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Free energy calculations tightly bind together experimental observations and computer-aided design through corresponding simulations at atomic level. Nowadays, free energy calculations represent a cornerstone for obtaining deeper insight into any biomolecular system, its molecular structure and especially dynamic behaviour. Despite this fact, several challenges have to be considered before routine utilization of this type of calculations. At first one has to deal properly with so-called sampling problem. Secondly, the appropriate way how to treat their extreme time demands has to be applied for obtaining converged and reliable data comparable with the experimental ones. Here we present the experience obtained through design, implementation and subsequent application of Multiple Walkers Approach (MWA) connected with Adaptive Biasing Force (ABF) and corresponding advantages and added values of MWA ABF run within distributed, heterogeneous grid environment under the EUAsia virtual organization (VO). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development and application of Urban Geography Information System, information sharing has become an important problem. How to get valid information from different organizations has become a key domain. We set up a Virtual Organization for urban spatial information sharing, which is based on Open Grid Service Architecture (OGCA).We can access information and intelligent discover information through the grid services which are offered to clients and applications in the Virtual Organization. With the construction of Virtual Organization, we can access and integrate urban spatial information in different geographical environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper encompasses the specific problem of how transforming industry clusters in environments prepared to create Virtual Organizations. This kind of coalitions is known as Virtual Organization Breeding Environments (VBEs). In order to reach the envisaged objective a set of guidelines for implementing VBEs has been proposed and its current results have been presented here. These guidelines are strongly based on modeling frameworks. This approach is being tested in a cluster of moulds and dies producers from Brazil. In the future, it is intended to use these guidelines as a structured approach to systematize the implementation of any type of VBE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A business community where communication can be streamlined, information shared and trust can be built can be considered as a collaborative network promoting SMEs long term sustainability by assuring quick response, fast time to market, differentiated offerings and competitive prices. This collaboration could be orchestrated both in hierarchical and non-hierarchical forms depending on the firms size, capacity and objectives. In this research, we have considered non-hierarchical networking among firms, especially for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), where the basic requirements are related with choosing appropriate business partners, building trust and sharing valuable information among them. In order to articulate the concept of this non-hierarchical collaboration, six pilot SMEs were analyzed and a methodological approach to manage these environments is proposed. A generic overview of different variables or factors necessary to build such business collaboration are presented and discussed critically in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frameworks to support Internet-based virtual enterprises are currently characterised as having fixed process models, fixed meta-data models and a fixed set of users at project inception. This paper proposes the SoBeNet architecture to support a highly dynamic, self-organised, Internet-based approach based on social interaction. The architecture is based on a multi-agent approach, Internet communication being achieved through RSS feeds. RSS conveys state changes by carrying data defined in a common ontology. Each agent assesses state changes using a virtual sensor by calculating the semantic distance between the change and its own interests. Each agent also contains a behaviour network which uses an activation spreading paradigm to react to a combination of its own goals and state changes. The SoBeNet test-bed is based on the Java JADE environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes with the general problem of how transforming classical industry clusters in Virtual Organization Breeding Environments (VBEs). Having into account reference frameworks and models, a structured approach for implementing VBEs has been proposed and its preliminary results are presented here. This approach has been preliminarily tested in a cluster of moulds and dies industries from Brazil where the main VBE΄s characteristics have been found. In the future, it is intended to use this structured approach as a concrete mean to systematize the implementation of any type of VBE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New business condition and current economical situation are forcing companies to rethink their way of operating. The rapidity of managing changes has become increasingly important. To be more competitive, companies are forming Virtual Organizations (VO) where short-term spontaneous collaboration activities are rather common. Such interoperability leads to increasing organizational architectural complexity. As the VO interoperability availability depends on quality of companies Enterprise Architecture approach belonging to ecosystem, the current article propose focus points for architecture management in VO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The progressive CMOS scaling drives the success of the global semiconductor industry. Detailed knowledge of transistor behaviour is necessary to overcome the many fundamental challenges faced by chip and systems designers. Grid technology has enabled the constantly increasing statistical variability introduced by discreteness of charge and matter to be examined in unprecedented detail. Over 200,000 transistors subject to random discrete dopants variability have been simulated, the results of which provide detailed insight into underlying physical processes. This paper outlines recent scientific results of the nanoCMOS project, and describes the way in which the scientific goals have been reflected in the grid-based e-infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces security requirements and solutions present in the ViroLab Virtual Laboratory. Our approach is to use a federated Single Sign-On mechanism based on the Shibboleth framework that enables multiple partners to authenticate against their local identity systems and use resources provided by all other partners. Since the basic Shibboleth capabilities do not meet our specific requirements related to supporting non-web-based services, we created a set of custom tools that allow us to develop a homogeneous, Shibboleth-based security solution for both Web and non-web-based software components. This paper describes these tools in detail, together with other services of the virtual laboratory which have been integrated with the security infrastructure. A decentralized, attribute-based approach facilitating the creation and management of virtual organizations is the key achievement of our work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collaborative networks of organizations and/or can be nowadays found in large variety of forms, including virtual organizations, virtual enterprise, extended enterprise, dynamic supply chains, social network, etc. A large body of empiric knowledge related to collaborative networks is