ITC Research Computing Support Newsletter - December 2007
This is the December 2007 newsletter for ITC Research Computing Support. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the information presented here, please contact either the Research Computing Lab in Brown Library at 434-243-8799 or the Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library at 434-243-8800.
Contents
- High-Performance Parallel Computing Bootcamp [January 7 - 11, 2008]
- Software and Hardware
- Events and Announcements
- Winter Break Schedule for Scholars' and Research Computing Labs
- Scholars' Lab Statistical Computing Consultant Opening
- Library's Digital Humanities Fellowship and Scholarship Awards
- Scholars' Lab Digital Therapy Graduate Student Luncheon, December 7
- IATH Invites Fellowship Applications from Faculty
- The Maplesoft Great Application Contest
- Computational Science Speaker Series
- Upcoming Maple Webinars
- Learn GIS Skills with ESRI
- Mathematica Free Online Seminars
- Planned Downtime for Disk Storage System Affects Many Services
- Announcing Apple Training at the University of Virginia
- ITC Announcement/Migration to Exchange Calendaring Services Underway
- ITC Announcement/Faculty and Staff Migration from PhoneMail to Xpressions Voicemail
High-Performance Parallel Computing Bootcamp [January 7 - 11, 2008]
A "High-Performance Parallel Computing Bootcamp" will be held from January 7 - 11, 2008, at the Research Computing Lab, Clark Hall.
Information and Registration
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/science/rescomp/Purpose: The purpose of this seminar (bootcamp) is to introduce the attendee to the basics of high-performance parallel computing and the national cyber-infrastructure. Attendees will learn how to optimize sequential applications, exploit high throughput computing opportunities, use queuing systems such as PBS, and write basic MPI and OpenMP applications.
The bootcamp, taught by UVa Computer Science Professor Aaron Bloomfield, is targeted at graduate students, staff, and faculty with science and engineering problems that demand high performance.Who Should Attend: Faculty, graduate students, and research staff with science and engineering problems and programs that need high performance and those who want their programs to run faster, complete sooner, or tackle problems previously thought too computationally difficult should plan to attend.
Pre-Requisites: It is expected that the participant know one or more of C, C++, or Fortran, as well as Unix basics such as editing, compiling, the file system, and simple scripts. A brief "Introduction to Unix" will be offered for those who might need it or want a refresher on January 3-4, 2008 (before this seminar begins).
Format: Morning lectures and afternoon hands-on computer exercises with multiple support staff present to assist participants. Free morning and afternoon snacks as well as a boxed lunch will be provided. The bootcamp is free to attendees.
Registration
Registration, syllabus, and additional information is available on the Research Computing Lab (RCL) website. Click on the Bootcamp link on the right.The camp is sponsored by James Hilton, VP-CIO, VP-CIO's Faculty Computational Science Advisory Council, ITC Research Computing Support, and the Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library.
Software and Hardware..........
UVaCollab Announced
ITC is pleased to announce that Collab, UVa's instance of the Sakai open-source online collaboration and learning tool, has been transitioned from pilot phase to production status.
This means you can now log in and create your own online collaboration worksites instantly. Try it for your committees, project teams, research initiatives, ad hoc groups, and much more.
It also has a new logo and name, UVaCollab, to signify its expanded role in both collaborations and course management at UVa.
As you've probably heard, UVaCollab is being phased in to replace Instructional Toolkit, and early adopters may begin using it in their classes in January 2008. The transition will be complete by the end of Spring 2009.
If you're new to UVaCollab, we encourage you to attend a short demo for a features overview and use guidelines. Demos are scheduled weekly in libraries across Grounds. Visit the UVaCollab home page for more information.
GPL Packages for S-PLUS at CSAN
CSAN is the Comprehensive S-PLUS Archive Network. Functioning much like R packages, CSAN provides data analysis and statistical methods packages to users of S-PLUS. The methods are provided as self contained software packages that can be loaded into S-PLUS. Currently, the packages are S-PLUS specific, but Insightful plans to leverage recent work on making common functions and interfaces in S-PLUS and R, thereby developing CSAN into a collection of open-source, cross-dialect-compatible packages.
