Showing papers on "Resource management published in 2004"

Review: the resource-based view and information systems research: review, extension, and suggestions for future research

Abstract: Information systems researchers have a long tradition of drawing on theories from disciplines such as economics, computer science, psychology, and general management and using them in their own research. Because of this, the information systems field has become a rich tapestry of theoretical and conceptual foundations. As new theories are brought into the field, particularly theories that have become dominant in other areas, there may be a benefit in pausing to assess their use and contribution in an IS context. The purpose of this paper is to explore and critically evaluate use of the resource-based view of the firm (RBV) by IS researchers. The paper provides a brief review of resource-based theory and then suggests extensions to make the RBV more useful for empirical IS research. First, a typology of key IS resources is presented, and these are then described using six traditional resource attributes. Second, we emphasize the particular importance of looking at both resource complementarity and moderating factors when studying IS resource effects on firm performance. Finally, we discuss three considerations that IS researchers need to address when using the RBV empirically. Eight sets of propositions are advanced to help guide future research.

A survey of peer-to-peer content distribution technologies

Abstract: Distributed computer architectures labeled "peer-to-peer" are designed for the sharing of computer resources (content, storage, CPU cycles) by direct exchange, rather than requiring the intermediation or support of a centralized server or authority. Peer-to-peer architectures are characterized by their ability to adapt to failures and accommodate transient populations of nodes while maintaining acceptable connectivity and performance.Content distribution is an important peer-to-peer application on the Internet that has received considerable research attention. Content distribution applications typically allow personal computers to function in a coordinated manner as a distributed storage medium by contributing, searching, and obtaining digital content.In this survey, we propose a framework for analyzing peer-to-peer content distribution technologies. Our approach focuses on nonfunctional characteristics such as security, scalability, performance, fairness, and resource management potential, and examines the way in which these characteristics are reflected in---and affected by---the architectural design decisions adopted by current peer-to-peer systems.We study current peer-to-peer systems and infrastructure technologies in terms of their distributed object location and routing mechanisms, their approach to content replication, caching and migration, their support for encryption, access control, authentication and identity, anonymity, deniability, accountability and reputation, and their use of resource trading and management schemes.

The Complex Resource-Based View: Implications for Theory and Practice in Strategic Human Resource Management

Abstract: I consider the implications for research and practice in strategic human resource management (SHRM) of a complex, living-systems extension of the resource-based view (RBV). I do so by demonstrating that concepts from complexity align well with the RBV, and I extend the RBV by considering critical but difficult aspects commonly identified in the RBV strategy literature. An integrated framework for SHRM is presented, allowing an application of complexity principles at the appropriate level of abstraction in the HR system.

International human resource management : managing people in a multinational context

Abstract: This text focuses on the choices that confront multinational enterprises in human resource management and some factors to consider in making those choices.

Grid resource management: state of the art and future trends

Abstract: The emergence and widespread adoption of Grid computing has been fueled by continued growth in both our understanding of application requirements and the sophistication of the technologies used to meet these requirements. We provide an introduction to Grid applications and technologies and discuss the important role that resource management will play in future developments.

In search of sustained competitive advantage: the impact of organizational culture, competitive strategy and human resource management practices on firm performance

Abstract: We develop and test a dynamic model of co-specialized resources for competitive advantage. Using matched data from senior executives and human resource managers, we test the direct and interactive effects of high-performance human resource (HPHR) practices and organizational culture on firm performance. Although the HPHR practices were not an important influence on performance, our findings indicate that organizational culture can be a valuable resource for companies.

