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This e-Newsletter is published every 6 months by the CHAIN-REDSproject (GA n. 306819). The content of this publication is the soleresponsibility of the CHAIN-REDS partnership and can in no way betaken to reflect the views of the European Union.
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
or start a new investigation. The new data (andthe new paper if any) are stored on the DataInfrastructure with an assigned PID and can beeasily found, thus generating a new cycle.
To this date, the DART Challenge provides proof-of principle use-cases for Data sharing across thecontinents with different Virtual ResearchCommunities (VRCs).
Several actions have been undertaken in order todisseminate the DART workflow:• Presentation at the EGI Community Forum
2014 (May 2014, Helsinki, Finland);• Videos of the demo (the first introductory one
was distributed to several collaborativeprojects – EUDAT, agINFRA, EarthServer, DCH-RP, etc. – a second more detailed one will besoon available on the project website).
In concrete terms, a work on integrating theCHAIN-REDS demo to the Virtual ResearchCommunities (VRCs) particularities (datasets,codes, etc.) has been recently undertaken withseveral communities such as the Latin AmericanGiant Observatory (LAGO).
Besides the DART workflow’s extension to moreuse-cases, other future plans include theautomatic assignment of PIDs and the integrationof workflow repositories or engines into theScience Gateway.
In the last six months, the CHAIN-REDS project hasimplemented the challenge named DataAccessibility, Reproducibility andTrustworthiness (DART) that provides proof-of-principle use-cases for data sharing across thecontinents. DART is a complete workflow ofservices built from several CHAIN-REDS tools, i.e.the Knowledge Base and the Semantic SearchEngine for searching and finding documents anddatasets, the Science Gateway for unattendedlysubmitting jobs to Grid and Cloud infrastructure,Identity Federation for accessing the previouslymentioned Science Gateway, and PersistentIdentifiers for uniquely assigning identifiers todigital objects.
The vision of DART is that of a researcher of agiven scientific domain finding publications he/sheis interested in and being automatically redirectedto the data used to produce those papers and tothe applications used to produce those data. Or,alternatively and simply, access raw data ofinterest that can be used, if required, as an inputof an application. In this scenario, the datasets arefound by means of a Semantic Search Engine andlately used as input into an application ran on theCHAIN-REDS Science Gateway (SG), which isaccessible through an Identity Federation. Bothinput and output produced in the experiment canbe identified by Persistent Identifiers (PID).
The researcher can thus access the data and thecorresponding application in order to eitherreproduce and extend the results of a given study
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
The Weather Researchand Forecasting (WRF)model is a widely usedmeso–scale numericalweather prediction system designed to serveboth atmospheric research and operationalforecasting needs. WRF has a large worldwidecommunity counting more than 20,000 users in130 countries. It has been specifically designed tobe the state-of-the-art atmospheric simulationsystem being portable and running efficiently onavailable parallel computing platforms.
Although WRF can be executed in many differentenvironments ranging from the single core insidea stand-alone machine up to the mostsophisticated HPC platforms, there are nosolutions yet to match the e-Science paradigmwhere software, data and users are “linked”together by the network as components ofdistributed computing infrastructures. Thetopmost component of the typical e-Sciencemodel consists of Science Gateways, defined ascommunity-developed sets of tools, applicationsand data collections that normally are integratedvia a portal to get access to a distributedinfrastructure. One of the many available ScienceGateway solutions is the Catania Science GatewayFramework (CSGF) whose most descriptivekeywords are: interoperability and standardadoption.
The interoperability allows any user to exploitmany available distributed infrastructuresseamlessly, while the support of standards such asSAGA and SAML guaranties the technologicalsustainability of deployed applications. Thus aproof of concept WRF application, has beendeployed in two different CSGF implementations,the first serving the CHAIN-REDS project and thesecond the el4Africa project.
The current portal application executes asimulation referred to a specific region in Africaexecuting WRF on various kinds of Grid/Clouddistributed computing infrastructures.