CSAN packages are designed for S-PLUS version 8.0 only. For more information on CSAN and downloading information, visit http://csan.insightful.com.
Note: While S-PLUS is required for package installation, no additional software is needed if you are only installing packages from CSAN. However, users of S-PLUS 8.0 in the Windows environment must install additional software components to build and install packages from source code. This software is available for free download from the sites listed at http://www.insightful.com/support/splus80win/csan_win_tools.htm.
New Version of TN3270 X Available from ITC
ITC would like to announce that an updated version of Tn3270 X has been posted to ITC's Software Central. Tn3270 X is a terminal emulation program for connecting Macintosh computers running OS X to systems which use IBM 3270 terminals such as the AS400/Human Resources and Mercury mainframes. The new version, 3.2.4, replaces version 3.0.3b and can be downloaded from Software Central.
Matlab 7.5 (Release 2007b) Available
ITC is distributing DVDs for Matlab 7.5 (Release 2007b) for the Windows (Vista/XP/2000), Linux, and Mac OS X (10.4.8 or above) platforms from either the Research Computing Lab in the Brown Science and Engineering Library, Clark Hall, or the Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library, 4th floor.
Matlab 7.5 will become the default version of Matlab on ITC's Sun Solaris and Linux platforms and be available in the public computing labs (both Windows and Macs) on January 2, 2008.
Descriptions of the upgrades in Matlab 7.5 and various toolboxes can be found online at http://www.mathworks.com/products/new_products/latest_features.html.
Further information on how to access and use Matlab can be found on the Research Computing Services website. Specific questions about the upgrade as well as general questions concerning the use of Matlab should be directed to ITC Research Computing Support; email us at Res-Consult@virginia.edu or by telephoning or visiting either the Research Computing Lab (243-8799) in the Brown Science and Engineering Library, Clark Hall or the Scholars' Lab (243-8800) in Alderman Library, 4th floor.
Important Reminder for Users of Licensed Software
Before you install your software, you should first make sure that the clock time and time zone are both correct. In particular, two products at UVa that have been adversely affected by clock changes are SAS and ArcGIS.
After you have installed the software, do not change either the time or the time zone by more than a few minutes. Software with an expiration time can detect clock changes and disables the software under the assumption that the user is attempting to circumvent the licensing system. Repairing problems that occur in this situation are extremely difficult. In the Windows environment the registry is usually affected in ways that are less than obvious.
If you have questions about your clock settings or have problems renewing or installing your software, please contact ITC Research Computing Support at 243-8800 or Res-Consult@virginia.edu for assistance.
Usenet Retirement on Dec. 19, 2007
Usenet News has been active at UVa for over twenty years. During this time, it grew from a modestly-used service to one of our most active, providing online discussion space for UVa classes and technical groups, programming help, and even groups with local appeal, like want ads and an "online" ride board. In recent years, technologies including the Instructional Toolkit, weblogs, private Web services, and instant messaging have contributed to declining activity on the UVa Usenet service. Even though activity is low, maintaining this service consumes technical and support staff resources, as well as server capacity. Accordingly, ITC has decided to discontinue the service on December 19, 2007.
Alternatives to using Usenet to access newsgroup-type information may be found at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/newsgroups/alternatives.html.
Events and Announcements..........
Winter Break Schedule for Scholars' and Research Computing Labs
For the exam period and winter break, the Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library and the Research Computing Lab in Brown Library will generally be open when those libraries are open. Please check the exam schedule for the libraries at
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/hours/fall_exam_period_2007.html
and the winter break schedule at
http://www.lib.virginia.edu/hours/winter_intersession_2007-2008.html
Please note the libraries are closed December 23-26, and December 30-January 1.Brown Library/Research Computing Lab
Alderman Library/Scholars' Lab
- Friday, December 7, 8AM-5PM
- Saturday, December 8, 8AM-10PM
- Sunday, December 9 - Friday, December 14, 8AM-2AM
- Saturday, December 15, 8AM-10PM
- Sunday, December 16 - Monday, December 17, 8AM-2AM
- Tuesday, December 18 - Friday, December 21, 8AM-6PM
- Saturday, December 22, 1-5PM
- Sunday, December 23 - Wednesday, December 26, Closed
- Thursday, December 27 - Friday, December 28, 9AM-5PM
- Saturday, December 29, 1-5PM
- Sunday, December 30 - Tuesday, January 1, Closed
- J-Term hours will be Monday-Thursday, 8AM-8PM; Friday, 8AM-6PM; Saturday, 9AM-6PM, and Sunday, 12noon-8PM.
