Agent-based resource management for grid computing

A computational grid is a hardware and software infrastructure that provides dependable, consistent, pervasive, and inexpensive access to high-end computational capability. An ideal grid environment should provide access to the available resources in a seamless manner. Resource management is an important infrastructural component of a grid computing environment. The overall aim of resource management is to efficiently schedule applications that need to utilise the available resources in the grid environment. Such goals within the high performance community will rely on accurate performance prediction capabilities. An existing toolkit, known as PACE (Performance Analysis and Characterisation Environment), is used to provide quantitative data concerning the performance of sophisticated applications running on high performance resources. In this thesis an ASCI (Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative) kernel application, Sweep3D, is used to illustrate the PACE performance prediction capabilities. The validation results show that a reasonable accuracy can be obtained, cross-platform comparisons can be easily undertaken, and the process benefits from a rapid evaluation time. While extremely well-suited for managing a locally distributed multi-computer, the PACE functions do not map well onto a wide-area environment, where heterogeneity, multiple administrative domains, and communication irregularities dramatically complicate the job of resource management. Scalability and adaptability are two key challenges that must be addressed. In this thesis, an A4 (Agile Architecture and Autonomous Agents) methodology is introduced for the development of large-scale distributed software systems with highly dynamic behaviours. An agent is considered to be both a service provider and a service requestor. Agents are organised into a hierarchy with service advertisement and discovery capabilities. There are four main performance metrics for an A4 system: service discovery speed, agent system efficiency, workload balancing, and discovery success rate. Coupling the A4 methodology with PACE functions, results in an Agent-based Resource Management System (ARMS), which is implemented for grid computing. The PACE functions supply accurate performance information (e. g. execution time) as input to a local resource scheduler on the fly. At a meta-level, agents advertise their service information and cooperate with each other to discover available resources for grid-enabled applications. A Performance Monitor and Advisor (PMA) is also developed in ARMS to optimise the performance of the agent behaviours. The PMA is capable of performance modelling and simulation about the agents in ARMS and can be used to improve overall system performance. The PMA can monitor agent behaviours in ARMS and reconfigure them with optimised strategies, which include the use of ACTs (Agent Capability Tables), limited service lifetime, limited scope for service advertisement and discovery, agent mobility and service distribution, etc. The main contribution of this work is that it provides a methodology and prototype implementation of a grid Resource Management System (RMS). The system includes a number of original features that cannot be found in existing research solutions

IBC-Go : un système d'agent itinérant

La situation, les problèmes et les nouvelles tendances liés aux réseaux de télécommunications font en sorte qu'il est nécessaire de revoir la façon de développer des systèmes distribués. On peut actuellement constater : qu'il y a une omniprésence des réseaux, que ces réseaux sont de plus en plus intelligents, que ceux-ci ont de la difficulté à suivre l'évolution des standards, qu'il y a une augmentation de la quantité d'information transmise, que les connexions en périphérie d'un réseau comme l'Internet sont limitées, etc. Des recherches récentes relatives au code mobile, sous la forme d'agents mobiles et de réseaux actifs, offrent de nouvelles possibilités intéressantes pour le développement des systèmes distribués. La fusion de ces deux secteurs de recherche est susceptible d'amener de nouveaux mécanismes pour construire des systèmes distribués plus adaptés à la situation actuelle des réseaux de télécommunications. Ce mémoire présente IBC-Go (Itinerary Based Computation and Go), un système d'agents mobiles, basé sur une approche itinéraire, qui intègre les technologies de réseau actif. Ce système permet le développement de systèmes distribués qui tiennent davantage compte de la situation, des problèmes et des nouvelles tendances d'aujourd'hui; comparativement aux systèmes traditionnels. Pour montrer les possibilités du système IBC-Go et pour démontrer les avantages amenés par le système IBC-Go, plus particulièrement de démontrer le fait que le dit système amène une diminution des besoins en communication entre le nœud d'origine et les autres nœuds; 3 scénarios mettant en application le système IBC-Go ont été présentés. La présentation de chacun de ces scénarios a également été accompagnée de résultats numériques qui ont permis de chiffrer les gains amenés par le système IBC-Go. La présentation des scénarios et des résultats numériques a permis de répondre l'objectif qui était de démontrer que le système développé est davantage en mesure de solutionner les problèmes soulevés dans la problématique que les systèmes actuels, et plus particulièrement de diminuer les besoins en communication entre le nœud d'origine et les autres nœuds.\ud ______________________________________________________________________________ \ud MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Code mobile, agent mobile, agent itinérant, réseau actif, ANTS, IBC-Go