already available, but there is an urgent need to consolidated this knowledge and build the foundations for more sustainable development of this area. The establishment of a scientific discipline for collaborative networks is a strong instrument in achieving this purpose. In this context, the article presents the experience developed by Federal Center of Technological Education – CEFET/RJ Brazil that began, in the first semester of 2007, a pilot course on Collaborative Network for students in Master Program in Technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of Virtual Breeding Environments (VBE) is a topic which has received too little attention: in most former works, the existence of the VBE is either assumed, or is considered as the result of the voluntary, participatory gathering of a set of candidate companies. In this paper, the creation of a VBE by a third authority is considered: chambers of commerce, as organizations whose goal is to promote and facilitate business interests and activity in the community, could be good candidates for exogenous VBE creators. During VBE planning, there is a need to specify social requirements for the VBE. In this paper, SNA metrics are proposed as a way for a VBE planner to express social requirements for a VBE to be created. Additionally, a set of social requirements for VO planners, VO brokers, and VBE members are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance management (PM) is a key function of virtual organization (VO) management. A large set of PM indicators has been proposed and evaluated within the context of virtual breeding environments (VBEs). However, it is currently difficult to describe and select suitable PM indicators because of the lack of a common vocabulary and taxonomies of PM indicators. Therefore, there is a need for a framework unifying concepts in the domain of VO PM. In this paper, a reference model for VO PM is presented in the context of service-oriented VBEs. In the proposed reference model, both a set of terms that could be used to describe key performance indicators, and a set of taxonomies reflecting various aspects of PM are proposed. The proposed reference model is a first attempt and a work in progress that should not be supposed exhaustive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emergency response is a time critical work that needs teams cooperate with various specialties from different organizations. It also needs to integrate existing information system to collect and assemble necessary knowledge and resources for critical emerging tasks and use it for collaborative problem solving. The model presented in this paper is the main result of an on-going national science foundation project of china, called Emergency-Driven Virtual Organization (EDVO), which aims at building and developing an innovative software infrastructure (software, models, services, etc.) for supporting collaborative work of events handling in emergency response systems. The model is to describe all kinds of resources in unified semantics and make knowledge sharing among various systems possible. With this basis, related resources and services can be flexibly and dynamically organized as a virtual organization to handle different kinds of emergent events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we propose a formal model which supports the process of setting up a Virtual Organization by means of allowing contract negotiation between parties pariticipating in such VO. The negotiated contract is used to configure the necessary Grid middleware components for the purpose of contract enforcement during the lifetime of the Virtual Organization. We present a brief overview of the framework and discuss in detail the formal model underlying the process of contract negotiation and how the ontological description of the domains related to given VO supports this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to remain competitive in the open market forces companies to concentrate on their core competencies while searching for alliances when additional skills or resources are needed to fulfill business opportunities. The changing business situation of companies and customer needs have motivated researchers to introduce Virtual Organization (VO) idea. A Virtual Organization is always a form of partnership and managing partners and handling partnerships are crucial. Virtual organizations are defined as a temporary collection of enterprises that cooperate and share resources, knowledge, and competencies to better respond to business opportunities. This paper presents base concepts of virtual organizations including properties, management concepts, operational concepts, and main issues in collaboration such as security and authentication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Use of ICT in business has changed views about traditional business. With VO, organizations with out physical, geographical, or structural constraint can collaborate with together in order to fulfill customer requests in a networked environment. This idea improves resource utilization, reduces development process and costs, and saves time. Virtual Organization (VO) is always a form of partnership and managing partners and handling partnerships are crucial. Virtual organizations are defined as a temporary collection of enterprises that cooperate and share resources, knowledge, and competencies to better respond to business opportunities. This paper presents an overview of virtual organizations and main issues in collaboration such as security and management. It also presents a number of different model approaches according to their purpose and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In large-scale Peer-to-Peer (P2P) systems, information is usually generated decentralized. An architecture that enables applications to have a unified view on various information sources is currently attracting enormous attention. For building that architecture, many P2P oriented applications focus on resolving two challenges. The first one is making available information sources have a uniform format and the second is to allow querying on that information without regarding the heterogeneity of the underlying systems. In this paper, we propose a framework for integrating information from heterogeneous sources by exploiting two new technologies: the Semantic Web and the Grid computing. In our scenario, we fabricate the Semantic Web service on the top of Grid Services. Each data provider becomes an autonomous node in Virtual Organization of the Grid system. The implementation and experimental result demonstrate the feasibility of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional healthcare information systems have been developed and organized as silos. However, recent changes in healthcare delivery models have resulted in the widespread creation of MultiDisciplinary care Teams (MDTs). These teams consist of practitioners with a variety of specialties often sited at different locations [1, 2]. This collaborative approach has led to a significant shift in information needs. However, existing information systems are not designed to support this new level of collaboration and technical support for practitioners has not kept pace with changing needs [3]. As every case is different, one of the many information challenges of this new paradigm is that of providing appropriate views to practitioners based on the unique needs of the patient as well as the practitioner΄s role with that patient. This paper will describe an individualized role based approach to data views for healthcare providers using an independent system to access data stored in existing healthcare information systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]