- Friday, December 7 - Monday, December 17, 8AM-Midnight
- Tuesday, December 18 - Friday, December 21, 8AM-6PM
- Saturday, December 22, 1-5PM
- Sunday, December 23 - Wednesday, December 26, Closed
- Thursday, December 27 - Friday, December 28, 9AM-5PM
- Saturday, December 29, 1-5PM
- Sunday, December 30 - Tuesday, January 1, Closed
- J-Term hours will be Monday-Thursday, 8AM-10PM; Friday, 8AM-6PM; Saturday, 9AM-6PM, and Sunday, 12noon-10PM.
Scholars' Lab Statistical Computing Consultant Opening
Job Description: The Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library is seeking a student assistant to provide statistical analysis support to students and faculty. The student will work at the Scholars' Lab desk and provide general patron service and statistical computing consultations. The student will also answer statistics-related emails and meet with patrons requiring in-depth help. This position requires 5-15 hours/week.
Qualifications: In addition to strong customer service skills, a candidate should have a good working knowledge of at least one of the following stats packages: SAS, SPSS, S-PLUS, Stata, and Minitab. The position offers a research or quantitatively-oriented student exposure to a wide variety of scientific computing and statistical analysis projects and a broad assortment of research projects from many departments in the University and extensive experience using computers for statistical analysis and data management.
Interested applicants should send a resume to Joe Gilber at jfg9x@virginia.edu.
Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Apply as soon as possible. (AA/EOE)
Library's Digital Humanities Fellowship and Scholarship Awards
The Scholars' Lab is pleased to announce two winners of the UVa Library Graduate Fellowship in Digital Humanities for the spring of 2008, and two projects for which we have offered graduate researchers a newly-established Digital Scholarship Award.
The Library's Graduate Fellowship program and Digital Scholarship Awards recognize scholars doing significant and innovative work in digital humanities at an early stage in their academic careers. These projects hold the potential to transform methodology and theory in the traditional disciplines from which they stem, create valuable new online resources, and address interdisciplinary issues that find a crossroads in digital humanities.Next semester's Library Fellows are:
- Chris Forster of the English Department, for a stylometric analysis of an anonymous and controversial Victorian novel, long purported to be written in part by Oscar Wilde. Chris's work will establish methods and re-usable tools for authorship attribution based on statistical similarity between prose writing styles
- Dana Stefanelli of the History Department, for an application of geospatial information systems (GIS) to the political and economic history of early Washington, D.C. Dana will be the first scholar to reconstruct the Federalist real estate market through mapping software and will analyze the relation of the public sector to the development of the seat of government.
And the digitization and collection-building projects to which we have offered Digital Scholarship Awards are:
- Lucrezia's Renaissance: Art, Historiography, and the 19th Century, a project by Dana Wheeles, of the Art History Department
- The Rise of Political Polling and the Battle for Public Opinion in the Nixon Presidency, a project by Mark Nevin of the History Department
This is the first year in which we've offered these fellowships and awards, which come with funding and consultative support through the Scholars' Lab and other Library labs and units. Fall semester Fellows were Jim Cocola of the English Department, with a project on geography and modern poetry, and Lee Bidgood of Music, with a study of bluegrass music in the Czech Republic. Both Fall and Spring Fellows and award recipients have agreed to present their work in the Scholars' Lab in the coming months, and are important contributors to our growing community of faculty and graduate students working with Library resources in digital humanities.