Actes du IXe colloque international sur les textes mycéniens et égéens organisé par le Centre de l'Antiquité Grecque et Romaine de la Fondation Hellénique des Recherches Scientifiques et l'Ecole française d'Athènes, Athènes 2-6 Octobre 1990, Mykenaïka

xx, 673 σ.Ο τόμος καλύπτει θέματα γύρω από μυκηναϊκές επιγραφές. Πιο συγκεκριμένα περιλαμβάνονται ομιλίες σχετικές -μεταξύ άλλων- με τη Γραμμική Α΄, τη Γραμμική Β΄, τα κρητικά ιερογλυφικά, τις επιγραφές της Πύλου, κείμενα και ευρήματα από την Κνωσσό, την Κύπρο και την περιοχή του Αιγαίου

The French Communist Party and French cinema 1944-1999

This dissertation examines the relationship between the French Communist Party (PCF) and French cinema between 1944 and 1999. The approach adopted is an historical and political one, exploring the context behind the changing relations between the Party and the film industry. Both institutions have played a crucial part in the weaving of the political and cultural fabric of the country throughout the period. For both the PCF and French cinema, the Liberation marked a new beginning and a new relationship with the French state. Looking closely at the French Communist outlets over four key periods - the Liberation and the Cold War, the New Republic, May '68 and the 1990s -, the evolution of the positions of the PCF regarding both film as an industry and film as an art-form is examined with particular emphasis on the links and the differences between the film policy advocated by the PCF and its critical discourse on French cinema. Since 1944 and PCF has kept a close watch on France's film industry, participating, from the Blum-Byrne agreements to the demonstrations against the MAI, in every battle for its defence. The unique blend of State involvement in film matters and professional resilience in the face of foreign competition which defines French cinema today owes much to this Communist involvement. Yet in spite of this continuous support the PCF has not left a strong mark on French cinema either in aesthetic or ideological terms, and the silver screen has hardly ever broadcast the PCF viewpoint. The reluctance shown by some in the Party to acknowledge the concept of auteur as well as the Party's own history serve to explain this absence. Until the 1980s, the PCF's discourse was dominated by the defence of France's national culture, although some Communist critics and auteurs disputed this vision tainted with economism

Nostratic Dictionary

A revised edition can be found at http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/244080.Aharon Dolgopolsky is the leading authority on the Nostratic macrofamily. His 'Nostratic Dictionary' presented here is, of course, something very much more than a dictionary. It is the most thorough and extensive demonstration and documentation so far of what may be termed the Nostratic hypothesis: that several of the world's best- known language families are related in their origin, their grammar and their lexicon, and that they belong together in a larger unit, of earlier origin, the Nostratic macrofamily. It should at once be noted that several elements of this enterprise are controversial. For while the Nostratic hypothesis has many supporters, it has been criticized on rather fundamental grounds by a number of distinguished linguists. The matter was reviewed some years ago in a symposium held at the McDonald Institute, and positions remain very much polarized. It was a result of that meeting that the decision was taken to invite Aharon Dolgopolsky to publish his Dictionary - a much more substantial treatise than any work hitherto undertaken on the subject - at the McDonald Institute. For it became clear that the diversities of view expressed at that symposium were not likely to be resolved by further polemical exchanges. Instead, a substantial body of data was required, whose examination and evaluation could subsequently lead to more mature judgments. Those data are presented here, and that more mature evaluation can now proceed.McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio