic, highly diversified and massively distributed application use-cases. Network Function Virtualization: Through support for heterogeneous workflows, application-aware networking, and network-aware application deployments, AppFabric will enable new partnerships between Application Service Providers (ASPs) and Network Service Providers (NSPs). An application workflow in AppFabric may comprise of application services, packet and message-level middleboxes, and network transport services chained together over an application-level routing substrate. The Application-level routing substrate allows policy-based service chaining where the application may specify policies for routing their application traffic over different services based on application-level content or context. Virtual worlds/multiplayer games: Through support for creating, managing and controlling dynamic and distributed application clouds needed by these applications. AppFabric allows the application to easily specify policies to dynamically grow and shrink the application\u27s footprint over different geographical sites, on-demand. Mobile Apps: Through support for extremely diversified and very dynamic application contexts typical of such applications. Also, AppFabric provides support for automatically managing massively distributed service deployment and controlling application traffic based on application-level policies. This allows mobile applications to provide the best Quality-of-Experience to its users without This thesis is the first to handle and provide a complete solution for such a complex and relevant architectural problem that is expected to touch each of our lives by enabling exciting new application use-cases that are not possible today. Also, AppFabric is a non-proprietary platform that is expected to spawn lots of innovations both in the design of the platform itself and the features it provides to applications. AppFabric still needs many iterations, both in terms of design and implementation maturity. This thesis is not the end of journey for AppFabric but rather just the beginning

A trilogy on discontinuous innovation. Part I : search

In this article we discuss the concept of Discontinuous Innovation (DI) and how it differs from incremental (or steady-state) innovation. We propose a model to conceptualise the different aspects of DI and discuss the complex nature of the DI process through an investigation of previous literature, and propose a sequence of articles roughly following the key components as described in the conceptual model, beginning with aspects of &lsquo;search&rsquo;. We then describe an on-going multi-national action research program established to investigate DI through the development of learning networks of firms in several European nations and Australia. The research progress to date is outlined and initial results of analysis on both quantitative and qualitative data collected thus far is used to explore how companies go about searching for clues or ideas about potential discontinuous innovations, which may either create competitive advantage for, or threaten the survival of the business. Key outcomes of the research to date include the identification of the most common search strategies within the participating companies and some descriptive analysis on just how these strategies are implemented in targeted firms. Finally we describe the proposed future research program and the two papers to follow completing the planned three part series on Discontinuous Innovation.<br /

Contemporary Fiction and Climate Uncertainty

This open access book argues that storytelling is an important resource in coming to terms with the loss of the feeling of living a grounded existence where the future remains relatively stable and predictable. Faced with the specter of climate catastrophe, we lose confidence in the future—a well-documented response in the environmental movement, for example. Yet stories, and in particular sophisticated fictional stories, can help us negotiate that uncertainty: they offer affective and imaginative tools that channel the instability of our climate future and invite audiences to accept its fundamental uncertainty. In all, this book represents a serious contribution to the environmental humanities that brings a flexible formal approach to bear on central questions of our time. Its commentary on contemporary works of prose and digital narrative is an aid for navigating climate uncertainty and appreciating the more-than-human scale—but also the tragic ramifications—of the ecological crisis. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by The European Research Council and the University of Ghent

Contemporary Fiction and Climate Uncertainty

This open access book argues that storytelling is an important resource in coming to terms with the loss of the feeling of living a grounded existence where the future remains relatively stable and predictable. Faced with the specter of climate catastrophe, we lose confidence in the future—a well-documented response in the environmental movement, for example. Yet stories, and in particular sophisticated fictional stories, can help us negotiate that uncertainty: they offer affective and imaginative tools that channel the instability of our climate future and invite audiences to accept its fundamental uncertainty. In all, this book represents a serious contribution to the environmental humanities that brings a flexible formal approach to bear on central questions of our time. Its commentary on contemporary works of prose and digital narrative is an aid for navigating climate uncertainty and appreciating the more-than-human scale—but also the tragic ramifications—of the ecological crisis. The eBook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by The European Research Council and the University of Ghent

The Cloud-to-Thing Continuum

The Internet of Things offers massive societal and economic opportunities while at the same time significant challenges, not least the delivery and management of the technical infrastructure underpinning it, the deluge of data generated from it, ensuring privacy and security, and capturing value from it. This Open Access Pivot explores these challenges, presenting the state of the art and future directions for research but also frameworks for making sense of this complex area. This book provides a variety of perspectives on how technology innovations such as fog, edge and dew computing, 5G networks, and distributed intelligence are making us rethink conventional cloud computing to support the Internet of Things. Much of this book focuses on technical aspects of the Internet of Things, however, clear methodologies for mapping the business value of the Internet of Things are still missing. We provide a value mapping framework for the Internet of Things to address this gap. While there is much hype about the Internet of Things, we have yet to reach the tipping point. As such, this book provides a timely entrée for higher education educators, researchers and students, industry and policy makers on the technologies that promise to reshape how society interacts and operates

NASA Ames Environmental Sustainability Report 2011

The 2011 Ames Environmental Sustainability Report is the second in a series of reports describing the steps NASA Ames Research Center has taken toward assuring environmental sustainability in NASA Ames programs, projects, and activities. The Report highlights Center contributions toward meeting the Agency-wide goals under the 2011 NASA Strategic Sustainability Performance Program

Spaces of Refuge: Revitalization Through the Temporary Reuse of Honolulu’s Interstitial Spaces

Honolulu’s urban fabric is filled a vast amount of untapped potential in the form of interstitial space that is currently being underutilized. With the large scale developments that will come with the construction of Honolulu’s rail transit system, the number of these spaces will grow. The spaces are often taken for granted and seen as waste: surface parking lots, open lots, construction debris, vacant city landscape and street medians. These developments will cater mainly to the middle to upper-middle class demographic. In the site selection for this project, the demographic focus are the people that have been left behind by these developments. There is a strong link between poverty, urban potential and the impact of people’s well-being due to the inability for Hawai’i’s people to make ends meet. The aim of this research is to find a possible method to map these spaces and finding the appropriate function based on the resources in the selected sites. The intervention designed from this research will be based on characteristics appropriate for these interstitial spaces and the chosen demographic: temporality, flexibility and constructability. Alongside the mapping of interstitial spaces, the resources mapped include care and essentials, recreational activities, arts and entertainment, cafes, fresh produce, restaurants, nightlife, relaxation and retail. Based on these resources, the appropriate program or function was chosen to fill the need for these resources. The mapping investigation of Honolulu’s interstitial spaces and its resources reaffirmed that the current planning process does evolve as fast as the city changes. The design hopes to give citizens the voice and power to implementation policy and regulation changes regarding interstitial spaces can positively affect the socioeconomic factors and quality of life