University of Westminster

About: University of Westminster is a education organization based out in London, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 2944 authors who have published 8426 publications receiving 200236 citations. The organization is also known as: Westminster University & Royal Polytechnic Institution.

Buttressing volatile desktop grids with cloud resources within a reconfigurable environment service for workflow orchestration

Abstract: Cloud technology has the potential for widening access to high-performance computational resources for e-science research, but barriers to engagement with the technology remain high for many scientists. Workflows help overcome barriers by hiding details of underlying computational infrastructure and are portable between various platforms including cloud; they are also increasingly accepted within e-science research communities. Issues arising from the range of workflow systems available and the complexity of workflow development have been addressed by focusing on workflow interoperability, and providing customised support for different science communities. However, the deployments of such environments can be challenging, even where user requirements are comparatively modest. RESWO (Reconfigurable Environment Service for Workflow Orchestration) is a virtual platform-as-a-service cloud model that allows leaner customised environments to be assembled and deployed within a cloud. Suitable distributed computation resources are not always easily affordable and can present a further barrier to engagement by scientists. Desktop grids that use the spare CPU cycles available within an organisation are an attractively inexpensive type of infrastructure for many, and have been effectively virtualised as a cloud-based resource. However, hosts in this environment are volatile: leading to the tail problem, where some tasks become randomly delayed, affecting overall performance. To solve this problem, new algorithms have been developed to implement a cloudbursting scheduler in which durable cloud-based CPU resources may execute replicas of jobs that have become delayed. This paper describes experiences in the development of a RESWO instance in which a desktop grid is buttressed with CPU resources in the cloud to support the aspirations of bioscience researchers. A core component of the architecture, the cloudbursting scheduler, implements an algorithm to perform late job detection, cloud resource management and job monitoring. The experimental results obtained demonstrate significant performance improvements and benefits illustrated by use cases in bioscience research.

Encouraging drinking at safe limits on single occasions: the potential contribution of protection motivation theory

Abstract: Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) is considered as a possible framework for understanding and moderating higher-risk drinking. To this end questionnaire data were collected from 196 participants about levels of their current drinking and, after they have been alerted to the dangers of excess drinking on single occasions, their cognitions relating to drinking and their intentions for future single occasion drinking. Comparisons of higher and lower risk drinkers among the sample provided support for the applicability of PMT, revealing differences in their cognitions and in their adaptive and maladaptive coping. A supplementary path analysis revealed that health beliefs and coping strategies associated with PMT, together with demographics, account for 42% of the vanance in behavioural intentions. These results suggest that PMT could prove a valuable tool for those working in alcohol research and education. Implications for the design of effective interventions are discussed.

Big Brother as a Television Event

Abstract: Big Brotheris considered a made-for-television event. It is argued that events have the same structure as stories—a beginning, middle, and end—which corresponds to the structure of the human life span. Media events elicit talk. Gossip is treated as an intrinsic feature of Big Brother and, as formally indicative of the everyday, worldly involvements and enjoyments which the program was designed to evoke from its viewers.