Adaptive stream resource management using Kalman Filters

Abstract: To answer user queries efficiently, a stream management system must handle continuous, high-volume, possibly noisy, and time-varying data streams. One major research area in stream management seeks to allocate resources (such as network bandwidth and memory) to query plans, either to minimize resource usage under a precision requirement, or to maximize precision of results under resource constraints. To date, many solutions have been proposed; however, most solutions are ad hoc with hard-coded heuristics to generate query plans. In contrast, we perceive stream resource management as fundamentally a filtering problem, in which the objective is to filter out as much data as possible to conserve resources, provided that the precision standards can be met. We select the Kalman Filter as a general and adaptive filtering solution for conserving resources. The Kalman Filter has the ability to adapt to various stream characteristics, sensor noise, and time variance. Furthermore, we realize a significant performance boost by switching from traditional methods of caching static data (which can soon become stale) to our method of caching dynamic procedures that can predict data reliably at the server without the clients' involvement. In this work we focus on minimization of communication overhead for both synthetic and real-world streams. Through examples and empirical studies, we demonstrate the flexibility and effectiveness of using the Kalman Filter as a solution for managing trade-offs between precision of results and resources in satisfying stream queries.

Partner substitutability, alliance network structure and firm profitability in the telecommunications industry

Abstract: This paper explores the effects of partner substitutability and alliance network structure on organizational profitability. Although firms are expected to benefit from the exclusive resources broug...

Operating systems for reconfigurable embedded platforms: online scheduling of real-time tasks

Abstract: Today's reconfigurable hardware devices have huge densities and are partially reconfigurable, allowing for the configuration and execution of hardware tasks in a true multitasking manner. This makes reconfigurable platforms an ideal target for many modern embedded systems that combine high computation demands with dynamic task sets. A rather new line of research is engaged in the construction of operating systems for reconfigurable embedded platforms. Such an operating system provides a minimal programming model and a runtime system. The runtime system performs online task and resource management. In this paper, we first discuss design issues for reconfigurable hardware operating systems. Then, we focus on a runtime system for guarantee-based scheduling of hard real-time tasks. We formulate the scheduling problem for the 1D and 2D resource models and present two heuristics, the horizon and the stuffing technique, to tackle it. Simulation experiments conducted with synthetic workloads evaluate the performance and the runtime efficiency of the proposed schedulers. The scheduling performance for the 1D resource model is strongly dependent on the aspect ratios of the tasks. Compared to the 1D model, the 2D resource model is clearly superior. Finally, the runtime overhead of the scheduling algorithms is shown to be acceptably low.

Resource manager architecture

Abstract: Resource management architectures implemented in computer systems to manage resources are described. In one embodiment, a general architecture includes a resource manager and multiple resource providers that support one or more resource consumers such as a system component or application. Each provider is associated with a resource and acts as the manager for the resource when interfacing with the resource manager. The resource manager arbitrates access to the resources provided by the resource providers on behalf of the consumers. A policy manager sets various policies that are used by the resource manager to allocate resources. One policy is a priority-based policy that distinguishes among which applications and/or users have priority over others to use the resources. A resource consumer creates an “activity” at the resource manager and builds one or more “configurations” that describe various sets of preferred resources required to perform the activity. Each resource consumer can specify one or more configurations for each activity. If multiple configurations are specified, the resource consumer can rank them according to preference. This allows the resource consumers to be dynamically changed from one configuration to another as operating conditions change.

Rights, resources and rural development : community-based natural resource management in Southern Africa

Abstract: Part 1: Synthesis The Fundamentals of Community-based Natural Resource Management * Community-based Natural Resource Management and Rural Livelihoods * Political Economy, Governance and Community-based Natural Resource Management * Putting Out Fires: Does the 'C' in CBNRM Stand for Community or Centrifuge? * Reconciling Biodiversity Conservation with Rural Development: The Holy Grail of CBNRM? * Part 2: Case Studies - Community-based Natural Resource Management, Traditional Governance and Spiritual Ecology in Southern Africa: The Case of Chiefs, Deviners and Spirit Mediums * The Contribution of Bees to Livelihoods in Southern Africa * Everyday Resources are Valuable Enough for Community-based Natural Resource Management Programme Support: Evidence from South Africa * Community-based Resource Management in the Okavango Delta * Local Ecological Knowledge and the Basarwa in the Okavango Delta: The Case of Xaxaba, Ngamiland District * a Land Without Fences: Range Management in Lesotho * Beach Village Committees as a Vehicle for Community Participation: Lake Malombe/Upper Shire River Participatory Programme * Key Issues in Namibia's Communal Conservancy Movement * The Torra Conservancy in Namibia * The Tchumo Tchato Project in Mozambique: Community-based Natural Resource Management in Transition * The Richtersveld and Makuleke Contractual Parks in South Africa: Win-win for Communities and Conservation? *The Lungwa Integrated Rural Development Project, Zambia * Community Wildlife Management in Zimbabwe: The Case of CAMPFIRE in the Zambezi Valley * New Configurations of Power Around Mafaungautsi State Forest in Zimbabwe * Conclusions and Recommendation: What We Have Learned from a Decade of Experimentation * Index

