Performance Evaluation - Annual Report Year 3

This report describes the work done and results obtained in third year of the CATNETS project. Experiments carried out with the different configurations of the prototype are reported and simulation results are evaluated with the CATNETS metrics framework. The applicability of the Catallactic approach as market model for service and resource allocation in application layer networks is assessed based on the results and experience gained both from the prototype development and simulations. --Grid Computing

Proof-of-Concept Application - Annual Report Year 2

This document first gives an introduction to Application Layer Networks and subsequently presents the catallactic resource allocation model and its integration into the middleware architecture of the developed prototype. Furthermore use cases for employed service models in such scenarios are presented as general application scenarios as well as two very detailed cases: Query services and Data Mining services. This work concludes by describing the middleware implementation and evaluation as well as future work in this area. --Grid Computing

Optimal Gossip Algorithms for Exact and Approximate Quantile Computations

This paper gives drastically faster gossip algorithms to compute exact and approximate quantiles. Gossip algorithms, which allow each node to contact a uniformly random other node in each round, have been intensely studied and been adopted in many applications due to their fast convergence and their robustness to failures. Kempe et al. [FOCS'03] gave gossip algorithms to compute important aggregate statistics if every node is given a value. In particular, they gave a beautiful $O(\log n + \log \frac{1}{\epsilon})$ round algorithm to $\epsilon$-approximate the sum of all values and an $O(\log^2 n)$ round algorithm to compute the exact $\phi$-quantile, i.e., the the $\lceil \phi n \rceil$ smallest value. We give an quadratically faster and in fact optimal gossip algorithm for the exact $\phi$-quantile problem which runs in $O(\log n)$ rounds. We furthermore show that one can achieve an exponential speedup if one allows for an $\epsilon$-approximation. We give an $O(\log \log n + \log \frac{1}{\epsilon})$ round gossip algorithm which computes a value of rank between $\phi n$ and $(\phi+\epsilon)n$ at every node.% for any $0 \leq \phi \leq 1$ and $0 < \epsilon < 1$. Our algorithms are extremely simple and very robust - they can be operated with the same running times even if every transmission fails with a, potentially different, constant probability. We also give a matching $\Omega(\log \log n + \log \frac{1}{\epsilon})$ lower bound which shows that our algorithm is optimal for all values of $\epsilon$

"PanaeaMud An Online, Object-oriented Multiple User Interactive Geologic Database Tool"

This paper provides an overview of the design, development, and use of the PangaeaMud Database System. Section I gives an introduction to pertinent concepts and discusses previous work in the area. Section I1 is devoted to the non-technical aspects of the system. A brief user's view of the system is provided, along with discussion of the internal environment utilities. Section I11 illustrates the workings of the system from the programmer's viewpoint and contains information on the main entity relationships within the database and their implementation

A Cultural Criminology of ‘New’ Jihad: Insights from Propaganda Magazines

The backgrounds and modus operandi of more recent jihadi terrorists tend to share factors and characteristics more typically associated with non-political violence such as mass- killings and gang violence. Their attacks, moreover, seem to have been precipitated not by the direct instructions of a formal hierarchy but by the encouragement of propaganda produced and disseminated by networked, media-savvy terrorist groups. It is necessary to explain how these ‘recruitment’ efforts work. Cultural criminology with its understanding of the relationship between mediated meaning and individual experience, can provide such an analysis. The paper presents a qualitative document analysis of 32 propaganda magazines produced by the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda. It demonstrates that they contain significantly more than religious rhetoric and military strategy. Rather, they are part of a process that crystalizes a jihadi subculture that appeals to disaffected and/or marginalized, excitement- seeking youths. The magazines cultivate violence by constructing a militarized style that celebrates outlaw status, where violence is eroticized and aestheticized. They idealize the notion of a jihadi terrorist that is tough and willing to commit brutal violence. The lifestyle portrayed offers the possibility of heroism, excitement, belonging and imminent fame, themes often espoused by conventional, Western consumer culture. The magazines occasionally draw on street jargon, urban music, fashion, films and video games. The subcultural model of jihadi propaganda we explicate provides a novel way of understanding terrorist recruiting tactics and motivations that are not necessarily in opposition to contemporary conventional criminal and ‘mainstream’ cultures, but in resonance with them

Performance evaluation - annual report year 3

This report describes the work done and results obtained in third year of the CATNETS project. Experiments carried out with the different configurations of the prototype are reported and simulation results are evaluated with the CATNETS metrics framework. The applicability of the Catallactic approach as market model for service and resource allocation in application layer networks is assessed based on the results and experience gained both from the prototype development and simulations