For additional information, contact the Scholars' Lab at 434-243-8800 or via our Scholars' Lab Web form.
Digital Therapy Graduate Student Luncheon, December 7
Graduate students and faculty members will be invited into the Scholars' Lab for free lunch and some casual consultation with the doctors of digital scholarship. Curious about what the Scholars' Lab can do for your research? Need software assistance? Help on digital scholarship methods and best practices? Want to talk theory? Need copyright advice? Just hungry?
On December 7th, at Noon, come to the Scholars' Lab where we'll have a wonderful lunch buffett and introduce next semester's Graduate Fellows in Digital Humanities and the windoers fo our new Digital Scholarship Award. In addition, we'll be soliciting more of your ideas for these monthly lunchtime therapy sessions. Stay tuned!
For additional information, contact the Scholars' Lab at 434-243-8800 or via our Scholars' Lab Web form.IATH Invites Fellowship Applications from Faculty
The mission of UVa's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH) is to explore and expand the potential of information technology as a tool for humanities research.
To that end, IATH offers a fellowship program to UVa faculty to support two distinct areas of research: the development of tools, scholarly resources or scholarly projects utilizing digital technology for analysis, investigation, modeling or other research activities; and the study of the nature, ethics, history or future of digital technology as applied to some aspect of the humanities.
Fellows developing scholarly tools or projects aim at creation of a new digital product, or at least a prototype, during their tenure. Those studying digital technology engage in reflective activity, such as organizing a scholarly conference or writing a monograph.
Fellows are provided with consulting, technical support, applications programming and networked publishing facilities.
Faculty members involved in humanities research through any department of the University are eligible to apply for fellowships. Information about past projects can be accessed at http://www.iath.virginia.edu/projects_all.html.
One residential fellowship will be awarded. This fellowship is for a two-year period and will include: half-time teaching release in the first year, office space at the institute, equipment and software, training, computer programming, budget resources, research assistants and development assistance to raise additional grants and gifts to support the research project.
The selection committee may also choose a second applicant to receive an associate fellowship. The associate fellowship lasts one academic year and includes consulting services on project design and technical issues, equipment loans and development assistance.
Applications for fellowships in the 2008-2009 academic year are due by March 1. Guidelines and the Application Form are both available online.
Decisions of the selection committee will be made by the end of March and fellowships will begin July 1. Those planning to submit an application are invited to discuss their proposals in advance of the deadline; call (434) 924-4527 to schedule an appointment.
The Maplesoft Great Application Contest
Maplesoft is running a contest to find the best new Maple applications out there. To enter, simply contribute your document on the Maple Application Center including the line "The Maplesoft Great Application Contest" in the Comments box. (However, all submissions to the Maple Application Center will automatically be considered.) Submissions must be received by January 15, 2008.
One grand prize will be awarded, consisting of one of:
Apple iPod Nano
Canon Powershot digital camera A460
4.5" (114mm) reflector telescope
Deluxe wooden chess setRunner-up winners will receive their choice of:
Maplesoft laser pointer pen
Maplesoft mug
Maplesoft hatSubmission Guidelines. Award-winning applications will:
They may additionally have some of the following characteristics:
- Be created in Maple 11
- Make use of the new Maple "Document Interface" including 2-D math input
- Be well-formatted and laid out; for instance, you could use tables to format your document
Make sure your application includes instructions!
- Use Embedded Components
- Use the "Point-and-Click" paradigm
Maplesoft suggests the following Maple documents are good examples of appropriate applications:
"Just Move it Over There, Dear!"
Classroom Tips and Techniques: Eigenvalue Problems for ODEs - Part 3
Double Wishbone SuspensionComputational Science Speaker Series
Computational science is the field of study concerned with constructing mathematical models, numerical solution techniques, and/or large-scale dataset analysis on high performance computers to analyze and solve scientific, social scientific, and engineering problems.
The Computational Science Speaker Series is co-sponsored by James Hilton, UVa Vice President and Chief Information Officer; the College of Arts and Sciences; and the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Please visit the website at http://itc.virginia.edu/research/csss/ for more information on upcoming speakers.
