Putting the User at the Centre of the Grid: Simplifying Usability and Resource Selection for High Performance Computing

Computer simulation is finding a role in an increasing number of scientific disciplines, concomitant with the rise in available computing power. Realizing this inevitably re- quires access to computational power beyond the desktop, making use of clusters, supercomputers, data repositories, networks and distributed aggregations of these re- sources. Accessing one such resource entails a number of usability and security prob- lems; when multiple geographically distributed resources are involved, the difficulty is compounded. However, usability is an all too often neglected aspect of computing on e-infrastructures, although it is one of the principal factors militating against the widespread uptake of distributed computing. The usability problems are twofold: the user needs to know how to execute the applications they need to use on a particular resource, and also to gain access to suit- able resources to run their workloads as they need them. In this thesis we present our solutions to these two problems. Firstly we propose a new model of e-infrastructure resource interaction, which we call the user–application interaction model, designed to simplify executing application on high performance computing resources. We describe the implementation of this model in the Application Hosting Environment, which pro- vides a Software as a Service layer on top of distributed e-infrastructure resources. We compare the usability of our system with commonly deployed middleware tools using five usability metrics. Our middleware and security solutions are judged to be more usable than other commonly deployed middleware tools. We go on to describe the requirements for a resource trading platform that allows users to purchase access to resources within a distributed e-infrastructure. We present the implementation of this Resource Allocation Market Place as a distributed multi- agent system, and show how it provides a highly flexible, efficient tool to schedule workflows across high performance computing resources

Conceptual metaphor in English popular technology and Greek translation

This research project studies the metaphorical conceptualisation of technology in English popular technology magazines and in translation in the respective Greek editions. The focus is on the cognitive linguistic view of metaphor initially presented by Lakoff and Johnson (1980), on the metaphor identification procedure (Pragglejaz Group 2007), and critical metaphor analysis (Charteris-Black 2004). The analysis of the English data identifies 14 main metaphors and 29 submetaphors which contribute to the structure of the target domain of technology. It distinguishes between conventional and novel metaphors, and common and original metaphorical expressions, motivated by correlations in experience between diverse source domains and by the widespread diffusion and impact of technology. The English data also provide insight into the functions of these metaphors in popular technology discourse and reveal evidence to thinking, values and attitudes about technology in the English language. The analysis of the Greek data examines similarities and differences in the conceptualisations between the English and Greek languages and cultures, and finds similarities in the categories of metaphors, frequency of and preference for metaphor use in the source and target languages, and in the majority of metaphorical expressions. Similarities are based on common experiences stemming from experiential co-occurrence or experiential similarity, and on translated experience. Differences are restricted to specific-level metaphors and expressions, motivated by alternative conceptualisations of terminology, cultural specificity and preferential conceptualisations. A set of translation strategies and a number of possible translation effects are also identified. These strategies and effects add to the possibilities of translation variations and the range of translation options, and are used to draw conclusions regarding the similarities and differences between the English and Greek languages and cultures. Consequently, through the identification and description of metaphors in technology magazines and in translation, the study attempts to highlight aspects of the culture of technology, which views technology as a cultural artefact and a producer of its own culture.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGreek State Scholarship Foundation (IKY)GBUnited Kingdo

Leveraging Logistics Partnerships: Lessons from Humanitarian Organizations

This thesis explores an under-researched field: humanitarian organizations and their supply chains. Humanitarian organizations respond to the basic needs of populations that experience a tragic disruption in their lives. Given the challenging contexts they operate in, this thesis first explores the factors that contribute to their performance. Thereafter, it identifies the strategies and organizational structures they need to adopt to respond to the growing challenge of attending to more people with fewer resources. It argues that to excel in disaster preparedness and response, among other things, humanitarian organizations need to engage in at least three partnership arrangements – temporary supply networks, a logistics coordination platform and a series of business and CSO partnerships – and build and strengthen a number of related capabilities. The invisible resource that once leveraged increases the opportunity and ability of a humanitarian organization to perform better is its social capital with parties involved in these partnership arrangements. In terms of lessons for business, it verifies the relevance and benefits of humanitarian partnership structures to commercial supply chains in specific scenarios. Apart from holding some lessons for humanitarian organizations themselves, this thesis contributes to the virtual organizing literature and provides empirical evidence for the emergence and management of logistics virtual organizations

Ten Years In: Implementing Strategic Approaches to Cyberspace

This book represents a look beyond theories and analogies to examine the challenges of strategy implementation. In the essays that follow, practitioners who are building cyberspace forces at-scale join scholars who study power and force in this new domain to collectively offer a unique perspective on the evolution and future of cyber strategy and operations.https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/usnwc-newport-papers/1044/thumbnail.jp

An empirical investigation into the problems and challenges facing islamic banking in Malaysia

The establishment and operation of Islamic banking and finance is governed by Shari’ah principles. These specific underlying principles give a new dimension to its governance structure, which is known as Shari’ah Governance. The aim of this research is to examine the theoretical and practical aspects of problems and challenges facing Islamic banking and finance in Malaysia. The study focuses on four main issues: legal and regulatory framework, Shari’ah compliance, management, and accounting. In order to achieve the objectives, this study surveys different groups of respondents who are involved in the operation of Islamic banking and finance, using semi-structured interviews. The key respondents are members of the Shari’ah Committee, Shari’ah Officers and Chief Executive Officers (CEO). The major problems and challenges which emerged from the interview findings are the influence of the dual-banking environment, lack of support from the regulatory framework related to products and services, Shari’ah non-compliance, operation and management, lack of expertise in human capital, lack of accountability, and lack of influence of accounting practices and auditing. The majority of key respondents explicitly highlighted these findings. According to agency theory, accountability is the primary corresponding function for decision making in the banking system; however, this does not appear to be transparent in the Islamic banking sector. As in most contexts of Islamic banking, inadequate accounting practices are also considered to be the major challenge that Islamic banking face. Regarding this challenge, the Islamic banking system has not achieved the ultimate objective in implementing Shari’ah in the banking system. However, with constraint and uncertainty, several efforts have been made to achieve a homogeneous structure. Radical innovation of accounting practices that support Shari’ah could be the alternatives to assist the Islamic banking system to become more efficient and effective. Theories such as agency theory, stakeholder theory and institutional theory could serve as pillars to support the implementation in order to enhance Shari’ah activities. In addition, the explanation of agent morality of the stakeholder model is also important, as Islamic banking personnel need to uphold Shari’ah principles and commercial viability. Furthermore, institutional theories are employed in the explanation of the organisational behaviour of IBs