I was debugging a science application for the last several months to run on petascale (100×10^3++ processors) systems. The main goal of the domain scientist was to process hundres of thousands data sequences. I got too much carried away in the debugging to make the application work and have only looked at 3000 of the set In other words, not much *real* work has been done.

Now I should always remember when debugging, remember the scientists who took pain in measuring this data or who can’t get data. (Much like an analogy of “finish your food because there are millions of children hungry in developing countries”).

• never sell more than one innovation - his rationale for this was that the market cannot catch-up with all of your ideas. I have not thought of this deeply because [1] I have yet to have a really brilliant idea, and [2] most busines models I saw are too caught up in selling this one unique idea that they don’t bother to look at the other types (probably they are bad ideas in the first place).
• interdisciplinary collaboration - now this is more familiar to my school of thought. As what we always say in the Ateneo Innovation Center, today’s problems are so complex that you need to apply every type of paradigm to be able to attack the problem from different angles and come up with a brilliant solution.

Adarsh also discussed four types of companies [1] wishful thinking (you have enough deep connections to get angel funding), [2] historical precedence - selling technology to improve a process, [3] intuitive jump - pure luck; with democratization of technology, YouTube and Ebay became a big thing even though video sharing and online auctions were almost non-existent web services during their time, and [4] sure technology - you know that there is a need for it in the future (e.g. Y2K “bug”).

Follow-up events to this is an Entrepenuerial Brainstorming Session with GSB and CS students and an Introduction to creating application on the iPhone. Apple’s development platform makes it so easy for anyone to distribute an app and sell it over iTunes (or AppleStore?) enabling you to earn several thousand dollars in a few months.

Oh, and they had free pizza during the talk

W. T. Welford, Useful Optics (Chicago Lectures in Physics). University Of Chicago Press, October 1991.

Students and professionals alike have long felt the need of a modern source of practical advice on the use of optical tools in scientific research. Walter T. Welford’s _Useful Optics_ meets this need. Welford offers a succinct review of principles basic to the construction and use of optics in physics. His lucid explanations and clear illustrations will particularly help those whose interests lie in other areas but who nevertheless must understand enough about optics to create the experimental apparatus necessary to their research. Consistently emphasizing applications and practical points of design, Welford covers a host of topics: mirrors and prisms, optical materials, aberration, the limits of image formation and resolution, illumination for image-forming systems, laser beams, interference and interferometry, detectors and light sources, holography, and more. The final chapter deals with putting together an experimental optics system. Many areas of the physical sciences and engineering increasingly demand an appreciation of optics. Welford’s _Useful Optics_ will prove indispensable to any researcher trying to develop and use effective optical apparatus. Walter T. Welford (1916-1990) was professor of physics at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine from 1951 until his death. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Optical Society of America.  Link to [Amazon.com]

T. P. Hughes, Human-Built World: How to Think about Technology and Culture (science * culture).    University Of Chicago Press, May 2005.

To most people, technology has been reduced to computers, consumer goods, and military weapons; we speak of “technological progress” in terms of RAM and CD-ROMs and the flatness of our television screens. In Human-Built World, thankfully, Thomas Hughes restores to technology the conceptual richness and depth it deserves by chronicling the ideas about technology expressed by influential Western thinkers who not only understood its multifaceted character but who also explored its creative potential.

Hughes draws on an enormous range of literature, art, and architecture to explore what technology has brought to society and culture, and to explain how we might begin to develop an “ecotechnology” that works with, not against, ecological systems. From the “Creator” model of development of the sixteenth century to the “big science” of the 1940s and 1950s to the architecture of Frank Gehry, Hughes nimbly charts the myriad ways that technology has been woven into the social and cultural fabric of different eras and the promises and problems it has offered. Thomas Jefferson, for instance, optimistically hoped that technology could be combined with nature to create an Edenic environment; Lewis Mumford, two centuries later, warned of the increasing mechanization of American life.

Such divergent views, Hughes shows, have existed side by side, demonstrating the fundamental idea that “in its variety, technology is full of contradictions, laden with human folly, saved by occasional benign deeds, and rich with unintended consequences.” In Human-Built World, he offers the highly engaging history of these contradictions, follies, and consequences, a history that resurrects technology, rightfully, as more than gadgetry; it is in fact no less than an embodiment of human values. Link to [Amazon.com]

Even information can be found in the UChicago Press site.