Invited Review The application of information and communication technologies in transport

Abstract: This paper examines the possibilities that are opened today and for the whole decade from the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), in the field of Transport. The various applications are examined, under the following three headings: operation and management of networks (all modes), information and guidance to the users (of the transport systems), operation and management of freight transport systems. For each of these, a concise and critical review is made of the various technologies that exist today in their final stages of development or at the stage of commercial implementation, and their applications. The review refers to various sub-categories of the above main three. The paper proceeds then to examine the prospects for the future with a medium time horizon of 2010. These prospects show that a number of areas of applications have well established technologies and are secured of commercial viability so that we can predict safely their full scale application in the course of this decade. Examples of such areas of applications are: traffic data information collection and dissemination systems, network control and traffic management strategies, vehicle control and driver assistance, systems for (Electronic or other) fee collection. And specifically for freight: freight resource management; terminal and port information and communication systems, freight and vehicle tracking and tracing, and ‘‘front’’ or ‘‘back-office’’ logistics systems. � 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Community Forestry Enterprises as Entrepreneurial Firms: Economic and Institutional Perspectives from Mexico

Abstract: Few examples exist in the common property literature of community-managed forestry enterprises (CFEs) operating in competitive markets. Yet, in Mexico, there are hundreds of such examples at varying levels of vertical integration. At a time when devolution of rights to forests is expanding worldwide, collective management of timber operations presents an emerging community forestry policy option. CFEs have unusual institutional features that force a reconsideration of theories of the firm, unique management tensions, varieties of possible institutional arrangements governing stocks, and flows of the natural resource, and may have special importance in delivering both economic equity and environmental protection.

Current Issues in the Economics of Groundwater Resource Management

Abstract: The issue of groundwater management remains a practical concern in many regions throughout the world, while water managers continue to grapple with the question of how to manage this resource. In this article, we attempt to bring the most advanced and appropriate tools to bear on the issue of resource allocation involving groundwater. Our objective is to demonstrate the state of the art in the literature on ways to think about this complex resource and to deal with the important economic issues emanating from its complexity. We present the conceptual framework within which economists examine the elements interacting in the management of groundwater resources, indicate why the role of the market is limited with respect to the price of this very complex resource, and point to the mechanisms that can pull competitive groundwater price and quality-graded quantity of groundwater in line with their equilibrium levels. In particular, we critically review economic models of groundwater use, examine the potential for groundwater management, discuss the difficulties encountered in the estimation of the relevant control variables of such models, and identify the advantages and limitations of the instruments devised for the efficient use (allocation) of this resource. Finally, we argue that devised regulatory schemes usually ignore the information and knowledge needed for their implementation, and we suggest a core of conditions necessary for successful groundwater management reforms.

Issues in designing middleware for wireless sensor networks

Abstract: Wireless sensor networks are being developed for a variety of applications. With the continuing advances in network and application design, appropriate middleware is needed to provide both standardized and portable system abstractions, and the capability to support and coordinate concurrent applications on sensor networks. In this article, we first identify several design principles for such middleware. These principles motivate a cluster-based lightweight middleware framework that separates application semantics from the underlying hardware, operating system, and network infrastructure. We propose a layered architecture for each cluster that consists of a cluster control layer and a resource management layer. Key design issues and related challenges within this framework that deserve further investigation are outlined. Finally, we discuss a technique for energy-efficient resource allocation in a single-hop cluster, which serves as a basic primitive for the development of the resource management layer.

