15786317
Bringing the C Libraries With Us into a Multi-Threaded Future
Textile materials such as fiber and cloth can be dyed more satisfactorily with sulfur dyes or sulfurized vat dyes by allowing an organic mercapto compound and/or an organic sulfur compound capable of generating mercapto groups under dyeing conditions to be present in dye baths. Still more improved dyeing results may be obtained by allowing a sulfite salt compound to be further present in such dye baths.
6816342
SkipNet: A Scalable Overlay Network with Practical Locality Properties
Scalable overlay networks such as Chord, CAN, Pastry, and Tapestry have recently emerged as flexible infrastructure for building large peer-to-peer systems. In practice, such systems have two disadvantages: They provide no control over where data is stored and no guarantee that routing paths remain within an administrative domain whenever possible. SkipNet is a scalable overlay network that provides controlled data placement and guaranteed routing locality by organizing data primarily by string names. SkipNet allows for both fine-grained and coarse-grained control over data placement: Content can be placed either on a pre-determined node or distributed uniformly across the nodes of a hierarchical naming sub-tree. An additional useful consequence of SkipNet's locality properties is that partition failures, in which an entire organization disconnects from the rest of the system, can result in two disjoint, but well-connected overlay networks.
9636203
Two case studies in predictable application scheduling using Rialto/NT
This paper analyzes the results of two case studies in applying the Rialto/NT scheduler to real Windows 2000 applications. The first study is of a soft modem-a modem whose signal processing work is performed on the host CPU, rather than on a dedicated signal processing chip. The second is of an audio player application. Both of these are frequently used real-time applications-ones running on systems that were not designed to support predictable real-time execution. To function correctly, both applications require that ongoing computations be performed in a timely manner. In both cases, we first measured an original version designed to run on Windows 2000, and then modified the application to take advantage of ongoing CPU reservations provided by the Rialto/NT scheduler. We report on the benefits and problems observed when using reservations in these real-world scenarios. In both cases, we found that a real-time scheduler can provide the needed predictability for the application in the presence of competing applications, while also providing other benefits, such as minimizing the soft modem's impact on the scheduling predictability of other computations in the system. We also describe the methodologies we used to analyze the real-time behavior of the operating system and applications during these studies, including the use of instrumented kernels to produce execution traces.
15380352
Operating system directions for the next Millennium
We believe it is time to reexamine the operating system's role in computing. Operating systems exist to create an environment in which compelling applications come to life. They do that by providing abstractions built on the services provided by hardware. We argue that advances in hardware and networking technology enable a new kind of operating system to support tomorrow's applications. Such an operating system would raise the level of abstraction for developers and users, so that individual computers, file systems, and networks become unimportant to most computations in the same way that processor registers, disk sectors, and physical pages are today.
8113193
Consumer real-time systems
14178775
A Parallel Algorithm for Mesh Smoothing
Maintaining good mesh quality during the generation and refinement of unstructured meshes in finite-element applications is an important aspect in obtaining accurate discretizations and well-conditioned linear systems. In this article, we present a mesh-smoothing algorithm based on nonsmooth optimization techniques and a scalable implementation of this algorithm. We prove that the parallel algorithm has a provably fast runtime bound and executes correctly for a parallel random access machine (PRAM) computational model. We extend the PRAM algorithm to distributed memory computers and report results for two- and three-dimensional simplicial meshes that demonstrate the efficiency and scalability of this approach for a number of different test cases. We also examine the effect of different architectures on the parallel algorithm and present results for the IBM SP supercomputer and an ATM-connected network of SPARC Ultras.
14775203
Supporting Information Structuring in a Digital Library
In this paper we present Garnet, a spatial hypertext interface to a digital library. Spatial hypertext systems support information structuring the organisation of documents performed by a user to complement their information seeking. In the past, spatial hypertext systems have suffered from poor connectivity with information sources such as digital libraries. Conversely, digital libraries have provided strong support for document retrieval whilst offering little support for information structuring over the retrieved documents. Garnet provides an integrated environment for both seeking and organising information. We report on the results of a user study that elicits the response of users to a combined seeking and structuring environment. The feasibility of exploiting the information structuring of users to identify the interests of users is also investigated.
6148133
Wild Things
The children's book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak was animated using Alice version 2.0 for an introductory undergraduate 14-week programming course at Immaculata University. Using the software development lifecycle, the designers/developers collaborated on the requirements and design phases while the implementation phase was completed individually. The animation was designed and developed with the intent of applying objectoriented principles and reusing objects where appropriate.
 Three individual scenes were created using Alice version 2.0. Upon the completion of the scenes, a screen capture tool (Hypercam2), and an audio capture tool (River Past) were used to break down the animation. Those components were synchronized using Windows Movie Maker and then the animation was converted to a Flash file.
 • Scene 1 - Tommy's Bedroom: Tommy is sent to his room and his imagination creates a jungle that grows around him.
 • Scene 2 - Sailing the Ocean: Tommy imagines sailing across the sea towards an island and encounters wild things along the way.
 • Scene 3 - An Island Encounter: Tommy reaches the island and meets the wild things only to awaken back in his bedroom as his mother calls him for dinner.
9893455
Interactive Modelling in Decision Support Systems
Abstract In the past, the use of computer models in decision support has involved the interpretation of written reports derived from the output of the model. In recent years, however, the development of micro-computers and istributed computing systems has made it possible for decision-makers to be provided, not with a written report, but with a copy of the model itself. The new relationship between the user and the model, which this development establishes, has important implications for the way in which decision support systems (DSSs) are designed and used.
3300534
Improving mobile internet usability
Mobile internet technologies, such as WAP, are important for pervasive, anytime, anywhere computing. Although much progress has been made in terms of technological innovation, many of mobile internet systems are difficult to use, lack flexibility and robustness. They give a poor user experience. Evaluation and theoretical analysis of usability combined with innovative design can achieve significant improvements in user performance and satisfaction. Using such multidisciplinary methods explains the negative reactions to WAP, and — more constructively — suggest ways of developing more effective and efficient devices and services.