The International Grid (iGrid): Empowering Global Research Community Networking Using High Performance International Internet Services

The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Indiana University collaborated on a major research demonstration at the IEEE/ACM Supercomputing '98 (SC'98) conference in Orlando, Florida, November 7-13, 1998, to showcase the evolution and importance of global research community networking. Collaborators worked together to solve complex computational problems using advanced high-speed networks to access geographically-distributed computing, storage, and display resources. It is the collection of computing and communication resources that we refer to as the International Grid (iGrid). This paper presents an overview of the grid testbed, some of the underlying technologies used to enable distributed computing and collaborative problem solving, and descriptions of the applications. It concludes with recommendations for the future of global research community networking, based on the experiences of iGrid participants from the USA, Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland, Singapore, and Taiwan

Open Access Software for Virtual Collaborations on Campus and Beyond: A Case Study of Food and Nutrition Business

Contributing institution: Rutgers University LibrariesWith a preponderance of electronic resources readily available as well as technology hardware and infrastructure advancing at a logarithmic pace, the needs for the physical library as a center for research have greatly diminished. Many libraries have moved to the notion of 'library as place,' a welcoming environment for group study, an information commons, and cyber cafes. For those on campus, particularly undergraduates, this new approach has effectively demonstrated increased use of library buildings. Libraries must also be focused on the notion of 'place as library.' The library's web presence should provide just as welcoming an environment as the library building for faculty, research staff and students. The sciences, in particular, have embraced the Internet for databases, distributed computing, and virtual collaboration where each member of the workgroup can be widely dispersed, beyond a single institution and, in some cases, beyond national borders. The sciences have the greatest infrastructure of both digital resources and the newest technologies. New software products make the leap to virtual collaboration, virtual conferencing, and virtual teamwork seamless. Virtual collaborative activities take place in the digital environment, beyond the geographic constraints of the institution. So, where does the research library fit into this new and emerging model? The speaker shared some examples, with a focus on agriculture and related sciences, of how libraries can make a difference and provide research support services and an infrastructure for information access, dissemination, and preservation in the ever evolving digital environment

2015 RAD-AID Conference on International Radiology for Developing Countries: The Evolving Global Radiology Landscape.

Radiology in low- and middle-income (developing) countries continues to make progress. Research and international outreach projects presented at the 2015 annual RAD-AID conference emphasize important global themes, including (1) recent slowing of emerging market growth that threatens to constrain the advance of radiology, (2) increasing global noncommunicable diseases (such as cancer and cardiovascular disease) needing radiology for detection and management, (3) strategic prioritization for pediatric radiology in global public health initiatives, (4) continuous expansion of global health curricula at radiology residencies and the RAD-AID Chapter Networks participating institutions, and (5) technologic innovation for recently accelerated implementation of PACS in low-resource countries

Transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) as rescue therapy for endoscopic glue migration and bleeding gastric varices

Gastric variceal (GV) bleeding is an important and fatal complication for cirrhotic patients which has historically been controlled with sclerosants and band ligation. Cyanoacrylate glue therapy has emerged as a more favorable option with bleeding control of up to 90% and low complication rates; however, several reports show possible ectopic systemic glue migration, most commonly into the portomesenteric system and leading to portal hypertension. To decompress portal pressures and mitigate future complications, transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) placement may be a viable rescue therapy. We present two cases of TIPS placement for an 18-year-old and 51-year-old male in the setting of endoscopic glue migration into the portomesenteric system that demonstrate feasibility and success in temporizing acute variceal bleeding. Both cases demonstrated decompressing portovenous pressures but may result in need for re-intervention

VGES: the Next Generation of Virtualized Grid Resource Provisioning

Abstract. New science in many important disciplines now requires complex, time-dependent access to distributed computing resources. We addresses these problems by creating a higher level resource abstraction that layers on top of existing Cyberinfrastructure that allows an application to target stable resource aggregations spanning sites through a well-defined and standard-compatible interfaces. The functionality of vgES automatically maps application centric Virtual Grid specifications onto available resources through a split-phase provisioning and actualization protocol. Clients of vgES see all resources in terms of single resource slot abstraction that can be treated as a form of advanced resource reservation even when underlying resource do not support such reservations directly.