Local forest management: the impacts of devolution policies

Abstract: Local government is built around careful and illuminating case studies of the effects of devolution policies on the management of forests in several Asian countries. The studies demonstrate that devolution policies - contrary to the claims of governments - have actually increased governmental control over the management of local resources, and a lower cost to the state. The controversial findings show that if local forest users are to exercise genuine control over forest management, they must be better represented in the processes of forming, implementing and evaluating devolution policies. In addition, the guiding principle for policy discussions should be to create sustainable livelihoods for local resource users, especially the poorest among them, rather than reducing the cost of government forest administration.

Constructing Deal Networks: Brokers as Network “Architects” in the U.S. IPO Market and Other Examples

Abstract: We introduce the concept of the network architect to extend theory explaining how brokers create and manage structural holes in mediated markets. We argue that a broker's social resources and dependence on the market, along with exogenous deal conditions, influence the broker's motivations and willingness to make tradeoffs between long-term and short-term considerations when constructing deal networks. We develop our model and propositions in the context of the U.S. initial public offerings market and then generalize these arguments to other market contexts.

Current issues in the economics of groundwater resource management

Abstract: The issue of groundwater management remains a practical concern in many regions throughout the world, while water managers continue to grapple with the question of how to manage this resource. In this article, we attempt to bring the most advanced and appropriate tools to bear on the issue of resource allocation involving groundwater. Our objective is to demonstrate the state of the art in the literature on ways to think about this complex resource and to deal with the important economic issues emanating from its complexity. We present the conceptual framework within which economists examine the elements interacting in the management of groundwater resources, indicate why the role of the market is limited with respect to the price of this very complex resource, and point to the mechanisms that can pull competitive groundwater price and quality-graded quantity of groundwater in line with their equilibrium levels. In particular, we critically review economic models of groundwater use, examine the potential for groundwater management, discuss the difficulties encountered in the estimation of the relevant control variables of such models, and identify the advantages and limitations of the instruments devised for the efficient use (allocation) of this resource. Finally, we argue that devised regulatory schemes usually ignore the information and knowledge needed for their implementation, and we suggest a core of conditions necessary for successful groundwater management reforms.

Spatial System Dynamics: New Approach for Simulation of Water Resources Systems

Abstract: A new approach called spatial system dynamics (SSD) is presented to model feedback based dynamic processes in time and space. This approach is grounded in control theory for distributed parameter systems. System dynamics and geographic information system (GIS) are coupled to develop this modeling approach. The SSD modeling approach offers a single modeling framework for developing conceptually different models. It also provides the much-needed capability to model feedback based complex dynamic processes in time and space while giving insight into the interactions among different components of the system. The proposed approach is superior to existing techniques for dynamic modeling such as cellular automata and GIS and addresses most of the limitations present in these approaches. The SSD approach can be used to model a variety of physical and natural processes where the main interest is the space.time interaction, e.g., environmental/water resources processes, natural resources management, climate change, and disaster management. The applicability of the proposed approach is demonstrated with an application to flood management in the Red River basin in Manitoba, Canada.

Operational experiences with high-volume network intrusion detection

Abstract: In large-scale environments, network intrusion detection systems (NIDSs) face extreme challenges with respect to traffic volume, traffic diversity, and resource management. While crucial for acceptance and operational deployment, the research literature mainly omits such practical difficulties. In this paper, we offer an evaluation based on extensive operational experience. More specifically, we identify and explore key factors with respect to resource management and efficient packet processing and highlight their impact using a set of real-world traces. On the one hand, these insights help us gauge the trade-offs of tuning a NIDS. On the other hand, they motivate us to explore several novel ways of reducing resource requirements. These enable us to improve the state management considerably as well as balance the processing load dynamically. Overall this enables us to operate a NIDS successfully in our high-volume network environments.