But as a metric thinking type of guy, I hate it when Google gives me the results in Fahrenheit! I did some tweaking to get the weather in the metric system while using the English language.  The simple solution is to use the EN-UK language code. Simply edit your ~/.mozilla/[profile_name]/extentions/ubiquity@labs.mozilla.com/chrome/content/builtincmds.js and modify the command “weather”:

CmdUtils.CreateCommand({
  name: "weather",
  takes: {"location": noun_arb_text},
  icon: "http://www.wunderground.com/favicon.ico",
  description: "Checks the weather for a given location.",
  help: "Try issuing "weather chicago".  It works with zip-codes, too.",
  execute: function( directObj ) {
    var location = directObj.text;
    var url = "http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=";
    url += escape( location );

    Utils.openUrlInBrowser( url );
  },

  preview: function( pblock, directObj ) {
    var location = directObj.text;
    if( location.length < 1 ) {
      pblock.innerHTML = "Gets the weather for a zip code/city.";
      return;
    }

    var url = "http://www.google.com/ig/api";
    jQuery.get( url, {weather: location, hl: "EN-GB"}, function(xml) {
      var el = jQuery(xml).find("current_conditions");
      if( el.length == 0 ) return;

      var condition = el.find("condition").attr("data");

      var weatherId = WEATHER_TYPES.indexOf( condition.toLowerCase() );
      var imgSrc = "http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/nws/weather/gr/";
      imgSrc += weatherId + "d.png";

      var weather = {
        condition: condition,
        temp: el.find("temp_c").attr("data"),
        humidity: el.find("humidity").attr("data"),
        wind: el.find("wind_condition").attr("data"),
        img: imgSrc
      };

      weather["img"] = imgSrc;

      var html = CmdUtils.renderTemplate( {file:"weather.html"}, {w:weather}
                                        );

      jQuery(pblock).html( html );
      }, "xml");
  }
});

I was hanging out with a couple of Pinoy immigrants when one of them said, “Sa Pilipinas wala nito no? (This does not exist in the Philippines, right?)” Of course there are a few grains of truth to it. But what disappointed and pierced me inside was that the tone of the voice felt like the Philippines will never rise out of its ashes. It was as if life abroad is always the best and we all came from a filthy place. I also felt very useless that even though I was involved and emotionally attached in projects and movements that I believe will change the nation, all efforts are futile.

Face it. The only time when the Philippines get featured in international news networks like CNN is when: [1] a really big storm or calamity struck us, or [2] someone from the government screwed up big time. No wonder why Filipino immigrants do not see anything good happening in the Philippines.

I firmly believe that something big is on the rise in this nation. You can’t find it on mainstream media or its equivalent websites. Big things are happening locally in small communities. But where can you know these good things happening in the country? With the advent of Web2.0 and its high democratization of user contributed content small community movements are letting themselves known throughout the world. Here are some of a few sites and blogs I frequently read that makes me proud of to be a Filipino:

• The WhyNot? Forum - inspired by TEDtalks, it is a gathering of Filipinos daring themselves to ask: Why not? Bakit hindi? Speakers share their thoughts on what we can do to put the Philippines back in the map. Their website is a bit too flashy and but you can get the latest updates and most of the videos of the last 5 forums at their Multiply page.
• Ateneo Innovation Center - a new approach in doing research in the Philippines. Doing projects relevant to be implemented in local communities. Acting like a startup to work around the big hurdle of getting funding. The site features some of the crazy projects we are doing in my old university.
• Kolektib - a group of diverse professionals seeking to create real products and inventions that solve’s a Filipino’s everyday problems.
• Game Changer - Mark Ruiz’ blog about innovating and ideas that make an impact to the world.
• Young Public Servants - a site dedicated to promoting good governance and citizenship to the youth.
• Gawad Kalinga - a worldwide movement that seeks to provide housing and nurture communities in depressed areas.
• AyalaTBI - a project of the Ayala group of companies to incubate technology startups based on great and innovative ideas. They host various events like the Innovation Forum, Kape@Teknolohiya (Coffee and Technology), and TechBootCamp.
• The Bliss Project - my sister’s project to enrich the lives of a local community in my native town. I just installed the site for her but you can also look at her blog for an initial description about the project. I’m including this in the list as a proud Kuya

Where do you go on the web to inspire you as a Filipino?