For additional information, contact Alice Howard at agh@virginia.edu.
Upcoming Maple Webinars
To learn more about Maple, take advantage of live webinars conducted by Maplesoft experts. Check out the recorded webinar section where you can browse and view recordings of past webinars. Free online presentations are listed (register here).
- Derive to Deploy: Five Ways to Accelerate your Engineering Design Process, December 4, 2007: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST, Mr. Paul Goossens
- Clickable Engineering Math: Part 2 – Interactive Engineering Problem Solving, December 5, 2007: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST, Dr. Robert Lopez
- Clickable Engineering Math: Part 1 – Interactive Engineering Problem Solving, December 11, 2007: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST, Dr. Tom Lee
- Introduction to Maple 11, December 12, 2007: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST, Mohamed Bendame
- Introduction to Maple T.A. 3.0, December 13, 2007: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST, Mrs. Louise Krmpotic
- High Performance Application Development Using Maple 11, NAG Library, and the new Maple-NAG Connector, December 18, 2007: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST, Dr. Tom Lee
- Maplesoft-MAA Placement Test Suite, December 19, 2007: 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST, Mrs. Louise Krmpotic
Learn GIS Skills with ESRI
For those of us who are not familiar with GIS (Geospatial Information Systems), the concept of learning to do GIS can be intimidating. ESRI, the industry leading maker of GIS software products, has produced several ways to learn GIS. As a member of the statewide site license for these products, members of the U.Va. community can:
So, take advantage of these learning opportunities to familiarize yourself with GIS. Any data that can be visualized and analyzed spatially can be mapped with GIS. And for those users of SAS: we now have the EAS SAS Bridge module to ease your SAS data into GIS for analysis.
- Obtain a copy of ArcGIS 9.2 - the newest version of the leading software package - for their own personal use!
- Can sign up for FREE Web-based training modules on Virtual Campus at
http://fisher.lib.virginia.edu/reference/help/esri/virtualcampus/
These are self-paced, comprehensive teaching modules that cover many of the most popular tasks involved in learning GIS. They are widely viewed as very good and challenging materials, and you obtain a completion certificate at the completion of these modules.- Recently, ESRI has offered a 40 percent discount on instructor-led classes. These classes are led by expert ESRI instructors, and are held in person at designated sites. The site nearest U.Va. is located in Vienna, VA (Northern Virginia area).
Mathematica Free Online Seminars
The Wolfram Education Group has begun offering free online seminars to Mathematica customers worldwide. Taught by experienced Wolfram Research staff, presentations are given twice weekly. The seminar series began with S10: A Technical Overview of Mathematica located at
http://www.wolfram.com/weg/seminarsFor a list of dates and to enroll, visit:
http://www.wolfram.com/weg/calendarFurther information on how to access and use Mathematica can be found on the Research Computing Services Web page at
http://www.itc.virginia.edu/research/mathematica/Please contact ITC Research Computing Support if you have questions by emailing Res-Consult@Virginia.edu or by telephoning or visiting either the Research Computing Lab in the Brown Science and Engineering Library (243-8799) or the Scholars' Lab in Alderman Library (243-8800).
Planned Downtime on Dec. 2 for Disk Storage System Affects Many Services
A large portion of the central ITC disk storage system will be shut down for upgrade on Sunday, December 2, from 6-8 AM. Since many ITC services rely on this system for access to their disk storage, those services will also be unavailable during the storage system upgrade downtime. All services and servers that will be down are listed online; of special interest to the research and teaching community, these services will be down:
- The toolkit.itc.virginia.edu services will be unavailable. Mail to toolkit lists will be queued and will be delivered after the servers have been restarted.
- The ITC Central Mail Service (CMS) will be unavailable. Mail to CMS addresses will be queued for later delivery.
- All Exchange email, Blackberry, and SharePoint services will be unavailable. Mail will queue and will be delivered once the servers have returned to service.
