Models of core/periphery structures

A common but informal notion in social network analysis and other fields is the concept of a core/periphery structure. The intuitive conception entails a dense, cohesive core and a sparse, unconnected periphery. This paper seeks to formalize the intuitive notion of a core/periphery structure and suggests algorithms for detecting this structure, along with statistical tests for testing a priori hypotheses. Different models are presented for different kinds of graphs (directed and undirected, valued and nonvalued). In addition, the close relation of the continuous models developed to certain centrality measures is discussed.

On the persistence of computer dreams: an application framework for robust adaptive deployment

The anticipated rewards of adaptive approaches will only be fully realised when autonomic algorithms can take configuration and deployment decisions that match and exceed those of human engineers. Such decisions are typically characterised as being based on a foundation of experience and knowledge. In humans, these underpinnings are themselves founded on the ashes of failure, the exuberance of courage and (sometimes) the outrageousness of fortune. In this paper we describe an application framework that will allow the incorporation of similarly risky, error prone and downright dangerous software artefacts into live systems – without undermining the certainty of correctness at application level. We achieve this by introducing the notion of application dreaming.

Generating OpenMP code using an interactive parallelization environment

Code parallelization using OpenMP for shared memory systems is relatively easier than using message passing for distributed memory systems. Despite this, it is still a challenge to use OpenMP to parallelize application codes in a way that yields effective scalable performance when executed on a shared memory parallel system. We describe an environment that will assist the programmer in the various tasks of code parallelization and this is achieved in a greatly reduced time frame and level of skill required. The parallelization environment includes a number of tools that address the main tasks of parallelism detection, OpenMP source code generation, debugging and optimization. These tools include a high quality, fully interprocedural dependence analysis with user interaction capabilities to facilitate the generation of efficient parallel code, an automatic relative debugging tool to identify erroneous user decisions in that interaction and also performance profiling to identify bottlenecks. Finally, experiences of parallelizing some NASA application codes are presented to illustrate some of the benefits of using the evolving environment.

Using an interactive software environment for the parallelization of real-world scientific applications

The parallelization of real-world compute intensive Fortran application codes is generally not a trivial task. If the time to complete the parallelization is to be significantly reduced then an environment is needed that will assist the programmer in the various tasks of code parallelization. In this paper the authors present a code parallelization environment where a number of tools that address the main tasks such as code parallelization, debugging and optimization are available. The ParaWise and CAPO parallelization tools are discussed which enable the near automatic parallelization of real-world scientific application codes for shared and distributed memory-based parallel systems. As user involvement in the parallelization process can introduce errors, a relative debugging tool (P2d2) is also available and can be used to perform nearly automatic relative debugging of a program that has been parallelized using the tools. A high quality interprocedural dependence analysis as well as user-tool interaction are also highlighted and are vital to the generation of efficient parallel code and in the optimization of the backtracking and speculation process used in relative debugging. Results of benchmark and real-world application codes parallelized are presented and show the benefits of using the environment

Projecting the prison: the depiction of the uncanny in The Shawshank Redemption

The space of the prison is no longer on the margins in relation to societal `centres', but instead acts as an adjunct to the urban environment. With the disappearance of the Gothic prison from the archi-texture of contemporary cities, the meaning conveyed by its façade has lost much of its potency. It is now contemporary prison drama, as opposed to the physical façade, that represents the interface between the public and the prison. This article explores a dramatic representation of the prison (The Shawshank Redemption) through the lens of Freud's (1919/1955) notion of the uncanny and Bachelard's (1958/1994) poetics of domestic space. Incarceration, as depicted in film and television, reinforces the `place myths' of the prison (Shields, 1991). Contemporary prison drama portrays the prison as a marginal space in much the way that the Gothic façades of the 19th-century prison projected a particular message. The prison, as depicted on screen, is a simulacrum. It is a facsimile of an architectural idea that only ever existed as a façade - a façade that occluded as much as it projected.

The creative masses of digital Britain

The present recession has prompted scholarly and journalistic questioning of the contributions of the cultural industries to the economy. The talent-rich metropolitan clusters of London and New York are well-placed to ride out a thoroughgoing shakeup of the media markets if they manage their infrastructure, space and resources strategically, as Richard Florida has recently argued. This seems to be the assumption behind the recent Digital Britain interim report, and Gordon Brown's remarks that a digital revolution "lies at the heart" of Britain's economic recovery and that broadband and the media industry can play a leading role in pulling the UK out of the recession. Focusing on the Digital Britain report and consultation documents, this presentation seeks to unpack some of the fundamental assumptions behind this link between digital infrastructure, creativity and profitability. In particular the implicit notion of an engaged audience of users, generating "content" as well as shaping new media platforms calls into question long-held theoretical constructions of the mass audience of consumers as spectators; instead, the audience emerges as a potential economic powerhouse, an underused resource for tomorrow's cultural industries.

Creative leadership & communities of practice

This Second Wave presentation focused on 'Creative Leadership and Communities of Practice', with particular reference to issues of trust affecting young people, unemployment and wider uncertainties in an economic recession when people were facing job cuts and in a social environment characterised by cynicism and a downturn in trust. Young people who join Second Wave are brought into a community of practice (CoP) (Lave and Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1999) involving a dynamic, fluid process which is distinctive in its transformative power to change people's lives. The philosophy behind this involves Dewey's notion of the 'active self' (Dewey, 1916) and the theories of 'social constructivism' (Vygotsky, 1978). The process fosters trust, confidence and social learning (Bandura, 1977; Vygotsky, 1978) in which young people join in with a dialogue involving participation in the youth-centred creative space. The 'border zone' (Heath, 1994) in that creative space enables young people to connect with each other in the specialist field of youth arts. The youth-centred partnerships involved lead to greater confidence and development in a range of important artistic, social, cognitive and emotional skills and opportunities. Ultimately, the young person may become engaged in multi-agency working with Second Wave's external partners. Throughout all of these processes, young people are encouraged progressively to develop a more 'active self' to engage proactively with many different beneficial opportunities relating to the performing arts. In an era in which there has been a loss of trust in public life this is particularly important. If trust is defined in part as a belief in the honesty, competence and benevolence of others, it tends to act like 'social glue', cushioning difficult situations and enabling actions to take place easily that otherwise would not be permissible. The Edelman Trust Barometer for 2009 has recorded a marked diminution of trust in corporations, businesses and government, as a result of the credit crunch. While the US and parts of Europe were showing recovery from a generalised loss of trust by mid-year 2009, the UK had not. Social attitudes in Britain may be hardening - from being a nation of sceptics we may be becoming a nation of cynics: for example, only 13% of the population surveyed by Edelman trust politicians to tell the truth. In this situation, there is a need to promote positive measures to build trust. The presentation aims described key aspects of Second Wave's approach to identify and disseminate its model of good practice to make this more explicit and accessible to others. It is with awareness of the profoundly challenging circumstances facing young people, particularly but not exclusively in inner city urban areas such as Deptford, and the valuable contribution youth arts work can make to their well-being and development, that the presentation was carried out. In an era of generalised mistrust, the work done at Second Wave is crucial in empowering and supporting young people to find a positive and creative direction as part of the community.