Prophylactic IVC filter placement in bariatric surgery patients: results from a prospective filter registry

Abstract Background Bariatric surgery patients are at increased risk for VTE, but potential risks versus benefits of IVC filters in this group remain unclear. Indwelling filters may increase risk of VTE, and removal of filters in obese patients can be challenging. This study evaluated the incidence of VTE in select bariatric patients receiving prophylactic IVC filters, their risk of filter-related complications, and outcomes from attempted filter retrieval. Results Postsurgical DVT occurred in 3 patients within 3 months postoperatively (3%)(95%CI:1–9%), and 1 patient(1%)(95%CI:0–5%) developed acute low-risk PE at 31 days postoperatively, prior to filter removal. All VTE patients were successfully managed with therapeutic anticoagulation alone except one who required thrombolysis. Median filter dwell time was 54 days (range:22–1548), and there were no major filter-related complications (0%)(95%CI:0–3%). Retrieval was attempted in 104 cases (97%)(95%CI:92–99%) and successful in 104 cases (100%)(95%CI:97–100%). Thirty-three patients (32%)(95%CI:23–42%) required advanced techniques for filter removal, and there were no major procedural complications (0%)(95%CI:0–3%). Median follow-up occurred at 344 days (range:3–1570) days after filter retrieval. Conclusions No cases of life-threatening post-op PE occurred in this cohort of high-risk bariatric surgery patients receiving prophylactic IVC filters in combination with mechanical and chemoprophylaxis. The risk of filter-related complications was low and retrieval success was high with adjunctive use of advanced techniques. Clinical trial registration NCT0115848

Tuecke: Application Experiences with the Globus Toolkit

The development of applications and tools for highperformance “computational grids ” is complicated by the heterogeneity and frequently dynamic behavior of the underlying resources; by the complexity of the applications themselves, which often combine aspects of supercomputing and distributed computing; and by the need to achieve high levels of performance. The Globus toolkit has been developed with the goal of simplifying this application development task, by providing implementations of various core services deemed essential for high-performance distributed computing. In this paper, we describe two large applications developed with this toolkit: a distributed interactive simulation and a teleimmersion system. We describe the process used to develop the applications, review lessons learned, and draw conclusions regarding the effectiveness of the toolkit approach. 1

The GrADS project: Software support for high-level grid application development

Advances in networking technologies will soon make it possible to use the global information infrastructure in a qualitatively different way-as a computational as well as an information resource. As described in the recent book The Grid: Blueprint for a New Computing Infrastructure, this Grid will connect the nation's computers, databases, instruments, and people in a seamless web of computing and distributed intelligence, which can be used in an on-demand fashion as a problem-solving resource in many fields of human endeavor-and, in particular, science and engineering. The availability of grid resources will give rise to dramatically new classes of applications, in which computing resources are no longer localized but, rather, distributed, heterogeneous, and dynamic; computation is increasingly sophisticated and multidisciplinary; and computation is integrated into our daily lives and, hence, subject to stricter time constraints than at present. The impact of these new applications will be pervasive, ranging from new systems for scientific inquiry, through computing support for crisis management, to the use of ambient computing to enhance personal mobile computing environments. To realize this vision, significant scientific and technical obstacles must be overcome. Principal among these is usability. The goal of the Grid Application Development Software (GrADS) project is to simplify distributed heterogeneous computing in the same way that the World Wide Web simplified information sharing over the Internet. To that end, the project is exploring the scientific and technical problems that must be solved to make it easier for ordinary scientific users to develop, execute, and tune applications on the Grid. In this paper, the authors describe the vision and strategies underlying the GrADS project, including the base software architecture for grid execution and performance monitoring, strategies and tools for construction of applications from libraries of grid-aware components, and development of innovative new science and engineering applications that can exploit these new technologies to run effectively in grid environments