The output of the simulation consists of threedifferent sets of data:
1 - WRF output raw data- Generated WRF files: wrfout, wrfrst, wrfbdyand namelist.output2 - WRF image data extraction- Series of GIF images generated by a dataextraction script3 - WRF output NetCDF 4D Variables images- Series of GIF images representing almost allthe available- NetCFD' 4D variables present in the WRFoutput file- An animated GIF is also generated from eachGIF frame
The current outcomes of this Proof of Conceptare:1. Introduce new simulations and design morecomplex GUIs for parametric executions of WRF;2. Save produced data into grid/cloud storage andenrich it with corresponding Metadata;3. Foster new collaborations in Africa and in other regions of the world around the use of WRF on distributed infrastructures.
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
EGI.eu has recently signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) with the Chinese Academyof Sciences’ Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP).The purpose of this MoU is to define a frameworkof collaboration between EGI.eu and IHEP as arepresentative of the Chinese Grid community,which is important in building a truly worldwideinfrastructure with long-lasting relationships inplace.
EGI.eu has the mission to create and maintain apan-European Grid Infrastructure in order toguarantee the long-term availability of a generic e-Infrastructure for all European researchcommunities and their international collaborators.IHEP is now one of EGI.eu’s major partners in Asiaand this recent agreement reinforces EGI.eu’s goalto be “a hub for global e-science initiatives” asexplained by Yannick Legré, EGI.eu’s managingdirector.
IHEP, founded in 1973, is the leading high-energyphysics laboratory in China. IHEP has a long historyof collaboration in leading-edge research with ITdivisions of international labs like CERN, Japan’sHigh Energy Accelerator Research Organization,KEK and SLAC, the U.S. National AcceleratorLaboratory in California. IHEP operates theRegional Operation Centre for the Grid in China,supported by the CHAIN-REDS project. The recentagreement with EGI.eu represents for IHEP thefoundation for a long-term sustainable relationshipof China with the European grid.
The MoU provides the necessary administrativeenvelope for the operation of the RegionalOperation Centre for the grid infrastructure inChina, the CHINA-ROC. CHINA-ROC coordinatesmember institutes within China to access andcollaborate with the European grid. Thecollaboration in terms of operations includessecurity provisions, operational services, policiesand procedures as well as the interfaces needed toensure seamless and interoperable access toresources.
CHAIN-REDS played a central role in the MoU notjust administratively but also by supporting theactual technical actions that facilitate such a long-term agreement that ensures the connectionbetween the European researchers and resourceswith their counterparts in China. On behalf of theCHAIN-REDS project, Kostas Koumantaros andOgnjen Prnjat took the opportunity to express theirsatisfaction and acknowledge strong involvementfrom both the Chinese and European sides inproviding the administrative and technicalframework for this long-term sustainable inter-continental relationship.
These collaboration efforts are a proof of CHAIN-REDS’s commitment to ensuring sustainability ofstandard developments in order to secure acontinuation of the e-Infrastructure services beyondthe project duration. By empowering the Grid ROCsboth technically and administratively forcoordination with key actors of Grid e-Infrastructures - EGI - CHAIN-REDS is steadilyachieving its goal. “We hope to the same kind ofagreement between EGI and Africa&Arabia verysoon”, states Ognjen Prnjat of CHAIN-REDS project.
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
related videos, demonstrations and materials.Visitors of the booth have been able to witnesslive job executions on heterogeneous DistributedComputing Infrastructures by means of standard-based Science Gateways supporting federatedidentity authentication. Visitors could navigateacross data infrastructures consisting ofthousands of Open Access Document Repositoriesand Data Repositories, with the possibility to dosemantic searches on tens of millions of recordsand to correlate scientific papers with the datasets used to write them.
The training event focused on data servicesavailable to European, Greek and globalscientists. It presented various servicesdeveloped by the EUDAT Project, as well as theCHAIN-REDS/GRNET persistent identifiers service.The persistent identifiers were presented in thecontext of the Greek PID service operated by theGreek Research and Technology Network(GRNET) and made available to all world regionsvia the CHAIN-REDS project, in the context ofintercontinental Virtual Research Communities.
This joint training is the first of a series ofactivities that CHAIN-REDS and EUDAT projectsare undertaking in common, as part of aMemorandum of Understanding signed betweenthe two initiatives in January 2014. Bothinitiatives have a common interest in a closecooperation in order to achieve their respectiveobjectives and promote the adoption ofconsolidated standards in the e-Infrastructuresfor Research and Education, with the ultimateaim of widening the opportunities of data sharingacross different e-Infrastructures and continents.
