Storage and Search in Dynamic Peer-to-Peer Networks
Abstract
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks are highly dynamic decentralized networks that experience heavy node churn, i.e., nodes join and leave the network continuously over time. We model such P2P systems as synchronous dynamic networks. In each round, an adversary can add and remove a large number of nodes, and also rewire the network subject to some connectivity constraints. We are interested in solving the problem of storing and searching data items despite such high churn rate and network dynamism. In the course of solving this problem, we develop a random walks based sampling technique to sample nodes uniformly at random from the network. While it is well known that random walks are useful for sampling, their application in our context is nontrivial because the churn and network dynamism can potentially bias them or even destroy them. Furthermore, we believe that this sampling technique may prove to be useful in a variety of other applications.
More details can be found in our paper “Storage and Search in Dynamic Peer-to-Peer Networks,” joint with Anisur Molla, Ehab Morsy, Gopal Pandurangan, Peter Robinson, and Eli Upfal. This paper was presented in SPAA 2013.
Brief Biography
John Augustine is an assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Madras. He earned his PhD in theoretical computer science from the University of California at Irvine. After his PhD, he has held several positions both in academia and in industry. He is broadly interested in designing and analysing algorithms.
Patient Data Storytelling and the Learning Healthcare System
Abstract
People communicate their health and health care needs through words, stories, feelings and impressions. Coupled with other clinical data like laboratory tests, this information is used by the doctor to diagnose, treat, monitor, and advance health; health care systems are aggregates individual patient experiences, ultimately attempting to advance the lives of populations of people. The plural of story is data. Stories combined with visualizations can communicate complex information to audiences in ways that are psychologically efficient. “Learning health care” reflects the rapidly expanding role of data and technology to iteratively advance health; key features include translation of patient stories into data, understanding points for improvement at the patient or system level, introducing change and monitoring impact. Data stories, visualizations, and infographics can advance doctors’ ability to care.
Brief Biography
Amy P. Abernethy, MD PhD, a hematologist/oncologist and palliative care physician, is Director of the Duke Center for Learning Health Care (CLHC) in the Duke Clinical Research Institute, and Director of the Duke Cancer Care Research Program (DCCRP) in the Duke Cancer Institute. With over 350 publications, she is an internationally recognized expert in health services research, comparative effectiveness research, clinical informatics and patient-centered care.
Dr. Abernethy is an appointee to the Institute of Medicine’s National Cancer Policy Forum, President of the American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), Secretary of the Board of Directors for the Personalized Medicine Coalition, Chair of the Advisory Board for the Rapid Learning System for Cancer of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO’s CancerLinQ), Co-Chair of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Palliative Care Research Cooperative Group, Co-Chair of the Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) Core for the NIH Collaboratory Program, Chair of the PRO Task Force for the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute National Clinical Research Network, and Principal Investigator of ASCO/AAHPM Virtual Learning Collaborative for Palliative Care. Dr. Abernethy participates integrally in current high-level national and international discussions about reforming the evidence development system, presenting a model for a rapid learning cancer care that coordinates clinical and research functions to better serve patients’ needs in an evidence-driven, cost-effective, and patient-centered manner.
RJ Andrews is a data storyteller for the Duke Center for Learning Health Care and Duke Institute for Health Innovation. He is interested in humanizing information and experiments with this at infowetrust.com. Mr. Andrews is a Northeastern University Engineer and MIT MBA.
Carla Brodley Appointed Dean of the College of Computer and Information Science
Northeastern University has appointed Dr. Carla E. Brodley as dean of the College of Computer and Information Science, effective Aug. 1, 2014.
Brodley comes to Northeastern from Tufts University, where she is currently professor of computer science with a secondary appointment in the Clinical and Translational Science Institute of the Tufts Medical Center. From 2010 through 2013 she chaired the Department of Computer Science at Tufts.
She is an internationally recognized researcher in machine learning and knowledge discovery in databases who has applied her expertise to problems in personalized and evidence-based medicine, medical imaging, neuroscience, remote sensing, and computer security. A widely published scholar, her research has been funded by a wide range of federal agencies, corporations and foundations, among them the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, NASA, DARPA, IBM, and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
“A leader in computing research, Dr. Brodley’s achievements have contributed greatly to the advancement of the changing field of computer science,” said Stephen W. Director, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs. “An accomplished leader and scholar, she will take Northeastern’s leadership in computer science to the next level-both within and beyond CCIS.”
