Transforming a LAN Party into a Classroom

Twice each semester the second floor of Georgia Southern University\u27s IT Building transforms from classrooms and computer labs into the university\u27s largest student gaming event. Georgia Southern University\u27s chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals (AITP) -- under the close supervision of IT faculty -- hosts the LAN party-style event with an open invitation to the entire student body to come play games, enjoy pizza and Monster drinks, and socialize with other gamers. With over thirty-five of these events under their belt, the faculty have found unique ways to spark learning and generate teachable moments with the students throughout the event

High Performance Computing: Considerations When Deciding To Rent Or Buy

The commercial cloud computing (CCC) industry has reached a level of maturity to make it a truly viable alternative to the traditional, in-house data center. Although there are many notable examples of CCC platforms and technologies being piloted for high performance computing (HPC) tasks, it has yet to enter the mainstream. A variety of obstacles exist which have slowed or hindered adoption of CCC platforms, including implementation complexity, cost confusion, and security concerns. This paper describes the author’s experiences in using CCC for various HPC tasks and compares the results to the same tasks being executed on in-house computing resources. The breakpoint at which CCC becomes more costly than in-house equipment is identified. Lastly, a series of “lessons learned” are presented to assist researchers in effectively interacting with CCC vendors and platforms

How to Conduct Cloud-Based Student Labs in Your Classroom

This workshop uses hands-on exercises to show participants how the cloud can be an effective and cost-saving platform for student laboratory exercises. Participants will learn how to create their own virtual computer on Amazon\u27s cloud platform, then use the server to 1) publish their own web site and 2) run a short molecular modeling simulation using the PSI4 software, all in just a few minutes. We will also show participants how to find and decipher cloud platform pricing models, for a better idea of how much cloud computing will cost instructors and/or their students. Note: An Amazon\u27s AWS free tier account (http://aws.amazon.com/free/) will be required to participate in the workshop. The workshop will only use free tier services, so attendees will not incur any costs for participating. We strongly recommend you sign up a few days prior to the workshop. Amazon AWS does not typically have instant approval for new customers

CASE STUDY: LESSONS LEARNED WHILE LAYING THE FOUNDATION FOR A HIGH SCHOOL COMPUTER SCIENCE CURRICULUM

Parents, business leaders, and politicians agree that computer science (CS) education is a critical and necessary component of U.S. high school curriculum. Today however, key indicators, such as course offerings and participation in CS-related advanced placement exams, point to a significant lack of K-12 CS curriculum. Statesboro High School in Bulloch County, Georgia does not currently offer any formal CS-related course, making it a prime example of this gap. Faculty from both the high school and Georgia Southern University’s Department of Information Technology decided to work together to 1) demonstrate the need for a CS curriculum, 2) demonstrate the desire for CS-related courses, and 3) begin laying the foundation for a structured CS program conforming to Georgia state policy and guidelines

Negotiating Navy construction contracts.

http://archive.org/details/negotiatingnavyc00thacNAN

EXPLORING USER PRIVACY BASED ON HUMAN BEHAVIOR WITH INTERNET OF THINGS DEVICES AT HOME (FORMATIVE RESEARCH)

The proposed research initiative is aimed at investigating potential security and privacy vulnerabilities in home based Internet of Things (IoT) smart devices, such as Amazon Echo, Google Home, and smart home appliances, by analyzing the type, nature, and frequency of its encrypted, network communications. Such communications may reveal private information about the activities occurring within a home, as well as behaviors, relationships, and habits. Regardless of the quality of encryption used for network communications, digital messages expose certain information in much the same way as a sealed envelope sent via the postal service. The results of this formative research initiative will encourage better design of future home based IoT smart devices for security and privacy, as well as educate consumers on risks

Local Impact, National Influence, Global Reach: Climate Solutions for Universities and Local Communities

To engage the UCSD Foundation’s Board of rustees in the campus’s sustainability vision, UCSD developed an inspiring presentation that has since also been given to the UC Regents and other audiences. Once you have a vision, you need the funds to realize it, and UCSD’s Director of Constituent Relations will teach you “How to Work With Your Development Office to Support Campus Sustainability.

High Performance Computing: Considerations When Deciding To Rent Or Buy

The commercial cloud computing (CCC) industry has reached a level of maturity to make it a truly viable alternative to the traditional, in-house data center. Although there are many notable examples of CCC platforms and technologies being piloted for high performance computing (HPC) tasks, it has yet to enter the mainstream. A variety of obstacles exist which have slowed or hindered adoption of CCC platforms, including implementation complexity, cost confusion, and security concerns. This paper describes the author’s experiences in using CCC for various HPC tasks and compares the results to the same tasks being executed on in-house computing resources. The breakpoint at which CCC becomes more costly than in-house equipment is identified. Lastly, a series of “lessons learned” are presented to assist researchers in effectively interacting with CCC vendors and platforms

An efficient algorithm for the determination of force constants and displacements in numerical definitions of a large, general order Taylor series expansion

The venerable Taylor series expansion is a workhorse of computational modeling within the computational and quantum chemistry disciplines. It provides a highly-descriptive means of constructing complicated functions reliably. However, higher-order implementations or broadly defined functions with large numbers of variables can create a significant bottleneck for implementation of the Taylor series model. Most notably, construction of the internuclear potential for anharmonic vibrational frequency computations of large molecules like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can become intractable to setup, much less compute due to the sheer volume of internal coordiantes. This work highlights the use of a lazy cartesian product to generate intelligently the required force constant definitions and subsequent displacements for numerical differentiation schemes with direct application to the definition of vibrational wave functions of molecules such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons which can have dozens to hundreds of atoms. The key feature of the algorithm is its ability to generate directly only the non-zero rows of the Cartesian product (i.e. the Taylor series) while skipping large sections of unnecessary work in computing force constants and the subsequent displacements for unrequested higher-order derivatives with further considerations for symmetry. The savings of this algorithm are orders of magnitude greater than naïvely written nested loops. Furthermore, this algorithm facilitates highly balanced job partitioning, a key element of parallelization and high performance computing necessary for such large molecules. This approach can open the use of the Taylor series to formerly size-forbidden molecules