- The web servers ES-WEB1 and FUSION will be unavailable. All websites and virtual hosts will be unavailable during this time as well as applications on other servers using UVaAuth. (NetBadge will not be affected.)
- Sites affected include all sites on www.web.virginia.edu and fusion.web.virginia.edu, as well as the Research Computing website at http://www.web.virginia.edu/rescomp.
- The Windows Media streaming media server, es-media.eservices.virginia.edu will be unavailable.
- The Eservices print server, ES-PRINT, will be unavailable.
- The following applications in ITC labs will be unavailable: Adventures In Statistics, ArcView GIS 3.3, EasyReg 2000, FrontPage 2000, Ghost Script 8.11, GoldWave 5.1.2, GS View 4.5, MicroSim, Molecules 3-D 2.5, PSpice Student 9.1, and Quark 4.1.
Announcing Apple Training at the University of Virginia
The Office of Learning and Development and Information Technology and Communication are proud to announce that the University of Virginia is now an Apple Authorized Training Center.
Under this designation, UVa will offer hands-on courses, led by Apple certified instructors, designed for IT professionals who are responsible for planning, maintaining, and integrating Mac OS X workstations and solutions into their network environments. Classes are open to both UVa and non-UVa persons.
- Course information
- Registration information - complete and submit the form. Note: After completing steps 1 and 2, UVa employees need to register and submit PTAOs through the Integrated System Production and Self Service.
- Enrollment fees for Apple Training are non-refundable unless you cancel your registration by midnight ten (10) business days prior to the course date.
- Parking and Classroom Information
ITC Announcement/Migration to Exchange Calendaring Services Underway
Oracle Calendar users at the University are now in the process of migrating to Microsoft Exchange for online calendaring services. The University's decision to retire Oracle Calendar (set for January 15, 2008) and migrate to Exchange was based primarily on the growing use of Exchange and the need for a central calendar solution. Departments involved in the Exchange community have raised significant concern about further segmentation of the University scheduling solution. The timetable for this effort will be based on a combination of contract expirations, resource allocation needs and the University academic calendar. In short, Exchange, which has already built a significant presence at UVa, will become an even more critical part of our institutional operations in 2008.
In addition to a calendar service, Exchange encompasses a suite of applications - including electronic mail, attachment management, and an online collaboration tool (Sharepoint) - that employees can choose to use or not. Those who elect to use the optional applications will find that they make the calendar easier and more efficient to use, and vice-versa. The full suite will be made available to departments with no per-user or departmental charges.
Additional information about the transition plan is now available at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/exchange/move. Questions may be directed to exchange-consult@virginia.edu.
ITC Announcement/Faculty and Staff Migration from PhoneMail to Xpressions Voicemail
Faculty and staff voicemail users at UVa should register for the new Xpressions voicemail system that is replacing PhoneMail. Registration is highly recommended since it provides you with a simple and secure way to migrate from PhoneMail to Xpressions. Registration enables you to set the PIN/password that you will use when you dial into Xpressions on its first day of service.
To ensure that you can transition securely to Xpressions, please go to the website at http://www.itc.virginia.edu/commserv/xpressions and, using your computing ID and password, specify your telephone extension and the PIN (numeric password) that you wish to use with Xpressions.
Registering will help keep your transition to Xpressions secure. Users who choose not to register will log into Xpressions on the first day of Xpressions service using the system-wide default PIN that will be left as a message in everyone's old PhoneMail box. Registered users will be able to call into Xpressions before the transition date to record their name and greetings and will also be able to use the optional Web-based access to voicemail that some users might find useful.
Happy Holidays from the Scholars' Lab and Research Computing Lab staff:
Alderman Library's Digital Research and Scholarship
Brown Library's Digital Projects Support
ITC Research Computing Support
Now is the time to encourage your colleagues and students to join us and learn about research computing support at U.Va. We only send out an e-mail once or twice a month to this mail list. Anyone can subscribe to this "itc-research" mail list via the Web page at:
http://list.mail.virginia.edu/mailman/listinfo/itc-researchPlease encourage your colleagues to subscribe to our Research Computing mail list today!