Brodley serves on the boards of the International Machine Learning Society and DARPA’s Information Science and Technology Board. Among her many professional recognitions, she has received an NSF CAREER Award and memberships to the Defense Science Study Group of DARPA and the AAAI Executive Council.
“Northeastern is a university on the move and I am thrilled to be joining as the next dean of the College of Computer and Information Science,” Brodley said. “In today’s information driven age it is more important than ever to integrate computing and information science into every academic field. I look forward to working with faculty, staff, and students to build upon the great momentum that has already made CCIS one of the nation’s most exciting interdisciplinary colleges.”
She is also a member of the editorial boards of Machine Learning, Journal of Machine Learning Research, and Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery. She is co-chairing the 2014 conference of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence and from 2008–2011 co-chaired the Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research.
Brodley was awarded the bachelor’s degree in mathematics and computer science from McGill University in 1985 and earned her doctorate in computer science from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1994. Prior to joining Tufts, she was on the electrical and computer engineering faculty at Purdue University, where she was honored with the Ruth and Joel Spira Outstanding Teacher award in 1998. In 2010, the University of Massachusetts recognized Brodley with the Alumni award for Outstanding Educator.
In an email to the faculty of CCIS, Director thanked Larry Finkelstein for his outstanding contributions as dean of the college for 12 years. “Larry’s dedication to the college and to the university, in addition to his strong leadership throughout his tenure as dean, has been key in helping the college achieve the level of excellence it enjoys today,” he wrote.
Game On
If Northeastern’s Game Demo Day wanted to adopt an official slogan, “Do you want to play?” should be considered the heavy favorite.
That phrase could be heard throughout Thursday evening’s event at the Curry Student Center Ballroom, as students encouraged guests to try out the card, board, and video games they had designed.
Twenty-four games designed by Northeastern students—some by individuals, some in groups—were featured at the event, which was presented by College of Computer and Information Science, the College of Arts, Media and Design, Playable Innovative Technologies Lab, and the Northeastern Center for the Arts.
Susan Gold, Professor of the Practice and associate director of Northeastern’s Game Design program, credited the hard work of the event’s organizing team for helping make this opportunity available to game design students. “I know these students are really excited about sharing their creations with the community,” Gold said.
One of them is a computer game called Snowfall created by William Manning, AMD’16, for the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset for 3-D gaming. The game’s goal is to climb up a mountain while large snowballs are falling down in the user’s path. When using the headset, it looks like the snowballs are falling right on top of you.
“I wanted to create a game that really utilizes the depth and movement that the Rift offers,” said Manning, who has been designing games since he was 13 years old.
Manning said he and a friend designed the game game during a 48-hour international game jam, an event that brings game developers together to create one or more games in a specific period of time. Northeastern hosted its own Global Game Jam in January.
On the other side of the Ballroom, a team of six Northeastern students showed off a text-based game, called Pression, which they developed for a narrative class. Using text characters, the game’s outcome is based on a player’s response to prompts. Tessa Berliner, AMD’17, said the team wanted its game to focus on the storyline, noting that “we felt this was the best way to show the story.”
Two games swept the four awards voted on by attendees. Lifelike, a role-playing game created for a senior capstone project, won best overall game and best art direction. Super Robo Task Force, took home two awards—one for best innovative game, the other for game with the greatest potential.
The event’s keynote speaker was Warren Spector, a role-playing game designer and video game designer who has worked in the industry for 30 years, designing games such as System Shock and Deus Ex.
Spector, now the director of the University of Texas at Austin’s gaming academy, is in the midst of a country-wide tour of universities with game design programs to learn about best practices and check out the innovative games students have produced.
“I love talking directly to the students, and Northeastern has some really good ones,” said Spector, who met with students for about two hours before Game Demo Day kicked off. “My favorite part is to be able to play their games with them. The students’ energy and enthusiasm is great.”