Mark Ruiz of Hapinoy shares some updates on their company deploying a POS system for these sari-sari store. Technology is not only a key component in streamlining systems of today’s enterprises but it is also needed by people like Nanay Delia. Below is the image from his blog post:

Nanay Delia learning a Point-of-Sale System for her Sari-Sari Store. Whatever doubts of the applicability of technology for the smallest unit of retail were laid to rest after the training session. The potential of becoming more efficient in pricing controls, inventory management, and accounting were key benefits that were very much appreciated. [description from Mark Ruiz' blog

Blog page background header

I decided to create a backround header image for my blog and Multiply page. Tons of randomly writter equations would be nice to have. The Yahoo Image search allows you to specify if you the types of pictures you want like black and white photos, image size, etc. I used the yahoo_collage.pl from Uppal’s blog and modified it to exceed the maximum images per query of 50 limit from Yahoo’s image search api. Below is the patch:

*** yahoo_collage.pl	2005-09-16 20:07:50.000000000 -0500
--- ycollage.pl	2008-08-13 13:56:45.000000000 -0500
***************
*** 1,4 ****
! #! /usr/local/bin/perl -w
  ################################################################################
  # Yahoo Image Search Collage Generator
  #
--- 1,4 ----
! #! /usr/bin/perl -w
  ################################################################################
  # Yahoo Image Search Collage Generator
  #
*************** my $count   = 50;
*** 33,38 ****
--- 33,39 ----
  my $file    = undef;
  my $width   = 50;
  my $height  = 50;
+ my $init = 0;

  GetOptions(
      'query=s'   => \$query,
*************** GetOptions(
*** 41,46 ****
--- 42,48 ----
      'width=i'   => \$width,
      'height=i'  => \$height,
      'help'      => \$help,
+     'init=i'      => \$init,
  );

  if ($help) {
*************** if ($help) {
*** 56,71 ****

  die("Must specify a query!\n") unless ($query);

! if ($count > Yahoo::Search::MaxCount('Image')) {
!     die("Yahoo! does not allow querying for more than " .
!         Yahoo::Search::MaxCount('Image') . " results at once!\n");
! }

  print STDERR "Querying Yahoo for "$query"...\n";
! my @results = Yahoo::Search->Results(
      Image => $query,
!     Count => $count,
! );

  print STDERR "Generating HTML...\n";
--- 58,86 ----

  die("Must specify a query!\n") unless ($query);

! #if ($count > Yahoo::Search::MaxCount('Image')) {
! #    die("Yahoo! does not allow querying for more than " .
! #        Yahoo::Search::MaxCount('Image') . " results at once!\n");
! #}

  print STDERR "Querying Yahoo for "$query"...\n";
! my $summary = Yahoo::Search->Query(
      Image => $query,
!     Count => "50",
! 	Start => $init,
! 	Color => "bw")->CountAvail;
! my $i;
! my @results;
! for($i = $init; $i < $count + $init; $i += 50)
! {
!     my @partial = Yahoo::Search->Results(
!         Image => $query,
! 		Start => $i,
!         Count => 50,
!         Color => "bw");
! 	push (@results, @partial);
! }
! print "Generated image $init to $i from $summary\n";

  print STDERR "Generating HTML...\n";
*************** sub generate_html {
*** 92,99 ****
      my $html_images = "";

      foreach my $image_result (@$ra_results) {
!         $html_images .= "<a href="" . $image_result->HostUrl() . ""> <img src="" .
!                         $image_result->ThumbUrl() . "" width=$width height=$height></a>";
      }

      my $html_credits = qq{Created with <a href="http://upster.blogspot.com">Siddharth Uppal</a>'s
--- 107,114 ----
      my $html_images = "";

      foreach my $image_result (@$ra_results) {
!         $html_images .= "<img src="" .
!                         $image_result->ThumbUrl() . "" border=0> ";
      }

      my $html_credits = qq{Created with <a href="http://upster.blogspot.com">Siddharth Uppal</a>'s
*************** sub generate_html {
*** 104,120 ****
      my $html_page = qq{
          <html>
          <head>
!         <title>Yahoo Image Search Collage Generator: $query</title>
          </head>
!         <body><center>
!         <font face="Trebuchet MS" color="Black" size="4"><b>$query</b></font><br>
!         <p align="center">$html_images</p>
!         <font face="Trebuchet MS" color="Black" size="2"><br><b>
!         To show off your collage, just copy and paste the text below into your blog or website!<br><br>
!         <textarea rows="25" cols="50">$html_images<br>$html_credits</textarea><br><font size="1"
!         face="Verdana" color="Gray">
!         </b><br>$html_credits
!         </center></body>
          </html>
      };

