CONTENTS
NUMBER 15 WINTER 2009 |
| 4 |
| NEWS |
| SciDAC News, Activities, and Announcements
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| 6 |
| INTERVIEW: PROFESSOR DR. ACHIM BACHEM |
COVER STORY |
PRACE: Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe
Professor Dr. Achim Bachem is Director of the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE) and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Germany’s Jülich Research Centre. |
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| 10 |
| VACET: TWISTS AND TURNS |
Vector Field Visual Data Analysis for Petascale
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State-of-the-art computational science simulations generate large-scale vector field datasets. Visualization and analysis are key aspects of obtaining insight into these datasets and represent an important challenge. |
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| 22 |
| CEDPS: GETTING YOUR DATA DOWNTOWN |
Enabling Petascale Data Movement and Analysis
How can researchers best access large quantities of data and use them for scientific discovery? The SciDAC Center for Enabling Distributed Petascale Science (CEDPS) is exploring diverse approaches, ranging from highly-scalable data transfer tools to methods enabling server-side data analysis. |
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| 34 |
| OVERCOMING PLANT RECALCITRANCE |
Supercomputers Tackle Biofuel Production Problems
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When humans attempt to turn plant biomass into biofuels to meet our energy needs, we discover how stubborn and noncompliant our vegetative friends can be. Plant recalcitrance is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to realizing an energy-efficient future. |
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| 46 |
| AUTOTUNING |
Accelerating Time-to-Solution for Computational Science and Engineering
To minimize the time-to-solution of a computational science or engineering problem, the time to write and also run the program must both be considered. The goal of autotuning is to have computers automatically optimize programs, allowing scientists to spend more of their time on science itself. |
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| 58 |
| HARDWARE: CORE STRENGTH |
Pixel-Painting Technology is the Future of HPC
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Hardware and software developers are currently advancing graphics processing technology, making it a real option for the next generation of cutting-edge supercomputers. |
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| 58 |
| EDITORIAL: DR. THOMAS ZACHARIA |
Understanding Earth’s Climate System
Dr. Thomas Zacharia of the SciDAC Review Editorial Board explains that HPC and the Earth system models it enables are critical tools for understanding our planet’s complex climate system. |
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| 66 |
| BACK COVER |
| Understanding Earth’s Climate System |
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