ICRI2014 provided an excellent background forthe joint training, because of the global relevanceof the forum and its high-level internationalaudience including policy and decision makers.
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
The CHAIN-REDS project was stronglyrepresented (GRNET, INFN, Sigma Orionis) at thesecond International Conference on ResearchInfrastructures (ICRI) that took place on April 2-4,2014 in Athens, Greece. The ICRI conferencetypically gathers key policy makers from theEuropean Commission, European governments,as well as key representatives of e-Infrastructureresearch and education communities. Thisaudience is increasingly joined by correspondinghigh-level delegates and experts from across theglobe, including Africa, China, Latin America,India, etc.
During the event, in adedicated exhibitionarea (a shared boothwith the ELCIRAproject) CHAIN-REDSpresented project-
On the 2nd of April (asa satellite event ofICRI2014), CHAIN-REDS stronglycontributed to andfacilitated the training
session on Data Infrastructures, focusing on theEU-funded EUDAT project's data services andtheir relationship with CHAIN-REDS offerings.
A workshop on Identity Management will be heldat the Krystal Hotel in Cancun, Mexico, on May 28-29, 2014. This workshop - jointly organised by theCHAIN-REDS and ELCIRA EU-funded projects underthe aegis of the European Commission (EC, DGCONNECT) - is organised in co-location with theTICAL2014 Conference that will take place at theCancun Centre.
This new CHAIN-REDS workshop will giveparticipants a comprehensive overview of IdentityManagement and will focus on the existingsolutions based on the Federations of IdentityProviders promoted by the eduGAIN initiative.
The workshop will present the opportunitiesoffered by such approach in terms of easiness ofaccess to distributed resources and services. Thepresentations will address the technical aspects ofthe implementation of Identity Providers (IdP) andService Providers. Specific talks of the workshopwill also show examples and current state of theart activities with an introduction to the PersistentIdentifier (PID) system. The workshop is ofparticular interest for Managers and Technicalpersons of Computing Centres and NationalResearch and Education Networks that want toinvestigate the opportunities of installing IdPsystems and offering Services to Federated IdPs.
This CHAIN-REDS event is the fifth of a series ofthematic workshops organised on differentcontinents with the aim of fostering directinteraction between experts and key stakeholdersin the field in order to harness the vastopportunities offered by e-Infrastructures andrelated services for social-economic growth.
This workshop is organised by RedCLARA with thesupport of Sigma Orionis and all CHAIN-REDS andELCIRA project partners.
The joint Workshop will be held in colocation withthe TICAL 2014 Conference. The Fourth Conferenceon Information and Communication TechnologyDirectors from Higher Education Institutions, TICAL2014, will be held between 26 and 28 of May at theCancun Center.
It aims at providing a collaborative space toenhance the work and the role of the Informationand Communication Technologies (ICT) Directors ofthe universities of the region.
For more information about TICAL2014, please visit the REDCLARA website.
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
The CHAIN-REDS project is happy to announce theSchool for Application Porting to ScienceGateways to be held at the Department of Physicsand Astronomy of the University of Catania, inCatania, Italy, on June 9-20, 2014.
The aim of the School is to increase the number ofscientific applications running on the e-Infrastructures addressed by CHAIN-REDS andintegrated in Science Gateways deployed in theregions targeted by the project.
To fulfill the goal of this school, the program, basedboth on lectures and hands-on practices, will coverin-depth the main topics of the Catania ScienceGateways Framework and will provide the know-how to integrate applications in Science Gatewaysimplemented with that framework.
Applications to be integrated during the school inthe Science Gateways deployed in the regionsaddressed by CHAIN-REDS can be proposed eitheras Grid Applications (i.e., as software to beremotely installed at Grid sites) or as CloudApplications (i.e., as software included in a VirtualMachine that can be deployed at sites belongingboth to the CHAIN-REDS cloud testbed and to theEGI Federated Cloud).
In order to maximize the didactic impact andeffectiveness, the number of applications to beported will be limited to 13-15.
The deadline to propose applications is the 31st ofMay 2014.
