Cross-layer multi-cloud real-time application QoS monitoring and benchmarking as-a-service framework

Cloud computing provides on-demand access to affordable hardware (e.g., multi-core CPUs, GPUs, disks, and networking equipment) and software (e.g., databases, application servers and data processing frameworks) platforms with features such as elasticity, pay-per-use, low upfront investment and low time to market. This has led to the proliferation of business criti-cal applications that leverage various cloud platforms. Such applications hosted on sin-gle/multiple cloud platforms have diverse characteristics requiring extensive monitoring and benchmarking mechanisms to ensure run-time Quality of Service (QoS) (e.g., latency and throughput). The process of monitoring and benchmarking cloud applications is as yet a criti-cal issue to be further studied and addressed. Current monitoring and benchmarking approaches do not provide a holistic view of per-formance QoS for distributed applications cross cloud layers on multi-cloud environments. Furthermore, current monitoring frameworks are limited to monitoring tasks and do not in-corporate benchmarking abilities. In other words, there is no unified framework that com-bines monitoring and benchmarking functionalities. To gain the ability of both monitoring and benchmarking all under one framework will empower the cloud user to gain more in-depth control and awareness of cloud services. The Thesis identifies and discusses the major research dimensions and design issues relat-ed to developing techniques that can monitor and benchmark an application’s components cross-layers on multi-clouds. Furthermore, the thesis discusses to what extent such research dimensions and design issues are handled by current academic research papers as well as by the existing commercial monitoring tools. Moreover, the Thesis addresses an important research challenge of how to undertake cross-layer cloud monitoring and benchmarking in multi-cloud environments to provide es-sential information for effective cloud applications QoS management. It proposes, develops, implements and validates CLAMBS: Cross-Layer Multi-Cloud Application Monitoring and Benchmarking, as-a-Service Framework. The core contributions made by this thesis are the development of the CLAMBS framework and underlying monitoring and benchmarking tech-niques which are capable of: i) performing QoS monitoring of application components (e.g. ii database, web server, application server, etc.) that may be deployed across multiple cloud platforms (e.g. Amazon EC2, and Microsoft Azure); and ii) giving visibility into the QoS of in-dividual application components, which is not supported by current monitoring and bench-marking frameworks. Experiments are conducted on real-world multi-cloud platforms to em-pirically evaluate the framework and the results validate that CLAMBS can effectively monitor and benchmark applications running cross-layers on multi-clouds. The thesis presents implementation and evaluation details of the proposed CLAMBS framework. It demonstrates the feasibility and scalability of the proposed framework in real-world environments by implementing a proof-of-concept prototype on multi-cloud platforms. Finally, it presents a model for analysing the communication overheads introduced by various components (e.g. agents and manager) of CLAMBS in multi cloud environments

A system for modelling deformable procedural shapes.

This thesis presents a new procedural paradigm for modelling. The method combines the benefit of compact object descriptions found in procedural modelling along with the advantage of the ability to interact in real-time as is found with interactive modelling techniques. The three main components to this paradigm are geometry generators (the creation of basic object shapes), selectors (the specification of a selection volume), and modifiers (the object transformation functions). The user interacts in real-time with the object, and has complete control over the object formation process. Interaction is stored within appropriate nodes in a creation-history list which can be replayed or partially replayed at any time during the creation process. The parameters associated with each interaction are stored within the node, and are available for editing at any time during the creation process. The concepts presented here remove the problems that most modelling software have, in that the arbitrary editing of object parameters is destructive, in the sense that changing the parameter of one node may cause the object to behave unpredictably. This takes place in real-time, rather than off-line. In some cases real-time interaction is made possible by trading visual quality vs. speed of rendering. This results in the object being rendered at a lower quality, and therefore decisions on whether the object parameters need adjustment may be predicated upon a poor representation of the object. The work presented herein attempts to bridge the divide between the two approaches by providing the user with a powerful and descriptive procedural modelling language that is entirely generated through real-time interaction with the geometric object via an intuitive user interface. The main contributions of this work are that it allows: Procedural objects are specified interactively. Modelling takes place independently of representation (meaning the user does not base their modelling on the (mesh) representation, but rather on the shape they see). Changes to the object are coherent and non-destructive

Multimodal metaphors for generic interaction tasks in virtual environments

Virtual Reality (VR) Systeme bieten zusätzliche Ein- und Ausgabekanäle für die Interaktion zwischen Mensch und Computer in virtuellen Umgebungen. Solche VR Technologien ermöglichen den Anwendern bessere Einblicke in hochkomplexe Datenmengen, stellen allerdings auch hohe Anforderungen an den Benutzer bezüglich der Fähigkeiten mit virtuellen Objekten zu interagieren. In dieser Arbeit werden sowohl die Entwicklung und Evaluierung neuer multimodaler Interaktionsmetaphern für generische Interaktionsaufgaben in virtuellen Umgebungen vorgestellt und diskutiert. Anhand eines VR Systems wird der Einsatz dieser Konzepte an zwei Fallbeispielen aus den Domänen der 3D-Stadtvisualisierung und seismischen Volumendarstellung aufgezeigt