Dynamically Controlled Resource Allocation in SMT Processors

Abstract: SMT processors increase performance by executing instructions from several threads simultaneously. These threads use the resources of the processor better by sharing them but, at the same time, threads are competing for these resources. The way critical resources are distributed among threads determines the final performance. Currently, processor resources are distributed among threads as determined by the fetch policy that decides which threads enter the processor to compete for resources. However, current fetch policies only use indirect indicators of resource usage in their decision, which can lead to resource monopolization by a single thread or to resource waste when no thread can use them. Both situations can harm performance and happen, for example, after an L2 cache miss. In this paper, we introduce the concept of dynamic resource control in SMT processors. Using this concept, we propose a novel resource allocation policy for SMT processors. This policy directly monitors the usage of resources by each thread and guarantees that all threads get their fair share of the critical shared resources, avoiding monopolization. We also define a mechanism to allow a thread to borrow resources from another thread if that thread does not require them, thereby reducing resource under-use. Simulation results show that our dynamic resource allocation policy outperforms a static resource allocation policy by 8%, on average. It also improves the best dynamic resource-conscious fetch policies like FLUSH++ by 4%, on average, using the harmonic mean as a metric. This indicates that our policy does not obtain the ILP boost by unfairly running high ILP threads over slow memory-bounded threads. Instead, it achieves a better throughput-fairness balance.

Dynamic configuration of resource-aware services

Abstract: An important emerging requirement for computing systems is the ability to adapt at run time, taking advantage of local computing devices, and coping with dynamically changing resources. Three specific technical challenges in satisfying this requirement are to (1) select an appropriate set of applications or services to carry out a user's task, (2) allocate (possibly scarce) resources among those applications, and (3) reconfigure the applications or resource assignments if the situation changes. In this paper, we show how to provide a shared infrastructure that automates configuration decisions given a specification of the user's task. The heart of the approach is an analytical model and an efficient algorithm that can be used at run time to make near-optimal (re)configuration decisions. We validate this approach both analytically and by applying it to a representative scenario.

Pricing and power control for joint network-centric and user-centric radio resource management

Abstract: Objectives of most radio resource-management schemes can be classified as either user centric or network centric. User-centric schemes try to maximize the interests of individual users, while network-centric schemes optimize collective metrics for all users. These two types of resource management tend to result in qualitatively different resource allocations (with, sometimes, very different degrees of fairness). In this paper, we consider the joint optimization of both user-centric and network-centric metrics. Specifically, we use a utility function (measured in units of bits per Joule) as the user-centric metric, and for the network-centric counterpart, we consider a function of the sum of the throughputs of users in the network. The user-centric measure reflects the individual user's throughput, as well as the battery energy (transmit power) consumed to achieve it. The network-centric measure reflects the total revenue derived by the usage of network resources. We introduce an explicit pricing mechanism to mediate between the user-centric and network-centric resource-management problems. Users adjust their power in a distributed fashion to maximize the difference between their utilities and their payments (measured as a product of the unit price and throughput). The network adjusts the unit price in order to maximize its revenue (measured as the sum of the individual payments). We show that the distributed user-centric power control results in a unique Nash equilibrium. Our numerical results indicate that there exists a unique unit price that maximizes the revenue of the network. We also derive a semianalytical, computationally simple, and highly accurate approximation to the optimal solution. Our results show that while users with better channels receive better qualities of service, as usual (e.g., as in waterfilling), they also make proportionally higher contributions to the network revenue.

Libra: a computational economy-based job scheduling system for clusters

Abstract: Clusters of computers have emerged as mainstream parallel and distributed platforms for high-performance, high-throughput and high-availability computing. To enable effective resource management on clusters, numerous cluster management systems and schedulers have been designed. However, their focus has essentially been on maximizing CPU performance, but not on improving the value of utility delivered to the user and quality of services. This paper presents a new computational economy driven scheduling system called Libra, which has been designed to support allocation of resources based on the users' quality of service requirements. It is intended to work as an add-on to the existing queuing and resource management system. The first version has been implemented as a plugin scheduler to the Portable Batch System. The scheduler offers market-based economy driven service for managing batch jobs on clusters by scheduling CPU time according to user-perceived value (utility), determined by their budget and deadline rather than system performance considerations. The Libra scheduler has been simulated using the GridSim toolkit to carry out a detailed performance analysis. Results show that the deadline and budget based proportional resource allocation strategy improves the utility of the system and user satisfaction as compared with system-centric scheduling strategies.