The event is in technical sponsorship with the IEEETSCS Technical Area on Science Gateways.
The IEEE Technical Committee on ScalableComputing (TCSC) is an international forum withinthe IEEE and IEEE Computer Society fosteringresearch and education in scalable computing.
The Technical Area on Science Gateways aims atimproving the state of research and education inscalable computing through the following goals:• Sponsoring upcoming and prominent
conferences and workshops in the scope ofscience gateways;
• Outreach to various researchers within thecontext of science gateways;
• Providing information about projects andpublications on science gateways.
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
The main objectives of the workshop are thefollowing:• Identify and explore the latest business and
technology trends in Cloud Computing;• Understand the difference between Proprietary
and Open Standard based Cloud Solution;• Understand the importance of Open Standards
and Interoperability;• Assess the potential of Open Source applied to
Cloud Computing and explore its BusinessModel;
• Deep Dive into Cloud Computing through labsand practical experience.
The workshop is designed for managers andprofessionals working for National Research andEducation Networks (NRENs), who need tounderstand the potential of Cloud Computing andits underlying technology in order to be able toassess its impact into their respective NRENs.
This workshop will satisfy the need of thesetargeted participants by providing them with boththe necessary business information about cloudcomputing and the cloud technical essentials thatare the starting point for the professional cloudlevel and certifications. Moreover, the workshopwill satisfy the interest of the CHAIN-REDS projectin creating cloud infrastructures in harmonizationwith other cloud installations and cloud servicesprovided at the regional level in Europe and inother regions.
The workshop will be followed by theEUMEDCONNECT3 – ASREN meeting on May 27,2014. This meeting will address issues related tothe progress and the recent developments in thee-Infrastructures in the region. The meeting willinclude a roundtable session to be led by CHAIN-REDS project with focus on Clouds vision andplanning. This session taking place in theframework of the Rome workshop is the third ofthis type promoted by the CHAIN-REDS project,after the roundtable session organised as part ofe-Science 2013 in Beijing and the recentroundtable on Cloud technology held on May 20,2014 as part of the EGI Technical Forum inHelsinki.
This series of technical meetings form a coherentset of roundtables on the federation of clouds, aspart of CHAIN-REDS strategy for Research andEducation. They also translate the effortsconstantly made by the project to reach its majormilestones and fully comply with therequirements outlined in the work programme.
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
ASREN (the Arab States Researchand Education Network) incooperation with IT Synergy(Egypt), GARR Consortium (Italy)EUMEDCONNECT3 project (UK),and CHAIN-REDS project (Italy)are organising the Clouds forResearch and EducationWorkshop. It will take place at theGARR Consortium Premises inRome, Italy, on June 24-26, 2014.
The digest dedicated to International Cooperation, named "EU Research on theWorld Stage", recently published by the European Commission, acknowledges theCHAIN-REDS project outcomes. More…
A new version of the CHAIN-REDS Semantic Search Engine has been released. Twonew functionalities have been added. The first one is the possibility to refine thesearch by keywords: author, subject, type. More…
CHAIN-REDS work on the promotion on the standard-based interoperabilitybetween grids, clouds and HPC clusters in Africa has been acknowledged at the2014 Assembly of the European Geosciences Union. More…
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
The next e-Infrastructure Reflection Group Workshop (e-IRG) will take place inAthens, Greece from Monday 9th (9am) until Tuesday 10th of June (1pm). It ishosted by the General Secretariat for Research and Technology. More…
CHAIN-REDS Knowledge Base and Semantic Search Engine are featured onSemanticweb.com, a known and reputed blog in the domain. Read the full articlefrom the CHAIN-REDS website. More…
The 4th eI4Africa Thematic Workshop is taking place on June 3rd, 2014, in Dar esSalaam, Tanzania. The workshop is organised under the aegis of the EuropeanCommission and in co-location with the TTA Conference2014. More…
The European Grid Infrastructre (EGI) announced at the EGI Community Forum2014 in Helsinki the launch of the Federated Cloud service and acknowledged thecollaboration with CHAIN-REDS. More…
[email protected] ©2014 CHAIN-REDSReproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledgedCredits: Sigma Orionis