--- 119,129 ----
      my $html_page = qq{
          <html>
          <head>
!         <title>$query</title>
          </head>
!         <body style="width: 1024px;">
! 		<p align="center">$html_images</p>
!         </body>
          </html>
      };

Here are some selected of my generated collages:

latex equation

modulator

]]> http://allan.88-mph.net/blog/entry/web20-generated-wallpapers/feed/ http://allan.88-mph.net/blog/entry/midwest-grid-school-2008-uchicago/ http://allan.88-mph.net/blog/entry/midwest-grid-school-2008-uchicago/#comments Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:46:31 +0000 Allan Espinosa http://allan.88-mph.net/blog/?p=140 Yey! Malapit na malapit lang More information about the program and registration information is found in its OSG Page. Workshop dates from Sept 17-19.

The Open Science Grid (OSG), the TeraGrid and the Computation Institute of The University of Chicago present a three day intensive course in grid computing and its application to scientific discovery.

The course introduces the techniques of grid and distributed computing for science and engineering fields, with hands-on training in the use of national grid computing resources. The workshop introduces essential skills that will be needed by researchers in the natural and applied sciences, engineering, and computer science to conduct and support large-scale computation and data analysis in emerging grid and distributed computing environments.

School participants will work with grid computing experts during the 3-day training. The workshop will focus on enabling the use of the national cyberinfrastructure -The Open Science Grid and TeraGrid- to perform large-scale computations and data-intensive processing in the your field of research. Participants will learn to use grids of thousands of processors and will be able to continue to use these resources for their research after the class. We encourage you to bring your research project to us for suggestions and help in porting your application to the grid. We would like to offer you support in transitioning your application to this platform.

Timer utilities performance on C and Perl of "echo -n"

The Unix time(1) command can only give a precision of 10 milliseconds by default. But being the engineer who goes insane after precision, I made my own script to be able to get differences in terms of microseconds. My first timer utility was made in C but I got stuck with the insane exec(3) family of functions since you need to fork the process to a child for the parent process to create successful timing. Hence I used Perl with the Time::HiRes library which is a wrapper to <time.h> and <sys/time.h>. Later on, I found out that C itself has the system(3) functioin in <stdlib.h>

Performance-wise you can see that C has a much faster runtime when the program was being invoked. But you can see in the graph above that Perl has much more consistent values so its standard deviation is lower than C. When I tested both programs for my data-intensive computing experiments, I get better results with the Perl utility! Perhaps I forgot to do all the magic the system function in Perl does in my C implementation?

Here is my Perl code:

#!/usr/bin/perl

use Time::HiRes qw ( tv_interval gettimeofday );

$start = [gettimeofday];
system @ARGV;

$elapsed = tv_interval ( $start );
print $elapsed, "\n";

Here is my C implementation:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>

#include <time.h>
#include <sys/time.h>

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
	struct timeval start, end, diff;
	gettimeofday(&start, NULL);
	char* command = malloc( sizeof(argv) );
	int i;
	sprintf(command, "%s", argv[1]);
	for( i = 2; i < argc; i++ )
	{
		sprintf(command, "%s %s", command, argv[i]);
	}
	system(command);
	gettimeofday(&end, NULL);
	timersub(&end, &start, &diff);
	printf("%d.%06d\n", diff.tv_sec, diff.tv_usec);
	return 0;
}

Feature - The future of public health: The grid gains traction

Dr. Ida A. Bengston (1881-1952) was one of the first women employed on the scientific staff of the Hygienic Laboratory of the Public Health Service, the predecessor to the National Institutes of Health. Bengston was particularly noted for her studies of bacterial toxins.

What are the infrastructure challenges of public health informatics that requires leveraging the grid?  Of course Doc Eloy Marcelo has his CHITS and also there is the OpenMRS project.  Perhaps this is an *integration* of existing systems? It would be interesting to see a web service interfacing CHITS and OpenMRS.